CDNIS @ EARCOS by John D’Arcy
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Presentation by Blair Peterson and David Sinclair at EARCOS: Leadership and 1:1 Laptop Initiatives Prezi
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What Do You Want Students To Do?
Yesterday in our cohort reflecting session we talked a lot about 1:1 programs. Everyone trying to figure out what works, what doesn’t, where to start, and the questions go on and on.
I do think we can learn from each other as schools continue to strive to use technology at a true learning tool in the classroom. But, I do think we need to remember that especially in the international world….every school is different and every school will have to “Just Do It” at some point.
There are some questions that I think schools can be asking as they move forward. The key, in my opinion is to ask yourself questions that focus on students and student learning.
1. What do we expect students to do?
Don’t start your discussions with PC or Mac start them with what are the ways you see students interacting with the technology. Do you want them creating videos, podcasts, etc? Or are you more concerned with them having access to the Internet and being able to type…..or all of the above.
By taking time as a school to think about what experiences you expect students to have with the technology will lead you to the hardware that is best for your school.
2. What are Teacher expectations?
Have a discussion around how you expect teachers to use the technology in the classroom. Do you expect it to replace textbooks, enhance textbooks, or are you focused on completely new experiences interacting with content in ways that were not possible before every student had a laptop.
Taking time to discuss what as a school you expect from your teachers will help to plan PD sessions and focus on where teachers will be supported.
These are just two questions that I believe will help a school start the discussions around 1:1….but at the end of the day we can discuss, plan, and discuss some more about implementing a 1:1, but at some point you just have to do it!
Thoughts?
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Unpacking the ISTE’s NETS for Administrators by Blair Peterson
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Challenge-Based Learning Report from New Media Consortium
Click on Graphic to go to PDF.
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Twitter a Tweet
OK…so this is interesting and thought I’d share:
First if you don’t know what Twitter is or are just baffled about it watch this short video:
Now that we got that out of the way. Let’s see how it’s being used at this conference. There’s about 9 people here at the conference who are twittering their thoughts, their learning, and their ideas out to the web. There are people out there, like the IT Director at Yokohama International School, Brian Lockwood. Brian was able to “attend” a conference session today by following the tweets from people in a session. He even was able to capture the stream of thought and posted it to his blog. Now you too can go and relive that session. Click here for a view.
If you want to see what’s being talked about on Twitter about this conference at any given time you can follow the tweets of those here at the conference and those responding virtually by looking at the tag #eac09. By putting word or tag within your tweet you make your tweet finable by others who are talking about the same topic….in this case….this conference.
You can follow all of the conversation here: #EAC09 Search Results
During the keynote tomorrow I encourage you to check in here and see what you think. You don’t need a Twitter account to follow the information….so it’s an easy way to just watch and learn now it’s used.
Also for the Keynote tomorrow we’ll be using Chat Room A as a “Back Channel Chat” or place to talk and discussion the presentation as it’s happenings. I hope you pop in there as well to see how that conversation is going.
Again…..just trying to give you different ways to engage in the conference and experience ways of learning with the web.
Categories: Thoughts | Tags: Back Channel Chat, Twitter | No Comments »
Reflecting on Day 1
“I’m so glad we’re talking about education”
At least three people told me this today….and go figure at an educational conference we talk education. 
During the IT Directors Job-A-Like we talked tools…which is where that conversation belongs. But in the sessions we need to be focused on education, on student learning and on creating cultures of innovation and creativity.
Is a culture of innovation and creativity something that we treasure within our classrooms? If it is, how do we foster it and not crush it within our classrooms?
I strongly feel technology plays a large role in helping to foster creativity. What a computer, the Internet, and all the software allows us to do is create. Whether it be a book, a video, or a song. Technology allows us to be creative and innovative.
Somewhere along the line we have lost our way with technology. We stopped at a place where it replaced things we were doing. We use to hold meeting to cover nuts and bolts issues. Now we use e-mail. We use to have students write pages and pages of essays, now they type them in easy to read font. When the Internet came along we saw its use in schools as a research tool. As a way to tap into the wealth of information found there. But as the second revolution of the web is upon us (Web 2.0) are we taking advantage of the new tools or are we still stuck in old ways of thinking?
Let’s take YouTube for example. We continually debate whether or not the content there is valuable instead of thinking about the site as a way to create and share videos, which was it’s original intent (and still is!).
We continually debate Wikipedia and the content found there instead of thinking about it as a place to create, edit, share, and engage in conversation around a given topic.
“We knew that the community would trumps content”
A great quote from one of the founders of the Internet as he and a team of really smart people created the connections that we all use back in 1969. What those connections do is allow us to communicate and create communities. They allow us to create and share content, to the point that it has revolutionized the world we lived in, and created a global economy.
This is where the deeper learning lies with technology. Not simply to replace old tasks with new ones but to create whole new tasks. To create learning communities that we could not do before, and to communicate in ways that lead to deeper understanding. What it allows is whole new schools. Whole new ways of thinking about teaching and learning. Ways in which are uncomfortable, for those of use that grew up in a system we know and love. A system that worked for us, and therefore it must work for our students as well. The world has changed, we see it on a daily basis. Right down to how we all ended up here from all over Asia at this conference. Our world is changing……are we?
Categories: Thoughts | Tags: creativity, technology, web 2.0 | No Comments »
Social “intra”networking
The topic of failed R&D projects in today’s IT job-alike got me thinking. First, I thought it was a great idea to share experiments that didn’t work and reflect on why. I found the mention of unsuccessful internal social networking efforts especially interesting as I have been pondering whether to test an internal Drupal system to facilitate collaboration among and between faculty/staff/students.
Then I remembered something I read on the blog StopBlocking that suggested a connection between better business results and effective use of Web 2.0 tools.
Research by The Aberdeen Group (a Talent Mgt organization) links the use of Web 2.0 to higher levels of engagement and better company performance. The linkage doesn’t prove that Web 2.0 was directly responsible for producing these results, however. The fact that “best-in-class” organizations are more likely to use blogs, wikis, and social networking tools than other companies could just mean that best-in-class organizations are generally more inclined to trust employees and adopt new tools they can use to collaborate and share knowledge and information.
Of course Web 2.0 refers to more than social networking, but a couple of other sites (from Information Age and ComputerWorld ) that I read around the same time referred specifically to the successful internal social networking implementations at IBM and BestBuy.
As the proliferation of email at our schools puts a strain on the value of the messages we receive, I wonder if an internal social network could provide an improved and more natural approach to communication. Since social networking harnesses the power of personal identity and relationships, and enables flexible interaction around shared interests/projects, it seems like a good fit for the school environment. I wonder if there are any schools that have implemented an effective internal social network.
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Blogging your Thoughts
I’ve added everyone’s name to the blog as an Author. You can now log in and blog your thoughts about sessions.
1. Click on Sign In on the left hand side.
2. Sign in with your name (no spaces) and password
3. Click on Post – Add New
4. When finished click the blue Publish button on the right hand side.
Categories: EAC09 | Tags: Blogging | No Comments »
Getting on the Treadmill
When is it ever the “best time” to get going on a 1:1 program at your school? Nashworld blog article mentions the “filter of your current position” and this is a very interesting aspect – we all have different agendas at play (Bambi Betts once mentioned that schools are less about learning and more about negotiating everyone’s agenda!). For me as the head of school, I have to balance the need to move forward with 21st century learning models and program elements, with the short and long-term health of the school (master campus development, long(er!) range financial planner, development …
The educator in me burns to move forward, while the “practical” lens if mostly from my administrator’s hat. Anyone else out there with this conflict?
Categories: Thoughts | Tags: | 2 Comments »
