High Schools at the Tipping Point - The Role of Data May 16, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in 21st-Century, Articles/Videos, Data, Opinion.add a comment
Nice article from Educational Leadership on the current state of high schools. Some of the background information is very helpful. I appreciate the historical perspective when trying to understand complex issues.
When the “modern” high school system was established in the early 20th century, only 10 percent of 14- to 17-year-olds attended high school (National Center for Education Statistics, 2006). It wasn’t until 1918 that all states required children to attend elementary school; in that era, a high school education was a luxury afforded only to upper-income families.
The article goes on to describe three approaches for reform, (1) align what schools expect of students with the demands of college and the workforce, (2) offer a rigorous, option-rich curriculum; personalize learning; and provide necessary supports, and (3) improve instruction by mining data and using digital technologies. The article isn’t real clear about what digital technologies are, or how they might improve instruction other than the role played by data. However, data is not information.
In order for data to inform our instruction, many factors have to be in place.
First, time is of the essence. Teachers don’t have enough of it, so asking them to do the data mining work without enough training (also a time issue) is asking a lot.
Second, data alone isn’t enough. The link from data to teaching is complex. The data has to be interpreted in order to be informative and prescriptive. Do we really know enough about how the individual child is learning to say that a specific result on an assessment or observed progress indicator should require a specific intervention?
Third, time is still of the essence. The time between the assessment or observation and the intervention needs to be measured in seconds, not minutes or hours or days or weeks, or in the case of standardized tests, in months. The time to help a student learn is at the point where the learning is not taking place, not at a time after the assessment is taken, the scan sheets are turned in, the assessments are scored, the results are returned, the committee meets to review the results, the plan is formed about intervention, and the instruction is delivered.
I’m all for informing the craft of our teaching, but it has to meet the needs of the instructor in the classroom, and more importantly, it has to meet the needs of the learner.
links for 2008-05-16 May 15, 2008
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Free tools for evaluating your websites.
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Yet another free teacher web site
OLPC - Total Confusion May 15, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Articles/Videos, OLPC.add a comment
I used to think the One Laptop Per Child was a noble endeavor, but after reading the linked article below, I have to say I’m not so sure. This insider article is peppered with four-letter invectives, so please be prepared. It is still important reading for anyone interested in deploying a one-to-one laptop initiative, especially if you are considering the XO as your laptop of choice. Thanks to a tweet from Andy Carvin.
As far as I know, there is no real study anywhere that demonstrates constructionism works at scale. There is no documented moderate-scale constructionist learning pilot that has been convincingly successful; when Nicholas points to “decades of work by Seymour Papert, Alan Kay, and Jean Piaget”, he’s talking about theory.
There are three key problems in one-to-one computer programs: choosing a suitable device, getting it to children, and using it to create sustainable learning and teaching experiences. They’re listed in order of exponentially increasing difficulty.
Nicholas’ new OLPC is dropping those pesky education goals from the mission and turning itself into a 50-person nonprofit laptop manufacturer, competing with Lenovo, Dell, Apple, Asus, HP and Intel on their home turf, and by using the one strategy we know doesn’t work. But hey, I guess they’ll sell more laptops that way.
So here’s to open learning, to free software, to strength of personal conviction, and to having enough damn humility to remember that the goal is bringing learning to a billion children across the globe. The billion waiting for us to put our idiotic trifles aside, end our endless yapping, and get to it already.
ivan krstić · code culture » Sic Transit Gloria Laptopi
Learning to Change Video May 14, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in 21st-Century, Articles/Videos.add a comment
Pearson video for CoSN posted to YouTube. Excellent video featuring many important voices involved i the conversation about how the changing world must result in changes in education. I find it interesting that Pearson, a company that makes a substantial amount of income from standardizing curriculum, instruction, and assessment, has a part in sponsoring this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3Db4VhoWGZ2eA
links for 2008-05-14 May 13, 2008
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David Warlick’s Acceptable Use Policy resource wiki.
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Earth Sciences resources organized by grade level, resource type, theme collection, and standard.
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Interactive java applets to support algebraic thinking.
links for 2008-05-13 May 12, 2008
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Powerset is a natural language search tool (currently featuring Wikipedia.) Tag clouds (called facts) help to extend the information in your search results. I hope that this tool will expand beyond just Wikipedia, but even so, it could be very helpful.
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Simple school web site built from a blog.
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I’m not exactly sure what to make of this, but it works best to scroll around to find all of the components, and then connect them up to ‘create’ new sounds.
Citizen Journalism - Twitter Style May 12, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in 21st-Century, Articles/Videos, Opinion.add a comment
SmartMobs has a nice collection of information on how the recent earthquake in China was covered by individuals using Twitter. This is an interesting example of how individuals are informing others of significant events in a way that traditional media has a difficult time in replicating in terms of speed, usability, and proximity to the actual events. Some will quite rightly question the validity of the information being posted. With the amount of content and the variety of media delivery available, our students definitely need to be better equipped to find and evaluate information. That applies equally to citizen journalism as it does to more traditional outlets of news and content.
http://www.smartmobs.com/2008/05/12/china-earthquake/
links for 2008-05-10 May 9, 2008
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5 ways to start developing a personal learning network.
links for 2008-05-08 May 7, 2008
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David Jakes tutorials on digital storytelling using Photostory 3
links for 2008-05-07 May 6, 2008
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Skoolaborate is a global project that uses a blend of technolocies including, blogs, an LMS, wiki’s and ‘virtual worlds’ for collaborative learning of both teachers and students.
Destination Mars May 6, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in 21st-Century, Articles/Videos, Edubloggers.add a comment
Brian Crosby is taking his kids to Mars on Wednesday, May 7th, and if all goes well, you’ll be able to go along with them as he has plans to Ustream the event.
Here is the Ustream link: Marsopolis 2008 Reno, Nevada, Ustream.TV: 350 fourth grade through eighth grade students participating in. Education
Here is the Learning Is Messy blog post link: Learning Is Messy - Blog » Blog Archive » Marsopolis … Messy Learning … And I’ll Ustream It?
Blogging Encourages Writing - Who Knew? May 6, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in 21st-Century, Articles/Videos, Opinion.add a comment
eSchool News is reporting that a recent Pew Internet study revealed a link between writing attitudes, habits, amounts, and blogging. I’m not surprised by the results, but what I’d really like to know is if the act of blogging instills a positive writing value, or if those kids that already have a positive writing value are they just more likely to make use of a modern means of publishing their writing by blogging.
Top News - Blogging helps encourage teen writing
links for 2008-05-06 May 5, 2008
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Complete CSS2 reference from W3Schools
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CSS footer positioning from The Man in Blue.
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Search tool in del.icio.us for a URL. See who bookmarked it and when.
Inclusion - Cuban Style May 3, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Articles/Videos, Net Neutrality, Opinion.add a comment
CNET News is reporting that Cuba is allowing individuals to buy home computers. While we might find this a little odd, think of your home, and how different it might be if you were not allowed to own a computer, or (also recently allowed in Cuba) couldn’t purchase a cell phone. I think it is important for everyone to be included in the on-going conversation that is the Internet, and am glad to see that a close neighbor will finally get a better chance to be included. If any voice is to have value in the conversation, then ultimately all voices must have the opportunity to be heard.
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9935007-7.html
Innovation Pixar Style May 3, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in 21st-Century, Articles/Videos, Opinion.add a comment
I love animated movies, and especially those from Pixar. So I was very interested when a note came up in my RSS reader about a Brad Bird interview. In the excerpts of the interview presented by GigaOM, many of them apply well to education and thinking about the classroom in new ways. I see innovation as a good way to describe what I believe about education. Here are a couple of samples.
Lesson Four: Innovation Doesn’t happen in a VacuumThe Quarterly: How do you build and lead a team?Brad Bird: I got everybody in a room. This was different from what the previous guy had done; he had reviewed the work in private, generated notes, and sent them to the person… I said, “Look, this is a young team. As individual animators, we all have different strengths and weaknesses, but if we can interconnect all our strengths, we are collectively the greatest animator on earth. So I want you guys to speak up and drop your drawers. We’re going to look at your scenes in front of everybody. Everyone will get humiliated and encouraged together…
Seems like a great description for setting up group work. It also sounds like a view of assessment that is counter to the current classroom norm. Instead of papers graded in isolation, everyone is grading everyone because the point of the learning is to do the best with the task at hand. Of course that also means we need to rethink the task.
Lesson Six: Dont Try To “Protect your success”The Quarterly: Engagement, morale—what else is critical for stimulating innovative thinking?Brad Bird: The first step in achieving the impossible is believing that the impossible can be achieved. … “You don’t play it safe—you do something that scares you, that’s at the edge of your capabilities, where you might fail. That’s what gets you up in the morning.”
I’ve tried to describe this before and don’t think I’ve done it justice, but too often education is stuck thinking about doing the job the way we’ve already done it instead of trying to make the impossible possible.There are also examples of lessons from the interview that have no easy corollary to the classroom. Lesson Eight is ‘Get Rid of Weak Links’ which refers to removing passive-aggressive people from the team. When we work with students in public education, you can’t just fire a student from your room.Check out the interview excerpts and the whole interview if you have time. Also, think about how focusing on innovation informs the practice of teaching, of how together, you and your students can be the smartest person in the world.http://gigaom.com/2008/04/17/pixars-brad-bird-on-fostering-innovation/
