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Technology mission statement

Through some odd and not all that interesting turns of events, I'm pretty much the chair of our school's technology committee. I'll spare you the details, but it wasn't exactly where I saw myself fitting into the system this year (my first at this school). Nevertheless, it is what it is and I hope to make the best of it.

Task number one: Come up with a mission statement for the technology committee.

I'm pretty new to the school and don't have the greatest understanding of what the goals of the committee have been in the past. As I see it, the committee's job is to: (1) provide support and timely teacher professional development on how technology tools can be used to improve teaching and learning, and (2) act as a go-between for teachers and those making purchasing decisions on where technology money could be spent where it would have the greatest effect per dollar.

I'd really prefer if it sounded like a real person talking instead of sounding bureaucratic and overly wordy. However, since mission statements are pretty much solely for those people who enjoy bureacracy and wordiness, I may be willing to settle somewhere in the middle.

Here's my first go at it:

Working to support teaching and learning through the effective use of technology in the classroom.

Or maybe:

Providing teachers with the tools and training to use technology in support of effective teaching and learning.

Guess I'll try one typical wordy one too (though I won't like it):

The technology committee strives to provide technological tools to teachers, students, and the community in order to support our students and staff in their teaching and learning. Students will graduate as effective digital citizens able to contribute to society utilizing 21st century technology tools and skills.

Seeing as this post is a bit of thinking in public, what do you think of the above options? What mission statements do your schools use for technology committees (or whatever you call them where you are)?

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Welcome to my wiki

My last school required that all teachers have web pages in order to (at minimum) communicate the daily schedule to students and parents. I used it for my schedule, but also as a jump-off for online assignments.

My new school does not require all teachers to have web pages. Yet I enjoyed the benefits of having an online space for my class. I just had to have some online space for this year too. After a bit a research into what was and wasn't blocked by the school filter, what sites other educators have used, what features various services offer, etc., I settled on using Wikispaces for my new class website.

I began using my class wiki for the same things as my old static website: weekly agendas and a jump-off for online assignments.  Since then I've slowly been increasing the level of involvement my students have with the wiki.

I'll go into specifics about how students are using the wiki in later posts. For now, I want to focus on a few observations and issues that have come up.

The good

  • Messaging

    • Students realized quickly they could send messages to each other (and to me) through their Wikispaces accounts. Students send me messages asking for clarification. Students send each other messages asking for help or information.

  • Creating & Publishing

    • I've only had one assignment that required students to create a wiki page (details in a future post), but we like that it's being published for everyone in the world to see. They like they can work on it directly from any computer in the world (though usually just the computer at their house).

  • Saving

    • The scourge of digital assignments: lost files. My freshmen have next to zero experience saving files to a network drive. I can't tell you how many times students have saved a file to a computer's hard drive instead of their network drive, thus losing access to the file as soon as they log off that machine. The wiki creates a record of the page after each save. If somehow the contents of the entire page gets deleted (which has happened- thrice) they can simply revert back to the last version.

  • RSS

    • I was a little nervous letting my students loose on the wiki. I really didn't think anyone would do something inappropriate, but I still worried. Luckily, Wikispaces (and many other wiki sites) create RSS feeds for page edits and discussion postings- both for individual pages and for the entire space. I subscribe to the feeds for all page edits and all discussion postings. It's an easy way for me to keep track of what's happening on the wiki. I don't want to be a wiki-dictator (wikitator?), but I want to be able to catch anything inappropriate before half the world sees it.

The not so good

  • Messaging

    • There's definitely plenty of personal messaging going back and forth in addition to the academic-related messages. I don't have a problem with this- if it's done in moderation. For 95% of my students it's not a problem. 5% would message people all hour if I didn't get after them for it.

  • What's the point?

    • Roughly paraphrased, the student asked why we couldn't just do this on paper- wouldn't it be way faster? Sheesh. I wasn't ready for that one. I figured the relevance of publishing content online for parents, peers, and the world to see would clear that up. I figured the increasingly digital world we live in would make the point obvious. Obviously I didn't explain what wikis are or why we're using this particular tool very well. In classes with students who have very little computer experience (I had to show some students how to use Google), this stuff isn't obvious. They don't know what a wiki is, what it does, or why they would ever want to use one.

  • Quirkiness

    • Let's face it: Editing a wiki- even one that has a visual editor like Wikispaces- isn't always inuitive and striaght forward. There are certain quirks to it that take time to adjust to. It's trickier and less flexible than editing a Word document. Students who aren't tech savvy can quickly get frustrated with these quirks. I'm constantly finding myself saying, "Just be patient, everyone is running into similar issues, I promise it'll get easier the more experienced you become." These first few uses can be a bit trying.

Exemplars, tips, suggestions?

I'm coming to the realization that I really don't have good examples of wiki usage in a science classroom. I've done my research checking out several classroom wikis, yet I can't recall finding a single high school-ish science class' wiki. Anyone know of any?

I'm feeling a little frustrated that my curriculum doesn't seem to mesh extremely well with the use of a wiki. I could make the wiki a more prominent part of assignments and projects, but I'm wary of forcing the wiki into situations it really doesn't belong. However, I can't help but feel my lack of experience using a wiki in a science classroom and of exemplar science class wikis means that I'm missing some really powerful and obvious things that would mesh perfectly. I'm hoping when I revamp the curriculum next year to facilitate more project-based assessments these uses may spring up and smack me in the face like a garden rake.

Any tips, suggestions, or examples would be greatly appreciated. 😉

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5 minutes to a better school

Chris Lehmann recently gave a presentation titled "School 2.0: Creating the schools we need" at an IgnitePhilly event.

It's probably the best 5 minutes video clip I've seen online¹. I've never heard someone explain things I've grown to believe so right on.

Watch it. Love it. Do it!

Mr. Lehmann gives his take on the presentation and the slide set he used on his blog.
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¹that didn't include a cat doing something hilarious, of course.

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Oh, snap!

It's been a frustrating week or so.

Since misery loves company, I found it interesting to read a post by Darren Draper in which he says:

Google 2001 is nice, but what some teachers really need is more like Google 1983. That way their experience on the Internet would better coincide with the experience they are providing for their students.

Shortly after this post, Dan Meyer's post on the efficacy of textbooks was pushed my direction:

[Textbooks are] perfect for below-average teachers with limited imagination and limited love for their own content areas, the sort that need a pick axe, a shovel, and a map to the goldmine handed to them before it'll occur to them to start digging.

It's kind of an indictment that this has been such a profitable business model for so long.

Once again the network has pushed in my direction my thoughts, but more eloquent, punchier, and- dare I say- ballsier (is that even a word?) than I might dare to write myself¹.

And then, just as I was starting to feel good about my situation today, the entire staff gets this email:

'nuff said.

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¹Perhaps why they have thousands of readers and technorati "authority" of 165 and 191 while I have tens of readers and an authority of 11.

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Whiteboards of the future?

Another education design idea I'd put in the "really?" category (along with the multi-touch desks I commented on earlier):

Flexboards! Interactive whiteboards that don't need an LCD projector to work, and include a workspace! While just a design concept, their description page at TheGreenerGrass.org has some silly things on it (IMHO).

While I'd agree that mobile interactive whiteboards that don't require an LCD projector to function are likely to be useful in the future, the way TheGreenerGrass describes them strikes me as a little odd:

By configuring groups of these boards together in multiple ways, many of the learning modalities can be accommodated in addition to lecture...

and then:

Missing from the traditional classroom is collaborative work. By getting out of their seats and working in groups, students experience a visual way of learning that teaches them the creative problem solving techniques they need as professionals.

and still more:

Teachers can use Flexboards to create a small space within their classroom for one-on-one instruction, or a small breakout space with additional media such as special audio-visual aids.

So...a major selling point will be their role as room dividers? I'm sure district budgets will have space for at least five or six of these per room. Srsly.

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Images from "Flexboards Remake the Classroom" at TheGreenerGrass.org via NOTCOT.org

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A computing conundrum

I have a decision to make. I don't want to make it. I already know what I'll end up doing in the end. Think you can figure it out?

The situation

My new school has two laptop carts per floor. That works out to two classroom sets of laptops for every 20-22 teachers or so. They're brand new and not many teachers realize that they're working perfectly fine (98% of the time at least).

There's no check-out or check-in system. When I wanted them, I went to the teacher's workroom and rolled them on down to my room. I had no way of telling if they would actually be available until I opened the door to the teacher's workroom. I have no way of telling when other teachers would like to use them.

The options

1. Do nothing.

  • Pros: I could (in theory) just keep the laptop cart in my room unless people ask for it. I'd definitely be able to use the laptops multiple times during the week. With my seeming inability to accurately plan how long things will take, I wouldn't have to worry about not getting to that online activity on time.
  • Cons: (1) I'd be monopolizing 50% of the available computers to regular classroom teachers. (2) I'd have no idea how long other teachers would be using the laptops when they did take them (if they ever found out where I was stashing them, of course!).

2. Do something (i.e. set up a shared Google Calendar or the like for teachers to sign out the laptops)

  • Pros: (1) I'd know when and for how long other teachers would be using the laptops. (2) There would be the opportunity for more equitable use of the laptop carts for all teachers.
  • Cons: I'd lose my potential monopoly of the carts, and would more thank likely have to reduce the number of activities in my classroom that would require the use of laptops. Boo.

The laptop cart: currently hiding in my room

The real problem

We don't have enough laptops.

I wrote about a very similar topic in March while I was at Whitmore Lake in Michigan. Back then we had four laptop carts and a media center lab available for use between 22-25 teachers. Here I'm down to two laptop carts and essentially zero dedicated computer labs available for use for the same number of teachers.

I sometimes chuckle to myself when my vice-principal talks about how much technology is available to students this year.

So, take a guess:
What am I going to do? Something, or nothing? 😉

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A free conference!

The K12 Online Conference 2008 is revving up to start on October 13 and running through November 1st. I was unable to participate in the 2007 edition due to time issues, and have heard very little but good about the whole process.

They've just posted the schedule for 2008, so I urge you to check it out. Unlike typical conferences, you can choose just to dip into what areas interest you. If you don't like any of the topics for a couple days, don't participate! If you have a big social event planned one of the nights, they're all archived for later viewing! And best of all (especially coming on the day when I was denied funding for EduCon 2.1¹), it's free. 

I'm interested to see what ideas people will be sharing and excited to get an opportunity to interact with other individuals from around the world.

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¹ In no way am I meaning to knock EduCon, or the fact that it costs money. I'm just a bit disappointed my district doesn't see it as valuable for my own professional development. We'll have to review personal finances to see if it's in our budget...

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Desks of the future?

A recent education-related post from an unlikely source was pushed my way this week regarding new touchscreen desks designed to be used in educational settings.

"Multi-touch smart desks" could be used to authentically improve instruction. However, is it the best way? The most cost-effective method? The most relevant to our students' future technology usage?

Some researcher needs to create a metric that compares the cost of an instructional tool with it's effectiveness at increasing student engagement and learning. I realize that'd be a tricky thing to measure, but I think you'd find these multi-touch student desks to be pretty cost-ineffective at improving instruction. Perhaps even moreso than the "interactive whiteboard" hailed as a god-send by PR conscious school boards around the nation.  I could rant about the ridiculous amounts of money schools spend on interactive whiteboards without (1) providing training for teachers on how to use them, (2) thinking about anything other than PR, and (3) considering if there are more effective tools to improve teaching and learning.

Why use paper worksheets when you can drill & grill with a $10,000 multi-touch computer built into the students' desks?

On a totally unrelated note: If you know of anyone giving away multi-touch smart desks for the classroom, I'll take 30.

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For info on the multi-touch smart desks:

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Student technology survey

I tried out the new laptop cart at my new placement today. No one was very confident that the laptops would work well, but I used them enough at my old job ( and mostly found them quite effective) that I wasn't just going to let that cart sit there untested for long.

The last 20 minutes of each hour today I had students try to log into the school's network. I was surprised I had so few who couldn't login considering I have all 9th graders coming from 3 different middle schools and several who're new to the district altogether.

Once they were logged in I had them take a survey on their technology experience¹.

Initial results

  • 87% have their own cell phone
  • 82% have their own mp3 player
  • 92% have a computer at home connected to the internets

Conclusions

  1. Remember these are all freshmen. Most are just 14 years old. I'd imagine by the time they're juniors and seniors the percentage of students who have cell phones and mp3 players would increase to near 100%.
  2. The student body is quite diverse socio-economically and yet my percentages are very high across the board. Only 8 of my students DON'T have cell phones. Only 2 don't have internet access at home.
  3. Currently, all cell phones are supposed to be confiscated on sight from the beginning of 1st hour to the final bell. Does this policy support 21st century skills? Even if the skill being taught is simply appropriate use of a cell phone in a "business" setting (i.e. not texting during presentations, learning when and where it is acceptable to pull out their phones, etc.)?
  4. The school has about 1 computer for every 10 students (maybe even less), yet at home the ratio is probably much closer to 1:4. Are they being taught to effectively use online tools at home? They certainly aren't getting much computer time at school.

I have more data from the survey that'll take a little longer to disaggregate, but I'll share that when I get a chance to break it down.

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¹ If you'd like to see it, here it is.

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In trouble for purposeful reflection

For the last several weeks I've been following the story of a student teacher who has been blogging his triumphs, failures, and frustrations of his credential program and of teaching in the classroom.

Recently a teacher from within his department confronted him on it with the ominous: "We, the department, know you're blogging.¹" The blog is anonymous to protect the innocent, though the confronting teacher noted he could recognize people mentioned in the blog.

I won't go through his whole story here (if interested, please read more at his blog), but needless to say, it could end with his removal from the credential program.

In my recent job hunt, I was asked by some if I was worried potential employers would see my blog. I wasn't. I'd like any place that hires me to know that I am an active participant in my own global learning community. I wanted to get hired by a district and school that is supportive of the use of technology for personal professional development. If a district has a serious problem with a teacher that blogs, then I'd have serious reservations with accepting a job at such an institution.

In an episode of David Warlick's Connect Learning podcast, Chris Lehmann of the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia discusses what he looks for when he's interviewing for teaching positions. Instead of trying to determine whether teachers will be toadies of the system who'll turn their monthly lesson plans turned in on time, he specifically looks for teachers who are active learners in their own right², both in their personal and professional lives. What better way to actively participate in your own learning that utilize a blog to share and have conversations about ideas?

There are too many schools (and teachers) out there who seem afraid that someone will find out what we're actually doing in the schools. I understand there are real and important issues in protecting student privacy, but I don't feel the system should be afraid of the general public finding out there is a group of thoughtful, reflecting, constantly improving educators out there.

Recently I posted a portion of some student work. I didn't mention who the student was or really any details about the student whatsoever. Yet, if that student saw it posted he/she would obviously know it's their work. His/her parents and some of his/her friends would probably also recognize it. Was that "unprofessional?" Did it break an "unstated, implicit confidentiality" between teacher and student? I argue it didn't. Or was I wrong?³

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¹ Everytime I've read that I think of the movie Congo: "We. are. watching. you." It's probably an inappropriate association.

² Among many other things.

³ This may be the clearest instance of preaching to the choir. Evar. If you're reading this blog (especially commenting on it), you're probably not blog-o-phobic. Oh well. Your thoughts on the matter are still appreciated.