Instructional Technology

NECC and TIE 2008 thoughts

mporter@lps.k12.co.us — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:00:00 GMT

Final reflection, for now, on NECC 2008. In many ways, NECC is the perfect complement to the TIE conference. NECC brings in speakers and practitioners from all over the country, and even the world. It’s intriguing, and in many ways validating, to see and hear what’s going on in other places. I’m happy to report that as I sat listening to many speakers, I could honestly say, “Oh, we do that.” I don’t pretend to think that we do it all, or that we do it all perfectly, but I would put our teachers and their practices on par with their counterparts from across the globe. In fact, I believe that we have teachers who should be presenters at NECC; they’re simply that good.

Likewise, the TIE conference is an opportunity to witness effective strategies by educators in using technology in the classroom. Two things are distinctly different about TIE—there are more classroom teachers presenting, and there are computers at all the sessions, which encourages active learning. As we have in the past, Littleton was well represented from both the presenter standpoint and among the attendees. I especially applaud the Littleton educators who presented their classroom practices, successes and failures, to an unknown audience. Public speaking is always daunting, but I heard nothing but good things about our LPS presenters. Your efforts are appreciated.

NECC Day Three (B)

mporter@lps.k12.co.us — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:12:00 GMT

So a quick day two update. As I mentioned last post, I was excited to attend a session by Ian Jukes. Ian is always on the bleeding edge of the educational technology world. As a former professional football player, Ian attacks every speech as if he is playing in the Super Bowl. His mantra: Kids today are digital, and unless we’re fluent in digital mediums, our kids will simply unplug us. To be clear though, Ian doesn’t want to throw traditional literacies out the window. He correctly notes that schools are important social agencies for the transmission of culture. What’s different today though, is that students aren’t simply receiving culture—they’re producing it.

After that, I stuck around for a session by Will Richardson of the role of social networking in teacher learning communities. As Chris Marchetti quickly picked up, Web 2.0 tools could have a tremendously powerful affect on the PLC work in LPS and other places. The key though, according to Will, is that purpose precedes protocol. In other words, until teachers understand why they are participating in an online community (to refine practice to aid their students) they will not buy into the concept of connecting asynchronously.

For Wed a.m., I have a couple of sessions lined up on elementary literacies (digital storytelling) and one on cyber-safety.

NECC Day Three (A)

mporter@lps.k12.co.us — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:16:00 GMT

Oops. Started the morning off by going to the wrong session, but sometimes detours lead to interesting destinations. I had hoped to go to a Web 2.0 and Marzano’s instructional strategies class, but it was booked up 25 minutes before the session even began. I was interested in the Marzano class, as that is the premise that Brent Wilson and I are using for our IT 6515 class at the University of Colorado, Denver. Feel free to see our class work (and think about making a contribution via the discussion tab if you feel so inclined) at http://it6515sharedresources.wikispaces.com/ .

So instead, I wound up at a digital editing for elementary students session. It’s a bit heavy on the tool process, and perhaps glosses over the curriculum connections, but reminds me of something I heard at the TIE conference. There, the keynote speaker, Dr. Jason Ohler, defined literacy in a profound manner: Literacy is the ability to “write” in the medium in which one “reads.” In other words, we know how much video students take in—can they produce and publish in that medium?

It’s clear from this session that even 3rd graders are capable of writing in digital video mediums.

Earlier, we went to a keynote in which two Canadian teachers shared their remarkable stories of their 5th graders connecting on a global level with peers from Australia, Japan, the United States and other places. One of the most powerful experiences, however, involved connecting and collaborating with students from Sierra Leone. Here, students became so involved with their epals that the extended it to video conferencing, fundraising efforts, and ultimately, exchange visits. Hearing two compelling educators describe the passion and energy of their students for these projects was energizing and validating. By the way, it distinctly reminded me of the MAD (Making a Difference) program at Heritage High School.

Some resource links for educators looking for global connections:

http://www.takingitglobal.org/
http://www.iearn.org/index.html
www.epals.com

Next up, the always provocative Ian Jukes...

NECC Day Two

mporter@lps.k12.co.us — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:56:00 GMT

Day two blog post:

Well, first the good news. The heat index has dropped down to 90 degrees or so, and is notably cooler. Now the bad news—NECC 2008 is experiencing some Internet wireless connectivity and density issues, and it has been a bit of a challenge to access resources. However, the sessions have been fantastic. I started the morning off at an information literacy and management session that was geared for elementary students and their teachers. My key takeaway: guided research on the Web. Younger students (maybe all students) need to be able to simultaneously gather information from electronic resources and analyze the source itself. This is best accomplished by leading students to preselected web resources and holding discussions on just why the teacher selected these particular sites. If it sounds like a modified web-quest, it is.

My next session centered on the new teacher standards on technology. The new standards parallel last year’s student standards, and I find it interesting that while they expect a teacher to master certain processes and concepts around technology, Standard One speaks to the teacher facilitating student use of technology in the classroom. In other words, ISTE’s new teacher standards are actually about the teacher creating an environment in which students use technology. At the risk of painting a broad brush stroke, ISTE’s standards lean toward technology not as a teacher’s instructional tool, but as a student’s learning tool.

See http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_for_Teachers_2008.htm

The final session I’ll blog about today is Dr. Judi Harris’ session on the importance of integrating technology into the classroom, and just how difficult that is. She notes that teachers today must be masters of pedagogy first, content second, and finally technology. It’s only when a teacher can balance all three concerns simultaneously that true integration of technology happens in the classroom. It’s no wonder that technology integration happens more slowly than we would like sometimes. Her solutions: renewed focus on planning for the technology-infused lesson, and an acceptance by teachers themselves and their administrators that sometimes things can go awry with technology. Finally, her observations underscore the effectiveness of the co-teaching model we strive for in LPS. The classroom teacher has support from a techie peer for when those things do awry, and can remain focused on the students.

One last note: Last night a dozen LPS classroom teachers got together on the historic San Antonio riverwalk to brainstorm, network, and even plan for the fall. I had the pleasure of listening to motivated and talented teachers plan to have their students collaborate on common units via technology. For me, this has been the highlight of the conference so far.

NECC 2008

mporter@lps.k12.co.us — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 22:03:00 GMT

NECC 2008 in San Antonio.

Today, teams from Littleton, Heritage, Arapahoe High Schools, and members of the Instructional Technology team met up in the heat and humidity (heat index 108) of San Antonio, Texas, to take in the 2008 National Education Computing Conference. Their mission: to transform first their classrooms, then their schools, into models of 21st Century learning. We’ll keep a running blog to exchange ideas and thoughts, and give the folks back home a sense of what’s going on at the world’s largest educational technology conference. One of the key issues at this conference will be the unveiling of the ISTE (International Society of Technology in Education) standards for teachers. As soon as I can get my hands on them, (it seems like they’re under pretty tight wraps) I’ll post them. These standards are supposed to compliment last years’ NETS (National Education Technology Standards) 2.0, which, in a nutshell, shifted ISTE’s focus from learning about the tool to learning with the tool. Anticipation is high that the teachers’ standards will be likewise a fundamental shift. Stay tuned!

LPS credit

mporter@lps.k12.co.us — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 20:47:00 GMT

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR THOSE SEEKING LPS CREDIT: Be sure to sign up for CDE credit at the booth next to registration and complete the 1000 word assignment on time. Once you have received the certificate from CDE, present it to the HR department at LPS for LPS credit. Mike

Content Matters

mporter@lps.k12.co.us — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:31:00 GMT

Hi all---

Well, it looks like we’re back online! Life without the internet—it somewhat reminds me of 1996! I have a general overview on TIE 2008 that I’d like to share: content matters! At the risk of making a huge generalization, the presenters I have seen and heard about have all done a wonderful job at not only detailing the bells and whistles of all the cool programs and tools, but also stressing how it fits into curriculum and enriches it. I believe that our keynote speaker did an excellent job at starting that thread. If you recall, he emphasized the story line first, then the effects and transitions. Good advice. After all, the digital medium is only a vehicle to carry students’ voices, thoughts and stories. The media is not itself the message. Your thoughts?

Expectations?

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:10:00 GMT

We have had a remarkable year at LPS! This year saw the deployment of a district-wide wireless network, the completion of the fiber optic backbone, and the piloting of two student access technologies, the N-computing thin client computers and the eeePc laptops. In the classroom, we had more students producing digital artifacts, writing to more blogs, and teleconferencing with peers from across the world than ever before. All in all, the LPS staff is to be recognized as leaders in the integration of technology across the state, and indeed, across the country. Having said that, what are we going to do next to prepare our students for the 21st Century? How can we best serve our students who have never known life without the Internet? Please share some of your ideas on what you hope to take from the TIE conference, and how that will help you in your work with our students.