I’d been putting off this post for several days while I figured out exactly what I wanted to say. Then I finally did and got it all typed out. Then I accidentally navigated away from the page and lost it all. *sighs* I never learn to save strategically throughout writing. Well, if it was worth writing once, it’s worth re-writing.
As many of you have heard, there was a shakeup at Discovery Education and many people were let go. In particular, the vast majority of the DEN’s staff of field managers, 20 in all, are no longer employed by Discovery. There have been quite a few people expressing their anger, disapproval, outrage and grief. This all happened about a week ago now, and some people have come to accept it and are waiting to hear how the Educator Network will adjust and move forward. Others are still angry and expressing it.
One thing has become increasingly clear throughout the public outcry over last week’s events; we struck upon something with the Discovery Educator Network that went way beyond a few products for teachers to use in the classroom. And I’m not the only one who noticed this.
From Wes Fryer:
What a GREAT model the Discovery Education folks have come up with for DEN, to promote conversations and learning among in-service K-12 teachers. I thought at the time that DEN meet-ups and the digital DEN network provided an ideal chance for larger numbers of K-12 teachers to learn from each other and teach each other about digital education in the 21st century.
Jeff Giddens at SegaTech
First and foremost, we valued the DEN because it was personal, warm, and human. There are many educational organizations out there, many membership cards with numbers that you can wear, and many networks that educators can join.
…
We felt that perhaps the DEN was different from other strictly profit-driven networks. The DEN was not about free marketing, but about helping educators and being a haven for them.
Aaron Smith, the Academic Aesthetic
It is our job to help out our colleagues when it comes to tech savvy stuff. My first action as a DEN member was to lead a workshop to get teachers blogging, so while I know I have more learning to do I’m far from being a novice.
Yes, these quotes are taken out of context. In particular, the quotes from Jeff and Aaron are taken from posts absolutely slamming the events of last week (Jeff did some nice photoshop work with a tombstone). But one of the things I keep coming back to is if this was just a corporate support group that nobody gave a crap about, well they wouldn’t have taken the time to create podcasts about it, fill up discussion boards and leave literally hundreds of comments on the blogs.
Obviously we struck on a formula that worked, and worked incredibly well. I see the outrage, I see the anger, but what I really see underlying it all is people saying, “This is something I really care about and don’t want to lose.” People are afraid that the community they invested in and committed to is going to go away. Perhaps even worse, it’s going to become cold, dispassionate, distant and virtual. There’s no question, the initial post made it sound like we’re replacing the field managers with the website.
So what is it that people are so afraid of losing? What did we create that evoked such a response from the educational community?
A few more quotes from the blogs and discussion boards this time.
At a time in education where moral is waning due to budget constraints, the DEN was the spark that made me proud to be an educator. To be affiliated with such a supreme group was a blessing. — Gina Loveless
In my 38-year career in education I have run across both good and bad educational ideas. But the DEN program was beyond just a “good idea”. It was this huge corporation interacting personally with me and thousands of others educators in America and drawing us into a network of communication that allowed us to learn from each other about technology integration. — Kay Teehan
This dynamic community should continue because it has and will continue to do exactly what it was created to do — positively impact student learning and support educators as they reform educational practice and infuse their teaching with 21st century technologies. — Jennifer Dorman
Enough quotes. Here’s what I take away from them. My two cents if you will. The DEN made teachers feel respected, valued and above all, empowered. I’ve talked many times about how every teach is a rock star and just doesn’t realize it yet. They have information and experience that would be incredibly valuable to hundreds of other teachers out there, they just don’t realize it or have a connection to them. The DEN helped to built that connection. There are hundreds, thousands of DEN members who are learning that they aren’t behind the tech learning curve, most of them are actually ahead of it without realizing it. Without believing it.
We gave teachers that opportunity on a regular basis. We encouraged teachers to connect with each other, whether it revolved around Discovery products or not. So long as teachers were gathering together and learning from each other, then good things were going to come of it. For the educational community in general, and yes for the company as well. A company that deals in digital media benefits from a tech savvy teacher community.
There’s one other important take away from the posts and comments. While virtual communication is amazing, cheap and easy, it was the personal touch and interactions that really set it apart from many other communities. The DEN is so much more than a website, list-serv, blog or podcast. It was the direct, face to face contact that really set it apart.
Maybe it just comes down to basic human needs. Webinars are incredibly effective. I’ve done enough of them to know what works and what doesn’t. And while you can get the info out there, and people can definitely learn alot, there’s still some degree of disconnect that comes from them. It doesn’t touch people quite the same way. And teachers are passionate people. If our hearts and souls aren’t into what we’re doing, then we probably won’t be doing it. It guess it’s human nature, but that seems to be a key ingredient to what made our community so powerful.
As I look at all the comments made by people, both positive and negative, the overwhelming message is that people don’t want to lose their connection to each other. They don’t want it to end.
I’ve spent quite a bit of time over the last week thinking about why I signed on with Discovery Education in the first place. Considering recent events, I had to spend some real time doing some soul searching and to determine if this was time to start updating the resume. I haven’t done that, nor am I going to. There’s a ton of reasons, and yes the fact that my son will be born any day now definitely figured into it, but the main reason is that I still believe in what I signed up to do to begin with. We’ve created an amazing community of teachers revolving around one key concept: Sharing their knowledge with each other.
Why on earth should that change? Teachers still need to connect with each other and learn from each other. Heck, we learn better from each other than from anyone else. So if my belief in that hasn’t changed at all, why would I leave a community that has accomplished so much in such a short time? Yes, I’m saddened by what happened. There are times when I still get upset thinking about it. But I still believe today more than ever in what we worked so hard to create. And if the heart of the entire program was teachers learning from each other, then I know that it will continue on.
I’ve had quite a few people ask me via email whether I’m staying with Discovery and if so, how I can justify what happened. I can’t and I won’t. That’s not my place. I’m sticking with the program because I truly believe that it is making a profound difference for thousands of educators. And I think it’s just too valuable a program to walk away from. If there were any other way that I thought I could make a bigger difference in the field of education right now, maybe I’d be looking elsewhere. While I could achieve a more direct result by returning to the classroom, this position allows me to make a more diverse and widespread impact.
Some things just haven’t changed. Tech is still evolving and teachers still need to figure out how to adapt classrooms appropriately. With my son arriving any day now, I have a very personal reason for doing everything I can to make sure that he grows up in a strong, educational community that prepares him for his future. At the end of the day, I truly believe that’s what I’m doing.
Since I can’t find another means of contacting Jeff, I thought I’d make some public comments here. While I am not surprised that Discovery decided to abruptly end the Field Manager component of the DEN, I am shocked at what lengths some of the former managers are going to in order to sure their displeasure.
First and foremost, the DEN is a COMMERCIAL product; despite any number of good intentions, wishes to spread the word of educational technology, any member of the DEN or teacher aware of the DEN should have realized that the community was formed as a commercial entity. Why would a company as large as Discovery, undertake such a large project without some type of financial reward in the future? Sure, there are lots of people out there evangelizing and spreading the word about educational technology like Will Richardson and David Warlick that present a very altruistic vision of spreading ed tech, but they’re still trying to make a living doing it. All of the major prognosticators of the Edublogosphere are either working in an institution, earning money, spreading the word, or being paid to travel the country and speak at major conventions in order to spread the word.
Why should Discovery be any different? In fact, as a large corporation, I would expect that the bottom line was always a high priority. So why is it that there’s so much shock about what has happened? Did these former managers believe so much in the DEN’s philosophy that they were truly trying to help teachers? If so, then why shutdown the Discover This wiki and other resources? You’ve put time, energy, blood, sweat, and tears into creating some amazing materials for teachers. Don’t let the raw emotions, that are admitedly justifiable, make you trash all of the hard work you’ve done. Prove to Discovery, and more importantly the teachers you love, that you were in it for the adventure, the discvoery, the learning, and not just the prestige, the title, or the money (if field managers were compensated, which I am not privy to).
I could type on and on, but not knowing the specifics of why the FMs were shutdown, and not knowing the personal history of the Field Managers I believe I’ve ranted on long enough.
A shame that so many bright educators are looking at this as a defeat, and not a way to take the DEN model and improve upon it in a non-commercial way.
Yep. 
This is Daniel, from SEGA Tech (Dan & Jeff). We are the authors of the Broken Bulb video and Discover This wiki. I think maybe I should say a few things, maybe to clarify our stance on this.
First, I want to say that the DEN was the best organization I have ever belonged to. It still is, probably. I wish it well. I hope that everyone in the DEN continues to carry out the idea that it was based on: networking teachers with each other and using technology to help students understand more.
Jeff and I haven’t given up on that. We are in schools, helping teachers 4+ days out of the week (we rarely get a day in the office). We offer face-to-face training, guidance, and mentoring to our 12 school systems we serve. Somewhere along the way, we find time to post every day on SEGA Tech something that will benefit educators. We don’t do it for profit - we work as a contracted agency for the DOE, but we have passion for helping students and teachers every day. My only real professional goal is to reform education - to fix this terrible funk that our kids are learning in.
We believe in the DEN. But we also know that the methods Discovery used to cut “redundant” staff were wrong. There were many avenues they could have taken, especially considering that Discovery Education division’s revenue has jumped 350 percent since 2004.
Read the Washington Post article:
See, Discovery cut 84 positions and has acquired 7 other companies to employ 200 more. So they are growing, and profits are UP. This is part of what left a bad taste in our mouths. Discovery didn’t have to let go of folks without any warning. The FM’s were told during a meeting on a Thursday and were locked out of their email by the time they had walked back to their offices. They weren’t even allowed to contact us or save contact info.
We aren’t angry anymore - It’s been over a week, and we are thinking clearly. We wish everyone in the DEN well, but we also think that Discovery needs to be aware that their actions were wrong. They should be held accountable. We also have a hard time drinking their Kool-Aid after they gave our friends a black eye. Besides, how do we know that next year they won’t do the same thing? I know that I can’t sell their Cosmeo anymore with a clear conscience.
Jeff and I decided that we had many opportunities to help teachers and students in many ways, and that maybe we should pull back from corporate, profit-driven organizations. We received wonderful news just recently, from Patrice Weaver, Education Services Manager for Georgia Public Broadcasting. GPB wants to create a similar network for Georgia educators under the leadership of our old FM, Katherine Aiken. GPB is a non-profit entity that has given everything to educators time and again. We posted her email to us on SEGA Tech. Just scroll down to the post for Monday, Dec 12th.
We wish everyone the best, and we will continue to help DEN members and the remaining staff. Just email us! We have absolutely NO hard feelings towards the DEN or it’s remaining heroes. We just felt that we couldn’t play with Corporate Discovery anymore.
I should also clarify a few things, Ben.
Neither Jeff or I were Field Managers. Those were paid, full-time employees of Discovery Education. The Field Managers were let go because (according to the Washington Post article) they were considered redundant or overlapping. They were let go on Thursday afternoon and were not allowed to come back Friday. They are shopping for jobs as we shop for gifts.
We were definitely not in it for the prestige, title, or money. We actually gave up much of our personal time to work with the DEN and its members - we loved it too, and intend to keep in contact with all of those we met.
We intend to work closely with GPB’s new Technology In Education network (TIE), which hopes to achieve similar goals as the DEN, but without the strings of the corporate machine.
We were shocked about Discovery’s decision because it had successfully convinced us that it was NOT your typical corporate presence. Maybe if I use a folk tale as an example, it will help me explain the dismay many of us felt.
Discovery was a wolf (typical corporation) that convinced the flock (educators) that it really wanted to be a shepherd. It lead us to some very green pastures, and for a while, we were smitten. We even recruited more sheep, telling them all about this wonderful wolf that was really a shepherd. Really!
Then it “wolfed out” and bit a couple of the sheep (the Field Managers) and yet it continues to say, “Follow me, I’m a shepherd! We have come so far, and there are more green fields over yonder!”
Well, we still talk to that bitten friend, and many of us sheep are kinda scared that maybe this shepherd really IS just a wolf.
Jeff and I are looking to another shepherd, Georgia Public Broadcasting, to lead us in a good direction - only this one was never a wolf. With some heavy hearts, we leave the DEN flock - hoping they will be fine, but certain that we would rather not take our chances - no matter how green the grass might be. Heck, maybe we might become shepherds of our own.
Re: Daniel’s comment
I’ve already said my piece, so no need to elaborate. But I do want to straighten out a couple misunderstandings.
1)”The FM’s were told during a meeting on a Thursday and were locked out of their email by the time they had walked back to their offices.” None of the field managers had offices. They were told in the morning and had the rest of the day to straighten out their affairs. I know that isn’t much better, but they did have the day to straighten things out.
2) “The Field Managers were let go because (according to the Washington Post article) they were considered redundant or overlapping.” The redundant/overlapping comment actually referred to other positions in Discovery Education. The DEN was not the only part of the division affected by the cuts.
3) “There were many avenues they could have taken, especially considering that Discovery Education division’s revenue has jumped 350 percent since 2004.” To be honest, I didn’t understand that myself. April Hayes left a comment on the DEN blog that shed some light though. “The 350% increase in revenue doesn’t bother me, because it’s revenue and not profit. They’ve nearly tripled the amount of content on the site over the last 3 years and have grown in number of subscriptions by probably more than that. So a 350% increase in revenue is the result of a good product. Revenue doesn’t equal profit.”
so here’s the thing… Personal contact is of course the preferred model of teaching, it’s what we believe in for the students and we therefore believe in it for ourselves. But just as much, money is an increasing pressure on education at large, not to mention the business forces at play at Discovery. People are frustrated and rightfully so, but if you really believe the hype about the Read/Write web, you will use the momentum created by the DEN and promote, support and encourage the use of tech and new informational literacy to influence the teaching of those around you. One only need to project forward to envision the vast remaining potential of DEN. The greatest thing is that now, with Web 2.0, we get to decide what kind of impact this business decision has on our lives. We get to be either the force of continuing change or the lack there of. We choose.
I hated to see what happened to the FM for the DEN. The people that I know it those position were great people that cared about what they are doing. I thought the timing of letting people go was poor. However, I do agree with the comments that part of it is losing the community. I think it is up to all of us within the DEN to decide if what is there is worth supporting and being involved with in the future.
I think the answer is yes. Also, knowing the people in the DEN FM postitions I think they would be discouraged if what they created ended. The community and the work they did has value. Let’s not kill it in spite.
My humble thoughts,
Jim
12/17/2006
Thanks for clearing up the misconceptions that might have been floating around about the field managers. I agree that we need to continue the great work of the DEN. This is the most amazing group of educators I have ever met and I would hate to lose that connection. Once we get our state blogs up and running again we will be able to reconnect with the people in our region and begin rebuilding the DEN. Danielle and Karen poured their heart and soul into the network and we owe it to them to continue their vision.
12/18/2006
Revenue “
May help shed some light. It gets a bit confusing. I’d be clueless if not for a couple of nice book keepers at my first job out of school, in software sells.
12/28/2006
Time heals. As a FM, I loved every minute and opportunity to interact with teachers across the nation. I am grateful for Discovery’s vehicle to give us that start. There is no reason for the networking to ever end. Can’t wait to hear about that sweet little boy, Steve!
K
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