Multi-faceted Refractions

My View of the NCAIS Innovate Opening Panel

vvrotny — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:12:25 +0000

My view of the NCAIS Innovate Panel

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:

Bill Ferriter - http://teacherleaders.typepad.com/the_tempered_radical/

Kelly Hines - http://keepingkidsfirst.wordpress.com/

Meredith Stewart - http://discovery.caryacademy.org/meredith_stewart/2010/02/always-learning/

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.

Two TEDxNYEd Presentations Released

vvrotny — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:06:47 +0000

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

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Technology, Cognitive Tools to Change A School’s Ecology

vvrotny — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:48:10 +0000

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.

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TEDxNYEd – Brain Dump 1.0

vvrotny — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 04:04:08 +0000

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.

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ICE Conference – Teaching the iBrain: Reaching 21st Century Learners

vvrotny — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:41:18 +0000

Teaching the IBrain – Reaching 21st Century Learners

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Thoughts from the Morning – ICE Conference

vvrotny — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:26:59 +0000

At this point, I have now sat in three sessions plus the keynote. For me, the focus has been on tools. There are some links to pedagogy and instruction, but not nearly enough.

I am afraid that my presentation also seems tools heavy, but I am trying to create the connections to what our goals were for our implementation and how we are using it to transform what we do.

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I Education Apps Review

vvrotny — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:49:46 +0000

I Education Apps

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ICE Session 2 – Google Lit Trips with Jerome Burg

vvrotny — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:47:04 +0000

ICE Session Two – Google Lit Trip

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ICE Session – Capturing the Spirit of the Classroom

vvrotny — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:04:16 +0000

ICE – Session One

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Finding Time To Play

vvrotny — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 01:47:52 +0000

Yesterday, in my post about the lessons learned from the production of the Funky Snowman, I raised questions about how we can introduce “play” into the curriculum. I have been thinking about the last time that I felt that I was able to immerse myself within my own productivity. This occurred nearly two weeks ago on during a faculty work-day, when I was able to work on my own time free of the 45 minutes segments that a normal day brings. Also kicking around my mind are the ideas that I have gotten from reading the new Daniel Pink book, Drive. In this book, Pink spends time talking about getting into flow and how to intrinsically motivate yourself. How do we create the time and space for students and teachers to play?

Deep in my blog drafts, I pulled a post from last year, that I never finished. In this post, I began to think about the ideas put forth by Eric Langhorst in his podcast, Speaking of History. In his post from August 21, 2008, Eric talks about the problems with implementing Google’s 20% principle in his classroom, but instead talked about giving students one class period every two weeks to work on a project under the umbrella of the subject area being studied. To show their learning, students would be expected to demonstrate their learning at a fair at the end of the year.

I believe that this would be a wonderful way for teachers to begin to give up time (approximately 16 instructional days) which will allow them to still cover the content they feel that they need to while opening their curriculum up to a project based curriculum. It would be a great first step towards 21st Century Learning in a manageable non-threatening way for reluctant teachers.

A second interesting way towards getting to flow would be through the use of Fed-Ex Days, a full day experience where students would have 24 hours to complete a project. This is similar to the Film on the Fly Project, where participants were given a prompt and using their mobile phones, asked to create a 60 second movie in 24 hours. What if we had an impromptu day where all regular classes were cancelled and students were asked to solve a problem? There may be a theme, but they would be able to work individually or in groups and within 24 hours, be required to come up with solutions and plans for the solution.

While both of these solutions would have to be refined, they would provide students with a way to “play”, break out of the 45 minute discrete blocks and really get involved with a project that they were passionate about. Could these ideas begin to transform other aspects of the curriculum? Could success with projects like this show teachers the power of project based learning?

I would love to hear how others have tried to implement projects such as these.