I spent Friday morning with 22 student teachers and a couple teachers from my school. My goal was to introduce them to the world of web2.0, wikis, and del.icio.us. Well 2 out of 3 ain't bad- I didn't really get into delicious beyond an introduction. That aside, I think this group of future teachers really understood my point that education is changing and our teaching needs to change too!

The slideshare was my main introduction, and here is the wiki we used. I gave them each a page to play with and used video's to convey many of the ideas I wanted to get across. I'd like to thank SFU Faculty Advisor and friend John Stockdale for the opportunity.

I'd love to be able to give this message to every student teacher! 

This is the end of my last post on our class Ning network for Planning 10 this term. The first link isn't really appropriate but my students get my sense of humour by now, and we just finished talking about sex-ed, so I put it in anyway. For reasons I cannot express in this venue at this time, I will really miss these two classes!

 - - - - -

And finally, I will leave you with this:

1. Make smart, realistic goals for yourself... it takes effort to follow through with your goals, so make them SMART and easier to find success with!

2. Figure out who you are and what is important to you. Don't let media perceptions change you. Be safe, and if you are going to be a role model for others, be a positive one.

3. Remember that the world is getting smaller, and that we are now global citizens... in a new global market... connected in new ways... take care of your neighbours!

Peace.

 - - - - -

Kim Cofino writes on Twitter:

Join us in our uStream session: http://ustream.tv/channel/isb-edu-stream Conversations about the Future of Learning in a Networked World.

I click the link to uStream and find that 12 others have also joined her meeting, later there were 17 of us.

Vance Stevens is talking and a participant in the meeting links to the slide show he is showing.  

Vance keeps us up to speed with respect to when to advance the slides. 

I bookmark one of the links in the slides to my del.icio.us, a great link for new bloggers to check out. 

I chat with some 'familiar' people, Alec Couros and Kelly Christopherson, and ask them to help me out with a Pro-D session I'll be running with student teachers on the 25th. Chrissy says to 'Twitter' her and she will help out. (She actually says, "Twitter us and we will help"). I don't follow Chrissy on Twitter so I go to my open Twitter window and request to follow her. 

I see that I have a new Gmail message in my inbox so I open another window to find out that it is Kris. She is asking if I had seen her new post, which is titled Web2.0 Compatible.

I'm listening to the meeting, I postpone popping open windows to the links Vance is referring to, or checking the live chat on uStream so that I can read Kris' post. I notice a small typo in Kris's second paragraph. I also notice a green dot by her name in Google Chat indicating that she is online. I open a chat box and quote her typo back to her.

Kris replies back minutes later that the typo is fixed, (I hit refresh and it is). Kris' post is about how 'her generation' is totally web2.0 compatible. 

I continue following the meeting where a participant is talking about how these new applications are now 'net' applications and not 'pay-for' software. I realize that other than my computer and Internet connection, all this linking and watching and listening and engaging is free.

The most amazing part to all this: It was almost midnight here and I was 'chatting' with a student, reading her writing, and offering (minor) feedback... while 'sitting in' on a staff meeting at the International School Bangkok, Thailand... 'talking' to Kelly in Saskatchewan and Alec in Regina, as well as others in Australia and The UK... and 'meeting' Chrissy, a new connection from New Zealand, who has offered to Twitter-in and help demonstrate networking/connectivity at my Pro-D session next week in the suburbs of Vancouver.

All this happened in a shorter time than it took me to write this post! 

 - - - -

Postscript:

While getting links for this post, I discovered that Chrissy also wrote about this experience. Here is a great image she uploaded. Click on it to get to her post. 

...and back again moments later. Apparently this was not a staff meeting, but a session in an un-conference. Kim just linked to the conference wiki page via Twitter.

The first time I saw the term 'B.G.' referring to 'Before Google' was in Karl Fisch's 'Did You Know' presentation. Tonight that term came to life for me.

Here is an eye-opening statistic I discovered about myself today: 

Total Google searches: 3633 (Since April 30th, 2006, and only counting when I have been signed into Google.)

I did some quick number crunching: On average, I use Google about 450 times a month, which also averages to about 15 times a day. I really do have to ask, what did I do B.G. - Before Google?  

If you have a Google account you can check out your own history here http://www.google.com/history/

Have a look at my Googling trends: (The secret is out... I am a night owl!)

Above and beyond this chart, there is actually quite a lot here that Google knows about me. Add to this the things I choose to RSS into Google Reader, the things I choose to Star and Share there, the sites I sign up with on Gmail, the people (and information) I e-mail, and basically Google could start to make decisions for me.

- - - - -

A.G. - After Google 

How far away are we from having Google prioritizing items in our e-mail and RSS feeds for us? Or providing us with personalized search results? I wonder how far this could go?

Will there be a truly semantic web? Although Stephen Downes says 'no', and makes a very knowledgeable and compelling argument, I wonder if he isn't looking at it from a paradigm that will change?

Stephen states:

But the big problem is they believed everyone would work together:
- would agree on web standards (hah!)
- would adopt a common vocabulary (you don't say)
- would reliably expose their APIs so anyone could use them (as if)

But I think of the sophistication of Language Translators today and wonder if standards and vocabulary will have to be stringent? Perhaps there will come a time when it will be enough to have a somewhat common vocabulary (congruent semantics within different languages)... and so 'loose' standards become beneficial since if you choose to follow along, you reap greater benefits. Or perhaps the same way Mashups scrape information from multiple sites a semantic web could be built by information scraping?

How many billions of dollars were spent on laying down fiber cables in the few years before wireless access mushroomed?

How many experts thought blogs would fail? Without RSS blogs would never have become so prolific. Blogs came first, but they might have drifted to the fringe without the ability to have feeds go to the reader.

Is a semantic web really doomed to fail or is it inevitable? Web4.0 - your webmodality.

- - - - - -

C.E. -Communal Era 

I'm not changing my behavior because I have become aware that 'Google is watching' and tracking what I do.

And yet I'm not fully trusting either. How accurately can they pinpoint my interests and focus Google ads towards me?  (With a last name of Truss this would be refreshing... Yahoo always shows me Roofing and Bra Support ads.) Furthermore, who else can see my information? Who decides this? How secure is my information? All these things concern me, yet I'm still using Google. 

There is an option to 'pause' the history tracking and also to 'remove' an item in Google History, but do these things actually happen or just disappear from my view? (I recall some issues with Gmail not 'deleting forever' after such a request was made.) Yet I'm still using Google.

With OpenID and Corporate ID (Youtube is Google, Flickr is Yahoo) I am going to be sharing my information regardless of how much I chose to 'pause' or 'block' or 'remove' information from the web. My information is communal/shared to a very large extent!

What really concerns me is how this information about me will be used to "help" me? Will "smarter" searches force like-minded ideas on me? Will they stifle my creativity? Will I suffer the 'Dumbness of Crowds'?

Will a semantic web shield me from an onslaught of unnecessary information or will it insulate me from possibilities and learning opportunities?

 I've bounced some digital immigrant/native ideas around a few  times. Now I have one more thing to add.

 When I was young my sister had dolls that spoke. This was so amazing! You pulled a string in the doll's neck and as it recoiled the doll said, "Hi Ma-ma" or some other short phrase. Later the dolls would say a series of phrases, changing with each pull-of-the-string. Now my daughters have My e-Pets and Webkinz. Next comes this video:

 It seems that the 'Immigrant/Native' argument is moot. I called the digital range in competency/capability of students a spectrum, not a dichotomy, (I think the correct word should have been continuum -note the reflection/comments on the post to see why I now think 'spectrum' is better than 'continuum'). The fact is students can't be lumped into general categories such as this. George Siemens summarizes this point better than I can, so read his post, and I'll move on to the point of this post.

There is an issue of 'digital exposure' that many (but not all) of today's kids have that simply wasn't available when we were young. Despite my new distaste for the 'digital native' catch phrase, I am back to liking my Batman/Borg quote:

"I come from the Batman era, adding items to my utility belt while students today are the Borg from Star Trek, assimilating technology into their lives." 

 My daughters interact with their toys in ways that I never could. In the same vein, two year old Paige from the above video will expect her toys to interact with her, to provide her with choices that I never had. Does it not follow that she will expect the same interaction and engagement in school?

Basically this is about 'exposure to' and 'integration with' digital technology at a young age as opposed to 'adaptation to' digital technology later on in life.

When Paige is 9, she will have peers that instant meesage each other on their PDA's... they will be more likely to communicate online at a younger age... they will be more likely to connect to like-minded social groups digitally. They will be continually exposed to 'new technology' that they won't ever remember living without. (Technology and tools that we name, and they participate with.)

Meanwhile, I will continue promoting the value of integrating technology into the classroom to teachers who have "enough on their plate already". I will offer out some 'delicious' tools for their utility belts... while Paige plays with an iPhone and learns to connect to the world around her in ways many of us are now learning about... learning side-by-side with a two year old.

Have you ever spent hours working on something and then looked at the final product only to wonder where the time and effort went? That's how I feel about the rubric I have been working on for the Graduation Transitions Program (for which I am the coordinator at our school).

Last year, under the old program, the 'Final Presentation' was about showing evidence and meeting criteria. This year the 'Exit Interview' is more about the journey...

So how do you create a rubric to give feedback to students about their journey? I decided on a few things first:

1. Reflection is important and needs to be valued.
2. This is a big transition... some forward planning also needs to be valued.
3. This is NOT a grade! (The program is not graded, you just need to meet the requirements.)
4. It needs to be 'different' enough that the many different teachers doing the interview won't fall into 'grading' mode.

Here is what I came up with...    (Link to a larger view)

At this point I can't decide if this achieves what I want it to, or if I wasted my time... feedback is really appreciated... I have to present this to students on Monday. 

We are influenced by so many things in our lives. Identifying what has a significant influence on us can be difficult. Here are two things that I believe can be categorized as most influential... and they both happened Monday.

1. Fifteen year old Kristine wrote a very influential blog post last May. It coincided with a lesson I was doing in my class for our school's Renaissance Fair. The post, "How to Prevent Another Leonardo da Vinci", has made the finals for the Edublog Awards 'Most Influential Post '. She is the only student to make the finals in this category. Furthermore, the post has had an impact on me, and many teachers that I have shared it with. Thinking back now, as I write this, I realize that Kris has influenced my blog posts, time and again. (The student as teacher, or at least as an influential node in my learning network:-)

As I told Kris in my comment months ago: "You are, and always will be, a lifelong learner who engages in a quest to meaningfully exploring your world, (dare I say like da Vinci)… I guess one would argue despite your education rather than because of it… so there is hope, and there is potential for us to find our next da Vinci… perhaps SHE is within our midst today:-)"

As edubloggers I think that it is great to recognize students like Kris who deserve more recognition than they usually get at school. We should also recognize that although we strive to give students the best possible experience in our classrooms, Kris' message holds more truths than most would like to admit. May her blog influence many learning discussions in the months to come.

2. Two good friends, Dave Sands and Gary Kern came to my school Monday night and did a presentation with me on: Technology, Your Child, and You. Twenty seven parents braved the threat of the first snowfall of the year to participate in the presentation. On a personal note, I felt a little like a rookie called up to the majors to help out with this presentation. Dave and Gary have given it many times, and they had a 'flow' about them that I lacked. Overall I think it was great to be part of the presentation and it was fun to see my Batman/Borg metaphor being used (though they use the more recognized Terminator rather than the Borg).

Dave was very impressed with the parent's involvement and interest. The most vocal of them wanted answers about what to do about Facebook and all the screen time kids have. This presentation however was much more about asking questions than giving answers.

The presentation delivers a number of key ideas: Technology feeds student needs. Technology isn't going away. Parents need to figure out what they value, and they need to understand and engage with the technology their kids are using. If parents want influence with their children, they are far more likely to get it engaging from the inside rather than policing from the outside.

A simple example: a kid that won't phone a parent from a friend's house to say they are changing locations, might not think twice about texting a parent while in the back seat of a car heading to the new location... if text is a mode of communication that the kid already uses with their parent. 

The presentation is very well designed and parent feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with several of them wishing more parents showed up, "Parents need to hear this!"

After my last post I went to hear Alan November speak at an afternoon Pro-D session. I then read Brian Kuhn's blog post and added a comment, which I have edited slightly and included below. In the process of writing this comment I realized a valuable lesson, which I will discuss below the comment:

The afternoon session With Alan November was great!

It was wonderful to hear Alan November again. His webcast for the district was one of the things that lit a fire under me and encouraged my to explore technology as a means for students to learn 'new things in new ways'.
This weekend I was listening to some of his podcasts and I wrote a blog post about them : Looking back at it, my reflections were somewhat sarcastic and negative... A product of feeling like things just haven't been moving fast enough.

Tuesday afternoon changed that for me. There are a lot of great teachers out there doing wonderful things, and there are many more teachers out there feeling overwhelmed by how much there is to learn, who are still willing to take the next step forward. On a more personal note, the world of web2.0 has given me wings , but I realized that I too have a long way to go before I am doing all the things that I can to give my students wings too!

Thanks to Jill Reid for the invitation, to all the leaders who helped make a day like today possible, and to Alan November... I am refueled and ready to continue my journey of learning along with my students.

Here are some notes about today e-mailed to me from Joni, a true leader in our school. She may not be tech savvy (yet), but teachers like her who offer their leadership, guidance and support are what will help 'us' move forward using technology 'for learning' rather than just using technology to teach!

Great tool: webcast site 'Jingproject'
http://www.jingproject.com/?CMP=KgoogleJhomeTM

Suggestions: Kid jobs for the class

1) Answer questions from class. This kid needs to answer all questions, if he can't, he needs to find the answer on the web, then post the answer.
2) Continuous researcher through class
3) Official scribe: takes notes for the class every day. Post them to the site.
4) Create a Wiki site. Allows children make a contribution to the world. wikipedia, or your own space like www.wikispaces.com [My attempt - ScienceAlive.]
5) Contributing any source that they find on he web to the class: use a social networking site. eg. www.diigo.com create a diigo account for the class or every student has their own account and then "share to group". [I use delicious]

Reflect and Learn

Here is the sentence from above that has hit home with me over the past few days, "the world of web2.0 has given me wings , but I realized that I too have a long way to go before I am doing all the things that I can to give my students wings too!"

I currently have a private Ning network for my students, but it is really driven by me! The blog posts, the groups, the forums... all initiated by me! Yesterday I read a post by Konrad Glogowski. The post, "Conversation with Pre-Service Teachers - The Set Curriculum", was about just that, 'the set curriculum' (something I have written about a few times) but a specific section struck a chord with me:

"It seemed logical to me that my responsibility as an educator was to prepare a collection of texts, resources, diagnostic and assessment/evaluation tools in order to achieve specific learning outcomes. I saw myself as a subject expert whose primary responsibility in the classroom was to teach a very specific set of skills and competencies. I saw myself as someone who possessed knowledge and perceived my students as individuals who needed to acquire it."

I am new to teaching planning 10, and I am trying to launch a specific program, YPI , that I am learning about with the students. So, I did what many teachers do when they are unfamiliar with the curriculum... I teach to it. When I look at the 'Suggestions' listed in the comment above, I realize that I currently do none of those things with my students.

In the last little while my posts have been peppered with negative undertones about things not moving fast enough and technology limitations that I have found frustrating. Well, although those things are legitimate concerns, they are things that are for the most part beyond my control. What I can do is create an engaging classroom environment that actually gives my students wings.

Another thoughtful lesson inspired by Alan November , and realized through my blogging/web2.0 experience.

I started this post sitting in a waiting room at the auto shop waiting for my car: No WiFi, pay-for coffee and snacks available. It had an outlet if my laptop battery didn’t hold out, comfortable seats and, if I was interested, a tv to make the experience a little more comfortable. But I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I am a fan of Alan November and I just downloaded, to my iTunes, his November Learning Podcast Series. With ear plugs in and a word doc open, (I would have preferred Google docs), I began listening to Alan November interview Dan Pink.

A little history here…
My first classroom blogging experience was inspired by an Alan November webcast that launched me into my web2.0 experiences… (My teaching2.0? What do you call this transformation?
…And a question on the side…
What do you call a digital ‘immigrant’ that is fully immersed in a digital world? I am an immigrant to Canada, but truly consider myself a Canadian, though I will never be a ‘native’. Perhaps I am a Digital Citizen, or more aptly a Digital Denizen!

Interview 1: With Dan Pink

We have to be willing to measure these: (From Wikipedia on Dan Pink's A Whole New Mind )

1. Design - Moving beyond function to engage the sense.
2. Story - Narrative added to products and services - not just argument.
3. Symphony - Adding invention and big picture thinking (not just detail focus).
4. Empathy - Going beyond logic and engaging emotion and intuition.
5. Play - Bringing humor and light-heartedness to business and products.
6. Meaning - Immaterial feelings and values of products.

As long as we measure schools and measure students with tests that do not appreciate and include measuring a student's ability to express these senses, we are measuring the wrong things.

I have an idea: First we will measure a poem with a word count... Then we will measure compassion with a ruler... And finally we will measure the making of a work of art with a stop watch. Then we will add the numbers together and tell you how well your child is doing in school.

From a previous post , "there is a dichotomy here: Our ‘educational language’ around standardization and accountability juxtaposed with differentiation and flexibility… we seem to have two mutually exclusive camps, yet there seems to be a move to embrace both. To embrace both is to accomplish neither."

Interview 2: Dan Pink

It doesn’t have to be more expensive, just smarter. If you built cabinets and shelving units for picture-tube tv’s or carrying cases for Sony Walkman’s and you didn’t adapt your designs, where would you be now?

‘This is important! We need to change… pass the chalk’.

Interview 3: Dan Pink
(The last podcast (#2) ended a discussion about Design: Creating things in context, ideally cross-curricular. This theme continued here.)

I wonder how much schools pay attention to these two things? Even when we praise, we don’t inspire intrinsic motivation, and although in some ways we promote persistence, we also give students a grade of ‘C’ and move on.

Interview: Dr. Mitchel Resnick (MIT)
Topics: Creativity and Innovation to the Digital Divide
Research group name: Lifelong Kindergarten Group (kindergarten-like exploration and play)

Check out http://scratch.mit.edu/ (I've been here a few times, but need to explore the possibilities)

This reminds me of the Larry Lessig's TED Video I recently watched on ‘(Re)-creativity’.

If you give credit, it isn't 'appropriates' but rather 'appropriate'! 

Reinforcing the thoughts of Resnick I recently found this post on the blog of none other than Dan Pink:

 
The irony is not lost on me.