Tag Archives: ILC

ILC: The Evolution of education by Chris Dede

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The Evolution of education

How do we prepare our students for careers that don’t yet exist?
Three interrelated trends are affecting us.

Media shapes their participants. It’s not the media you grew up with, but the media you use now that determine your learning styles.

Millennial learning styles
1. web rewards comparing multiple sources of information,individually incomplete and collectively inconsistent
2. digital media and interfaces encourage multi-tasking.

Why do our classic approaches to learning not work in the 21st century?
We have a transformed workplace and economy
The world is too complex for individuals to fully understand
The pace of change requres higher degrees of flexibility.

There has been a rapid advance in information technologies including devices, applications, mediums, and infrastructures.

He shared the book, The New Division of Labor, by Frank Levy and discussed whether our new workforce can compete with automation. There may only be two skills left that can compete: Expert decision making and complex communications.

Collaborative Problem Resolution
Problem finding before problem solving
Comprehension by a team, not by individuals
Making meaning out of complexity.

Middle school students are the first age level that understand and comprehend these new literacies.

New interfaces, the Alice in Wonderland interface, is where you use the computer to access new worlds.
The Multi-user virtual environment uses virtual words/spaces to connect with others. Learners present themselves through an avatar.

Situated learning
This model is rarely seen in schools. example: medical internships

Ubiquitous computering
These largely use WMDs (wireless mobile devices), 1:1 computing, and smart objects.

Harvard has created a problem-based curriculum for middle school students, called Alien Connection, in which students must assume roles, explore, investigate, and solve a variety of real problems to determine a solution. This situational problem was based on data from their state test. It works, not because of the technology, but because its a complex pedagogy.

ILC: Confessions of a Technology Leader

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I attended Thursday morning’s keynote by Antwon Lincoln, a tech coordinator at Chula Vista Elementary School District, although I’d testify that Antwon was a national speaker. His session description promised to focus on five critical elements that must be considered when implementing technology.

High stakes testing has changed the fabric of education. How do we build our leaders? If we are to change education, we need technology leadership. He came to share his story about how we can put technology into an environment and achieve success.

What gets measured gets managed. How can we implement a program and collect data to prove its worth? He shared his experience with implementing SuccessMaker by Pearson.  <www.pearsondigital.com/successmaker/videos>. His district decided that they needed SuccessMaker. However, what happens after your purchase?  Does the program get fully implemented and what data will you collect to prove its effectiveness?

Antwon’s Five Implementation Steps
What is the purpose of the product?
What skills my teachers and students need to have to be successful?
What commitment level should my staff have?
What resources to I need to make it work?
What is my strategy or plan to make it work?

He shared a MS Word table, Implementation Model, that outlines his five focus areas.

As a leader, how do I communicate the program’s objectives to my staff? How does the program fit into my district’s technology and education plan, into the district vision and mission? Do we believe that this technology has a purpose? I can buy the program, but do I believe in the program?

My stakeholders, in the case of SuccessMaker, need to be committed to read and interpret tehreports, to attend the professional development. Teachers need a variety of resources to implement the program including workable computers, technical support, training, and reinforcement. What do I need to develop, increase, and sustain commitment?

Successful implementation requires each and all of these steps.

ILC: Web 2.0 Meets Grade 2.0

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Below are notes from Gail Lovely’s session at the Innovative learning Conference titled Web 2.0 Meets Grade 2.0: Harness the Power of Web 2.0 in Elementary Teaching and Learning.

She began by asking us for a two-word definition of Web 2.0 and entering our ideas in the online Inspiration called Webspiration which is currently free. Web 2.0 allows us to create and contribute content.

Her session wiki is <Glovely.wetpaint.com>. Part of web 2.0 is allowing your audience to contribute. She then showed us the Common Craft video, “Wikis in Plain English.”  She shared several teacher wikis that are used in classrooms to demonstrate student work and illustrate the content standards. She opened several teacher blogs that included student work, commenting how wikis help make work more authentic.

One blog used yackpack, a free web 2.0 tool that allows your audience to talk to you.

Lulu
An online publishing platform.

http://www.lulu.com

TinyPaste
A quick way to copy and share text anonymously.

http://www.tinypaste.com

Technology Standards in California Schools

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Day two at the Innovative Learning Conference in San Jose. This morning, i was able to attend a Senate Select Hearing held by Senator Torlakson focused on technology standards in California schools. Below are my notes from that meeting.

Technology Standards in California Schools

Senator Torlakson described his visits to several technology infused schools including Jonas Salk and high-tech high. He’d like to follow up on SB 1330 which would have called for the creation of a statewide technology plan.

California Ed Tech Infrastructure – Cliff Rudnick
Cliff thanked the senator for authoring SB 1637 which extended authorization for CTAP/SETS. He then provided the senator the program’s purpose and history. He shared that the $17M ctap/sets budget leverages 100’s of millions in state and federal grants for K-12 schools.

National Initiatives Impacting California – Steve Schneider, WestEd
WestEd was awarded a contract to develop a 2012 National assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for Technological Literacy for grades 4, 8, & 12. He cited two documents: Technically Speaking: why all Americans need to know more about technology (2002) and Tech Tally (2006) from the National research Council. His partners are ISTE and ITEA (International Technology Education Association).
The test will be developed during 09/10 and will be released around March, 2010. The Science NAEP will include a science simulation for students to interact with. The contractor for the technology NAEP is ETS.

Several states already have a model; NC, AZ, NY, WV, MA and TX have developed standards and curriculum frameworks defining the technology standards students should know.

Impact of Technology on Learning – Elaine Carpenter & Susan Walters
Elaine spoke for the Children’s Partnership. They are a research and child advocacy organization. Their goal is to consider children’s needs.  While technology has become prevalent in our lives and companies, what we expect of children in schools has not changed. We teach in the same things in the same ways. However, online testing, e-learning,  and Web. 2.0 tools allow for much more interactivity and data. California ranks near the bottom in technology access and use in our schools. They are impressed with early results of the 1:1 computing programs including enhanced learning, shifts in attitudes, greater involvement, and increased parental involvement.

Susan spoke for The California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF)  < http://www.cetfund.org/> which is 18 months old. They were established by a PUC order as a result of several telecom mergers. They have $60M to manage and leverage. Their mission is to improve access to broadband, and provide leadership to the digital divide by expanding broadband. They’ve issued about $20 in leveraged grants in the past year.She shared info about ACME animation which will train 12K students and Computers for Youth which provides computers for low-income families.

Private Sector Engagement (Apple, Sun, and Pasco)
Apple spoke of their partnerships with a variety of organizations. She discussed the “Partnership for 21st Century Skills” <http://www.21stcenturyskills.org>
The skill skids need are increasingly complex communication and decision making.

She spoke about the problems with standards being wide, but thin. Kids need to learn content but also need flexible, social skills, productivity and accountability and leadership skills These skills are important for all kids.

Future jobs will require creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving, and communication and collaboration.