innovation3

Read Scott’s post here.  Read Karl’s post here. Read the comments on both pages. But, here’s the video…

I have been in a number of forums where the subject of backchanneling for learning in the classroom has been mentioned. I personally use it all the time in exactly the same way Dana Boyd does. It has dramatically increased my learning power. See the excerpt from her blog post below. I also Scott Snyder’s presentation at K12OnlineConference.org 2008. Hope this helps you move beyond confusion.

Backchannel

Backchannel is the practice of using networked computers to maintain a real-time online conversation alongside live spoken remarks. The term was coined in the field of Linguistics to describe listeners’ behaviours during verbal communication, Victor Yngve 1970.
The term “backchannel” generally refers to online conversation about the topic or the speaker. Occasionally backchannel provides audience members a chance to fact-check the presentation.
First growing in popularity at technology conferences, backchannel is increasingly a factor in education where WiFi connections and laptop computers allow students to use ordinary chat like IRC or AIM to actively communicate during class.

Blog Post on Backchanneling

Dana Boyd’s Blog apophenia :: making connections where none previously existed

I want my cyborg life
Excerpt: There’s no doubt that I barely understood what the speaker was talking about. But during the talk, I had looked up six different concepts he had introduced (thank you Wikipedia), scanned two of the speakers’ papers to try to grok what on earth he was talking about, and used Babelfish to translate the Italian conversations taking place on Twitter and FriendFeed in attempt to understand what was being said. Of course, I had also looked up half the people in the room (including the condescending man next to me) and posted a tweet of my own.
But, of course, the attack was not actually about the reality of my internet habits but the perception of them. There’s no doubt that, when given a laptop in a lecture setting, most people surf the web, check email, or play video games. Their attention is lost and they’ve checked out. Of course, there’s an assumption that technology is to blame. The only thing that I really blame said technology for is limiting doodling practice for the potential future artist (and for those of us who still can’t sketch to save our lives). Y’see – I don’t think that people were paying that much attention before. Daydreaming and sketching (aka “taking notes”) are not particularly new practices. Now the daydreamer might just be blogging instead.

K12OnlineConference.org 2008 Presentation

Back-channels in the Classroom

Scott H. Snyder Lewisberry, Pennsylvania, USA
Blog: http://thespian70.blogspot.com/
Bio: http://k12online08presenters.wikispaces.com/Scott+Snyder
Bio: Scott, a graduate of Bowling Green State University (Ohio) with a B.S. in Education, has been teaching for 15 years. A member of the English
Department at Cedar Cliff High School, Camp Hill, PA, USA, Scott teaches Theater, American Literature, and AP Language and Composition.
Presentation Description: Backchanneling, traditionally an online discussion running alongside a live presentation, is a way to engage all students in classroom activities, including students who are normally non-participants. Issues and student needs that lead me to the technique, the educational
relevance of the process, backchanneling services (including possibilities and limitations of several), and example activities will all be addressed in this presentation.
Post By Dean Shareski ⋅ on K12OnlineConference.org 2008 October 29, 2008

Looking to improve my authority. I’ve written 106 posts (this is 107). And there are a total of 103 comments. Seems to me my ranking on somebody’s list will drop in proportion to the PCR (posts/comments ratio). So I’m looking for lots of one word comments to boost my authority. Comments like Funny! or Awesome! maybe Humorous! Of course, if you want to write different words or phrases or more, go for it. To encourage engagement, I thought I’d present something light and funny. So here goes…  Don’t forget to comment.

Thanks to Dilbert.com for the comic.

This (from Space.com) should help us keep it all in perspective. Don’t sweat the small stuff? It’s all small stuff compared to this.

What does it bring to your mind? NCLB? Standardized testing?

The newly repaired Hubble Telescope gathered light from 5 billion light-years away to resolve intricate details in the galaxy cluster Abell 37.

Leadership Day 2009

Scott McLeod of Dangerously Irrelevant fame invited edubloggers (educational bloggers) worldwide to post (write in our blogs) about digital technologies. As a former superintendent of schools and educational leader in my state, I have a strong foundation in pre-digital age education. That foundation has prepared me well to know what I don’t know and need to know. Two years ago I realized the world was rapidly changing in ways that have major implications for how we teach and students learn. I’m on a journey to learn what I need to know. In this post I share some of what I’ve learned in hopes that all teacher and administrative learners will begin their own journey into the digital world.

The Times They are A-Changin

In the 1960’s change was in the air. The Beatles first trip to the United States was in 1964 and the Woodstock Music and Art Fair was held the summer of 1969 in Bethel, New York.  A whole generation was learning beyond school from the likes of Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Peter, Paul and Mary and Pete Seeger.

When I graduated from college in 1970, there were transistor radios, TVs and record players or turntables. To the best of my knowledge, there were no computers; no Internet; no computer companies like Apple or Microsoft; no web browsers; no e-mail; no software for word processing, slide presenting, spread sheet making or video gaming; no ISPs; no SPAM; no .jpg or MIDI files, no MS Office; no RealAudio, no search engines; no modems, no Silicon Valley; no Napster; no cell phones.

All of these phenomena entered our world during the last three decades of the 20th Century. I continued to learn beyond school using these tools, but the pace of change was relatively slow. If the story ended there, maybe schools could continue to assign technology to the technology lab, ably managed by computer teachers or computer lab teacher assistants. In an imagined world we could control the learning environment by creating learning standards, routines and structures to prevent students from “growing up digital.” Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your point of view, the story did not end there and shortly after the beginning of the 21st Century, digital change began to dramatically accelerate. Technological innovation began to blossom. In fact, over the last few years, technology has began to transform our world in ways few of us could have imagined, a fact most people now recognize because we have experienced some of it. However, you may not be aware of the magnitude of the change because it is happening at breakneck speed — and it seems to be accelerating!

For Consideration

Consider this. Until the end of the century there were no intelligent mobile devices or PDAs; no Bluetooth; no IM/texting; no blogging; no Twitter; no Tweetdeck; no Skype; no Facebook or MySpace; no FlipVideo; no RSS feeds; no wikis; no podcasts; no iPods; no iPhone or iPhone apps; no Photo Booth; no GarageBand; no iMovie; no iTunes; no iTunes University; no YouTube or Vimeo; no Buzzword; no Diigo or delicious; no Flickr; no Skitch; no Mind42 or Mindomo; no Jing; no SecondLife; no Google Mail, Maps, Groups, Alerts, Docs, Books, Scholar, Calendar, Knol, Picasa, Reader, Sketch Up, Translate, Notebook, iGoogle, Custom Search; no Google Earth, Sky, or Ocean layer.

Now, I could continue the list for the rest of the article with a hundred more tools, but my point is that we are in the middle of a new revolution, the “Web 2.0,” “Read-Write,” “Participatory-Culture,” “Social-Learning,” revolution. Where this will evolve is uncertain, but I know from personal experience that the changes in technology are not slowing down. If there is a next stage, call it Web 3.0 for lack of a better term, you can be assured that the students learning today will direct future changes through their participation digital learning communities; communicating, collaborating and creating in ways we can’t even imagine.

Choices

When it comes to learning beyond school, students have choices. In many cases, students are beginning to see school as less and less relevant to their learning. Many students are using or learning to use the technology tools I mentioned above to learn without us. If this trend continues, combined with classroom activities that for too many students are unengaging, unmotivating, and unchallenging, some predict that as students develop personal learning environments less connected to what schools currently offer them, schooling as we know it will become less and less relevant.

As educators we have choices. Some of us are choosing to ignore the technological changes and are continuing to teach the next generation of students, who are growing up in this digital revolution as its citizens, the way we have always taught students. Then again, some of us are attacking the changes, pointing out the dangers, working to persuade the world that they know best. “Students have not changed,” is a comment some educators use to reinforce their argument against changing teaching practice.

Understandably, the fear of change and the lack of support systems can make both these choices seem reasonable. The standards do not assess these technological changes. The curriculum does not acknowledge the changes. Our professional learning does not account for the changes. Our administrator and teacher evaluations do not include standards for evaluating the changes. Most educational leaders are unaware of many of the changes so they do not use the tools or even think of including mention of them in strategic planning documents.

“Technology?”

Now, don’t misunderstand me. I know “technology” is mentioned in these contexts, but not in significant, fundamental, all pervasive ways. The times we live in, the times that are shaping our children’s future, are not just different from the world we learned to navigate as successful adults and educators. Understanding the digital, participatory, global, complex, challenging, flat world we live is a little like understanding Parkour.

Just as Parkour throws the mind off balance ~ how could someone do something so dangerous? ~ the digital world represents a paradigm mind shift that most of us have little time, patience, or interest in understanding. At some level that reaction, as I explained above, is natural but also counter-productive to our mission to educate students in ways that engage them in their education so they develop the capacity to pursue their personal goals and life-long learning as autonomous, self-directed, confident participants in communities of learners.

In Times of Change

Eric Hoffer sums up our challenge.

Creative Commons Image Credits

• The Beatles: http://www.flickr.com/photos/82887550@N00/311443651
• Web 2.0 Services: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pipeapple/3280609082/sizes/o/
• Twitter: What Are You Doing? http://www.flickr.com/photos/27786290@N05/341237946
• In Times of Change: http://www.180techtips.com/quoteslides.htm

Nourishment for Your Journey: A Few Learning Resources

• Minds on Fire: Open Education, The Long Tail, and Learning 2.0
• K12OnlineConference.org: http://k12onlineconference.org/
• Learning and Teaching Scotland on iTunes: http://deimos.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/ltscotland.org.uk
• The Future of Education: http://www.futureofeducation.com/
• Moving at the Speed of Creativity: http://www.speedofcreativity.org/
• My Email: dennisar [at] gmail [dot] com

Chris Betcher on Betchablog writes about the importance of teachers and students having an online footprint. He expresses what I told a teacher yesterday as we sat overlooking the Charles River in Boston. Students are online; they need to learn from us how to act respectively and productively within the Internet world. Anything less is an abdication. The post is definitely worth reading. It will help you answer some important questions.

• Why do I and all educators need to have an online identity? (Chis talks about teachers, but I want to push your reflections to include everyone directly and indirectly responsible for educating students, i.e. educators.)
• What responsibility do we have for our students’ online identity?
• Why do students need to develop an online footprint for “inclusion” in their school portfolios?

Read the post to find out what Chris thinks. Here is a snippet from the post.

We have a unique opportunity to provide our students with a digital footprint that says wonderful things about who they are, what they can do and where their passions lie, but unless we actively teach them how to make it positive it may not be the case.

And if we don’t actively understand and engage with that process ourselves, we will most likely do a pretty ordinary job of helping our students do it right.

What are the Top Ten Must-See Videos that Superintendents and Other School and District Leaders Must See?

I have a presentation to do for superintendents and other school leaders. I want to show a video or two to them to educate them about web 2.0 pedagoies and to convince them to begin experiencing the world of web 2.0 themselves. So… I want to see what you think. If you can help with compiling the list, please comment below and nominate a video. Thank you.

The challenge is a lot larger than most people realize. Most, I suspect, don’t even think about this issue much.

Are the educational leaders in your community actively learning about, using and promoting web 2.0 tools and pedagogy as natural complements to skillful teaching and learning?

I was recently perusing my state superintendents’ web site (Massachsetts Association of School Superintendents) and noticed a PDF in the technology section. Our technology committee issued a PDF in the Documents and Reports section titled M.A.S.S. Best Practices in Technology that is worth reading if you want to gain an insight into the mindset of an influential group of educational leaders on pedagogy and technology. (Note: I had to right click on the report link and save the document on my computer to view it so I have inserted it at the end of this post. ) The twenty page “report” has nothing about web 2.0 tools or pedagogy. What you do find in the report, which is actually a listing, are plenty of references to schools using student management systems, biometrics, school security, one-to-one computing, wireless technologies, testing and student assessment, etc., a total of 21 headings.

I hope this is not the case for educational leaders throughout the world, but I suspect it is for many if not most. Scotland, Northern Ireland and Australia and some individual schools come to mind as exceptions I have encountered in my online network and self-directed learning on the web. I respect my Massachusetts colleagues, but their education in this area has a long way to go. To their credit, this fall, 2008, their technology conference is advertised as an attempt to reach out to the latest knowledge on technology best practices. They approved me as a presenter to speak about web 2.0 tools and pedagogy so I am optimistic.

The real story is not about adding technology; it’s about a vision of technology as a way of life infused throughout the application of the knowledge base of skillful teaching and learning in all our schools and classrooms. Until educators and influential people such as parents, school boards, teacher union leaders, and politicians understand what this vision of teaching and learning looks and feels like by experiencing it themselves, our progress will be limited to a few courageous souls fighting the status quo to no significant avail.

I hope organizations like CoSN and The MacArthur Foundation can help to significantly and rapidly advance the understanding and aceptance of web 2.0 tools and pedagogy by educational leaders and influential people who make the key decisions in this area. Here is a CoSN video Changing to Learn, Learning to Change.

The web is now about learning, dialogue and community. Speak to us. Let us know what the status is in your school or district.

This post was prompted by a press release on August 28, 2008 issued by the MacArthur Foundation:

The CEO of the Consortium for School Networking and a Professor Emeritus at Western Michigan University discuss a new initiative designed to assess how school leaders are affecting the use of Web 2.0 applications in schools. To read the full release, click here.

M.A.S.S. Best Practices in Technology 07

To all the educators across the world:  What does this September mean to you?

In September 1970 I began my career as an educator in Massachusetts as a high school English teacher in a parochial (Catholic) school for girls in South Boston, Cardinal Cushing High School. Subsequently, I started school in September over the years in a variety of other places.

• North Andover, MA as a High School English Teacher
• Wayland, MA as a High School English Teacher
• Hopkinton, MA as a Junior-Senior High School English Department Head
• Harvard University Graduate School of Education as a Teacher on Sabbatical and graduate student
• Andover-Lawrence, MA as Director of the Collaborative School Project
• Nashua, NH as Educational Supervisor
• Reading, MA as Assistant Superintendent
• Reading, MA as Associate Superintendent
• Falmouth, MA as Superintendent

Today, September 1, 2008, thirty-eight years after my first September as an educator, I will am not be starting school. For a variety of reasons I have decided to leave full-time employment as a public school educator in Massachusetts. The loss I feel is palpable. I will miss my colleagues. Good friends in Falmouth need to focus on the new school year, not me. I will miss the students and their families. They will be busy this week adjusting to the new school year after a beautiful Cape Cod summer. I will miss the people of the community. They have generous hearts and I will never forget their spirit of community.

What the future holds remains to be seen. My professional life feels like a puzzle right now. All the pieces are scattered about. Over the next 12 months I will continue to learn and teach as I always have, but now I have to discover new spaces where that can take place. So far five themes seem to be emerging: Technology Enhanced Learning; Family; Poetry; Skillful Teaching and Learning; Influence and Advocacy. We’ll see.

Tomorrow I will publish my first post of the new school year. True, I am not going to be associated with a school district this year, but since my heart and mind will always be devoted to working with educators to understand what we do well and how we can do better, I will continue to organize my life around the school year.

In the coming months I am going to work on finding ways to have conversations and establish connections with educators who have interests similar to mine. To that end, I plan to write more, using this blog to publish, and I hope to expand the number of people who subscribe to and comment on my posts. I want to nurture a community of like-minded educators using all the tools Web 2.0 provides. This is going to be an adventure that I will share with you at innovation3 and other spaces I will introduce you to over the year. I hope you will visit often and participate in what I hope will become a community of learners.

So until tomorrow…. Learn. Communicate. Collaborate. Create. Share.

Retirement Announcement (Click to read.)

Farewell Letter (Click to read.)

Essential Question: How would classrooms be different if students were asked by teachers to create and publish on the web videos similar to those done by Common Craft? If you know of a classroom any place in the world (regardless of the language) were this is happening, please share your story in the comments below this post.

Lee LeFever & Sachi LeFever have produced another Google How-To video. Today, August 26, 2008, they released Google Reader in Plain English (1:05 minutes).

I think this video is a nice complement to another production Lee & Sachi did for Google: Google Docs in Plain English (2:50 minutes).

After watching these two In Plain English videos (only 4:00 minutes of your time!), a student should be able to experiment with these free, useful, online tools. (I suspect a teacher could tap student curiosity and inventiveness by inviting students to produce similar explanatory videos.)

But that’s not all…

Lee and Sachi have created many other videos. Here’s one that many teachers and others interested in the presidential election process should watch and share with students, colleagues and friends: Electing a US President in Plain English (3:43 minutes). If you are trying to challenge and engage students in the elections, this video will help kick start the conversation in your classroom.

You can find other Common Craft videos here.

Administrators, teachers, parents, students, tap into the power of learning and doing on the internet.