A Place to Consider Technology

The question is not a trivial one. The topic of new teachers and their own development of technology skills is so important that it is one of the required courses one takes as a pre-service teacher and then again during the induction phase of professional development (generally your first two years of teaching). We have had two readings that present two differing views on this topic.

One perspective takes the “just in time learning” approach. The idea that you learn what you need when you need it, becoming a learning with your students. And in the author’s opinion that approach is OK. The other perspective contains information and lists of specific technologies that a teacher should become comfortable with in order to smoothly integrate technology to support your teaching.

So what approach seems to fit?

When you last heard from me I was talking about taking stock, reflecting of the past school year, and looking forward to the future. Well that lasted about 2 days. Now we have begun a new summer session of new courses, new experiences, and new challenges.

The big challenge ahead of us is the creation of a Digital Story to explore your first year in the classroom. I do not expect this task to be easy and I would not take your thoughts and words for granted. This activity is a very big investment of your part in order to craft something that will serve your growth as a professional and become a part of your unique experience that you will be proud to share.

With that said I recently came to a realization about this task. I have been using digital video editing tools for about 8 years now. But I have only really engaged in Digital Storytelling for about 2 years. I do have over a dozen DVDs sitting on the shelf above the television but none of them are truly digital stories. I have only a small number of digital stories completed, the rest are “digital scrapbooks”.

So what is the difference? I am glad that you asked (I heard you asking).

At the heart of every digital story is your words, your narration of the ideas. It is your voice and your perspective on an issue that carries the story. The images are there to help your audience create visuals about the story in their minds, to give them something to hold on to as the story unfolds. The soundtrack is there to create a mood or provide atmosphere to the work. The best digital story soundtracks have no words at all - or at least very few.

A digital scrapbook is a different sort of project. At the heart of a digital scrapbook is the images. Here they take center stage. Without the images there is no project. The soundtrack is a vital component to the project. The words of the soundtrack highlight, uncover, and explain the feelings you are conveying. The music must have words to carry your meaning. As for narration, there is probably none. Little is not needed. You may insert a comment from time to time but this is carried out better through text and titles.

So as you begin your digital story keep the heart of this project in mind. Focus on what will carry your message in a very powerful way - your voice. The rest is present to support that message.

And have fun as you explore your own experience through storytelling.

Looking Forward

As we come to the end of another school year this has become a time to look forward from graduation out to the rest of our lives. We look out to what the future might hold for us; careers, family, maybe even just having some down time to enjoy the world around us. The end of a school year seems like the natural place to stop and reconsider (or maybe even consider for the first time) the path we are on and the destination ahead of us.

But as this year closes and our new teachers are about to go out into the world to begin the career that they have spent so long to enter, we find ourselves faced with a different question. We do not just have to ask “what kind of teacher will you be in the near future?” but more importantly we have to ask “will you be teaching in the near future?” The recent budget uncertainties have put many of your careers in jeopardy. The question I have now is one about how we got into this problem in the first place? Should we not know how many children will be in our public education system and how many teachers we will need to educate those children? Why can we not plan for this vital part of our society?

We must believe that this time of uncertainly will pass and we will be able to get back to the business of teaching and learning. So we come back to the original question – What kind of teacher do you want to be?

Looking Back

As important as looking forward is to our path we must not loose sight of where we have been. After all, it is all those past experiences, choices, forks in the road that has shaped who we are right now, in this moment. If we fail to look back at those experiences it is difficult to consider our next steps. Reflection should be a part of each new chapter in our lives. Where have we been, who has influences and mentored us, what ideals have shaped our perspective on the world, what have been the challenges and triumphs during this journey?

It is always very appealing to recall and relive the triumphs in life. But do not forget the challenges we have encountered along the way. It is often said that whatever does not kill us will only make us stronger. That is true, right? I surely hope so otherwise what is the point to any of this. I am a believer in “the struggle” (to the dismay of many of my own students). Without the struggles we do not really grow or learn.

So as we find ourselves at this fork in the road, the place we are able to pick a new path in life, let us both consider our options and to reconsider our past. Both perspectives will help us along the way.

A 2020 Vision for My Children’s Educational Future

I have been given the challenge to present my vision of education and technology as it might plausibly look in the year 2020. While the Epic vision video by Robin Sloan presented us with an intriguing and captivating vision of the technology business world, I think that I should probably avoid any of those predications. My business vision is one where in 2000 I had the opportunity to purchase Apple stock (being a true believer this was an attractive thought), however I bought the stock of another technology company. Needless to say, the next year Apple released the iPod and my company was involved in a lawsuit over infringement. So much for my career as a stock investor. Maybe that is why I teach.

We have also see the artful interweaving of business technology and education in the Fischbowl’s 2020 Vision video. This line of thought is closer to one that I might actually be able to pull off in a way that is both plausible and meaningful. What will ground my own vision of education in the year 2020 is knowing that both my children will be high school graduates at about that time in the future (thank goodness).

I do not feel that my vision timeline can flow from year to year, giving events and accounts of change each year between 2008 and 2020. Instead, my vision will follow a gradual change model that will describe the subtle yet important changes that might occur over this period to bring us to a new way of viewing education.

So let’s begin.

My 2020 (a short video presentation)

Transcript of video

One of the favorite political catch phrases is that “children are our future”. And this statement turned out to be true. It took a fundamental shift in who was in charge of the world to begin the process of change.

By 2010 we saw a shift in the faces of corporate America. The old guard had seen itself become bypassed by the technological changes of the early twenty-first century. Their unwillingness to embrace changes in information, business practices, and social connectivity had made many of them obsolete. Generation-Y now had risen to positions of power within the corporate structures. The old guard still controlled the government institutions, but they would soon find themselves obsolete as Generation-Y’s understanding of social networking and their ability to mobilize and direct resources through these technologies and supported their own social agenda.

Generation-Y represented a fundamental shift in how people viewed their responsibilities. They had a social agenda. They believed in social justice. They were determined to change things. They were the grandchildren of the social activists of the late 1970’s. However where these visionaries worked for changed by struggling against the establishment, this new generation had figured out that they could effect greater change from within the establishment. They infiltrated and changed the way these establishments did business. They were interested in being profitable as a business entity, but they actively supported social issues in their communities. Many educational and social organizations found allies in this new breed of executives, the socially conscious majority.

One outcome of this alliance was the creation of free community WIFI zones. Wireless clouds were established in many urban areas. Many of these projects were patterned after the Wireless Waikiki WIFI project. Public and private wireless access points were joined together in a wireless mesh to give true anytime, anywhere Internet access to entire communities. This broad access brought the tools of Web 2.0 to a larger number of people.

At the same time Microsoft partnered with the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project. There was initial skepticism that this partnership would derail the efforts of the project as it moved from an open source platform to proprietary operating system. Intel continued its aggressive plan to release faster and more powerful computer processor chips on a six-month cycle. As a result computer costs continued to drop and the OLPC is able to distribute more and more units at lower costs. The program is so effective that it expands the mission from supplying laptops in every developing nation’s child to distributing laptops to every child.

The OLPC 2.0 evolution prompts an explosion of laptops in schools. With the further development of the WIFI community clouds, students have continuous access to the web. Teachers begin to capitalize on the connectivity to support a rich technology supported learning environment.

The convergence revolution begins in earnest. The “laptop” computer becomes smaller, lighter, and more powerful as it evolves into the single access device for the digital lifestyle. Collaborations develop between schools within communities, across states, throughout the county, and internationally. Teachers in these partner schools communicate about lesson plans and curriculum. They share resources and often team-teach with one another through video conferencing and desktop computer sharing tools. Students from across the globe are able to interact and learn together.

As the year 2020 approaches we see the rise of virtual classrooms where students and teachers from many different institutions meet in a gaming-like virtual space to learn together. They present themselves through avatars. They attend classes, interact with peers, and mentors all within a virtual university. In this virtual learning space they can share and present any digital artifact with one another – video, webpages, blogs, digital images and desktop applications.

In 2000 when my son was born the choice for many was brick and mortar shopping or Amazon. As he gets ready to graduate high school his choice is ivory towers or the virtual university.

The array of web application available to educators is staggering and overwhelming. After a simple Google search for Web 2.0 tools I can across Sue Summerford’s Web 2.0 for the Classroom Teacher. I was comforted to see a familiar educational web domain, the AT&T Knowledge Network. I have been using their Filamentailty web application for many years now. But Sue’s list of new web applications contained over 300 choices – all sounding very useful. I am not sure if my family or my work would allow the time to explore them all.

So as I think about a web app to begin using I once again find myself in a familiar place on the web – Google. There is something simple, intriguing, and familiar about Google Docs.

This application lends itself to students with many learning style strengths. It supports collaboration, it supports the interpersonal learner, it supports the linguistic/verbal learner, and probably other learning styles as well.

I believe that there can be such power in collaborative writing. Each participant brings something to the creative writing process and the finished product is much greater than what the individual could have produced. Collaborative writing is also an exercise in compromise, trust, team building, and creativity. In Google doc this collaborative writing process can occur in real time or asynchronously. While there are many apps that support out-of-synch dialogue and collaboration, Google Docs allows for the participants to be sharing the web space at the same time.

I have to agree with Richard Ericson that Google Docs is “simple, straightforward and elegant”.