How Technology Is Changing Education In Martinez: An Interview with Max Eissler

Technology in the classroom is more difficult than just providing an iPad to each student, plugging in a Smartboard or offering wireless Internet access. There are any number of challenges, not the least of which include giving students access to devices such as tablets and laptops, teacher training, and structuring the curriculum to make use of multimedia and other online content.

Thanks to Measure K, a $40 million bond passed by Martinez voters in November 2008, the Martinez Unified School District is in the process of preparing all of its schools for a massive infusion of technology. Superintendent Rami Muth is leading the charge, but the man on whom the day to day tasks fall is Max Eissler, Director of Information and Educational Technology.

Martinez Patch asked Eissler to explain what is going on in the district now, and what we can expect in the future.

Technology Initiatives In the District

“We have a number of technology initiatives under way,” Eissler said. “We want to support and extend the learning for all of our students beyond the classroom walls.” He said that the district wants to “use technology to communicate and collaborate effectively with staff, students, parents and the community.”

The district is presently preparing to install wireless access throughout each school, provide students with iPads and laptops, make use of so-called “cloud-based” computing, which uses remote servers to manage and distribute software programs, and training teachers in the use of various online curricula.

For instance, Eissler said that this month will mark the completion of deploying a set of Google programs called Google Apps for Education (GAFE).

“GAFE is a collaborative, cloud-based framework that will open up new ways for our teachers to work together, and will also create new opportunities for students to collaborate on projects in the classroom,” he said.  “The move to GAFE is part of a larger district initiative to shift to cloud-based resources, which will lessen the support workload for technologies, increase availability and allow us to more quickly adopt new technologies.”

Using Technology to Help Teachers and Parents

But the new tools are also a help to the teachers, he noted.

“We continue to have an emphasis on utilizing data and analytic tools to help our teachers adapt their instruction to the learning needs of their students.”

The district is presently updating its Website to make it more user-friendly. In addition, mobile apps are being examined that would let students and parents use tablets and cell phones to check homework assignments and get information about grades and attendance.

The Milenial Generation

So what about the modern generation gap, where there is an entire generation of students who have never known a world without all these devices?

“Alan Kay once said that ‘technology is only technology to those who were born before it,’” Eissler said. “Our current generation of students, sometimes referred to as ‘The Millenial Generation,’ grew up immersed in technology, and most of them use technology as naturally as breathing. They spend almost every waking moment with technology – except when they are in a classroom. They are used to spending all of their time interacting, collaborating and communicating electronically, but in most schools in California we bring them into the classroom and tell them to turn off their cell phones, put away their iPads and listen to someone speak at them for an hour at a time.  For many of them, this is an unnatural experience, and not the easiest way for them to learn.”

He noted that not all students have technology at home, and it is up to the district to help them bridge this gap.

Facing the Challenge of Change

So what are the biggest challenges facing the district with this shift to technology?

“One of the biggest challenges is providing the appropriate support and training for our teachers who want to integrate technology into their curriculum,” Eissler said. “You can have all the latest and greatest tools, but if the teachers don’t know how to use them (or if we can’t keep them running) then they’re not worth very much. I feel very fortunate that I work in a district where the school board and the superintendent understand these issues and are committed to providing the appropriate support, and where the community has shown their commitment to education by passing Measure K and Measure B which will provide funding streams for sustainable technology implementation.”

Teachers and Technology

So what about the teachers? How are they responding to all this technology in their classrooms?

“We now have Smartboards (interactive, electronic whiteboards) and document cameras in virtually all of our K-8 classrooms,” he said. “We have Internet-connected computers in every classroom and computer labs at every school.  We are piloting 300 mobile devices including iPads and Netbooks.  For the most part these technologies have been well-received.”

But he noted that not every teacher has grown up with these devices, and some are more comfortable with them than others.

“My job is to insure that we help them achieve the necessary proficiency,” Eissler said. “In part we will be aided by the fact that the technologies themselves are beginning to become more stable, reliable and easy to use as they mature.  The teachers are also gaining more exposure to these technologies over the years, so there is a naturally occurring convergence. There is still a gap, though, and we need to address that with professional development and coaching.”

The Changing Face of Education

So how is all this technology likely to change the face of education?

“We see technology as a tool to facilitate learning, but learning is always the goal,” he said. “We believe that a more effective approach is a blended learning model.  In that model, students still attend regular classes on a regular schedule.  Having the mobile devices allows the students to view some lessons online.  There are a number of advantages to this; students who have trouble with a particular concept can go back and review the lesson as many times as necessary without requiring a teacher to repeat part of the lecture for the whole class.  Students who have already mastered the concept can move on to something else.  Since the teacher is not standing in front of the class lecturing, they have more time to provide individual instruction to those students who are having particular difficulty with that lesson.  It’s important to remember that the blended learning environment lends itself more readily to some subjects than others, and one-size does not fit all.  We expect to see the mobile devices used very extensively in some classes, and hardly at all in others. It’s not about the technology, it’s about the learning.”