It seems like Day 227 of forever of home learning and you and your children are at a loss – of education-related things to do, learning anything new and exciting, and the motivation to look for fresh ideas. Unlike many families you know, you don’t have the means – or desire – to purchase the latest and greatest in gaming consoles (so no one is creating a virtual school in Minecraft). There are game apps you and your children play on their devices, but not too many support learning in your view. So now what? How about adding a twist to games you already play? Or better yet, creating an original game? Before we start sharing a few ideas, let’s review why games are valuable for learning.

There’s a popular idiom that is generally used to describe changes in weather – March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. It seems that no truer words have ever been said. This past month has felt like a roaring lion, the powerful sound vibrating around us in the forms of social distancing, shelter-in-place directives, changes in how we shop and travel, and school closures.  It seems unlikely that anyone has escaped the repercussions of COVID-19, and as we attempt to find balance in continuously changing circumstances, our children are also trying to make sense of the world they now live in.

At this point in time, you are probably doing one of a few things: checking the news constantly for updates on COVID-19 and stay-at-home orders; trying to scour online stores for toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and disinfecting wipes; and, if you’re a parent of school-aged children, helping them complete assigned lessons while trying not to toss the laptop or tablet out the window. How can you get a “reboot”?

In The World is Flat, economist Thomas Friedman explains how technology can level the playing field in many industries. His Brief History of the 21st Century was ironically published in the 4th year of that century. The commentary was much more of a “looking forward” than a history, but it does frame the ideas in the context of the historical progress that has come before us. His thesis was simple: technology will act as a “leveler” in the 21st century. Technology allows an even, level, or “flat” playing field for economies across the world. Once individuals have access to the world wide web, they have access to markets all across the globe.

We have seen his vision of the future play out in many different industries. Take renting a hotel room for example. Vendors like VBRO and AirBNB have allowed “hotels” to pop up all over the place and access to these hotels to be controlled in a much different way. Uber and Lyft have done the same thing to the transportation industry. 

Classrooms have been flattened too. I’m not sure most educators have realized it, because we don’t see the outcome in the same way. Now that curriculum is accessible, in essence, for free from a computer, any parent who has the time is able to homeschool their student. Additionally, students can take courses from teachers all around the globe. Adaptive learning programs now allow the student to learn at their own pace and will challenge them at their exact level of learning. The “market” that schools had on education has changed, how have classrooms adapted to change with it?

As a teacher, you have been through all the training. You buy into it, you embrace it, you are as “trauma informed” as possible. You know about ACEs, toxic stress, and restorative justice. Your classroom reflects all of the best practices that we know. You always ensure that Maslow comes before Bloom and you know that in order to learn students must have the executive functioning capable of doing so.

And it works. You have seen it work and have seen students make great strides in every aspect of their schooling: attendance, behavior, academics, and social skills. You are a believer.

Until the new student arrives.

Which works better for students...competition between peers to motivate them to try harder or cooperation between them in order for them to learn from one another. This has been a bit of a “debate” in the education world, which I feel is unfortunate.

This kind of “either/or” thinking is very common in our country right now. You are either “red” or “blue.” You are either “woke” or lost in the past. You are either a “believer” or you are not. There are many reasons for these stark divisions we see in our world and the “either/or” mentality is one that is prevalent amongst many people. It even happens in education...think about the phonics vs. whole language debate, the direct instruction vs. constructivist learning debate, or the controversy of whether students should learn cursive or not. Dichotomies like this can, in my opinion, be very harmful to really examining an issue.

Technology tools abound to help schools increase safety and security.  As districts try to evaluate which of these tools are the best and which areas are the highest priority, it can become confusing. 

In my opinion, it helps to look at each of the four phases of school security to breakdown which areas might need the most attention the soonest. It also typically helps to invest in prevention and mitigation more so than response and recovery. The dollars spent in being proactive go a lot further than the dollars spent in the recovery phase. 

Even though that might be the case, it is important to take a wide view when considering different technology options for school safety. Some of the ideas are very narrow and will only support certain situations, but other options (like surveillance cameras) can assist schools in a wide variety of areas.