Technology In Education: Software is the New Hardware

The paradigm in education has shifted.  Web-based technology, apps and the devices that run them are the driving force behind the shift. Early adopters recognized this shift and "got on board" in spirit and then, in fact, more than 6 years ago when 'Web 2.0' became a reality. Many educators have embraced learning networks, blogging, wikis, i-Pads and have used these to learn, create, collaborate and teach.  And yet, so many more educators have not taken steps to embrace the new realities and opportunities that emerging technologies represent.

REDEFINING 'TECHNOLOGY'
Administrators and teachers who have a fixed definition of technology have also been slow to adopt anything new and may even be skeptical of all of the tablets, iPads, cloud-based apps and their potential drain on school bandwidth.  Those in this camp have 'seen it all before'.  Technology to them is stuff.  Technology to them is the Device-the tablet, the computer, the iPad, the Smart Board, the smartphone, etc.. And, to them, the devices will all go the way of dinosaurs soon enough.  Fair enough.   However!  Current technology that is useful in education-for learning and for teaching- is not about the device.  Technology that is useful in education is about the applications that assist teachers in discovering, collating or curating resources. Technology that is useful in education is about the applications that assist students in learning material in multi-dimensional, differentiated and media-rich ways.  Technology that is useful in education is about the networks that allow administrators, teachers and students to learn from and in collaboration with each other.  Technology that is useful in education is cloud-based allowing data and information to be accessed from anywhere, anytime, regardless of what device is used to access that data/information.

NEW POSSIBILITIES
Current technologies change how things have always been done in education.  True differentiation is now possible using learning applications that have programmed in multiple levels of concept mastery. Current technologies by their nature allow for student-centered approaches in the classroom. Global collaboration is a possibility cheaply. Relevant Professional Development for Educators is a click away. And the ability to create and publish projects and products that demonstrate learning are exploding.

Some leaders of schools/districts have recognized that the paradigm has shifted permanently in favor of learning/education as other leaders lag behind thinking technology is about stuff that will become obsolete soon enough.  I am willing to bet that those that have embraced this new app-driven, networked learning paradigm have more engaged students.  I am certain that students in those schools/districts are being better prepared for an even more app-driven, cloud-based, networked future regardless of the devices that may be invented to connect to them in the future.

Be Not Afraid of the Hyperlink

(original photo by Michael Nagle, Getty Images) 

We can't and shouldn't expect all educators to spontaneously understand emerging technologies, social networking and the rich proliferation of tools and apps available for learning these days.

One thing stands out right away, however, as I lead workshops on the read/write web and social networking for educators: teachers who have the most immediate success adopting and applying web-based technology to their situation are those that are not afraid to click hyerlinks.

As a member of my school district's technology committee, I am in the process of identifying what teacher's technology proficiencies should be. Questions being considered are: What tech skills are indispensible going forward? Is it OK that teachers are at varying levels with regard to technology use? What do we do about this fact? What separates those that 'know and can do' and those that do not (or won't)?

With regard to the last question, I think it really comes down to basic curiosity which is the precursor to learning anything. Curiosity + critical thinking (knowing what resources have value) + risk taking= learning and transformation. The risk taking in question with regard to web-based technology use is the aforementioned click factor. Either one clicks a link (and risks) finding a shoddy site or a gold mine of information and/or connections to others that can feed an entire teaching unit or full curriculum, or one sits and stares at one site (and gains and learns very little).

Based on these observations, I believe what we really need to be building into professional development these days is the 'capacity to click' in our teachers. Clearly, it is necessary to teach specific tech-based skill sets (uploading, downloading, sharing, bookmarking, subscribing, etc...) but if teachers would use crictical thinking to do targeted searches and then not be afraid to click with abandon, they will be able to learn much on their own.

It is how I learned. But I was unafraid to click (to find out). I was interested to 'know' about things. This drive to learn is alive in me every day. I know I am not alone. Every single person I am connected to in my personal learning networks shares this trait with me. Why are we like this? Was it learned? What life experiences differentiate clickers from non-clickers? And how do we build that capacity (curiosity) in others?

Be not afraid of the hyperlink.  You just might learn something.

Teachers: Do You Tweet? (You Should)

“You don't know what you don’t know.”

There are two ways to grapple with the truth of the above quote

1. Embrace this fact. And: Get curious about what it is you don’t know (that could potentially and immeasurably improve your knowledge base, skills, instruction).
2. Be an Ostrich: Stick you head in the sand and pretend that there’s nothing more to learn.

Twitter, for many teachers, represents a vast landscape of knowledge that they have yet to tap into. On a certain level, that makes sense. Twitter seems, on the surface, to be a shallow stream of self-centered ‘reports’ about what’s going in in one’s life. And, yeah, it could be this. But, for the majority of teachers who have twitter accounts and use it daily, it is far from this.

Twitter for teachers who have gotten curious is now (as some have called it) a ‘professional development superhighway’. And it is. The learning potential is literally endless. The collective knowledge represented there is awesome in scope. The isolation so often cited as a problem in Education vanishes when there is sudden and immediate access to other teachers grappling with the same problems and questions you are.

Stop worrying how to use Twitter and other “Tech tools”. Just make an account and Get Curious.

Check out Twitter4Teachers and Tweepml to find teachers to follow. Lurk for awhile and see how these teachers use Twitter. Click out to their blogs. Subscribe to their blog feeds. Eventually, join in on some #edchats.

Get to know what you don't know. Get curious and don't turn back. Create a Twitter account today.

Join Education Chats on Twitter

image courtesy Shelly Terrell

#Edchat has become an incredible collaborative tool for educators to debate and evaluate solutions to various education, learning, teaching and curricular questions/problems through Twitter.

Chats have now been expanded from the original #edchat’s created by @web20classroom, @tomwhitby and @shellterrell. They now exist for multiple subject areas. Most chats take place at a specific time each week and last for one hour with a specific focal question for the hour.

Here is a list of the most popular chats. There is great power when hundreds of teachers collaborate in real time. That’s what chats are-teachers thinking and responding to real problems and questions we all face at once. 

---

#EdChat defined by Shelly Terrell

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
#sschat 7pm	#edchat 7pm Archives	#ipadchat 1pm	#artsed 7:30pm	#gtchat 7pm
#musedchat 8pm	#scichat 9pm	#web20chat 6pm	#mathchat 8pm	#elemchat 7pm wiki
			#langchat 8pm #langchat wiki	#midleved 8pm Archives

Technology Is Not the Problem

How much sense does this statement make?

I propose that we outlaw cars because of all the drunk driving.

As unthinkable and absurd as that sounds, the exact same logic is often applied with regard to technology. This is something Nick Sauers recently ranted about on the 1:1 schools blog.

He writes:
My frustration is when the media, or other individuals, place blame on technology for things that truly aren’t new or unique situations.

So true. There are many ways that technology gets a bad name especially when (more) technology is proposed in school settings. Suggesting that social media might improve learning for students sends shivers up some parent's spines because they have been- as Steven Anderson has pointed out-"Dateline-ized". Consumers of traditional media are often given incomplete and highly inaccurate views about technology use by and for teens. (Watch out for them predators!). Without going into a million details, what is important to understand is that teen behavior precedes technology use. Human behavior is an independent factor that when combined with technology use can yield beneficial, creative results or can yield personally damaging results. The choice lies with each individual. As a mere tool, Technology is benign.

So. Technology Is Not the Problem. Inappropriate Use of Technology Is.

When we talk about technology in education now, we are talking about paradigm-shifting, never-to-be-the-same-again kind of learning opportunities. So many emerging technologies, apps, programs that can truly transform teaching and learning already exist or are in development. It is a monumental task to stay on top of it all. It is harder still to take the time to learn what's new and how it can impact learning.

NOT taking the time predisposes one to misconstrue the truth about technology use and it's myriad benefits in education because it's convenient to do so. Convenient but wrong.

To return to the above statement- The car is not the problem. Drinking and then driving one is.

Misinterpretation of '21st Century Skills'

21st Century Skills

It means something. But what? For those that haven't had time to explore the phrase's meaning, the specifics are slippery. Even Harvard Scholars use the term tentatively (in quotes-see page 24).

Consider 21st Century Skills a 'flavor'. A flavor that spices up, updates and globalizes the Educational Landscape. However, I have heard some interesting takes on '21st Century Learning' lately. Interesting and disconcerting. I have heard a version of this more than once in recent months:

"21st Century Skills! I do that! It's just a new name for what we've always done. Collaborate and Communicate. I communicate objectives all the time....." Then I think (but don't say) "Uh Oh".

Yes, Collaboration and Communication are 2 of the '4 c's' identified as a part of 21st Century Skills. (The others are Critical Thinking and Creativity). 21st Century Skills demand more though. 21st Century Skills demands an expanded definition of Literacy. One that 'doesn’t merely refer to the ability to read and write but also the ability to evaluate and synthesize information, media, and other technology.' (-Ted Lai )

Creating and Connecting to the real world outside of school is a big implication of 21st Century Skills as well. Underlying this, though, is the implication of 21st Century Skills that the creating and connecting is done using technological tools and apps.

21st Century Skills is not old wine in new bottles. 21st Century Skills is a whole new vineyard.

Whose Definition of (Educational) Technology?

A challenge that I see emerging is that there are multiple definitions of the word technology in the Education Community. These definitions are based entirely on and limited by an individual's experience with computers/computing devices and [proprietary] software . Here are some personal observations noted recently:

• A curious dichotomy between 'great teaching' vs. 'technology' seems to creep in to many conversations. As if the two are mutually exclusive. (They're not)

• Those with limited experience with current technologies tend to believe that those with successful experience using technology are biased because they "like" technology/computers. (Actually, in many cases, education technology enthusiasts are only enthusiasts because they have seen remarkable results along the lines of engagement and learning with their students while learning with technology)

• Those with limited experience with current technologies believe all technology/technological applications are expensive. (Wrong. Most web applications and many cloud-based programs are....FREE. Many of these rival proprietary programs like Microsoft Office).

• Those with limited experience with current technologies make no mention of web-based, networked online learning spaces. The conversation remains in the realm of hardware and internet access. (Yes, you need to be able to access the Internet to use any cloud-based app but the hardware/device being used to access the web is beside the point. The learning moments happen in those networked spaces.)

• Those with limited experience with current technologies scoff at the idea of using Twitter or other social networking platforms as a Professional Development tool or Learning Resource. (Twitter is, to many education professionals a "Professional Development Superhighway".)

• Etc...(Add your observations in the comments below)

Here's one way of describing the problem:
Those with limited experience with current technologies are like people who stopped learning the alphabet at the letter "C". Knowing only 3 letters of the alphabet, they will argue that the alphabet is a limited resource. After all, you can only craft so many words with three letters.

They're right about that . (CAB) But guess what? There are 26 letters. And so it is with technology, except that the technological alphabet is ever-expanding. Which is why Lifelong Learning is imperative now. It's not just an option to stop learning and impose your limitation on those who know better. It's an indefensible position.

Selected Quotes from #blog4reform Blog Posts

"Social Media is the vehicle that will move things. It has changed politics, it has changed business, it has changed the media and IT WILL change education."
-Burlington High School Principal's Blog
(Twitter: @bhsprincipal)

"I want children to be allowed to develop their strengths and interests beyond reading and writing. Science, Math, Social Studies, Music, Art, Physical Education, Family and Consumer Sciences, Civic Studies… these are all essential for children."
-Avenue4Learning
(Twitter: @michellek107)

"..We cannot and must not talk about school reform without talking about equality of opportunities for kids outside of K-12 classrooms."
-Educational Insanity
(Twitter: @jonbecker)

"If we are all in agreement that we are preparing our students for the world, then we need more creativity in what we are doing and not less."
-Kevin's Meandering Mind
(Twitter: @dogtracks)

"Many of our students are checking out mentally, and sometimes even physically, because school has lost it’s relevancy to them. We are one of the few first world countries that still tries to force everyone to fit the college-bound educational mold. Why?!"
-Education 2.0
(Twitter: @AdrianneElayne)

"To improve education nationwide, teachers and parents and community leaders must LISTEN to one another, RESPECT and TRUST one another. There's no room for arrogant leadership, paternalism, one-upmanship or power plays if we're going to serve the best interests of all of America's children."
-thanks2teachers

"Reform in education begins with passion. Are you driven by passion?"
A Principal's Reflections
(Twitter: @NMHS_Principal)


"Dear Politicians, Pundits, and Celebrities–

If you want to help, and I’m idealistic enough to believe you do, please get out of the way. We can do this, but not if we’re constantly distracted from our purpose by things that force us to do, less effectively, that which we’re already doing. We can create real change that finally crumbles the bars of social Darwinism, but not if we’re starved out of our schools from lack of funding. We can, as professionals, continue to push each other from behind and pull each other up that mountain of “refinement,” but not if we’re afraid that innovation will lead to punishment, or that adopting today’s curriculum will only mean that we’ll be wrong tomorrow when everything changes again."

High Jinks Below Stares

"I am convinced that the best ideas come from classrooms and communities across the nation. I am committed to supporting the great work that is happening in states and districts."
-Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education
U.S. Department of Education

MORE TO COME...

Teaching Is Not About Knowing (Anymore)

The most fundamental thing to understand about teaching today is that it's not about you (the teacher). Old school thinking (organizing, being) was modeled after the management/labor paradigm. Classrooms resembled this paradigm as well, with teachers as the "knowledge owners" with obedient/compliant students "receiving" information.

I started writing about this 3 years ago-about the need to change how things are done in schools:

Schooling is sometimes described as something DONE to children. School often doesn’t seem a place where students are encouraged to learn at their own pace and in their own way-especially in the climate of standardized testing.

Teens (humans!) crave real connections. This is difficult to achieve given large class sizes and methodologies designed to teach “the class”. Many get left behind in this type of educational climate. Research (and now policy) is pointing to the fact that too many students are not “being attended to” in schools/classrooms. Scores of books have been written lately (many published by ASCD) that have as their premise the need to differentiate instruction to meet the needs/interests/learning styles of ALL students.

Technology has advanced so quickly in the last decade and the latest offerings are truly disruptive to the dominant paradigms in education (teacher as know-er, teacher as isolated 'expert', students as passive/obedient/quiet 'receivers')

SIGNS OF THE TIMES
Teachers are connecting and sharing information online. Whether they are isolated in their own buildings or not, they are breaking the cycle of isolation because they know that professional learning takes a community--even if that community exists only in cyberspace.

Teachers are recognizing that information is abundant and access to information is nearly instantaneous. That makes EVERYONE an expert and, frankly, should take the load off any (new?) teacher feeling the weight of "having to know everything". It's not about knowing. It's about pointing the way and providing the tools (for students to create, learn, succeed).

With the guidance of this new breed of teachers, students are breaking out of passive roles and becoming teachers themselves-which we know is the best way to learn anyway:

“Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.”

-Chinese proverb

What Teachers Can Learn From Ingrid Michaelson

Ingrid Michaelson is as real as one can get when one is a successful touring musician and when one's music has been featured in episodes of several popular television shows, including Scrubs, Bones , Grey's Anatomy and One Tree Hill, as well as in Old Navy's Fall 2007 Fair Isle advertising campaign. When 'I Just Want to Be OK' is the chorus of one of your songs-you have wide appeal. Looking like the attractive girl next door doesn't hurt.

Attending a live performance of one of her concerts as I had the great fortune to do this week (at Pearl Street in Northampton, MA) , one learns that Miss Michaelson is smart, quirky, talented, playful and fully in touch with and manipulative of the vibe in the room. It's exactly what we teachers need-to be able to control the vibe in the room, with finesse. Here are some other Micahelson-isms that worked and are worth noting.

• Tap prior knowledge (She had the audience sing TV theme shows-Full House, Golden Girls..this happened spontaneously when she began humming a few bars of each.)

• Mix it up (she played different instruments, we can change the delivery, tools, venue). -DO same thing in new ways (she sang The Way I Am twice..once as known and then again-as an encore- as a punk rock parody. Brilliant!)
  

• Show gratitude (genuinely)
  

• Connect and be accessible (she asked questions of audience members close to her and made reference to the new information we learn later. We can do the same w/students)
  

• Tell stories (we now know that she once taught Children's Theater and the kids has a hard time walking in a straight line--her telling had us all in stitches.)
  

• Have fun (You can't fake this)

Song Demo- Walk Away (just for a little extra)
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

Schooling, Education and The Way Forward

Image created by Andrew T. Garcia @berkshirecat

Seth Godin got me blogging about 4 years ago. Though his rants relate to marketing and business, what he had to say had relevance in my field: Education. His sentences were direct, pithy and always filled with a sense of urgency, in a 'take it or leave it' kind of way. Good stuff and he's still at it. If I'm stuck finding something to write about, a little reading of Godin will start the juices flowing. One thought leads to another and then I just HAVE to write. That would be my advice to anyone stuck trying to write anything (a blog post, a memo, a short story)-read something related to what you want to write about. Or, if you are interested in change and not in maintaining the status quo, just read Seth Godin.

Public Education should probably be renamed Public Schooling. I have no reservations saying that. Because Schooling is what we do. It is a system, with standards and standardized ways of doing things. Education is a corollary benefit for some, maybe. My entire master's thesis written more than a decade ago dealt with this problem. In a nutshell, my question (for middle school kids) was: 'Is School Real?'. I was attempting to get at whether school and a kid's real world have anything in common. The lengthy title of the thesis was: Schooling and student perceptions: Understanding meaning and relevance of 'the place called school' in the lives of middle school students. Turns out that students saw a connection in the cafeteria, at recess, sometimes in PE, Music or Industrial Arts and in the hallways. Everyplace else in school required them to play a role-to 'check out' from their real world; to grin and bear it.

This was 11 years ago. Before Apple invented the i-pod. Before MySpace, Friendster and Facebook. Before social networking. Before Xbox, Wii, World of Warcraft. Before cell phones with apps and wireless everything. So, 4 years ago, when I saw all these things that evolved quickly and were here to stay, I began to realize that the Schooling System was being left in the dust. I began reading Godin. His sentiments fit what I saw in Education as a problem. I began writing about it. Don't know if all the ranting did any good but in the last 4 years others were thinking the same thing. Thus, we now have Classroom 2.0 where Educators interested in using technology for change can share ideas. We have Thomas Friedman urging us that the World is Flat and we better wake up. We have Daniel Pink saying the same only different--we must become Artists and Creators in the Future because the routine jobs will be left to robots or will be outsourced. There is a modest and growing group of Educators using Twitter to advance change and share information about better ways forward. And now we have State Department's of Education recognizing that, indeed, there is something new afoot and that kids are growing up different (digitally, creatively, expressively).

This something has been termed '21st Century Skills'. Standardizing and then prescribing those skills will not work because the new way is not about memorization and testing, it is a way of BEING. The whole manner in which young people go about getting things done has changed. And Public Schooling needs to change, now, too. For Real. No more pretend change. No more going through the motions.

So Godin got me started and he still inspires me to think and do and change and grow. With Linchpin, his latest book, he offers a solid premise as to WHY we are where we are in Education. He doesn't blame good teachers or even good administrators. He blames the Schooling System. But he does challenge teachers (YOU) to change things, to be extraordinary, indispensable. I think, if you're a teacher now, that means leading by example (using new tools, creating, connecting, collaborating) and fighting to change the current Educational Paradigm of schooling.

Reevaluating Twitter

I wrote this about Twitter last Fall:"There isn't possibly enough time to actually digest the information that is being tweeted and re-tweeted. 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, read, reflect and synthesize?"

Will Richardson has a new post questioning Twitter's use in Education:

I wonder that if we make 140 characters the main part of the way we communicate with one another without spending some of our time in more extended give and take that we will be losing something important in the process.

Dean Shareski was asking similar questions over a year ago.

I believe Twitter is a good brainstorming tool- a place to get ideas on the table and start a conversation. It's also an OK place to gather targeted information (using the search feature). Unfortunately, Twitter seems to be an addiction by some in the Education community. The focus has become quantitative rather than qualitative. The sum of a bunch of people in a room speaking at the same time is noise.

It's like Collective Monkey Mind.

iPAD: The Too Big iPod; The Keyboardless Netbook

from John Spencer

If the iPad fails, it is because it is a bad device and there is a ton of media hype surrounding something so bad. It’s the Beanie Baby of technology.

I did a quick podcast about why it is bad for classrooms: http://jtspencer.blogspot.com/2010/04/ipad-hype-in-education.html

It’s essentially like a spork, trying to do all things and none of them well:

1. An iPod that’s too big
2. An eReader that’s bad on the eyes
3. A small computer (like a netbook) without a keyboard (yes you can buy one), Flash, web cam, or multitasking

10 Reasons School Leaders Should Pay Attention To Social Media

by By Kitty Porterfield and Meg Carnes
from the AASA website

At first glance, building a social network — with tools like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube — may not seem like a wise investment for your district. But look again. social media can be far more useful to schools than it might appear.

1. It’s a new way to build relationships. By now, it should no longer be a surprise that the key to good leadership is strong relationships. (See Fullan, Kotter, Sparks, et al.) Creating relationships is an on-going job. Social media is a new—and very efficient—tool to help build stakeholder ties. It should be in your tool box.
2. It’s no longer about you anyway. It’s about your customers. Your parents and employees are growing younger by the day. They live their lives by a different set of rules than their parents did. (See Harnessing the Power of the Millennial Generation for details.) They want to work in teams, be part of the solution, and hear you tell them they’ve done a good job with their kids. They will not be shut out of the education process.
3. People are already talking about you. Join the community bulletin board. Google yourself. Create a weekly Google-Alert search for your school system. Read the newspaper comment boards. You will quickly find out what the neighbors are saying. Social media is our present-day equivalent of the front-porch, back-yard fence, and playground bench conversation. Listen in.
4. Your reputation is at stake. In the end, you are the one charged with maintaining your school or school district’s good name. The buck stops on your desk. If you only listen to your department heads and your PTA leadership, you will never hear the real concerns of parents and tax-payers division-wide. Social media is like managing a dozen focus groups that you didn’t have to create.
5. The response most likely will be positive. School systems that have taken a proactive step to establish social connections like a blog, a Twitter feed, and YouTube postings get high marks from their communities. The districts that feel the brunt of viral venom are those that don’t have digital avenues of conversation already open when a news story goes bad. When there is a way to hold a conversation, it softens the blow. It’s considered transparency.
6. You don’t have to do it all at once. Maybe all you do is start a Twitter account (free), which just gives you the opportunity to flash (your) headlines in 140 characters or less to your stakeholders’ phones and PDAs real time. On most days, it will be postings like “Three More National Merit Scholars Named Today. www.ourschooldivision.edu/honors” But think of the possibilities for “11AM Severe storm expected. Trailers evacuated. Students secure. www.ourschooldivision.edu/emergencyplan.” Sure, there is some upfront investment of time and resources, but the ROI (return on investment) will be well worth the effort. (Forget the what-I-had-for-breakfast stuff. That’s an old joke.)
7. Social media gives you the chance to stay ahead of the curve. Like putting your ear to the train tracks, you can hear the rumble of the approaching train. Social media gives you the opportunity to respond quickly to rumors and dissention, without the filters of the media. It takes a lot less time than writing and publishing a press release. And it can be much more far-reaching.
8. It’s not going away. The forms of social media will keep changing as new technologies emerge. (That’s the hardest part for the over-50 crowd. “Just when I learned to text….”) But the pace will only quicken and the focus will only sharpen. Part of the job is staying in the race. People use social media partly because they can—it’s here, it’s new, it’s cool. But social media also helps to fill a deep need in our communities to feel connected, to be in touch. If it didn’t, it would have already gone the way of the 8-track tape and the LP.
9. Social media helps you build community and a sense of ownership among your stakeholders. People only invest in what they care about. In today’s world, you cannot assume that anyone cares about or respects public institutions. People care when they feel cared for. A social media presence speaks to inclusion. It is an invitation to be part of the action.
10. It takes the whole village. We know that kids learn best when parents and the community are invested in what goes on in our classrooms. Social media is part of what it takes today to win that investment. It’s a small price.