Oh - I remember YackPack Published 2009-06-30 under collaboration, conferences, tools

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.

Ready to Throwout Email? Published 2009-06-01 under announcements, collaboration, conferences, wow

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!

Developing Your Delicious Network Published 2009-03-19 under collaboration, conferences, tools

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? Published 2009-03-09 under collaboration, conferences, tools

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]

NECC: So Connected Published 2008-07-03 under conferences

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 Published 2008-07-02 under conferences, creativity, tools

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 Published 2008-06-30 under collaboration, conferences, project+based+learning

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".

1. Internships and apprenticeships where tacit learning is available.
2. Multi-User Virtual Environments such as Second Life and MMORPGs
3. 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 Published 6/30/2008 04:59:00 AM under collaboration, conferences

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

Notes from TechEd 2008: 'Gaming' Disaster Published 2008-04-17 under conferences

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 Published 2008-04-16 under assessment, conferences, project+based+learning

"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 Published 4/16/2008 09:34:00 AM under assessment, conferences

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:

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

Multiple purposes of ePortfolios: these are not mutually exclusive

1. Learning/Process/Planning
2. Marketing/Showcase
3. 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? Published 4/16/2008 05:53:00 AM under conferences

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.

EduBloggerConWest08 - The best part of CUE Published 2008-03-10 under conferences, project+based+learning

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":

1. 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.
2. 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).
3. 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

I Feel Excited Published 2007-10-19 under conferences, digital storytelling, tools

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 Published 2007-10-17 under announcements, collaboration, conferences, creativity

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 Future of Education Published 2007-06-02 under conferences

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

Boring Workshops Published 2007-05-17 under conferences, creativity

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:

1. Speaker Bio
2. Goals of the Session
3. Historical Perspective
4. Overview of Current Practices
5. Linear Examination of the Details
6. 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

Your Favorite Google Tool? Published 2007-03-12 under conferences, tools

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 Published 2007-03-09 under collaboration, conferences

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

CUE Conference - Wrap Published 2007-03-05 under conferences

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.

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