The Future is Now: IT in Common Core by Nick Migliorino

These are my notes from Nick Migliorino’s presentation, “The Future is Now: IT in Common Core” at the “21st Century Learning: Transitioning to the Common Core” conference at Southern Nazarene University in Oklahoma City on February 23, 2012. (Technically we’re in Bethany.) MY THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS ARE IN ALL CAPS.

I hate handouts

My philosophy of education is different, I’m like Apple & ahead of the curve

There are lots of things now opening people’s eyes
– there is not a lot I can give you in 50 minutes that will change your world

We all have devices now, that is where technology is moving
– technology is becoming more intuitive

We have to think differently now when it comes to technology
– we have to expect things to be done differently

In the PASS world, the IT people ruled the roost because no one else knew how to do what they did
– when you asked if you could do something

Everything that is coming out today needs to be as intuitive as the iPhone or Android phone
– you have to have that expectations
– if you are not looking at a plan to move things from site based to out in the cloud, you are going to get behind in 4 or 5 years
– you are not going to be able to manage all the things coming through
– cloud-based services will cost less and be easier to manage
– IT people should make sure computers are plugged in, and are on, and work on a few, isolated programs you have purchased that

Your IT departments have to change
– need to shift to an educational technologist
– someone who can get with a teacher and how to deliver their instruction in the mode and medium in which our students are learning

“We rape students of everything digital they use out in the real world outside of school”
– we take their cell phones, their iPads, etc
– instead of no, no, no… we need to say yes, yes, yes
– these are adult issues, we have to start adapting to what we need to expect both adults and students to be doing

What we know about technology and common core
– CCSS has the word blog in there, students need to know how to blog: communicate through the medium of technology

I have no original thoughts (I’m like a Marzano, I do meta-analysis)
– I am always looking at what other people are doing and trying to bring that in to what I believe: pros, cons, etc
– all things shape my thinking

Old v New
– learners receiving knowledge vs. learning creating knowledge

“the scary part, with Wikipedia, is students can create wrong knowledge”

– intelligence based on individual abilities vs intelligence based on our learning communities

Data on cell phone trends
– testing is preferred communication between trends and their friends
– calling is a close second
– 75% of 12-17 year olds now own cell phones, up from 45% in 2004 (I THINK THIS IS A 2007 STUDY)

Paradox in the digital age
– most teens spend a considerable amount of life composing texts
– people expect to work, learn, and study whenever and wherever they want
– world of work is increasingly collaborative, giving rise to reflection about the way student project are structures

Server farms for cloud-based services have redundancies which no individual district could mirror or replicate
– no school in this room could provide services like this alone
– this is where schools can leverage such powerful technologies by moving to the cloud

If you’re not thinking cloud based, and you’re about to retire, your board needs to ask this of your replacement

Android vs Apple does not matter anymore
– when you deal with vendors, tell them what you want, don’t accept what they want to give you if it’s not intuitive

MY COMMENT: SO THIS SOUNDS GOOD TO SCHOOL FOLKS WITH LIMITED BUDGETS, BUT WHAT IS NICK BASING THIS HUGE ASSERTION ON? QUALITY OF APPS? FUNCTION OF THE TOUCH INTERFACE? WHERE ARE THE SCHOOLS TODAY SUCCESSFULLY IMPLEMENTING 1:1 LEARNING PROJECTS WITH ANDROID-BASED DEVICES? I THINK THIS IS A HUGE ASSERTION HE HAS JUST MADE AS AN ARTICLE OF FAITH, AND IT NEEDS TO BE SUPPORTED WITH EVIDENCE AND EXAMPLES, NOT JUST OPINION. IT HASN’T BEEN SO FAR IN THIS SESSION.

Schools have always had tons of ‘stuff’ which sat on a shelf and no one used it because no one knew how
– just your start people used it

All your initiatives in school should have strong professional development attached to them

List of what students need for “21st Century Skills”
– internet search
– office suite skills (not just Microsoft: it includes OpenOffice and Google Docs)
– self learning of technology and where to go for help
– typing
– social media
– Netiquette: Internet / email / social media etiquette
– Security and safety
– hardware basics and troubleshooting
– Backup data
– finding apps and software

From David Andrade, Tech and Learning

HUGE MISSING PIECES IN NICK’S LIST HERE: HOW TO BE EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATORS WITH MULTIMEDIA. HOW TO EFFECTIVELY COMMUNICATE WITH DIGITAL TEXT, IMAGES, AUDIO AND VIDEO. HE MENTIONED ETHICS BUT NOT THE RESPONSIBILITY WHICH GOES WITH HYPERLINKING CONTENT. BIG POWER THERE, BIG RESPONSIBILITIES.

We have to take down those blocks and teach students how to respond when things don’t go as planned

MY COMMENT: YES! HE’S REFERENCING OUR NEED FOR BALANCED INTERNET CONTENT FILTERING, BUT NOT USING THOSE WORDS TO HIGHLIGHT IT. REFERENCE WEBSITES: balancedfiltering.org and Unmasking the Digital Truth

“If you can think it it’s out there” (if not figure out how to create this)

MY QUESTION DURING THE SESSION TO NICK: “YOU’RE REFERENCING BALANCED INTERNET CONTENT FILTERING. HOW DO YOU RECOMMEND SCHOOL DISTRICTS EMBRACE BALANCED CONTENT FILTERING AND WHAT DISTRICTS IN OKLAHOMA ARE DOING THE BEST JOB EMBRACING THIS VISION OF DIGITAL LEARNING?

Norman has YouTube in the district, teachers have access and
– we have gone completely to Google Docs, Google Email, etc
– this year we have given every student an email account (intra-district: they can email anyone within Norman PS)
– their email outside the district has to go through the teacher, and s/he approves it to gout side the district
– we have a Facebook for the district, we don’t allow schools to have Facebook pages yet
– we have worked with OU, they have several people that just watch Facebook feeds all day: anything that is “bad” they take it off immediately (we don’t have the resources to do that)
– We allow cell phones in schools in non-academic times, unless teachers have a use for them

Where teens use the Internet
– 89% go online at home
– 77% go online at school
– 71% to to a friends’ house

From the Lives of Teens, Pew Internet study

What does this mean: we have lots of learning and PD to do

CCSS Technology Expectations for Math:
– mathematically proficient students should know which tools help them performa different tasks, according to the standards
– how to use calculators, spreadsheets, computer algebra systems, statistical packages, and dynamic geometry software

Calculators: why would you NOT allow students to use a tool which is commonly available for everything students do?
– Oklahoma EOI (end of instruction) exams permit calculator use

CCSS ELA Expectations:
– use internet to produce and publish writing, as well as to interact and collaborate with others

MY QUESTION TO NICK: HOW ARE YOU HAVING STUDENTS PUBLISH AND INTERACT ONLINE?

We are using Google Docs now, and Moodle in grades K-12.

MY COMMENT: IT WOULD BE GREAT TO AMPLIFY THE COLLABORATIVE WAYS NORMAN PS STUDENTS ARE USING GOOGLE DOCS FOR INTERACTIVE WRITING. IT’S A BIG DEAL NORMAN PS IS USING MOODLE AS A LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM DISTRICT-WIDE ACROSS ALL GRADE LEVELS

How do we accomplish this?

– Apple TV is $99, that is how I’m doing this now (showing laser pointer on the slideshow)
– at SNU they have Apple TVs velcroed to the back of all the plasma screens

Twiddla is a free, cloud-based interactive whiteboard environment and is free

“Apple is cloud-based on almost everything they do”

MY COMMENT: THAT CLAIM BY NICK IS ABSOLUTELY NOT TRUE. APPLE’S VISION OF TECHNOLOGY USE IS MOVING INTO THE CLOUD NOW (iOS 5 and iCloud are examples) BUT APPLE DOES NOT FULLY SHARE GOOGLE’S VISION OF DESIRED TECHNOLOGY USE AND PRODUCT DESIGN/SOFTWARE. APPLE’S VISION INVOLVES A CLOSED ECO-SYSTEM AND THINGS WHICH ARE APP-BASED AND LARGELY PROPRIETARY, NOT OPEN. BIG DIFFERENCES IN THE WORLDVIEW AND PRODUCTS. THIS MAKES ME THINK OF A GOOD CONFERENCE SESSION TOPIC WHICH WOULD COMPARE THOSE WORLDVIEWS AND THEN ANSWER THE QUESTION, WHICH SHOULD SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL LEADERS EMBRACE? (I’D ARGUE A BLENDED VISION, TAKING THE BEST ELEMENTS OF BOTH.)

Short throw projectors are the way to go, make sure every light in the room can be on and you can see everything on the screen

PenUltimate is my favorite app for note taking
– can draw directly on graph paper
– can take pictures of something

We are 1:1 with netbooks now, but don’t like them: that’s why businesses have moved away from netbooks [IN NORMAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS]

We have a few carts of iPads out there that students are using

Have just bought 120 Chromebooks and are piloting those now

'chromebook foto test' photo (c) 2011, ?? ? - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

We are gearing toward another bond initiative

We are really looking at creating our own eBooks
– look at the mint which vendors are considering eBooks now at $15 per year rental

We have not left textbooks behind yet
– you’ve got to have a plan, you can’t just throw it out there

MY QUESTION: ARE YOU PUBLICLY SHARING COMMON CORE ALIGNED LESSON PLANS IN NORMAN PS? HOW ARE YOU SHARING?

NICK’S ANSWER: NO. WE ARE NOT.

MY ANSWER: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE SHARE YOUR LESSON PLANS PUBLICLY. WE WOULD LOVE TO COLLABORATE WITH YOU AND BUILD ON YOUR IDEAS. WE’D LOVE YOU TO BUILD ON OUR IDEAS. SITE REFERENCE (UNDER CONSTRUCTION) – lessons.yukonps.com

I also love iAnnotate app: it is a fantastic way to share data with students or others
– you can annotate any PDF: highlight, annotate, and email with or without your annotations
– it can extract your annotations and put them in a body of an email as a summary

Google Earth on a mobile device is a VERY powerful tool and can be applied to any content area

MY QUESTION: WHO DO YOU FILTER INTERNET CONTENT WITH?

NICK’S ANSWER: WE FILTER WITH GOOGLE. (HE IS GOING TO EMAIL ME DETAILS.)

Technorati Tags: ccss, commoncore, edtech, oklahoma, technology, nick, migliorino, snu

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The Future is Now: IT in Common Core by Nick Migliorino

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