Syndicated from Edutopia.org,
The George Lucas Educational Foundation

Syndicated from Weblogg-ed.com,
Learning with the Read/Write Web

  • How Hard is Too Hard? - So the latest edition of ISTE’s magazine Learning and Leading calls me out by name and wonders if I, in my attempt to “cajole, inspire, persuade and demand, sometimes with righteous indignation that readers bring forth radical change in education, might unwittingly discourage the very educators who are fighting the good [...]
  • The Assessment Problem - Just want to connect a couple of dots between a very thoughtful, challenging essay by Dan Willingham and Andrew Rotherham that was re-released by Educational Leadership just recently, and another snip from Steve Hargadon’s interview with Linda Darling Hammond from last week. I think they frame the really huge problem we’re facing with the current [...]
  • 10 Questions for Arne Duncan - 1. Can you describe how you personally use technology to access, create and share information? 2. In terms of technology use, what were the most innovative ideas for education that you saw in the Race To The Top applications that you reviewed? 3. The National Education Technology Plan calls for the end of “one size fits all [...]
  • “Disposable Reform” - Steve Hargadon held an interesting interview with Linda Darling-Hammond last week that covered, for the most part, the ideas in her new book “The Flat World and Education” as well as some of her earlier works like “The Right to Learn.” While I was hoping to hear her go a bit more into depth about [...]
  • Who’s Asking? - 1. The thunder clap makes all of us stop. It’s one of those loud, long, rumbling ones, the kind that rolls around in your belly like when you hit one of those hard, deep potholes in your car. It shakes the window panes in the old house, and in that initial crack, we all duck into [...]
  • Unlearning Teaching - Rather than teachers delivering an information product to be ‘consumed’ and fed back by the student, co-creating value would see the teacher and student mutually involved in assembling and dissembling cultural products. As co-creators, both would add value to the capacity building work being done through the invitation to ‘meddle’ and to make errors. The [...]
  • What Do We Need? - So I’m asking for a little crowdsourcing feedback for a chapter I’m writing. I’m trying to frame out all the things that ideally need to be in place for an existing school to make the transition to one that provides a more relevant learning experience for kids in the context of the social online technologies [...]
  • Old and New - There’s an old oak tree down on Miss Frances’s farm that requires more than a few minutes of inspection every time you lay eyes on it. You need to be a good 100 feet away from the thing to see its top, and when you sidle your back next to the massive trunk and tilt [...]
  • Redefining Education - (All definitions from dictionary.com) Is a school “an institution where instruction is given,”or is it a place where we come together to create and share knowledge? Is a classroom “a  room, as in a school or college, in which classes are held,” or is it any place we can learn with others or on our own? Is learning [...]
  • Not “What” You Know - From Michael Schrage in the Harvard Business Review: When I look at who is getting hired, purported knowledge almost always matters less than demonstrable skills. The distinctions aren’t subtle; they’re immense. How do they manifest themselves? These hires don’t have resumes highlighting educational pedigrees and accomplishments; their resumes emphasize their skill sets. Instead of listing aspirations [...]

Syndicated from The Innovative Educator,
Sharing ideas about educating innovatively.

  • Eight Reasons An Innovative Educator Uses Twitter -
    I love Twitter, but there are more smart folks than not who just don’t get it. In fact Marc Prensky asked yesterday why I use it and just today a friend who runs a successful Youth Sports organization asked me the same thing. They both could be using Twitter in meaningful ways, but just aren’t sure how. I shared with them my top reasons for using Twitter and figured since I was asked this question so much, I’d just write a post that I can link to in the future.

    1) Instant and timely updates on my website2) Great way to find out what people are saying about me and my blog
    • I use www.Twitterfall.com and the search terms I use are my name and the name of my blog.
    • Teacher use: Empower your students, parents, colleagues to respond to the work you and your students are doing with Tweets that include the hashtag you’ve set up for your class. It’s a great way to connect more deeply with those who you teach and their families.
    3) Instant, on demand professional development/ answers to anything I want to know.4) Read all about it!
    • Twitter lets me tell my followers when I've published a blog post.
    • Teacher use: Encourage your parents and students to follow you on Twitter. Your account updates them when there’s news of note.
    5) It's all about the conversation
    • Twitter lets me have stimulating conversations with others who share my interests. This creative comic from Jeff Branzburg brings the concept to life: Twitter - It's All About the Conversation.
    • This can be spontaneously started as something comes up or it can be purposeful by using a hashtag to connect with others interested in the topic. A favorite in the education community is #edchat which you can read more about here.
    • Teacher use: Visit the site "What the Hashtag" and find interesting conversations for you and your students to engage in.
    6) Instantly allows me to connect with experts and bring them into my classroom or training if I want.
    • I did this when I was looking for educational leaders who use social networks. I skyped them in to my class when I was speaking with educators who were interested in using social networks with their students.
    • Teacher use: Twitter will help you identify experts you can bring in to your classroom in every unit of study.
    7) Extend meaning when listening to others speak at meetings and conferences
    • I was a problem child in school. I hated that it seemed the main purpose of school was to teach me to sit still and listen. I wanted to have stimulating conversations, make things, do things...not just listen to the sage on the stage. To combat this I usually just fell asleep as I have exciting and vivid dreams and while sleeping I didn't get in anyone's way. Fast forward to adulthood and I have the same sitting still issue. Solution? Twitter! Now when I'm at presentations or in meetings I can have those conversations and make meaning in ways my brain craves. Twitter allows me to instantly extend the conversation, answer questions, share information and ideas with the world, and many times that ends up as a blog post as well (like this one about Interactive Whiteboards) extending the thinking even further.
    • Teacher use: You likely have students like me you are torturing in your class by making them sit and listen while you teach. Invite them to the conversation with Twitter. Later you can go back and respond to their Tweets. For this to be effective you will need to develop a hash tag for your class or particular unit of study. Shared hashtags with other teachers around units of study can be powerful.
    8) Connected to thousands of people willing to collaborate on demand on projects of mutual interest.So those are the top eight reasons that come to mind when someone says, “What’s the fascination with Twitter? I just don’t get it.” Hopefully, now you do and if you already did, I’d love to know why you use Twitter.
  • 12 Reasons to Ditch the Pen - Why it's no longer mightiest against the sword -
    Yesterday, I was teaching a workshop with Marc Prensky where he was talking to literacy teachers about the digitization of books and writing. As we discussed the death of books, many still held on tightly to the concept of the outdated relics. I love the feel, the smell, the page...Yada, yada, yada. I’ve written many times about the death of books and paper as you can read below.

    -A few strong cases for ditching the paper and letting books grow digital wings
    -Shed the Paper and Allow Books to Grow their Digital Wings
    -Social Books Unlock Reader’s Voice and Provide Opportunity for Conversation
    -iPads? Eh! Social Reading from Your Phone? Now That's Innovation!
    -Ditch Paper and Get to the Thinking Faster.
    -How I Lost 20 Pounds in One Month On a Paperless Diet
    -Read and Personalize Books for Free with MeeGenius
    -Innovative Ideas for Using Cell Phones to Summarize and Take Notes
    -What Might a 21st Century Literacy Class Look Like? This!
    -Reading 2.0: Where is the Love?
    -The End of Books? (For Me, At Least?) - Will Richardson

    But now, I want to tackle the death of the pen which is quickly being replaced with digital writing tools like laptops, cell phones, iTouches, iPads, Smartpens etc. etc. etc. The same rumblings happen when it comes to the passing of the pen.
    • But I love the feel of the pen on the page.
    • Taking notes (an outdated skill) with a pen helps me understand what I’m hearing.
    • I need an ink pen to be able to capture my thoughts, the keyboard just isn’t the same.
    My advice: Get over it and join the 21st century so you can be relevant to yourself, your colleagues, and most importantly your students.

    Why? Because...


    Ditching pens allows you to do more, do it faster, do it more efficiently / effectively, and most importantly share it with an audience.


    Here’s why...


    12 Reasons Writing Digital is Mightier then Pen and Ink

    1- It’s faster
    • The average human being hand writes at 31 words per minute.
      • I haven’t hand written in years so probably am slower than this.
    • With training (1 semester class) a human can become a beginner touch typist at 40 wpm and with a second class about 70 wpm.
    • Touch typists can learn to type 50 - 60 wpm with their thumbs in a month.
      • I type 60 wpm according to my self test.
    2-It’s easily editable
    • Copy, paste, organize and move text seamlessly.
    • Never have to recopy.
    3-It’s instantly and easily shareable with others
    • Simply share your writing with others by sending them the link to your writing or emailing them an attachment.
    4-It’s easily editable by others
    • Once they have your writing they simply use their keyboard from wherever they are an can edit your writing.
    5-It’s more efficient
    • It kills me when I am in a meeting watching someone hand write notes that they will later spend an hour typing up. Save an hour and type the notes. Then leave work an hour early or take a long lunch :-))
    • It also kills me that people see I have a computer and say, “you take the notes.” No thank you.
      • Bring your own keyboard. I don’t take traditional notes so you won’t understand what I write and if you hold me back to traditional note taking methods am not effectively able to make meaning of what is happening.
    6-It allows you to get to the thinking faster (Thanks Pamela Livingston for this one)
    • With a keyboard you don’t need to waste your time figuring out spelling and grammar. You can thumb or type at the speed of thought without ideas getting lost in the process because you are provided spelling and grammar suggestions as well as synonyms when you “just can’t think of a word.”
    7-It is with you wherever you go
    • If you use your Smartphone or Laptop for writing you’ll have your work wherever you go. You can replace, “I’ll get that to you when I’m back at the office going through my files.” with “Here ya go.”
    • If you’re like me and type everything in Google docs, your work is with you even without your own laptop, accessible instantly on the computer of whomever is requesting the document.
    8-It lets you get rid of the clutter
    • I remember the days of notebooks, binders, and folders that over took my small (by outside Manhattan standards) New York City apartment. I finally moved them into a storage unit that I pay for monthly five years ago. Since then I stopped using paper so I’ll never need more storage space and my apartment is free from that clutter.
    9-It lightens the load
    • No need to carry all those little notebooks, binders, and folders that are crowding your briefcases and backpacks. It all neatly fits in your digital device. I always get compliments on my beautiful and sleek bag that I travel with. I never have a need for more because my writing is digital.
    10-It is searchable
    • When you write digitally you never have to sort through pages of notebooks, papers, or files. Just enter in the document name or keyword. Poof, you have what you’re looking for. I particularly like to do this when travelling. In my blackberry I have the name of the cities I’ve travelled to and notes about them. When I go back, I just type in the city and wa-la, I have all my notes.
    11-It enables you to share ideas and make meaning
    • One of my favorite ways to capture important ideas is through the use of Twitter. I share ideas or questions via Twitter which also feeds to Facebook. My friends and followers answer questions, extend the thinking, and in the process help me make meaning of what it is I’m capturing. Rather then death by paper, my note or idea becomes a Global conversation.
    12-It enables you to publish easily
    • When I record my ideas digitally I can instantly publish them in any number of mediums i.e. this blog, a wiki, Google doc, etc.
    There you have it. 12 reasons to ditch the pen and go digital and it’s friendly for the environment too.
  • 6 Step Plan to Using Your 21st Century Voice - The Presentation - I recently wrote The 6 Step Plan to Using Your 21st Century Voice to Make a Difference I have also turned this into a presentation for readers to share with others who may find this topic of interest. I invite you to take a look and also contribute to the presentation if you have ideas for making it better. You can do so by visiting the editable presentation here. You can also add suggestions by commenting on this post.

  • Blogs, Wikis, or Google Docs - Oh My! - I’m often asked by educators why I use wikis, blogs, AND Google docs. “Why not just pick one?”. The answer is because I use each in different ways. Each of these platforms can be used for numerous purposes. Here is how I use them.

    BLOGS
    Use: I use my blog to share original information that I feel will be useful for a wide audience. I can place links in other platforms as appropriate to my blog posts.
    Ownership: I am the master of my blog along with contributing editors and readers can participate by leaving comments.
    Service I Use: Blogger
    Cost: FREE for Everyone!
    Example: http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com

    WIKIS
    Use: I use wikis for group projects where multiple people are collecting and growing information. Wikis provide a very easy way for all of those involved to contribute. Wikis serve as containers that hold information that would be useful to those working on shared projects. My wiki has links to blog posts and Google docs. Another nice feature of the wiki site I use is the “discussion tab.” This enables contributors to discuss items related to the wiki page they are contributing to.
    Ownership: There are administrators and contributors. The administrator(s) establish settings for contributors. Generally everyone has access to add and contribute information.
    Service I Use: Wikispaces
    Cost: FREE for Educators!
    Example: http://21cpd.wikispaces.com

    GOOGLE DOCS
    Use: I use Google docs 1) just as others might use MS Word 2) to write collaboratively. I am writing my book using Google docs which enables my co-author and I to collaboratively provide input into the book chapters. I also use Google docs to collaborate with others who write guest posts for my blog. One of favorite uses of Google docs is to bring people together from around the world to contribute on a shared piece of work. Here are some examples of that: What is nice about Google docs is that you can see the cursor where other contributors are on the page and there is a chat feature so you can chat about your writing. There is also a revision history so you can see how the document has grown and who has contributed what.
    Ownership: There is the document creator who can invite others to contribute.
    Service I Use: docs.google.com
    Cost: FREE for Everyone!
    Example:


    Over at the Free Technology for Teachers blog, Richard Byrne shares some more useful information for those wanting to know whether they should use a blog or wiki for a particular class or project. He shares Blogs, Wikis, or Docs: Which is right for your lesson? This is a great chart from Dr. Mark Wagner that outlines the features of each platform, each platform's drawbacks, and examples of each platform in use.
  • Opportunity for Innovative Educators to Get Recognized as Expert Evaluators in Tech & Learning Magazine - Tech & Learning has an opportunity for teachers to be recognized as expert evaluators of products that might be of interest to other innovative educators. Qualified candidates (if you’re reading this blog, that’s you!) will be selected to evaluate products for its annual Awards of Excellence. This will be a piece of cake for innovative educators who are already using many of these products. This is an opportunity to share what you know about the products you love (or do not love) by evaluating at least five products by October 1. Evaluation criteria include the following: quality and effectiveness, ease of use, creative use of technology, and suitability for use in an educational environment. Each product will take about 30 minutes to evaluate. This is a fun way to get a sneak peek at some of the latest technology tools being announced in the K-12 arena.

    Judges will be recognized in the December Awards issue of Tech & Learning. To become an official Tech & Learning judge simply email cweiser@nbmedia.com with “Awards of Excellence Evaluation Candidate” in the subject line. Share that you are a reader of this blog in the body of your email.

    If this is of interest to you, check out the link to the winners of last year’s contest http://www.techlearning.com/article/26130.
  • The 6 Step Plan to Using Your 21st Century Voice to Make a Difference - When I speak with innovative educators about preparing students for the 21st century, some work in schools where they are off and running, but more often than I’d like, I’m met with frustration. It’s as though believing that school should look more like the world in which we live instead of a place students go to power down and disconnect is a futuristic notion.

    These educators (and their students) are frustrated reaching out with Tweets like this:

    I really really really don't understand banning all social networking between teachers/school staff and students.


    and emails like this.

    Email: Unfortunately, I will not be using cell phones with my students because: 1. My district bans them and 2. my 4th grade students don't have them. I would love to have access to cell phones especially for things like PollEverywhere, but at this point it isn't going to happen.


    Banning everything in school that students need to succeed outside of school is no longer okay. We are not preparing students for the world that existed back when Rip Van Winkle first took his slumber. As innovative educators we need to join, start, and keep the conversation (about how school should be) going. If you’re reading this blog, you’re already there, or on your way, but how can you help others take the steps necessary to start the movement to prepare this digital generation of connected and interactive learner wanna be’s trapped in the past behind school walls?

    While there are some educators in leadership roles and policy makers who are thinking outside the ban we need more to become active participants in our student’s digital worlds. When I presented at a superintendents conference about preparing digital learners they admitted they are not adequately prepared to make decisions about today’s digital learners and they were not participants in the Web 2.0 world in which many of our students live (or want to live).

    The good news is innovative educators are participants in the Web 2.0 world. Because you are, you have a stronger and louder voice then many of the policy makers and educational leaders making decisions for schools today. If you want to see a change, just start (or continue) using your voice and help others to do the same.

    This matters because whether they know it or not. Whether they try to silence you or not, educational leaders, policy makers, other educators, and parents need you to speak up and share your voice and your work. They need you to guide them.

    If you’re reading this, you’re already ahead of the game. Whether you realize it or not you are the key to getting the message out, breaking down the walls, lifting the bans and making a change. Just put one foot in front of the other and follow this simple six step plan.


    The 6 step plan for using your web 2.0 voice to make a difference.

    Join (Week 1)
    Start with the biggies. Join each of the following. It only takes a minute and it’s easy. Here’s where you can begin.
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • Classroom 2.0
    • Blogs you like
    Lurk (Week 2, 3, 4)
    What are people doing? Find out. Here’s how.
    • Take a look around.
    • Watch.
    • Learn.
    Converse (Week 5+)
    You’ve had a chance to see how things go and get used to the norms, protocols, and procedures. You’re ready to say something. Here are some ways to get started.
    • Reply on Twitter. Retweet. Participate in a chat i.e. #edchat
    • Comment on or like a status update on Facebook
    • Participate in a Classroom 2.0 discussion
    • Comment on a blog
    Initiate (sometime within the first six - twelve months)
    You’ve joined, looked around, and conversed. It’s time for you to get something started. Here are some ways to do that.
    • Tweet
    • Update your status
    • Start a discussion
    • Contribute a guest post to a blog
    Launch (If you feel ready)
    You may be ready to get things started on your own. If you’ve engaged in all the previous steps, congrats! You have joined the conversation. If you are ready to do even more you may want to launch your own Web 2.0 presence in one of these outlets.
    • A blog
    • A learning network
    • A Twitter chat
    • A Facebook Fan Page
    • A movement
    Share / Publish / Establish Your Digital Footprint (for the rest of your life)
    If you’ve engaged in most of the previous steps, you’re well on your way to establishing a digital footprint that shares your message and tells the world what you stand for. Now you just need to ensure the following are in place.
    • You know what you stand for.
    • You have a clear message to deliver.
    • You find those who might want to hear it.
    Once you begin following this plan, ask yourself each day, am I getting the world out? Am I a part of the conversation? Am I changing minds and policy? If you follow this plan, the answer, will be: “YES you are!”
  • Is Teaching a “Class” a Big Mistake? - Guest Post by Peter Kent. Edited by The Innovative Educator.

    GROUPING 20 – 32 STUDENTS TOGETHER FOR THEIR LEARNING IS WRONG, AND ASSIGNING THAT GROUP TO A TEACHER JUST AMPLIFIES THE PROBLEM.

    Earlier this year I awarded a National Australian Award that allowed me to work with a school in Napier, New Zealand where this photograph was taken. For 5 weeks I walked on this path everyday, I never understood why this path had a curve in it, there seemed to be no reason for it. However everyone who walked or rode on the path went along as if it was just another bump in the road with few even giving a second thought to what they were doing.

    Some things in life that we do that make no sense and could be delaying (or stopping) the achievement of our goals. This post addresses some one of the things we commonly do in schools that may seem like just another bump in the road, but may indeed be counter-productive and not be in the best interest of 21st century students.

    Currently in my part of the world down under we are rolling out a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) to all schools. As part of the roll-out we had to consider how individuals would be grouped within the environment. All the user accounts (teachers, students and soon parents) are automatically created from the data in our school management system. The default and easiest solution for organising these individuals would have been to also extract the class data from our school management system as well. Another words, every class that existed within our schools would have had an equivalent ‘online class or collaborative space’ created and automatically populated with the appropriate teacher and students.

    DOES A TRADITIONAL PLACE-BASED LEARNING STRUCTURE MAKE SENSE FOR A VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT?

    We believe it does not. Instead we turned off this automatic provisioning and gave each school the responsibility to create structures that suited their own context determined after discussion amongst the staff and students as to what would work best to meet learning goals.

    SO WHAT HAS HAPPENED….

    So far in a about 1/2 of our approximately 100 schools it appears there has been no discussion and little thought at the school level. This could be in large part because traditional administrators have no context for this type of discussion. In most cases the school administration just delegated the responsibility to an IT coordinator who has unthinkingly reproduced the existing school class structure in the new online environment. When comparing the emerging results from these schools to ones that have been innovative in their approach in finding new ways to group students, it is easy to see the problems and limitations of a ‘traditional school structure’ – both in the online and ‘real environment.

    Four Considerations for Virtual Learning Environments
    1. Learning is social
      Students need to learn from each other. There are many instances that show the great advantages of having students receiving comments and feedback on their work by their peers, rather than just by their teacher. A problem with class sizes of 25 – 30 is the peer group is often too small to be functional. Not everyone is ready to give feedback when a learner needs it. Larger group sizes are needed for peer review to work. From our experience groups of around 50 – 60 students should be considered as a minimum, groups of 90 – 120 or more is even better.
    1. Differentiation vs Personalisation
      Consider two students, one is an “A” student at Maths and a “C” student at English, the other an “A”student in English and “C” student in Maths. While almost all teachers would differentiate their programs to cater for this, it still make no sense to me why both of these both students should spend the same amount of instructional time of Maths and English. While we differentiate, we still have Maths Blocks, and Literacy Blocks.
      Virtual Learning Environments provide a platform that makes it easy to break away from this model, potentially having 3 - 5 maths groups, 3 – 5 literacy groups, and say 3 – 5 other groups in (LOTE, ART, MUSIC) all occurring at the same time….. Well, if there is a teacher who can manage, and provide sufficient ‘expert instruction’ in this context. The reality is few teachers could do this, however put 3 – 5 teachers in the ‘group,’ and it starts becoming practical and possible. Schools would be able to move from ‘curriculum differentiation’ to ‘curriculum personalisation’, which up until now has been an elusive dream in the vast majority of contexts.

    2. Teachers have expertise gaps
      There has been a lot of discussion of PLNs on this blog. PLNs work well when there is a collection of peers to reflect with, and a range of experts who can provide us with targeted guidance over a broad spectrum of topics. A sufficiently sized group of students provides the peers. However the nature student peer groups vs adult peer groups, is that student peer groups will not usually contain the range of experts needed to cover the relevant curriculum areas. You cannot expect students to use a constructivist approach to develop an understanding of calculus, or complex grammar in foreign languages. Teachers and other specialists are often needed to fill the role of ‘expert’ in many areas. The arrangement of 1 teacher / 1 group of students will deny the student PLNs of ‘experts’ in many areas, making their learning inefficient. Remember, VLE are virtual and we’re no longer limited by the artificial constraints of brick and mortar or the physical abilities of teacher-student, student-student, teacher-teacher interaction.. A grouping along the lines of at least 75 students / 3 teachers is much more effective. Teachers might also want to consider inviting experts from their PLNs to chime in as appropriate.
    1. Do students owe loyalty to schools, or should it be the other way around?
      Traditionally, when a student enrolls in a school they must be loyal to that school. That is they must participate in that school’s maths classes, play sport / music only for that school, etc. However shouldn’t schools be loyal to their students? Shouldn’t schools arrange for the most appropriate maths class or music instruction for their students, regardless what school it is delivered in? Can schools get past bureaucratic administrative constructs and allow grouping of students and teachers to happen across schools? This would enable schools to provide more opportunities for students and enable teacher expertise to be utilize effectively. Class materials and resources can be shared and students and teachers alike would be able to build meaningful passion/talent/interest-based learning networks rather than happenstance place-based ones. If we choose to walk through them, VLEs open new worlds and doors just waiting for us if we just take the key in hand and unlock the opportunities that await.
    What else?
    These are some of the numerous considerations. Scheduling (the largest hand-brake in schools) would be unnecessary and the teacher student ratio during ‘explicit teaching moments’ would fall, ironically gaining all the advantages of the traditional smaller class size initiatives.

    5 constructs that would need to change for this to become a reality
    1. Visionary educational leaders
      When deep thinking and strategic school leaders want something to happen it will. Without these people nothing will ever happen.
    2. Burden sharing
      For schooling structures to fully evolve there will have to be some ‘burden sharing’ between the ‘physical elements’ of a school, and the ‘virtual online’ elements of a school.
    3. Physical structure
      If physically the school is divided into small box like rooms, then that will be a problem, and the majority of these grouping would need to take place ‘online’ in the first instance.
    4. Removing the structure of ‘classes’ and a ‘schedule’
      This will require more intense and organisation of student learning in the virtual aspects of the school. If the school does not have a coordinated approach to their ‘online school’ then it will be unlikely to work either.
    5. Schools will need a coordinated learning management system (LMS).
      It is fine for one or two classes to set up blogs on blogger, or document sharing via Google Docs. But trying to get the whole school to work together using anything other than a well-organised LMS will likely prove difficult. This doesn’t mean that students would need to stop using Google Docs, etc, just that there needs to be something that will tie all the various groupings together, and keep track of student learning over life of their schooling.
    Is this happening yet in my patch of the world?
    Not yet, but we started the journey last March. Some schools are explicitly looking at grouping large numbers of students with multiple teachers in the ‘virtual aspects’ of their schools. Most of our schools are ‘collections of small boxes’, but like many places we are designing new schools that are more open and flexible.

    And quite frankly I cannot wait to see how things evolve.

    Update: On August 24, 2010: Our VLE surpassed Google as the most hit web site from within Public Schools in the Australian Capital Territory, clearly something is going right with students learning and being engaged within in a VLE


    Peter Kent works within a Public Ed Department in Australia. He is currently leading and coordinating the strategic delivery of professional development to support the use of tech in schools in all its different forms and flavours
  • The Secret To Getting Every Student Excited About Writing - I often lament how infrequent it is that student work is actually published as I did in these two posts.
    - Just Say Yes to Publishing! Exposing The Man Behind the Curtain If He’s Still Saying No.
    - 21st Century Educators Don’t Say, “Hand It In.” They say, “Publish It!

    During a recent outreach to my personal learning network about this issue Susan Ettenheim shed some light on the issue which is close to her heart. Together with Paul Allison, Susan is involved in a site called Youth Voices (a social network where students and teachers work together to create student-to-student conversations and collaborations). She shared this insightful idea which she and Paul had been discussing.

    A lot of student writing is of little interest to anyone beyond the teacher.


    So, I reflected about my own experience as a writer and teacher of writing and I realized just how on target this insight was. Upon reflection I remember clearly the day I accidentally got extremely reluctant writers enthusiastic about writing. It was 1997 and I was a first year teacher working as a library media specialist. I loved my work. I got to see students all day and help them learn and explore using books, videos, and a lab full of computers I had donated from a company who was upgrading their technology.

    On this day Dr. H’s class came to see me. This was a special education class of middle school students in Harlem with below average IQs. Writing was not high on their favorite activities list, yet on this day I had students that were begging for, no, demanding writing mini lessons, engaging in unprovoked peer review, turning to dictionaries and synonym finders, looking up grammar rules, etc. In fact, I just couldn’t pull them away from their writing. Not only that, once I unlocked the key to my new writing enthusiasts, I had them begging to come see me to do more writing all year long...even during lunch, before school, and after school.

    So, what got EVERY student so excited about writing?


    I helped my students set up email accounts. A revolutionary concept back in 1997 and one that is still elusive in some schools today. I told the students what their email addresses would be and walked them through setting up the accounts with their own passwords. The accounts followed the same format so they easily knew one another’s email address. I had tossed names in a hat to get things started and the students had to write to the person whose name they drew sharing something they either admire about that person or have learned from that person. The person they wrote to should respond in kind.

    The next thing I knew I had flying fingers in a silent classroom except for the excited squeal as one student or another was informed, “You’ve got mail.” All the kids were writing to each other and excited as heck when they got mail. They cared what they wrote and wanted it to sound good. Some wrote emails to family members who didn’t live with them and sometimes did not have consistent mailing addresses. Students were able to help their families set up email so they could stay in touch and they knew places in all communities (i.e. the library) where they could access the internet. Sometimes students just wrote to their parents about something that happened n school that day. Students were excited to connect with each other as well as their families like never before and the momentum never died. The rules of written communication followed that of spoken communication and students knew there were consequences for inappropriate behavior. The students didn’t want this privilege taken away and we didn’t have a single issue of misuse.

    I then remembered another really popular writing activity. I had a 5th grade class that had a lot of complaints about the school. I invited the students to write a letter that would go to the school principal and district leaders. I wish I had saved this! They all wrote the improvements they’d like to see and submitted those. These became bullets in the letter and as a class we came up with an introduction and conclusion. The letter was sent and a follow up presentation was scheduled to share the student’s proposed ideas.

    Both of these writing activities obviously have something in common.
    • They are real.
    • They affect kids lives.
    • They have real audiences.
    • The desire to write comes from the student, not the teacher.
    How much of the writing kids do in school has these qualities?

    How can we change this?


    An idea comes to mind for me. What if we used the real mediums in which kids write to teach literacy in those areas. Perhaps a curriculum could include something like this:

    Ten types of writing your students will want to do
    1. Email writing
    2. Facebook updates and comments
    3. Tweeting and replying
    4. Discussion Boards - Replying and initiating topics
    5. Commenting on blogs
    6. Writing a guest post on a blog
    7. Commenting in newspapers or magazines about subjects of interest
    8. Writing an article for a newspaper or magazine about a subject of interest
    9. Writing to persuade someone / some place to do something you want them to do
    10. Writing to teach others how to do something and knowing how to reach those who care
    Not every student will want to engage in all of the above types of writing, but what if instead of an artificial curriculum map filled old-style writing that wasn't interactive, we did something different. What if instead we let authentic purpose and passion drive our writing curriculum. What if we let students help decide the kind of writing that is important to them? What if we let students write for reasons they’d need to write in the real world.

    While these suggestions might seem to apply to secondary school students only, there is application for younger students as well. In fact my fourth and fifth graders were some of my most avid emailers back in 1997.

    However, it seems it may be more difficult to develop authentic writing experiences for younger students, but there certainly are ways. I think back to when I started my blog. Every post had an audience of at least one person in my mind and that was okay. Instead of writing something and emailing it to that person, I wrote something and sent them the link to my blog. Every student has a built in audience beyond the teacher who genuinely cares about what they have to say and that is their friends and family. What if we shifted the idea of teacher as contrived audience and always asked students to think of a real person(s) to think of before they wrote and their writing would be a gift to that person(s). In some cases this audience might also serve as a peer reviewer and someone, other than the teacher, to talk about their writing to. Imagine students talking to their parents, grandparents, siblings, etc. about a piece they’re writing for them. There is a real person who cares. This person in essence also becomes the teacher’s helper and perhaps even an editor for the student. If this person is family, you’re also working to build the home/school connection.

    Now, what about the use of social media with young ones? Not possible, right? Well not really. Early childhood students are closely connected to one of the largest group users of social media. Their parents. In fact, this is exactly why first grade teacher Erin Schoening decided to start using Facebook with her first grade students and their families. She has had tremendous success using this platform as a communication tool with students assigned daily to update an authentic audience of families as to what is going on in their class. Ms Schoening and students parents were constant writing guides in helping to share a well-written message to the classes audience.

    The key to unlocking writing passion is simple. We must shift our thinking and move from viewing students as people who we are teaching to learn to write and instead move to regarding students as real writers who we are supporting in their craft.

    So how will you be doing this with your students this year?
  • Advice to Teachers from High School Student Who Created an iPhone App On His Own - Editor’s note: I met Blake Copeland at Alan November’s #BLC10 conference and asked him to share his insights here at The Innovative Educator. Blake is an incoming sophomore at Highland Park High School in Dallas, Texas. He is also the developer of the iPhone app DayFinder available at the App Store.

    When real learning and creating happens away from school

    My name is Blake Copeland. I met Ms. Nielsen at Alan November’s #BLC10 conference last month and she subsequently mentioned me in her blog in a post entitled Just Say Yes to Publishing! Exposing The Man Behind the Curtain If He’s Still Saying No. Ms. Nielsen said her readers would be interested in how I learned to write an iPhone/iPod touch app and how we can use the same learning techniques in school. It is my honor to share with you a few of my thoughts...

    Before I dive in, let me give you a little background about myself. I was born and raised in Dallas, Texas (Go Cowboys!) and went to a classical christian school where computers and technology were not part of the curriculum. My interest in computers started at a young age; in second grade, my uncle helped me build a home computer. For me, maybe because it was the forbidden fruit (since I couldn’t use computers at school), I became more interested in technology and began working on our home computer in my spare time. In 6th grade, my friends and I began making movies after school and editing them on the computer. This was when I initially realized the power of technology. I immediately became interested in computers and began using them at home.

    Fast forward three years later when I entered Highland Park High School. Halfway through the year, I finally had the idea to make something someone could use on a computer, or in my case, an iPhone app. I went to my high school to see if they offered anything that could help me create an iPhone app but they had no such program. I was alone in trying to build an iPhone app so I went back home and studied. I went online and taught myself the computer language, Objective-C. Two and a half months later, I released DayFinder on the App Store as an app that does date calculations and finds trivia about specific dates in history.

    Takeaways from building my app
    1. Self study
      I look at what I did as a self study program, where I gave myself permission to pursue the subject about which I was passionate. In many ways, the school already provides subjects that match up with students’ passions, such as science, math, history, etc. However, where students’ passions don’t match up, it would be great if the school could provide an environment where students could be educated and encouraged in their passions. The biggest challenge is finding enough students to construct a class in that subject.
    1. Applying knowledge
      Real learning takes place at the point of application. In other words, learning takes place when the student takes what he/she has read or studied and puts it into practice in the real world. For example, I personally learned Objective-C not so much by reading and studying it, but by trying to put it into practice. To put this into the classroom, I think students could learn a lot more by having project oriented classes.
    1. School support was lacking
      Part of the struggle I had with my “self studies” was that I had no one to ask questions (with the occasional exception of hearing from a remote blogger). Much of my learning came from struggling with problems and correcting my failures.
    What I think happens today in school is that failures are looked down upon. But because we fail at something it can end up being the reason why we learn it so well. I think it could be liberating to students if they felt the freedom to fail as part of the learning process without the consequence of a devastating grade or killing their GPA. I’m not saying a student shouldn’t be assessed on performance. However, in my experience, failures are a big part of learning.

    My hope is that educators will strive to provide a learning environment where students are challenged to put their book knowledge into practice in practical real life situations. To me knowledge without application equals wasted effort. I hope some of my reflections and thoughts are helpful and give educators some ideas they can apply with their students. I’m thankful to have the opportunity to share some of my ideas with with innovative educators. I am looking forward to new challenges and applications this year!

    Interested in Day Finder? Read all about it.

    Description

    Ever wished you knew what the day was on a particular date. Doesn't it take forever to calculate that August 6th, 2011 is a Saturday? Ever wanted to know what events happened on a certain date? Well DayFinder is here to help. With DayFinder you can scroll to a date and find out what day it is; you can then optionally go the a website and find historic events and significant birthdays regarding that date. You can also easily find the number of days between two dates or add days to a date. You can even store dates for quick reference. DayFinder is ideal for finding trivia related to a particular date.

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    FEATURES:
    - Uses a simple date scroller
    - Takes you back to the current date with a simple shake of your iPhone or iPod Touch
    - Find out what historic events, birthdays, and significant deaths are on a certain date (requires internet connection)
    - Customize the interface
  • 10 Reasons Cell Phones Should Be Allowed In Schools - I came across this gem shared in a post last year from Vicki Davis which I thought readers of this blog would appreciate. She shares 10 reasons cell phones should be allowed in schools. Visit Making the Case for Cell Phones in Schools for a description and details around each of the reasons below. Here is a recap of the list.

    Ten reasons to get off the cell phone ban wagon
    1. Cell Phones Can Save Us Money
    2. Cell Phones Can Help Students Be More Organized
    3. It Makes Kids More Safe
    4. It Allows Sensitive Issues to be Kept Private
    5. It Alleviates Strain on the Network.
    6. It Alleviates Strain in the IT Department
    7. It Speeds Up Information Retrieval
    8. It Allows Us to Teach Kids Digital Responsibility and Citizenship
    9. It Sets a Model for Effective Change and Innovation
    10. You're fighting a losing battle.
    Davis also provides ideas for dealing with the use of cell phones in schools which she explains simply, “Just like we "deal" with scissors.” Read the complete post here for just how to do that.