Technology In Education Online

I arrived wondering what I will discover during my time here.  The trip down went fairly well.  For those who can relate, my anxiety of getting from school to the airport was happily relieved when I was sitting in the airport reading a book on my Kindle.  It is nice having a Kindle to pull out and easily carry around my book collection without taking up a lot of space in my carry-on backpack.  Also, when going out to dinner once I arrived being able to take it with me to read sure makes it nice! 

Getting ready to go I fine tuned my presentation, The Project-based 2.0 Buffet! Eating it all up!  In presenting in the fall at CECA 2009 conference on this topic, I wanted to refine what I presented to make it a valuable experience for those that will attend the presentation at FETC 2010.  I believe that in any presentation it is imperative to be open to changing directions according to what the audience is looking for.    I think in the presentations I’ve attended in the past, I’ve always worried when the presenter will not move away from their PowerPoint presentation.  It is as if  the audience doesn’t even need to be there for the person to continue their presentation.  I know I’m in trouble when I see the presenter being chained to their laptop.  They dare not venture being arms reach of the laptop.  And to make matters worst, they basically read their bullet points to you. 

So as I get ready for the confercence, I will see how far as stay on my presentation and how far a stray from my initial thinking on what I will present.

After traveling to various conferences across the country, a similar message has been told to me regarding Web 2.0 tools, “These are really great tools! But our school district doesn’t allow us to use them.” John Dewey stated, “In more primitive societies at least what is learned is put into practice, whereby in formal institutions often the educational process is far removed (abstract and bookish).”

And so as I prepare to present at upcoming conferences this fall, these words echo in my mind.  If we are to move beyond this restrictive environment we’ve placed on students, we are faced with a daunting task of relinquishing control.  We continually define new ways to distance ourselves from our students.  By placing more and more restrictions on these tools we move further away from our students connecting with their learning.

On top of this, we must look for ways to not create more of a digital divide in the utilization of these Web 2.0 tools.  We must discover ways to offer these tools to students that may not have a computer and Internet access at home.  Can we move progressively forward and ignore the possibility of losing more students due to this fact?  These are difficult times but we must find ways to put this technology in the hands of all students.  With the use of netbooks and the cooperation of Internet service providers we can move forward to this dream.

Here we were talking about opening up schools to current technologies yet when attempting to go to several sites while here at the high school I was blocked from using them. A couple notes about blocking – YouTube, Ning.com, Web-based email, TeacherTube, SchoolTube.  How are we going to bring this gap between students everyday life experiences and the experience at school?  Alan November gave a great presentation about the use of various Web 2.0 tools. Yet, I’m here at the conference and couldn’t even use them!

It isn’t a knock on the conference location. It is more of a reflection on how restrictive we are in our schools.  It is a subject that we don’t talk about even though it needs to be discussed.  Where you might ask?  Anywhere there are administrators placing restrictions on their use.  It is as if the emperor isn’t wearing clothes and no one wants to say anything.

I think several components come into play regarding Web 2.0 restrictions. One is power and control. The other is fear of the unknown.  Let’s talk about the first one: Power and control.  If I restrict the use of these tools I am in a powerful position.  I am fulfilling my responsibility as an administrator.  And if I don’t know what these Web 2.0 tools do, what would it mean if allowed myself to be vulnerable to the statement “I don’t know what Web 2.0 is.”  The other part of not knowing is it leaves you susceptible to dismissing the use of Web 2.0 tools.  If I don’t know I simply can state that we restrict the use of these tools.

For technology coordinators, I can easily show that I’m doing my job if I can show all of these sites and Web 2.0 tools that are restricted.  See I’m doing my job!  Much easier to explain then if I just leave open the use of these tools.  It helps with job security!

We must open up the dialogue to discuss these issues.  If we don’t teach students how to use these tools appropriately who will?

I’m sitting at the Technology Showcase here in Atlantic City watching the excitement people have shown learning about how using a Moodle and Joomla in their school can open up new opportunities.  The major complaint I’ve heard from people is how restrictive their school districts are when it comes to allowing Web 2.0 tools.

We have to move away from this idea.  Students are leaving us behind when it comes to this technology.  My question is where is the evidence to show that allowing students access to these tools is detrimental?  Instead of restricting students, we should be teaching students how to use these tools responsibly. 

Another thought is how much is this related to not really knowing what all of this about.  Sometimes when people don’t know their first tendency is to lock everything down.  Don’t they understand that it really is OK not knowing everything. In this day and age how can anyone expect to know all of this?

Finally, I think in some instances it really is about power and control. If I dictate what is allowed and what isn’t allowed I am in a very powerful position. This is sometimes the unspoken word behind the reason we become so restrictive. Information is power.

Somehow we must find ways to reach administrators and technology coordinators to break down these barriers.  There needs to be a reeducation of decision makers and a grass-roots effort by educators to change this attitude towards Web 2.0 tools. Those that restrict these tools are missing out on a great opportunity to create a more constructivist approach to education.

OK, it’s time to vent a little…

My list at conferences is a small one but one I need to state:

1. Not enough plugs – I know I can run on battery power but running from presentation to presentation, going through the main gathering hallways, it’s a bit of a mad scramble and dash to see who gets to the plug first.  Please, please, please more places to plug in.
2. Hotels charging for Internet service – I get nickeled and dimed to death with additional services. Come on now!  I know it can be done at no charge. I’ve stayed at many hotels around the country that offer Internet service for free. So stop charging me $12.95 per day!
3.  Another network bug – Please provide consistent network connections during the conference. Yes, I like being able to be wireless wherever I go around the conference, but when I keep getting dropped off the network or have a really slow connection it makes it frustrating.

So there you have it. I’m done. Just some things I had to let go of.   Has anyone else had these issues? Let me know.

I’m ending the first couple days here at the conference. It has been a very busy two days.  I ran a full-day workshop on Mondy, “Getting Started on the Moodle”.  Tuesday, I completed a half-day workshop on Joomla and just finished a presentation, “Moodle and 21st Century DETAILS: A Constructivist Approach to Teaching.”So as I reflect on the first couple of days, what are my thoughts?  Well, after completing these workshops I am more convinced that giving educators the opportunity to participate in the process is critical. My afternoon presentation on reflecting on how you need to take a more constructivist approach while using a Moodle. One interesting point came when I was discussing about the Workshop component whereby students could participate in peer evaluation and grading, following the guidelines of a rubric. One teacher emphatically stated she would never allow students to participate in grading.  The bottom line for me was her not having a level of trust in students to fairly access another students work.  Now here is the rub, why can’t teachers trust their students to be responsible and accountable? The other question is: Is there a power and control issue here?  I think, at times, it is really hard for some teachers to empower their students.  Do they see their role as commander and chief and students don’t have enough expertise to enable to handle the responsibility?  My thought here is, and it may relate or not, we don’t  teach students what is involved in the process of working in groups yet we throw students together a lot of times and expect them to handle the responsibility.   All I’d ask people to do is to reflect back on their own experiences of group work in school and ask the question: how did it work for you?  I’ve heard from educators the thing they disliked most when going back to school was having a class where the instructor would state that there would be group projects during the semester.  Inevitability, i would hear such statements as: “I wound up doing most of the work” or “Person A didn’t do anything. What happened? What went wrong?  The biggest problem is that we never teach, and perhaps because we were never taught our self, what makes up the group process. How group dynamics work. How you look at members or potential members and determine where their strengths and interests are and grouping students based on their strengths and interests.  Why do group members usually get disinterested? Usually, my experience has been due to people in the group being the controllers.  They want the project to go their way.  On the other extreme you have those that simply tune out due to feeling the group wasn’t hearing what they had to say. So how does this relate to peer review, which was the main point in begin with?  In today’s world students are going to be working collaboratively.  They will also have to know how to peer review.  So if we make the same fatal error with not teaching peer review, we are going to repeat the same errors we have made with group projects. We must step away from this thinking that my role as an educator is to hold all power and control in the classroom.  We have to open up our classrooms to be interactive, peer-review, and restructure group dynamics.

I decided to announce my first annual, maybe semi-annual, maybe when I feel like it, technology awards. My awards are based on the 4 catfish system. Four catfish means it rates the highest achievement in technology and it’s uses in the educational sector.

 - Great program, product, or service would recommend highly

- Good program, product, or service would recommend

 - OK, but I’d wait awhile for improvements

 - A real stinker

 My first award and recipient of the four catfish award goes to JingProject. What started out as a free beta download has now become an official TechSmith product.   I’ve used Camtasia Studio and SnagIt for a number of years. Over the past year or two I’ve reconsidered how often I’ve put together tutorials for students and teachers. Now with JingProject, they can do it themselves. On JingProject’s one year anniversity, Techsmith is offering even more storage space (2 GB) plus 2 GB of transfer sound. I can’t wait to see what lessons students put together using JingProject this coming year.

 Another  four catfish award goes to Moodle.org. What started out as a collaboration with three teachers has now taken me around the country promoting the use of Moodle.  Another great free program. Moodle is revolutionizing the way teachers are teaching. And to top it off, the Moodle community is tremendous in their support of users. And it’s all free!!!

   My third four catfish award goes to Joomla! Here is another great free open source web-base program for creating websites. Like Moodle, Joomla offers an array of free extensions (Moodle refers to them as modules).  The Joomla! community is great when it comes to support.  When you look towards creating a collaborative web presence Joomla! is a great choice. It takes the creation of a website out of one person’s hands and makes it a true joint effort.

   A three catfish award goes to Apple’s Garageband. I would probably give a four catfish award if it was available on something other than a Mac.  OK settle down all you Mac devotees out there! Researching the best tool for creating podcast there is no better tool. And this is coming from someone who has been a PC person most of their technology life. I have yet to see a program on the PC side that matches the ease of use.

  A three catfish award goes to Audacity. A free open source program that is available on multiple platforms and can be used for creating podcasts. Not as user friendly as Garageband, but for free you can’t beat it!

 A two catfish award goes to Xobni (inbox spelled backwards). If you’re a Microsoft Outlook user this is a great little plug-in (and it’s free) that makes finding things so much more easier. Great for finding email attachments, previous emails from contacts, phone numbers from emails, and assorted other features. I run it on two computers, one it seems to work fine on and the second one seemed to slow down my system a bit. The other problem I had was sometimes Outlook wouldn’t start-up and I had to reboot to get it working again. However, please note that I run several, and I do me several, Outlook plug-ins along side of Xobni which may contribute to the problem.

 And my dubious one stinkin’ fish award  goes to the scanning technology at conferences in the vendor areas. It sure makes it easier to pass on your information but the amount of phone calls I get after a conference sometimes is unbearable. Look I know people are only doing their jobs and trying to earn a living but to keep calling and calling! The worst part is when you agree to purchase their product(s) and once the sales is complete it is as if you never existed. There goes the phone calls.

So there you have it my first annual, semi-annual, occasional, CATFISH AWARDS!!! If you have a program, hardware, etc that you would like to nominate for the illustrious CATFISH AWARD, please let me know.

OK, here is my frustration…I ‘ve been presenting at conferences on a regular basis for the past couple of years. I’ve setup my website and Moodle. Since setting up my Moodle I’ve had people register from all around the world.  I’ve set up discussion forums, encouraged people to participate, share their ideas, ask questions, etc. The results? Not much participation. So the question becomes (OK, this is where the pity party comes in): How much energy do I put into creating my website and Moodle if I’m having to guess what educators’ needs are? Or, what they would like to see on both sites. I know people are busy with their lives, but I think we need to encourage ourselves, as educators, as much as we encourage our students, to be active participants in our own learning.  If we remain passive receptors of information, how does this encourage learning?  So if there is anyone out there that has some suggestions, I’m listening!

We need to look beyond the factor of what looks good.  Some administrators too often can’t look beyond what appears to be technology integration. What do I mean? Comparing what “we” have with what others have doesn’t equate to being more technologically innovative. Nor does what others have versus what “we” have equate to them being so far ahead of us.  Are we worried about appearance more than content?It becomes a fashion show of hardware. School districts purchase equipment and once it is placed in the classroom it just sits there. Why? Teachers are never trained on how best to use the technology.  Comments such as, “I have five computers in my classroom and twenty-five students. How can I possibly use them?”  Most times these computers wind up being used as a “reward” for students that complete their work quickly.  Or the clamor for interactive white boards and projector units are heard to be a necessary piece of equipment. And what do they wind up being? An expensive overhead projector and transparency unit.

How do you avoid this way of bringing technology into the school? First step is to make a plan whereby teachers are given the opportunity to learn how best to integrate the technology into their classroom.  This step is usually skipped in order to quickly show-off their new equipment.  To exasperate the problem even further in tight budget times, teachers become frustrated because the money is spent on this equipment at the expense of other things including additional teachers to reduce class Until leadership takes a more proactive role in planning, it is inevitable we will repeat this pattern over and over.  We can never move forward until we break this cycle.

OK, so I maybe a little late to the revolution but I’ve got the religion now! Open source is my new found call to arms!  The latest- Joomla!  A great open source resource used to create a website.  In looking at a collaborative approach to web development I looked at several options – Joomla!, Drupal, DotNetNuke, and Mambo.  I settled on Joomla! after setting up some test sites and running through the various options.

At a recent NJAET executive board meeting I demoed a mock site I set up using Joomla! and people were amazed out the power behind it and what it can do.  With the additional extensions that are available, and the ease that they install, I’m convinced that utilizing a CMS is the best solution.  My goal to find ways for educators to collaborate and not work in isolation.  The great thing about Joomla! is that no one needs to be the sole source of disseminating information.  You now have the option to assign a variety of roles to individuals. You can have users, authors, publishers, administrators, etc. all contributing to creating an active website. For those that like to be in charge it means giving up a little bit of the power to allow others to participate. So all of you control freaks out there take a deep breath and plunge right in. You’ll find it all works out for the better in the long run.

As time moves along I find myself moving away from the mega software publishers to open source solutions.  The great thing also is there is a whole new industry out there of people developing additions to these great open source software solutions.  Some of the additional extensions are commercial products. But I’m more open to spending a little to support these developers than continued to feed those hungry giants out there.  So if you’ve been contemplating a transformation of your website, take a look at one of these open source CMS programs.