After talking with others and spending some more time thinking instead of just blathering out loud I have more questions than answers as usual. Gary Stager has done what he intended. He has made me question what our curriculum is and challenge my beliefs about learning. Question what school is in America today and what it should be tomorrow. Still however, I have no answers. All that I do know is that our current system is not great. It is not awful, but it is not great.
I am still not sure what needs to be done to create a better system. How do you create a system of learning when you do not know what you want everyone to learn? We cannot predict the world of tomorrow well enough to know exactly what needs to be learned. So we must do more to teach the learning process to our kids. If we can create learners that can thrive well beyond any content we offer, then we are successful.
How to do this in the confine of our current system of accountability and high stakes testing? I have no idea. How to do it in an age when students are using tools to communicate and learn that teachers do not understand? That one I can work on.
Overall I have come to the realization that I have to stop looking to others for all the answers and just start listening to them to make sure the right questions are being asked. I have to make sure I keep learning. Gary is doing the right thing by not spitting out what he thinks the answer "might be". He is also not regurgitating information we all have already. He is thinking. He is forcing me to challenge my beliefs. I cannot thank Dr. Stager enough for that.
I am not sure that those who I feel understand this big picture thinking have the right audience though. The ed-tech community in general is its own audience right now. Others need to hear it. The educational policy makers are the people who need to understand. Again the question, how do we begin to get them to challenge their thinking? One thing is for sure, the future can and will be a learning experience for all of us, if we are willing to learn.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
NYSCATE Closing Keynote
NYSCATE’s closing keynote this year featured two very well know speakers on Educational Technology. I was a fan of both coming into the keynote. I am not coming out, although I do still highly respect them both and will continue to follow both online.
Will Richardson and Gary Stager took to the stage with a moderator and a series of questions. Will is well known for his blog and book on Blogs and Wikis. Gary is a nationally recognized speaker and has been a visionary in ed-tech for some time.
The questions were designed to put them at odds, focusing on issues that the two were known to disagree on. Everyone was expecting a bit of rough and tumble in the conversation.
It was played by both, although I heard “I agree with… but” way too many times from both of these gentlemen. Gary is very passionate and was compelling to listen to. Will was reflective and appeared a very good listener.
I can’t help but express that I disagree with Gary on a number of his points. He stated that “all curriculum is bad”, suggesting we operate our schools without curriculum. He was clear in his belief that we should give all kids computers without any consideration to the readiness of the teacher. I cannot state how strongly I feel that we cannot provide any guaranteed quality of education without a core curriculum. I do feel that curriculum contains too much content and should be more skill based, but to suggest that teachers work with no curriculum and teach what kids might be interested in, might be current, might work, or what might spark the teacher’s passion with no clear path is irresponsible.
Will talked about teachers effectively modeling good use of technology and be comfortable in an understanding of how a particular technology works before implementing it in a classroom. Gary doesn’t care if the teacher even has a computer. Gary’s thinking can only lead to inconsistent education for our kids, lack of alignment, and the schools with the most money and resources getting the best teachers and giving kids more opportunities.
Will’s approach is more cautious. I agree with him that school needs to expand beyond the when and where we have kids in front of us and that time may even be able to shrink. Yet we still need to be their guide. Teachers need to know a clear path of what it is they want their students to be capable of accomplishing and guide them in the process to learn the skills they need. Teachers need to create the opportunities for learning and discovery and a place where they can make “safe mistakes”. If teachers do not understand the way students are doing their work, they cannot teach them safe, effective, ethical, enjoyable ways to learn. We need to stop worrying about the content, and allow students to discover and create the content while learning skills. Teachers cannot do this if they cannot model and guide the students. They cannot come close if they have no clue as to the environment they expect kids to do accomplish things in.
I also did not agree with Gary that all kids need to learn more about how the computers they use work. He made it clear that he feels they all need to understand how the computers were programmed. Personally, I do not think this is at all essential. Just as many of us have no idea why our cars run when we turn the key, why our televisions show us pictures, or why our refrigerators keep our food cold; we do not all need to understand how to create a word processor that will allow us to move text the way we want.
The conversation between Gary, Will and the moderator was civil and ended peacefully. It did what it needed to do, and that was to make me think. This was a great end to a conference and the fact that I am home writing this less than 3 hours after arriving home is testament to that. Thanks to both Gary and Will and the NYSCATE organizers as well.
See the Keynote at:
http://weblogged-tv.wikispaces.com/NYSCATE
Will Richardson and Gary Stager took to the stage with a moderator and a series of questions. Will is well known for his blog and book on Blogs and Wikis. Gary is a nationally recognized speaker and has been a visionary in ed-tech for some time.
The questions were designed to put them at odds, focusing on issues that the two were known to disagree on. Everyone was expecting a bit of rough and tumble in the conversation.
It was played by both, although I heard “I agree with… but” way too many times from both of these gentlemen. Gary is very passionate and was compelling to listen to. Will was reflective and appeared a very good listener.
I can’t help but express that I disagree with Gary on a number of his points. He stated that “all curriculum is bad”, suggesting we operate our schools without curriculum. He was clear in his belief that we should give all kids computers without any consideration to the readiness of the teacher. I cannot state how strongly I feel that we cannot provide any guaranteed quality of education without a core curriculum. I do feel that curriculum contains too much content and should be more skill based, but to suggest that teachers work with no curriculum and teach what kids might be interested in, might be current, might work, or what might spark the teacher’s passion with no clear path is irresponsible.
Will talked about teachers effectively modeling good use of technology and be comfortable in an understanding of how a particular technology works before implementing it in a classroom. Gary doesn’t care if the teacher even has a computer. Gary’s thinking can only lead to inconsistent education for our kids, lack of alignment, and the schools with the most money and resources getting the best teachers and giving kids more opportunities.
Will’s approach is more cautious. I agree with him that school needs to expand beyond the when and where we have kids in front of us and that time may even be able to shrink. Yet we still need to be their guide. Teachers need to know a clear path of what it is they want their students to be capable of accomplishing and guide them in the process to learn the skills they need. Teachers need to create the opportunities for learning and discovery and a place where they can make “safe mistakes”. If teachers do not understand the way students are doing their work, they cannot teach them safe, effective, ethical, enjoyable ways to learn. We need to stop worrying about the content, and allow students to discover and create the content while learning skills. Teachers cannot do this if they cannot model and guide the students. They cannot come close if they have no clue as to the environment they expect kids to do accomplish things in.
I also did not agree with Gary that all kids need to learn more about how the computers they use work. He made it clear that he feels they all need to understand how the computers were programmed. Personally, I do not think this is at all essential. Just as many of us have no idea why our cars run when we turn the key, why our televisions show us pictures, or why our refrigerators keep our food cold; we do not all need to understand how to create a word processor that will allow us to move text the way we want.
The conversation between Gary, Will and the moderator was civil and ended peacefully. It did what it needed to do, and that was to make me think. This was a great end to a conference and the fact that I am home writing this less than 3 hours after arriving home is testament to that. Thanks to both Gary and Will and the NYSCATE organizers as well.
See the Keynote at:
http://weblogged-tv.wikispaces.com/NYSCATE
NYSCATE
Another NYSCATE and as usual I still cannot believe how badly PowerPoint is used. Gary Marx, one of the Keynote speakers had one of the worst presentations I have seen in a long time. Slide after slide of bullet after bullet. He presented his “Sixteen Trends” which is more than can be absorbed in an hour and I could have read the book more easily than trying to keep up with his slides. His talk was good, just his use of multimedia slideshows was awful.
There were many sessions on the use of MUVE’s (Multi-User Virtual Environments) and a playground featuring Twitter, Ning, and Second Life to expose teachers to some of these cutting edge uses of technology. These social networking tools are enabling teachers to explore and get comfortable with Social Networking. I believe they need to be comfortable before they can even explore how they might use them in schools.
I had the great pleasure of meeting a number of people I have been networking with online and spent a good deal of time with Catherine Parsons (Victoria Gloucester) and Nancy Sharoff (Laelia Laval), as well as going to sessions presented by Sylvia Martinez, David Jakes, and Will Richardson. Brian Smith and Andrew Wheelock were both involved with the conference organization and found the time to chat with me as well. I had the opportunity to chat with David in person for a bit as opposed to online, which is a rare treat. He is a real gentleman, a very smart guy, and great to chat with. His sessions along with Will’s Q and A session were the highlights. Thanks for the conversations David!
There were many sessions on the use of MUVE’s (Multi-User Virtual Environments) and a playground featuring Twitter, Ning, and Second Life to expose teachers to some of these cutting edge uses of technology. These social networking tools are enabling teachers to explore and get comfortable with Social Networking. I believe they need to be comfortable before they can even explore how they might use them in schools.
I had the great pleasure of meeting a number of people I have been networking with online and spent a good deal of time with Catherine Parsons (Victoria Gloucester) and Nancy Sharoff (Laelia Laval), as well as going to sessions presented by Sylvia Martinez, David Jakes, and Will Richardson. Brian Smith and Andrew Wheelock were both involved with the conference organization and found the time to chat with me as well. I had the opportunity to chat with David in person for a bit as opposed to online, which is a rare treat. He is a real gentleman, a very smart guy, and great to chat with. His sessions along with Will’s Q and A session were the highlights. Thanks for the conversations David!
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Keyloggers?
A school nearby has just uncovered the use of keyloggers to record passwords that they suspect has been going on for a long time. Students have used the passwords to access grades and change them.
This is not anything shockingly new, but the newspapers have made it highly public and printed a full page article on what keyloggers are, how they work, and even where to get them. Brilliant!
It looks like I need to get a memo out to everyone and possibly have my tech staff do some physical inspections. What a great use of our time and resources. *sigh*
This is not anything shockingly new, but the newspapers have made it highly public and printed a full page article on what keyloggers are, how they work, and even where to get them. Brilliant!
It looks like I need to get a memo out to everyone and possibly have my tech staff do some physical inspections. What a great use of our time and resources. *sigh*
Friday, November 2, 2007
Forget the filter - The kids do!
I needed to monitor an entire lab remotely the other day. The teacher was reporting problems and I needed to watch was happening to diagnose things. The kids have been warned in the past that this happens. I watched as computers booted up, students signed in and class began.
About half way through the class, many of the students were no longer on task. Classroom management is not my job, although I did take some screenshots to let the teacher know what was happening. Then I noticed something strange.
Three students were on MySpace, which is blocked by our filter. I began to look more closely. They were using two different proxies which is EXPRESSLY a violation of our acceptable use policy. I am not a big advocate of filtering to begin with. I am an advocate of teaching our kids to use technology responsibly. Circumventing school filtering is NOT responsible, ethical use.
The kids were given a day of in school suspension. The teacher was talked to and some arrangements are being made to allow her to monitor the computers more closely. The proxies were blocked. The message got around school quickly and I have noticed an immediate change in how the kids are using their time online. They are learning their are consequences, which is good.
Once all of that was settled, I looked a bit further into the use of proxies. A quick search, WITHIN our firewall, found a number of other proxies that worked. We cannot block them all. Our content filter is constantly updated, but so are the proxies. I want our filter to allow kids to get to as much valid content as they can. I want the kids to learn to use the Internet in an appropriate manner.
Complex compromises and good teaching strategies can make it all work. I just need to be sure teachers, staff developers, administrators, librarians, techs, and students are all on the same page.
About half way through the class, many of the students were no longer on task. Classroom management is not my job, although I did take some screenshots to let the teacher know what was happening. Then I noticed something strange.
Three students were on MySpace, which is blocked by our filter. I began to look more closely. They were using two different proxies which is EXPRESSLY a violation of our acceptable use policy. I am not a big advocate of filtering to begin with. I am an advocate of teaching our kids to use technology responsibly. Circumventing school filtering is NOT responsible, ethical use.
The kids were given a day of in school suspension. The teacher was talked to and some arrangements are being made to allow her to monitor the computers more closely. The proxies were blocked. The message got around school quickly and I have noticed an immediate change in how the kids are using their time online. They are learning their are consequences, which is good.
Once all of that was settled, I looked a bit further into the use of proxies. A quick search, WITHIN our firewall, found a number of other proxies that worked. We cannot block them all. Our content filter is constantly updated, but so are the proxies. I want our filter to allow kids to get to as much valid content as they can. I want the kids to learn to use the Internet in an appropriate manner.
Complex compromises and good teaching strategies can make it all work. I just need to be sure teachers, staff developers, administrators, librarians, techs, and students are all on the same page.
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