A Video Feast!

Last week over two days we have had a film festival of sorts in S-7.  My final assignment as a teacher of American Government turned our to be one of my best.  After studying some classic presidential campaign ads, students storyboarded a one minute ad for a local personage of stature and ran him/her for Governor or of Michigan or U.S. Senator.  Coincidentally, over the two day period we had four observers-- two from Gale Cengage Learning, a guidance counselor, and an alumna who is about to join Teach for America.  What amazed all of them (and me!) was how good the videos were given that they basically shot and edited them over a three day class period with iPod Touch devices(including a weekend).  Creating the storyboards was a critical step, but they were given no instruction for shooting or editing their spots.  These girls gave me permission to share their spots.

The first comes from Jaclyn and Caroline:



This one comes from Julienne delightfully influenced by the Chrisler/Eminem Ad:

And my personal favorite from Lauren and Rachel:



What do you think?

Investing in Tools Rather than Craft

Even before I had any interest in promoting educational technology, I was astonished by how much more willing school officials were to buy tools  than invest in training for teachers to use the tools.  Typically, a technical expert or administrator who has never actually taught with  recent (or any!) educational technology will buy the latest gizmos for their buildings.

Then they wax astonished when it isn't being used. What is more, the check writers want to purchase cheap gadgets with little attention to ease of use. Consequently, when a school newspaper reporter contacted me recently for a reaction to the Detroit Public School's expenditure of $49.4 million of Federal stimulus funds to purchase 40,000 new netbook computers, I had this response:

I am very skeptical of the purchase.  A number of school systems have made enormous equipment purchases-- often based on price point, alone.  Then, somehow, the teachers and students are supposed to magically go about the business of learning how to compete in the 21st Century global marketplace.  Professional development and training are absolutely essential in order for the technology to get used.  Unfortunately,  investment in p.d. is gravely lacking throughout our educational system.

It is all too typical that the people who write the checks suppose that the gadgets themselves will change the instructional paradigm.  They have it backwards-- the people working with the kids have to be reeducated to see the incredible possibilities of the tools.  In terms of quickly moving DPS to higher tech, it would have been better to buy iPod touch labs, allowing the teachers and kids to get going with a technology they could master in 48 hours.  But it sounds so much more serious if the kids have "computers", never mind that support is lacking for their integration into the curriculum.


Am I being too cynical?


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Flickr CC photo by leo.prie.to

How to Launch A Challenge!

The Mercy Challenge Base Learning team came back from their training in Dallas and carefully plotted a terrific project launch.  Their ambition is astonishing.  They have decided to mix three extremely different classes - Biology / French 3 / Drawing 1  - into teams to tackle the following challenge:

Use design to improve the cafeteria environment.

Susan Smith (Art) began with the terrific challenge video that she feverishly edited the weekend before launch.  It featured graphic documentary evidence of our cafeteria's present plight, but also depicted inspiring designs which teased at possibilities.  Then Carol Shea (Language) clearly explained the approach of the project.  Finally, Cathy Riley (Science) started exploring the challenge with the students.  

The entire event was documented on video.  The team intends to make its experience transparent and hopes to demonstrate the value of CBL.  By the next meeting students were already recording reflections on their iPod touches.  I truly found myself lifted by their launch.

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L to R - Cathy, Carol, and Susan challenge their minions.

"We Are Our Networks"

I am presently engaged in three major educational technology endeavors:

*Challenge Based Learning -- I am immersed in the CBL community through authoring, advocacy and instruction.

*M-Hub -- The knowledge hub project stems directly from my experiences with Challenge Based Learning.  Our team is developing a database of experts within our school community (alumni, parents, staff) which can assist students with research and developing learning network skills.

*iPod touch -- I have teamed with art, French, and science teachers to develop a CBL challenge this spring using iPod touches.

All of these activities owe a great debt to George Siemens’s thinking on “Connectivism”.  Recently he gave a presentation that superbly expresses the philosophy of what I am trying to do these days:

     A community or group is defined by its connections – how people are connected to each other and to the world outside. Relationships are tight-knit. Everyone knows everyone. Social circles, church, school are all part of our social networks, providing a shaping influence on possible connections we draw between concepts, information sources, world views, and even other people. . . .
 
     When connections calcify and become dogma and rigid structure, they fail to represent the chaotic and continually shifting world outside.
     To map at least partly to reality – the rapidly shifting world of education, commerce, and science – we require innovation and creativity; both of which are fundamentally about drawing novel connections. While growing up, a false boundary was drawn around what was knowable. As a result, all aspects of life were shaped by the known connections: cause/effect, identity/government, etc. The network – tightly nit and highly exclusionary – was the measure of our society. We could grow no more than the freedom of connectedness that we permitted through our social systems and norms. . . . .

     The solutions we need to address societies biggest problems – warming, population growth, poverty – will be found through serendipity, through chaotic connections, through unexpected connections. Complex networks with mesh-like cross-disciplinary interactions provide the needed cognitive capacity to address these problems. . . .

    Confinement of connections – which influence social cohesion and knowledge growth – are also a core problem in classrooms and education.
     The beauty of chaos, of serendipitous encounters, of information clashing with information – is too often subverted to rule, to structure so that it can be better controlled.
     We are our networks

The connections we participate in form our identities. We – you, I – know what our networks know.

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"A Model of Multiplicity Frickr CC jpeg courtesy of monsieur paradis

A New Challenge!

I'm very excited by today's announcement at Mercy that four of us will be engaging in some intense training for a spring Challenge Based Learning implementation.  Our tool of choice?  iPod touches.  I wonder what an art, language, science and English teacher can cook up for their students.  This inter-disciplinary project will be a real stretch for us given the time constraints, but I am on a terrific team, and it will be fun to leverage those 32GB iPod touches that each of our students will have.

I'll keep you posted on our progress!

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iPod Touch Creative Commons photo by Sheldon Pax

Eureka!

This is the first semester of my entire career that I have not taught an English class.  For almost twenty years this was my exclusive province.  Yet it has dwindled from my profile to such a degree that my tenth graders did not believe me the other day when I mentioned that I would be teaching a Lit into Film section next semester.  I have been so busy with prepping professional development that I haven't given the film class much thought.  But, wow, technology has brought it to the forefront of my mind.  I may have an opportunity to put an HD camera in each film student's hands.  I've done a good job using technology to show the students the impact of various film techniques.  But no they can show me.  That part of the course has been so based on the written word.  Don't worry, they'll still do some writing.  But I simply love it that they will have more authentic means of demonstrating their understanding.  I'll enjoy reflecting on  the possibilities over the next few weeks.

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Photo courtesy of Apple Inc.