"Everyone's mutual interests are absolutely aligned"

[Cross-posted from Education Policy Blog.]

On Monday, the Chicago Tribune published a Q & A with Arne Duncan focusing on the relationship between the interests of businesses and the need for educational reform. The first question asked of Arne was:

Q Why include business in the policy debate about public education?

Arne's answer?

A We all need to work together on this stuff, business leaders and educators. Everyone's mutual interests are absolutely aligned.

Further along in the interview, Arne said:

We've lost our way educationally as a country. We've basically flat-lined. We have to educate our way to a better economy.

I agree with Arne. We have "lost our way educationally." And yes, part of the problem is a lack of "improvement" in education, no matter how you measure that. But I disagree with Arne's implication of where and why we've lost our way. He seems to believe (as do most Americans) that the ultimate purpose of education is job preparation, and that the schools' primary function is to prepare workers for the economy. As Tribune columnist Greg Burns. puts it in an accompanying article, "Schools should be teaching the skills that employers need -- vocational training as well as basic reading, math and technology."

Who can disagree that schools should be teaching reading, math, and technology? But "vocational training"? Business people don't realize what they are saying when they call for "vocational training" in schools. History shows that "vocational training" is a euphemism for "social reproduction," because when we divide students into those who are headed to college and those who are headed for jobs, we inevitably make decisions about which opportunities to provide to each kid based on measures that are more or less correlated with their parents' social class, whether these measures are standardized test scores or self-declared career interests. It is not possible to shunt some kids into "vocational training" without reflecting their social class, unless such assignments are made on a completely random basis, which would never fly with upper-middle class parents.

The call for "vocational training" in schools reflects an underlying confusion about the meaning of "vocational training"?

It can mean teaching very specific job-related skills such as welding, auto repair, or cooking.

Or, it can mean competencies such as "the ability to manage resources, to work amicably and productively with others, to acquire and use information, to master complex systems, and to work with a variety of technologies" (from the summary of the final Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) report from the US Department of Labor).

If the former, then "vocational training" isn't education at all, but training that serves primarily to limit a person's opportunities and options, making him or her a mere instrument of industry, subject to the commodification of labor and inevitable displacement by changing economic conditions. In that narrow sense, vocational training has no place in K-12 schools. As John Dewey wrote, in a chapter entitled "Vocational Aspects of Education" in Democracy and Education, "There is doubtless ... a tendency for every distinctive vocation to become too dominant, too exclusive and absorbing in its specialized aspect. This means emphasis upon skill or technical method at the expense of meaning. Hence it is not the business of education to foster this tendency, but rather to safeguard against it.... When educators conceive vocational guidance as something which leads up to a definitive, irretrievable, and complete choice, both education and the chosen vocation are likely to be rigid, hampering further growth. In so far, the calling chosen will be such as to leave the person concerned in a permanently subordinate position, executing the intelligence of others who have a calling which permits more flexible play and readjustment."

If by "vocational training" we mean the latter conception, of familiarity with the general ways that resources, information, human capital, and technologies interact in economic production, then yes, schooling should be restructured so that ALL students acquire a basic familiarity by the time they graduate from high school. Dewey continues:

"The dominant vocation of all human beings at all times is living -- intellectual and moral growth. In childhood and youth, with their relative freedom from economic stress, this fact is naked and unconcealed. To predetermine some future occupation for which education is to be a strict preparation is to injure the possibilities of present development and thereby to reduce the adequacy of preparation for a future right employment. To repeat the principle we have had occasion to appeal to so often, such training may develop a machine-like skill in routine lines (it is far from being sure to do so, since it may develop distaste, aversion, and carelessness), but it will be at the expense of those qualities of alert observation and coherent and ingenious planning which make an occupation intellectually rewarding. In an autocratically managed society, it is often a conscious object to prevent the development of freedom and responsibility, a few do the planning and ordering, the others follow directions and are deliberately confined to narrow and prescribed channels of endeavor. However much such a scheme may inure to the prestige and profit of a class, it is evident that it limits the development of the subject class; hardens and confines the opportunities for learning through experience of the master class, and in both ways hampers the life of the society as a whole."

The school restructuring that Dewey called for nearly 100 years ago was to refocus schools on what he called "occupations," not in the sense of a particular job, but in the sense of a continuous activity having social purpose. He wrote: "Both practically and philosophically, the key to the present educational situation lies in a gradual reconstruction of school materials and methods so as to utilize various forms of occupation typifying social callings, and to bring out their intellectual and moral content. This reconstruction must relegate purely literary methods -- including textbooks -- and dialectical methods to the position of necessary auxiliary tools in the intelligent development of consecutive and cumulative activities."

Such a paragraph could very well be written today, although it might be couched in a somewhat more modern prose. But the central idea that education should conduct to "the intelligent development of consecutive and cumulative activities"--that is, to interaction with the environment in such a way that meaning is progressively realized--is a timeless ideal. Many educators believe strongly that schools should be producing meaning--intelligence--and not just job skills. And so, educators tend to resist the bald claim of "business leaders" that schools should focus on "vocational training," and justly so.

To the extent that business leaders forget--and they do forget--that the purpose of economic activity is to support a richer and fuller life (rather than the other way around), there is most definitely NOT an absolute alignment between business interests and the interests of educators. Life is not primarily about earning a living or serving the interests of corporations. Putting a narrow conception of "vocational training" at the center of schools results in a denigration of the arts, music, physical education, play, creativity, citizenship, morality, character, appreciation, family, relationships, and a whole host of other things that are central to a rich life as a human, not to mention the intelligent understanding of how diverse economic activities fit into a larger system with political consequences. These considerations should be central in the contemporary public discussion about how to improve schooling, but if one looks at things primarily from a "business leader" standpoint, they are often left aside (especially when talking about the education of poor minority children, who are often seen as simply needing "basic" and "job skills"). Who will remind business leaders that those children also have lives, outside of their jobs?

I think it should be Arne Duncan.

Some teacher perspectives on technology (especially video games)

This evening I did was is called a "resource session" for a group of teachers in our Interdisciplinary Studies Program (IDS), a master's level program focusing on action research in which the curriculum is co-created between one primary professor and a group of students over the course of the 2-year program; other "resource people" are brought in periodically to supplement the expertise of the primary professor. The topic was "technology." I asked the primary professor several times prior to the session what specific topics I should prepare, and gave her a menu of possibilities:

• Using google docs to collaborate
• Web 2.0 applications of all sorts
• Photo editing
• Video editing
• Data analysis
• Charts and graphs
• Google maps
• Handling large files
• Open source instructional software
• Tech integration—given a particular subject area and grade level
• Virtual environments (Second Life) for teachers
• Digital storytelling
  

Her answers were vague, including this response: "I would think web applications and tech integration would be standard. But can you do the more exotic too, like digital storytelling, second life, data analysis. The sessions will be about 3 hours or so, so there should be time, no?"

I tried to point out that any ONE of these topics would easily take 3 hours to even begin to introduce, but decided I would prepare three primary topics: what is technology integration, Web 2.0 applications and education, and a brief intro to using Excel and Access to analyze student performance data. Obviously, with less than one hour per topic, I intended these to be overviews, hoping the students would ask questions about other things that interested them, and would take advantage of the many links to other resources I provided on a session outline on my web site.

Well, not unexpectedly, things didn't go according to plan. First, when I arrived and described what I intended to do to the primary professor, she blanched at the data analysis piece. "We don't need that!" I responded, "but that was one of the things you suggested I try to cover!" She said "I thought you meant qualitative data!" From her perspective, since the IDS program is about action research, and the participants are expected to collect qualitative data as part of their research (and not quantitative data), the students didn't need to know about analyzing quantitative data. "But in addition to participating in the program, they are teachers, aren't they? Don't they have to deal with student test data? Wouldn't they want to know something about that?" "Well," she said, "you can ask them, and if they want it, you can do that. But I hope you're prepared to rustle something up on the fly."

Turns out she was right. When the students arrived, we went through the agenda, and I asked them about their interest in learning how to use Excel and Access to analyze data. "Is that some kind of database program," one asked. When I described what it was I was going to show (how to take Illinois Student Achievement Test (ISAT) test data and look at subgroups, a chorus of heads shook. "Oh, we have people who do that." "They do the analysis for us." I didn't say anything, although I was thinking "aren't you the least bit curious about how that it done?" For most of them, the answer is an emphatic NO.

But this conversation needn't have happened, because we never had time for it anyway. While talking about what I took to be the major reasons to do technology integration--focusing on "meaningfulness" as the ultimate educational criterion--I made an off-hand remark that I thought that video games have a lot to teach teachers about education. OMG! That set off a firestorm of conversation that took up most of the next two hours.

I know that the idea that video games are relevant to education is somewhat controversial to the general public. However, I had no idea it is that controversial among this cross-section of suburban teachers. "What about violence?" "We don't want our kids sitting in front of a computer screen for five hours at a time!" "Yeah, sure, their learning a lot shooting up prostitutes in Grand Theft Auto...."

One teacher was intrigued enough by my statement that he asked me to explain exactly what I thought video games have to teach us about teaching. I talked a bit about "goal-based scenarios" (Roger Shank's term) and "simulated virtual environments" such as Sasha Barab's QuestAtlantis. A bunch of heads nodded when I discussed how placing students into complex situations in which they are instrumental in solving problems was intrinsically engaging; that most young people liked video games in which they had to master multiple tasks and complex sitautions to solve problems rather than just shooting their way through the game; and that classroom teachers would do well to pay attention to the ways virtual environments could be used to place students into sitauations of social complexity and responsibility. But some of the teachers (especially some of the younger women) couldn't get past Grand Theft Auto.

"I teach middle schoolers, and the last thing I want is for them to go home and stare at a screen for hours learning how to kill people." "They have to learn how to make good choices and these video games don't teach that!" "What does Halo 3 teach kids about how to get along in social situations." This led inevitably to "what's gonne happen to these students who spend all their time playing with the computer and never learn how to interact with others," and so on.

One teacher described how he sees groups of kids walking down the sidewalk, each person's head buried into their cell phones, oblivious to the others, texting away. "What about the people you're with? If you're texting all the time, how can you learn how to interact with real people?" I pointed out that there were plenty of social situations when *I* was growing up in which having the option to text with someone thoughtful would have been a welcome escape from the prepubescent nonesense and even (often) hurtful barbs. "But how do we know they're texting with someone thoughtful," he asked. "How do we know they're not?" I asked.

I pointed out that for a 40-something person to look on the activities of a group of 12 year olds and judge it from their own 40-year old perspective (which clearly is more focused on possible long-term effects of activities) which has NO experience of participating in that same situation (with that option for texting) was kind of short-sighted. I pointed out that taking a more historical or sociological perspective (and paying attention to research) might provide a better perspective. While that teacher listened thoughtfully to my response, the group of young women over on one side of the room couldn't get past Grand Theft Auto.

Clearly, this is a push-button issue for many people. My belief is that whenever people REACT to a topic with such knee-jerk, pre-programmed responses (especially when they are so quick to dismiss any potential for good in a new or unfamiliar mode of being), there's very little thought going on. I did what I could to raise questions and offer alternative views, but they were already set in their beliefs, and the more I suggested that they look at it differently, the more dismissive of ME they became. (In other words, because I am open-minded about this stuff, I'm part of the problem.)

After this long discussion, I showed a video of a TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson called "Do schools kill creativity?" He doesn't talk much about technology in that talk, but at the end, I asked them what this had to do with technology. "You were able to show this to us using technology." "Well, yeah, but I mean what did the CONTENT have to do with technology?" It took a while before someone suggested that maybe technology could enhance creativity. I added that often times the "creative" energies of students took them in a direction otehr than that which the teacher wanted. I also pointed out that many times the response of teachers is not about encouraging thinking OR creativity, but about getting the students to do what they're told. "It's about control. Schools are...and have been for much of their history...instruments of control." The primary professor piped in: "And teachers often become agents of that control."

YES. And it's attitudes like those that emerged from my offhand comment about videos that often play into that role.

Later in the discussion, I pointed out that teachers have a moral obligation to express their own values even if they differ from those of the school. "Change starts with each of us," I said. "Schools will never change," one of the more vocal anti-video-game teachers said. "There's nothing we can do."

Sigh.

I guess the kids will have to take over, for real. Let's hope they do it before they get completely socialized into the beliefs of some of their teachers.

Getting it wrong again, and again (and again)

This is cross-posted from Education Policy Blog.

So once again two "former governors from different political parties who remain passionate about the quality of education in America" (Chicago Tribune, Perspective, May 3, 2009) have weighed in with a grand proposal about how Arne Duncan should use his "$5 billion to transform education in America" to "improve student achievement and ultimately revolutionize our economy and workforce for the 21st century."

Neither Jeb Bush nor James B. Hunt Jr. have any background in the field of education, other than being governors. Neither has ever been a teacher, principal, superintendent (although it's possible Hunt had some personal knowledge of education, having majored in college in "agricultural education"--although he seems to have gone on and immediately got a masters studying how to raise tobacco better, oh, and within two years of college was also studying law--he only failed the bar exam the first time--and was, according to all of biographies I can find on the Web, "an early proponent of teaching standards," and married a teacher, although she quit her job as teacher to become full-time first-lady--can't blame her for that!). Yet because they are "passionate" about "the quality of education in America," and because they believe themselves (implicitly) to offer a balanced perspective (being, after all, "from different political parties"), they think they know how best to spend that money.

Let's hope that Arne doesn't take their advice lock, stock, and barrel.

One of their ideas is truly innovative and would be a very good idea: create a national, free, repository of world-class online educational opportunities where "students, parents, teachers, principals, and school administrators" (and former governors?!?) "could shop for a better education. Virtual courses open to everyone would tear down the chief barrier to student achievement--access to a quality education." Well, that certainly is ONE barrier to student achievement, and it could be reduced through such a national repository. The two former governors liken it to "an Amazon.com of courses and curricula." I don't really think that's the correct analogy, but there might be some worth in using an interface like Amazon's, including user ratings and reviews. I'd prefer an analogy like the American Memory project of the Library of Congress (which makes public domain and other archival materials available with a simple-to-use interface), of learning objects. (While learning objects might include "courses and curricula," we need to dramatically broaden our conception of what kind of content would provide the most useful "access to a quality education"--and "learning object" is a good, neutral, non-confining conception.) Add on a Web 2.0 type of access system (including the folksonomy of tags, ratings, personal profiles, sharing, etc. on the order of Diigo or De.lic.i.ous) and this is a wonderful, doable idea. Just make sure that you've got teachers involved, because teachers DO know some things that "former governors" do not, about motivation, the influence of culture and peer pressure, and the importance of appropriate scaffolds for each individual learner. Because "access to quality education" isn't just a matter of making it available on the Amazon-courses-repository.com. In fact, "access" is, at best, half of the solution to making sure every student gets a quality education..."access" depends, in large measure, on the student having both the interest in the resources and the skills or guidance necessary to use it appropriately...two factors that aren't magically in place once something is available online!...a point that is obvious to anyone who has actually poked around on the Web and realized what is ALREADY available there, to those who know what they want and how to find it.

The other suggestions made by these "passionate" "former governors" (who, of course, are therefore the most qualified to know what can "improve student achievement"...just look at all the positive gains that former governors have produced in American students during the past 20 years when "former governors" have been so front-and-center in reform efforts!) make are kind of laughable, not only because we've heard them all before, but because they are proffered with such complete naivete about how familiar they have become. Schools should have "comprehensive data systems," so that we can use the "test scores" of a whole "class" to "tell us whether a teacher is effective" and "an entire state of test scores" to "tell whether a policy is working." "When empirical data replace emotion as the basis for developing policy, America will be able to transformt he quality of education into a world-class system of learning." GOLLY! What a new idea!!!! Get rid of that most human of characteristics--emotion--and that most human of activities--education--will suddenly become as efficient and effective as the "world class" automobile industries America has created using the mantra of Total Quality Management and Continuous Improvement!!

(Wait! Haven't these "empirical" systems of management been used in corporate America for decades!?!? Have they made our industries "world-class"? Has the evisceration of emotion from business resulted in the dramatic increases in quality that these "former governors" (passionate--mind you!) predict for the schools??!?)

(Yesterday, I was at a keynote address at the National-Louis University's Center for Practitioner Research Forum, given by Karen Gallas, whom I really liked. Karen, of course, got way, way, WAY, too caught up in emotion, when she talked about how the kindergarteners she was teaching on the Navaho reservation responded so directly to her efforts at forming close relationships with them, but only showed "bald-faced defiance" to her attempts to use authority...and about how these kids could only really be brought into a cooperative group when Karen came to her wit's end and began quietly singing "Little Rabbit Foo-Foo" to herself in the middle of a chaotic classroom. I don't recall hearing Karen talk about the relationship of this "out of the blue" inspiration to just sing with "empirical data" or even "comprehensive data systems." In fact, now that I think about it "passionately" (like these former governors...WAIT! they don't want passion...they want DATA), Karen was WAY too emotionally involved in her job, and with her students, to possibly be effective with them. Damn emotion....get it OUT of schools and classrooms!!! There's the ticket!!!)

But I digress from describing these, um, tired and worn out reform suggestions. In addition to more comprehensive data systems and more empirical data and (God willing!) less emotion, these passionate (um, emotional? No, of course not, these guys are totally empirical....um, except of course they ignore the record of the, um, "success" of these reform suggestions...I guess maybe the demand for "empirical data" doesn't apply to "former governors" writing op-eds in national newspapers....)

But I digress again. The suggestions!!! "Making progress toward rigorous college-and career-ready standards and assessments". (WOW, there's a new idea). "Making improvements in teacher effectiveness" (hmm....like the improvements in the quality of American automobiles...yes? Let's model teacher education programs after corporate quality assurance programs! Yes!) Oh, and "providing intensive support and effective interventions for the lowest-performing schools." (Oooooh, yeah, there's the ticket! More requirements for direct instruction in those skills measured on the tests....more shutting down those schools that are dysfunctional...more reconstitution of schools requiring every staff member to re-apply so we can replace the veterans with wet-behind-the-ears recruits who will toe the line and parrot our "world class" curriculums and (by the way) let's make sure the principals of the reconstituted schools get the power to force at least a third of the recalcitrant STUDENTS out, too!). Oh, and creating a market for quality teachers by paying them more! (Hmmm.....I actually like that one....it appeals to my sense of the importance of teaching, especially in difficult schools...but, um, is that really based on empirical data...or is that an emotional response to the visceral sense I have that good teachers are worth their weight in gold....oh, I GET IT...the demand for "empirical data" to replace "emotion" is only required in those cases where emotion somehow conflicts with the corporatization of schooling!!! Aha! Why don't the former governor's just SAY THAT?!?!

"PASSIONATE FORMER GOVERNORS--FROM BOTH PARTIES--CALL FOR FURTHER CORPORATIZATION OF AMERICAN SCHOOLS" -- now there's a headline that speaks the truth!!!

Hmmm, clearly, I've let my emotions run away from me. Back to the data...um, what data? There's no data in this piece. There's just a string of cliches about the (clearly obvious...no need for data here) ways that schools will (WILL, we say!) be improved by applying corporatist management strategies to schools.

Then there's the call for the national online learning object repository and Web 2.0-like user-created-folksonomy access system (using my language for it). The former governors write "let's stop tinkering around the edges of reforms and really revolutionize the way we deliver knowledge to students." (You know, the way that FedEx and UPS have "really revolutionized the way we deliver" parcels to people. I think we need bar codes on the students' foreheads....no, really, that will help!) (No "tinkering around the edges...MORE DATA SYSTEMS!!!)...."Learning is no longer local, yet we still operate in a system ruled by traditonal course work and antiquated textbooks."

Hmmmm..... "learning is no longer local"? What? Where's the data for that claim, gentlemen? Methinks you might be confusing two things: (1) the globalization of the kinds of things we want our kids to learn, and (2) the locus of ALL learning, which is in the hearts and minds of individual students (Sorry, no hearts...can't have that emotion)...in the MINDS of individual students.

Huh? Wait. We're trying to get that "individual" part out of there, aren't we??!? Education should assume (ASSUME!) that "learning is no longer local." And, of course, that means getting rid of "traditional course work and antiquated textbooks". Well, yeah, that would be good. And replace it all with a NATIONAL ONLINE CAMPUS OF VIRTUAL SCHOOLS! Yes!!! All of them stripped, if possible, of anything emotional or local. After all, this isn't about individual people! It's about transforming America's educational system!!!

Damn. I'm just overwhelmed with how much sense this makes. Kids not learning?!?! They clearly need more standards and more tests. And get rid of those veteran teachers using those traditional methods. We need those Navajo kindergarteners to get online, and get learning. Put them in Blackboard! (Or, better, Amazon.com!) Then they'll learn!!!

Just to make sure you understand how "passionate" they are, these former governors end their provocative perspective piece with a reminder that "The world has entered into an education arms race. The winners will be the countries that prepare their students will the knowledge and skills to scucess in the increasingly cometitive global marketplace. Science, math, engineering...these fields of study are the breeding ground of innovation and the fountainhead of prosperity."

O.M.G. We're back in 1957. Sputnik has launched, and our nation better be gear up for an "education arms race." Gotta get those scientists educated. Gotta be steely-eyed about this. No emotion. Facts!

Culture? Motivation? Interest? Relationships? Critical thinking?!??!

None of that is important.

We're at war, and we must act. Passionately. Doing the same things we've been trying to do for years. But working harder.

And without emotion, please.

Creating a space in Second Life

At the Technology in Education program director's request, I've been working on outfitting a building on the Chicago Public Schools "island" in Second Life for NLU's Technology in Education and SLIS programs.

The building that the Chicago Public Schools designated for us to use is an "Arts and Crafts" style building, supposed to represent a Chicago bungalow. I didn't build the building, which has two floors and a rooftop deck. In addition to furnishing the first two floors, I also built a SkyDeck, which is outfitted to be a classroom.

So far, the Roof-Top Deck is empty…I'm thinking of putting some kind of Lounge or recreational area there.

I'll continue to tweak this further, but it's certainly usable now. You can find it here: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Chicago%20Public%20Schools/37/231/23.

Here's a brief tour.

This is a map of the CPS "island". Notice the "river" designed to represent the Chicago river. The NLU building is all the way on the upper left. The large tan rectangle is the SkyDeck from "space":

This is the building from the front. Behind it is a region called "Land of Lincoln…that's a model of the Lincoln Memorial on the right:

This is inside the first floor:. The screen to the left can display web pages…..it's showing the TIE page on the NCE site. The red, yellow, and green balls are "teleporters" to enable one to go to the second floor, roof, and skydeck:

This is another view inside the first floor (notice the SLIS web page information on the left):

This is looking into the first floor through the back window. Notice the TIE brochure (and our program director's pretty face) on the wall:

This is the second floor conference room. (I spent about $2.22 on the conference table and chairs…they have animations built into them.) The collage on the right is from the Lisle Thursday TIE group that finished in Fall of 2007:

This is the Sky Deck. The screen can show images (including PowerPoint) and videos:

We look forward to using this space!!! (Stay tuned!)

Learning more than I wanted to starting out....2/14/09 (and 2/15/09, and 2/16/09...) version

2-16-09: Dictionary.com's word of the day today is:

interminable: seeming to have no end

...quite appropriate to THIS tale!!!

So we have a whole bunch of VHS tapes, mostly kid's movies from when our daughter was young, that take up a lot of space and are in some cases becoming damaged from overuse, so we've decided to convert some of them to DVD. Simple enough, right? You just capture the output of the VCR into the computer and then write it to a DVD, right?

Hmmmmm, well, maybe. Here are the steps I had to go through BEFORE what follows:

1. VCR hookup to the TV/tuner card in the computer (had to find correct dongle)
   
2. Repeatedly crashing Windows Movie Maker and Windows Media Encoder
   
3. No sound in the feed from the VCR (need the RCA cables along with the S-Video cable)
4. Overnight encoding resulting in full disk (didn't realize could set Encoder to a time limit)
   
5. Had to re-encode video with Windows Media Encoder becuase it had no "index"
6. Attempt to use AdobePremier to create DVD. Was able to add "markers," but not able to get Premier to recognize DVD-RW.
   
7. Conversion to AVI (using Premier), with thought of using Nero to create DVD.
   
8. Nero kept saying there was no disk in the drive.
9. Went to Office Depot to get new DVD+Rs thinking maybe the ones I had were corrupt.
   
10. Still, no response from DVD-RW
    
11. Attempted Driver updates - no newer driver (it's using generic Microsoft drivers)
    
12. Firmware flash to change Firmware from BGS4 to BSOY (stock)
13. Attempt to use Lite-On BSOY driver....says it already has latest Lite-On driver
    

Then, I decided to search the Microsoft site for an updated generic driver. I typed "Microsoft atapi driver" into Google. Second on the list was the following:

how to enable 48-bit Logical Block Addressing support for ATAPI ...
Describes Microsoft Windows XP SP1 48-bit Logical Block Addressing (LBA) support ... To determine if you have the latest ATAPI driver, verify that you have ...
support.microsoft.com/kb/303013 - Similar pages -

This was the first I'd heard of "Logical Block Addressing," but I saw the "To determine if you have the latest ATAPI driver," and decided this might give me something useful, so I clicked it.

I read

"This article describes the Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1) 48-bit Logical Block Addressing (LBA) support for ATA Packet Interface (ATAPI) disk drives that can increase the capacity of your hard disk to more than the current 137 gigabyte (GB) limit."

This was a hard drive issue, clearly, and not what I wanted. So I typed "atapi dvd" into the Microsoft search box, and it offered to auto-complete this to "atapi dvd drivers download," so I accepted that. This brought me to an Advanced Search results page, with a few things near the top that didn't look especially relevant, so I searched the results on that page for "dvd." I found this entry on the list:

List of fixes included in Windows XP Service Pack 2
(811113) - ... com/?kbid=330232) Debugging cannot debug drivers ... Windows XP Does Not Recognize a DVD-RW Disc: Base ... 816764 (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=816764) ATAPI ...
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811113/de

While I've kept my computer updated with the service packs, the "Windows XP Does Not Recognize a DVD-RW Disc" looked very promising, so I followed the link. It brought me to

a list of Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB) articles that describe the fixes and updates that are contained in Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2). This article is primarily intended to help IT Professionals and corporate helpdesks to support and maintain a company’s computer system.

If you are running Windows XP SP2 on your home computer, notebook, or small network, and you have questions about Windows XP SP2, please visit the following Microsoft Web site: http://support.microsoft.com/windowsxpsp2

Clearly, Microsoft would prefer if I not pursue this line of inquiry, but I am not one to easily accept that I'm not able to handle the role of an "IT Professional," so I searched the page for "DVD" and found:

818733 (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=818733)

Windows XP Does Not Recognize a DVD-RW Disc

Base operating system

and clicked on the link, taking me to "Windows XP does not recognize a DVD-RW disc". I read under "Symptoms":

When you insert a DVD-RW disc into the DVD drive of a Microsoft Windows XP-based computer, Windows XP does not recognize the disc. For example, you do not see any files on the disc.

YES! My problem exactly. So then I read under "Cause":

"This issue occurs because the Universal Disc Format driver, Udfs.sys, tries to read the DVD-RW disc by using a packet length of 32 blocks instead of by using a packet length of 16 blocks. CD-RW uses a packet length of 32 blocks, but DVD-RW uses a packet length of 16 blocks.

Hmmmm...... This certainly could account for exactly the problem I was having (wouldn't read any DVD, whether commercial, homemade data, or blank. But the resolution offered was to upgrade to the latest service pack, and, as I've said, I keep my computer up-to-date using automatic update. Below that recommendation, however, was a section entitled "Hotfix information," which said that "A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem."

Well, my system was experiencing "the problem that is described", so I followed the link to the hotfix, and got a page with a "Agreement for Microsoft Services," which (of course) I didn't read but accepted, and got to a list of languages available, chose English, entered the required email address and Captcha code, and clicked "Request Hotfix." Soon, it arrived in my inbox.

Mmmmm.....I rubbed my hands. Would this do it?

In the email, there were a bunch of warnings:

This hotfix has not undergone full testing. Therefore, it is intended only for systems or computers that are experiencing the exact problem that is described in the one or more Microsoft Knowledge Base articles that are listed in "KB Article Numbers" field in the table at the end of this e-mail message. If you are not sure whether any special compatibility or installation issues are associated with this hotfix, we encourage you to wait for the next service pack release. The service pack will include a fully tested version of this fix. We understand that it can be difficult to determine whether any compatibility or installation issues are associated with a hotfix. If you want confirmation that this hotfix addresses your specific problem, or if you want to confirm whether any special compatibility or installation issues are associated with this hotfix, support professionals in Customer Support Services can help you with that. [and then some contact information and then this:]

Before you install this hotfix

------------------------------

If you decide to install this hotfix, please note the following items:

Do not deploy a hotfix in a production environment without first testing the hotfix.

Back up the system or the computer that will receive the hotfix before you install the hotfix.

Hmmmmm, I thought. Should I "back up my system"??!?! That seems extreme for this particular solution. However, they seem serious about this. But, what the heck, what could possible go wrong? :-)

So I downloaded the hotfix, ran the self-extractor, typed in the required pasword, and it unzipped some files onto my hard drive:

file:///C:/dump/hotfix.txt

file:///C:/dump/Q818733_WXP_SP2_ia64_ENU.exe

file:///C:/dump/Q818733_WXP_SP2_ia64_ENU_Symbols.exe

Should I read the text file? Well, since there are two executables here, I guess I should. Besides some legal stuff ("this is provided As-Is, etc), it said, under "Installation Instructions":

1. If this hotfix was delivered with hfx.exe then it can be installed by running hfx.exe from the appropriate platform directory.

Um, but it wasn't. There's no "hfx.exe" file. Just those two executables. Hmmm....

This made me nervous. I decided to do a little further investigation.

So I typed "Uniform Disc Format Driver packet length dvd" into Google. There were a bunch of Linux-related things talking about the very problem I was having, but nothing Windows-related on the first page. So I added "udfs.sys" to the search, and found about half-way down the page:

[SOLVED] Can't write DVD - Ubuntu Forum

10 posts - Last post: Dec 19, 2007

My DVD drive doesn't show up. Disc name is greyed out, ... system> ... /dev/hda /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec 0 0 ... [ 15.754365] Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.20 .... FORMAT allocaion length isn't sane or at the CLI I get: ...
ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=64425

...so I followed that link. It deals with Linux, again. The posts are mostly one guy talking to himself. The final post is:

"I solved the problem. I swapped the DVD player out with another one and it works. Probably was some sort of firmware issue but I don't know why."

Hmmmm.....I'm beginning to think that isn't such a bad idea. However, I do have this hotfix that I could run. Thinking maybe I should just find out a little bit more, I typed "Q818733_WXP_SP2_ia64_ENU.exe" into Google.

Nothing.

How about, "udfs.sys windows dvd"? A few entries down, I find this:

[PDF]Re: windows wont recognize dvd ramFile Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
replaced the original udfs.sys and cdfs.sys. (C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers &. C:\

WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386) with. Re: windows wont recognize dvd ram ...
www.tech-archive.net/pdf/Archive/WinXP/microsoft.public.windowsxp.video/2006-08/msg00308.pdf

Hey, it mentions the hotfix!!!

I also was checking into the
udfs.sys file that may
have
caused this problem. Im not completely sure
if this HotFix from
microsoft
is the cure. I'll check back after I get the
model number and let you
konw
the outcome.

Towards the bottom of the document, I found this:

I recently bought a Toshiba RD−XS24 DVD−Recorder. It
has a huge HDD but
I'm mainly interested in transfering the recorded videos to
my
computer, so I started recording on DVD−RW and
DVD−RAM discs in VR
mode, but my system (Windows XP SP1) wouldn't "see"
anything at all.
Microsoft has a HotFix (KB818733), but there is no direct
dowload, so I
looked for the files udfs.sys and cdfs.sys on the Internet and
finally
found them on eDonkey (version 5.1.2600.2180 for both of
them). I
replaced the original udfs.sys and cdfs.sys
(C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers &
C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386) with
the ones I dowloaded and the problem was immediately
solved. Now, my
system sees the VRO (mpeg−2) video files and I can copy
them easily.
When replacing the .sys files Windows will warn you against
doing so,
but ignore the warning (you should keep the originals
renamed just in
case something goes wrong).

WOW! This is another solution! Do I get the sys files from the 'net and replace them, or do I do the hotfix?

I needed to know the versions of the drivers. So I fired up the control panel and went into the "system" applet and then into Hardware and then to the Device Manager, and for some reason my DVD-RW was MISSING from the list. Hmmmmm......

I'm thinking to myself, maybe there's something unstable in the operating system....maybe I should just reboot my computer, and this problem will be solved?

...to be continued.....

So I rebooted, and the DVD-RW drive returned to the list. I looked at the properties, driver, details, and got a list of drivers, but no udfs.sys listed there. So I looked in My Computer under Windows/system32/drivers and found usfs.sys, version 5.1.2600.5512 and cdfs.sys, same version number, both created 4/13/2005. In other words, when Windows XP Media Center edition was first installed on my gateway. These versions are HIGHER than the "new" ones listed in the PDF page mentioned just above. But maybe I do need to replace them?

Or do that hotfix?

Before going further, I decided to test the DVD-RW again by putting a full DVD data disk in it. Again, no response.

I decided to go to eDonkey.com to find out if there are newer versions of the udfs.sys or cdfs.sys files. Turns out, it's a peer-to-peer file sharing system similar to Limewire, and most users use a client called eMule, available at http://www.emule-project.net/. I didn't really want to get into that, so (for now), gave up that approach.

Time to do the hotfix, I guess.

...to be continued.....

So I "did" the hotfix. I wasn't entirely sure how to do it, so I just ran the first *.exe file. Something flashed on the screen that I couldn't read....then I get this message:


Hmmmm..... not very reassuring.

So I tried opening a Command window (Start....Run...."command") and running it from there:


Same exact error. However, I notice that behind that error message is another little pop-up window:

What the heck? "o:\..."? I have a drive o. It's an external hard drive. I look there, and sure enough, there's a directory there, O:\9a56ff9f258d505a5f3c30. In that directory are a few files, including the offending xpsp1hfm.exe:


I wonder if I should run it.

Why not? (At this point, I'm just throwing stuff up on the wall.) So I click "okay" on the error message, and then switch back to the window showing that odd directory on O:.

Strange! The contents are gone, and in their place is this:


Hmmmm..... So I follow the shortcut, and it takes me right back to the same place:


Damn, that's odd!!! The files were there just a moment ago. Now it's a circular shortcut reference!!!

This is getting bizarre.

I decide to run the executable again, but don't click the "ok" on the error message. There's a new directory in O: now, called O:\75e7fb32d55e3dbbabde5f2c2792. It has the files in it.

I wonder if I click "Ok" will THIS directory now have a circular shortcut in it?

I decide not to find out (yet), and run the xpsp1hfm.exe. Here goes nothin'!

And, in fact, I get another error:


Will it run in a command window? (They certainly don't make this easy!!!) When I click "ok", the directory is now gone. I realize that the circular shortcut above must have been something *I* created, preventing the directory from being erased.

So what do I do now? I decide that maybe the file got corrupted during the download process, and go back to the email and download and extract it again.

Same thing. Ugh.

So I think it's time to try a different tack. I had read somewhere that someone with a similar problem had solved it by switching the DVD-RW and DVD-ROM drives so that the latter is the master and the former is the slave drive. So I shut my computer down and open it up, and switch the drives. (They are both set as "Cable Select," so I simply switch their position and reattach the cable so that their roles are switched. Then I restart and make sure that the "Master/Slave" roles are switched. Yes. But no, the DVD-RW still doesn't read DVDs.

I am about to give up. I could just buy a new DVD-RW drive and it would probably work fine. Maybe this one is just defective?

I notice in the Control Panel (when I check to make sure the roles are switched) that device 1 (the DVD-RW, now the "slave") has an odd indicator:


Notice under "Current Transfer Mode," it says "Not Applicable"? What the heck does THAT mean? Clearly, there's something going on with that drive.

Just to be sure, I check on my wife's computer to see what that setting says on hers. Both drives are listed as "Ultra DMA Mode 2."

Hmmmm.... this seems to be the first indication that my COMPUTER is aware that there might be an issue with the DVD-RW. Just to be sure, I check to make sure it still can read CDs (in case what happened when I switched them is it got disabled). It works to read CDs.

Time to investigate DMA!! (Understand why this post it titled "Learning more than I wanted to starting out"?)

...to be continued...