Doing school 2.0

“Doing school” and the “2.0″ allusion to the much-hyped but elusive web 2.0 sound like a corny attempt to grab your attention and maybe they are but just as Internet technologies enter a new phase of development not thought of only 10 years ago so as a school we are entering an era that could not have even been dreamt of 100 years ago.
The popularisation of the burgeoning world wide web from c. 1995 onwards quickly necessitated search engines to find known content. Where’s that page I was looking at yesterday? Does my old school have a web site? Such queries refer to either known content or content that is likely to exist. In school what is the purpose of learning the date of a battle or the charge of an electron if such information is only a click away. But again we refer to information that we know exists.
Search technology has improved whereby engines such as Google analyse the click streams of millions upon millions of users to better predict the intent of a search. You may search simply for “car” because you are thinking of buying a new model. I may type the same word hoping to read about the history of the vehicle. Search technology is getting increasingly better at understanding our intentions and as you view a list of car reviews sponsored links direct you to dealers in your area I am reading a history of engineering. What makes a link relevant is not only what you and others have clicked on previously but the number of links to that page. The latter is a completely democratised peer review system. In the past an article in a static printed journal gained credibility not only because of the prestige of the publication but because of citations [i.e. links] to it from other authors. Now the more links there are to a page on the Internet the higher relevance a search engine attaches to it. The bottom line being you get to see a page because others are linking to it.
Now enter social networking. Millions of users are creating content in personal blogs [or on line journals] and on networks such as MySpace, Facebook etc. Huge numbers of links to other content are created as users simply cut and paste or embed whatever takes their fancy: friends, sports teams, bands, YouTube videos etc. All this is creating links and pushing up relevance.
If enough people were to like this web site then a search for “Larnaca” or “Cyprus” or even “school” would have it in the top few hits and this takes us to the new dynamic of search. Namely the discovery of content that we were not previously aware of. Search for a little country in the Eastern Mediterranean and find us. Suddenly you’re linked in to a whole new way of doing school. Something you had never though about and been interested in before.
It is often said we are living in an information age but rapidly we are moving into a conceptual age and as a school we are preparing our students not only for the challenges but the opportunities this paradigm shift will afford. Implementation already includes huge investment in ICT infrastructure over the last decade [Citrix Metaframe and thin client technology, Exchange and other back office server products were a first for any educational establishment in Cyprus] and 5km+ of structured wiring is now complemented by wi-fi throughout the school. More recently equipping every teacher [including part-timers] with laptops and interactive whiteboards in all teaching rooms and beyond means that access to ICT extends to every lesson in preparation, delivery and assessment. Science for example is taught almost exclusively using interactive learning materials. This is in addition to ICT lessons taught in two 30-client computer labs and a class set of terminals in the library.
This is only what we have achieved so far. The centenary celebrations include the launch of this special web site which allows users to comment and interact with the content which will include a huge photo archive. Users anywhere in the world will add comments identifying the unknown faces and events, sharing stories that would otherwise be forgotten. All this content will be locked down as an archive of our first 100 years.
Imminent developments will have to include blogs for teachers to share information and interact with students and parents overlayed with a corporate social network, a content management system to instantly publish learning materials, access to school email and VoIP from multiple devices anywhere and one client device per student in school.
A word of caution. We are very much aware that ICT is just inanimate objects running code. As we move into the conceptual age we must equip our learners to thoroughly embrace technology but as a means to an end: to grow and to serve…which is where it all begun 100 years ago.

Paul Burgess

Centenary webmaster