Multi-Faceted Refractions (backup version)

Moving back to to the Original Site

2007-08-29T20:48:00.000-05:00

Since my primary blog has been up and stable, I will be publishing from this site for the time being. To access my work, go to vvrotny.edublogs.org

Pleasant Surprises along the Way - Creating New Connections

2007-08-20T22:01:00.001-05:00

Due to some family issues, for the past three days I have been trying to keep moving forward, making sure that the student and teacher schedules from the timetable make sense are are balanced as best as they can and wrapping up a number of new initiatives in anticipation of the return of our faculty. At times, I have found it difficult to keep focused and am sometimes looking for distractions. Yesterday, when I went to moderate the comments on my blog, I noticed that there were two new incoming links to my both, one from the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) and one from the American Library Association (ASA). Imagine my surprise when the author, Debbie Stafford referenced a post that I created over a month ago about four essential questions that I have been thinking about regarding the implementation of Web 2.0 tools. I cannot wait to share this with our librarian, to see if she found the connection.

Not being one to toot my own horn, I still find it baffling that someone whom I never met, in a profession that I do not practice (librarianship), stumbled upon questions that I have about using the new tools, and found them compelling enough to highlight them in their own set of questions about the tools. I wonder how Debbie found this post, which I wrote three weeks after NECC. Part of me is amazed that not only did someone find my thoughts, but thought them worthy of helping them shape their thinking. It is amazing how these new connections are made each and every day, and how contrary to the thoughts of Andrew Keen in Cult of the Amateur, that these new connections and relationships are made by thoughtful and intelligent people around the world and that we are helping each other forge and shape our ideas.

As we start school, it also reinforces the notion that a single person, with a single thought, can begin to change the world, as their message begins to spread to others. It reinforces the need to push our teachers and students to begin to share their voice with the outside world so that the can develop an audience, connect and establish relationships with others. The challenge is to get them to take the first step, to allow themselves to expose themselves and potentially be vulnerable. It is scary when you first begin this, because you don't know if you will be validated and accepted. You don't know if anyone will listen and be interested in your ideas. It is scary not knowing whether you will be worthy enough of another's time and interest.

But we have to encourage all who are willing to try, because if they don't, they may never know if someone else will find their ideas interesting, as I have over the course of these ten months.

The Calm Before the Storm

2007-08-17T10:56:00.000-05:00

Today is one of those interesting days on the calendar, especially for those of us on campus who spend nearly 12 months on campus, rather than the typical teacher's ten month visit. Today is the day where the majority of the campus is away, squeezing in that last bit of vacation before the arrival of new faculty next week and all faculty the week following.

For me, it is a time to be able to work on projects with at a leisurely pace. My project for the day today is to back up all of my data onto the network, back up my outlook personal folders, and then migrate my information to my the new Tablet PC that I have been assigned.

One of my resolutions for the upcoming year is to make sure that I back up my local folders to the server more frequently than I am currently doing. As my IT Director reminded me two days ago,

" You are doing too many important things and are developing so many important documents for the projects that we are implementing that it would a shame for you to spend significantly more time recreating what is lost than it would take to restore the documents."

This is advice that we usually all hear, nod our head and say, "yes, this is what I should do," and then move onto the next task than devoting the time to making this happen.

So far, I am really loving my new Gateway e155 tablet computer. I love the size and weight of the new system. It just feels comfortable, both while using it to take notes and while using it as a laptop. I think that we have made a great decision in selecting this model for our initial roll-out of the tablets. I am also looking forward working with our teachers to develop new ways to implement this exciting new technology into their teaching.

Migrating to a new system is always a challenge. I have spent two years tweaking and modifying my old laptop so that it would work just so. I dread the time researching all of the different applications and firefox mods that I have installed. This will take a couple of weeks to make sure that I have gotten everything just the way I want it. And I am going to have to do this during the busy and hectic first few weeks of school. What a challenge I have before me.

My data just finished copying to the server, so it is time to take the next step and copy the data to my new computer and begin configuring.

The Aha Moments That Arise When Given Time

2007-08-15T15:37:00.000-05:00

This week, I have been doubly blessed. First, the three principal (we call them heads) of each of the three divisions have carved out four hours of their time during the first full week back. This can be a hectic time, as they transition from summer mode into school mode, catching up with teachers, making sure schedules fit, and trying to determine who to launch a successful year.

Secondly, I am blessed that they have chosen to spend their precious time with me, learning about the new tools, and discussing and brainstorming the implications of these tools into teaching practice. For me, it is like a perfect storm, give the heads the time to be learners, give them time to collaborate with each other, which is a precious commodity in itself, and then let them reflect and strategize how to implement these tools and ideas with the rest of the faculty when they arrive in a week and a half. Our faculty and students don't know how lucky they are to be led by such open-minded and forward thinking administrators.

On Monday, we started off by showing the videos that Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach posted on progressive education and an excerpt of Sir Kenneth Robinson's TED talk on Creativity and Education. I have shown them how to set up and use a set of wiki pages and how various teachers around campus are going to use wikis to support their teaching and the student's learning environments. They have talked about the use of cell phones, picture phones, text messaging, and have learned about the mosquito sound.

Today, wanting to start with reflection, I pointed them to my previous posting on the shift in how to approach the beginning of the year Internet Safety speech for students and Chris Lehmann's Planning for Innovation post from this morning. We diverged off of the planned curriculum to talk about rss, del.icio.us, tagging and how they fit together and allow individuals to make sense of the glut of information available to them. I showed them local examples of how teachers are beginning to use these tools to add feeds to wikis to streamline the process. We had a great conversation about the need for faculty and students these tools to help them manage information and how they could use rss and the collaborative tools to enhance and enrich their administrative team meetings. I then showed them two of my personal learning networks, my Netvibes rss aggregator and my Twitter network where I think that they were overwhelmed by the information. Only then did we cover Google Docs and Spreadsheets, Google Earth and Google Maps and talk about the new ways that teachers are going to use them within their curriculum.

What I have enjoyed the most is the conversations that we are having about the pedagogy and practice of teaching. It is reminiscent of the conversations which I had during EduBloggerCon and at the Blogger's Cafe at NECC. While understanding the tools is important, it is how they are applied to the practice of learning by all, faculty and students, which is paramount. At the end of the sessions, I have been drained and exhausted, and needing to spend time performing the rest of my daily functions as we get ready for the start of school.

Tomorrow, we have our last scheduled day together and the current plan is to set up rss readers, talk about blogging and podcasting. I hope that we will be able to touch base at least once or twice during the course of the year so that we can slow down time, reflect and continue the positive conversations that we have started as a group. This is always a challenge, especially as the demands of day to day school life always seem to take on a slightly higher priority. But it is during this time, somewhat freed of the other distractions, that excites me and reminds me why I started teaching in the first place.

Changing My Tune - Internet Safety for Students

2007-08-14T21:05:00.000-05:00

At the beginning of the school year, I schedule time to meet with the students in each of our grades to talk about our acceptable use policy and how students should conduct themselves on campus. I also use this opportunity to talk to the students about Internet Safety while using the various tools at home.

For the past eight or nine years, I have been focusing on the negative messages...

Don't share your passwords

Don't give personal information about yourself

Don't download software

Don't do this

Don't do that

Don't, don't, don't

Rather than focusing on the negative aspects this year, I am thinking about acknowledging the fact that our students are active in social networks, from Club Penguin, to Webkinz, to posting movies on YouTube, to using Facebook, to using school sanctioned tools, such as Moodle threaded discussions and wikis in the classroom. We expect our students to use these tools within the classroom and increasingly, we are asking them to use these tools to collaborate with students outside the classroom.

So this year, I am trying to craft a message along the lines of a twitter message that Steve Dembo sent in June, which has prompted me to think:

If people were to Google you, what conclusions would they make?

From observing your on-line communication, what kind of person would they believe you are? What type of thinker are you? What skills do they think that you have?

From looking at your digital self, would people think that you are full of creativity or are you a copy-cat, mimicking the works of others without any new original thought?

What do you do if your work is being misappropriated? What if you discover that there are images of you on other's sites which are unflattering or potentially damaging?

I know that if others were to Google me, that they would get a once sided view of me as a Director of Technology and that it does not fully reflect the different facets of my life. I highlight several of them in my eight random things. There are some that my closest friends may not know about me.

I am hoping that this gets students understand that everything that they do has a consequence. Some are trivial, but others may be more long term and potentially damaging to their reputations and meeting goals that they have set for themselves. I am trying to develop a message that is sticky, that students will hear and remember, and hopefully take seriously.

I look forward to reading and hearing what others are planning, what their approaches to this all important first meeting are going to be. The messenger needs to deliver a new message or students will tune us out and miss out on our wisdom.

I Heart the First Day of School

2007-08-13T20:28:00.001-05:00

I remember when I was younger filled with the excitement and anticipation of a new school year. I would make sure that I had all of my supplies and books in order, ready to experience the new year. Now, nearly 40 years later, I still feel the rush of enthusiasm overtake my body as we head into the first day of school.

For the 2007-2008 academic year, today was the first day. This was not the first official day when all teachers and staff are required to return for our opening meetings. Nor was it the first official day when students are required to attend classes for the first day of school. No, today was the day when the students arrive on campus for their athletic pre-season, when the administrators return to switch from the more relaxed summer flow to a more hurried pace in anticipation for the return of teachers and students. The summer renovation and maintaince projects take on a greater flurry and frenzy of activity in order for them to be completed by the start of school. More teachers are popping in more frequently, transitioning from summer mode to the pace of school. Yes, it is fun watching the school wake up from a slumber in anticipation of all that is good to occur within the walls once again.

Personally, it is at time to wrap up summer development projects and pay more attention to making sure that everything is ready for the start of the year; that computers are updated, clean, and ready for work, that new accounts have been added and and others pared away, that software has been updated and changes have been documented. While frenetic, I enjoy the adrenaline that is generated by all of the work that needs to be completed. I do have to sometimes slow down, breath deeply, count to ten so that I am not overwhelmed.

I am really excited about the start of this school year in particular. For me, last year was a transformative year, from immersing myself in the new technologies, to developing a personal learning network full of great people and deep thinkers who challenge me daily. I have had the privilege of working with our First Grade team, a Fourth and Fifth Grade lead teacher, our LS and MS Spanish teachers, our Seventh Grade team, our US French teacher, our Eighth Grade humanities teacher, a history teacher and a science teacher on new curriculum units which have and will utilize components and new tools for collaboration and communication. This week, I am meeting with our new Chemistry teacher who wants to create Flash screen captures to make available to students and our Sixth Grade humanities teacher who wants to make some changes. We are rolling out 24 tablet PCs to teachers, and are creating nine more spaces on campus with permanent projection available.

Another indicator that this is going to be a great year is the fact that I am spending five hours with the principals of our three divisions, elementary, middle school, and high school to teach them about the new technologies. We had our first meeting today where we discussed the big picture and wikis. This led to several great conversations about how we were going to share and implement these ideas to the faculty this year. I know that this is a very important time of the year and I am thankful that they are choosing to spend some of their precious time learning and discussing these important topics. The impact on the students should be very profound this year. And I am ecstatic that I am able to take part in all of the excitement.

I Have Seen mySpace - Personified

2007-08-13T19:52:00.000-05:00

One of the significant experiences that I had while on a writing hiatus, is attending the meat space version of mySpace, the Vans Warped tour. Traveling with my personal guide, my daughter and I attended the July 28th show in Chicago. For those of you who are unaware of this cultural phenomenon, we spent six hours on a hot and humid Saturday, trying to listen to parts of the 60+ bands scattered across eight stages at the venue. Because of other commitments, we left early and could have spent the final three hours trying to squeeze more into already packed day.

Once we purchased our tickets and entered the venue, we had to find out who was playing when at the show. The listing of bands is attached to a blow-up sign. There were several bands that my daughter wanted to see, including Boys Like Girls (of course they do), Hawthorne Heights, New Found Glory, and Alkaline Trio. Not knowing what to expect, I brought the book that I was reading at the time, Cult of the Amateur, fully expecting not to enjoy myself. But boy was I surprised, and I actually found a few bands that I really enjoyed sampling. These bands include Big D and the Kids Table, The Graduate, and May Day Parade. Maybe it was the fact that I am older, but most of the bands that I enjoyed the most played at the main theater, in the shade with a cool, easterly breeze coming from the lake. I guess I cannot take the heat, so I stay out of the kitchen.

In addition to sampling the many bands, I spent time walking around the bazaar that is set up. Each band is given a small display area, which their various CDs and paraphernalia can be purchased. There were also several commercial setups, from Vans to Trojans (imagine my shock when the young woman asked if I wanted a free sample in front of my 15 year-old. I do not know who was more embarrassed.) There were also several public service booths, from PETA to Living Green to How to Live a Vegetarian lifestyle. My favorite was the PETA booth, where they were handing out "I am not a Nugget" stickers. It was like live mySpace advertising.

In addition like on mySpace, you could "friend" the members of the bands who would appear either at their own or a sponsors booth to meet and greet, chat with new fans, and sign objects. My daughter purchased a new set of Vans which she had signed by so many bands and people, that even she lost track of who signed where. These organic, friends groups kept popping up throughout the venue, allowing people with similar tastes, the opportunity to connect with a band that they liked.

Noticeably absent, at least from both of our views were open use of substances and haze that I remember seeing when I went to events, like the Toledo Speedway Jam in 1979 (REO Speedwagon, Blue Oyster Cult, and headliner, Ted Nugent) as a young man. This was actually enjoyable. Maybe the Just Say No campaign is working.

At the end of the day, we traveled home, sunburned and exhausted, we critiqued the bands we had heard and some we had not seen while scanning through the compilation CD we purchased (50 bands/50 songs/Five bucks). Not bad for 10 cents a song. Cheaper than purchasing them on iTunes and more legal than downloading them from LimeWire. We had a nice day and I wouldn't mind going back again next year. Maybe, I will be asked to go again.

Eight Random Things about Me

2007-08-13T18:42:00.001-05:00

I have been tagged by Charlene Chausis for the eight random things meme. Since this is the first time that I have been tagged and I need motivation to get back to blogging, I have decided to participate.

Here are the Rules:

* Post these rules before you give your facts
* List 8 random facts about yourself
* At the end of your post, choose (tag) 8 people and list their names, linking to them
* Leave a comment on their blog, letting them know they’ve been tagged.

My random facts:

My mother was a Tupperware lady, successful enough to be #5 in the US in 1977-1978 and appeared in one of the commercial, "The fresh idea" campaign and print ad

I am a member of the Society for Baseball Research (SABR) who has been published in two books in 1986 and 1987

In addition to being the Director of Academic Technology, I am also a co-founder of our Science Olympiad team

For the past four years, I have also been the lead adviser for our schools yearbook, the Mirror

I attended Northwestern University during the "streak", a 34 game losing streak that was not broken until the middle of my junior year. Best question and answer asked by a corporate recruiter to a friend of mine, "Describe something about yourself which demonstrates your willingness to persevere." His answer, "I have been a walk-on football player for a team that hasn't won a game during my collegiate football career."

I was a two time winner of the Chalktalk competition at the University of Michigan Mathematics Olympics, as a sophomore and a senior.

I have completed 10 triathlons, the last being in 2002, even though I detest running. I need to start doing this again.

After spending most of my life in the Rust Belt (Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois), I got to travel to Europe while on a sabbatical. We were in London for the July 7, 2005 bombing. This is when I realized how small and flat the world really is.

I am tagging:

Arvind Grover

Alex Ragone

Carolyn Foote

Jeff Whipple

Kimberly Moritz

add your name here

add your name here

add your name here

Collaborators Sought

2007-07-23T11:49:00.001-05:00

Normally, I do use this blog to advertise for connections. However, we were hoping to connect one of our Senior History electives with another school via the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) Challenge 20/20 project. The Challenge 20/20 project creates connections between classrooms around one of the 20 problems outlines in J.F. Rischard's High Noon: 20 Global Problems to Solve in 20 Years.

We are looking for a school(s) who would want to collaborate on a unit project with our Senior Economics class which will be held in the second semester. We were unable to submit this project, since the Challenge 20/20 projects need to be completed by January 2008 and this class rums from January 2008 to June 2008.

Our economics teacher, Tim Curren, initially wanted to pursue the War on Drugs challenge in his course, although we may be able to negotiate a different problem to have the students collaborate on.

Please contact me if you would be interested in such a collaboration.

Technorati Tags: global, collaboration, globalcollaboration

Another Great Resource

2007-07-17T13:22:00.000-05:00

At the Global Collaborations session, there was a librarian who was with a team from her school, the University School in Normal, Illinois, who created a wiki for the team to capture their notes from the conference. I had the chance to meet with her at lunch and found out how to access their Memphis Musings wiki. Thank you to the librarian, whose name I forgot to ask, for creating this great resource.

Technorati Tags: laptopinstitute, laptopinstitute07

[Live Blog] - Global Learning and Collaboration

2007-07-17T09:57:00.000-05:00

[Live Blogged - please ignore misspellings and awkward phrasing]
[Simul-blogged on Multi-faceted Refractions - my home blog]

Julene Reed

Why Global
Referenced World is Flat and A Whole New Mind

Students need to be global communicators
Workplace requires global collaboration, project based activitities

Engages and motivates for authentic experiences. Promotes creativity and empowers

Use Challenge 20/20 from National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS)

Global relationships are important in the classroom of today.

Educators want to know:
1. How do I find projects?
2. How do I find partners?

Referenced her del.icio.us resources

How do you use networking tools to develop personal learning networks

Resources
My Wonderful World - National Geographic
The Globe Program - science focus
iEARN
Global SchoolNet
Think.com
Kathy Schrock
Global Voices
Global Awareness
Kidlink
ePals
Gloriad - Tennessee focus
Kids World
Kids Around the World

Create Websites for Creative Blogs
GRIST - blogs about

Google Apps

Highlighted Rock Our World

Used Polycom for video conferencing, now using simpler conferencing over IP using web cam

Jane Goodall Institute

Apple Learning Interchange - Gayle Berthiaume with an early education focus

Roots and Shoots - about $25 per year

Second Life

Global Education Ning

Laptop Learning Ning

One World Youth Project

KarmaTube - Great things for the world

Flickr

Resources - homepage.mac.com/julener
Del.icio.us - del.icio.us/julener

Technorati Tags: laptopinstitute, laptopinstitute07, global, collaboration, globalcollaboration

[Live Blog] - From Hubs to Spokes

2007-07-16T14:27:00.000-05:00

Jonah Howland
English Department
Urban School of San Francisco

[Live Blogged - please ignore mispellings and awkward wording]
[Simul-blogged at Multi-faceted Refractions]

Was a skeptic, but now sees many more advantages than the problems that they had.

Skeptical that students are not as different, maybe more changes in media.

Students practice acquire knowledge and make sense of it, just the media has changed. Subject is the same. Geometry, Languages, History have been around for a long time. Enterprise of teaching and learning remains the same.

The online written conference
Has used for five or six years.

The Hub and Spoke Humanities Class
Most of learning is transacted to inward, radial, teacher very much in the center.
Teachers model, prompt, tease, interrogate, and direct traffic
Good enough for Socarates
Students as acolyte.

Builds rigor and accountability.
Safe and contrived, like fishisng a stocked pond with a guide

Other problems occasioned by the conventional architecture
Primary on quickness, extemporaneity
Solution - group projects
problem - accountability and balance of effort

Schism between the relative informality and structuredless verbal schange and what is expected of students in writing
solution - in-class writing, journal writing
problems - futher entrenches hub and spoke structure
generates mounds of material for teacher's one-on-on assessment and response

Solution - Online Written Conference

Example (American Romantism) - need to slow down, observe, and reflect and respond. Facilitating goal.

Record an observation. Read and respond to all classmates in the group. Rethink and rewrite their own piece. Want to have conversations of information not discussed in class and interests them. Make connection between seemingly disparate parts.

Advantages
Primacy on reflective staying power, appetite, and insight
Students are accountable to one another in the building of an end-product
A kind of intermediate practice in composition - neither discussion nor essay writing but helpful practice for the latter.
Standards for strong work are set and communicated through the exchange.
Teacher's function - combination of Adam Smith and Alan Greenspan

Allows for development of their own voice.
When students need guidance, teacher can give

Uses First Class - Use of conferences
Has course expectation - all online.

Similar to threaded discussion or forums at various other products.

Asking student to take risks with help from their peers.

Showed examples of student work.

Howard views the conversation as little as possible and as much as necessary. Will look at the paper turned in at the end.

Does build in time to bring in important threads brought up by the students. almost every week.

Big books hard to teach with demands of students. But use conference as a support group to help students get through the book.

An espirit de corpes that is built between groups.

Challenges and complications:
Timeliness and accountability to each other - ease of access is helpful.
Works best organically, it should generate its own momentum
Setting and maintaining reasonable expectations
Hard to summon authenticity, light social engineering is helpful [ seprarating friends to create mixed groups of grade level and ability
Monitoring if you make it too much of your job. Have to find balance

Key - What are the Learning Goals?
This is the key to success in all aspects at the Urban School

has given domain evidence of provocation.
Clear informed, purposeful writing
Grasp of larger meanings and implications of the essential questions and concerns of the material
an openness to the ideas, concerns and needs of others

Advocacy
A less teacher-centric classroom. Was in-class and individual, now a third
Student testimony tends to favor this activity, but is a lot of work
Richness and range of inquiry in formal essays and projects is greater
Authenticity of learning and propriety ethic
A democratizing and metastasizing experience

Useful axioms
Play with the prospects - try it out, see how it works
Attend to the effects as well as the affects
Student feedback is telling
Keep your eyes on the learning goals while making adjustments to your pedagogy.

Technorati Tags: laptopinstitute, laptopinstitute07

[Live Blog] - Laptops, Libraries, and Collaboration

2007-07-16T13:23:00.000-05:00

[Live blogged using note taking capabilities of the new tablet. Really excuse the spelling errors and awkward phrasing]

[Simul-blogged at Multi-faceted Refractions]

Alice Bryant

Harpeth Hall School

Presentation (old school)

Has done presentation

in Photo Story

Has created a PowerPoint

Has attended Internet

for Libraries

Rutgers presentation

and research. she will shave.

Has.

Past

-students go

through.

Present

Now work with teachers

Future

Student Focus

Main focus.

Meet the needs of our students.

old model -Create a

web quest. Librarian

did work, handed

off and didn't get

to interact with

students or teachers

huge gap with

many problems.

Not a baby sitter.

Now just teach

students and teachers.

More than a single

perspective.

Authentic assignments

allow for greater learning

Use a constructivist

approach

knowledge building

Reflection is critical

Need to develop an

assessment cycle

as part of collaboration.

Rutgers asks, Do they

learn anything? -Ross-todd

two kinds of students

Additive

Integrative

Working transformative's

More kids additive than

integrative (reflect, assess, monitor, and guide)

Showed example How to change

%ography to Bio Poem put on board then forgot

Tried it again, with

guiding questions.

Created a Bio poem

lots of description

retained more

Shared

Goals

Vision

Trust

Respect

Assessment

Reflection

What is different now?

Time

Respect-knowledge

A Team approach

Acknowledge don't know everything

Collaboration

-Meet the person

where they are at

-Develop relationships

-Take the Time

-stress skill Development

-use Technology to help Integrate

Not much work with

web 2.0

5th grade -Biomes project

Ecology project

States Projects

take something from

nature. Find web site

use Noodde tools for

citation.

Then work on photo story

6th Grade Geography Project

AGirl Named Desire

Created powerpoint

challenging books

information. Use

Follett Destiny

library resources/

Web resources from card

catalog.

Noodle tools changing

on July 25th

7th Grade.

Used one note to

organize. Can

Share notes with others

Us -Japanese Gardens

Read Samara's Garden

Most made Gardens

Had to defend garden design.

Make connections with "public library

Important to create relationships

Technorati Tags: laptopinstitute, laptopinstitute07

Now for my Next Trick

2007-07-16T12:26:00.001-05:00

In the next session that I am going to sit, Laptops, Libraries, and Collaboration, I am going to run the new tablet pc I am using through its paces. I am going to handwrite my notes, the old fashioned way, and then post them after I convert them to text.

How cool will that be?

Developing a 1:1 Program

2007-07-16T11:18:00.000-05:00

Jim Heynderickx

What age do you start a laptop program? Jane Healy suggested 7th grade, since are ready to make a better leap to symbolic understanding.

Classroom size? Early results suggest 15.

What type of Demographics is best? Do laptops address digital divide issues for all students?

Does it level the playing field? if so, then want to have a great opportunity?

Early adopters are girls sections

What type of campus would be best for this brand new school? Early adopter in rural setting to support remote learning experiences.

What type of funding would you have in the new school of the future? May not be able to answer until other decisions are made.

What type of School Workspaces would you want? Laptop represents a virtual workspace that does not limit spaces.

What type of classroom design, what type of furniture? Don't want it to be comfortable in the classroom. Would they be more home like, business like, or school like?
It would be nice to have choices for different environments. Would be helpful. Not enough research to deal with ergonomic issues. A school has built ergo-nomic educational.

What is in the classrooms? Outlets, projectors, SMARTBoards, scanners, cameras, printers.
Some schools do not allow adapters, and have a charge during the course of the day. Reduce cable clutter. Wireless projectors with IP. Cleaning supplies for keyboards and screens. Should there be external mice and keyboards.

Does a laptop school have a media center, or in classrooms.

How does the library change? What would be the role of the librarian? What kind of support would there be.

XThink for tablets - mathematical equation building.

Technorati Tags: laptopinstitute, laptopinstitute07

[Live Blog] Understanding Digital Kids:Teaching and Learning in a New Digital Landscape

2007-07-16T10:08:00.001-05:00

[This session is live-blogged. Please ignore misspellings and awkward wordings]
[This session is simul-blogged at Multi-facted Refractions]

Kids today are different. (Referenced two new Time magazine articles.)

Evidence is emerging that screens are not for passive dysfunction. Students are native and wired differently. We are immigrants, we speak digital as a second language. We retain some kind of an accent.

Children's brains are chemically and neurologically different. They process in parallel, not sequential like us.

Used to be assumption that by age of 3, we all had fixed memory and intellegence. What you had, you were stuck with.

Long standing assumptions are changing with research over last 3 years. Highly adaptive and malliable brain. This is huge. Brain reorganizing and restructuring based upon inputs and intensity of the inputs.

IQ raises and falls based upon the simulation we are exposed to. There is neuroplasticity, brain is creating new thinking patterns throughout our lives. It doesn't do it by itself, requires intensive, progressively more intense, over an extended period of time.

Watching TV over several hours a day, 7 days a week, will reprogram the brain's wiring. The impact of technology, via social networking and gaming. Now games have moved from solo experiences to networked experiences. Students pay to play (Everquest, WOW) to compete against each other. Xbox and PS3 are trying to develop this.

Brain is like a tree, early, a flury of growth. The pruning keeps fresh. Use it or lose it. Pruning, not raging hormones make teenagers what they are.

Mylian boost transmission speeds in the brain and bandwidth. If only doing one thing (academics, arts, athletics) these are the ones most developed. Argument for teaching the whole child and having regular exposure to these experiences, including technology, is crucial.

Students have greater visual processing, doing it differently.

Referenced the Human Brian Project. Neuroinformatics. Using FMRIs, researchers can research which paths are used in brain.

How different parts of the brain do simple tasks and processes information. Done more in past two years than previous 100 years.

Scientific American - The Teen Brain. (need to review)

If take different generations do same task, different pathways are used. For many tasks, different pathways, especially in visual cortex, 15% larger in the last 20 years.

Game takes 40 hours to master. Visual processing increase with 10 hours of gameplay.

3M Study- 100 photographs, digital natives will remember 90%, we would remember 60%, dinosaurs (text and audio) will only remember 10%

Eye processes images 60000x faster than text. Visual 30%, touch 8%, hearing 3%.

Eyes of students move differently, Immigrants -1/3 down and 1/3 in, the goldn mean, with a z curve, left to right.

Natives - bottom, then the sides, the the upper left hand side of the page (new layout). Unless motivated, will ignore lower right if motivated. What is the impact to the teaching of reading.

Immigrants - black on white background. Colors are not.
Natives - Blood Red, Lime Green, then burnt orange. Black least favorite.

87% of students are not auditory or text learning. Because of digital bombardment, they are digital kinestetic learners. Most exams are based on text and vocabulary.

Prensky - when reaches 21, will have played 10,000 hours of games, 20,000 hours of tv, 250,000 text or emails. These are not experiences that we have had.

How will this impact students learning? Less than 9000 hours of school, 4000 hours of reading, most of it unengaged. What need to acknowledge, think and process differently.

With younger children (teens, tweens, and younger) there is an acceleration in this process between these groups. Will help explain why they do what they do and differences in generations. Almost nothing is being applied in classrooms today.

What are the implications for schools. Talking and teaching is not the correct model. Need more inductive and constructivist methods.

Four items that need to be done:
1. New information must connect new idea to what they know, otherwise will only stay with student for 10 seconds.

2. Previous knowledge and experience defines what they learn, where they learn, and why the learn. Most school work does not interest the students. Good at real-life examples, may have problems with theoretical. Learning is personal to learner, not hte teacher.

3. Learners have to be given repeated, differentiated learning experiences. Have to practice and exposure to materials, from different perspectives and in different contexts.

4. Have to have consistent feedback and need reinforcement. Has to tell what is doing right, and then what can be done to improve.

Information without context is only like having one side of the velco. Can only occur when can make significant connections. Edgar Dales's learning cone. After two weeks, 10 % of what read, 20% of hear, 50% of hear and see, 70% of discussion, 90% if teach to someone else, immediate application of that skill in a real-world or simulated experience. Not that ADD or ADHD, not interested and tuning us out.

Not short for interest, but the way we teach and learn.

Don't understand how different students are. Not learners for the way the space has been built and the way we learned to teach. Who has learning problem? Not the kids.

50% of population is under 25 year old. What percentage of teachers are under 25? Part of the problem we are facing. Slow and dumb down interactions with teachers.

If we want kids to be successful, need to go beyond theory towards application. No way that we will be able to go back to basics.

Technorati Tags: laptopinstitute, laptopinstitute07, ian, jukes

Read/Write Web - Will Richardson

2007-07-16T08:52:00.000-05:00

[This session is being live blogged. Ignore the misspellings and awkward wordings]
[This post is simul-blogged at Multi-faceted Refractions]

The Read/Write Web - Conference Handout (willrichardson.wikispaces.com)

Refer's to Karl Fisch's Did You Know presentation.

It is about teaching children to become life-long learners.

Connectivity and transparency will become more acute, not going away.

Other entities reacting to the change - Election 2008 is beginning to change how politics is changing - used Obama Social Networking site. Don't need physical space, limits connection of passionate individuals like never before.

Went to mySpace - but it was blocked. Every candidate has a page on mySpace - first caucus will be on mySpace in January 2008.

Journalism and media is changing. 70% of traffic is file sharing. Digital Rights management is dead.

Every story on USA Today online is a blog post and can be commented.

Business is going to change. IBM has 20,000 wikis, 400,000 are using a social networking networking.

Refers to Wikinomics and Cluetrain Manifesto. Not about the product, but conversations around the product. Everyone changing, but education is stuck. Not responding quick enough.

15% of attendees have mySpace or Facebook, nearly 75% of students have accounts.

Expectation is that we share. Students don't look at privacy the way we do. Creates a disconnect. 1:1 schools have more opportunities.

Last few years, students have diverged from the teacher's paths and they are not coming back.

How do we bridge the gap?

What has transformed Will's learning is his ability to connect and create networked of passionate learners. Need to create personal learning networks which will sustain and help them make sense of the world, help them forge new ideas.

Huge shift in number of bloggers. What is disconcerning to Will is that teachers simply publish them in a different way and not understand the shift of pedagogy. It is a lack of understanding of how networks work. Used current post about raw food to show example. Currently, there are 30 comments, to help push and shape the message. Look at thread, there is a huge amount of learning.

Will is findable, which is extremely important for his learning. Six on Google search of "Will". Students are building networks on their own. Shows Fan Fiction site. They are figuring things out, while we are not. Learning is 24/7/365, if you want it to be.

Showed a mySpace page and then Meg Cabot's mySpace. Can connect, but we block hese sites. The upside is not being recognized by teachers, they are not going away.

Showed Clarence Fisher's class blogs (had to play imagine that) Did a post on the Nata Village in Africa and she got comments from the villagers.

It is not about what is in the texts, but who is in their networks and how they constuct them.

Nowhere in curriculum are students learning how to access information via cellular technology. How to find using a variety of different tools.

Showed OpenCourseware at MIT and the $100 laptop program. Need to find mentors (teachers) and make them smart consumers. They will learn about subjects not just in our classroom, but now have many different approaches.

Wikipedia is one of the most important web site in Will's mind, but most don't visit the history tab and discussion tab, where the conversation is occurring.

Shared the Google doc example - plagiarism is a conversation we are going to have to again and again. Showed wikipedia changes - 500 changes in last 3 minutes. Have to figure out how to teach.

More and more of what we read has not been edited in the same way as before? Who edits the blog? Everyone needs to edit everyone. We need to model editing and be skeptical consumers of information.

Need to teach to read and write in hypertext rich environments. How do you teach this literacy and do it well. The world is linked. If students are not writing with links, connecting with conversations, they will not be prepared for the future.

We have to change our practice of teaching. If you have an Internet connection, job shifts to connecting students to the smartest people, may not be you.

We can connect our students to mentor who can motivate and engage our students in ways which we cannot. This can be powerful. Showed example of the Flat Classroom Project.

Can't deliver curriculum, teach how to create networks to support life-long learning. Connections are the transformation. It is not what I know, but what I learn. Need to teach the literacy so that they are not duped and misled.

Most examples are digital replication of analog practices. This is very different. Need to talk about these tools with the adults. What is stopping you from bringing this into your practice? Who are your teachers? Are you a life-long learners? How are you connecting? How are you growing your networks? You have to become a participant. How are you modeling your learning?

Technorati Tags: laptopinstitute, laptopinstitute07, will, richardson

I Get It

2007-07-16T08:18:00.001-05:00

This morning, while rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I realized the why the laptop conference was made to be held in Memphis. More later

Technorati Tags: laptopinstitute, laptopinstitute07

Laptop Institute Tags Set

2007-07-16T06:51:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the efforts of David Warlick, who has encouraged and inspired many of us to take the leap into blogging and who has created one of the better tools, hitchhikr.com, which allows those unable to attend conferences an aggregator so that those who are cannot attend a conference a peek into what is being said and seen. It is a virtual view, like hitchhiking to the conference. I know that last summer, I hitchhiked to NECC, the Laptop Institute, and the Building Learning Communities conferences.

The tags for the conference this year are:

laptopinstitute

laptopinstitute07

For those of you unsure of how to tag a blog post, check for me a the BlogByte Cafe and I will show you how easily this can be done.

Technorati Tags: laptopinstitute, laptopinstitute07

Four Essential Questions that Need Answers

2007-07-15T23:28:00.000-05:00

[Simul-blogged on Multi-Facted Refractions]

Like many, I am intrigued by the promise and potential that integrating Web 2.0 tools provides for learners, both students and teachers. I know that in many instances, that I leading the charge full bore down that path because I believe that it is imperative that we provide experiences for our students to begin to construct their learning environments using these new collaborative tools.

But as we delve further and further down the path, there are three questions that need to be answered before completely committing to these tools.

1. Who owns the data

I will admit that I do not read the terms and agreements of the new tools that I am experimenting with. If I create something, do I retain some kind of ownership of the idea? Are my ideas protected by Creative Commons or am I giving my intellectual property away?

One of the challenges for us in education is to teach all of our learners, faculty and students, how to use the best tool for them to communicate their message, so that it can rise above the rest of the "white noise" of information that surrounds us and is growing daily. But we also want our learners to be able to retain ownership of their ideas, for that alone may be what defines them. No one should be able to co-opt an idea. Enhance it, synthesize it to create a better idea, but the kernel should remain.

2. Who owns the curriculum

One of the questions as teachers begin to modify and create new curricula to meet the needs and demands of the students is who owns it? Is it the school or the individual. In business, the answer used to be crystal clear, it was the business that had ownership of new ideas, especially if an individual left. This may become a bigger issue, especially if the teacher shortage that continues to be forecast in the next seven to ten years occurs and the demands for the excellent teacher who is getting results with the new tools.

3. Who owns the experience?

If the face to face classroom experience is what differentiates the experience, who owns the experience. Prestigious universities such as MIT, Stanford, and Cal-Berekley making the experience, by posting podcasts and videocasts of courses freely available. As schools begin to use the tools and share the classroom experiences, who owns the content, the school, or the creator of the content, the teacher?

4. What will draw students to your physical learning space and environment?

With the whole of knowledge is being made digitally available, what will bring students to your physical space? Or how will your school be defined, by physical location, by time, by content?

I do not profess to have any answers, only questions. I do feel that these questions will help define what we mean by School 2.0 or beyond and am actively trying to synthesize my answers.

Technorati Tags:

laptopinstitute, lil07, lil2007, laptop2007, laptop07, necc07, necc2007, edubloggercon, edubloggercon07

Deja Vu All Over Again - Laptop Institute Opening Keynote

2007-07-15T22:48:00.000-05:00

[simul-blogged on Multi-facted Refractions]

This evening, I live blogged Ian Juke's keynote presentation at the Laptop Institute in Memphis, Tennessee. To use one of my favorite quotes from that great philosopher and ball player, Yogi Berra, the message was "like deja vu all over again." Ian recited a message that I have been hearing and am beginning to discuss on this blog, that due to the exponential growth in computing power, the exponential growth in bandwidth, the emergence of the Internet and Web 2.0 tools in the last 18 months, and the fact that we live in an age where information overwhelms its meaning is changing the scope and acceleration of change towards light speed.

Using information from Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat, Daniel Pink's A Whole New Mind, and many of the statistics that Karl Fisch put together fall spring in his Did You Know presentation, Ian created a narrative that maybe for many was a dizzying and overwhelming set of questions that we as schools have to wrestle with. Questions such as, what are our goals and how are we going to starting moving the glacial pace of change in schools to move our faculty, parents, students, and government entities so that they keep up with the change.

For many, the approach may have been new. Going by the audience reaction, the number of people who are using the tools were the minority of the users at the conference. By my estimate, about a third of the users had heard or used Skype, which Terry Friedman (England) used to chat with me on Friday and Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach contacted me to confirm my participation in a "speed dating" workshop Tuesday. Concerning Second Life, of which I have only dipped a pinky toe into, less than 10% of the attendees admitted to having an avatar. Looking around, I can only find Will Richardson, Jeff Whipple, and Jim Heynderickx whose blogs I that am aware of.

But if one has begun to immerse themselves using the new tools to create personal learning networks, blogs, podcasts, twitter, and nings, these are the questions that we have been asking. For me, these are conversations I have been having for the past three weeks, since EduBloggerCon and NECC. The conversations we began are important and it is through the development of these networks which will help us shape an answer and direction.

For myself, Ian is reinforcing in me the need to heed the personal call to action towards leadership to help move things forward. It is not about the computers, bandwidth and the growth of the Internet. As confirmed by my summer reading list (The Fifth Discipline, The Starfish and the Spider, Wikinomics, Wisdom of Crowds, Gaining Digital Citizenship, Five Minds for the Future, Cult of the Amateur, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) but it is the way we use the tools to collaborate and extend our networks so that we can begin to develop solutions to questions that Ian posed.

To that end, I will be rushing down to the BlogByte cafe between sessions to share how I am using these new tools to creating a learning community where all constituents of my school community, faculty, parents, and students are active participants.

And in the fall, you can join me at the K12 Online Conference during my session on Extending Horizons - Developing Personal Learning Networks sometime between October 22 through October 26.

Technorati Tags: laptopinstitute, lil07, lil2007, laptop2007, laptop07, ianjukes, ian, jukes

necc2007, necc07,edubloggercon07,edubloggercon2007

Living on the Future - Ian Juke's Keynote at Laptop Institute

2007-07-15T17:32:00.000-05:00

[This is being live blogged - please ignore mispellings and awkward wording]

[Also simul-blogged at Multi-facted Refractions]

Talk about the issue of change.

Easier to change a cemetary than curriculum - Woodrow Wilson

Easier to change the course of history than a history course - Lou Salza

State today - pile higher and deeper

Any wonder that teachers have problems dealing with change

Business, if take someone who retired 10 years ago - different landscape, a teacher would find no changes in past 10 yests.

Hard to get a handle on what change has happened - is slippery and hard to determine.

Hard to stand back and put finger on what has changed.

Change is subtle and slippery - hard to step back and understand what is going on. Scope and speed is hard to get a handle on.

Change today, tomorrow, forever - overwhelming change.

Overnight - find it is being done differently

Four exponential trends that each and everyone needs to understand.

1. Moore's Law - in 1963 that processing power was going to double every 24 months while halving the price. Has held for nearly 50 years.

1979 - 8k, 128k storage, 2 Mhz, cost $5000

1984 - 128 k, 400k storage, 10 Mhz, $3900 - changed law to processing power doubling every 18 months

2007 - 512oook, 80000000k storage, 200 Mhz, $800

Dealing with exponential times - what does the future hold? Wired asked Moore what the future brings. No indication that it isn't going to continue for another 12 - 15 years. IBM and HP have talked about continuing for 50 - 100 years.

Concerned about kindergartener, class of 2019, what technology will be common to them:

208,000 GB, 40, 060 GB, 1224 Mhz, $1.38

Timeframe is shifting to a year or 6 months as it doubles.

This is the anti-long tail. Students are now taking for granted the change.

Showed pen sized cellular phone, with virtual projectable keyboard. Technology has been invented, just can't buy it yet.

Need to read The Singularity is Near by Ray Kurzweil.

What is common sense today is not going to be common sense in 10 years.

What implications does this trend have towards your classrooms and instruction? (Discussion time)

Bandwidth is changing

bandwidth is changing from 1200 baud to 10 Mbs. One strand of fiber optic cable can work at excess 10 trillion per second.

From Telecosm by George Gilder - bandwidth speed is tripling exponentially every 12 months upped to 6 months - four to six times the rate of Moore's Law. Today are in stone ages of optical communication.

Not just WiFi, but WiMax and another I didn't catch. Question for educators - where is this going to take us. The Internet is everywhere.

Required Friedman reference about Flatting of the World, students will need different sets of skills. In third revision - 50 % of the book has changed. Friedman now refers to Pink's Whole New Mind. Need to develop creativity, etc. (Watch for blog posts comparing Pink and new Gardner, Five Minds for the Future). What are we doing to prepare our students for a world that is fundamentally different?

(Discussion time)

Two previous trend led to the third exponential trend - the Internet

1996 -48 million regular users

today - 1.2 billion users from 175 countries - 113 per minute, 4,000,000 new web pages

Last year 36 trillion emails sent.

The growth of MySpace. 5% of traffic is to MySpace. Repeating Know You Know statistics.

Move to YouTube - video replacing email, texting and blogging.

The Wikipedia movement - Scientific American report from before.

The growth of eBay - engaged in auctions. 1 million people make living on eBay.

Skype has grown to 100 million users in past two years.

Second Life - allow to interact and socialize in a virtual space. Buy and invest. How significant. IBM has purchased 31 islands. They see this as new virtual business.

Podcasting - 2004 - 11 hits, today 120 million hits.

Digital Music - Apple has sold 2.5 billion songs sold. Apple sells more music than everyone but WalMart.

What are the implications for education? iTunes University has classes available for free within 5 minutes of presentation. Maine and Alaska are trying to move to 1:1 computing.

The blogosphere. New blog every one half second. Have access to really neat tools.

Leads us to Web 2.0 - moved from passive medium to a constructive model - Richardson calls this weapons of mass communication.

Everyone is beginning to use the Internet. Right now, sometimes like sucking peanut butter through a straw.

Over 1 billion cell phones purchased in the last year. Increasingly, this is a computing device over a wireless infrastructure. Have hi-res screens, web browesers, download books. Phones will replace an ATM cards. What is the price and who is the focus market? Could they be used as a learning tool?

Using continous voice recognition. Using CVR, can speak 70 words per minute and have it translated to text. Next step, automated telephony, automatic translation of language during call. Cost - under $100.

What is going to happen to Internet usage? Go up, down, or through the roof. As bandwidth continues to grow, this will be unrecognizable. Envision a full immersion virtual reality (VR), what will draw students to school?

This is coming at us like a freight train. How can we recognize what the future is going to look like. In past, had to go to different devices, now it is converging to one device and in one place. We expect services come to us, not us going to the service. Think banks and ATMs, on-demand video.

If world is experiencing such a dramatic shift, what steps can you take to reorganize your curriculum to ensure it algins with the world of digital learning?

Trend Four - InfoWhelm

Knowledge built upon facts becomes less durable, since the foundational knowledge is changing as quickly as it has.

Live in an age of disposible information. Information has value, but is perishable as fruit.

Google has collected maps, web sites. Google is working to create an book search and get a summary and read book page by page. This is just the beginning. A transformation of what we can access - implications for libraries, textbooks. Checking a library book will move the way of using a travel agent. Using new video glasses with the iPhone - now have access to all types of information (text, music, and video).

Sony has developed an eBook reader.

Imagine where this going to go. Students will be able to carry a device with the sum total of all knowledge from the beginning of time, downloaded in less than a second.

What are the types of skills to use information change?

Richard Wurman - if take knowledge as a ball of twine, with the three trends, the ball of twine has grown over 20 times. More Did You Know statistics. Information is doubling every two weeks and moving towards every 72 hours.

For engineers half life of information is 5 years. Bio Chemists every year, Doctors every six month.

Need to invest in life long learning and develop personal learning networks (last thought mine).

If we put technology into the hands of teachers and administrators, nothing changes. It comes down to the passionate, engaging teacher who uses this technology. We have to think about what we want to accomplish. What are skills and habits of mind that we need to develop. Align learning with technology.

Question - what steps can you take to ensure the refocusing of legislative priorities from 20th century that we currently see in schools to the skills and standards that reflect the changing reality of the 21st Century?

How many are experiencing stress?

The primary focus in schools is not technology, they have to become informationally and media fluent, have to ask good questions, access both high tech and low tech, synthesis ideas, apply, and be reflexive. Has to be taught in every subject at every grade level. Role of librarian is not to work just with kids, but have to work with teachers (my addition and parents) to use these skills so that they can help guide.

Long term is no longer measure in centuries and decades, but now weekly, daily, and hourly.

Need to comprehend the acceleration of change, need to let go of view of the world,

Eric Hoffler - in the times of radical change, the learners will inherit the earth while the learned are prepared for a world that no longer exists.

Need to stretch the rubber band, break the comfort zone of the mindset. How do get a rubber band to stretched and stay stretched? Break the mold. Cut the band to keep from reverting to old models.

Where do you start? Go to ianjukes.com which has handouts including Living on the Future Edge. Also, access the committed sardine blog. Email ijukes@mindspring.com with a message "I need to be committed" and access it via RSS.

Technorati Tags: laptopinstitute laptop, tablet, 1to1, laptopinstitute07, laptopinstitute2007, ian, jukes laptop07 laptop2007

Contemplating the Graceland Experience

2007-07-15T16:30:00.000-05:00

Since Mike Peccia, our MIS Director and I got to Memphis so early (9:00 a.m.) so that we could attend the Laptop Institute at the Laussane Collegiate School, we decided to make a pilgramage to Graceland to kill our time. It was quite an experience that will take a few days of reflection to figure out what the experience meant. Here I am, beginning to mediate to determine how to communicate what the experience means, over the King's favorite meal, a toasted peanut butter and banana sandwich. When at Graceland, you have to do what Elvis would have done.

Technorati Tags: laptopinstitute laptop, tablet, 1to1 graceland elvis

Book Review - Digital Citizenship in School

2007-07-09T21:49:00.000-05:00

[Simul-blogged on Multi-facted Refractions]

While at NECC, ISTE was promoting its newest volume, Digital Citizenship in Schools by Mike Ribble and Gerald Baily. Yesterday, I received my copy after ordering it at the conference and have had a chance to give it a first reading.

The authors argue that it is essential that school districts and schools to take stock and begin to create their definition of digital citizenship. Once defined, they present example activities that will help all members of the school community, students, faculty and staff, and parents gain a better understanding of the definition which was created by the community.

With the author's goals of wanting to improve learning outcomes and prepare students to become 21st Century Learners, the authors outline nine elements which define digital citizenship:

Student Learning and Academic Acheivement

Digital Literacy

Digital Communication

Digital Access

School Environment and Student Behaviour

Digital Security

Digital Etiquette

Digital Rights and Responsibilities

Students Life Outside the School Environment

Digital Commerce

Digital Law

Digital Health and Wellness

I feel that authors have done a great job of defining the elements and providing the framework for schools to begin to have the conversations about how their district or school will deal with these issues. One of my takeaways from this volume are new ways of thinking about updating of our Acceptable Use Policy. As we continue to develop the changes, we need to be mindful of making sure we cover all aspects of each of these nine elements. The more that we work on our AUP, it is becoming apparent that we need to come at the problem as an information service provider. Education of all groups is essential.

I especially like the inclusion of health and wellness in the list of elements. It provides credence to this important aspect. One element which is not included in the published volume is where social networks fit in. They do provide guidance about podcasts, wikis, and blogs, but social tools, like Facebook, mySpace, or Nings is absent. I am going to have to check the online resources to find these materials.

But overall, a great job of providing a framework to begin the conversations, especially for those who are not regular users of the new tools.

Technorati Tags: necc2007 necc07 iste

Book Review - Spider and the Starfish: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations

2007-07-09T21:15:00.000-05:00

[Simul-blogged at Multi-facted Refractions]

Upon the recommendation of Joyce Valenza, in her NECC presentation Information Fluency Meets Web 2.0, I reserved the following book from my local public library. Picking it up last week, I got a chance to read it and was amazed how quickly I got through the reading (two evenings) and how thought provoking it is.

In this book, the authors, Ori Brafman and Rod Breckstrom outline how a decentralized organization can be stronger than an centralized heirchy. Using examples from history (the Apaches vs the Spanish) through modern technology (the emergence of wikis and craigslist), the authors use the metaphor of the five legs of the starfish to describe the five aspects of a decentralized organization:

Circles

Catalysts

Ideology

Preexisting Network

Champion

Focusing on the role of the catalyst, the authors then describe strategies and rules for becoming a starfish organization

In thinking about the impact towards education and what I would like to implement at my school, I am taking away from this volume is that although a there needs to be a central authority at the top (superintendent or principal), that you have to allow for more teacher autonomy in order to allow students to have the best learning environments. Teachers should be guides within their classrooms, like the Apache Nant'an who provide a vision and then allow the rest of the tribe to meet the vision. At North Shore, I think that we do a reasonably decent job at providing this within each classroom, but like with the conversations surrounding classroom 2.0, we need to have further opportunities for students not to feel like they are being forced into a local centralized classroom.

Also, it is important for teachers to be able to have time to get together, organically, to share best practices with each other. Like in many schools, we acknowledge the need to do so but do not always prioritize the practice as being essential for our own learning.

Technorati Tags: necc2007 necc07 n07s765 ori brafman rod breckstrom

Back in the Saddle

2007-07-09T15:51:00.001-05:00

[Simul-blogged at Multi-Facted Refractions]

I have returned to the work after an eleven day mini-hiatus since I have returned from NECC. Unfortunately, the projects that I left undone did not complete themselves, so this week, I am playing a bit of catch-up.

I have five work days in which to complete a number of these projects before I travel to the Laptop Institute which is being held in Memphis. I am looking forward to this conference and have been in contact with the organizers to see if there is a way that an area, similar to the Blogger's Cafe, can be set up in order to facilitate reflection and conversation. I am looking forward to learning and thinking about a transition to a more technology rich environment. I will be sharing my schedule in the next few days.

I also look forward to following the Building Learning Communities conference in Boston. Both of these conferences look great and it was difficult to make a decision as to which to attend.

Technorati Tags: laptop07, laptop2007, laptopinstitute, laptops, one-to-one

Honored to be in the Team Picture

2007-07-07T17:21:00.000-05:00

[note:simul-blogged at Multi-facted Refractions]

It was last Saturday, that I recieved a message from Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, that a proposal that I created for the K12 Online Conference was accepeted. I am honored that I was selected for this conference. As many of you will soon learn, it was one of the catalysts for my own professional learning. Looking at the lineup of presenters, I have to pinch myself. I look forward to experience.

Technorati Tags: k12online02 k12online2007

Summertime - A time for Reflection, Relaxation, and Looking Ahead

2007-07-01T11:32:00.000-05:00

[note - simul-blogged at Multi-facted Refractions]

I really enjoy summertime. Even though I am on a twelve month contract (six weeks vacation) and I should be taking four consecutive weeks away from work, this summer is like most summers in that there is simply too much to do in order to be away that long. But I enjoy the pace of my summertime work, where everything is project based, so once I knock two or three items off of my list, I can simply call it a day at 1:30 p.m. in order to get away. That is until crunch time near the end of August.

Since I have been back from NECC, I have taken some time just to be. My wife and I have taken the dog for longer walks, I shirked aside the task list and got involved in a 4+ hour Monopoly game, I took my eldest daughter to a Cubs game, where the most important thing going on was not the action on the field (although, the game was one of the most exciting capped off by a game-winning homerun in the ninth inning), but rather the conversation and interactions that I had with my teen-age daughter. Today, we are going to be headed to the local outdoor mostly classical music venue for their Summer Music Celebration and then later this evening, we will be packing the whole family, including the dog, and going to the nearest drive in theater to catch Ratatouille and Pirates of the Caribbean 3.

Also, since it is summer, I be sharing stories on this space. The stories will be reflective and demonstrations of projects that we did last year. Based upon the transformative success that we had last year, I will be sharing the planning processes we are going through, to get your feedback and to potentially connect with many of you. I will also use this space to tease out ideas about the role of the integration of technology towards the aim of the changing classroom experience, many of the ideas which were discussed in length at EduBloggerCon and during NECC. Lastly, I will review my summer reading, some work related, some fun, just because it is summer and I have more time to do so.

I hope that you will come back, visit, and take the time to reflect and share.

Technorati Tags: necc2007 necc07 edubloggercon2007 edubloggercon edubloggercon07

EduBlogs Appears to be up once again

2007-06-27T11:52:00.000-05:00

After several days, EduBlogs seems to be backup. I will continue to post to both blogs for the time being, but if you want to find my earlier work, you can visit it at:

Multi-Faceted Refractions

Technorati Tags: necc2007 necc07

I've been bagged

2007-06-27T11:33:00.000-05:00

Just to let you know that it was not all work and that there was some play, some whimsy from during the conference. Thanks to John Pederson the inspiration for this meme, bloggers in a bag. To see the whole stream, go to this flickr stream

And now for my picture:

Technorati Tags: necc2007 necc07

Organic Social Networking @ NECC Emerges

2007-06-27T10:58:00.000-05:00

For me, there have been two transformatives and significant social networking aspects of the conference which have emerged at this conference. The first is the use of twitter as a way to hold conversations and communicate about sessions, locations, and other aspects, so that one can keep track of their friends. Until two weeks ago, I was personally questioning the power of twitter, but now I am sold.

Secondly, arising from the twitter experiment is the creation of a skype chat with members of the audience during a presentation. This began when David Jakes and Jeff Utecht turned and asked me if I had skype and would I like to participate in a skype chat during a panel discussion featuring Will Richardson, David Warlick, Gwen Solomon, Tim Magnert, and Lynne Schrum. This was a great way to exchange ideas and commentary during the presentation. (www.utechtops.com)

On Wednesday, during Will Richardson's presentation, a second skype cast took place. Since my battery had died, I missed the twitter announcement and thus was not able to attend the presentation. However, in this session, not only did on-site people participate, but others off-site did as well. Darren Draper has posted his notes but the chat as well (http://drapestakes.blogspot.com/2007/06/will-richardson-powerful-voice.html) as well as Jeff Utecht (http://www.thethinkingstick.com/?p=545) who posted the chat only.

As we move towards more blended, collaborative learning environments, these experiences are going to developed and harnessed to better allow for all learners to expand their knowledge networks and understanding.

Technorati Tags: necc2007 necc07

Reflections - Creating a Professional Learning Environment

2007-06-26T14:46:00.000-05:00

Use with students and faculty.

Use of blogging during video, back channel conversation, can be positive but sometimes negative

skype better than blogger.

teachers collaborate. Student teacher collaboration both inside and outside the classroom. What is important for kids to be employees in the 21st Century.

Students need to learn how to learn to be a leader and also a follower and the importance of both.

Participated in Clay Burrell's 1001 Tales.

Chem teacher - use of blogging to give voice of their own. Allows for epipahny moments.

Podcasting - try it see. Write essays and submit to npr, recorded and put on blog. Created SAT vocabulary to C & W songs. Allows for global audience, extended families. Great hook.

Online peer editing using Google Docs. Breaks down the wall of the classroom.

Inquiry based questions - use of digital story telling (note - we have changed our US History curriculum around this idea)

Creation of mockumentaries.

Provide release time for PD

Technorati Tags: necc2007 necc07 n07s647

Addendum to Conference Learning to Classroom experience

2007-06-26T10:29:00.000-05:00

Is the experiences I am experiencing a positive or negative. My thoughts are that it is more positive, but for some it may be negative. For me, it is positive because I can tag (via del.icio.us) and access and research resources that have been referenced. At my local public library, there are currently three books that I have found out about since Saturday waiting for me upon return home, so I can review while the messages are fresh.

It may seem that my attention is split and at times it is. I am having to process the information faster and differently, since I am searching on one window realizing that I may have missed an important talking point. I am using my $15 iRiver T10 audio recorder so that I can go back and listen to the sessions later. So I have to be careful to make sure that I am paying attention so that I do not miss anything. But with others blogging (both live and reflective), I am more likely to either confirm what I heard (backup for any with auditory processing issues) or challenge my thinking, since I am filtering based upon my biases and perceptions of the material. It can allow for further reflection and conversation to work towards greater learning.

The negative would be if I am not able manage attention. As a high school adviser, I have had several students who have been diagnosed with executive dysfunction. I would imagine that for these types of students, and others with similar processing issues would struggle with this mode of learning. More to think about.

Technorati Tags: necc2007 necc07

Reflections - Redesign Research with Social Bookmarking Tools

2007-06-26T09:56:00.001-05:00

Lucie deLaBruere
Notes - Learning with Lucie

How bookmarking went social?
Used for self to find good stuff later

Then went one to many
Backflip
ProtaPortal

Still individual

Social
furl - too many syntax problems
stumbleupon

using del.icio.us today

Nest question teachers ask - so what? teachers need to work harder, not smarter. Not enough time in the day to do everything. Ways to organize and help (read weinberger's Everything is Miscellaneous)

Need for more collaborative experiences teachers to teachers, teachers with students, students with students, can go to HOTS

Who is Smarter, the individual or the group collective.

Wisdom of Crowds - a read

Redesign assignments for increased critical thinking skills which move away from copy paste mentality in a pick a topic, do a report to prepare a PSA for a topic in order to get sponsorship, etc.

Working the tools
Is quick research valid? Gladwell says yes. Who is better, google search or asking individuals?

Do quick research for free clip art
Google - advertising and 32 million hits
del.ico.us - 1900 hits, but more targeted can find the number of users and trace their search back. This is something that someone has consciously choosen the resource. See how others tag. Comes back to the wisdom of crowds, who to put on your radar, what to put on radar, and who to ignore. (we are back to my previous post about the war for attention, how ironic)

You have to get the tools. Idea - (create class user with same name and password. That way students can tag to a class set of resources, sharing the wealth and getting a wider range of experiences)

Next, a look at examples.

Can add via a link roll.

Technorati Tags: necc2007 necc07 n07s588

Conference Learning to Classroom Experience

2007-06-26T08:52:00.000-05:00

I am getting a glimpse of the future and beginning to experience classroom 2.0. Here is my experience.

I am moving through the physical space based upon the conference's determination of schedule. As is any school, there are several different choices which I can select and I am limited by time and space to participate in only one at a time. Some of the sessions are being captured via either audio or video podcast, so unless I really want to see that presentation, I can choose one which requires me to be physically there to have the experience and follow up with the others at a later point.

Armed with laptop, I have several windows open at a time. One is my calendar, one, my email, thirdly is a blog window to capture notes, a fourth is a window which I use to go out and research links which are mentioned so that I can tag or search my library and amazon for book references.

The most important window open is my aggregator which is loaded with my twitter feeds and friends. From this window, I am able to follow what is going on in other sessions from trusted friends. If my session is not engaging me, I use my feet to move my physical presence to a selection which will meet my needs. Yes, it is a case of engage me or enrage me, something that we must understand and experience in order to understand what changes we must make to our teaching in order to focus the attention of our students in the all important physical space.

The last window open is a second view of my aggregator, which I can scan to read the reflections from various sessions from other trusted friends.

Preaching to the choir, as teachers, mentors, and guides we are in the midst of a war for the attention of our students. Our message has to rise above the white noise of the six open windows on my connection device as teach students how to develop their voice, determine what medium to use to create for their best method to communicate their ideas (text, pictures, movies, audio, peformance) so that it rises about the white noise and clutter of other creators. This is a daunting task but one we must get a handle on so that we can properly guide all of our learners, students, faculty, administrators, and parents.

My thoughts. Look forward to feedback from others.

Technorati Tags: necc2007 necc07

Relfections - Rock Our World

2007-06-25T14:11:00.000-05:00

What is Rock Our World?

It is Collaboration, communication, Creativity, curiosity, and compassion.

Came up with idea and used GarageBand. Everyone came up with 30 second of drums and passed it along and collaborated on by everyone around the world. Surrounded herself by emailing teachers after doing Google searches. Sent hundreds/thousands of email and first project to get six continents. Now have added Antarctica.

Collaboration - old view, check what page they were on to coordinate.

Key - find out strengths and weaknesses. Surround yourself with others who are experts (strengths) in your weak areas.

Project is all about communication and sharing. Talking face to face, find out similarities, same smiles and different sounds (language). Last round on digitla story telling. Go to American Film Institute training on digital story telling. Everything online at www.rockourworld.org. Have created a Moodle to begin. You need to register with Moodle (simple process) to access.

Rakau Sticks (New Zealand) - Did a project sharing games. Watching a class in New Zealand play this game. Showed recorded version. Nice rhythm activity (Note to self - have to show my wife for future)

Students gain understanding of self and place. Connections apparent, some students had difficulty dealing with students who were living in the future (on the other side of the international dateline)

Next showed tools, iLife and GarageBand. Talked about Audacity. Created iMovies to document. Used iChat to support conferencing.

Has been a stepping stone, utilizing new relationships to forge new projects. In Rock our World, all children world wide speak in English. Why? Done a story unit, where primary create stories and older students in district (Spanish, French, German, Latin) translate and then read the story. Through relationships, have expanded the range of languages (Japanese).

There is value in face to face communications, to keep context.

You can make a difference. The world is full of bias, stereotype, intolerance, fear, prejudgice, and discrimination and these ugly things are in media and many books in the library. Peel off the ugliness to possibility, appreciation, tolerance, respect, compassion, acceptance (and empathy, my addition) through connection.

This was live blogged. Apologies for mispellings and rough word choices. It has been a long week today and they are started the session with selections from Schoolhouse Rock while I overlook the obscene vendor floor (looks like Vegas for educators, scary when I walked in and saw a booth for a classroom electronic Jeopardy game that an educator claimed it was the next greatest thing since sliced bread. Scary. Photo to follow)

There are so many great ideas that are simple which create connections. Too bad we are always looking for the grand huge project, rather than finding smaller simpler projects which are easy to implement and will have a quicker and with an equal impact.

Technorati Tags: necc2007 necc07 n07s794

Non-chronological postings

2007-06-25T12:25:00.000-05:00

Due to the fact that my edublogs primary site has been flaky and the nature of my battery, only getting 55 - 75 minutes of life since I cannot completely recharge, many of my posts will not be a chronological order.

This is also to the quirks of my brain, where I often need time to allow the ideas to percolate to the top of my brain in a understandable way.

Technorati Tags: necc2007 necc07

NECC Lunchtime Thoughts

2007-06-25T12:21:00.000-05:00

As I wolf down the kit-kat bar for lunch (I did have a fruit bowl for breakfast), I was wondering how I was going to be able to absorb new information after attending EduBloggerCon and sitting in a workshop with David Warlick and Chris Lehmann. So far, most of my choices have been right on and I have been able to create new synapses and develop new ideas to take home. All of this and it is only Monday at 1:30 p.m. Will there be any room in the brain for the new ideas

Technorati Tags: necc2007 necc07 edubloggercon2007 edubloggercon edubloggercon07

Poster - Coming of Age

2007-06-25T09:17:00.000-05:00

I got to meet Terry Friedman, whose Coming of Age 1.0 was one of the five books last year which impacted my personal learning last summer. The new version of Coming of Age 2.0 is being released in the early fall and I am anxiously awaiting.

We have since traveled a similar path, crossing at various time in various different learning environments. I shouldn't have been surprised that he knew me. We shared a few ideas and he inquired as to whether I would be willing to contribute to Coming of Age 3.0. I am honored, but wondering if I am still worthy.

Technorati Tags: necc2007 necc07 edubloggercon2007 edubloggercon edubloggercon07 n07s466

Reflections - Online Collaborative Learning for High School Students: A Blended Approach

2007-06-25T09:05:00.000-05:00

Note - This is the session I should have been in from the beginning.

This was a research paper shared by Sharon Peters, one of the Women of Web 2.0. Her background can be found at a wiki she set up for the presentation (spetersnecc07.wikispaces.com)

There was a gentleman who was talking as I went in. He had a great concept, what I would call the aggregated school. Essentially, create a school picking the best courses you can find in the virtual spaces and then use it to attract learners (students and teachers) towards a physical space and location. This is a concept that I am going to have to wrap my head around, but the concept is really appealling. this is the best of all worlds and allows one to tap into the best minds and experiences.

Sharon shared how she got the most resistant learners (male athletes, but I know that she was not trying to stereotype) to grow with their learning.

Question about how to engage the lurker (Note: For a large part of my academic and personal career, I could be described as a lurker, but I would rather imagine myself as a sponge. I am engaged, soaking it all in, churning it around in my mind, and then share my thoughts and ideas. It wasn't until recently that I began to get comfortable with my voice to share more openly). Solution is to use blended methods, text, but allow students to record conversation, storyboards, or music to express their thinking. Great concept that we need to heed, although I think that we need to steer students into different methodologies if only to have them discover which method works best for them. Do they intrinsically know, or do they have to be exposed towards discovery.

Sharon will post rubrics for her content on the wiki.

A great and thought provoking commentary and conversation that I wish I had been at in its entirety. I am glad I made the choice I did.

Technorati Tags: necc2007 necc07 edubloggercon2007 edubloggercon edubloggercon07 n07s287

Reflection on Learning for Leaders 2.0

2007-06-25T07:34:00.000-05:00

Presenters: Gordon Dahlby and Larry Anderson

Outline:
I Effective Schools and Business thrive and Grow from Learning Leaders

-2.0 Learnign and Thinking is broad and reachable
- Read, Listen, and Watch
- Comment, Contribute, Create

II Leadership Development - Self and Others
-Towards an enterprise ethic
-The hyperrated leader

III Habit Seven: Sharpening the Saw

IV Habit Eight: Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs

V Share the wealth
- Support new leaders

Reflections:
Gordon has done more professional development online recently than face to face, via streams and audio file.

It is important not just to solve the problem, but begin to forge relationship beyond current crisis and develop more empathy for individuals

To be an effective leader, one needs to live and learn on the edge, listen empathetically, actively seek out the wisdom of others, and reciprocate with a faithful and purposeful life which lifts and enriches the lives of others.

We hope not to contribute to the following: "Teacher guilty of endangering kids due to boredom."

Leaders are learners, are teachers, share, and support the development of new leaders (repeat thought)

Ideas to run with - We should strive to support intellectual live and joy of learning through a broad array of new strategies

Book - Essential Cognative Backpack, Levine (ASCD)

Thinkering spaces are interactive environments that encourage students to think and play with both physical and virtual "things", reflect on what they they have discover, and then elaborate and share with others - isn't this what a classroom is supposed to be?

Reading and listening to ideas is an essential component of learning. One potential source of new thinking can be found in the Ideas and Innovations podcasts from the Stanford Ventures Program. Played a bit of Ideas and Innovations at Google (http://www.veotag.com/player/?pid=7edc52d3-d397-49db-9adb-c6c6cfb97291)

Note - while session seemed good and paper and rich with ideas, left because speaker was not engaging. Am I more like the kids than I thought? Entertain me and give me and idea and make it stick

Others in attendance who may also be blogging: Chris Craft, Mark the Bionic Teacher, David Jakes, Ryan Bretag, the new coordinator at my local public high school, Glenbrook North, Charlene Chausis (ISTE Recognized School Leader - well deserved),

Technorati Tags: necc2007 necc07 edubloggercon2007 edubloggercon edubloggercon07 n07s686

Headed to the Backup Blog

2007-06-24T10:09:00.000-05:00

With Edublogs currently having difficulties and I am feeling the need to reflect at NECC, I have moved to my backup blog. I will be moving content over to the primary blog as soon as I can.

This is my second day at NECC. Yesterday was a wonderful day at EduBloggerCon. I have many thoughts of what I want to share with the larger group, but I need more time to read and reflect. Today, I am in a session being led by David Warlick on Advanced Blogging. I am really looking forward to learning and making new connections with new folks. So far, both days have far exceeded my expectations. Chris Lehmann (practicaltheory.org) was the warm up act for David and he was outstanding. He shared a Moodle hack that will be a time saver and worth the price of the workshop by itself. I need to make sure that I refocus and do not stay distracted at this point in time.

Technorati Tags: necc2007 necc07 edubloggercon2007 edubloggercon edubloggercon07 n07s142