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The stalemate between teachers vs. administrators vs. students vs. tools/funds is nearly impossible to beat. The lack of tech-literacy (at the most basic level) among teachers is astounding, and the only thing more astounding is the real entrenched/entitled reticence to learn anything new (or that new = bothersome/bad). The overwhelming majority of MS and HS students are far more tech-literate than their teachers, and use that knowledge to learn/research/communicate/create more efficiently and pragmatically than the systems advocated by schools. Worst of all, most teachers don't seem to be bothered by the glaring lack of their own tech literacy/learning/implementation, at all?

When your teachers can't use email, upload content, or use grading software/excel, there's a problem. When teachers can't figure out how to use iPads, get youtube videos to work, or explain a single practical application of math, science, or engineering at the most basic level, in 2013... there's a real crisis.

This is one of the major reasons I just left my job, after 8 years in public education. Upon telling my principal I was leaving to pursue programming, she laughed at the impossibility ("That is for like... computer people? There's no way you could learn that!? What are you even going to do with that anyway?").

I start an engineering fellowship in the spring, and already can work in Python and HTML/CSS. It wasn't that hard to learn, I did it in 3 months. I could've taught it to MS students, easily. I also could've used a program like Chalktips in the classroom or as homework, to encourage graphic design aesthetics while students gained fluency with new/unfamiliar software and [web]searches (I think this is a critical skill), and still accomplish my overall teaching goal for that unit. However, my principal would've been unhappy with the results, purely because they were computer generated (and that's not "real" work). So Chalktips, in that way, would've been doomed from the start.

I don't really know what to say to education startups... the ideas may be fantastic, but the implementation is almost impossible.

FWIW, it looked like a solid platform. If I was still in education, I'd have advocated for it (even if only to be shot down by my superiors and peanut-gallery parents).

[mnavada]

Aaawww, this reply made me very emotional, in a good way :) It's great to know that I'm not alone in this frustration. I understand that sometimes it's not always the teachers, it's also administration, and the students. I currently teach a large 3 hour lecture hall at night (6 PM to 10 PM). No matter how I try to be entertaining or make the class more engaging, half the class is on the phone or about to sleep :( But I can't blame them. The 3 hour lecture format is antiquated.

Congrats on the career change, engineering fellowship, and the courage to learn something new! I'm not surprised it didn't take you only a few months to learn. With patience and love for what you do, anything is possible. You're very inspiring!

I know HTML and CSS, and I would love to learn Python and JavaScript. Chalktips was written in Python, and MagTag. My husband is the CTO and he wrote all the code. Just two married couple wanting to build tech tools :)