(NOTE: a very minimalist impression of Dr. Stager's afternoon keynote session on "Creativity 2.0". The author is being deliberately pithy. The brevity of this post is no way meant to minimalize Dr. Stager's session with us. Brevity is the source of wisdom, after all.)
In a nutshell: learning is natural. We should stop just "burping" into our Voicethreads and our Moviemakers and our other web 2.0 pet tools and really get down to the business of creativity. Some of these technologies we have fallen in love with are just "true and false" making a comeback wrapped around cartoon clips. Stop with the cut and paste collages and calling it technology integration. Our addiction to the "software du jour" produces limited fluency and superficial use which results in less creativity. Our "unhealthy worship of teen culture" has impeded the true mission of school: prepare children for adulthood - not the other way around. The projects we have kids engage in should reflect the artist's aesthetic: is it beautiful, thoughtful, and meaningful? Does it allow the students to "contribute to the continuum of culture?"
And to summarize: the technology DOES matter.
Thanks Dr. Stager for a meaningul poke in the eye of sorts to make sure the "good" doesn't become the enemy of the best.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
A Few Tales of Disruptive Innovation: Tech Expo Keynote, Michael B. Horn
Once upon a time, in the 1970s and 1980s, the most successful organization of the time, DEC, made mini computers. They had the best management team in the world. They made the best and brightest decisions. They employeed the best engineers. They did everything right. And in 1989, within six months, they collapsed, along with every other company that majored in mini-computers: the personal computer on the scene sucked the volume out of the mini computer market and the world was transformed.
Also once upon a time, Toyota made a simple rustbucket that appealed to people with limited pocketbooks. The Corona was the entry level option to not having a car at all, and it served the masses well, until the consumers taste required more sophisitcation. Soon, different models became the precursor and template for the high flying Lexus family of vehicles, and Ford and General Motors saw this coming, and too late. And the world was transformed.
What do these tales have in common? According to Horn, "entrants" will always win the battle of "disruptive innovation" by forcing obsolescense on the incumbents. Not because the reigning organizations lack talent, resources, expertise, or smarts, but because entrants master the art of "simplicity, affordability, and convenience" , realizing that we are vastly overserved by the technology available to us, and that technology improves vastly much faster than our own lives change.
So?
Horn thinks this phenomena directly applies to educational institutions. State Universities are being "disrupted" by community colleges, now educating about 50% of all post secondary students.
Online universities are now disrupting brick and mortar instutions, making it more convenient for many adults to aquire higher levels of education even as they shapeshift within the workforce.
The theory behind this is really very simple and is even more understandable when your context is technology: think of two types of designs. One design scheme is based on the interdependence between components (as in operating systems). Go ahead and try to manipulate a line of code in order to force some customization, and you're looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars, since customization is expensive in an interpendent design. Think of domino effect multiplied by domino effect, layer upon layer upon layer.
A second design is more modular - plug and play, mix and match. Think open source (Linux). The economics allow for affordable customization.
So??
Think about thest two designs and the following points related to the formal education:
We know we all learn differently. We started paying attention to multiple intelligences in 1983. We recognize different talents, different aptitudes, different passions, different paces. Even neuroscience, in the very early stages of brain imaging, can safely say that we all learn differently, even if we can't yet explain why or how.
Formal educational institutions are standardized, and highly interdependent - a design that drives us toward more standardization and away from customization.
Computers have been around for decades and they haven't transformed anything because we have "crammed" into the current operating model. We "shoved computers into the back of classrooms", labs, etc. and haven't transformed the system to correlate with how learning is done.
Online learning is rapidly gaining adoption (1,000,000 in 2007); by 2019, 50% of all HS courses will be online and predictably improving. The human touch is improving the ability to collaborate in these online environments and content is becoming increasingly robust. With online learning, possibilities are now open to the "non consumers" (credit recovery, drop outs, advanced placements/advanced course consumers.)
46 states have some form of online learning. Currently, New York is not one of them.
A final tale: once upon a time, the instutition we know as formal education did learn how to forsee and withstand disruptive innovation, made some tough but reasonable changes and decisions, and proved itself to the task of serving its citizens one and all, and the world was transformed.
Also once upon a time, Toyota made a simple rustbucket that appealed to people with limited pocketbooks. The Corona was the entry level option to not having a car at all, and it served the masses well, until the consumers taste required more sophisitcation. Soon, different models became the precursor and template for the high flying Lexus family of vehicles, and Ford and General Motors saw this coming, and too late. And the world was transformed.
What do these tales have in common? According to Horn, "entrants" will always win the battle of "disruptive innovation" by forcing obsolescense on the incumbents. Not because the reigning organizations lack talent, resources, expertise, or smarts, but because entrants master the art of "simplicity, affordability, and convenience" , realizing that we are vastly overserved by the technology available to us, and that technology improves vastly much faster than our own lives change.
So?
Horn thinks this phenomena directly applies to educational institutions. State Universities are being "disrupted" by community colleges, now educating about 50% of all post secondary students.
Online universities are now disrupting brick and mortar instutions, making it more convenient for many adults to aquire higher levels of education even as they shapeshift within the workforce.
The theory behind this is really very simple and is even more understandable when your context is technology: think of two types of designs. One design scheme is based on the interdependence between components (as in operating systems). Go ahead and try to manipulate a line of code in order to force some customization, and you're looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars, since customization is expensive in an interpendent design. Think of domino effect multiplied by domino effect, layer upon layer upon layer.
A second design is more modular - plug and play, mix and match. Think open source (Linux). The economics allow for affordable customization.
So??
Think about thest two designs and the following points related to the formal education:
We know we all learn differently. We started paying attention to multiple intelligences in 1983. We recognize different talents, different aptitudes, different passions, different paces. Even neuroscience, in the very early stages of brain imaging, can safely say that we all learn differently, even if we can't yet explain why or how.
Formal educational institutions are standardized, and highly interdependent - a design that drives us toward more standardization and away from customization.
Computers have been around for decades and they haven't transformed anything because we have "crammed" into the current operating model. We "shoved computers into the back of classrooms", labs, etc. and haven't transformed the system to correlate with how learning is done.
Online learning is rapidly gaining adoption (1,000,000 in 2007); by 2019, 50% of all HS courses will be online and predictably improving. The human touch is improving the ability to collaborate in these online environments and content is becoming increasingly robust. With online learning, possibilities are now open to the "non consumers" (credit recovery, drop outs, advanced placements/advanced course consumers.)
46 states have some form of online learning. Currently, New York is not one of them.
A final tale: once upon a time, the instutition we know as formal education did learn how to forsee and withstand disruptive innovation, made some tough but reasonable changes and decisions, and proved itself to the task of serving its citizens one and all, and the world was transformed.
Friday, February 12, 2010
What's Old is New Again: New Students, New Literacies, New Media with Dr. Jason Ohler
Having never met Dr. Ohler before, I immediately keyed into the fact that he hails from Alaska during his introduction this morning. My brain already started to build a construct of expectations for him as being no frills, no nonsense, down to earth, and deeply passionate about his work. All against the backdrop of a landscape that has yet to be tamed. He did not disappoint, but in ways I wasn't expecting.
He began his morning with us reminiscing about two teachers that obviously had profound impact on his life: his beloved "Ms. Phelps", who created doors for him to walk through even at the tender age of second grade, and "Mr. Hassleback (sp?)" who inspired his love for music and latent talent, by allowing him to take a music theory class without being able to read one solitary note.
Two people who opened doors at different stages of his life, whose impact was unquestionable in terms of the opportunities they presented, helping to form the person and educator. And in some sense, what's old is new again - the thing that we know for sure: students are "banging on the doors" and we, he maintains, "control the door." That, in essence, is the charge of our current educational institutions - we are to be door openers: "the only metric worth caring about", in Dr. Ohler's estimation.
During his presentation we saw a picture of a cherubic infant holding a cell phone and gazing thoughtfully into the screen. Dr. Ohler posed the question if kids have one life, or two lives? Are they one person at school, interacting with a certain set of tools and expectations, and another when they leave the school grounds, interacting with tools and media of their choosing? And are our institutions reinforcing this duality by not mirroring adequately the tools, networks and literacies emerging around us?
We know that people use their tools not just to consume, but create. The screen, he says, becomes an "easel", and literacy is about producing media forms consistent with the day. There are no armchair quarterbacks in this game, since all of us need to learn how to "command the collage", and command the language of the day, which involves non linear multimedia.
The punch line for us is this: our students will develop these literacies with or without us. What we're missing is the opportunity to be that door for the time we have them in our charge as they move through the system.
Dr. Ohler shared a few talking points about media literacy as it relates to "web 2.0", the more democratized, decentralized web where the locus of control is no longer the "geek." (He says he's still 1/4 geek but I think he's underestimating.)
If you are media literate, then:
you shift from text centrism to being able to negotiation meaning from a "media collage"
you value writing more than ever, but "don't call it writing", because we know students don't like to write....
you embrace art as the next "R"
you understand that attitude is aptitude - your ability to learn constantly and always is related to how willing you are to persist in learning,
you practice private and social literacy
you become fluent, not just literate.
you harness both the "report" and the "story"
Speaking of storytelling: the art of storytelling is a huge part of Dr. Ohler's talent and something which he advocates through use of digital media and human performance. He shared with us some visuals that challenge the way we might typically think about helping students weave a story using digital tools. For example, "story maps" are dynamic visual aides that help people to chart the emotional flow of a story, rather than just the flow of motion you'd find in a typical storyboard. He's one to consider adding to your personal learning network if you're serious about investing time and energy in helping students to express themselves and their learning though the canvases of their choices, whether it be a screen, an instrument, a touch pad, a stage, a blog, or any other "digital easel".
We can't know what the new literacies or media will be years down the road, but we can always commit to being a door and not a wall.
For more about Jason Ohler's work, visit http://www.jasonohler.com/index.cfm and http://infosavvygroup.com/.
He began his morning with us reminiscing about two teachers that obviously had profound impact on his life: his beloved "Ms. Phelps", who created doors for him to walk through even at the tender age of second grade, and "Mr. Hassleback (sp?)" who inspired his love for music and latent talent, by allowing him to take a music theory class without being able to read one solitary note.
Two people who opened doors at different stages of his life, whose impact was unquestionable in terms of the opportunities they presented, helping to form the person and educator. And in some sense, what's old is new again - the thing that we know for sure: students are "banging on the doors" and we, he maintains, "control the door." That, in essence, is the charge of our current educational institutions - we are to be door openers: "the only metric worth caring about", in Dr. Ohler's estimation.
During his presentation we saw a picture of a cherubic infant holding a cell phone and gazing thoughtfully into the screen. Dr. Ohler posed the question if kids have one life, or two lives? Are they one person at school, interacting with a certain set of tools and expectations, and another when they leave the school grounds, interacting with tools and media of their choosing? And are our institutions reinforcing this duality by not mirroring adequately the tools, networks and literacies emerging around us?
We know that people use their tools not just to consume, but create. The screen, he says, becomes an "easel", and literacy is about producing media forms consistent with the day. There are no armchair quarterbacks in this game, since all of us need to learn how to "command the collage", and command the language of the day, which involves non linear multimedia.
The punch line for us is this: our students will develop these literacies with or without us. What we're missing is the opportunity to be that door for the time we have them in our charge as they move through the system.
Dr. Ohler shared a few talking points about media literacy as it relates to "web 2.0", the more democratized, decentralized web where the locus of control is no longer the "geek." (He says he's still 1/4 geek but I think he's underestimating.)
If you are media literate, then:
you shift from text centrism to being able to negotiation meaning from a "media collage"
you value writing more than ever, but "don't call it writing", because we know students don't like to write....
you embrace art as the next "R"
you understand that attitude is aptitude - your ability to learn constantly and always is related to how willing you are to persist in learning,
you practice private and social literacy
you become fluent, not just literate.
you harness both the "report" and the "story"
Speaking of storytelling: the art of storytelling is a huge part of Dr. Ohler's talent and something which he advocates through use of digital media and human performance. He shared with us some visuals that challenge the way we might typically think about helping students weave a story using digital tools. For example, "story maps" are dynamic visual aides that help people to chart the emotional flow of a story, rather than just the flow of motion you'd find in a typical storyboard. He's one to consider adding to your personal learning network if you're serious about investing time and energy in helping students to express themselves and their learning though the canvases of their choices, whether it be a screen, an instrument, a touch pad, a stage, a blog, or any other "digital easel".
We can't know what the new literacies or media will be years down the road, but we can always commit to being a door and not a wall.
For more about Jason Ohler's work, visit http://www.jasonohler.com/index.cfm and http://infosavvygroup.com/.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Meeting the Cool Cat Teacher in Person - A Morning With Vicki Davis
Vicki Davis's name might be as ubiquitous in the "blogosphere" as Kathy Schrock (remember her listing of "100 Great Internet Sites?" back in the days of Netscape 3?) I had been reading her Cool Cat Teacher Blog (http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/)for many years, and had admired-from-afar her work in the Flat Classroom Project (http://flatclassroomproject2008.wikispaces.com/), which spawned the Horizon Project (http://horizonproject.wikispaces.com/), which led into a student run Digiteen Project on Internet citizenship (http://digiteen.wikispaces.com/). As a matter of fact, in the wiki workshops that I've facilitated with districts, the Flat Classroom was the one that I held up as possessing the highest standards of "wiki-ness": student involvement, deep thinking, multiple student learning artifacts, and collaborating across time zones, cultures and continents.
It dawned on me after meeting her this morning face to face, how much you can REALLY get to know someone (or at least, professionally) through their work: their digital footprint. I think Vicki leaves more than just a digital footprint, though; more like a digital legacy.
Folks just making their way through this maze of "tools" will probably be intimidated by her presence: she appears "superhuman" in terms of what she's able to do with students, with teachers, for her headmaster, and with her partner classrooms overseas. I almost didn't think she existed at one time as a real person - just a made up "avatar" that embodies 21st Century ideals. And if you look closely at everything she has done, how she has inspired students to true greatness as evidenced by helping them to shift some previously held predjudices and preconceived notions, how she's known as an IT director who brings things in rather than keeps things out, you'll see that her genius is quite ordinary, reachable, and understandable.
Because back in 2005, she couldn't tell a blog from a wiki from a Twitter feed, but the thing she apparently knew how to do was surround herself with people that she could constantly grow with. A stable, trusted "personal learning network" that can withstand the onslaught of web 2.0 this and web 3.0 that.
So, to make a very refreshing morning with her short, let me try and capture some of the ordinary, accessible, and effective strategies for managing change, which is what we're all trying to grapple with as we are influences in our own particular institutions. Here's a few things that you might be surprised to know:
Did you know that the FlatClassroom wiki mega-project was born out of one simple blog post and a response? It was not conceived of in a planning document or a committee meeting; it was not agonized over as part of a curriculum map or a rigorous lesson plan. It was not the outgrowth of a massive initiative or a professional development conference. It was simply one person reaching out to another with a simple and good idea to have classrooms collaborate using "The World is Flat" as a framework. It grew, because it could not help but to grow, not because it was mandated to grow. Here are a few other quick "aha" moments and learning nuggets that I had to write down this morning:
1-Research now shows that learning happens quite effectively through "vicarious experiences" - when people see others succeed, it's not just viral, it's influential.
2- That FlatClassroom project was put together with what we would call today "pixie sticks" technology - free tools and 5 year old clunker workstations. You can't imagine what can be done with MS Paint when you put your mind to it.
3 - When you get involved, things happen quickly. Amen.
4 - Outcomes are not behaviors, and when we identify what she called "vital behaviors", it becomes apparent that we already have the answers to a lot of what irks us and our systems. (So what are these "vital behaviors"? I don't want to steal her thunder; she will make her slides available from her blog.)
5 - "Backchannels" can be a powerful assessment and collaboration tool in the classroom and for professional development, faculty meetings, and any other venue where the voice of the people can be represented and honored.
6 - "Empower the engaged", and contrary to opinion, this might be the best strategy for ensuring quality experiences for all, whether it's professional development or learning in the classroom.
7 - DID I MENTION THAT THE FLAT CLASSROOM PROJECT WAS COMPLETED ON OLD OUTDATED CRAPPY HARDWARE? FOR VIRTUALLY NEXT TO NO COST???
8 - Look for positive people to "network" with, in person and online. This is the power of Twitter, Ning, and other social networking sites - the power of who you know, not what you know. You can't really explain something like Twitter to someone and expect their jaw to drop. You can, however, demonstrate the value of having constant, consistent, and increasing access to virtually some of the best minds on the planet - including your own.
9 - She learned what she knows in small bytes of time - 15 minutes, 2-3 times a week - dedicated time to sort through her RSS feeds, identify the "noise" and learn what to pay attention to. Again, because she learned to connect herself early on, she benefited from the filters of all her online colleagues, who help discern what's worth paying attention to.
And finally, 10 - no one can be connected for you. You and I are either "the network", or outside of it, and no amount of classes, CEUs, and YouTube tutorials will ever make those connections for us. Perhaps the simple, most cost and time effective lesson to learn when it comes to increasing need for real professional development with short purse strings: it does not have to be expensive, it does not have to be complicated, and it does not have to be a burden.
So thanks Vicki for being a "real" person behind your digital footprint and for inspiring us to remain positive and upbeat when news seems to get worse and worse and worse. We should all remain optimistic that maybe the most powerful "tool" we have is our connection to each other.
It dawned on me after meeting her this morning face to face, how much you can REALLY get to know someone (or at least, professionally) through their work: their digital footprint. I think Vicki leaves more than just a digital footprint, though; more like a digital legacy.
Folks just making their way through this maze of "tools" will probably be intimidated by her presence: she appears "superhuman" in terms of what she's able to do with students, with teachers, for her headmaster, and with her partner classrooms overseas. I almost didn't think she existed at one time as a real person - just a made up "avatar" that embodies 21st Century ideals. And if you look closely at everything she has done, how she has inspired students to true greatness as evidenced by helping them to shift some previously held predjudices and preconceived notions, how she's known as an IT director who brings things in rather than keeps things out, you'll see that her genius is quite ordinary, reachable, and understandable.
Because back in 2005, she couldn't tell a blog from a wiki from a Twitter feed, but the thing she apparently knew how to do was surround herself with people that she could constantly grow with. A stable, trusted "personal learning network" that can withstand the onslaught of web 2.0 this and web 3.0 that.
So, to make a very refreshing morning with her short, let me try and capture some of the ordinary, accessible, and effective strategies for managing change, which is what we're all trying to grapple with as we are influences in our own particular institutions. Here's a few things that you might be surprised to know:
Did you know that the FlatClassroom wiki mega-project was born out of one simple blog post and a response? It was not conceived of in a planning document or a committee meeting; it was not agonized over as part of a curriculum map or a rigorous lesson plan. It was not the outgrowth of a massive initiative or a professional development conference. It was simply one person reaching out to another with a simple and good idea to have classrooms collaborate using "The World is Flat" as a framework. It grew, because it could not help but to grow, not because it was mandated to grow. Here are a few other quick "aha" moments and learning nuggets that I had to write down this morning:
1-Research now shows that learning happens quite effectively through "vicarious experiences" - when people see others succeed, it's not just viral, it's influential.
2- That FlatClassroom project was put together with what we would call today "pixie sticks" technology - free tools and 5 year old clunker workstations. You can't imagine what can be done with MS Paint when you put your mind to it.
3 - When you get involved, things happen quickly. Amen.
4 - Outcomes are not behaviors, and when we identify what she called "vital behaviors", it becomes apparent that we already have the answers to a lot of what irks us and our systems. (So what are these "vital behaviors"? I don't want to steal her thunder; she will make her slides available from her blog.)
5 - "Backchannels" can be a powerful assessment and collaboration tool in the classroom and for professional development, faculty meetings, and any other venue where the voice of the people can be represented and honored.
6 - "Empower the engaged", and contrary to opinion, this might be the best strategy for ensuring quality experiences for all, whether it's professional development or learning in the classroom.
7 - DID I MENTION THAT THE FLAT CLASSROOM PROJECT WAS COMPLETED ON OLD OUTDATED CRAPPY HARDWARE? FOR VIRTUALLY NEXT TO NO COST???
8 - Look for positive people to "network" with, in person and online. This is the power of Twitter, Ning, and other social networking sites - the power of who you know, not what you know. You can't really explain something like Twitter to someone and expect their jaw to drop. You can, however, demonstrate the value of having constant, consistent, and increasing access to virtually some of the best minds on the planet - including your own.
9 - She learned what she knows in small bytes of time - 15 minutes, 2-3 times a week - dedicated time to sort through her RSS feeds, identify the "noise" and learn what to pay attention to. Again, because she learned to connect herself early on, she benefited from the filters of all her online colleagues, who help discern what's worth paying attention to.
And finally, 10 - no one can be connected for you. You and I are either "the network", or outside of it, and no amount of classes, CEUs, and YouTube tutorials will ever make those connections for us. Perhaps the simple, most cost and time effective lesson to learn when it comes to increasing need for real professional development with short purse strings: it does not have to be expensive, it does not have to be complicated, and it does not have to be a burden.
So thanks Vicki for being a "real" person behind your digital footprint and for inspiring us to remain positive and upbeat when news seems to get worse and worse and worse. We should all remain optimistic that maybe the most powerful "tool" we have is our connection to each other.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
A Healthy Jealousy - Quick Reflection on Virtual High School
I actually don't know if there is such a thing as a healthy jealousy. But I could not help but to recognize and name the feeling as such as we met today as a region to look at Virtual High School, a not-for-profit global organization that makes available some of the most interesting full and half year high school level courses you could imagine. Students talking about taking pre-veterinary medicine classes on their way to Cornell; other students nurturing personal interests in entrepreneurship; and still others taking rich literature offers driven by their personal love for writing. The fact that these courses are online offers obvious challenges and opportunities: the students who shared their tacit experiences with us via videoconference spoke of the discipline both needed and developed in order to thrive in such an environment. They verified the rigor of the coursework and spoke very highly of the content and the opportunity to collaborate with other students across the planet. I can't help but to think of how their experiences were enriched (in ways most likely not measurable)by exposure to different strengths and virtues presented by students from different cultures and nationalities. Made me feel somewhat provincial, thinking back to my own high school experience where doing "group work" was about as global as it got. Hence the jealousy: what I wouldn't give to enroll in high school again and live as a pre-collegiate learner in the 21st Century - not simply learning 20th century content with modern tools, but developing an understanding and a knowledgebase that is unique to these times we all share.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Educating the Mobile Generation - Elliot Soloway & Cathleen Norris
Elliot Soloway and Cathleen Norris of Universiy of Michigan talk about the opportunities cell phone computing has for one-to-one computing in schools. While this is a conversation you've likely had over the past decade with some frequency - perhaps its time has finally come.
Due to some advances in technology, the state of the economy, and some significant pedagogical changes in schools, cell phones may actually be at a point where districts can explore their use in classes.
You may remember the NY Times article "Seeing No Progress, Some Schools Drop Laptops" several years back. The article cited three basic reason why: the devices didn't have educational software; lacking adequate professional development; and the cost of sustaining the hardware was prohibitive or impossible.
Soloway and Norris suggest that it is for these very reasons that the cell phones or maybe even netbooks can be successful and point out how schools can ensure that they are.
Educational Software - Establish the device as an Essential Tool
It is critical for success to create a device that is an essential tool. A tool that students and teachers can't live without to do their jobs. To do this we must provide operating systems and software that is job specific. In the private sector essential knowledge workers have devices that do just that. Real estate agents, accountants, doctors and engineers all have software that is specific and "essential" to their jobs. Education need to create portals and dashboards that deliver information and tools to our knowledge workers; students, teachers and even administrators that is essential so they can be successful knowledge workers in the 21st century and beyond.
Create professional development that is Sustained and Virtual
Professional development programs need to be "just in time" , relevant and continous for teachers. Bring online courses in to the mix of options for teachers with Learning Management Systems such as Blackboard, Angel and Epsilon.
Cost of Sustaining - Outsource device and connectivity costs to telco
Schools have learned that while they are experts in the education business they need out outsource services such as food services and transportation - why not technology. In this mobile market why not pay the telephone provider a monthly fee and get the device and the connectivity - making the entire thing eRateable. If you have a device that costs $300 divide by 10 months that is $30 per month. Cell companies can create plans that do not provide phone service - data only is all we need to provide students.
While they recognize we are in the infancy of this converged technology for schools, the presenters believe now is the time to get started in our district school with pilot projects. Start small with a target group, find a teleco company that will support your the effort.
Resources:
Redfly - cell phone device that has full size keyboard and larger screen. http://www.celiocorp.com/
mobi Controller for controlling cell phone devices - http://www.soti.net/default.asp?Cmd=Products&SubCmd=MC
Due to some advances in technology, the state of the economy, and some significant pedagogical changes in schools, cell phones may actually be at a point where districts can explore their use in classes.
You may remember the NY Times article "Seeing No Progress, Some Schools Drop Laptops" several years back. The article cited three basic reason why: the devices didn't have educational software; lacking adequate professional development; and the cost of sustaining the hardware was prohibitive or impossible.
Soloway and Norris suggest that it is for these very reasons that the cell phones or maybe even netbooks can be successful and point out how schools can ensure that they are.
Educational Software - Establish the device as an Essential Tool
It is critical for success to create a device that is an essential tool. A tool that students and teachers can't live without to do their jobs. To do this we must provide operating systems and software that is job specific. In the private sector essential knowledge workers have devices that do just that. Real estate agents, accountants, doctors and engineers all have software that is specific and "essential" to their jobs. Education need to create portals and dashboards that deliver information and tools to our knowledge workers; students, teachers and even administrators that is essential so they can be successful knowledge workers in the 21st century and beyond.
Create professional development that is Sustained and Virtual
Professional development programs need to be "just in time" , relevant and continous for teachers. Bring online courses in to the mix of options for teachers with Learning Management Systems such as Blackboard, Angel and Epsilon.
Cost of Sustaining - Outsource device and connectivity costs to telco
Schools have learned that while they are experts in the education business they need out outsource services such as food services and transportation - why not technology. In this mobile market why not pay the telephone provider a monthly fee and get the device and the connectivity - making the entire thing eRateable. If you have a device that costs $300 divide by 10 months that is $30 per month. Cell companies can create plans that do not provide phone service - data only is all we need to provide students.
While they recognize we are in the infancy of this converged technology for schools, the presenters believe now is the time to get started in our district school with pilot projects. Start small with a target group, find a teleco company that will support your the effort.
Resources:
Redfly - cell phone device that has full size keyboard and larger screen. http://www.celiocorp.com/
mobi Controller for controlling cell phone devices - http://www.soti.net/default.asp?Cmd=Products&SubCmd=MC
Monday, June 29, 2009
Collaboration and Synergy - Jamie McKenzie
International author, presenter, thinker, and former superintendent of Bellingham schools in Washington State, Jamie McKenzie considers the idea that schools need to do a better job prepare teachers and students for synthesis and collaboration.
Taking ideas from Pete Senge, he reminds us that there are significant differences between passive listening and active listening. With active listening individuals are required to "suspend their assumptions". Take a moment to reflect on the last adult meeting you attended and think if you saw any evidence of suspended assumptions or worked with your colleagues toward the synthesis of new ideas and thinking. McKensie suggest that this is a necessary part of any "true" collaboration framework and that we will never really get the results we want in the collaborative web until we do.
McKenzie suggested trying Debono's Thnking Hats model with your staff to facilitate the appropraite level of thinking in activities.
On the side:
Did you know Virtual Thesaurus has multiple languages?
From Now On - McKenzie's web site
Taking ideas from Pete Senge, he reminds us that there are significant differences between passive listening and active listening. With active listening individuals are required to "suspend their assumptions". Take a moment to reflect on the last adult meeting you attended and think if you saw any evidence of suspended assumptions or worked with your colleagues toward the synthesis of new ideas and thinking. McKensie suggest that this is a necessary part of any "true" collaboration framework and that we will never really get the results we want in the collaborative web until we do.
McKenzie suggested trying Debono's Thnking Hats model with your staff to facilitate the appropraite level of thinking in activities.
On the side:
Did you know Virtual Thesaurus has multiple languages?
From Now On - McKenzie's web site
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