If you watched the video I made from last week’s trip, I included a clip of a young boy who likes using Scratch in his school. The program acts as his virtual toolbox to create things, like his experiment with fractal music. It wasn’t beautiful art, per se, but it was what he set out to make: “music” based on the concepts of fractals. There’s no right or wrong answer here, unless you want to quibble over what formula he used. If you use the same tool to tell a story, or to create a game… there are good stories and bad ones, and certainly great games and lame games. No question. But how do we work towards discovering the great games within us if we aren’t exploring, creating, and failing every so often?

I think the bigger question for both parents and teachers is this: Why don’t more of you value creativity? I think schools would respond if society were asking (or demanding) creativity from our schools. Likely the biggest thrill I got out of visiting other Scratch enthusiasts last week was their own creativity (in expanding the platform) but also the celebration of what creativity is capable of. The trigger for me is an emotional response. When work students do causes that emotional response in me, I know it’s right, it’s good, and it’s very creative. As I move forward as an educator, I know my calling is to promote the powerful theme of creativity in learning.

Scratch@MIT 2010: Day 1 Conference from Karen Brennan on Vimeo.

The conference was in Cambridge, MA and over 225 were in attendance. I’d wager that a third were from countries outside of the U.S. It was great to see the famous MIT Media Lab up close, and to see the birthplace of some amazing projects, including Scratch, Siftables, and the “Sixth Sense.” The focus however was on Scratch, the community behind it, and some innovations taking place both at MIT and also by others around the world.

Scratch@MIT 2010: Day 2 Conference from Karen Brennan on Vimeo.

The neatest take-away was a new Scratch-related project called DesignBlocks. This new project takes the Scratch-esque programming blocks and puts them online via Flash into a context for building designs and art.

I’m processing my own photos and movies now… but these videos (above and below) was shown during the conference’s closing session.

Scratch@MIT 2010: Day 2 Interviews from Karen Brennan on Vimeo.

To see my video, visit Vimeo.

The idea is to prepare some media for sharing, and the automation can do the rest. It is definitely worth a try. I only wish they would have shown us more of the Mac manipulation than the hosts.

For more, check out padilicious.com/.

We’ve moved from the etiquette of the individual to the etiquette of the flow.

I came across this article today via Kottke.

The new coffeehouse is not a place per se, it’s a feature.

(Don’t miss this link at the bottom, where evidently California is a happy place after all, according to Twitter.)

The reason this stuff interests me is because I see phones coming out more and more when people get together, and I’m not sure how it rubs me. With full disclosure, I’ve pulled mine out as well. It seems if others start, you might as well join-in. But why do people do this?

• Is it because they feel an addictive need to “swipe open” their iPhones and check Twitter?
• Is it because they’re really interested in checking their e-mail (or other types of communication)?
• Is it because they have to update their status in some social forum?
• Is it because they are playing a social game that will earn them points or notoriety?

Or, you know, some other reason?

I have to say in general I find when I’m in the company of others that taking calls is rude. I’ve taken one (yes, just one) in my life, and I felt it was a near-emergency that required me answering the phone. And yet I still feel guilty about it.

But I also feel for those who feel an instinct to pull out (whip it, as they say in the article, well written indeed) that they find comfort in the act of becoming connected. And I wonder – where this is headed.

The feeling of peace overcomes me at times at work when my iChat window is not there—I’ve forgotten to open the program. It’s me, my thoughts, and the computer. A happy, productive knowledge worker. But soon I may find isolation overtake me. It’s not people I necessarily need, it’s a communion with the grid. I mark myself “Available” and happy times ensue.

Unless it’s a day of endless questions.

So, in the end, I think a group (large or small) may elect to have personal reading time on a smartphone, to do whatever: catch up on news, answer an important e-mail, or play a social game. But the key here is we need to agree. It might be habit. But there’s something instinctual about valuing the personal, face-time (not FaceTime™) arrangement we can have by finding a more peaceful space to enjoy one another’s company, fully listen to one another, or just to show respect for one another.

That’s fine, I know, you say, but so many of the folks I work with have kids. And who is calling them? The kids. It’s either a minor emergency, a permission request to do something, or arranging childcare among the grandparents. How do you manage that??

And do you change the rules if you’re among friends vs. work colleagues?

I don’t have all the answers, obviously, but I find this very interesting. Are we really joining a party of collectiveness that’s richer and more expressive by accessing our cell phones on the prowl? Or are we quite plainly de-valuing the social interactions we have with friends, co-workers, and family? &&Can we all get along with both needs—to respect one another and yet still satisfy the connection itch?**

But I turned to the blogosphere today (as opposed to the quick and dirty world of the Twitterverse) to voice my complaint about AT&T Mobile.

I like my iPhone – I’m a fan of Apple’s – and I have had a reasonable experience with AT&T. They don’t mess up my billing and I haven’t had nightmares with their service.

But lately they’ve been sending me spam. Little store announcements telling me to come in and check out their new, refurbished store. But these stores aren’t in Virginia. The latest one is from Indiana:

Visit our recently remodeled AT&T store to experience the latest in communications technology: AT&T 1102 N. Wayne Street Angola, IN 46703 (260) 665-6417

Why should I be getting this?? I will never go to Angola, IN. And if I’m a liar and do, it won’t be to check out their store.

I think it’s ridiculous marketing that only has the potential to anger its otherwise satisfied customers. So I’ve unsubscribed from their e-mail.

Does that mean I won’t get my bills anymore? Because that is the only reason I signed up to begin with…

Nothing like clearing your mind of a good old fashioned complaint to bring you back to the blogosphere.

This past school year, I attended a CocoaTouch class on building apps for iPhone – and dropped out early, in part, because it was way over my head. But having taught educators how to use Scratch and Alice both, this new development platform from Google which uses the block metaphor from MIT’s Lifelong Kindergarten group looks interesting. Real interesting.

You might ask what this means for kids–is it simply a tutorial for programming? I’m not sure the programming aspect is the real key here, but instead, it’s the fact that kids can create programs they can really use. There’s a difference here: Alice and Scratch for the most part run in their respective environments. Scratch, especially (strong in my opinion of the two development environments) is geared towards sharing your creations online with other peers. But what’s next when you’re ready to graduate from Scratch?

Alice is an obvious choice – but while Alice has a richer programming heritage behind it, the social aspect is missing which makes Scratch infectious for young learners. But imagine when a class all has an Android phone (or device) in their pocket… and they can run those apps!

Our own Virginia DOE has put their weight behind Apple and app development for iOS with two recent contests. With this Google tool, and a few months of maturity behind the platform, I think educators will finally have a chance to really give such a challenge a go. I don’t personally own an Android phone, so I take this all with a biased look… my iPhone preference aside, I think this is big news.

If kids can create real apps that they can run on their own (real) phones, it’s gonna be huge. Even if they are simple apps like the one demonstrated in the video – I can’t wait to see where this is going. I’ve already signed up to be a beta tester and await to try it out myself. For a non-programmer (or one that hasn’t programmed since the 1980s) CocoaTouch was a nightmare. Block-based programming takes the syntax element away and lets app development flourish.

Of course, just a few weeks earlier, FB was in the news (if not casual conversations) due to issues relating to privacy settings. The company made news for making privacy complicated to control. What I personally found more troubling is that the company could not always honor its own privacy principles. Friends would tell me “My data is secure, I made all the right settings and de-friended the right people.” Meanwhile, the company reveals that private information was compromised for a short period of time.

Educator Liza Wiemer has recently published a post about the assumption that there is no real concept of “privacy” on a social network. She names our favorite FB (surprise!). This doesn’t surprise me, and I tend to agree with her thinking.

But while I’d be the last one to start defending the social network, I will say that the advice she gives is sound for almost any forum or space you may choose to communicate with online. Reading the hints seem like banal common sense. But for folks who have spent little time thinking about what publishing content to the online communities that now exist means, let alone “publishing” anything, they seem easily tripped up.

Where will we be with tools like these 5 or 10 years from now? I think it will be very interesting. For the conveniences of convening with our friends, we sacrifice time we had before not devoted to concerns about our own privacy. Mr. Zuckerberg (Facebook CEO) has said that the norms of privacy are changing. We’re becoming a more open society when we play online.

That’s not a bad thing, per se. But the balance of authenticity does not always play in our favor. And faking who you are can take its toll, too.

Our lives, as recorded in digital bits, will be more difficult to forget, from our best days to our worst. Those who care are those who either love us or despise us.

Both are programming tools that I think ought to be in the curriculum of every student, yet for teachers finding a place for these tools in their classes, they face challenges. Should the type of learning these tools offer be enough learning, in of itself, or should it be applied in such a way that folks are using them to teach their assigned content?

We may think, for instance, that something like Alice would lend itself well to high school mathematics. But the math often employed is simpler than what is covered in advanced algebra or calculus. Algebra is applied, for sure, but the level of logic required for interactive, 3D experiences is the far more complex entity, not the math.

What about science? There is physiology involved (if not art) in modeling animals and characters in three dimensions, but then again, the models are rarely accurate enough to stand-in for real human beings.

English? Good stories told with these programs can be written-out and planned using writing and one’s applied understanding of formal principles in the structure of stories, but far more time will ultimately be spent on costume changes, adding sounds, and perhaps adding interactive elements for the viewer.

And then we can ask — are these applications programming primers or multimedia creation tools? Is it wrong to delegate the art of programming to its own department, or if something less, its own class?

I’m almost inclined to say “Yes!,” but then again, seeing everyone so deeply engaged in the challenge of programming, I realized the training hadn’t been about how to write code, or even how to shoe-horn programming into secondary Spanish classes. It was about taking everything you know and applying it towards solving some fun problems.

We examined Csikszentmihalyi’s flow model, as he depicts it as a channel opposite frustration and boredom. Finding the channel of creative flow in the learning process is about finding that sweet spot of a challenge that’s hard enough to motivate us, but not too hard to repel us from taking it on. We saw it take shape as the little challenges my colleague and I posed to the group grew simpler or more complex.

Programming works well here, but we could have easily been creating art work, trying to communicate with a newfound friend in another language, or perhaps attempting to figure out the effect of a local change in our environment upon a river ecosystem.

The answer, however, for constructionist ideas to work in public schools, built upon an exciting foundation of creativity, is to have buy-in not at the teacher level for it to penetrate schools, but like so much of everything, from the bottom-up, the top-down, and every side, from your colleague the next classroom down to parents at home. Thankfully our week together was enough to see the process at work.

If nothing else, I can greedily say I had fun learning alongside my colleagues.

Monday, June 7th

2am PDT (US) / 5am EDT (US) (next day) / 9am GMT/UTC (next day) (intl times): AUSTRALIA SERIES “Elluminate Master Classes.” http://www.learncentral.org/event/68455

5pm PDT (US) / 8pm EDT (US) / 12am GMT/UTC (intl times) TL CAFE “Skype an Author Network.” http://www.learncentral.org/event/75822

10:45pm PDT (US) / 1:45am EDT (US) (next day) / 5:45am GMT/UTC (next day) (intl times) AUSTRALIA SERIES Global Collaboration: Flattening Classrooms. http://www.learncentral.org/event/77303

Tuesday, June 8th

10am PDT (US) / 1pm EDT (US) / 5pm GMT/UTC (intl times): ELLUMINATE LIVE SERIES “Lead Your Learning Organization To Improve Results, Cut Costs And Prepare For The Road Ahead.” http://www.learncentral.org/event/78686

6pm PDT (US) / 9pm EDT (US) / 1am GMT/UTC (next day) (intl times): AULA 2.0 SERIES “Algunas de las Cosas que Podemos Hacer en Web 2-0.” http://www.learncentral.org/event/78686

Wednesday, June 9th

3am PDT (US) / 7pm EDT (US) / 11pm GMT/UTC (intl times): AUSTRALIA SERIES “Ecapability: what is it? how do you get it?” http://www.learncentral.org/event/7849

7am PDT (US) / 11am EDT (US) / 3pm GMT/UTC (intl times): ELLUMINATE LIVE SERIES “ Elluminate Live! V10 – Sneak Peek” http://www.learncentral.org/event/78696/ (pre-registration required)

9:30am PDT (US) / 12:30pm EDT (US) / 4:30pm GMT/UTC (intl times): “How to Design Action-packed Elearning” http://www.learncentral.org/event/78211

6:30pm PDT (US) / 9:30pm EDT (US) / 1:30am GMT/UTC (next day) (intl times): MATH 2.0 SERIES “Math 2.0 Weekly: Freedom to Learn.” http://www.learncentral.org/event/77838

Thursday, June 10th 2:30am PDT (US) / 5:30am EDT (US) / 9:30am GMT/UTC (intl times): STUDENT 2.0 SERIES “Twitter – not just small talk. Using Twitter for learning purposes.” http://www.learncentral.org/event/68346

11am PDT (US) / 2pm EDT (US) / 6pm GMT/UTC (intl times): ELLUMINATE LIVE SERIES “Elluminate Live! V10 – Sneak Peek” http://www.learncentral.org/event/78698 (pre-registration required)

11am PDT (US) / 2pm EDT (US) / 6pm GMT/UTC (intl times): ELLUMINATE LIVE SERIES “Formalizing Informal Learning: Case Studies” http://www.learncentral.org/event/62852 (pre-registration required)

4pm PDT (US) / 7pm EDT (US) / 11pm GMT/UTC (intl times): EDUBLOGS SERIES “Edublogs – Serendipity (PD out of a blue sky)” http://www.learncentral.org/event/67259

Saturday, June 12th

9am PDT (US) / 12pm EDT (US) / 4pm GMT/UTC (intl times): CLASSROOM 2.0 LIVE SERIES “Technology Integration in Grade One Classroom with Aviva Dunsiger.” http://www.learncentral.org/node/78724

An incident. Whenever she says incident it’s bad.

“What happened?”

“Well, we used the Wikipedia to start a research assignment last weekend, for homework. I showed my daughter how to find information on almost any topic at the Wikipedia. But I also told her that since anyone can technically publish to this resource, and everyone isn’t an expert, we ought to try and find the information in at least one other source too… for god’s sake, she’s in elementary school… but she soon picked up on the word “references” at the bottom of the articles… so in the end, we listed the Wikipedia as a source on her one-page report.”

“Okay, that sounds fine! What, the school didn’t like the Wikipedia?”

“Bingo! They told her it was unacceptable. She’d have to start over!”

“Why?”

“Oh John. Don’t you know? The Wikipedia is just a pile of lies! Lies! And lies have no place on your paper!” She let out a sigh. “Can’t you do something? Can you write these people and tell them this is crazy?!”

I told her I couldn’t, but I did think it made great fodder for a blog post. I have mixed feelings about this upon reflection. By teaching kids that a resource is “full of lies,” you do raise their suspicion about what they read or hear. But, calling one resource as more credible than another negates any benefit to this “awareness of suspicion.” That’s why I titled this “A bad education.” While the potential for me to place “lies” on this resource exists, and while their are no doubt errors in the content, errors are not the same things as lies. And the potential for error-prone content is on par with referenced sources (in at least one study, comparing the Wikipedia to Nature and the Encyclopaedia Brittanica).

So, yes, a teacher with any age of children should not tell them that the Wikipedia is a “pile of lies” is unethical. It, in itself, is a lie. Furthermore, since more than one resource was cited, including those from traditional sources (book, magazine) that substantiated the information found on the Wikipedia, this is even more disheartening. In this case, the teacher was mal-educated and mis-informed.

The culture shift with such a tool is still not well-understood by many. A wiki is something you can change, and the only changes made on the Wikipedia are not bad ones, so-called injections of lies. You can improve an article. The downside is, yes, it takes your time, expertise, and some critical thought. But that’s what you “pay”, or “how you pay” for this resource. Instead of scaring young children away from something with such potential, we ought to be building their skills and ability to create. In my book, RSS for Educators, I talk about building a wikipedia-style project in your school. Students build the resource, improve the resource, and take ownership of knowledge.

Every teacher can make mistakes, but it also stinks as a parent to have to tell your child that “your teacher simply doesn’t understand.” In this case, mom decided to wait a few years…

While I’ve prepared a wiki page with a lot of links for them, I thought I’d pen a few thoughts about 21st century skills here, and why I’ve bought into them.

There is a lot of criticism that’s now come about around the terminology “21st century skills,” what they mean for education, and frankly, what good teaching is about.

I’m not in disagreement with some of the points educators and their most outspoken critics make. First, these skills are not going to “save” education any more than bandwagons of the past have been able to do so. But they are an evolutionary step away from one type of thinking towards another, and this is a small but positive step.

Teachers often look at technology and knowing that, since it’s been purchased and put into the hands of students, it ought to be used…? well, yes, someone, somewhere in your school or district saw an advantage for that computer, laptop, or handheld to be there. But simply putting gadgetry in the hands of students isn’t the point at which we stop and pat ourselves on the back.

Twenty-first century skills for us have taken the emphasis away from the tools themselves. Instead, the focus in on a number of prescribed skills that are open enough to be exercised in a variety of ways, shaped by the expertise of each educator/practitioner, in one or more disciplines, towards the goal of engaging the student in a meaningful learning experience. Within the context of today’s schools, today’s budgets, and today’s state of the world, this isn’t such a bad thing.

The tools I’m showing you today have been used in schools, but I don’t want you to walk away today thinking Goochland kids all use Twitter, they all spin the globe digitally each day on each one of our Promethean boards, or that we only use open software tools. I’m sharing trends that go beyond schools, because they illustrate how I think learning will likely be transformed in the short term in our schools, if we take advantage of these new tools. Our charge, on the national, state, and district level–and in this case the regional level–is to evaluate not only the tools but the ideas behind some of these tools. We make them available, we educate teachers how these tools can be a part of their emerging educational toolkit, and how we need to prepare students to personally succeed when access to these tools becomes available. In short, the job is taking the tools, adapting them, and showing folks–when it clicks–that these tools we’ve found are the best at promoting twenty-first century skills. (If they aren’t the best, then either it’s the best you  can afford; otherwise, don’t change!) The tools in 5 or 10 years won’t matter, of course. In the long term, it’s showing kids the way towards:

• better communication and networking with others
• working with their peers
• using available knowledge bases to solve problems
• understanding the issues behind being better digital citizens.

To learn more about our efforts, visit our G21 page.

The federal government will be spending $650M in October on “Innovation” grants, and Goochland County Schools will be involved in two of these. The first is called Scribo Digita: Innovating Instruction Across the Curriculum through Writing. This grant will be focused on professional development with a writing across the curriculum model for grades 6-11. As part of this project, we’d be using MyAccess if we get the grant.

The second grant is called JabrDigitAL (Al-jabr is the origin of the word algebra!) and is focused on increasing student achievement in mathematics. The treatment involved would include Dimension-M’s innovative math gaming software for students at GMS and GHS.

Both of these grants take a lot of work from all involved, as we are not applying alone, but in concert with a number of area school divisions, including Hanover, Henrico, Chesterfield, and Hopewell. I look forward to sharing more as the process completes and we hopefully are awarded the grants!

Like so many Apple products, I got my iPad early on, the 32GB Wi-Fi version. Many folks this past weekend got the second iteration, with 3G wireless. I am not opposed to the second model, but seeing that I planned on using mine mostly at home, plus my acquisition of an iPhone already, I thought my wireless needs were met both inside and outside of home.

Instead of an exhaustive review which I don’t have the time to pen, here are my “pluses” and “minuses” for the iPad thus far.

iPad Positives

• Design and Finish – solid, attractive, well-built
• Safari Experience – this thing is great at surfing the Web
• Ease of Use – it’s easy enough for non-techies to use well. Simple interface with many “right” ideas.
• Battery life

iPad Negatives

• Ergonomics – sometimes you’ll find it more difficult to hold or manage than you thought. It’s smaller than a laptop, but bigger than a phone.
• Lack of standardized stylus – I’m interested in using this as a Moleskine replacement, but I need something to write or draw with other than a finger.
• Built-in stand – more elegant than a holster that does this, or a fancy stand/dock, it would be nice if some fold-out piece would allow the iPad to sit at a 6-8 degree angle on a table surface
• I am “selecting” things in Safari far too often when trying to move around on a webpage

So far, I really like the iPad. I do a lot of reading of Web content on it. I’ve used the Kindle.app more than iBooks, for sure. It didn’t work so well in bright sunlight, but hate being outside, so this is not a big deal to me. I’m looking forward to seeing how it might work with Keynote and video output in the future. I have not used it for “work,” mind you, but almost exclusively as a “play” device. Again, the “killer feature” is the Web. I don’t miss Flash terribly, except for sites that have made it a requirement. But I’ve known for too long that Flash is something to avoid if at all possible. These are the same sites I’ve avoided on my iPhone. It made a great travel computer (for reading and watching videos on a plane). For the same reasons articulated above, it would make a great education computer but needs refinement to be “perfect.” For text input, the built-in keyboard is fine, but…

• the keyboard is only good for limited input by itself
• you need something to prop-up the iPad on the table to type for a longer period
• ultimately, you want the external keyboard for something like a long blog post, essay, or manuscript.

Tuesday, April 20th

• 3:30am PDT (US) / 10:30am GMT/UTC (intl times):
  “Moodle for Middle School.”
  http://www.learncentral.org/event/69081
• 3pm PDT (US) / 10pm GMT/UTC (intl times):
  “RSS Feeds & Personal Portals” with Rochelle Rodrigo.
  http://www.learncentral.org/event/52302
• 5pm PDT (US) / 12am (next day) GMT/UTC (intl times):
  “Ning Changes and the Impact on Educational Communities.”
  http://www.learncentral.org/event/69417

Wednesday, April 21st

• 2:30am PDT (US) / 9:30am GMT/UTC (intl times):
  STUDENTS 2.0
  “What Is Students 2.0 All About?”
  http://www.learncentral.org/event/68340
• 3am PDT (US) / 10am GMT/UTC (intl times):
  AUSTRALIA SERIES
  “eT@lking – The 21st century learner” with Kim Cofino.
  http://www.learncentral.org/event/61309
• 8am PDT (US) / 3pm GMT/UTC (intl times):
  FLAT CLASSROOM PROJECT 
  “NetGenEd/Discovery Education Zone 1 Webinar.”.
  http://www.learncentral.org/event/67561

• 11:30am PDT (US) / 6:30pm GMT/UTC (intl times):
  EDUCATION FOR A DIGITAL WORLD 2.0
  “Mobile Learning: Small Technologies Massive Contribution” with Brown Onguko and Symon Ngatia.
  http://www.learncentral.org/event/65720
• 12pm PDT (US) / 7pm GMT/UTC (intl times):
  EDUCATION FOR A DIGITAL WORLD 2.0
  “Learning Management Systems” with Don McIntosh.
  http://www.learncentral.org/event/6572
• 12:30pm PDT (US) / 7:30pm GMT/UTC (intl times):
  EDUCATION FOR A DIGITAL WORLD 2.0
  “Developing Higher Order Thinking Through Blogging” with Brad Ovenell-Carter.
  http://www.learncentral.org/event/65723
• 4pm PDT (US) / 11pm GMT/UTC (intl times):
  BEGINNER SERIES
  “Creating a Website” with Kim Caise and Lorna Costantini.
  http://www.learncentral.org/event/67368
• 5pm PDT (US) / 1am (next day) GMT/UTC (intl times):
  “English Language Learners: Teaching Strategies that Work.” With Larry Ferlazzo.
  http://www.learncentral.org/event/60494
• 6:30pm PDT (US) / 2:30am (next day) GMT/UTC (intl times):
  MATH 2.0
  “Tapped In” with BJ Berquist
  http://www.learncentral.org/event/69521

Thursday, April 22nd

• 10am PDT (US) / 5pm GMT/UTC (intl times):
  INNOSIGHT
  “Wichita Public Schools’ Learning Centers”
  http://www.learncentral.org/event/69423
• 4pm PDT (US) / 11pm GMT/UTC (intl times):
  AUSTRALIA SERIES
  “Edublogs Talk Time – Tech for Tech’s Sake” with Jo Hart.
  http://www.learncentral.org/event/59851
  
• 4:30pm PDT (US) / 11:30pm GMT/UTC (intl times):
  VSTE
  “Chris O’Neal.”
  http://www.learncentral.org/event/62746
• 5pm PDT (US) / 12am (next day) GMT/UTC (intl times):
  “Tim Magner on School 2.0.”
  http://www.learncentral.org/event/69425

Friday, April 23rd

• 11:30am PDT (US) / 6:30pm GMT/UTC (intl times):
  “Higher Ed Learning Spaces” with Barbara Lindsey and Kevin Gaugler
  http://www.learncentral.org/event/69585

Saturday, April 24th

• 9am PDT (US) / 4pm GMT/UTC (intl times):
  LEARNING GAMES
  “Choosing and Using Video Games in the Classroom” .
  http://www.learncentral.org/event/58445
  
• 10am PDT (US) / 5pm GMT/UTC (intl times):
  LEARNING GAMES
  “Designing eGames: Pre-Programming.”
  http://www.learncentral.org/event/61840

Mr. Dorsey spoke at length about this generation and what makes them stand out. They value time more than money, and they hate PowerPoint presentations. Yet, they like short, concise communication that sums up the point in bullets.

Mr. Dorsey shared with us that generational differences are defined by many factors, including parenting trends, technology, economics, and pivotal events (political corruption, 9/11, natural disasters).

Dorsey also talked about my generation, “Gen X,” and the big generation before that, the “Baby Boomers.” Boomers are competitive and have the strongest work ethic… which for them means time. Dedication to a boomer means long hours. Gen Ys are willing to work for a challenge, but may do so outside of the frame of a normal work day. They take work into their homes and anywhere else they may have an inspiring idea. They aren’t necessarily tech savvy, they’re technology dependent.

The most important things Gen Ys value are lifestyle and relationships. The differences between the generations may cause friction or frustration, but each generation has real, positive things to add to the multi-generational workforce. Today in the U.S., four different generations can be found in many organizations. As it turns out, Gen Y gets along best with the mature generation.

Dorsey shared statistics of the makeup of generations in Chesterfield County Schools, where he had spent the earlier part of the day. Among the teachers, administrators, and other certified staff:

• 16% are Gen Y
• 27% are Gen X
• 54% are boomers
• 3% make up the mature generation

Gen Ys want instant gratification… The mature generation are satisfied with delayed gratification. And the most generational conflicts take place between Gens X and Y.

Dorsey was an engaging speaker who someday might find success as a comedian. He kept us well engaged by simply speaking (no slides). My thanks go to the Region 1 Superintendents’ Group for sponsoring this event, and Chesterfield County Schools for sharing Mr. Dorsey with us.

I grabbed my camera and captured this shot while downtown, in Richmond.

I also like how this one turned-out:

Warmth has come after all of that snow.

I downloaded several video podcasts via iTunes on the iPad. Once I did a sync with my Mac, it removed those from the iPad, because I evidently said “no podcasts.”

Can I show a video I own (or rented) to my class? Is that legal?

DVDs (and formerly VHS tapes) are easy to come by. For a relatively cheap cost, you can have a feature film or documentary in your hands, and some contain great instructional value. There’s a few things educators need to know.

1. Long presentations of video, like showing a movie, can be less effective than showing shorter clips of video. The purpose behind the video presentation is not entertainment, but hopefully critical thinking. By showing short, focused clips, we can prepare students for what to see, and then later discuss what was seen.
2. The prices set on DVDs and videos are set with several assumptions. They are “licensed” for in-home, private viewing. Because the content on DVDs is protected by copyright, owned by the studio who produced the film, they can set the parameters for how that content is used. Whether or not we like it, the cost they have accepted for each unit is based on the assumption that the audience is at most a household.
3. Public performance is one of the 5 copy rights. Many DVDs are available with education licensing attached, at a higher cost, which accommodates a wider audience. Instead of a family of 4, the assumption is that over 100 students may view the content at a given time. When available, our media centers only buy video materials with educational licensing.

Therefore, personal DVDs you have purchased for in-home use, or rented for the same scenario, are not acceptable for viewing in the classroom. You may instead look for copies that are digitized online for promotion, or contact your media specialist about obtaining the show/movie in question that includes educational-use rights.

For more information, consult this resource.

I find this stuff fascinating; especially after recently doing a workshop on the affects of using digital imagery in instruction.

In addition, you can download the slides (Keynote ‘08 format) and a second Keynote for practice.

Download the video podcast version of this presentation. This is episode #142 of our podcast, TechTimes Live! Get all the episodes here.

* Bookyards (Free, online books)
* Civil Rights Digital Library
* TV Lesson
* United Nations World Digital Library

They appeared in an article by Curtis Bonk, a professor at Indiana University. While Dr. Bonk teaches college students, he felt the R2D2 model (Read, Reflect, Display, and Do) model would be apropos for high school students. He recommended this sites as examples that can engage students with differing learning styles.

Keep it Elementary
For those teachers in the elementary setting, get yourself over to a Promethean board then check-out http://www.ictgames.com/. ICT Games has flash-based, interactive content for numercy and literacy development. While text is used, many have great visual appeal (if mummies, dinosaurs, and cute animals are your thing!).

I’ve no space left on my wall!
Teachers have long been creative, using their walls in the classroom to hang posters, instructional charts and diagrams, not to mention motivational reminders. But what happens when you’ve run out of space? Create a virtual wall, instead! Check out Wallwisher (http://www.wallwisher.com/) a tool for hanging virtual sticky notes. You can use this with a Promethean board, or all by itself with an LCD projector. Your virtual stickies can go visual by using embedded photos or videos, too.

Gimme the Data!
Understanding numbers is often a skill that baffles even teachers, when we hear statistics in the news, when someone describes a percentage increase, or when we’re trying to understand the relationship between this and that. The ManyEyes project from IBM (http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/) is a data visualization tool that’s interactive. While browsing the data already uploaded is interesting, the real fun is involved with combining data sets together. The site puts it this way:

We all deal with data that we’d like to understand better. It may be as straightforward as a sales spreadsheet or fantasy football stats chart, or as vague as a cluttered email inbox. But a remarkable amount of it has social meaning beyond ourselves. When we share it and discuss it, we understand it in new ways.

Just let me draw!
Okay, for those of you who take the term “visuals” literally, I’ll let you go draw. Sketchpad (http://mugtug.com/sketchpad/) is a new Web 2.0 tool that’s approaches some of the functionality of Adobe Photoshop. Draw with a spirograph tool, paint with transparency, and above all, get your creative juices flowing.

My thanks go out to Bea Cantor for introducing me to at least a few of these recently.

You can download my presentation in PDF format.

That rocked!

Author Seth Godin, however, says something about this.

You don’t rock all the time. No one does. No one is a rock star, superstar, world-changing artist all the time. In fact, it’s a self-defeating goal. You can’t do it.

His point? Try “rocking” at something for just 5 minutes. A day. Don’t aim to be doing profound things all the time, but instead, baby-step those things you can do an extraordinary job at.

I think the advice also fits in line with something else Godin said earlier this month:

Very few people wake up in the morning and feel like taking big risks or feel like digging deep for something that has eluded them. People don’t usually feel like pushing themselves harder than they’ve pushed before or having conversations that might be uncomfortable.

You might not feel like climbing the big mountains all the time. What’s important is mounting small hills, each one in stride, not conquering everything, just little things that you can do that make a difference.

Karen has had a wide variety of experiences in education including classroom teaching in middle school, high school and, now, higher education. She also has extensive experience with teaching and learning online. She is a certified online instructor for PBS Teacherline and CaseNEX and has both developed and taught content for these organizations. She is teaching an online Master’s level course for Virginia Commonwealth University. These experiences, as well as her recent doctorate in Curriculum and Educational Technology from The College of William and Mary, provide a unique, insightful perspective on public education, particularly in Virginia, which will be of great benefit to VSTE and its membership.

Karen has been to Goochland more than once in her role as a professional developer for VITAL. For teachers not sure what VSTE is–membership is free and the organization is doing great things. Visit their website today and sign-up for membership. I know I’m glad I did back in 1999!

(Rotates the entire webpage in Safari 4.)

The class was on MIT’s Scratch, and six teachers from Goochland participated at GES library media center. I’m currently going through the export process now. I will likely share it online, but restrict it to Goochland personnel only. It captured my voice and everything we did at the Promethean board.

We saw this technique being used and promoted recently at EdTech 2010 in Ashland, VA by keynoter Dr. Tim Tyson.