Last spring, I was humbled to be asked by Sarah Hanawald and Jason Ramsden to participate with my web cast partners, Alex Ragone and arvind grover, as part of the opening keynote panel for the North Carolina Area Independent Schools (NCAIS) Innovate Conference. The theme of this year’s conference is Igniting Innovation – Sparking Conversations about Learning in the Digital Age. Joining us were:
The focus of our conversation was “Rethinking Teaching and Learning in A Digital Age”. Alex, arvind and I, pushed hard on the possibilities. On my end, I was connected using ooVoo, which enabled the audience at Cary Academy to see me, and for me to see Alex in New York and the four panelists (arvind, Bill, Kelly, and Meredith). For audio, we used Skype to be to patch this so we could broadcast the audio live. Yes, I forgot not only were we talking amongst ourselves, but we were webcasting and recording the audio of the conversation for archiving at a later date. We also used Skype chat to communicate between the control booth and the three of us, internal communications. Jason Ramsden then feed another video stream out to the Internet. I was watching this, which allowed me to see what was being projected (first a Prezi that arvind created to provide the scaffolding and framework of the conversation and then later Alex and I) and the panelists from the audiences point of view. Lastly since it was live, there were 45 remote viewers of the video stream who were contributing to a text based chat room. Part of my role as a moderator was to monitor this feed for problems and questions.
With so may balls in the air, it would have been easy to drop one or two. I was finding an echo, a few second delay between when I spoke and then heard it again, playing in the auditorium. Strange, but I got used to it after a while. Also, the I experienced an Internet hiccup on my end, which meant I lost connection for a few minutes. And at the end, my audio became choppy. But all in all, it worked.
It was an interesting way to present. Better than in previous attempts, as I was able to gauge the body language of the other panelists and I was able to experience what was being projected. In previous experiences, it was hard to focus on a group. The downside – well the audience was invisible to me. I would have loved to see the feedback and body language of this group. but it was amazing to do what we were doing. And with not being there, I am unable to have further follow-up with the panelists or other attendees, and I will not be able to enjoy the Pork Pull.
This did show me what was possible, for little cost and an Internet connection. Pretty powerful and opens many possibilities. Imagine what kind of connections can occur by allowing students to have access to great thinkers in this way. This really changes the playing field.
You can now access the two of the more compelling and entertaining presentations that occured TEDxNYEd on Saturday, March 6th. Both of these pushed and inverted assumptions, raising compelling questions and challenging the status quo. I am still trying to make my reflections on each of these dense presentation coherent to share with you.
Openess The first was presented by Lawrence Lessig. For those who do not know, he is director of the Center for Ethics and a law professor at Harvard. Previously, he was a law professor at Stanford and one of the founders of Creative Commons.
Larry's presentation was on what conservatives can teach the liberal free culture movement. It was a wonderful unexpected twist. This is Bulls@#t Jeff Jarvis, the author of What Would Google Do and is an associate professor and director of the interactive journalism program and the new business models for news project at the City University of New York’s Graduate School of Journalism.
Jeff's presentation pushed the envelope in what should be the model for schools. Note – this blog post, which is the transcription of his presentation, does contain harsh language. Readers, please be advised. http://www.buzzmachine.com/2010/03/08/tedxnyed-this-is-bullshit/#comment-409837
Pat Bassett, the president of NAIS, refered people to an article recently published in the Journal of Technology Learning and Assessment, "The End of Techno-critique." (http://escholarship.bc.edu/jtla/vol9/6/) This article presents research into the criticism of 1:1 computing. From the abstract:
This article responds to a generation of techno-criticism in education. It contains a review of the key themes of that criticism. The context of previous efforts to reform education reframes that criticism. Within that context, the question is raised about what schools need to look and be like in order to take advantage of laptop computers and other technology. In doing so, the article presents a vision for self-organizing schools.
I found this article to be consistent with the thoughts and goals that we in the technology department believe should be the reason for technological integration. The conditions for success are what I believe to be the conditions for success for any school wanting to transform and change. This is the type of school I want to learn and teach in. Specifically, from the article:
New Vision
Bransford et al., fix the future of educational technology in cognitive tools that shape and extend human capabilities. Cognitive tools blur the unproductive distinctions that techno-critics make between computers and teaching and learning. When technology enables, empowers, and accelerates a profession’s core transactions, the distinctions between computers and professional practice evaporate.
No equivalents of these technologically enabled transactions – surgery, designing, or forecasting – exist within the prevailing educational
paradigm or 1:1 computing models. What does exist are replacements: books replaced by web pages, paper report cards with student information systems, chalkboards with interactive whiteboards, and filing cabinets with electronic databases. None of these equivalents addresses the core activity of teaching and learning. Each merely automates the practices of the prevailing paradigm (a) non-differentiated large-group instruction, (b) access to information in classrooms, (c) non-engagement of parents, and (d) summative assessment of performance
Realizing the Benefit of Cognitive Tools
The central and prerequisite question here concerns educators and schools capable of sustaining and realizing the benefit of cognitive tools.
How must they differ from the educators and schools that are now struggling with 1:1 computing ? A viable answer to this question will have a least six components.
One, the community comprising the school – students, teachers, school leaders, and parents – must have an explicit set of simple rules that defines what the community believes about teaching and learning. The rules and the process of building consensus about them, assign value to what the community believes (e.g. cooperation, curriculum, feedback, time). The rules are not a mission statement;instead, they are the drivers for the overall design of the school and the schooling that occurs therein.
Two, the school community deliberately and systematically uses its rules to embed its big ideas, values, aspirations, and commitments in the day-to-day actions and processes of the school (e.g., physical space, classroom organization, equipment, job descriptions, career paths, salary scales, curriculum documents, classroom practice, performance evaluation, technology, professional development). Embedded design yields a complete picture, absent of the broad, loosely coupled brush strokes and sweeping references to “best practice” or “excellence” that characterize techno-critique and are common in most approaches to educational change, innovation, and reform.
Three, all members at all levels of the school community are fully engaged with creating, adapting, and sustaining the embedded design of the school. Each member is an active agent – not a consumer or provider – in the processes comprising the community’s design. For instance, students have clearly articulated roles, responsibilities, and performance measures instead of expectations for just being good citizens. Each student understands what constitutes effective cooperative and peer-assisted learning and can act skillfully with that knowledge.
Based upon my experience at TEDxNYEd, the question becomes, what must be done to get there. I will be sharing more later.
On Saturday, March 6th, I had an opportunity to experience and live the future conferences. For eight hours, TEDxNYEd provided an opportunity to focus on learning, education and transformation, rather than being at a conference focused on tools and skills. This difference is significant and should become the standard for which we aspire too. Technology needs to become an eco-system, not a thing. EduCon seemingly has the same focus, but so far, I have only been able to experience EduCon virtually, not in person. For both conferences, the focus is on starting and igniting conversations and creating plans for actions.
At TEDxNYEd, I purposefully ditched the tethering technologies in my life, laptop, cellphone, and Twitter and went to the conference armed with a simple notebook and pen. I chose to do this to permit myself on the thoughts, ideas, questions, and the people at the conference attendees and fourteen speakers who challenged and engaged us. Starting with Andy Carvin through to Chris Lehmann, all of the speakers provided great fodder for thought, reflection, and conversation. The variety of presentation styles kept the day hopping and full of surprises. I enjoyed the flow and appreciated the breaks between groups of presentations, which provided time to decompress or engage others in conversation, question, and challenge each other about the ideas, presented in during the previous session. In this case, being untethered allowed me to immerse myself fully in the experience and play and cultivate the thoughts, rather than focusing on updating and responding to others.
I want to thank the organizing committee of TEDxNYEd for planning such a wonderful event. They should be proud of what they created. It was also wonderful to connect with old friends such like Andy Carvin, Will Richardson, and Sheryl Nussbaum-Beech. The social events allowed for me to reconnect with newer friends such as Matt Scully, Keith Jarrett, and Susan Carter-Morgan. Lastly, were the opportunities to put names to faces with people with whom I have connected.
Most importantly, I got to spend time with my webcast partners, Alex Ragone and arvind grover. Culminating an online relationship for the past five years, first as a consumer of the webcast and then as an active collaborator and junior member of the team, we have explored many of the same topics. I know that the ideas investigated at TEDxNYEd will continue to shape and guide our conversations for months ahead, just like our conversation about disruption did last year. I look forward to these conversations on 21st Century Learning.
Lastly, on a personal note, I want to further thank Alex Ragone for his generosity and hospitality. Even though we did not meet face to face until he picked me up at the airport at 10:00 p.m., he showed me how deep the relationships forged online when like minded people are able to connect can be.
As I am reflecting on the sessions and reviewing my notes, I am excited with sharing the various lessons and challenges brought forth by the presenters. I hope that I will be able to share the thoughts visions and challenges and my potential solutions with you. The next few weeks will be busy as I try to share my experience with you.
On Saturday, March 6th, I had an opportunity to experience and live the future conferences. For eight hours, TEDxNYEd provided an opportunity to focus on learning, education and transformation, rather than being at a conference focused on tools and skills. This difference is significant and should become the standard for which we aspire too. Technology needs to become an eco-system, not a thing. EduCon seemingly has the same focus, but so far, I have only been able to experience EduCon virtually, not in person. For both conferences, the focus is on starting and igniting conversations and creating plans for actions.
