"A recent a post from coolcatteacher (“Get Past Teaching Apps”) got me thinking about how to approach technology “instruction,” but it’s honestly been something that I’ve been thinking about for awhile. Her post is about what she does with kids in the classroom, but with our upcoming summer technology workshops, I am wondering if we should shift our focus for teachers....
With all the talk of transforming education rather than reforming education, maybe we should use technology workshops as a way to look at “new” methods of instruction based on brain & learning research."
Please read her whole post - -it is right at the heart of what many of us involved in PD at our schools are thinking. (Me too!)
What started as a mini comment evolved into a full blown blog post, so I'm cross posting my comment to her blog here.
My response to Kellie's questions:
"This is a tough one -- I love teaching teachers and covering things that are useful to them like SmartArt in the new Office -- they love that. But in addition to smart art -- classtools.net would be a great addition with its graphic organizers.
Also, having them "find" things to do the job after they've gotten a start. I believe in teaching my students how to learn new software and have a book in the final stages on this topic and how I do it in my classroom.
But, it is a struggle with teachers. It needs to be appropriate to the learning style of the teachers there. Here are some things I think teachers should be creating:
1) Use netvibes or igoogle to create a personal learning network on their subject of interest.
2) Have teachers look through their PLN and blog their thoughts on what they've learned in a private Ning set up for the PD needs of your school. This is where they are to share what they've learned.
3) Teach teachers the basics of blogging including the all important embed code and teach them to embed videos into their blog post and share based upon that using teachertube and other tools such as that.
4) Have teachers take photographs and upload them to the Ning. If they have a cell phone, teach them how to do that.
5) Finally, have an assortment of samples and let them pick one for their "project" - it could be voicethread, classtools.net, etc. but they are to create a lesson plan using the tool and create their sample of how this would look (a demo) -- blog it and embed it in their blog and have others evaluate it. (Or, have them share it in another space that they are already familiar with if Ning doesn't work, like the areas built into united streaming or your internal Moodle.)
Once they are connected and sharing -- have them listen to a podcast on edtechtalk or k12online and report back to the group.
I think PD should be less about 10 consecutive hours in class wearing out oneself and retaining nothing than about connecting teachers to one another and to the experts in their discipline and getting them comfortable with sharing in online spaces.
I'd rather have a 10 hour commitment with perhaps a 3 hour orientation to the spaces - one hour a week for 4 weeks and then a 3 hour conclusion, sharing, presentation get excited time to discuss how it would work in class.
We need to move PD to become part of our daily and weekly practice -- reading our RSS reader, listening to podcasts as we wash dishes -- learning from others and sharing what we're doing -- PD is evolving and it looks as if you are on the cusp of that sharing -- great job!"
I'd like to finish with this, if you want to build Habits of ongoing learning then you need to make PD a habit for everyone from the administrators, teachers, and curriculum directors. Cramming everything into a 10 hour session is the easy answer and the modus operandi but not the way to sustainable transformation.
If we need to change our practice as teachers we also need to change the way that PD is delivered.
How many times can we sit here and listen to the sage on our stage talk about how we aren't to be the sage on the stage any more.
There is a huge double standard in professional development that needs to stop. Conferences, professional development classes and ways we teach teachers need to evolve to match best practices too... is it any wonder why teachers aren't learning?
New Interactive Whiteboard for Under $100 using a WiiMote
Saturday, May 10, 2008
This one came across twitter when Pat Sine said she had just set up her new interactive whiteboard with her Wiimote. I asked what she meant and started getting feedback on this.
I love how he projects this onto a flat table and demonstrates that anything may be turned interactive with this configuration. He also demonstrates that if you use TWO pens it is a multi touch interactive system. Wow!
He also uses the same system to turn an LCD display into an interactive whiteboard also.
A Wiimote (it only uses the infrared camera built into the front of the controller which is sensitive to only sources of infrared light -- if you understand this, you'll understand how this works. One then only has to create "pens" that emit infrared light.)
The Pen (an infrared LED, a push button and a power supply (which could be a battery source, a normal ink pen such as a BIC with the ink portion removed and glue -- my favorite pen, however, is on flickr by Alan Melecon and he used a thick highlighter marker.)
A Stand or Tripod for Wimote (must be close enough to take into account that it has a field of view of only about 45 degrees but far enough to see the whole projected image on the board.)
Bluetooth adapter for the computer (You have to connect the wiimote to the computer over bluetooth.)
You ALREADY need a projector, a FLAT SURFACE of any kind (even a wall), and the projector should be hooked to something (like a computer) - this of course wasn't included in their costs.
This is just so cool and I'd like to see some photos of teachers who have set this up. If you have one just upload to flickr and tag wiimote whiteboard like all of the other people who have already done this to add your photo to the link above.
Honestly, I don't think I can wait to try this out for this simple reason. I could use this method to allow my students to draw on their screens without having to buy tablets. It would just give them another way to interact with their computers. I think I would buy some sort of protective shield for the LCD.
OK, lets hear from everyone who has actually done this!
While I'm not a personal fan of Richard Dawkins, I find this flick photograph with hotspots pointing to all of the apps on his computer fascinating. It demonstrates how any time we are in public, people may not hone in on what we think they are "there for" and may come away with something entirely different in this mashable, amazing, world.
The online word processor from Adobe. This is one to watch because of testing and future compatibility with Adobe Air, a "plugin" that will let you take things offline and be online, although the word processor runs in a web browser. We are much closer to this environment.
Microsoft Office live is an online extension of Microsoft Office. I'm going to test this so that I can compare to other services. My students told me today, "If you have us test and compare and contrast, you should at least look at this as well." OK, I'm going in.
If you have Word on site it could be a place to collaborate with those who want a familiar environment. I'll let you know!
(Oh, and this also links to Office Live Small Business to create professional websites and manage your business. Interesting.
Great discussion emerging on Jon Becker's blog about free speech and blogging of public employees. I learned as much from the comments as the blog post itself.
What is Technology Fluency? It is not just about being able to use "geek speak" without being overwhelmed.
I define technological fluency as "the ability to determine and use the appropriate technology tool(s) for the task at hand in a manner that allows seamless transfer of created objects and documents to flow easily between the selected tools without outside intervention."
What would technology fluency look like? So, a student would be fluent in word processing if they could sit down at whatever word processor is at hand and use it to accomplish a task.
Or, if they determined that particular word processor would not accomplish the task, they could export or move the item created in one processor to another. (Sometimes being fluent means knowing something ISN'T working and where to look for an alternative. Open Source, web app, etc.)
A fluent student would not be tripped up or roadblocked by an obstacle, but be able to move over and around hurdles and make innovations as appropriate.
I hesitate now to even use the word "word processor" with them as now wikis, blogs, and other methods of composition and publication are now available. And if they are writing a screenplay or novel, they may use Scrivener ($39.95 - MAC) or yWriter (Free - PC). It is not about the fact that you are writing but WHAT you're writing.
Pasting from Word into a Wiki and Missing the Point I cringe because some students beginning to wiki compose "their" work in Microsoft Word and want to copy and paste it into wikispaces -- the links don't work and it is not a collaborative document. (The other editors don't know what is there and students often "sign" their work -- aurgh!)
They're writing but missing the point of WHAT and HOW they are to be writing. Yes, they made it work but at the expense of their own grade which accounts for collaboration and engagement.
I find that these students are those who were taught that Microsoft Word is the end-all-be-all for word processing.It does many things wonderfully, but to say it is a uni-purpose software wonder is wrong. (I've seen students try to use it to make photo albums!)
Although I have "dug up" some courses on technology fluency, these definitions don't really capture what I'm looking for (and others who understand the concept.)
I think a student is technologically fluent (and savvy) if I can stand up in the front of my classroom and say something like this:
Discussion #1
"Del.icio.us is a social bookmarking service. It means that we can share bookmarks in ways never before imagined. Sign up for service and add a few bookmarks make your observations about what you think it does and then we'll share what we've learned."
Activities in Class
The student who already knew how to add extensions to firefox would go ahead and download and add the del.icio.us extension and begin using it. They would go ahead and notice and begin tagging a little bit.
The social student would notice that there is a way to "network" and share and would begin exploring bookmarks from others. They'll all converse and share with one another.
Discussion #2 We would discuss and they would share what they learned, which may mean that day that I didn't have to "teach" anything but rather, guide the conversation. (I still make sure my objectives are covered, but if they originate the conversation it is much better.)
We would go on to discuss tagging, delicious networks, using a standard tag when you want to aggregate (like on horizon) rss feeds, and other examples.
The student who had already learned about setting up their rss reader would use their standard tags for their topic to add it to their PLN on the topic at hand.
Don't compartmentalize knowledge So, this is exactly what my professor Dr. Adler used to stress with us at Georgia Tech when he taught us the 'information conversion" process. That converting information to KNOWLEDGE meant that we would add and apply the knowledge we already had to what we were learning.
He stressed and stressed that we had to get past compartmentalizing knowledge --
"History and science and math are not discrete subjects,"
he would say (when he wasn't asking questions Socratically)
"they are invariably interconnected. If you can combine what you have learned in these subjects and then allow the new information to become a part of what you already KNOW and relate it to what is already there, you will be able to see the world in a way that others simply cannot. You will be able to LEARN on your own as a result of interacting with your world and you will be SUCCESSFUL at it."
He was right and became the single most influential teacher in my life. (By the way, he NEVER gave a test and I can recall the entire subject matter of my three courses with him!)
So, likewise, word processing, spreadsheets, wikis, blogs, presentations, rss, photography, video, are inexorably linked and no longer discrete.
Focus on what are you trying to DO not the tool to USE. (In the south we always say that "there is more than one way to skin a cat.")
It is a toolbox I talked to a teacher recently who was frustrated. At her school, they take the approach that once a software program is used that it should never be "taught" again. So, they do iMovie in 7th grade and master it and are never "taught" or even allowed to use iMovie again for any reason. Period.
It has been "taught" move on, they say.
I must say that the idea of "teaching" iMovie or any software program is totally preposterous. But the idea of saying "OK, you know it, let's move on never to return" is equally ludicrous.
Do shop teachers have "hammer" class? It is kind of like a shop teacher teaching "hammer."
The shop teacher would teach HOW TO USE the hammer and which instances it may be used as well as other tools for the tool belt.
Once a tool was understood, it became part of the permanent tool belt for that student and further delineations would happen as claw hammers, ball ping hammers, and all sizes of hammers would be available.
Although these hammers are available, it is just not necessary for the shop teacher to TEACH every one, but to have a wide variety of projects with meaning and a some guidance in the selection of the proper tool. (Shop teachers don't just have them hammer nails into a board for no purpose -- they MAKE things that will have a USE.)
And they'd also need many other tools... screwdrivers, table saws, etc.
Also, when a tool that could be dangerous (like the aforementioned tablesaw) was introduced, safety would become a topic of discussion with vigilant monitoring by the teacher during its use (and all subsequent uses) to make sure that the students did not do themselves any harm. (like public publishing of ANY kind) Do you see the parallels with technology?
Now, using iMovie is certainly harder than using a hammer and would take a little more time to help with familiarity. But we still don't TEACH iMovie any more than we have hammer class.
How do we "teach" it then?
What I'd rather see is that a movie needs to be created for a specific purpose... a math project, science project, history project, etc. (meaningful project) Then, we work towards capturing the video, learning about verbal and nonverbal communications.
(Using something like the amazing AFI materials which are a part of the Discovery United Streaming materials if you have a subscription to this service which is a cornerston of my classroom.)
Then, work with iMovie to create a product that would accomplish the objective. Point out how still photographs AND movies may be edited.
Once students have a comfort level with iMovie, then it should be a permanent part of the technology tool belt of that student. It should be something they are comfortable returning to if need be, or maybe not. Maybe they learn another tool that will better accomplish what they want to do.
So, history teachers would say,
"You will create a multimedia artifact of your choice to demonstrate your knowledge of ___. Embed it on this page I've made for the project."
Then, the history teacher would not need knowledge of iMovie but would work with the technology area to make the resources available and have advice for students on tool selection from some good people. The history teacher shouldn't have to be an expert on iMovie to have a project created in it. But students should also be able to do a narrated powerpoint, photostory, slidecast, animoto or any selection of their choice.
Give them experience with a wide variety of tools and then LET THEM CHOOSE.
A look around my room today The wide use of tools was apparent to me today as I watched my second period class work on their videos for Horizon this year.
These are the applications I saw in one class period with 14 students:
PowerPoint - making animations to run in Camtasia (my FAVORITE screen capture program) to capture the screen and animations and make an avi file to pull into the movie program.
Animoto - to make a movie out of photos created in PhotoShop and Powerpoint to pull down off the web using our Video capture procedures and pull into a movie program.
Pinnacle Studio - to use sound effects and create some cool transitions between one movie made in PhotoStory and another made in Movie maker.
Second Life - using a screen capture program to capture the interactions of characters for the movie to create machinima for editing.
QuickTime Pro - To convert a file that was too large into a more compressed format for uploading to the Ning.
Quick Time Pro - To rip the audio file off of a video that the student made in order to allow them to put a still shot in between.
Green Screen Filming - Some students were filming with their cameras on the green screen so they could use pinnacle to use the chroma key feature to pull out the background and put their actor in another place.
Zamzar - Converting video downloaded from the Ning into the proper format for their use.
Delicious - pulling out some standard tags and reviewed the bookmarks sent to them from around the world on their topic.
Netvibes - Checking on all of their spaces on the project with one quick look.
I saw filming on digital cameras, cell phones, webcams, and our single Hi Def video camera.
Need I go on... and I could. Corel Guidemaker to rip the video from the Hi Def video camcorder. Logitech QuickCam software and avatar masks. One student imported the sound effect library from Pinnacle into Movie Maker. Google Docs where one had taken the instructions off the wiki page for horizon and put it in a permanent place for reference.
and I could go on.
You get my point, I hope.
And remember this, I spend some time on Movie maker but the rest of these were just quick -- "This is what this program does" kind of demonstrations. Most of it is me working one on one with them, helping them select the tools, and them teaching one another.
Is it chaos... maybe, a little. Are they learning and communicating -- absolutely.
They are fluent. At the end of their 5 semesters with me they are technologically fluent (I would say that they are fluent at the end of 2 semesters... but they are world class fluent (ok geeks -- but they'd never admit it) by the end of 5 semesters.) What should be in this technology toolbelt?
Well, I think that is going to be a future book but lets take a look at the things I teach my students in 9th grade. Their "efolio" documentation of their year with me is due next Friday (7 days from the writing of this post.)
Let's look at one student -- she's documented 27 major areas of proficiency thus far:
Note that students list things in which they have demonstrated proficiency.
NOTE: They don't list every website they go to, however, Wikipedia is listed because she has demonstrated that she knows the proper use of Wikipedia in her coursework with me. Youtube is listed because she learned to create a video and upload it to youtube. A student who looked at youtube wouldn't have demonstrated proficiency there.
It is about proficiency and fluency. I'm sure she'll end up with more. Should we have spent more time in the workbook? Maybe I didn't spend so much time when they were in their "Microsoft Word workbook." I could have taken the whole year and done every page of this workbook. Instead, I've covered 75% of the book PLUS a whole lot more.
They've blogged publicly and in semi-private spaces while learning how to burn their feeds in feedburner and track stats in statcounter. Many of them have continued to maintain their blogs since we moved on in December.
They've investigated digital citizenship with new friends in Austria and Qatar and are now teaching our elementary and middle school a digital citizenship course that would make a professional developer proud. (Each of our students 4th - 8th grade will receive one hour of digital citizenship training as part of the digiteen action project by next Friday!)
They know how to IM and group skype... ok I'll stop.
What the future won't hold! The sad fact is that everything I've named here will be supplanted by something else in the next five years. Everything including the PC's that will one day make us laugh!
In five years these students may be using handheld devices for most tasks except making movies and graphics.
They will talk into their devices and type into them.
We cannot fathom what the future holds for them but we know what it won't hold.
It won't hold the software that we taught them this year in its present fashion.
So why teach it at all?
I groan at the elite private school down the road that cut out their entire "computer" program because of this very fact. "The kids can come in and learn Word or PowerPoint before school if they don't know it," they say.
They replaced it with Latin.
We are truly still in the dark ages of computer use. Technology is still in its infancy.
However, if we
focus on tasks to be accomplished
focus on how to select tools and how to self-learn those tools without a lot of outside intervention.
focus on creativity and innovation and give time for meaningful technology-enabled projects that push the ability levels of students and are related to core-subjects or current events.
require students to research, learn practical guidelines for digital citizenship and safety, and how to publish safely...
teach them to think and construct personal learning networks AND methodologies to bring others easily into those networks of sharing on a common topic...
help them be unafraid and understand the file formats and basic codes that underpin all of the sharing (including RSS)...
help them become comfortable in virtual worlds and understand that they are interacting with avatars that represent real people...
help them understand that online activities have offline consequences...
I believe we will see the technologically fluent student emerge, ready to conquer the world.
Learning to change If a carpenter went back 1,000 years he would be able to find a hammer. It may look different and be out of different materials but it would be recognizable and usable to him.
And if we expose them to a wide variety of tools NOW (rather than just three or four) they are a whole lot more likely to be able to handle the CHANGE that is before them because we taught them how to change from one tool to the other successfully today.
While others debate teachers have jobs to do, until the final bell rings, we're never through.
Perhaps you'll remain and be here when I return with a burst but for me, as always, my classroom comes first!
(I miss blogging and somewhere in the back of my mind, I hope I won't "lose" readers, however, if I'm going to do this thing for the long haul (as I plan to) - I have to be a binge blogger, I guess.)
Flat Classroom Workshop - July 8 and 9th with Julie Lindsay and me!
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Julie and I are very excited about the Flat Classrooms workshop we'll be holding in St. Louis on July 8th and 9th.
I'm getting excited, because the enrollments are starting to come in and it is an amazingly diverse group of teachers, researchers, and maybe even an admin or two.
Digg/coolcatteacher
Flickr/coolcatteacher
Linkedin/coolcatteacher
Twitter/coolcatteacher
YouTube/coolcatteacher
Del.icio.us/brightideasguru
Wikipedia/brightideasguru
Upcoming/Vicki Davis
Technorati/brightideasguru
Ustream/coolcatteacher
Blog/coolcatteacher
Wow2 Show/Edtechtalk.com
As part of our curriculum, my students use as many application programs as we can get our hands on!
It is not just about being able to use "geek speak" without being overwhelmed.
It does many things wonderfully, but to say it is a uni-purpose software wonder is wrong. 
"taught" again. So, they do iMovie in 7th grade and master it and are never "taught" or even a
