Ideas and Thoughts from an EdTech

This is a bit late but I’m going to be hosting a Skypecast with Darren, Clarence and Kathy at about 10:30EST on Wednesday, May 31st. The discussion will revolve around the new story of their classrooms.  Originally I had planned a closed discussion and would podcast it later. I’ll still record it but wanted to see if others were interested in listening in and asking some questions.

I’m not sure how many we can handle but I’m willing to give it a shot. So if you’re interested, you can find me in  the Skypecast directory.

I particularly enjoyed this conversation with Rick and Rob.  This seems like the type of discussion that all educators need to have. Apparently Will is going to be speaking to a group of superintendents this week. Maybe some of this discussion would be useful.
I love the new intro music Rob added. If only Alec would have been there…

On Thursday, I convocated from the University of Saskatchewan with a M.Ed. in Communications and Technology.

The feeling at convocation and among those who I talk to is that you must be relieved glad it’s over. I am. But unlike many who talk about how hard it is/was to go through this process, my experience tells a different story.

So many people who have completed graduate studies or are in the midst, talk about how hard it is. They speak of excessive reading, time away from their family, stressful assignments, boring professors or limited class choices. For several reasons, I can’t claim the badge of honour many tout. Here’s why my journey was easy:

1. It was free. When I began my studies in 2002, our province began a recruitment and retention program designed to provide additional funding for school divisions attempting to develop leadership within their teaching staff. This enabled all my expenses, including tution, travel and related costs to be paid. During May of 2005, I was able to take the month off with full pay to complete two classes. Thank you to our school division and the province.
2. It was online. Not exclusively but the majority of it was done online. While others in the area were travelling on stormy winter nights to attend classes 1 hour away, I relaxed on my couch with my wireless connection. I had some face to face class experiences but even those were largely optional so if the weather was bad, I was told to stay home. Thank you to the University of Saskatchewan.
3. It was job related. Since I was already in my current role as a consultant, I was able to apply most classes and assignments right into my job. Many of these utilized by our staff and others, including my digital video site and video tutorials. My project was a historical documentary on our school division which is the oldest in our part of the country. A good number of my assignments were done during work which although felt like cheating was wonderful. Thanks to my professors.
4. It was flexible. The job related idea was further supported by a faculty that went out of their way to encourage me to keep assignments within my professional responsibilities and keep them manageable. This wasn’t true for everything, but it seemed to me that most of the reading and work fit perfectly into my day to day work life. Another thanks to my professors.

This experience certainly makes me consider what elements we need to advocate in our K-12 schools. I think there are elements of all these reasons that could be included in our schools. I’ll give you some examples and perhaps you can think of more:

1. Financial benefit. Continued support for Advanced Placement courses would currently help students entering post secondary school. Some of our Practical and Applied Arts offerings can be used by students entering the trades as credits in some courses. A nice incentive.
2. More online offerings. Our school division has some major geographical challenges and this would provide some solutions. Also with students having part time jobs, this could enable many more to do both more successfully.
3. Give credit for personal interests. I’ve blogged about this before but this is important in making learning more relevant for students.
4. Make learning flexible. This is one many are constantly working towards but often our curriculum makes this difficult. Providing students with more choice will create a positive experience for our students.

The blurring of lines between school and work was a nice experience for me. We need to continue to blur the lines between school and our students’ lives. This is a good thing.

Now on to my PhD….thanks but no thanks.

The interview I did with Kathy was actually videotaped and included some thoughts from students and parents. I hope this is another way of telling the new story that illustrates the concept of the new classroom.

8:00

 

 Telling the New Story...the Video: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1196)

I’ve followed with interest the blog of Clayton Wilcox, Superintendent of Pinellas County Schools in Tampa, Fl. I admired his willingess to become a transparent leader and invite conversations from a wide audience. But today he writes,

I will just say this … the lies, distortions and mean spiritedness of some - was not worth my time or worthy of this district … good night and good luck.

So what’s the lesson here? You can read some of the comments and see what many others think but I worry that this is the exact reason many in leadership positions avoid blogging. They fear this type of response. I wonder that if a survey was done with all who read his blog, not necessarily those who comment would reveal that those who displayed mean spiritedness were not only the minority but were identified by most as extremeist and not making meaningful contributions to the conversation.

Is this the same reaction we have when students experience harrassment online? Pull the plug. I’m not judging this particular decision since I probably don’t have all the facts but I am concerned that we deal with bullies and loud mouths but shutting down.

I’m not aware of any other superintedent blogger. I’m hoping to help our superintendents to become involved in these types of experiences and conversations. I just hope this type of result doesn’t discourages them.

Update: Just finished a great conversation with Rob and Rick and will post our thoughts on the subject.

Here is the last of my interviews with teachers telling the new story of teaching and learning. Previously we heard from a grade one teacher, a high school calculus teacher and today we hear from a middle years teacher.

Clarence Fisher teaches grade 7/8 in northern Manitoba. He has been expermenting with many of the web 2.0 tools for over a year. This year he truly implemented them into his daily routine.

Show notes:

• Remote Access
  
• SlashDot
• The Register
• Class Podcasts
• Weblogs go to school
• Old Classroom weblogs
• New teacher weblog
• Student Weblogs
• Caesar video game
  
• Class wiki
• Blogmeister
• Learner Blogs
• Piczo

46:40 16.8MB

*On a technical note, I’ve used 3 different techniques to record the audio. Darren and I used Gizmo since it had built in record. I recorded Kathy’s interview on video and extracted the audio using Quicktime Pro. Clarence and I used Skype and although I was planning to utililze Rob’s configuration, my limited understanding ruled out that options. Fortunately I discovered PowerGramo which records Skype conversations. I tried Pamela but again, couldn’t configure it correctly.

I also used 3 different locations for the recordings. Darren’s was recorded in my office, Kathy in her classroom and Clarence both on my bed and, as you’ll hear about the 30 minute mark, me moving to my den.  If you listening very closely, you’ll hear me telling my youngest to be quiet. (As a podcaster herself, she told me after 15 minutes that no one will listen because it’s too long…advice passe on to her by her father).

 

 Telling the New Story Part 3: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1064)