EduWrite

Looks Before Leaping

mguhlin@gmail.com (Miguel Guhlin) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 16:28:37 PDT

Image Source: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1223/577718504_85445c18b9.jpg?v=0 "Looks before leaping," should be the description of every education administrator. It doesn't mean that you're not going to leap, or that you'll stop, but that you take a long look before leaping. Due to the disconnect in many school districts between curriculum and technology departments--which find themselves spinning their wheels in tandem, parallel to each other, often headed in different directions without visible, tangible benefit to those they serve--"looks before leaping" might provide a measure of assistance in resolving issues. In the wake of No Child Left Behind, school districts found themselves investing in expensive programs--integrated learning systems that drilled/tutored children in the hopes of doing a better job than the poorly trained teachers. These sizable investments yield little results, however, as noted researcher Henry Becker has pointed out. The writing lesson today is a simple one. It highlights one possible approach to sending a message no one wants to read/hear. Here's the scenario:

The Curriculum Department for your school district has decided that to achieve Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), it needs to implement a costly, technology-based intervention. Your team of directors/coordinators realizes that the technology-based intervention is being ordered without a real grasp of the technology infrastructure challenges at the school. Simply put, the equipment in classrooms is not capable of running the software or too obsolete to run the client software. While everyone on the team is aware of the issues, how do you present this information to your supervisors who proposed the purchase and now have a pending purchase worth half a million to a million dollars in the pipe for School Board Approval? You're the only one who sees the issues clearly enough to articulate them. Everyone is looking to you. What are you going to do?

Well, one of your possibilities is to write an email or memo to the supervisors who may end up like the Emperor with no clothes. One possible response appears below:

Please note that VendorName REQUIRES—requirements from VendorName attached to this email--X, Y, and Z. Targeted campuses for VendorName lack the equipment to meet these basic requirements. However, there are other factors to take into consideration that have not all been addressed in anticipation of this implementation. The SchoolDistrictName, as you know, seriously needs to upgrade its infrastructure in K-12 to ensure successful use of ANY technology-based intervention system.

Additional Attention needs to be given to the following areas:

Area #1 – Hardware Requirements

SchoolDistrictName's Curriculum Department needs to complete a Request for Technical Support for affected campuses to ensure that computers at those campuses meet minimum requirements

Area #2 – Network

VendorName needs to be contacted and asked if their web-based program will work with/without a persistent wireless Internet connection.
VendorName needs to be contacted regarding the use of a caching system, if one would work or not or even whether it’s appropriate.
Bandwidth requirements (for example, VendorName single user requires at least XX kbps of bandwidth).

Area #3 – Account Management

VendorName needs to support automated account management and maintenance including 24-hour secure FTP uploads
The Student Information Archiving needs to be notified of requirements
VendorName needs to identify how authentication of student and teacher logins will occur.
VendorName needs to respond as to whether student ID # can be used as the student login with password generation
VendorName needs to clarify whether data transfers are encrypted or open.
VendorName, since it’s storing confidential student performance data, has to sign the agreement form to keep data confidential and to return that data to SchoolDistrictName if/when VendorName’s services are no longer needed.

Area #4 – Software Requirements

Identify Minimum Browser
Identify critical browser plug-ins/add-ons
Identify minimum operating system for Windows (e.g. Windows XP has been identified) and for Mac OS X (e.g., Mac OS X.4 Tiger has been identified).
Identify client software that needs to be installed on the computer

Again, I strongly recommend against moving forward issuing payment to—or implementing--VendorName until concerns in these critical areas have been dealt with.

Welcome Amazon Kindle Readers!

mguhlin@gmail.com (Miguel Guhlin) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:51:40 PDT

What a thrill to welcome Amazon Kindle readers to EduWrite Blog ! I hope you'll take a moment to leave a comment when you have the opportunity! I'm also delighted to share that my Around the Corner-MGuhlin.org Blog also appears on the Kindle:

My Copyright WebQuest

mguhlin@gmail.com (Miguel Guhlin) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 19:40:04 PDT

Some of my best writing, I did when I was unemployed and doing consulting for several regional service centers. That work was the Copyright Webquest, which actually paid out several thousand dollars...probably my highest paid gig ever! Can you tell how much fun I had writing this? Introduction "Uhh," I started intelligently, "I want to make a class set of these." The CopyMax guy looked at me like I was nuts. Then, politely, he reminded me about copyright law. Of course, I nodded my head, how could I have ever thought to make class sets of Slave Dancer for my students to read?

Like many educators I know, I've always felt the way that Maureen Pilgrim, a librarian, a Guardian of Copyright Law, shared with me in her presentation on the Big6: All ideas are stolen, modified to look like they’re not stolen, and shared among thieves.

Of course, that attitude can get you in lots of trouble. After all, violating copyright law didn't seem to hurt anyone when I first started teaching...but now, violating copyright law appears to have serious legal consequences for all. Whether you stack VCRs to make a quick copy of a Disney video, use CD-Recordables to make copies of songs off the Internet, existing music CDs, or educational software, it is clear that times have changed. But, as always, changing copyright law remains a gray area for most of us. What exactly is copyright and how does it apply to us? How can I teach my students to do work with technology that protects intellectual property and does not stifle creativity? In the space of 60 minutes, you're going to grapple with these questions and more.

The Task

To develop an understanding of copyright law and how it applies to you, you need to develop a thorough understanding of what you are allowed to do under copyright, and, what you are not allowed to do. One way for you to get there is to critically analyze a number of copyright scenarios and discuss them from multiple perspectives. That's your task in this exercise. If you're short on time, patience, or want to try a different way, you may want to review the presentation and then take the online quiz. By the end of this lesson, you and your group will answer these questions:

What is meant when someone says, "That's copyrighted" and what is fair use?
What is the best way to limit district liability in regards to copyright violations?
What does copyright law say about including copyrighted multimedia in educator and student products?
How do you get permission from the copyright owners to use their materials?

The Process You have several choices for getting the information you need to respond to the 4 questions above. You will need a copy of your district's acceptable use policy and, if they have one, their copyright & software policy. You can find some sample policies in the Resources section. Below are your 3 choices:

You can view the presentation, //The Quest for Copyright Understanding// (or sit through it as someone else lectures to you). You can also get the PPT version.

You can continue on to Step 1 of this WebQuest and complete the concept builder activities in a group (most fun way to do this), then take the Copyright Quiz.

You can visit EducationWorld and read their excellent materials on Copyright and then take the Copyright Quiz I've put together for you.

Divide the whole group into small groups of four. Each small group member will assume one of the different roles shown below: The Copyright Author: You've spent over a year developing a collection of thematic lessons that are correlated to state and national education standards, incorporate videotape, your original artwork, and some really great ideas. Your publisher has just notified you that they believe your copyright is being violated, but rather than pursue the issue themselves, they've asked you to put your talents to work at designing a guide for teachers who want to use copyrighted materials in their classroom. A little angry at the creative uses other teachers have put your work to without compensation, you begin.... The School Administrator: In your mind, the best use of technology is the one that results in the least amount of litigation. You've heard from your campus librarians that several teachers are developing web pages that use copyrighted images, sounds, multimedia (like MP3 music clips) and you are concerned that it won't be long before you are embroiled in a lawsuit. You just want to stop the Internet and can't wait for this fad to be over. You decide to analyze school district policy to see how the district may have missed the mark on copyright policy. Begin... The Librarian: As a guardian of copyright law, you're a bit scandalized by the wide-scale copying of copyrighted materials in your school. You are in charge of your school's software checkout program. Teachers come to you to check out the installation CDs. Right now, the system is a mess. Even though you know who is checking out the software, you're not quite sure how teachers are using the software. Begin... The Technophile:** What a wonderful thing the Internet is! Last night, you downloaded MP3 music via your high speed cable modem and burned it on a CD with your CD-Recorder. The school computer doesn't have the right software to do graphics editing, so you found the pirated version on the Web, downloaded it and installed it on your computer and everyone else's at your grade level. Now, all of you can work on the End of School Memory Project. Begin... [lots of stuff goes here but has been cut out]

Conclusion

When you're done discussing what you have learned, it is hoped that you will have understood the importance of copyright law and where you stand as an educator, as well as developed some strategies for adhering to copyright law and sharing your understanding with your peers and students.

Technology Related Assessments

mguhlin@gmail.com (Miguel Guhlin) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:36:03 PDT

Expecting people to complete technology related assessments--or assessments of any kind--can be daunting. Below is an email to accomplish that, addressed to campus principals:

Administrators and instructional staff play a pivotal role in determining how well technology is used in our schools. Acknowledging that role, No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) requires campus administrators to achieve acceptable performance on standards-based performance profiles of technology user skills as defined by the state. On April 14, 2009, achievement of this performance was mandated by the Texas Education Agency and deadline for completion is May 15, 2009.Reporting deadlines for NCLB also necessitate updating of LOTI information.

Two educator assessments are to be implemented, including 1) The NCLB Administrator Assessment for campus principals and 2) The Levels of Technology Implementation for classroom teachers. These electronic, paperless needs assessments provide critical data related to long range technology planning for [removed], as well as No Child Left Behind (NCLB) funding. Results of the two assessments will be shared with teachers, and aggregated at both the campus and district level through meetings with principals and campus instructional coordinators.

ASSESSMENT #1 - NCLB ADMINISTRATOR ASSESSMENT FOR CAMPUS PRINCIPALS Timeline for Completion is April 27- May 15, 2009.

The Administrator Self-Assessment will measure the administrator’s level of practice for each standard based on their selection as to the level that best describes their practice. Campus administrators may be defined as campus principals and assistant principals. Individual administrator assessment data will be held confidential.

The process is as follows; note that this assessment will not be available until April 27.

Go to [removed] and click on the STaR Chart Assessment graphic to begin the assessment. A tutorial will be available online at [removed]
Complete the Self-Assessment prior to May 15th.
Campus principals failing to complete the assessment by May 15th will be contacted to ensure 100% completion reporting status.

TEA mandates 100% completion of this assessment.

ASSESSMENT #2 - LOTI ASSESSMENT FOR CAMPUS TEACHERS, CICS, LIBRARIANS Timeline for Completion is April 21 - May 30, 2009.

The Levels of Technology Implementation (LOTI) Survey is a consistent set of measures that accurately reflect the progressive nature of teaching with technology. The LOTI survey has been employed nationally and internationally to assess tens of thousands of classroom teachers’ level of technology implementation. Completing the questionnaire will enable your school to make better choices regarding staff development and future technology purchases. It will also enable the District to respond to the questions “What impact is technology having on student academic achievement? How has technology funding for professional development changed teaching practices?”

Teachers will be expected to login with their Outlook email account name (e.g. if your email is “[removed]” then your LOTI login is “[removed]” and birth month/day (e.g. 1022 if you were born October 22).

So as to ensure smooth implementation, you are urged to put the following suggestions into practice:

The administration window for the needs assessment is April 21-May 30, 2009. The needs assessment is available online at [removed]
Identify the target audience of the assessment:
Who has to complete the assessment? Teachers, Campus Instructional Coordinators and Library Media Specialists will need to complete the LOTI Assessment.
Who does not have to complete the assessment? Counselors, nurses, paraeducators need not complete the LOTI Assessment.
Administer the needs assessment during Faculty Meeting time. It is a 15-20 minute survey. Since this needs assessment only takes 15-20 minutes to complete, and requires a computer per teacher, consider using computer stations in your computer lab(s) and library. The needs assessment can also be taken from any computer—on or off campus—with high-speed Internet access.
Encourage those uncomfortable with using technology to pair up with staff who are more comfortable. While each will take the assessment individually, they can also lend a helping hand.
It is important to note that this needs assessment may not be used for PDAS appraisal purposes. Only aggregated results will be available to principals, although teachers will be able to see their individual assessment totals.
Rely on campus technology representatives to facilitate all professional instructional staff to take the online assessment. Also be aware that you can rely on the Office of Instructional Technology Services’ staff. You can reach the [removed]

Deadline for Completion is May 30, 2009.
Should you have any questions, please contact [removed]

When Disaster Strikes--Maybe Not

mguhlin@gmail.com (Miguel Guhlin) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:32:19 PDT

During the swine flu scare, my secretary asked a question that set me on edge. "Miguel, some of the people using the computer lab downstairs are coming from district where there have been reported cases of swine flu. Should we be disinfecting the lab computers?" While the swine flu turned out to be not as bad as feared, at the time, it was clear something had to be done. To that end, to satisfy the perception of need, the following was sent to all campus principals:

Although there are currently no confirmed cases of Swine Flu in [removed] County and consequently no restrictions for the area, we understand there may be concerns related to disinfecting objects used by multiple people such as computer equipment.

As a preventative measure, we encourage all campuses to disinfect all computers as well as keyboards, mice, and headsets that see frequent use in our schools. An alcohol based disinfectant, such as Lysol disinfectant wipes, should be applied to all computer equipment at the end of every school day.

Below is a listing of general tips that should be taken when cleaning any of the components of a computer as well as tips to help keep a computer clean:

Never spray or squirt any type of liquid onto any computer component. If a spray is needed, spray the liquid onto a cloth and then use that cloth to rub down the component.

When cleaning a computer, turn it off before cleaning.

Never get any part inside the computer damp or wet.

When cleaning, be careful not to accidentally adjust any knobs or controls. In addition, when cleaning the back of the computer, if anything is plugged in, make sure not to disconnect any of the plugs.

Cleaning the computer helps to prevent the spreading of germs. Therefore, you are encouraged to disinfect all computer equipment at least once a day.
For additional information, please contact [removed].

How did your district handle it?

Reaching for the Heart: 5 Tips for School District Communications

mguhlin@gmail.com (Miguel Guhlin) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:26:30 PDT

...the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants is the liberty of appearing...It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry.

--Thomas Paine, author of Common Sense (1776)

"Jesus Figueroa tells trustees: 'My hair is not hurting anybody. My hair causes no students to be held back in their eduation.'" So reads the almost 140 character tweet sent by SA Express News writer, Michelle de la Rosa (http://twitter.com/mmdelarosa), who often covers local San Antonio school issues using Twitter.com, a social media tool. The challenge to Figueroa's long hair reaches a school district's school board (in San Antonio, Tx), only to see an eventual capitulation by that Board, "Unanimous board vote to grant Figueroa special dispensation from grooming policy. He gets to keep long hair and stay in regular classroom." (Read the rest of the story online at http://tinyurl.com/dfu7bp). Even if you cannot attend the Board Meeting, you are transported there, following electronic bread crumbs, or "tweets." Several districts, like Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD and Kerrville ISD, embraced the use of Twitter--a micro-blogging tool--during the alleged Swine Flu Epidemic (a list of Texas Twitterers appears online at http://mguhlin.wikispaces.com/txtwits). In the past, school districts have perceived media attention as invariably negative, rejoicing whenever positive stories can be had. Press releases, strategic presentations to special community groups and advocates are only a small part of what is possible. In fact, those approaches may even be superfluous to what is really possible with social media tools. Yet, time and again, school districts step back from encouraging their staff, students and parents from using social media. Failure to embrace these tools leaves school districts open to attacks, but times are changing--parents are fighting back using social media. "Activist parents now have," points out Dr. Scott McLeod, "a bevy of new tools and strategies to help facilitate their agendas and they are not afraid to use them. School organizations are going to have to get used to this new state of affairs in which parent activism and criticism are more public, permanent, and far-reaching." This article is about how school districts can use social media tools and connect with the global audience, circumventing the traditional media to get the real story out there. As such, this article focuses on 3 points and offers a few tips for using social media:

Refining our perception of what constitutes "Communications and PR" in a highly connected world
The power of story to unlock what makes your heart beat and overcome the Knowing-Doing Gap, which approaches the question of why knowledge of what needs to be done frequently fails to result in action. (Pfeffer and Sutton, The Knowing-Doing Gap, 2000 as cited in Dennis Sparks article, Reach for the Heart as Well as the Mind, online via free trial at http://tinyurl.com/m36a29).
How social media can be used to share your story.

REFINING OUR PERCEPTIONS AND ATTITUDES "Seek out change," advises a noted journalist, Jeff Jarvis. He goes on to point out that in addition to seeking out change, organizations need to find the opportunities in that change, as well as deal with the hard problems it brings instead of side-stepping them. In virtual space, if you're not sharing content, if you are silent, your absence signals your unwillingness to embrace the hard problems. In an online world, silence is failure. Our classrooms, our schools, our school districts are defined by the stories we tell about them. Traditional media spend little time on these positive stories. They are drawn to the conflict, the fear, and what constitutes the real story. And, their failure to recognize that the audience is no longer listening, but also, creating content that they are more apt to pay attention to using social media, has had a profound impact on newspaper sales. People know that they can find the truth that is real, authentic, openly shared and transparent via new venues. While staff freedom of expression via social media is tightly controlled by District Communication Departments because the stories aren't as positive as the slick flyer or press release says it is, muzzling the one group of advocates, who really know what is happening in schools, has severe consequences. Imagine the San Antonio, Tx district with a student with long hair. How could the school district have managed information sharing differently with the Community? To do the work of district communications requires a different attitude and/perspective. That's why in my school district, I have a page of videos (http://itls.saisd.net/lead)--created in spite of the teacher resistance that we are "tooting our own horn"--that describe some of our initiatives and celebrate student work. As an educator, I do not want my word to be the last word on what is going on in my school district. I want that last word to be spoken by an innovative teacher, a student's voice developing a project, a parent sharing what the work of education means to their child. As a citizen-journalist, as a person who has embraced social media as a way to share the exciting actions being taken by educators around me, I also see an important need for K-12 educators to tell "their" story, sharing what is happening at their schools, in their classrooms, in the offices, as openly and transparently as possible. My bias is that I believe that most educators live in fear of speaking up, fear of losing their jobs, being censured, being called into their supervisor's office or at Human Resources and asked, with the force of temporal power lurking behind each word, "So, tell us. What do you really believe and why should we continue to employ you if you're going to say this about us?" Instead, anyone with with the temerity to be transparent about the work they are doing should be celebrated and applauded. “Sharing is THE threat,” shared Mark Pesce at a recent conference (Source: http://tinyurl.com/6bgkj2). One of the key points of his talk was that in his ”honest and human act of sharing, any of the pretensions to control, the limitations, or power are revealed as completely collapsed and impotent.” As school district leaders struggle to lead, it is clear that though each of us has a phone that grants access to powerful, disruptive technologies, we choose not to use them. While students share ideas and information about everything under the sun, leaders are unable to have real conversations about critical issues. THE POWER OF STORY "All the education in the world is worthless," writes an 18 year old blogger at the A Boundless World blog (http://tinyurl.com/qt5a4q), "if you never unlock what makes your heart beat." He goes on to share in a must-read article about schools and education, that grades don't guarantee success. Instead, that passion, determination and positive attitude equal success. These are ideas that are emerging from the masses of K-12 and adult learners who work in our systems. Their expectations for what education, what school should be like, are changing dramatically from where we have been. That story of passion captures readers and raises a question for Communications Directors in school districts--if your readers have infinite choices available to access information, why would they want to read your dry, boring, canned version of what happened when they can sign on via a Twitter stream and read what happened as it happened with none of the gory details left out? These changing expectations have implications, not only for the educators that work or administer learning occurring in classrooms, but also for school district administrators who feel the pressure to represent change to a wider audience as positive, enabling, and encouraging. The problem is, press releases, powerpoint presentations to select groups, traditional media interviews that provide the video/sound byte that will be broadcast on YouTube...are often ineffective. At a TASA 2009 Midwinters Conference, the presenters of a workshop on using social media pointed out that, "Traditional communication tools have a limited life and as such are limited relationships. Even public meetings…a meeting tonight about school boundaries is limited to that room right there." (Listen to a podcast of this presentation here - http://tinyurl.com/blgljw). While the presenters have not achieved the pinnacle of social media control (which presents a paradox), transforming the underlying organization in ways that tap into the full power of social media, I applaud the way they’ve been transparent about their efforts. The question I’m left with isn't, “How can we can better navigate this process in school organizations?” but rather, how can we trust and empower our educational community to share the compelling stories that are a part of every day work? SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS - SPREADING THE CULTURE VIRUS "While you’ve been hiring consultants to create a slick corporate intranet, establishing policies about who gets to post what, and creating a chain of command to ensure that only appropriate and approved materials show up on your...home page," points out Seth Godin in his book Meatball Sundae, "your engineers, scientists, researchers -- ...even the marketing folks -- have been creating little Web sites for their own use." Meatball Sundae is a book I urge every school district communications staff member to read since it gets at the heart of the problem school districts face. You can't take advantage of social media unless you re-align your core approach to storytelling and sharing ideas/information to the new tools available. One way to accomplish that is to think of social media as a "culture virus," a term coined by Jim Stogdill in a presentation on open source software and government. Jim suggests that a culture virus has the potential to carry community, transparency, and collaboration across the various, traditionally impermeable boundaries - with community participation as the carrier. That is, the more you activate the community, the greater the spread of the virus. Why would you want to spread such a virus? The benefits to a school district would include culture emergence as "community participants find their perspectives, their worldviews and psychographic profiles spliced in with those community norms--things like transparency, collaboration, and a strong bias toward meaningful participation." While there are many social media tools available, here are some core ideas that can get you started in creating content that is engaging and will bring readers back. Think of the use of social media tools at all levels of your organization as a culture virus, a way to empower members to meaningfully participate in the work. Instead of three or four central office administrators trying to control what gets reported in your district, you have an army of people working 24 hours a day sharing what works, what doesn't, what's popular, what's not with a world. No matter what you do, this level of participation will get you noticed and may help bring shipwrecks to the light of day, while providing opportunities for organizational change. How does any organization achieve the change it desires so that new ideas (e.g. culture virus norms) aren't just being grafted onto an "old-world" thinking (e.g. school district adds a superintendent's blog to their site but it is authored by the communications director and the district lawyer, not the superintendent) organization? To begin sharing the culture virus, someone--preferably someone in a leadership position--has to embrace the fundamental principles of meaningful participation, increased collaboration and transparency. Then, you have to encourage the use of social media tools. Here are 5 tips for K-12 educators, communication professionals or not, inspired by Social Media Explorer similar blog entry:

Engage Your Audience with Your Content: Content that hasn't been prefabricated, is lifeless and written in third person, but is authentic, transparent, open about success as well as failure will be read by your constituents. Start with a story, including audio, video, avoiding being limited by one format or another (e.g. text, video, audio). Blend all of it in so that you reach more people through a media medium that they are interested in. The multimedia portions--audio and video--can be downloaded and put on iPods and MP3/MP4 players. What a great way for students, community members and staff to find out what is going on from others in their organization. At the risk of being imperfect, here is one example of a blog entry that tries to put some of these points into practice: http://tinyurl.com/lqkjdh and a more traditional eNewsletter approach - http://tinyurl.com/laxjao
Make Content Sharing Easy: Press releases on a web site just do not work anymore. Traditional web sites that can't be subscribed to using RSS feeds or that allow email subscription are dead sites. Many web users just aren't taking the time to come back to your site, instead preferring to subscribe to content that will come to them via Google Reader, Twitter.com updates to their phone, and more. Use a blog (e.g. Wordpress), and add plugins that make it easy for people to share your content with others. Some sharing tools include Delicious.com, Diigo.com, Digg.com, StumbleUpon.com, Facebook.com, and Twitter.com. If you're not familiar with these sites, then know that your audience may already be using them to share content about you that you may not like. The solution isn't to block those sites in schools, but to encourage their appropriate use. Most blog platforms and tools enable you to add easy to share/save tools. To get the result on the blog entry in the link shared in Engage Your Audience with Content, I used a Wordpress Plug in (a list appears here - http://tinyurl.com/queo9t) called Add to Any.
Create a Content Calendar: In your District, there are many wonderful things happening that your community wants to know about. Unfortunately, providing print copies of short articles via email or in print do not allow you to explore everything great that is happening and share it easily. However, online, you have an unlimited number of pages and a global audience. Why not create a content calendar that enables you to map out with a calendar what you will be sharing with others online?
Define and Build Relationships: While it may not be popular to follow your local news reporters via Twitter, it is critical that you do so. It is critical because you can raise their awareness by the engaging content that you are sharing about your school district. While they may want to focus on the negative, you can mitigate the effect of their tweets by building a relationship of trust and integrity through the stories you share about your district, your campus, and your classroom.
Make Offline Available Online: Every speaking engagement, each meeting is an opportunity to share your ideas. Avoid the mistake of creating content solely for online or offline audiences. When you create offline content--a conversation with parents at the morning coffee meet-n-mingle with the principal--take the time to write about it, maybe even debrief a parent in a one on one conversation. "What did you think about our morning coffee meeting? How did it impact you?" Take the time to share what you're doing online.

CONCLUSION In one of my favorite quotes, Clay Shirky shares (http://tinyurl.com/34a5ts) that "In high-freedom environments, people use social tools for fun. In low-freedom environments they use them for political action." Will you encourage your staff and students to learn how to appropriately use social media tools for fun, or will you be on the receiving end of their use? I suggest that many school districts today are feeling the brunt these tools because they are "low-freedom" environments. It's time to change. Shall we begin together?

Bearing Sad Tidings

mguhlin@gmail.com (Miguel Guhlin) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:21:43 PDT

Ever have something go wrong in your educational environment? If the answer is YES, then you may be struggling with how to write about the tough stuff. I've found the secret to sharing bad news involves:

Admitting what the problem is and how it came about. If it's your fault, then admit it as baldly and as plainly as possible. If you don't know why, say so. This is where you take responsibility.
Share what you did to fix the problem and what the resolution, if any, was.
What other options exist and what you can do to accomplish it.

Here's an example of a problem involving an Apple Blog/Wiki server. The problem is as simple as the wiki user group isn't showing up. Even if you don't know what a wiki is, you have to admit that this email is unambiguous in sharing the struggle with getting it to work. This email--and this involved a follow-up phone call--is addressed to the users of the wiki system who directly suffered the loss of data:

As two of the most active users of Apple wikis, I regret to inform you that we've run into a bit of a problem with the wikis you have created. I apologize for not responding to you about this issue sooner; I honestly thought I was on to a solution that when implemented would yield positive results. Since I appreciate the loss of significant information you had in your wikis, I've taken the liberty of copying my supervisor, [name removed], so that he will be aware of the challenges we face. BACKGROUND Sometime in the last week--you probably know exactly when better than I due to your usage--the wikis went offline. After researching the Apple web site and support area for wikis, as well as consulting with a colleague, it appears that this may be a bug in the Apple OS X Leopard Server. I do not know this exactly but it is my best guess after scouring the user support areas for wiki. While your wikis still exist and, the wikis refuse to appear in the list of groups. To try and restore the group user list, I've taken the following steps:
Consulted with [name removed], who no longer is employed with us but setup the server initially and is a certified Mac server person. His suggested fix did not work.
Consulted with the District's Technology Department staff as to what they could do to restore the wikis. Neither is comfortable enough with Mac Servers to provide the needed support to resolve this issue. I spoke to both of them last week about this issue specifically.
Spent several hours reading and reviewing solutions myself to trouble-shoot the wikis' disappearance, encountering other unanswered requests for help regarding the disappearance of the wikis on OS X Leopard Server after updates.
Worked with a Mac server administrator in another district to see what his opinions might be.
In short, I do not entertain any hopes of seeing your wikis come back to life in the next week or two. In fact, pessimistically, I would say they might not come back at all. That's worst case scenario. I will be making greater efforts to connect with other educators using Apple Wikis to see what they have done or if they've encountered this problem. Pursuing those leads may take us through what remains of the school year. SUMMATION At this time, I cannot recommend continuing with the wiki solution. As such, I recommend that you consider use of any one of the following solutions:
Use the wiki in your Moodle. While not as "open" as the Apple wiki, this solution can be easily supported.
Use Wikispaces.com. Advertising is removed for education users and they provide excellent, no-cost support. While I am leery of posting content on outside hosting providers, aside from Moodle wikis, I do not have another option to offer you at this time that is as easy or friendly as the Apple wiki.
Please accept my apologies for the inaccessibility of your existing data. Thank you for taking the time to read this short note.

In this email, you can see that the author followed the basic formula outlined at the beginning of this post. Have you written any communications that followed it as well?

Twitter - Educational Apps

mguhlin@gmail.com (Miguel Guhlin) — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 06:49:53 PDT

This past week, I found myself sharing Twitter as an educational app, a way to tap into the network of learners around the globe. Here are some of the Twitterapps that really caught my attention as usable in education while reading this fantastic wrap-up of the 25+ Incredibly Useful Twitter apps (I also have to point out that this is a great list article!):

Just Tweet It - It was created to make it easier for people using the popular micro-blogging service Twitter to find other “Tweeters” with similar interests. I can imagine sharing this with educators who are just starting out who need help finding other edubloggers.
Hashtag - Hashtags are an easy way to track a specific topic or event such as the San Diego Fires using the Twitter network. You can encourage people attending a conference or learning event to share what they're learning about and then track them all using hashtags.
TwitterMail - When you provide your Twitter credentials they supply you with a TwitterMail email address. For instance abcdef1234@twittermail.com. If you send an email to that address it will be posted to Twitter.com. Also you can receive your latest twitter-replies automatically by e-mail. This might be great for educators who live behind the "Berlin Wall;" you know, access is blocked by content filters in an effort to "protect" anyone from using the web inappropriately but with the more disastrous effect of preventing anyone from using it all. You can email your twitter updates out and receive them.
StrawPoll - Run your own poll on twitter with the new StrawPoll Platform, where you can use your own Twitter account to ask the questions you find interesting. Do your own surveys using Twitter...what a powerful way to get answers from your network of co-learners.
TweetBeep - TweetBeep is like Google Alerts for Twitter! Put in a keyword or website, and get emails when others tweet it! What a great way to tap into the conversation about education and reform without actually having to sit there and watch it happen as it happens.

Be sure to read 17 Ways to use Twitter and the Big Juicy Guide to Twitter (probably find out more than you ever wanted to know!)

Turning Up the H.E.A.T in 21st Century Classrooms

mguhlin@gmail.com (Miguel Guhlin) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 09:46:12 PDT

I love the writing in Dr. Moersch's LOTI Project: Targeting 21st Century Skills and Improved Student Achievement booklet, which replaces the traditional letter-size paper handouts. Dr. Moersch writes:

Many schools are inundated with curriculum initiatives, state mandates, and technology infusion programs designed to improve instruction and promote student academic success. The last thing they need is another new initiative to add to a litany of reform efforts. What makes LOTI Different? The difference is that LOTI (levels of teaching innovation) is designed to harness the power of your existing programs into one united effort to assess, plan, implement, and sustain a systems approach to improved student achievement using 21st Century teaching, learning and leadership.

You can also watch Chris share his perspective on this in the video below. What I like about the writing is that it appeals to educators who are overwhelmed by a barrage of initiatives (that often appear as separate and distinct from each other) can use the assess, plan, implement and sustain systems approach to make sense of it all. Seems simple, doesn't it? But in practice, it's far from it.

Click the image above to start watching Dr. Chris Moersch share about how to TURN UP THE H.E.A.T. with Levels of Technology Implementation. Kudos to Larry Stegall and Tonya Mills for their video recording and editing work!

HEAT is an acronym for...

HIGHER-ORDER THINKING

* Students taking notes only; no questions asked

* Student learning/questioning at knowledge level

* Student learning/questioning at comprehension level

* Student learning/questioning at application level

* Student learning/questioning at analysis level

* Student learning/questioning at synthesis/evaluation

ENGAGED LEARNING

* Students report what they have learned only.

* Students report what they have learned only; collaborate with others.

* Students given options to solve a problem

* Students given options to solve a problem; collaborate with others

* Students help define the task, the process, and the solution

* Students help define the task, the process, and the solution; collaborations extends beyond the classroom.

AUTHENTICITY

* The learning experience is missing or too vague to determine relevance.

* The learning experience represents a group of connected activities, but provides no real world application.

* The learning experience provides limited real world relevance, but does not apply the learning to a real world situation.

* The learning experience provides real world relevance and opportunity for students to apply their learning to a real world situation.

* The learning experience is directly relevant to students and involves creating a product that has a purpose beyond the classroom that directly impacts the students.

TECHNOLOGY USE

* No technology use is evident.

* Technology use is unrelated to the task.

* Technology use appears to be an add-on and is not needed for task-completion.

* Technology use is somewhat connected to task completion involving one or more applications

* Technology use is directly connected to task completion involving one or more applications.

* Technology use is directly connected and needed for task completion and students determine which application(s) would best address their needs.

5 Essential Technology Tools for Campus Administrators

mguhlin@gmail.com (Miguel Guhlin) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 17:23:06 PDT

Note: Only 3 essential tools are shared in this first installment of a three-part series.

“Miguel,” a superintendent in a district I was

visiting asked me, “could you develop a CD highlighting the top 5 technology tools to make a principal’s life easier?” I was flabbergasted. A CD? You mean, a compact disc? Who uses those anymore? The ubiquitous web makes it possible to access a wealth of online resources. Sure, a simple CD with free, open source tools would be useful, but there is so much you can do with free, online professional learning tools. As such, my response was simple:

5 Technology tools to make a principal’s life better are not CD—compact disc—based because they are not software. CD-based tech tools wouldn’t go far either since 99% of principals don’t have Active Directory installation rights. Yet, this list provides the opportunity for extended conversations.

But that kind of response does not go too far with a superintendent. You have to highlight solutions, not just counter with problems. Of course, one would want the content to be self-paced and enable administrators to work their way through it as their schedules permit. Here is a short list of topics that could be addressed in the context of a Moodle, which is a course management system. You could just as easily organize this in a wiki but Moodle makes it convenient because of the interactive questionnaire and discussion forums (View screenshot of Moodle).

Although each topic in the Moodle course I organized for the superintendent in question is a face to face class by itself, there are ways to accomplish this course online! You can actually preview one example of an Administrators’ Academy online (login as guest)!

Assessing Technology Implementation in Campus Classrooms
Building Interactivity into Your SlideShow Presentations
Surveys, Forms, and Spreadsheets - Data Collection Made Easy, and, though it’s beyond the scope of this month’s article, these additional items:
Putting Your Best Foot Forward, Online with Blogging and Podcasting
Facilitating Online Learning Conversations with Moodle

Although there are many more technology-related tools that administrators could use, these are some of the ones I have found most useful for campus administrators.

Let’s explore these briefly below:

1 - Assessing Technology Implementation in Campus Classrooms

“Is it possible,” asked the superintendent in my story, “to put together an assessment our principals could take so that we could identify other areas for professional development?” There are a variety of technology assessments that could be used with administrators. Although I definitely endorse the use of Dr. Chris Moersch’s Levels of Technology Implementation (or, the new name which is the Levels of Teacher Innovation), sometimes it is necessary to accomplish your own assessment within the District. Many school districts are forced to report on this data due to No Child Left Behind (NCLB) funds that they use in their district. For the description in the Moodle, I wrote the following:

This short assessment will help you gain insight into areas of strength and weakness, and enable you to better determine what professional learning opportunities you can seek out in the future. It will also help the District prioritize and customize professional learning for you.

For the purposes of the district in question, I adapted a sample technology self-assessment tool from Massachusetts and embedded it—with a few minor modifications—in a Moodle using the Questionnaire module. The Questionnaire module makes it easy to share surveys with staff and collect data, then view that data in graphical format. For example, here is a screenshot of the Massachusetts questions and responses (only 1 just so you get a feel for what it looks like):

In this case, it is important that administrators learn that they can use in-house district tools to gather information. However, it is a simple matter to use other tools as well to collect information. Finding the right assessment is also a matter of finding one that is valid and reliable, not just a series of questions designed by a committee. In those situations, only the LOTI Assessment will do.

2 - Building Interactivity into Your SlideShow Presentations

“How did you add audio to your presentation?” is a question that I often get now when I share narrated presentations with administrators. There are several ways to accomplish that, however, I like to share my favorite top 3 solutions according to degree of difficulty. They all work in essentially the same way: a) You send them your presentation; b) You add audio to your presentation if possible; c) You share the “embed” code on a web page so that the slideshow will play on your campus or district web page.

VoiceThread.com - This is my favorite, free tool to share. VoiceThread enables your viewers to add audio, video and text of their own. What a fantastic way to recognize the work that is being done, and invite recognition of that work done by your staff by others! When working with campus administrators, be sure to share the VoiceThreads4Education.wikispaces.com web site with them. There are a few examples of administrators at the district and campus level sharing their presentations.
MyPlick.com - This is a wonderful tool that allows you to upload your Powerpoint presentation, then, if you have it, send in audio you have recorded. When working with the presentation, you listen to your audio and advance the slide show at the appropriate moment. When you are done, MyPlick actually remembers and when played by a visitor, plays the audio in sync with your presentation slides. Amazing! (Thanks to Steve Dembo at http://teach42.com for this tip!).
Slideshare.net - This is another slideshow sharing tool that I use with great frequency. You can also add audio to Slideshare so that it works in a similar way to MyPlick.com.

There are various other tools available but this is a short list of some great ones.

3 - Surveys, Forms, and Spreadsheets - Data Collection Made Easy

Ever had to collect a lot of information from campuses, wanted to do it electronically but instead ended up with lots of emails flying back and forth with Word or Excel spreadsheet documents attached? And then, someone has to put it all together some way or another? Skip that.

You’ve probably already heard of GoogleDocs and it’s built-in spreadsheet function. You make a spreadsheet, GoogleDocs takes your column headings and makes a form that people can fill out online. When you view the data, it’s already arranged in a spreadsheet. You just send out the web page link to the form, and people fill it out. It once was incredibly difficult for non-techies to do this but now it is very easy, so easy that students are learning how to do it all around the world.

To facilitate your creation of GoogleDocs for information-gathering, set up a GoogleDocs area just for your District’s use. Campus administrators love it because setting up a spreadsheet is something they know how to do, and turning that into a form people can fill out is a cinch with GoogleDocs. One thing you should avoid using GoogleDocs—or any online tool that your District does not host on their own servers—is secure, confidential data. But most of the data campus/district administrators collect is not confidential.

Here is one example of a district using GoogleDocs (login as guest) to collect information. Note the two videos at the top of the page give you an overview of GoogleDocs and how it can be used in K-12 education by students and staff. How to get started and what success looks like:

GoogleDocs enables you to turn your new spreadsheet into a web-based form others can fill out. All data submitted goes straight into your spreadsheet, which you can work with online or export as an Excel spreadsheet, HTML document, PDF, etc. And, you can make all of these formats available as the results for your participants!
- Examples #1 - TechSalaries: What should your tech director be making?

If you do not want to use Moodle and the Questionnaire Module, consider these 10 alternative online poll/survey sites you can take advantage of, all at no-cost:

Poll Daddy - http://www.polldaddy.com/
Cool Web Toys - http://www.coolwebtoys.com/
Vizu.com - http://vizu.com/
Blogflux - http://www.blogflux.com/
Quimble - http://quimble.com/
SurveyMonkey - http://www.surveymonkey.com/
Zoomerang - http://info.zoomerang.com/
Survey Gizmo - http://www.surveygizmo.com/
Ballot-Box - http://www.ballot-box.net/
Easy Poll - http://www.easy-poll.com/

Collecting information via the Web has never been easier! Make sure your campus administrators know how to do this.

Conclusion

As you can probably surmise, organizing this content in a Moodle makes it easy to track campus administrator participation, as well as to stay in contact with them. I hope you will take a moment to share your top technology tools for administrators with me via my blog at Around the Corner-MGuhlin.net for inclusion in next month’s installment of this article.

Broadcast Learning: The Power of Network Learning

mguhlin@gmail.com (Miguel Guhlin) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 17:17:16 PDT

What if you could broadcast learning at will via the Internet to a world of learners? How would that change your conception of learning? What if you could interact with people, not only face to face in your workshop, but also halfway around the world? What if your workshop participants could participate in a conversation with those other virtual participants, all of them discussing the broadcast learning going on? Pretty exciting, no? I still remember my first exposure to broadcast learning technologies now available via the Internet. The power of pro-sumers, individuals who create as well as consume...but we might call them "prolearners," as Vicki Davis suggests, instead, as learners who not only are docile consumers of knowledge, but also, active creators of it.

Image: FlashMeeting screenshot with Paul Harrington in the foreground.

My adventure began quite simply one day at work. On October 11, 2008, I had the opportunity to "sit-in" on Vicki Davis' UStream session on Wikis (http://k12wiki.wikispaces.com). The session was announced via Twitter (http://twitter.com/mguhlin), an instant messaging tool that allows you to follow what hundreds of others--in my case, educators--are doing. Someone shared the link and I was off to see this new broadcast learning technology. It was a lot of fun listening in on her workshop. I got a real sense of being there, even though the only person I could see was Vicki. Sometimes she was on screen, sometimes she wasn't. I also had fun tracking the backchannel conversation going on; the backchannel was a conversation about Vicki's presentation available via Twitter. According to Wikipedia, Twitter is a...

...free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send "updates" (or "tweets"; text-based posts, up to 140 characters long) to the Twitter website, via short message service, instant messaging, or a third-party application such as Twitterrific. Updates are displayed on the user's profile page and instantly delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. The sender can restrict delivery to those in his or her circle of friends (delivery to everyone is the default). Users can receive updates via the Twitter website, instant messaging, SMS, RSS, email or through an application.

My second experience came the next day when I attended a workshop. Attending a workshop for Texas educational technology coordinators in Fall, 2007, I decided to flip my computer around, aiming the built-in video camera directly at the speaker, the State Educational Technology Director for Texas. I announced the availability of the presentation on the email list for the technology coordinators group, and immediately, participants from hundreds of miles jumped in to listen and chat about what was going on. My next experience enabled me to broadcast a spotlight speaking presentation with a colleague (Wes Fryer, SpeedofCreativity.org). Though we had a packed room of educators, we had a worldwide audience waiting to not only receive, but give back, to share their knowledge on the topic.

This is the world our children have at their fingertips...this article presents a few solutions you can use at little or no cost in your school district. Others have recently proven the value of broadcast learning at local conferences that took on an international flavor, such as EduCon 2.0 and the Colorado Learning 2.0 Conference. Another notable example includes thousands of students from around the world listening to Pulitzer Prize winning author sharing about George Washington, the United States' first President and Commander-in-Chief.

TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS FOR EDUCATION

Broadcast learning sounds so one-way, so uni-directional. Yet, the truth is that the learning IS interactive and multi-directional. There are a variety of tools available for use, most of them involving access to a computer that has built-in video camera and a microphone. In minutes, you can be broadcasting, even via wireless connection, to a worldwide audience. Two types of tools exist; those hosted by third party providers and those that you host yourself on your own server. For the purposes of this article, we will focus on solutions that are available at no cost. There are expensive solutions, yet these are often eschewed in the educational community because of their expense.

Free hosted solutions include the following, of which UStream.tv is the clear winner. I'm not going to discuss all the options because only the first two are appropriate for K-16 education (although educators are encouraged to carefully consider the use of these technologies, preview them prior to use to ensure avoidance of adult topics with youngsters).

UStream.tv - This is the top pick of free hosted solutions because the creators are making an intentional effort to capture the attention of educators and encouraging educator uses. Often hosted solutions--because of their broad appeal--allow anyone to put content online. Often the content can be inappropriate. UStream.tv also allows downloading of recorded video in popular video formats, such as FLV, WMV, MP4 and MOV. Concerned about others viewing the video? You can restrict your viewers to only those you invite, essentially creating your own live interactive video broadcasting platform.
E2BN FlashMeeting - FlashMeeting is based on Adobe Flash and requires pre-booking. It works quite well, as I once had the opportunity to observe a presentation from Teachmeet in Scotland. One person speaks (e.g. broadcasts) at a time, while others contribute using text chat, a whiteboard while waiting for their turn to speak. It is less spontaneous than UStream.tv since events must be scheduled but may be an option for those for whom UStream.tv is unavailable.

Other less education-friendly interactive video platforms include Blip.tv, Kyte.tv, and Operator11. Of course, you can always opt for a commercial solution such as Wimba.com, Elluminate.com, Persony.com, and Yugma.com (check out this handy comparison chart from NERCOMP, sent to me via Twitter.com/cmduke for some commercial solutions). However, educators often lack the funding for these types of solutions. If free and/or commercial, web-based hosted solutions like those mentioned above are not an option in your District--for whatever the reason, such as the desire to create a walled garden approach--you can also setup your own solution using free, open source solutions. As mentioned in a previous article, you will want to setup a server that can handle Moodle course management software. Once you have your Moodle server setup, you will want to use DimDim. It bills itself as a browser-based web 2.0 service that allows anybody to share their desktop, show slides, as well as talk, listen, chat, and broadcast via webcam.

TALES FROM THE FIELD: LARGE URBAN SCHOOL DISTRICT

Working in a public school district where school closings due to budget shortfalls are now a reality, while at the same time trying to avoid embarrassing situations, I encouraged my team of education technologists to consider 3 different solutions for use on our network. Those solutions included 1) FlashMeeting; 2) UStream.tv; and 3) Moodle with DimDim installed. FlashMeeting, although it worked for us, turned out to be cumbersome due to the lack of spontaneity of learning. UStream.tv was still to wild a technology that could be used inappropriately by students and others, even though we had excellent examples of how it was being used. I still recommend UStream.tv's use at conferences and workshops as an easy way to broadcast and engage learners. However, the solution may encounter some obstacles in K-12 environment. Moodle with DimDim was one solution that actually worked on our network, allowing us control over the content. We were able to hold meetings online with chat component, not unlike UStream.tv.

CLOSING POINTS

Broadcast learning has quickly become a reality. Simple lectures can easily be converted to powerful opportunities for engaging learners. Carefully consider integrating these technologies into professional learning approaches in use in your school. Some quick tips on implementation include the following: 1) Encourage the workshop facilitator/speaker to actively use built-in chat technologies, or Twitter, as a way of keeping in touch with the audience. This "backchannel" conversation can yield important insights into the speaker's content, and allow learners to move from "sit-n-get" to prolearners (professional learners who create as well as consume learning); 2) Assign a moderator that will serve as the liason from the audience at-large to the presenter/speaker. Like a National Public Radio Press Club meeting, questions and contributions are collected by key staff and shared with the speaker. This minimizes the distractions the speaker will have to endure.

CONCLUSION

Learning at a distance can be powerful. As technology directors, our goal is to facilitate learning that goes beyond passive consumption of content to active engagement, the development of creative, collaborative learning that connects learning opportunities with creative contributions by learners. Interactive video platforms like UStream.tv and other technologies that allow us to connect with each other can help us tap into the power of networked learning.

About the Author

As director of instructional technology for a large urban district in Texas, past president of the state-wide Technology Education Coordinators group in one of the largest U.S. technology educator organizations (TCEA), Miguel Guhlin continues to model the use of emerging technologies in schools. You can read his published writing or engage him in conversation via his blog at Around the Corner.

mguhlin@gmail.com (Miguel Guhlin) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 17:15:19 PDT

How To Manage Your District's Learning Opportunities

by Miguel Guhlin

Source: Leigh Blackall

"Your support in Technology," shared the Human Resources Associate Superintendent in an email, "is the reason that we are able to realize these initiatives. Thanks so much for your help." Of course, she was referring to the Clerical Assessment Battery (CAB), a screening program for new job applicants to the District. It's implementation would save the Human Resources Department time in assessing clerical job applicants.

Development of the CAB module—using Adobe’s Captivate program—took 3 weeks and half dozen meetings with the Human Resources Department. The program was developed and deployed within our school district's learning management system. Since deployment of the CAB, my district has partnered with PBS TeacherLine to license and re-deliver an electronic graphic organizer course. Teachers login into the learning management system--which we call ePath--and participate in a facilitated 100% online course. The course is taught through the use of a course management system; the system we use is the free, open source CMS known as Moodle.

When we announced the course, two days later, the course had 59 teachers registered and registration requests continued to pour in. The enthusiasm for online courses that don't require a physical, face to face meeting is palpable in districts where there time is lacking.

Using NCLB Title 2, Part D funds, my district will be investing in InfoSource and PBS TeacherLine courses. The InfoSource provider provides teachers and administrators with access to ISTE National Education Technology Standards (NETS) aligned content. The benefit is that teachers can work their way through the content 100% online, checking in with a district facilitator only when they encounter problems. After completing an assessment, a feedback form on the workshop, they are granted a certificate for successful completion and earn professional learning hours. All of this is handled 100% online via the District's Learning Management System.

School districts need to be able to provide and manage consistent professional learning opportunities that are scalable, platform independent (web-based), as well as allow for interface with your district's data warehouse and other systems. When considering how to manage your district's precious learning opportunities, you need to give thought to several questions:

Knowing that everyone needs to participate in professional learning, how do you currently manage that?
How are you going to help people understand the benefits of managing your district's learning opportunities?
How will the learning management system you select help your end-users manage their own learning?
What online content can you find, or develop, that will meet the needs of your learning community?
How do you get started?

It is with that last question in mind that we will begin.

How do you get started?

In my school district, it took three tries to "sell" the idea of a learning management system. The superintendent at the time could not understand how a learning management system could transform how professional learning opportunities were handled in the District. Imagine every department in your district, each with multiple secretaries managing paper sign-in sheets, faxed registration forms, payroll for workshops...a nightmare of wasted time and paper. Yet, that was the reality in my district before I proposed--with other directors--acquisition of a learning management system.

An LMS can manage professional development at the regional, district, and campus level. While a web-based, database-backed system might work well within an area that has the "techies" to support it, what about sharing it with other departments? Departments such as Human Resources, Transportation, and, especially, Curriculum & Instruction, also have a need for managing professional learning. In fact, the Food Services Department with 500 cafeteria workers, nurses, counselors, district police, and bus drivers were traditionally left out of professional learning opportunities. Or, worse, included but left to fend for themselves when it came to tracking and providing reports.

With Federal Program evaluation reports expecting hard numbers as to how many staff participate in professional learning, would it not be nice to have that data at hand rather than make rough estimates?

How are you going to help people understand the benefits of managing your district's learning opportunities?

It is critical that you bring as many stakeholders to the table to discuss how they manage professional learning. In my district, when I brought the secretaries together, it was obvious to them that the District was completely disorganized, that errors were being made, and they were desperate for a solution. However, bring these problems up to the directors of each department, and you would see shocked faces. Since they were dis-engaged from the daily, grueling work of tracking hundreds of pieces of paper per secretary, they had no idea what was happening.

In addition to "putting the skunk on the table," it's also critical to calculate how much time and money is spent by staff on the current system--and how many staff that actually affects. If your district is spending thousands of person-hours on managing paper, each staff member creating their own tracking and certificate issuing system, couldn't that money be better spent on a system that uniformly addresses all the issues?

LMS Key Components

Administration/Management/Support

Centralized Program Information
Centralized Scheduling
Easy management of educational resources
Assessment of Learning Effectiveness
Easy addition and management of learner portfolio components
Ease of tracking external professional development offerings (such as in-house, off the shelf, customized solutions)
Login/Password access when appropriate
Online forum/support for synchronous/asynchronous courseware
Automatic Emailed Confirmation of registration, changes in status or courses
Interface with external professional development components and SCORM compliant
Interface with course management system (e.g. Moodle)
Interface with broadcast learning tools (e.g. Wimba)
Professional development for administrators and sharing best practices in using a Learning Management System

Pre-Curriculum/ Staff Needs Assessment/ Skill Gap Analysis

Registration & Payment
Tracks progress of the learner through a program of study
Forum for learner collaboration
Displays web-based Course Catalogs and allows for print versions

Curriculum

Provides tracking of synchronous/asynchronous professional development components
Provides for synchronous professional development models
Allows participants to see where they are, what they are registered for, as well as how much they have completed in relation to their goals.

Managing Your Own Learning

"How can I better manage staff who need professional learning to improve?" asked one principal. "I wish I could highlight an area of need in a staff member's armor and then assign professional learning to help them."

To facilitate this manage your own learning approach, consider the following essential elements of a learning management system:

Support for the creation of multiple professional learning paths, also known as a "learning paths," that different positions can follow. Depending on the complexity of your organization, how wide an implementation you choose to make this, it should be straightforward to create learning paths for your staff. For new teachers, a learning path might include sexual harassment training, discipline training, lesson planning, information problem-solving strategies, and then a wide range of choices. For principals, the learning path might include the teacher options as well as how to assess the level of technology implementation (LOTI), STaR Chart, and getting along with your superintendent.

It is also important that the system allows staff to be a member of multiple learning paths based on there specific job requirements. A principal would be assigned the generic principal's learning path whereas a new principal would be a member of this learning path as well as a new employee learning path established by Human Resources.

Online registration and certificate tracking: At its heart, a LMS is a database that should allow online workshop registration, setting up of classes, tracking of student participation, as well as administration of classes and workshop content. It should be expected that workshop participants and facilitators are automatically contacted regarding the status of a particular workshop. Also, participants should be able to un-enroll from a workshop given time but prevent un-enrolling to foil attendance tracking.
Report Generation: As a principal or department head, or even superintendent, getting an email outlining how many staff have completed a particular strand of training is critical to implementation of a new district initiative.

What online content can you find, or develop, that will meet the needs of your learning community?

In the first two years of implementation, my district was grateful for a comprehensive professional learning solution that could be shared with other district departments. However, eventually, I started to wonder, How can we provide 100%, anytime/anywhere learning opportunities to staff? Of course, the way to accomplish that is to purchase content. And, purchasing content can often be less expensive than developing your own.

Some essential elements of online content to consider:

Content-Design: It is also important that a district's workshop session facilitators be able to add content to the LMS. The more flexible an LMS is in allowing the addition of external content, the better. The LMS should also be forgiving if the content added isn't necessarily SCORM compliant.Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) makes it possible for online content providers to create and share their content modules with learning management systems. SCORM is the standard, although there are others. Find out more about SCORM at Source: Got SCORM?.

Some learning management systems provide access to custom curriculum development tools, while others require that you build your own and make these items SCORM compliant. A hidden cost of a learning management system implementation is the development of content.

If one considers the cost of developing content, you could easily see a $50,000 cost for development in a variety of areas, for example, Human Resources. Each department might want to invest in a staff member who would serve as an LMS content developer. This content developer would have to be familiar with high-end tools, be able to script video clips, and work with a variety of formats.

While some districts might want to move this into the domain of Instructional Technology, should the cost, time and effort involved be the responsibility of one department or multiple? What approach your district might choose to take, it is clear that having a content development team is important as we look to web-delivered options to meet the increased demand of training EVERY staff member. After visiting one school district, one IT director decided it would be worthwhile to develop her staff's skills in how to develop online professional development modules.

One district in a large Texas city paid $50,000 to develop a module. The vendor worked with the district on a module for new staff entering the district. Since the bandwidth of the district isn't robust enough, the content is saved to CD-ROM. The district pays $2 per user for content it helped develop but a vendor content development team put together.

The question that comes to mind is, Do you really want to spend $50,000 per module when you could invest the funding in your own staff? The home-grown solution is always best, at least, until the staff are offered a higher paying job in the district next door.

Support for Multiple Course Formats and Assessments: A learning management system should provide support for multiple course formats including instructor-led, web-based, and other external approaches to course implementation. A key feature of a learning management system is its ability to track how staff development occurs, as well as assess growth. Assessment can take place in a variety of ways, either through the documentation of the addition of evidence to a session participant's portfolio, a multiple-choice or true-false quiz, or completion of an electronic tutorial.

To Host Your Own Solution or Not

Let me be brief--I do not recommend hosting your own solution. And, while this is not a comprehensive list of features you should look for in a Learning Management System (refer to KEY COMPONENTS), one last element you should look for is whether the solution can be purchased and hosted on your own servers, or whether it will need to be hosted on the LMS parent company's servers.

Choose to host--or not--and you affect the long-term price of your solution (might cost more to start-up but be less over the long-run as you pay maintenance fees rather than hosting fees). With a learning management system, it is easier to let the vendor host their own product, while the school district hosts its own content (e.g. video, audio, documents).

In an increasingly inter-connected environment, if you are going to use content from online content providers (e.g. InfoSource, Element K, PBS TeacherLine), make sure that your contract has provisions for working with your learning management system (and make sure your LMS vendor is on board from the start). Also, be careful to avoid content providers who lack an interface to your learning management system. While these providers may have great content, you are taking a step backward if you purchase their services without being able to track your staff's learning efforts.

Some Learning Management Systems have relationships with content-providers--such as Element K and Books 24/7--that grant users access to an almost limitless supply of online courses, tutorials and books. Want to learn how to use Adobe's Creative Suite? Not a problem, the courses and textbooks you would use are online. Yet, the increased benefits of having these resources may impede successful hosting of the solution on district servers.

Another consideration is that you may not have the MySQL, MS SQL--or other database--database administrator you need to successfully manage the solution. The cost of hosting your own solution is prohibitive, and even if you were to choose a lower-end LMS, you might sacrifice access to content.

Selecting the LMS

Making the right decision depends on several factors. The first is the technology infrastructure your district has. The second is the content the LMS has pre-packaged for you as well as the ease with which you can add your own content to the LMS. The third is the LMS's flexibility in delivering the content, and administration of the program.

The more third-party content an LMS has, the more likely you'll pursue a vendor-hosted solution with re-occurring costs depending on the number of users. Cost estimates for LMS with over 1800+ hours of online courses, and supporting up to 5000 users are in the $30K-$40K range. You could probably get a barebones LMS for $25,000. While this seems expensive, these solutions allow you to manage your district's professional development--not just IT or HR, but ALL of staff development that takes place in the district.

Similar costs for solutions that you host yourself might be in the $250K start-up range with re-occurring costs of $40,000 per year, all depending on the hardware and software you have available to host the solution.

Making the right decision about choosing a learning management system is really about finding the LMS with the right content that meets your district's needs. It's also about investigating how much of an investment you're willing to make in regards to content development.

Since a learning management system affects everyone in your district at a variety of levels--supervisors, employees, department heads, and those responsible for content development and delivery, it will be important to get approval, support and funding from all stakeholders.

You will also need to ask a few other follow-up questions. The key during implementation is buy-in from the superintendent and other central office staff; it cannot just be one department pushing it out to staff.

Some other steps you might consider taking:

Establish an implementation timeline.
Integrate the learning management system with existing information systems, especially Human Resources.
Develop learning paths and match learners to their appropriate path.
Acquire, develop, and/or link to learning resources.
Select appropriate technologies to deliver learning.
Require accountability and incentive systems to ensure learning.
Create and manage the learning content.
Analyze the return on investment.

Learning management systems certainly offer a lot. But, is K-12 ready for them? What is the return on investment? In my district, the return on investment question goes before the School Board soon.

Although my district has about 54,000 students, 9000 employees, and will have to pay an annual cost of $47,000 for its learning management system, the cost is worth every penny. When you consider how much time is spent by countless staff working through the paperwork, it's clear that schools are well-served by learning management systems.

School districts work hard to train their staff in multiple areas but may not know simple answers to questions such as the following:

how many people have been trained;
what training have they received; and
was that training effective?
how much time was spent in online professional learning vs face to face meetings?

Without answers to these questions it is difficult to plan and staff appropriately and respond to staff needs. A well-implemented and maintained LMS will help provide the answers to these questions and keep school districts working together and moving in the right direction.

About the Author

Request for Proposal Guidelines

The following is a recommended--albeit not complete--list of considerations for a learning management system. While a request for proposal should be carefully developed by your district's purchasing department, it is hoped that these guidelines aid your development of an RFP.

System Requirements

The system specified must have an architecture that supports scaling to (NUMBER_OF_STAFF_IN_YOUR_DISTRICT).
The system(s) specified must support YOUR DISTRICT'S STUDENT INFORMATION SYSTEM used by the District.
The system is web-based.
The system includes secure, encrypted web-based access for staff.
The system(s) specified must be able to connect Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) data sources.
The system allows for the local hosting of the data and the LMS application.
The system provides data import and export capabilities in non-proprietary formats (e.g. CSV)
Application provides for the import of pre-existing staff development schedules and staff data.
Application offers an interface with other external professional development components and existing third-party proposer software applications.
Application provides sharable content object reference model (SCORM) or web standards compliance, as well as allowing the easy addition of non-SCORM compliant resources (e.g. multimedia presentations, web pages, video clips in Flash,AVI,WMV, MOV,MP4 formats).
Comprehensive documentation, both hardcopy or PDF, and online help, containing program features and software support.
Technical support hotline is available from 8:00am-5:00PM, Monday through Friday.
Technical support hotline is available through a toll-free telephone number.
An after-hours technical support point of contact is available for urgent situations.
The system supports web-based access for retrieval and input with web component running on Microsoft Internet Information Server or Apache web server.
Application is password protected using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) security.
The system is designed and coded to be 100%, 32-bit client/server.
The system must support and allow the use of convention Cut/Copy & Paste functions, with or without the use of a mouse.
The system must not require specialized in-house maintenance, operating personnel, or network engineers.
The system must implement a "plug-n-play" method of installing only the desired module(s).
The system must be fully integrated, with all modules sharing a common database.
The software must be able to execute on and take advantage of, i.e. make use of all available processors, on a multiprocessor server.
System is Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF) compliant.
System provides an audit trail of all data changes.
A printable or exportable audit trail report is available of all data changes.

Application Features

The system(s) specified must allow the establishment of learning paths that school district staff can follow.
The system(s) specified must provide a multi-level approval path for approving course request (e.g. Faculty member requests a course, principal is the fist level of approval, area superintendent is the second level, etc. until final approval).
Application will provide the ability to determine, in summary fashion, daily attendance for a multi-day class, e.g. 3-day class, some individuals only attend two of the three days. This information is needed in a report and data file format.
Application will not allow entry into a course, when the maximum number of students in a call is reached, except by manual override.
Application provides automatic and manual scheduling of staff development requests in accordance with course offerings.
The system provides for automatic notfication of staff development session status.
The system provides assessment and reporting tools for staff development offered.
The application's printing module provides for pagination of all printed materials.
The system provides for automatic notification of staff development session status.
Application provides for centralized administration and management, as well as scheduling.
Application provides--or allows for interfacing with--an online forum (e.g. Moodle) for synchronous/asynchronous courseware.
Application provides for displaying web-based catalogs and printer version.
Application provides class data by participant's name or number in a viewable or printable format.
Application allows participants to see where they are, what they are registered for, and how much they have completed in relation to their learning path goals.
Application allows for facilitation and tracking of face to face and virtual sessions.
Application provides for email notification of cancellations, scheduled reminders of upcoming staff development, and other user-defined events.
This application supports alpha, numeric, and special character grades, within the same system.
The program screens are customizable with the District logo.
The system must include access to setup options for all modules in one common setup screen, no matter which modules are installed.
The system must allow the user to access the participant maintenance module without leaving the grade reporting area, or existing the main system.
The system must allow the ability to search for participant by name, ID, or employee #.
The system must provide participant demographic information.

Printing Capabilities

The system has the ability to print all reports in black and white.
The system must have the ability to print all reports to a printer or to an ASCII file.
The system must allow reports to be customized, selecting only the data elements needed, and excluding others.
Reports are customizable with the District logo.
The system must allow the user to sort printouts by name range, data range or course range.
The system must allow the user to enter/modify the headings on reports.
The system has the ability to pull all certifications for a student.
The system is capable of creating PDF files.

Proposer Services

The proposer will provide best practice approach(e) for varied implementations and applications.
The proposer will provide an evaluation design for measuring implementation integration and use.
The proposer will outline an implementation plan.
The proposer will outline a District advertising plan for LMS.

Written Responses Required

What kind of infrastructure is required in the District for your product to operate successfully?
What is the minimum available network bandwidth for your product to operate?
What operating system requirements are mandated by your application for Intel-based computers?
What are your system's browser requirements?
How many simultaneous connections can the LMS support?
Is the product server-based?
How is management of user accounts handled?
Can the District use a 3rd party reporting tool to query the product databases?
Can participants search for specific learning resources?
Can participants register themselves?
How do participants know if a class is available and if their registration request is accepted?
Can participants monitor their own progress from a self-service interface or central page to see where they stand in regards to training?
Is there an easy to add external documents to the participant portfolio?
Can system access be based on organizational hierachies?
Does your product provide a facility for pre-training and post-training assessment?
Can your product be used to maintain the mapping of skills to jobs and competencies to training?
When using these mappings, can your product identify skill gaps?
Will your product record and track various professional certifications?
Can the catalog mix online with instructor led training?
How are instructors added to the system?
How are facilities (training locations) added to the system?
Does your application automatically identify conflicts and issue warning notifications to participants? Administrators?
How many standard (pre-defined) reports are available within the application?
Will the District have the right to reprint all manuals/training materials associated with this system without additional cost to the District?

The CTO Challenge: Building Your Personal Learning Network

mguhlin@gmail.com (Miguel Guhlin) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 17:16:16 PDT

As a Chief Technology Officer, or director of technology, one of the toughest challenges you face isn't keeping up with the technology, but rather, understanding how to leverage it for your organization. Often, we are limited by the experiences that serve as "learning experiences." As a learner in the21st Century, this isn't about learning as a special event that is bound by time and place. You don't just learn when sitting in a meeting, or when you're at a conference or from 8:00 to 3:30 PM when school is in session. Now, you have the potential to tap into the flow of

conversation, a web-based learning ecology that you can learn from 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

As someone who awoke to this just a short two years ago, I am continually astonished at the rapidity of change. In fact, I had my first--and so far, only--panic attack in July, 2005 driving down the highway to work as I realized that the world is changing faster than I can keep up. The only way to respond to a panic attack is to seize control, to realize that I have some measure of control over how I react to rapid, tectonic paradigm-shifts that inflict terror because they transform the world around us. Not feeling it, huh? Well, that means you haven't looked over the edge and seen it looking back at you.

The only way to deal with this challenge to our particular approaching to learning--aside from ignoring it completely, which is about as effective as ignoring an oncoming truck when you're crossing the street--is to seize the steering wheel and create our own learning network. As a technology director, people look to you to model learning new technologies. Are you taking advantage of all the resources you can to streamline the often messy learning process?

Why jump in?

Christopher Parsons shares that we need to do 4 things with the content we encounter. It's an overwhelming amount of unorganized content, often content that may be useful in the future but we won't know that until we encounter the situation we need it for. This content would otherwise be thrown away or filed away in a way that would not be useful--such as paper notes, in our email or computer's bookmarks and then forgotten. As we try to make sense of this barrage of content--information, ideas, tips and how-to's, and personal information--Chris shares we need to do the following at light-speed:

Read - Read/watch/listen to the entirety of the content that you are presented with.
Evaluate - Consider what the content meant to you, and whether or not it was a source of information that intuitively seemed appropriate/acceptable for the task at hand.
Critique - Moving beyond evaluate, seriously reflect on the material and form your own opinion of the material.
Write - Share your critique with others, so that they can engage with you and the original content to develop a cohesive knowledge-product.

In the past, reading, evaluating and critiquing were done to different degrees by each of us. As a literate society, especially one composed of educators, it was rare that few of us actually wrote and published our critiques with others. Now, it is possible to share how what I read, evaluate, and critique connects with my own personal learning and schema. This is powerful because individuals--like you and me--have the power to publish at will to an audience of millions. The key thing to remember is that as we externalize our thinking, it becomes less of "I'm an expert expounding on what I know" and more of "I'm a learner, just like you, sharing what I'm learning so that we can learn together through our common errors and mistakes and maximize our breakthroughs." Consider that our understanding of learning is changing. We need to think of learning as an experience that happens when we connect with others.

If you fail to connect to the network of learners, you miss out on a global conversation about what YOU are passionate about. And missing out is a darn shame because it can save you time, energy, and increase your reach, no matter how brilliant (or not) you think you are. That's a powerful idea. Smart people get smarter because they have access to the network of learners. People who are just starting out are able to learn as fast as they can to get what they need accomplished.

When I meet folks that are just becoming aware of the conversation--usually because I push them over the edge in a workshop--I like to share several tools with them. These are essential learning tools that every 21st Century learner should have. They involve action on your part to use them, but it is the acts of use that cast out fear of change. The act of building your own personal learning network (PLN) is your fundamental act of freedom. Start now.

The Tools You Need

You only need several tools to get started, although there are hundreds. Please be aware that the purpose of these tools is to externalize the knowledge-building you do every day from the public information that comes across your computer screen. It is also to take advantage of the power of networked learning that is possible. There are thousands of educators online, and you can tap into their collective knowledge to ask questions, have conversations about what you need to learn. The only expectation is that you share what you know with them. Each no-cost tool listed below does it in a slightly different, but complementary, way.

Where Learning Conversations Take Place (in alpha order)

Classroom 2.0 - A place for members of www.Classroom20.com to share links, Classroom 2.0 is social networking site devoted to those interested in the practical application of computer technology (especially Web 2.0) in the classroom and in their own professional development.
CTOnetwork - The focus of this group is to bridge the disparate organizations focused on CTOs, Technology Director, school district level technology issues.
Educators - This is a group for educators to use to share bookmarks. It is completely open and anyone can join. It will have a set of standard tags to help us share things that you may use in addition to your tags.
EDuStreams - Easily track Education related uStream.tv broadcasts (EDuStreams). Find out more about these via the Education World Broadcast Learning article.

1) Get a Diigo.com account. Diigo.com is a social bookmarking tool, similar to the popular Del.icio.us service, but also centralizes in one place various learning possibilities. The social aspect of learning is important, especially with our increasing focus on conversations that add value to what we are learning. Diigo.com lets you bookmark web sites and have an online conversation about them. Here's a diagram that addresses some of those:

Some of the exciting ways educators are using Diigo are listed in the sidebar. Centralize your learning through web sites and the conversations you have about those sites online by using Diigo. Since Diigo is free, you can encourage your superintendent and other administrative staff to become a part of the conversation. This kind of "networking" empowers all who participate in the conversation. Here are some suggestions:

Annotating curriculum documents and adding stickies to show where tech integration is happening and could happen. This could be annotated for a group of curriculum writers.
Annotate state education agency memos for your administrators. We get memos every day and they are posted online. Immediately, among a team, share what are the implications of the ideas shared in the memo, the most important points, etc.
You can see instructional uses of Diigo as screencasts developed by Clay Burell, an International School teacher, online.

Example: http://www.diigo.com/user/mguhlin Find Diigo online here: http://diigo.com

2) Twitter: Use twitter.com to build a professional learning network. There are many 21st century teachers out there. Find them and create a twitter network that can be a support group, provide inspiring projects, and keep you in touch with like minded people. All of you participating in this workshop can be a group. Locate each other in twitter and become a network. You can use Twitter specific tools to connect with others. One of my favorites is TweetScan.com. It allows you to search the many "tweets" that occur each day (view a search on Education ) and subscribe via RSS (Read tool #3 below for more on RSS) to the results. That way, real time comments about what is critical to your work comes to you.

Whenever there is contact with other educators, there is hope. That's the power of communications. I can't share the excitement I felt at participating in a TeachMeet on September 19, 2007 taking place in Scotland. How did I find out about this? Obviously, I was not in Scotland. I was sitting at my desk working on work projects, when a "tweet" came in from Paul Harrington, an educator in Wales.

As a result of his sharing via Twitter, I was able to participate in this conference via my web browser and listen to speakers like Ewan McIntosh and others share what they are doing in schools in Scotland. Do you think this might have impacted my perspective about the power of global learning opportunities? How might it have impacted YOUR perspective to participate in a dialogue with educators from around the world?

By combining the power of Diigo and Twitter, I am able to more easily track ad-hoc professional learning opportunities as they occur, as well as have conversations about them BEFORE and AFTER. This kind of just-in-time learning, as it happens, can be very powerful for educators. One way that I approached tracking broadcast learning opportunities included creating a Diigo group. I invited other educators and now we have a collaboratively updated list of EDuStreams --educational professional learning happening online via uStream, Elluminate, Wimba.com sessions that are appearing online. EDuStreams are actually video/audio presentations and conversations done by educators about topics they are interested in. Twitter allows us to share these at will, while Diigo allows us to keep track of these opportunities and share them with others, even if they are not on Twitter. After you get your Twitter and Diigo accounts, join the EDuStreams group on Diigo to keep up to date on new learning opportunities.

Example: Norms for Online Behavior Find it here: http://twitter.com with a list of educators to follow at http://twitter.com/mguhlin

3) Start blogging. Blogging is a process of reflection on what you learn everyday. How can anyone spend time blogging on top of what they do all day? The fact is that some of my best blogging research--when I decide on Future Blog Posts--while I'm looking for something else. In fact, my focus during the day is learning something, either for work, to satisfy my curiousity (which begins with a question or a wondering).

At the end of the day, early evening in fact, I quickly look back at what I tagged for a Future Blog Post, which is actually a "tag" I keep in Diigo.com. I may bookmark many items, but only blog about those that are immediately relevant or connected.

Before, I would copy-n-paste the link, the relevant quote or point that triggered my thinking into my blog program (Thingamablog) but now I just use Diigo.com. In that way, blogging for me isn't a "special" activity, but part of everything I do. When I'm asked for what I know about a particular topic relevant to my work as a technology director, I am able to check my bookmarks. If I have spent time reflecting on implementation of a technolgy-related project in my blog, I usually bookmark that as well and can quickly pull up the needed information. This work prepares me in advance for questions my job naturally throws at me. I easily have 3 times that in ideas or info that I stumble upon.

So here I am again, coaching, and asking my students to trust that they will need what I'm requiring them to do: blogging, wiki-ing, social bookmarking, digital story creating, and online discussing. If they can get through my class, they will be able to apply these new skills to their teaching and their students will benefit.

Source: Cycling through EdTech

In a real way, this is a much different way of behaving and acting. Modelling it for our students is critical, as Cheri points out above, but understanding it ourselves is just as important. Before blogs (BB), I never would have done this (tag ideas, blog about my response/reflection, wikify my resources for others, podcast valuable conversations with other people for later listening). In fact, keeping a journal was a joke for me, even though I knew that every "good" writer kept one. It wasn't until I started blogging--with the real audience that's reading--that I understood the power of blogging everything.

Amy Gehran at Contentious Blog articulates this really well when she writes the following:

A blog post is not (or at least, it shouldn't be) a writing assignment you must prep for and deliver as a finished package. . .Blog your initial brainstorming...Blog your research & discovery...Blog your interactions. Did you just have an interesting conversation relevant to a topic you've been blogging? Ask the person with whom you conversed if you can blog the relevant portion, and whether you can identify them...The clincher to all this is to use your blog as your "backup brain" or at least as a public notebook. Why not get more mileage out of work you would have done anyway by changing your habits toward managing information and communication publicly? Instead of keeping your thoughts, notes, and conversations to yourself, post them.

via Teach-n-Babble

In my recent Blog Your World! workshop at the PBS/KLRN ICTT 2007 Conference, I shared it in this way, as perceived by one of the newbie bloggers, Juliet Ray at Deep Thoughts (drop by and give her a comment):

What an exciting day today is! I have created my first blog. Hello digital world, here I am! I look forward to using this site as a way of not only communicating with others, but to "externalize (Miguel's new big word/concept I learned today) my knowledge". Additionally, it will serve as a personal journal to assist in reflection on my journey through life.

This kind of externalization is useful to others. For example, back in 2005 I wrote a how-to for doing something in GNU/Linux operating system that used KDE as the GUI (as opposed to Gnome or the others out there). In September 20, 2007, someone found it and blogged about it...if I hadn't externalized my knowledge, made a "backup brain," then this would not have been here for Jim Plumb to discover.

If you want to change the default view in the Linux file manager konqueror check out this article: http://tinyurl.com/373qea I wanted to have the view in tree mode rather than the default icon view.

Another neat result of this is that *I* rediscover my own blog entry when Jim writes about it or interacts with it. It makes me want to re-read the entry. In reviewing my social bookmarking network, I noticed Mark Ahlness had picked up on one of my favorite blog entries, "Writing the List Article"...I hadn't seen that blog entry in ages, even though every article I write is based on the structure outlined.

Blog what you learn, what you do. Soon, you'll realize you know--and as importantly, discover more--about what is in your head than you think.

Example: LeaderTalk Blog for school district administrators at http://leadertalk.org

Get Started at http://edublogs.org with an education-related blog about what you are learning and how it is relevant to your work. Ask yourself a few questions to get started, such as What are you most passionate about in your work? and What is the hardest thing you do in your work, and why is it challenging? Finally, share your successes--and failures, such as What obstacle or problem you encountered and how you overcame it? Some common questions technology directors have include the following:

What backup software do you use in your district?
Have you considered switching from MS Exchange to Google Apps? How did you make the transition?
What Special Education tracking software or web-based service are you using at the District level?
What kinds of audio/visual solutions are you using to broadcast school board meetings?
And many more. Responding to these types of questions in your blog and sharing resources with other technology directors via Diigo.com will instantly enable you to share ideas about important matters relevant to your work.

Get started by joining this Diigo group (CTOnetwork) for Chief Technology Officers, Technology Directors/Coordinators, and others in district-level technology positions.

3) Use Google Reader to Manage RSS Subscriptions: Most new web pages now have what is known as an RSS feed button. Web sites with RSS--real simple syndication--feeds enable you to read their content without visiting their web site beyond the first time. You can subscribe to their content--and subscription is at no-cost--and any updates/changes to their web site are delivered to you directly ( Watch this Video). The benefit of this is that creating a personal learning network will not result in MORE email, but rather, less. Instead of receiving email notifications, you go to Google Reader to review the latest updates and changes, and participate when you have a need.

My Example: Miguel's Shared Items in Google Reader

Get Started at http://reader.google.com

Reflecting on the Tools

These three tools can save you a lot of time and energy as you try to join the flow of conversation. One of my favorite quotes--that came to me via Mark Wagner--is "He who learns from one who is learning, drinks from a flowing river."

I hope you'll continue to learn every moment and share that learning with others. The rewards are infinite.

13 Year Old Gets Movie Script Made into Motion Picture

mguhlin@gmail.com (Miguel Guhlin) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 17:17:50 PDT

“Creativity

is as fundamental as literacy and numeracy," shared Sir Ken Robinson in a TEDtalk video and subsequent interview published in Edutopia. "All young children have immense creative confidence. What strikes me is how few adults do. If you ask adults, they mainly think they’re not very creative. All young children think they are up to a certain point.” This article highlights the work of 3 children from Texas and Tennessee working in creative collaboration using online Read/Write Web tools.

When I first read Sir Ken Robinson, I made a distinction between children being frivolously creative and adults focusing their creativity on useful projects and under appreciating themselves. In a presentation available online (http://tinyurl.com/2bagz4), researchers distinguish between personal creativity and societal creativity.

LEVERAGING PERSONAL CREATIVITY

Personal creativity is shared as the creation of something novel and valuable to the individual (personal judgment). As an individual, I make a personal judgement about the value of my own creativity. Societal creativity, however, is defined as creation which adds something new to the culture. It’s important to recognize that personal creativity and societal creativity can feed off each other. With new tools, it is easier to leverage that personal creativity and share it with others in ways that add value to our culture. One such tool is a web site known as KibPub.com.

An online writing community has sprung up around KidPub.com, a site that has been enabling children to publish their writing since 1995. I discovered it many years ago, and introduced my own 13-year old daughter to KidPub as a safe place for her to publish her writing. In the last year, I have become even more aware that the site has evolved from a static site to a place where children are having conversations about their writing and the topics they are writing about. It offers a counter-culture perspective to the way technology has been used elsewhere. What is powerful about KidPub is that it allows children to publish online and puts them in contact with other writers interested in their work, fostering collegial conversations. There may be collaborative writing efforts underway.

ALONE IN THE MIDDLE

It was through one of these conversations that three children connected. In one part of the country, a Texas teen shares an 18-chapter fictional story. The work has been under development for years, constantly revised and re-written, finally finding its way onto the Web and then published on KidPub.com to an eager audience of her peers. The story has never been edited or reviewed by teacher, the parents of the teen writer publishing via the Web have placed their trust that the work will meet their expectations for appropriateness. Trust is the operative term, a dependence on a relationship built over time. Alone in the Middle is a story that would have found itself unknown, unread at any other time without technology to facilitate connections between children involved.

As I consider this personal creativity, I take a moment to reflect on a 13-year old KidPub author who published her multiple chapter story online, Alone in the Middle. The story is slowly being made into a "motion picture," or at least, a movie that will be shared via YouTube.com, another new tool available to children and adults alike.

TEEN MOVIE PRODUCERS

Last night, I watched the Oscars, and I listened to the Coen brothers who won an Oscar for their director role for a movie that swept the Academy Awards in 2008. In their acceptance, Josh Coen shared that when they were kids, he and his brother would make their own home-made movies using the tools at hand. “What we're doing today making movies,” he observed, “isn't that different from what we were doing then.” What a powerful insight; what our children do now has meaning, driven by personal creativity matures into societal creativity. What are your students doing in your classroom that would earn them an Academy Award, if repeated and deepened over time?

In the past, only movie producers--grown-up, important people who were probably rich, or so goes the stereotype--who had money could put their product in front of millions of viewers. Now, consider that the two directors of the Alone in the Middle story are a brother and sister team being home-schooled in a Tennessee log cabin.

As a result of becoming aware of this project--written and converted to an online video with a potential audience of millions--I have had a qualitatively different experience and understanding of the power of technology to facilitate creativity and collaboration. As an educator, I have to ask myself, how could we have deepened the dialogue that is naturally occurring between these three creative individuals? How could we have created situations in schools today that made this possible? If this is the kind of work we want our children to be engaged in, then how do we need to rethink what we're doing in schools?

PUBLISH AT WILL

My esteemed colleague, Wes Fryer, shared the power of the Read/Write Web to publish at will. Using free software (MovieMaker, Paint), two child directors were able to make a movie out of a story written using free online tools (free wiki for educators are available online). The original author--Rosalie--wrote an 18 chapter story, composed it online using a wikispaces.com site, shared it with other children in an online community known as KidPub.com . The two children in Tennessee emailed her the following:

My sister and I need your permission to create a cartoon-based on your story. We will post it on Youtube and email you for advice. Please reply.

Thanks,

Nathan and Nicole

As educators, we know that YouTube.com is a site that is automatically banned for inappropriate content. Yet, for our children, it is the place where they come together to share their work. At YouTube.com anyone--you, your students, your own children--can publish videos at will. You may have become familiar with it through the Presidential Candidate debates being hosted there. Both Democratic and Republican presidential candidates faced questions directly from voters on Monday in the first CNN/YouTube debate" (Source: CNN ).

There is power in using YouTube, and online video hosts such as TeacherTube.com (think of it as YouTube for Education), to achieve goals like those described in this Wired article :

The debates will feature 20-30 questions culled from a pool of possibilities sent in by the American voter. (if you're American, hopefully that means you.) Potential questions will be posted to YouTube's YouChoose platform, a section tagged specifically for material relating to the 2008 campaign. Questions will not be selected based on the number of views on YouTube. Nor will the selection process be made public, in order to prevent candidates from prepping. During the debates, the questions will be aired on a giant video monitor. YouTubers will be able to leave comments on the questions beforehand. They will also be able to comment on the candidate's responses, which will be posted to YouTube after the political showdowns have wrapped up.

It's clear that YouTube--as well as other online resources--are becoming powerful ways to communicate and share ideas online. It's not surprising that children are growing up using the digital tools available to adults and that they see modelled on television, if not schools (most schools universally ban YouTube access because it has a wide range of content, from appropriate to inappropriate).

YouTube serves a digital commons area where people can share their video creations, and everyone can remix that content, as well as add new content. Sometimes, that power to publish at will is used inappropriately, but, increasingly, students are following in the footsteps of responsible creators...achieving the top level of the revised Bloom's Taxonomy, CREATE. In the next two years, every cell phone produced will have a video camera built into it. Imagine what our children will do with mobile video-phones. No, skip the negative scenarios that pop into your mind. Imagine the positive possibilities.

YouTube is used to share this introduction to KidPub.com, a web site designed specifically for students to publish their writing. This short video was created to introduce others--presumably a student audience--to KidPub.com.

COLLEGIAL CONVERSATIONS

As a professional educator, I'm overawed at the fact that two home-schooled pre-teens living in a log cabin took a thirteen year old's piece of writing, then made it into the first of several videos you can watch on YouTube. Here’s another exchange:

Ok, the first paragraph is complete. Are you allowed on YouTube if I give you the link?

The brother and sister team of directors--Nathan and Nicole--share their progress in converting Rosalie's story to a movie. This is a documentary on how videos are made from the written script. What is fascinating to consider is, "How are children in our own schools developing videos?" A bigger question is, “How are children developing the skills they need to engage in peer production—creating products online the way businesses work—without teacher cues to keep them on task?”

ISOLATED NO LONGER

Dr. Don Knezek, ISTE’s CEO, shared (http://tinyurl.com/2m385v) that classrooms can be isolated places no longer. He shared that “...opportunities to learn are available to us [adults] that we can't give our students.” While we as adults have opportunities, Dr. Tim Tyson asks, how are educators collapsing “the distance between children and meaningful contribution?” How do we align a school's educational purpose with that meaningfulness our children create? When I view Alone in the Middle, I can see that the potential of these students may very well have gone untapped. In fact, I know that the potential for enabling children to make meaningful contributions to the world has NOT been enabled. Why? The reason is that Rosalie is my daughter and I know how she does NOT use technology in school. In spite of that lack, our children are seizing these opportunities without our guidance as educators. And, that just will not work. Dr. Knezek shared in this presentation (http://tinyurl.com/38gqd5) in San Antonio a few other key points that sound an alarm bell for all educators in the United States.

In the past, Don pointed out that the focus was on what teachers should know about and be able to do with techology. Now, the focus is on what teachers should know and be able to do to promote students' abilities to learn effectively and live productively in an increasingly digital world. How do we align a school's educational purpose with that meaningfulness our children create?

What is striking is that these three children--Rosalie in Texas, Nathan and Nicole in Tennessee--could not have met without access to technology and the means to publish their writing and videos online. And, that the nature of their meeting was wholly online with little or no teacher supervision. While many point to the inappropriate use of technology by our children, it is clear that positive, creative uses that are of value to society are possible and can happen given the right conditions. How do we as educators go about establishing those conditions in our classrooms and schools?

Videos are online at these addresses:

Alone in the Middle Part 1 - http://tinyurl.com/37rx4u
Alone in the Middle Part 2 - http://tinyurl.com/3aqfsl
Behind the Scenes Part 1 - http://tinyurl.com/345l8u
Behind the Scenes Part 2 - http://tinyurl.com/3a4jnc

Or, you can go to YouTube.com and do a search on “Alone in the Middle.” By the time this article is printed, you may find part 3, or even, 4.

CONCLUSION

Over the last few years, we've seen new 21st Century skills that are different than anything required before. These skills are integral to our children's success in life and work, but especially so if they are to pursue higher education.

Mark Gura writes that "...these 21st Century skills are not solely technology skills, but involve the ways that learning, knowing, communicating, and solving problems have changed through the application of technology. They must be learned through the continual and ongoing use of technology (Source: Mark Gura, The Powers that be have been informed, http://tinyurl.com/2aoblp).

As an adult, I push hard to explore my personal creativity and share that online. It's been a learning process for me. I encourage you to start exploring this process on your own. Need suggestions? Start by going online to http://tinyurl.com/ywfzy2

Notes - Permission to Reflect

mguhlin@gmail.com (Miguel Guhlin) — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 03:57:21 PDT

Source: http://www.lightandmatter.com/html_books/3vw/ch04/figs/fish-reflection.jpg Jeff has a great entry on Permission to Reflect because he confronts exactly the questions that anyone who blogs faces when others ask, "How do you make time to do this?" I get this question constantly...you must not sleep, you must be constantly writing, and the answer is NO, I get plenty of sleep, and YES, I am constantly blogging because that is what living is about...living and reflecting. It isn't easy in itself but over time, it can become easier to blog--read, reflect, write--about a variety of topics. Most of blogging that I do, though, isn't just about reflecting. It's also about exploring new ideas and looking at things from a different perspective. It is this aspect of blogging that presents one of the best opportunities to become a lifelong, continuous learner. This doesn't mean constant writing, but rather, constant openness to learn and sharing that journey. Here are my favorite parts of Jeff's entry...Diigo.com makes it easy to collect these quotable quotes and relevant sections to share with you:

U Tech Tips » Blog Archive » Do you give yourself permission to reflect?
tags: blogging reflection
- Reflection is a great process…a proven process of learning. We’ve been asking students to reflect for years in education so one simple question:
  Do you give yourself permission to reflect during the work day?
  and another question:
  Do your administrators give you permission to reflect during the work day?
- Blogging is not just writing, it is the act of reading, thinking, reflecting and writing. As a technology person in a school helping teachers, I need that time to reflect and learn about what’s happening, and I make a point to schedule that into my work day.
- Make reflection part of your work day. If it is something you try and do outside of school it won’t happen. There is rarely a time when I’m not thinking about education and technology…but it’s my passion and I love it! Some teachers have other interests, and that’s great! But give yourself time to reflect on your practice. Make it a habit to reflect and make it part of your work day.

Speedy Email Responding

mguhlin@gmail.com (Miguel Guhlin) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 22:07:25 PDT

As an administrator in a public school district, I often receive emails requesting help. For me, prompt, speedy response that resolves the situation is essential to success. Prompt response means instantaneous response when we all have access to email. Yet, sometimes, helpful solutions take too long to deliver...your response depends on the actions of others. Here's one request:

I have a personal account with Animoto.com. I heard about this site during a presentation by librarians at the ESC Librarian Round Up. I have made a couple of short intro-type science movies just to get student attention in the library.

I can't use the site? I did see on the librarian 2.0 that Animoto for Educators was listed. Has something happened? If we are professionals and know what content to use and not to use, shouldn't we be able to use that technology?

Please advise, I would surely love to work with this site to create library resource videos. It is a good way to publicize the library

Thank you.

One can almost sense the indignation hinted at in the question, yet the author of the email pulls back. My response follows after multiple interventions on the person's behalf:

Howdy. Please be aware that Animoto is on the approved list of web sites, that I also have an account, and have used it to showcase District events. I submitted an objection to the HelpDesk and the individuals responsible for filtering on the following dates, and there have been 3 other campus/department entities who have complained about lack of access. To date, I have not been successful in seeing a change, but this is a busy time of the year for those involved in making the adjustment to the District's filters. Previous requests were sent on September 11th, September 17th and September 23rd. I'm copying the relevant individuals on this email response to you. I can only ask for patience at this time.

I copied the message above to relevant individuals and they took action--they'd been swamped with opening of school--to address the problem. I promptly emailed the folks affected this note:

Thank you for your patience! Animoto.com is now accessible! However, now that I know you are using it, please share the links to your Animotos so I can showcase them! Here is one I've put together to celebrate what is happening [removed] I downloaded my Animoto video and then put it up at http://edublogs.tv. This works better, I've found, than animoto on hosting (my experience).

How do you handle "customer" complaints?

Embedded Education Reporters

mguhlin@gmail.com (Miguel Guhlin) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 21:55:49 PDT

Tim Stahmer, Assorted Stuff Blogger, highlights this story about an embedded news reporter. Where is he embedded? In a war? In a mission to a hostile to American media hot-spot around the world? No...embedded in a classroom.

Over the school year, The Washington Post will revisit scatter plots and polynomials, word problems and standardized tests to explore how and why math education is ramping up.

Wouldn't a more exciting exercise be to provide FLIP video cameras and blogs to the students in that teacher's class, and allow them to blog each day, include snapshot interviews with the teacher as to what she planned to teach, reactions by other students to the presentation and activities, and the teacher's self-assessment as to her success? Wouldn't this kind of citizen-journalism do more than just waste our time, filtering an experience we are all familiar with--sitting through algebra class--through adult eyes looking back with nostalgia, if it just empowered children to share THEIR perspective and insights into learning as it happens in today's inner city schools?

Writing Tip

mguhlin@gmail.com (Miguel Guhlin) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 21:45:02 PDT

This writing tip struck me right between the eyes. I usually skip the coffee part and get straight to writing, especially when I have a deadline: Wake up. Drink coffee

Write. Ignore phone, ignore mail, ignore world. It will all be there when you are done. Just don't ignore your lovers for too long. Source: A. Swafford , author of "Jarhead" via Writing Time: Inspiration

What's your approach?

Blogging Benefits

mguhlin@gmail.com (Miguel Guhlin) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 21:41:14 PDT

Interested in blogging in the classroom or using blog tools to enhance classroom activities? TCEA TechEdge Columnist Wes Fryer and I have chatted several times about blogging and he’s doing some interesting things with a university class. Wes wrote an article on blogging that is available online. You can also find other TCEA Conference Blogging Resources online.

You can also find articles in different magazines. There’s one in THE Journal for February, 2004 by . They mention 4 benefits including:

1) The use of blogs helps students become subject-matter experts. They mention a three step process–a) scouring; b) filtering; c) posting.

2) The use of blogs increases student interest and ownership in learning.

3) The use of blogs gives students legitimate chances to participate.

4) The use of blogs provides opportunities for diverse perspectives, both within and outside the classroom.

The article also mentions that “knowledge construction is discursive, relational and conversational in nature. As students appropriate and transform knowledge, they must have authentic opportunities for publication of knowledge.” This last piece is key for me. As a writer, publishing my work is what motivates me in part to write…it motivates me even if I don’t get paid for it (believe it or not, the excitement is still there even after years). But, that’s not the only motivation. The other is being to easily share my understanding of situations, to hear my voice in a way that it can’t be heard when I speak aloud. It’s that kind of journal type writing that gets me excited and makes me want to write.

As such, just like THE JOURNAL articles states, blogging gives me–as well as students–full control and ownership over online content…and it does so in a way that is easy to manage.

Some practical suggestions to blogging that come from the article include:

1) Consider blogging yourself. I have followed this advice and, since I don’t want to setup a server at home to blog from, I use a cross-platform, free software program called Thingamablog. It’s free and works on Mac, Windows, and Linux. It works well and I carry it on my pen drive/thumbdrive so that I can easily blog from any computer I’m at…and I don’t have to worry about changing formats because Thingamablog is a Java Applet. You can get Thingamablog online.

Wes Fryer, TCEA TechEdge columnist, shares about other blogging tools you can use.

2) Spend time visiting other classroom blogs. Once again, you might check out the work of David Warlick’s BlogMeister at the Landmark Project.

3) Model blogging for your students. This also involves setting rules, etc.While I can’t say I’ve done this yet, here’s some additional resources.

Two other recommendations mentioned include making the blogs more public and explaining the “reach” of blogs to students.

Something the article doesn’t address to my satisfaction is how blogging fits into the writing process. However, at this point, what makes blogging so attractive is that it fits into the idea of journaling, reflecting on your writing, and those pieces.

POLICY ISSUES

On student pages hosted by the District, the blogs have to conform to district policies…they’re still web pages created in response to an assignment or project. In the case of a blogging tool external to the District, I would move to restrict student access to it. I would want them to work within an environment under control by the School District. This would eliminate the District-independent copyright and inappropriate issues that might arise.

Writing and Blogs

mguhlin@gmail.com (Miguel Guhlin) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 21:39:31 PDT

The following is an excerpt from Will’s entry on his blog…you can read the complete entry online.

The Social Studies Department at my school has started using a Weblog to archive lessons for the various classes in the department. . .they wanted the ability to comment back to the author of the lesson and it seemed that a blog would be more functional in that respect. They also wanted the ability to tag their entries and to search by those keywords, a feature that the Manila metadata plugin allows for. So now, if a teacher is looking for a plan about Native Americans, for example, she can just search for it within the site.

Now I know that this particular one is more of a history lesson, but what about adding these ideas to the study of Native Americans:

-Create a blog written in the voices of those early Indians complete with artistic interpretations of what they were experiencing. -Have students use the comments to begin conversations about the events between the settlers, the government and the Indians. Better yet, invite living American Indians into those conversations. -Have students go through Flickr and select pictures that they feel represents what Native American life is like today. Have them do some pieces of “flicktion” about what they see. This group tagged Navajo might be a starting point. (Some of these are really beautiful, by the way.) -Create a wiki where research information about that time period can be stored in annotated fashion by students. -Have students monitor news feeds from Google and Yahoo News, and the topic feeds from Furl and del.icio.us. -Create and publish oral histories by doing interviews with Native Americans via Skype or by having students role play characters or situations. -Ask students to create screencasts that show and annotate the best resource sites on the Web dealing with Native American issues. -Create a meta-blog site for this topic where students post news items about what they have created and found or links to student best practices. This might be where the teacher coordinates and organizes the content.

…the idea is that students can work collaboratively to create and publish content about any topic, and that we can aggregate that content in ways that create a rich and dynamic resource not only for the kids in our class but for future students and outside visitors with an interest in the topic. I think it gives a totally different feel to the classroom, one where students not only learn but teach. One where contribution is celebrated. One where the different mediums create entry points for all students and makes them creators, not consumers. Put these tools in the hands of kids with a teacher who understands how to choreograph the interaction and it could be an amazing learning environment.

High School Redesign

mguhlin@gmail.com (Miguel Guhlin) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 21:36:55 PDT

Elements of a High School Redesign, excerpt from A Principal’s Dilemmas: Theory and Reality of School Redesign. Paula M. Evans as printed in Phi Delta Kappan, Feb 2003 v84 i6 p424

REMEMBER that your small school must meet the following conditions.

Vision. The school must articulate a shared vision characterized by common core goals and high expectations for all students. The core goals must include the understandings and skills that all students are expected to master, including an emphasis on multicultural understanding.

Structure. The structure of your small school must:

* represent a cross-section of the population;

* have a low student/teacher ratio (maximum load of 80 students per teacher);

* employ flexible, heterogeneous grouping;

* use a flexible schedule and flex time for teachers; and

* integrate special education.

Program. The program of your small school must:

* include a grade 9-12 advisory;

* have a grade 9-10 core program and team (grades 9 and 10 may be together or separate);

* offer opportunities for integrated curriculum and interdisciplinary projects;

* give reading, writing, math, and other academic support as needed;

* offer field experience — internships, community service, and so on - - through outreach to institutions and industry and through “inreach” (bringing the outside into the school);

* use authentic assessment in the form of student portfolios, exhibitions, and presentations;

* make use of a senior project and exhibition or portfolio;

* allow for college and career exploration;

* foster strong parent involvement; and

* enable strong student participation in governance.

Staffing and support. The staffing and support in your small school must:

* allow all faculty and staff members to teach;

* enable all faculty and staff members to serve as advisors;

* provide common planning time for teachers;

* make room for regular teacher meetings focused on teaching and learning/curriculum/students; and

* provide for teacher training, resources, and ongoing support. — PME

AVID Conference Notes Day 3

mguhlin@gmail.com (Miguel Guhlin) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 20:23:30 PDT

Today, we had the opportunity to practice Socratic Seminar. The facilitator split the whole group into smaller groups that each analyzed a news article or poem. In my group, we analyzed Maya Angelou’s Poem on the Inaugural Address, On the Pulse of the Morning. Here’s a quick picture of the work we were about.

The assembled AVID Conference teachers (divided into two different rooms to listen to the keynote speaker, Mary Catherine Swanson) heard something like the following. Please note that these notes are not complete but they were the best I could do with pad and pencil. You can also listen to this audio clip (43 megs) of the presentation, although the quality is not good.

Mary Catherine Swanson, Founder of AVID, Keynote Address

Twenty-five years ago, I never envisioned what lay ahead. I started with 32 students, bused into the suburbs. Communities that were filled with abandoned buildings. All I knew was that we were embarking on a journey that would change the course of history. Although those 32 students and I didn’t plan to impact education, we did. Those we touch…have profoundly different lives. This has been our calling, our journey. It must never end…our calling must be to make education more than an accident. To make the expectation of a systematic education the rule for students in all our schools.

It takes courage to stare down the soft bigotry that bubbles beneath the surface. At its core, AVID is all about self-discovery when talents that have long lain dormant are revealed. When we encounter adversity…we need look to our students and recall their courage and conviction on display. If our students have this courage and determination, then, so must we as educators. It is our calling. According to Confuscian philosophy, it is the mark of a golden era when children are the most important and teaching is the most esteemed profession. Something deep within that moves us to do what is right and we should not claim to be teachers if we do less.

Dedicated to the promise of schools as dedicated, democratic institutions…a significant portion of the population is relegated, dismissed as low performers. Only 1 of 17 in USA can ever expect to earn a Bachelor’s degree. From rich families, those statistics change to 1 of 2 will earn a degree. Institutional change, bureacracy, turf battles, complacency…those impediments still exist. Should we despair, ignore our historic calling?

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” –Frederick Douglass

Power concedes nothing without demand–never has, never will. As we seek the courage to overcome, we must remember our students. We now face a critical juncture. We can change the course of history. Those who define the issues also determine the outcome. Challenging age-old beliefs with rigor and support, we can change…that will rattle ingrained systems…a “quiet revolution.” Each of you, small and large has the power to change course of education. Four factors influence student success–income level, family life, education, and the community they grow up in… we have proved that students don’t have to be determined by these factors.

Changing the course of history by design…like our students, we have made the journey. We now have historic goals within our reach. For 25 years, students have risen to the challenge having the individual desire to succeed.

Some quotes from AVID Student Successes:

“America represented to us the door to opportunity.” –Maximo Escobedo

On reflecting on the horrors she witnessed each day, from drugs to stabbings and killings, Precious Jackson stated, “I never complained because I had eyes to see another day. Education became my key to success. In AVID, I was able to make sense of every class. AVID teachers are trained to be human first. it prepared me for college and got me through college. We have a moral responsibility to provide they very best for our students. They turn to us, they believe in us.”

AVID Conference Notes Day 2

mguhlin@gmail.com (Miguel Guhlin) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 20:22:36 PDT

Building on introduction to Socratic Seminar, we were shown a variety of small group activities for tutorial sessions prior to actually beginning a Socratic Seminar. We also engaged in Socratic Seminar and everyone had the chance to participate in both the “inner” and “outer” circle.

PRIOR TO SOCRATIC SEMINAR: TUTORIAL SESSIONS For homework, we read an article. After reading the article, we came in Tuesday. In an activity meant to introduce us to various tutorial sessions, the facilitator assigned different activities to each small group. Some of these activities included the following with these directions (note that you can view the actual example when it is available underneath each explanation; some items include short video clips):

1-Venn Diagram: Compare/contrast two characters from the text. Example not available. 2-Cluster Activity: Select one representative word from the text and put it in the center of the page. Students brainstorm what they have learned in the article/story in regards to the word. View Photo Example

3-T-Graph: Divide the paper into two parts with a large “T”. On the right side of the paper, the teacher presents a preselected list of five or six quotes directly from the story. Label this side as “Quotes”. On the the left-hand side of the T, students write down their collaboratively decided meaning of the quote and its importance to the story. This side is labelled “Interpretation.” View Photo Example and Video Clip (13 megs)

4-PMI Chart: Students collaboratively list ideas/issues/values from the story that they found to be a “Plus” to the story, those that they found to be a “Minus” in the story and those that were simply “Interesting” from the text. View Photo Example

5-Vocabulary Collection: Students search for new vocabulary or words to display on a five-pointed star that has been labelled for them. The labels may include the “5 Ws” or five separate categories such as People, Things, Feelings, Places, and Interesting Words. View Photo Example

SOCRATIC SEMINAR The idea of Socratic Seminar, with an inner group of students discussing a particular item and an outer group watching their respective inner group participant, seems a bit impossible at first. Yet, once you are placed in the inner circle, it is an engaging experience. Here’s a quick overview of the process:

1) Arrange the classroom into two circles of chairs. You can see that the organization of the chairs isn’t brain surgery from this quick photo. Class is divided into two groups. The first group forms the inner circle. The second group forms the outer circle.

2) The inner circle members directions are pretty straightforward. We are handed a piece of paper and asked to jot down some notes, questions we might have regarding the article/story we read for class. We will share one of the questions or statements we have written with the whole group.

One interesting technique was to leave an empty chair in the inner circle. This chair could be used as a “hot seat” or a “guest” chair, allowing outer circle members to offer a statement or pose a question. Yet, they could only make the statement or ask a question once, then they were required to return to the outer circle.

Outer circle members are also given another instruction: watch a specific partner and complete the following tally sheet (items shown below) for them. The purpose of this is to keep them engaged and listening. I found this to be particularly true since it enabled me to focus on one person, even as I listened to the discussion. Trying to keep track of others in the group would have been more difficult.

Observation Form: Inner-outer Discussion Circle Your Name: Partner’s Name: Directions: Each time your partner does one of the following, put a check in the box:

SPEAKS IN THE DISCUSSION LOOKS AT PERSON WHO IS SPEAKING REFERS TO THE TEXT ASKS A QUESTION RESPONDS TO ANOTHER SPEAKER INTERRUPTS ANOTHER SPEAKER ENGAGES IN SIDE CONVERSATIONS

AFTER DISCUSSION: What is the most interesting thing your partner said? AFTER DISCUSSION: What would you like to have said in the discussion?

Apparently, these individual pages–whether for inner/outer circle–can also be collected for grading purposes.

3) After everyone in both circles knows their job, each inner circle member shares their question/statement. The facilitator then asks one of the individual to elaborate on what they said. Again, the choice is up to the facilitator as to who to start with. And, then, the discussion begins.

4) After a specified time, the facilitator ends the discussion. She then invites the outer circle to provide feedback to the particular inner circle member they were partnered with. The facilitator is sure to cut short any feedback that does not specifically to the Observation Form.

5) Inner Circle members are also asked to complete a post-Socratic Seminar Reflection, which essentially summarizes the discussion that took place.

To quickly review then, the whole process is as follows:

A) PreSeminar Activities to prepare students for the discussion B) Socratic Observation/Discussion C) Post-Socratic Seminar Reflection

AVID Conference Notes Day 1

mguhlin@gmail.com (Miguel Guhlin) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 20:22:01 PDT

Today, we began learning the Socratic Seminar approach. Included are also pictures of the work created. The conference is organized in the following way:

In the morning, you spend time in your particular strand working with folks from all around the nation (world, in some cases). The strand we’re in focuses on Socratic Seminar. In the afternoon, teachers meet together to develop a campus-specific plan.

BACKGROUND OF SOCRATIC SEMINAR

“Let us examine this question together, my friend, and if you can contradict anything that I say, do so, and I shall be persuaded.”

Socratic Seminar serves as a way to introduce inquiry learning into the classroom. Inquiry immediately engages students with thinking processes. The results, write Socratic Seminar participants, is to enable “student ownership for enlarged understanding of concepts and values.” Some of the basic tenets include the following:

1) Participants begin the learning groups with questions. 2) Participants engage in all levels of critical thinking, from recall of knowledge to evaluation. 3) Participants pursue understanding with mutual respect and civility, mindful of each other’s dignity. 4) Participants are willing to be persuaded by arguments or evidence more powerful than their own and to change their minds in light of fresh insights.

QUESTION DEVELOPMENT In considering development of questions, Costa’s Model of Intellectual Functioning is considered, as is Bloom’s Taxonomy. Socratic Seminar suggests development of questions at 3 different levels, including the following:

Level 1: questions focus on gathering and recalling information Appropriate verbs: defining, describing, identifying, listing, naming, observing, reciting, scanning.

Level 2: questions focus on making sense of gathered information. Verbs: analyzing, comparing, contrasting, grouping, inferring, sequencing, synthesizing

Level 3: questions focus on applying and evaluating information. Verbs: applying a principle, evaluating, hypothesizing, imagining, judging, predicting, speculating

The obligation of anyone who thinks of himself as responsible is to examine society and try to change it and to fight it–at no matter what risk. –James Baldwin, “A Talk to Teachers”

SOCRATIC SEMINAR The purpose of this session is for participants to understand, practice and train others in the effective use of Socratic Seminar Instructional techniques. Our presenter was Ellen McCollum from San Diego, California. She introduced us to the “circle” which characterizes Socratic Seminar on Day 1, but first gave us some background and warm-up activities. This is a rough outline of what occurred:

1) After brief introductions (listen to them here; audio quality isn’t that great but gives you the flavor of meeting people for the first time) from folks all over the United States, with these directions in mind, we created Venn diagrams–in groups of 4-5 adults–about the differences between dialogue and debate (listen to one of the presentations).

Venn Diagrams created: Example 1 | 2 | 3

2) The facilitator established ground rules for behavior in the class; these were called “norms.” They included a wide variety of items. As we discussed these whole group, someone wrote them down on a white sheet of paper and we agreed to adhere to them while we were together.

2) After agreeing to ground rules, she gave us an article to read by Mortimer Adler. The title of the article was Democracy and Education. We sat in a large circle and we each stated a question we had about the article. This was difficult, especially if you were at the end since most folks honed in on particular questions. Some of the key points of the article included the following:

-All children are educable, not just trainable for jobs. -Universal suffrage and universal schooling are necessary to one another. The first without the other means failure. -Success in schools must be defined as same quality of schooling for all, as opposed to same quantity of schooling for all. -”The best education for the best is the best education for all.” (Robert M. Hutchins)

There were many questions about this article, some of them quite profound. Ellen, as facilitator, had everyone share their specific question, then focused in on one question. She really didn’t have a good explanation of WHY she chose that particular question and has later explained it as, “Whatever works for you.”

The resulting discussion took us in many directions and “broke the ice,” so to speak, about the idea of Socratic Seminar. We broke for lunch with a homework assignment.

AVID Conference Notes

mguhlin@gmail.com (Miguel Guhlin) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 20:21:07 PDT

The following are Miguel Guhlin’s notes on AVID Conference 2005 that took place in Austin, Tx during the week of June 26th. These notes, photos, and video clips are provided for any who might benefit from them. An update will be posted for each day for the purposes of sharing what was learned with others, as well as modelling “blogging” and “podcasting,” two new innovative ways to use technology in teaching and learning environments.

The purpose of the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program is to restructure the teaching methods of an entire school and to open access to the curricula that will ensure four-year college eligibility to almost all students.

When you consider the message of books such as The World is Flat, which discusses the effects of globalization at a rate unimagined previously and the necessity to prepare students to compete with workers in India, China, and other countries, it’s clear that the AVID’s purpose is more than just about college eligibility. It is about transforming how we approach teaching and learning to ensure our survival as a nation. And, transformation is exactly what Instructional Technology is about.

On Sunday, staff discussed the purpose of the AVID Site Team at each campus, and what kind of plan to move the campus towards full implementation of AVID. Here’s a few quick “stream of consciousness” type reflections:

Listen: Miguel Guhlin on AVID and Inquiry Learning Connection

Listen: Miguel on Similarities of Problem-Based Learning and AVID Strategies

Listen: Miguel on the Learning Log-Blogging Connection