We Need to Talk Published 2007-01-11 under gadgets

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

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The 2010 Imperative Published 1/11/2007 10:02:00 AM under civics, webinar

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

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Game Day Published 2007-01-09 under gaming

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

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America 101 Published 1/09/2007 01:06:00 AM under culture

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

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Day 12 - Assessing the Process with RSS Published 2006-12-29 under 12DaysOfCollaboration, collaboration

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.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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)
4. 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

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