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
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Link Collections.add a comment
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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
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Link Collections.1 comment so far
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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
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Link Collections.add a comment
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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
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Link Collections.add a comment
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5 ways to start developing a personal learning network.
