Category Archives: Blogging

Posted on

Where are the “Best Practices” Examples!??!

One of the most popular posts (judging by the number of comments it received) on this young blog (6 months old) was Working, Breathing, Reproducible, Intriguing Models – where I lamented the seeming lack of good models of project/problem based learning supported by tech and web 2.0 applications. I wondered where they were and why they weren’t being marketed ad naseum on every edtech blog out there.

Recently Will Richardson posted asking Where are the Best Practices? He cites Tom Marsh:

It brings me back to NECC where during a Webcast I was a part of Tom Marsh asked this very question: Where are all the really, really, really great examples?

And David Warlick wonders:

There are some pretty important conversations going on, and teachers, as much as (if not more than) anyone else, should be engaged in these conversations. Blogging, wikis, and other new web applications seem ready-made for these conversations — but what do teachers talk about in your teacher’s lounge?

I don’t think there are that many “Best Practice” examples out there on the web for the following reasons:
1 – Many school districts tend to block access to posting student work and/or the online applications to do so. (Like you never heard that one before.)

2 – The finish work involved in sharing something publicly is often the hardest most time consuming part so it doesn’t get done, especially in the “testing everything” age.

3 – Some don’t feel that the finished product is important, only the journey there is (I disagree) so they have no publishable finished product to share (THE POWER OF THESE TOOLS IS SHARING IT – MAKING IT A RESOURCE FOR OTHERS!!!!) But I digress.

4 – The sharing part can also be the most technically demanding part and the costliest. It costs me little to nothing to make a video with my students but what if I don’t have a web site to share it on? Or I’m not familiar with FTPing? Or my district forbids or even kind of frowns on sharing student work and I don’t feel empowered to buck that and become marginalized – which is a big step for teachers that don’t get paid much money or respect and have their standing as a professional as one of the few things to hold onto – that’s tough to jeopardize for many.

5 – At the middle and high school level teachers tend to have students for an hour or less at a time, so doing lots of web 2.0 stuff and getting it to a polished, publishable state is tough – and publishing “works-in-progress” isn’t always appreciated by administration and some parents until they’ve been enlightened about the process.

6 – At elementary school level you are often starting kids from scratch (because no one else is doing this) and just getting them going on one application takes time (and how is that prepping them for the ITBS?????) and time-wise teachers often have to choose between doing tech/web 2.0 or doing a project (with maybe some tech support) and all the time being questioned about the educational value of what they are doing – how many are really going to deal with that and buck the system?

7 – Unfortunately some are more interested in being able to say they are doing the most cutting edge stuff and spend time always doing the newest thing as opposed to really utilizing one or several tools really effectively with their students so edtech and project based learning come up looking weak.

8 – Many just don’t realize what they have done is “Best Practice” WOW! kind of stuff, or they don’t see the value in publishing, or they are too modest. “You mean publish that!? Isn’t everybody doing stuff like this?”

The answer is NOOOOO!

I have found though that if you get one good, solid product out there it creates a buzz – and suddenly you are the expert (true or not) and gain a certain level of trust. Just like a movie director that makes one hit movie suddenly is a genius and is given more encouragement and support to carry on with other projects. Don’t try to do everything! Do one thing really well (or maybe more than one thing depending) and be able to showcase it and its effectiveness as a learning situation and tool. From my experience, if what your students produce is quality, and the process along the way led to real learning, you will be “allowed” to do more. Then get what your students have produced published on the web whether it’s a blog, or video, or wiki, or a web page … you get the idea … so it can be part of a showcase of the “Best Practices” so many are looking for.

Maybe we can even get the edbloggers with the highest readership (and everyone else too) to each make a roll of “Best Practice” or “Model” or whatever examples of edtech that is easy for even a novice tech person to find and use to navigate those examples. Some of the Wikis posted to do this are great, but mainly to those that already “get it.” Let’s have multiple portals to these examples – and a links section in the right hand column (TOP) of everyones blog might be a good place to start. But first we need the examples.

Who decides which examples are worthy – and how do we find the examples that might already be out there????

Learning is messy!

Posted on

Reprised Because of DOPA – So As Parents and Educators We Monitor and Teach Ethical, Appropriate, Safe Use

I am reprising this post since the vote about Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA) is happening soon. See David Warlick’s blog to get contact info to contact representatives about their vote.

Paper and pencils can be used to draw inappropriate, hate filled, pictures messages and ideas – and you could poke someone’s eye out. They could even be used to lure your child into a dangerous situation. Should we (and could we if we tried?) cut off access to keep our children safe? No, because they are everywhere and too valuable in so many ways, so as parents and educators we monitor and teach ethical, appropriate, safe use.

Over 200,000 children are injured using playground equipment each year, some are killed. Should we (and could we if we tried?) cut access to playground equipment to keep our children safe? No, because they’re eventually going to find play equipment and playing is too valuable an experience, so as parents and educators we monitor and teach ethical, appropriate, safe use.

50,000 people die or are injured in swimming accidents each year. Should we (and could we if we tried?) cut access to swimming to keep our children safe? No, because pools and lakes and ponds are everywhere and it would be dangerous if they fell in and it is too valuable and healthy a skill, so as parents and educators we monitor and teach ethical, appropriate, safe use.

30,000 people are killed and thousands more injured in auto crashes each year. Should we (and could we if we tried?) cut access to cars and driving to keep our children safe? No, cars are everywhere and driving is too valuable, so as parents and educators we monitor and teach ethical, appropriate, safe use.

Phones are used for criminal activities, even luring kids away from home. Should we (and could we if we tried?) cut off access to phones to keep our children safe? No, phones are everywhere and they are too valuable, so as parents and educators we monitor and teach ethical, appropriate, safe use.

There are some churches and religions out there that don’t have the same beliefs as yours – and some even preach ideas that you would consider blasphemous and hateful. Should we (and could we if we tried?) cut off access to religion to keep our children safe? No, religion is everywhere and it is too valuable, so as parents and educators we monitor and teach ethical, appropriate, safe use.

There are applications of technology that can expose your child to inappropriate, hate filled, pictures, messages and ideas. Technology and the internet are everywhere. Do we cut off access? (and could we if we tried?) Or are these applications too educationally valuable?  As parents and educators it would be better if we monitored and taught ethical, appropriate, safe use.

Otherwise who will teach them about these things and where will they learn about them?

Learning is messy!

Posted on

These Guys Get It!

Will Richardson posted today about his experience at SLA this week – it ties in with David Warlick’s post from yesterday about what he heard about teachers in China teaching less and planning more. From Will’s blog:

It was the last day of an 8-day intensive planning session, and they were probably more tuned into the “closing ceremonies” to be held at a neighborhood restaurant in the afternoon than on listening to me, but I was extremely impressed by their attention, their questions and their thinking. And their thinking was all over the place…on a Moodle site where they have been capturing all of their work, on newsprint post-its all over the walls of the planning room, in their conversation. I sat there just envious as all get out that Chris had this opportunity to really build “School 2.0,” and I said as much to all of them.

Did you catch that? An 8 day planning session!? Were the teachers paid for their time? What a concept!  And they still have six weeks before school starts to digest the conversation and continue to plan. Doesn’t that cost more money? We can’t be spending more on education, we already get more than we need – we just need to spend it more wisely – less administration and cheaper toilet paper and paper towels (please note this is sarcasm on my part in case you missed it).

Is Chris Lehmann planning to provide planning days during the school year too? That would almost make me consider teaching secondary school and moving to Philadelphia! I can’t wait to see what Dave finds out about the planning time in China! These guys are doing it right. I’ve been asking where the great examples of whole schools doing project/problem-based learning supported by tech integration are … it sounds like this is really one to watch … but no pressure Chris!   ; )

Posted on

Find Your Niche, App, Tool, Whatever. Make It Work Transformatively, Effectively and Safely …. Then Let’s Market It, and How To Use It To Everyone.

Many of the conversations lately have been a bit downtrodden. Brett’s Skypecast last night, Will Richardson’s recent “deflating” experience, Jeff Utecht’s NECC experience, Miguel Guhlin’s recent post and others.

We’ve been bemoaning that the access to web 2.0 apps is not going well. Some districts block just about everything, teachers aren’t embracing them quickly enough and the list goes on. But maybe there is still plenty to use and the “marketplace” will take care of the rest over time in that either users will find safe “workarounds” as they use MySpace, ODEO, FLICKR, etc. (not everybody is blocked you know) and if these work and there is a demand and it seems safe things might open up. I’m definitely not saying give up or don’t think about or try to use these apps – just that things might not be as bleak as they seem. Would it be great if you could just jump right in and use many of these tools – yes – but many have issues of safety no matter how frustrating that is. Will Richardson (and others – including me) have spoken about how kids are exposed to worse images and ideas at the local convenience store and in some cases street corner. But you’re just not going to get past peoples’ fear and loathing of their kids being exposed, even by accident, AT SCHOOL – At least not now. I’m not satisfied with that but …

The good news is that there is so much that can be done that is safe and valuable for anyone to use – the web, digital photography, web pages, email, blogging (monitoring comments) and much more – and those of us that have unfettered access will have to use these new tools in ways that make others see past their fear and want to embrace them. We can even teach the ethical use of social applications so that students that use them outside school learn about ethics from someone.

There are so many applications available now, how could anyone use them all? Yes, we need to get going – I believe that strongly – but who can keep up? There seems to be at least one new app every day – yes we need access, and the ability to innovate – and what is more exciting than seeing something you’ve never seen before and immediately getting an idea on how it fits what you are or want to be doing with students and you want to do it NOW. Some of us will be able to do that, be the trailblazers, and some will have to wait (but fighting and scratching the whole time) until these new tools and methods are acceptable.

Beyond that, I would be thrilled if we could just get educators to embrace and utilize tech as a tool AT ALL! I’ll probably get attacked by some of you for saying this, but more than 80% of educators I know can’t cut and paste, or send an email with an attachment, or know you can have more than one window opened at a time or more than one application at a time, or what a browser is (or that Internet Explorer isn’t the only browser), or how to attach a printer or camera or use them, or any peripheral, or what USB or Firewire are and the list goes on. And we want them to be blogging AND Flickring, AND Skypeing, AND digital video, AND podcasting, AND making web pages and more? I have experiences with teachers showing them cut and paste that I should video some time. They get so excited – some do it over and over with big smiles on their faces – I’ve just made their day (but I was really showing them FLICKR and how to use an image in student writing).

Yes we need to keep the training and education and innovation on web 2.0 going, but let’s not forget than most haven’t embraced web 1.0 yet. We need to get many more trained and comfortable with tech in general and the new teaching that goes with it AS we continue to use and innovate with the new tools. If we build it they will come?

Posted on

How To Spread The Word? – Use The Media, Doesn’t Everybody Else?

Us edtech / project-based, folk have lamented for a long time how slow others have been to adopt the new tools and methods of the 21st century (although many of these methods are not new at all). We have talked about creating a buzz, an excitement about these methods that will overcome the reluctance of so many to engage.

One way to accomplish this is to use the media. Certainly using the media to help promote education and children is more righteous than pushing a product or a politician. And I’ve found most media are more than willing to cover positive education stories – especially new ideas or projects. So the next time your class (or someone else you know) completes a project or is involved in an activity –  (or even if they just started) contact the local media. And now it’s easy to do. Send an email – how hard is that? What’s the worst that can happen? They don’t get back to you – you lost 5 minutes writing an email. But what if they do come? – A great experience for your students. They get to see how the media works, some get interviewed, they’re excited – do you think you might get them to write about the experience? I’ve even had reporters and camera operators allow kids to turn the tables and interview them about what they do and why they decided to cover this story.

Students can take photos and video of the goings on – and there is another possible writing project (blog, story, letter home, etc.) And the next thing you know you’ve created a buzz about using tech and project-based learning. A buzz with your students, their families, your teachers, others’ students, the community – just what we’re trying to do – and its free!

Posted on

Why Go To NECC When You Can Just Skype It!?

OK so nothing is like really being there … but this was pretty good. Wes Fryer set up an international Skypecast to share what was learned at NECC 2006 – thanks for laying the groundwork Wes!

Here’s a link to his podcast of our Skypecast.


So what is a Skypecast? A free (as the old saying goes, “Free is a good price!”) conference call basically … only better. When I saw Wes’s request for participants I went to Skype’s web site and downloaded the free software … which was a breeze by the way, then answered a few questions like login name and password and maybe 1 or 2 others – 5 minutes tops and probably less than that. Wes had a link on his blog to the exact Skypecast, when you get there it tells you the name of the Skypecast and what time it is scheduled for. At the correct time I opened Skype, went to Wes’s Skype page, clicked on the link that said something like “Join This Skypecast” and I could hear voices. A window opens that shows the screen names of everyone attending and that was that.

We had a great conversation that lasted for over 2 hours. And get this … not one of us had attended NECC 2006 – but we had all participated virtually through all the various blog entries, podcasts, vidcasts, and so on offered by the convention and individuals. So we disussed an event none of us physically attended but still participated in at a certain level and shared our thinking about it. One of the coolest things was that several people joined in the Skypecast that were not teachers or edtech people and they added seamlessly to the conversation and had great insights because they weren’t educators or edtech people. Some of us stayed until the end and others came and went. A few popped up and listened in, decided this was not for them and went away. Imagine using this to connect teachers, students, experts …. you get the picture.

One way this is different than a phone call is that because you are already using your computer to make the connection, your computer is right there to make notes on, look up web pages that others are discussing, Wes even downloaded software to record the conversation during the Skypecast, left for about 2 minutes to install it, came back on and recorded the rest for his podcast – but I should not steal Wes’s thunder – you can hear it all for yourself, Wes has notes and links for you, but most important I encourage you to join in on future Skypecasts and keep the conversation going!

Learning is messy!

Update: David Warlick just posted about reveling in the conversations at NECC 2006, but also lamenting those that he missed. Dave this post is about a way to help keep those conversations going and maybe even having those that you missed!

Posted on

Have Too Many Lost The Passion?

in this day of testing, programmed/scripted teaching what we are missing is the passion. How do you consistently get students revved-up if you are not excited about what you are teaching? When you think back at your own school experience and recall your favorite teachers, do you think about the ones that used the scripted, or practically scripted, math and reading programs especially well? Or do you recall teachers that were passionate about teaching and learning and did their best to make you passionate about it too?

I miss more and more going into teachers classrooms and sharing about what we were doing in our classes and leaving with new ideas to try and tweak and mull over – it fed my fervor both in what I heard that teacher share and in their excitement in what I was doing. When everyone is “doing” the math program that you must teach in-order and not skip any lessons because you’ll break the spiraling aspect – which is the programs strength – there’s not a lot to get passionate about. Not like when you are sharing students struggle with finding all the consecutive sums up to 25 and then noting the patterns that appear.

In my school district we now have a math program and a reading program that basically follow this scenario and they take-up the bulk of the day. I go into classrooms and teachers are prepping the lessons for the next day that aren’t their lessons, they are the programs lessons. It is very difficult to incorporate technology, projects/problems into a school day that is taken up by so much pre-planned time.

Mark Ahlness ranted awhile back about edbloggers that aren’t teachers and how frustrated he was with trying to get to all the newest apps and tools they were promoting in their blogs and presentations. I think (and Mark feel free to correct me on this) that his real frustration was with the fact that just getting his students to blog consistently – just that – was frustratingly difficult under the constraints of time a classroom teacher is subjected to. Then it is easy (although no one really says this) to imply that I’m supposed to be Skypeing, Flickring, podcasting, and whatever great new free app some blogger just found that you just have to use with your students and by the way see you at the _________ convention next week!

This lack of passion means teachers are having fewer discussions about teaching and learning – and the programs so many of us have to follow leave zero time and resources to promote the kind of teaching we would like to be doing so sharing the new teaching tools becomes irrelevant to all but the few.

Let’s hope this programmed teaching begins to wane (I see some cracks – do you?) so that the passion can return and that might lead to an embracing of 21st century tools and a renewed dialog about what teaching is and could be.

Learning is messy!

Posted on

Your Child’s Dream Best School Day – What Does It Look Like? What Should It Be?

There is much rumination in the edblogosphere about what education and schools should look like in this way or that. Kids should be blogging, using web 2.0 applications (Wikis, podcasts, Flickr, the flavor-of-the-week app), in conjuction with project-based, problem-based learning. The reality in the elementary classroom however is not a blank slate that you can manipulate any way you want.

But let’s say it was a blank slate – and not only is it a blank slate, but YOUR child is in this class. What would you want your child to be doing in this classroom? They can’t just sit and blog all day. This is an elementary school classroom – what things would you want to hear your child saying they were doing in that classroom? Remember, there are usually mandatory minutes that must be spent on reading, language and math (and yes the other subjects too, but take my word, somehow the minutes of science, social studies, art, PE, etc. are not watched over in quite the same way).

So, what’s your child’s (or grandcild’s) ultimate learning day look like? I’d love to hear your ideas. If you are reading this you probably have some opinions, probably strong opinions about this, but have you ever thought about or planned a whole “typical” day? Here’s your challenge. Take your thoughts and biases and ideas and opinions and learning and experience and conversations and put them all together. Make it a comment here, or make it a post on your blog.

Don’t make this a minute by minute, long, drawn out thing (unless you want to), just a rough outline of what a great learning day would include.

I think this would help many people get a handle on what is being advocated on ed blogs, and give us all a chance to put our plan where our advocacy is. Any takers?
Learning is messy!

Posted on

So As Parents and Educators We Monitor and Teach Ethical, Appropriate, Safe Use

The following was written in response to Will Richardson’s request for a message to parents about safe and appropriate technology use:

Paper and pencils can be used to draw inappropriate, hate filled, pictures messages and ideas – and you could poke someone’s eye out. They could even be used to lure your child into a dangerous situation. Should we (and could we if we tried?) cut off access to keep our children safe? No, because they are everywhere and too valuable in so many ways, so as parents and educators we monitor and teach ethical, appropriate, safe use.

Over 200,000 children are injured using playground equipment each year, some are killed. Should we (and could we if we tried?) cut access to playground equipment to keep our children safe? No, because they’re eventually going to find play equipment and playing is too valuable an experience, so as parents and educators we monitor and teach ethical, appropriate, safe use.

50,000 people die or are injured in swimming accidents each year. Should we (and could we if we tried?) cut access to swimming to keep our children safe? No, because pools and lakes and ponds are everywhere and it would be dangerous if they fell in and it is too valuable and healthy a skill, so as parents and educators we monitor and teach ethical, appropriate, safe use.

30,000 people are killed and thousands more injured in auto crashes each year. Should we (and could we if we tried?) cut access to cars and driving to keep our children safe? No, cars are everywhere and driving is too valuable, so as parents and educators we monitor and teach ethical, appropriate, safe use.

Phones are used for criminal activities, even luring kids away from home. Should we (and could we if we tried?) cut off access to phones to keep our children safe? No, phones are everywhere and they are too valuable, so as parents and educators we monitor and teach ethical, appropriate, safe use.

There are some churches and religions out there that don’t have the same beliefs as yours – and some even preach ideas that you would consider blasphemous and hateful. Should we (and could we if we tried?) cut off access to religion to keep our children safe? No, religion is everywhere and it is too valuable, so as parents and educators we monitor and teach ethical, appropriate, safe use.

There are applications of technology that can expose your child to inappropriate, hate filled, pictures, messages and ideas. Technology and the internet are everywhere. Do we cut off access? (and could we if we tried?) Or are these applications too valuable? As parents and educators maybe it would be better if we monitor and teach ethical, appropriate, safe use.

Otherwise who will teach them about these things and where will they learn about them?

Learning is messy!

Posted on

A “Must Read” – The Class of 2015

You must check out the post The Class of 2015 on Mark Ahlness’s edtechblog. He has his third graders’ blog postings about the reality of not having their blogs to write to once they leave his classroom. Have a hanky handy. Too bad Will didn’t have this for his presentation to 49 superintendents.
Learning is messy!