Archive for June, 2007
Closing NECC Keynote: Tim Tyson
Well, NECC will be over in about an hour and I’m finally sitting down to my first session! I just met Tim Tyson for the first time yesterday when we shared the stage for Podcasting for the Complete Beginner. It was nice to hear him speak yesterday, but he was restricted to 3-4 minute soundbites, and there were precious few at that. So I’m rather looking forward to seeing him do a full presentation.
Hall pointed out that they just have a solid blue background behind him. Wouldn’t take much to use that as a greenscreen and put him into a more tropical setting.
Tim’s talking today about School 2.0. Hope that he defines it for us, because I could use a good definition of it.
School 1.0 has a maniacal emphasis on rules, rituals and routines, always focusing on the right answers. School 2.0 is about engaging students and authentic activities. Students aren’t complacent, they’re self directed and engaged. The teachers and students are empowered. We’re one big learning community. The students get to teach and the principal has to learn.
His keys: Meaningfulness, significance, connectedness, and contribution.
Sharing a story about a student named Conrad who wanted to keep working on a school project throughout summer so that it would be posted on iTunes and shared with the world.
For the first time in the history of time, schools can have access to immediate global distribution. His school has had 4 million downloads on iTunes.
What do you as an 11 year old child, have to say that is so important that everybody on Earth needs to hear it? What do you have to say that everyone on a planet needs to do something because of your school work?
People from all over the world have come to their school because of their content.
THIS is authentic assessment. “I made an A on the project, but it’s not good enough for the whole world. I want to keep working.”
At what point does your life become meaningful? When you graduate from high school? Graduate college? Get a job? Settle down?
Tim says that it’s today. This minute. We need to have meaningful activities for our students today.
Now he’s sharing some of the movies that his students have done. Pretty heavy stuff. Organ donation, slave labor laws, stem cell research and so on.
“Making a movie? That’s like learning on steroids.” Quote from the video Tim is showing that students made.
I have to admit, video is SO compelling. I wish I was a better digital storyteller. My mind just doesn’t think in those ways. I’m an awful video editor IMHO. I have no problem with the technical side, it’s the storylines and the camera shots. Maybe I should attend one of our AFI film institutes. Doesn’t seem right for someone who works for a media company!
The videos are phenomenal. Another one about genetically modified foods. This is about slave labor in the chocolate industry. “When you write a report, people don’t SEE what’s going on. That’s what you need movies for.” “This really is social studies, this is much more grown up.” Great use of music to draw out a strong emotional response during this video.
So far I’ve enjoyed the presentation, but I do wonder whether he could be using better use of the time than showing so many videos. I got the idea after one and definitely after two.
A few of the students have been brought up on stage. The student is well prepared. Highlight for him was doing a video morph for the movie and meeting people from around the world because of the short.
It’s not about the technology and the connectivity. “I wish we could move beyond that discussion.” The effective educator is the teacher in the classroom that collapses the distance between children and meaningful collaborations. They want school to go beyond preparing them for next year. They want to be prepared to make a contribution today!
He can think of nothing that is meaningful that does not involve others. Children have the capacity to make the world a better place today.
He’s getting ready to wrap up. One last video, just as powerful as the rest. “Make this a reality for children, that their contribution is valued and respected and that they can make the world a better place today.”
THE END!
NECC update
As I sit here in the lobby of the Omni, I realize that this is the first time in the last four days that I haven’t been actively involved in a conversation with people. When I used to go to conferences, as a young and budding blogger, I’d typically sit down along the wall somewhere next to a power outlet, hopefully with decent wifi, and spend 30-40 minutes blogging periodicly throughout the day.
Just a few years later, it seems as though I barely have enough time to fill out the 140 characters available in Twitter before I see somebody else that I absolutely must chat with before the opportunity passes. I wouldn’t even be doing this now if I wasn’t waiting to meet with Adova Svitak to talk to her about a Discovery collaboration.
I think it’s really a commentary about how powerful blogs are for building community and making connections between people. It’s not like the people I’m hanging out with weren’t at NECC before, it’s just that I didn’t know them. I might have known who they were, but I have any real connection to them. That’s the most fascinating thing about it. There are so many people here that I’ve never met face to face, never heard on a podcast, and have never seen a picture of before. And I feel like they’re among my best friends! I feel like I’m hanging out with frat brothers and sisters from a college that never existed. And it’s a hell of a good feeling.
Other highlights:
* Watching Jeff and John move the Plasma so that people walking by the Bloggers Cafe could watch TwitterCamp (Kudos to ISTE for having a spare plasma TV available for people to plug into)
* Participating in the Podcasting panel for absolute beginners. Big thanks to Larry and Lucy for inviting me to be a part of it.
* Terry Freedman pointing out that with the advent of podcasting, you can hear most of these sessions anytime at all, but when else can you network with so many fantastic people?
* Hanging out with hundreds of DEN members as we celebrated the DEN’s second birthday.
* Receiving the AEP Best Professional Development Website award from Scott at that same dinner.
* Watching Twitter become the official NECC backchannel.
EduBloggerCon – In retrospect
EduBloggerCon has come and gone and to say it was a success would be an understatement. The networking alone made it a success, but it was the conversations that are going to stick with me. I’m still not 100% sure whether we’ll be able to look back on it as any sort of a turning point in the way we, as a community, start putting theories into practice on a larger scale, but I do think we may have discovered what direction that path lies. Hopefully we’ll keep taking steps to get there.
A few personal highlights:
1) Sheryl having to pause in the middle of a point to answer a Skype call from someone who was following virtually and wanted to hear the rest of the conversation.
2) Doug Johnson pointing out that with today’s tech and assessment tools, we may be in the unique position of being able to create an IEP for every student and actually tailor instruction to their specific needs. He compared it to the long tail theory. While the majority of students may share many common characteristics, there are an infinite number of variations therein that make each student unique. Can schools really tailor education to every student in the ‘tail’?
3) Hearing Julie point out that overseas (I believe she’s in Australia), if they have a good idea that would be good in education, they act on it. It’s astonishing how much we debate whether we should be taking actions rather than actually doing something. As John Candy says in Canadian Bacon, “There’s a time to act and a time to think, and this gentlemen is no time to think.”
4) Learning that David Jakes is everybody’s personal hero (sorry Jakes, I couldn’t resist).
5) A full day of sessions, almost 20 in all and not a single PowerPoint (or keynote for Mac types)
6) Chris Lehmann aritculating one way that he gets past the paralyzing fear that so many schools fall victim to. “What’s the worst possible consequence of your best possible idea?”
7) Learning that John Pederson’s last name rhymes with pedestrian and that I’ve been mispronouncing it for years.
8 ) Warlick looking around the room during the first session and commenting that he was sitting in the middle of his aggregator!
9) Noticing that Chris Sessums takes notes on his notebook. Not a laptop, actual pen and paper. I didn’t see anybody else writing anything by hand the entire day (tablet PC’s excluded).
10) Realizing that I have never been in the same room with more people that speak the same language as me.
I can’t imagine a better way to kick off NECC. Thanks for a wonderful ‘Con everyone!
EduBloggerCon – Administration and School 2.0
Chris Lehmann’s session on Administration and School 2.0 “We finally have the tools to realize Dewey’s dream” What changes do we need to make structurally in our schools to achieve this dream?
Data: NCLB is a reality. Need to find ways to stop wrapping education around the testing, rather teach what needs to be taught and find concrete, quantitative ways to assess it. Also, what data we collect.
Time: Teacher have enough on their plates. They need to have chunks of time that they can actually learn new skills, and get to a point where they are natural.
Planning: Can’t just be off the cuff. Change requires significant forethought and planning.
Leadership: Administrators have to have vision.
Knowledge, Application, Design, Presentation and Process. Five benchmarks that apply across all subjects.
“We need to stop using grades and gradebooks as weapons against students.”
Location: Physical space. We tend to be locked into the typical classroom environment. Desks in rows, 40 minutes before the bell rings, everyone facing forward, teacher at the chalkboard.
Roles: Breaking down the walls between students and teachers. Lifelong learning and such.
Chris: “We need to teach kids before we teach the subjects” Interesting statement. Sometimes I wonder whether we really teach the subjects, or just give them a ‘taste’ portion, enough for them to discover whether they really are interested in it or not.
As kids go from Kindergarten up through the grades, the rooms get more and more sterile, homogeneous and less student centered.
How do you evaluate teacher performance? Chris is in classroom’s every single day. Evaluations aren’t used as weapons. If you want your teachers to treat your students with an ethic of care, you need to treat your teachers with an ethic of care.
Awwwww….. I was recording this session and just watched the red light go out. Lost the audio. Guess we won’t the end of this session later unless someone else records it.
Connection with parents, make school as transparent as possible using technology available. Email lists, moodle, whatever else that would work.
Make use of the web to free up teacher time. If syllabus and homework and assignments are on the web, then teachers don’t need to answer those questions individually when a parent wants to know.
You have to open yourselves up. You can’t be afraid of innovation. “What’s the worst consequence of your best idea.” Administration has to start with the idea that we don’t know anything and that things will happen that we can’t anticipate. We can’t quite because bad things could happen.
How much can we move this?
Will post audio later!
EduBloggerCon – Morning recap
I would happily take two or three days of this. Being able to talk face to face with dozens of people who I’ve read, followed, Skyped, chatted with, and listened to for so many years. To be able to discussion something in real time.
So often the conversation is passive. I lurk on far more blogs than I participate on. So being able to hear people’s ideas and respond directly is a huge thrill.
I hate to key in on any people in particular, but I do want to mention how much of a thrill it was to meet Anne Davis and Mario Asselin because both were so influential to me as I got my start in the world of blogging. Anne hasn’t been blogging quite so much lately because she’s working on doing some blog research for her dissertation, but her work with the Bloomin’ Bloggers really made a huge impression on me as I got got started.
Other highlights have included hearing Will‘s vision for what the “Inconvenient Truth” of education might look like. Seeing people take notes on blogs, wikis, tablets, Google docs, and even pen and paper. Meeting people for the first time and connecting their real name to their second life name to their blog/podcast.
Can’t wait for the rest of the day!
Tags: EduBloggerCon07 EduBloggerCon2007 NECC2007 NECC07
What does the school of the future look like?
Posted by mobile phone:
In a session on what the schiol of the future sould actually look like. I’m recordng it and Vicki has been taking great noted (I’ve been watching over her shoulder). So keep an eye on Twitter and the edubloggercon wiki for details of this great conversation.
Tags: EduBloggerCon07 EduBloggerCon2007 NECC2007 NECC07
EduBloggerCon – What are we as EduBloggers really doing?
First session of the day at EduBloggerCon. Description is:
But is there anyone interested in taking an hour to discuss the creation of a short list of talking points regarding the uses of the Read/Write Web in education? What key points should we be making? What key points CAN we be making? To whom should we be making them? What questions do we need to have answers for? How can we best package all of that? I know this sounds like the beginnings of a marketing campaign, but it might be worth a try…or not. Maybe we can start a wiki to dump ideas in beforehand?
Heh, we just went around the room and said their names. Afterwards, Warlick pointed out, “This is my aggregator!”
So the question is, what is the two minute elevator pitch?
Vicki is pointing out that if you talk to a politician, you have the opportunity to make one point. That’s it. You try to make two points, you’re toast. She thinks that we should be advocates for Internet Safety. Kids want to be safe, teachers want them to be saf,e but how do we do it when we can’t take any actions within the school environment?
Chris Sessums points out (credit to Warlick) that when you talk technology, you lose half the room. But if you talk about literacy, people can relate to it.
chris Lehman hates the terms 21st Century Workforce, prefers 21st Century citizen. The way we’re dealing with information is changing.
I can’t help but wonder where we’re really going here. Everybody wants change, but perhaps I’m just a concrete sort of person, I really want to know what specific changes people would like to see?
Responsible, ethical and safe use.
If schools don’t adapt to deal with a new world.
Classic Web 2.0 moment. Sheryl was making a point when her laptop started recieving a Skype call from someone in Tennessee who wanted to listen in on the conversation. Very cool.
Conversation is too good to keep blogging. Hopefully someone else has better notes. But it looks like I’m getting good audio recorded.
Vicki took some great notes. They can be found here, along hopefully with other peoples’ as well.
Tags: EduBloggerCon07 EduBloggerCon2007 NECC2007 NECC07
Touchdown, Atlanta
This was the most uneventful trip through O’Hare airport that I’ve had in months. Not a single delay, not a single problem. I love Atlanta already!
I checked the weather report. It’s hot and it ain’t cooling off. But that’s alright. Perfect weather for a conference.
Ever since I started working for Discovery, my conference scheduling has changed in a big way. The majority of my time is spent working and presenting in the booth. When I’m not doing that, there are often meetings, work to take care of, and all sorts of other fun things. Most of the time I don’t get to go to too many sessions.
While I’m hoping to be able to sneak a way to see a few this year (my schedule looks a little more open), it really emphasizes why I’m looking forward to EduBloggerCon so much. Tomorrow, over 100 EduBloggers are going to congregate and… talk. The agenda is loose, the format is open, and I’m really looking forward to some serious discourse about the current and future state of education, both here in the US and globally.
Frankly, I’m hoping to get into a few good arguments. Without a set structure, conversations tend to flow, and when they meander around, you often wind up at the good issues. Once you hit upon them, people tend to have some pretty strong viewpoints. Sometimes it takes a really solid argument to really get to the root of the matter.
I’d love to list off the people I’m looking forward to meeting, but the list is far too long. Just check out the I’m attending page.
If you can’t be there, normally I’d say keep an eye on the blogs. But this year, keep an eye on Twitter. It’s going to be a whirlwind of activity in the next few days. I know some efforts were being made to create a chat room to use as a backchannel, but I’m thinking that Twitter is going to serve that purpose.
Have a great ‘Con everyone! Whether it be in person or virtual 
Tags: EduBloggerCon07 EduBloggerCon2007 NECC2007 NECC07
NECC and EduBloggerCon, just a few days away
Things are crazy busy leading up to NECC and EduBloggerCon. If you don’t believe me, just check out the flurry of activity on Twitter lately. Definitely much more than usual.
Hope to see everyone there. If you want to know where to find me, it’s going to be pretty simple. On Saturday, I’ll be at EduBloggerCon. On Sunday, I’ll be at the DEN Pre-Conference. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, you can find me hanging out and presenting in the Discovery Education booth. We’ve got a rock solid lineup, including some fantastic presentations from Hall Davidson, Scott Kinney and Lance Rougeux that will really blow you away. Definitely worth the visit.
I was also invited to participate on a panel discussion called “Podcasting for Beginners.” I’m absolutely thrilled because it’s a really wonderful group of people who are going to be up on stage, including Larry Anderson, Lucy Gray, Juleene Reed, Cathleen Richardson, Dan Schmidt and Tim Tyson. Should be a good discussion and a lot of fun.
So if you’re going to be hanging out at NECC, stop by the booth and say hello!