Ideas and Thoughts from an EdTech

Using Skype, I dropped a quick compliment tonight for Jeff Utecht on using his screencast for a workshop I did. What ensued was a lenghthy exchange of ideas and for me a personal tour of the city of Shanghai where Jeff resides. Using Google Earth, he and I shared a little bit about both of our worlds. Early into the tour, I happened upon one of the schools Jeff works at and then he kindly sent me a couple of .kml files to provide some context to his world. I knew nothing about Shanghai and still don’t know much but he was able to point out some key landmarks and provide a nice overview of his city. For about an hour, he willingly offered some insights into his life and city and answered all my questions.

This to me typifies why connections are so critical. Is this information available online? Mostly, but having a personal tour guide was much more relevant and engaging. The awareness I now have will no doubt lead me to more interest in his city. Was it the extreme distance between us that made it so engaging? Partly, but also Jeff and I share many of the same beliefs and ideas when it comes to education. We certainly connect on many levels. After reading his blog for over a year, conversation flowed easily. Jeff, what the heck are those blue rectangles north of your school on the coast?

Learning is certainly easier with a friend.

[tags]googleearth,china,connections[/tags]

Picking up from the challenge from Brian, here are a few thoughts on my child’s dream day at school:

• Project based learning would comprise at least half of their day. There would be at least 5 choices of projects that include:
• working with local business or community groups
• cross grade groupings
• off site work
• a final product or presentation
• Physical activity and health related study would be a requirement every day
• Daily reflective journals/blogs publicly accessible
• If there was critical content or process not included in the project, these would be taught as traditional classes
• In addition if there are skills needed in projects these skills can be taught in traditional settings as well
• Everyone has a laptop

This obviously is not complete but as Brian requested, it’s a rough outline. I encourage others to develop a similar post.

On Tuesday, I spoke to some 70 school administrators in our school division on the changing classroom. The idea was to continue to create an awareness of many of the new ways we can do school as a result of the Read/Write web. Will was gracious enough to pop by for a few minutes via Skype and talk about his experience. One question that was asked was, “how do we go about influencing teachers to explore these new technologies and new ways of teaching and learning?” Will’s response was to the begin by reading blogs. Find out what others are saying and doing and then decide how to jump in. (Will you can rephrase if you like)

I remember Alan talking about this over a year ago and wondering if he should be having teachers create blogs during his introductory workshops or have them spend time reading first. I responded at the time saying I didn’t think order was important. I think I was wrong. If learning really is a conversation let’s talk about how we join conversations. It seems to me that more and more people are becoming aware that there is a great conversation happening. They’ve heard about it and are starting to peer into the window.

But like we’ve all been taught, when you want to join a conversation, it’s usually best you listen for a while and find out which conversations you’d like to join. Standing in the corner of the room and just talking usually doesn’t attract much of a crowd although it can get you some strange looks. The problem is the existing conversations are so engaging, most don’t notice if outsiders are trying to start new ones. So the best way for others to join and contribute is to be invited in by others, introduce them to a few people they think they’ll connect with and participate with them.

I’ve done this with a few people somewhat successfully. Thinking ahead to my goals for next year, I know I need to focus more on getting them to listen for a while. If they are adminstrators and school leaders I’ll introduce them to Will, David, Miguel, Wes, Ewan and Tim. I’ll encourage teachers to spend time listening to Clarence, Darren, Cheryl, Bob, Bud, Barbara, Anne, and Konrad.

I know at first it’s always a bit awkward. But there’s more interest in spending time in these conversations. Clarence is talking about doing this with his students. That’s the real important conversation. But if we as educators have never entered into a global conversation, it’s not likely we’ll ever create that opportunity for our students. But as we all know and I told the administrators, kids are already having them so when will we?

Gary Stager is a bit of a disturber. I’ve heard him speak a couple of times and enjoy his irreverant manner. After reading Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat, he writes:

For those of you who have not surrendered $27.50 to Mr. Friedman, allow me summarize The World is Flat. The Indians are going to eat your children. If any remain, the Chinese will kill the rest a few years later.

This reminds me of a conversation I had with Will at FETC. He too echoes this perspective. While it may not exactly be scare tactics, many educators have used Friedman’s work to create a sense of panic and fear.  I certainly value many of the understandings of the book and like Friedman’s NYTimes writing. (until the NYTimes made me pay for it).  Many educators have embraced Friedman so an alternate viewpoint is always appreciated. The balance here seems to between gaining an understanding of our changing world from a business perspective and not completely making direct connections to education.

Like Alfie Kohn, Stager rattles chains. I like that.

Read Stager’s full article here.