Netherlands Laptop School

Two Duputy Heads from Netherlands Secondary School - Het Alberdingk Thijm College

Visiting our last school on the trip was like saving the best for last. Het Alberdingk Thijm College is a secondary school where every student has their own laptop. A well planned school with a vision to utilitze digital content combined with numerous other resources, including textbooks, if needed was impressive beginning with the Head Teacher (Principal) and the two Deputy Heads (Assisant Principals) who led our school overview and visit. The secondary school students use technology seamlessly as part of the learning process….they use it when they need it and how they need it. Having a laptop to these students was no big deal. As they discussed with us, during a meet and greet with the delegation, they use laptops  for school, they do reports, they do research, they use the laptop anytime they need it. I believe this nonchalant attitude is due to the fact that these students have had computers in their homes and they have been using them routinely. In fact, they shared that they only use the laptops for school work. One can only assume that they have computers at home that they use for their social computing. In a county where almost every home has internet connectivity and computers, it is no surprise that students understand the use of technology for learning and for socialization and clearly understand how to separate the two. Even during discussions with a young lady about inappropriate use of the internet, she shared that there are no problems with that. Again, students understand the use of technology for “work” and for “fun”. How telling it is that these students have had technology as part of their life, have had expectations set, have had access to the internet as part of their lives and now have no problem distinguishing between what is appropriate and what is not.

http://www.klg.nl/AlberdingkThijmCollege/Homepage/tabid/130/Default.aspx 
Het Alberdingk Thijm College

Dutch Secondary School Student from Het Alberdingk Thijm College

Sheryl R. Abshire, Ph.D.
Chief Technology Officer – Calcasieu Parish Public Schools – Lake Charles, Louisiana
Immediate Past Chair CoSN Board

Final school visit

Today we visited our final school–Alberdingk Thijm College.  A secondary school that seems to have worked out so many of the challenges of ICT.  So much of a teacher’s ability to try new things with students is not dependent on what goes on in a classroom.  Today we saw and heard about policies and strategies in place that make it easier for teachers to spend time doing what is important , interacting and guiding students in  their learning.  A couple of strategies that I noticed.  First, the Laptop Doctor.  If a laptop breaks, there is a “Doctor” to fix it.  We often expect a teacher to fix the equipment or wait until someone can come and fix it–wasting valuable instructional time.  Students who have software problems can stop at ports through out the building, plug their computers in and have the software fixed.  As teachers expose students to more and more ICT, where will they get the content, lessons to help them?  Our hosts today said that it takes 11-16 hours to put together a 45 minute lesson.  Obviously, teachers don’t have the time to design a whole curriculum of lessons.  Thirty schools have banded together to create an online enviroment for teachers to contribute and share ICT lessons.  For 2300 Euros and the agreement of each school’s teachers to contribute 10 lessons/year, teachers form a community and share their expertise.  Everybody wins.  We can learn from the Dutch schools.  We must figure out how to better support teachers, so they have the time and resources necessary to support our young people.  Tomorrow we leave for home.  I have some final thoughts.  But, it’s 1.30 am.  Here’s a picture of Amsterdam to hold you till tomorrow.   It’s really a lovely city.  I wish we’d had more time to explore. –Andrea Prejean

Voices of the Delegation

Does this sound familiar?

Mick Adkisson comments on digilessenVO.nl

The NEA’s Andrea Prejean comments on teachers

What is the burden on teachers who are asked to contribute lesson plans and other curriculum in their off time? What can we expect and what should we protect?

The growing gap between informal and school-based learning

In the following video, Professor Guus Wijngaards, director of InHolland University’s Centre for eLearning, discusses the growing gap between informal and school-based learning—a gap that he maintains is contributing to a crisis in the education system.

Wijngaards asserts that co-creation of learning environments, a process in which learners and teachers collaborate to design virtual learning experiences, is a mechanism for closing the gap between informal and school-based learning. There are few examples, according to Wijngaards, of approaches that effectively integrate the virtual learning environments used outside of school (such as social networks) with those that young people encounter in the classroom. InHolland University’s Centre for eLearning is thus conducting research—including surveys of students in Australia and the Netherlands—to assess how best to integrate informal and formal learning environments, and how to replicate successful approaches.

–Craig Wacker




Questions at The Hague

Each member of the delegation has come on this trip with slightly different interests and perspectives. Here are some of the questions that were asked to Dutch Member of Parliament, Jan Jacob van Dijk during our discussion with him at The Hague.

Lois Adams-Rodgers at InHolland

Lois describes how US organizations can, together, send a strong message about the importance of technology funding in the US.

Dinner On Wednesday Night and Thursday

I agree with the previous posts about our time so far in the Netherlands.  Last night at dinner, Keith was asked to identify key trends that are actively occurring in the US.  He described the following four areas:

1. A number of school districts are allowing student to bring in their own laptop to school and the system is setting up them up for the student to use and then purchasing laptops for those that can’t afford them this creating a more universal access to technology for all student.
2. The US is seeing significant increase in schools and school districts looking at ways to productively use digital curriculum
3. A number of schools are pursuing the use of web 2.0 tools to enhance education
4. School districts are pursing ways to use technology to become more green in their operations, planning and budgeting efforts.

Keith, did I capture your insights accurately?  Please feel free to edit any mistakes.  Our Dutch hosts thought that Keith’s comments were an insightful analysis.  I think they also provide an added frame work for us to reflect upon what we are learning doing this trip.

I would also like to add some brief additions to Sheryl’s analysis of our exciting conversation with Professor Jan Jacob van Dijk. He indicated in his conversation with us that there are four main areas that different education leadership groups need to grapple with in order to enhance educational success here in the Netherlands. The four areas are:

-  how can we increase our innovative power in looking at many areas to include structures, learning design, schedules and innovations in applied sciences

-   how can we increase productivity in education to include primary, secondary and vocational education.  If we look at classrooms in 2009 and 1909 what are the new scientific changes that we  can see that help us see that there are significant differences in schools?

-   how can we reorgnize higher education -  is the way we  are organized the  best  structure.  We last organized these structures in 1986.  Is what we are doing now appropriate for the  21^st century?

-   finally, how do we structure child care?  There are critical needs for 2 1/2 year old children and families are significantly different.  We currently have lots of different financial support mechanisms.  Are those mechanisms the best and are there ways that we can merge efforts to become more successful and efficient?

Several thoughts are hitting me at this time and these are in no particular order.  First, it is clear at this point that there is both great commitment in terms of people and finances to look at the uses of educational technology to increase learning opportunities for students in both Scotland and the Netherlands.  Second, it is also clear that both countries are facing the same, if not even greater, financial challenges that we face in the United States.  Given this, we need to figure out how the political leaders in these countries have truly figured out the importance of using technology to segue deeper learning opportunities for students and have provided hundreds of people working at the national level to level these efforts.  What does this commitment look like in the US? In our current challenges, can we reach out to learn from other places?

Data was presented to use this morning from OECD in Paris.  The data showed the level of access that students had had home to computers and internet access as well as the same availability at school.  Approximately 20 countries were represented in the data. The US is a member of this group and has chosen not to participate in this effort.  Yet, the US appears now to be ready to spend millions of dollars to conduct a similar study.  We simply need to let go of the politics and join this effort that is already in place and be willing to face the facts. Who knows, we might look competitive in this area.

Both countries we have visited have recognized the power and importance of teachers as professionals.  There appears to be great effort to both include teachers in the planning efforts and to also provide in depth support for innovation.  Innovation also seems to be carefully planned and then supported.

Well it is late here (12:25 am) and I am heading to snooze land.  Look forward to our dialogue tomorrow.

Fred Morton