What skill(s) do you feel are most important for today’s students to explore in academic settings (tech or non-tech related)?

Curiosity and a love of learning for learning sake are extremely important to have in a rapidly changing world. You can’t be afraid to fail, especially when working with technology. You have to be willing to click all of the links and explore all of the possibilities of a tool without being afraid you will break something.

For a teacher looking to use technology to connect with students, enhance learning or embrace 21st century skills, where do you suggest one begin?

I think Twitter and Classroom20.com are both great resources for teachers looking to connect with others who are integrating 21st century skills into their teaching.

What is the best part of your job?

I love wearing so many hats. I work with faculty to help them integrate technology in their classrooms. I teach my own classes (7th grade English, Digital Video and Digital Journalism), so I can practice what I preach. I get to make choices about purchasing software and hardware. I am able to travel to conferences and learn with and from people all over the world. I also direct the middle school play, advise the school newspaper and the upper school improv club and coach the middle school crew team.

How did you get started with Edcamps?

I attended my first edcamp-like un-conference in 2007 when I went to the first Edubloggercon run by Steve Hargadon. From then I was hooked. I went on to organize the first annual Edubloggercon-East in Boston with Lisa Thumann in 2008. When Dan Callahan (founding organizer of the first “edcamp”) needed help organizing the first edcampBoston, of course I said Yes.

Last year I could not attend NAISAC and, as I followed the Tweets from the conference, it occurred to me that it would be great to create an un-conference experience for independent school educators. Connecting it to the NAISAC conference seemed like a good idea. I tweeted it out and edcampIS was born. I hope edcampIS will follow NAISAC to different cities each year (the way Edubloggercon follows the ISTE conference).

The best part about un-conferences, for me, is the spontaneous nature of the experience. Because we post our sessions on the day of the event, we have the opportunity to hear from people who might not have presented or been accepted to present at a typical conference. Also, since the sessions are decided then and there, the topics are timely and relevant, rather than 3 – 6 months old (when typical conferences request their proposals). Finally, the fact that the event is free and held on a weekend means the people who show up usually WANT to be there (rather than being sent by someone else). All of this adds up to an incredibly energizing day of learning. Obviously, I’ve become a huge fan!

I am really looking forward to attending edcampIS in Seattle on March 3rd. It has been amazing to me to organize this conference from 3,000 miles away. It would not be happening if hadn’t been for Ben Lee and The Northwest School’s generous donation of their space, and local orgainzers, Jac de Haan, Anthony McGrann and Greg Bamford who have done all of the serious legwork on the ground in Seattle. I can’t believe we are less than 3 weeks away from the big day!!

What was your path to your current position?

I started my career in education almost 20 years ago, as a 6th grade math, science and English teacher in a public middle school. Since then I have worked in a K-8 school and a high school as a technology integrator as a research assistant at TERC, an educational research center, as a professional development facilitator at Tom Snyder Productions, and as a writer and editor for a textbook developer. All of these experiences let me to my current position as Director of Academic Technology at an independent, grade 7 – 12,  all boys school outside of Boston, MA.

Some examples of healthy tips:

• Upload photos of you cleaning storm drains
• Start an online petition to clean up a park near your home
• Join a Facebook group that supports healthy eating habits

Please contribute your own ideas via this form (original form available via this link):

While the title hints at a mere 10 steps, this presentation alone could spark a full day conversation between admin, teachers, staff, students and families.

I reference Sam’s work on a weekly basis when consulting with school technology programs, and I’ve used a modified version of his iPad deployment survey in Seattle iPad roll-outs. Sam’s perspective spans the worlds of IT, EdTech and administration. To learn more about Sam, visit the iPadsInEducation Ning.

I’m still using a desktop solution for creating time-shifted content for my students, but I’ve updated the comparison chart to reflect new iPad screencasting App features.

A few weeks ago @courosa mentioned online that the subscription button wasn’t working for user-generated bundles.

No word from Google about whether this is intentional or not. I did some digging within the code but couldn’t figure out what was going on.  I took a look again today and think there is a solution that works: I’ve documented in a YouTube video for others to test:

I love teaching and finding new ways to reach students. I try to use all technology available to make learning interactive and (hopefully) more informative than traditional methods.

What skill(s) do you feel are most important for today’s students to explore in academic settings (tech or non-tech related)?

Students should be comfortable with math basics and have strong number sense. They need to recognize when a value from a computer may be wrong. Students should also be good navigating around technology tools: graphing calculator tricks (and their are many), spreadsheet use, and hopefully some understanding of introductory programming.

I tell my students this all the time, “I have to have a reason to spend all my life teaching mathematics to you when I know most of you won’t be graphing parabolas at 30.” Math is just the medium to create better problem solvers and algorithm followers. Math class is the weight room for brain.

For a teacher looking to use technology to connect with students, enhance learning or embrace 21st century skills, where do you suggest one begin?

Start with what you already do. If you are comfortable using Word and Google search, make a simple guided web lesson. If you love your iPad, then find apps that could be used to help with a lesson.

Keep exploring and trying new things. This year alone (after 20 years in the education and technology fields), I have tried 3 or 4 new tech-related curriculum enhancements.

What is the best part of your job?

The best and the hardest part of the job is often the same thing. I enjoy finding multiple ways of explaining a math problem and helping students realize that it is not as difficult as they think. It is rewarding to see a student ‘click’ after several ways of questioning, illustrating, and/or detailing the problem. That is one reason I maintain a web page and create video lessons.

Second best: my school’s willingness to let me explore all the new ways to reach the students. iPad (to post notes, make video lessons, and more), Smartboard (to post notes and provide interactive visual instruction), and great computers are just some examples of the support Seattle Academy provides to allow me further my abilities as an educator.

What was your path to your current position?

Loyola High School in Los Angeles played a big part of my desire to learn and teach. University of California at San Diego gave me a mathematics degree, the desire to surf or be on a board all my life, and my first taste of programming. La Jolla Country Day School gave me my first job in teaching. Middle school computer classes with the Apple IIe. I also helped teachers learn how to use their Macs, set up and run the schools first email server, and first learned that very young minds can understand programming (with HyperCard).

After a few years at Seattle Country Day School (with Ethan Delevan) as a math teacher, I made the move to my current position at SAAS. I have taught math from 6th grade at SCDS to Calculus at SAAS and everything in between. I also enjoy teaching Statistics and Software Development.

*Editor’s note: David freely shares many of his resources with other educators via www.ElectricTeaching.com. The following video introduces the website, its purpose and uses in the classroom:

All in all, the conference was energizing and fulfilling on both a personal and professional level. I had the opportunity to meet people who influence my teaching and philosophy face-to-face. The majority of sessions were designed to be interactive and there were multiple informal, open-invitation meetups every day. The deep-integration of social media was completely natural, with video-conferences, session streaming and heavy tweeting.

Beyond the excitement and enthusiasm of the event, I’m focused on two salient ideas:

1. EduCon attendees are not special. Apologies to all of the incredible people present, but we aren’t smarter or more creative or gifted in some way that other educators are not. EduCon attendees are most alike in that they generally hold:
   • a willingness to believe that education is an evolutionary and revolutionary process, not a fixed discipline.
   • a recognition that a learning environment should reflect the individuals within it.
   • a certain amount of humility and vulnerability as they admit that they themselves are learners, sometimes learners without a clear vision of their destination.
2. EduCon should not be a once-a-year mindset. EduCon is in many ways special, but it doesn’t have to be unique. The ideas and format, while masterfully orchestrated by the students and staff at the Science Leadership Academy, are replicable and adaptable. We have frameworks for optimal learning environments, those aren’t just for children – educators should model inquiry-driven learning in collaborative settings too.

This second point was the topic of an Encienda presentation¹ I gave at EduCon on Saturday.  Asked to participate about 90 minutes prior to the session, I scrambled a little to get my thoughts and slides in order. I was honored to be a part of the experience and the positive responses were much appreciated.

My plan is to carry forward these ideas and maintain a network of innovation that spreads through future professional development experiences and inspires other to push their own beliefs about learning environments. If you’d like to join me, feel free to accept the challenge and pledge publicly at http://www.flip-lab.com/challenge.

1. Here are the slides for my presentation – they were designed to compliment my words, not substitute for them.

What skill(s) do you feel are most important for today’s students to explore in academic settings (tech or non-tech related)?

• risk taking
• learning in front of people
• verbalization of ideas
• knowledge that there is more than one right answer

I call this process “setting students up for failure” – sounds awful, but if kids learn to fail in front of people, especially in a safe place where there is a teacher/ guide, the more they become comfortable with the learning process and going beyond the first idea and the idea that there is one right answer.

For a teacher looking to use technology to connect with students, enhance learning or embrace 21st century skills, where do you suggest one begin?

I usually tell teachers to begin with their own lesson plans. They are professionals that have crafted units that are built for learning. Finding tools (not technology – that word is over used and means nothing) that compliment the essential questions  that the teacher hopes students walk away knowing.

What is the best part of your job?

I have autonomy in my classroom which allows me to teach in ways that inspire the students and myself.

What was your path to your current position?

I started as an art student at Temple’s Tyler School of Art and got a teaching degree while there. With one year left on my certificate, I got a job teaching art at an under-achieving middle school in West Philadelphia. The principal of that school found out that I was able to use computers and when the computer teacher retired she put me into the school lab.

I went on to get my masters to be an Educational Technologist and my K-12 certification in business technology, because one needs a business technology certification to teach technology in Pennsylvania. That school was taken over more than once because of NCLB and finally was made into a Mastery Charter school.

Chris Lehmann hired me to be a founding staff member of the Science Leadership Academy and I have been here ever since. In six years we have started an annual conference called EduCon, I’ve gone to many technology in education conferences. I won the Keystone award for excellent usage of technology in the classroom. I have also done many professional developments and really enjoy sharing the expertise of 6 years at SLA.

Click here to download my “30 minute challenge” iBook for free (if you have an iPad).

In 30 minutes, I was able to:

• paste in content from a previously written article
• create a simple image slideshow
• create a simple interactive quiz
• record and embed an introductory video
• create and then delete a couple of charts (display issues in the final version)
• test via the Share>email as iPad option

I was excited to find out that you can freely distribute iBook Author creations beyond the iBookstore as long as you don’t charge for the content. This at least means that I can create classroom materials and sync, send, or download them to student devices. The downside of personal distribution is that when you update the book you will have to manually push the new version to all devices.  An iBookstore distribution allows the new content to push to iPads automatically.

On first glance, this seems to be a rebrand of the iTunes U bookstore focused on schools of all levels – an evolution of existing technology, not a revolution. iBookstore already allows authors to distribute books. The ‘new’ e-textbooks appear to be ePub3, a standard that already is in production and has the potential to work on more than just an iPad. Apple’s iWork Pages application already has the ability to “Export as an ePub”, although the new authoring tool should have a more robust feature set. Furthermore, an ePub can already be opened in iBooks without going through the iBookstore distribution channel, via email. However, Apple’s marketing strategy, as always, is fascinating and potentially extremely effective:

• Allow consumers to assume hardware purchase as a logical step in an implementation plan, rather than advertise to that decision – By getting teachers, administrators, parents and students excited about the potential of using digital textbooks in the classroom, Apple brings its audience to vision. If people buy into the vision, then the purchasing decision to equip students with iPads (and teachers with laptops) is just a step on the path.
• Focuses on action verbs - Apple’s marketing team has always focused on what people do with their products, rather than device specs. The vast majority of device buyers don’t know one processor from another and are interested in whether or not they can surf the web from their phone rather than what version of Android is installed. Engaged students (collaborating with each other and accessing dynamic content) are one of the cornerstones of successful education.
• Convince administrators to reallocate scarce budgets - At a time of year where many schools are solidifying next year’s budgets, Apple has presented a neatly packaged authoring & delivery system for digital textbooks that may mean a cost savings in book purchases in exchange for an increase in technology purchases (namely iPads).
• Align new offering with largest potential competition – Rather than battle traditional printed textbook publishers, Apple has convinced Pearson, McGraw-Hill, and Houghton to partner with the new Apple distribution system. These three companies represent 90% of the textbook industry. No doubt reminding these CEOs about Apple iTunes effect on the music industry was influential. It has not been announced yet how these existing publishers will leverage Apple’s distribution system.

This new authoring and distribution system for e-textbooks goes a long way towards providing students a more versatile classroom reference. However, it is still a one-way delivery system. As an educator, I can qualitatively estimate student engagement and use assessments to judge whether it has an impact on learning – this is certainly the hope outlined in Apple’s advertisement (embedded below).

As a content creator and possible e-textbook author, I’d really like this advancement to include two-way communication. I’d like to know which chapters students spend the most time with, where the most notes are taken, if there are sections that students skip, etc. There are already some social learning networks out there (I’m familiar with Better.At) that provide plan authors with feedback that allows for content adjustments based on data. Technology already allows us the ability to auto-collect and aggregate this data, and test scores are at least one step removed from the feedback cycle.

Critique aside, I’m excited to play around and see how I can use it in my own classrooms.