Digital Crosswalks

"That's a Dumb Thing to Say"

2009-07-16T07:55:00.000-07:00

Are you saying more than you really intend?

The other day, I was at the market, and as I was walking to the Deli counter, I overheard a woman admonish her daughter with "That was a dumb thing to say!". My heart sank. The look on the child's face made me want to cry.

I like to think that this parent meant no harm, that she usually has very loving things to say to her daughter. But the incident remains with me. I shared it at a meeting with some teachers later that day. The mutual reaction was a group moan. It was clear to them that such comments (often said in the heat of the moment) build an image the child has of herself.

I wonder what that Mom's reaction would have been had I asked her "Is your daughter dumb?". You can see how one might get that impression from your comment.

Photo by Thomas Hawk (cc)

Thanks Steve! Webinars for Free

2009-07-13T09:05:00.000-07:00

Steve Hargadon has lead me to another wonderful tool for educators.

Steve Hargadon - of EduBloggerCon and Classroom 2.0 fame - has been busy. Perhaps you saw him at NECC this year - NECC UnPlugged - or maybe you attened one the many PBS Teachers free webinars ("PBS Teachers LIVE!") or you just know him as the "Open Source Guy". He certainly gets around.

In addition to being a really nice guy, Steve has (and continues to be) a great source for new technologies and innovative uses of technology within education. Some of the "gems" that I discovered through Steve include Ning, UStream, and CoMapping. His most recent "gem" is a program that allows teachers to host webinars in Elluminate - for FREE. Steve has worked out a deal that gives you the opportunity host your own "public meetings" or online seminars in LearnCentral's Elluminate Room. There are few "rules" and restrictions including that the topic focus on education, it be available to everyone (for free), and that your are OK with it being recorded. This service usually costs lots of $$$'s and thanks to Steve and Ellumniate, you can get it for free. You can read more about it on the LearnCentral site and in Steve's blog.

But what if you are looking to use something like Elluminate to meet online with a just one or two folks - in a more private setting? Again, Steve (and LearnCentral) has a solution. If you join LearnCentral (free), you can use their vRoom feature to host a private Elluminate meeting with one or two others. Think collaborative teaching, online tutoring or virtual parent conferences. (some vRoom stories).

We have been using GotoMeeting's online meeting service for a number of years now - and paying around $50 a month for the privallege. While GotoMeeting lies somewhere between the "open to all - free" model and the "private - one or two participant" vRoom model, it is good to know that there are other options out there.

Thanks Steve and keep up the good work!

Oh - I remember YackPack

2009-06-30T09:38:00.000-07:00

Another look at a fun/interesting/useful tool - YackPack

With all the cool technology out there, how do you keep up with it all?

The answers is you don't. You only keep up with that technology that you use. The phrase "Use it or loose it" really applies here.

Back in 2007, I gave a presentation at the CUE conference and just before going into the session, I ran into a woman from YackPack. I did not have too much time to hear the YackPack story, but she was willing to give me one of their really cool t-shirts after I promised to include in in the give-aways at my session. (I think the t-shirt was more popular than my presentation). I did, however, learn more about YackPack when I got home and was really impressed. You can read my post about incorporating YackPack into ~~PBWiki~~ PBworks.

So... what's the point? Despite the uses of YackPack, I never incorporated them into my teaching or training. I didn't use it, so I lost it.

Jump forward to NECC 2009. Since I was not able to go to D.C. :-( I have been following the conference virtually. One participant in particular, elkanj, has bookmarked several interesting links on Delicious from NECC, and YackPack was one of them.

"Oh, YackPack. Let's have another look." [imagine a little bubble with this thought above my head]

I am so glad that I did. In general - YackPack is a web-based asynchronous conference calling application. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? Let me try and answer with some scenerios

You are a language teacher who is looking for a way to get your students to practice conversations
yackpack: create a group with all your students and have them converse. They send other students (you can assign pairs if you want) voice "messages" in the foreign language and the recipients respond.
You have always wanted to schedule individual conferences with your students to review their progress but found coordinating meeting times was very difficult.
yackpack: create a group with all your students and record a review for each student individually. Students login and hear your review and respond. You don't have to be at school. You do it on your time. The students do it on their time. All of the conversations are saved. And it is private.
You have tried blogging with your students as a way to engage them in out-of-class discussions, and you have had some success. But the kids with who don't write as well as the others feel intimidated.
yackpack: create a group with all your students and record discussion prompts aimed at the whole group. Each student responds to the group and a conversation begins. This gives the students a chance to articulate their thoughts verbally. As an alternative, you could ask each student to respond directly to you to gauge their level of understanding on a topic.
You have a few friends who are experts in their fields and are really interesting. You would love to have them come to your class and share their experiences with the kids, but you can't afford the class time.
yackpack: create a group with all your students and invite your friends to join where they record a short talk on their experiences. Your students can then engage them in discussions.

YackPack has more information about using their technology in the classroom here. To get started, watch this video preview of YackPack.

If you have never heard of YackPack or are like me and have not Yacked in a while, check it out. There are lots of interesting uses for this technology.

Montra For Your Class?

2009-06-09T08:54:00.000-07:00

I love to apply ideas from other industries to our education space. Here is one from the architectural world.

Architect Daniel Libeskind talked about how he tried to make his work expressive rather than neutral, unexpected rather than habitual, memorable rather than forgettable, communicative rather than mute, democratic rather than authoritarian. What if our classrooms were expressive rather than neutral, unexpected rather than habitual, memorable rather than forgettable, communicative rather than mute, democratic rather than authoritarian?

Contemporary Jewish Museum

Your Network of Trust

2009-06-03T10:12:00.000-07:00

It's lonely at the top Whether you are a principal, supervisor, or secretary of education, you need a support network to share ideas, gain feedback, and let your guard down.

For those of you who follow my rants/ideas, you know how I value the personal learning network - a group of people and resources that help and even push you to be better at what you do. Executives and top managers whether in business or education are no different. We need a group to turn to for advice.

A recent article from MIT Sloan Management Review titled "Profiles of Trust: Who to Turn To, And for What" addresses the question "when a top manager needs personal support, who does he or she turn to?" This article caught my interest for its general breakdown of the types of persons managers seek out - essentially it depends on the type of advice they need. OK this sounds obvious but the authors do a good job breaking the discussion into some interesting critical parts. They start by dividing the kinds of support requested into four quadrants - high to low informational complexity and high to low emotional demand. {ed note: is four quadrants redundant?}

Essentially:

Raw Information: This is really just data. "What is our budget for professional development?", "How many students are taking AP classes?", "When is the next faculty in-service day?"
Actionable Advice: Support in this area is all about getting something done. The request involves high information complexity but low emotional demands, such as those involving processes. "How do our AP scores compare with others in the state?" requires knowledge of both process (how to get the stats) and nuances (which factors affect AP scores).
Emotional Support: When you seek emotional support, you are less interested in data or advice, but are in need of someone to listen and offer compassion/empathy. While some might dismiss such support as no being productive (resolving a problem), the need for emotional support is part of being human.
Strategic or Political Help: This type of support is characterized by high information complexity and emotional demands. "How do I break the news of teacher layoffs while maintaining a positive morale in the school?" "How can I sell the teachers on the need to improve our collective teaching methods?"

This is a long introduction to my essential point - and that of the article: As leaders, we (need to) seek out a support network comprised of a variety of "skills". We need that person who can give us the raw data and we need that person with who we can confide our frustrations and insecurities. The raw data gal needs to be skilled or renowned in her area, but doesn't necessarily need to be a "people person". The confidant guy needs to be more of a cheerleader offering unconditional support, no questions, no judgment.

The MIT article groups these skills or traits into what they call Trust. We seek support from someone we trust. As suggested, the definition of "trust" varies depending upon the situation. In general, "trust" can be measured in terms of ability, benevolence, and integrity. Ability refers to the individual's skill or expertise in a specific area. Benevolence is the degree to which the individual holds your best interests at heart. Integrity is the adherence to a set of principles that you value.

The Take Away!

I think we all unconsciously evaluate those from which we seek support in terms of ability, benevolence, and integrity &emdash; though we may not be aware of this process. My point is first: understanding of these three characteristics (ability, benevolence, and integrity) will help us better craft our support network. But, my bigger point is: we all need a network of individuals upon which we can rely. In the MIT article, they refer to someone who ranks high in all three characteristics as a "Trustworthy Partner". These individuals represent an enormous value and while often difficult to find, are a prized asset in your network of trust.

Ready to Throwout Email?

2009-06-01T09:54:00.000-07:00

Most of us are tied to email. What would you say if I told you that Google has made email passe? Well, prepare to toss Outlook, Gmail and your traditional email.

I was unable to make the Google I/O conference in San Francisco due to a last minute scheduling conflict but as a paid participant, I received all of the conference emails including one titled "In case you missed the keynote this morning...". The email included a link to a video of the keynote. The topic was Wave, a new model for collaboration. Sounds interesting, so I clicked.

Let me back track a bit. I have been using Google's "stuff" for a while. I have attended and lead workshops on Google Docs. I have written gadgets that utilize the Google Search API as well as Google Visualization. I am trying to convince you of my "Google Expertise" but more that I feel as if I am fairly well acquainted with Google's tools and Internet applications in general. I hope this helps frame my comments below.

Back to the keynote. I clicked the link and was introduced to something called Wave which was going to transform email as we know it. I reacted with skepticism. I just could not imagine how any changes to email could be "transformational". Boy was I wrong!!! I sat riveted to the video. People around me could hear the frequent "Oh my gosh!", "How cool", and "That is amazing" from me. Wave will truly make email as we know it obsolete. As I suggested above, I am not prone to such grandiose statements. But Wave deserves it!

Don't take my word. You need to watch the keynote. Let me know what you think!

The Zen of Cutting Paper

2009-03-25T08:34:00.000-07:00

Given the choice of clip art or scissors with construction paper, which would you choose to create your next presentation? Read on to hear the story of one presentation where this technologist decided to go "unplug".

You are asked to create a presentation on 21st Century Skills to be given to the school board next week. Your first step ... sit down at the computer, fire up PowerPoint or Keynote and get stared! OK, we are educators. We know that this approach is a bit hasty. We need a plan.

Being the presentation guru, you outline the goals of the presentation and key points that you want to convey to your audience. You then outline the approach - decide what you are going to say. Finally you think about the content remembering that each slide (the visuals) should enhance what you are saying.

After you have the plan, you return to your computer and begin crafting the presentation. This is where I took a different path in a recent presentation. Normally I follow my traditional method - opening Fireworks, developing a visual template, and filling each page/slide with text/images according to my outline. [note: I use Fireworks instead of Powerpoint as it gives me better control and more options. When done, I usually output the file as a PDF.]

This time, I took a few of my daughter's coloring books (with permission of course) and found images consistent with my plan. I cut these images out and glued them to pieces of large construction paper. The process of cutting and gluing was much more satisfactory than moving the mouse around the screen. It also allowed me to enlist the help of my daughter - her condition for using her coloring book. I had a great time working with her and the end product was unique. The presentation went over really well and they all loved my "mystery slide" that I through in. It was the page Ruby constructed on her own with her favorite pictures. While it did not tie directly into the topic, it was a source for humor as the audience tried to guess its relevance.

The next time you give a presentation, or better yet, you assign your kids to create a Powerpoint, consider the low tech solution. We did this in a recent tech ed forum and the results were fantastic.

Developing Your Delicious Network

2009-03-19T08:41:00.000-07:00

Social networks are wonderful, but how do you develop one? This post looks at ideas for adding to your network of Delicious users - you will be surprised what you find.

Do you have a Delicious Network? You know, a network of Delicious users that you follow to see what wonderful things they are bookmarking. What? You don't! Well - you are in for a treat.

Note: if you are new to Delicious and social bookmarking, read my earlier post: What is Delicious?

Delicious - the social bookmarking site - has a feature called your Network where you select other Delicious users to follow. When you go to your Network page on Delicious.com you will see a list of the most recent bookmarks created by folks in your network. Remember, really smart people surround themselves with even smarter people. Your Delicious Network is a place where you can piggyback on the smarts of others.

Here is my network. These folks represent learners that I respect and I can't tell you how many ideas and resources that I have gotten from the bookmarks created by my network. Someone recently asked how I keep up to date on some much that is on the web. My Delicious Network!

During my presentation on use of Delicious as a tool for educators at the 2009 CUE Conference, I was asked how I developed my Delicious Network. The short answer is that I don't really remember how I got started (it was a while ago). But this got me thinking: how does one develop a social network?

Here are a few ideas that I can share (one actually is not mine) and I would love to hear of your ideas.

From Blogs As you read your favorite blogs, look for the author's Delicious user name. For example, Vicki Davis - aka CoolCatTeacher is known as brightideasguru. (see image to right)
Referrals Take a look at who other Delicious users have in their network. If you look at Will Richardson's network, you will have a list of hundreds of folks to follow. (Actually, he only has 55 in his network)
Explore - Look for Fans As mentioned, Will follows 55 folks in his network. But there are over 1000 others that are fans of Will. These are delicious users who have added Will to their network. Clicking on their name will give you a list of their bookmarks. If you find someone interesting - that is someone that bookmarks regularly and has similar tastes in topics - add him/her to your network.
Reverse Engineer Go to Delicious and search for a topic of interest - say "calculus visualization". Be sure to select "search everyone's bookmarks", and you will get not only a list of some interesting sites/resources, you will also see who has included them in their bookmarks. On the right will be a number. This is the total number of other Delicious users who have bookmarked that same link. Click on the number and you can see each of their Delicious screen (user) names. What is even better - you can also see the comments that they included when the bookmarked the site. Good commentators can make for good folks to add to your network.
delicious4teachers During my presentation, someone (sorry - forgot your name) turned me onto delicious4teachers, a PBwiki PBworks wiki where you can find teachers using Delicious by subject and because it is a wiki, add your name to your areas of interest.
Ask! Finally, ask those that you think are continually looking to improve themselves. Ask them if they have a Delicious account. If they do, great - add them to your network. If not, talk them into creating one. I have encouraged several colleagues to join Delicious and they are part of my network.

Don't forget, I would love to include you in my network. Just drop me a line via rob [at] digiwalks [dot] org.

What is Delicious?

2009-03-09T09:03:00.000-07:00

A primer on social bookmarking - in case you want to "get on board".

At the CUE conference this year I presented Delicious: Innovation in Education. Rachel, one of the attendees, offered a very interesting comment: "I love Delicious and have been trying to get other teachers to use it for years. But no one seems to know about it [Delicious or social bookmarking ]." I suggested the presentation thinking most folks know of Delicious and are using some form of social bookmarking. Goes to show - you should always test your assumptions!

With this comment fresh in my mind, I offer this primer on Delicious and social bookmarking. Actually, this is more of a resource for finding out more about this very useful (and for me - indispensable) tool.

Before you do anything, check out the Common Craft video on social networking. It is a great introduction and like all of their videos - entertaining.
Next, go to Educause and check out 7 Things You Should Know About Social Networking. Educause's "7 Things You Should Know" series is a great place to get information on most Web 2.0 technologies from an educators standpoint.
Of course, Wikipedia has an entry on Social Bookmarking for those that want even more information.
OK, now you are sold. Time to get started with a Delicious account. Delicious has a Getting Started guide that walks you through the process.
If you want to read more, check out "Delicious in Education" by Gabriela Grosseck. It is not light reading but offers a some good ideas.
Finally, you can see all of my links relating to Delicious and social bookmarking here. Yes, it is a link to Delicious - all of my bookmarks tagged with "del.icio.us".
In a future post, I will be talking more about using Delicious to develop a professional learning network. [link to post coming here]

It's OK to See a Movie

2009-01-19T08:35:00.000-08:00

How can you tell me that going to a movie will make me a better educator?

I have been a fan of the Sundance Film Festival for a long time but never could attend. January was a very busy time for me - my classes were finishing the semester and preparing for exams, the soccer program was in full swing with league play underway, and I was meeting with my department members going over their reviews.

When I left the classroom, I vowed to keep January open so I could attend Sundance. My expectations were certainly met and even surpassed. Every year (since 2001), I have been going to Sundance except those years when my two children were born. This year, however, I could have gone, but due to several factors - mainly upcoming commitments - I am not attend the festival.

Instead, my friend and I have created the Bill/Rob Film Festival where we are spending the week going to one, two or even three movies each afternoon. At first, I felt the need to justify this: "I am working extra hard in the mornings and at night so I can go to the movies". But why? Isn't it OK for me to see a movie?

Yes, you are correct. This is more than just one movie. But it does reflect on a condition that we as Americans especially suffer from. We feel that unless we are busy, working hard all the time, we are not being successful or "contributing". This summer, I read Tim Ferriss' book "The 4-Hour Workweek". In it, the author relates a time when he worked at a job that required him to make sales calls to executives. He found that if he spent an half-hour in the early morning and an hour in the evening making calls, he was more productive (and overall more successful) than his counterparts who spent eight hours calling. The reason: he called either before the the executives' personal assistants got to work or after they had left. These personal assistants were screening the calls and protecting their bosses from the likes of the author.

The obvious take-away from this is: "Work Smart, not Hard". But I really focused on the author's other message, namely that even though he was bringing in the business, he was seen as a slacker since he did not make any calls during those other hours. His bosses were short sighted, as many of us are. We tend to encourage those who work hard without really looking at what they are doing and if they are really just spending those hours being busy or are they really doing something.

Well, back to the Bill/Rob Film Festival. Certainly, if we can get our work done before the films, we should be OK. But I would say that going to these movies will help us work better.

A big part of my passion involves creativity and as Frans Johansson explains in the "Medici Effect: What Elephants and Epidemics Can Teach Us About Innovation", we need to surround ourselves with new ideas and novel ways of expressing these ideas. Movies help in this end.

Finally, going to a movie is fun and setting up our own film festival promises to be a blast. Isn't it OK to have some fun?

Followup - We are still working on the schedule for the week and I will update this post with what we saw and how we like / dislike each. But if you have not seen "Slumdog Millionaire", I would certainly recommend it. Also, Sean Penn is fantastic as Harvey Milk in "Milk".

Wish for a Successful Year

2008-08-20T14:12:00.000-07:00

With the start of school around the corner, what are some of your hopes for this new school year?

I was astonished to learn that my nephew will be starting school tomorrow! It just seems so early; summer has really whizzed by. But it was not my nephew's return to the classroom that got me thinking about the coming school year.

Monday, I was taking my early morning walk with my little boy and happened upon the wishing tree project here in Pasadena. It is part of Yoko Ono's Imagine Peace project and includes about 20 trees planted in barrels and hundreds of little tags tied to the branches with wishes. Anyone can come by and write his/her wish and attached it to a tree.

There are thousands of wishes and while many are what you expect (world peace, money, etc.) there are some that really caught my eye. Here are a few:

On Monday, one particular wish captured my attention but I did not have my camera. I returned today and spent over an hour reading the wishes. You can see a slideshow of my favorites at http://tinyurl.com/pasadena-wishing-tree.

Unfortunately, I never found the tag that originally caught my attention. It read: "I wish I do well in calculus this year." I had forgotten how the end of summer and the looming start of a new school year brings out anxieties. Whether it is a particularly scary course or teacher, the start at a new school, the return of the bully, or just the book(s) you did not read over the summer, the end of August can be a time of worry.

So here is wishing all of you a wonderful and scary-free school year.

Tech Tags: digiwalks art wish pasadena wishing+tree yoko+ono imagine+peace

Do teachers need to be technologically proficient?

2008-08-11T14:17:00.000-07:00

Is there some minimum level of proficiency that all teachers need to reach with respect to technology?

Technology continues to become more and more ubiquitous in our lives. Cell phones keep us connected at all times. TiVo has changed the way we watch television. And the Internet has revolutionize the way we communicate. But we are not all the same when it comes to technology. There are vast differences in the adoption of technology into people's lives. Reasons for this "Digital Divide" are numerous and include:

access the technology is not available in your area.
money the technology is available but you cannot afford it.
ability the technology is both available and you can afford it, but you are not (or do not perceive yourself as being) able to understand how to use it.
relevance you understand how to use the technology but don't see how it will benefit you.
lifestyle you not only understand how to use the technology but also see how it can be used to benefit lives, but you have made a lifestyle decision not to use the technology.

Given the prevalence of technology in the world today, should teachers be expected to be able to use some of this technology in their classroom and/or in managing their teaching? What forms of technology can be considered "basic" and all teachers be expected to not only know how to use but to be actually using?

Tech Tags: digiwalks professional+development proficiency edtech+forum

Keeping Up in a Digital World

2008-07-28T13:22:00.000-07:00

As parents and educators, it is important for us to stay abreast of the digital world in which our kids live. I recently found another reason for us to keep up.

I have been immersed in several projects recently, one of which involves exploring the human development aspects of growing up in a digital world. This project has me searching for resources that explore various ways our digital world is affecting the development of our kids.

My research took me to a report titled The Appropriation of New Media by Youth. It is an interesting look at use of new media from a European perspective. The report looks at several countries offering a profile and recommendations for each. For example, one of the general recommendations for the United Kingdom was:

"We recommend that the current emphasis placed on the regulation and prohibition of online media within schools and colleges is substituted by pedagogical interventions aimed at developing children and young people’s critical literacy skills and competencies."

But what really caught my attention I found in the report conclusions:

The survey also shows that whereas young people are appropriating user skills thanks to their peers and to their own experiences, they are finding few adult partners to rationalise and systematise the spontaneous learning channels they are developing. Instructional independence is a quality, to be sure, but many young people feel (and sometimes express) the need of finding a heedful ear among adults and at times a dialogue that the family and school develop to a very limited extent about using the Internet, games and mobile telephones. The Appropriation of New Media by Youth - page 56

Excellent! Absolutely! We need to keep up with our kids so we can be there to help them as they navigate adolescence in a digital world. How can a child talk to us about cyberbullying when we don't get social networking? Most of us can relate to being embarrassed on the school playground, but how many can relate to a child who has just been flamed in a Internet chat room? So to say up with my daughter, I am off to explore the world of Pinky Dinky Doo.

BTW... If you have any resources that you would like to recommend, add them to the comments. I am looking for articles or sources that address issues relating to the digital world and human (child) development. While issues involving how the educational system needs to be changed to reflect the digital world are important, this project is more about the emotional, social, moral, ethical development of kids that takes place both in school and out of school. I am really excited to see what you might recommend.

Tech Tags: digiwalks digital+world human+development child+development

NECC: So Connected

2008-07-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

NECC succeeds at providing wireless connectivity despite the large number of participants.

One of the most impressive parts of NECC this year may have been lost or at least not recognized by many of the attendees. It did not have to do with the quality of the sessions, the nice environ offered by the City of San Antonio, nor even the fun yellow ISTE beach balls given away the first day. It was about WiFi. Every time I tried to connect whether in a session, the hallway, or even at lunch, my system found the "isteconnect" and I was on the internet. I was sitting at the Blogger Cafe with at least 30 others, most of whom had their laptops open - presumably connected too. Even with these numbers, I was able to connect. I have been to a number of conferences and the ubiquity of access to the Internet this past few days has really made this conference standout.

Of course, it took a contrast for me to really notice it. At my hotel, the Internet (via wifi) was very slow. I am currently at a Starbucks writing this offline because I am too cheap to fork out the money for a iMoble connection. Writing offline is difficult. I am so used to being connected that I can't help but to jump over to my browser to check a fact, look up a word, or search for supporting (contrasting) arguments. I am not even that big of an email/twitter/IM/rss junky. I don't have the fear of missing something that many folks have. But I do need access to get any work done, whether it be writing, programming, or even designing. The Internet has become a ubiquitous part of my work process.

Thus, I am writing this blind. I have no idea if others have been equally impressed with NECC wireless connectivity or if some found it to be very lacking. It is kind of exciting...

Tech Tags: digiwalks necc necc08 connectivity

NECC: Intel - Best of Show

2008-07-02T06:57:00.000-07:00

My pick for "Best of the Show" - Intel's FREE thinking tools.

Exhibit halls at conferences don't usually excite me. They are noisy, crowded, and with every vendor designing their booth to capture your attention, it is easy to become overwhelmed. Despite my feelings (and my better judgment) I venture into the hall every conference and usually leave with very little. This was the case yesterday at NECC. I did have a nice conversation with the folks at Adobe, met a friend of a friend at TI and was amused by the varied and creative methods being employed to grab ones attention. But, as usual, when I turned to leave, I had nothing to show for my time. Or, that as until I happened by the Intel booth on the way out.

Why would I stop at the Intel booth? Don't get me wrong - I like Intel and their products. I just have never looked to Intel for educational tools or resources. Well, that has now changed. I am so excited about Intel's Education Initiative and their tools for K-12 teachers.

The tools are divided into two categories - "Thinking Tools" and "Productivity Tools". Right there, you got to get excited by the title "Thinking Tools". Within this first category, there are three tools: "Visual Ranking Tool", "Seeing Reason Tool", and "Showing Evidence Tool". Again, just from the names, you can get a feel for how these tools might be used for challenging your students with higher learning skills.

The Visual Ranking Tool is the one that Vanessa (an educator from Austin in the day, Intel Education Leader at night) demonstrated for me and the tool that got me so excited. The tool is quite simple. Teachers setup a list of items and students (working in teams or individually) rank order the items based on some criteria. For example, you could list factors/events leading to WWII and have your students rank order them in terms of their relative importance in causing the war. You could list various reasons why an author killed off a character in a book the class is reading then have your students rank order them based on their plausibility. The tool need not be limited to open-ended type questions. The Ranking Tool could be used to put things in chronological order. In Mathematics, students could be asked to put the steps necessary to solve a problem in their correct order testing their understanding of the concepts and terminology rather than just whether they can perform the math.

Simple ranking is of no use unless students are required to backup their decisions with some rational. The tool provides a place for students to justify their rankings and then when they are done, they can see how other teams/students ranked the items. This gives the kids a chance to reflect on their ranking and discuss if they should make any changes. It also provides for a good class discussion as students defend their ranking.

The Visual Ranking Tools alone is a powerful learning tool. And the other tools provided compliment and even extend its ability to get students thinking at a higher level. With all of the fancy tools and technology offered for educators, these relatively simple tools are my pick for the best of the show. They give quality educators the power to get their students thinking!

Tech Tags: digiwalks necc necc08 intel thinking tools

NECC: Wicked Problems

2008-06-30T07:53:00.000-07:00

Summary and take-away's from NECC session "Immersive Collaborative Simulations in Augmented Reality"

"Wicked Problems" as Chris Dede describes, are problems that are too big for any single individual to be an expert on. Global climate change is an example. Such problems are becoming more common place in today's complex world and to address such problems a team with diverse and complimentary skills / knowledge sets is required. And, the lecture is not the place for teaching such complex learning.

Dede offers three alternative learning environments all focusing on what he termed as "Situated Learning".

Internships and apprenticeships where tacit learning is available.
Multi-User Virtual Environments such as Second Life and MMORPGs
Ubiquitous computing learning environments - augmented reality

This last category - augmented reality - suggests a new approach to computing where we depart from the traditional desktop approach to access. Access to information, experts, and even virtual worlds has been through the desktop and it is this form of interaction with technology that we are most comfortable. The desktop offers a portal to other worlds whether they be as simple as a dictionary for looking up word, to communal like Wikipedia, to social like Facebook, to all-encompassing like Second Life.

In an augmented reality, we will leave our desktop and move around in our physical world that has been enhanced, augmented, with virtual artifacts. Thus, on your next visit to Target, you may encounter a virtual personal shopping assistant who knows your needs as well as your tastes and will use this information to better inform you of the newest products and those items that are on sale. Your complete interaction with this assistant might be through your phone or PDA.

In education, augmented reality can be used to create (reproducible) learning opportunities for our students. Dede and his group at Harvard have put together a "challenge" where students explore their neighborhood looking for clues to help explain the reported landing of an alien spaceship. These clues are virtual and are activated using GPS technology when the students move (physically) to a particular place. Students are presented with a set diffentiated clues based on the "role" that they play in this augmented reality. One student might be the FBI agent, so her clues are geared toward information that an FBI agent might discover. Another might be a NASA scientist and another might be a linguist (to help decipher the alien language). Students work in a team collecting their information, solving problems, sharing their results and collaborating on a solution.

This sounds rather far out, or at least non-traditional, but I was surprised to hear that it was funded by a grant from US Dept. of Ed. to address poor (standardized) test grades. While I did not hear how effective the project was in regards to test scores, it did sound very successful at engaging students with "real" world learning. I guess the folks in Washington are happy enough as Dede, et. al., are in the process of creating their second scenario where a gray whale has beached itself and students are clamoring to find out why. Sounds interesting and what a fun way to simulate "wicked problems"!

Tech Tags: digiwalks necc necc08 n08s431 Dede Harvard augmented+reality

NECC Opening: Diversity Matters

2008-06-30T04:59:00.000-07:00

Why is the wisdom of the crowd greater than the smarts of the most intelligent individual? James Surowiecki explains in his keynote at NECC.

My NECC experience began yesterday with a very engaging keynote address by James Surowiecki. His basic premise is that a mass of people has greater intelligence than the smartest single individual - the The Wisdom of Crowds,. Of course there are some conditions for this phenomenon to hold true, the most interesting for me being the requirement that the mass be a diverse group. The principle is that the a wide range of ideas (even if some are really out there) will lead to a better solution than a narrow set of "informed" ideas.

Surowiecki offered several stories that illustrate this principle the last involving the search for a lost submarine in the 60's. After loosing communication with one of its subs, the Navy assembled its top folks to coordinate a search. After the search was unable to uncover the sub, someone put together a team of very diverse individual including those you would expect (e.g. sub commanders and navigation experts) as well as some you would not expect (e.g. mathematicians). The group came up with several scenarios and then were asked to bet on which of the scenarios each thought was the most likely. This process resulted in a location that turned out to be within a couple of hundred yards from the sub. The diverse mass did better (much better) than the group of experts the Navy put together.

Surowiecki's keynote reminded me of two books that have been very influential to me. The first is "Medici Effect " by Frans Johansson that suggests one ingredient for innovation is access or association with a diverse group of people. Rarely are innovation born from like-minded people sitting around brainstorming on how to improve a process. What they usually come up with is an incremental improvement on the process, not an innovation - a revolutionary change in the process. If you have not read this book, please do. It gives us a model for our professional development: namely, we should look toward diverse sources for our learning.

The other book of which Surowiecki's message reminded me is "Made to Stick " by the Heath brothers. For me, the connection is in the form of Surowiecki's message. He has followed the six principles of creating a idea that will stick with us: Simplicity, Unexpectedness, Concreteness, Credibility, Emotions, and Stories. Interestingly, Amazon partners "Made to Stick" with Surowiecki's "Wisdom of Crowds".

While some may have come away from the keynote questioning its relevance to education and work in the classroom, I found it engaging and timely offering motivation for teaching the skills of collaboration, problem solving, and even probability/statistics.

Here are some links to the books mentioned in this post

Tech Tags: digiwalks necc necc08 keynote Surowiecki

What Are You Talking About? (WiR)

2008-06-25T08:05:00.000-07:00

This Week in Review posting focuses on a couple of sites that help us keep track of what's going on in news and the blogisphere - what are you talking about?

As you can see, I have decided to change the name of Week in Review (WiR) postings. This was done, first to better reflect a theme for the week but also becase "Week in Review" is boring. It does not attack any attention. And it is not interesting in a RSS feed. So, without further ado, let's talk a look at what you are talking about.

Twitturly

Twitturly is a site that shows what URLs people are talking about as they tweet on Twitter. As you can imagine, there are lot of Twitter conversations on videos. The recent "Ball Girl Makes Incredible Catch" was included in 42 tweets. (If you have not seen the catch, it is quite incredible!). And "Lady Spinning on an Escalator" was mentioned 28 times. (Again, worth watching - I could see using this video in class.)

Twitturly also breaks the stats down by time including how many "active" tweets the URL is mentioned on. An "active" tweet is one posted in the last 24 hrs. It also approximates how many people have seen the URL via Twitter. This is based on the number of people following a Twitter member who tweets the URL.

The real beauty of Twitturly is discovery... the ability to find things that you never knew you really need. For example, you should check out this wired.com how-to wiki page.

Daylife

Daylife gathers news from thousands of news sources across the world and organizes it into related stories, quotes and images. If you check out their site, you will see that you can the latest hot topics, top photos starred by Daylife users, as well as the latest news stories. You can search for news articles based on a topic. Results are not limited to just the stories. You can see images or quotes based on a topic. You can also see related topics.

For this alone, Daylife is an interesting resource. But what makes the service so unique and exciting is its eagerness to open its data to developers in an effort to create new innovative services. Daylife is currently running the Daylife Developer Challenge encouraging developers to create exciting new applications. The term that they use is "newsware". Kinda Cool!

There are a number of sites that have already created newsware apps. A couple worth checking out include:

The Washington Post's Issue Tracker lets you see news and opinions on the presidential candidates and the major issues of the 2008 campaign.
Universe, a Daylife powered creation by the incredibly talented artist/technologist Jonathan Harris. Check out his session at TED.
[editors node: this last app does not appear to be still active but is a very interesting idea] CNN's Meme-o-meter ranks the hottest memes being discussed in news stories and blogs. Clicking on a meme will display the latest news for that idea/concept.

Tech Tags: digiwalks week-in-review trends daylife twitter news

Writing for the Web or the Stupid?

2008-06-19T08:27:00.000-07:00

What is the rule for writing for the Web and is it making use dumber?

Are you stupid or do you just have an attention span of a flea? If you listen to the usability experts, then you are probably just scanning this article, looking for keywords that pop out of the text.

You might just look for

Headings

Links
Words that standout in a sentence.
And of course lists!

Last week, I found an interesting link thanks to Brian Lamb's del.icio.us bookmarkings. The link was to an article from "The Atlantic" by Nicholas Carr titled "Is Google Making Us Stupid". This sounded really interesting; I bookmarked it to use in my Week In Review posts. You see, I don't believe that the Web (or Google) is making us dumber. I still feel that we have the same or perhaps better capacity to delve deep into a subject.

It wasn't until later that I realized that I only scanned the article and didn't actually read it in depth.

While I may believe that I still have the ability to sit for long periods engulfed in a book, I know that my mind wonders. I am constantly thinking how what I just read relates to a project that I am working on. Or I read something that sparks an idea of a new project. This constant attempt to contextualize the information that I am reading is not necessarily a bad thing, but it does speak to either my impatiences or my restless nature.

I have since read Carr's article and agree with the general premise that attention spans are decreasing; folks just want the "facts" wrapped in a quick and easy to digest package. The Web both offers, enables, and even promotes this behavior.

What I found even more interesting was Carr's suggestion that Google (perhaps as representative of the God of the Internet) believes "that intelligence is the output of a mechanical process, a series of discrete steps that can be isolated, measured, and optimized." In other words, Google is attempting to solve the problem of artificial intelligence using their vast number of smart people who work at the GooglePlex supplied with terabytes of click activity that they capture daily from our activity on the Web. His fear is that intelligence is being defined as vast amounts of information readily at hand and "ambiguity is not an opening for insight but a bug to be fixed."

I personally, don't share Carr's fears. In the first place, the Web offers an unbound source for both the Cliff notes edition of information as well as access to the primary sources and deep discussions on the information. Actually, the Web embraces ambiguity through dissenting opinions. This post is an example. I also don't fear Google's quest of artificial intelligence. Actually, my concern is more that Google is confusing click activity with actual answers. Just because a site is popular does not mean that it is the best soruce for a particular piece of information. But my concern is tempered by the knowledge that the brains at the GooglePlex probably realize this and are motivated to excel at connecting us with the best source for the information that we seek. I am also aware that popularity not equating to the best is just as relevant in the printed world as it is on the Web.

So what does this mean for us who write for the web? Well, if I am writing copy for a page that will be scanned, I will keep in mind the differences between print and online content. But that does not mean that there are not places for the narrative or storytelling on the Web. Similarly, the Web offers a perfect platform for papers that promote deep thinking and expanded intelligence. But unlike other mediums, the Web also offers the platform for reflection, commentary and further discussion.

Tech Tags: digiwalks, web, writing, google, usability

Week In Review: 2008-June-09

2008-06-17T12:43:00.000-07:00

This week in review includes a discussion on open access, effective training, and the Alltop badge contest.

Berkman@10

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School celebrated their tenth anniversary this past academic year culminating in a conference - "The Future of the Internet" - that was held on May 15-16, 2008. There are numerous videos of the conference sessions / panel discussions and I encourage you to hear what these folks are saying.

But one of the topics really caught my eye - Open Access. In conjunction with the conference, the Publius Project published two essays on "access", the initial essay by Peter Suber and a response by Melissa Hagemann.

I have always been curious about the mystic behind journals and why researchers choose to publish in journals where they are not paid, they relinquish their copyrights, and the access to the ideas is limited to those who can afford subscriptions to the journal. Open Access is "digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions" (source).

The conversation continues in Melissa Hagemann's Open Scholarship where she discusses open education. "Open education resources", Hagemann writes, "are digitized materials offered freely and openly for educators, students and self-learners to use and re-use for teaching, learning and research" (source) An innovative teacher could compile a set of these resources, add her own material and product a textbook customized for her class - and the cost would be far less than traditional textbooks.

Effective Training

I enjoyed Doug Johnson's recent post titled "Seven Qualities of Highly Effective Technology Trainers". In a nutshell, here are his seven qualities:

The problem is on the desk, not in the chair.
No mouse touching.
Great analogies.
Clear support materials and advanced planning.
Knowing what is essential and what is only confusing.
If it breaks, we’ll fix it.
Perspective.

These "qualities" revolve around the theme of creating a safe environment for the technology student (e.g. teacher) so that they feel confident to try and even make mistakes. It is worth reviewing these seven ideas before any workshop, presentation or training day, as they remind us that we are not all geeks and what we might find exciting (and perhaps easy) is to someone else a scary mountain with no clear path to conquer.

Alltop Badge Contest

If you have not already discovered Alltop, it is a site that shows the latest posts from a selection of news and blogs organized by topic. For example, education.alltop.com provides a rich source of news and views on education. You will find the obvious (NY Times, NPR, BBC, US Dept of Ed) and the big guys (Dave Warlick, Will Richardson, Vicki Davis, Kathy Schrock). But you will also discover new sources of information or opinion like the "Generation Yes Blog".

Alltop has hundreds of topics ranging Ajax to Women. And their growing all the time.

Currently, they are holding a contest for folks to create badges for Alltop that bloggers or others can paste on their sites. The prize is an Apple iPod Touch so I had to try my luck. I have posted three so far (see blow) and may try some more. Deadline is June 29th, so you better get busy.

Tech Tags: digiwalks, week+in+review, open+access, open+education, berkman10, training, alltop

New Look for Digital Crosswalks

2008-06-17T11:31:00.000-07:00

I have been working on a new design for Digital Crosswalks, so look for it ~~in the coming days~~ now.

While it has been a long time coming, I have finally dedicated some time to a new design for Digital Crosswalks. Over the past few weeks, I have been fiddling with not only design but also what I want to include in this blog.

I have learned so much about Blogger and its templates. My emotions have ranged from "This sucks! I am moving off Blogger and going on my own!" to "Cool, Blogger makes it easy." As of now, I am sticking with Blogger. My decision is more about Blogger being more expedient than learning another blog-manager (e.g. Wordpress, Drupal, etc.) or writing my own code (which I may still do in the future).

At this point, I want to return focus to the numerous projects I have in the works - many of which will be of great interest to digiwalks readers. I am reminded of a quote that I recently sent to a friend who was trying to educate his bosses that websites are more about what is in them than their design. "Users don’t search for design, they search for content. If your site doesn't have content people want, no one will look at it." Just Creative Design

So look for the new design and PLEASE let me know your thoughts. But most importantly, look for announcements of new projects in the coming weeks. Who knows, there may even be a chance to win something.

Tech Tags: digiwalks new+design content+over+design

Edutopia Membership

2008-06-17T10:34:00.000-07:00

Edutopia is a fantastic resource for teachers striving to be their best. Are you a member yet?

If you have not already become a member of Edutopia, I would highly recommend it. Here are some of the benefits of becoming a member:

Subscription to Edutopia magazine - a great treat in your mailbox.
A New Day for Learning, a DVD discussing how learning can be extended beyond the classroom.
Occasional opportunities to chat (online) with education thought leaders and change agents.
A copy of The Best of Edutopia Cool Schools: Project Learning. Have not gotten mine, so I can't comment :-(

But this list fails to mention the most important benefit of your membership - that you will be supporting an quality organization with an outstanding vision:

Our vision is of a new world of learning. A place where kids and parents, teachers and administrators, policy makers and the people they serve are empowered to change education for the better. A place where schools have access to the same invaluable technology as businesses and universities -- where innovation is the rule, not the exception. A place where children become lifelong learners and develop the technical, cultural, and interpersonal skills to succeed in the twenty-first century. A place of inspiration, aspiration, and an urgent belief that improving education improves the world we live in.
Edutopia - About Us

Why am I pushing this group? In fact, Edutopia represents a better organized and funded version of the non-profit organization that I am in the process of founding. To some, they may be seen as the competition or at least a group that already exists with our purpose. Just one look at the focus of edutopia.org and you can see that they value most of the exact topics I value: Project Learning, Technology Integration, Teacher Development, Social and Emotional Learning, and Assessment.

It is this similarity that gives me such passion for Edutopia. Their vision and path toward change is consistent with mine. And, regardless who is carrying the torch, I want to support these values. I hope that you will join me in your support for Edutopia and perhaps later offer your support for my organization when it gets off the ground.

PS - for more information about the organization that I am founding or if you want to get involved, drop be a line at rob{at}myhallpass{dot}com.

Tech Tags: digiwalks education learning reform edutopia

My New Buddy

2008-06-10T09:33:00.000-07:00

I have a new Buddy and have been showing her off to all my friends.

I have a new Buddy and unlike other buddies, this one is Genuine. In case you haven't guessed, my Buddy is a scooter - 125 tangerine. My wife and I have been talking about getting scooters since our honeymoon when we tooted around Victoria Island on two that we rented. With the price of gas as it is, we finally decided enough talk, let's get serious. I guess we are not alone. Just during the time I was in looking at my Buddy, three folks came in all ready to purchase and one even buying three scooters. The scooter companies recognize this as the price of ours went up significantly just two days after we purchased.

Zipping around town on our Buddy is great fun tempered by the constant reminder that there are crazy drivers out there - and they are driving big cars and probably talking on their cell phones while ignoring our little Buddy. I reroute my trips to include a lot more side streets which has its own reward. I am also learning that ridding a scooter exposes you to not just the other cars but bugs, road defects and the weather. A splattered bug on the windshield is an annoyance, a bee crashing into your neck is hazard. The other evening, after a long board meeting, I nearly froze as I did think how the cool air can be really cold if you are unprepared.

I am glad that we have our new Buddy and hope to see more of you tooting around town.

Tech Tags: digiwalks buddy scooter

The Scary Thing I Did This Weekend

2008-05-30T08:13:00.000-07:00

"I pronounce you husband and wife..." How these words made for a scary weekend - even though I was not the one getting married.

In a recent post, I spoke of advice once given me: to do something that scares you on a regular basis. The point of this advice was to stretch me - put me in situations that are uncomfortable and challenge me. We learn and improve from such situations.

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to preside over my friend's weddings. While this was the first wedding where I was the officiate, I have spoken in front of larger crowds. So, it was not the idea of public speaking in it self that scared me. Actually, I really looked forward to being up there participating in their marriage.

But why was I scarred? It could have been that I had not completed my speeches (three during the ceremony) and obviously, I had not had a chance to practice. It could have been the amount of preparation that was going into this event and the knowledge that I was in a unique position to screw it all up. It could have been the conflict I was feeling between keeping my words to the traditional, limiting the chance I would insult or offend anyone, and expressing my feelings and making the ceremony unlike others. In the end, the real reason for being nervous is not important as much as the fact that this was a challenge, one of those scary things that I remind myself to embrace on a regular basis.

To be a successful scary adventure, I needed to come away with something new. At my brother's wedding, I came away with a silver calling card case, or was it a hip flask? For this wedding, we got chopsticks (actually they were from the rehearsal dinner). But that is not what I am talking about. What did I learn? How did it make me a better person?

The first "lesson" or success was my ability to craft the ceremony to be unique, include traditional elements, and (most importantly) be very personal. The second "lesson" was that you can't prepare for all contingencies. I did not anticipate just how emotional I was going to be. I lost it when the flower girls came down the isle and was a mess to the end. (In a moment of role reversal, the groom had to reassure me.) All that emotion made me forget what little of my speeches that I did manage to memorize. But in the end, the emotion was one of the greatest factors for the success of ceremony (more than my actual words - I have to admit).

But the greatest success or gift that this experience offered was the chance to reflect on marriage, what is important to me, and my deepest love of my wife. My words while written for the bride and groom, were really an expression of my feelings for my wife and our wedding. Actually, my writing became much easier when I pictured my wife and started writing for her.

In hindsight, my "fear" was about the pressure to make the ceremony perfect. Perfection, while an amiable goal, is rarely experienced and is really not necessary. I decided on settling for this wedding to be as special and meaningful as the one I got to have.

Tech Tags: digiwalks leadership scary

Teacher Learner: We Must Also Learn

2008-05-21T09:47:00.001-07:00

One of the most rewarding moments in teaching for me was when I had the opportunity to tutor a student in Algebra II.

One of the most rewarding moments in teaching for me was when I had the opportunity to tutor a student in Algebra II. My approach was fairly simple; each afternoon I would have him teach me the topics addressed in his class that day. I was teaching Algebra I then and was not necessarily familiar with the topics of his class. Thus, his efforts to teach me were not just a trick, I was learning (or re-learning) the topics.

My approach forced the student to reflect on the topics which in itself is a powerful teaching tool. But I would offer that my role as learner and the respect I showed to the student's teachings was a principal component behind the success of our tutoring experience.

I have been reading about the use of case studies as a teaching method and came across an essay by Charles Gragg titled "Teachers Also Must Learn". His basic premise is that the best teachers exhibit a attitude of being willing to learn from their students.

The teacher who has given up the art of learning from his students should also give up the practice of learning.

... how can he lead his students to undertake for their own parts the creative interpretation of knowledge? The answer lies in part at least in the ability of the teacher to listen to his students, not with a view to appraising them, correcting their mistakes, and filling in the gaps in their knowledge, but rather in the constant and true expectation of learning something.

from Teaching and the Case Method: Text, Cases, and Readings

Boy, if I think how I listen to my students, it is almost always with the air of the learned one ("the teacher") and infrequently as the one trying to learn. This could be explained by egotism, lack of confidence, lack of respect for the student, or just a traditionalist view of the relationship between teacher and student.

This points out the how important the art of listening is to the successful teacher.

The funny thing is that I started this blog with two purposes: an opportunity to reflect on ideas and to learn from this community of educators. Why shouldn't I expect to learn from students as well?

Tech Tags: education learning respect leadership

Week In Review: 2008-MAY-16

2008-05-15T09:01:00.000-07:00

This past year, I have been working with a school exploring our digital world from a human development perspective. One of the issues to emerge was the need to revamp the school's acceptable use policy. Thus I was drawn to David Warlick's recent post "School AUP 2.0". Dave points out how AUP grew in popularity in the 90's but many have not been modified to reflect the "information landscape [which] has grown enormously and evolved in some significant and impactful ways."

Instead of just blogging about it, Dave has created a School AUP 2.0 wiki so we can all contribute to what we feel is appropriate use and more importantly discuss ways successfully adopting the AUP. (See the Notes section for an interesting discussion.)

Barbara Barreda enters the conversation drawing our attention to policies affecting cell phone use in class in her article "Cell Phone Conundrum". Barbara references a techLEARNING article ("Cell Division") while wondering "how to help the students develop the maturity they need to responsibly use this tool". As Barbara points out, an "AUP is much more than a set of rules", it should reflect consideration of the issues from many directions: curriculum, human development, legal, safety, and cultural.

The other topic that caught my eye was from a post by Chris Hitch who writes about "The Best Advice I Received". Chris offers three helpful bits of advice:

Recognize the "difference between working high value hours vs simply being at the office or working just to slog through some stuff."
"Rule of Three" which states that after three iterations of an email conversation (send, reply, reply-to-the-reply), the conversation should move to a more direct means - that is call the person or go visit them face to face.
It is important to always be learning.

While Chris' advice is useful as is the advice offered in the comments, I was taken to the post more because it made me think about what important advice has affected my professional and personal life. Of the many great pieces of advice that I have received over the years, two standout: 1) Do something that scares you every (day/week/month), and 2) have a bias toward action. What makes these two standout is that I see the benefit of each but need constant reminders to follow their wisdom. It is too easy to avoid uncomfortable situations (not to speak of scary ones) and it is easy to rationalize the need to approach projects and tasks cautiously erring on the side of too much preparation.

I thank Chris for reminding me that we occasionally need to step back and evaluate how we are doing. His post acted as a kick in the pants - one that we can all use from time to time.

Finally, I wanted to point you toward Detensionslip.org. While I admit to not really reading the posts, I have added their RSS feed to my reader as the titles are good for a laugh.

Tech Tags: aup warlick wiki cell+phone advice leadership week+in+review

Week In Review: 2008-MAY-05

2008-05-09T08:25:00.000-07:00

This begins the first of a series of posts where I showcase issues, ideas, opportunities, and solutions that have come across my (virtual) desk during the week. The source of these posts will be news articles, blog posts, email messages, and coffee house conversations. Obviously, there will be a ton of things to choose from each week, but I hope to narrow it down to just a few that either focus around a theme or represent the most interesting.

This week, the focus is on professional growth opportunities. The first comes from Steve Hargadon who tells us about the first ever live Flat Classrooms workshop from the teachers behind the Flat Classroom Project. Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis are well known for their expertise and experience working in a Teaching 2.0 environment. The workshop will be held in St. Louis, Missouri, July 8 & 9. For more information, checkout www.flatclassrooms.com/Workshops

The second opportunity comes from CUE. There has been some confusion about the future of Google Teacher Academy, or more precisely, who would be taking on the training and when/where would there be more opportunities to become a Google Certified Teacher. But the Academy is back and is being co-presented by CUE. Google's FREE training program is an great chance to gain hands-on experience with Google's many tools for educators. The Academy is taking place on Wed, June 25, 2008 at Google Headquarters in Mountain View, CA. Applications are due on May 28, 2008. For more information, checkout www.google.com/educators/gta.html

The last opportunity is really more for your kids. If you are interested in film and film making, then the American Film Institute (AFI) is a great source for learning how to become a film maker. The institute has a strong education component and includes workshops for educators and a recently launched site for hosting videos. They also run "challenges" for high-school aged film makers. The current challenge is the Hometown Claim to Fame film contest where participants submit a short (e.g. 5min) documentary about a local legend or what your town is known most for. The winner receives an awesome video camera package! As this is the first challenge (and response has been slow so far), your chances of winning might be quite good. Contest Rules

Tech Tags: professional+development week+in+review flat+classroom google gta afi

Just Remember: + C

2008-05-07T08:07:00.000-07:00

It's AP time! And today is Calculus Day! All that work has come down to just one test. Derivatives, integrals, Riemann sums, rate of change, area of an object. Some memorization and a whole lot of problem solving. You have spent a year preparing your students and now they are on their own, hopefully with a working graphing calculator, new batteries, and a good nights sleep behind them.

Wait a minute... Did you tell them to remember the +C? Or more importantly, will your students remember?

For those non-Calc teachers, most answers to questions involving an integral include a +C (plus some constant). Often, this little item will earn a point for a student on the free-response section, or more accurately, a student will loose a point even if her solution demonstrates complete understanding of the math behind the question (sans the +C).

I was constantly trying to think of ways of getting my students to remember the +C. I tried the stick; I marked a solution totally wrong if it did not include the constant. I tried the carrot; I gave bonus points to students who spotted a missing +C in class work. (Students quickly learned to game this approach.)

A friend of mine has taken a totally different approach. He gathered all of his Calc students and took the picture below. Well Done! What a fun way to remind the students of the importance of +C.

Tech Tags: calculus ap ap+calculus plusC collaboration creativity

Notes from TechEd 2008: 'Gaming' Disaster

2008-04-17T08:36:00.001-07:00

BORING!!!

Are you kidding me? Today's TechEd 2008 Spotlight Session is titled "Why 'Gaming' for Executive Education and Management Training?". Gaming is associated with exciting, dynamic, and hip culture. This presentation was just the opposite: boring, static, and traditional with all the negative facets associated with a "death by Powerpoint" presentation. And this was a spotlight session?

To make things worse, it turnes out that this was nothing more than a plug for the presenters' university and a specific product. On this front it had the opposite effect for me. Before I could sit down, one of the presenters brought me a branded pen, the same type that was next to the handouts and that I chose not to take. He then distributed his brochure for a strategic planning consulting service. I have no problem with promotion, but this push model was offensive especially as it had nothing to do with the advertised session topic.

I don't usually post such negative comments and am usually understanding of traditional (read: bad Powerpoint) presentations, but in this case I feel cheated. I should have pulled the plug on their computers and dumped all their handouts and notes in the trash. The result, I bet, would have been a much more interesting presentation. When the presenters did go off script and down a tangent, they became more dynamic, engaging, and successful at communicating their ideas.

The sad part is that this game (simulation) sounds somewhat interesting.

Tech Tags: teched2008 gaming boring powerpoint

Notes from TechEd 2008: iRubric

2008-04-16T11:01:00.000-07:00

"iRubric - Click, Click, Done!" presented by Ramesh Sabetiashraf of Santa Ana College (and rCampus)

iRubric is a free online tool for creating grading rubrics. This powerful tool is very flexible and has a fairly easy to learn interface. It also has an tool for creating a class and roster. Then you can assess and record student work. Students can login and see the results of the assessment. You can even allow them to resubmit their work based on your comments and then you can re-grade the assignment. Currently, each re-grading overwrites the previous grade, but in the future, the application will keep track of all past versions (grades) of an assignment.

Other features include the ability to export grades and produce aggregate reports. But the feature that makes us rethink what we do is collaborative assessment. In this scenario, you can create a rubric and then have your students grade work that you have either created or acquired. This work could be a poem written by Poe, a lab writeup done by a past student (name removed of course), or a web-app that teaches a specific US History topic. By having students assess (using a rubric), they really get to know the concepts.

This really is a great application and it is FREE!

Tech Tags: teched2008 rubric assessment iRubric rCampus

Notes from TechEd 2008: ePortfolios

2008-04-16T09:34:00.000-07:00

Live Blogging from "Web 2.0 Tools for Classroom-Based Assessment and Interactive Student ePortfolios" presented by Dr. Helen Barrett

The goal is to provide a richer picture of students' learning. ePortfolios offer an solution.

Two levels of ePortfolio:

Working Portfolio (portfolio as process) - evolving over time
Presentation Portfolio (portfolio as product) - snapshot of work at a specific time

Multiple purposes of ePortfolios: these are not mutually exclusive

Learning/Process/Planning
Marketing/Showcase
Assessment/Accountability

Looking at ePortfolio for ASSESSMENT

What we know...
Summative (assessment OF learning)
Formative (assessment FOR learning)
Assessment for Learning diagram

So the question: How can we make ePortfolio development (use) a natural process integrate into everyday life? Lifelong and Life Wide learning

It needs to easy to use but sophisticated enough to allow individual customization so students can see their ePortfolios as an extension of themselves (see mySpace, Facebook). The best ePortfolio toolset is a "mashup" where students store artifacts in a variety of places (e.g. blogs, wiki, bookmarks, images, podcast) and link to each from a central location (URL). The trick is to create a wrapping application that will facilitate grouping, searching, and assessing ePortfolios.

What happens when a learner leaves or graduates? Their ePortfolio should go with them. If the tools are open, the learner has control of their artifacts and they take their artifacts (ePortfolio) with them.

Summary: ePortfolios are powerful concept and can be used to address a variety of goals and implemented using a variety of tools. Higher education is leading the path in use of ePortfolios which may affect what ePortfolios will look like in the K12 space. There are issues specific to each education level and even to individual schools. The key is to stay with flexible solutions.

Tech Tags: teched2008 eportfolio assessment Helen+Barrett

Where's the Value in Hands-On Workshops?

2008-04-16T05:53:00.000-07:00

Is there anything worse than sitting in front of a computer totally lost, not sure which button to push, frustrated? I guess it would be sitting in front of a computer in a lab waiting for that totally lost, not sure which button to push, frustrated colleague to catch up so you can progress.

I am attending the TechEd 2008 conference in Ontario, CA and have been excited at the session offerings. But in the hands-on one-hour sessions, I really question where's the value? In the short time allotted, too much time is wasted explaining the technical details and assuring that all attendees time to catch up.

I am in the process of constructing (or really re-constructing) a full-day workshop for administrators. The main question is how do I assure that quality time is spent going over concepts, demonstrating technology used to implement concepts, and giving participants time to reflect and discuss these concepts? For me, the important issues are the concepts but I realize that for many, it is important to spend time on the HOW not just the WHAT/WHY.

The idea that I am playing with is to construct video demos and walk-throughs that focus on the HOW, on how the technology works. These videos will allow participants to work on the HOW in their own time freeing the workshop hours for reflection and discussion. Will this work? What do you expect from a workshop?

Tech Tags: hands-on workshops training conferences teched2008

Update

I had the opportunity to attend a wonderful hands-on lab today on Adobe Illustrator CS3. What made this session so fun? First, the goal of the class was simply to gain some confidence with Illustrator. There was no discussion of how Illustrator can be used in the curriculum. The word pedagogy was never event used.

Second, the instructor exuded confidence which was contagious. She was reassuring and gave us all the confidence to produce our first Illustrator piece of art work. She began by showing us an example of what the final piece might look like. Even with my (albeit small) experience with graphic design tools, I was intimidated. But she then explained that everything was done using the shape tools. And so she began... breaking the project into its parts, identifying the next component, and introducing only one or two new tools at a time.

Finally, the activity was both structured and open-ended. The instructor gave us detailed instructions as she showed us a demo. But we were asked to be creative with how we used the tool being demo'ed. She opened the door for the creativity, knowing just how appealing it would be for us all.

This hands-on session has given me hope. While it has been the only hands-on component of a session that I have really enjoyed (both here at TechEd 2008 and at numerous other conferences), it has renewed a belief that it is possible to have a successful workshop that blends time for group discussion, brainstorming, and reflection with time for participant to gain some hands-on experience using the technology.

What Your Profile Says About You

2008-04-01T08:22:00.000-07:00

What do you include in your online profiles? In a recent study, teens are happier with the way they look online than their real looks. Is this because they fabricate their online identities? Suggested in the recent Digital Natives post, "Profile of an Avatar: Teens and Online Identities", online profiles are not necessarily false but rather "constructed". We put in the things with which we want to be associated.

I list my occupation as "Trainer and Learning Modules Developer" in my Blogger profile. This is how I want to be identified. It is not false. I do train and I do create learning modules. But that is not all that I do; it does not give the full picture. I am not trying to be disingenuous, only that these activities are more relevant to my writings than my activities as website producer and administrative software designer.

Because your online profile is self-constructed snapshot of you, should we discount it as a true reflection of you? I would argue no. Who you want to be is as important as who you actually are. Shame on me if I rely solely on your online identity to hire you. But if I read that you are also a "Learning Modules Developer", I know we have an interest in common - regardless of how good or experienced a developer you really are.

Similarly, getting to know your students' online identities will offer insight into how they want to be seen. At a minimum, it will give you something to talk about with your students. "Hey Monica, I would have never thought of you as a dragon. Why did you select that as your avatar?"

In some cases, it will be the things missing from the profile that are more interesting than what is actually there. If you have a student who does really well in your writing class but there is no clue that this student is a writer from the online profile, I would want to know why. For many students, they don't see their success in the classroom as part of their identity other than perhaps in generalities like "I am good at science" or "I suck at math". Perhaps it will never make it to their online identities, but helping a student realize that he is a writer may help shape his future (on and offline) identity.

Tech Tags: identity profile digital+identity

How Bad is Your Accent?

2008-03-28T10:46:00.000-07:00

"PDF's are better than web pages..." exclaimed Marge (name changed to protect the innocent).

I was showing Marge how to use Del.icio.us to compile a list of web resources for a project on which she was working. The idea was to be able to direct people involved in the project to these resources and Del.icio.us provided a central location (single URL).

"So, why are PDF's better than standard web pages?" was my reply.

"They're better for printing out... aren't they?"

Marge's project was about looking at the differences between what Prensky termed "Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants". I had to smile. While she was embracing the idea of using technology to compile the list of resources, her "accent" showed. In the past, Marge would print each article, make multiple copies and compile them in binders for others to use. Prensky calls this her digital immigrant accent.

There are hundreds of examples of the digital immigrant accent. They include printing out your email (or having your secretary print it out for you – an even “thicker” accent); needing to print out a document written on the computer in order to edit it (rather than just editing on the screen); and bringing people physically into your office to see an interesting web site (rather than just sending them the URL). I’m sure you can think of one or two examples of your own without much effort. My own favorite example is the “Did you get my email?” phone call. Those of us who are Digital Immigrants can, and should, laugh at ourselves and our “accent.” Prensky, 2001

Within Marge's project, I noticed that the gap in adoption, comfort level, and understanding of the digital world was tagged as a generation gap with the older you are, the more likely you will respond to issues from the digital world with ignorance. Is age really the problem? Superficially, "digital natives" are those born in to this wired world. Thus, someone like me, born in the 60's, could not be a "digital native" while someone like nephew, born in 96, is a native. But who is more connected? Who lives more in the digital world?

My nephew loves sports and with the exception of the occasional sports video game, he would rather be out playing a sport or watching one on TV. He is not texting his friends, updating a facebook profile, or surfing the web on an iPhone. Ok, so I am not doing those things either. But I do live more in the digital world. Whether it is communication (email, blogging, twitter), information (blogs, rss, search), or work (coding, multimedia, remoting), I operate in a world dominated by digital technology.

I am not saying that I am a native nor as an immigrant that I do not have an accent. But to attribute a gap in one's adoption of the digital world to age is too simplistic and as we create programs that address this gap, we will do well not to make assumptions based on one's age.

BTW - I don't print my email, but my accents shows when it comes to IM - I just don't get its appeal.

Tech Tags: digital+native digital+immigrant prensky YouthAndTechnology

Defining Success

2008-03-14T10:11:00.000-07:00

After finding a nice place to gather the kids, teacher Monica explains that today's art project will be to create a cow from coffee filters, yarn, and surrounding grass. She holds up an example, passes out the supplies and gives each child a cup to collect their grass.

The kids get to work and with the direction of their parents, some good looking cows emerge. Ruby, on the other hand, pours mounds of glue, slaps a filter down and pours more glue. Her father looks on observantly but offers no guidance. The result is very much unlike the initial example, receiving comments like "it's certainly abstract."

Reflecting on this class, I realized just how much we as teachers, parents, and adults define success for our children instead of letting them define their own success. For Ruby, success was pouring the glue and sticking different types of materials together. Success was defined in the process, not in the end product. I will admit that I wanted her to make a cool looking cow and it was difficult to restrain myself from making casual comments like "shouldn't the head be attached to the body?" But, this was not about me. This was not about teacher Monica. It was about Ruby. And we adults needed to get over our personal definitions of success and let the kids explore, learn, and define their own goals.

Later, Ruby and I were throwing a ball to each other. I found myself saying "good throw" when the ball came to me and "good try" when it didn't. It never occurred to me that for her, success might have been seeing how far the ball would roll after throwing it. In this scenario, throwing it to me would be a failure as the ball would not go as far.

In the classroom, we define all student success. Everything is held to a standard set by us (or perhaps the state). Are there opportunities for students to define their own success? What would an assignment look like that provided for student defined success? Could students handle such an assignment? What would they define as a success - would it be so simple as to not provide for any learning or so complex as to be impossible to obtain?

This idea of empowering students has great appeal to me but the pragmatist side of me recognizes the challenges. What are your thoughts?

By the way, I love Ruby's cow.

Tech Tags: assessment, success, creativity, child+development

EduBloggerConWest08 - The best part of CUE

2008-03-10T09:18:00.000-07:00

It was a minor miracle that I was able to attend the EduBlogger un-conference this past Wednesday. Between last minute preparations for my CUE presentation, technology glitches, delays in downloading media, and my lack of sleep thanks to our kids' needs, I questioned whether it was worth the stress/hassle to attend the un-conference. Lucky for me, I pushed through the hurtles and made it. I am so thankful that I did; it was well worth the effort.

The success of the event is a testimony to those in attendance, a group of smart, innovative, educators. We shared quick tech tips (see PicLens below), discussed big picture topics (see Project Based Learning below), and even disclosed our favorite, must have, technology that we carry in our bags (see In The Bag below).

In addition to the more formal parts of the un-conference, the networking opportunities were priceless. Had a great lunch conversation with Jennifer Wagner (of Women of Web 2.0), was inspired by Rushton Hurley's recounting of the process he went through to get Next Vista up and running, and appreciated the insights offered by Mark Pennington regarding blogging in general as well as my outdated website digiwalks.org.

Here are some of the take-aways that I would like to share with you...

PicLens

Brian Bridges did a 5-minute demo of PicLens. A description of this software does not do it justice. Check out their website and be prepared to be wow'd.

In The Bag

Here are three of my favorite items that peopled shared as the "most important technology in my bag":

UStream TV, a site that allows you to broadcast using your webcam. Steve Hargadon broadcast most of the un-conference using his Verizon Internet card.
An Eye-fi wireless memory card that automatically uploads pictures from your digital camera to your PC or Mac and to your favorite photo sharing site (read Flickr).
Advil - need I say more

Project Based Learning

This round-table conversation about the challenges to implementing project based learning was fascinating. It was agreed that for a teacher to be successful at integrating projects into her curriculum, she must have experience with projects. So how does one get started?

Two answers to this question struck a cord with me. The first involves a mentoring program where teachers with experience implementing projects into their classroom help run a project in the class of a teacher with little or no experience in this form of instruction. Certainly, there are issues with funding and coordination, but the idea is not without precedence. There are a number of programs of artists and scientists in residence, helping teachers in areas of instruction that they feel less comfortable. Why not a project based learning evangelist in residence?

The second solution discussed involves professional development that models project based learning. Instead of the traditional summer conference or workshop that we have all experienced, teachers are immersed in a curriculum that requires them to participate in a project so they can have the experience from the point of view of a student as this is a foreign way of learning to students also.

I was impressed with the comments from all of the participants of this breakout session but especially thankful to the ideas of Sylvia Martinez (session moderator) and Jane Krauss (who co-authored "Reinventing Project Based Learning", an ISTE publication). I greatly enjoyed meeting these exceptionally informed educators.

Again, I am so pleased that I made the EduBloggerConWest08 un-conference. It was the best part of my CUE experience. Thanks Steve for all of your hard work!

Tech Tags: edubloggerconwest08 piclens project+based+learning pbl

Why Blog?

2008-03-03T23:51:00.000-08:00

Is blogging all about YOU?

I ask this because I have been going through a period of questioning "Why Blog?". It seems that bloggers should be the poster children for selfless sharing of information and ideas. But is this altruistic motivation for real, or are bloggers self-obsorbed egomaniac who use their posts to inform others of their greatness?

I started this blog as vehicle for documenting my ideas and engaging in discussions. A while ago, I went through a period of frustration as reader numbers dropped. Not even my wife reads my posts. Do you write for your audience or is it for you?

Is the goal of blogging to inform, offer unique perspectives, or to provoke? Is the goal to cultivate a loyal following of readers or to contribute to a wider audience through such aggregators as Technorati?

I realize that there are many motivations for blogging. If you have an existing audience (e.g. a teacher or CEO), it makes sense to use blogs as a means of communicating and connecting with your audience. Within an educational environment, blogging is fantastic for giving students a chance to reflect, write, share ideas, discuss, and even disagree.

According to Technorati, there are 3,850 blogs about education technology. Why do these guys and gals blog? What are they contributing to the conversation that has not already been said by one of the other 3,849 bloggers? Or is that not important?

I ask these question as I get ready for EduBloggerCon - West Coast 2008 this Wednesday. I'll let you know what I discover!

Tech Tags: blogging why+blog edubloggerconwest08

Back From a Break and Looking Forward

2008-03-03T22:42:00.000-08:00

It has been almost five months since my last post. This picture explains why...

While our Chapin has kept us busy, it would be too simplistic to place all of the blame for ignoring Digital Crosswalks on him. I have been busy with other projects (more on these in future posts). But, really, there is always time to do those things that are important to you.

So why no posts? Lack of ideas - No. I have outlined numerous posts in my mind, but they never made their way to the blog. Lack of interest - Warmer. I must admit that I went through a period of despair when my viewer numbers dropped. Lack of context - Hot. Over the past five months, I have stopped reading posts from those whom I have (and continue) to admire from the ed-tech world. Dave, Will, Vicki, Bud, Kathy, Steve, etc., I guess I need something different.

In the spirit of Frans Johansson's "Medici Effect", I have been looking beyond the ed-tech world for answers. In my last post before my 'break', I spoke about a Pop!Tech presentation by Jonathan Harris. The melding of art and science, design and technology, information and story, really excites me.

From my 'sabbatical', I return with numerous new project about which I will be sharing with you over the coming weeks. For now, it is off to EduBloggerCon - West Coast 2008 and the CUE Conference in Palm Springs, where I will continue to be asking "Why Blog?".

Tech Tags: digiwalks why+blog edubloggerconwest08 cue2008

I Feel Excited

2007-10-19T07:17:00.000-07:00

I was treated to the (personal) discovery of the We Feel Fine project that has been online for two years scanning the blogisphere for posts with the word "fine". This tool not only aggregates blogs but exposes stories within them. It is a discovery engine that can be used to catch feelings and the stories behind them.

Jonathan Harris, one of the designers of We Feel Fine spoke at Pop!Tech today and talked about finding stories. This idea of discovering stories in different ways interests me and it was his demonstration how technology can be used to expose stories within stories that really excited me. To learn more about Jonathan Harris and his stories, check out his TED Talk. (Note: his Pop!Tech talk hopefully will be available soon too. Watch for the pop!cast.

It is especially interesting to view Jonathan Harris in view of an earlier presentation by Daniel Pink. Frequent readers will know that I really embrace the ideas expressed by Pink in A Whole New Mind, especially the idea that we need to celebrate both the right and left side brain activities. Jonathan Harris exemplifies this new professional, blending elements of computer science, anthropology, visual art and storytelling. His creative/innovative ideas of visualizing information and extracting meaning/stories from the information make him a hero.

Tech Tags: pop!tech jonathan harris feelings stories

Pop!Tech Live 2007

2007-10-17T09:31:00.000-07:00

A network of remarkable people, extraordinary conferences, powerful ideas & innovative projects that are changing the world.

If you love TED, then check out the POP!Tech conference in Camden, Maine and online. I am especially interested in listening in on the Thursday session titled "A WHOLE NEW MIND" featuring among others Daniel Pink whose book of the same title confirmed many of my values regarding education, the importance of creativity, collaboration and story. Find some time Oct 17 through 20 to watch and participate in this promising conference.

Tech Tags: Pop!Tech poptech ideas conferences

The Horrors of War Leads to a Better Mousetrap

2007-09-23T18:28:00.000-07:00

I grew up mocking my father every time he would go into one of his "war stories". It was not that he did that often, but my brother and I would love to put on our best documentary narrator's voice and mimic "Back in WW2, when men were really men ...". You see, my father was a 'weather man' gathering information about wind speed, barometric pressure, and air temperature at different altitudes. He was not part of D-Day nor did he land on Iwo Jima. His job was to provide the information that would help make these campaigns and others successful. But unless you were driving a tank, throwing a grenade or piloting a fighter, I was not interested.

The build up to tonight's release of The War on PBS has directed focus back to WWII. There have been tons of shows interviewing veterans of the war and it occurred to me that I really did not know any of my father's stories. So, I set out to learn.

I had several conversations with my Dad and even asked him to find photos and old war memorabilia (e.g. ribbons, discharge papers, medals, etc). The result was a better appreciation of my father's participation and a better understanding of the war in general. The time was informative but more a bonding experience. I really enjoyed the time talking about the past uncovering stories that even my Dad had forgotten. My favorite story involves an enemy that can only be described as vermin.

I mentioned that my Dad did not land on Iwo Jima. That is not entirely true. He did land on the island but well after the initial invasion and after the island was secured. I was fascinated by his tales of going into the famous tunnels but, as my Dad described it, the real enemy on the island were mice. They were everywhere and into every thing. You leave your toothpaste out and it would be gone. My Dad devised a trap for the mice out of a five gallon can, water and cheese. On the first night, the trap was so successful that they almost filled the can with mice. Soon the whole camp wanted to borrow the mousetrap and my Dad and his tent mates were renting it out for cans of beer.

With all of the bad that war brings, it is nice to hear stories like these that describe the more humorous side of tragedy.

You can hear the story as my Dad told it to me during lunch one afternoon. download mp3 - 2.9MB

The Blogging Scholarship

2007-09-13T19:03:00.000-07:00

If you or someone you know is a college student that blogs, check out The Blogging Scholarship. At $10,000, this scholarship is worth a look.

The criteria for submission (from the collagescholarship.org website) is as follows:

Your blog must contain unique and interesting information about you and/or things you are passionate about. (No spam bloggers)
U.S. citizen or permanent resident.
Currently attending full-time in post-secondary education in the United States
If you win, you must be willing to allow us to list your name and blog on this page. We want to be able to say we knew you before you became a well educated, rich, and famous blogging legend.

Besides the substantial reward being offered to a lucky college blogger, I really like the rational behind this program:

We believe passion is important. As the world gets more competitive, those who are passionate about what they do, and work close to their passions, will be able to become and stay successful even as technology and automation eat away at many business models. Those who are willing to share their experiences with the world help make the world a better place, even if most bloggers only consider blogging a hobby.

We believe those who freely express themselves are far more likely to find their true passions and connect with people to bring on large scale social change.
CollegeSchoolarships.org

Tech Tags: scholarship blogging colegescholarship colegescholarship.org

Don't Regulate Resess

2007-09-06T07:32:00.000-07:00

A Colorado Springs elementary school is banning the game of tag on its playground -- after some children complained that they'd been chased or harassed against their will.

Assistant Principal Cindy Fesgen of the Discovery Canyon Campus school said running games will be allowed, as long as students don't chase each other.
TheDenverChannel.com

Well as long as running in itself is not outlawed... Come on! There were around 39,000 fatal car crashes in 2005 Dept. of Trans., but you don't see a ban on driving. Instead we have laws that punish dangerous behavior. So why take the drastic measure of banning all games where kids chase each other when working with those students who are harassing other students will solve the problem (and be more constructive)?

I remember being attacked in a kickball game during recess in 5th grade. I also remember getting into a fight during recess in the 2nd grade - again I think it was a kickball game that was the setting. Should kickball be banned? I would argue that such incidences are part of an education. I would never want my daughter or any child to get into a fight, but there are lessons to be learned. I not only remember these fights after 35 years, but also remember the emotions running through me at the time. Specifically, I remember the efforts by adults to work out the underlying reasons the fights broke out. In one case, the boy that attacked me was having difficulty at home and in the other case I was jealous that my friend did not pick me for his team. As a result of these discussions, I ended up with more compassion for and understanding of my fellow classmates.

It seems like we as a society are often taking the easy way out by regulating activities in lieu of the more time consuming task of educating and forming appropriate behaviors.

That said, I do remember the terror that consumed me during recess in kindergarten when the girls attached the boys in a game of kissing tag. Now that kind of tag needs to be outlawed!

Can You Locate the U.S. on a Map?

2007-08-29T08:52:00.000-07:00

Just found this clip on Dean Shareski's blog, Ideas and Thoughts and thought I would share it as a funny (but sad) example of the state of education. I feel that I should offer some additional commentary. My initial thought was to question "what do you expect?" - not as a comment on So. Carolina or on women, but on the true values of beauty contests. Do we really look to our next Miss USA to be able to solve world problems?

The piece begins with the question: "A recent survey suggests that a fifth of Americans cannot locate the United States on a world map. Why do you think this is?" While I don't feel that it has to do with South Africa or Iraq (as suggested - I think - by Miss So. Carolina), I really have no idea. I would offer that the survey has not identified a lack in our education but rather offers a comment about our culture and even our values. While we live in a global world, we cannot appreciate our position in this interconnected and interdependent world. We are insular.

Perhaps this is a problem with our education. Are we not making a good enough effort to teach diversity and inspire appreciation of other cultures (and nations)?

In any case, the clip is funny and does speak to the importance of communication.

link

Process as a Best Practice

2007-08-28T10:36:00.001-07:00

Years ago, I was involved in a project that included the compilation of "best practices" by high school U.S. History teachers. The intention was for each teacher to "publish" the best practice and then have other teachers offer comments. Teachers in this project were asked to review other best practices and write (as a comment) how they might adapt the practice to their classroom and the potentially unique needs of their students.

I was involved in the project as a consultant and focused my attention on the information architecture of the best practices and their associated comments. I could not see beyond the capturing, organizing and disseminating of this content. This was before the proliferation of blogging tools and content management systems that would make this task trivial. Regardless whether it was the technical complexities that blinded me, I did a disservice to the project by focusing on the end product.

In hindsight, this project was not about creating an inventory of best practices, but the process of describing your own best practice(s) and reflecting on how to adapt others' practices to meet your needs. The true value of the exercise comes from identifying a practice that you consider good enough to be called a best practice. It requires you to reflect on what you do, what constitutes a best practice and how to best articulate what you do to form a best practice that others can adapt. It also requires you to evaluate a practice that has been labeled as best in relation to how you teach and your classroom needs.

In summary, I got caught up in the "deliverable" and did not see the importance of the process. As teachers, we often fall victim to the lure of the final product. In some cases, it is easier to evaluate the final product than it is to evaluate (or even monitor) the process. If you have ever given a multiple-choice test, you know that grading is a breeze where as gaining insight into how the students obtained their answers is next to impossible.

In other cases, the excitement of seeing the final product overshadows the process that was involved in creating it. I remember a group of students who gave an outstanding presentation on their roller coaster they created for our AP Calculus class. I was so impressed with the presentation and their multi-media materials, that I was blinded to the fact that the group took shortcuts in putting together the project and there was a clear lack of equity in individual contribution resulting in some students getting very little from the project.

I mention all of this as it exposes some thoughts I have for educators.

Value the process as much as the result
Identify ways that expose the process
Get your students to realize the importance of the process

Education Reform "Success"

2007-08-28T09:09:00.000-07:00

I am a big fan of the Charlie Rose Show. Perhaps I have been naive in the past, but I have always felt that Mr. Rose had the ability to ask the important questions. But my bubble was broken after watching his interview with Joel Klein, the Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education. The piece was essentially a big slap on the Chancellor's back celebrating his "successes". Throughout the interview, I was waiting for Charlie to ask the big question: "How do you measure success?"

At one point Klein touts the 10% increase in students graduating and the increase in math and language scores. These are laudable stats, but I wanted Charlie to press him on these metrics as a measure of success. If I am to understand the Chancellor, he is interested in those teachers that can successfully teach to the test (improve test scores) and ensure that their kids pass so they can graduate. Never does he list as his targeted outcome the ability of these kids to think for themselves, formulate innovative solutions to problems, communicate ideas with others, work in an collaborative environment, or have a life-long interest in learning. I realize that I am an idealist but shouldn't NYC teachers be given credit if they form these skills and values in their kids?

Now while I did find myself yelling at the TV (to no avail, I might add), I did enjoy listening to much of Mr. Klein's message. He stresses the teacher as the critical component in a child's education. To this end, I congratulate him. I am in favor of his outcome based pay and the notion that salaries should be based on ability. But the problem returns to how do you measure these outcomes and a teacher's ability? Graduation rates and test scores are easy outcomes to tabulate and on which to perform analysis. The more complex metric would involve measuring a host of less quantifiable outcomes.

Isn't this the problem that we as teachers face everyday? Aren't we constantly challenged to find assessment models that value not just memorization, but truly understanding concepts?

Another point Mr. Klein made that is worth noting was his characteristics that make a good teacher. He listed a teacher's ability to engage, capacity to empathize, and knowledge in his/her subject as the three essential components to successful teacher. I really like this list and would suggest that a teacher's interest in professional improvement is an even better indicator that pure knowledge of subject. A thirst for learning and excitement of subject translates better into success in the classroom than does expert knowledge and boredom with the mundane aspects of a subject.

I would really like to hear your reactions to the Joel Klein interview. What are your thoughts on "merit" pay or salary commensurate on a teacher's ability? How do you measure success?

Joel Klein
Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education
on Charlie Rose - 22-Aug-2007

Link

Rethinking Assessment

2007-08-23T08:02:00.000-07:00

As a blog reader, you don't need to be told that some of the best information comes from the discussions (comments) that follow a blog post. I read with interest Anne Davis' post on her new blogging project. But it was a particular comment (by Dean Shareski) that really caught my eye. It describe how a science class adapted a Darren Kuropatwa type class blog (link to blog). The comment also provided a link to a video where students discuss how this alternative form of assessment has impressed them.

The video frames the conversation about "Assessment for Learning" with comments by students on how they were affected by this form of assessment. Coincidently (or not), the video's focus on students and their opinions mirrors objectives embraced by "Assessment for Learning" models. Students reflect on their next steps to be successful and gather evidence to show their learning. The role of the teacher is to provide clear expected outcomes and offer ideas on how students can demonstrate their success.

High stakes summative assessment (assessment of learning) is getting a great deal of attention in schools (and the press). We are consumed with the need to enable our students to be successful on these (standardized) exams. As an AP teacher, I spent all of April reviewing past tests, drilling my students on a daily basis. This practice had positive results and I would not argue that we don't owe our students the tools to do well on these tests.

My argument is that we need to form a balance between assessment of learning and assessment for learning giving more emphasis (time) to the latter. A friend of mine's sister is charged with "coaching" students who fall below a certain grade. Certainly, this program is a positive step toward the true nature of "no child left behind". But the school tabulates summative assessment scores on a weekly basis begging the question "with all of this assessment of learning, where is the time for assessment for learning?"

As we progress as educators, rethinking assessment will be of paramount importance with traditional models being replaced by models that put the student in charge of demonstrating or providing evidence of his/her learning. Certainly, ePortfolios will play a important role in assessment.

As a side note, does anyone know the difference between Assessment for Learning and formative learning?

Resources

Tech Tags: assessment alternative+assessment assessment+for+learning

Mashups for Everyone

2007-08-09T19:15:00.000-07:00

Thanks for a del.icio.us bookmark from Bud Hunt (aka Bud the Teacher), I found a very interesting article from Wired discussing the problem with social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. In summary, these services allow users to put information into their pages but do not provide a open architecture (an API) that allows the information to flow out of the page.

I am a big fan (if you did not already know) of open systems and APIs that allow the sharing of information between services. Admittedly, I am not a Facebook or MySpace user so I just assumed these Web2.0 pillars of social networking provided a means for sharing information outside their own platform. For my money, a defining characteristic of a Web2.0 service is the ability to share information with other services (the availability of an API). Shame on sites that shun APIs.

The article included a side bar link to an article on how to "Replace Facebook Using Open Social Tools". This is definitely worth a read as it is a great summary of the open services that we can mashup to form interesting new sites.

If you have never tried creating a mashup or have never used an API, use this article as a guide to get your feet wet with Open Social Tools. You will marvel how easy it is to create a sophisticated page that draws information from a number of sources. When you are done, share your work with me. I'd love to see what you create.

Tech Tags: wired mashup api facebook myspace

To Err is Human, Thus the Wiki

2007-08-01T16:02:00.000-07:00

To Err is Human, Thus the wiki

I ran across this quote (from CNET's developers' blog) and thought that it captured one of the great reasons to use a wiki.

Value of Homework in this "Connected" World

2007-07-12T08:10:00.000-07:00

I love how various apparently unconnected discussions or events can inspire me to explore new ideas or questions. Recently, several events have left me questioning our use, at least our expectations, of homework.

First, I spoke with a doctor who was lamenting that his son did not get into the independent school in which my wife teaches. After overcoming the fear that he was going to take the rejection out on me during the exam, I began probing as to why he was interested in changing schools. His son, after all, was attending school in a very desirable district. Among his reasons was that his son was not getting enough homework.

The other day, I was reading an article from a self-proclaimed marketing guru on how we are moving into an age of distraction. In "The Attention Age Doctrine", the author describes how we are assaulted on a daily basis by a flood of distractions that have limited our attention on any one task to minutes (or even seconds). In this age, it is the person who can remain focused and filter the distractions who will stand out.

Finally, I just completed watching Guy Kawasaki's panel discussion with a group of young adults (15 - 24 year olds) on their use of technology. [view video] This is an entertaining and insightful look into how technology is an integral part of these "kids" lives. A few take-aways include the number of text messages they make each month (for some it was over 4,000), the importance of the web for their entertainment, communication, and homework, and the degree to which each is constantly connected with others.

All of this can be viewed in the context of the homework we assign and our expectations vs. the reality of the experience our students are having doing this homework. "Read Chapter #3" is a typical homework assignment, but what are our real expectations. Do we just want our students to familiarize themselves with the topics in the chapter so that during class, it won't be the first time they were exposed to the topics? Perhaps we are asking them to read so that they may return to class prepared to contribute to a class discussion. Do we expect them to be thoughtful about what they are reading and reflect on it?

Regardless of our expectations, we should not be surprised that many of those who actually do the reading are doing it while exposed to numerous distractions. While many argue that our students are accomplished multitaskers, I question the true productivity of all this multitasking. What if you could make a deal with your students that you would cut the amount of homework you assign in half in exchange for them devoting uninterrupted time (free of all distractions) to the assignments? Do you think your students would get a richer learning experience, albeit with less work?

I don't know the answer, but would love to hear from anyone that has tried this. You could market this as "Half the Homework, Double the Learning" from the "less is more" principle. Let me know how it works.

Tagged: education homework distractions less+is+more

Mind on Math

2007-07-06T07:26:00.000-07:00

I had the most wonderful opportunity this week to meet Ted Smith, the Chairman and CEO of the MIND Institute, and was fascinated with the work of his organization. They produce games that help students succeed in math.

I can hear you say it now: "Not another math game!". Hold-on. These games are different. First of all, they grew out of over 30 years of academic research into brain function and learning. Second of all, they have a track record of success with six years of consistent 15-20 percentile point improvements on the California Standards Test (more...).

But the biggest difference is that these are not your typical drill and practice math games. They are engaging and challenging. I just spent over an hour going through some of the demos with my 10 year old nephew. Most of the time was spent on the "Challenge Puzzles" which are great. Be careful, these are addicting and are not easy (my nephew had to help me on a few).

For me, the most impressive aspect of the games is that they begin with no words or symbols. They teach a concept without the confusion of mathematical terminology or long explanations. They also focus on problem solving. I love how they challenge students to think and not just recite or memorize. These games are designed to be a part of a traditional math curriculum (not replace it) and I cannot imagine a teacher or principal who would not jump at the opportunity to include them in their school.

I asked Ted if he referred to the MIND Institute's tools as games or something more appealing to educators like "simulations", "tutorials" or "learning modules". He indicated that he has always insisted that they be called games because they are fun. Just because something is fun does not mean that it is not important or productive.

For many, games are considered frivolous and not part of a real learning environment. We can all agree that much of our learning as toddlers was through games. We may through a game show like activity in here or there. But for the most part, games are viewed as entertainment and not part of education (as if the two are mutually exclusive). Marc Prensky writes extensively about this topic. Recently, I have been looking to Mark Wagner for insight on the topic of games in education. He is doing a great job summarizing the research and actual implementations of this field.

If you have not seen the work from The MIND Institute, take a look and good luck on their challenge puzzles. I hope these games will help convince you that there is a role for games in education.

Tagged: education games math MIND+Institute Mark+Wagner

The Future of Education

2007-06-02T07:53:00.000-07:00

In a recent posting, I reviewed a study where students expressed their belief that technology (laptops in particular) did not have a place in the classroom. They like the traditional, intimate, class setting. More importantly, the study pointed out just because students use technology (all of the time) outside the classroom, does not necessarily mean that they want the same technology within the class.

While I had issues with parts of the study, I thought that this was an excellent read as I head into the Future of Education Conference put on by George Siemens and the University of Manitoba. This online conference began with a "pre-conference" discussion that asked the questions of participants "What will education look like in 10 years".

I was struck by one particular comment by Hayden Blackly: "...the technology seems to act as a different way of doing something within an existing pedagogic framework. So the tools are different but the learning objectives and the learning outcomes may be the same." Hayden admits to being a bit "less optimistic" about change in our schools. (I wonder why???) But his point is well taken.

Many of the responses have been in the lines of what technology will be prevalent in future educational systems. Some have talked about pedagogical changes including social networks, independent learning approaches, portfolio assessment and constructive knowledge. But I wonder if our educational system is ready to have these kind of discussions, or should be be having a more fundamental discussion of what we value in an education?

A friend admitted that for the next three weeks of class, she is basically a babysitter. Now that the students have taken their standardized tests, they are focusing on their end of the year performances. This is a high school geared toward the performing arts, but what message are we giving students when we stop learning once the test has been taken. Is the goal of education to pass the test?

This example continues through out our schools. How many AP classes end once their students take the exam? How many students see summer vacation as a time when learning stops? Who hasn't entered a class to the question "do we have to do anything today?"

I am looking forward to the FOE online conference. And I hope that it will include a discussion of what we (as a society) value in education.

Technorati Tags: education foe2007

Questioning Assumptions About the Net Generation

2007-06-01T06:39:00.000-07:00

In the June/July edition of Innovate, authors Sarah Lohnes and Charles Kinzer relate the result of a small study in which they found a discrepancy between the use of technology by students in their dorm rooms verses their attitude toward use of technology in the classroom.

In general, the article cautions us not to make assumptions on the way Net Generation students view their classroom experiences based on their "always connected" lives outside class. While their study was small (only nine students were surveyed), their observations are worth thinking about.

The technology practices of the students in their dorm provide a stark contrast to their observed and reported practices in the classroom. A theme of resistance to technology in the classroom crystallized in our discussions of laptop use; for a variety of reasons, the students almost universally reviled the idea of using a laptop in the classroom.

"Reviled" is quite a strong word and is inconsistent with my conversations with high school age students on the subject of use of laptops in the classroom. In my experience, there is no clear consensus with regard to technology in the classroom. About 50% embrace the idea of one laptop per student while the other 50% do not see how such programs can benefit their learning or they see the presence of laptops detracting from the classroom experience. The reasons for the resistance to laptops cited in the article are consistent with my experiences.

This notion of a classroom community, fostered by small class sizes, a particular model of teaching based on real-time human contact, and frequent interaction with faculty members outside the classroom, was essential to how these students defined liberal education. ...

And this highlights one of my strongest concerns with 1:1 programs. The sense of an intimate community fostered within a classroom is one of the most important factors affecting learning. The mere presence of laptops will not affect such an environment but their improper or careless use can. As related in the article, laptops should be pushed aside while the class engages in a discussion of Thoreau. But when the teacher is presenting a lesson on the relationship between sine and cosine, laptops provide an excellent way for students to participate, manipulating triangles on their own to get a better understanding of the teacher's points.

Lohnes and Kinzer offer several conclusions from their small study. In general, they warn educators and researchers to question assumptions, especially when relating student behaviour outside the classroom with that inside the class. To this end, this is sage advise. Just because students live in a connected world does it mean that they want their classrooms to mirror the prevalence of technology that they see outside their classes.

But I would caution Lohnes and Kinzer to follow their own advice. Is a study of nine students grounds for making conclusion? Would their results been different had those nine students participated in a well constructed 1:1 program prior to the study? Are all courses within a liberal arts curriculum (the arena they were studying) the same? For that matter are all class sessions within a single course the same? Some courses or classes within a course are some more suited to "push the technology aside" discussions with others benefiting from the use of technology.

I am not yet a supporter of 1:1 programs but my mind remains open. Lohnes and Kinzer's study serves us well in that it does point out that just because students use technology outside of class does not necessarily mean that they want it in class. The issue, a wise colleague of mine keeps reminding me, is the effect technology plays on learning. Is there a pedagogical reason for the technology?

Technorati Tags: education 1:1 laptops learning Innovate

Popfly is SO cool!

2007-05-21T12:32:00.000-07:00

This morning I came across a service/website created by Microsoft called Popfly. From the website, "Popfly is the fun, easy way to build and share mashups, gadgets, Web pages, and applications." Popfly consists online visual tools for building mashups without programming experience.

Our team's vision is to democratize development by making it approachable to an entire class of people that want to "create" without necessarily having to write code. We believe that if you can send an email, you should be able to build and personalize your own website, mashup, social networking site, or blog.

This project is still in an Alpha release, but it is really cool and offers wonderful opportunities for educators. The downside, it only runs on IE (6.0 +) and Firefox (2.0 +). Nonetheless, check out the Popfly screencast. You will be amazed.

Technorati Tags: Popfly Silverlight Microsoft gagets web tools

What Assumptions Are We Making?

2007-05-21T12:18:00.000-07:00

Take a look at the following statements:

"I think there is a world market for about five computers." (Thomas Watson, founder of IBM)
"Everything that can be invented has been invented." (Charles Duell, Commissioner, US Office of Patents, 1899)
"There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will." (Albert Einstein)
"The phonograph is not of any commercial value." (Thomas Edison)
"Man will not fly for 50 years." (Wilbur Wright, 1903)
"640K ought to be enough for anybody." (Bill Gates)
"With over 50 foreign cars on sale here, the Japanese auto industry isn't likely to carve out a big slice of the U.S. market for itself." (Business Week, 1968)
"I don't need body guards." (Jimmy Hoffa)

Quotes from Assumptions: A Major Roadblock to Innovation

I wonder what assumptions we are making regarding education.

Boring Workshops

2007-05-17T07:56:00.000-07:00

I just finished a week of attending various workshops put on by the Foundation Center and despite the quality of the material presented I could not help but to notice the lack of creativity with which each presenter approached his/her lesson. You can probably guess the outline:

Speaker Bio
Goals of the Session
Historical Perspective
Overview of Current Practices
Linear Examination of the Details
Conclusions

Now, there is nothing wrong with this approach. Throw in a few anecdotes and exercises, you have a traditional workshop. But is this the only approach or even the most appropriate approach? What assumptions are made that make this the most popular approach?

Let's start by examining the practice of stating your goals right at the beginning. It certainly makes sense. If I am going to battle 2hrs of rush hour traffic to attend a workshop, I would like to know what I am going to get out it. But providing motivation is much different than stating goals. I have often wondered how many of my students ever actually read the list of goals that appear at the beginning of every chapter in their textbook. For me, this list is to be consulted after reading the chapter so I can check to be sure I got all that I was suppose to from the reading. In reality, I expect that the list is completely ignored.

Another assumption that is often made is that a linear presentation of the material is the best way to convey the concepts of the lesson. This is certainly a tried and true approach. But for me as well as several of the other attendees at these workshops, the approach left us wanting more. We agreed that a more hands on, exploratory, approach would have been better. Sitting and listening to the presenter works for a while, but soon it looses it appeal and its effectiveness.

So, why do presenters and teachers resort to such a teacher centric approach to a lesson? It is harder to come up with a more exploratory, student centric approach. It requires more work, more creativity, and it is riskier. It also requires more class time. I am always finding myself reverting to a more lecture type of presentation when I have a bunch of material that I want to cram into a limited time span. Rarely, though, do my students come away with anything more than just exposure to the ideas presented. They don't understand the concepts. They would have been better served to have spent the time on activities that resulted in solid understanding of a subset of the topics. The rest of the topics could be covered in subsequent lessons or referenced in some take-home material for students to explore on their own.

The term "hands-on" workshop has come to mean - I will show you how and then you will have a chance to replicate what I just showed you. Can't we redefine such workshops to be more exploratory where participants discover the skills and concepts? I would love to hear of your ideas on how to make workshops more interesting and effective.

Technorati Tags: workshops creativity student centric Foundation Center

Way To Go, Midd!

2007-05-01T08:46:00.000-07:00

Do you remember what you did during the summers while you were in college? Get a job, hangout with friends, travel? But for a some students, this summer will be spent capturing radio narratives of children in Uganda, running a workshop in Jerusalem encouraging people living in the divided city to test their idealism against political and physical realities, hosting religious tolerance workshops for youth in Pakistan. All of these not-so-typical summer activities are being made possible by a group that encourages students to use their summers for life learning opportunities.

The Kathryn Wasserman Davis 100 Projects for Peace is a wonderful program that funds innovative summer projects for college students. "The objective is to encourage and support today’s motivated youth to create and tryout their own ideas for building peace in the 21st century."

The projects mention above are three of five projects submitted to 100 Project for Peace by students from Middlebury College. While these three projects were accepted by the organization for funding, Middlebury decided to fund the other two projects itself. As a result, one group of students will be heading to New Orleans to work with youth in civic peace and another will see a senior head to Thailand to explore the effects of micro-credit loans on the country's economy and environment.

This is about taking advantage of that four-year window and doing something that is a little scary... For many students, it seems as though they have so much to do and they’re so busy. They’re trying to get on to that next thing when they graduate, sometimes graduate school, which means they’re checking the boxes. And they don’t even think about the fact that they have these opportunities.

Middlebury College has setup what they call "The Project on Creativity and Innovation in the Liberal Arts", a new initiative encouraging all Middlebury students to expand their education beyond the classroom. The goal is to direct extra funding and administrative support to aid student projects and to find a way to inspire similar projects in students who aren't as eager to leap "outside the box".

Our educational system fosters a safe place for students. By safe, I am referring to an intellectually safe environment. There are factors that affect our students physical and emotional safety but in general, we try and create an environment that fosters success. Our curriculum is designed to walk students through a subject exposing them to the necessary knowledge and skills for them to succeed.

Contrast this with the risky behaviour of our youth. Kids like to take risks; it is part of growing up. Many of these behaviours (sex, drugs, alcohol, crazy driving) we consider anti-social in that they don't make the world a better place. But what if that propensity toward risk taking were directed toward venturing out to help in a homeless shelter or crafting a program to bring awareness to environmental problems and solutions? What if students got their high by helping rather than consuming?

It is so exciting to see programs like 100 Projects for Peace and institutions like Middlebury College and their Project on Creativity and Innovation" that encourage students to extend their learning to beyond the classroom. Check out this article for more details on this fascinating project. I am always amazed an in awe of students who create outside of the classroom and am convinced that the education they gain from such projects is at least as valuable than that they get in the classroom.

Technorati Tags: education life learning Middlebury 100ProjectsForPeace

Go Ahead and Yack on Your PBwiki

2007-04-13T06:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday evening, I attended a news conference of sorts held by Ramit Sethi, co-founder of PBwiki and BJ Fogg, co-founder of YackPack. This conference was for educators and was to answer questions regarding the integration of YackPack's WalkieTalkie widget into PBWiki. Now you can add voice chat capabilities to any wiki page allowing those viewing that page to talk with each other. Its easy, its fun and its free. ( link to video demonstration )

I praised YackPack back in a December post in which I focused on asynchronous communications - the ability to leave voice messages to one or all of a group of collaborators. But the WalkieTalkie widget is for synchronous - real time - communications. This is such a cool tool. It adds a whole new dimension to a web page. As I write this post, I have a tab open to the YackPack home page which (of course) has a WalkieTalkie widget on it. It is fun to hear the tentative comments of folks who are browsing the YackPack site and want to give the widget a try. I can image browsing for a book on Amazon and hearing the author ask if I have any questions about the book before purchasing. It's a bit scary... and really cool.

I will admit that when I first heard of the integration of the WalkieTalkie widget into PBwiki, I was a bit underwhelmed. But the more I think about it, the more ideas of how this tool can be used to help extend the classroom. Here are just a few ideas, most of which were discussed at yesterday's news conference.

Teacher posts a set of review questions for an upcoming test on her PBwiki site and then holds "office hours" during which time, students can come to the page and ask the teacher a question (or just listen to the questions from other students). I know of a couple of teachers that do this but use IM for communications. For me, I would find being able to explain an answer to a complex question verbally easier than using text messaging.
Teacher sets up several discussion pages on his PBwiki site and on each a different topic is presented. A group of students visit a page and discuss the topic using the WalkieTalkie widget and then write up a summary of their discussion right there on the wiki page. Optionally, the conversation can be recorded and then edited by the students. This conversation can then be added as part of the wiki page (and be part of a podcast). [note: at this time, you need a third-party application to record the conversation, but BJ (of YackPack) was interested in the possibility that recording become a feature of the widget in the future.]
A group of students from various schools (and even countries) use PBWiki to create a textbook or AP review site. Using the WalkieTalkie widget, they can meet regularly to discuss issues that have come up while creating the wiki.
Teacher sets up a conference with a noted author, scientist, or public figure and uses the WalkieTalkie widget allow students to hear from and ask questions of this expert. This conversation can even take place in the classroom where the students talk turns asking questions. Again, students can summerize the conversation on the wiki page.

Mixing the power of voice communication with that of visual media (text and images) is a really powerful learning tool. I congratulate the folks at YackPack for making such a great and easy to use widget and those at PBwiki for the insight to make it really easy to include the widget on any wiki page.

By the way, the news conference was held on a PBwiki page using the WalkieTalkie widget. Just another use PBwiki and YackPack's WalkieTalkie widget.

Tags: pbwiki yackpack collaboration wiki

The Next Generation of Teachers

2007-03-22T08:54:00.000-07:00

Will Richardson has a very interesting post reflecting on a recent visit with a class of pre-service teachers. Link to post. Be sure to read the discussion that follows. There are some really smart comments.

I particularly liked Kevin Prentiss' contribution:

... Early adopters are always a small percentage. Most people don’t ever “get” contextual shifts in a society, they just start using new tools /ways when everyone else does.

How many iPod users read, understand, or care about the “Long Tail” - but many of them buy the heck out of obscure songs they found on myspace without giving it a moment’s thought.

I agree with Kevin to the extent that as the technology becomes "ubiquitous", more and more teachers will incorporate it into their teaching. But I think that a distinction needs to be made between two aspects of Will's vision: the first is the technology (e.g. the read/write web) and the second is the pedagogy (student centered / constructionist). I have seen a good number of teachers incorporating technology like blogs and digital media into their classes. But they remain teacher-centric. I would argue that this is not a discouraging development, but actually encouraging.

Changing one's tools is an incremental change or one that is relatively easy to do. Changing one's mindset is a transformative change that requires greater support, motivation, and encouragement. But if a teacher is already comfortable with the technology (tools), the process of change will be easier - one less element of discomfort to overcome.

Another issue that was slightly address in the discussion was that of professional development. If we are expecting teachers to embrace a student centered learning environment utilizing technology, we need to fashion our pre-service and in-service teachings to reflect this philosophy. Will holds Karl Fisch's workshops up as an example. I would love to attend one of his sessions. Have you hear of other examples of professional development leaders who model this constructionist approach?

Tags: will+richardson change student+centered professional+development

CDC + SL = Hygeia Philo

2007-03-20T08:37:00.000-07:00

How do you make public health sexy? You create a good looking, hip, red head who can spread the word. This is exactly what the Center for Deasease Control (CDC) has done. Meet Hygeia Philo (Love of Health), the CDC's Second Life (SL) avatar who is tasked with engaging SL folks in conversations about health.

John ~~Anderson~~Anderton, the man behind the woman, is CDC's social networking expert who created Hygeia and developed the CDC's precence in SL. You can read an interesting interview with Mr. Anderson (aka Hygeia) on the social marketing blog Spare Change. Though the post if from November, 2006, I just discovered it. I really struck by Mr. ~~Anderson's~~Anderton's response to the question "Are there specific health issues that you tend to focus on that are more prevalent among Second Life residents because of their demographics and behavioral risk factors?"

I would like to gradually introduce the topic of sexual health into the space, as a way to promote discussion about the links between what one says and does in Second Life, and then one's actions in real life. Liaisons in real life, foreshadowed and even pre-enacted though virtual spaces have led to documented disease transmission, and discussion about this seems generally absent from SL.

Here, here! Not only does the CDC embrace education in the form of discussion rather than preaching, they are willing to explore non-traditional methods of engaging their audience.

Second Life is not for everyone, but it is certainly appealing to many. Why not use it to engage an audience in real conversations. Has anyone heard of any political candidates who have a SL presence?

Side Note: I heard an interesting story on NPR regarding use of video games in political campaigns.

Correction: Appologizies for misspelling Mr. Anderton's name.

Your Favorite Google Tool?

2007-03-12T08:49:00.000-07:00

The mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. (source) It began with an idea for a search engine and has grown to include a whole host of tools. It has the power to transform our language. Google is part of our lives!

As an educator, what is your favorite Google tool or your favorite way to use Google? This was the question that I asked a Google rep at this year's CUE Conference (hear her response) and pass on to you.

BTW

Google has setup an area for educators, Google Education, that has information and description how to use its tools to "empower students and expand the frontiers of human knowledge". If you have never visited this resource, check it out.

Tags: Google cue2007 cue07

PBwiki is Ad-Free for Educators

2007-03-09T12:22:00.000-08:00

If you are looking for a wiki space for your class but don't want ads, PBwiki is treating educators to an ad-free wiki. When you create a wiki in PBwiki, you are asked for what the wiki will be used. Just select 'Education' and your wiki will automatically be made ad-free.

Up to this point, this little trick was a secret that a few folks on PBwiki's Educational Advisory board shared with me. In my session at the CUE Conference last week, I passed the secret on during both of my sessions. Wednesday, I recieved an email from Ramit Sethi, the CEO of PBwiki encouraging us to spread the word. So if you are planning a wiki and are considering PBwiki, be sure to indicate that it is for educational use and it will really be free - free of cost and free of ads.

Spread the word!

Tags: PBwiki wiki collaboration cue2007 cue07

Quizlet - A Natives Answer to Vocab Quizzes

2007-03-06T17:49:00.000-08:00

I am no fan of the drill and practice method of teaching but doggone it, there are times when flashcards do come in handy. It would be great if we could all go to each of the state capitals and develop a personal experience with each city that would help us remember them all. Back in reality, we need to rely on memorization.

Andrew Sutherland decided to go all Web 2.0 over the simple task of drill and practice. He has created a site called Quizlet that lets you create online flashcards, review them, and finally test yourself. Let's say you want to study the top 100 SAT words. You would sign up on Quizlet and then create a "set" where you would type in the 100 words and their definitions. If you had the list in a text file, you could import your set. And best of all, if someone else has created a set similar to yours (and has made it public), you can use their set as is the case with the top 100 SAT words.

What makes Quizlet so cool is Andrew's attention to detail. It is very slick, very user friendly, very useful. There are three modes in which you can use a set of words/definitions: Familiarize, Learn, and Test. This correspond with how you might start by familiarizing yourself with the terms by looking at flashcards. You would then ask a friend to quiz you and finally you would take a test with different types of questions (fill-in-the-blank, matching, multiple choice, and true/false).

The site is well designed and very professional. And it is FREE! Oh, did I mention that Andrew is a high school student. He made this to help him with his French vocab. Because the site was born from a need to learn about French words, it provides a cool tool for inserting accented letters into the word.

As a web programmer, I am amazed at the quality of the site. I am also in admiration of the commitment Andrew has to the project. I know that this must have taken many many hours. He could have used that time to study his French vocab and I am sure he would be a master at the language by now. But instead, he has an real world example of his talent. What college (or employer) would not be impressed!

Well done Andrew, thank you, and best of luck!

Press Inquires:

3:30-9 Mon-Fri
10-9 Sat-Sun

Learn More...

CUE Conference - Wrap

2007-03-05T16:36:00.000-08:00

The 2007 CUE Conference has ended and I have had a day to reflect (and relax). The thought that has dominated my mind about the conference was the one that came to me while walking to get coffee one morning. Are conference goers more interested in discussions on ideas or sessions showing tips and tricks? I like to engage in conversations about general ideas and hear what others have to say. Though, from the questions at my sessions and from attendance at specific sessions, it appears to me that most folks are more interested in getting something that they can take home with them and use on Monday. I certainly understand this desire, but question the real value of the conference as most of these tips are accessible from a quick Google search.

Having said all this, I did enjoy my time at the conference and especially enjoyed Gary Stager's presentation titled "If Blogging is the Answer, What was the Question?" The title got me into the room, but the discussion kept me there. By far, this was the most interesting session as it questioned the role of technology, blogging, and online research within the educational framework. In general, he recognized that teachers and students are using technology to access information but feels that the technology should be used to put the learner in control of learning ala a construtionist approach to education. Learning is not the same as access to information.

Perhaps my favorite example that Gary Stager mentioned was his "Who Should I Vote For?" project. He saw an Iraqi election poster and wondered who it was that the poster was promoting. Students are detectives using the web to identify symbols, names, or phrases that might give a clue into the meaning of the poster as well as insight into the cultural norms that might make this poster effective. I am a sucker for a good mystery.

Mark Wagner's presentation on Video Games in Education was also interesting and he gave a great deal of resources if you are interested in pursing the topic.

Tags: cue2007 cue07

Drawing Connections - Homework

2007-03-02T12:51:00.000-08:00

In my "Drawing Connections" presentation today at the CUE Conference, we talked about the importance of exposing ourselves to a diverse set of ideas when thinking about innovative solutions to problems.

In an effort to extend the discussion began in my session as well as those being held across the country, listen to Malcolm Gladwell's presentation from the TED conference in 2004 and discuss how it can apply to education.

Tags: cue2007, cue07

Leadership Summit

2007-03-02T09:26:00.000-08:00

My first event at the CUE Conference has been the all day Leadership Summit. It combined the educational leadership research of McREL and the technology of Apple with Diana Moon and Don Zundel represented each respectively. Dr. Moon spoke of 21 leadership responsibilities and 66 associated leadership practices that successful principals and other school leaders should exhibit. Her discussion was backed with quantitative statistics and made sense. But, as she admitted, it is difficult to convey the full knowledge required to become a better leader in a single day’s seminar.

I was most impressed with her discussion of change – specifically, second order change. She identified four areas that if ignored will negatively affect change:

Culture – “it’s not the same anymore, the culture of the school has changed”

Communication – “we don’t talk the way we used to”

Order – “there’s a disruption in the order of the day”

Input – “you didn’t ask for my input”

The thing that really resonated with me was the importance she placed on the need to create a demand for change. Change is not about the actual change but the perception or emotional reaction to that change. And often, the most stressful time of the change process is early as folks anticipate the impact on their jobs and craft. By creating a demand for change, this anxiety can be minimized.

As mentioned, the summit had two tracks interwoven. If Dr. Moon represented the agent for change, then Mr. Zundel (of Apple) was responsible for creating the demand for change within the room. He did a great job of discussing the digital divide and how the “Digital Natives” are restless. He also used Karl Fisch’s “Did You Know” presentation to effectively communicate the urgency for change. Unfortunately, Mr. Zundel did not credit Karl and when asked for a link to the presentation gave a URL for a blog that links over to Fischbowl. (sorry Karl).

Among the slides presented was one from Ian Jukes and Anita Dosaj titled “The Real ‘Digital Divide’?” I have seen this comparison between digital natives (the students) and digital immigrants (the teachers) before, but today its impact was lacking. I summarized the natives as being impatient, spontaneous, and lacking focus while the immigrants are controlling, linear, and purposeful. Hasn’t that always been the difference between students and teachers? The specifics in the comparison are noteworthy, but the bigger question is “do we change the way we do things because that is the way kids do it?” I am not sure where I fall on this question – I can see both sides of the argument. But, it certainly is worth discussing.

I thought I was going to leave the summit at lunch, not because of the content, but because I was lacking sleep. But I stayed around for the full event, and while it will not make my top 10 list of events, I did enjoy myself.

Tags: cue2007 cue07

Check-In: Your First Impression

2007-03-02T09:21:00.000-08:00

Dear CUE,

You know what they say… Your first impression is the most important. If so, congratulations for making my first impression of the CUE Conference 2007 a favorable one. I was greeted by some wonderfully cheerful and helpful folks at the registration desk and then met by an even more spirited group who gave me my conference bag. All was explained well and I was made to feel genuinely welcomed.

Near-by the registration area was a “café” where we could sit down and digest all of the materials we received. It was also an area where we could meet other conference participants and begin our socializing.

Mike Lawrence was easily spotted with his flashing digital pin and there were many others there to answer questions, quickly spotted by their large “Ask Me” pins.

I attend lots of conferences and for their warmth and organization, CUE’s check-in has always been at the top.

Sincerely,

ROB

Technorati Tags: cue2007 cue07

CUE Review

2007-02-20T19:01:00.000-08:00

At every conference I attend, I wonder what can be done to extend the conversations begun during the sessions, keynotes, and social gatherings. Today, it is not uncommon to find several conference attendees blogging or podcasting on their experiences. The CUE Conference has always impressed me with their interest in being innovators in this area. In addition to the basics - conference correspondents, specific tags for all posts, and wireless Internet access - CUE gives each presenter the opportunity to submit an audio promo for their session which they make available in their SmartGuide.

In the spirit of extending the conversation, I have setup a "group" on Evoca called CUE 2007 where members can post audio recording of their thoughts, comments, and reactions after attending a conference event. Evoca allows members to create their recording directly from a cell phone. My vision is for attendees to leave a session and call in their comments while their ideas are fresh. Folks can listen to these audio recording and then post their own comments (similar to the way you can comment on a blog post). I am looking forward to some great discussions.

If you are interested in participating in this project, sign-up with Evoca (a free membership gives you 60 minutes of recording time) and then send me an email (rob AT digiwalks DOT org) with your Evoca username and I will add you to the group.

Even if you do not want to submit posts from the conference, I encourage you to listen to the comments of others.

NOTE: CUE Conference is March 1-3 this year.

Tags: cue2007, cue07

Powered by Qumana

So You Think You're a Digital Native?

2007-02-15T14:44:00.000-08:00

I have decades of experience working with computers. In college, I tossed out my typewriter after my freshman year in favor of hacking out my papers in the school's computer lab at a time when Word Processing was a relatively unknown term and no one had a personal computer. While studying in Edinburgh, I used a line editor to write term papers which were then printed on that green lined paper for data printouts. I have developed applications and websites, ran computer labs and networks, wired classrooms and offices, trained technology experts and support staff, and even worked at NASA's JPL in their web systems group. But last week, I came to the realization that I am no digital native!

Last week was the Connectivism Online Conference featuring a variety of speakers taking about a fascinating learning model - connectivism. I encourage you to visit Vicki Davis's blog, CoolCatTeacher, as she was a context filter for the conference. The best part of the conference were the many opportunities to discuss the topics presented in each day's session. During the live presentation, the messages flew in the chat window. Afterwards, the conversations moved to the conference's Moodle forum and on various bloggers' sites. And one topic that kept popping up was Second Life and its potential in education. Like many, I had heard of SL, but never been in that world. I, apparently, was not the only one new to SL. There were many of us, so a tour of SL was organized. Before the tour, we were told to get a SL account and setup our avatar. Being the diligent soldier, I signed up with SL, configured my avatar and launched the application. Like all first timers, I was teleported to the welcome zone in SL where I was left to fend for myself. This is when the realization began. I was immediately nervous because there were others around me and I was afraid that I might run into them knocking them down. I was concerned that I might go some place that I shouldn't, fall off a cliff and die before I even got to the tour. I was afraid that I might say or do something that against the edicit of SL and I would be kicked out. Then my two-year old daughter walked in to see what I was doing. She immediately started telling me where to go. "Down beach, Daddy!" I was so focused on trying to figure out what to do, I had not even noticed the water. Then my thoughts turned to safety. If I went "down beach" would I drown? Silly I know, but I could not let go of my terrestrial ideals. The next morning, as I went it to get my daughter, she grabbed my hand and told me "down beach!" pointing at the computer. I realized that I was just an immigrant in this truly digital world.

Followup!

This is a good example of a successful product user interface for the true digital native:

Powered by Qumana

Future of Film

2007-02-05T11:40:00.000-08:00

Last Friday, American Public Media's Marketplace, did a story titled "Long Wait for Video Download Profits" talking about Wal-Mart's movie download service now in beta and Amazon's partnership with TiVo to provide movie downloads to the TV set. This story offers a general introduction to the movie distribution discussion. Certainly, the Internet will play a bigger and bigger role in how we access our entertainment. Take CD's for example; you remember CD's, those little silver disks that you can hold in your hand. With the likes of iTunes, Kazaa, podcasts, and GarageBand.com why do I need a CD? Folks like Blockbuster and NetFlix have been thinking about the same thing.

But the real story for me is not so much in the distribution of the Blockbuster type of movies, but those like the shorts WindowBreaker and t.o.m. or features like Expired and Protagonist. Also, is our current definition of a movie going to change? The Internet is all about the Long Tail, something for everyone. As mentioned in the MarketPlace piece, current distribution strategies require a movie to appeal to a mass market and a market like TiVo's 1.3 million subscribers is too small in which to operate. Or is it?

At the Sundance Film Festival, I had the opportunity to sit in on a panel discussion "The Business of Web 2.0: Media and the Net Now" with representatives from MySpace, YouTube, Revver, Brightcove, Popcurrent, and Battlestar Galactica moderated by Kara Swisher of the Wall Street Journal. Each contributed their thoughts on how the Internet is transforming the entertainment industry. Whether it is a musician promoting herself on MySpace or the ever so popular "Evolution of Dance" on YouTube, we have access to more entertainment content than ever in history. The quality of this content can be debated, but as was pointed out at the discussion, this will only get better (the first films made were not all that great). The point is, technology is at a place now so that the barriers to entry in creating media are so very low to be non-existent. Anyone can create a film and get distribution.

But the age old problem of making a profit remains. Ultra-low budget films like WindowBreaker can make a little money (or at least recoup its costs) through a distribution deal with the likes of iTunes. Blockbusters have access to both traditional and beta methods of distribution. But what about the low-budget (e.g. $10k to $100k) movie? As one writer/director put it, "I have tried to make a living using services like Revver [which monetizes videos through ads], but the revenue generated is just too small. How can someone like me monetize my films?" In this age of the Long Tail, there must be some way for quality films to get noticed.

The Web has also created a new phenomenon - "cultural snacking". We buy our songs as singles, we browse Garageband sampling new sounds, and we watch short videos (< 20min) that transcend the traditional movie script. As one of the panel participants put it, we are a "clip culture".

I get Rocketboom delivered to my TiVo box nightly and these 3-8 minute snacks are great. The BBC offers "Telling Lives", a wonderful digital storytelling space. I love the 15min TED Talks videos. All of these represent video snacks - a new form of entertainment well suited to the fast pace of our "modern" lives. My friend and I were just talking about how we under-utilize our NetFlix subscriptions mainly because we can not find 90 minutes to watch a traditional movie without falling asleep (we both have youngsters to chase). But video snacks are well suited to our lifestyles.

The Web is much more than just a marketing platform for films. It is going to fundamentally change distribution and even re-define what we mean by film. When a high school student can produce and distribute a digital story that will captivate my attention over spending a day's wages to take the family to the movies, the pros in Hollywood are advised to take notice.

Tags: Sundance, film, movies

Powered by Qumana

Are your middle school boys bothering you?

2007-02-02T09:40:00.000-08:00

I spent a wonderful week at the Sundance Film Festival this year. I have written about some of my experiences while in Park City, but I failed to mention one of my funniest encounters.

I was attending a reception after a panel discussion. The event was limited to those in attendance at the discussion, but I saw a group of teenage boys (middle school age) wondering about the entrance to the room where we were mingling. While I could tell that they were looking for something or someone, I gave them little notice.

Later, as I was leaving, I ran into the same group in the foyer. While I was putting on my jacket, I overheard them asking the ladies at the front desk, "Where can we see someone famous?". This comment made me laugh. They could careless who they saw as long as it was a star.

The boys had been running around for a while and pestering (in an innocent way) the staff at the event, so I was surprised to see the boys run out upon hearing the response to their question. Too curious, I had to ask the ladies what they said. I was expecting that they made up a lie and told them that Jennifer Lopez was up the street. Instead, the ladies had simply said "... I haven't seen any stars lately, but their is a gay and lesbian party upstairs". They then told me "after we told them of the party, a sense of discomfort came over their face and they ran out."

So now you know how to disperse a group of middle school boys.

Sundance Review (What I learned while in Park City)

2007-02-01T12:43:00.000-08:00

I have been extremely fortunate to get to attend the Sundance Film Festival. (Thanks Cari, Rob and Linda!) This year's was #5 for me and each year when I return, my friends ask which movies did I see and which were worth paying $10 to see in the theater. (They used to ask me which stars I had seen, but they now know how pathetic I am when it comes to names of celebrities so they no longer ask.) This year I have decided to list some of the events that I attended with a short personal observation. I don't feel qualified to call this a review, but more just my personal thoughts.

What does this have to do with education? Well wait and see...

Expired
Very cute movie about a meter maid who asks the question "Is something better than nothing?" as she struggles to find love. Her love interest is completely socially inept, learning how to speak with women from the porno movies he watches online. He is a fantastic character who really makes you cringe as he says (and does) the most stupid things. I really enjoyed the film but feel that it could have done without showing us images from the online porno flick. We got the point without the filmmakers being explicit.

Rocket Science
A well done and enjoyable film about a high school boy who stutters and is asked to join the debate team. This was the second time in a month that the subject of debate has come up for me. The director of New York Doll is working on a documentary on high school debate showing a fascinating world of fast talking youngsters. As must be apparent, how can a boy who struggles to even order a slice a pizza be effective on a debate team. Will love concur his problem? Reece Daniel Thompson does an outstanding job playing the troubled kid.

Grace is Gone
I went to Sundance this year with the explicit idea not to watch any documentaries about the Iraqi war. It is not that I was concerned that I would not agree with the filmmakers' perspective nor do I deny it is an important event worthy of being a part of a documentary. I just needed a break from all of the death. Having said that, I did attend the premier of Grace is Gone, a story about a husband who looses his wife, a casualty of the war. The story was not so much about war but about loss, love, and the innate desire to protect our children from the bad things in his world. John Cusack does an outstanding job playing the father. This was a side of Cusack that I had not seen in film and one worthy of praise.

Protagonist
This documentary is about four men and their individual struggles. What is unique about this film is the filmmaker's ability to interweave these very diverse experiences into a classic story structure. It uses some fantastic puppetry to play out the more general storyline. Each of the four men's story is compelling on its own, but what I really liked was how they were used to demonstrate how to tell a story. In essence, this film acts as a great class in storytelling complete with the theory (from the ancient Greek) and useful examples. You may have trouble finding this film in your neighborhood cinemax, but hopefully it will get a distribution deal and you can get it on Netflix.

Girl 27
Let me start by relating a pet peeve that I have; I don't like documentaries where subject is merely a platform to enhance the filmmaker's celebrity. I loved Roger & Me, but as time went by, it became more about the "Me" [aka Michael Moore] show and with Bowling for Columbine (and Mr. Moore's related public appearances), I have given up on self-promoting films in the guise of documentary. Don't get me wrong. I believe in the principles expounded in Mr. Moore's films, it is the way he does it that bothers me.

With that in mind, Girl 27's director, David Stenn, makes his presence in the story all too important. The film is an interesting look at Hollywood history and I truly enjoyed that aspect of the tale, but the story telling reminded of those shows on the Biography Channel that could have been told in about ten minutes. Instead of the story being about the poor and even criminal treatment women were subject to in early Hollywood, it became about Mr. Stenn's journey to find Girl 27, a chorus girl who pressed charges of rape against MGM and one of its sales reps.

Other movies I saw at Sundance...

Four Sheets to the Wind: good acting but the story did not interest me
The Good Life: great acting and a good story. We discussed the story quite a bit after the movie though my friend did not enjoy it as much as I.
A Very British Gangster: I really enjoyed this look into gangster life in Manchester, England. The filmmaker met an ex-member of the gang featured in the film in Park City and this ex-gangster told us some of his stories during the Q&A after the screening.
Bajo Juarez, The City Devouring its Daughters: an interesting look into the tragedy of a city in northern Mexico. The film does a good job letting us feel the frustration of the family and friends of the numerous women molested and murdered in this city and the crimes go unsolved.
Black Snake Moan: excellent acting by Samuel L. Jackson and Christina Ricci. While the explicit nature of the film is not suitable for the young, I felt the writer/director, Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow), did an good job not exploiting the sex and nudity, but rather used it as part of the story. It was exciting to hear from the cast and crew at the screening ... well all but Justin Timberlake who made an ass out of himself.

What does this have to do with education...

One way to be a good educator is to be a good story teller. While at Sundance, one has a lot of opportunities to speak with other film buffs, standing in line, ordering your coffee at Starbucks, mingling at a reception, or just waiting for the movie to start. I made a point to find screenwriters and talk to them about what makes a good writer. Here are some of their observations:

To be a good writer, "you must write... and write... and write". This really isn't news to educators, but we all know the consequences of assigning too many writing assignments - we have to read them :-( When asked about this, one aspiring screenwriter shared a strategy used by one of his teachers - students were expected to write one story a week in their journal. Then at the end of the semester, they were asked to pick their best work and their worst and write about their choices. The teacher read these descriptions as well as the two selected stories while skimming the other entries in the journal.
To be a good writer, "you need to get all kinds of feedback". Almost every writer offered me the opportunity to read one of his/her scripts (the one that didn't, referred me to her publicist). They wanted to hear my thoughts on their work. As one writer put it, "don't write in a vacuum". I initially warned them that I am not a great writer myself and don't know how my comments can help them. But the point, as was explained to me, was to hear a variety of perspectives and to take them for what they are, just thoughts of individuals.
To be a good writer, "you need experiences". I was shocked at how many of even the young writers that I met mentioned how important the role of personal experiences played in their writing. It is my guess that everything is relative. Although the youngsters did not have as many life lessons as their more mature (chronologically speaking) counterparts, they saw the value in those experiences that they did have. One writer in particular compared his writing to that in high school and said "I am much more mature now and have seen so much more." Though he was only 23 (I guess), he recognized the importance of those few years on the content of his writing.

One of my goals was to have these writers that I met to reflect on their high school days and offer any recommendations to help educators in producing writers. To my surprise, most offered very little. The occasional "write more" was about the most I got from them. I will admit to being disappointed. I had envisioned a post where I was going to reveal the secret to creating great writers.

Upon reflection, most of these folks were individualists who felt that it was through their own hard work (and talent) that produced the writer in them. I don't think that they saw their development as a product of the educational system, but more from their own drive. Doesn't this sound a bit consistent with a constructionist view of education? A good teacher need not be the one who is remembered as "the one who taught me how to ..." but instead can be remembered as "the teacher in whose class I learned how to ...".

I am not arguing that all of these writers had fantastic teachers (though I am sure most did). Instead, I am suggesting that a successful teacher need not be perceived as the one who taught me how to ... While viewing all of the films and listening to the stories, I came away smarter. I still think about the question raised in Expired, "Is something better than nothing?". Rocket Science reminded me that just because a person cannot express it, does not mean he does not have good ideas. Grace is Gone had me reflect on my role as my child's protector. Protagonist both educated me on story structure. Girl 27 blustered my perception of history and how it is full of buried events that can change our precept ion of the past. All of these stories really made me think, challenged some my values or beliefs, and reinforced my notation that we are always learning - even at the cinema.

Tags: Sundance, film, story, storytelling

Powered by Qumana

We Need to Talk

2007-01-11T19:56:00.000-08:00

The question, "So, what do you think of the new iPhone?" was the common denominator in all of my meetings yesterday. It did not matter with whom I was meeting, a leadership coach, retired labor contract negotiator, a portrait artist, an adult-ed administrator, or a high school teacher. Each asked my opinion of Apple's newest addition to their "i" products - "a widescreen iPod with touch controls, a revolutionary mobile phone, and a breakthrough Internet communications device" [apple.com]. I was clear that I was considered an expert on all thing techie. The funny thing was that while I had seen references to the iPhone on in my feed aggregator, I had not actually read anything details.

My lack of interest in iPhone has to due with the fact that I only occasionally use my cell phone and am certainly not tied to my PDA (which is way out of sych). I am not really interested in gadgets like others (he says while posting a blog at an outdoor cafe). But all of the interest in the iPhone has actually got me thinking.

First, I must say, Apple is one cool company when it comes to marketing. They were able to generate great buzz in a product that I know none of those folks with whom I met yesterday will ever need. I am fascinated with how buzz is generated and Apple certainly has a good understanding how to spark interest in their products. How many folks do you know that think that there is only one MP3 player - the iPod?

The second thing that got me thinking is how the iPhone or a similar device will be the norm in classrooms. The current version of the iPhone needs some refinement to meet the needs of educators (including a dramatic reduction in price!), but it does give us a view into the future. Debates on 1:1 computing will be moot as everyone will have a handheld device for communication, research and collaboration.

I see the iPhone as a wake up call for me to get more experience with mobile devices in education and visit classrooms where learning is being enhanced through the use of these gadgets.

FAQs on the iPhone

Tags: iPhone, 1:1

Powered by Qumana

The 2010 Imperative

2007-01-11T10:02:00.000-08:00

The 2010 Imperative is a "teach-in" event produced by Architecture 2030 addressing global warming and climate change. This 3 1/2 hour web-cast offers design students around the world to participate in a discussion in the role the design community has in the global warming crisis.

I think this is a fantastic example of using online technology to discuss a global issue with folks around the world. While the target audience are design schools, professional design firms and governmental entities, there certainly is a place for high school students. Global warming is a great example of a multi-discipline issue giving students a chance to apply their knowledge is math, science, economics, history, etc. to a single problem. This is a wonderful opportunity for students to participate in a real-world issue.

I would propose forward thinking schools the following:

Begin discussing the issue of global warming and climate change having students research the subject. After a cursory bit of research to get a handle on the gist of the subject, students should be encouraged to find a particular aspect of the discussion on which they would like to focus through further research. They could then post their findings and opinions online a blog so that other students can learn from their research and join the discussion.

Then have the students listen and participate in the web-cast as a group, discussing issues as they are presented and emailing questions / comments to the panel members.

Finally, students could post to the blog their reflections on the event describing what they have learned from the web-cast specifically and the project in general.

Global warming is an important issue, but this web-cast offers more than just a discussion on the topic. It give us an an opportunity to engage students in a real-world issue where they can become informed, offer their opinions and debate with people around the world.

To register for this free event check out The 2001 Imperative website.

Tags: 2010Imperative, webinar

Powered by Qumana

Game Day

2007-01-09T01:34:00.001-08:00

I am a big fan of independent films and I will be posting from the Sundance Film Festival later this month. I noticed today on the Sundance Channels' site a link called called "Second Life Blog". What does the Sundance Channel have to do with a virtual reality "game"? Apparently, Sundance is creating an island in Second Life and as its first event will be screening the movie "Four Eyed Monsters" complete with a Q&A with the filmmakers. This is no game, this is an opportunity for us to "travel" to an exclusive event and interact with the folks that made the film.

I am not a gamer nor do I spend time in places like Second Life. But I am excited at the possibilities these environments offer educators. A new book by David Williamson Shaffer has come out titled "How Computer Games Help Children Learn" along with a companion website: Epistemic Games. In an Chicago Tribune article, David is quoted:

Most of the games designed for educational purposes help kids get better at the same task that schools have been addressing for a long time. They don't address how to actually do things in the real world

With the exception of "Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing" (another story altogether), I have never had much patience for those educational games that are little more than drill and practice with graphics. But the games described by David transport the student to a new environment where they are free to take risks, be creative, make mistakes, and learn. This is what innovation is all about.

In a conversation with a friend that I just met (again, a story for another time), we were discussing the difference between incremental changes and breakthrough innovations in education. Gaming certainly offers the possibility of the latter.

Now, can someone tell me how to get a Second Life so I can watch the movie.

Tags: gaming

Powered by Qumana

America 101

2007-01-09T01:06:00.000-08:00

Did you catch the "America 101" segment on NPR's Morning Edition? It was about a class that the University of California, Berkeley offers to its foreign post-grad students that helps them understand US culture.

Many international students studying in the United States don't know when it's appropriate to say hello by giving a kiss on the cheek or using a handshake. Or what it is to "pig out" during dinner. Now, a University of California at Berkeley professor is offering a course to those students on how to decipher American culture.

This story got me thinking about how difficult it is to be a diplomat or international business person. Do we expect others to behave as we Americans do when negotiating an international treaty or business deal with another country? I guess I never expected that I would need such cultural awareness as an educator. But these post are read by folks outside of North America. If I were to meet with my Scottish colleagues, should it be over a wee dram?

I have been doing some research into ways of rating schools and game across the "Top Ten District Report Card" developed by Park City Education Foundation. The report card includes various metrics for measuring a school's success, but the one that really excited me relates to Foreign Language. To get an A, 70% or more of a school's seniors must complete at least three years of a foreign language. Well done! (And I am not just saying that to get in good with my wife who teaches Spanish) The study of a foreign language is much more than just congregating verbs. It is about culture and exposure to the idea that not everyone does things the way we do.

I heard a saying recently "those in the West have all the watches, but we in Afghanistan have all the time" (again on NPR - though I can't find a link to it.) It was mentioned in the context of negotiations with the Taliban and partly referred to how the West's presence in Afghanistan is only temporary and the Taliban can wait us out. But it was also used in reference to the way negotiations were held. The talks were over tea and could be marathon ordeals. To be successful, as was indicated in the NPR piece, one must learn how to drink lots of tea.

My brother-in-law travels the world, living in such diverse places as Bogota, Singapore, Buenos Aries, and Myanmar. I love to talk to him during his short stays in the US about the cultural differences. This is what he loves so much about traveling - experiencing the numerous ways to live your life. The Puritan work ethic may not be the only way.

BTW - I lived in Edinburgh for a while so I can attest to the importance a good single malt plays in most conversations.

Tags: culture, NPR

Powered by Qumana

Day 12 - Assessing the Process with RSS

2006-12-29T08:52:00.000-08:00

RSS - sounds technical and at first look, it is not pretty. But for my money, RSS is the biggest advance in the Internet since the graphical browser. That is a pretty big claim, so let's see how RSS can change the way you view the Web - and then let's see how RSS can play an important role in collaboration.

For those scratching your head asking "what is RSS?", you are probably not alone. It has been my experience that many educators are not familiar with this technology, yet its presence is widespread. You have probably seen on Web pages the RSS orange in the form of an icon or chicklet . Simply stated, RSS is the technology that allows you to keep up to date on all of your favorite sites as well as news information - all from a single page. Many sites, and most of the big ones - including this blog :-) have a special URL that lists all of the new content from the site. When you collect these RSS feed URLs into a "reader", you can see what is new from all of your feeds. There are many different types of "readers" including standalone applications, browser plugins/extensions, and websites. (List of RSS Feed Readers)

I use Bloglines - a web-based reader - to view all of my feeds. Since I use several different computers, I want my feeds to be stored remotely. You can view my feeds by clicking here. Notice that you can organize your feeds into a directory folder structure which allows you to either view a feed individually or all feeds in a folder. Thus, with one click, I can see all of my "Ed Tech" articles. No need to browse to each of the individual blogs to see if anything new is available.

I also use Google's personalized homepage which allows me to customize my Google search page with little boxes (channels) that show the headlines from RSS feeds. While not as extensive as my Bloglines list of feeds, Google lets me keep track of those feeds in which I am most interested - e.g. ESPN's News from English Football.

So how can RSS feeds help educators? Save time! Almost all of the tools that I have mentioned in the 12 Days of Collaboration have an RSS feed that lets you as the teacher keep track of changes to your students' projects. So, when Billy adds something to his group's writeboard (see Day 1), you will see a new item in your RSS reader since you "subscribed" to Billy's group's writeboard RSS feed.

By subscribing to the feeds from those collaborative tools your students' are using and organizing them in a reader like Bloglines, you can monitor each group's progress. Actually, you can monitor each student's progress within each group since all of the online collaborative tools mentioned let you know who contributed what. By monitoring your students' contributions to the collaborative process, you can gain a better view into their understanding of the topics of the assignment. RSS provides teachers the opportunity to take an active role in project's lifecycle. You can offer feedback, direction, compliments, and even the gentle nudge forward when the development of the project is made so visible.

For me, RSS enables assessment to move from being dominated by the end product to a focus on the process where the learning is more evident. You can see who is taking risks, how are decisions being made, and who is contributing what. In other words, assessing the collaboration.

Finally

Success with the tools that I have discussed in 12 Days of Collaboration requires that you approach collaboration differently than traditional group work in the past.

When explaining the project, it is important for you as the teacher to clearly define your expectations for "positive interdependence" within the group as well as individual accountability. (Johnson and Johnson, 1999) Discuss the social skills needed for groups to be successful.
Too often, teachers assign group projects and then sit back as the students work. For collaborative projects to work, teachers must "monitor students' learning and intervene within groups to provide task assistance or to increase students' interpersonal and group skills". (Johnson and Johnson, 1999) In other words, we must take an active role in each group's success.
Assess student learning as well as how well the groups functioned. Provide members of the groups a chance to evaluate their group's performance, how well they worked together, and how they can improve next time. (Johnson and Johnson, 1999)
Incorporate regular opportunities for collaborative learning into your curriculum. (Smialek and Boburka, 2006) Occasional group work does not provide students the opportunity to learn how to collaborate. Working in groups on a regular basis allows students to become much more proficient at collaborating, and as a result, they take away much more from the project than they would have if they were not given the opportunity to develop skills in collaborating.

I hope that this series on collaboration will provide you with tools and motivation to develop projects that promote active learning within groups requiring collaborative skills.

RSS Resources
Simple RSS Tutorial
More Extensive (and technical) RSS Tutorial

References
The Effect of Cooperative Listening Exercises on the Critical Listening Skills of College Music-Appreciation Students
Thomas Smialek; Renee Reiter Boburka
Journal of Research in Music Education, Vol. 54, No. 1. (Spring, 2006), pp. 57-72.
Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-4294%28200621%2954%3A1%3C57%3ATEOCLE%3E2.0.CO%3B2-T

Making Cooperative Learning Work
David W. Johnson; Roger T. Johnson
Theory into Practice, Vol. 38, No. 2, Building Community through Cooperative Learning. (Spring, 1999), pp. 67-73.
Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0040-5841%28199921%2938%3A2%3C67%3AMCLW%3E2.0.CO%3B2-O

Tags: digiwalks, 12DayOfCollaboration, collaboration, rss

Powered by Qumana

Day 11 - Chat by the Campfire

2006-12-24T06:40:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I mentioned my friend Mr. French who teaches pre-calculus and calculus (regular and AP). He like so many teachers is extremely dedicated to his students. The night before a major test, Jo makes himself available via IM (chat) so that students can ask questions. This got me thinking about the power of instant messaging. It is a preferred method of communicating among kids. As group members of a project are working at their desk, they can collaborate via IM.

My biggest reservation about including chat (IM) as a collaboration tool has been the inability to record the conversation. As you should know by know, I feel that the power of the online collaboration tools is to help make the process of collaboration more visible to a teacher. Thus, for me to endorse IM as a collaboration tool, teachers would need to be able to "replay" the conversations.

Enter 37 Signals' Campfire, "a web-based group chat tool that lets you set up password-protected chat rooms in just seconds". When you setup an account with Campfire, you create a URL for your chats. You can create multiple rooms to help organize your chats and only those that you want to invite can participate in chats. One of the great feature is the ability to upload files while chatting. If you upload an image file, it previews in the chat window. This is a fantastic tool for math and science courses where equations are often discussed. But the feature that I like the most is repository of chat transcripts. A teacher (or student) can look up chats based on person and/or day. One can also search the transcripts.

The service is free but it only allows four simultaneous people chatting at one time. You can have more people registered with your chat area, but only four can be active across all of your rooms at one time. This is a bit restrictive if you are running a review session for all of your kids. But it would work if the chat area was only for a small group project. You can also upgrade your service to one of the premium plans (that costs money!).

I am just starting with Campfire and it is working well for one of my projects where synchronous communication is necessary. I am also experimenting with Google Talk which allows both synchronous and asynchronous communication both in IM format and voice. You can also review past conversations. One restriction is that conversations are one on one, not within groups.

I would love to hear what you are using for this type of communication.

Tags: digiwalks, 12DaysOfCollaboration, collaboration

Powered by Qumana

Day 10 - Blogging Your Class

2006-12-23T21:22:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I discussed the power of groups (forums) for creating a collaborative environment where students can respond to a message created by a teacher or student. In that post, I mentioned the similarity between blogs and groups, and indicated that one should not dwell on which is the best tool. Today, I will advocate blogging as the clear choice for capturing your class.

I started talking about the power of blogging in the curriculum back in early '04 and I still cite the fantastic work of Darren Kuropatwa and his AP Calculus, Pre-Calculus (11) and Pre-Calculus (12) classes. Darren has his students post a summary of the topics covered in class on the class blog. One student is the "scribe" for the day and posts his/her notes on the class. This provides a wonderful documentation of the class as well as a great exercise for the scribe as he/she is asked to publicly explain what was discussed in class that day. Darren also has students reflect on the unit/chapter in "Blogging on Blogging" or BOB.

Because the blog is public, students take the job of scribe very seriously and even try to out do other scribes. The quality of their work is outstanding and students get a kick out of knowing that others (across the globe) are reading their post.

There are numerous sources for information on blogging, but one that I just stumbled upon is by Robert Jones - his "Blogging for Beginners" series. Robert (aka Mr. Jones) came to my attention at breakfast with a friend - Mr. French whose AP Calculus class also blogs. Apparently Mr. Jones posted a comment on the class blog, but the students thought it was just Mr. French posing as a Maths teacher from Scotland. One enterprising student verified Mr. Jones' existence and posted his research.

There is nothing like having an international audience to motivate you to posting the best content as possible.

Tags: digiwalks, 12DaysOfCollaboration, collaboration, blogging

Powered by Qumana

Day 9 - Google and Yahoo Groups

2006-12-22T21:02:00.000-08:00

One of the oldest online tools for collaboration has been user forums where folks post questions and others post responses. Each "thread" contains the original message along with all replies ordered in a tree structure. Back in the days of CompuServe and early AOL, this was how people shared their expertise. I recall being involved in many discussions on the best way to resolve a problem posted by someone else in the Clipper forum. I learned quite a bit about the programming language Clipper by books and experimenting, but the CompuServe Clipper forum is where I mastered my understanding. The value of this learning tool came from both having questions answered by others in the forum, but also by answering questions. Teaching a concept really does make us learn it.

Google and Yahoo bring these user groups into the 21st century by improving the user experience - making it more accessible. The user-friendly experience begins with the ease of which it is to create a new group and manage the groups settings. Once created, posting new messages, replying to existing messages, and finding message threads is very easy.

Both Google Groups and Yahoo Groups offer similar configuration settings. Though only some of these are available to you when you initially setup your group, you have access to all of the settings from the "manage group" page. Some of the more important settings include:

Access Levels - who can view, and post messages to your group
Membership - who can join the group (anyone, moderated, or invitation only)
Visibility - are the messages in the group included in search engines and is the group listed in a directory of groups (and by what category)

Again, both Google Groups and Yahoo Groups offer similar basic forum (group) functionality. Yahoo offers extras such as polls, databases, and calendars integrated into your group, though I have never used any of these. Google Groups - Beta improves on the look and feel of Google Groups and gives you more control on customizing the look and feel.

How might you use forums (groups) in our world of education? There are numerous ways you can enhance your curriculum by incorporating forums into your class. You can use it as a way for students to ask and answer questions; you can post discussion questions; you can use it as a review tool where students answer questions that you have posted and even correct other students' answers.

So far in the 12DaysOfCollaboration, we have been focusing on how these tools can be used to enhance collaborative projects in class. Let us not forget collaboration among teachers. Forums are a great way for teachers to get and give help on a variety of topics. AP teachers should all be participating in their subject's Electronic Discussion Group. When I was teaching AP Computer Science and AP Calculus, these groups were a valuable part of my professional development and directly contributed to my students' success.

The great thing about forums (groups) is that they allow you to reply to replies; in other words, your discussion can branch out into separate directions. I have often been asked which tool is better for collaboration, blogging or forums. While similar in structure, there are two major differences. First, all comments in blogging are treated equally. While one can make a comment about a comment, this message is not treated (organized) any differently than other comments. When a person replies to a reply in a forum, a new branch of the discussion is created. (Note: some blogging software is now allowing this more structured commenting - replying to a comment.)

The second, and most important for me, distinction between blogs and forums is in the significance of the first (original) post. In general, blog posts can stand on their own whereas in forums, the messages are designed as the start of a thread. There are forums where the messages are more just announcements and blogs where the posts are questions and the meat of the post lies in the comments. On Alan November's blog, the posts are usually in the form of a question. The real value of the site lies in the comments. I would argue that this type of blog would be better run in a forum, though I understand that there are other considerations that might direct Alan to using a blog.

Both blogs and forums are fantastic collaboration tools and you should not dwell too long on which is the one that would best suit your needs. I just wanted to (re)introduce you to the tried and true forum - now groups - idea. They are easy to setup, manage and use, and have a long history of providing educational value.

Tags: digiwalks, 12DaysOfCollaboration, collaboration, google, yahoo

Powered by Qumana

Day 8 - ZohoShow for Digital Storyboarding

2006-12-21T19:42:00.000-08:00

This post is not about the educational benefits of digital storytelling. Much has been written about this by such experts in the field as Joe Lambert and Bernajean Porter. My focus is on the storyboarding process and more specifically how to record this process.

Digital Storytelling is not about the end product - the video - as much as it is about the story, the planning, and the collaboration. From a teacher's prospective, insight into the storyboarding process provides a richer assessment of the students work than the actual digital media that results from the project. From Wikipedia: "[This] process of visual thinking and planning allows a group of people to brainstorm together, placing their ideas on storyboards and then arranging the storyboards on the wall. This fosters more ideas and generates consensus inside the group."

I am a big fan of storyboarding with the following offering some ideas why.

For some, storyboarding may seem like a hassle, or a tedious extra step in the process of digital storytelling. This is not true. Storyboarding is a valuable step in digital storytelling. It allows the user to organize images, text, motion, interviews, and music before they begin making their digital story. It allows the user to visualize how the story will be put together and what holes exist so that they can be filled. Storyboarding also inspires new ideas for the user’s digital story because the user sees all of the pieces of the story laid out in front of them.
From "Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling"

There are many ways to produce a storyboard online. One option would to use a service like Google Docs and put the storyboard in a word processing like document. Another idea is to use a wiki putting each cell of the storyboard in a separate page.

I would like to suggest trying ZohoShow, an online presentation creating service where you can create, share, view, and publish PowerPoint like presentations. As with the other solutions that I have mentioned, your work is stored online making it available to everyone in the group wherever there is an Internet connection. With ZohoShow, it is very easy to create storyboard cells with the requisite information. Like PowerPoint, ZohoShow allows you to create slides from a template but you can always add additional elements like text blocks, images, or graphical symbols. The information that you require your students to include in each cell (slide) of their storyboard will vary but it will probably include the narration, description of the image, animation, and audio effects.

What I like most about using a presentation type of approach to storyboarding is the ease by which you can move cells around in the story as well as move elements within a cell around. The drag-and-drop approach provides an intuitive (as well as easy) way of reorganizing your story.

The biggest drawbacks to ZohoShow are lack of an RSS feed, versioning, and concurrent editing. As I will explore tomorrow, RSS feeds help teachers keep track of work being done on a project. By not saving versions of the storyboard (presentation), ZohoShow makes it difficult to see just how the board was developed and who did what. Finally, ZohoShow does not allow multiple users to work on a presentation at the same time, though might not be a critical issue. (Writeboard does not offer concurrent editing but I have found it to be one of my most valuable tools for collaboration.)

ZohoShow is still in beta, so who knows what features will be available in the future. For simple presentations (and storyboards) it works well. It does not have all of the bells and whistles of PowerPoint, but I see that as a plus, after-all we want our students to focus on the storyboard and not the page transition effects.

Tags: digiwalks, 12DaysOfCollaboration, collaboration, ZohoShow

Powered by Qumana

Day 7 - Google Docs and Wikis for Science Lab Write-ups

2006-12-20T12:37:00.001-08:00

In my last post, I spoke of the great advantages of using Google Docs over the traditional word processing application. When creating a collaborative document, it is a great asset to have that document available for all group members to edit anytime, anywhere and even at the same time.

A feature that I did not mention about Google Docs on my last post is its flexibility of publishing the final document. Once you have finished editing a document, you can use the "Save As..." feature to save the document in HTML, RTF, Word, OpenOffice, or PDF format. I really like the option to save the document in PDF format and which allows me to add it to a web site for others to view.

Lab work in a science class is a great opportunity for students to collaborate. Lab partners work on the experiment together, record their observations, and summarize their results. Using Google Docs, lab groups can store their results in an online speadsheet (see below). Like Google's word processing application, more than one person can be adding data to a spreadsheet at the same time. Care must be taken to avoid putting data in the same cell, but I am impressed at the speed with which the application refreshes and shows changes made by other users.

The lab write-up can be done in a Google Docs word processing document and both the data and write-up can be saved as PDF documents. These PDFs can then be uploaded to a class wiki on a page setup for the lab assignment allowing other students to review your results and conclusions. At the end of the year, each of the labs in the course will have a separate page with data and write-ups from each of the lab groups. By documenting each lab in this way, you and your students can review the results and discuss reasons for discrepancies.

Google Docs offers a variety of features that makes collaboration much easier and convenient. I hope you have a chance to explore all that Google has to offer.

Tags: digiwalks, 12DaysOfCollaboration, collaboration, google

Powered by Qumana

Day 6 - Google Docs for Creative Writing

2006-12-19T21:34:00.000-08:00

Collaborative writing assignments have always been limited by the problem of merging the contributions of multiple authors. One approach has been for a document to be passed among authors, each making their corrections and additions. This method of collaboration required those authors without the document to be idle making the whole process a bit inefficient as well as frustrating.

Google Documents approaches word processing from a different paradigm, one where documents are not exclusive to a single editor or computer but instead can be edited by two or more authors at the same time on different machines. Google (which purchased Writely, the originators of this idea) allows authors to create documents which reside online and thus can be accessed from anywhere there is an Internet connection. Authors can then invite others to collaborate on the document. At the bottom of each document is a status bar showing who is currently editing the document.

As other authors open the shared document, you are told of their presence, and as they make changes to the document, their changes show up on your screen - automatically!.

Google Docs has a "revisions" feature that allows you to clearly see the edits made by other contributors as well as a revision history which allows you to view past versions of the document and even revert to one of these past states.

Google Docs is a great tool for any group project that includes a write-up as it provides a central location for the document that any member of the group can access and edit at any time he/she wants. It is especially useful in collaborative writing assignments where two or more people are working on a document simultaneously.

However, my favorite feature stresses the collaborative relationship between teacher and student. Using Google Docs' Revision feature, a teacher can step through the creation of a document gaining insight into the student's writing process. Teachers can give feedback (using the comments feature) directly on the document making it easier for the student to follow-up with further revisions.

At a party the other day, I overheard a mother of four mention how much they hate group projects. Of course my curiosity was peaked and I quickly joined the conversation to find out what about group projects she found distasteful. One of her biggest complaints was the effort required to find time for groups to meet in person to work on their projects. I describe Google Docs to her and a look of "wow, that's what we need" came over her.

Google Docs is not the answer to all collaboration problems, but if you require your students to turn-in written work (usually produced on a word processor), I would highly recommend that you have them use Google Docs. When you are added as a collaborator, you can offer feedback directly on the document and gain a better insight into the students writing process. Finally, by having the student store the document online, issues of corrupt disks, jammed printers, or failed emails are no longer relevant.

Tags: digiwalks, 12DaysOfCollaboration, collaboration, google

Powered by Qumana

Day 5 - Problems with Collaboration

2006-12-18T14:49:00.000-08:00

In graduate school, I acquired some of the most important knowledge of my degree program in my very first semester. The lessons I learned revolved around a course that stressed group projects for all of its assessments. I found myself in a group of very qualified individuals but each with completely different personalities and motives. Cutting to the chase, collaboration is not easy. Here are some of the problems we encountered and discussion on how to resolve each one.

Clear Understanding of Project Goals/Objectives

Sounds obvious, but before starting a project it is important to have a clear understanding of what is expected. In the final project of the class, we were to write a paper on the effects of e-commerce on the transportation system for another professor in the Information Science department. Before starting the project, we should have asked who is the audience (transportation experts?), what is the professor going to be doing with this paper (submitting it for peer review), what type of article is this to be (scholarly, trade, popular, or general interest?). Instead, we each had our own idea of what the project was all about and it was not until just before the article was due that we realized that our ideas conflicted.

One of the first things students should be required to do when starting a project is to outline their perception of the project goals and objectives. This outline should be one of the project deliverables and should be reviewed by teachers, at the beginning, to be sure the students do not have some terrible misunderstanding of the project's objectives, and at the end of the project to help evaluate how well the group met the objectives that they defined. Two groups can have vastly different objectives for the same project with both being equally valid. For example, teacher of a U.S. History class might assign a collaborative project to create the students' own Bill of Rights. One group might outline their objectives to produce a document that updates the Bill of Rights into more accessible language more relevant to today's concerns. Another group may describe their objectives as crafting a document that reflects the issues of teenagers.

Clear Understanding of Members' Goals/Objectives

In collaborative projects, group members often have varying personal objectives, some of which may even conflict with each other. My project group consisted of a student who had just graduated from an undergraduate program (limited life/professional experience), a PhD candidate who had to get at least an A- in the class, and myself, a maturing educator who thought going back to school would be "fun". Each of us approached the transportation assignment described above with completely different objectives. Our young college grad viewed the project simply as something that the professor assigned and her objective was to give the professor whatever he wanted. The PhD candidate saw this as an opportunity to get her name on a published paper and impress a professor that she wanted as her thesis advisor. I just thought that exploring how e-commerce affects transportation sounded interesting.

As a result of the differing objectives (and because we had not discussed nor agreed upon our approach to the assignment) we each tackled the research differently. The recent grad required specific directions on what to research, the PhD wanted us to adhere to suggestions (including sources) from the advising professor and I was content to read summative articles on the subject from periodicals.

Had we had a discussion of our personal objectives before starting to work on the project, the end product as well as the learning process would have been much more successful. In our case, it would have been better for me to produce an initial review of the topic from which we could have created an outline and approached the advising professor for feedback. From there, research from peer-reviewed materials could begin with the recent grad being given specific research tasks. The initial draft of the document could be tasked to the PhD student who had the most experience in crafting the content into text appropriate for a journal.

Division of Labor

As mentioned above, it is important to spend time considering how to divide the tasks of a project among the groups members. Too often the division of labor follows the approach we took; topics are assigned to group members for research and one person is nominated as the person who puts it all together. This approach is really an attempt to minimize the interaction among members - not really a collaborative approach. In our project, we did not share the research until a few days before the due date when it was discovered that one of the group members had not completed her assigned task due to a family emergency. We got the paper completed but the process (division of labor) by which it was done was completely obfuscated to outsiders.

It is so much easier today to task a project so that members are constantly reviewing other members' work, improving upon it and learning from it. The days of segmenting a project into task to be done in isolation are over. Instead, students should be encouraged to take an iterative approach to working on a project. Research is recorded on a more accessible medium (e.g. wiki or writeboard) where team members can review each other's work. This approach makes it easier to identify problems earlier and make decisions to redirect the focus of research when it becomes apparent that it is going in the wrong direction. But the most important aspect to this approach is that students are involved in more than their little part. They are gaining a better understanding of all of the research, not just their own.

Waiting Until the Deadline ...

"Don't wait until the night before the assignment is due to get started!" - The mantra of teachers everywhere. With today's technology, teachers have the ability to monitor group work and see the process in action. While this is not good news for procrastinators, it makes the collaboration more accessible to both participants and observers.

In our transportation project, we could have eliminated most of the headaches if we could have seen (monitored) the work as it progressed. Similarly, my approach to the writing of the final document could have been stopped before I got too far. Instead, we had to completely rewrite the paper (requiring an extension).

It is important for teachers to include milestones and process requirement into their grading rubric. In the past, this was limited to such things as submission of notecards and rough drafts. Now, teachers can monitor the process in (almost) real time. They can see the interactions, contributions, confrontations, and resolutions of all members. With this emphasis on the process over the final product, students cannot wait until the last minute to do their work.

Criticism

One of the most challenging aspects of collaboration is criticism. It is important for team members to interact, evaluate each others work, discuss possible improvements, and resolve differences of opinion. For our group, criticism almost lead to the project's failure and permanently hurt feelings. I won't speak for the others, but I know I can still improve my receptiveness to others' point of view. By receptiveness, I am speaking of the skill to discuss a topic passionately but not take it personally when others disagree. This is not an easy skill to learn but it is certainly a valuable one. We need to give students more opportunity for peer review and for learning how to both give and take criticism. Collaborative learning is a wonderful tool in this process.

Summary

We do our students a disservice when we assign group work without teaching them first how to collaborate. Just as students need direction to improve their study skills, so too do they need help learning the skills required to work as a group. Next time you assign a collaborative project, consider the issues discussed above and consider ways you can direct your students to be more successful in the collaborative process than we were.

Tags: digiwalks, 12DaysOfCollaboration, collaboration

Powered by Qumana

Day 4 - Wiki Review Sheets

2006-12-17T18:07:00.001-08:00

I have tried a number of approaches to preparing students for an exam. I have created review sheets, chapter outlines, and practice exams. But it always struck me that I was doing all of the work. The students should be the ones creating these review documents.

I ran into logistical problems whenever I asked students to come up with practice problems or review material. By the time I had put all of their work together, there was little time for the students to review their cumulative work.

Wikis to the rescue. If you have never used a wiki, it is a type of website where viewers (with permission) can edit the content on each page and even create their own pages. Wikopedida is, perhaps, the most famous wiki in production.

I use PBWiki to create a wiki site for a class, and have students record the concepts presented in class. As an example, each chapter might be placed on a separate page with an overall description or summary of the topics/concepts discussed during that chapter. Subsequent pages are developed from this chapter page detailing each of the topics/concepts. Each chapter in the wiki is created while that chapter is being discussed so that its content can not only be used for a final exam but also for a chapter test.

The class as a whole is responsible for ensuring that all material is accurately covered. Because you as the teacher can review individual edits to the wiki, it is possible to assess each students contribution to the project. Furthermore, this wiki comes to represent the class' knowledge and is a good tool for you to assess any areas of confusion or weakness PRIOR to a test or exam.

Another example of using wikis for review can be seen from the work of Darren Kuropatwa's classes that create solutions manuals. As will be seen in a later "12 Days..." post, Darren's classes are doing some excellent work in collaboration. You can check out some of their wiki examples:

AP Calculus AB Solutions Manual Wiki: http://apcalc.pbwiki.com
Pre-Cal 40S (Winter '06) Solutions Manual Wiki: http://pc40s.pbwiki.com
Applied Math 40S Solutions Manual Wiki: http://am40s.pbwiki.com

Tags: digiwalks, 12DaysOfCollaboration, collaboration, wikis, pbwiki

Powered by Qumana

Day 3 - YackPack Your Point of View

2006-12-16T19:02:00.000-08:00

One of the valuable aspects of classroom discussion that is missing from most online learning environments is the opportunity to verbally articulate a point of view. Blogs, wikis, discussion forums, and email allow students the opportunity to gain valuable practice communicating ideas through writing. An equally important skill in communication is the spoken word.

YackPack is a new service that allows groups of students to communicate verbally. As a member of the group, you can choose to send a "voice message" to one or all of the group members by simply selecting the recipients and talking into your computer's microphone. There is no software to install other than the Flash Player which most browsers already have.

These asynchronous conversations can be used in small groups to discuss ideas or in full classes to continue a conversation that began in class. As an example, a controversial subject might arise in your class that captures the interest of your students but for which you just don't have time to address in detail. You might ask your students to express their thoughts on the subject in your YackPack when they go home. They can then listen to their classmates comments and continue the conversation with a response. As the YackPack administrator you can review all messages and even provide feedback to individuals or the whole class.

Another use of the YackPack is to provide a forum for students to ask questions. You or (preferably) your students can provide the answers thus producing a collaborative help service for your class.

If you teach a foreign language or are an ESL teacher, YackPack is a great tool for students to practice speaking in their new language. Students can carry on conversations while you "monitor" them, providing feedback as necessary.

I discovered YackPack quite by accident at a conference in Monterey this past November. Since then, I have had the chance to play around with the service and am continually thinking of new ways it can be used in education and in my personal life.

For Information: video for educators

Powered by Qumana

Day 2 - Brainstorming with Your Writeboard

2006-12-15T16:50:00.000-08:00

Writeboard is a (free) service from 37 Signals that provides groups with a webpage that can be used for developing ideas, documenting discussions, and just brainstorming. The system is very simple - a characteristic of all 37 Signals services. Yet the result is an extremely useful tool for collaboration.

After you create your password protected Writeboard, you are given a blank workarea. The first thing you notice is that Writeboard does not employ a WYSIWYG editor. At first, this may appear to be a downside of the application, but I would argue that it is actually an asset. Instead of worrying about formatting, the simple editor allows us to concentrate on content. There are some formatting styles that you can use, but the beauty of the system is its simplicity.

The most powerful feature (from a collaboration standpoint) is Writeboard's versioning capability. Every time a change is made and saved, a new version of the document is automatically created. This allows groups to proceed in one direction with the knowledge that they can always return to a previously saved version of the document. For technologically challenged users, the comfort of knowing that any mistakes they make will not permanently effect the document provides them greater confidence to use the system. I have worked on a number of projects where some of the group members were initially intimidated with the idea of using the Writeboard for fear that they would "mess up what someone else had done." Once they understood the idea of versioning and that we could always revert back to a prior version, they became much more liberated to use the system.

As a teacher, the versioning feature gives you insight into the process by which ideas are developed in your project groups. For example, you have assigned your biology class to become plant doctors. The project requires students working in groups to brainstorm ideas on:

How to identify and describe "problem plants" (unhealthy plants)
Develop tests to identify possible cause of the problem(s)

While the final deliverable would be a document addressing these two items, of equal interest is the way the student reached their conclusions. Documenting the collaboration process on a Writeboard will give you valuable insight and a better ability to assess students' contribution to the process as well as understanding of key topics.

I use a Writeboard for all of my projects and have found that it is invaluable for documenting the process. Also, requiring people to write their ideas down forces them to really think about them and have a certain level of "buy-in" to the idea. It is one thing to sit in a group and throw out ideas; it is a completely different thing for you to write these ideas out.

Tags: digiwalks, 12DaysOfCollaboration, collaboration, writeboard

Powered by Qumana

Day 1 - Del.icio.us Online Research

2006-12-14T11:08:00.000-08:00

In a recent project with which I was involved, participants in a U.S. History workshop developed an annotated list of websites relating to American History. There are over 100 sites reviewed providing teachers and students a wonderful place to find a site that might relate to a topic with which they are interested.

The problem with the resource is that the only option for viewing the list is to see all sites in alphabetic order. If your needs are specific, such as looking for a site on the Civil War, you need to go through each site and read the description to find one that might relate to your particular interest.

A similar problem exists when you bookmark a site on your browser - the site is just added to a long list of other sites. As the list of bookmarks grows, the more difficult it is to find a particular site. Browsers have helped users organize their favorite sites by allowing bookmarks to be placed in a directory structure. Thus, a site relating to the Civil War might be placed in the "Civil War" folder within the "US History" folder. This certainly makes it easier to find a particular bookmark.

Several issues remain:

What do you do if a site relates to multiple topics? Do you create the bookmark in each of the requisite folders?
What if you want a list of all bookmarks within a folder and all sub-folders within that folder? In the example above, what if we wanted not just Civil War sites but also Revolutionary War sites?
What if we want to share our bookmarks as part of a collaborative project? (After all, this is about collaboration.)

The answer is social bookmarking - "tagging" specifically. The king of online bookmarking and site tagging is Del.icio.us. With Del.icio.us, you can bookmark sites with categories (tags). For example, a particular journal article relating the differences between the presidency of Andrew Jackson and that of John Quincy Adams could be tagged with "us history", "presidents", "jackson", and "adams".

This bookmarking could be part of a bigger project in which students are assigned the task of researching a particular topic in U.S. History. Each online source would be bookmarked in Del.icio.us using appropriate tags. One of the tags would be term designed to identify the bookmark as part of a particular assignment. For example, students would include the tag "MrsSmithsAmHistoryProject06" on each of their bookmarks identifying it as part of Mrs. Smith's American History Project for 2006. Then a student could see all of her bookmarks for this project by clicking on her "MrsSmithsAmHistoryProject06" tag.

The student is not restricted to just viewing her own bookmarks. She could also view all bookmarks on Del.icio.us for a given tag (or set of tags). While each student is working independently, they are forming a collaborative effort by tagging their sources with the project identity tag. At the end of the project, the class will have collaboratively developed a list of resources on U.S. History that not only can be shared within the class but with the whole world (including other U.S. History classes - current and future). Another benefit of this method is that the teacher can monitor the classes progress by occasionally reviewing the "MrsSmithsAmHistoryProject06" tag.

Del.icio.us also allows you to annotate your bookmarks. This space can be used by the students to provide details about the site that will be useful to not only themselves but others viewing the bookmark. By writing a description and/or summary of the site, students are engaging in reflection, enhancing their research process. It also provides a vehicle for formative-assessment whereby other students (and/or teacher) review the annotations providing the student with feedback on their summary.

Summary

Del.icio.us provides a wonderful tool for students and teachers to organize their online resources so that they can be easily accessed and pooled into a collaborative list of resources.

Tags: digiwalks, 12DaysOfCollaboration, collaboration, delicious

Powered by Qumana

12 Days of Collaboration

2006-12-14T10:55:00.000-08:00

To celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas, I will be writing an article a day through the 25th. These posts will be on the theme of collaboration looking at various ways to get students and teacher to work together as part of a bigger project. This "12 Days of Collaboration" undertaking will explore issues with collaborative projects, tools for collaboration, and frameworks that you can use with your own projects. While I have not been so clever as to link each topic with the series number (e.g. two turtle doves), I hope you will find the content interesting and perhaps even useful.

Tags: digiwalks, 12DaysOfCollaboration, collaboration

Powered by Qumana

Firebug is Amazing!

2006-12-11T15:12:00.000-08:00

Let me start by confessing that I am a Firefox fan. I try (with some success) to get all those I work with and for to convert. Tabbed browsing is my biggest pitch as it reflects how the web should be used - jumping back and forth from one site to another to another. You read about about something that sparks an interest, so you open a new tab and Google it. You come across a word that you don't know so you look it up at an online reference site. But with the release of IE 7, tabbed browsing is no longer owned by Firefox.

My true favorite part of Firefox is its extensibility. Extensions (for those not familiar with Firefox) are small scripts that you can install that allow you to add functionality to your installation of Firefox. There are hundreds of extensions; in fact you can write your own. I have the del.icio.us extension installed in all of my systems. It allows you to quickly tag (and store) the current page in your Del.icio.us bookmarks. Similarly, my Bloglines Toolkit extension gives me quick access to my Bloglines account as well as a quick way to add a site to my feeds.

But, you may say, there are similar tools for IE. Why should I switch to Firefox? The answer is simple - Firebug. Firebug (v1 beta) is a web developers best friend. It allows you to "edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live in any web page". This tool is a must for anyone working on the web from developing sites to writing content. Jesse Newland has a great screencast that provides a short introduction into Firebug.

So, if you are a developer, webmaster, content writer, blogger, etc. you need to get Firefox and install Firebug! Don't take my word for it, check out the buzz behind this extension.

Tags: digiwalks, edtech, webdev, firebug, firefox, tools

Powered by Qumana

CLMS / CLHS Conference

2006-11-19T07:03:00.000-08:00

I am in beautiful Monterey, CA attending "Teaching The Millennial Generation" conference. My session, "Online Collaboration Tools" is over so I could spend the day enjoying the presentations. David Warlick was the keynote speaker for the conference. I have heard David speak on numerous occasions, listen to his podcasts and the day outside was absolutely beautiful. Despite all of these reasons to be tempted to skip the keynote, I found myself in attendance.

While there were one or two new things that I got from David's presentation, I was more impressed with the storytelling as much as the story. His style is captivating and I think that this is as important as any bullet point from his slides. David points out that one of the most important leadership skills is the ability to tell a story.

I attended a session later in the day on developing videos for online teacher training. I went with a single question - how do you get content experts to create compelling and engaging scripts, stories? The presenter glossed over the question (several times) by saying that it is not difficult to get a subject expert to create a script. While he wanted to focus on issues such as online follow-up assessments, I feel he missed the point - the craft is in the telling of the story.

It has not been my experience that it is easy to develop content packaged in a compelling story. Dave Warlick's gift is his ability to package his ideas into a story and deliver it in an engaging fashion. This is an important skill that we need to be teaching our kids.

... Bringing me to Digital Storytelling - a topic that was conspicuously missing in the program (actually there was one session on it that I missed). There were sessions on how to find free multimedia on the web, how to use PowerPoint to replace your poster board projects, and even how to edit photos using Google's Picasa. But the focus was on the technology, not the story, not the storytelling. I am excited about one digital storytelling tool that Bob Fishtrom introduced - Photo Story 3 - which gives PC users the ability to easily create a digital story. This is a free download from Microsoft for users of XP.

I attended Chris Walsh's session on the Google Universe to see what is new since his presentation at CUE back in March. The change in the name of his presentation says it all - the presentation used to be Google World. Google is taking over, not just the world now, but the universe. Chris goes through just a few of the ever growing list of services that Google has to offer. The one that I had not heard of and that Chris highlighted in an Infinite Thinking Machine video played prior to the start of the session was SketchUp, a 3-D modeling software (PC and Mac). The personal addition is free - wow! But the real meat of Chris' presentation was about accessing information, whether it be using one of Google's special search features or searching from your phone using SMS. Where is the benefit to learning? Chris asked how we might incorporate these services into our curriculum and the answers he got back were not great. In fact, Chris said that he is still trying to find the "killer" use for the SMS feature in education.

The point is we now live in an age where accessing the information is no longer an issue. What we do with it is the important part. This was one of David's main points in his keynote. Google is making access to information ubiquitous. We need to now teach our kids to view the information with a critical eye filtering out the irrelevant or inaccurate information and draw connections between other bits of information. This critical thinking has always been a goal in education, but it is made easier when the information is so accessible.

From the perspective of both a presenter and an attendee, one hour "breakout sessions" are not long enough to really get into the meat of the issues. I commend the organizers of this conference as they had several 2 1/2 hour sessions - most were in labs - where we could really learn. As an example, Amy Murphy had her class podcasting, not just listening to an overview of the subject.

Monterey is a beautiful place and despite the natural beauty outside, I am glad that I spent the day at this well run conference.

Tags: monterey06, montereytech06, millennials, warlick

Powered by Qumana

Importance of the Arts in Education

2006-11-07T12:22:00.000-08:00

I was raised to believe that any education requires more than Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic. I remember licking stamps and stuffing envelops with my parents as they helped a school board candidate who campaigned on the platform of fighting the fundamentalist movement in our local school district. I also remember those election nights seeing our candidate lose and enduring the restrictive curriculum that followed.

It seems appropriate that on this election day that I revisit the idea that education is more than just learning facts or the basic skills.

This morning I stumbled on a speech about "The Role of Creativity and the Arts in 21st-Century Education" from Stanford University - April 2006. I am a great fan of including "creativity" as one of the basic principle to be included in any education.

What I find so interesting in this article is that Stanford not only recognizes the importance of the Arts in teaching / fostering creativity but also the importance of creativity beyond the Arts.

The arts can help us break out of traditional patterns of thinking and adopt fresh approaches to intellectual experiences. Discontinuous innovations require novel thinking and breakthroughs in how a particular problem or challenge is approached. I believe the arts offer an expanded tool set for learning and understanding that can enhance creative thinking skills. But this will also require facilitating more cross-disciplinary collaboration between the arts and other fields.

As I head out to my polling place, I don't have a candidate for whom I have licked stamps and stuffed envelops. But the issues of the 70s and 80s remain. What do we value in our education system? For my money, creativity must be high on the list.

Tags: education, creativity, stanford

Powered by Qumana

How Do You Collaborate?

2006-11-02T09:27:00.000-08:00

I am excited to be speaking at this year's CLMS/CLHS/NHSA/CUE conference in Monterey, CA titled "Teaching the Millennial Generation: Technology Tools that Transform the Learning Experience". I will be speaking about online collaboration tools such as wikis, writeboards, and Office-like tools.

I am interested in your experiences in collaboration and what you find to work in your classrooms. What do you use to collaborate? Do you have your students use collaboration tools to do group projects? What is important to you in a tool? Reliability, ease-of-use, features, notifications, use statistics?

Let me know if you are planning on attending the conference and whether you have any specific questions about collaborative tools.

Thanks and See you in Monterey!

Tags: edtech, collaboration, tools, CLMS, CLHS, NHSA, CUE

Powered by Qumana

Importance of Information

2006-10-26T09:04:00.000-07:00

I had a wonderful evening a couple of days ago attending a dinner/speaker event at Caltech. The presenter was Richard Murray, director of IST (Information Science and Technology) at Caltech. He described the Institute's work in developing a interdisciplinary research and teaching initiative based on information.

Information science and technology has evolved over the last fifty years from an activity that focused on enabling more efficient calculations to a major intellectual theme that spans numerous disciplines in engineering and the sciences. To go further, however, we need new, unified ways of looking at, approaching, and exploiting information in and across the physical and biological realms, as well as the social sciences and engineering. from IST website

Information Science is a favorite of mine so I was excited to be attending and I was not disappointed. Besides an excellent dinner and wonderful dinning companions, Dr. Murray's presentation was fascinating, two highlights of which I would like to share.

First, Information Science is one of the core sciences that all Caltech undergraduates must study (the others being Biology, Chemistry, and Physics). Wow! That really makes a statement of the importance that Institute is placing on information and its interconnection with all that is done there. Many (e.g. Warlick, and November) write about a new literacy. This is exactly what is being done at Caltech. Information permeates our existence more today than any time in history. It is important that we study these information flows and consider novel ways of acquiring, filtering, and processing information. How many of you are reading this post by directly browsing to http://digiwalks.blogspot.com? Or are you using an RSS aggregator? Or are viewing this through a portal channel? Through some social networking site?

The other fascinating topic on which Dr. Murray spoke was Team Caltech and the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge. Like in past challenges, students will design and build an unmanned, autonomous vehicle that will have to negotiate a track all on its own. What is different this time is that the track will be in an urban setting where the vehicle will have to travel down streets obeying traffic rules including stop signs. Dr. Murray showed us a video taken as Team Caltech travel through the streets of Pasadena. The two video feeds (one from the front and one from the side) show what the vehicle will "see" and process. What really excited me was something that Dr. Murray said: "Before the students can start solving problems, they must first figure out what problems need being solved." YES! As teachers we are always telling students what to do. Isn't it more realistic (authentic) to have them determine what need being done. Not only could they be assessed on how well they solve a problem, but also on how well they define the problems to be solved.

Congratulations to Caltech and Dr. Murray for recognizing and institutionalizing the importance of information and interdisciplinary projects. I can hardly wait for this movement to spread to all Universities and into High Schools. It is not a matter of if but when.

Tags: information science, Caltech, DARPA

Powered by Qumana

I Must Have Hated Math Class...

2006-10-19T08:02:00.000-07:00

In school, I did well in my math classes to the extent that I began my college career majoring in the subject. According to a recent Brookings Institution study, I must have really hated math in school. The study found that students in the U.S. generally enjoy math class more than their counter-parts in other countries but faired worse on achievement tests.

The argument here is not that student happiness causes low achievement. Correlations do not prove causality. But school reformers should take note. When thinking about how schools can be improved, the intuitive attractiveness of the idea that making students happier results in better education should be held in abeyance. Happiness is not everything ... [ref pg. 14]

Their point is well taken especially the idea that we should not assume that making school more relevant and enjoyable will increase student performance. Don't get me wrong! I am a strong believer in relevance, project-based authentic learning. But as evangelists, we cannot afford make such assumptions. We need to backup our ideas with facts and result.

I remember hearing about this math teacher who confronted by a parent who was a traditionalist when it came to the teaching of mathematics. This parent was concerned with a group project that the teacher assigned designing a rollercoaster. The teacher listened to the parent's concerns and then related conversations she had overheard during lunch earlier that week. Students were discussing their projects, defending the mathematics and challenging their classmates to do likewise. They were passionate about their projects, about math! She then sealed her argument by noting that all of her students passed the AP exam the previous year with all earning 4's or 5's.

I was talking with an educator the other day about this report and he noted a similar study that suggested that our science students are more confident than their counter-parts in other countries but performed worse on standardized tests. Installing a false sense of confidence in our students is not productive, but neither is the opposite - giving our students a falsely low regard for their abilities. [Only 6% of 8th grade students in Korea (one of the highest performing countries in math) report that the "usually do well in mathematics" ]

By the way, the truth is that I really liked math class. I enjoyed the challenge of solving problems and learning new cleaver ways of working on even more complicated problems. I dropped my math major in my Junior year precisely because it was not relevant. I could solve the problems (I was doing well in my classes) but I had no idea what all of this stuff was about. Speaking personally, I attribute my success in math directly to my teachers' ability to make the subject challenging and engaging.

Reference: "How Well are American Students Learning"

Tags: mathematics happiness