Guido and I were treated to a presentation about the misunderstandings between cultures of Morocco and the U.S.
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While in Morocco we were asked to develop a research question to study and explore while there. Questions were first developed while we met in DC in February. As predicted, the questions kept changing and evolving. This is the one I landed on...
Research Question:
How well is the education system utilizing technology to educate students in the classroom?
Guiding Questions:
What technology is available in classrooms?
How are students utilizing technology to enhance learning?
These are basic questions that any school in any country can (and should) ask. I was curious as to the technology capabilities and its constructive use in Moroccan classes.
While in Morocco I made the following observations relevant to this inquiry:
· Public and private schools are available to students. Students may choose to continue to college (15+/- institutions that are free in Morocco), attempt to get to college in France, or other universities in other countries. The dream of most all students seems to be to attend a university in the US.
· Private schools have vastly superior facilities (buildings, labs, smart boards, etc.) to the public schools.
· My host’s public school science classes at Ali Ben Barri High School had a projector used on a whiteboard or screen. The teacher used his laptop and the whiteboard. No WiFi or other Internet access was used.
· Science classes rarely have actual wet labs they run with students. Equipment/supplies are antiquated, few, and seldom used.
· Most all students I observed owned a cell phone. All seemed to be Samsung. I did not see any iPhones. They seemed to be quite proficient with them and accessed the Internet via their own phone signals (when strong enough).
· Students have created online content. We were presented with Power Point, Prezi, and YouTube videos (links pending).
· I saw no 1:1 device use in any schools.
· Ali Ben Barri HS had a computer room. It is seldom used, managed by no one in particular (my host teacher by default), and has dusty, antiquated office PCs. The room is padlocked for the majority of the year. When we were there to give/receive presentations, WiFi/hardware issues delayed us for a while.
The private schools are where I witnessed evidence of technology use and creativity. One student proudly showed us his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/SimoGAMERHD . The prezi presentation was an excellent exposé on stereotypes and misconceptions Moroccans have about the U.S. and it’s people, and vise versa. It was entertaining and informative. Calling these normal modes or methods of instruction would be a stretch, however. Was the prezi creation a special occurrence for our coming? Also, the YouTube channel is of this student’s on volition. No other student in this class came forward with their creations to share.
The public schools seem more desperate. Beyond the instructor’s computer (with no Internet service), no other modern technology seemed to be present. They do not have wet labs to run, equipment and supplies to do too many labs, or full lab rooms. The classrooms are not climate controlled, yet these students attend classes whether it’s 32° or 102°. They, too, have cell phones. I saw no evidence of a normal attempt to utilize these (like some of our “BYOD” policies in our schools). The class was wall-to-wall lecture/notes. When asked if other group activities were done, he lamented that there was no time and that a large amount of curricula needs to be covered.
The fact that these science classes had no active labs disturbed me. I figured out one thing that I could do. In my school and classroom I had access to many types of demonstrations, videos, and virtual labs on DVDs I had collected over the past few years. These types of instructional DVDs are quite abundant, and mostly free, to educators here in the U.S. I mailed about 50+ of these in a box to Morocco, to my host teacher’s science friend at Ali Ben Barri HS. After much red tape, it was finally received. I am waiting on feedback to see if these DVDs were/are of use to them. I’ll certainly send more as I get them if they’re working for them in Morocco.
The infrastructure of IT needs to exist in a much better state than it is now. Support for WiFi, an IT person that’s accessible and capable, updated computers that can run updated programs, and proper training and supervision of teachers would greatly help this situation. And, teachers should not feel compelled to pay for anything/everything that may occur with equipment malfunction. Until this is in place, teachers will (justifiably) shun the use of the available equipment. If this hurdle is not crossed, no effective curriculum implementation of technology will occur.
The disparity between the public and private schools cannot be ignored. While this topic can be multifaceted, technology’s availability and utilization seems arguably the more obvious point of difference. As students strive to do well in school so as to advance to a university somewhere, the absence of learning through technological creativity would seem to be a stifling strike against them. The administration seems to be working through fears that we had in the early years of the Internet. How will it be paid for, policed, controlled, utilized, trained? It is my hope that they will seek the expertise of those that have been through this process. The students’ education and future careers will be influenced by how expeditious the bureaucracy of the Moroccan education hierarchy makes these important decisions.
Research Question:
How well is the education system utilizing technology to educate students in the classroom?
Guiding Questions:
What technology is available in classrooms?
How are students utilizing technology to enhance learning?
These are basic questions that any school in any country can (and should) ask. I was curious as to the technology capabilities and its constructive use in Moroccan classes.
While in Morocco I made the following observations relevant to this inquiry:
· Public and private schools are available to students. Students may choose to continue to college (15+/- institutions that are free in Morocco), attempt to get to college in France, or other universities in other countries. The dream of most all students seems to be to attend a university in the US.
· Private schools have vastly superior facilities (buildings, labs, smart boards, etc.) to the public schools.
· My host’s public school science classes at Ali Ben Barri High School had a projector used on a whiteboard or screen. The teacher used his laptop and the whiteboard. No WiFi or other Internet access was used.
· Science classes rarely have actual wet labs they run with students. Equipment/supplies are antiquated, few, and seldom used.
· Most all students I observed owned a cell phone. All seemed to be Samsung. I did not see any iPhones. They seemed to be quite proficient with them and accessed the Internet via their own phone signals (when strong enough).
· Students have created online content. We were presented with Power Point, Prezi, and YouTube videos (links pending).
· I saw no 1:1 device use in any schools.
· Ali Ben Barri HS had a computer room. It is seldom used, managed by no one in particular (my host teacher by default), and has dusty, antiquated office PCs. The room is padlocked for the majority of the year. When we were there to give/receive presentations, WiFi/hardware issues delayed us for a while.
The private schools are where I witnessed evidence of technology use and creativity. One student proudly showed us his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/SimoGAMERHD . The prezi presentation was an excellent exposé on stereotypes and misconceptions Moroccans have about the U.S. and it’s people, and vise versa. It was entertaining and informative. Calling these normal modes or methods of instruction would be a stretch, however. Was the prezi creation a special occurrence for our coming? Also, the YouTube channel is of this student’s on volition. No other student in this class came forward with their creations to share.
The public schools seem more desperate. Beyond the instructor’s computer (with no Internet service), no other modern technology seemed to be present. They do not have wet labs to run, equipment and supplies to do too many labs, or full lab rooms. The classrooms are not climate controlled, yet these students attend classes whether it’s 32° or 102°. They, too, have cell phones. I saw no evidence of a normal attempt to utilize these (like some of our “BYOD” policies in our schools). The class was wall-to-wall lecture/notes. When asked if other group activities were done, he lamented that there was no time and that a large amount of curricula needs to be covered.
The fact that these science classes had no active labs disturbed me. I figured out one thing that I could do. In my school and classroom I had access to many types of demonstrations, videos, and virtual labs on DVDs I had collected over the past few years. These types of instructional DVDs are quite abundant, and mostly free, to educators here in the U.S. I mailed about 50+ of these in a box to Morocco, to my host teacher’s science friend at Ali Ben Barri HS. After much red tape, it was finally received. I am waiting on feedback to see if these DVDs were/are of use to them. I’ll certainly send more as I get them if they’re working for them in Morocco.
The infrastructure of IT needs to exist in a much better state than it is now. Support for WiFi, an IT person that’s accessible and capable, updated computers that can run updated programs, and proper training and supervision of teachers would greatly help this situation. And, teachers should not feel compelled to pay for anything/everything that may occur with equipment malfunction. Until this is in place, teachers will (justifiably) shun the use of the available equipment. If this hurdle is not crossed, no effective curriculum implementation of technology will occur.
The disparity between the public and private schools cannot be ignored. While this topic can be multifaceted, technology’s availability and utilization seems arguably the more obvious point of difference. As students strive to do well in school so as to advance to a university somewhere, the absence of learning through technological creativity would seem to be a stifling strike against them. The administration seems to be working through fears that we had in the early years of the Internet. How will it be paid for, policed, controlled, utilized, trained? It is my hope that they will seek the expertise of those that have been through this process. The students’ education and future careers will be influenced by how expeditious the bureaucracy of the Moroccan education hierarchy makes these important decisions.
After the presentations, I took the time for some selfies with the class. They love a camera.
