Updating iMercy

Less than two years ago as part of our application process to become an Apple Distinguished School, we published iMercy to iTunes. iMercy is a 27 page multi-touch book which describes our school's technology program.

Unsurprisingly, a number of significant changes have occurred over the past two school years, so we would like to reflect these in an updated edition of the book.

A committee of a dozen enthusiastic volunteers recently convened for this project. We have two immediate tasks:

Some of us are going to collect new data with and ISTE Standards based survey on how our students use their iPads for school after three years of experience. Others will review the five chapters of the the book to consider what to weed out and what to update.

Page 11 of the iMercy first edition

Besides bringing fresh data analysis into iMercy there will obviously be some new content in the following areas:

*iCreate

*Mercy Tech Talk

*New iTunes U Courses

*Paperless Grading with Schoology

*Paperless assignment workflow with Schoology

*New technology focused courses like Photo, Film and Animation

We hope to have the new edition updated by mid-July. Of course I will keep you posted!

Why Blog?

When I first started blogging at the Drive-thru, my intended focus was political. I suppose I intended to air out the issues of the day, spark debate, and gather an audience. That didn't last long. I simply didn't feel like I was adding much new to the topics that had already been chewed over before I got to them.

When I shifted the Drive-thru to an instructional technology focus, I still hungered for an audience and hoped to-- at least within my own building-- foster discussion on a subject that had really captured my imagination. I track my readership numbers pretty carefully and feel a special surge of motivation when the posts attract comments. But I have come to realize that blogging has important value to me regardless of how widely it is read or how much social interaction it generates.

Blogging actually helps me stay committed to my experiments." While not exactly a matter of "keeping me honest", the public record created by blogging helps me to carry out my intentions. If I mention at the Drive-thru that I am trying a new techie trick, invariably I report back, even if I wiped out. Being willing to risk and experience those failures is critical to innovation.

Blogging on a regular schedule also encourages me to read more widely and turn over more rocks, looking for posting ideas. It encourages me to try new tools and pilot new strategies in the classroom. In this way, feeding the blog has actually contributed to my professional development.

Most importantly, like a journal, the writing in the Web log forces me to think hard about what I believe about education. Next week, I am returning to my three posts a week schedule (M,W,F) and I am going to begin with a three part "manifesto" of what amounts to my ed tech philosophy. Certainly this is not a subject likely to increase my readership, but it's been a great mental exercise. With over a hundred ed tech blog posts under my belt, I am ready to bite off and chew some educational philosophy at the Drive-thru.

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"We Love Blog" Flickr Creative Commons photo by kawade

Taking a Deep Plunge into Google Sites

Part 1 of 3

Back on Jan 23, I presented an in-service to our English Department on Google Docs and Google Sites. At that time I had lots of experience with Docs, but had only fiddled around with Sites in anticipation of the big project I would launch in March. So, for the in-service I constructed a demo site and packed it full of multi-media applications.

Shortly after my presentation, one of my colleagues began using Google Sites, but it was not until April that I found myself up to my ears in them. This week's three posts will relate to that experience.

I have described my simulation in this space before. I began teaching American Government in 1993, and my Congressional simulation has been with me for the entire ride. It evolved slowly from semester to semester. But this semester I converted it into a web experience. All game documents were distributed through Google Sites. In addition, each of the students created her own Google Site and was responsible for building the site with a character profile, daily journals, a summary podcast, and a "score sheet". Podcasts were created using the free audio recorder, Audacity. What is more, separate simulations were launched in three sections of American Government, involving 87 students, total. I only collected one sheet of paper from each student, instead of the two shopping bags I usually hauled home. This was radical change: lots of apps, for lots of students playing a complicated game. (Click for the the full project assignment).

Part two will be the project post-mortem. And as you expect from the Drive-thru, I will share both the tech agonies as well as the tech ecstasies. In the mean time, you are invited to sample one of the finished Sites. Just click the adjacent screen capture of "Rep. Jerry Jarvis". Jerry is a fictional character created by one of my sophomores, Meghan.

Enjoy.

The Digital Natives Aren't that Restless

As I bounce from tweet to tweet and blog to blog these days, I bump into presumptions about students and technology are at odds with my experience “in the trenches.” Constructionist gurus would have us suppose that A) Kids today are fabulously techno-savvy in the way their elders are not. B) If only we would reach kids through social media their zest for learning would ignite and they will hurl themselves at society’s problems, hell-bent to solve them. It's time for some balance.

Sorry for the downer, but I find that students often treat Web 2.0 activities as, well, assignments. At my school, where we have a one-to-one HP Tablet program, even a group of supposedly college prep sophomores will get bogged down in a simple matter like registering for a Google account, let alone, setting up a Google Site or Blogger. And many, when they get frustrated, simply stop in their tracks (so much for their intoxication with technology), demanding instant help, (“It’s not working, It’s not working....”). This same kind of impatience marks their searches rather than the intuition, judgement, and perseverance we might expect from “digital natives”. They will announce they “can’t find it”. Of course this is not the case for a majority, and, yes, some students dive right into the tech (and help others). But the online dimension in and of itself does not assure motivation or deep engagement for a large segment of students. Designing a project that takes into account such a broad spectrum of attitudes and skills is no easy matter.

I had a conversation with my AP class on the supposed tech generation gap. In their opinion their grandparents better fit the stereotype of the without-a-clue adult than their parents. They noted that many moms or dads were glued to Blackberries and iPhones. Though the parents weren’t Facebook junkies like their kids, they too were heavy texters, and in some cases participated in professional social networks. Of course most of the parents were compelled to learn tech skills by their jobs.

I think we teachers perpetuate the urban myth of the tech generation gap due to our own peculiar myopia. We can trudge up the salary scale despite resisting innovation. And it will probably be the newer, more tech adroit teachers who get laid off when budgets get cut. The national emphasis on standards-based testing also mitigates against innovation.

I am completely convinced that American students must learn to access information and communicate with the latest tools. This won’t happen if “grandparent” teachers / administrators don’t embrace the new and create learning environments that prepare our kids to take their places in the global community. This calls for a real cultural change up and down the educational system. Contrary to some popular notions, this will be far more daunting than plugging our tech-savvy kids into Web 2.0 , and letting their curiosity and skills power the curriculum. There are huge issues confronting the educational system, which are conceptual, not generational. A critical mass of "grandparents" of all ages stands to hinder acceptance of and adaptation to the tremendous communications revolution we are experiencing. Students, teachers, and administrators who "get it" need to be nurtured, and moved to the head of the class or a hard rain is gonna fall.

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"Sleeping Student" photo with kind permission of Tapasparida

Retiring? NO, Reinventing!

"Ah, but I was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now"
-- from My Back Pages by Bob Dylan

This year, I have frequently been asked the question, "When are you retiring?" The main reason for this question is fairly obvious. My good friend and office mate announced his retirement early this school year. Never mind that I am seven years younger than he is. What with my balding pate, I probably look older. Besides, I have taught 34 years and for many teachers it's "30 and out".

But I'm not remotely ready. As I told Ann J, early this year, I have the sense of being on top of my game like never before. I've always sought change in my professional life. At first it was new preps in the English Department (at least 11 different courses). Then in the mid 1990s I began teaching American Government. And as this blog attests, the latest version of me is that of Web 2.0 evangelist. My new favorite thing to do at school is conducting staff development workshops on the magic tricks which I have discovered. Being selected as an '09 Apple Distinguished Educator is not the culmination of that new obsession, but the beginning of something even more radical and exciting in my life. I'm not sure where it will lead, but certainly not to early retirement. I've never felt more excited about my professional life.

This post was adapted from a recent Facebook note.

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"Carnival Father Time 2" Flickr Creative Commons Photos by dou_ble_uou

Four Twitter Reads

Curious about Twitter? As I noted in Serendipity , I'm into it for a specific reason. The great majority of my professional reading is derived from "tweets." I dip into my Twitter stream three or four times a day and usually reel in a blog or two. I generally tweet once or twice a day, recommending an article or offering up personal tidbit.

The following short articles are recommended reading for anyone curious about or experimenting with this red hot micro social media phenomena.

Twitter? It's What You Make It . I was amused by this New York Times piece, because David Pogue was as puzzled by Twitter as I remember being three months ago. But Pogue has already correctly determined that Twitter provides different strokes for different folks. If you are patient, in a few weeks, you can easily mold it to fit your needs. It requires far less attention than Facebook, but is a fascinating way to connect to strangers with common interests.

Well Connected Parents While teachers may be able to stave off technology because their job security does not depend upon it, many of our students' parents have become adept at using social media. As this Washington Post article indicates, they are already effectively employing it to lobby the schools. A 21st Century school should be interested in getting ahead of the curve with a social media design which includes parents. Schools should be friending, blogging and tweeting to stay ahead of the curve (see Staff Development, part 3).

GOP Is All Twitter. Anyone who followed the Obama campaign realizes that he absolutely smoked all comers with "Netroots" deployment of Social Media tools. This article indicates that Republican bigwigs already are determined to play catchup. I discussed the article with my AP Gov class and they felt that outreach through Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc. would be absolutely essential to Republican cultivation of youth vote.

Text Remains King For my fellow English teachers out there who are rattled by the tech onslaught, Steve Rubel reassures that "Text is still king of the Web." The kind of text he rates important may not warm a lit lover's heart, but he certainly values facility with words, pointing out that Twitter is 100% text.

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"My Social Network . . ." Flickr Creative Commons Photo by luc legay

Hyperlink Heaven

I have rediscovered my love for writing. I remember crafting a major paper on the late novels of Charles Dickens during my senior year in college. It was a strangely luxurious experience as I drafted and redrafted my treatise. When I was in my twenties, the principal asked me to help compose our application for "exemplary school" status. I was honored and actually enjoyed trying to find just the right words for this composition.

I'm not sure exactly what "day the music died", but its been at least a thirty year hiatus since I've actually enjoyed a writing project. Oh yes, I have continued to teach writing and I have continually written for work. But it has been work.

Recently, I rediscovered the joy. The key? Hyperlinks! I am intoxicated by the way they allow me to add another dimension to my expression. In fact, though I know I should restrain myself from overusing them, I still compulsively hyperlink whether blogging about vlogs, proposing a staff-development plan, or preparing a collaborative project for my students. I am excited by the way hyperlinks have animated the study guide for my film class. I actually enjoy searching for the links, just as I have done in this paragraph.

Now for the dark side. I have developed a sense of indignation over traditional "research". As I indicated in Oh, How I Miss Ibid. . . . , I can't imagine anything more outdated than "Works Cited" when hyperlinks allow us to jump directly to the source. I also think that presenting research on paper verges on the preposterous. Learning to search, discriminate among sources, and then remix them. At my school, our students have laptops have more access to information than we could have even dreamed of ten years ago, but my department is still paying tribute to the antique "accoutrements of scholarship". It staggers that hours of instruction are still spent on teaching a teaching a traditional "research paper" in the year 2009. Teachers chronically complain that they don't have time to learn about Web 2.0 technology. Well, gang, here's some time for you: chuck the research paper of yesteryear and let your students compose with hyperlinks.

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"Moleskin Concept Diagram 1" Creative Commons Flickr Photo by jazzmasterson

Staff Development, Part Two

Second of Three Parts

Nancy Sulla argues that technology integration has to be accomplished "one teacher at a time", hand in hand with "culture building." I completely agree. My two proposals focus on one-on-one training and team building. The goal is to more deeply embed the practice of technology and transform the school learning culture. In my last blog, I divided the staff into four categories of tech practice and receptiveness. Proposal #1 provides deeper involvement for both the top two, "Pathfinders" and "Jumpstarts". Proposal 2 proactively includes the "Too Old / Too Late" and "Naysayer" groups in vital team projects where they will be encouraged by peer influence and motivated by a goal they help choose. In other words we will teach the teachers through the same methodology we adopt for our students, plugging them into a growing network of co-learners.

Proposal One

This proposal calls for a Flat Classroom staff development course led by experienced Pathfinders. As Dona Hickey points out, "Too much technology too fast overwhelm[s] novices." Instead of continuing to lob numerous, dazzling, apps and tricks at the staff, we would engage them more deeply with selected Web 2.0 applications. They would learn about applications, practice them and begin to network them interdepartmentally.

I stumbled upon one of Scott McLeod's many impressive wiki resources at CASTLE. When I looked through the media collection on wikis, social bookmarking, video, blogs, Flickr Creative Commons, Google Docs, etc.; I realized how close we were to being able to produce some terrific resources and presentations at our school.

A limited set of these Web 2.0 tools could be selected and really taught to a group of "Jumpstarts". Then they and the "Pathfinders" could engage the rest of the staff in interdepartmental collaborative projects. A Curriculum Committee could predetermine the project goals. The development course would look something like this:

*The group would meet an hour a week for 12 weeks.
*Two or three project based skills would be presented such as video, blogging, wikis.
*Participants would explore and consider each technology for three or four weeks.
*The last 2 or 3 weeks would be spent on laying out blueprints for the interdepartmental projects.
*The projects would then be plugged into department structures and enlist all staff (more on this in next blog post).

I envision a master Pathfinder leading the course. This proposal would initially address the Pathfinders and "Jumpstarts". It would require the investment of creating paid time for the participants, but it would not require outside "experts". It would exploit the experience of the Pathfinders and give the Jumpstarts the impetus for truly engaging in technology.

My next proposal would engage the rest of the faculty and has the potential for dynamic impact on the learning culture.

Come back Wednesday for Part 3.
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"iPhone...Eye Phone?" Flickr photo with kind permission of John of Dublin
Thank you, Theodore Creighton for reviewing the full document from which this post is adapted.

Staff Development, Part One

First of Three Parts

I'm preparing some material for a staff development brainstorming session. I'd love to have your input and feedback, too

Overview
Resistance to organizational change is normal but the introduction of IT into a school brings out a pronounced range of behavior. Leavening my personal observations with research, I have divided a typical faculty into four stereotypes:

A) "Pathfinders" In the first category we have the teachers who have embrace technology the way Dona Hickey's great-grandfather embraced electricity: "Hey, that’s for me!". This group is curious and open to the experimentation and implementation of new technologies.

B) "Jumpstarts" This group is willing to consider change, but they are sincerely concerned about striking the right balance between book and byte. Several who voluntarily attended my Jan 6, after school "Tech Shortcuts" in-service would exemplify this type. They are curious and eager, but may lack the impetus for taking the plunge. "Jumpstarts" probably lack confidence that the time they invest in IT will pay dividends. "Time, time, time" is invariably mentioned as an obstacle. At any rate, they have not hit the right "comfort level" to truly integrate the technology into their instruction.

C) "Too Old/Too Late" This group responds to technology with amazement and professes wonder at even superficial incursions that OTHERS are making. But usually they resignedly assert that they are too "old" or "far behind." Often they worry that "computers" create impersonal classrooms pose grave threats to personal privacy. They seem to accept a changing world, but are running out the clock until retirement or until someone magically provides them with a 21st century command center. George Siemen describes their deep seated reserve: "People resist what the technology may represent - change, confusion, loss of control, impersonalization."

D) "Naysayers". This is my gentler term for those Theodore Creighton describes as "Resisters, Sabateurs" who use a broad arsenal of passive-aggressive weapons to slow down change. This type of staff member is a deeper, angrier version of "Too Old,/Too Late". If forced to attend, he or she sits at the back of the room during in-service and shows disdain through body language. As I've noted in "Red Herring" they love to set up false choices between technology and face-to-face learning. This teacher's "sage on stage" identity is threatened by technology. As Bray notes, "they may just be afraid of letting others know what they don't know." To them, the Pathfinders are obnoxious and the administrators amoral. (Creighton supplies an interesting list of ten reasons people resist change).

Observations on Where We've Just Been
My four stereotypes are certainly open to debate, but if one accepts that we have significant numbers of teachers spread across such a wide spectrum, then it is obvious that a one-size-fits-all approach to staff-development will fall short. A presentation directed to the whole staff and aimed at the "middle" may not reach half of the staff.

This year, our school successfully inspired seven "Pathfinders" in a Technology Integration Committee experience . This created a positive ripple effect as Committee in-services enticed "Jumpstarts" (and some "Too Olds"). But we were time-limited to spraying lots of ideas and tricks at attendees, hoping that something would stick (and time will tell if anything did).

The Tech Integration experience was excellent for developing Pathfinders, but going forward, how will this year's group be enlisted in further staff development? In what ways can the integration experience be more pervasive? More to the point, what sort of staff development program can address the "Too Old/Too Late" and "Naysayers" groups so that our students can exploit the terrific advantages of their wireless classrooms?

Come back Monday for Part Two.

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"Technology" Flickr photo with kind permission of zinkwazi

Thank you, Theodore Creighton for reviewing the full document from which this post is adapted.

A Vast Tinker Toy Playland

I have shifted my perspective on curriculum in two major ways. I now think of my courses as Tinker Toys which I construct and then reassemble each time I take out the course and play with it. This is a major conceptual change for me. Previously, I thought of courses as made up of units -- blocks of instruction about the Supreme Court or Hamlet. I strove to construct the perfect combination of activities, assignments, minutes, and days for each unit. A "new prep" meant trying to compile materials for the creation of a product that would serve my students well, semester after semester. This view guided me as I developed my online course in American Government. I set about replacing the prepackaged units of the book with comparable online materials. If you had clicked into Moodle last year, you would have seen giant chunks of postings under broad topics like "The Constitution." But as I recently commented at QRS Gateway, I just finished deconstructing those giant blocks of Moodle, and my curriculum is now far more accessible and dynamic. I can update instantly thanks to the publishing features of iCal and Google Docs which integrate seamlessly with Moodle. More significantly, the hyperlink options of iWork and Google Apps allow for interconnecting the pieces of instruction beyond my wildest Tinker-Toy-on-steroids dreams. I can remix my course with the same delight as creating a new playlist from iTunes.

Secondly, I have fully embraced the idea of the Creative Commons. Instead of seeing my lessons as private treasures, I have literally unlocked everything I have posted to Moodle (no more enrollment key), and I am linking my newest projects to the in-service resources I freely provide to my peers. I have also begun to publish best practices to networks like ALI and CUE. No longer do I see my teaching materials as paper to be filed in the physical world of folders and locked cabinets. My digital curriculum is unbounded by classroom walls and scheduled periods. And the social media I have injected into class projects have enlisted students as co-authors of the lessons. My reason for sharing is not based on arrogant presumption or simple altruism. It is driven by my confidence that I possess a unique combination of knowledge and skills that make my teaching special, not the materials. I am changing and learning. As I do, I feel more alive and essential than ever.

My Friend, Flickr

As noted in At Long Last..., my brother's interest in geneaology sent me a-googling. Imagine my delight when I stumbled upon a gorgeous 1914 photo of my Grandfather Walker's Ann Arbor taxi company with his dad posing in the driveway.

This discovery formed a notion of collecting enough old and new photos of Ann Arbor to make my dad (an Ann Arbor native) a calendar for his January birthday. But when I moved to Flickr searches, the whole nature of the project changed. I accessed the collections of thousands of photographers and uploaders. With so many options, I ended up compiling and publishing an iPhoto hard cover book that, modesty aside, is really pretty cool.

The most unexpected pleasure of this project was the social interaction I had with the photographers. Over thirty conveyed well-wishing permissions. Some like Jeff Lamb, and Bonnie Reardon, and Gary Priest took the time over the holidays to look for high resolution jpegs and send them by email so that I could print the best photos available.

Flickr has terrific potential for the classroom. Many of the photos are in the Creative Commons, so students and teachers can freely use them, sometimes even for "mash-ups". The Library of Congress has just added a fabulous Photostream that I have only just begun to explore. I use Flickr to decorate my blog and Twitter pages. For school, Flickr photos now supplement a Third Man Slide Show and appear in a new wiki I have started.

I would love to hear your idea for tapping into this vast treasure trove.













The Grad" Phil Dokas

My 21st Century Stimulation [sic]

I began teaching American Government in 1993, and my Congressional simulation has been with me for the entire ride. The idea came from a product called, "Committee" by Interact, but from the beginning I made modifications. It evolved slowly from semester to semester with two enormous convulsive changes along the way. One year I completely updated all the legislation, and another year I recreated and expanded the entire cast of 35 imaginary characters.

Most students love playing "The Game" as they usually call it. And every semester a few will journal about it and mistakenly refer to it as a "stimulation". I still chuckle.

I have recently conducted another radical revision due to the convergence of three factors:
1) "The game" is getting a little stale for me.
2) I have never liked having the players' roles and goals prescripted for them.
3) I've found some great Google tools that will help me and open up the game and make it far more dynamic.

The latest version of the game will revolve around Google Docs and Google Sites. This will provide students with the easy ability to use templates to build their roles and goals. The sites will allow students to post and share some work. I will also be able to make the project 75% more paperless (See Red Herring and Black Book Bag).

Check out the latest '09 Version of the Game. I'd love to have some feedback. And feel free stop by and observe the interaction when we are hip deep in the next semester. Wish me luck!

Resolved......a Book, a Blog and a Black Back Pack

I have three resolutions for the New Year:

#1 My short term resolution is to finish reading David Weinberger's Everything is Miscellaneous by the next blog. I believe this book was a recommended by Will Richardson, and I'm glad I put it on my Christmas list.

#2 My second resolution, to carry my black back pack through June, relates to this quote from chapter 1 in Miscellaneous :

We have entire industries and institutions built on the fact that the paper order severely limits how things can be organized. Museums, educational curricula, newspapers . . . But now we
. . . do it ourselves and, more significantly, we can do it together, figuring out the arrangements that make sense for us now and the new arrangements that make sense a minute later . . . The miscellaneous order is changing how we think the world itself is organized and—perhaps more important—who we think has the authority to tell us so.

The black book bag resolution is pretty significant, because until this year I have always carried a brief case to and from work....and it was always packed with student papers. Of course for the English teacher this is a badge of martyrdom, but also considered a necessary trade-off for loving lit. But this year, I put the briefcase aside, and to date, I have not taken a single paper home. Now, as my Red Herring post indicates, I am not phobic about paper, but I am trying to radically change my approach to "work" and to vary the media that my students and I use to communicate and (I hope) learn. This change was not a cinch for me, but I feel I am over the hump, and I look at it as a lifestyle change instead of an experiment.

#3 This blog began as a sprint with a backlog of material. Now I am going to ease off the throttle and shoot for one a week in 2009. I still look forward to writing each post as I have not enjoyed composition for some time. If my job were to accommodate more time for writing, I think I would really enjoy it. In the mean time I am going to strive for a steady pace as well as quality over quantity. (Check back soon for my favorite multi media class project).

(Not!) Collaborating Using Google Docs

Today's post is derived from a document I have prepared for a January, 6, '09 in-service presentation:

If you are familiar with Google Docs, you were probably introduced to them for their many collaborative advantages. However, this has not been my primary use:

* Personal Notes. Since the documents are easy to access at work, home, mobile; I keep my "To Do" list and basic works in progress on Google Docs.

* Templates. Because it is so easy to revert back to the original version of the document, sometimes I create a template with Google Docs for evaluating student work. I build a simple evaluation sheet and then customize it for each student. Most recently, I required students to contrast YouTube "To Be or Not To Be" soliloquies. I critiqued their contrast papers using Google Docs.

* Slide Shows. I am no big fan of Power Point (There is nothing I hate than having a slide show read to me). HOWEVER, the Presentation application on Google Docs allows me to create simple slides, and . . . . A) Often I will find a couple of charts I want to share that day with my government class, and I will slap them into a slide show and present them conveniently to the class. B) I love the ability to create simple slide shows which I can publish to Moodle, so that if a student misses class she can still have the material. For example, check out the chapter 11 supplements for my AP text. I also have started to create multi media "quizzes using Presentation". For example, see Presidential Roles.

* Publishing to Moodle. I think one of the coolest features of Google Docs is the ability "share" by publishing as a web page. This means that you can link your Google Doc to Moodle as a web page. If you later need to update the information on the document (as I often must do for American Government) you don't need to go through the process of deleting the file from Moodle and uploading to Moodle again. This is not only a cumbersome process, but it is also difficult to keep track of which files are up to date. Here for example is a document I use in a simulation. This information must be constantly updated, and Google Docs has really helped me out, because I have several such documents for this activity.

By the way, material from the rest of my presentation may be found at Google Notebooks and Canning a Lecture with MP3s.

Please post any suggestions or reactions of your own!

Screens, Wikis, Networks. . . and Subversion

My Twittering has taken me hither and yon. I wanted to share some of the jewels I have found serendipitously.

Becoming Screen Literate This NY Times Magazine piece by an editor from Wired has rocked my world. The idea of teaching screen grammar and being able to search for graphics and moving pictures, cutting and pasting them into products is thrilling and mind blowing. It certainly was a rocket boost for a film teacher like myself, and one who has been dabbling in video this semester (See "My Voyage with Video").

The Networked Student This is a wonderfully conceived little video. It's exciting, daunting, and more than a tad idealistic. I endorse its emphasis on critical thinking over mastery of particular tools (they become outdated in the blink of an eye, these days). Teacher as Sherpa is a wonderful metaphor. Even if you don't accept the vision of the networked student, you will have to admit how powerful a simple video can be (worth a thousand words to be sure).

'Don't teach children facts ... they can search online' I stumbled across this little bit of back and forth in the Guardian of London. I smiled because it encapsulated points made at a recent faculty meeting here in Michigan. Read it and comment on where you are in this global debate.

Leary of putting some of your slacker students in the drivers' seats of the own educations? Then check out this little gem that I found: Teaching as a subversive activity Professor Pigliucci reflects on the book by that name which I read in Ed School when student centered education was once before at the forefront. Pigliucci is less inclined than avant-garde educators to believe that students would thrive if only their control-freak teachers would get out of the way: "You see, the fact of the matter is that teachers (when they are good) really do know more than their pupils. A lot more. Moreover, although one could reasonably argue that the world isn't naturally divided into philosophy, science, literature and other such “subjects,” it turns out that human beings simply cannot make sense of the world unless they are allowed to categorize it in one fashion or another." Check it out and let me know what you think.

If you are interested in helping students create their own wikis, check some recent developments at Wikispaces and Google Sites. Good stuff!

At Long Last . . . . ebook Joy!

Ebooks have probably ranked as one of the biggest disappointments of my school's laptop initiative. It was imagined that the cost students leasing computers would be offset by reduced book costs and the back-breaking inconvenience of book bags.

Unfortunately such hopes collided with the unavailability of etext substitutes and student/teacher preference for books with paper pages. Case in point, when I was asked to review a new text this fall, the publisher offered to send me the 800 pages as a pdf. This sounded awful, and I insisted that paper masters be shipped to me despite expense, paper "waste", etc. (So sue me).

But I recently experienced an ebook miracle. Years ago I inherited a family heirloom-- a book written by my great-grandfather (pictured here), containing material about his unit's service with General Custer. Pretty cool, but when I examined it as a kid, I got the impression that it was some kind of reunion book with a neat dedication to Grandma. I subsequently stored it on a remote shelf.

My brother has been doing genealogy research with ancestry.com and during one of his updates about the family tree, he mentioned my great grandfather's book. I turns out that he came across it in digital form through google book searches. He told me that it is a fascinating set of civil war remembrances and was flabbergasted to learn that I had a hard copy.

After I checked Google, I discovered that other hard copies exist in such interesting places as the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library , West Point , Gettysburg College, the US Army Military History Institute, and most Ivy League Colleges. In fact the book had been scanned through the Harvard College collection. It turns out that the book is a valuable history of the war.

Most gratifying, however, is the thought that my great-grandfather's contribution to an understanding about the Civil War has been preserved and truly reborn online as an ebook. In fact, I invite you to glance at it: Seventh Michigan Volunteer Cavalry 1862-1865 by William O. Lee.

Its continued existence does not depend on slacker descendants like myself taking proper care of the aging paper copies.

Richardson Redux . . . . from the Trenches

Since Will Richardson visited my school, I have been following his blog closely. When I recently read his "The Ultimate Disruption for Schools" post, I was ready to call him out from my perspective here in the trenches. Please read his entire blog, but to summarize, in it he explains how he has been "smitten" by Mark Pesce's "Fluid Learning" Pesce begins by supposing "Our greatest fear, in bringing computers into the classroom, is that we teachers and instructors and lecturers will lose control of the classroom, lose touch with the students, lose the ability to make a difference."

Before completely digesting both blogs, the hair stood up on the back of my neck. It seems to me that academics and theorists often promote the highly idealized and Romantic notion of the pure and innocent child, whose natural curiosity and desire to learn gets crushed by the educational system. In this vision the authoritarian teaching establishment is determined to stamp out this zest for learning in the name of conformity and control.

While the stereotype of teacher-as control-freak certainly has some validity , the idea that teachers' fear of losing control is the reason they don't jump at the chance of letting students connect, collaborate, and create the curriculum is silly. I am skeptical of collaboration and student-centered activities for completely different reasons. In my experience children and adults often choose the path of least resistance, become easily frustrated with the new, and are not motivated moment to moment by long term goals. They do, however, often respond to structure and expectations. I resent it when the struggle to reolve issues like these becomes oversimplified as the battle of the individual (student) versus the Evil Empire (me).

But in fairness, when I re-read Will's blog a couple of day's later his own qualified conclusions more fully registered with me:

The question for me right now is shouldn't my school system be preparing [his own children] equally as well for a world where traditional college is not the only route to academic success? Shouldn’t my kids get some concept of how to gather their own information, find their own teachers, develop their own collaborative classrooms and write their own curricula? I mean at the very least, shouldn’t we let kids know that is an option these days?

This is pretty reasonable. While I remain skeptical about this terrific faith in young people to self-actualize through self-direction, at the very least we should make ourselves and our students aware of the new opportunities the communications revolution has given us.

Educational Technology 101 - The Joy of Podcasts

Tonight most of my tenth graders will be completing podcasts that are a requirement for a simulation that I run with my government students. They are evaluating the most effective strategies that were used while role-playing. I look forward to listening to them-- it's a nice break from reading, and generally they are prepared more carefully than the kind of written work they crank out on a daily basis.
In an earlier blog - Using Mp3s in Education - I posted instructions for making audio files using Gcast and Gabcast.

I'd like to reflect on some of the educational advantages that I have found with MP3's

*Kids are comfortable with them since they are so used to music files.

*They are as easy to post and send as any other file.

*Oral reports can relieve the time demands of in-class composition.

*Performance often brings out the best in students.

*The teacher can deliver information through audio files instead of repeating it through the class day. (Our students have laptops, so it is not unusual for me to watch them listen to me on their headphones!).

*Recordings provide a great back up for students absence or a bail out when unexpected school cancellations wreak havoc with lesson plans.

*The provide great variations for blogging.

*They can be used to quickly record, post, or send "minutes" from meetings.

I'm looking for new uses for this easy technology. Any suggestions or reactions?

Old Habits Are Hard to . . . Keep

Change is now. I started Delicious a month ago. I started Twittering two weeks ago. The links I share below were discovered through Twitter and organized through Delicious. And it was SO easy. As I've tried to convey to skeptical friends, we are in the midst of a radical communications' change. And as these tools become popularized, they become easier to use. So this isn't about not "getting" computers or the internet. It's about recognizing that there were 100,000,000 hits on YouTube in October. It's about understanding that the old industrial model of sharing news by grinding up trees and shipping them to our doorsteps is rapidly vanishing. It's about delighting in the easy ways one has of accessing and organizing information wherever you want it. It's about joining the global community at its own terms. Change is now.

I'm sharing links to short articles on communication. I found them all provocative and I hope something here provokes a comment from you!

College Admissions in the Google Age. My guess is that the marketing and admissions departments at universities are ahead of the educators in recognizing how communications are evolving.

100 million YouTube viewers This should be shared with anyone who believes that teaching how to understand communication through text should monopolize over even dominate the curriculum.

HOW TO: Make a Widget From Any New York Times Feed If you start your own blog, you'll want to know about this. My source in the publishing industry says that the NYT believes it will cease publishing on dead trees within five years. They are trying all kinds of technology at their site. Notice that I have planted a Times widget in my sidebar.

Rupert Murdoch: The internet won't kill off newspapers As one who subscribes to Newspaper Death Watch RSS, I found Murdoch's commentary to be refreshingly contrarian. He shares a vision on how newspapers will survive in the midst of 21st free media.

How Google is Unlocking the Hidden Ad Value of Old Media describes an amazing archive for print publications, searchable online.

My Voyage with Video

My personal technology goal for the current school year was mess around with digital video. I had no experience with it and no real idea of how I might use it, but after having a year of success with audio, I thought I would give it a try. My wife helped out immensely by giving me a Flip for my birthday.

Here are the video experiments to date which have produced something worthwhile:

YouTube for Shakespeare - Actually, before I began shooting original video, I stumbled onto some Shakespeare scenes on YouTube. I realized at once that I'd overlooked a source of enrichment for my students. I posted them online as a course resource, and in one case selected four different versions of the "To be or not to be speech" by Hamlet and assigned students to compare/contrast the portrayals.

Vanity Reigneth - I turned the Flip on myself in order to produce some blogs. The production values were dreadful, but this has motivated me to learn some basic editing with iMovie in the near future. More importantly, I learned about working with those memory hogs-- video files. After struggling some with posting files to my web site, I came to appreciate the ease of uploading to YouTube and Google Video and the advantages of embedding, etc. My "Palin Panic" vlog also served as a model for my AP Am. Government class (see below).

Tutorials - Thanks to Will Richardson I've discovered the tutorials offered in YouTube for many applications.

AP Gov't Vlogs - Six of my AP students have vlogged on political issues ranging from the election campaigns to the auto bailout. This has provoked great discussion in class, but has not been efficient or smooth since each time the student has borrowed my camera and I have posted. I would love feedback and suggestions on a better process.

What up docs? My most gratifying experience has been the interaction of google docs with YouTube and Google Video. I have enjoyed the ease with which I have been able to insert video into google doc presentation. Rather than projecting these slide shows, I have published them for individual use. In some cases they have been posted to Wikis. More recently, I have published them directly to Moodle. My favorite to date is a video quiz on residential roles created with YouTube clips: http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=dgnbw4hh_65j8n7jddf . After the students have taken this quiz individually, I can project it like a Power Point for class discussion. The ease of posting these presentations also make them useful for make up work.

I've only just scratched the surface this semester and would love to learn what other folks are doing.