What use would the Utah State Office of Education ever have for online communities? Here's the block I received while attempting to access my Diigo account from deep within USOE.

Amazing.



Technorati Tags: ignorance socialnetworking education technology

Stephen Van Orden is a thinker. An accomplished German teacher out of Timpview High School (Provo, Utah), Stephen is also a member of my doctoral cohort at Utah State University. Stephen's concern also concerns me.

First some background, then my response.

Last Monday, I gave a presentation to the members of my cohort in connection with an Educational Administration class that we are all taking. The presentation discussed Marc Prensky's latest article. Upon completion of my presentation, class ended, and Stephen responded.

"To be honest, I'm very disappointed in the technology skills of my students," he replied - admittedly catching me off guard as we exited the building.

"Why, what do you mean?"

"Well, I've found that my students are great at playing on the computer. And they can text very well. But you'd be surprised at what they really can't do. Like PowerPoint. Not every student knows how to make a PowerPoint presentation. When we do PowerPoints as a class, I have to walk some kids through the entire process. And podcasting! We spent an entire week creating podcasts as a class and I can't help asking myself if the time spent was really worth it. Couldn't we have accomplished the same thing - as far as the German that they learned goes - in simply doing oral reports?"

To be honest, at that moment I had no idea what to say. These were Digital Natives he was talking about. These kids had grown up in the light, you know.


After a while, though, I came to my senses and emailed him a response:

While I admit that your questions expressed in last night's class caught me a little off guard, I have since given your concerns additional thought to the extent that I am actually able to offer a little bit of advice.

First, I think it's very important that you continually maintain perspective when using technology in your teaching. Technology is simply a tool. And like other tools, it may not be particularly effective in use - much like a hammer would rarely be used to open a bottle or to remove a screw. That said, however, some tools are indispensable. Have you ever tried to change the oil in your car without using a wrench?

I'm sure you will agree that in your teaching, there are some pieces of technology that have become just that: indispensable. Take your your Tablet PC as an example. How different would your teaching be, your routine in grading, taking roll, and presenting ideas, if you no longer had the use of your tablet? I would argue that there are some pieces of technology that have become more integral to what we do as a teacher than even the pencil (which, in and of itself, is also an educational technology).

In that vein, I have other kinds of educational technology that I would recommend you try with your students before abandoning all hopes in light of your students' current technological skill level. Remember, just because PowerPoint and podcasts may not have been as effective as you had originally anticipated, it may just be that you need to consider using a different hammer.

Rather than listing a few tools here, I'd recommend you check out the wiki I've started for ESL teachers in my district. These tools will really work for learners of any language:

http://jsdesl.wikispaces.com/ESL+Toolbox

Off the top of my head, I would recommend that you look into VoiceThread first.

Anyway, enough for now. Sorry for the long email.

He replied, thanking me for my response, and pledged that he wasn't jumping off the technology bandwagon any time soon. And then confessed an idea that just might be right:

My only concern is that I'm not sure the digital revolution is a ubiquitous as some proponents believe. I think we are still at the beginning of it. I think that the real digital natives are currently in elementary school.

So now it's your turn:

• Is the digital revolution truly ubiquitous?
• How old are the Digital Natives?
• How did I do in my response to his concerns?
• What would you have told Steven?
  

Thanks, in advance, for your thoughtful responses.

Image Source: Flickr user MarkHaertl.

Technorati Tags: digitalnatives powerpoint voicethread education technology

Other than a few bandwidth and occasional audio issues, OpenPD round three was another pleasing success. The first time an OpenPD session had been hosted by a teacher other than myself, Jamie Gustin - from Magnolia, Texas - did an excellent job in taking the reins. In this opening session, we established that each of the roughly forty participating educators has an existing wiki with which they will be able to work during the remaining four sessions. This session also marked the first time I have ever participated in a professional development session with Jordan School District teachers wherein we didn't meet together face to face. It has been my hope that using such a format will enable me to reach more teachers within my district, at a time that is convenient for them, without requiring them to go through the effort of driving across the valley in order to meet together.


Next Week

In next week's session, we'd like to dig deeper into the wiki toolbox to uncover a particularly useful feature within wikis: the ability EMBED objects. We hope to:

1. Demonstrate how objects are embedded.
2. Showcase a number of different kinds of objects that can be embedded. To accomplish this task, we ask that you, dear participant, Bring Your Own Embeddable Object to class. You know, a favorite embeddable widget - if you have one. If you don't yet have a favorite, be prepared to learn about a few new tools that can be used in connection with wikis.

Missed Our First Session?

No problem. To get caught up with the class, you may view the recorded stream here - and read through the chat here. In order to make sure you're up to speed for next week:

1. Create a wikispaces account if you don't yet have one.
2. Join the OpenPD wiki.
3. Create your own wikispace. K12 teachers can get free premium wikispaces by following this link.
4. Post a link to your newly created space in the discussion tab of our List of Participants page.

See you next Wednesday: 3pm MDT.

Technorati Tags: openpd wikis

To overcome in any battle, the intelligent tactician will attempt to attack the enemy at multiple, strategic, barriers to entry. Which is why I’m so impressed with Marc Prensky’s latest fronts in this, the war on educational boredom.

In his March 2008 article entitled Turn on the Lights, Prensky ensues with many of the arguments he has previously utilized, this time, however, customizing his attack toward a far more influential audience: School administrators. Combined with a larger offensive from our students, I think that helping administrators to better understand the importance of educational shift is absolutely vital if we are, indeed, to realize such a shift in pedagogical mindset. For this battle really isn’t about technology, or a flattening world, or even improved classroom instruction. It’s about money. Just like it’s always been. Control the money and you control education.

It’s that simple.

Which is exactly why Prensky’s efforts should not go unnoticed. As far as I can tell, the administrators are key because they, along with our friendly neighborhood legislators - aka those powerful puppets that ofttimes dangle in the hands of the parents of our students - control the purse strings.


To encourage change among educational administration, Prensky has highlighted nine principles that, if given due attention, would effectively change any educational institution.

Prensky’s Principals for Principals

• Announce that henceforth students will have a meaningful voice in setting all school policy regarding technology use. Hold assemblies that include teachers, students, parents, administrators, and technologists to hear all points of view and establish school policies regarding such issues as blocked Web sites and use of cell phones.
• Make it your business to eliminate boredom from your school—make 100 percent engagement the goal. Poll students as to which of their teachers and classes are engaging and which are boring and why. Investigate and take action.
• Talk with 2–4 students each day for at least one-half hour about their learning. If you feel you can't spare that time to engage with kids, you may need to rethink your priorities.
• Work with both students and teachers to implement the new "kids teaching themselves with guidance" model. Eliminate lectures and busywork from your school. Ask teachers who use active learning to share their practices with their colleagues.
• Promote technology use and move toward one-to-one computing.
• Orient your school toward the future. Offer classes in programming, robotics, long-distance collaboration, and cutting-edge science.
• Keep the computer lab open late and on weekends, especially in areas with limited technology access.
• Introduce computerized exercise games that kids really enjoy, such as Dance Dance Revolution, into your physical education classes.
• Have students share your school's most effective practices and results with the world via YouTube.

Abandoning my current thoughts about a global teach-in, I think our next war effort would be most effective if some sort of large-scale assault were to come from our students. Hey kids, ever heard of a sit-in?

Image Source: Flickr user Taras Kalapun.

Technorati Tags: change prensky administrators politics education technology

At this point in time, I'm happy to report that an additional round of Open Professional Development will be beginning soon - continuing on the discussion we began last month - freely available to any interested educator.


Beginning Wednesday, March 26, at 3:00 PM (MDT) - and continuing for the subsequent five Wednesdays at the same time - we will be learning advanced topics related to using wikis and blogs with our students.

To participate from the comforts of your own building, this is what you'll need:

• An Internet-connected computer, preferably with speakers and a microphone.
• Visit the OpenPD "Get Connected" page to become acquainted with the learning environment. This is "where" class will be held on March 26.
• Optional: Create your own (free) Ustream account so that you may participate in the class chat-room.
• Optional: Download, install, and create your own free Skype account so that you may participate in the audio call.

Finally, to learn more about OpenPD - what it is and why we do it - you may wish to view the podcast I recently created.

Technorati Tags: openpd professionaldevelopment wikis blogosphere