Humanware Speeches Thinking About Humanware: 1984-present by Steve Bergen, co-director of The Original Teaching Company computer coordinator, Concord Academy, MA 1984-1994 computer coordinator, Noble and Greenough School, MA 1994-2002 CIO, Chapin School, NY 2002-2007 CIO & Computer Teacher, The Children's Storefront 2007- present Last revised 12/23/07

• 1982: Mission Not Impossible ... from the Teaching Company's first workshop, conducted in March 1982 at Concord Academy for Independent School Teachers in Massachusetts
• 1984: Who is Pushing the Buttons ... from a speech given by Steve Bergen to Independent School Heads at an NAIS Workshop in Rensellaersville. It has since appeared in publication in Classroom Computer Learning and the book RUN: Computer Education, Second Edition edited by Dennis Harper and James Stewart, 1986.
• 1986: Who is NOT Pushing the Buttons ... another look at the same themes
• 1997: Pioneeer Program at Nobles ... the first stages of an interesting approach to improving humanware at a school
• 1998: The First Annual Nobles Symposium on Hardware, Software and Humanware Issues for Independent Schools cosponsored by The Original Teaching Company and Noble & Greenough School Saturday, May 2, 1998
• 1999: Pioneeer Expansion based on grant from the Edward E. Ford Foundation ... received a grant of $50,000 from the Foundation in May, 1999 "to purchase equipment for expansion of the Pioneer Program for enrichment of curriculum through the use of technology." Many wonderful and innovative projects can found on their web site.
• 1999: Thinking About Humanware ... a powerpoint presentation and talk given at NAIS National Workshop in Dallas on Feb 26th, 1999 ... click here to download the presentation or click here for the online version ... please note the the e-mail address is not accurate
• 2000: Personal Trainer Program the next step as mentioned in the report to the Edward E. Ford Foundation
• 2001: Why the Right Buttons are so Difficult to Push .. tuesday 10/31/2000 @ AISNE in Massachusetts
• 2002: Thinking Outside the Box ... a CIO look at crucial components in building an IT ("information technology") department
• 2006: Twenty Questions about Computers twenty years later ... click here for the presentation to ISACS administrators in January 2006
• 2006-7: NAIS Task Force PGPs ("principles of good practice") ... first meeting was March 1, 2006 ... click here for the stages and final version
• 2007: NAIS Workshop on Collaboration & Tech Leadership ... March 1, 2007 ... click here for the details on this workshop involving Jim Collins "Good to Great" eyes and the Collaboration Hypothesis
• Boston Home: 1997 to present ... click here

p.s. the best discussions of money in the context of school budgeting that I have seen comes from Dave Moursund, (Professor, College of Education, University of Oregon, Executive Officer for Research and Development, International Society for Technology in Education --ISTE) his articles on 2%, 5% and 15% are part of a listing of all of the individual editorials that are now available ... click here

Overview

In June 98, The Edward E. Ford Foundation awarded Noble and Greenough School a $50,000 grant for the purpose of taking the Pioneer Program to the next level in terms of hardware, software and humanware.

Prior to the grant, Nobles had 10 faculty members sharing 3 LCD projector units and 1 VGA projector. The competition was fierce to get your hands on a classroom projector setup, since the seeds of the Pioneer Program@Nobles had been planted in May 97 when the program had been launched. The essence of the Pioneer Program@Nobles from its inception has been that each interested faculty member gets his/her own personal laptop and a projector setup in the classroom in return for: a) using the hardware in classroom fashion several times per week
b) meeting with a member of the computer department once per week for a combination of technical help and curriculum ideas
c) writing an entry to a mailing list called Pioneer Diaries sharing stories of successes and frustrations, e.g. "I used the pioneer setup to project selected sentences from their drafts onto the screeen and had the class work together tosuggest solutions. I could not believe how well the exercise worked because the students were so engaged. I have certainly never managed to get them excited in a 40 minute discussion of grammar and syntax before!"

The Ford Foundation grant allowed us to significantly increase the hardware and humanware involved in the Pioneer Program. Instead of 10 faculty members, we now have 25 faculty members with 10 dedicated classroom projector setups. The Pioneer mode@Nobles has now become mainstream with many teachers using the electronic white board and content of the web as integral parts of their pedagogy. Teachers in specific departments are emerging as enthusiastic advocates and mini-experts within their academic areas. The value of meeting once per week with a member of the computer department has evolved into a mandatory one semester program which we call the Personal Trainer program, required for all new teachers. And some pioneers are now experimenting with classrooms with each student having a wireless laptop, something we have begun to call Pioneer Classrooms, very similar to that of Cincinatti Country Day School, another Ford grant recipient.

Our lengthy report (click on the school name above) is chock full of the writings of these pioneers, reflecting on the successes and weaknesses of this 21st century pedagogy. One unexpected side effect of this Pioneer Program has been the way that teachers in different departments have exchanged pedagogical insights and teaching ideas and support for teach other.