Cell phones... boots... banned...really!?!?!?

Wow... really? I was not sure I read the headline right when I found this story... a middle school banning boots, because kids hide cell phones in them. A school official says, "Cell phones are a problem for obvious reasons."

Wait, I thought we were developing activities in which we were supposed to be encouraging students to use the technology they have.

I suppose I don't know the whole story, so I am going to stop writing about it, but this really makes me wonder about what is happening. (At least it has been a mild winter so the kids' feet won't be cold.)

Is this a good idea?

From several sources, we have seen President Obama "challenging lawmakers to strengthen education."

Sure, a strong educational system is key to the future.... but one must ask "Do we really want lawmakers involved?"

What "success" can we attribute to lawmakers' policy in the past 40 years?

Is ESEA an unqualified success? How bout NCLB?

Federal lawmakers are about centralized control. Education, on the other hand, is a local phenomena. Each individual working within a social structure (using a brain with its limitations and potentials) to understand the world, to make predictions and create explanations, and to do this on a range of scales-- from simple skills for daily life to deep contemplations of the meaning of life and one's place in the cosmos. 

Young Writers' Project

I must give a shout out to the Young Writer's Project... the Vermont initiative to encourage writing through interesting prompts and challenges and to publish the writing in a variety of venues.

While many of the efforts are specific to Vermonters, the ideas and enthusiasm that are found in that community are creative and infectious; even lurking on the site can get any educator thinking.

Wolfram Alpha

Just another reminder of a site that every educator must know and use (and must be sure students know and use)... Wolfram Alpha is the "computational knowledge engine." That is the fancy to way to say the site helps users find numerical data.

Students always enjoy seeing quadratic equations graphed... and it helps them to see the reasons for finding the roots of those equations.

On flipping classrooms...

It is becoming increasingly clear that educators must reassess what we present and how we present it... it is also becoming clear to me.

Our students are good at using video... they watch it all the time... most of my colleagues are good at reading... they do it all of the time. I just sat through a morning in-service session in which administrators talked and talked and talked to a room full of educators about what our afternoon was going to be like.

The general consensus of the folks I sat near was that we could have understood the morning session by reading (and that we would have better understood the material through such an "in-person" presentation and then the amount of time for real work would have been extended. My recommendation that educators take their own advice and flip the classroom so that they look at video and other presentations outside of class and use class time for collaboration and problem solving was well received by those sitting near me.

QR Code

Soon NELMS will be sending Mid-Lines to members... one of the pieces form the Tech Corner includes a quick response (QR) code to take readers to a piece on NPR's web site related to SOPA.

The image was created with another of my favorite Chrome apps--

The QR Code Generator

Launch the app and enter a URL and it will create the QR code for you... down load the image or link to it and it can be used without any fuss or fee.  Try it...

Going mobile

Oh how the times have changed... 10 years ago, when I was thinking about presenting at conferences, I would create slides on PowerPoint and then print them on acetate sheets with my ink jet printer so that I could put them on the overhead projector.

Then I would drag a laptop and projector and an extra extension cord and power strip to conferences.

As I am getting ready for some presentations this spring, I am planning to carry my iPhone, a dongle, and an extra vga cable... everything will fit onto my pocket! (Of course, this plan will work only for those conferences in which the organizers are supplying projectors in each presentation room. But for the others, I have still reduced my baggage by half... and I expect the trend will be for conference venues to supply projectors as part of their standard service in the near future.)

Prezi...

This site has been around for a few years... it is worth a look and some time to explore if you are unfamiliar... I describe it as a good alternative to PowerPoint.

Redefining instruction- a reaction

A teacher on the Teacher Leaders Network or EdWeek suggested five essential steps for redefining instruction with technology:

1) Break down to rebuild-- Ah yes... the reality is that the students you teach today and the tools you have today (and the skills they need for tomorrow) are changing... if you try to "try something" in a small way to start, you are going to keep doing what you have always done and students will find you irrelevant. (I actually observed a principal in the fall of 2011 seriously suggest that teachers start "once a month using technology in their classes."-- Seriously we are well into the 21st century, if this is the best we can do then we are in trouble!)

2) Redefine with a goal in mind-- OK, so I get the idea and I understand the reasoning... but educators need to understand and adopt a more sophisticated view of teaching and learning. If we set a goal then we assume that a) the goal os one we should have, b) that we know how to achieve it, and c) we know how technology can help us achieve it.

3) Get more app for your money-- The tools used by professionals are the tools we should use in classrooms-- yup that ideas sure seems a good one.


4) Embrace failure-- Today's culture in schools does not embrace failure or even recognize that we might not know what the results of our actions will be, but the educator who helps kids become learners will, and will allow himself or herself to fail. Those educators who always put a "we are making progress" label on everything and cannot admit something may be a raw deal or failing has no place in the 21st century school.

5) Enjoy the results and reflect forwards-- One of the great joys of being an educators today is that you can continue to be a learner... indeed one must be a learner!

Rick Wormelli is coming....

The always popular Rick Wormeli will be back in 2012!

Differentiation and Motivation

February 2 & 3, 2012
Sturbridge Host Hotel, Sturbridge, MA

Register here...

Engaging students in curriculum and tasks they find irrelevant is always a challenge. Differentiated instruction, however, offers clear avenues for students to find meaning in what and how they are taught, which is a key factor in human motivation. Join us for an intense two-day seminar on motivating young adolescents and the differentiation practices that engage them in meaningful work. We'll also look at specific teaching scenarios from real classrooms and form constructive, differentiated responses to each one, and we'll explore multiple ways to change the nature of regular classroom content and tasks for advanced students. The latest cognitive science insights as they apply to middle level teaching and student motivation will be included. No background in differentiated instruction is needed, but we invite those with differentiation experiences to share freely throughout the seminar. Yes, we'll review some of the basics of DI, but only as they relate to student motivation, and we'll move from there. Provided in the midst of a winter month when motivation fades, this is the perfect catalyst to re-ignite your students and your teaching for the rest of the year. Don't miss it!

Tech skills for dinosaurs...

One of the IT publications I read sends emails to subscribers and today, they sent a list of 10 technology skills that are "going away" in 2012... I will leave out the items for tech-heads (ColdFusion, Silverlight, and a few others) but the remains are useful for educators to understand:

Email--

I'm not sure educators can do without their email.... at least I am not sure I can because I use it as my "default" online identity and to reset passwords and access accounts I use infrequently. The manner in which I use email is changing for sure (let's see when is the last time I attached a Word document to someone?-- those who know what they are doing all share documents on Google or some other system now). I do expect email will stay around for educators who maintain connection with individuals in different communities (parents, colleagues, associates far away, conference presenters...), but for internal communication, let's join the 21st century.

Hardware & Software Support--

I've seen this one coming for some time... BYOD and could computing are reducing our need to have and own and maintain servers and desktops. When those devices fall out of our domain in education, so will the need for tech support.

Hardware & Software Support--

I've seen this one coming for some time... BYOD and could computing are reducing our need to have and own and maintain servers and desktops. When those devices fall out of our domain in education, so will the need for tech support.

Forget SOPA... PBS is a teacher's friend

While I love the digital age and begin able to fire up Google and find the answer to many questions, I also long for the days when I could be sure that the media I was consuming was "good." (The bootlegged video of musicians performances on YouTube are OK, but the ones I enjoy the most-- and actually watch throughout-- are those that were produced and edited by professionals.)

So, while SOPA may be intended to protect copyright owners, I appreciate (and support financially) those who create good content and then make it available for web users. To prove my point... PBS has a wonderful collection of digital media that is of highest quality. For example, the feature on the circus a few years ago included several clips appropriate for the science classroom.

Animations and education

The iBook discussion here and other places raises questions about human knowledge and understanding. What was knowledge and understanding for previous generations of humans (for even for humans a few years ago) is no longer sufficient.

Consider science and biological processes. A recent TED Talk (unfortunately available as pixelated video) illustrates the point. Through animations such as are demonstrated in this video, students will be able to more completely and easily understand processes. My prediction is they will be be able to learn better qualitatively and quantitatively (they will learn more and more quickly and they will understand details that previous students did not).

National Reading Day

January 23 is National Reading Day...

It might be too late to celebrate the day, but it is never too late to read... the folks at Common Sense Media have a list of recommended books... use the navigation to find titles of interest to middle schoolers!

http://www.commonsensemedia.org/book-reviews 

Bloom 2.0?

This just showed up in my inbox... I would challenge some of the placements and I think Bloom has been misapplied and has largely outlived his usefulness in education (we have far more sophisticated understanding of human learning and we need not progress "up" his taxonomy-- indeed progressing that way may inhibit much learning)... but this can lead to some interesting discussions...

http://www.usi.edu/distance/bdt.htm

iBooks 2 continued...

Over the weekend, my world changed...

I am preparing the final manuscript for a book that is due to the publisher February 1. As part of that project, I am creating apps to go along with it. The Android app was my first effort as I planned to use appsbar which my students have used with success. After a a few hours of work, that apps was "done" (the quotes because it is of course a work in progress).

Last week, iBook 2 was released and with much fan fare, Apple announced its plans for digital interactive text books. My Sunday afternoon activity was to sit at the Macintosh that faces the television so I could watch the Patriots game, and download iBook Author and try may hand at creating an iBook.

It was everything I have come to expect out of Apple's products-- easy to use and completely integrated with everything in the operating system. As soon as my manuscript is completed, I expect the companion iBook will be uploaded so that iPad and iPhone users can access my first iBook.

If you have not seen the whole video introduction to the new iBooks, it is worth an hour of your time.

Please understand also, that I am a fan of Apple's product, but not their shill... I hope you take a look a this because this is the industry-standard and there will be lots of vendors releasing comparable products in the coming months... we have no choice but to understand how this changes teaching and learning.

SOPA continued

In the continuing saga of SOPA in the United States, US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has announced that a vote on the bill has been postponed. Most news sources are quoting him as saying "in light of recent events" to explain the decision, and those words are being interpreted as a recognition that the grassroots efforts to petition congress and to "black out" the Internet were effective.

FaceBook for Educators?!?!

Really? Yup...

Finally some educators have stopped and thought about FaceBook and how educators should conduct themselves. I find it interesting that for the first time, there is "someone" recommending that schools adopt a "friending" policy so that educators understand clearly what the expectations are for adults connecting with youngsters in any particular community.

Here is the video introducing the site:

iBook 2

OK, middle school teachers and leaders... your world has changed:

AC registration info

The registration materials for the 2012 NELMS Annual Conference are available...

http:///pages/conferences/annual/register.html

You can save yourself some money by registration before March 1, and even more if you bring a whole school faculty:

Special School Group Daily Rates are available for 20 or more attendees from the same school - receive a 20% discount. Registration and payment must be received on a single registration form by March 1, 2011. Contact NELMS at 978-557-9311 for further details.

Apple and textbooks

The news feeds are starting to report that Apple has announced iBooks 2- a tool designed for creating interactive textbooks!


http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20120119-709484.html

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/12/01/19/apple_plans_to_reinvent_the_textbook_with_ibooks_2_for_ipad_.html

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_19774487

Technology acceptance model

I have been invited to present a few sessions at the Annual Conference in April, and I am deciding how to overcome some obstacles erected by short-sighted administrators, but I intend to be there to learn from and with a very engaging and innovative community for those days.

The second best part of the NELMS AC is that I get to stop and think about what is most important to me as an educators as I prepare my sessions. One idea that has been helping me to make decisions about what to do in my classroom has been the technology acceptance model.

TAM has been around for years and is widely used in the business world to develop hardware, software, and network systems and also to develop strategies and procedures for using IT in organizations. According to TAM, three factors are associated with the intention to use technology and this the actual use of technology in any setting:

As school and technology leaders (and as teachers) we should attempt to make our technology easy to use and useful. Also, we should seek to increase the expectation that it be used-- be careful, however, as compelling one to use technology does not increase the intention to use technology, nor even the use of it.

Oops... I posted today!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/

Seymour Papert-- still relevant

I stumbled across is video on YouTube... what Seymour Papert was saying decades ago is sill relevant... and the thinking that students can do even when doing ostensibly simple activities was useful back then and is useful today... we are fortunate to have Scratch and similar tools available for free.

 

Wikipedia Blackout

Make your plans now for the end of the world as we know it!

Wikipedia is going to be blacked out to protest SOPA and PIPA.

This is a real "teachable moment" for middle school educators... let's take the chance to talk with students about what this means, let's understand the issues, and engage our students in a real problem.

The Future Looks Augmented - Technology Review

The annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas provides a window into the future of computing. This slide show from Technology Review that shows some wearable devices is evidence of that future. These devices have been held up as models for a few years, but now they are entering the consumer market. It won't be long until we contemplate their role in education (or some of us will- others will surely be waiting for the next version of Word to be released).

http://www.technologyreview.com/article/39472/page9/#photo

- Dr. Gary Ackerman

Internet on strike

A bill under consideration by the US Congress is causing some consternation among many Internet users. The Stop Online Piracy Act. Opponents of the law suggest that it will severely limit freedom of expression, which has been a cornerstone of Internet engagement since it was first developed.

It appears that the Obama administration is going to oppose the law, but it also appears that the owners of many web sites plan to take their sites off line to protest this and other attempts to censor the Internet.

Maybe you had better plan now for potential disruptions... better yet, use any disruptions as an opportunity to discuss censorship with your students:

• What rights should owners of content have?
• Does restricting access to content promote or prevent innovation?
• How can one make money by sharing?

Strike Against SOPA!

New 'net domains...

Again, the changing nature of the digital world has my attention. NPR has a good report on the proposal to allow anyone to create an Internet domain... so that our "limited" options now (.edu, .com, .org, .name, ...) would be expanded and limitless (I could register .ackerman).

As the report points out, the question is becoming who controls the Internet. Of course, many of us fund that a chilling question. First, it points out that no one currently "controls" it; there are standards and groups that define the standards, but that is different from controlling it. Standards simply are the protocols that engineers must following of they want their systems to be compatible with the 'net.

Second, it points out that some want desperately to control what information we access. Previous attempts to filter the 'net have not been successful, but there is much at stake, and so those who seek to control what we access keep trying.

Flat World Knowledge

The world is changing... there are several locations on the web where users can access open source textbooks... these are usually written by teachers and professors (usually these people are from higher education) for use in their own classrooms and they share them with anyone. Flat World Knowledge is the most recent collection I have found... seems to have some good stuff that can supplement our classrooms.

Buying high-tech

Common Sense Media also has a good guide to buying high-tech toys... together with the reading resource (see below) the common sense media folks have some good stuff to share with middle school parents.

Reading

The folks at Common Sense Media have a page entitled "How to Raise a Reader."

The examples they give seem geared to students a little younger than our target here in the nELMS community, but the advice is sound and can be adapted... and yes, reading aloud is still fine in middle schools.

I recall fondly the team that I first worked on... we would "Adopt an Author" and for a few weeks take our 20-minute silent reading period after lunch and each teacher read a favorite author-- Edgar A. Poe's short stories was the fare in my science class!

Quality Counts 2012

EdWeek has been publishing its quality counts reports for more than a decade, and it is their effort to summarize "the state of education" in the US.

The 2012 edition is out, and my initial reaction is "ho-hum." It seems more of the same.

• The rest of the world is moving ahead, and we are stuck with mediocre performance, especially in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. 
• We are "making progress" on issues like teacher quality, equity, and funding; but we still have a long way to go.

It sure seems to me that this could have been written at any point in my career. It sure seems to me also, that if we are ever going to be serious about reforming education, then we will be forced to ask questions that cut to the core of what human learning is and how it occurs. That will also cause us to recognize that the education I had (in the 1970's-- I graduated from high school in 1983) is not appropriate for my kids.

Hello??!?-- it's 2012!

Please excuse the personal rant, but...

I am going through the relicensing process this year. ow, I have no problem with documenting my professional learning; I have no problem with reflecting on it... I am looking back on my dissertation experience and connecting that with my work as an educator.

I do have a problem, however, with filling out paperwork BY HAND! Hey it's the 21st century, let's make a web site with the forms that are necessary... allow me to enter the information once and then copy it as necessary. Let's make the site check to be sure that I have entered information in all of the correct spaces and then allow me to print my forms so that our local board can review the contents.

This rant is not about the people on the board or the process... it is about the hypocrisy of educators' talking about how we are reinventing school for the 21st century, but we do not apply technology to a redundant task for which it is perfectly suited.

Let's do a little math... each teacher spends let's assume 8 hours getting relicensing paper work together... and in Vermont that is each 7 years... so let's estimate 1 hour per year doing relicensing paperwork. Let's assume an average teacher is paid $40,000 per year and that gives an hourly rate of about $31 (figure 184 days per year and 7 hours per day).

If we hired a goo web programmer (or even a hack like me) for a week (let's pay 'em $60 per hour for 40 hours-- $2400!) we could probably cut the paperwork time by 60%, and save everyone time and money!

Sorry for the rant... I need to get back to writing the name of my university on stacks of paper for the relicensing board to review next month.

AC Reminder

Friends in the NELMS office are starting to talk about the upcoming annual conference--- Steve tells me the brochures are heading off to the printer and it must be getting close as we are talking about a trip to Fenway Park!

31st Annual Conference
Rhode Island Convention Center, Providence, R.I.
April 2 & 3, 2012

Visit the AC page of the NELMS web site

Curriculum standards-- big sigh...

I understand the rationale behind curriculum standards... someone to tell us what we should be doing... some "data" we can pint to when individuals in our communities question us...

Despite my understanding, I am questioning the appropriateness of our current focus on standards. Right now, I can point to three strands of evidence that are personally relevant:

1) Our state "refreshed" their technology standards a few years ago... just before they did, I had students review the previous set, and their response was laughter... seriously, they laughed at how silly the "skills" were and they were able to demonstrate those far above their grade level and they were commonly using technology in ways that were not even mentioned in the standards. Guess what... they are beginning to have the same responses to the "refreshed" standards. Despite that, our administration is pointing to those standards as "the guiding light" of our renewed interest in technology.

2) I am reading a book in which the author argues that the standardization of curriculum is a deviation from the localized needs students and families that was the original intent of education in our society. According to the author, the centralization of education has contributed to a huge economy and bureaucracy supporting itself.

3) A recent entry on EdWeek suggests that a group has published set of standards for human sexuality education. Please do not assume I am somehow opposed to sex education, I simply know that standards ted to contribute to what is described in point #2 and we have too much in the curriculum already... my old middle school mentors who taught us "less is more."

Little Alchemy continued

Recently, I posted about Little Alchemy, the Chrome App in which players mix and remix different elements to make new ones (e.g. earth + fire = lava). I still think it is a good game, but my students did find some mixtures that may be a little questionable (human + human = sex). I general, however, I found this to be a safe place to have a discussion with 5th graders that sometimes there are things we find online that we may not be appropriate and the best way to handle it is often, to just ignore it an move along without getting goofy about it and causing everyone else to be distracted by it.

CodeAcademy

Ever since reading Douglas Rushkoff's Program or Be Programmed a couple of years ago, I have tried to give my students experience writing programs. My rationale is simple-- if we understand how to control technology (and even that we can control technology), then we are going to be more empowered and less likely to be controlled by technology.

As part of my adventure to introduce programming to students (especially I have found middle school students accepting of programming) I am always on the lookout for tools to teach programming-- especially those that allow for no threshold and no ceiling (anyone can follow along and there is no limit to what you can do).


CodeAcademy appears to be one that deserves some attention...

It has also been featured on Wired recently...

Technological Healing

Considering my post earlier today about my switch to iPhone from BlackBerry, I was interested to read this article (on my iPhone) regarding handhelds and health care. Now this may seem out of place on a middle school education blog, but I think it illustrates the meed for educators to adopt a more active and proactive stance towards technology in our lives.

I thought you might be interests in the following story on TechnologyReview.com:

"Technological Healing"
A leading researcher says digital technologies are about to make health care more effective. But is so much data really beneficial?

http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=39320&a=f

To view this story, click the link above or paste it into your browser.

- Dr. Gary Ackerman

Games!?!?

As I have been looking around at apps for Google Chrome for the last few months, I have noticed the number of games that are around and I am beginning to wonder about the role of arcade-style games in teaching (for example) math facts and the transferability of the skills that students develop (assuming they do develop such skills) to other areas... I wonder if students with practice math games for 10 minutes per day would be measurably better at say adding the costs of items in a shopping cart.

It sure seems that such a research study would be a good one for a graduate students somewhere.

New iPhone

I have been a BlackBerry user for about 5 years... I used it for the typical smartphone purposes-- SMS, keeping notes, accessing mobile web sites, email, posting to this blog.

My kids have been using iPhones for several years. It just happened over the holidays that we were eligible for an upgrade of phones, so I used it to replace my BlackBerry with an iPhone. I wish I had made the switch much earlier. We know that technology that is easier to use is more likely to be used, and the ease of use is what I am most impressed with while using the iPhone. The interface is easier to use and the natural movements allowed by the touch screen allows for far more efficient interaction than the joy stick of the BlackBerry.

Also, Siri and the rest of the voice-enabled functions (esp. notes) make me wonder why we don't give such devices to all students.

And email

Test from the iphone
- Dr. Gary Ackerman

Testing blogger from my iPhone

You can't be my teacher

One of my favorites-- this kid is great!

\

Digital Learning Day

A group called Alliance for Excellent Education is promoting Feb. 1, 2012 as the first Digital Learning Day.

Check out the idea in the first sentence here-- replacing textbooks with netbooks will do noting unless we change what we do and how we do it.

High-tech "toys"

Yesterday afternoon, a colleague asked me about a seemingly simple question: where do I plug the mouse in to my iPad?

It occurred to me that there is a change that has taken place and many people (make that many adults) are not aware of the change. The tablets and handhelds that people carry around and use to connect to the Internet are not the same devices that we have come to know as computers. Keyboards are "on screen" and only available when the user "asks" for them. Mice are replaced with touches on screens. Apps are programs for very specific purposes-- this is different from the applications we install on our desktops that can be used for almost anything.

I sent my colleague to this article that was on the Common Sense Media page last fall... it is a good introduction to the e-readers, tablets, smartphones, game consoles, and learning tablets... all of the digital devices young people are using today that are different form the computers we used when we were growing up as computer users.

Rick Wormelli and NELMS

The always popular Rick Wormeli will be back in 2012!

Differentiation and Motivation

February 2 & 3, 2012
Sturbridge Host Hotel, Sturbridge, MA

November 13 & 14, 2012 (location TBD)

http://www.nelms.org/pages/conferences/learn_teach/di.html

World is changing

So I have a student who is serving "in-house suspension" today-- I know let's not get into the reasonableness of removing a students from class.

He was working on a essay using Google Docs and I was editing it along with him... now I wonder if we violated the "in-house suspension." I would expect that a student serving such a suspension would have done something to be removed from class for the day... my question is was he removed if I was still able to interact with him?

Some more predictions for 2012

The collection of "predictions for educational technology in 2012" that are crossing my inbox grows...  this collection from ZDNet points to a few things that I agree are coming and coming fast-- the question is how long the too-deeply entrenched practices will be able to keep these at bay:

1) Given the interest in data-driven decision-making, then the prediction that the algorithms used to make business decision will make it into education decision-making is probably a good one. I do not, however, think that it will necessarily result in "better education" for students. Important cognitive functions like being flexible and creative are not easily made into algorithms (not yet at least). If we develop powerful tools to analyze education data, we will have the illusion of education, but not the reality.

2) Tablets-- yup they are coming and we had better be ready for it!

3) BYOD is coming-- yup-- students have powerful computers in their pockets and we need to use them.

4) Khan Academy-- yup-- those lessons are good and making many teachers irrelevant.

5) Goodbye libraries-- no, I think libraries and the guidance good librarians give in finding and using good information sources are going to be more important as we move forward.

Trends in digital learning

I have been plowing through some things that showed up in my inbox before the holiday break and have been interested in the number that focus on the trend towards online learning for everyone. There are questions about how credible virtual classrooms are, there are questions about the extent to which teachers are being prepared to teach online. While I recognize those are being things we might care about, I think they miss the point. I think the issues are these:

Young people today live in a digital world-- their brains are changed (literally) by their expose to digital information-- we must ask if the traditional definitions of "credibility" and literacy and numeracy are still valid in this world.

Teachers need to develop skill at "transitioning" from what they are doing to what they should be doing... when I first started teaching, I had a mentor who told me to "plan a lecture" so that everything you think is important is down and then "figure out how to teach it without lecturing." He also suggested doing this anew each time I taught a lesson to get in the habit of thinking about "alternatives" to lecturing. I find myself doing that today with digital technologies-- what do I want my kids to know and how do I do it with digital media so that I am working in their world.

Virtual Schools

Teacher Prep

Top 10 stories of 2011...

EdWeek has posted their top 10 educational technology stories of 2011... things like iPads, cyberbullying, virtual learning.

I think these are all issues that we are dealing with, but also are rather superficial compared to what we are going to be recognizing and dealing with in the coming fews years:

Computers have undergone a fundamental change-- whereas they were once devices for information access (and creation and sharing), they are now devices for interacting.

Whereas computers were big expensive devices that were controlled by technicians, they are now small and cheap and controlled by users.

Whereas adults were once the most knowledgeable users of information and technologies (and the most experienced learners in the classroom), young people are ow the most dynamic users and learners in the classroom!

Comic Master-- interesting writing tool

Graphic novels are popular among some young people today... Comic Master is a site that a colleague sent my way recently. Create an account, log on, and use the tools they provide to create your own.

I have students creating biographies right now... we are starting with the familiar and are going to try some other more interesting tools such as this to make "boring" assignments more interesting. Look for further updates on our progress.

Save the internet

The world is changing...

iPhone arriving soon!

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, we are updating our computing resources in my house... my iPhone has shipped, so that part of the updating will be done soon.

As I have been messing about with my kids iPhones, I am struck by the convergence of the devices-- one device that we carry in our pocket is capable of being our phone, and calendar, and Internet device, and calculator (with great voice-activated capacity thanks to Siri and Wolfram Alpha), and camera... and anything else we buy and app for.

Join NELMS

With the start of the new year, consider joining NELMS... the leading organization for educators of young adolescents in the region.

http://nelms.org/pages/about/membership.html

and don't forget...

31st Annual Conference
Rhode Island Convention Center, Providence, R.I.
April 2 & 3, 2012

Google Correlate

Some estimates are that Google handles close to 50,000 searches per second! That represents an amazing data set, that can now be searched using Google Correlate... basically, enter a search term and find other terms that are correlated with your term (complete with values for r-- hey that is a great introduction to that value!).

It sure seems to me that this represents a change in the nature of the information we can access here in the 21st century and it points to the need for educators to refresh out curriculum and instruction.

Morning Edition, the NPR program, included an interesting story on Google Correlate on Jan. 2, 2012.