Remote Access

Literature Review?

I've been thinking about all of the content that we've pushed out into the edublogosphere over the last four - five years. The expansion and growth of content has been exponential.

I'm wondering if there is an industrious Ph.D. out there who needs to perform a literature review on all of this content?

What would be the "big learnings" that have emerged from our network? How have we actually pushed the boundaries of education?

If someone did this, we would have something we could point to as a community and it would also let us define the edges of where we are and identify the holes.

Anyone? Anyone?

Tags: hopeful

The Global Attention Economy and the Classroom

Last school year, one of the students in my class wrote a blog post expressing her outrage over the fact that living in North America, the African AIDS / HIV pandemic rarely surfaces in our attention. She basically bemoaned the fact that while we are constantly swamped with news and information, important stories such as this are often far buried in our news sources. (if they are reported on at all)

This post has stuck with me.

As a teacher who is interested in students having multiple perspectives on any event or story, and who is interested in students finding their own sources of information, stories like this worry me. How can students gain fair, open, and honest access to global information?

Enter Ethan Zuckerman.

If you are not familiar with his work, you need to take some time to explore Mr. Zuckerman's blog. Affiliated with the Berkman Centre for Internet and Society at Harvard, he is one of the main designers of the amazing Global Voices site as well. Mr. Zuckerman has designed a website which scrapes the news form over 1700 news sites around the world. This data is then aggregated and pumped out in chart form and as a daily map. His research is fascinating. What it shows over time is that in North America especially, the news that we are swamped by daily is based on the events in relatively few countries:

The reds and pinks are the nations which we've received the most news from since 1997, while those in blues and purples are far under represented. When this map is compared to the news that comes from the BBC the results are quite different:

Much more internationally focussed, with far fewer blue and purple areas, this map shows that this news source is covering the world much more evenly.

Zuckerman's research (and this similar french application) shows that the actual news events that happen in a nation have little effect on North American reporting patterns. Even though hundreds of people may be massacred or a large natural disaster take place, if the event is in Africa or Central Asia, it is much less likely to be covered with any depth then if the event occurred somewhere else. You need to read his entire paper, but basically he outlines that economic and trade relationships affect reporting much more then actual news events.

So what does all of this have to do with classrooms?

• In the first place, it means that we need to be aware of this bias when we are searching for news sources for our students. If we want them to actually get a full slate of international news, we need to be very careful to not only use North American news sites.
• Secondly, it means that when students are searching for information on their own on current events, they must break away from North American reporting.

So then where do we go for information?

• We must be careful to collect and collate international news sites and newspapers.

• We must use sites like Global Voices that are the real voices of authentic people, always being aware of, and teaching our students how to evaluate these unknown sources.

In a connected world, where we want our students to be aware of global events and trends, where we want our students to become more internationally aware, this is an important issue. Using authentic news sources, where the voices of real people are important, is a sea scale change. This brings with it issues of bias on its own and also drives to the forefront of classroom skills the importance of information access and evaluation. Many international schools do this job of expanding the attention and the perception of students in the global arena in much better ways then many schools do in North America and I believe we have plenty to learn about this issue and ways to combat it for our students.

Tags: ethanzuckerman, global attention economy, global voices, information, classrooms

Google Time

It's a well known fact that Google (and other companies) allow their employees to take 10% - 20% of their on the job time to pursue their own interests. This has resulted in some pretty amazing innovations.

Students (and adult employees for that matter) are often tied into a rigid schedule of "getting things done." The ability to work on an agenda that actually interests you would be a massive change in education.

Passion - based learning on an ongoing basis.

What would be the effect of this on classrooms and students? How could it be structured? Could it be "sold" to administrators and parents?

Tags: studio, passion based learning, will richardson, konrad glugowski

Information Freeloaders?

Is there a "proper" balance that can be struck in our classrooms between the amount of information that students access or use compared to the amount that they create? While this will be different for each of our students, are some of them "information freeloaders?"

I've been wondering this while watching the students in my class have much greater access to their learning networks. As they are able to spend more time online and have more success accessing information and people, I am wondering about the amount that they are giving back or contributing. My ten Asus eee pcs are busy constantly throughout the day. They are plugged into a massive power bar on the side counter of my classroom and they come and go throughout the day. Kids will take them first thing in the morning to write a blog post or read through their iGoogle accounts. They will use them for accessing a short story online when they leave their copy at home. Spending time with a set of discussion questions I've designed for the students will see them scrambling to Google docs to take some notes to share with the people in their groups. Researching a TED Talks type of issue sees them head back to the computers again to send out email, watch YouTube videos for research or put together a presentation. So the computers come and go across tables throughout the classroom across the day. Each time returning to the counter where they can be plugged in again so no one ends up with a machine that is not charged up.

This is a much more natural and realistic use of technology. A resource in basic abundance instead of in shortage.

As I watch the kids in my class use this resource, I notice that their use is changing. Even though I've had many of these kids for almost two full school years (I teach a combined grade 7/8 class so the kids are stuck with me for two years), I am noticing things about them that I've never had the opportunity to see before.  I'm noticing which kids are using the machines on an ongoing basis for what tasks. I'm seeing which kids are tied to the web and make use of it effectively. I'm learning more about their literacy skills.

But I'm also noticing a split in my students. While many of them are taking the opportunity to have a larger digital presence and are writing more, sharing their creations more with the world and are leaving more comments for others, some of them are turning into information freeloaders. While I'd never use this term with them, the habits a few of them are developing (demonstrating?) seem to be just that. They are not taking the opportunity to become more involved with participatory culture, they are instead spending far more time reading and taking the information left by others without giving back on their own.

This leads me to wonder about the digital profiles of students. Do we have information freeloaders and information artists in our classrooms that we don't often get to see because they do not have natural access in most educational spaces? Do kids naturally gravitate one way or the other on their own? Should we force them into new profiles if they are not comfortable in these spaces? Is this a function of being literate in new ways?

Something new that I need to be watching how it develops over time.

Tags: information, classroom, particpatory culture

Social Networks and Assessment

On Wednesday evening, Darren Kuropatwa, Kathy Cassidy and I had the pleasure of virtually presenting in Dean Shareski's class at the University of Regina. This session was beamed out to Ustream as well and the discussion in the chatroom was described to me as "electric." While I was concentrating on the chat in Elluminate, the Ustream chat was focused on ideas of assessment and David Jakes has written a great post about the value of a single word:

"in a Web 2.0 world that included Wikipedia, you could and would publish a single word, and most importantly, it could be a significant contribution."

He then goes on to challenge us about ideas of assessment in a networked classroom:

"How do you assess contribution in a networked classroom?

Ok, so what does it look like? What’s new, what’s different, what’s the same? Your ideas?"

My first comment on this thought is that I really like David's choice of wording in this post. He asks, how do you assess "contribution?" The focus being placed not on the knowledge that is in each student's head as an individual container that has nothing to do with those around it. "Contribution" in my mind means to our global knowledge base as a classroom, as a community, as a network. That contribution needs to be assessed in relationship to others and their information, context, and contribution.

But what does this mean? What does it look like?

In a networked classroom, assessment needs to take several forms and several things need to be considered. The first is product. The fact is that as teachers, we are responsible for the final products that our students produce. We have been mandated to teach and assess outcomes and products. To these things we are accountable. As teachers, many of us are comfortable with products. But in a networked classroom, we must also consider process. Process may be in the form of skills ( how did you collect your information? What sources did you use? How did you alter your network to complete this project? What did you need to add or take away from your PLN?) But process can also be concerned with the form of the information or the idea itself. (How did you assess the validity of your information? What pieces of your idea did you get from other people? What have you added to, or taken away from this original idea? What is your contribution to the total sum of the classroom / network / community / global knowledge base on this topic?) In my classroom, this process often takes place in the form of small group or individual conferences. They may be on an ongoing basis during a project when there is some skill or piece that I want to emphasize. It may also come at the end of unit of study as a form of summative assessment. Often, I'll ask the students to reflect first in writing or using a checklist, or I will give them a set of questions to reflect on that I want to meet with them about. I believe that assessment methods should never be a secret, all the kids should have all the rules up front. How can they hit a moving target without knowing what they are expected to do?

As David also mentions in his post, I too am challenged by rubrics. I know they are currently de rigeur for classroom assessment and I do use them, but I wonder about the individuality and the humanity which they knock out of the process. I believe that in a networked classroom, assessment needs to be ongoing and take multiple forms (as we've been hearing for years), but needs to be concerned with different things than in the past. We also need to think about the network's contribution to the final products that are set before us. We need to think about the validity of information sources and challenge our students to make their thinking visible and sound. We also need to acknowledge the fact that at least part of the idea "proudly found elsewhere" is realistic and OK.

I think David has brought up a good point in this post. While we've talked a great deal about teaching and about technology tools, assessment has been a missing part of much of the work we have accomplished.

Tags: DavidJakes, Strength of Weak Ties, Darren Kuropatwa, Kathy Cassidy, assessment, classroom, Dean Shareski

Ustreaming PD

We've seen the rise this year of the "always - on" professional development culture. It seems almost every day and evening there is a class going on somewhere or a podcast that we can drop in to and participate in. We've seen everything from university classes to people having lunch together broadcast for the world to see.

But this is different.

The Learning Technologies group at Manitoba Education Citizenship and Youth is going to Ustream a professional development session on using epearl. Now epearl alone is worth spending some time with. An online portfolio / reflection system that allows you to upload work samples, audio samples, etc, it is an interesting and powerful piece of software that is worth your time.

But what I'm interested in, is that an official department of the Manitoba government beginning to use these tools (they've also got a blog and a wiki) to get their message out. It's one thing when we do it; its another when they are recognised as being powerful by those in an official capacity.

On May 23rd, they will be live ustreaming a 3/4 day professional development session out to the world. The session will not be password protected and anyone will be allowed to drop in. This is a powerful change. A provincial department of education putting their knowledge out to the world for anyone to access. It goes far beyond the borders of their scope and responsibility, but enriches the discussions and the possibilities, allowing teachers in Manitoba to forge connections with those far away and enter a much broader discussion.

So kudos to those who are trying something new and for pushing the province of Manitoba into a new, exciting space for learning.

Download epearl_spring_inst_invite_mb_publicsd_ustream.doc

Tags: LwICT, ustream, professional, development, teachers

Freedom

"I have been laying off the blog lately because I’ve been a little busy. This time I am going to talk about something different. Freedom. You see here in Canada we have lots of freedom and I think that is one of the reasons I am proud to call it my country.

Now to me freedom is having the right to do something your own way and being able to go outside and feel that you are safe and free where you are. Can you imagine what it woud be like to live in a country where there is a war goig on right beside your door? I sure can’t. I would be scared and would never want to leave my house. I could imagine the nights where you could hear the rumbling noises shaking my house and the cries for help by the soldiers. I could hear the young men who were sent out scared and hiding. But I am just thinking because when I wake up in the morning I know i’m gonna be looking at the bright blue sky or the morning coolness on my skin or I will see everyone out working in their yards or sleeping peacefully. Freely."

This I found posted on one of blogs in my classroom today. Similar to the post I wrote about this last week, this is what happens when kids have access to technology basically whenever they want it in the classroom. This post was unscripted, not a required piece or anything like that. This is just a student who has been writing on a regular basis, who has made a connection on her own with a few students in Australia, and who is now digging a little deeper within her grade seven self to wonder about the world.

Tags: freedom, bloggging, classroom

Learner's Permit

From the GeekDad blog:

In the United Kingdom, new drivers are required to fix an "L-plate" to their car to indicate that they are learners: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L-plate

In this cafepress shop, the same idea has been applied to children's clothing for toddlers learning to walk, those learning to cook, etc. Please take a look!

http://www.cafepress.com/toddlerlearner

I think we need to get posters and buttons and t - shirts made up that we can hang in our classrooms, that we can hand out to kids and parents.

Classrooms are about learning and trying on new things and new ideas, these might be a good reminder of that.

Who's good at Cafe Press work?

Tags: learning

Is Blogging Dangerous?

I've always found this interesting: we in the West who are teachers often have great difficulty getting anyone to listen to us, but yet in many societies, people find knowledge dangerous. It seems everywhere where revolution looms its head, teachers and academics are among the first to disappear.

I'm disturbed by a trend that has developed over the past year of blogs disappearing and teachers having career problems because they chose to write and work online with their students. We saw one teacher in the U.S. last year have a blogging project shut down when a parent objected (sorry, I've lost the reference, but would be interested in it if anyone has it). This year we've seen Paul Allison face troubles in NYC, we've also recently had Al Upton and the Minilegends be shut down, and now, most recently, and most disturbingly, Jabiz Raisdana in Qatar has lost his job because a parent objected to a link he had posted to his personal blog and artwork.

Several different nations, grade levels, situations, and troubles, but all with the common theme of people who were working online with their students both accessing and creating information, taking part in the read write web.

This sends a chill through me. Has blogging in the classroom become a political act? It is possible.

Blogging is subversive. It allows both students and teachers access to information and voices from around the world. It allows us circumvent department of education approved texts and videos. It allows us to consider our options, become literate informed sources and voices. In many ways, it allows us to be human, connected with each other and honest about our difficulties and failings.

Is this too much for conservative Western education systems?

As I think about my own classroom where we have ten laptops that kids are free to use throughout the day, where we have wireless iPods, personal laptops from home and hundreds of novels and magazines, I wonder honestly about the dangers I place myself in. What happens if parents complain about something I am doing or something kids have accessed while in my care? Is it my responsibility? Certainly it is. But it is also my responsibility to open kids up to new ideas, to safely expand and administer their learning networks. I have to expose them to new ideas, to change, to innovation, and to the world with all that might mean. As an educator, I cannot close kids off from the world and from new and challenging ideas and opinions.

People need to enter the blogosphere and these debates fully informed. There may be consequences for working online with your students. Personally I believe that the actions that were taken against these teachers and their students were heavy handed, possibly ill - informed and were inappropriate, possibly having global consequences. I have seen no dangers posed by these professionals working in globally connected spaces. But the fact is that we may be entering a new stage in the debates of using read/write technologies in classrooms, one where we need to work much harder to prove the worth of what we are doing.

Photo Credit: http://static.flickr.com/23/88570526_ff6fa8b1f0_o.jpg

Tags: PaulAllison, Jabiz Raisdana, Al Upton, blogging, politics, learning, classroom

Talking Out Loud

While she goes on to talk about other things in the post, this came up on one of the blogs in my class:

"I went to Winnipeg about 3 weeks ago for 2 weeks with my mom. The reason I went was because my mom has a brain tumor. She found out a week before we went to Winnipeg. The cancer from her breast spread into her brain."

Then there was this:

"Well I’m sitting here in this room, with not a thought in my head.  I have no clue what to write about.  We can write about anything thats coming up, spring break, what’s going on in our life, and I mostly told all of those things, like how my sister is getting married, what I’m doing for spring break, and some updates in my life.  I’m stuck here with an empty mind.  I’m mostly thinking of everything that I’ve written so far on my blog, and nothing new is really happening.

Mr. Fisher wants us to at least write in here every 2 or 3 days and its hard living in a small town and nothing really interesting happens except every decade or so."

after she goes on to write a post about her sister getting married she ends this way:

"Well I can see I thought wrong, I did have lots to say."

While these two posts are obviously very different, they are both about community and trust.

They are about having the space to write, the time to write, and about being asked to write on a regular basis. I've found since we have received our eee pcs that the students in my class simply have more access to their network of information and learners. They write more often and more fluently. Our classroom blogs are "hybrid" spaces where the kids are free to write about both their school lives and their home lives. I made this decision since the kids spend so much time online anyway, they may as well have one space to write about their entire lives, not separating themselves out into "school" and "home" selves. Also, I truly believe that if they get in the habit of blogging "properly" (basically being good digital citizens) in this space, it will carry over into their other online activities when they leave my classroom.

It's getting later in the school year, but these are interesting places and spaces for kids to be working in. They are about community, about trust, audience and networked teaching and learning. Strength of voice and legitimacy of voice also come in. These are kids who believe they deserve their space online as much as anyone else.

Photo Credit: Trust: http://flickr.com/photos/hcii/95831431/

Tags: classroom, blogging, connections, networks, trust, community