But as we delve further and further down the path, there are three questions that need to be answered before completely committing to these tools.

1. Who owns the data

I will admit that I do not read the terms and agreements of the new tools that I am experimenting with. If I create something, do I retain some kind of ownership of the idea? Are my ideas protected by Creative Commons or am I giving my intellectual property away?

One of the challenges for us in education is to teach all of our learners, faculty and students, how to use the best tool for them to communicate their message, so that it can rise above the rest of the “white noise” of information that surrounds us and is growing daily. But we also want our learners to be able to retain ownership of their ideas, for that alone may be what defines them. No one should be able to co-opt an idea. Enhance it, synthesize it to create a better idea, but the kernel should remain.

2. Who owns the curriculum

One of the questions as teachers begin to modify and create new curricula to meet the needs and demands of the students is who owns it? Is it the school or the individual. In business, the answer used to be crystal clear, it was the business that had ownership of new ideas, especially if an individual left. This may become a bigger issue, especially if the teacher shortage that continues to be forecast in the next seven to ten years occurs and the demands for the excellent teacher who is getting results with the new tools.

3. Who owns the experience?

If the face to face classroom experience is what differentiates the experience, who owns the experience. Prestigious universities such as MIT, Stanford, and Cal-Berekley making the experience, by posting podcasts and videocasts of courses freely available. As schools begin to use the tools and share the classroom experiences, who owns the content, the school, or the creator of the content, the teacher?

4. What will draw students to your physical learning space and environment?

With the whole of knowledge is being made digitally available, what will bring students to your physical space? Or how will your school be defined, by physical location, by time, by content?

I do not profess to have any answers, only questions. I do feel that these questions will help define what we mean by School 2.0 or beyond and am actively trying to synthesize my answers.

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Sketchup

The first example occurred in October. The majority of our 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders had a wonderful opportunity to work with Jim Papoulis, creating and recording a song. Our Lower School head asked if I could come up with an activity that we could do with the remaining 16 4th and 5th graders on the morning that they went to the recording studio. Over the summer, because of postings on Alex Ragone and Arvind Grover’s podcast, 21st Century Learning (part of the EdTechTalk syndication), I was reacquainted (which I originally heard about from Fred Bartels) with Google’s Sketchup. I played with it and thought it was a neat application, especially when used with Google Earth to overlay the models. Since we had a three hour block to fill, I thought it would be neat to introduce the students and the three teachers who stayed back to the application to see what worked and what didn’t. I wanted the students to feel that they had as unique of an experience as the other group.
I began the day with a brief orientation, and then I asked the students and teachers to go through the tutorial for 40 minutes. It was interesting how encumbered the teachers were and the 4th and 5th graders were completely uninhibited. When faced with a task, the adults tried to duplicate it exactly. If it wasn’t exact, they went over it again and again. On the other hand, the students watched the instructions, tried to do it, and if not working, they would try to manipulate and figure out what more they could do. When it did work for the students, they then began to brainstorm and try to apply what they learned to do more.

When the teachers got stuck, a student would see this and walk over and sit down with them and try to show them not only how to accomplish the task, but how to apply some of the other aspects that they were playing with. After a break, we turned everyone loose to design a structure, or whatever they wanted to. Everyone was trying out different aspects of Sketchup, including colors and mapping textures. Everyone was learning from each other and the time flew by. At the end of our time together, when we debriefed with the teachers, they were excited by the possibilities and the fact that they were thrust back into the role of a learner and that they needed to be mentored by the students. For some of the students, it was a chance to shine and show wonderful leadership.

Sketchup Fall out

The next day, after returning from a Professional Development day, my 5th grader who went to the recording studio and was not part of the experience, asked me, “What other software do you know about that you are hiding from me?” Two of her friends who were part of the Sketchup experience showed her the models that they created after school. While I was gone, she downloaded and had several models to share with me when I got home.

Our 10th grade history teacher’s son was also a member of the Sketchup group. Over the weekend, he shared with his dad the program and how to model. They worked on them over the weekend. On Monday, he approached me to see if we could install the software so that his Interim group project, studying the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, could create their own renditions of some of the different buildings that they visited. They did so and showed them to their parents during their presentation night.

Lastly, our 5th Grade is breaking up into teams and using Sketchup to model five Mayan villages that they are going to research this January. We are going to be doing the overlays onto Google Earth for the parent presentation night in February. I can’t wait to see the results.

Filmaking

For the second year, I proposed and had a full compliment of students who participated in my film-making Interim Week experience. Over the course of the week, they developed the idea, script, shot, and edited their films. Interim Week is a week where classes are suspended and students sign up for a week long immersive experience of their choice. In the film-making interim, the students had five and a half full days to work on the project. I am in the midst of creating a wiki to document this year’s films shortly. Once again, when given the luxury of time to work on a project, students have the opportunity to truly play with the application. They were not trying to finish the project within discrete 50 minute blocks. During Interim Week, I am usually so exhausted at the end of the day, as you are always “on” and having to work together with students on troubleshooting, teaching, and critiquing their work so that they can learn better ways to tell their stories.

Film-making Fall Out

As a result of bringing back the film-making Interim after a five year hiatus, students exposed their teachers to the ease of creating film, especially with all of the digital tools that we have on hand. While having my individual goal setting meeting with the head of our history project, we got to talking about the conditions that made our integration of technology such an exciting and invigorating experience in 1996 – 2000, when I first arrived on campus. One aspect that we both agreed we needed to get back to was sharing our work with the outside world, since the tools seemed to catch up with what our desires were. He also had done a documentary film Interim three years ago with me. From this conversation, he came back after the summer with the exciting news that he was introducing new units in his US History course, which will culminate in a documentary film unit. Over the course of the fall, we have collaborated on several units, which are taking the students through the steps of gaining more visual literacy and story telling techniques. Tomorrow, we are introducing the students to a five week unit which you can view at the wiki I have created for the students, thanks to the inspiration that I received from the k12 Online Conference, especially the wiki workshop led by Vicki Davis.

Conclusion

When given a chance to learn about new technologies without being concerned with time, wonderful ideas percolate in our minds. This is one of the joys that children experience while playing. They can stay engaged without concern for anything else. I am thankful for the opportunities to schedule playdates, bigger bits of time that teachers and students can use to explore. It is from this experience that great ideas are born.

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Because both of these conferences have made their presentations available via a variety of different modes, podcasts, vidcasts, and screencasts. Via the variety of blogs and aggregators, such as hitchhikr, I have been able to gather the notes and follow the conversation not only of the attendees, but of those who are like me who are remotely participating in the conversation. There are also the new wikis that many are creating for their handouts which are like a siren inviting me to participate and share my thoughts and ideas. Unlike an actual conference where I am physically limited to what I am able to do, here I can have it all.
From these experiences, I find myself invigorated by the conversations and the intellectual challenges that these experiences allow me. But not being physically there, I am contently pulled back into reality by both personal and professional demands on my time. While having the iPod and car adapter does allow me the opportunity to listen hauling my children around, they are getting tired of hearing about Ed Tech and would rather listen to their own musical choices.

It is especially difficult this week, as it is Interim Week at our school. This is a week where classes are suspended and students select a week long, immersive experience from those which are presented. I am once again offering a film-making interim, where students create films of their own choosing.This year I have 15 students who are creating five different films. This being Thursday, they are trying to get their last scenes shot and trying to get their films edited so that they can be shown to the group Friday afternoon, at least a rough cut. I have been interrupted four times since starting this to help troubleshoot various different problems. I really enjoy this week at our school, although it is more exhausting than a normal week due to the fact that you are always on and having to guide students who are equally immersed in their projects. There is a tremendous amount of learning going on.

Layering my desire to continue my learning when the energy levels are tapped has been tricky. I will continue to try to keep up with the pace, but I am finding myself lagging behind. The fact that these conversations are just beginning and will continue and that I can participate a when “life” is a bit more relaxed is reassuring, but I wonder when that time will come.

So I will have to continue to persevere and forge onward. I look forward to our future conversations.

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