Teach42

UPDATE: At the exepense of sleep, Andy has uploaded the audio from the panel discussion. I highly reccomend you throw it on the iPod to listen to on the airplane home.

Celebrating a Decade of the Web in Education: Connect, collaborate, learn, lead, transform.

There was a different session that I was going to attend during this time slot, but when I saw the list of presenters I figured I had to come here. First of all, Andy Carvin is moderating the group and I’ve been a big fan of his for quite a while. He’s a fantastic blogger, educator and thinker and has been a champion of podcasting forever (meaning for almost a year now). He also coined the phrase “mobcasting” and his Gates of New York mobcast website is a project that everybody should know about. It has huge implications. Among the other presenters are Dave Warlick, Yvonne Marie Andres, Dennis Harper, Bonnie Bracey, Patsy Wang-Iverson and Ed Gragert. Just a rock solid group of people and I’m really curious to hear what they have to say.

Andy is giving a brief introduction right now. The internet has been around for about 40 years, but 15 years ago it became accessible to more people than just geeks.

A few quick notes while he’s doing the introduction. No wifi again, which is way too bad. Andy is recording this one, so I’m not doing double duty. He has a better recording device anyway. I’ll link to his file when he posts it.

Every person on the panel goes back at least 10 years, some of them much farther than that. Andy says that he’s been on the internet for over half his life. Hmm… Let’s see, first computer in 1986 or so, about 20 years ago. So I’ve been online for around 20 years, and on the internet for about 13 years.

Andy started WWWEDU back in 1994 (I really need to read that list more often) and the fact that they are celebrating their 10th anniversary prompted this session.

Yvvone is showing a photo from 1984 with her in front of an Apple Iie with a floppy drive, 300 baud modem, doing an online lesson. Absolutely fantastic, but also kind of scary. Has anything really changed? That photo could have been taken yesterday. She is about to show a video clip created 10 years before the web.

This is frightening. Student benefits from online learning: information age skills, write more, enjoy writing, decrease the isolation of the classroom, increased problem solving, learn cultural similarities and differences. “Telecommuting is like taking a field trip without ever leaving the classroom.”

What’s so different about what she showed us in that video versus what’s going on today? Not too much. Wow, that’s really depressing. The more things change, the more things stay the same.

Her final point was that the internet is really all about people, making connections and using it to collaborate.

Bonnie Bracey is up there now. She works for the Outreach George Lucas Educational Foundation. Apparently Lucas recruited her way back in the day. She’s talkinga bout how many of the people who really SHOULD be here (or wherever here is) simply can’t get there for financial reasons, or otherwise. Although technology has been wonderful, the people who get the least support are the teachers who are training for technology.

Side note: These notes are going to be woefully incomplete. You have to hear this one.

Dennis Harper, founder and CEO of Generation YES. Great program, if you work in a middle or high school, you have to check it out. I wonder if you can do it in elementary? As a tech director, he had all the students create the district’s web sites. Even today, students do all the posting to the web on behalf of the school. What went wrong with technology today? It staff’s and lawyers took over. He just told a great story, you HAVE to hear this one. Another problem, NCLB. You can’t use the internet to take the test, so why do it? NCLB de-emphasizes technology. Use of the web by schools is mostly for propaganda (excuse me while I clear my throat). Ed-Tech community itself is not doing the job. We know how much the web can do, but we’re not leading. Wow, he just got controversial. Technology shouldn’t be a tool, it should be leading and dictating the curriculum. Fourth point is that kids are not really involved as much as they should be in education. Providing prof devel to teachers, wiring schools, training other kids ot be tech literate. He’s hoping that our kids in technology can help with the humane aspects of life, not just be able to pass reading and math tests.

Patsy Wang-Iverson, Research for Better Schools. Timms: Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. She’s showing a few charts detailng by country how many families have computers at home, and more. I have to admit, much of it went over my head. This was a bit heavy for a 5 minute overview. I feel a little embarrassed, but I think I needed Cliff’s notes.

Ed Gragert known for iEARN. From ‘visitels’ to ‘Mali Dolls’. Back in 1988, they were trying to create global citizens, connecting people across oceans. He’s showing off a Visitel, which is basically a telephone where you could send still photos across phone lines, sort of like a really slow video conference. But it was about connecting communities. Web pages did not build community though, they weren’t sufficient. Countries are connecting their schools to the internet at an almost exponential rate, but they aren’t investing nearly as much into professional development. Interesting stat, for every dollar you invest in technology, you need to invest 8 dollars into professional development. I can believe that. Hear that Mr. Vallas? People are still airdropping in technology. “What’s important is how do I make it sustained and relevant to what I’m teaching?” Sustainable is a key point. Suggests changing KISS to KIHS, Keep It Human, Stupid (well, he said Silly). I like that.

Dave Warlick’s time. Landmark Project. Telling a story. 1995, joined ThinkQuest. Went to different countries talking about the internet. Thinkquest: Students teaching over the internet, building web sites. Winners were invited to a major city and awarded scholarship money. In 1997, the event was held in D.C. When he was reviewing projects, saw one that had a sign that said “Middle Ages”. The student shared an incredible amount about the Middle Ages, more than a middle schooler would normally know. He said he learned it from college professors. He would email them questions and he would never tell them how old he was, or he would say he was a grad assistant and got the information he wanted. The teacher told Dave that he was not a successful student typically, at risk and behavior problems, but he blossomed when using the internet. He learned how to make himself an expert. The best thing we can do is teach them to teach themselves.

Oh good, the powerpoint slides are going to be available along with the audio on Andy’s site. Unfortunately, my PowerBook is about to die so I won’t be able to blog the question and answer part.

Definitely download a copy of this one, well worth the listen.

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