Obviously the two girls didn’t want everyone to see the pictures, so they posted them with the privacy controls set so only friends could see them. However, the photos were copied and eventually ended up on the desk of Austin Couch, the school’s principal.

Couch then punished the girls based on the school’s athletic code, which provides sanctions for student athletes that engage in behavior in or out of school that “creates a disruptive influence on the discipline, good order, moral or educational environment at Churubusco High School.” The two girls were barred from participating in any extracurricular activities, made to apologize for the photos to an all-male coaches board (which the complaint describes as “profoundly embarrassing”), and forced to undergo “humiliating” counseling.

Back in April 2009, a California court ruled photos posted to an online social networking website (MySpace in this situation) cannot be considered “private.” This latest case from Indiana will put this plea to the test again, but in slightly different circumstances since the posters DID share the images with privacy controls enabled.

I agree with John Palfrey’s point about online privacy on social networking sites in the article. Palfrey is a Harvard University law professor and co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society. Polfrey, quoted in the article,

…said that the idea of privacy on social networking websites is merely an illusion, even with added privacy controls. He also believes that schools have a right to regulate a student’s online activities, but the court will have to determine if the two girls in this case had their First Amendment right violated.” The fact that it took place in cyberspace instead of in a classroom doesn’t mean you don’t enforce the rule,” he told the AP.

I do not agree that schools should have an unrestricted right to “regulate a student’s online activities,” however, and will watch this case with interest. We definitely have situations in some of our Oklahoma schools where officials have stepped over the line and ignored the fact that students in schools still do possess constitutional rights, including limited free speech. In this Churubusco High School case, it appears the school officials took an overly broad interpretation of what constitutes a “disruption in the school environment.” Since the photos were taken the previous summer, made no reference to school, and were not brought into the school by the students in question, it seems highly doubtful the school administration can make a disruption case following the Tinker precedent. Of course, I’m also not a school lawyer, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

Whatever the court rules in this case, the fact is that these photos have gone public and the girls in question are understandably embarrassed. This supports my primary point in this post: Photographic privacy is over. Whether or not you post a photo online or someone else does, it can end up on the desk of your school principal, your boss at work, or your mother. We may not like it, we can gripe about it, but this is the reality of the online, networked world in which we live.

In contexts like this, it certainly seems wonderful NOT to be growing up as a teen today. With all your friends armed with digital cameras and camcorders on their cell phones, how many different incidents from your youth could have landed you in the principal’s office if the school district took the same posture towards those photos as school officials in Fort Wayne, Indiana have in this case?

Technorati Tags:
facebook, myspace, photo, photos, principal, privacy, school, administration

Our culture practically mandates time online, he (Dr. Dimitri A. Christakis of the Center for Child Health, Behavior, and Development, in Seattle) says, with Wi-Fi connections in coffee shops and BlackBerries and iPhones that allow Internet access almost anywhere. “It would be as if we mandated that everyone drink two beers every day or everyone gamble for an hour every day,” says Christakis.

Are you addicted to the Internet? Is hyperlinked reading and writing consuming more of your time than is probably healthy? How about online games? How many people in your family are addicted to Farmville now? This article and cited study provides a definition of Internet addiction:

Definitions vary, but an Internet addiction usually includes symptoms such as spending a lot of time on the Internet (especially more time than intended), an inability to cut back on usage, a preoccupation with online activities, and symptoms of withdrawal such as anxiety, boredom, or irritability after a few days of not going online.

A technology fast over the upcoming holidays may be able to serve as a personal litmus test for Internet addiction. Whether or not you think you are addicted to online activities, this is a good conversation to have with your family members, students and others in your sphere of influence. Balance is essential, and online destinations are more alluring and engaging than ever. We all need to likely grapple with these issues of time spent online and balancing those activities with other priorities in our lives.

Technorati Tags:
cnn, conversation, family, health, internet, technology, balance, fast, addiction, study

Bud Hunt also has it right, in the comment he left for Chris Ridgway on the NYSCATE presentation wiki. Bud wrote:

Dear Chris,

I wanted to drop you a note to let you know that I find this session title and the frame that you’re using to sell your services to be offensive and beyond the pale. Our students are not our enemies and their behaviors are not rooted in violence. So long as you make them out to be, though, you’ll certainly be doing our schools and our students a great deal of harm.

I suspect you’re a smart dude, wise about networks and the Internet. I hope you’ll hear what I’m saying here and, in the future, when speaking and teaching about the actions of our children, you’ll do so in a way that doesn’t make them out to be criminals. Because they’re not. No more so than vendors are scoundrels that prey on our worst fears.

All the best. I’d look forward to your response.

- Bud Hunt
http://budtheteacher.com

I look forward to your response as well, Chris, and the response of the NYSCATE conference organizers. The title of this session should be changed immediately, and the change should be acknowledged in a transparent way on the conference wiki as well as conference program so conference attendees as well as other vendors can understand the change and why it was made. This is a great teachable moment. Seize the day.

I suggest students living near the NYSCATE conference (in Rochester, New York) up the ante by engaging in a social media protest. It would be great to see a group of students show up at Chris Ridgway’s presentation during the first concurrent session (12:30 – 1:30) with protest signs saying things like:

Students are not the enemy.

or

Trust us and partner with us as students, don’t wage war on us.

or

CIPA doesn’t mandate IT department wars upon students.

or

If we aren’t living in China, why is our school IT department filtering us like we are insurgents?

A social media campaign could also be easily organized using Facebook and Twitter, and an online petition could be started using a tool like PetitionOnline or PetitionSpot.

Clay Shirkey, in his book “Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations,” observes that social media technologies can be used in a continuum of ways: from simple sharing, to collaboration, to collective action. This proposed session by Sophos representative Chris Ridgway justifies the third level of social media use: collective action. As educators and students, we SHOULD speak out against offensive ideas and philosophies like that represented by Chris’ NYSCATE presentation title.

Students are NOT the enemy, and we should not stand by idly while professionals of any kind (vendors or educators) make public statements which demonize students. The oft quoted words of Edmond Burke come to mind in this context:

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

Words matter. Let’s hope the organizers of the NYSCATE 2009 conference, the directors of the Sophos company, and Chris Ridgway are listening. There is still time to rename your presentation and acknowledge the error of your ways, Chris. In any event, your session title and these circumstances provide a natural invitation for a student social media protest campaign.

Unfortunately, I can’t make it to NYSCATE this year to storychase this event. Anyone else want to pick up this torch?

Technorati Tags:
content, education, filter, media, network, protest, school, social, student, students, technology, NYSCATE, NYSCATE09, sophos, chris, ridgway, it

(Full panorama: 2758 x 870)

(Full panorama: 3770 x 970)

These iPhone panoramic photos were created using the $3 app Pano. I’ve shared seven panoramic photos from Shanghai and sixteen panoramic photos from Hangzhou in my Flickr collection, 21C Learning @ Hongzhou, China.

My favorite is this one of the Chenghuang Miao area at night, in Shanghai. This is a panorama composed of thirteen different images, again using Pano.

(Full panorama: 6899 x 964)

Technorati Tags:
china, pano, shanghai, travel, dumplings

Show Notes:

1. Welcome to the Future by Brad Paisley (full music video on YouTube)
2. Bob Sprankle’s Bit by Bit 100th Podcast
3. The NOW Generation by The Black Eyed Peas
4. The Power of Place: Geography, Destiny, and Globalization’s Rough Landscape by Harm De Blij
5. The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas L. Friedman
6. Creativity and Innovation in Chinese Society and Schools (my post 3 Nov 2009)
7. The dilemma presented by China’s content filtering of my current handouts website (my post 1 Nov 2009)
8. Center for Digital Storytelling
9. My notes for Joe Lambert’s 21st Century Learning @ West Lake Conference: The Place of Story
10. Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations by Clay Shirky
11. Unmasking the Digital Truth Project
12. CCC in the 21C: Create, Communicate, Collaborate
13. Contact Wesley
14. Follow Wesley on Twitter

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(full panorama: 4154 x 976)

Hangzhou currently has a population of about 13 million people, Shanghai has a population of about 26 million. In Oklahoma, were I live, our state population is about 3.5 million. Zhejiang is one of five major universities here in Hangzhou, and has 39,000 students. We visited two of their campuses.

In this photograph, the translator is pointing to the location of our conference hotel in Hangzhou, where we spent the first two days of our visit. The areas shaded in orange are the campuses of Zhejiang University, which we visited in the afternoon.

There are a multitude of thoughts and new perceptions running through my head as a result of yesterday’s tours, as well as our time spent here listening to and sharing with Chinese scholars and university students. One of the ideas at the forefront of my mind is the courage which is required to speak out in support of creativity, innovation, and change in our educational systems – both here in China as well as in the West.

Yesterday during our visit with students at Hangzhou Normal University, one of our international team asked them, “If you could change anything about the K-12 system in China, what would it be?” A first year graduate student in education spoke up, and discussed some of the problems with China’s examination-focused educational system. She spoke in English, and shared how this was not only a political dynamic, but also a cultural one based on the expectations of Chinese parents. This same need to address the exam-focused educational system was mentioned later in the day by a professor in a another college we visited, who was asked about innovations in education which he sees as important to the future of China.

This problem of having an exam-focused K-12 school system is not China’s alone. We share this problem and context in the United States, although the exam orientation of Chinese students, teachers, parents, and institutions is even more extreme than what we see in many US public schools. I am struck by not only the similar situation in which we find ourselves educationally in the United States with respect to our Chinese colleagues, but also by the need for courage and bravery to speak out in favor of change in both cultural settings. The value placed on conformity and uniformity here in the Chinese culture is extremely high. In addition, great importance is placed on respect and not losing face. To suggest that something needs to change is to imply, or directly assert, that some things are broken and need fixing. To make this statement in front of one’s peers, in front of an international audience of visitors, and in front of one’s academic superiors takes real courage and bravery which I both respect and celebrate.

The costs of speaking out, even among friends here in China, can be high. Although I know the names of both the student and the professor who spoke out yesterday during our meetings at their universities, I am reticent to share their names here openly. Will they face repercussions or censure as a result of the ideas they shared, which can justifiably be perceived as criticisms of the status quo? I fervently hope not. The government of China as well as many of China’s educational leaders in higher education with whom we have met this week understand the vital importance of creativity and innovation in the 21st century knowledge economy. They understand they need to find ways to learn from the West in this respect, to encourage and support change within their institutions and invite dynamics of creativity to play a role in educational, cultural, and economic development. We in the West struggle with this issue as well, and although we have many examples of creativity in our culture and our society, it is easy to argue our conformist educational school systems were not the primary genesis of these manifestations of creativity. How can schools and leaders support creativity and cultures of creativity? Since those cultures require “different thinking” and risk on the part of multiple participants, this is an extremely challenging prospect within institutions and bureaucracies on both sides of the Pacific. Understanding these difficulties, this remains one of the RIGHT conversation to be having at home and internationally with other concerned educators and leaders.

At one stage, it can be argued that creative thinking begins with the willingness, motivation, and decision to behave in courageous ways which do not fit an existing pattern. It is much easier to conform, to follow expectations, and maintain a “low profile” among peers and others in a given context. To question, to challenge, to imagine a different present and a transformed future is to step out into an arena which can quickly become unprotected and lonely. One of the most important ways we can use digital technologies at our fingertips is to seek and find support among other, likeminded individuals, who seek to lead organizations, institutions, and nations down a path of collaboration and continual improvement.

I am exceptionally energized and inspired with hope by the conversations and experiences we’ve shared with Chinese colleagues here in Hangzhou this week. We have a great deal to learn together and from each other, as we both continue to explore a variety of issues and challenges. Among theses, the role of ICT in the learning process, and more generally the ways creativity and innovation can be supported within as well as outside of formal educational institutions, are critical issues. The respect with which the Chinese treat and regard educators in their society is a breath of fresh air in so many ways. These relationships of respect can pose challenges in the context of 21st century learning, however, as we encourage educational leaders to be co-learners and facilitators of learning with students. Just as teachers in the United States can have LOTS of problems letting go of their perceived CONTROL over the learning environment, the role of Chinese educators as the director of all activities in the classroom is supported culturally, institutionally, and politically. Our challenges in these conversations about 21st century learning and educational transformation are formidable. Fortunately, there are a LOT of very smart and courageous people involved in these conversations, and our continued work together is bound to bear abundant fruit.

Technorati Tags:
change, china, creative, creativity, hangzhou, innovation, leader, leadership, learning, question, zhejiang, institution, criticize

Here are four different panoramic photos I’ve taken this week entroute and in Hangzhou, China, with this fantastic $3 application. Click on the full-size images links below to see the “big picture” in Flickr! You’ll need to scroll horizontally to see the entire image in each case. Anyone know if there is a fast/easy way to make a QTVR movie with images like these?

This is a photo taken with Pano on our Northwest Airlines flight from Minneapolis to Tokyo.

(Full size version: 1600 x 239)

This second panoramic photo was taken in the lobby of our hotel in Hangzhou, located near West Lake.

(Full size version: 3844 x 734)

This is the photo of our hotel presentation room yesterday, where I presented with Joe Lambert about digital storytelling. (This was a humbling honor to present in the same room with Joe, btw. He is THE GURU of digital storytelling, internationally. A few of my notes from his session are available.)

(Full size version: 3828 x 732)

I snapped this final panoramic image this morning walking around the lake near our hotel. This is a 360 degree panorama, including 11 different landscape images with the iPhone stitched together with Pano.

(Full size version: 7494 x 674)

I published a bunch of additional photos from around Hangzhou today to a new Flickr set. Tomorrow we are going to tour two different universities here, in this city of approximately six million people. That’s a population almost twice the size of the state of Oklahoma.

As a related aside, I noticed today all three of Marco Torres’ websites are blocked here in China. Without a proxy site like Proxify, I can’t access torres21.com or pushcreativity.com (his pointer sites) or his blog site torres21.squarespace.com. Like Blogger, all squarespace.com blog sites are blocked by the Chinese government.

How nice. Reminds me of home in many of our Oklahoma public schools.

Technorati Tags:
china, digital, digitalstorytelling, hangzhou, iphone, pano, panoramic, photography, storytelling, travel

AACE / Global Learn
- Association for Advancement in Computers in Education will assist in publication of materials related to this conference and these initiatives related to 21st century skills
- Global Learn Asia Pacific 2010
- in Penang, Malaysia – May 2010

EDUsummIT09: International Summit on the Future of ICT in Education: A Call to Action The Hague, Netherlands June 10-12, 2009 (PDF)

In July 2010, will hold the 2010 Sydney Symposium: The Future of Teacher Education and School Leader Education”
- “Creating the Vision”
- hosted by Macquarie University
- we need to focus on re-creating the vision for teacher education
- we will visioning / imagining what the future will be like for teacher educators and teacher leaders

For information contact Ian Gibson: ian [dot] gibson [at] mq.edu.au

Australian Council of Educational Leaders
- Jenny Lewis, CEO
- Memberships, Benefits
– Leadership Capability Framework
- Hosting and Harvesting Conference: Sept 2010 (PDF)
- this is the largest leadership conference in Australia

Upcoming 2011 conference in Beijing, China, at Tsinghua University
- in China more than 268 universities have departments of educational technology
- these Presidents and Deans from these universities will actively participate in this conference
- this is the meeting date for the association of these leaders

Comment from Dr Gerald Knezek: I noticed from one of the earlier presentations, that China has more FRESHMEN students in all than my home state of Texas has in TOTAL students

National Technology Leadership Summit (NTLS)
- in Honolulu, Hawaii USA, 7-8 Jan 2010
- three strands: globalization, performance assessment, engineering education
- each person who comes will be expected to also bring ideas to the table!

ISTE opportunities in the Asia/Pacific Region
- now offering a special membership opportunity specific for educators in the Asia / Pacific region (online, non-US membership: $49 US annually)
- in 2010 will open Institutional Memberships
- Leading and Learning with Technology: ISTE’s flagship magazine, practical, usable ideas for improving learning with technology integration
- live and archived webinars
- a variety of special interest groups (our largest is for Teacher Educators)

2 conferences in the Asia-Pacific Region in the Spring:
- March 2-6 in Singapore: www.ictlt.com

ACEC 2010 April 6-9 in Melbourne: Digital Diversity Conference
http://acec2010.info/

our last conference drew 22 country representatives

Join us on ISTE Island in Second Life
- resources keep coming: many traditional publications

If you wonder if you belong, view this diagram of the curricular focus of our members

Consider as an institution becoming a partner, and helping us bring down the language barrier
- seeking partners to translate web content
- to translate and co-publish books
- to act as moderators for our virtual networks

In SL, we have over 75 docents who help educators work in that arena

SITE: Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education
- 900 faculty from 200 universities
- 2009 meeting included 55 nations
- teachers of technology-using teachers
- Gerald Knezek, President 2008-2011

SITE seeks to promote research, scholarship, collaboration, and exchange for IT & Teacher Education
- and foster the development of new structures and organizations where a need emerges (that is a big reason why we are here today)

We are known as “The Friendly Society”
- 7 presidents over 21 years as a society

Have 3 councils, which include 28 special interest groups (SIGs)

We are one of four organizations under AACE
- SITE
- ED-MEDIA
- E-Lear
- Global Learn

AACE digital library includes 23,755 papers by 52,618 authors
- 10 journals, many books
- conference proceedings

Final thought: The turtle only makes progress when he sticks his neck out
- James Bryant, Conant diplomat nad educator, 1893 – 1978)

Technorati Tags:
china, education, integration, iste, technology, #xihu09, nets

Aaron’s faculty page at UM

We need to figure out what “transformation” looks like
- think, act, feel

What is technology transformation?

9.5 guidelines for technology transformation (joke)
- going to show three environments: Adventure Learning: GoNOrth!
- GeoThentic
- SecondLife

reaches about 4 million people worldwide

From the University of Minnesota website:

GoNorth! is a free adventure learning program for the K-12 classroom developed at the University of Minnesota. Our team of educators, scientists, and K-12 teacher explorers are dog sledding LIVE to 5 circumpolar Arctic locations (2006 – 2010) to educate our audience around the world.

The online education program is anchored in natural and social science curricula for K-12 classrooms. GoNorth! provides each participating classroom with a free 300+ page curriculum and activity guide, a different set for each trek. Activities on the trail are synched real-time to the curriculum.

Each spring, during the 14-16 week LIVE event, learners enter the online classroom for powerful collaborative opportunities. We present live field updates and field research findings in collaboration with NASA and the National Science Foundation.

The result is a community of motivated learners on the Internet acquiring knowledge from the expedition, the Arctic peoples, subject matter experts, and from each other.

Join the team and more than 3 million learners worldwide at PolarHusky.com.

GeoThenic supported by the National Geographic Society that helps students learn geography

We are designing experiences, not products
- designing for engagement, not completion

I want my students to have valuable experiences throughout the entire learning process
Now showing a 30 second video

University of Minnesota

As a former K-12 teacher, I always wondered why we didn’t use the affordances of technology and bring them into the classroom?
- so I created “aventure learning”
- a hybrid online education approach that provides learners with opportunities to explore real-world issues through eauthentic learning experiences within collaborative…

It is not a “Where’s Waldo” program because it is focused on a theoretical foundation

1- We first identify an issue and a place

2- We next think about the narrative, the story we want to share with studetns

3- we develop the curriculum

4- we develop as many collaborative possibilities as we can

it is delivered FREE to everyone on the Internet
there are many “synced” learning opportunities with students
- as we traverse the landscape, we are collecting a variety of data on an ongoing basis which enhances learning
- we are collecting a variety of media as well as we travel, anything that can enhance learning for the students

First trip we did we went across the Canadian arctic
http://www.polarhusky.com

We deliver educational assets “from the tent” to schools worldwide every week
- we also collect snowflake data for NASA and use that within our curriculum
- we also collect and share ecological knowledge, knowledge from the elders, and share that as well

When we arrive in the communities, hundreds of students come down because they have been using our curriculum and participating in our activities
- this photo is in the middle of the arctic, where there is little more than ice and snow everyehwere

Next project was GoNorth, each year had a different focus on a region and specific topic

Here is a 2008 video of Aaron

Now discussing Geothentic
- wanted to scaffold the use of geospacial technologies with learners

- focuses on students solving problems: what areas of the world are most impacted by climate change, where is the best place to build a hospital in a specific community, etc.

Now talking about using Second Life, to design experiences
- trust is so important in an environment
- traditionally trust comes from the instructor, than from content, then design
- in online learning environments, that is flipped: trust must come first from design, then from the content, then the instructor

Learner as designers
- we try to develop opportunities for students to be designers
- in the go north project, students share their own videos with each other, from Australia, to the United States, up to the Arctic

Example from Geothemtic: student providing a justification for where they would place their hospital in the bay area, based on their analysis of the data

I also try to tap into the expertise of the students in my classroom, and thereby model “learners as experts”
- example in students’ blog, life in Kaktovik, 5th and 6th grade experts from Arctic Alaska

working together without boundaries
- designing collaboration and discourse opportunities within our learning environments
- we have both synchronous and asynchronous opportunities in GoNorth!
- showing an example of a meteorologist from a local weather station was the expert for our live chat

Here is a video about Aaron from Vimeo (OF COURSE VIMEO AS A VIDEO SHARING SITE IS BLOCKED HERE IN CHINA)

I try to always keep an eye for aesthetics

I want students to develop a self-narrative, when they are so excited about a project and learning that they go and share it with others

As an example, in the GoNorth project we always tell a story from the perspective of one of our dogs, in this case “Timber”
- students begin to follow this on a daily basis, and for many this became part of their narrative
- students really connected with this aspect of the project (showing photo of kids holding signs at the airport when Aaron came back, about Timber)
- for this reason, I try to develop narratives within my online learning envrionments

eighth principle: I try to design for TPAK: Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge
- people like TPAK, but many are not sure how to design with it or how to assess with it

So in our project, there are three different ways teachers can assess with TPAK
- one based on reflection
- another based on where students have spent the most time in the learning environment
- another is based on an objective test

We now have developed User-Driving Adventure Learning (AL 2.0) so others can develop their own adventure learning projects
- we have had many different attempts to use technology to transform education

I always try to help my learners become designers
- the self-reflective process is very important
- it is now up to YOU!

Overview of the principles we have outlined together
1- designing experiences, not products
2- trust
3- learning as designers
4- learners as experts
5- aesthetics
6- self-narrative
7- TPAK
8- innovative pedagogy
- design as a learner!

Now Q&A:
- these iterations from these learning environments have gone through numerous changes over time
- we can’t stand still and be satisfied with doing things as we’ve done them in the past

Technorati Tags:
china, education, integration, iste, technology, #xihu09, nets

Think Global School
Think Global School Blog
http://twitter.com/janicepcheng
http://twitter.com/tgsthinkglobal

MY COMMENT: INTERESTINGLY AND AMAZINGLY THE THINK GLOBAL SCHOOL WEBSITE (AND ALL FOUR OF THE ABOVE WEBSITES, INCIDENTALLY) IS/ARE ACTUALLY BLOCKED HERE IN CHINA. FOR SOME REASON I CANNOT EVEN USE THE PROXY SITE PROXIFY TO ACCESS THE MAIN PROJECT WEBSITE OR BLOG, ALTHOUGH I CAN ACCESS THESE TWITTER SITES WITH A PROXY.

While we live in a global society, many schools today have failed to provide the set of experiences and tools for young people to excel in our globalized, interdependent world

Education has become more passive in a world that has become more active
- our world is more connected than in any other time of history
- our focus is to help students become more responsible citizens in the world and in their communities
- the experiential learning will provide students with tools and experiences to engage with the world and engage in real learning

We balance activities and hands-on activities with technology
- through collaboration, dialog, and cultural literacy we will instill in our students the desire to build bridges between our nations, our cities, and our cultures

TGS Social Media Experience
- “the system” is in the center, the following are all spokes
– capture and share
– connect and engage
– portfolio
– power modern learning practices

Principles for social media system
- post once, use everywhere
- everything posted is searchable
- easy sharing with PUSH notification
- single login access to everything
- always natural, intuitive workflows and collaboration
- many points of content input / output: web, MacBook and iPhone

Aron Solomon says there are 2 types of technology: technologies people use, and technologies people don’t use
- others observe there are two types of people: those who use technology and those who don’t

THIS IS SO AWESOME. THIS IS A LOT LIKE WHAT WE’VE TALKED AND DREAMED ABOUT PROMOTING WITH STORYCHASERS.

Activity streams insure the participating students, parents at home, and others remain highly connected with the activities and learning of participating students

We will use tags to help students stay organized, allow for informational organization of online activity

Not everything posted is public: this is an important value and skill of being a digital citizen
- some are public
- some are school-only
- some are private

TGS learning community is global
- we will travel to 3 international cities each year

JANICE IS PRESENTING WITH PRESI. WHILE I’VE SEEN PRESI PRESENTATIONS ONLINE, I HAVE NEVER SEEN A SPEAKER USE PRESI IN A LIVE SETTING PREVIOUSLY. THE RESOLUTION AND QUALITY OF THE SLIDES SHE IS SHARING ARE FANTASTIC. THIS IS REALLY AN INTERESTING AND ENTHRALLING WAY TO PRESENT, AND I’M GOING TO HAVE TO GIVE THIS A TRY SOON. I HOPE I CAN GET A LINK TO HER PRESENTATION.

Key Success Factors:
- effective activities and interactions in host cities
- effective transition from face-to-face to online interaction while in host cities
- activities which allow host cities to interact with each other
- engaging participatory curriculum for partner schools
- projects and activities which promote interaction between partner and host schools
- an online, social media system that is natural, easy and fun for students to use
- making the network self-sustaining: TGS becomes the builder but relies on other schools and organizations to help keep activities going year to year

Our goal is to change the world one person at a time, one city at a time

Many Chinese parents have reservations about our program because they are very examination focused, and our approach seems
- we are well funded, so we are not necessarily just looking for kids who are rich
- we are looking for students who want to grow, to develop beyond their comfort zone

Technorati Tags:
china, education, integration, iste, technology, #xihu09, nets

Joe Lambert is the executive director of The Center for Digital Storytelling. online bio states:

Joe founded the Center for Digital Storytelling (formerly the San Francisco Digital Media Center) in 1994, with wife Nina Mullen and colleague Dana Atchley. Together they developed a unique computer training and arts program that today is known as the Standard Digital Storytelling Workshop. This process grew out of Joe’s long running collaboration with Dana on the solo theatrical multimedia work, Next Exit. Since then, Joe has traveled the world to spread the practice of digital storytelling and has authored and produced curricula in many contexts, including the Digital Storytelling Cookbook, the principle manual for the workshop process, and Digital Storytelling: Capturing Lives, Creating Community.

Born and raised in Texas, Joe has been active in the Bay Area arts community for the last twenty-five years as an arts activist, producer, administrator, teacher, writer, and director. In 1986, he co-founded Life On The Water, a successful non-profit production company that offered a broad array of programs serving San Francisco’s diverse communities. Joe has produced over 500 shows, ranging from theatrical runs, single performances, special events, citywide festivals, subscription series, conferences, and digital story screenings. Prior to his career in the arts, Joe was trained as a community organizer and assisted in numerous local, statewide, and national public policy campaigns on issues of social justice and economic equity. He has a B.A. in Theater and Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley

Starting with a story of a fish, about the Buddha’s reincarnations
- Once upon a time, the Buddha was incarnated as a fish
- But the pond had a dry year, and all the water dried up

Our work focuses on helping people find their voice again through the uses of new media
I have been doing this work in the US and around the world for the past 15 years, worked in 38 countries and in all 50 states of the United States

I will talk a little about the model of our curriculum, and I will use a video from many years ago that shows what workshop products from my organization looked like

CNN story of “The Digital Storyhouse”

Elements of the digital storytelling curriculum:
1- elements of story
2- story circle
3- production
4- celebration
we focus on a group process of feedback, making the group the expert on the best way to create the story
we focus on a production methodology that emphasizes elegant design, not the technology
we make sure everyone in our workshop environments / schools: every single person completes a story

with this approach, we have been able to apply digital storytelling to many different contexts
- creativity and personal voice: in an arts context, it has given many artists a chance to express their personal stories
- social change and civic engagement: in many environments, it is used to make stories about issues that affect communities or affect the larger society
- media literacy and technology education:
- planning, portfolio and assessment
- healing and public health
- broadcast and citizen media projects

While much of our focus has been on local production, small projects, we have also been fortunate to work with organizations as large ad the BBC to create country-wide programs that capture stories from aound the the nation, specifically in wales: www.bbc.co.uk/digitalstorytelling

I want to show 1 story that I like a lot, because it uses one image to tell the story

This is a man talking about his schoolhouse from many years before when he was a child: Flashback by Luean Sheen

These kinds of simple stories all many people to be able to participate in the digital world

We believe the issue is not about digital literacy in the specialization of the art forms of digital media, but is a universal right to speak in the language of film for everyone in the world

Towards that end, we have put a lot of emphasis on digital storytelling to broaden digital literacies in education
- through this conference, through Wesley’s presentation, you can see there are many resources available to learn about and utilize digital storytelling

I call this the place of story, to talk about place-based learning and mobile media
- engaging students outside the classroom
- capturing stories that celebrate community assets and explore local history
- connecting students to real world policy
- engaging multigenerational dialogue
My work has aligned me with the educational movement called “place-based learning, ” getting students out of the classroom
My work has focused on how our mode of living in the suburbs has affected our lives
This is a photograph of a glypth that seen from the air, you can recognize as a human being playing soccer
My view is that we are disconnected from each other in many of the ways we have organized our communities
- we have our problem of not having places to go to share our stories, in the same way we used to do historically
So I began a national project, to help others who are planning the design of communities and the redesign of communities
www.storycenter.org/placemeant.html (The Placemeant Project)
the stories that we have collected in many communities, like New Orleans as an example, become a discussion about the way a city should plan

if you go to New Orleans, you will see signs in certain neighborhoods, you call on your cell phone and you can hear the story that we have helped to collect
- these stories are shared with the city planning bodies, and people are able to leave their own story if they decide to be involved in the discussion which these stories engender
- through doing this, we are seeing that mobile media has a way to bring back important memories that can become a part of the living architecture of the community
- this is an area in which we are very interested in finding partners and developing partnerships, and we would love to do this in China

A final story: 30 years ago I was in Houston, Texas, and I had been working with the Chinese consulate that had just been formed in Houston

China Daily article: China, US celebrate 30 years of maritime trade
- recalling that a COSCO merchant ship named Liu Lin Hai called on the Seattle Port in 1979, becoming the first Chinese vessel to arrive in the US in decades…
- I was asked by the Chinese consulate to come up with an educational project focused on this
- My idea was to collect a textbook set
- So I put a big box out and collected 4 tons of books
- But I was not a very smart student, I didn’t think about how you were going to ship 4 tons of books to China
- As luck would have it, the Liu Lin Hai came to the Houston port
- So we drove a truck with all the books and put them on the ship
- 2 months later I received a letter from the President of Phu Don University, thanking me for sending these books to start this conversation between Chinese education and US education
- I will finish by saying I am sure my inspiration as well as now for being here in Hangzhou, is that I believe the face of the 21st century is going to be shaped by students like you
- I know the work between US and Chinese people to bring these 21st century skills is very important. Thank you for the honor of being here.

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Web3D History
- 1994 VRML
- 1998 VRML Consortium renamed Web3D Consortium
- 2004 new VRML standard: Extensible 3d (X3D)

Digital Museum and its key technologies
- utilizes multimedia and network technologies to realize all kinds of features/functionalities utilized by real museums

Example application of Panoramic Surround Technology

There are several different versions of the Chinese Forbidden City as a virtual museum

This one is from the mainland: www.chinavir.net/beijing/guong (I COPIED THIS WEB ADDRESS WRONG AND AM THEREFORE NOT LINKING IT– IF YOU KONW THE CORRECT URL PLEASE LET ME KNOW WITH A COMMENT)

This one is a Taiwan version: www.npm.gov.tw (INTERESTINGLY THIS ONE IS BLOCKED HERE IN CHINA AND CAN ONLY BE ACCESSED VIA A PROXY)

Another one: www.airiti.com/npmoln

Best one: www.dpm.org.cn (WOW, THIS ONE DOES LOOK FANTASTIC)

Are 10 virtual museums of China now available in English

World Digital Library: released by UNESCO in Summer 2009 – www.wdl.org
- simple technologically, but is collecting a lot of information about different museums

The British Museum online: www.britishmuseum.org
- best example of virtual museum fulfilling educational purposes
- includes webquests: has one about Chinese New Year
- Ancient China: www.ancientchina.co.uk
- Early Imperial China: www.earlyimperialchina.co.uk

VR examples from www.chinavr.net

DVR = distributed virtual reality
- supports users from different locations to access virtual environments synchronously and interact with each other

I COULDN’T FIND A WIKIPEDIA ENTRY FOR DVR, BUT DID FIND “Cave Automatic Virtual Environment” WHICH I HAD NOT ENCOUNTERED PREVIOUSLY

Application of VR using HD 3D stereoscopic glasses

Now showing a bluetooth and laser-based virtual keyboard (cost: RMB 180)

Informal Learning (IL)
- since school was born, learning was divided into formal learning, which happens in specific educational institutes, and informal learning

most of human beings’ skills and knowledge come from informal learning

Categories of informal learning, according to the people involved:
- personal introspection
- two persons’ collaboration
- practice team
- online group

Visiting a digital museum is an important way of informal learning because it could provide a learning environment with rich historical and cultural heritage
- using a digital museum to do historical education related studies would be more visible, immersive, and interesting

Key factors impacting effectiveness of informal learning
- visitor’s prior experiences, interests and motivation
- society and interaction mode among entities
- physical features of museum
- frequencies of accessing

We would like to create a platform for the sharing and creation of more virtual museums

MY COMMENT: ONE OF THE HUGE DIFFERENCES WHICH CAME OUT DURING THE Q&A DISCUSSION ABOUT THIS PRESENTATION, AND DISCUSSIONS WITH OTHER AUDIENCE MEMBERS, IS THAT THE VIRTUAL WORLD DEMONSTRATIONS THAT WERE SHOWN IN THIS SESSION ARE NOT INTERACTIVE, LIKE SECOND LIFE. THESE ARE BEING PROGRAMMED IN VRML, SO YOU CAN HIT THE PAGE LINK IN A BROWSER AND DO NOT NEED TO DOWNLOAD AND USE A SEPARATE CLIENT BROWSER, LIKE YOU DO WITH SL. WE DISCUSSED ISSUES ABOUT CONTENT FILTERING OF SL IN US SCHOOLS. THOSE ARE NOT ISSUES HERE IN CHINA, BECAUSE THESE VR ENVIRONMENTS ARE NOT INTERACTIVE.

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Since I want to provide all the participants at this conference, as well as others who may be interested in the content there, with unfettered digital access to my ideas, this content filtering situation is very problematic and troubling. I am very thankful my main blog site is accessible / not blocked in China, but a LOT of the resources I share are on my presentation wiki, so this blocking situation is really frustrating.

Several years ago, I mapped my PBworks website to my personal domain, so the site is accessible (assuming content filters don’t get in the way) from the URLS teachdigital.pbworks.com and handouts.wesfryer.com. This subdomain mapping functionality provides an easier-to-remember website address for my handouts page, but does NOT help circumvent content filtering situations like we have here in China. My guess is that the Chinese content filter is blocking PBworks sites by IP address, not simply by domain name, so even when people try to access my handouts.wesfryer.com site from China it is blocked just as the main/default teachdigital.pbworks.com site is.

In 2007, when I was in China for the Learning 2.0 Conference in Shanghai, I created a partial “mirror” of my wiki site on Wikispaces, since for some reason Wikispaces is NOT blocked by the Chinese government but PBworks is. I created the website teachdigital2.wikispaces.com to share my session resources in 2007, but have not made any updates to that site since that time.

The following are some of the websites I’ve tried to use since I’ve been in China this week, but have not been able to access without a proxy server since they are BLOCKED by the Chinese government.

http://handouts.wesfryer.com (pbworks.com)
http://twitter.com/
http://bit.ly/
http://wiki.wesfryer.com/ (Google Site)
http://k12online.ning.com
http://lc.celebrateoklahoma.us (Ning site mapped to a custom domain, indicating Ning is blocked by IP range)
http://www.youtube.com/
http://www.diigo.com/

The following websites are some I have used this week and are NOT blocked in China:

http://www.speedofcreativity.org (my blog)
http://www.wikispaces.com/
http://www.wesfryer.com (personal site)
http://mail.google.com/
http://teachdigital2.wikispaces.com/ (a wiki I setup in 2007 for the Shanghai 21st Century Learning Conference, as a partial mirror of my “Teach Digital” handouts site on PBwiki/PBworks)
http://www.google.com/reader/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wfryer/
http://wiki.speedofcreativity.org (a wiki I started awhile back for my dissertation using TikiWiki)
http://feedburner.google.com
http://delicious.com/
http://claimid.com/wfryer

See my posts from September 2007, “Working behind the great firewall of China” and, “Content filtering in Communist China versus an Oklahoma school” for more on my past experiences dealing with these issues, as well as some troubling behavioral parallels we see between the Chinese government and the leaders of many public school districts in the United States.

In 2007, Jeff Utecht had recommended at that time I use the website Proxify to access websites blocked by the great firewall of China. As in 2007, this website works pretty well in 2009 for accessing all of the above “blocked” websites.

Proxify is not free, so I had to pay $20 US for 3 months of access to use it.

I know there are MANY other choices for proxy servers, but since Proxify is one I’ve used previously with success I went with it again for this visit.

For some reason I was not able to successfully edit my PBworks site, but I could access it via the proxy service.

Here is my dilemma: While China’s content filter can be fairly readily bypassed with a proxy like Proxify, there are certainly large numbers of people online today in China who are NOT using proxy sites. If I used a wiki site like WikiSpaces or Wetpaint, instead of PBworks or Google Sites, I could (at least today) provide people in China with direct access to my workshop curricula / resources.

A second option, and perhaps a more durable option (since the Chinese government could decide to block other commercial wiki sites at any time, without warning) would be to run an open source wiki platform like TikiWiki or MediaWiki on my own website, and post presentation / workshop handouts there. As a bit of a sandbox, about a year ago I installed TikiWiki on with my main blog host and created a site for dissertation materials I was using at the time. I’ve also installed MediaWiki on our Storychasers site, again as more of a sandbox than anything else, to see how the interface works and what functionality it offers.

I love using PBworks, and definitely think it is functionally superior to either TikiWiki or MediaWiki in the last iterations I tried, but these content filtering issues provide a pretty compelling reason to consider abandoning it in favor of a more accessible wiki option.

I’m not sure what to do.

Does anyone know why PBworks is blocked in China? I wonder if this stems from a particular PBworks website that was built with content the Chinese government censors found offensive, and as a result of that site the entire PBworks domain was blocked? I’d love to find out the answer to this question.

If I have to copy all the content from my current handouts site to another one, I’ll probably outsource the work using a web service like Get a Freelancer. Since I learned about sites like this from Mark Wagner at NECC09, I’ve wanted to find a reason to give them a try. Even if that website copying/duplication process is outsourced, however, I’d still face the challenge of using a comparatively weaker/less capable wiki platform for my site like TikiWiki or MediaWiki rather than PBworks of I make this change. I’m not eager to do that.

I welcome any input and suggestions you have on this dilemma.

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Dr. Jiangang is a professor at the Institute of Educational Technology, Tsinghua University in China

Great achievements in China’s higher education
- freshmen enrollment numbers increased more than 3x between 1998 and 2002
- freshmen enrollment reached 3.8 million in 2003

Big challenges with China’s education qality
- not enough funds for higher education
- low levels of infrastructure
- lower competence of active attitude of teaching body

In 2003 to increase higher educational quality, the MOEC initiated an improvement project

National top class course plan is one of the Quality Projects
- creating a website for the course is a first step / pre-requisite
- digital resources and instructional experiences can be shared more freely

We need to build multiple systems to:
- integrate high quality digital content into instruction
- utilize technology for admininstration function
- to help with evaluation and assessment

Examples of multiple systems needed:
- academic affairs management systems
- elearning portals
- online teaching and learning
- teaching resource management platforms
- more…

Need to build integrated systems, because isolated or independent systems lead to “isolated islands” of information
- isolated systems give instructions additional burdens with heavy workloads of repetitive resource building
- multiple access to application systems
- interoperability is very important

What do we do? We present a solution…
- an integrated digital learning environment
- to meet the multiple demands and tasks of instructional reform
- emphasis on teaching and learning
- integrating multiple application systems

Now showing a chart to show the IT framework of this system / flow chart
- referenced Sakai and Moodle
- many, many different functions integrated into this plan

General elearning platorm
- THEOL E-Learning Platform

We can support students with this elearning platform to make plans, interact as a group, and for instructors to share resources, assist and guide, and evaluate processes.

instructors can use this platform to readily create course websites, provide interactive learning opportunities, etc.

THIS IS THE MOST INTERESTING THING ABOUT THIS PRESENTATION SO FAR: THEY ARE INTEGRATING MIT OPEN COURSEWARE CONTENT, APPARENTLY PRETTY HEAVILY, INTO MANY OF THEIR COURSES.

Our system (THEOL) has been used by more than 180 universities in China
- 1 million students and teachers visit the site every day
- 200,000 courses have been setup using it
- 18% of the websites of national top class courses (about 3100 courses) have been setup using this system

I ASKED A QUESTION ABOUT HOW MUCH OPEN COURSEWARE RESOURCES ARE BEING USED
- His answer: They have collected open courseware materials for approximately 3000 different courses
- these are aggregated for faculty to use so they don’t have to spend time searching the web and finding these resources.

Milton Chen’s question: How many programmers developed this platform, what was the cost, was it built on open platforms like Sakai and Moodle which you mentioned in the presentation, and what is the cost to other universities to use this?
- About 50 faculty and staff are in our institute, and worked for 11 years to develop this platform
- Other universities do NOT pay currently to use this system
- Moodle and Sakai are very good, but the challenge is how to continue to support users

Technorati Tags:
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Carl Owens on Linked-In
Dr. Carl Owens is an Apple Distinguished Educator and the Director of Technology at Tennessee Technological University
- video interview with Carl from MacWorld 2007

We believe partnerships with the College of Education and outside organization strengthen the teacher preparation process

The College of Education was funded with a $1 million endowment to improve teacher education in 1999, that is soon to be $2 million
- first goal was to improve college teaching facilities and

Partners:
- Apple Computer
- SMART technologies
- Promethian
- m-Audio
- Inspiration Software Inc.

College has provided a variety of equipment to partner schoools in the area: laptops, digital video cameras, digital still cameras, keyboard controllers for music, data/video projectors, iPod Touches, all other supporting technologies needed

What we wanted to do was give every teacher or student the tools they needed, without of thought of how much it cost

Tools used for training:
- iTunes
- Garageband/Session for PC
- iPhoto/Picassa for PC
- iMovie/MovieMaker for PC
- iDVD
- Inspiration / Kidspiration
- Web based applications (Google apps)
- and many other tools too numerous to list

Results
- improved attitudes toward adoption of new technologies

Now showing photos where students can check out these tools for use
- this is a very different model from most colleges of education
- students can check out anything for an hour, a day, a week, a month, or the entire time they are with us as students

Our media center where these items are checked out is always busy!
- this is a room that was given to our college by Promethian, at a cost of approx $100,000, for fre

These are teachers being trained
- photo of teacher taking a picture of someone else, doing digital storytelling

we believe the teachers must learn to do these things first, before they can show the students how to do it
- picture of teachers recording a story with Audacity

In the last four years, we have trained 4000 teachers in the summer

Picture of teachers recording a script of a story
- this is the same process that we encourage teachers to follow with students in the classroom

Picture of teachers using a SMARTtable
- student response systems from SMART

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Kathy Shirley on Twitter: iPoddess
- on Classroom 2.0
- Kathy’s favorites on ALI

MY COMMENT: UNFORTUNATELY BOTH TWITTER AND NING (USED BY CLASSROOM 2.0) ARE BLOCKED IN CHINA

We are using the iPod to teach students how to read and to learn how to speak English better

We don’t have quite as many people in the United States as you do in China
accourding to the US census bureau (U.S. PopClock Projection) we have over 307 million people
- 25% of US households speak a language other than English as their primary language
- in our school district, over 50% of our students come to us speaking a primary language other than English

Research by Hart and Risley, 30,000,000 by age three
- followed 42 families for two years
- recorded every word that was spoken in the homes for two years
- how would you like to have to transcribe all of that?!
- what they found is that children who come from homes of poverty versus middle or upper income homes had heard 30,000,000 less words spoken to them by the age of 3
- we get students at age 5, who are learning a second language and coming from poverty with many language deficits

We work with something we call “fluency” int he United States
- iRead project
- having students practice reading until they are comfortable with the words and can read naturally
- I was working with teachers who had to work with students on fluency assessments, teachers listening to students and making marks to count the words
- I thought to myself, why couldn’t we use an iPod to do the same thing?

Reasons to use the iPod for language acquisition
- we believe in the primacy of engagement
- if you are bored, you don’t want to listen
- motivation and relevancy
- our kids think the iPods are very cool, and will do just about anything to use them, including practicing reading
- extended school day and asynchronous learning

We also need to give students control over their own learning
- the iPod allows both of those things to happen
- allows for multimodal representation: audio, text and video

Methodology: iPod and iTunes
- using these to help build reading comprehension and fluency
- students use their iPod to record their voices as they read
- those are synced with iTunes
- iTunes is the container for those files, so teachers can manage the different files

Methodology
- teacher training
- student recording and reflection
- digital portfolio creation with iTunes
- application to other subject areas with the use of the iPod Touch

Why do we focus so much on reading fluency?
- fluency is the gateway skill to reading comprehension
- if you are spending all of your time trying to read the words and stumble over the words, then you are not understanding what you are reading
- students have to be comfortable with the words before they can understand them
- it is hard when you are reading to step outside and listen to yourself (you can’t do both at once)
- the iPod lets students stop their recording, and listen to themselves immediately
- if students have made mistakes, then they can correct those very quickly

If you are learning to dance, you know how you practice in front of a mirror?
- when you are learning how to read, there is really no mirror
- so the iPod acts as the mirror
- so that students can make corrections as they are reading
- often our students do not understand that they are not reading well, until they hear themselves

Some data I will share:
- General end of year fluency goals by grade
- 1st grade: 60 WCPM
- 2nd grade: 90
- 3rd: 120
4th: 130
5th: 140
6th: 150

WCPM = word comprehension per minute

This is what is considered to be a fluent reader

If you do the math on this, it works out that students should make 5-10 words of gain per six weeks

After starting to use this process of working with iPods, our students were making six times the progress
- they were excited to do this
- they could easily reflect and hear themselves
- the recorded files gave the teacher and students something to listen to together and discuss as they focused on progress
- we have seen this type of progress consistently as we have been using the iPod
- we have been using the iPod for reading comprehension as well
- students are making as much as two years of reading comprehension progress in just six months with the iPod

We think this is happening because of neuroplasticity
- Marc Prensky, theorist on learning theory
- brain research tells us that our brains can be changed and shaped until the day we die
- the older we get, the harder it gets
- what it takes as we get older is REALLY hard work and really concentrated focus, and it takes that engagement: the motivation and excitement to do that hard work
- the iPod has given our students that motivation to do that hard work

We have implemented 12 classrooms where all students have iPods

email: kshirley [at] eusd4kids.org

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Joseph’s homepage at his school and contact information

I purchased 250 of these video-capable iPods at $150 US each for students at my school to use

Every minute every day, 10 hours of video are uploaded
In the last minute, 6000 photos were uploaded to Flickr

On Facebook: 200 million active profiles, 100 million logged in today

President Obama, duirng his inaururagion party for young people
- you can see all the cameras owned by oung people
- they are producing: taking photos, videos, and uploading

Twitter
- image of Tweets when Obama was sworn in as 44th President

Cover of the New Yorker, June 1, 2009
- painted on an iPhone (PROBABLY WITH THE APPLICATION BRUSHES)

Digital natives are younger users and digital experts
- as younger experts, they gain earlier responsibility for their own learning and for tasks to help their parents
- that is my son, Lorenzo, who is 4
- he has his own iPod Touch that he uses to learn writing, math, and practices his reading (and gets a little music)

environment: the network is everywhere
- we traveled thousands of miles to connect with you
- but you can also connect today with small devices like cell phones, and your computers
- you can have connections now at all time

Social networking
- Q-Q (LIKE FACEBOOK FOR CHINA)
- tweets, iPods, flickr, wikis, mashups, blogging, podcasting

Producing, not just consuming

How do we build 21st century learning environments?

we must think about going mobile: moving away from the laptop and the desktop
- the Internet “in the cloud”
- sending and receiving, consuming and producing

My son’s classroom, where students use the iPod Touch to read, to write, to listen, and to watch video
- they build content to share with the rest of their peers

School is not from 8 am to 3 pm
- school is all day thanks to mobile devices
- developing content to take with you as teachers: that is our goal and task

what defines a good “new” television from an old one is our ability to customize it
- how many different things can you do with the same television?
- this is customized
- customizing our content for students, making sure we can deliver it on multiple devices

Alvin Toffler: “The future arrives too soon and in the wrong order.”

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Dr Huansong is a professor at Hangzhou Normal University.

Can we adopt animation procedures and activities, like we see in mainstream media, to support learning for our students?

In teaching practice, it is important to use effective methods to help students understand and master difficult contcepts
- TA is an abbreviation we will use for “teaching animation”
- this is conducive to active learning by students

The art in teaching design animation
- teaching animation should be based on common experience and regulations
- 3D objects can be shown in a 2D plane
- designers and students should have experiences about properties of objects, and ways for representing these in 3D environments

Now showing a flash animation of a traditional Chinese poem, with rippling water, and Chinese characters displaying on the screen as a reader shares the story with a lot of expression
- visual and audio media help in the understanding of the poem
- abstract visualization can be utilized well with TA methods
- this can provide a “golden key” for students to demonstrate the different levels of thinking from Bloom’s taxonomy

Now showing a Flash player example of a story about a cat, using a series of guns and finally a bomb to open a device/room

I AM WONDERING WHAT PROGRAM WAS USED TO CREATE THIS ANIMATION? THE MOOD OF THAT LAST VIDEO REMINDED ME A BIT OF “THE PINK PANTHER!” IT IS SO INTERESTING IN THE CONTEXT OF THIS CONFERENCE TO SEE HOW VISUAL IMAGERY AND ANIMATIONS, IN CASES LIKE THIS, TRANSCEND LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATE MEANING. THIS IS A POWERFUL PART OF THIS MESSAGE, I THINK.

Teaching animation is well targeted but flexible
- TA can be applied in different disciplines and at different school levels: elementary, secondary, university

Now showing an example of a complex formula being graphed dynamically, providing a better visualization of what is happening with the variables in the formula than could be achieved by a simple, static representation / graph

Now the art in making TA
- the art of artistry
- the interface design should be artistic
- colors: foreground and background, should generally contrast
- contrast should not be too sharp, or it could be too much for the audience to bear

White and yellow characters need to be shown/displayed on dark backgrounds

Now showing an example of an interactive alphabet animation in English, showing an initial animation followed by an option for a user to click on the desired letter and see a word (with a corresponding visual animation) which starts with that letter.

Students have multiple decisions to make from a design standpoint when creating an effective and compelling animation

Now looking at another example about numbers

Now showing an example of a map of China, with different provinces that can be clicked and dragged onto their corresponding locations in China. The user receives feedback as correct or incorrect solutions are made by the user.

Adjustment and revision process
- compiles the teaching material to divide lens manuscript
- definite animation image graph / structure / color/ movement / spot / gauge / more…..

The creativity of TA and its realization art
- the establishment of the basic animation image

Motion paths can be created for graphical objects once they are created in the animation software

Now showing an example of a coloring application

The realization of creativity
- the creativity of TA starts with the possibility to create content. Manual animation is much more complex when compared to computer-based animation. Smooth movements that are more complex are possible, adjustments are easier to make and provide authors with more expressive possibilities compared to manual animation. The movement effects of frame-by-frame animation programs are not as powerful and flexible as real-time animation programs, but greater computing capabilities are required for these programs. Edited results can be smooth and more natural looking than frame animation programs.

DR HUANSONG IS SO RIGHT! IT IS CRITICAL WE GIVE STUDENTS OPPORTUNITIES TO EXPRESS THEMSELVES WITH DIGITAL MEDIA, INCLUDING ANIMATIONS, TO REALIZE THE GOAL OF ENCOURAGING CREATIVITY IN OUR SCHOOLS.

Now showing an example of Angelina the mouse, being able to make different ballet movements

If students can learn more actively, we will have better results in our schools

I ASKED DR HUANSONG WHAT PROGRAM WAS USED TO CREATE THE SAMPLE ANIMATIONS HE SHOWED, AND HE RESPONDED IT WAS THE PROGRAM FLASH.

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This short video shows the start of the first “fountain performance” we saw, which started with a recording of Elvis Presley singing, “Viva Las Vegas!” It was pretty surprising to hear this as the initial, synchronized song here in eastern China!

Here is a second video, set to different music. These were beautiful shows to watch. The temperature yesterday and last night was unseasonably warm for this time of year, in the 70’s and 80’s. (In Fahrenheit, of course.) Today a cold front has come in bringing cloudy weather and some rain, but last night was clear and warm. Good times!

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Dr Yi Li’s email: liyixinxiang [at] gmail.com
Educational Game Research Center, Nanjing Normal University

E-game rating systems of some countries focus on negative classification
- USA: EC, E, T, M, A, RP
- Japan: entire age, 12+, 15+, 18+
- Korea: entire age, 12+, 15+, 18+
- China: entire age, 12+, 15+, 18+, dangerous level

Only the negative factors were considered in these evaluations: violence, pornography, horror, gambling, vulgar dialog, drugs, alcohol use, etc.

Problems to address
- lack of regulatory measurements tools to regulate the producing of electronic games
- potential educational factors in electronic games that could be addressed

Some countries in places like England want to suggest a new evaluation system

Our basic ideas
- the standpoint to construct the rating system should be the educational perspective
- the attitudes we should hold should with respect to electronic game evaluation and rating: being positive and proactive
- a multi-dimensional approach of grading and classification should be used

The way to establish the appraisal system
- grading consideration:
- theory about individual cognitive developmental stages
- age
- school division

Classification considerations:
1- Gagne’s theory about study results
2- multiple intelligence theory
3- curriculums offered at school
4- capacity development trained in games

These lead to construction of the knowledge block / the standard of the classification system

To make this classification system more scientific, we adopted the Delphi Method
- we formed a team of 23 experts
- in our team, 15 of the members are experts who do research on the educational significance of electronic games and educational games
- 3 are game producers
- 5 are game players
- the team is consulted using several surveys

2 rounds of surveys
1- preliminary appraisal system to seek experts’ advice, then amend the indicators according to this advice
2- second survey: adopt Lickert scale and ask the experts to give a mark for every indicator in the appraisal system

school division used as a grading standard
- Kindergarten
- Primary school: P1, P2, P3
- Middle school: M
- High school: H

In the classification system, we use the knowledge block as the classification standard (abbreviated as “CS”) (THIS WAS FOR THE INITIAL SURVEY ITERATION)
1- subject knowledge (arts knowledge, science knowledge, other knowledge)
2- skills and strategies (…logic strategies, information literacy)
3- capacity development (cultivation of thinking, self-adapting, individual socialization)

Modification of the classification
- made several changes, subject knowledge classifications were broken out into more categories, for example

Steps of the conversion
- extraction of the key points first, considering what E-games could expose
- second, expect the influence of the indicators in the third level
- the data in the second survey asking for the key experts’ advice

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Jenny Lewis is the CEO of the Australian Council for Educational Leaders, past principal of Noumea Primary School, National Board member of “Teaching Australia for ACE and ACEL,” International Co-Chair of Microsoft Partners in Learning, Executive Officer of the International Congress of School Effectiveness and IMprovement, and Executive Board Member of…

As a former principal, there are some things I like to see in schools to make sure innovation is sustainable
- as we listen to other speakers, we must make sure these things are in place in our schools

We have some extraordinary things happening with technology around the world

Student Centered Learning
- many schools transforming to extraordinarily connected spaces
- we have many kids coming to school who have more technology and tech access at home than the school has
- in the latest US survey, students asked the school officials to please let them bring their own devices, because the school doesn’t have the tech resources they need

Many people will talk about the shift from traditional classroom to creative, connected classrooms
- moving from formal learning spaces to informal learning spaces
- mass learning to personalized learning
- competitive to collaborative learning and assessment
- restricted and constructed in learning to creative and extended
- instruction to personal author and innovator
- content focus to knowledge and sharing

We laso have discussion about systems of education becoming 21st century systems
- in Singapore they are about to launch the 2015 learning curriculum
- talking about expected outcomes for students (Strong Fundamentals, Future Learnings, C2015)

Confident and Concerned Citizens
Active Contributors
multicultural literacy
cross-cultural skills
civic literacy

This is the new vision of the Singapore government

Problem: have very visionary educational systems (like Singapore) and visionary principals, but sometimes we have teachers and some school principals not ready to become part of the 21st century learning environment

How can we help each other, start to grow creative schools with creative teachers, principals, leaders, students, and others?

These are the things that must be in our schools, and our school principals must do to insure 21st century learning is possible and happening
- governmental systems need to change on one hand
- the regional support and the support mechanisms that schools need to make this happen are available

A quality system theory of action
- purposeful teaching – whole school approach to curriculum and pedagogy, effective classrooms: the last 50 meters
- professional leadership: focus on teaching and learning – school and team leadership, capacity building, more…
- learning communities
- high expectations: safe and secure learning environment
- vision and accountability

there are many principals who do not know how to help the teaching and learning in the school

We need to honor and respect certain things
- New Habits, New Leadership
- sometimes school leaders are doing very brave things
- new habits are grounded in a holistic learning process

Artistry/Agility: Articulating, Aligning, Assuring, Anticipating

strategic leaders use these habits in running two protocols to drive learning and performance: strategic thinking and strategic execution
- even though some practices are very innovative and different, these leaders are able to assure parents, teachers and students that student achievement outcomes will improve

We have to start changing our mindsets
- in reality, would would like things to be different for our children, but we tend to hold on most tightly to those things with which we feel most comfortable

These are some things happening in the most innovative schools around the world

1- There has to be a cultural shift
- cultural change
- it is about confronting the current reality of what is really happening in our schools for children
- being honest about the real picture and the real work we have to do
- changing perceptopms

we need to be persistent about creating a new vision and talking about that vision

how have some schools done this?
school leadership have given permission to parents and teachers to debate about what is worth getting rid of
- giving permission to challenge the old ways and propose new ways

getting teachers to restate why they wanted to become teachers in the first place

Things schools have done
- they have gone in search of best practices
- recognized that change is hard but it is important
- leaders have created environments where it is OK to say “I am not happy”
- they have created staff rooms where the teachers can be honest and visionary on behalf of what they would like to do for their children

In the schools that are being the most successful, the children, the parents, and the administrators, and the gardeners have created a new school vision together
- that is the most important thing: the school vision must be in the hearts and minds of the children

“creating futures together” is the vision of Nanango State High
- that is the school vision
- in that school, all constituents can talk about what it means to have a future, and that is where TECHNOLOGY becomes important

A community of quality practice
- the student is at the center of all planning
- so there is a moral purpose to what happens in that school
- the teachers will create the school they will be proud to bring their own children too
- leadership must be very powerful and innovative
- must be shared leadership between teachers who just started teaching in the classroom yesterday, and the school principal
- so everybody is the leader of the change in the school
Everybody in the school gets to talk about what “things” are stopping good learning from happening
- it is ok to make mistakes, because it is part of the learning
- in these schools, the principal has such a strong vision, s/he makes sure every student is learning every day

When I was a school principal, these were my boys
- this school had to be the school I would be proud to bring my own boys to

By 9D – Nanango SHS:

Good teaching and learning involves a variety of new and exciting ideas for classroom activities. Where possible, activities should be hands on, creative and set in different environments. At the beginning of a unit students and teachers should set goals to have accomplished by the end of the unit. Students should be given choices, where possible, because everyone has different interests and learning abilities. Students need to be respected and treated as equals.

This goes back to that concept of shared leadership
- in these schools becoming 21st century schools, everyone is an equal in contributing to the 21st century

Andy Hargraves, in his book “The 4th Way” states: When teachers see learning through the eyes of the student and when students see themselves as their own teachers, we have TRUE 21st century classrooms

MY COMMENT: I THINK THESE ISSUES WHICH JENNY IS ADDRESSING HERE ARE NOT ONLY CHALLENGING FOR MANY IN ATTENDANCE AT OUR CONFERENCE HERE IN CHINA, BUT ALSO VERY CHALLENGING FOR MANY US EDUCATORS

What else do we need to do to make sure a classroom is a 21st century learning space?
- does your school have an agreed schoolwide pedagogy?
- Do the teaching/learning programs that live in your classrooms reflect a schoolwide pedagogy?

one of the key questions we have in our Australian schools: Does the school have an agreed schoolwide pedagogy?
- everyone should now “how we teach around here” and no one is excluded

Key questions:
- What does teaching, learning, and assessment look like in all our classrooms?
- How do we record, review, and reflect the children’s learning?
- …so that we can report accurately to other teachers, to parents, and to the students themselves?
- How do I know that every teacher is making a difference for every child?

Do teachers base their work on authoritative theories?
Do teachers systematically examine their teaching in light of agreed standards in high quality instruction?
Do pedagogical priorities reflect the school vision?
Is student achievement measured against agreed, authoritative benchmakres

How does the principal know they are growing the best school in their state?
- these are very important discussions which schools must have before they make significant change
- they must make sure the change they are making is making a difference

THESE QUESTIONS ARE SO KEY. I AM REMINDED OF OUR ARRA PROGRAMS THAT ARE IN SOME CASES BEING RUSHED. THESE PROCESSES ARE SO IMPORTANT.

Questions from schools in New Zealand
- What knowledge and skills do our students need?
- What knowledge and skills do we as teachers need?
- Deepen knowledge and refine skills
- Engage studetns in new learning experiences
- What has been the impact of our changed action?
- This leads back to the first question

When this happens in schools, the impact on change and learning is significant

There has to be a way that schools know they are making a difference
- otherwise we can have lots of ‘busy’ classrooms
- there is a difference between a ‘busy classroom’ and a ‘learning classroom’

I THINK THIS IS AGREAT LENS TO SUGGEST

Sometimes students can go through an entire day of school without learning anything new
- whether it is within the school or the system, there has to be a method of proving student growth

This is my schools’ growth
- in our NSW schools, student are tested in grade 3 and 5
- in this graph, the bottom arrow is where students were in grade 3
- the top of the arrow is where they were in year 5
- as a principal I would be accountable if those arrows did not move far enough
- the tests in NSW schools are against this state curriculum, so I as a principal will know what parts of the curriculum have not been taught well, and I can see which teachers have made an impact on children as well as which ones have not
- all of this has to go together

three types of conversations are needed (from West-Burnham and Otero – 2005)
- instructional conversations: usually seen in the classroom. Acquiring skill, guidance, knowledge external to ourselves
- learning conversations: closer to conversation where mutual growth is the end result. Relationship and task get equal attention.
- community conversations: vehicle for people express and share diverse views, negotiate and reaffirm directions and vision and develop social capital

To insure this happens, we need to grow successful leaders (shown on top of an image of a tree with deep roots)
- instructional leadership
- implement the best ideas
- common language / concepts: key so when we are talking about something in the staff room, everyone knows what we are talking about
- improve learning outcomes: anything we do, we spend money and time on must improve student outcomes

- in some countries and schools there has been a decision to change school leadership strategies
- we talk about 21st century schools and classrooms, but we still use “old language” like curriculum, lessons, and processes that we used with books
- key to talk about how we moved from a standards-based world to a capability-based world
- standards measure the past (what you have already done)

From the ACEL Leadership Capability Framework
- Leads self for learning
- Leads others for learning
- Leads the organization for learning

We have spent 600 hours of research developing this capability framework
- we have talked with Harvard University, Cambridge Univ, Oxford Univ, and many others throughout the world
- we agree these three dimensions (ABOVE) are the most important

You cannot be a successful leader if you cannot feel confident in yourself
- a successful leader will work with their community, staff, and children to bring about change in the school

See the PDF: Introducing the ACEL Draft Leadership Capability Framework and Curriculum Creating 21st Century Leaders

Everyone needs to have the same language, no matter when they joined the school

“The Paradox of Success: What got you where you are won’t keep you there.”
- we have to keep changing our mindset, be flexible learners ourselves, and we need to have fun with our learning
- “Be the change you want to see in the world.” -Mahatma Ghandi

Janny Lewis’ email:

www.acel.org.au
ceo [at] acel.org.au

Now Q&A:

Don Knezek asking Jenny know about how you select a single pedagogy for your school?

Answer from Jenny:
- base pedagogy choices based on good research
- many times we spend lots of money on PD in our schools on leaders which make learning look fun. In some of these cases lots of money is wasted, because later follow-up shows that those changes in practice have no impact on student achievement
- good leaders will talk through with their teachers the pedagogies which will make a difference that are research based
- pedagogy means teaching, learning, and assessment practices
- teachers and administrators choose the pedagogies which work the best for students

Milton Chen asking: I assume you believe school leaders can be trained/made and not just born.. so what are the best ways and places to grow school leaders like those you are describing?

Answer from Jenny:
- personally I believe school leaders (principals in particular) must learn on the job
- some of the program my organization is doing support a balance of theory and practice
- leaders who have become school principals come together to learn these theories and practice, and then practice in the school for 10 weeks. then they come learn together again, then practice for 10 weeks. Then they do this four times.
- We are insuring anyone training to become a school principal in our program must do a masters in education as well
- there is nothing like learning with people who are already successful in classrooms
- universities are half of the answer, but schools must work in partnership to grow 21st century leaders

THIS MAKES ME CONSIDER THE IMPORTANCE OF SCHOOL LEADERSHIP AND THE PROSPECT OF BECOMING A SCHOOL ADMINISTRATOR MYSELF. FLASHBACK TO MY EXPERIENCES WITH THE TEXAS LEADERSHIP ACADEMY

Westley Fields now asking about the importance of good assessments / test regimes being in place, and what Jenny’s organization is doing to help insure the correct/best assessments are used

Answer from Jenny:
- in some countries there is a disconnect between what is happening in the classroom and what is being tested by the government
- although the governments have an obligation to do assessment, they must never ignore the curriculum the teachers are teaching since that is the shared language the schools share
- I have no problem when state assessment is done, as long as the information teachers get can be referenced back to the curriculum they are teaching so they can make changes in their teaching – to change it or share successful practices with others
- There should never be testing different from what teachers have been asked to do in their classrooms
- Teachers need to learn from the testing themselves

What about the problem that somethings are hard to measure: creativity, innovation, leadership, entrepreneurship, etc?

Answer from Jenny:
- this is an issue addressed by the new Singapore curriculum
- if we can create different ways of doing assessment, to be effective would need to include a lot of technology, where children can participate in scenarios, children can demonstrate collaboration, creativity, entrepreneurship, etc… Children’s projects are honored as part of the assessment, then we would be starting to talk about 21st century pedagogy in its fullest form
- my understanding is Microsoft, Cisco and Intel are researching assessment of 21st century skills, and we hope to see some of this work early next year that we could continue this conversation

MY COMMENT: THIS IS A HUGE ISSUE. SPECIFICALLY IN THE US, THIS COMES UP WITH NCLB MANDATED ASSESSMENT OF 8TH GRADE TECH LITERACY. BUBBLESHEETS ARE NOT SUFFICIENT. WE MUST USE PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENTS AS WELL.

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I doubt each customer’s response is immediately visible to the police officer evaluating immigration forms, but I didn’t take any chances– I pushed the button for “highly satisfied.” It’s interesting to see the Chinese government providing these types of survey tools and feedback procedures for the work of public officials. In many U.S. chain restaurants now, like Chiles and KFC, every time customers are given a receipt they are also given a link to an online survey to provide feedback. Good businesses know one of the best ways to improve is to continually ask customers for input and comments.

A couple of weeks ago, I tweeted an update and photo using Loopt to a sign in an Oklahoma KFC asking for survey feedback. My thought was, wouldn’t it be great if our schools asked for such regular feedback from constituents: students, parents, and others, AND regularly shared the results of that feedback in a transparent way? Think Pick-A-Prof, but for K-12 schools.

Digital technologies SHOULD enable organizations of all types and sizes to solicit continual feedback on employee/staff performance and customer satisfaction. Then organizations should use that feedback to improve services. It’s interesting to see diverse organizations like the Chinese police / immigration officials as well as many international restaurant chains utilizing these capabilities of social media technologies. Does your school or do you know of schools regularly soliciting electronic feedback in this same way from educational constituents, and then responsively changing as a result of that feedback?

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Milton started his presentation with a great introduction and welcome in Mandarin Chinese. The audience was very impressed!

Milton Chen is the executive director of the George Lucas Educational Foundation.

Because we were founded by a filmmaker, we make films about 21st century learning

Today I will show you some films of youth
- 10 multimedia portraits of digital youth, ages 9-18
- digital learning and lifestyles
- film segments, interviews, articles
- youth, parents, teachers

These are all available on our website, Edutopia.org
- The Digital Generation Project

Three themes in these stories
1- students are now able to create content on their own, they are creators
2- they are using digital media to communicate in new ways
3- they are using digital media to teach

This is a fundamental shift for students to become teachers themselves
- in the traditional classroom, the teacher teaches and the students are expected to learn
- you will see in these stories the students are teaching themselves, their friends, and sometimes their teachers and parents

This is a BIG shift for 21st century learning

Now we are going to see some sections from 3 different students

First one is Dana, age 9, from Maryland in the USA

Kidsteam

Next will be Virginia who is 14 from Georgia, lives in a more rural area

THIS IS A STUDENT OF VICKI DAVIS! WOO HOO! GO VICKI! (AS A RELATED ASIDE, ALL BLOGGER.COM WEBSITES ARE BLOCKED HERE IN CHINA, SO VICKI’S COOL CAT TEACHER BLOG IS BLOCKED UNLESS YOU USE A PROXY SERVICE LIKE PROXIFY.)

Digital Youth Portrait: Virginia

In this study we thought the oldest students would be the most interesting to watch
- we learned the age 11-13 students are the most interesting, they are the ones who have always used digital media
- sometimes the 13 year olds are doing things we thought just 16 year olds were doing

3rd student is Luis from Oregon, 18 years old
- he is a video producer and a teacher
- 4H Techwizards after school program (PDF)

In America many kids have more access to technology OUTSIDE their school than they do inside

Our insights:
1- new youth roles: creating, collaborating, teaching
2- importance of adults and family context: parents, educators
3- new learning environments: online, after-school, redesigned schools
4- new “learning day, “anytime, anywhere, 24/7

sometimes we hear about these “digital natives” and get the idea that they are all doing these digital things completely on their own

digital natives are actually supported by their parents and other adults who provide these opportunities for them

this is leading us to think about a new learning day, where learning can happen at any time, and with anyone

In the future we are hoping to do some international portraits of students

We are very interested in how American students are using the Internet to connect with others internationally to support their own learning, language learning, etc.

Some of these videos are being used for teaching within colleges of education

I THINK IT WOULD BE GREAT TO INTEGRATE THESE VIDEOS INTO THE PRE-SERVICE CLASSES I’M TEACHING IN THE SPRING FOR UCO IN EDMOND. HAT TIP TO CHRIS WALSH, WHO I THINK LED THIS VIDEO PRODUCTION EFFORT FOR GLEF.

Question from the audience: How did you choose which students to feature?

Answer: GLEF setup a contest and asked students to submit 2 minutes
criteria: are these students doing interesting things with digital media?
- wanted diversity: 5 boys, 5 girls, different regions of the US, both urban and rural areas

Milton will leave some copies of the DVD with the Chinese universities represented here

GOOD NEWS IS THE EDUTOPIA WEBSITE AND VIDEOS ARE ACCESSIBLE AND NOT BLOCKED HERE IN CHINA!

Samantha (Sam) is another person featured, she is 13, she likes to play videogames like World of Warcraft

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- Beijing Normal University
- Engineering Center for eLearning & Lifelong Learning, MOE

most important people here are the students
- most of the participants here are Chinese students

Story of IBM eLearning and costs

Now discussing eLearning’s route in the Chinese context
- 1996-2000: Internet rising
shows effect of SARS in boosting eLearning

Approach #1
- the habits of reader are being changed, then the learning would be designed to focus on how to solve problems instead of to read and browse rich materials

Now discussing problem of boredom in schools

NOw showing a pyramid with labels in Chinese
- 20% of learning is from school, 80% is from informal sources

Learning by doing and work-based learning are important methodologies for 21st century schools

1: EXPERIENCE the activity, perform, do it
2: SHARE the results, reactions, and observations publicly
3: PROCESS by discussing, looking at the experience, analyze, reflect
4: GENERALIZE to connect the experience to real-world examples
5: APPLY what was learned to a similar or different situation; practice

THIS IS THE SAME IMAGE DR. HUANG JUST SHARED, WHICH I FOUND ONLINE:

Approach #2: The technical environment suitable to learning would be integrated with hand-held devices from personal computer-based ones.

Sharing quotation from John Daniel in 2001

Now discussing handheld computing devices

Now discussing m-learning vs e-learning
- Brown 2004
- I THINK M-LEARNING IN THIS CONTEXT MAY APPLY TO MOBILE LEARNING

Now discussing iTunes U

Showing Marc Rosenberg’s new paradigm for learning:

Now discussing a blended learning model

YEAH, A REFERENCE TO BLENDED LEARNING, EVEN WITH A PHOTO OF A BLENDER! POWERFUL INGREDIENTS FOR BLENDED LEARNING IS MY FAVORITE WAY NOW OF DISCUSSING THIS MENU OF DIGITAL LEARNING TOOLS AND OPTIONS.

Approach #4: The overall design of training would pay more attention to human performance instead of how to organize training (SOMEWHERE HERE I MISSED THE TITLE FOR APPROACH #3)

HEARING THIS PRESENTATION REALLY MAKES WE WISH WE HAD SYNCHRONOUS TRANSLATION TECHNOLOGIES AVAILABLE, FOR THINGS LIKE YOU SEE AT THE UNITED NATIONS FOR SOMEONE BEING SIMULTANEOUSLY TRANSLATED INTO MULTIPLE LANGUAGES VIA A COMPUTER PROGRAM

Now discussing the definition of a learning management system (LMS)
- discussing feature listings from wcet edu tools of different LMS’s

Ryann K Ellis’ 2009 survey, “Field Guide to Learning Management Systems” by ASTD Learning Circuits (PDF)
- survey asked respondents to identify the most valuable features of an LMS
- main answers were: assessment and testing, more…
From the actual PDF referenced:

Analytics, 17.3%
Assessment and testing, 42.5%
Authoring, 19.7%
Course Catalogue, 28.3%
Certification, 18.9%
Collaboration tool integration, 15%
Compliance tracking, 46.5%
Content management, 29.9%
ERP/CRM integration, 8.7%
Learner-centered, 39.4%
Manager approval, 19.7%
Reporting, 52.8%
Security, 14.2%
Standards, 18.1%

e-Learning, m-Learning, u-Learning
online learning, blended learning

I’M NOT PERSONALLY CLEAR ON THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN E-LEARNING, M-LEARNING, AND U-LEARNING… NEED TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS!

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This “21st Century Learning @ the West Lake Expo” conference is jointly hosted by Hangzhou Normal University (China), Kean University (USA), and the College of Education, Zhejiang University (China). Co-Sponsors include the Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education (SITE), the Association for the Advancement of Computers in Education (AACE), the Buck Institute for Education (BIE), the ICT Education Committee of Educational Technology in China, the Association for Educational Technology of Colleges and Universities in Zhejiang and the US-China Friendship City Association. Participating organizations include the Australian Council for Educational Leaders (AECL), the George Lucas Educational Foundation (GLEF), and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).

Comments from Dr. Mike Searson of Kean University

Marco Polo called “Xi Hu” or West Lake “…without doubt the finest and most splendid city in the world.”

Reminder that 2300 years ago China ushered in the first educational technology revolution via the printing press!

Comments from Dr. Zhengfan Lin, former President of HNU

PRESENTING

“The 21st century is the era of information. The one who is effective in the collecting, organizing, using and creating of information in the information age will walk at the forefront of the times.”

Comments from a representative from the College of Education, Zhejiang University [HER NAME WAS NOT IN THE PROGRAM, I DID NOT GET HER NAME]

According to the China Internet Network INformation Center, thru 31 Dec 2009 china had 298 million Internet users, accounting for 22.6% of the Chinese population… The majority of Chinese Internet users belong to the new generation: 35.2% are teenagers ages 10-19, 31.5% are 20-29, 29.2% are older adults

As educators and researchers, we need a strong vision about tomorrow’s school

Hangzhou is an ancient city and was the capital of China for more than 200 years in historical times

Now comments from Don Knezek

We are a nonprofit organization interested in bringing digital age learning to young people around the world
- going to share the expectations we’ve developed working with representatives of 40 different countries
- goal: prepare a generation of digital age learners
- preparing them for their future

The paradigm shift:
- from the agricultural world, to the industrial world, to world of info, knowledge and communication, to the world of creativity and innovation

Creative thinking and innovation is critical
- all our organizations need people who can exhibit creativity and innovation

Charles Darwin quotation: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent; it is the one that is most adaptable to change.”

ISTE prepares people to adapt
- while we have technology in our name, technology is not our major focus
- excellence in teaching and learning IS our focus

What we seek are the strategies technology enables for transforming learning environments
- from traditional environments to emerging learning landscapes

creativity, innovation, authentic learning is present throughout this framework

What does ISTE really do?
- gleaning from the masses and repackaging for use by the educational community

We have a major conference in 2010 in Denver, we also do conferences in Singapore and Dubai

INTERESTINGLY, I JUST TRIED TO ACCESS ISTECONNECTS, ISTE’S BLOG THEY STARTED THIS YEAR. (I BLOGGED FOR THEM ON CONTRACT FOR THE FIRST SIX MONTHS OF 2009.) IT IS BLOCKED HERE IN CHINA, BUT THE MAIN ISTE.ORG SITE IS NOT BLOCKED.

ISTE does almost nothing alone, we are the critical partner in digital age education

What do we know?
National boundaries don’t matter
- expectations for technology are global
- a shared vision is critical
- knowledgeable leadership is key
- essential conditions are essential
- skilled teachers are necessary
- measurement must inform transformation

We know we must focus on developing human capital and capacity

Essential Conditions
- shared vision
- implementation planning
- consistent and adequate funding
- equitable access
- more…

What’s new
- we just revised our standards
- brought together educators and business people in huge forums, and ask them to tell us what is new: rom 1998 to 2008
- number 1 answer: globalization, multiculturalism, and competitiveness
- a learning landscape that is increasingly digital
- implications of the continuing digital divide

In 1998 we were worried about an earning divide
- in 2009 we worry about a learning divide
- students without skills and access are students with comparatively less educational opportunities

forums also highlighted
- new tools and new structures
- implications of current accountability strategies

Teaching as a world-is-flat enterprise
- preparing teachers against up-to-date, international standards
- teachers “fit for export” (Philippines sending teachers to China and US schools, in LA as an example)
- globalization of education
- bringing an end to teaching as an isolated endeavor

Emerging digital tools
- learning management systems
- online and embedded assessments
- sub-laptop handhelds and smart phones
- more…

Standards provide a unifying framework to:
- establish focus
- clearly communicate expectations of excellence
- provide a roadmap to the future

Other countries
- Brazil, Costa Rica, Canada, Isdia, Malaysia, UNESCO, more..

NETS for Students, Teachers, and School Leaders
- we look at standards not just as competencies/capabilities but as a package: competencies, conditions, resources for implementation, and support for assessment

tens of thousands of students and educators around the world contributed to these standards

Critical question: What do students need to know?
- how to use technology to learn
- “What students should be able to do to learn effectively and live productively in an increasingly digital world…”

In the US these have been adopted as national educational technology standards

Now comparing NETS-S 1997 to NETS-S 2007
- at the top now: creativity and innovation
- students demonstrate creative thinking,

If students need new skills, then teachers need new capacities as well
- difference for teachers is instead of just managing a classroom and using technology, teachers now have a responsibility to inspire creativity and innovation
- a responsibility to model digital age learning and work
- teachers need to be co-learners with each other and with students
- so one time preparation is not enough
- teachers must be willing to learn from students

We also need enlightened leadership
- we need leaders to participate in the digital world

MY WIFE JUST NOTED (AND I AGREE) WE ALSO NEED PARENTS WHO ARE PARTICIPANTS IN THE DIGITAL WORLD!

We need to ask what engages digital-age learners?
- it is not innovation around the edges
– length of the school year, class size, LMS/CMS, etc

It is students changing the learning experience
- students use tools available outside of the classroom
- use tools used by professionals
- work collaboratively in teams for authentic project and problem-based learning
- through simulations and serious games
- teachers model 21st century learning and work
- a culture of co-learning and personal relevance
- assessment is for learning; enriched accountability
- learning, teaching and assessment are no longer isolated, individual endeavors

I THINK THIS ARTICULATION OF WHAT ‘TRANSFORMED TEACHING AND LEARNING’ LOOKS LIKE IS VERY IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND AND BE ABLE TO PERSONALLY ARTICULATE. ALL OUR LEADERS SHOULD BE ABLE TO ARTICULATE THIS KIND OF VISION, AND THEN POINT TO SPECIFIC EXAMPLES

Shame on us if we don’t use technology to change learning experiences!

It is hard

We have five challenges for educators
1- study digital age learners and what engages them
2- foster creative and inventive thinking for innovation
3- understand what tools and strategies are available
4- sustain our own learning and development
5- prepare to contribute in an increasingly multicultural setting

YES, THIS IS RIGHT! THE FOCUS ON OUR NEED TO COLLABORATE IN MULTICULTURAL SETTINGS IS SO IMPORTANT. WE ARE TOTALLY MISSING THIS NEED AND FOCUS IN SO MANY OF OUR U.S. SCHOOLS TODAY, I THINK.

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In an effort to offer comparable access to schools that can’t afford MacBooks through the state’s MLTI program, a group of technology educators have formed a consortium. This group’s goal is to find an affordable and effective alternative solution which meets the needs of Maine’s schools and students. The hope of the consortium is to pro- vide students with similar access and opportunities as compared to districts able to join the MLTI expansion. These educators, with representation from 18 districts, met to discuss the educational philosophy of expanding technology and to develop the requirements for a netbook, or mini-laptop, capable of meeting student and teacher needs. After careful consideration, using the MLTI project as a model, they developed and distributed a Request for Proposal to technology vendors. Twenty-four proposals were returned and evaluated by the members before a selection was made. The selected ASUS netbook has a base price of $289 with a 1-year warranty and $438 with a 3-year warranty. Unlike many other net- book warranties, the winning proposal covers batteries and chargers for the full warranty period.

It should be emphasized that the resulting equipment, a 10” netbook running either the Windows or Linux operating system, will have the software and accessories necessary to support 21st-century global learning. Software supporting 3-D design, music creation, movie making, concept mapping, office applications and image editing is included. These tools will permit students to create, communicate, and collaborate in a user-friendly way. Many districts will be taking advantage of online applications such as Moodle, Google Applications for Education and Wikispaces. A separate organization has stepped forward to offer support to districts adopting netbooks. Open1to1.org will give free support for the open source software being installed. The open1to1members are also are working on a digital locker program and initiating a learning collaborative for teachers using netbooks in their classrooms. It is hoped that with the expansion of these netbook programs, districts across the United States will show an interest in joining this open support group.

I’m hoping to publish a podcast interview soon that I conducted at ACTEM09 with Warren Luebkeman, who is the founder of Open1to1.org, to further share and amplify this VERY important work ongoing with netbooks in Maine. Kudos to all the co-authors of this excellent article! How exciting to learn more about your work with open source technologies and netbooks with Maine students and educators. This has important potential implications for us all.

As a related aside, the PDF to the September 2009 “Electronic Educator” is a bit large at 11.4 MB and slow to download here in the Tokyo airport. I’d recommend anyone posting PDF files to the web with a Mac consider using the feature of Apple’s “Preview” application to “SAVE AS” and use the setting to reduce file size. I discussed this in a bit more detail in my February 2009 post, “eTechOhio, School Reform Ideas and Smaller PDF Files.”

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Wouldn’t the students in your classroom love this… I’m sure they could think of some creative ways to use this interactive technology!

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Thanks to a post in the Google Mobile Help forum, I learned the Apple Address book application has a built-in feature to search for and merge duplicate address book entries. After launching the default Address Book application which comes with every Mac, from the CARD menu choose LOOK FOR DUPLICATES.

After a quick search (depending on how many contacts you have and the speed of your computer, of course) the Address Book application should ask you for confirmation if you want to merge identified duplicates. I also checked the box to merge address book cards / entries which have the same name but different information.

I ran this SEARCH FOR DUPLICATES procedure several times, and for some reason it took three tries before all of the duplicates were identified and merged. It didn’t find them all on the first attempt. This was fast and painless, however, and overall I’m delighted this merging process was so easy.

Hot dog, this is fantastic! Goodbye, duplicate address book entries!

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Michael presents a compelling case for “Why YouTube Matters.” 20 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube PER MINUTE currently. YouTube is the 4th most popular site in the world today, ahead of both MySpace and WikiPedia. According to Michael, the “average amount of time spent on YouTube” is really significant, many YouTube users are spending around an HOUR per day on the site. In our attention economy, that is a big deal. This is happening for multiple reasons, but a big one is YouTube’s ability to present RELATED VIDEOS after each video plays. YouTube itself is being used increasingly AS a search engine, and having your organization represented well in this space is growing increasingly important as we see more and more people spending more and more time on YouTube.

The following questions which Michael discusses (on slide 13) in his Slideshare presentation are key for ANY organization considering its communications strategy.

1. What are our goals?
2. Who are we trying to reach?
3. What message do we want to send?
4. How will we reach our audience?
5. What action do we want them to take?
6. How will we measure success?

If you are involved in some capacity with a nonprofit, check out YouTube’s free program for nonprofits. Political and religious organizations are not eligible, but other nonprofits in the U.S. and U.K. are. This YouTube video (of course) provides more info about the program.

I found this post by Beth Kanter and these resources from Michael because I follow Beth on FriendFeed, and use my FriendFeed page as my browser start page.

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In addition to meeting Bob, it was also great to meet and spend time with Cheryl, Alice, Kern Kelly, Marco Torres, and Crystal Priest at ACTEM.

If you’re not already a member, consider joining Bob, Alice and Cheryl’s Seedlings Ning. (Membership is free.) It’s a great place to network and learn more about the use of social media tools to support learning inside and outside the classroom. Also, if you haven’t already seen it, don’t miss their keynote in the “Getting Started” strand of K12Online08, “How Can I Become Part of this ReadWriteWeb Revolution?”

Alice, Bob and Cheryl shared this presentation again, along with many reflections, in the October 20th K12Online LAN Party hosted by EdTechTalk. That archive is available via Ustream.

I met many other great folks at ACTEM, and I can’t mention them all here, but I definitely don’t want to forget Richard Byrne. Richard’s blog, “Free Technology for Teachers,” is one of the best educational technology blogs to which I’m subscribed. This was a photo of Kern showing his Kindle2 to Sarah as Richard and Bob looked on.

It was also a big honor to briefly meet Angus King, the father of MLTI, at ACTEM.

So many innovative people in one place, at one conference!

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