Relection 1 (for C&I 579)

It has been a crazy almost four weeks and a lot has changed on the educational technology for this guy. I just finished a book review (for an course incomplete) on a book by Rowen & Bigum (Eds.) that looks at new points of view for using educational technology to address growing student diversity in our rapidly changing society. Lucky for me a lot of the ideas in it make it a perfect fit with this class, so sorry in advance for quoting it a lot.

I noted in an earlier post (Amusing Ourselves to Death?) that I felt overwhelmed with the vast amount of information coming in while following blogs and through Twitter, let alone things for this class and that Dr. T shares. I like to read through things thoroughly, but I have had to develop the skill of skimming to deal with the time I have available. Additionally, I have developed an new attitude, that of realizing that I can’t do all of the things I read about, so I have to just pick one or two and go from there. Big concept in terms of changing how I teach? It has, “much more to do with pedagogy than with the technology itself” (Cummings, Brown & Sayers (2007), “p. 91). Of course I plan to leverage the technology.

One thing I’ve learned that I’m sure I will not forget is that this technology-mediated learning requires a lot of planning and organization, nothing worse than a, “it’s due when?” moment. ;-)

I like things in one location, but I am adjusting.

I am looking to find ways in which I can have my students do more of the knowledge creation with me on the side. I want to use my Universal Reading Questions in a new way to have students use the technology they will have to find the information and make the connections. I think students today are good at finding information, connections…I think not, but the jury is still out. Hopefully I can guide them in the future by having them research the information versus me telling them and making connections for them. The connection will last longer if they make it themselves.

I also plan to try and find ways to connect to students and parents in ways that are outside traditional / formal school channels, ways that more closely resemble their technology use and communication outside of school. Currently I am playing with My Big Campus—our school is thinking about using it next year. I will probably do my final project using it instead of Wikispaces; it might end up being a pilot for the school for next year.

We are going with a 1:1 program for ALL our students next year and calling it a pilot, technology hasn’t been bought yet and available software / programs are up in the air (like MBC). I am also looking at Edmodo and will even open very limited Facebook account to see how the two interface. (Hey, I did two-person control of nuclear weapons in the army; I can be VERY confidentiality conscious.)

Hey, I’ll try to with the flow. I do think I’m getting individual tables and chairs for my classroom that can be grouped so hopefully I can try some Stanford d-school-like ideas.

Cummings, J., Brown, K., & Sayers, D. (2007). Literacy, technology, and diversity. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Rowen, L., & Bigum, C. (Eds.), (2012). Transformative approaches to new technology and student diversity in futures oriented classrooms: Future proofing education. Dordrecht, Germany: Springer.

NETP 2010: In Favor...

Blog Pro Post (Pulley): (Sorry in advance, I got carried away)

The goals of the National Educational Technology Plan (NETP) for 2010 of transforming education in America in the areas of learning, assessment, teaching, infrastructure, and productivity are far reaching and necessary, not only if we wish to address the inequity in American education, but also aspire to making our country once again a leader in education in the world. Learning and teaching need to change to become collaborative situations where students becoming constructors of new knowledge based on scaffolding, to support and build upon prior knowledge (Darling-Hammond & Bransford, 2005, p. 106). Assessment need to move from reforms of standardization and high stakes testing to a new way of thinking with a focus on, “change but not measurement, on the social, and not simply the technical, [that] allows us to identify the ways technology may help disrupt the traditional relationships: between schools and knowledge; knowledge and children; children and teachers; and learners and communities” (Rowen & Bigum, 2012, p. 26).

For any of this to take place, change must happen, not only in terms of infrastructure, but also in terms of equity. Rowen & Bigum (2012) assert that despite all the decades of technological innovation in the world, and the adaptation of that technology to schools, equity issues have not changed much:

The children at risk of educational alienation and failure in 2011 are the same groups of children at risk more that four decades ago: kids from rural and isolated areas, indigenous communities, language backgrounds other than English. Kids from low-socioeconomic families, single parent households. Kids with physical and intellectual disabilities. Kids who don’t match their world’s “mythical norm” (p. 47).

            As the report acknowledges, in today’s world finances are tight and monies need to be reallocated, but that reallocation needs to consider first the schools that are furthest behind by improving their infrastructures (including technology), not to punish them because they are behind and rewarding those already ahead. One byproduct of the new call to renew, update, and jump onto each new technological change is that the amount of time and money invested has resulted in calls to measure the results, something Rowen & Bigum (2012) call a distraction because of the domestication of technology that takes place, that is, “schools often use those technologies in old and familiar ways: integrating them into existing routines, deploying them to meet existing goals and, generally, failing to engage with technologies in ways consistent with the world beyond the classroom” (p. 22).

Much more important is to help teachers engage in collaboration to become 21^st Century educators because they are a more important part of the solution than technology. Cummings, Brown & Sayers (2007), note that the failure of educational technology to achieve change, “has much more to do with pedagogy than with the technology itself” (p. 91).

Cummings, J., Brown, K., & Sayers, D. (2007). Literacy, technology, and diversity. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Darling-Hammond, L., & Bransford, J. (Eds.), Preparing teachers for a changing world: What teacher should learn about and be able to do. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Rowen, L., & Bigum, C. (Eds.), (2012). Transformative approaches to new technology and student diversity in futures oriented classrooms: Future proofing education. Dordrecht, Germany: Springer.

Thoughts on Flipping the Flipped Classroom C&I 579 Blog #1B

David Thornburg at thornbugthoughts recentely brought up some good points about the Flipped Classroom movement (http://thornburgthoughts.wordpress.com/2012/06/10/flipping-the-flipped-classroom/)  I agree that there are issues and that one size or technology does not fit all, but I think we need to look beyond the tool to how it is used by people in education. Here is my response to David:

I believe the goal is not to do traditional homework in class, but to move it beyond recall towards sustained projects with inquiry and higher order thinking. Yes, the videos can be boring, but no more so than a lecture. But, if you want them to be more interesting, keep them short and link in other sources including primary sources, credible websites and even other videos. The videos are used to present the basic background information and then class time can be used in exactly the ways you suggest. 

The real problem to me seems to be that people think that technology will solve the problems, it won't. What can solve problems is using technology (or a technique) in creative ways by educators (people) to engage students by enlisting them as knowledge creators (not as vessels to be filled) and thereby making learning relevant to the world today. Of course as you point out, a flaw in this logic is the assumption that students will watch what they won't read. If there is no accountability for not watching, then they won’t. Basically, it isn't the tool, it is how it is used and as Jon Bergmann (who helped start the flipped classroom concept) notes, it might not work for all classes or grade levels. See: http://flipped-learning.com/?p=577

Rowen and Bigum (2012) would call for us to be "sportively skeptical"of new technology ideas (p. 222).

See:

Rowen, L., & Bigum, C. (Eds.), (2012). Transformative approaches to new technology and student diversity in futures oriented classrooms: Future proofing education. Dordrecht, Germany: Springer.

Webography Pulley C&I 579

Click on the link below to go see the list on annotated ed tech websites I've been looking at this week.

Webography Pulley C&I 579

Annotated Webography C&I 579

I list of sites I was looking through and saving as resources this week.



http://www.diigo.com/list/pgpulley/webography-pulley-ci-579

Doing the Flip...C&I 579 Blog #1A

The Flipped Class as a Transition to Deep 21st Century LearningPosted by jbergmann on May 10, 2012 in Flipped Class

http://flipped-learning.com/?p=725#comment-537

The Progression:
1.  Teacher Flips a lesson or a unit and find it to be successful
2.  Teacher decides to flip the whole class
     a. (At least at the upper grades.  At the lower grades I don’t see teachers flipping a class, but
         rather, flipping selected lessons).
     b. Often this step takes an entire year as the teacher needs to focus in on making the videos
        —assuming they make all of their own videos.
3. Teacher realizes they have more time and begin to explore engaging activities.  This is where the magic of the flipped class happens.  When the teacher moves away from the stand and deliver approach and realize there is more to learning than disseminating content.

Phil’s Response:

So I’m at step 1 (or trying for step 2 for next year). Like all of the blogs and Twitter feeds I’m getting, I’m feeling overwhelmed, but I’m sure I am ready to take the first steps on the journey.

How sure, I dropped one of my graduate classes this summer to have the time to start recording videos for my students. Tomorrow I’m off to see about getting my software and microphone ASAP, I’ve got work to do so my students can learn, and not who, what, when, and where, but WHY? Why are these facts important…today? How are they relevant in my students’ lives? How can I get them to figure it out on their own?

Wish me luck, persistence and faith in this endeavor to make learning better and more meaningful for those that count, my students.

That was my response to Josh, but it felt incomplete to me...my finished thought:

I’ve used my Universal Reading Questions for several years now and it is time to take them to a new level. Students always had trouble with the last one, “Can you think of a similar situation from the past or the present?” I plan to add: OR What is the relevance of something from the reading to today’s world, to your life, or the lives of your friends or family?’ I hope this will get them thinking and get them to make the experience more meaningful. With a flip (and 1:1 next year) I can have students research the background and make the connections themselves, instead of me showing them to them. Next year, I hope to be the one guiding them.

Rules...Who Makes the Teachers Enforce Them? C&I 579 Blog #1

C&I 579 Blog #1
From Josh Stumpenhorst, "Stump the Teacher"
"Rules...are for the Teachers" Posted Friday, May 4, 2012

Link to original post: http://stumpteacher.blogspot.com/2012/05/rulesare-for-teachers.html

None of these discussions or potential rule changes had to do with student behavior but rather on staff behavior. Let me explain…

The gum chewing conversation came about because many teachers were not enforcing the rule and some sit in front of their class chewing it themselves. Yes, I realize gum chewing is not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. However, if it is a school rule it must be enforced universally or it causes confusion among students and pits teachers against each other. I am labeled a “mean teacher” if I follow the rule we have in our handbook when others are not. So, this rule discussion was really not about kids chewing gum, but more about teacher’s enforcing a rule or not...

On a total sidebar, I laugh at the number of teachers who are constantly on their cell phones during school hours texting, emailing, updating status and playing games right in front of the students. What message does that send the kids when the staff won’t even follow the rules set for the students?...

Many of the other rules we discussed in the open forum had similar themes. More than once I heard, “it is too hard to enforce that rule.” I heard very few people mention what was in the best interest of the student’s and their learning environment. It may just be me, but I saw evidence that many of my school’s rules were a product of not keeping kids safe or protecting the learning environment. What I did see was rules being created because teachers were afraid to step up and enforce existing rules, or to step up and recognize learning opportunities and not punishment opportunities.

I wonder how many schools have rules established for the sake of the adults rather than for the sake of the kids. 

Phil's Response (7 June 2012):

Josh,

I know exactly how you feel and precisely what it is like to be the “bad guy” because I enforce the rules. Yes, we have rules that I deem to be silly, but those are the rules that the administration or the teachers said were important, but they become a problem when some staff either ignore the rule or worse, blatantly do the opposite. Like you I often feel that the problem with most rules is not the students, but with the teachers.

On a side note, it is even worse if the administration will not do anything about the teachers who do not follow the rules. (Note to administrators, please tell the people who ARE breaking the rules, do not send an email to everyone.)

As for cell phones, we need to learn to make technology and communication inside of school more closely resemble those outside of school.