Tinkerings

Or so goes the phrase made by the Borg in Star Trek: The Next Generation.  In those episodes (and later the movie featuring the Borg) the Borg was destroying all planets in its wake and absorbing humans into its part-human-part-machine totally networked existence.

Libya’s soon-to-be ex-ruler should be learning this lesson as well.  Although he has shut down protesters’ access to social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter in an attempt to stop, or stall, the revolution, these  young men and women are doing what their generation has always done.  Or should I say what every young generation has always done.  They are circumventing the system and finding new ways to communicate that changes the entire game plan.

According to a news report on NPR this morning, protesters have started using an online dating site to get their message out.  Posting their profile in code, they say things like, “May your day be filled with Jasmine” to indicate that they are part of the Jasmine Revolution.

We cannot fight the use of technology any longer in education.  We must begin to open doors of access where access has been denied.  Our kids have already done this.

Cell phone bans are futile.  Kids have them.  Kids use them.   Website filters are futile.  See the previous statement of futility.

Do we really think saying to our 7 year old daughter, “I don’t ever want to hear you say that word again!” is going to stop her from saying it?  But doesn’t it make us feel powerful to put that restriction in place?  Wouldn’t it make more sense to sit down with our child an explain why that is considered a word that is not acceptable?  That it shouldn’t really be used anywhere because it causes damage?  She may still use it later, but she will be aware of its consequences beyond that of being “caught” saying it in front of her parents.

Oh, if only I had been this wise when my kids lived at home.

Believe me.  Resistance is futile.

I read this blog from Cool Cat Teacher with great interest this morning.  She makes valid points about both the upside and the downside to using an e-reader in school.  I suggest you take a look at (but wait until you’re done here please).

Personally, I think the Kindle is a step in the right direction, but will ultimately turn out to be an expensive step that can be avoided.  I understand why the Kindle would sound so good today.  Amazon just announced that for the first time ever e-books outsold hardcover books on their website.

While there will always be a demand for books, there won’t always be a demand for $100 textbooks that wear out or become obsolete faster than districts can cycle back around to get more.  In fact, with Amazon’s newer lower pricing, the Kindle is not cheaper than most textbooks.

Imagine what it would mean for a student to have all of his or her books in one, small, lightweight, easy to carry e-book reader.  The savings in chiropractic care alone should make parents do the dance of joy!

For me, I’m skipping over the Kindle and other e-book readers for a shot at using an iPad or a future, as-yet-unseen competitor that allows kids to do so much more.

Simply putting text in an electronic format is not the answer.  Putting text, images, videos, games, assessments, word processing, spreadsheets, picture and video editing tools, and more into the hands of kids is the answer.  At least for now.  Who knows what it will look like in 5 years.  Or 10. (View a video of how the iPad works here)

What is the drawback to the iPad in education?  Cost.  And Apple does not have a history of lowering costs just to get into the education market.  Why should they?  People are falling all over themselves to get an iPad, an iPhone 4, a Mac Pro, an iPod, and any other device Steve Jobs and company can think up.

What are your thoughts about the future of textbooks?

In an answer to the age-old problem of “Which came first, the chicken or the egg,” I read this week that scientists have finally decided the chicken had to come first.  The chicken creates some type of protein necessary for the egg shell to harden.  So, they concluded, the egg would not have had this protein without first being inside the chicken.  Wow.  Thanks for that.

A larger question, for me at least, emerged this week at our DEN LC Symposium.  I was leading a group discussion on the power and pitfalls of allowing students the unique privilege of using their cell phones in class.  Our group was sharing best practice ideas of how cell phones could be used to create podcasts, produce videos, snap pictures for assignments, respond to questions using text, view video tutorials hosted at iTunes and much more.  It was a great discussion.

Then one of our many STAR educators hit me upside the head with the reality stick.  Lisa Parisi said something to the effect that it sounded like we had discovered this great tool and we were trying to find creative ways to use it.  Instead, she continued, we should be looking at curriculum and standards and developing lesson plans and only then deciding which piece of technology (if any) would best help us and the students in the learning process.

That was a light-bulb-over-the-head moment for me.

This article from the Washington Post helps demonstrate her point.  It discusses the boom in sales for Interactive Whiteboards such as SMART and Promethean.  Our school just purchased a Promethean board and short throw projectors for every classroom.  The article talks of teachers who are using the product with minimal results.

DISCLAIMER: To be fair, those teachers frustrated with the lack of gains using an IWB seem to be those that are just using them as a glorified way to lecture; a new PowerPoint if you will.  Reading the article you will find few who are actually engaging students with the boards.  But I think Lisa’s point is still valid: design the lesson first and choose the technology second.

Teachers are under pressure now to “use those boards” every day in their classes.  This seems reasonable.  After all, schools just spent tens of thousands of dollars purchasing them, installing them, and training teachers to use them.  But what if it isn’t the best tool for the job?  What if you don’t need technology at all?

I teach in a computer lab.  My kids get hands-on computer experience nearly everyday.  Yet, even in that environment there are days when our kids won’t touch a computer.  We want them in circles talking.  We want them manipulating things together on a table top.  Could I put them in a chat room for the discussion?  Sure!  Will I? Well….it depends.

If the goal of the lesson is to get kids to work collaboratively to discuss a particular aspect of a story, or design a math lesson for their peers, or talk about their summer vacation, then no, they don’t need a computer for that.  If, however, the goal is to demonstrate for them the power of collaboration in a Web 2.0 environment where they learn how to discuss these things together at home outside of class, then yes, a chat room or a Google Doc would be perfect.

We are pushed so hard to earn the title of a 21st Century Classroom.  But whether we like it or not, this is the 21st Century.  Every classroom is now a 21st Century Classroom with or without technology.

So. back to my question.

I have to change my paradigm a bit.  The lesson has to come first.  It contains the “protein” that solidifies the reason to use the technology.  Not just any old technology.  The right technology.  Sometimes that’s a computer. Sometimes a phone. Sometimes an iPod. Sometimes an IWB.  And sometimes it is something just as revolutionary in its day: a pencil, a crayon, or a foldable.

I think I was in shock last night as the school board listened to Christy Critchfield read a recommended policy change for the students of Bradley County Schools regarding the use of cell phones and other personal electronic devices.  So much so, in fact, that I think I may have missed part of the policy actually says.  I have asked for a copy to post here for discussion.

The previous policy (6.312 here) stated that students MAY have cell phones on campus, but they must be turned off and put away.  Other devices like iPods, mp3 players, and CD players were prohibited from being on campus at all.  Cameras of any kind were also forbidden.

Last night, as the policy was read, my mind started reeling at the educational possibilities that were suddenly opening up as the policy change now states (as I understand it at this time) that students MAY use cell phones and other personal electronic devices (namely iPod Touches) for educational purposes as directed by their teacher.  Inappropriate or unauthorized use of these devices will still mean they are confiscated and returned at a later time.  How long is being worked out by the principals across the district in an effort to make the policy uniform from school to school.

Of course, this change has little impact on my classes.  After all, I teach in a computer lab.  The kinds of things kids can do educationally on their cell phones can more easily be done on the computer sitting in front of them.  And yet, it does offer me the opportunity to help train students in responsible use of these devices.

When I posted this vote on FB last night, immediately my “techie” friends started “liking” the post and congratulating the system.  My “not-so-techie” friends were afraid the school board had opened a Pandora’s box that could unleash all kinds of havoc on our classrooms.

How can this help the classroom?  Oh yes, I hear some asking that question already.  Let me list for you just a few:

• Students with smart phones (and there are plenty) can learn to use the web to do research at home when they do not have a PC or other Internet connection available.
• Teacher lessons and videos can be uploaded to iTunes for students to use for study materials.  (Teachers, did you know that the TN Education Office has an iTunes page with professional development opportunities available to you now?)
• Discovery Education has just introduced an iPhone app for Geography that sells for $4.99.  While I am all about free apps, DE is a for-profit company and the app, I’m told, is totally awesome.  Other educational apps are available.  iPhone apps are not all about bumping, beer guzzling, and announcing your every move on 4Square.
• Students can participate in real-time polls throughout a lesson in order to demonstrate that they are paying attention and getting the material.  It operates much like voting for their favorite American Idol.  We will have to teach teachers how to do it, but we can get some kids to do that.
• Teachers can now establish Twitter accounts for classrooms where the tweets are used for study and review or discussion of novels and more.

I could go on and on, but I don’t mean to minimize the down side here either.  Here are just a few that I have already considered in the past 12 hours or so:

• The Internet capacity on smartphones comes without filters.  Facebook, YouTube, and other sites presently blocked by the state of TN are now fair game in the classroom.  For those teachers who feel filters are the greatest thing since sliced bread, using cellphones in class for educational purposes might put you at some amount of discomfort.  But hey, that’s why its called teaching.
• Greater vigilance will be required of teachers now than before.  Before this policy, a student with a cell phone out was automatically busted.  Now, teachers will need to monitor usage to make sure students are really on task.  Much like making sure those notes they are writing are the ones they should study and not the ones being passed to a girlfriend or boyfriend.
• Teachers need to be trained on the policy and how to use it without abuse.  If guidelines are put in place for students, every teacher must respect those guidelines and enforce them to make believers out of students.  You can’t have one teacher saying, “Johnny, your phone is only for answering this questions and then you put it back on your desk,” and another teacher saying, “Johnny, if you want to send out a couple of text messages while you have your phone out, its ok.”  That’s just like family where little Johnny plays mommy against daddy to get what little Johnny wants.

These are just a few thoughts I have.  Do I believe every teacher is going to start creating lessons that require the use of a cell phone in class?  No.  Most classrooms won’t look any different than any other, except now perhaps teachers will ask students to lay their cell phones on their desks in plain view while class is going on.  That in itself would stop a lot of the inappropriate use students do now when they text from under the desk.

Until I see the new policy, I am not sure what it does for the use of cameras on campus.  Like other uses of phones, cameras and video cameras can be a positive educational experience or a teacher’s worst nightmare.

In the meantime, what do you think of the new policy and its possibilities?  Are you in favor or against the policy?  What other educational benefits have you seen or done with cell phones in the classroom?  Please leave your comments below.

Today, I was shocked to read a story about a middle school principal in New Jersey that had sent a request home to parents to close their children’s accounts on Facebook and MySpace.  In fact, he was just full of “great advice” for parents regarding technology:

• Close any social networking accounts
• Install spy software on the computer to track all kids’ activities
• Check their text messages online every week
• 90% of homework does not require a computer
• Confiscate all electronic equipment each night
• There is absolutely no reason for a child to have a social networking site account (this is repeated several times)

And yet, he insists the school is going to teach children responsible use of technology.  C’mon.

I would agree that perhaps some children should not be on social networking sites.  Some children should have their text messages monitored.  Some should have every move they make watched closely online.  Yet, the reality is that we cannot stop these children from joining and participating in social network sites unless we have them under the watchful eyes of a parent 24/7.  It is impossible.

Children are able to access accounts through their iPod Touches, through their cell phones, or through computers at their friends’ houses.  You cannot stop the wave.  You can, however, guide it.

Mr. Orsini does make one valid point.  Parents should educate themselves and their children on Internet safety.  This might include keeping computers in a central location in the house (not a child’s bedroom where doors are closed and locked), exploring Internet safety sites, or talking to kids about common sense rules for Internet use.

Recently, I took an unscientific poll of the kids in my classes.  80% of the students I have this semester (about 135) have a Facebook or MySpace account.  Nearly 20% have their own computer safely locked away in their bedroom.  70% have Internet access at home.  55% update their Facebook or MySpace account while they are at school using their cell phone.  10% have a Twitter account.  90% of those with social network site accounts have friended someone they’ve never met without checking other friends first.

There are some unsafe practices in those statistics.  Schools should take the responsibility to educate children (and possibly parents) concerning Internet safety.   But closing out one account you know about will only lead to children opening another account you don’t know about.  I would much rather work with kids on things I know about than to clamp down so hard they decide to create things I don’t know about.

Mr. Orsini, I know your heart is in the right place, but your ideas simply demonstrate your own lack of knowledge about technology.

What do you think?

Yesterday, Steve Jobs announced the newest product in the burgeoning Apple line up: the iPad.  News of this announcement has been leaking to the press for some time, and people like me have been expecting to see the Apple version of a Tablet PC.  What we got was something totally different.  And for education, it is the next level of student engagement.

I have been watching the announcement on Apple’s website a day later to “see” what I could only hear during the live event.  The iPad is not necessarily a computer in the way we think of one.  But it is a great interactive tool.  Jobs seemed a little unsure of himself at times, and the crowd wasn’t as spontaneously exuberant as they have been over the iPod or the iPhone.  Maybe that’s because everytime Jobs said “amazing” or “beautiful” or “fantastic” we all can now hear his brain going “Cha-Ching!”  After all, for Apple every tool they make is about adding money to the bottom line.  But as an educator, I was watching for particular classroom applications, and it did not disappoint.

Around the 50 to 52 minute mark in the presentation, Jobs demonstrated their newest collection called iBooks.  Apple is going to try to do with books what they’ve already done with music: turn the world upside down.  While Google is trying to digitize every book in the world into flat, readable PDF files, and Amazon is trying to sell a hardware device that only reads books called the Kindle, Apple has unleashed the power of totally interactivity.  And that’s what people want.

I’ve already blogged about this previously, but thought it was more a “pie-in-the-sky” wish list based on current hardware available to schools.  Online textbooks will eventually revolutionize education and student engagement.  No, not the kind that takes the current text and simply digitizes it for easy of use.  No, I’m talking about an iBook.  Textbooks that embed in them videos, podcasts, pictures, websites, field trips, interviews, music, and more.

And what if these textbooks enabled kids to create their own blogs? Allowed them to write to an authentic audience?  Allowed them to take pictures and create videos of their own?

And what if schools could use textbooks like Wikipedia and add their own content?  Their own videos?  Their own local flavor?

Enter the iPad.

The basic, stripped down version of the iPad starts at $499.  Imagine slipping one of those into the backpacks of every 3rd grader in the nation at the beginning of next year.  And then, every year after that, a new generation of 3rd graders gets one while the others get to keep theirs.  Upgrade them in 6th grade and 9th grade.  Suddenly, kids have a tool they want to use in the classroom.  They have a tool that is theirs.

And that, my friends, makes this education thing a whole new ballgame.

Today I spent about 15 minutes of each class period teaching a mini-lesson on essay writing live over the Internet on our TN DEN Leadership Council’s Livestream page.  I have to admit, it was sort of fun.  One of our regular teachers was out, so the idea was to help teach her class for the day and then let kids work on editing their essays.  As it turned out, I had several visitors from around the country, and the other two lab classes also tuned in at least one period on their own.

The technology worked great.  Livestream is a great site to do this sort of work.  I was using my Macbook Pro, but added a Logitech Pro 9000 webcam to the mix to get a little better video stream.  The audio was clear, and the other classes could still see the pages I was using in my Promethean flip chart.

The difficulties came in being online a couple of minutes before the lesson actually started.  In the embedded video below, the actual lesson starts 2 minutes into the video, so just go ahead and fast forward there if you choose to watch it.  We also had a small problem when the office came over the intercom and asked for a student by name.  The announcement was to tell that student to be a car rider.  Obviously, I didn’t really want that information going out over the Internet.  I wasn’t able to stop it on the live feed, but did delete that clip from the library.  Finally, we had the wonderful experience of having a fire drill in the middle of one lesson.  Oh yeah.  It was fun.

You can see the lesson below.  As I mentioned earlier, fast forward to 2 minutes in and you’ll see where we are starting.  And if you dropped by today….thanks!

The other day I got this in an email from Education Week.  A digital, online magazine sent me a digital subscription request but offered me two small printed maps as a “thank you.”  You would think they would be savvy enough to do something digital to use in the classroom.  Wall maps are so last semester.  I mean, come on.  Get real.