If you are interested in the design of learning spaces, both formal and informal, please consider attending The International Society for Technology in Education, Virtual Summit on Learning Space Design for PreK-12 Schools. You are welcome to attend all or part of the Summit, which is free. The pdf file contains all the necessary information. Hope to see you there!
Archive for the “Uncategorized” CategoryAs an educator with 24 years of experience, I can honestly say that schools aren’t a great deal different than they were when I first started teaching. One significant difference is that we have the opportunity to be hyperconnected via technology. And being connected means exposure to new ideas, new people and new conversations. Conversations…hmmm. Much is made about the role of conversation in the change process. We now have 140 character conversations that occur in Twitter, conversations that occur via blogging, and the new trends of conversational conferences, unconferences, cafes, you name, we have it at our disposal, much of it always-on, always available. But it just doesn’t really mean that much when you are talking school-based systemic change. Yeah, its cool and friendly and sexy to engage in these conversations, meet the people face-to-face and give them a hug, it might even be…well, amazing. Yet, having these types of conversations are exactly why schools have never really changed-we just talk about it, we never really do it. Of course, there are a number of impediments to change in schools, which if I listed them here wouldn’t make me a lot of friends. Let’s just say that there are obstacles which we haven’t dealt with very well. Continually talking about the need for change isn’t helping. At some point you have to do it what you are advocating for. How exactly does that get done? Online and face to face conversations at conferences/unconferences/Eluminate sessions/Webinars are for sharing ideas. People get their ideas challenged, they have a chance to reflect and change their direction if they deem it appropriate. Perhaps the conversation serves to reinforce the validity a person’s belief, which is good. Nothing wrong with that, but its individualistic. But how does that exactly contribute to school-based systemic change? That’s what I’m interested in. Everyone going together in an identified direction, all pulling together, and believing that that place is the place. I get that the person can bring the conversation into their schools. But the more critical conversation begins locally, and not in 140 characters. Not at conferences. Not online. It occurs as a discussion among school community members about what they want their schools to be. Plain and simple. It needs to be an organized process with contributions from all stakeholders. Doing that can root conversation as an essential element in the sequence required to change schools. Expecting that a set of conversations that occur outside of the climate and culture of a school will have a significant impact on change is a simplistic at best. What’s first? Engaging in these endless conversations online, and then bringing some of it in to a discussion? Or is it simply putting heads together in a school and just talking through it. Perhaps many of you are saying that it doesn’t have to be necessarily either or. Maybe so, but maybe not. Talk about education. Talk about your kids and what skills they need. Talk about your school. Educators are smart people. We know what to do. Change is about leadership, not conversation. Having endless conversations online, and thinking that the online conversation is required in order to change or start the change process in a school won’t get you anywhere. Instead, roll up your sleeves with your colleagues and have the difficult conversations face to face. Sure, bring some ideas from the never-ending, feel-good stream of educational consciousness, but talk and discuss and share with your colleagues while using the climate and culture of your school as a foundation for that discussion. Simply stated, change begins at home. Game Changer. Something, for some reason or reasons, changes the intended course of something else. “The Apple iPad is a game changer.” No. It’s not. A game changer is when every kid in America shows up at school with a proper breakfast… A game changer is when every school in America has the funding it needs… A game changer is when schools are de-shackled from the bad laws of politicians… A game changer is when we rebuild the crumbling infrastructure of schools, and have places to learn that reflect the kind of country we are, the kind of country we expect to be… A game changer is when we have equity and consistency of educational opportunities in America… A game changer is when communities place schools as their absolute number one non-negotiable priority… A game changer is when every parent is vested in the daily activities of their sons and daughters… A game changer is when teachers stand up and refuse to accept mediocrity among their ranks because what they do is too damn important not to… A game changer is when education attracts the best, the brightest, the most committed and dedicated to the education profession… A game changer is where every group, religion, sexual orientation, and ethnicity has a place in schools and that diversity is understood, accepted, celebrated and used as a source of unified strength… A game changer is when every kid, every teacher feels safe in the place where they teach and learn… My suggestion: choose when to use those two words very carefully. Why don’t you add your “game changers” to the comments? If you are a teacher, are you a facilitator? Facilitator? This is generally still the first word out of teacher’s mouths when they talk about the changing nature of the role of a teacher. I’ve always hated it, it’s as bad as…shudder…”guide on the side.” Labeling yourself, speaking of yourself, as a facilitator weakens and devalues what a teacher is and does. You’re a facilitator of what exactly? You facilitate learning? Stop it. And don’t think I’m gonna let you off the hook by labeling yourself as a “co-learner” either. Stand up and try that a parent openhouse…”I will be a co-learner of algebra with along with all of your kids.” Really? If I’m a parent (and remember, they pay your salary) I want a professional teacher. I want you to teach my kids algebra, not facilitate it. Do what you have to, but have enough respect for your profession to be proud that you are a teacher, and all that brings. Don’t facilitate. Don’t label yourself as a co-learner. While romantic and trendy, do one thing. Be a teacher. I’ve been intrigued with learning spaces for awhile, especially in regards to the development of digital components that support and extend the physical experience of our schools. To me, the consideration of how space is used in the learning process is perhaps the most forgotten element of instructional design. One size space does not fit all, however most of our schools, designed in an era of where classrooms were the sole place for learning, assume that learning takes place in rows with individual desks, and only there. There is much more to consider now, and truly effective schools, and their teachers, need to consider how their legacy spaces can be modified, altered, and re-created to provide a more multidimensional type of physical support system for learning. This emphasis towards new thinking regarding space should also be applied to the creation of digital spaces for learning. All of us are fortunate that the emergence of connective technologies provide a fresh slate for design, and one that can be created to support the development of key skills that support the development of a shifting notion of what it means to be literate in 2010 and beyond. My Educon session, entitled “On the Development of Learning Spaces” will challenge co-conversationalists to rethink space. You can read about it here on the Educon site. If you are interested, and even if you are not attending Educon, I would hope that my session resources (I think some of my best work) are of value to you. For those of you attending virtually, I think they will help you follow and contribute to the conversation. The resources provide an overview of my challenge to participants, a flow for the conversation, and resources targeting learning spaces and also literacy. I finish with some questions to stimulate your thinking regarding learning spaces. I hope to see you there on Sunday…
via readwriteweb.com Google has released Near Me Now, access it through Google on your browser under Local. Very cool…Google continues to penetrate everything we do. But we always have the choice, don’t we.. It’s called the ON-OFF switch.
I happened to be working the other day at Caribou Coffee, which has pretty good coffee, a cool northwoods atmosphere, and free wifi. It’s a fairly big space, with ample electricity, different table sizes, and a really nice environment for reading, writing and learning. A wide range of people use the space, including high school kids. As you might imagine, its filled with people using laptops and other forms of mobile technologies. People come and go, people re-arrange the furniture. No rows. No desks. So, I was interested when a group of high school kids invaded the table near me. They were kids from a school I taught at for 10 years and I had some fun talking with them about my recollections of the school. These kids were working on calculus, talking, using their cell phones to text, and their graphing calculators. No surprise there, they’re kids. But what was interesting to watch was the way they interacted. I’ve been interested in learning spaces for awhile, and I’ll be doing a conversation about such spaces at Educon. Watching these kids, and knowing the classroom (a word I use intentionally here) that they would go back to, I wonder where they would rather learn and interact in. We all know the answer. We need different spaces for kids today. Yet, there is very little focus on establishing or creating spaces that serve today’s learners. When kids walk into Caribou, what kinds of interactions do they believe will happen? When the same kids walk into a classroom, what kinds of interactions do they believe will happen? My question: How does the design of the learning space influence the perception of the type of teaching and learning about to take place? In other words, how does design inform the intent? I’m constantly amazed when I see kids in our library cutting and pasting from a Web site into a PowerPoint file. I’m really not amazed that they do it. I’m amazed that a teacher would design a learning experience where that would be a possibility. Have you thought deeply enough about your assignments? Your projects? I think that the solution is fairly simple. Here is what I had students do: Them: Write deeply. Use multiple sources. Cite stuff. Let me see your thinking on a deep level. Me: Provide constructive feedback. Re-direct their efforts. Help them make what they do better. Be involved in the process… Them: Re-write. Me: Re-read. More feedback. Them: Find deep ideas. Storyboard. Me: Assess storyboard. More feedback. Them: Build presentation media presenting deep ideas. Use text and imagery, limit bullets. Me: Assess. More feedback Them: Present. Convince me that their ideas have merit. Me: Assess: More feedback. Them: Let me know what they learned. Now I’ve got a bunch of artifacts that demonstrates their learning process. I’m involved at all points as someone who challenges and redirects their efforts. More specifically, I have a scholarly analysis and a presentation that is extracted from it. The presentation is designed to give them an opportunity to stand up and have their say. Doing so with a deep analysis first puts them in a position to learn deeply. Doing otherwise amounts to malpractice.
via jakes.editme.com
This is my keynote at NYSCATE 2009. The title of the presentation was “Beyond the Web 2.0 Hype: Focusing on What Really Matters. Resources for the presentation can be found at http://jakes.editme.com/hype |
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