The Corporate Helping Hand

Technology can be a major driver of innovation within any school setting. So, it makes sense that the corporations that develop and sell the devices, infrastructure and software that are part of this picture would want to be publicly visible as a key factor for positive change. A recent example of this came my way via Tim Holt who reflected on a partnership between Science Leadership Academy, an acknowledged innovative school in the US, and Dell who are funding Chromebooks and other benefits for the school. Now, this is a great coup for the school involved and is a win/win PR wise for both the school and the tech corporation who are very publicly providing this innovative support. But as Tim points out, "this sweetheart deal he is getting from Dell is NOTHING like what every other school will get". There is a lot more to this story which you can follow through on the comments on Tim's blog but I am interested in the point where the corporate helping hand starts to feel more like a forceful push in the back.

Corporations that have a stake in the education pie all want to be seen as the answer to innovation, or in many cases, just keeping pace. Schools are always under the pump when it comes to funding. Every Google Educator, Apple Distinguished Educator, Microsoft Innovative Educator or Intel Teach facilitator is the equivalent of me wearing my favourite Rip Curl tee-shirt out in public - a form of advertising. There is somewhat of an insinuation that those educators who sport these fancy titles, not earned from a university course or form of scholarship but from an application form or a weekend of workshopping, are somehow better or more qualified at being better educators than everyone else. (Disclosure: I have an Intel Teach course diploma somewhere in my cupboard and I can tell you that it has made little to no difference to my capacity as an educator.)

Late last term I went to a day event that was the launch of a partnership between my own education department (DECD) and Microsoft. I heard about it via a Community of Practice group that my school is involved in around Innovative Learning Environments, and we knew that a couple of schools within our group had been involved in the Microsoft Innovative Schools program so a colleague and I went along to see what this partnership could be offering or mean to the system as a whole. (Another disclosure: I have been involved in the Microsoft Innovative Schools program too, at the school I worked at prior to WGS, and benefitted from their sponsored interstate trips.) The message is one of the corporation is here to give back to you, the schools, here's what we can offer you, here's a sample of the sort of Professional Learning on offer. Which is great but being the sort of person I am, I tend to notice the subtle sub-messages, real or imagined, throughout the day that still bug me.

An example of when I feel the corporate heavy hand in the middle of my back - when a graphic of devices is shown to the audience, starting with the least powerful Smartphone then tablets then laptops and finally, the tablet PC as the ultimate learning machine. Windows machines dominate the graphic (as you would expect at a Microsoft funded day) and the sole token outsider in the graphic is an iPad just to the right of the Smartphone and well left of the inferred-superior Microsoft Surface. The message is clear about what constitutes an innovative learning device. We are also presented with a definitive list of 21st Century Learning skills - despite the fact that a quick search will provide many alternatives - but any professional learning from this partnership won't be referencing any of the alternatives. And just in case, you think I am just being anti-MS, I think that Apple's coining of the phrase "Challenge Based Learning" is just as blatant a grab for the pedagogical truth.

When I make decisions about the right tools for my students, I want that decision to be free of that feeling in the middle of my back. Schools should be free to decide that at a local level, and generally are, but partnerships that send heavy handed messages curb our freedom to help our students with learning and lessen world views instead of widening them.

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2 thoughts on “The Corporate Helping Hand

  1. Kevin Kirton

    One example of this is the arrangement made between Microsoft (and Adobe) and state governments in Australia for student laptops. I try to be positive about projects like these, but in NSW, the department allowed Microsoft to do the same thing that Microsoft was fined for in Europe, namely, trying to restrict users to one browser (Microsoft’s Internet Explorer). They bundled lots of other free software on the laptops, but no Firefox or Chrome etc.

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  2. Graham

    Post author

    That is a classic example of what I am feeling. MS are not the only corporations doing that, as you can feel Pearson’s hand in NAPLAN materials and online support. As for Explorer, there are many dated systems within my own department that will only run on an older version of IE. My technicians (who are from an outsourced company) continually shake their heads at the restrictions that demand inferior solutions in the name of keeping one corporation’s package of options front and centre.

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