Friday, July 18, 2008

Am I in danger?


Hey, something's burning.

(2 weeks late) NECC - Wed 7/2, part 2

Yes, it's two weeks since I returned from San Antonio. It's been crazy busy here and I felt a little guilty taking time to blog. However, today is the day I make my triumphant return. That was completely anti-climactic. But seriously, the reason I wanted to be sure to finish up about NECC was that I needed to reflect on my favorite session ...

A Disruption in Absolutely Coming: Computers Disguised as Cellphones
Elliot Soloway and Cathleen Norris

Summary of Problem:
1 to 1 laptop programs are proving ineffective for 3 primary reasons:
  1. Education software - not utilized, not available on student machines
  2. Professional Development - programs not developed well, teachers don't know what to do
  3. Sustainability - initial purchase is great but when they're obsolete, who will buy more?
Solution:
Use smart phone technologies as the classroom computers
  1. Education software - being developed by U of Mich (hey that's Elliot the presenter's school), uses push technologies to burst applications and files of assignments to the student units. Can also differentiate instruction easily for various learners and styles.
  2. Professional Development - we need to apply educational research to professional development. TREAT THE TEACHERS AS STUDENTS in those sessions. Scaffold content and skills to maximize understanding.
  3. Sustainability - teacher recently polled classes and found 91% of student already had a phone. They're becoming ubiqitous to the point that we CAN require them for school.
I loved this session. It represented a shift in thinking about the current classroom. We are arriving at a point in education (that doesn't mean we're there yet) when we can require cell phones as a part of "school supplies." Almost every kid already has one. But can they do the work? Let's see... every phone, even the most basic, currently has:
  • communication tool - audio, text, images (some even video)
  • calculator
  • camera - still and some video
  • data storage
We want students to collaborate, they can text. We want them to record information - do you want audio, images or video? The price point is also much more feasible - even the high end smart phones are going for less than $200. The cheapest laptop you can find is around $400 for something like the solid-state (Flash-based) HP, Classmate, or Acer.

We are hampered currently by school policies. The most lax, at best, allows you to have it in your pocket but not out in class. These, say the presenters are going to be the new tool for school and if we can require pencil and paper today, we can require cell phones soon.

The technology that they are developing is pretty fascinating - especially the push tech. That's key to the teacher. They need a way to get teh info between users not just from teacher to student but also back to the teacher and between students. We've know for a long time that collaborative, project-based learning works.

Fun workshop, great to go to on the last day when I was already exhausted.



The last session, I was too pooped to really care that much. I left early to try to win projectors from Epson and inFocus and a students response system from Turning Technologies. What I did get:

The ISTE Classroom Observation Tool

Check it out here. Useful tool for anyone who need to observe or evaluate tech use in the classroom.

Thanks for reading (if there are any of you out there...)!

Thursday, July 10, 2008

NECC - Wed 7/2, part 1

The Real World of Math: Delivering Authentic, Integrated Math Instruction
Scott Loomis

I went to this lecture because we are putting on content seminars at TIES and I am in charge of the one for math. If you've been a loyal reader (I still don't think I have any of those)you will remember that I was a social studies guy in my previous life in Massiveurban Publicschool System, so math instruction is not my forte but I'll be doing so that day.

Moving on. I think Scott Loomis has some terrific ideas for instruction. He employed true integration - the use of technology where the focus is on the lesson, not the technology.
  • I had never known about using Text Box Objects but I like that for creating an interactive classroom worksheet if you don't have an interactive whiteboard. Only problem - not available on the Macintosh version (not even 2008).
  • I like the idea of using PowerPoint for virtual manipulatives - very creative.
  • Create worksheet activities (drill & practice) in Excel that employ the "If" function to aid in self-checking.
  • Using the charting feature to have students analyze data sets. They learn graphing in Kindergarten so why to we still make them create their own charts on paper when tha's not the lesson. The lesson is to analyze data, let the technology do the tedious pwrk so you can get the the more advanced thinking. This is exactly to what I was referring in the last post with my "hand axe" example. We can take the learning further because we have access to technology that speeds up learning and enhances what we do.
This was a practical session with good ideas that can go directly into the classroom. THUMBS UP!


Using Real World Problems to Scaffold Decision-Making Skills
AKA – Kids as Deciders


Ahhh Bernie Dodge. King of the WebQuest, master of QuestGarden, ed tech guru from San Diego State U. If my co-worker wasn't married, she'd probably try to have an affair with him. Maybe that was sharing too much.

Let me summarize first: The process of investigating and then deciding holds an ocean of higher-order thinking. We typically do not develop this well in students. We need to teach to tests and regiment our classrooms to manage discipline which, in turn, strips decision-making from the students. He lays out some very tangible steps for what to teach. TWO SNAPS OF APPROVAL (you may notice I have roving rating systems)

I don't want to say that information is plagiarized because it's not. It reorganized. you may remember my rant about why I hate educational theory - it reorganizes old ideas with new jargon. Bernie doesn't quite do this - I don't think of him as ripping anyone off because he is creating a new perspective from previous research. Maybe I'm rationalizing because I think he is a terrific educator and theoran and feel bad criticizing him. I met him and like him, too.

The similarities noted between his presentation and other theories I've absorbed over the years:
  • Problem-based learning (PBL) and Wiggins/McTighe's Understanding by Design (UBD) - His decision-making process focuses on the end product - the decision made to solve a problem. This is PBL - start with a problem and find a solution. The quest to the solution is the learning process. UBD reverse-engineers classroom lessons based on a pre-determined final product.
  • Fred Newmann's Authentic Assessment - real world connection between the students and their own environments. This is also the same in PBL. Students are taught to look at an issue that they are familiar with, it generates interest and ownership because they see the problem and consequences in their own lives. This isn't a fault of Dr. Dodge's presentation, it's just good teaching practice.
  • He also referenced an idea by Richard DeCharms called Pawns vs. Origins. The main idea is that students see themselves as pawns with the world happening to and around them rather than themselves as interacting with and influencing the world, or originators of ideas. This reminded me of he workshop Tuesday about Seven Habits and Seven Deadly Sins. One of Covey's chapters is "Be Proactive". Essentially, "don't let the world happen to you, plan for it and make changes happen."
As I write, I find this to be less of a criticism of Bernie Dodge and more of a diatribe of my irritation with educational theory. He is doing exactly what all researchers do - taking previous research and building upon it to find another understanding. I'm just glad that isn't a part of my chosen path. I like the application of the theories, that's the fun of education. Keep up the good work, theorans, and thank the maker for people like you so it doesn't have to be me.


Wednesday, July 2, 2008

NECC - Tuesday 7/1

Seven Highly Effective Habits of Technology Administrators and The Seven Deadly Sins

Let's keep this quick and dirty.
What I liked: He gave me my simple guidelines that I do so appreciate. He translated Steven Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People into tech director speak. He applied how to make mistakes and how to avoid them. Great experience - the staff to machine ratio in his department is 1750:1. He knows how to manage scarce resources.

He encouraged preparation for the unknown, automation of problem "tickets," communicating - holy cow what a concept. I'm not really being sarcastic toward him, I find it encouraging that we are still making certain that we all TALK between departments. It helps your image and, as we all know, image is everything. Truthfully, it's not, but if you have a crappy image in your district, see what happens when you come begging for more funds.

I also liked that he encourages his people to exercise creativity on Friday afternoons (Free Fridays). He lets the staff work on whatever pet projects they want. It's like a super0dork pressure valve and what gets let off is sweet techno-rific productivity.


Report from the Front: What’s in Store for Ed Tech in 2008

This session was a forecast for educational technology in the coming years. Underscore this point - GET INVOLVED. It was presented by the same people who ran the advocacy training on Sunday. I like them. One point that I, of course, remember because of my former life as a social studies teacher but bears repeating. 435 members of the House Representative and 35 memeber od the Senate are up for re-election this year (not to mention president, which, I guess I did just mention. Why do we say that?). That means influence if we can get to them. There were over 2,200 letters sent to Congress from NECC at the time of that workshop and it was still growing. I need to sharpen my advocacy tools and get to work.


Strategic Thinking About Technology in Education

You might see a pattern in my sessions... lots about where educational technology is going. I'm outwardly trying to increase my understanding of the subject on a national scale. This was really a discussion that we witnessed as the gallery from tech ed heavy hitters from ISTE, corporate world (Apple, Microsoft), higher ed, primary/secondary ed and others.

The first question thrown out was something like, "if you get a legislator cornered in the elevator, what will you say is the role of technology in education?" I have to consider my answer.... (elevator music...Jeopardy music... a little Social Distortion... ahhhhhhhh) As I see it, the role of technology in education is to elevate student understanding beyond where it was possible before. We have a massive opportunity to revolutionize education to reach more students, to engage more students and to develop higher thinking.

If we look at education from early times, a major achievement was the development of the hand axe. We don't teach students how to make a hand axe anymore because we have advanced beyond that. We teach the importance of the hand axe in developmental history of the world. We are at another significant point in the development of collaborative technologies that can impact more students a greater amount of time and transform teaching 3-dimensionally.

Problem is, we need help to do it and the government is the one to help at every level. If you're listening, don't make us beg.

NECC - Monday 6/30, part 4

Game and Simulation Developers K-12 and the Future of Learning

I forgot to mention the gaming Birds-of-a-Feather session I attended Monday afternoon. These are sessions that are supposed to be more of a discussion than lecture. They're moderated by an expert and people just bring up topics in a discussion format. I was in a different situation than others, many of them were teaching gaming in their own courses or extra-curriculars. I am teaching Scratch with game design as a minor subset of programming. I found some interesting ideas for programs and systems for game design, a few resources from other teachers.

Two things annoyed me about it.
  1. The fact that they put it in the main hallway of the conference center as everyone, their mothers and second cousins walked by. Kinda tough to ask the crowd of three hundred to keep it down.
  2. The smug jackass from the University of North Texas. I found him condescending, always referring to inside jokes between he and the moderator that others wouldn't have known. His response to a question of mine was more belittling than helpful. Fantastic pedagogy, that's why you're in higher ed, not K-12.