T+L Seattle Washington 2008
There is a definate shift in the education and global paradigm. Everyone is talking about change, from politicians to the leaders in technology in education. Our focus here of course, is the shift in how we educate. The global power of social networking has begun to break down walls, including those of the classroom. One question that remains, at least in my mind is: How to do this safely? I will discuss that in the notes below.
Another thing I noticed is how there is a shift from the archtypical teacher centered classroom to a more dynamic student driven focus. What is old is new again. The birth of education with great thinkers like Aristotle and Socrates was and is a model we can continue to use. In these environments, the teacher was seen as facilitator, sparking the thoughts and brain processes of their students. Education took place through very public and social debates.
I am re-energized and re-envigorated. Excited to get back to work and dive back into the world of tech and education.
Please enjoy the reviews below of keynotes and sessions below and feel free to contact me with any comments, questions or suggestions using the disqus comment system at the bottom of each post.
Please note that I have highlighted my opinions and reactions in red to distinguish them from my actual notes.
Breakfast Speaker Series--EAST Project:Teaching in Motion
10.28.2008 Matt Dozier, President/CEO, The EAST Initiative and Student Panel (AR)
"Explore the EAST Project, an educational program that combines the power of cutting-edge technology, authentic teamwork and community service in a manner that helps students develop their own interests and aptitudes in a positive environment. For more than 11 years, the EAST initiative has been helping schools, teacher-facilitators, and students better engage technology education, service learning, and individualized educational goals."
Notes:
The EAST Initiative
eastproject.org
eastinitiative.org
-Facing tests of the real world project development and collaboration
-No books, no organized tests
-Students take responsibility for learning (things that matter to them)
-actively engaged in solving community problems
-give access to resources and tools necessary to solve problems while gaining skills
-students collaborate with each other and professionals in community
"It's about the application of learning!"
Physical Environment - Represents a business more than a classroom
Educational Environment - Student Centered
Environment of Expectation - for the student, class, school and community
"We are changing the dynamic!"
Evaluating State Technology Education Programs (ESTEP) Grant
A. Problem Solving Domains - Defining problem, assessing solution, revise strategies in response to assessment
B. Motivation Doman - motivation for school derived from accomplishment
C. Self Directed learning style
What I took away:
Student centered learning is a way for the teacher as facilitator to empower their students by providing the necessary technology tools, resources and time for extrodinary results.
The breakout session than was turned over to students who were part of the program to describe some of the project they had worked on. I only wish I could find their videos online to share with you. The Arkansas watershed project was extremely inspirational.
I've included a brief video on EAST that I found on Edutopia.org below. Be patient it may take a moment to load.
General Session Keynote
10.28.2008 Paul Saffo -- Untangling the Future
Paul Saffo is a forecaster and strategist with more than two decades of experience exploring long-term technicalogical change and how it impacts business and ociety. He is currently a Consulting Associate Professor at Stanford University and a Distinguished Visting Scholar in the Stanford Media-X program. Learn how technologies have a tendancy to wander, loop back on themselves and, above all, intersect with other technologies, triggering the cross-impacts and resulting innovations that change our world.
NOTES:
-Change clusters at the extremes and coming fundamental change
-Contradictions in eductaion (e.g., Bookstores vs. Amazon)
-Schools continue to have the same problems while the global world is shifting and adjusting
-The information age is over because information has become ubiquitous
-We are now in a media revolution
-There is a dynamic shift from mass media to personal media
-Personal media will drive 21st century learning.
-Look back twice as far as you are looking forward
-Made a vivid comparison between the old technology (a decades old TV show that used acetate film on the screen for interactivity) and new technology (Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog on Hulu)
-Technology arrives before expression of the media
We have yet to see how the media revolution will express itself
-"Change is not linear"
-Cell phones as a form of microcomputer.
Here the speaker stated don't pass twitter messages in class -- I asked to myself - Why not?
-Organizing principal for a tech landscape
-Opportunities and challenges
-Cherish Failure
-The old social networking model "Habitat" had 30 similar failed attempts.
-That has evolved to Second Life and World of Warcraft.
-Social games can teach "good judgement which comes from experience which is garnered from bad judgement!"
-When Bakolite (plastic) was first invented people tried to make it look like other things
-Look for indicators - things that don't make sense
-Talked about biotech a bit (eyes, ears and sensory organs on PC using sensors)
-Evolution of tech:
-Microprocessor (80's)-->laser/fiberoptics (90's)-->Sensors(00's)
-Web 2.0 is the rise of robots
-Presentation of a chart comparing the evoltuion of old and new tech
TV
Living Room
Watch
Consumption
Few and Large
The Web
Everywhere
Participate
Create
Many and Small
-The phonograph eliminated singers the local opera singers when Caruso released an album and eventually ended Caruso's career
-Black September in 2008 the end of the consumer age
-Much like the Industrial Revolution ended because they produced more than the consumer wanted, the consumer age will end because we are now producing our own content (wikis, youtube, myspace)
-Spoke about how we pay for Google by the search, but didn't quite understand the point
-"Look for the mountaintops in the personal media age"
-Showed a tip jar that said: "If you fear change, leave it here"
Again, I left this keynote realizing that there is a shift happening and that we are fortunate to be a part of it. Saffo seemed to think the revolutionary product from this revolution would be the Kindle. I disagree with this. The kindl does not play well into the personal media age we are entering. Yes, it's a nice tool but I think we are going to find that the device we all carry will be a larger version of our cell phones. Something multimedia oriented with a more robust operating system.
I liked the comparisons that were made amongst old tech and new. But it left me asking the question: What is really new? We continue to find ways to make things easier, but none of it is truly revolutionary. I feel that the next educational revolution will be not the product that we use but the way in which we use it!
24/7 Access = Anytime, Anywhere Learning
10.28.2008 Kathy Rains, Sue Helms, Shelia Nash-Stevenson, Dee Fowler, Madison City Schools (AL), Ken Quinton, Stoneware, Inc. (IN)
This interactive session will describe the journey of Madison City Schools to provide 24/7 access for students and educators to valuable resources within the school systems network. Participants will learn the process district leaders followed to provide student and employee access via the web to local-school library databases, Accelerated leader book lists, course management content, network storage and course registration...
Madison City Schools - Kathy Rains, Director of Technology
-Is anytime access: hardware, laptop, cell phone, software, webaccess
-Webaccess won the vote
-What do students, teachers, admins and parents need?
-Student data, network resources, software programs
-Equitable Access is key
-In classroom - laptops, 1-1, laptops for teachers
-Access to web based tools and network equitability
-Guest access and wi-fi hotspots
-Laptop carts
-Library open after hours
-City wide wifi and free local cable
-Laptops available for overnight checkout
-Refurbished workstation long term check-out
-Common language (Open Office, One file transport system [Moodle], PDF [PrimoPDF]
-Web based access to networked resources made more sense than true 1-1
-Security is a key issue
-98% of students have connectivity that they were using for social sites - not homework
-Found that they increased security at the school because Police would use the open hot spot for their use.
-Webportal (Stoneware)
-Provides access to networked resources, Unified the system, Provided accesss to user tailored systems, Secure and encrypted
-Uses same username and password as the user for the LAN
-Application Drawer - Somewhat like a Novell NAL
-Professional Development available via site
-Unlimited Storage for teachers - 20Mb for students?
-NSBA T+L Site Visit
March 25-27, 2009
I was somewhat disappointed in the presentation. It was more about how to build a structure for anywhere anytime access than how to use it. I took a few things away from the discussion. But mainly it was how blessed I am to be in a district that has the resources necessary to make anytime anywhere access not only a reality but a functional reality. To hear that they are running their District with bare bones support and to hear from their Superintendent that they will not be getting anymore support staff for the system was extremely disheartining. I am fortunate to be in a supportive District that understands the equipment can't run themselves and that people are necessary to maintain and facilitate the resources available.
Creating a 21st Century Staff: A Professional Development Model That Works
Liz Keating, Jefferson County Public Schools (CO), Jane Barnes, Jefferson County Public Schools (CO
Looking for a capacity-building professional development model? Leawood Elementary School in Colorado teamed articulation area experts with small groups in a relaxed, collegial setting that fostered the confidence building development of 21st Century Skills.
Unfortunately, this session was cancelled...so I found myself attending the exhibitor session below.
NetSmartz: The Latest Trends in Internet Safety--Social Networking, Cyberbullying and Webcams
10.28.2008 Katie Donovan, NetSmartz Workshop (VA)
The NetSmartz Workshop presentation uses interactiIve resources to educate school district leaders about the importance of internet safety; engage them with materials such as 3-D animation, games, graphic art, and real life victim stories; and empower them to apply these lessons in the classroom.
If you ask anyone I have been professionally associated with over the past ten years, you will find that I have been touting the dangers of social networking for years. So, I did not find much to actually take notes on during the session.
The presenter showed a number of videos that would send cold shivers up anyones spines. Particularly, the video I have posted below, which shows just how easy it is to find information out about anyone. I saw many eyes opened wide during that presentation. There was also a video, which talked about how Social Networking sites can follow you for the rest of your life. An interesting side note, a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader hopeful was recently cut from the sqaud because of her myspace page (as seen on CMT's Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders: Team).
One thing that did strike me is the presenter made a comment about how devistating it is for a young adult to be dropped from their small groups in school; imagine how crushing it must be to be dropped from a group of 300 or more on the Internet.
The session was basically a great deal of necessary fear mongering. Granted a number of adults in education have no clue what is happening with their students on the internet. So, these sessions are a necessary evil. However, I basically left the session questioning how to embrace global socialization, while teaching students to be responsible internet citizens.
If you are interested in finding more about this organization you can visit: netsmartz.org
Learning - An Irresistable Vision of Global Student Contribution
10.29.2008 Tim Tyson, Educator and Retired Principal, Mabry Middle School (GA)
This breakfast session emphasizes leveraging meaningfulness, signifigance, and the gift of contribution with the technology tools we now have available to us. Peppered with a generous number of powerful, student-made examples, this presentation reframes our conversation about school and spotlights the capacity in our children to develop an international voice.
NOTES:
-Tyson opened with quotes from the children's book, The Phantom Tollbooth. Emphasizing growing from the ground up and changing your perspective along the way.
-Things can change in both directions good/bad
-Prichard, AL was used as a boom to bust example
-The Nature of Work: Highlighted a former Radiologist who now freelances, 33% of US now work as independent contractors, emphasis on right brain skills
-Is education headed towards a model of independent contractors.
-Schools are still using the factory model
-The 3 R's (Rules, Rituals and Routines) should now include a 4th -- Re-Evaluate!
-Learning takes place through direct experiences while engaged in tasks
-Learning by construction is a social process
-Big Question: Who owns the learning.
-The ways we play and communicate have change; however, schools have remained the same.
-The factory model is dead
-The world is now the factory
-Community is creating value
-School 2.0
-Authentically engaged, Self-Directed, Project Driven, Independent Problem Solvers, Empowered by Tech, Collaborative Learning Community, Relevant, Contribution
-Digital Native does not equal Digital Literacy!
-The bulliten board has now become glogal (exemplary work should be put into global distribution)
-Mabryonline.org
-Transparancy is a key in the 21st century
-38th/39th Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll
-Keeping coonected to make learning irresistable
-If students want to learn, create, share, make contributions the school needs to empower them.
-Authentic assessment promotes learning
-The art and science of technology and learning
I left this breakfast session feeling empowered myself. It brought me back to when I was a student in an elementary gifted program. My instructors taught using more than the 3 R's mentioned above. They taught us to think and gave us as many tools as were available in the 80's. I left with a sense of wonderment at how these students had the technology tools to create amazing projects and were granted carte blanche fredom to create.
Again, I found myself thinking about how to break down walls and expand on the educational foundation that great men like Dewey and Piaget have laid out. The structure is in place to teach children to think beyond the walls of the classroom and evaluate the works of others with a critical eye. It continues to amaze me that "the system" locks students into life paths and self-fulfilling prophecies.
One of the world's most irritating sounds is the buzz and clicks of a scantron machine. Yes, we need standards and a system of evaluation; but in the same breath we need to empower students to go beyond the rote memorization and empower them to learn. Without this we end up with students asking "when will I use this." By allowing students to apply the facts in a collaborative manner and evaluate each others work we give them ownership of their learning. Maybe the best session of the conference.
Online Professional Learning Communities: Collaboration for a Digital World
10.28.2008 John Canuel, Jeffco Public Schools (CO)
Professional Learning Communities, PLC's have been shown as an effective strategy to improve student achievement. Although technology is not a common means of supporting PLC's, effective planning and tools can bring the best of both worlds. This presentation will explore the work of Jeffco Public Schools in the development of Online PLC's that support a guaranteed and viable curriculum as well as providing educators with tools, resources and collaboration necessary to effectively support their students' needs.
NOTES:
-k12opensource.com
-Online Professional Learning Communities: Collaboration for a digital world
-John Canuel: Executive Director of Technology
-Jeffco Public Schools (jeffcopublicschools.org)
-150 schools, 85,000 students, 12,000 staff (4,800 teachers)
-Not is it possible; but, do we want it bad enough
-Step outside the boundaries
-National trends affect teacher professional development
-People leaving field are not necessarily retirees
-Save by creating excitement
-A shift in dynamics from classroom management to content management
-Move from stand alone and self-contained to learning communities around cross-generational platforms.
-Changing demographic
-Overwhelmed with traditional paper and e-mail communication systems.
-The white 3 ring binder notebook mentality
-Cannot find web resources easily
-New model of professional development requires a new way of thinking
-Teaching effect made other differences pale in comparison
-5 years of effective teaching can close socio-economic gaps
-Skillfull teachers and leadership (does not include technology because it technology is the foundation.
-The tech support system should deliver:
*Teachers and leaders need to know why
*Assessment to determine who the leaders are
*Knowing the curriculum/content - what
*Knowing the instructional approach - how
-Time and geospace bound
-Professional vs collegial
-Specific behaviors
-Adults talk about teaching
-Keys to a Professional Learning Environment
-Jeffco uses Blackboard as their CMS (Content Management System)
-About the concept not the product
-Content feeds the system so changing context will change the look and feel for individual users
-Builds community in specific areas
-Keep information current and informative
-Modules come from District Curriculum
-Force yourself to a one screen mentality to keep focus
-Avoid acronyms
-PLCs should be "owned" by a skilled facilitator
-Facilitators must pass an online class
-PLCs are not for evaluation
-Essential learning and results
-High rate of teacher adoption and use
-Reduced teacher workload due to standard location
-Students report higher rate of teachers use of technology
-Students report modeling
-Online course enrollment skyrocketed
-Instruction and technology are common goals in the 21st century.
I must admit I again felt a little duped by the description. I was hoping it would be an opportunity to learn about how teachers are collaborating online. Unfortunately, it ended up being a way to mainstream the information being deseminated to teachers by their District. I will admit that it seemed a good way to provide teachers with information in a standardized method. However, I am a believer in giving teachers the skills to go out and find their own resources. It falls under the heading of giving someone fish and they won't be hungry as opposed to teaching them to fish so they can feed themselves and continue to grow!
It does make sense to place District information in one centralized location so teacher do not have to chase down paper trails to fill out the daily paperwork that seems to "infect" our lives. It would have been nice to hear how teachers are working together to form collaborative initiatives. Or how they are able to post their own materials to the PLC being used. It sounded to me like the resources were basically leading lemmings to the knowledge.
Social Networking in Education: Using a Global Community and Communications Tools to Advance Student Learning
10.29.2008 Tim Discipio, Kari Stubbs, Rita Oates, ePals Inc. (KS), Adina Popa, Loudoun County Public Schools (VA), Mitzi Comeaux, Calcasieu Parish Public Schools (LA)
How can teachers integrate Web 2.0 tools and social networking features into classroom learning? Learn how these tools can engage student interest and enable increased student learning, while providing safety, security, and teaching control. This session highlights ideas and reaources for integrating global collaboration, student e-mail, and blogs into the classroom, with examples from successful teachers. District and school trainers will leave with professional development resources, including a presentation, training script, and handouts to be used back in the District.
Notes:
-thinkflood.com
-Increase cultural awareness and sensitivity in a "flat world"
-Netday speak up survey (70% ability to work with people worldwide)
-Take students to a place that's responsible (critical thinking)
-Students need guidance
-200 ePals countries/territories
-Global Network, Schoolmail, SchoolBlog, In2books/project
-Intel Classmate PC
-Kan-Ed empowered desktop
-Find classrooms to share ideas and learn culture
-Authentic and project based learning
-Collaboration on projects
-Access to digital content
-Social networking
-Collabration with web 2.0 and ePals
-Project based learning (Friendly letters as a precursor to emails, compare cultures, completed "documentary")
-ryderepals.blogspot.com
-Cultural parcels through "snail mail"
-Search and find dmestic/foreign classes
-Share projects
-Literacy and foreign language skills
-Share science, math, etc.
-Learn about communities
-Contact classrooms to exchange community information
-Grasp ideas of rural and urban
-Culminate with video conferencing
-Students use presentations and Google Earth to showcase communities
-ePals allows people to search profiles but not make contact until registered
At this point the presentation began to sound like a sales pitch for a "free" product. I pretty much felt like I was being sold a timeshare. There was some good information here on how elementary schools are collaborating globaly. Unfortunately the focus was on gradeschool and we already have plans for using our website for social networking, so the group I was with got up and left the presentation as it was not relevant to our goals.
I did walk away with some interesting ideas about how young is too young to expose students to social networking. I just wish there had been a secondary school using the product. As far as the Professional Development information we were supposed to receive, I did not get that material (instead I received a bunch of handouts for ePals free products). In fairness, it is possible more material was passed out at the end of the session.
Ten Things to Do with a Laptop-Learning & Powerful Ideas
10.29.2008 Gary Stager, Thornburg Center for Professional Development (CA)
One-to-one computing makes unprecedented learning adventures across grades and subject areas possible. Whether you have a computer per child or one for thirty, the provacative real-life vignettes shared in the session will inspire you to think more imaginatively about how you can maximize the learning potential immediately. The presenter led professional development in the world's first "laptop" schools in 1990, is a member of the One Laptop Per Child Learning Team and an Advisor for the Anytime, Anywhere Learning Foundation. Through an exploration of compelling models and the presenter's vast experience, participants will gain a greater sense of possibilities and develop a language for articulating the case for one-to-one computing
NOTES:
-Immagination and Spirit
-Stager.org/nsba
-What will the world be like for students in 20 years?
-What is the world like for children who have yet to enter school?
-Computers should be used to extend the process of thought.
-One-to-one computing is not about hardware and software. Instead it determines what you do and what you do determines what you learn.
-Three types of laptop schools
1) The pioneers who do not see one-to-one as a pilot program
2) The marketeers who uses one-to-one as a promotion tool
3) The neighbors who set up an initiative just because other schools are doing it
-It's not just computers but devices such as MIDI labs, podcasting equipment, video editing equipment, etc.
The 10 ways:
1) Write a novel
-Write serious work worth sharing
-Write differently
-fanfiction.net where the consumer can become the publisher (this is a really amazing site and no description I can give it here will do it justice)
-Podcasting - fiction and non-fiction
-Research - not fact finding, but true research
2) Share knowledge
-Change the nature of memory
-Using wikis for their distributed nature of expertise, where there is a passion for accuracy, an ability to speak with the authors and experts, Access to "current" info and an ability to argue about entries (much like my ideas about going back to the ancient Greek philosophy of education)
3) Answer tough questions
-Using true primary sources
4) Make sense of data (GIS, Google Earth, Fathom, Mathmatica)
5)Design a Video Game
-Not just consume them
-Microworld, Scratch, Gamemaker
-Become the producers using analytic thought processes
6) Build a killer robot
-Even in kindergarten
-Good prompt material, time and support
Listen to people talk about learning things they couldn't learn before
7) Loose weight
-Nike sneakers w/iPod
-smart cards for lockers/cafeteria (not only for purchase, but for tracking consumption - a little too big brother for me but I see the point)
-"As furniture in school gets smarter the curriculum gets dummer"
-Network from the child up
-See school through IT colored glasses
8) Direct a Blockbuster
-shorten videos
-edit
-Mirror the writing process
9) Compose a Symphony
-Finale Notepad
-Apple.com/garageband
10) Change the world
What an amazing way to end a session! There really is no need to place any notes under that last point! I must admit that during the presentation I was a bit distracted by Stager's mile a minute presentaion. There was certainly too much here to squeeze into a one hour presentation. It could have been a conference in itself. But the more I think about it the more I realize how much I got out of it. It was an excellent summary of the things I learned from the conference. The key point for me was that it that the equipment is half the battle. Empowering students to create and engage is truly the key to learning in the 21st century.
Final Thoughts
While I did attend attend the Wednesday keynote "The Education Revolution" presented by Joe Caruso, I really did not get many notes. In fact many people got up and walked out. There was just nothing in his message that was thought provoking. So, I won't even attempt to summarize the bit that I did witness.
At any rate, I left the conference ready to go back to the leader's at my schools and speak to them about how they would like to have their students using technology. I already have a solid idea of how they would like their teachers to use technology in their classrooms.
I am coming back with a renewed vigor. am ready to leverage the power of the tools we have. Hopefully, will be able to guide the educators I work with to facilitate a student centered, rich and empowering curriculum. When students gain some semblence of control over the learning process they seem to thrive and suprise us all. I leave Seattle with a head full of ideas and now need to figure out how to encourage the collaboration necessary to make learning an exciting and life long endeavor.
I welcome any comments or additions you may have about the topics listed above. After all, these are just my notes. I may have missed or misinterpreted some of the information. Please feel free to use the Disqus comment tool below to formulate you thoughts or send me an e-mail at [email protected]
