I was passed these questions from
Arabnet for their upcoming publication of 'The Quarterly'. I suspect it will need to be decimated so here's the uncut version recorded for posterity!
Conclusion: we need to understand more about learning theory in the digital age, including the place of established theories, and THEN we can move to praxis, building models of learning based on our new understanding. Only then will technology be integrated with maximum impact at scale.
Interview
Questions – Schools in MENA Embrace Technology – GEMS Education
1.
In what ways is your school digitized
today? (ebooks? whiteboards? interactive learning platforms? social platforms?)
GEMS Education owns and manages over 40 schools
in the MENA region, educating more than 100,000 students through a wide range
of curricula and at various price points. It’s a complex educational landscape,
but one of the constants is the high quality of learning provided to our
students. We therefore strive to ensure that all children in GEMS schools have
access to the tools, systems and associated teaching practices they need to
maximize personalized learning outcomes and prepare them for a life of work,
self-actualization and continuous learning in a digital, global society.
Of course, all GEMS schools provide secure and
high-speed wireless Internet, a dynamic Online Learning Ecosystem, interactive
display technology, media creation suites, mobile hardware and a range of
online resources and software. Maker Spaces, Lego Studios and 3D printing
facilities are also flourishing and increasingly smart data systems are
ensuring that all our students’ progress, achievement and needs are known and
acted upon. I would always stress, however, that starting with the goals of
digitization and the provision of specific technologies is not a ‘smart’ thing
to do!
For example, The Kindergarten Starters (a
K-Grade 5 school with over 5000 students) was the first in the group to make
the move to constantly updated digital textbooks and the school has blazed a
trail in this area, providing a highly effective model from which others can
learn. It should be noted, however, that the Principal, Ms. Asha Alexander, did
not launch into a programme of digitization at all – and this is the main
reason that her school is such a fantastic, constantly evolving, model. Under
her visionary leadership, the process began by stepping back and considering
the learning outcomes that the school really wanted for its students. They spent
a long time re-writing the curriculum from scratch and only then did it become
clear that digitization would be a key requirement of the school’s development.
The school found that it simply could not deliver the desired outcomes without moving to a digital operating base.
The recognition that digitization is not about specific technologies, but
desired learning outcomes, is the first step towards providing our children
with the educational experience they really need.
2.
What steps have you taken to digitize
the school from the moment you decided to incorporate technology?
The challenge we face is not exclusive to GEMS,
nor the MENA region. Rather, we are transforming an entire industry and
profession on a global scale, in much the same way as the banking, media and
other industries have been disrupted by technology. Schools are in the business
of learning and the disruption in education is undoubtedly far more complex
than in those industries mentioned. Better learning is the goal and, by
‘better’, I mean more relevant, personalized learning at a higher level and for
all students. Moreover, every school and every educator has a different view of
what is required – the what and how best to meet their students’ needs. Top
down strategies simply aren’t sustainable in education. In the 1990s, I worked
for one of the ‘Big Six’ accountancy firms and it never crossed anyone’s mind
that we would go it alone, innovate and decide to use our own tax software
because we thought it would provide a better service to clients. We could have
suggested an alternative to the partners, but ultimately the decision would
have been top-down, instantly scaled and non-negotiable. Anything else would
have resulted in chaos. Now compare education, where each teacher is constantly
innovating, caring passionately about his or her students and striving to
improve learning for every child – and it must be said that they usually
succeed, at least at the micro-level of the cohorts they teach. Throw in the
fact that there is no real global consensus in the profession or academia of
what best practice really is, then it is no surprise that we are seeing a very
different dynamic in the digital evolution of schools than in other industries.
So, the organic evolution of effective practice
through teacher innovation is something that we encourage in GEMS schools. The challenge is to scale these effective
practices within a clearly defined, shared vision and to empower our schools to
meet the needs of their students. The decision to incorporate technology must
be taken in light of the learning outcomes the school has identified for its
students and the ‘what and how’ is different in every case. Each school
community is different and there is no educational ‘ATM’ as we saw in the
retail banking industry. The decision to digitize was not taken at the top in
education – it happened initially with innumerable teacher-innovators
experimenting with technology to find a better way and to improve outcomes for
their students. As Sir Ken Robinson has pointed out: “Rock’n’Roll wasn’t a
government initiative.”
Of course, we need cohesion and direction, and
it is incumbent on school principals to create, communicate and consistently
model an inclusive, shared vision for their school communities, always starting
with the desired learning outcomes. The role of the GEMS Digital Strategy team
is to support our schools on their unique journeys to digital normalization.
Fortunately, there are some common threads which form the basis of this
support: a dynamic, flexible and highly customizable Online Learning Ecosystem;
reliable infrastructure; professional learning programmes and networks for
school leaders and educators; implementation of a certified Digital Citizenship
curriculum in all schools; and a comprehensive programme of parent education
and engagement.
3.
Can you give us the timeline of
your school's journey towards digitization?
We have a 5-year Digital Strategy in place,
which is closely aligned to the aims of the UAE’s Vision 2021 and the new
National Inspection Framework. I think we are truly blessed to have such
visionary leaders here in the UAE and I can honestly say this is the first time
I have ever felt excited about an inspection framework! The document is surely
unique in its focus, ambition and clear expectation of schools to innovate and
digitize. We are already seeing elements
of the GEMS Digital Strategy, written primarily for our UAE schools, being
adopted by our global network, which reinforces the belief that the
UAE is leading the way in both its vision and action. Another benefit is that,
by basing the digital strategy on the UAE Inspection Framework, we are meeting the
very real and existing needs of our UAE schools in achieving outstanding status
and beyond. We are indeed fortunate that these needs are so closely aligned and
even more fortunate that we really started the journey many years ago, through
the efforts of innumerable teacher-innovators and the Digital Learning Network.
4.
How big or small of an investment did it
require in each phase?
Obviously, preparing a school’s infrastructure
is costly – but it is vital not to cut corners on this. The secure, but
flexible, digital ecosystem is the next greatest outlay and, again, this is
crucial, as it provides the vehicle not only for effective digital and blended
learning, but also the integration of smart data tools to support the learning
process. Bring Your Own Technology (BYOT) schemes in education should never be
implemented with the goal of saving money. There are sound, educational reasons
for students owning and managing their own devices and having these available
in and out of school (Lee and Broadie, 2014). BYOT has been growing organically
in our schools for many years and is a key element of our strategy. Most
students already own suitable devices so it has been a natural progression to
get these through the school gates. Leveraging these existing resources makes
sense both educationally and financially. Finally, professional learning is
critical and we are fortunate to have a well-established and comprehensive
in-house programme, which includes digital learning, with teachers having the
option of online, face to face and blended models to suit their needs.
Alongside the engagement of global experts, I believe that GEMS teachers and
school leaders enjoy a high level of professional support.
5.
What do you think is the most important element
of the school that should be digitized in order for it to call itself
a digitized school?
The mindset of all stakeholders must be digital
if a school is said to have become digitally normal. This is really about
attitudes to learning, culture and the acceptance by all staff, students and
parents that the change is necessary, welcome and beneficial to children’s life
chances. A shared digital mindset manifests itself in the realization that the
school looks and feels vastly different in almost every area when compared to
the position at the beginning of the journey. Lee and Broadie (2013) have
produced a very helpful rubric of key indicators for assessing the stage a
school has reached in its journey to digital normalization. It should be stressed that digital
normalization is not about doing everything digitally. Thankfully, statements
that were once commonplace, along the lines of ‘all work will be done and
assessed on computers’ have all but ceased and we are now seeing a far more
pragmatic vision of effective technology integration, focused on situational
fitness-for-purpose in terms of learning outcomes. When we are satisfied that
all school leaders, teachers, students and parents are skilled in making
decisions as to whether and how to use technology effectively and responsibly
in any given situation, then a school may be said to be digitally normal. Of
course, this journey never ends as the quest for excellence continues, set
against an ever-rising bar!
6.
Who handles the schools' tech maintenance:
in-house team or third party)?
All GEMS schools have permanent on-site IT
engineers and are well supported by a central IT function. In addition, we have strong partnerships with
trusted partners such as Microsoft, Lego (Atlab) and the My Learning UK team,
to name just a few. An essential element of all procurement decisions is the
customer focus, adaptability and responsiveness of our partners, so this is
very much by design. And, of course, ensuring that students learn to manage
their own devices effectively, safely and responsibly, benefits everyone!
7.
How do you choose the technology for
your school?
We go through a rigorous process to predict ROI
in terms of educational outcomes, set against the known needs of our schools.
As stated previously, one of the key considerations is continuous support from
our partners - and not just technical support. We expect technology providers
to demonstrate that they truly understand and care about learning and our
students. When we engage with providers, we are not buying technology; we are
forming sustainable partnerships that will continuously improve our students’
learning.
It is always important to consider how new
technology will fit within existing educational models and, if those models
need to be changed, how this can be done. A good example of this is the
innovative partnership with Pamoja at GEMS Wellington Academy, Dubai Silicon
Oasis. In forming this partnership, it was clear that the school would need to
transform the way it organized learning for its IB Diploma students, who would
have the option of studying within a blended model. The programme provides
students with the choice to take all or some of their units online on the
Pamoja platform, with teacher support both online and face to face. It was
clear that one of the key changes needed to accommodate this programme was the
students’ timetable, which is now radically different and is conducive to
supporting the greater degree of student ownership of, and accountability for,
their learning. Initial concerns over students’ ability to keep on track have
quickly dissipated, and the learners are reporting that the programme is
helping them to become more disciplined. Furthermore, the lead teacher on the
ground has found that, even though she is not teaching the students in the
traditional sense, her knowledge of their progress through enhanced data
analytics has greatly increased. This is empowering her to make more timely and
effective interventions where necessary. She has commented that she now knows
her students better than at any point in her career. Another consequence of the
revised timetable is that students are finding that they have more time and opportunities
to pursue other interests in the arts and sport, which is a great testament to
the wider benefits of effective technology integration.
8.
Have you been approached by startups who offer
digital solutions for your school? (e.g. Acadox) Are you hesitant to use
their solution? Do you prefer solutions offered by more established companies?
The key factor is always the potential benefit
for our students. One of the reasons we selected My Learning UK as the spine of
our Online Learning Ecosystem was that they were relatively small and could
provide a level of customer responsiveness, bespoke development and
adaptability that was simply unavailable with the larger, more established
companies in the field. Of course, the evaluation of the product itself was
also extremely positive, as were the expertise, experience and philosophy of
the individuals involved. There was a clear synergy in our educational goals
and the calculated risk is continuing to pay dividends, with unprecedented
usage, both in terms of learner engagement and the quality of learning taking
place. Buoyed by this success, we are now working with a small startup to
integrate an innovative, formative and summative assessment tool that has the
potential to transform the way we assess student learning, engaging the
students and their parents in a way that has been hitherto impossible. There is
always a risk, but the potential pay-off is true ‘redefinition’ within the SAMR
model, with unprecedented gains in student achievement.
9.
What was/is the biggest challenge to digitize
the school?
It is understandable that parents do not want
to take risks with their children’s education and this has, in the past,
presented a challenge as schools began the move to a digital operating base. We
have worked hard over a number of years to engage parents in the change
management process and we are now seeing a growing acceptance that digitization
is necessary to provide our students with the knowledge and skills they will
need for the future. We are now actually seeing a shift to a Fear Of Missing Out
(FOMO) mindset among parents, who realize that the risk of not making the move is greater than that of doing so! Many of our
parents work in highly digitized and innovative professions, which has helped
to build a consensus that schools also need to change if we are to truly prepare
our students for life in the digital world.
Until now, inspection frameworks have been a
barrier to digitization, as it has always been possible for a school to be
rated ‘outstanding’ with little or no technology integration across the
curriculum. This is now starting to change and the UAE Framework is likely to
focus even more on this area in the coming years, providing a driver for a boom
in digital learning.
10.
How did you cope with parents/teachers/staff
who are not digital savvy? Did they show any resistance?
People generally don’t resist change – they resist
being changed – so we always talk far
more about children’s learning than we do about technology. School leaders, teachers
and parents care passionately about their children’s learning so, by relentlessly
focusing on this, we gradually find more and more that digital solutions are
often the most effective ones when looking at school improvement and better
learning outcomes. Meeting all stakeholders at the level of what they really
care about is critical and the more we focus on learning, the less resistance
we see when digital solutions are floated.
Many parents are naturally concerned about
their children’s use of technology. “Isn’t it a distraction? Will they be safe
online? Will they become addicted?” are all common questions that parents
ask. We have found that the implementation
of Common Sense Media’s K-12 Digital Citizenship curriculum in our schools has
gone a long way to eradicating the fears of our parents. The programme engages whole
families and we have had the parent materials translated into Arabic and
co-branded, to ensure we reach all our families effectively with a consistent
message.
11.
What are the steps you are taking to deal with
the short lifetime of tech? How do you future proof your institution?
A Bring Your Own Technology strategy is
essential to future-proof our students’ access to learning in such uncertain
times. Consumers are far more agile in adapting to changing trends than large
organizations, where procurement cycles can see technology rendered obsolete before
it has been embedded. Also, our evaluation process for new technology includes
careful consideration of the flexibility and adaptability of the proposed solution.
A good example is the selection of the My Learning VLE and the partnership we
have established with the provider. This is very much a ‘pin cushion’ solution,
rather than the traditional ‘bubble’ VLE and we are constantly adapting the system
to meet the changing needs of our schools, integrating tools and content as
required to provide a seamless, personalized workflow for all stakeholders. So,
we future-proof by focusing on personalized learning and providing a cross-platform,
cloud-based digital ecosystem that is capable of adapting quickly, is responsive
to the changing needs of learners and can integrate emerging technologies.
12.
In your opinion, what are the top reasons for
a school to go digital despite the great challenges especially in the
region?
It’s not just about technical skills,
programming, entrepreneurship, making, design thinking, innovating and equipping
our students for future commercial success – although these are all essential
elements of the curriculum in progressive schools. Full participation in a digital, global
society is a basic entitlement for all children. Schools must, therefore, also provide
their students with the skills, knowledge, attributes and values they need to
engage sensitively and productively with the vast array of cultures they will
inevitably encounter in the future, whilst maintaining a keen sense of their
own heritage. Every time I see our students,
even young children, Skyping, co-constructing learning, co-creating, peer
assessing and teaching their mother languages to others across continents,
faiths and cultures, I become more convinced that this is an opportunity that
we simply cannot deny any child in the digital age.
Lee and Broadie (2015) have argued that schools
must go digital to survive in a consumer-driven market, where parents are
beginning, quite rightly, to expect that their children will be learning in
digitally normalized environments that reflect the real world. Given that this
research also indicates an average 5 year journey, any school that doesn’t
already at least have a plan is likely to be failing its students come 2021. It
is hard to imagine in Dubai, for example, that the only places in the city that
aren’t smart would be its schools.
13.
What positive (or negative) change did
digitization have on your school?
I want to be very clear about this. If there is a consensus on anything between academics in this field, it is that throwing
technology at a traditional learning model has little impact. Schools globally (with many notable exceptions,
of course) are failing to integrate technology effectively in terms of improving
student learning across the curriculum (OECD, 2015). Professor John Hattie’s work on Visible
Learning suggests that ‘computer-assisted instruction’ has an effect size of d= 0.37 and ‘web-based learning’ an even
poorer d =0.18. Those familiar with
Hattie’s work will recognize that these findings show very limited positive
impact on achievement. Hattie has, however, stated very clearly that he
believes we are not realizing the full potential of technology because we need
to re-imagine how we organize learning in order to maximize its impact. I agree
with him and we have seen many examples of this in our schools, such as the Pamoja
example already discussed. Another wonderful example was seen at GEMS Royal
Dubai School, where the English Language Learning teacher went through this
very process of re-imagining how she organized learning for her students, with
accelerated learning outcomes in vocabulary acquisition averaging more than
double the expected progress and one student making five years’ worth of
progress in just one year. Immediately, we
were seeing effect sizes above d=
1.0. It should be noted that the teacher did not simply throw a piece of language
software at the students – some of the key tools used were ubiquitous and not
particularly groundbreaking these days: Google Docs, Minecraft, iMovie, Voki,
Powtoon and, of course, personal devices. The impact was seen due to the way
she organized the students’ learning, engaged their parents and siblings, changed
the timetable, made the learning authentic, opened up the assessment rubric to
the students, and a whole host of other non-digital innovations. The point is
that the new learning process could not have happened without the technology,
but this was just one essential part of a re-imagined model.
Accordingly, the GEMS Digital Strategy focuses
more on building new models of learning than it does on technology – and I
firmly believe this is how it should be.
14.
What are the
dominating teaching/learning trends you see in the next 5 years?
Astute
educators are moving away from a fascination with technological advances
(although they are still tracking these closely) and beginning to focus on emerging
learning theories such as heutagogy, paragogy, connectivism, self-regulated
learning and post-modernist perspectives such as rhizome theory. They are
considering how these ideas tie in with the established, enduring theories of
Piaget and Vygotsky, to build practical models of learning that can maximize
the potential of learning technologies.
It
is a deeper understanding and application of these theories by teachers, school
leaders and those involved in digital change management programmes that will drive
how emerging technologies are integrated with maximum impact on learning.
Yes,
we can talk in positive terms about flipped classrooms, blended learning, digital
profiles, Internet of Things, Big Data and analytics, Game-based Learning, BYOT,
MOOCS, micro-credentials, etc., but if the impact of digital transformation on
students’ learning and life chances is to be maximized, then we must be aiming
for the delivery of a coherent strategy based on a deep understanding of learning
theory in the digital age.
Arabnet Spring 2016
