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.
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
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/
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
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/
Past and Future of Technology May 2, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in 21st-Century, Articles/Videos, History.add a comment
Interesting contrast between a Wired Blog Network post with video of Charles Babbage’s Difference Engine and a CNET News post about the world of technology in the year 2050. For the numbers people reading this post, that’s a difference of 201 years on the same day.
Exclusive Video: Babbage’s Mechanical Calculator Comes to Life | Gadget Lab from Wired.com
Imagining the tech world in 2050 | Outside the Lines - CNET News.com
Expanded Short Statement by Berners-Lee April 30, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in 21st-Century, Articles/Videos.add a comment
Sir Tim Berners-Lee actually had more to say about the Web on its 15th birthday. The BBC has an expanded version of his comments about his teenager linked below.
The experience of international collaboration continues. Also the spirit that really we have only started to explore the possibilities of [the web], that continues.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7371660.stm
techLEARNING webinar for Teachers April 26, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in 21st-Century, Conference Sessions.add a comment
From the Cool Cat Teacher:
This webinar is Monday about Web 2.0 and I’m co-presenting. If you attend, you’ll receive a 3 month free trial subscription to Atomic Learning. Preregister here.
This will give you access to the series I did on Web 2.0 and how to set up an RSS reader, etc. Also, the new one I’ve done on Flattening your classroom will be available as well.
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2008/04/sites-that-caught-my-eye-today-04262008.html
Shift Happened April 22, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in 21st-Century, Articles/Videos, Opinion.1 comment so far
Stephanie Sandifer, on LeaderTalk and Change Agency, posted a nice article on what to do once the realization has been made that something must change in education in response to the shift in the world around us that has already taken place. She does a nice job of moving the discussion from tools (what to buy) to people. Stephanie identifies everyone on campus, teacher, administrators, etc. as learners, and I agree with the assertion:
If we are serious about changing our learning environments so that our students leave fully prepared for life and work in a globally connected and collaborative environment, then we are definitely going to be moving the cheese of many people in our organizations — it won’t be easy and we can’t wait for all of the state and federal policies and mandates to catch up before we take action.
Stephanie goes on to point out that traditional methods of distributing change in educational systems, such as committees and pilot programs, are just too slow. She calls on the early adopters to virally spread change. While this is effective among the early adopter set, I don’t think this approach will impact those in the later (and larger) adopter groups. Unfortunately, I don’t have a suggestion for a better way to spread change, especially in educational institutions.
Stephanie does a great job of identifying roadblocks, such as tolerance toward technophobic attitudes and sufficient infrastructure. Some of these same elements I’ve written about in the ocassional ‘Necessary Ingredients’ series. On a side note, the post is nicely annotated with helpful links. Link to the article below:
Safety on the Internet - Times Two April 11, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in 21st-Century, Articles/Videos.1 comment so far
Wes Fryer has posted a pair of terrific articles on his Moving at the Speed of Creativity blog related to Internet safety. The first includes a video from Google and Common Sense Media that states most of the issues around Internet safety quite well. The second is a nice collection of tips everyone can/should follow to avoid identity theft. I’m not sure which is more likely, cyber bullying, or ID theft, but neither one sounds like much fun!
Safety - http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2008/04/10/a-common-sense-approach-to-internet-safety/
ID Theft - http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2008/04/10/tips-for-avoiding-identity-theft/
Flatten Your Classroom April 5, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in 21st-Century, Articles/Videos, Link Collections.add a comment
Vicki Davis, the Cool Cat Teacher, has posted details for how to flatten (connect to the world) your classroom. She lists 5 levels ranging from using tools like blogs but keeping the content and interaction within the confines of the classroom, all the way up to student directed interaction of connections around the globe. Examples of each level are very helpful. In the past I’ve outlined levels of technology integration for a class I teach and I think this is a nice 2.0 extension.
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2008/03/five-phases-of-flattening-classroom.html
Bebo Fighters March 28, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in 21st-Century, Articles/Videos, Opinion.add a comment
The BBC is reporting the arrest of six teenagers after they used the online social networking site Bebo. This is a story because it illustrates that kids can be very resourceful and are likely to use online resources as a daily part of their lives. This isn’t a story because kids organizing a fight by talking in the hallway or meeting up in neighborhoods just isn’t interesting.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/derbyshire/7318816.stm
Bit by BitTorrent March 27, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in 21st-Century, Articles/Videos, Tools.add a comment
When keeping track of all the new technology, or Web 2.0 specifically, it isn’t an easy task. One technology that I haven’t mentioned at all, but that fits the idea of the end users being in charge of the content, is BitTorrent. What is BitTorrent? In my mind, it is a distributed file sharing protocol. But what does that mean? Andy Carvin posted a question on Twitter asking for analogies for BitTorrent, and several people posted some very good ones that help explain what it is.
I like to think of BitTorrent as ‘the network is my hard drive.’ In other words, the location of the information isn’t as important as my access to it. What I wonder about is how BitTorrent can impact education. Imagine a district or school or classroom that isn’t concerned with having all of the answers, but instead is dedicated to making the best use of those answers or resources regardless of where they are located. I think BitTorrent is a great analogy for the way education should be structured. We each have a small part to contribute.
http://www.andycarvin.com/archives/2008/03/in_search_of_the_perfect_bit_torrent_ana.html
Who Knew? Social Computer Gamers? March 26, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in 21st-Century, Articles/Videos.add a comment
By way of a Howard Rheingold tweet, Physorg.com (anyone know who they are?) has posted an article about how computer games can make kids more social. Common opinion, and a certain car commercial that wants to rethink stuff, notwithstanding…
…in two recent studies of kindergarten and first-grade students, Ching has observed that children find ways to transform their experiences with technology into fun, highly organized group activities. She also found that technology-based activities can be explicitly designed to foster social reflection and advanced planning among young children.
