Multi-faceted Refractions

Over the past six months, we have been investigating several converging ideas:

• Campus Wide Long Range Space Planning
• Questioning of Schedule and Time in all three of our divisions
• Discussion of the role of technology - tablets, laptops, projectors, network, and services to support learning

These conditions are converging, suggesting that we are nearing a near perfect storm that potentially could transform our learning environments and provide us with the framework which will enable us to enter into our second century of existence in 11 years. I am really excited about the possibilities.

Our Head of School has been interested in the Harkness Table concept. He has been dropping this idea into conversations for nearly a year now. As we are getting closer to our next milestone in determing whether or not we will be heading to a school environment in which technology will be “like oxygen, ubiquitous, necessary, and invisible” (Chris Lehmann in School 2.0 - Creating Schools We Need). Last night, I had an epiphany moment connecting this initiative and the Harkness Philosophy. The Harkness Philosophy can be updated for the new learning environment.

Embedded is a presentation which is I am developing the connection between the technology, learning environments, and the updates needed to provide for the Harkness Table 2.0. The changes are not in the physical realm, but instead extend to the collaborative network. I would appreciate any feedback or pushback from my network so that I can continue the development of these ideas. This is a work in progress, so I will be updating it over the next week.

One of the tools that I have and enjoyed is Inspiration. I have used this product since 1989, when a forward thinking local school system purchased it for its teachers and I had to train them on how to use it. I have always been a visual thinker, which is one of the reasons that I loved my Macintosh computers and why I think that tablet technology is an increasingly interesting tool for users.  The ability  to create diagrams and then simply create outlines, the ability to export a series a diagram into a web site were some of the great innovations.

With the advent of Web 2.0 technologies led me to begin to look for an equivilent solution so that multiple people could work on the same project. Many offered some of the tools and functionality of Inspiration, none of them had the full sets of features available.

At NECC, I heard the rumors that Inspiration was coming out with a web 2.0 edition of their product. I was excited about the possibilities and anxiously awaited its arrival. This morning, while scanning my reader, I saw a post by Kevin Jarrett (Inspiration comes to the web: meet MyWebspiration.com!) and I became excited.

Over the course of the day, I have begun to play with myWebspiration.com. Truly a beta product, it does not have full Web 2.0 functionality. It does have the ability for a group to collaborate, but unlike the Google products that I have been using, only one person can be editing the document at a time. There is not the ability to embed the document. The only way to access the document is to save a copy to your local hard drive and further manipulate it in Inspiration 8.

It does allow for all of the features I have come to love, such as rapid entry and the ability to switch between visual mode and outline mode. From Leigh Zeitz, I hear that this product will stay in beta and available for free for an undetermined amount of time while they are testing the waters.

It is a solid start and I look forward to seeing enhancements in the upcoming months. It is a something to watch develop and grow.