Multi-faceted Refractions

I have been thinking about how we deliver technology professional development at our school. There are currently two goals that we are trying to accomplish:

1. Making sure teachers are aware of new tools so that they can become competent users of technology for themselves.
2. Making sure teachers can use these tools to enrich and transform their classroom for the community of learners during that physical time and space.

To date, we have employed following methods:

1. Using email/blog to make teachers aware of different tools and sites. We sometimes use this in a broad sweep, sometimes in a targeted fashion. This is a passive activity which requires a large amount of time and energy to follow up with those who are not self-motivated or feel overwhelmed.
2. Use of Large Group Meeting time. These times are often used to either show the whole group a set of tools or to provide a vision or direction. This then requires individual follow-up to make sure that the tools are implemented. Good for exposure,but does not lead to inclusion or change without a self-motivated individual taking control of their own learning. It is difficult to schedule as much time with the competing factions and needs for a whole group meeting.
3. Meet with Small Groups. These are often effective and more narrowly focused meetings which allow for greater rates of teachers being willing to experiment, play, and then embed the use of the tools for both personal and for inclusion in teaching. These are effective since different groups can be built, a group from a department, a grade level, a group with a common interest. The difficulty is carving out times for these groups to get together. It is very difficult during the school day and either before and after school. Our Brown Bag Lunches were a good example of this, but the differing lunch times and different divisional timetables makes this difficult time to schedule.
4. One-to-one – This is often the most effective, but most time intensive from a tech staffing standpoint. It requires that we know the goals of the teachers so we can align it with the right tools. I am spending more time this year developing these relationships. Once trained, I am asking the individuals to help serve as mentors for the tools. I want to do this because I believe that teachers need to hear authentic stories from their colleagues in addition to hearing my voice. They will be more likely to try when they hear the passion from more people.
5. Encouraging people to take advantage of wonderful opportunities online. This has been more miss than hit, as once again, it takes a highly motivated individual to make happen.

What I need is your guidance. Specifically:

1. Are there other methods that I should use that you think will be affective?
2. How can we rethink time so that we can facilitate more regular small group meetings?
3. Do you think that putting this in a virtual space (Moodle, etc.) would be helpful in providing access that is not time dependent?
4. Is there anything else I am completely missing in this conversation?

I look forward to hearing the thoughts and ideas from members of my network.

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.

Yesterday, I  overheard two seventh graders in the library, chatting about the research project the they were conducting searches online at a table.

The first student said, “Don’t forget that we were just asked to include a print source for our research project.”

At this, the student replied, “I have that covered. Mine is Gordon Color. (the name of the printer that they could print to)”

Therein lies the dilemma we face as educators.

I had an epiphany. The framework for 21st Century Learning can be stated very simply and elegantly.

Learners in the 21st Century need to:

To begin, we have to agree with others that there is a problem and what the problem is.

To solve the problem identified, we had to decide in consultation with others what we feel is the  right question.

Once the right question is identified, a solution needs to be determined. Learners will collaborate with others whose thinking is different than theirs, to make sure that they are pushed to their solution.

Once a solution has been determined, it has to be applied and tested to make sure that it solves the problem.

If it works great, onward to the next problem. If not, we need to go back and see if we were asking the right question, or if we got the best solution in the first place. We go back and modify and start over again.