When I first saw, "tiny.url" cropping up all over the place I wondered thought, Wow, what a popular website. So many people are linking to it. That was several years ago and I had no idea that tinyurl (and snipurl and bit.ly, etc..) were "shortened" or "masked" urls. Shortened urls allow you to take create a new url from an unwieldy long "http:" address. This is particularly helpful for adding links to a TWITTER tweet which is limited to only 140 characters.
Like all good things, shortened urls began being used in not so good ways (to hide urls of questionable websites, for example). Because of this many school servers began blocking them. If you use Twitter as a form of professional development and shortened urls are blocked at your workplace, you will miss some potentially useful information.
HOW TO FIND THE REAL URL OF A SHORTENED ONE
The easiest way to get the real url of a shortened on is to go to this website:
http://www.unshorten.com/index.php
Here you can copy and paste the short url into the form after which the correct url address is displayed. You can click it and be redirected to the site in a matter of seconds without it being blocked.
Just one more away to keep good information free and unrestricted.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
What's With All The Tweeting?
Those that tweet about all things 'Education 2.0' are on a mission (me, too). That mission is to change some minds; to elucidate that times are a changin' and Academia better get on board. This is an important quest. The field (and so many in it) are slow to change--too slow to see the proverbial writing on the wall. That writing tells us that kids are different. They are wired (actually wire(d)less) but nonetheless connected to multimedia, to information, to other teens. They are the so-called Digital Natives and we best make efforts to reach them. And we also best get Luddites on board with all this tech that drives teen's lives. We best find ways to leverage these modes of connecting and communicating in the classroom! We Best! We must!..............................But.
But....is it really a quantitative paradigm we want to exemplify with regard to our use of tech? Because that's what I'm seeing all around me now-especially on Twitter: '21st Century Teachers' on a mission--blinging out their 'PLN' by tweeting incessantly like a South Korean World of Warcraft addict. I follow many such Tweeting Educators who seem to tweet all day, all evening and on weekends, too. What is going on here? There isn't possibly enough time to actually digest the information that is being tweeted and retweeted. It's like watching Educator's Gone Wild With Tech! I'm grateful for all the links, articles and potential professional development resources but when is it time to power down? Or is never the new normal?
I asked this on Twitter:
One reply I have received says it all:
Yes, that seems to be the problem. Do we really want our Supervisors, Principals, Superintendents and School Boards thinking we have that much time on our hands?
What it boils down to is this: We can do an amazing job batting for the adoption of '21st century tech' in our schools and classrooms. We may even convince people that matter (our Supervisors, Principals, Superintendents and School Boards) to take a look. What will they see when they do? In one case I know, they will see a teacher that 'tweeted' over 10, 000 tweets in a matter of months. The questions When? Why? and Where? are all valid questions for Supervisors, Principals, Superintendents and School Boards to ask. I hope the answers point to the improvement of student learning. I also hope face to face interaction with them hasn't been marginalized either. In the case of Prinicpal's as Twitterers, the same questions might be harder to answer.
I hope there's Quality in all that Quantity. My personal assessment? There is. Let's just be sure to keep it that way.
"Excellent Question, message is that they have time on their hands--and perhaps the beginnings of a problem."
Yes, that seems to be the problem. Do we really want our Supervisors, Principals, Superintendents and School Boards thinking we have that much time on our hands?
What it boils down to is this: We can do an amazing job batting for the adoption of '21st century tech' in our schools and classrooms. We may even convince people that matter (our Supervisors, Principals, Superintendents and School Boards) to take a look. What will they see when they do? In one case I know, they will see a teacher that 'tweeted' over 10, 000 tweets in a matter of months. The questions When? Why? and Where? are all valid questions for Supervisors, Principals, Superintendents and School Boards to ask. I hope the answers point to the improvement of student learning. I also hope face to face interaction with them hasn't been marginalized either. In the case of Prinicpal's as Twitterers, the same questions might be harder to answer.
I hope there's Quality in all that Quantity. My personal assessment? There is. Let's just be sure to keep it that way.
The Slow Nature of Change in Schools
On a recent field trip, neither my students nor I was at threat of being eaten alive by a t-rex.
Why, despite ruling Earth for nearly 80 million years (even longer than Wall Street barons), are Cretaceous period animals not regularly chowing on our gizzards? Things change.
Scientists have suspected this for some time. In fact, a growing body of geologic evidence seems to support the theory that things today are not the same as they were 200 million years ago. (Many even suspect tomorrow will be different than today.)
Surprisingly, this idea of “change as constant” is not yet an accepted norm. (Though it comes as no surprise to anyone whose visited any number of schools in recent years.)
by Jason Flom, read the rest at: Shift Happens. (Even in Schools?) | Ecology of Education
Why, despite ruling Earth for nearly 80 million years (even longer than Wall Street barons), are Cretaceous period animals not regularly chowing on our gizzards? Things change.
Scientists have suspected this for some time. In fact, a growing body of geologic evidence seems to support the theory that things today are not the same as they were 200 million years ago. (Many even suspect tomorrow will be different than today.)
Surprisingly, this idea of “change as constant” is not yet an accepted norm. (Though it comes as no surprise to anyone whose visited any number of schools in recent years.)
by Jason Flom, read the rest at: Shift Happens. (Even in Schools?) | Ecology of Education
Combining Service-Learning and Technology Fosters positive Youth Development
In an ongoing effort to promote youth empowerment in education, we’d like to offer this research synopsis. This one pulls together several of our favorite subjects: youth development, project-based learning, and technology.
Best Practices for Integrating Technology and Service-Learning in a Youth Development Program by JoAnn R. Coe-Regan, PhD and Julie O’Donnell, PhD, MSW.
Community-based programs that are meant to promote youth development have been around for quite awhile. Numerous studies indicate that youths benefit from these programs in many ways: a more positive self-image, a reduction in risk taking behavior, improved school behavior, etc. Because research illustrates the success of after-school programs, federal funding has increased from $40 million to $1 billion in recent years. A ubiquitous and recurring challenge these programs face is how to recruit and retain teens despite the potential barriers of boredom, family responsibilities, and spending social time with their friends.
In 2006 the YMCA Youth Institute of Long Beach, California developed a service-learning program to help overcome these barriers which “…uses technology as an integral mechanism for promoting positive youth development and enhancing the academic success and career readiness of low-income, culturally-diverse high school students.” (Coe-Regan & O’Donnell, 2006)
The YMCA Youth Institute research is unique in the fact that it focuses on the mutually supportive benefits of technology and service-learning. It also supports the idea that effective technology learning is more than skill acquisition, but is built into collaborative, authentic projects.
Overall, the study found that service-learning which emphasizes technology not only increases positive youth development, it also retains and sustains the service-learning program. Participants were particularly attracted to learning new technology skills and saw this as increasing the likelihood of being successful in life.
Best Practices for Integrating Technology and Service-Learning in a Youth Development Program by JoAnn R. Coe-Regan, PhD and Julie O’Donnell, PhD, MSW.
Community-based programs that are meant to promote youth development have been around for quite awhile. Numerous studies indicate that youths benefit from these programs in many ways: a more positive self-image, a reduction in risk taking behavior, improved school behavior, etc. Because research illustrates the success of after-school programs, federal funding has increased from $40 million to $1 billion in recent years. A ubiquitous and recurring challenge these programs face is how to recruit and retain teens despite the potential barriers of boredom, family responsibilities, and spending social time with their friends.
In 2006 the YMCA Youth Institute of Long Beach, California developed a service-learning program to help overcome these barriers which “…uses technology as an integral mechanism for promoting positive youth development and enhancing the academic success and career readiness of low-income, culturally-diverse high school students.” (Coe-Regan & O’Donnell, 2006)
The YMCA Youth Institute research is unique in the fact that it focuses on the mutually supportive benefits of technology and service-learning. It also supports the idea that effective technology learning is more than skill acquisition, but is built into collaborative, authentic projects.
Overall, the study found that service-learning which emphasizes technology not only increases positive youth development, it also retains and sustains the service-learning program. Participants were particularly attracted to learning new technology skills and saw this as increasing the likelihood of being successful in life.
21st-Century Learning Resource Released
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has released yet another resource for educators to help evaluate and improve the integration of 21st-century skills into the classroom. On the heels of releasing its Implementation Guides, which are designed to offer guidance to state-level policymakers and leaders on best practices for building standards, assessments, curriculum and instruction, professional development and learning environments, the organization recently released the Milestones for Improving Learning and Education Guide for use at the district and school level.
The guide includes a self-assessment to help districts or schools determine whether they are in the early, transitional, or 21st-century stage in a handful of categories, and tips to help implement policies that will support further inclusion of 21st-century skills with specific examples of what has worked for states and districts. The guide aims to be a practical, hands-on tool for educators. You can send away for a hard copy of the guide for $10, or download it for free here.
from Digital Education: 21st-Century Learning Resource Released
The guide includes a self-assessment to help districts or schools determine whether they are in the early, transitional, or 21st-century stage in a handful of categories, and tips to help implement policies that will support further inclusion of 21st-century skills with specific examples of what has worked for states and districts. The guide aims to be a practical, hands-on tool for educators. You can send away for a hard copy of the guide for $10, or download it for free here.
from Digital Education: 21st-Century Learning Resource Released
PHSprincipalBLOG: One Size Fits All?
PHSprincipalBLOG: One Size Fits All?: "Imagine walking into a shoe store where all shoes were the same. Size, shape, color, and function were the same for all choices. Every customer walks out with the exact same shoe as the customers yesterday as well as shoes that will leave the store again tomorrow. Of course shoe stores do not work this way. People have different shaped feet and need shoes that function for different tasks. Apply this to education. Do schools do a good enough job of 'sizing up' each student and finding the right programs for them?"
Saturday, October 31, 2009
The Educational Value of SMARTMUSIC
One of the never ending ironies in Public Education is this: Arts in schools get little respect. This is especially true when money is tight and school boards find them to be convenient targets for cuts. The reasons for this are many and deserve examination. However, in this post, I will examine one potential reason and I will illuminate a potential solution for music education-a particular software product marketed under the name SMARTMUSIC that legitimizes the educational value of performing music classes-beyond a reasonable doubt.
I believe one potential reason that arts education (I will focus exclusively on music education for the rest of this post) is that stakeholders have little clue HOW the arts are, in fact, Educational. Arts and music teachers are largely to blame for this because we feed into underlying misconceptions about what we do. For example, a tired argument for keeping music in schools for the past decade has been to cite the so called 'Mozart Effect'. We have told school boards that "music makes you smarter" and that kid's SAT scores will go up as a result. We do this instead of talking about specific habits of mind that are developed in arts classes such as listening, perceiving, making inferences, counting, decoding, communicating, cooperating with others, synthesizing and creating. So, music (and arts) courses are being asked to be saved because they have an apparent, unproven non-music, non-arts specific effect on education. No wonder the argument has little traction. (Incidentally, I hope that high SAT scores are not taken as a serious barometer of intellect or individual learning potential. I hope!)
MISPERCEPTIONS OF WHAT ARTS TEACHERS DO
The reality is that those of us who teach an arts subject spend our entire careers dealing with misconceptions about what we do from those that should know better. Teachers and administrators often make the mistake of believing that students are all "talented" and that what we do on a regular basis is "fun" day in and day out. And aren't we "lucky" to teach the subjects and students we teach. The reality, of course, is that we're often dealing with large numbers of students who have a WIDE range of ability levels and more lesson plans/preparations since we teach discrete 'subjects' such as flute, tuba and mallet percussion in the same day. And, yes, for brief moments (on concert night, for example) the work is highly satisfying but it is also stressful because of the need to differentiate instruction multiple times daily. Concert night is the result of consistently and deliberately working towards (music) education objectives. The kicker is what we do. What we music teachers do is this: We display our work publicly over and over again. We rely on cooperation and measured improvement from the students we teach. No student we teach can fail. Yes, in fact, no student can be left behind (and never, ever was by any competent music teacher).
There, I said it. But let me be explicit: In a math (or science or social studies, etc class), a student can fail to do homework and/or fail to study for tests and, therefore, fail the class (or hold on with a "D" as is often the case for social promotion). The teacher can but does not need to assist the student to do better beyond some basic reinforcements. Not so in music performance classes. NO student can fail. Here's why: because if even one student is playing wrong rhythms and/or notes, the band sounds "off". It's a collective 'bad performance' because of ONE student's shortcomings. The public assessment will be less than. The audience will notice. So what do we do? We make sure EVERY student can play everything correctly, competently and musically before concert night. (By the way, I'm sure the majority of math, social studies and science teachers help their students to gain mastery-I'm just illustrating the point that their reputations are not made or lost in public view via public means of assessment).
From an educational perspective, in music (band) class, we identify misconceptions, make note of them and make sure to re-teach each individual student in need of such "response to intervention". We have always operated this way and always will. Anyone teaching right now knows that "RTI" is one of the current buzz words in Education. Here are a few more:
- Standards-based education
- Differentiated instruction
- Using data to drive instruction
- Performance-based assessment
- 21st century learning
HOW SMARTMUSIC HELPS STUDENTS LEARN
SMARTMUSIC is the name given to software now available for use by music teachers and music students (MakeMusic, Inc.). Smartmusic is described as "learning software with the power to transform music learning. Students of all ages and skill levels can play or sing with professional accompaniments, making practice both rewarding and fun." It is quietly revolutionizing the field of music education. When used, it transcends expectations, fixes misconceptions and ensures steady progress by student musicians. And best of all SMARTMUSIC can be discussed using an educational lens.
SMARTMUSIC IS STANDARDS-BASED
Smartmusic allows students to perform music along with accompaniments or to simply play a line of music at a time. Music standards such as reading music, understanding and executing musical instructions (articulation and dynamics, for example) are addressed within the context of each composition, exercise or folk song.
SMARTMUSIC ALLOWS FOR DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION
SMARTMUSIC contains music at a variety of levels from basic to advanced. A teacher can assign specific exercises for each student depending on their specific needs (to address misconceptions and weaknesses). These assignments are delivered digitally (via e-mail and by the student signing into the Smartmusic database).
ASSESSMENT IN SMARTMUSIC IS PERFORMANCE-BASED
Proper music instruction has always been performance-based since the only way a student can demonstrate understanding is to execute the skill(s) on his or her instrument. Music Education was doing performance-based assessment long before the term became an Educational Imperative. By it's very nature, Smartmusic uses a performance-based assessment model.
SMARTMUSIC IS DATA DRIVEN
Using data to drive instruction is, again, something that has always been done in music education. However, Smartmusic kicks it up a notch. Data are collected as recordings of student performances. These data are automatically uploaded to a "gradebook" kept on Smartmusic's servers. This gradebook looks like a regular gradebook with columns of assignments. The recorded performances are accessed by clicking an icon next to each student's name. Additionally a snapshot of what notes/rhythms students played correctly or incorrectly is viewable by the click of a mouse. Correct notes/rhythms are green in color and incorrect notes/rhythms are red. Intangibles such as tone quality, intonation, articulation and interpretation can then be rated by the teacher using the mp3 recording. Based on the strehgth (or weakness) of the data, music can be reassigned or new music can be assigned to address particular issues.
SMARTMUSIC IS A 21st CENTURY LEARNING TOOL
SMARTMUSIC makes use of technology in engaging, creative and meaningful ways to ensure high quality, data-based music learning. Importantly, it is a tool that helps music students and music teachers do what they have always endeavored to do-to learn to be competent, independent musicians and to teach music effectively.
Photo credits:
Nationaal Archief / Spaarnestad Photo / J. van Eijk, SFA003001896.
Saxaphoon by Oude School at flickr
Nationaal Archief / Spaarnestad Photo / J. van Eijk, SFA003001896.
Saxaphoon by Oude School at flickr
NOTE: This blog is in no way affiliated with Smartmusic or Make Music, Inc. The views and opinions expressed in the post are those of educatioanal blogger Andrew Garcia.
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