Moving at the Speed of Creativity

The Connectivist learning theory, developed by George Siemens and others, focuses on the value of knowledge residing on the network, the value of connecting to both networked knowledge and other individuals via network connections, and the value of collaboratively contributing to this networked knowledge base. In his post “Connectivism squares with our experience,” Ken Carroll writes with respect to neural networks:

No one can really know what goes on in learners’ synapses, but we all know that it is possible to induce learners to mobilize their cognitive faculties to a greater or lesser extent. More cognitive and affective experiences lead to more thinking, more synaptic connections, and more learning. To this end, we have sought to leverage guesswork, repetition, stories, context, in-depth discussion, etc, to offer what Siemens might call ’frequency, diversity, and depth of exposure’ to the content. I’ve always maintained that learning is multi-dimensional, and deepened when you approach the subject from different angles. The connections around the subject should be many and varied, a position consistent with connectivism: ’The act of knowing is to be in a particular manner of connectedness’.

Ken and other teachers affiliated with his ChinesePod learning initiative are leaders of the learning revolution. The way in which they perceive and define their identities as educators is different in a basic way from the traditional “sage on the stage” model. Ken writes:

The teachers and practitioners on ChinesePod do not see ourselves as lecturers or teachers who impart knowledge in the old sense. Instead, we are connectors, or resources who point learners at key patterns or elements that help strengthen their connection to a piece of information (and emphasize the skill of being able to identify patterns).

This redefinition of the role and self-perception of the educator is critical in the 21st century learning revolution. I had a conversation with our 9th grade babysitter last night, and heard her relate how the majority of the time she spends in high school today is taking written notes while teachers lecture. Teachers do NOT provide digital access to notes and materials, and students are quizzed regularly about the content on which they have taken textual notes to see if this traditional “broadcast/spray model” of learning has been effective. (Or at least if the items included in the quiz have temporarily been stored in short term memory.) We MUST move beyond this traditional “banking model” of education, and I’m convinced the impetus for these changes is NOT coming and is not GOING to come from “inside the system” of traditional education.

Earlier this month Chinesepod reached a milestone with the publication of its 1000th Mandarin lesson. The success of Ken and his team help answer one of the questions asked by an adult learner in my class on “Lifelong Learning with iTunes University” this past Wednesday: “Why are so many things online free?” Glyn Moody noted:

He [Ken Carroll] understands that in the digital age, the secret to making money is to give away the entry-level stuff to attract interest and build a vibrant community, and then to make money by offering premium content to people who are already know the value of your free resources.

In our flat-world landscape, there are more opportunities to learn, teach, educate, AND make a living than ever before. I’m here as a witness for the case, “Do more connections lead to more learning?” Of course they do. Ken knows this, and you likely do as well if you’re reading this post online.

How many of the teachers we work with on a daily basis understand the foundational elements of connectivisim? VERY, VERY few in my estimation. Why don’t they understand? Because they have not EXPERIENCED connectivisim. It is not enough to show or be told. One must EXPERIENCE the power of networked learning to understand it and appreciate its potentials.

To that end, I’ll again exhort you to participate and share the upcoming K-12 Online Conference which starts next week with our pre-conference keynote. The conference is free, it’s global, and the co-learners involved (that includes YOU as well as presenters and other participants) are all providing a rich context for experiential, connectivist learning. Certainly we can take courses in Connectivism, but we can also experience connectivism through the blended learning conference event which is K-12 Online. And, if your local educational organization agrees, you can even earn professional development credit for your participation and time! What a deal.

Ken Carroll challenges me in several ways through his work on Chinesepod as well as his blog. First of all, he reminds me that just because I did not take Mandarin Chinese in school, and it is not available for our kids to take in their current public school, we are not limited in our access to expert teachers and co-learners if we want to learn Mandarin. With a fifth of the world’s population speaking Chinese, it should be clear this would be a real good idea for us.

Secondly, Ken challenges me by thoughtfully connecting his educational practice with learning theories which build on and powerfully extend those which I’ve studied in graduate school. Instead of simply talking about educational theories and practices in abstract forms, however, Ken and his team are operationalizing these philosophies and strategies in powerful, transparent ways which can be educative for us all.

In February of 2005, I heard Alan November challenge a large group of Texas superintendents to require all their students to take an online course before graduating from high school. I think the idea of mandating a basic level of experience with online and blended learning is a good idea. I am not currently a legislator, elected official or appointed governmental official, however, and I feel confident the vast majority of readers of this post are not either. We’re not in a position to “mandate” anything to ALL the students and teachers with whom we work in our communities.

While we cannot practically mandate blended learning experiences, and the potential value of MANDATED learning experiences is itself certainly subject to question, we CAN do two things related to these issues which CAN have an important impact:

• We can take, ourselves, an online blended course on a topic of interest so that we can personally EXPERIENCE and therefore appropriate / claim for ourselves / understand with depth some of the benefits as well as drawbacks of online learning contexts.
• We can invite others to follow our lead by participating in the K-12 Online Conference this year.

Blended learning, because it offers the possibility of appropriating best practices from BOTH face-to-face as well as online/virtual learning contexts, can provide greater opportunities for authentic learning and meaningful connections than any other educational modality.

The learning revolution continues.

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I watched Hector Ruiz’s moving TedTalk “The power to connect the world” at lunch today.

I resonate with his passion for the 50×15 project, which seeks:

…to enable affordable, accessible Internet connectivity and computing capabilities for 50 percent of the world’s population by the year 2015.

Yesterday at our monthly Oklahoma Creativity Project education committee meeting, we discussed the role which rural electric cooperatives (RECs) could potentially play in bringing high speed connectivity (via fiber) to every part of our largely rural state using power line communication (PLC) or broadband over Power Line (BPL) technologies. These possibilities are very exciting as well as practical.

What I found most compelling in Hector’s talk, however, was the story he told about his father reminding him of his generational responsibility to do better. To be a better student and scholar than his parents had been or been able to be. (Hector was the first person in his family to graduate from college. All his sisters followed his example.) To be a better father than his own dad. To leave the world a better place each day, because of the actions he made, the conversations he had, and the people’s lives he influenced. What a fantastic challenge, and a great reminder of the perspective we should all not only have but also pass on to our own children and students.

Our focus must not JUST be on connectivity as we advocate for the thoughtful uses of digital technologies to support learning. What we choose to DO with the connectivity we have is also critical. In our committee discussions yesterday, I was reminded of Dr. Larry Cuban’s studies of schools in Silicon Valley about 10 years ago. You would think those schools, with the latest in connectivity and computer technologies, would have been doing (at the time of his studies in the late 1990s and early 2000s) just amazing, transformational things with the technologies at their fingertips. Not so. On pages 178-179 of “Oversold and Underused: Computers in the Classroom,” Cuban wrote:

As for enhanced efficiency in learning and teaching, there have been no advances (measured by higher academic achievement of urban, suburban, or rural students) over the last decade that can be confidently attributed to broader access to computers. No surprise here, as the debate over whether new technologies have increased overall American economic productivity also has had no clear answers. The link between test score improvements and computer availability and use is even more contested.

Nor has a technological revolution in teaching and learning occurred in the vast majority of American classrooms. Teachers have been infrequent and limited users of the new technologies for classroom instruction. If anything, in the midst of the swift spread of computers and the Internet to all facets of American life, “e-learning” in public schools has turned out to be word processing and Internet searches. As important supplements as these have become to many teachers’ repertoires, they are far from the project-based teaching and learning that some techno-promoters have sought. Teachers at all levels of schooling have used the new technology basically to continue what they have always done: communciate with parents and administrators, prepare syllabi and lectures, record grades, assign research papers. These unintended effects must be disappointing to those who advocate more computers in schools.

I would add to Hector Ruiz’ impassioned call to connect the world together and specifically the students of the world together with connectivity an equally passionate plea to seek TRANSFORMATIONAL uses of digital technologies rather than simply accommodating uses. Transformational changes to our predominant paradigm of teaching and learning are needed, shifting our focus away from instruction and instead on learning. Accommodating uses of technologies to replicate traditional practices with newer, perhaps fancier gadgets are a waste of money and time. We don’t need more digital bells and whistles in our classrooms. What we need are passionate educators, focused on inspiring students to be creative and curious. We need school administrators who understand that EVERY DAY, students should be creating, communicating, and collaborating. Digital technologies wedded to the high speed connectivity available to us today can only transform education and our world if we choose to use these tools in constructive, transformative ways. In this process, our personal learning journeys are critical. To change the world, I must first change myself.

This is the learning revolution. We are not merely the soldiers, we are the strategists as well as the tacticians. Our tools are far more powerful than weapons designed to injure and kill. Our tools are our ideas, and their power to transform far outstrips the abilities of our limited minds to imagine and predict. Marx was wrong, historical progress is not inevitable. Change requires leadership, not just the kind occupying formal positions of power and authority.

Never before in the course of human history have we had the tools we have today to connect us and focus us. To connect to each other, and to bring our ideas together. At the speed of light, with the tap of a finger, to send one-to-many (broadcast) messages to a global audience. To send specific, targeted messages to single individuals or smaller groups. To be inspired by the thoughts and actions of others to think bigger at a global scale, yet continue to act locally in our unique contexts were we live and work. To organize and conduct a free, two week conference about web 2.0 tools and learning strategies, and invite the world to participate. To keep in touch with microblogging tools like Twitter and Facebook. To videoconference with others across town or across the planet. These are just some of the tools and capabilities on “this side” of the digital divide.

We are living amidst titanic changes in communication and information. Our prospects for meeting the challenge shared by Hector Ruiz’ father: to make the world a better place, have never been brighter than they are today. We have more possibilities and potential before us than ever before. But who can open these doors of opportunity for our students? Teachers. Mentors. Parents. Co-learners. We all have a role to play, but our part has not yet been written. As my friend Miguel Guhlin likes to say, ours is the responsibility, challenge, and opportunity to “write the future.”

You and I change the world one conversation at a time.

If you haven’t already, take 20 minutes and listen to Hector’s message. Be inspired. Then go share your inspiration with someone else.

And have a marvelous weekend, wherever you happen to reside on our blue planet.

photo credit: Aaron Escobar

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hector, ruiz, ted, tedtalk, bandwidth, connectivity, rec, regional, electrical, cooperative, plc, communication, blc, broadband, rural

My September 13, 2008, post “Explaining the value of microblogging and Twitter for educators” inspired Paul Barrette to comment and ask:

But in the US, how would you open up access to Twitter while still meeting the requirements of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure passed in December of 2006 that require school districts (among other public institutions) to archive electronic communications? Archiving can easily be done with an internal system (we use FirstClass), but it’s not really feasible for systems outside of the district.

In my rather lengthy comment response to Paul’s question and the assumptions which underlie it, I responded in part:

The intent of the law [FRCP] was not to chill use of every website and software tool which permits collaboration and facilitates learning. The intent of the law was to provide documentation of network abuse and misuse. [PREVENT THE INTENTIONAL DESTRUCTION OF DOCUMENTS RELEVANT TO ONGOING LITIGATION.] Districts should and must according to the law make good faith efforts to archive electronic communications on the district’s email server, but it is unrealistic and counterproductive to attempt to archive every outbound packet of data which is created by students, teachers, and other district staff members in-district.

Of course I am NOT a lawyer, so my opinion should not be construed or interpreted as legal advice, but Scott Bauries IS a lawyer and has written an articulate post also responding to Paul’s question and perspective on the Edjurist blog titled, “The Recent E-Discovery Amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Communicative Technologies in School Districts (Intro).” Scott concludes his post by noting:

As I mentioned above, the e-discovery amendments for the first time introduced into the FRCP explicit provisions regulating the disclosure and production of electronically stored information. Since then, a misconception has developed among some public education practitioners that institutions using such information must therefore now archive all electronic information in case it is later needed in discovery, despite their prior practices and despite the lack of any anticipated litigation concerning the information in question. No such independent duty was created by any of the e-discovery amendments adopted in 2006, and no such duty exists anywhere else in the FRCP (although state education laws or administrative codes may require otherwise). As I will explain further in a future post, under the FRCP, an institution may be required to halt the routine destruction of electronically stored information once litigation has begun, but outside that limited circumstance, the e-discovery amendments do not require the archiving of any electronic information not previously stored.

As to the use of Web 2.0 technologies in education, then, it is unlikely that the e-discovery amendments will reach much of this information because, if it is stored at all, it is usually stored by a third party, such as a blog hosting site (and is therefore in that party’s possession and control, rather than the district’s). As to the use of other electronic communicative technologies, such as email, the amendments clearly apply, and the remaining posts in this series will address the specific changes that were made to the FRCP and how they impact the daily work of education practitioners and leaders who use these technologies.

Just as educator misconceptions have led to widespread, overly conservative interpretations of fair use provisions of U.S. intellectual property law (a situation being addressed by a forthcoming report due on November 11, 2008 from the Media Education Lab at Temple University under the leadership of Dr. Renee Hobbs) I think we have some cases of conservative misinterpretations of the FRCP by school district administrators and IT staff members when it comes to web 2.0 sites and technologies.

U.S. law does NOT require school districts to archive EVERY data packet traversing school networks. It IS legal (as far as FRCP mandates go) for school district leaders to permit the use of blogs, wikis, social networking sites, and web 2.0 conversation sites like Twitter and Plurk without setting up a system for archiving all these communications packets. There are different reasons school districts block websites, and one of the most common is to attempt to keep students “on task” when they are online. (i.e. not checking their Facebook profiles when they are “supposed” to be doing Internet research.) Just as there is no legal requirement for schools to block websites to “keep students on task,” neither is there a legal requirement that schools block all web 2.0 sites from teacher and student access on the school network when the data packets shared on those sites are not being electronically archived by the district.

Many thanks to Dr. Scott McLeod and Dr. Justin Bathon for forwarding this original post about Twitter and and FRCP to Scott Bauries for his insights and perspectives. If your school district is blocking web 2.0 sites and tools because of a professed belief that FRCP requires such sites to be blocked if all data exchanged there cannot be archived, I encourage you to forward this post from Scott to them and continue to follow his post series on Edjurist.

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This podcast is a recorded conversation with Doug Taylor, superintendent of Gage Public Schools in Oklahoma, at the EncycloMedia conference on Thursday, September 18, 2008. Doug discusses how students and teachers in Gage schools are utilizing netbooks like the Asus eeePC, open source software programs, Linux, and Google Documents. Gage educators are realizing the benefits of spending money which would otherwise go towards software and operating system licensing fees toward curriculum resources and other educational needs supporting literacy. Doug participated in our Celebrate Oklahoma Voices project in February 2008, and is supporting hands-on, relevant and personal curriculum projects including oral history projects in Ellis County. Doug had a bit of a “conversion experience” when it comes to the power and leveling potential of digital technologies when he investigated all the things a 21st century librarian and media specialist needs to know and help students be able to do. As the leader of a small, rural school district in Oklahoma, Doug’s enthusiasum for engaged, relevant learning is contagious and gives me great hope for the cause of school reform in our state. We need more school leaders with the vision, passion for student learning and leadership characteristics of Doug Taylor in our public schools.

 

 Podcast282: A Conversation with Superintendent Doug Taylor about Student Engagement, Digital Storytelling, and Collaborative Digital Technologies [10:10m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (998)

Show Notes:

1. A superintendent enthused about digital storytelling (22 Feb 2008 TechLearning post)
2. Gage Public Schools, Oklahoma

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It’s here! Please share it far and wide: The 2008 K-12 Online Conference marketing flyer! (PDF format) Many thanks to the K12Online08 PR committee!

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k12online08, k12online, marketing, flyer, advertising

I had a thought provoking conversation recently with Karen Montgomery about some terms and dynamics relating to educational technology in our schools. Vicki Allen had shared this after talking to a Tandberg system engineer. In our schools, we have “obtainers” and “maintainers” when it comes to educational technologies. The obtainers are teachers, instructional technology directors / coaches / mentors, and grant writers. Educational constituents that obtain and actually USE educational technologies fit into the “obtainer” category. These are the end users.

Another group is “the maintainers.” These are IT directors, technicians, and other IT staff members. Those who maintain and support educational technology networks, infrastructure, hardware and software in schools are the “maintainers.” Often the priorities, success metrics, and even values of the “obtainers” versus the “maintainers” are quite different.

In talking with Karen about this, I realized there is a third group which is essential in the nexus of influence which develops within school cultures relating to educational technology use and non-use. This group might be called “the sustainers,” borrowing from a Six Sigma term. (Thanks to Karen for this reference.) The sustainers are the positional leaders in schools. The superintendent, assistant superintendents for curriculum, and campus principals are all sustainers. These are the people in positional authority roles.

I created the following graphic to help illustrate the nexus of influence between these three groups: The sustainers, the obtainers, and the maintainers of educational technologies in schools:

In many, many cases in my experience, among these groups it is the MAINTAINERS who have the most power and influence over how educational technologies actually get used or not used in our schools. Are all wikis blocked on the district content filter? Is skype blocked? Is videoconferencing readily available and useable by teachers for virtual guest speakers and classroom exchanges? Are teachers permitted to access outside email accounts from school? I am not laying the “blame” for technology non-use in our schools entirely on the shoulders of “the maintainers” because I recognize there are a variety of outside inputs and influences maintainers are responding to (legal requirements and mandates being one) but I do think this is NOT an even power balance in most schools. In my experience it is the “maintainer” group which has vastly more control, authority and influence over technology decisions and district policies. The “sustainers” may have the positional authority, but they most often defer to the recommendations of the “maintainers” rather than the “obtainers” when it comes to technology decisions. Perhaps this diagram more accurately represents the ACTUAL, relative power distribution in this nexus of influence:

This framework for thinking about educational technology policies at the district and campus levels reminds me of several things. Going back ten years, it reminds me of my TechEdge article in 1998-1999 “Wagging the Dog in Educational Technology:
Elevating ‘IT’ Into the Classroom.” As an “obtainer” in my school district as a 4th grade teacher, pointing out some conflicts between the worldview and operational priorities/policies of our districts’ “maintainers” was NOT well received by the “sustainers.” There is more to that story that I have never told publicly before. For now I will simply share the following “Underachievement” slogan: “The tallest blade of grass is the first to be cut by the lawnmower.” The price of public dissent in a public school can be high.

The second thing I’m reminded of is some sessions and conversations from NCCE 2008 in Seattle. My presentation “Lead Differently - Digitally Informed School Leadership for the 21st Century” addressed these issues. It also reminds me of my podcast interview with Julia Fallon (titled “Building Bridges for Conversation Between IT and Instructional Leaders in Washington Schools”) at the NCCE 2008 conference. That podcast description was/is:

Instead of sponsoring separate technology leadership summits for IT and instructional administrators this year, NCCE conveners (including Julia) coordinated a joint leadership summit. This provided an excellent opportunity, through panel discussion and small group breakout sessions, to build bridges for conversations between educational leaders in these different areas. In this interview, Julie discussed the formative results of the 2008 NCCE leadership summit as well as the outstanding work being supported through educational technology grant initiatives in the state of Washington. Educational leaders in other parts of the United States should follow the lead of NCCE and Washington department of education leaders in fostering these critical conversations between different educational leadership groups. Our educational system has many goals, and to insure groups within it are not working at cross-purposes regular communication is vital. Julia and others in Washington are working to capture video vignettes of innovative educational technology projects in their state which will be showcased online later this year. Kudos to these educational leaders in the state of Washington for their leadership in fostering these conversations between IT and instructional administrators, and making plans to follow-up on those conversations in the months ahead!

Conversations like that one facilitated at NCCE between maintainers, obtainers, and sustainers are essential for school communities to constructively address the dynamics (which are often dysfunctional) of this influence nexus when it comes to educational technologies.

NCCE member-readers: Does anyone know the status of that video vignette project?

For anyone: What do you think of this “nexus framework” using maintainers, obtainers, and sustainers as categories to help us explore, understand, and improve communication between those constituents who influence educational technology use and non-use in our classrooms? Do you know of other examples at local, state, regional or national levels where sustainers, maintainers, and obtainers are coming together at a common table to have discussions about educational technology use and non-use issues?

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technology, education, school, leadership, nexus, conversation, ncce, ncce08, sustainer, maintainer, obtainer, edtech, influence, influencer

School law attorney Celynda Brashner shared a good presentation at METC 2007 entitled “Technology in the Schools: Policy, Privacy and Practical Issues for Teachers, IT and Others.” With Celynda’s permission I posted a podcast recording of her session and also shared text notes from her session at METC in February 2007. In those notes I included the following statement:

DON’T PUT THINGS IN AN EMAIL THAT YOU WANT SUBPOENAS [TO OBTAIN]

I was typing fast, so perhaps I should have stated this idea bit more clearly. The point I was trying to make is made quite succinctly in the following email footer appended to a message I received today forwarded from an Oklahoma teacher:

Under Oklahoma’s “Public Records” law, absent a specific exclusion, written communications to or from [NAME] School District employees are considered public records. E-mail communication with this correspondent may be subject to public and media disclosure upon request.

Reminders like this are important for not only teachers, but also parents and others who communicate with teachers, principals, and other school employees via email. Don’t assume an email message is going to remain private with the person to whom you are intending to send it. If a subject is touchy or sensitive, don’t address it with an email. Meet face-to-face or discuss it on the phone. Not only can email messages be readily misinterpreted (especially when they concern sensitive topics) and readily forwarded to others (intentionally or unintentionally)– they can also be subpoenaed as public records. This may happen most frequently in school contexts with students who qualify for special education and mandated accommodations, but it can happen in other contexts as well.

Don’t assume your email inbox is a space for private communications.

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email, school, oklahoma, metc, law, legal, issues, privacy, subpoena

Welcome to episode 9 of the Technology Shopping Cart Podcast, a podcast (and now live webcast) where educational innovation thrives on the food of creative ideas. This episode features a conversation with Heather Chirtea of ToolFactory, Vicki Allen, Karen Montgomery, and Wesley Fryer about podcasting, digital storytelling, mobile podcasting labs, mobile flip video labs, “ushering” technologies which encourage teachers to extend their journeys of learning with educational technologies further, and “manifest destiny” for educational technology use in our 21st century classrooms. Of course we also include a variety of “geek of the week” websites, resources and tips, which includes a discussion of the superb “Global Nomads” organization which facilitates engaging videoconferences for students on a diverse array of subjects. Check out our podcast shownotes for links. We are tentatively scheduling our next live webcast for Friday, September 26th, 2008 at 10 am US central time to discuss challenges and pitfalls of integrating web 2.0 technologies in school districts. We’re asking some special guests from Missouri to join us who are in the trenches of IT and have some interesting perspectives to share. Whether you joined us live or catch the recorded version, we welcome your feedback, comments and suggestions as always!

 

 Podcast278: TechShoppingCart Podcast09: Digital Wishes, Flip Video Labs, and Manifest Destiny for EdTech [73:10m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1329)

Show Notes:

1. Tech Shopping Cart Wiki resources for this show
2. Digital Wish
3. Mobile Podcasting Lab (Digital Wish / Toolfactory)
4. Flip Video Mobile Lab (Digital Wish / Toolfactory)
5. Podcasting Grant Program from Olympus and Toolfactory
6. Toolfactory
7. Global Nomads
8. Loopt
9. drop.io - share files to the web by phone, email, web, widget or fax
10. Jog The Web
11. Phonevite
12. Textmarks
13. Amazon Buys Shelfari - 26 August 2008
14. CaseLogic SLR Camera Backpack (Heather’s favorite)
15. Our Ustream text chat for this episode is available, which includes referenced links.
16. Using a Mac, how to webconference using Ustream and skype (thanks Ryan Gordon)
17. VickiWiki: Presentation and Workshop Curriculum of Vicki Mongomery
18. Gomeric Hill: Blog of Karen Montgomery
19. Thinking Machine: Presentation and Workshop Curriculum of Karen Montgomery
20. Vicki Allen on Twitter
21. Karen Montgomery on Twitter
22. Wesley Fryer on Twitter

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In his follow-up presentation / facilitated conversation after his keynote at BLC08, Ewan McIntosh asserted that no single image or video can represent what the new era of teaching and learning looks like. I agree there are multiple ways of thinking about blended learning and what an ideal learning environment in the 21st century can and should look like. I also agree with Ewan’s point that as educators we need to teach, facilitate, and lead in the ways we believe are best for learners and learning and share that with others. I also think there is value, however, in reflecting on images of teaching and learning, as well as technology, and discussing how those images reflect or fail to reflect what is best and needed for learning inside and outside of classrooms today.

Dr Sara Kejder recently asked students in a graduate humanities class to share and reflect on pictures they selected which addressed “teaching and learning 2.0″ ideas as a VoiceThread conversation. I invite you to listen to some of their ideas and then join the discussion on one more more slides.

One of the things which struck me as I listened to the students was how many of them seem to view technology as an isolating and even dehumanizing force. Many of them also seem to have had negative experiences with online courses as well. There is a sentiment in many of the comments that technology serves largely to distance and distract us from one another, rather than bring is closer together in learning communities and communities of practice. That was a contention I remember from John Naisbitt’s book “High Tech/High Touch: Technology and Our Accelerated Search for Meaning.” Certainly technologies can and do distance and distract, but I think they can also powerfully join and connect.

Rather than share only images which communicate an isolated and impersonal view of technology for this assignment, I would opt to share an image like this one of Brian Crosby’s students in Reno, Nevada, using Skype to connect with one of their classmates who was homebound due to cancer treatments.

The 3 minute video a professional crew from Skype created about Brian’s class and their use of desktop videoconferencing to include Celeste as a participating member of their class represents, to me, a powerful vision of what teaching and learning 2.0 SHOULD look like and does look like in (currently) a very limited number of classrooms.

To help others imagine and even imagineer the future of learning, we need to provide them with opportunities to experience it today. Few teachers are as powerful or as memorable as personal experiences.

To learn more about this story, check out Brian’s keynote in the “Overcoming Obstacles” strand of the free 2007 K-12 Online Conference.

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teaching, learning, vision, education, school, imagineer, briancrosby, skype, school20, schoolreform, educationreform, reform, 21stcentury

A friend recently let me know about the July 2008 report “Third-Year (2006-2007) Traits of Higher Technology Immersion Schools and Teachers” published by the Texas Center for Educational Research for the Texas Education Agency.

While the report points out that three of the four “high immersion” sites in TxTIP are using Apple Macintosh laptops instead of Dell Laptops, it evidently does not mention that only 7 of the 21 studied sites went with Macs initially. With just one-third of studied TxTIP campuses using Macs, three-fourths of the identified “high immersion” campuses are using Macs. Is that merely a coincidence? I think not.

Selection of a computing platform is one of MANY issues to consider when embarking on a 1:1 project, but it is a highly significant decision which impacts multiple aspects of a laptop initiative. If I was in a formal position of authority in our state or any other and was considering a laptop initiative for large numbers of students and teachers, there is no question Apple laptops would be at the top of my list for hardware. The iLife suite and the overall approach of Apple Professional Development is much more constructivist and project-based than what I’ve I’ve seen and heard about from campuses in TxTIP and other 1:1 projects which selected a Windows-based operating system. To be fiscally responsible I would certainly consider Windows-based alternatives as well as open-source laptop options as well, but based on my past experiences along with educational research findings like these I’d be highly-biased to favor the Apple platform. As I heard one of the leaders at the University of Texas’ College of Education share in April 2005, a successful laptop initiative is based on SO much more than just the question, “How inexpensively can you deliver that hardware to my loading dock?”

This is not to say that 1:1 initiatives can’t be successful and very learner-centered / project-based on a Windows-platform or on a Linux platform, but I will contend it is more difficult and much harder to find these types of success stories at schools using the Windows platform. All Macs come with software which naturally lends itself to creating, collaborating and communicating with others. On the Windows platform that is not the case. Software from Tech4Learning, ToolFactory, and other companies certainly CAN be included in the software package included with Windows-based laptops in 1:1 projects, but all too often project directors fallaciously assume “Microsoft Office is really the only software program our students and teachers are going to need.” That assumption is both false and ridiculous if attaining “high immersion” levels as measured by TCER in this report is a desired project outcome.

I’ve had this perception for several years. It’s interesting to see my perception is now supported by the year 3 report of TCER for TxTIP. This report and others published by TCER for TxTIP are available on the TCER website for download.

Earlier this year I heard that only three of the initial 22 middle school TxTIP campuses were expected to be sustainable (continue their laptop initiatives) past the four year grant period, and of those all three were using Mac laptops and two were in West Texas. (Floydada ISD and Post ISD) Can anyone involved in TxTIP confirm or deny this rumor?

As far as I know Floydada ISD is the only district out of the 22 original middle school/junior high campuses in TxTIP to use local funds to extend the laptop initiative to the high school level. Floydada High School was named an “Apple Distinguished School” last year because of the exemplary successes the district has had with technology immersion both via TxTIP as well as locally supported and funded efforts. It was no coincidence that in March 2008 Floydada superintendent Jerry Vaughn was named one of the national “2008 Tech-Savvy Superintendents” by eSchoolNews.

The need for and positive impact of good, strong, visionary leadership in our schools is evident everywhere, and it is certainly clear to see in a success story like Floydada ISD. I look forward to reading this entire TxTIP year 3 report in the weeks ahead, and will post more about this report as I make time to consume, digest and analyze it.

It’s been almost four years since this news broadcast segment ran in Lubbock, Texas, in October 2004. It is extremely gratifying to see those seeds of technology immersion flourishing in West Texas!

Check out the “Opening Doors!” video from Floydada High School to learn more.

Technorati Tags:
txtip, tcer, texas, laptop, onetoone, 1to1, learning, school, education, evaluation, tea

Student Dalton Sherman’s message to the teachers in Dallas ISD and to educators around the world via the YouTube video of his convocation message is powerful and simple: Believe in your students, believe in your colleagues, and believe in yourself.

This eight minute video clip would make an ideal start to a staff meeting this year when you want to help other teachers focus on some big-picture issues.

Thanks to Sandra Fivecoat for sharing this link. If YouTube is blocked at your school so you can’t show this directly online, download an offline copy you can play from your hard drive. Refer to my post “Tips for downloading offline copies of Flash videos” for suggestions and software programs which can be used to do this.

Technorati Tags:
inspiration, video, education, school, believe, belief

In this podcast I share 45 minutes worth of brainstorming on the subject, “Given all the resources, administrative and parental support needed, how would you imagineer the ideal K-6 classroom learning environment?” Imagineering is a term I associate with Walt Disney and Disneyland, where creative and capable individuals come together to both imagine and engineer new worlds together. Carol Anne McGuire asked me last week to share some ideas with her along these lines, and prior to our conversation later this week I did some brainstorming and created this podcast tonight to clarify some of my thoughts. In the podcast shownotes you’ll find a link to the eighteen different ideas or suggestions I offer in this recording, as well as Stephanie Sandifer’s excellent  wiki for “Designing the 21st Century Global Learning Environment.” As always I welcome your comments and feedback on the ideas of this podcast.

 

 Podcast276: Imagineering the Ideal K-6 Classroom Learning Environment (Part 1) [46:40m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (892)

Show Notes:

1. The 18 bullet points I used as an outline for this podcast
2. Creating, Collaborating, Communicating: These “3 C’s” are the key and can be a basic focus of learning tasks, included in project rubrics
3. Walt Disney Imagineering (from WikiPedia)
4. Ed.VoiceThread (accountable environment for students and teachers to create VoiceThreads for school with individual accounts)
5. Consider setting up a “Team Curiosity Blog” to which both students and teachers can post using a locally-hosted copy of Wordpress. What are you curious about today? What are you wondering based on things you’ve read, seen, or heard?
6. Create school-wide wiki as a free gold wiki for education using PBwiki (Back to School Challenge)
7. Register your school and students for a free Think.com social networking account(s) - Now part of ThinkQuest
8. Stephanie Sandifer’s excellent  wiki for “Designing the 21st Century Global Learning Environment”
9. My notes from Stephanie’s facilitated session at EduBloggerCon2008 in July 2008 in San Antonio
10. Ideal 21st century learning is not…
11. Phil Schlechty’s excellent book “Working on the Work: An Action Plan for Teachers, Principals, and Superintendents”
12. Habits of Mind (EssentialSchools.org)
13. Camera recommendations from the StoryChasers Wiki
14. Alfie Kohn’s book “The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing”
15. Revisiting VoiceThread - TTT112 - 07.09.08 (Teachers Teaching Teachers podcast with VoiceThread co-founder Steve Muth discussing best practices with VoiceThread)
16. Kevin HoneyCutt
17. StoryChasers (main learning community website)
18. Powerful Ingredients for Digitally Interactive Learning
19. XTimeLine
20. Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow Research (ACOT)

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My knowledge of Liberia has been pretty limited to date. I learned about the Liberian Renaissance Education Complex talking to Dr. Dennis Harper (founder of Kijana Voices and Generation YES) at NECC in 2007 as part of a podcast interview. Before our conversation I had not heard of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the current president of Liberia and the first female to be elected as a head of state on the continent of Africa. I vaguely identified Liberia as a nation in west Africa, but did not realize until very recently it had been in the throes of a civil war which started in 1989. I was also ignorant of Liberia’s history as a country founded as a prospective home for U.S. slaves reversing the middle passage and returning to Africa. According to today’s English WikiPedia’s article for Liberia:

In 1822, the American Colonization Society established Liberia as a place to send black people who were formerly enslaved. Other African Americans, who were never enslaved, chose to emigrate to Liberia as well. African-Americans gradually migrated to the colony and became known as Americo-Liberians, from where many present day Liberians trace their ancestry. On July 26, 1847, the Americo-Liberian settlers declared the independence of the Republic of Liberia.

Some time ago I was invited to the Facebook group for the movie “Pray the Devil Back to Hell.” At the time, I did not realize the group focused on a movie about an important recent chapter of Liberian history. According to the film’s official website:

Pray the Devil Back to Hell chronicles the remarkable story of the courageous Liberian women who came together to end a bloody civil war and bring peace to their shattered country.

Thousands of women - ordinary mothers, grandmothers, aunts and daughters, both Christian and Muslim - came together to pray for peace and then staged a silent protest outside of the Presidential palace. Armed only with white T-shirts and the courage of their convictions, they look on the warlords and nonviolently forced a resolution during the stalled peace talks.

A story of sacrifice, unity and transcendence, Pray the Devil Back to Hell honors the strength and perseverance of the women of Liberia. Inspiring, uplifting and most of all motivating, it is a compelling testimony of how grassroots activism can alter the history of nations.

Consider bringing a screening of the film to your local community.

After last week’s celebration events commemorating the life and achievements of Clara Luper who helped lead the nonviolent Oklahoma City Sit-ins in 1958, I have been thinking more about civil rights activism.

It is telling and unfortunate that the WikiPedia article for the African-American Civil Rights Movement is titled with the inclusive dates, 1955–1968. This struggle is not over in the United States or around the world.

NetFlix has the film listed in their database but the page does not show a DVD release date. The film summary from NetFlix is:

Director Virginia Reticker’s documentary tells the story of the thousands of Liberian women who helped end the bloody late-1990s civil war that killed 250,000 people, allegedly supported in secret by then-President Charles Taylor. Through nonviolent protests, the Christian Women’s Peace Initiative forced a resolution in the peace talks, and their efforts led to the election of Africa’s first female head of state, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.

I hope I’ll have a chance to this film about Liberian peace and human rights activists soon. Stories of courage and struggles like these certainly put the relatively minor challenges I face in my own life in stark perspective.

Technorati Tags:
liberia, humanrights, war, civil, civilwar, history, protest, nonviolent, nonviolence, sirleaf

THESE ARE MY NOTES FROM THE GREATER OKLAHOMA CITY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE “STATE OF THE SCHOOLS” LUNCHEON ON 21 AUGUST 2008. THESE ARE COMMENTS BY KIRK HUMPHREYS AFTER TO LUNCH. KIRK IS THE NEW CHAIR OF OKCPS

Kirk Humphreys was elected to the OKC school board first in 1998, is one of the fathers of MAPS
- was formerly the mayor of Oklahoma City
- is the chairman of the Oklahoma City Public Schools

Mick Cornett (present mayor of OKC) will be addressing the Republican National Convention later this year

Thanks for coming, to have 400 people come to a luncheon like this says a lot about your commitment to education

If you live in the OKC metro area and have or had school age children, stand up
- you are our customer
- Sam Walton used to say there is just one boss, the customer
- for the past 40 years

it looks like we are not doing a very good job of meeting our customers needs
- as a parent you may go anywhere and pay any price to get the best possible education for your children

Sam Walton: At WalMart we have 2 rules
1- the customer is always right
2- if the customer is wrong, refer back to rune #1

Reason families moved from the urban areas to the suburban areas was academic performance

MY THOUGHT: I THINK THIS OPINION IS WRONG. THE REASON WE’VE SEEN WHITE FLIGHT AND OTHER DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES FROM URBAN SCHOOLS TO SUBURBAN SCHOOLS HAD MUCH MORE TO DO WITH DESEGREGATION OF OUR SCHOOLS THAN IT HAD TO DO WITH EDUCATIONAL QUALITY.

Let’s take a moment to say thanks to Cliff Hudson

API for Oklahoma Public Schools was 699 on a scale of 1500
- our average was 61% of the suburban average
- today our API has gone up over the past 7 years to 79% of the suburban average
- we’ve closed half that gap

what’s the state of the schools? they are better than they have to be but not as good as they need to be

our city is investing about $1 billion in education when you combine MAPS with the recent bond
- we are on track for facilities improvements

MAPS vision focused on
1- improved governance
2- student achievement
3- buildings
4. other…

there are 3 keys for the success of the vision of Maps
1- must restore stability to the leadership of the district
- Forbes ranked us the most recession proof city in the US
- NBA is moving to OKC
- Devon Energy announcement yesterday of their new building, bigger than anything in north Texas (bigger than Dallas!)

investment in our community is just part of the story
- for the past 15 years, the civic, business, and education leadership have been pulling on the same end of the rope
- city leadership has worked closely with businesses and Foundation for Public Schools, United Way, Arts groups
- MAPS for kids was a result of this collaborative work in the past

Next time you see a promotional video for the chamber, ask how many of the things you see there were here 10 years ago
- not many were, a few were but not many
- those things are the fruit of stable city leadership

We’ve had 3 mayors in 20 years
- in the school district we’ve had six superintendents

not everyone is good
- you’ve got some people in the organization that will resist change
- some people

Karl Springer is the new sheriff in town and he’s going to be here for awhile
(HE IS THE NEW SUPERINTENDENT OF OKC PUBLIC SCHOOLS
- he started over 30 years ago in the classroom, taught child of Sandy Garrett in Mustkogee
- was a Marine Officer
- was Army reserve officer for 20 years, retired as a colonel
- is one of us
- he understands Oklahoma
- born in Los Angeles, but moved to Oklahoma 31 years ago
- he is just the 2nd superintendent our district has hired in the past 30 years from Oklahoma
- the reality is that if someone is hired from out of state because of the career opportunity, they are going to move out of our state in

2nd key to MAPS vision success: transparency
- getting the facts about our schools to you in a straightforward manner

“Building a Learning City” is the MAPS report
- I encourage you to read that, there is incredibly clear thinking in that report
- we need to implement the recommendations of that report

transparency means telling the truth: the success stories, the good news and the bad news
- listing off schools with good API results
- so every teacher at Quail Creek is going to get a $3000 bonus for those results

We have some schools
- we have a breakdown at secondary level
- if you take out speciality schools, our “normal” secondary schools are doing 65% and 63% of API compared to suburban schools
- we have to share the facts openly with us

stability
transparency

3- accountability is the last key to change and success

Karl Springer is not a numbers guy, he is a kid guy

Burns is right, if a child is not reading on grade level by the end of 3rd grade there is a 50% chance they will not graduate from high school

Karl will not ask for the statistics about your school, he will ask the names of kids in the school
- to parents kids are not statistics

from grades K-3 you learn to read, after grade 3 you read to learn

accountability is about kids, not just about numbers
- part of that is being honest with you about providing the resources necessary to do this job
- in round number, the mill levy is about 60% of what it is in the suburbs
- so in that context we are outperforming

I have nothing to lose as chairman of the school board
- I am going to tell you the truth: the good of it and the bad of it

The difference if we taxed at the median of what the suburbs

ultimate accountability is the marketplace
- when we see people consistently rejecting the product
- the problem is not with the customer, it is with us
- it is wrong when we charge property tax and sales tax to our customers and they have to go somewher

my promise: I will support any alternative for providing a quality public education for your child
- you paid for it, we promised it, we will deliver on it

I am aware that it takes 5 votes to get anything done on our school board

I believe Karl Springer is building a team that can get this done if we’ll give him the support and resources
- MAPS cannot fail
- that is why I am com

this is not rocket science
- it will take stable leadership, accountability, and transparency to succeed

INTERESTINGLY THESE IDEAS DO NOT REFLECT THAT WE NEED TO CHANGE

MY QUESTION TO KIRK: WE HEARD PRESIDENT HARGIS TALK ABOUT CHANGES THAT WE NEED TO SEE IN K-12 TO REACH THIS VISION. BEYOND WHAT YOU HAVE SAID ALREADY, WHAT CHANGES DO YOU THINK WE NEED TO SEE IN K-12 TO REALIZE THIS VISION?

we need to embrace market forces
- we are here to serve you
- one size does not fit all
- all our schools don’t need to be the same
- we can have a lot of shapes and colors

Another question from the audience: What are we going to do about the length of the school year

response: I agree with you, some of our success stories are from year-long school schedules and schools like Kipp which are having an extended day
- we need to consider any option that will get the job done

I am not sworn in yet, I get sworn in soon and then start getting sworn at.

Technorati Tags:
oklahoma, school, education, reform, change, business, politics, humphreys, oklahomacity

THESE ARE MY NOTES FROM FROM DR. PEDRO NOGUERA’S KEYNOTE AT ALAN NOVEMBER’S 2008 BUILDING LEARNING COMMUNITIES CONFERENCE. THE TITLE OF THE SESSION WAS “CHANGING THE CULTURE OF SCHOOLS: CREATING CONDITIONS THAT PROMOTE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT.” I DID NOT ATTEND BLC08 IN PERSON, BUT THANKS TO BOB SPRANKLE MAKING THIS AMAZING PRESENTATION AVAILABLE VIA PODCAST I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO LISTEN TO THIS ENTIRE 77 MINUTE TALK TWICE THIS WEEK IN THE CAR DURING MY COMMUTES. THIS IS PART 1 OF MY NOTES FOCUSING ON THE FIRST 26 MINUTES OF HIS PRESENTATION. MY THOUGHTS ARE IN ALL CAPS.

THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST PRESENTATIONS I’VE HEARD TO DATE ABOUT SCHOOL REFORM, WHICH I RANK AT THE TOP OF MY LIST WITH PRESENTATIONS FROM DR. DAVID BERLINER, DR. STEPHEN KRASHEN, DR. ROGER SHANK, AND DR. STEVE WYCOFF. PRACTICAL, TO THE POINT, AND SPECIFIC, THIS IS AN OUTSTANDING PRESENTATION FOR ANYONE TO HEAR INTERESTED IN THE ISSUES OF SCHOOL REFORM IN THE UNITED STATES.

When employees of Apple are designing a new product, they don’t just look at existing products and their functionality
- they strive to imagine something completely new and different and don’t want to be bound by existing models and ways of thinking
- we need to apply this same idea to schools as we reimagine schools for the 21st century

We know many children today do not benefit from access to a high quality education
- NCLB does provide transparency, schools can’t hide subgroups of underperforming or underachieving kids now like they might have done in the past
- all kids must learn, and this is good

The real measure of how good schools are is how we/they do with the kids who actually need help (not just the affluent kids with educated parents, who really can do most of the learning on their own)
- metaphor: Lots of our schools today are like doctors who are only good with healthy people
- the problem is not the kids, it is the way we treat kids
- the problem is the way we often limit kids based on our inability to see their potential and cultivate their talents

We are 25 years out from “Nation at Risk” now

Read the 2006 Gates report “The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives on High School Dropouts” about our real dropout rates in the United States

International school testing comparisons show the U.S. is lagging behind in math, science, and basic literacy compared to many nations

MY THOUGHTS: I’M QUITE SURPRISED DR. NOGUERA REPEATED THESE HEADLINES WITHOUT EXPLAINING THAT ONE THING OUR NATION DOES DO DIFFERENTLY FROM MANY COUNTRIES IS EDUCATE EVERYONE. WE SHOULD PAY ATTENTION TO THESE INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON STATISTICS BUT WE ALSO NEED TO UNDERSTAND THEM IN CONTEXT, NOT TO MAKE EXCUSES FOR LOW PERFORMING SCHOOLS AND KIDS THAT CAN’T READ, BUT TO REALIZE THEY OFTEN PORTRAY A VERY SLATED STORY (A PARTIAL STORY) BECAUSE WE EDUCATE EVERYWHERE WHILE MANY COUNTRIES STILL JUST EDUCATE THE ELITE.

Sick kids don’t do well in school
- we keep ignoring the fact that conditions outside of schools have a great deal to do with conditions inside of schools

The adult literacy rate in Barbados is 95%, in the US it is close to 80% (that is a 6th grade reading level)

Problems with our educational system go back to basics and the way we attract or do NOT attract the best into the teaching profession
- typically we attract the lower one-third of college graduates into the teaching field
- this is a function of money and dollars
- Linda Darling Hammond says correctly that we don’t have a shortage of teachers, we have a shortage of people who want to work in these schools (the poor, often low-performing schools)
- we have an allocation gap when it comes to finances and school funding: we continue to spend the most money to educate the wealthiest children who need the least help from our schools
- those who say money doesn’t matter usually have a lot of money

Ch