Technology In Education Online

It is often said that great minds think alike. It might also be that small minds think alike, too. What does this mean? Well, I have too often seen leaders in education follow each other’s lead without standing up to go against the tide. The reason that is given is,” everyone is doing this,” or” no other district is allowing this.”

” Little fish like to swim the same way at the same time. So the little fish all swam this way. Then they all swam that way. What did Arty the Smarty do? When the fish went this way, Arty went that way. When the fish went that way, Arty went this way.” – Arty the Smarty

I think back to when my son was very young and we would read this book to him. The premise of the story was that Arty refused to follow the crowd and marched to the beat of his own drum. This could be a critical lesson that educational leaders could learn for themselves.

In my travels presenting at a variety of educational conferences is been sad to hear educators tell me that they are not allowed to utilize certain types of technology in their school districts. In particular I refer to any web 2.0 tools.  Technology policies are set not on what moves us forward but more by how can we restrict users.  By restricting innovation or technologies that they don’t understand aren’t they limiting success?

It is a situation that I hear administrators play both ways.  When compared to other districts often time administrators want to see their district as being better than other districts, i.e. look we have smart boards in every classroom!  Here too often the lack of professional development leads to using them as a teacher-centered device.  I’m sorry simply having students come up to the smart board to click on something is no different then having them come up to the chalkboard. However, when it comes to allowing access to Web 2.0 tools often the argument is that no other district is allowing teachers/students to use these tools or equipment.

And so no one wants to step up and go against the trend.  As I said in the beginning small minds think alike, too. Is it fear? Not knowing? Being different? A mystery that I’m still trying to figure out to this day.

“No, no, Arty,” cried the little fish. “Do not go out to sea. You will not come back!” But Arty swam out to sea. – Arty the Smarty

After a busy fall of getting back to school, conducting trainings, and conference presentations it is time to reflect on what I’ve done and heard from others.  One of the things that I’ve heard way too often is how many obstacles have lead to numerous teachers I’ve spoken to feeling frustrated with technology.  The biggest frustration has been the restrictive environment in which they work.  Many would like to do more with technology but are told by their technology departments that they aren’t allowed to.

So what is the reasoning behind these restrictive conditions constantly bombarding educators?  Some will argue the fear of lawsuits.  I would say this might be one reason but I think it goes further.  One problem is at times you have people coming from the business sector who’s responsibility previously was to lock everything down.  When they make the transition to education they carry over these same practices.  However, I think it goes more to another level which no one seems to want to talk about, at least not in public.

One problem is that you get people in positions as head of technology that get more credit when they restrict than innovate.  If I can report that I’ve blocked YouTube for instance, then I have tangible evidence that I’m doing my job.  If I restrict teachers from using Web 2.0 tools, again I’m able to show how I’m doing my job.   This behavior is reinforced by other administrators that focus on this same restrictive philosophy.  By doing so, an environment of frustration and lack of innovation is reinforced.

Another area that no one doesn’t want to talk about is what I don’t know will  not be known.  If teachers are requesting to use a particular Web 2.0 tool and have no real clue on how this tool can be used in an educational setting my best strategy is to restrict its’ use.  What would it mean to me if I were to admit, I don’t know how to use this tool as a technology leader?

The idea of being restrictive also gets into the area of power and control.  If I am in a position to dictate what can or can’t be done it becomes a very powerful position.  I can determine what direction we go in the area of technology.  I can also determine who gets access to whatever technology is available in a school district.  I have seen this played out in a number of school districts.  Where certain educators have access to technology while others don’t have the same access.

With all of this said, unless we overcome these obstacles the movement towards more innovative and creative approaches regarding technology in education will continue to be an exercise of frustration on the part of educators.  As a former technology coordinator, I’ve had experience working with other coordinators who have spent more energy on locking everything down. Favoritism, restrictiveness, and lack of understanding of how technology can lead to a more student-centered approach in the classroom will continue to make technology an obstacle in moving forward.

Prior to every school year my family ventures down to the Outer Banks for our last taste of the summer.  This year was an especially wild adventure.  On the way down we ran into a terrible storm near the border of Delaware and Maryland.  The rain, hail, and wind were so bad that we needed to pull off the road and hope the car didn’t get over turned as the wind rocked the car back and forth.  We made it through this little episode and arrived at the Outer Banks on Saturday, August 20th.

As we sat relaxing on the beach on August 23rd, we experienced the earthquake that rocked the northeast.  After this we thought we had experienced all Mother Nature  had to offer.  And then Irene…

Sitting on the beach on Thursday, August 25th, a life guard came by to inform us there was a mandatory evacuation.  As we were packing the car, I went online to start the search for hotels.  The nice thing about rental homes now they usually come with wireless Internet.  I can’t imagine what we would have done if we didn’t have that capability.  If I go back to when we first started coming to OBX, with minimial Internet access we would have at least the ability to use our cell phone and a phone book to try and book rooms as we hit the road.  I was able to book rooms inland (Edenton, NC) seaching for pet friendlyhotels at a Hampton Inn and headed off OBX.

We arrived there early that evening only to be rejected because they really didn’t accept pets. Now what?!!!  We were able to stay across the street at a Super 8, that posted a no pets allowed but due to Hurrican Irene allowed us to stay.  We got settled in and prepared for the apprach of Irene.  Meanwhile, where to eat?  A quick search online gave us several restaurants in the town. We headed down to the Waterman’s Grill and had a great meal.  Upon returning to the hotel, I was tracking the hurricane using my iPad 2 which I recently had purchased.  This worked great until we lost power as the hurricane hit us full force.  What now?

This is when my droid phone took over.  As the storm continued to hit us for the next 24 hours and things began to calm down.  Yet we were still without power.  Fortunately, the Currituck County kept tweeting away.  I was able to keep checking their updates throughout this time.  We went a full day without power and were delighted when we went out for lunch and upon return heard the sound of the air conditioner going in our hotel room.  We also got our wireless network connection back and jumped back on my iPad2 to keep updated.  After spending 4 days inland the word came that the bridge was to be opened up the next day at 12:00.

As we raced across the bridge like the Sooners going off to claim their land , we reached the Outer Banks and anxiously awaited Route 12 to open for traffic.  As the day went along excitement turned into disappointment as the latest tweet informed everyone that the road wouldn’t open until 10 the next morning. Here we were with our two dogs with nowhere to go, what now?  Back on my droid I went searching for a hotel that would take dogs.  Again, technology came through and we were able to locate a hotel.  The next morning we got up, got ready, and went out for breakfast knowing we would face the massive traffic jam heading up Route 12 north.

Fortunately, our car was equipped with a navigation system which allowed us to take a back route to Corolla without facing the long line of traffic.  We arrived back to our vacation home with the excitement that had evaded us the past five days.  As we unpacked and headed back to the beach for the relaxation we had left behind when we were evacuated.  As I sat on the beach that I day I thought…what would we have done say 10 to 15 years ago if we faced this situation?  Most likely we would have packed and returned home without being able to enjoy our last few days at the beach.  For those that dispel those Web 2.0 tools and today’s technology, these situations such as described above show the positive power of these technologies.  I will never look at Twitter the same way.  If Currituck County didn’t have a twitter account I would have never known how we would have made it back.

So the next time someone complains about these “stupid” tools I will tell this tale to them to show that there are some positives with all of this technology.

Starting a new school year is a little like New Years.  For some, including myself, it is time for some New Year’s resolution.  So here it goes with my list (some of which I’ve told myself I will do before and have falling flat).

1. Have fun!  In this day and age of finding fault for everything wrong related to something a teacher did or didn’t do, I will make this a fun year of learning!
2. Reach out to others – I want to collaborate with other teachers around the country and world to have students move beyond the classroom.
3. Students more active participants – As mentioned in #1 above, it is at times a struggle to get others to see that testing and memorization doesn’t always equal learning.
4. Blog more often – I need to share more what I know with others outside those that I come in contact with when I do workshops, conferences, trainings, and teach with.
5. Tweet more often – See # 4.
6. Write – I’ve taken time off from writing and need to get back to writing.

As we wind down the summer, I’m getting ready to head off to the Outer Banks for a couple weeks.  I still would like to organize a two week training on the Outer Banks for educators who would like to get away and have a beautiful learning environment to work, learn, and play!

Heading out of the cool rain into the glorious sunshine and warmth of Palm Springs I arrived to get ready for the CUE 2011 Conference.  I decided to return after having presented and running a workshop last year.  This year I will be running a workshop: Advanced Moodle: Moving beyond a repository of information.  This workshop will be held on Friday, March 18th from 11:30 to 2:30.  The workshop will focus on various ways to use a Moodle to get students involved in using a Moodle.  Thanks to the attendees who responded to my email regarding what they were looking for out of this workshop.

1st Session – Prezi-Thinking Outside the Slide

I was looking something new to introduce to others in the course I teach, Instructional Technology for K to 12 teachers, as well as teachers I work with at school.  Prezi (www.prezi.com) is an eye-popping, fun making, Wow factor, Web 2.0 tool that moves beyond the dull life of PowerPoint.  The presenter, Jeremy Davis (http://k6techpresos.wikispaces.com) made it a great presentation.  The nice part is that it does offer a Prezi Pro version (educational discount) that allows you up to 2000mb of storage space.  The pro version also gives you the desktop application which allows you to work off-line.  Not sure how to use it?  On the Prezi site they have a section (Learn tab) that will help you get started.  There is also an explore section that lets you explore what others have done with the program.

2nd Session – Using Online Chat and Forums for Richer, More Equitable Discussion
Spoke of how they have used Chat in class using netbooks and a Moodle.  A good presentation for new users that covered some of the basics of using a chat and forum.  For those that haven’t used chat or forums,  it is a good view of how teachers can use these tools in the classroom.

3rd Session – Earth Mashing: Google Earth Meets Web 2.0

You know you are at a great presentation when right away your bookmarking a variety of websites that offer Web 2.0 tools.  They started with a great video from Taylor Mali on what teachers make. For those educators who have been bombarded by those who think teachers have it easy need to watch this video.  They showed some useful tools, such as how to setup fictious emails so students can register for cool Web 2.0 tools. The presentors website can be found at: http://digitalgoonies.com/.  Numerous tools such as Voki, Slideboom, sqworl. For new users of Google Earth it was great for learning how you can move beyond just finding your house.  For me was the idea of using embedding from a number of Web 2.0 tools that are now available.

As July quickly melted away (based on the number of heat waves we’ve had I do mean melt) and we zoom through August I tried to get caught up on my technology to-do list for the summer.  I worked on updating my website, Moodle courses, and miscellaneous technolgy items on my list.  Over the course of the summer I wanted to spend more time working on programs, building tutorials, and preparing for conference presentations and workshops coming up this coming school year.

I also reflected on the past year, having gone back into the classroom, to think about what worked and didn’t work this past year.   The biggest question I have in reflecting is: How do you motivate students to get interested when the basic attitude is what is the minimal I can do for the most amount of credit?  How do you get them to see value in shifting away fro this attitude?  The main outcome of my reflections is that you can’t change attitudes overnight. The easiest solution would be to simply give up and go back to a more traditional method of teaching, i.e. teaching to the test.   However, this solution is the least satifying for both student and teacher.

Right tools for the Right Job

As someone who has been a big advocate in integrating technology into the classroom I need to get more active with students in teaching them how to use these tools.  The great battle lies between teaching them how to use a tool while at the same time having students learn about the subject area (in this case social studies).  I don’t believe it has to be an either/or proposition, i.e. I either teach them how to use the tool(s) or I teach them the subject area.  However, you do need the tools to do the work that you’d like to accomplish.  If I don’t have the technology available than it is difficult to move forward. If I have to use the duck tape method of teaching it takes away from the learning opportunities. Especially this year when there are 30 students in the classroom.  We wind up becoming educational factories rather than learning environments.  But that’s a story for another day.

Tools I’ll be using include Moodle, Digital storytelling through Microsoft Photostory, web page creation (Joomla), podcasting (Garageband and Audacity), tweetdeck, Google apps, JingProject, Skype, ePals, and other tools throughout the year. 

So as we move through the year new adventures await and more learning opportunities arise.

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?

There were four sessions throughout the day. Here is a brief review of the sessions:

 Session 1 – Project Based Learning That Works - Great Ideas for You – Thematic Planning – The LEADS model (Literacy is Essential to Adolescent Development and Success ) is built around thematic, cross-curricular units.  The core reading materials, novels and expository/informational text are utilized to incorporate this cross-curricular approach.  The presenters gave an example of Project-based Learning by presenting YouTube videos showing this model in action.  Integrating curriculum through ideas – LA teacher, SS teacher, and Math teacher are thinking of ways to integrate these themes/ideas.  They pointed out that collaboration time is essential.   

Session 2 – Drop-in Time- Web 2.0 tools- They spoke of how they could be used in the classroom with students. The presenters demonstrated interesting sites:

For more information go to: http://dropintimewithweb20.wikispaces.com/

Session 3 – I presented “The Project-Based Web 2.0 Buffet! Eating It All Up! I spoke about the collaborative 6^th grade project. I’ll be posting my presentation on my website.

Session 4 – Developing and Supporting Teacher Leaders – The Academy of Teaching and Learning – http://southjerseyacademy.com/. It is run by teachers for teachers and started in 2000. 

All sessions are free. The only responsibility of the school districts are providing teachers with substitutes while attending.

There are 4 components -

1. governance committee – gets feedback from others to determine who are speakers, i.e. teacher leaders in the area then plan/organize
2. EIRC – take care of cost, meeting place, etc.
3. Quarterly meetings – meet on a specific topic – teachers drive the topics based on feedback
   1. Keynote in AM, breakout, lunch, return for big group activity, burning issues
4. Website – collaboration, professional growth

Once again a very enjoyable day at this annual conference. Thanks to all the folks at SRI – ETTC for putting this together!