Why a school needs an R&D department

Effective teaching is still a work in progress

  Firstly I have to confess I'm obsessed by technology, some of the research I undertake takes up a significant proportion of my free time but I don’t think you can possibly succeed in technology unless you love it. In fact I'm one of those lucky people who has made their passion their job. When I first started at Beaulieu eight years ago I came from being a simple maths teacher, using technology to enhance my classes in my previous school to overseeing everything that was plugged in to a socket as well as still teaching ICT from Primary to A-Level. Things have changed dramatically and I didn’t even see it coming. I’ll talk less history and more future now.

Failure

  It is one of the most important parts of my job. People come to me most when things are going wrong, and usually want answers immediately. You would be amazed how many times a computer forgets your password. They wouldn't admit it is usually user error or lack of IT knowledge and we play the game of not highlighting it either. After all, the French dept don’t speak to me in a different language and expect me to keep up, we all have our strengths. It does frustrate me that we allow students to deal with failure less and less, not because we don't want them to fail but because the curriculum is filled with so much content we can’t afford the time, but that’s a topic for another post. When I work with technology I fail just as much as I succeed but I fail because I pushed the boundaries. Schools are a strange place, we have unique problems and no money to solve them but because of this we have to solve problems with MacGuyver like swagger. Sometimes I know the answer to many of my problems but I can't afford to solve them “the easy way”, thinking outside the box is more common than being in it. My office is shared with my Network Manager and for many years we have been both frustrated and exhilarated by the challenges we’ve faced.

I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. - Thomas A. Edison

R&D

  Over the years the office has been more research and development than simple network management. We try new technologies to see if they will improve workflow and possibly teachers methodology faster, but more importantly; cheaper. My current fixation is a serverless school, computers using the internet to store all work on only super fast WiFi. The money and pain it would save pushes me on. The first most notable of my out-of-the-box problems was a total lack of projectors in my entire school, to fit it out with current current technology of the day (the dreaded Interactive Whiteboard) was way beyond my budget and the technology was already on the decline. So how do you move forward affordably? The answer the time was iPads not because of their glitzy glam but because of the AirPlay technology that would show the board to the screen without wires cheaply. I use that term loosely but it was far cheaper to give teacher an iPad, projector and Apple TV than fit a Promethean whiteboard. The major issue was that an Apple TV is HDMI, and to this day schools still only have VGA screens and projectors in abundance. But after a couple of weeks searching and testing I managed to find a conversion box for $21 rather than a couple of hundred in the UK. I posted my solution online, and for such a niche topic it has racked up a respectable thirty two thousand hits. I could have waited a year for the HDMI to VGA converters that came out but that would have been a year lost. In teaching that is 50% of a students GCSE course.

Apple TV Converter

Engagement

  A significant amount of my research is aimed at teaching current curriculum in the most engaging way possible. It is different programming applications apps and websites that allow my students to succeed the most interesting way possible. I was using gameification before it became a word, there is nothing more students like than creating something they can use that's fun.

GamePress

Risk

  I dedicate another proportion of my time to new technology, things that might work. I'd say 50% of the things I try end up on the shelf never to be used again but the other 50% really excites the students. I find the ratio of failure acceptable because I see the enjoyment in the lessons when if I hadn't dared to be different we would be stuck in Microsoft Office for three months. Don't get me wrong basic skills are important, the students pick them up much more quickly than people give them credit for. Virtual reality, Makey Makey, LittleBits, Raspberry Pi are devices I've played with when they were in development, so that when they became reality I was able to integrate them into the curriculum immediately, because technology can be fleeting and if you wait until it's established it's often over before it's begun, so wasting time researching products that don’t “make it” is a risk I am willing to take.

   

Past Future Tech

The Hook

  I was once at a conference listening to the creator of QI when he explained it secret and the reason I'm glued to the show. “The Hook” he explained is just a crazy fact that makes you hunger for more information. It Is something that I've taken away with me and guides the majority of my planning, I'm always looking for it to lure the students in. Sometimes that means our research is just pure fun because what’s work without a bit of play.

Fun Fun Fun

Essential

  And while some may look at my “research” as whimsical or indulgent it has seen some emotional an undeniable results. When the iPad first came out and people slated it I saw it for what it was: portable learning. But after playing with it for some time I came to realise something else, it could significantly help students who often struggled in education for many reasons. I often talk to people about the story of Jadine, a student with significant visual impairment who was being held back, not because of lack intelligence or motivation but simply because the tools she used where not fit for purpose. The simple ability to zoom in on PDFs change her world, and by an act of random chance (because I'd left an art app on my iPad) she discovered that she was extremely talented at the discipline. She is now an accomplished artist, writer and coder, a disparate set of talents that would never been realised if people like me didn't play and disguise it as work.

The real reason for research

Summary

  So find that person in your school who’s always got the latest technology and ask them how they would solve your problem, you might find an easier, cheaper and more interesting way of working. First you will have to understand that sometimes failure comes before success and without constant research and development you will keep doing the same old things in the same old way getting the same old results. Rory Steel @JerseyITguy

Phantom Drone