Why Does Sugata Mitra Anger So Many Educators?

This Ed Tech Talk entitled, Why Does Sugata Mitra Anger So Many Educators, is interesting!  I think you will find it interesting.  If you aren't familiar with the work of Sugata Mitra, view some of his TED Talks here.

Participants in the Ed Tech Talk include Dave Cormier, Jeff Lebow, Jennifer Madrell, Graham Stanley, John Schinker.  They discuss Sugata Mitra's concept of Self-Organized Learning Environment (SOLE), but conversation goes beyond Mitra's views.  Their discussion leaves room for reflection for the future of education in K-12 and higher ed.  Dave Cormier wrote two related posts The Rise of SOLEs (Part 1): The Decline of the Webquest and The Rise of the SOLES (Part 2): At the Heart of a SOLE.  These put some of their conversation into context.

What are some of your take-aways?  What points do you agree and disagree with? Watch it and share your thoughts here or in person with another educator.

A Different Kind of Normal

I love the view out of my window today.  Each gust of wind whisks a cascading twirl of leaves that settle in my yard, beckoning for my kiddo and dog to rake and splash them about before packaging them for compost.   Beyond the beauty of the fall, I love my view outside and inside my window because it is my view. Mine. I have chosen it and make it my own on a daily basis.  I invite people I care about to fill the space about me and to create and share my view.

As much as I love returning to my view, I find value in traveling. It’s a process to see beyond the first glimpse that a new view offers—to peer deeper into the everyday lives of the people who inhabit the space, the space they invite me into.  The sights, the sounds, the smells, the tastes; they all contribute to the reality of my growing worldview.

I recall the first time I saw a favela in Brazil. It was almost too much (no it was too much) for my aspiring middle-class, twenty-something, American mind to process.  Also imprinted upon my memory is a moment in Bolivia while crossing a bridge-- my experience up until that point in time told me I traversed over a garbage dump; but a glimpse of an orphaned street child huddled into a drain pipe cemented the realization it was a home to someone. It left me numb and silent.  I searched the procedures-- the laws that didn't allow me to adopt that child, or another little one half-wrapped in bright colored, dingy llama wool peering up from under a bridge.

Years later, after seeing countless similar views, my mind still doesn’t process these sights.  It doesn’t because it’s simply not fair, and I should find it unsettling!  Yet, I now realize the people inhabiting these spaces have unique voices that reach beyond my silence.  Beyond. Silence. Mine.  Kids in poverty. Their voices reach beyond anything we pretend makes sense. 

Simultaneously, I never cease to be amazed by the juxtaposition of joy and rich culture that is experienced within these spaces.  Through reading; discussion of space, design and architecture; traveling; and technology, I continue to expand the view beyond my window. 

Ingenious Homes in Unexpected Places is a TED Talk by Iwan Baan that recently expanded my view. It is something you must watch! Through photography, he shows how people build homes in unlikely places.  I continue to reflect on Baan’s phrase, “a different kind of normal.”

Bann’s talk reminds me of The Landfill Harmonic Orchestra in Paraguay, where three of my favorite people in the world live.

It also brings up connections to James Mollison’s photography in his books, Hungry and Where Children Sleep.   (Hint: Use the “next” button to view Mollison’s photos. They are worth it!)

The related issue of poverty is NOT a problem that only exists outside of my home country.  All I have to do is look beyond my window’s view within my state, within my neighborhood. Some of the struggle of families in my own back yard are highlighted in the documentary,  American Winter, that follows eight families in Portland, Oregon. 

This has direct implications for us as educators.  Here’s some information from the program I work in about cultural and linguistic diversity in Oregon’s schools.  These kids and families ARE our community. We ALL have a responsibility.

It’s not enough, but through technology, I am slowly finding a way to both hear and give voice to those in poverty, to those who don’t have access to the basics such as clean water and food, yet whose voices capture the complexity of the human spirit in music, art, compassion-- found in spaces they make their own.  Their voices shape my view and push me to look at a different kind of normal.

Why Become an Educator? #DoIgetpaid4this?

Here come a few perhaps uncharacteristic posts for this blog, but they are connected to both Tech and Ed.  They are about two topics that have influenced the last few years of my life.  Two topics I have been exploring: 1. Passion driven education and 2. gratitude. 

Angela Maiers writes about passion driven education.  Some of my thinking and teaching have been influenced by Daniel Pink’s ideas on motivation as seen in this post a few years back where my students talk about their life sentences—basically what drives them.

 This TED Talk by Sean Aiken entitled, What Makes You Come Alive, reminds me of some of the questions I have for pre-service teachers.  Why are you here?  Teaching is NOT an easy field.  At the end of the day of prepping more hours than one wants to admit, sacrificing time with family, friends, and even self, there are typically no accolades.  In fact, the antithesis too frequently awaits; there can be critiques—from students, parents, administrators, colleagues, and self, even from the best or maybe especially from the best.  As teachers we may have the best intentions and feel ready to change the system, but the path to do this is challenging and quite frankly isn’t the right path for all. So, if you are entering this field, know why!  If you do-- if you know, I’ll go out on a limb and say you won’t regret it because the bonuses and benefits are many.

All of this is spurred on by the fact that I just wrapped up working with a few college students who have the potential to be AMAZING educators!  (See the video below.) If they choose teaching as a profession, they will rock.  How do we offer our youth experiences beyond the classroom walls to experience their passions that may turn into hobbies, jobs, careers, lives lived?  So they KNOW,  “That’s my sentence. That’s where I belong!”

http://youtu.be/QjHckjbw2ZY

You Go Pedro!  If you ever forget why, because we all do; I will be one of many who will remind you.

To take this a step further into the realm of public education and tech today, I stumbled upon this site. I’m not sure where the project is at this time, but the ideas that are within the site should make those who know why they are in the profession stop and think.  Redefining Education.

#DoIGetpaid4this?  Hmm… define “pay.”

2012 Post Reflection

Here are some of my favorite posts and learning from 2012.

Playing and Creating Posts:

• SpinePoetry (Give this a try!  It’s fun.)
• I had a ton of fun working with the OMLI and am pleased with the work these high school students completed!  Weebly, Animoto and Educreations proved useful tools in this project.

• My travel blog to Bolivia, Three (Adjective) Travelers, was fun for personal reasons, but it also expanded some possibilities in using tech in education with a social justice perspective.

• ForThe Love of a Book

Web 2.0 Sites: Although these don’t represent my best work, these sites (and ones similar to them) continue to prove useful to me.  I also made some fun social networking connections with them.

• Meograph 
• VoiceThread 
• Thinglink

Treasures:

• The Learning Network: Teachingand Learning with The New York Times 
• Digital ID 
• I continue finding and exploring in Web2.0Tools and Ed Sites.

The Teachers Should See This: My young contributor made some helpful posts that were tweeted about. 

• Research and Expensive Food 
• iMotionHD

Presentations and Collaborations

• Connect Using Screencasting and Other Web 2.0 Tools 
• OMLI

Social Media: I continue to grow in my use and understanding of social media in education.  It has a lot of potential and has been useful to me in a variety of manners.  I anticipate  using Google Hangout more in 2013.  The new community feature seems great!  I also find Twitter useful as an ed tech resource.  I’m partial to the short length.  I’ve not been a big user of Pinterest, but see its potential.  Learnist is one I will keep my eye on in 2013.  You can find me on these social media sites.

• Google Plus: +CheridyAduviri 
• Twitter: @CheridyAduviri 
• Pinterest:  ibeca  

Looking forward to 2013! Thanks for joining me on the journey.

ISTE History: Through the Changing Eyes of a Third Grader Turned Let’s Say Thirty Something

“First” ISTE Conference: I enjoyed my “first” ISTE conference this week in San Diego, CA!  It was exciting for me on a few levels.  I have followed the works of many of the presenters that I attended for several years now, so hearing them present in person was fun, but I’ll leave that for part II.  As I reflect, it is decidedly at a much more personal level that ISTE was unexpectedly important to me.  Perhaps the story of my “first” ISTE conference in 2012 began back in the 1980’s as a third grade girl eagerly anticipating a trip over the mountain passes from Idaho to Oregon to visit her dad who dedicated summers to earning a Masters in Computer Science in Eugene, OR.  Yes, this was back before online learning was an option. 

I have been exposed to Ed Tech my whole life and probably interested in it roughly since birth, but for whatever reasons only in more recent years discovered how much myself.  It was an honor to attend with my dad, an excellent computer science/math teacher at the high school level.  The founder of ISTE, Dave Moursund, was his advisor and instructor in Eugene, OR when I was a just a kid back in the 80’s.   I recall hearing about a man who expected excellence of his students and received respect from my father.  As we sat together during some of the keynotes, the history of ISTE and its leaders unexpectedly became of interest to me.  A new human dimension was added to the organization as we discussed the changes of the organization and educational technology in general.

I should take a step back and clarify.  This is not the only time I have been to an ISTE conference with my dad; it’s the only time I have attended.  My dad presented a couple times, once on Skype in Washington DC in 2009 and a presentation entitled,Think Wireless, in 2001 in Chicago, IL.  The 2001 date is memorable because it was the year I met him in Chicago embracing my 4 month old daughter.  I was honestly more interested in showing him his first granddaughter than in hearing about his presentation.  There also may have been years in my youth in which I tagged along, but if I did shopping and the big city filled my thoughts more than what my geeky father was doing at this crazy convention.  I also recall hearing many enthusiastic stories from both of my parents of where Ed Tech was headed in more recent years after their attendance.  Somehow I just didn’t get it until this year.  And now it has connected in several ways for me: from the speakers I’ve heard my father “introduce” me to over the years— Annette Lamb and Kathy Schrock for example, to the history of the organization, to the concept that technology is NOT the emphasis of Ed Tech; it is fundamentally about education and people (or at least that is how I will choose to see it).

ISTE/NECC History: I’m not generally a history buff, but when connections are made, it comes alive.  My dad said he felt like ISTE has exponentially grown over the years. This year’s ISTE history page shows his perceptions are right on.  In 2011, there were 355 concurrent sessions while in 1979 (then called NECC) 32 sessions ran.  Comparing conference themes as they have changed and remained the same also brings up lively conversations. Add a comparison of the exhibitors and this info. would make an interesting infographic!  This history triggers my interest to know what changes the speakers, such as Lamb, November, Richardson,  Schrock, and Warlick, whom I particularly liked and listened to during the conference have experienced. What advice would they give to a “newcomer” such as myself?

And my story doesn’t end quite yet:  My daughter and mother also attended the exhibits.  If you were there, you may have seen them walking around in yellow Turning Technologies capes.  It’s hard to say if my kiddo was more interested in Ed Tech or shopping as I was at her age, but she did give up a day at Sea World for browsing the exhibit hall.

Seemingly random but connected ending thought of a let’s say thirty something year old:  This is not verbatim, but I overheard two ladies presumably walking to a conference session on augmented reality.  One lady animatedly expressed, “I AM augmented reality.  I augment my student’s reality everyday with who I AM as an educator.”  Yes, it’s about the people.  More specifically, it’s about the educators and learners, and the definitions hopefully blur as we move forward.  Moving forward with the technology is exciting, but the history and being grounded in the people—students/educators, keeps it real and in my case in the family.   

A Web of Reflections and App Picks

In reflecting upon this past year, we went be back to last year’s end of year reflection post.  We still find all of the tools discussed in that post useful—from email to smartphones.  We challenged ourselves to explore a few new avenues of tech.  Here are some of the results that seem to be a related web of events.       

                                       

Continued blogging in class:  We both blogged with our classes to various degrees this year.  We worked together during the summer when we blogged with 180 high school students.  The benefits of blogging are numerous!

Presentations:  Blogging and exploring tech on this site also led to co-presenting.  You can view our Keeping Writing Alive with Web 2.0 Tools  EERC presentation and our Blogs as a Springboard presentation.   Cheridy also guest posted and explored Jing on the Teacher Challenge blog.

Twitter:  Last year’s end of the year reflection post inspired us to give Twitter a whirl. We both see its advantages as one form of a PLN.   Here are a few links to get you started if you are new to Twitter.  Cybrary Man has a wealth of resources.  The Langwitches Blog has a nice Guide to Twitter in the K-8 Classroom.   This is a list of some popular educational hashtags by November Learning.  Just following these will give you a taste of Twitter.

Google +:  Seeing the potential in Twitter encouraged us try Google +.  We are both still in the process of contemplating its uses in education.  We are accessible on Twitter and Google + via the links on the right of this blog.

iPad/tablets:   We mentioned the iPad in our post last year as being new to us.  It has so much potential that it still feels new.   It’s possible to do all of the above on it.  Numerous apps and more choices in tablets are making these mobile devices a more viable option in education.  Cheridy’s kiddo has taken over hers, so she finds herself using it to find educational apps for her kid.  There are quality apps for everything from art to writing.  Kacey uses the iPad for consuming information. There are some amazing aggregators that are wonderful on the iPad. She calls the iPad her “toaster” as it is always right there and easy to use.

Apps we frequently use:  While we are on the topic of apps, here are a few more we like. 

Cheridy’s picks:  ReadIt Later is useful for quickly marking sites and reading them later either on a computer or mobile device.  Evernote  and Dropbox are convenient organizational apps that sync to your computer.   Voicethread, Animoto, and ShowMe Interactive Whiteboard each have a lot of potential for students to display creativity as they synthesize and create. 

Kacey’s picks: Flipboard is a “personalized magazine” available for free on iPad and iPhone that allows you to add self selected content from different sources. You can add social media (Facebook and Twitter), magazines like Fast Company, aggregators such as Fancy, or RSS feeds via your Google Reader account. (If you still have not used an RSS reader, check out The Complete Educators’ Guide to Using Google Reader from The Edublogger). Flipboard makes everything look like a beautiful magazine. If you want to read a longer article, send it to Instapaper. This app is great for reading offline content. If you purchase the iOS version, you will have seamless updates to all your gadgets. Scrabble has an app that lets you play “online.” (Imagine if we had this app for our interactive white boards!) And you can’t pass 2011 without checking out Spotify for all your music needs. 

App Slappy and iPad Today are two podcasts full of good app suggestions.  Appy Hours 4 U with Lisa Johnson & Yolanda Barker is a good resource for finding apps and descriptions of ways to use them in education.   (These are just a few of our favs, so we forsee an upcoming post on this topic :-)

Topics we plan on keeping our eyes on this year:  Ways to apply technology meaningfully will continue to be a focus.  Cheridy attended a conference this year on immersive education and would like to explore it more.  She would also like to continue to learn about online instruction and instructional design.  Kacey continues to seek websites and apps that go beyond “flashcard” learning. Additionally, now that VoiceThread is available for the iPad she wants to capture student learning there. You can check out Bob Sprankle’s BLC 2010 VoiceThread for Beginners presentation slides and his blog post What’s Your Favorite Transformative Tool of 2011? where he posted BookCasts that he created with 3^rd and 4^th grade students. 

Future of Tech for Two Teachers Exploring:  We will continue to explore and make fits with technology that are useful to our given teaching situations.  We return to last year’s conclusion.  It really is about technology as a tool.  Sometimes the best tool is high tech, while other times it is no tech and good old fashioned sitting in a circle discussion.  Having the knowledge of the tools available to us and the ability to bridge the gap and put them to use in meaningful ways is important, so we will keep exploring.  We welcome you to continue the journey with us!

11 From 11: Learning By Blogging

11 from 11 was inspired by @yearinthelife Adam Simpson  to revisit some favorite posts from 2011.  My “twist” on the challenge is to write about the 11 posts I learned the most from writing.  Here it goes…

• Mexico EFL Teachers Rock: This post represents an exciting global collaborative learning experience.
• Linguistics related posts: What is Standard English and Related Questions for Teachers I'll let go of mechanics in this paragraph  Gotta love the Stephen Frye video and the questions in this post.  Three Videos Prove Linguistics is Fascinating is a related favorite.  The Deb Roy TED Talk is a must watch! 
• My Tech and Ed Play With 2.0 Tools: Part 2 Jing  and Part 1 Online Timelines.  I’ve used these tools in the classroom, but creating posts about them pushes me to a deeper level.  I’m a big screencasting fan!    
• Posts created with the collaboration of my students: I appreciated the willingness of my College of Ed. students to share their ideas in Prezi, Online Comic Strips, and Fakebook Integrated in SLA Assignment.  It was a learning experience trying out the sites myself, creating the assignment, and then pulling the post together.  My ESOL students also did a great job of contributing to the following posts: Online Dictionaries and Vocabulary Games Part 2: Lexipedia, Lingro, Shahi, Wordia and Vocabulary Class Takes to 21^st Century Learning Tools. 
• Bringing Writing Alive With Web 2.0 Tools:  It was a lot of fun presenting with Kacey.  We collaborated on the Prezi and presentation via Skype. 
• Gaming Series Part I and Part 2: I learned a ton on this topic.  It was a topic that I hadn’t thought a great deal about, and these posts pushed me to research gaming in education and form some opinions. 
• Worth A Wow: Inanimate Alice: This post spurred my interest in transmedia storytelling.  It also offered fun material for my kiddo and me to explore together. 
• Try Blogging with 180 High School Students! It Works:  Try doing this and not learning—impossible! :-) 
• Illuminated Text and Kinetic Typography Bring Reading Alive: Admittedly, I’d never heard of the terms in the text until I wrote the post. 
• Word Clouds: Taxedo, Wordle, Tagul, and Wordlings:  I was hooked after the first time I tried word clouds.  My students continue to show me new and interesting ways they can be used. 
• What’s a Book? Is This a Book?: These questions still resonate with me, particularly in regard to discussion around digital textbooks.

This was my first full year of blogging for professional purposes.  It’s a unique, challenging, and fun type of writing.  I’ve learned and continue to learn about formatting, audience, social networking, etc. as a result of blogging.  Thanks for joining the journey!

Mexico EFL Teachers Rock

In November, I had the opportunity and honor to participate in the Binational Migrant Education Initiative (BMEI) for the second time.  I have so many wonderful things to say about the experience that this post only begins to describe the positives of the trip.  Hands down, the top benefit of the experience was learning from a dedicated group of educators in Mexico.

Here’s the low down of the who, what, when and where of the portion I participated in.  I went to Tulancingo, Hidalgo Mexico for one week where I provided professional development in SLA theories and strategies for 20 primary and middle school English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers.  We had beneficial conversations regarding migrant students who travel between the US and Mexico.  In addition, we explored many cross-cultural issues.   Without a doubt, I learned as much if not more from the teachers I worked with.  They graciously allowed me to observe their classrooms where I witnessed their creativity and devotion.  A personal highlight for me was going to a rural school where students learn Spanish, their indigenous language, and English.  Beyond the classroom experience, they were also hospitable and treated us to visits to local sites, amazing food (one can’t get enough pozole), and good company.

This Animoto shows some of my experience.  (It was created on the 30 second free account, so it only gives a taste of Animoto.)  Check out the Animoto for educator’s account.

I was also fortunate to travel to Guadalajara and visit Intel as part of this trip.  It just so happened that the world’s second largest international book fair was in progress.  In my book, there aren’t many better ways to spend an evening than perusing good old fashioned books at a book fair.

I went to Cuernavaca, Mexico the first time I participated in the BMEI.   Both experiences were enjoyable and memorable, yet different.   I highly recommend the program!

The Versatile Blogger at Year One

We have been blogging for approximately a year now on When Tech Met Ed.   Sylvia Ellison at El’mentor recently passed on The Versatile Blogger award to us.  It was a welcomed reminder of how professionally useful the blogging experience is.  Our purpose continues to be to explore technology as a tool and for professional development.  Along the way, we have discussed and researched topics such as gaming, transmedia storytelling, podcasts, etc.  These topics often make us think and are fun to consider in larger contexts such as educational reform and the future jobs of children. Blogging has also opened up some doors like professional networking.

After accepting The Versatile Blogger, here are some things we are requested to do:    

1. Thank the person (people) who nominated you and provide a link back to their blog.
2. Share 7 things about you.
3. Pass this award along to 15 other blogs that you have discovered.

Seven Things About Us (See our individual bio pages at Cheridy and Kacey.)

• Cheridy:  I can’t think without considering education and learning.  I’ve tried without much success. Even simple things such as taking walks, watching movies, etc. cause me to make connections with teaching and education.  This can at times be annoying to those around me, but on a positive note, it leads me to have a love for curriculum development.
• Kacey: I am interested in learning. I spend time listening, reading and processing anything I can find to help my students learn. 
• Cheridy:  I am interested in learning more about instructional design and effective ways of teaching online classes.  
• Kacey: I became a teacher because as a child I had a difficult time learning. My hope is that because I struggled and eventually succeeded I can fast forward a child in their learning so they won't have to go through the pain and frustration that I did.
  
• Cheridy:  Chocolate, family/friends, huckleberries, reading, teaching, traveling, and writing make me happy.  Above all, I like people and activities that make me laugh or think. 
• Kacey: I enjoy gardening, reading, camping-- especially at the beach, and spending time with family and friends. 
• Cheridy and Kacey:  We enjoy discussing all things education and technology and have fun collaborating.

15 Top Notch Blogs We Learn from Reading  (See our network page for more.)

1. 21^st Century Educational Technology and Learning: Michael Gorman 
2. Bit by Bit: Bob Sprankle 
3. Box of Tricks: Jose Picardo 
4. Bud the Teacher: Bud Hunt
5. Cool Tools for 21^st Century Learners: Susan Oxnevad 
6. Edu Mashup: Jessica Vaz 
7. iLearn Technology: Kelly Tenkely 
8. Integrating Technology in the Primary Classroom: Kathleen Morris 
9. Langwitches: Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano 
10. Tech The Plunge: Jeff Thomas 
11. The Clever Sheep: Rod Lucier
12. The Principal Blog: Melinda Miller 
13. The Kids Should See This: Rion Nakaya and her 3 year old curator
14. Mr. Salsich’s Class 
15. Write Now in Room 204

Thanks again to Sylvia Ellison, our readers, and those we enjoy reading.  If you are considering blogging for professional growth, our advice is to go for it!  It’s rewarding on many levels.

Try Blogging with 180 High School Students. It Works!

Imagine 40 computers in use.  The tip tap of typing fills the room.  Partners in the front read aloud their writing to each other while editing.  Two classmates in the back chat about how to get started on their posts.  A staff member reminds a student of the resources available to find a synonym.  Both English and Spanish bounce around the room. This is in part what Kacey and I experienced at the Oregon Migrant Leadership Institute (OMLI) where about 180 high school migrant students blogged.

The past two years, I have developed the institutes’ blog and lead the students in blogging.  In addition to working with the participants, I have had the pleasure of working with the college-aged staff.  It is simply amazing to watch the college students mentor the high school participants.  The seized learning opportunities and transformation of the students and staff is inspiring.  Every time I partake, I receive more than I give from this amazing group of young people who have so much to offer society and our future.

During the 2010 OMLI sessions, we started small scale and were in a small computer lab, but we grew  this year.  There was limited time to blog—four, fifty minute sessions.  The sessions consisted of basic blogging instruction, technology discussions such as digital footprints, and writing instruction.  They offered participants a taste of what it is like to be in a university lab and exposure to the writing process.  Perhaps most importantly to students, they were able to record some of their experiences and thoughts.  Take a look at some of their work in the links that follow!

Session 2: Thank you for your patience and persistence as we problem solved when the network was down on the last day.  You demonstrated leadership skills by sticking with the blogging experience.   

Session 3: It amazed me how concentrated you were on writing and producing your best. You had some amazing uninterrupted time to write due to your dedication.  Your developed writing with details and description, given your time constraints speaks for itself.

Kacey graciously filled in for me in my absence during session 1.  Here’s a comment from her.

Session 1: Thank you for your hard work in your first adventure in blogging.  I learned a lot from you and hope to hear how things are going.  

Staff: We both thank you for helping with technology questions, the writing process, and commenting.  We also appreciate reading your point of view on the staff blog!

Our take aways:  We both had fun exploring blogging with a group of this size.  Cheridy also experimented more with Picasa, setting up and managing multiple blogs, and Prezi.   In addition, we were reminded of the importance of having a low tech plan B, and glad when one kicked in when the Internet was down one of the sessions!  Just try blogging without Internet.

Listen up participants!  The teacher in us will say it one more time:  "I" doesn't want to be small.  Don't hurt it's feelings.    Don't forget to use your resources. For those of you who expressed interest in continuing blogging, email us your blog url address if you keep it up.  Happy blogging! 

Digital Curriculum Discussion

What is digital curriculum? Has it’s time arrived?  In this discussion post, explore some ideas with us revolving around these questions.

Cheridy:  I have used digital curriculum virtual textbooks issued to me in higher ed. Currently, I integrate my own digital curriculum into my online and face-to face-classes.   Some of what I do is reflected in this blog.  However, it feels like we are only on the brink of discovering what is possible in this arena.

by  lib-girl

Michael Gorman at 21^st Century Educational Technology and Learning blogged about Flexbook in his post entitled Part 2: The Digital Curriculum… Textbook To Flexbook… Free, Open Source, Engaging!   My finding of this post was timely.  I discovered it just after posting What’s A Book?  Is This A Book?  With thoughts of digital curriculum and virtual textbooks fresh in my mind, I found his post intriguing and motivating.  Rather than restate what Michael has written so well, please take the time to read it HERE!  He gives an explanation of the CK-12 organization and Flexbooks, provides helpful links for getting started, and more. 

Kacey:  Interesting. I've considered digital texbooks for some time now and know that we are getting there as the technology is finally coming to fruition. I have yet to see anything in our elementary setting. The publishers are beginning to include some digital components to supplement the texts. The closest I’ve come to experiencing this concept is on my iPad, enjoying digital books and using Flipboard. I can’t wait to see what’s next. Can you explain more about Flexbooks and digital curriculum?

Cheridy:  My understanding of  Flexbooks is “flexible” textbooks in online format.  At this point, CK-12 Flexbooks are mainly engineering, math, science, and technology.  You can browse them HERE. I did a search for English and found a couple for composition.  They even have Flexbooks in Spanish.  Here’s a link to Biologia.  There are some teacher editions and student editions.  They are currently available for 6th-12th, but it appears that they have future plans to expand K-12.

Kacey: I love the idea of having differentiated material for students. It would also be fantastic to have updated material at your fingertips rather than having to wait for the creation of “hard text.” The whole concept is exciting to ponder. It will be interesting to see the K-5 Flexbook material when it is available.

Cheridy:  Yes, differentiation is a positive with Flexbooks.  They can be tailored to the needs of the students.  Specific chapters can be selected to create a curriculum.  Videos are embedded within some of them.  The content can be edited and added to following the licensing agreement.  I could quickly go into the text, highlight key vocabulary for my ELL students, etc.  There is also potential for students to interact with the texts.  I could have my students link to new vocabulary words using an online dictionary.   They could even run the text through Lingro to make it into a clickable dictionary. (See previous posts on Lingro.)  This type of set up could really work well for sheltered language instruction. 

In looking beyond Flexbooks at the larger picture of digital curriculum virtual textbooks in general, there are possibilities.  I can imagine movement in the direction similar to interactive e-readers where students can take notes, add stickies and interact with the texts in a variety of ways.  The change to the cloud or thumb drive devices will lighten up the backpacks. Cost will be a key factor too.   Oh, and I may be jumping ahead and overly optimistic, but I think augmented reality is on the horizon in education.   Imagine the possibilities of augmented reality as part of digital curriculum virtual textbooks!  Below is a video on  AR. (*Update note: Video removed.) This Wired article puts it into a bit better perspective in the context of books.  We’ll explore it more in another post.

Cheridy: Although digital curriculum textbooks are promising, there are some aspects to consider. A few include equal student access to technology outside of school, learning curve and time to implement for teachers, and the cost if tablets are involved.

Conclusions:  We are at least beginning to employ digital curriculum when we integrate technology into our classes-- technology such as what we are exploring in this blog.  An added component that Flexbooks address is this idea of virtual textbooks.   There are more out there as well such as Science Techbook on Discovery Education  and 150 Free Textbooks: A Meta Collection.

What’s the future of digital curriculum?  It’s fun to imagine.  Happy exploring! 

*A thank you is in order to Micahel Gorman for his post on this topic that spurred our conversation!              

What's A Book? Is This A Book?

I was excited when I found this TED Talk (see below) where software developer Mike Matas demos Al Gore’s book “Our Choice”. This is the first full-length interactive book for the iPad.   It made me recall numerous discussions Kacey and I have had about the need for publishers to catch up with technology integration in education.  I've taught online classes for the last few years and have felt this need for awhile.  In addition, listening to podcasts such as Seedlings and reading articles in ISTE have opened my eyes to the future possibilities of augmented reality.  So when I saw this TED Talk, I was excited but not too surprised.

What follows next is how this video clip played out in my ESOL class.  (It reflects the dogme 2.0 teaching in collaboration with critical pedagogy that I've been exploring.)  In the larger scope of a unit, I showed it to one of my classes comprising of adult students from around the world.  It sparked an interesting discussion about how technology and learning environments are changing.  As a natural part of this discussion as I was writing new vocabulary words from the TED Talk video on the board, one student asked, "Is that book available to purchase now?"  A second later, another student held up her smart phone and exclaimed, "Yup... It's here on iTunes available for $4.99.  I looked it up while we were watching the TED Talk."

A third student jumped out of his seat and asked for permission to pull up a related video clip for us to discuss.  Within seconds, we viewed this two minute clip. (See below.) It was followed by a related discussion about how books were once viewed as new technology, and I recorded more new vocabulary words from the discussion on the board.

We rounded out the discussion with a review of the new vocabulary words and a short discussion relating back to our previous day's lesson on how online dictionaries and games are shaping our learning.  In addition, students made connections to an earlier discussion about the disparity of technology in the hands of children from different socioeconomic backgrounds.  They then related the video back to a previous lesson in the term on second language acquisition.  With promises from them to continue to think about ways that technology helps them and limits their language learning and promises from me to listen to them-- really try to listen, we concluded class.

What do you see happening with technology and literacy?  Where does all of this fit into the classroom?  What’s a book?  It’s A Book.

“We live in an exciting time of human history and tech integration,” she said as she tucked away a hard covered book and an e-book reader in a bag for a weekend camping trip.  “I’m turning off all electronics with the exception of the books.  Don’t try reaching me!” 

Musings from the Oregon Reading Conference: iPod Touch Session

This article has been printed in the Emerald Empire Reading Council Newsletter.

I’m interested in technology and getting it into the hands of students, so when I read the description for the presentation, iSpeak and iRead: Introduction to Podcasting and iPod Touches presented by Jody Bean and Jamie Semrad from the Oregon City School District in the Oregon Reading Association’s program I thought to myself, “Humm…I don’t have iPod Touches, but it would be interesting to see what someone else is doing with them to support reading.”

I trekked up to the Mt. St. Helens Room located on the second floor of the conference facility and walked in as the presentation was about to begin. Apparently, the WiFi had stopped working! Unflappable, the team managed to maneuver conference attendees and technology down to a room on the first floor. They seamlessly set up while beginning the presentation in our new location.

Jody and Jamie shared how they are using iPod Touches in their classrooms. They received a grant through Qwest to purchase the iPod Touches. Here is how they use them in their classrooms:

·         Listening to Reading: audio books and podcasts

·         Word Work/Spelling: apps

·         Recording Reading: used for fluency (self fluency reflections) and comprehension

·         Celebrity Readers: People who visit the classrooms are requested to read and record a story for students to listen to later.

The team prepared packets for each attendee. The packets included fluency reflection sheets for teachers and students, fluency checklists, podcasting in the classroom tips, and a sample podcasting script.

Additionally, they shared ideas about classroom management with the iPod Touches. A calculator holder seems to do the trick for one class of 30 Touches and plastic bags with support material for the other class. I like the names they used to keep them straight: Super Heroes, Batman, etc. Students are allowed to take iPod Touches home, and amazingly not one iPod has been lost or stolen!

The team discussed how to find apps from the iTunes store. A few of their favorites for language arts were Brain Quest, Idiom Dictionairy, Storyrobe, Spelling Bee, Proofreading, Chicktionary and Bookworm. (See the links on Jamie's and Jody's sites for additional recommended apps.) Their answer to the question, “How do you pay for the apps?” was to add a gift cards from iTunes to the classroom wish list.

Now as I reflect on the presentation, here is what I’m thinking:

• “Great, kids would love this, but I still don’t have iPod Touches!”
• “What tools are out there for classrooms and kids who don’t have this technology?"
• “How can I adapt what Jody and Jamie are doing in my own class with only four student computers that are internet capable, a projector, an Intewrite board and a teacher laptop?"

Please let me know if you have any ideas to answer these questions. As we reflect and investigate, stay tuned for some answers in upcoming posts.

Links of the Month: April

This month, we chose to think about some overarching educational reform topics.  The Bit By Bit and the Teachers Teaching Teachers podcasts highlighted below fall into this category.  The November Learning Flipped Classroom Podcast demonstrates application of some of these ideas.  We also highlight a few sites we have used in our own classes.  Read on for more details and links!   

  

PODCAST PICKS

Kacey’s picks:   

Panel Discussion on Race to Nowhere: Bob Sprankle posted a podcast of a discussion that took place after viewing the movie Race to Nowhere. The discussion was part of the Wilcard Movie Series at the Portsmouth Music Hall.  Bob has listed the names and links of the panel on the Bit By Bit web site.  It contains interesting discussion from the perspective of parents, teachers, and principals about issues such as homework, utilizing class time better and differently, customizing instruction, and much more. We both enjoyed this podcast since we watched  Race To Nowhere and discussed it earlier in the year.

Cheridy’s picks: 

The Flipped Classroom: When Kacey and I started talking this summer, I recall thinking that one of the first visible signs of ed tech integration changes within the classroom would take place in the form of videos and audio, both in the hands of teachers and students.  Over the past few years, I have watched digital storytelling spread and enjoyed using it my own classes.  From a language acquisition standpoint, the use of video has long been accepted as a good means of instruction. With that background, this November Learning podcast caught my attention this month.  Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams talk about how they use The Flipped Classroom Model in their high school science classes.  This podcast can be accessed here.  The basic idea is that the teacher creates vodcasts for students.  The students watch the vodcasts at home, pausing and rewinding as needed, for homework and then come to class prepared to do the hands-on stuff and receive support from the teachers.   The videos become one way of supporting student learning and individualizing instruction. Below is a video demonstrating their Flipped Classroom.  They also have an interesting  Ning site called The Flipped Class Network.  Their ideas remind us of the Khan Academy, which we discussed in this previous post.

Digital and Media Literacy: A Plan of Action:  In this Teacher’s Teaching Teachers podcast, Renee Hobbs discusses her white paper.  You can read, listen, watch and learn more about her plan of action here.   I like how she looks at the bigger picture of tech and ed, talks about the tools being tools but need for more, and looks at grass root community level implementation, involving stakeholders, etc.  These ideas reminded me of Kacey’s March podcast picks and the importance of attempting to put this thing called tech and ed in a larger framework.

LINK PICKS

Kacey’s picks:  Mr. Salsich’s third grade blog  is a fantastic example of a class blog that works. Be sure to check out the students’ Poetry Madness and the links to their Blogging Buddies in Australia, California, and New Zealand.  If you would like to spend some time looking through a whole slue of student and class blogs and even take the “Blogging With Students” challenge, check out Teacher Challenge supported by EduBlogs .  

This month our class has also enjoyed Noises Everywhere – Interesting internet tidbits for kids to ponder. Excavating a giant ant hill and watching baby eagles hatch have been our favorites.  

Cheridy’s picks:   This month, I have experimented in my College of Ed. class with some collaborative writing and sticky note web 2.0 tools.  I set out to find collaborative tools that are simple, low frills and have no login for my students.  Titan Pad and Primary Wall have worked well for us and allowed us to build on the same document both synchronously and asynchronously.  Titan Pad can be public or private.  It has some fun features such as the timeslider where changes to the document are displayed in video mode. Primary Wall is similar to Wallwisher, but with a background geared for elementary students. (See more collaborative tools under our web2.0 tab.)  I have also enjoyed experimenting with classroom tools.net and some of their online graphic organizers.  The Teacher’s Challenge blog gives a good overview of this site.

Happy listening and exploring!

Khan Academy Conversation

The Khan Academy is a site that we have been following with interest for some time.  This link gives a good overview of it, what it offers, and how teachers, parents, and students could use it.  Its library of videos covers k-12 math, science and some humanities.  Browse their free educational videos here.

Here’s a snapshot conversation of some of our thinking and questioning about Khan Academy.

Cheridy:  Hey Kacey, have you heard of The Khan Academy?

Kacey: Yeah, the tech guys from TWIT have talked about it.  I checked it out when it first came out but just took another look.  Thanks for reminding me about it! WOW! It sure has expanded since the last time I browsed his lessons.

Cheridy:  Will you use it in your class?

Kacey: Absolutely! I love how students will be able to access it anytime and anywhere.  The lessons are short but include multiple strategies.  I think I'll incorporate this lesson  into our new unit on division! Students and parents can then access the videos from home.  Did you see the practice section?  You can log in and see your proficiency on a math concept.  I love that students can work at their own pace,  track their progress, and receive “awards.”  It looks like Khan Academy received a Google Grant in September 2010.  They used the money to hire a team to build out the structure of the site.  You can watch the CNN video.  They will be translating the content into different languages and expanding the content into other areas of study.  Also, I liked the video where Salman Khan talks at the MIT Club of Northern California . He talked about starting the site as well as research they did with students in a summer program.  He also gave this TED Talk.

Cheridy:   I also noticed that the teachers or parents can track the students’ progress if they login as a coach and have students add them as a coach.  It appears they can get class reports as well.  The way that the statistics for each student are shown reminds me of the Seedlings podcast I listened to on The Horizon Project that mentions how technology will make data like this more manageable and meaningful, allowing teachers to potentially individualize instruction more.

Kacey:  There are some positives to this site and concept.  On the other hand, I have a few questions like how will I be able to keep students from "getting help" from parents or peers on the actual practice test, so I can see it is their work?  There still needs to be a second assessment that I'm in charge of.  Slip-age between the cracks can still happen.   Also, you need to have a gmail account to document your progress.  Some kids have it and some don't.  However, even if they are looking at the videos it could still be helpful.

Do you see any drawbacks?

Cheridy:   I’m not a math or science teacher, so I don’t feel comfortable talking about the quality of the videos.  From a language perspective I liked how in the few videos I reviewed some of the math vocabulary was written down.  (It would be good to see even more of this.) This can be very useful for ELLs.  He also drew pictures, which can be useful, and related it to real life examples. 

Kacey:  I LOVE the idea of kids working at their own pace.

Cheridy:  I agree with you on individualizing instruction.  I also teach online courses and create my own videos in my content area for my classes.  This can be a ton of work, but I get just enough positive feedback from my students to continue my endeavors.  It seems to me that the demand for quality, short 5-15 minute videos in all academic disciplines for educational purposes is there.  I can see using them in a variety of ways, both inside and outside the class.   It is interesting to think how this type of product and instruction could influence education. 

Kacey:  This also makes me think about the book Disrupting Class that we talked about last summer.  Did you know there was a new edition?  I haven’t read it yet but heard Michael Horn interviewed on The Future of Education by Steve Hargadon.

Cheridy:  The whole concept reminds me of Flipped Instruction Model  that I will highlight in our April Links of the Month post. 

Conversation Wrap Up:  It’s evident our conversations never have a tidy wrap up.  We continue to explore our findings and views on this type of video integration and how it fits into the larger picture of tech and ed.  And as a final thought…  There’s an app for that.

Happy learning!