In Lieu of Lunch

This morning, I visited the town of Chelsea, Michigan, to see how their one to one laptop initiative was going in one school in particular, South Meadow Intermediate. Scott Wooster and Joe Tinsley took me on a tour of the school while the kids showed me what they were working on.

Of great note was a shift in the culture of the school that had nothing to do with technology except peripherally. Scott, the district’s Technology Specialist, mentioned that the staff members at his schools are very tolerant of change. They expect it and when it happens they roll with it. This is perhaps one of the most significant changes he has noticed since he first started working with teachers. Joe, the Technology Integration Specialist, agreed with that assessment.

Even though the software changes, basic functions remain the same and the same goes with lesson planning. At the best of times, teachers need to get the content into a more engaging format. Now, with all the sixth grade students carrying laptops, they must also engage digitally.

Of the three major aspects of technology use Chelsea teachers experience, the most important are: 1) Moodle – it is used county-wide and primarily for collaborative projects and shared resources, 2) Digital video – students are doing all sorts of literacy projects using applications such as PhotoStory and MovieMaker, and 3) SmartBoards – teachers at South Meadow are using these tools in each of their classes and are most excited about using the Smart Notebook application for a more seamless integration with the laptops.

The ability of teachers to integrate tools with teaching is the primary motivating factor for the teachers in this school district.

On a side note, a Science teacher told me that she overcame her lack of technology savvy by advocating for herself in the beginning and asking for more time to learn the curriculum, then the tools. Eventually her skill set improved to the point that she is one of the most capable users of the tools.

Finally, one of the sixth grade students shared a great piece of freeware with his whole class and they all mastered it together. http://www.snapfiles.com/download/dlstickfigure.html will allow you to create gif animations that can be placed into a PowerPoint program and then used to tell stories (which can be narrated as well).

   Our online friend, Tim Holt, had his interest piqued by an online article suggesting the demise of podcasts. http://www.thestandard.com/news/2008/04/11/why-podcasting-failing

In the final paragraph, the author writes, “ Compared to radio programming, most podcasts sound amateurish and slow-paced, and the ability to find interesting programs is severely limited by the directories, rating systems, and search functions found on iTunes and other podcatchers and podcast-oriented sites. No wonder relatively few people have tried downloading podcasts, and fewer still listen to them on a regular basis.”

This is true to some extent. Without training in how to adjust sound levels, improving the pace of discussion, and helping the listener with verbal cues there is no doubt that these amateur podcasts are make for some hard listening.

I once listened to a language training podcast to buff up my French. Every time the speaker spoke a word that began with a “p” my eardrum popped. I gave up after podcast 3. I picked it up again at podcast 10 and the quality of the sound and even the delivery had improved vastly. It takes time to learn those lessons.

Read Anderson and Armbruster’s groundbreaking work on “considerate text” (1984) and you have the groundwork for a paper I am writing called “The Considerate Podcast” that explores issues related to quality, construction, and organization of decent podcasts.

One last point, I grew up watching American Bandstand. I saw it evolve over the years into Soul Train then MTV and it reached its apex (arguably) with some brilliant (and expensive) music videos. Heck, the latest Stones film is the latest example of what money and professionalism can get you in the world of commercial productions.

Nevertheless, at the same time, amateurs are creating some of the most humorous, provocative, interesting, touching, inspiring, and beautiful videos with a minimum of equipment and posting them on YouTube.

So I would recommend not comparing Steve Hargadon’s podcasts with Steven Colbert’s television show. They are different creatures and deserve different treatment and different respect.

I wonder if this is how my work will someday be viewed. Here is an image of a demonstration in 1931at the Western Secretarial School in which the instructor is demonstrating how a rotary dial telephone works.

My colleagues and I demonstrate to teachers the inner workings of web pages, blogs, podcasts, and other communication tools and their use in the class. Someday, archivists will dig up our talks and demonstrations and wonder how anyone could have not understood how these tools would be put to use in a classroom setting. I am sure our ignorance will be snickered at a little.

One could only hope.

   A funny thing happened while I was in Chicago. As some of you may have known, I was there to attend the Educause conference. There were some professors but mostly the conference was held for IT professionals in higher education.

I attended one session whose title was on the use of Web 2.0 applications in a college class. As I was sitting in the audience before hand, I mentioned to a college that I should really submit to present at this conference in the future since it was a topic that was close to my heart. Almost as soon as I said that, one of the conference organizers came to the podium to tell us that the speaker had not yet checked in and might not be able to present at all.

One brave soul took to the stage and began to talk about the use of del.icio.us in her classes and five minutes later, I was on the stage with my own PowerPoint in hand ready to talk about all the different ways tools like del.icio.us, Flickr, and blogs could be used through a Ning site. Of course, I walked everybody through our DC trip website.

The impromptu talk went over very well in the audience was most impressed with the work that you put in to the website. They have never seen del.icio.us tags being used in that manner, some of them had never heard of Voicethread before, and most did not know that you could put a photo stream directly from Flickr onto a website like this.

The audience appeared to learn something and I think they were delighted that it was an unscheduled talk. Because it was unscheduled we were all relaxed and at ease.

Immediately after the talk, I received invitations to speak in Wisconsin and Illinois at small colleges in those states. So I guess the moral is that you should always be prepared.

   Today I cast a vote for myself in an election for the ISTE Board of Directors – Teacher Education Representative. The election lasts until April 11. In reading my Guiding Vision statements, not available unless you belong to ISTE, I come off sounding a little edgy and pushy, but perhaps I am just a little sensitive.

If elected, I will be attending more planning meetings with ISTE and assist in the direction the organization is moving. It also means I will be spending more time at the annual conferences. This year’s is in San Antonio and next year it is in Washington, DC.

Sorry to be so brief, but I have had a lot on my plate. I pledge to inform this blog with insights from behind the scenes of an international educational technology organization.

I was tagged by Marion Ginopolis of MI-LIFE to share the thing I am most passionate that students learn in school and to include a photograph. I have chosen BALANCE.

Although it might seem an odd thing, I can reflect that my life has taken a steady course because I tried to see balance in all things. I try to find the other side of an argument so that I can gain a broader perspective. I have seen so many who have become obsessed with work, personal happiness, or acquisitions and they have become miserable over the years. A little balance and perspective would have helped them immensely and made them into fuller and better people. To become balanced means to reach out and learn new things, expand your horizons a little, stretch your body and your mind so that you will be able to manage the challenges that life will through your way. A balanced mind and body will help you to keep a measure of control when the ground becomes unstable.

I am not sure who I will tag next with this meme, perhaps I will not play along and just let anyone interested respond.

   Keynote address at the Michigan Virtual University conference held in Ypsilanti, Michigan, today. Gordon Freedman from Blackboard (VP in charge of Educational Strategy)

He gave an overview of how virtual and online courses were developing. Envisions a mix on in-class and online someday as part of the inherent structure of schools today.

Report: Building the 21st Century Campus

Top Four Challenges for Higher Education

• Student Engagement
• Institutional Accountability
• Revenue Generation
• Globalization

Report: Discovering and Enacting “What’s Next” in K-12 Education

NCReL report on the click patterns in the online algebra class.

Note: Students need to develop a strategy for learning
Report: Building K-20 Connections

Dual enrollment (K-12) and (College) exposure to college work is very motivating to some lower performing students

Repeats the idea that students who do not have a good reason for taking the online course do not do so well.

The online experience should be better than what they get in the classroom.  He mentioned how online could bring in online experts. I’m not so sure where they will find the time.

Kentucky has interesting programs – “Pre-K to Gray” is their take on lifelong education.
They have a unique statewide approach to education that makes them more similar to small countries like Ireland. Their benchmarks are unusual and not aligned with those of the rest of the US.

Singapore uses a lot of drill and kill and has one of the best prepared student bodies.
They note that they are missing innovation and they dearly want better innovators.
They have an eLearning week which acts as a readiness drill. Their schools for the future are quite advanced

He is hoping that the US will begin to be perceived as a global player once we get a new presidency. He suggests we reinterpret our curriculum.

Technorati Tags: mvuconf08

   I am excited that tomorrow I will be having dinner with Deborah Meir. She is coming to speak at our Best Practices Conference. It isn’t every day you get to dine with a legend in education. Deborah has been teaching for four decades and has started some of the most profound conversations in education in recent years.

It was with great interest that I read about her experiences in creating a school in East Harlem when I was near the beginning of my teaching career. The students in her school, ninety percent of them, graduated and went on to four-year colleges. She inspired many of us to stay in teaching at times when it was quite difficult.

As a special education teacher in rural Ontario and south Tucson, I took her message of hope and trust in the dignity of her students with me into all my classrooms. I like to think that I still do now that I teach pre-service teachers in Michigan.

To read more about her, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_Meier.

   In 2002, Anne Bulger, my friend from high school, began experiencing trouble walking and exhibited slurred speech. A few months later she was diagnosed with ALS, commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The disease wasted her muscles, robbed her of her ability to function regularly, and eventually killed her. But, more horribly, the disease did not affect her thinking processes. It left her bright and insightful mind trapped inside a body that weakened with each passing day.

Her doctor, a wonderful man name Neil Cashman, strongly suggested to her that she write a journal about her experiences and share them. Last week I read her book, Ambushed: My Journey Through the Nightmare of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and it lingers with me still.

It read like a long letter from the past, the sort of catching up two old acquaintances do when they reconnect on Facebook after a few decades apart. Lately I have been experiencing a lot of this electronic reconnecting with my high school memories.

I feel sad not to have known about Anne’s illness until months after she passed less than a year after her diagnosis, but I was charmed by her quirky writing style and so happy to read of her parents’ devotion to her needs right to the end. What parent wouldn’t be so caring?

If her parents, sister, or friends ever read this, please know that a part of Anne’s life resides always in my heart. How wonderful that she has left this book behind to help those who have been touched by ALS. Thank you, Anne.

   Another interesting comment came about from our first Second Life class meeting.

My son (17) showed an interest in the “game” world, how do you keep students out of areas they should not be in? As it was we had non-students showing up [during the meeting] . . . how do you keep your students from meeting people not associated with the class? There’s a distraction you don’t see in a normal environment. Are there parental controls on SnL?

As for keeping young folks out of the game worlds, that’s an issue. There is a Teen Grid though. As educators, we can subject ourselves to a security check for $40 US and gain access to work on K-12 projects. Warning: all your avatar info (and inventory) moves to the Teen Grid and you cannot return to the main grid. So it is best, if you are going to work on the teen level, to create an additional account and avatar.

As for gaming - there are also other things like orgies and high stakes gambling at some of the mature islands. It isn’t all educational, that’s for sure. Teen grid is a response to that. Actually, I am passionately against gambling for money but not for any moral or religious reasons. I find it an enormous waste of time and mental energy. I also find that most people entering into the lure of easy money are about to have their wallets lightened a little.

As for students entering the area in error, some of these were valid intrusions by well meaning mentors or room owners. It is possible to teleport to sections of buildings accessible only by teleportation within the island itself. That might be a solution to intrusions.