Tuesday, January 19, 2010

The Old and The New...

I recently changed jobs. I went from being the Instructional Technologist for a district of 19 schools to the Instructional Technologist at 1 school in a larger district, much closer to home. It was a tough decision for me. The people in my former district are great. They really care about kids and love what they do. They also take care of each other...

Before I left there was a small gathering of the media and technology folks in the district. A couple of the people there took me aside and said they had a going away gift for me.
Now, I told everyone that I did not want anything, nor needed anything but these people remembered something I said when I first started working.

I am a collector of technology. Ask my wife. She hates it. Any chance I get to get some old piece of equipment I take it! I have tons of old CPU's and laptops a reel-to reel film projectors, old school film strips...if it was a piece of technology that was once in a school I probably have it. Some of it works, others, not so much. I dunno why I have it. I just feel a connection to it and can't see it cast aside.

But there was always one thing missing from my collection. I so wanted an Apple IIe. This was the computer I grew up on, learning and playing games on as a kid in school. I can remember entire summers spent in front of that massive, lead-based monitor, making my way from Missouri to Oregon while tying to not die from dysentery. Having an Apple IIe would almost make my collection complete....almost...but it would do wonders for me!

These teachers remembered me talking about all this 2 years ago. I never spoke of it again. But they remembered. One of the teachers had an Apple IIe in her classroom that she gave to me with tons of software, including my all time favorite, Oregon Trail. I just about fainted. It was one of the best gifts I have ever gotten.

But could I accept this? This teacher had several in her classroom that her 4th graders used everyday. She had the regular issue workstations and an IWB and laptops in her classroom. But there was something about those Apples that they were still a big part of her teaching and her classroom. I did not want to take one but she assured me it would be find and she wanted me to have it.

Bringing it home and setting it brought back so many memories for me. The flash of the monitor and the not so quiet grind of the floppy drive made me think of when I was in school. I just sat for a moment and remembered....


Then I got to thinking. Do we sometimes use a piece of technology because it is the latest and the greatest? Or are we making the best choices for our kids because they are the best choices? This teacher saw the value in using technology from the 80's because it still had value both to her and her kids. They loved it. These are kids who go home and play on their Wii's and their cellphones probably have more memory than those Apples!

Are we installing IWB's all over the place because it is the right thing to do? Are we installing IWB's because of their flash value or do they really make true change? Or have we looked around to see if there something else out there that is better and or cheaper?

My point is sometimes old isn't necessarily bad. Of course there are better choices than a chalk board and an overhead. What I mean is that we need to be mindful of the technology choices we are making for our kids and our schools. Yea, sometimes the latest and greatest is just that. But sometimes the Apple IIe will do just fine.

Image from Flickr CC Search. View the original here.
Posted by Unknown at 1:20 PM 6 comments
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Sunday, January 17, 2010

Why Have A Social Media Policy Anyway? Take 2

I originally wrote this post in Sept. 2009. Since then I have done a lot of thinking about and talking about social media policy. I repost it now because we are heading into that time of year when people are starting to ask me and the rest of the members of their PLN's about their best example of social media policies. Districts and district leaders are beginning to see how teachers are using blogs, wikis, Twitter and other tools to create really awesome classrooms and they are scared. Not that there is actual learning going on but what if a parent doesn't like all this? So they are meeting, often times behind closed doors, to draft draconian policies that they say encourage use of these tools but in reality limit their use. My question is why have a policy in the first place?

I have spent a lot of time lately blogging, talking and thinking about Social Media in the classroom. Whether it was trying to provide resources for getting the school year started off right with Social Media or providing you with tips for Social Media Leadership in schools. I really do believe that we are seeing (and some of us a part of) a revolution in education. For too long we have been teaching 21st Century Students with 19th Century methods. And maybe, just maybe, we are beginning to change our thinking about how this thing called "social networking" can be used to educate.

All of this talk about using blogs, wikis, Twitter, Facebook, Nings, and others in the classroom always leads to a discussion on policy. People ask me about examples of good Social Media Policies. What they don't like to hear is that I don't have one. Ok, well, that is not entirely true. I do have examples of school policies that mention Social Media and Social Networking. Here are a few examples:

East Lothian Council Self-publishing and Social Media Guidelines: Pupils
Arapahoe High School Blogging Policy
Laramie County School District 2 - Safe Blogging Policy

Those are some well-crafted policies as it pertains to blogging and Social Media in general. But, when someone asks me about my best example of a Social Media Policy I have to say that, I believe the best policy is probably one you already have in place.

Why is there such a push by school districts to rush and have a policy in place for teachers and students? Look at what the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) did. Over the summer they redrafted their email policy which said, in a nutshell, that all communications with students had to be done through official CPS email accounts. Basically, the policy outlawed blogs, wikis, Twitter, etc, which was odd because a week earlier CPS was all over the media explaining how they were going to leverage the power of Twitter to keep the community updated. They have retracted a bit and are going to examine the policy to make more Social Media sited available.

My point here is that CPS and other districts around the country are knee-jerking and realizing they don't have a blogging policy, or a Twitter policy, so they create the blanket policies that, while hoping to give the appearance of openness in education and progressiveness, actually limit a teachers ability to use New Media in their classroom.

Most schools (because they have to) have an Acceptable Use Policy that covers general computer and Internet use. If schools and teachers are are doing a good job of teaching their students about responsible Internet use why create a whole new policy that just prevents progress? Often times I have seen no one really knows who is responsible to teach. Is it the classroom teachers or media coordinators or instructional technologist? Truthfully, we all know (or at least we should know) that all of us are responsible.

How do you teach kids responsible Internet use? There are several free curricula available. Here are a few examples:

Digital Citizenship Curriculum
Digital Literacy
A Digital Literacy Curriculum from Microsoft
Technology Literacy Curriculum

Curriculums are great, but they are no good with out communication. We have to start conversations with our students, teachers, parents and the community about what we are doing and why we are doing it. If we are going to be using blogs in the classroom, have your parents in, with the students and explain why. Letters are great, but we know face-to-face is better. If you want to have a classroom Twitter feed or use it in some other way. Explain. The only way we are going to get all parties involved on board is to talk about it. And when you are talking about a blog or a class wiki or Twitter feed we can begin to have conversations about how we are keeping kids safe and how we are teaching kids to stay safe. If we are having these conversations and educating all involved then what is the point in having a policy?

I get asked all the time about my districts' Social Media Policy. You will be disappointed to know that we don't have one. Not because we haven't thought about it. We have spent a lot of time discussing what would work best for our kids and our teachers. We decided that what we have in place works. But it works because we spend a lot of time talking about responsible Internet usage. In my mind why limit a teacher use of Social Media or punish a student for an inappropriate comment on a blog (which should be moderated by a teachers anyway). Take the time to educate!

If you are a school leader, principal or administrator in district that is considering a Social Media policy, I encourage you to look at the computer usage policies you have in place and examine how you are teaching your students Digital Responsibility.
Posted by Unknown at 11:42 AM 7 comments

Friday, January 15, 2010

New Posted Resources 01/15/2010


Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Posted by Unknown at 6:31 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Beginning At The End...

We have a problem in realm of edtech. I am guilty of it and chances are you have been too at some point. You and I are not guilty of it all the time and truthfully, it may have only happened once or twice but it is a constant problem and it is time we deal with it.

There are so many cool tools out there. This blog looks at just a handful available. My Twitter stream provides more, but still, it is just the tip of the iceberg when we are talking about the tools available to teachers. However, much too often do I witness ill-planned professional development centered around tools, when really, they should be centered around student learning.

Last night on #edchat the discussion was about Tech Tools and Student Learning Goals. Specifically, how do we ensure specific technology tools match student learning goals? What needs to be in place for this to happen successfully?

Full Disclosure-Normally I am a moderator and active participant in the weekly #edchat. However over the next 4 months I will be taking a Leadership class that meets on Tuesday nights. So the reflections here are a combination of reading the archive and my personal thoughts, for what thats worth...

Most teachers have experienced a Professional Development session centered around a piece of technology. Some of these sessions we might describe as amazing; they truly had an impact on your teaching and your classroom and really made a difference.

Some of these sessions, however, we might describe as forgettable. Either we were not interested or, moreover, they were not interesting. One of my most forgettable workshops was on Excel. As a science teacher Excel fits in perfect with data capture and analysis. The mathematical functions and graphing features make it perfect for most types of scientific research. I am by no means an Excel expert but I know just enough to keep me out of trouble. In essence I am not an Excel newbie. So I signed up for a class that I thought would show me more power moves I could use with kids and really extend their learning. What I got was how to open a new spreadsheet. What is a cell. What is a row. What is a column. The true basics.

It was obvious this workshop was not going to meet my learning needs so I left. Kids, don't really have that choice. I suppose they could choose to leave but there are other consequences...you know that's a whole other post all together. The point is we have to be mindful of what the needs of our kids are when designing instruction.

So there are two parts to that design when we are talking about incorporating technology. First, those of us who have made a career out of teaching educators how to use technology effectively in the classroom have to do our research. We have to understand curriculum and what exactly our teachers are teaching. We have to present our ideas and tools in the form of learning goals. Meaning, we have to present them in such a way that they always relate back to what we want our students to ultimately learn. Very rarely do we want our students to learn how to just use a particular tool. So we should not present them to our teachers that way.

Second, those of us who have made a career out of educating kids need to make sure we are designing our lessons with a goal in mind. I am not talking about silly state or national standards, because in the long run, in my opinion, they are useless (but that is for another conversation.) I mean, you need to understand what your kids don't and design effective lessons to meet their needs. That lesson may or may not involve tech. If it does, great. Then spend the time on the learning objective, not the tool. Remember, a pencil is a tool and we don't spend a great deal of time teaching how to use it. But we use the tool to accomplish some learning. (Hopefully)

Bottom line. When dealing with tech, learning how to use the tool is important. But we need to make sure we are learning and using the tools in the context of real goals. It does no good to conduct/sit in workshop after workshop learning how to use tools with no, clear learning goals in mind. The conversations must start with the end in mind. Where do we want to be when this is all over? Only after we decide that can we even begin to discuss how we will get there.
Posted by Unknown at 8:14 AM 9 comments
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New Posted Resources 01/13/2010


Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Posted by Unknown at 6:31 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

New Posted Resources 01/12/2010


Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Posted by Unknown at 6:32 AM 0 comments

Saturday, January 9, 2010

New Posted Resources 01/09/2010


Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Posted by Unknown at 6:30 AM 0 comments
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