Boredom in class is dangerous!
Getting out of the daily grind of routines and activities in our classrooms is hard. Really hard! As teachers we find our lessons falling into patterns that are both comfortable and predictable.
And for our students, predictable can often be viewed as another word: boring.
Read more about John Hattie's research.
Without getting too heavy into research, let's just say that "boredom" has a seriously negative impact on learning. According to John Hattie's research in his study Visible Learning, which focuses on a wide range of educational studies and the impact that varying factors have on student achievement, boredom is not just problematic -- it's academic poison. With an effect size of -0.49, boredom is more damaging to student learning than lack of sleep, low socio-economic status, corporal punishment, and depression.
Boredom is dangerous. Worry when you see boredom in your classroom. Be additionally concerned if you are feeling bored with your teaching (because teacher efficacy, or believing in your own ability to make an impact on learners, is the MOST impactful thing you do).
If that's you, it's time to act!
In my time as an instructional/technology coach, I have been developing coaching relationships with teachers across my district. My goal isto help these teachers find ways to meaningfully integrate technology so they could move beyond substitutive uses of technology (doing what they have always done, but simply doing it with technology). The work has been nothing short of inspiring as we have watched transformation over time in these classrooms. Technology allows for so much opportunity in your classroom. And the reality is that technology can be learned by just about anybody. If you are a classroom teacher interested in stepping beyond the routines you live in today, but you feel that you do not have the technical chops to learn the technology, I promise, you are not beyond hope. You can learn this. You need an encouraging, patient coach in your corner, a fast finger on the YouTube play/pause button, and a focus on finding ways to engage your students. You will be amazed by the payoffs!
(Interested in the SAMR model? Click here to learn more.)
Presentation: Assistive Technology and Purposeful Use of iPads
Today Patty Hovel, the Related Services Coordinator in our school district, and I will be co-presenting for the Parents United Consortium of SE Wisconsin. Our presentation will focus on the purposeful use of iPads in schools, the changing landscape in our classroom and the changing roles of our teachers and learners, and the process for determining if an iPad, or any assistive technology, will aid a student in their formalized learning journey.
If you are interested in accessing the presentation resources, they are available here: http://goo.gl/T76dUV
Just wanted to share with everybody. Sounds as if we may have just under 100 people in the audience today, but perhaps this is a topic that interests others in our online community. Patty is incredibly knowledgeable about technology, the process for selecting assistive technology, and the role it can play in the classroom. She is a wonderful resource and I'm excited to be presenting with her today!
You Can't Teach Advanced Use of Technology
In today's world, educators tend to take more than their fair share of abuse from the general public, from lawmakers, and even from parents and students. So, when I get a chance to boast of the talents and dedication of the wonderful teachers that I have an opportunity to work with, I take it.
One thing I have always known about my colleagues in education is that we are among the most resourceful and creative professionals that anyone can imagine. As a profession, we are tasked to do an incredibly important job, often without the budget or resources to do that job with ease (I'm talking about the budget of an individual classroom teacher here). Yet, we almost always find a way to get the job done within the budget we are given. This is just one way we demonstrate how creative and resourceful we are (even though it most often goes unnoticed).
Those two skills, resourcefulness and creativity, are essential tools in all aspects of a teacher's world, including the meaningful incorporation of technology.
Last week I started my first session in a three week session on "Advanced Google Use in the Classroom." The name happened naturally and probably without enough consideration. We have a Beginner's Guide to Using Google course, and we needed to offer the next level of that. The Advanced Google Use course was born.
However, advanced use is an absolute misnomer. I have really thought about this, and I just can't come up with a clear definition or an outline of what Advanced Google Apps use actually is. I can come up with examples of how Google Apps can be used in a more complex way, or for more interesting outcomes, but I just cannot put my finger on what I would teach in a course titled "Advanced Google Use in the Classroom" that would be all that much different than what we are teaching in the beginner's level course.
That is likely a sign of the perfect design of the tool set. Google Apps (like other well designed platforms) is easy to use. The skills learned and used in one tool are often closely related to skills you would use in another tool. That quality is probably at the heart of my argument. Once I've taught somebody the concept of sharing (which is truly a beginner level skill in the world of Google Apps), it applies everywhere. Once I've taught them about the auto-generated URLs of all documents in Drive, that skill wraps neatly into every other tool. The same is true of image manipulation, text editing, and even embedding (perhaps a "slightly" more advanced skill, but even that I question).
However, there is significant difference between the way a "beginning" Google Apps user interacts with the Google tools, and the way a more "advanced" Google user utilizes the tools.
If the skills needed to function both as a beginner and an advanced user are nearly the same (and yes, I get that somebody who knows how to script in Spreadsheets has a far more advanced skill than we would teach beginners...that's about the best example I can come up with of a truly advanced skill), the delineation between these two uses has to exist within something the user brings to the experience.
Pinpointing what that special something is might not be as hard as it seems. There seem to be two key elements that a more advanced user has that a beginning user does not.
1. Platform-wide Thinking Related to Product Design
When a user begins to understand how the platform is built, how the tools are inter-related, and how the tools can interact to create a desired "effect," the user can begin to manipulate the tools in a way that they weren't initially intended or that the beginner may not be able to see as possible.
2. Creativity
Once the platform tools are understood, the user can begin to imagine what could be possible, running mental "experiments" on the way tools will perform together before actually developing the final product. In this way, the use is creatively considering what problem needs to be solved or what need must be met, and then developing a way to resolve that issue or meet that need with the
tool set in front of them.
To be honest, this seems to be the advantage that our young people (our "digital natives") have over adults (the "digital immigrants"). They tend to see the inter-relatedness of these products because they have not experienced a world where design wasn't a consideration in the end user experience. They have an expectation that the tools work together, and as a result, they do not have to put much emphasis on first understanding the platform.
With that said, it seems apparent to me that our emphasis needs to be on teaching our "beginners" not only how the products we teach them to use work, but how they are designed to work together. It also seems to me that if we find products that are not designed to work together, we consider if they are a product that is truly necessary in our environment, and if not necessary, we consider removing the product. As Technology Coaches/Coordinators/Integrators, our systems level knowledge of how tools work together mandates us to help remove the hurdle of poorly designed technology from educational environments for the betterment of all!
Once we help our newest users begin to build an understanding of how tools and platforms work together, I know that we will not have to teach "Advanced Tech Use" courses to teachers. They will begin to apply skills that most teachers have learned, developed, and honed innately -- their resourcefulness and creativity. That's the moment I am most excited to see in the teachers that I work with, because that is the moment when all of the frustration and stress about using technology clears and a moment of realization and clarity takes its place. That's the moment they become "advanced" technology users because its the point where the journey stops being about the technology and re-focuses on teaching and learning!
Taking basic skills and turning them into masterful performances is driven by creativity and resourcefulness.
Social Research Project - Project from a STEM School
One of our favorite things to do is to demonstrate the real work of our staff and students to provide an outlet for student publishing, but also to serve as a model for reflection related to the skills demonstrated and the learning opportunities presented.
In this post, we have some special guest posters for this blog. Special thanks to Mikayla P. and Jayden R., 7th grade students for their work and reflection, and to their teacher, Tina K. for providing the opportunity for students.
Project background from the teacher:
This project is called the Facebook Page Design Brief. Students, paired in groups of two or three, are to choose one of the candidates (president or vice-president) to create a Facebook page for. The page must encompass who they are. This is a project with specific criteria to follow, and a template formula is provided to jump start research and the project framing properly.
See the Students' Submitted Project:
Student Reflection on the Work (in the students' words):
What did you learn? (Social studies, writing, & 21st century skills)
"We learned about the candidates and their lifestyle around politics. The facts we
found about the different candidates were very intriguing. It was interesting to learn that
they do things just like “normal citizens” do in their life. As writers, we learned how to
combine several facts into organized paragraphs and sections of the project. We looked
at several websites, and learned that one resource is not always the best way to go.
Jayden and I made sure to find the most reliable sources and base our information off of
those. As twenty first century students, we learned to problem solve along the way, and
the first idea doesn’t always work out."
What process did you go through as a learner? (21st century skills)
"We went through many steps through our few days of working on this project. The
first step we went through was collaborating among ourselves to come up with initial
ideas on how to put our page together. The next step in our process was to split the
work load up between the two of us. For example, one person found facts for one
section, and the other found pictures for that part of the project. Next, was to actually
find the information. For some facts and information, we found that as researchers,
we had to dig deeper to find information. Most of it wasn’t just on the first link when
we searched on Google. After we found the facts, we jotted main ideas down in our
notes, instead of long sentences. Next, we had to piece all of the information together
to form paragraphs. Instead of just plopping random facts on the project, we wanted to
make sure the sentences flowed easily and the information was organized. Finally, after
organizing the paragraphs on the page, we revised each part of the project. We wanted
to make sure the project looked neat, and not just random pictures and paragraphs
randomly put on the project."
Should school challenge you in this way?
"Both of us think that school should challenge you to dig deeper when displaying
your information. Instead of just writing down notes and answering questions, we think
school should encourage you to display your knowledge in an interesting, fun way. We
know that when we finish a project, we feel proud about our project, and what we did. It
is a fun way to share what you know. Projects also are more intriguing to the audience
instead of just facts."
Some Final Thoughts to Consider:
What should come first: the technology, or the need for it?
I have been kicking this question around in my head lately, but I'm not sure that there is a correct answer. Instead, what I'm really searching for is the logical response that I can buy into and support when I propose ideas or help to make decisions about technology purchases in my district. Understand that what I'm really looking for is a space to flesh out my own thinking in order to find a logical response to a question that requires an answer.
The question is simply this: Does the availability of technology in schools encourage the end users to put the technology to use (if you buy it, they will come), or is the purchase-upon-request model more likely to yield the greatest use of educationally focused tech?
Questions like this feel heavily philosophical, and they aren't often taken seriously by people who have the luxury of pondering the question and then flushing it from their minds. However, the moment my philosophical pondering of this question was faced with the reality of a financial purchasing decision that was influenced by the way I answered it, I found out that sometimes philosophy has palpable implications.
At the core of this question is really the issue of human motivation. Are educators, a collectively resourceful group by both nature and training, likely to utilize the technological tools if we provide access and adequate training (the latter of the two is the key, and often the most heavily overlooked element of any technology purchase)? Is access enough to motivate their curiosity or to spark their internal motivation to explore in the hopes of finding a more efficient or engaging way to teach? Can we "buy and train" our way to more engaging classroom instruction? The "buy it and they will come" model of purchasing educational technology is built upon a foundational belief that teachers will gravitate to and adopt the most effective and efficient educational tools if they are given access and exposure to them. It also leans heavily upon the belief that when hurdles, pitfalls, or perceived limitations are removed, people are more likely to explore, learn, and grow.
Alternatively, we can take the road more commonly traveled (well, I guess that depends where you teach). In this model, teachers make requests for some technological marvel that they believe can support learning in their classroom. The district accommodates and often leaves the teacher (or the small pod of teachers who requested the tech) to their own devices to put the technology to work. While the initial purchase may include some professional development dollars, these teachers are often left to fend for themselves, and to promote the "good word" to their colleagues if the grand experiment succeeds. This model subscribes to the belief that people are requesting due to an already present intrinsic motivation. Relevance is key here; the technology they request is somehow more relevant to their role as a classroom teacher, thus they are more likely to put the purchase to use immediately, appropriately, and for a longer duration of time. Of course, there are obvious procedural limitations placed upon staff members in this model. The "exploration" of the tech that exists is forced to take place outside of the school day (for most teachers), and those who are uninterested in participating in the exploration are far less likely to issue requests for technology.
By now, the downfalls to each should be fairly apparent.
In the open access model of tech purchasing, there is no guarantee of any return on investment. The purchases could become the next hot item at the school. It could also become another one of the dust collectors in the technology graveyard at your school. For this reason, visionary leadership and a sensitive pulse on the curriculum, teaching styles, and attitudes of the staff are essential qualities of the lead person making the purchasing decisions. Obviously, those aren't qualities that are easy standard in most people, especially many of the technologically savvy people that tend to head into the computer science field.
The other major issue with the model is the issue of justifying the funding. Many tech purchases are heavy financial decisions that need to be weighed (often by a panel of board members). Advocating for the purchase of expensive laptops or wireless infrastructure or the latest gadget is a tough sell when the proposal is littered with phrases like "we think," "we hope," and "ideally they will." This kind of blind faith in the sanity and vision of a district's technology leader takes time to develop between the board, the staff, the techies, the families, and the community. Without that kind of trusting relationship, this model of equipping our schools becomes a much tougher financial sell.
Even more apparent are the downfalls of the purchase-upon-request model. The statement, "You don't know what you don't know," has been made to me far too many times this year as I lead professional development sessions (I bristle at the statement; we live in a period where our surplus commodity is accessible information). This comment suggests to me that many educators feel victimized by the pace of change that accompanies the advancement of technology. In a time where cash flow is limited in schools, the logic of these teachers may go something like this: "Even if I'd like to try out that tool I heard about at the conference, the reality is that I don't know enough about it. With all that I'm expected to do to perform my job well, I don't have time to learn a whole lot about it, and I would hate to waste funds to buy something I'm really not sure about. I know I could use those funds to buy something for my classroom that I am sure about." The resulting action is inaction. They fail to make the request for new technology. In this model, there are no anecdotal stories and experiences from colleagues they trust to sell them on the value of an element of technology (and let's be honest...those anecdotal pieces are often the impetus for many of the technology purchases made in school districts; look to the interactive whiteboard craze for evidence of this).
Of course, this leads to the other major issue with this model: pockets of excellence and pockets of despair. Educators who are capable of identifying tech that will assist them or their students in the classroom are likely to be more dynamic teachers to begin with. This assertion stems from this group's general awareness of the technology that actually exists in the first place. That may be a result of their ability to research and sift through information, or their ability to network, connect with, and learn from others, but those educators with these skills are likely to be the ones advocating for themselves and their students regarding the request of technology. Any way we slice it, those submitting requests for technology are likely those who are motivated enough to put the technology to use. The other educators (those unwilling to submit requests for new technology) are not. This results in a greater disparity between the teachers who teach effectively with technology the teachers who avoid technology.
My underlying assumption here is that technology provides something to any learning environment that cannot be achieved without that technology. I understand all of the arguments that can be made suggesting that effective teaching and learning can happen without technology. I understand that meaningful education happens with or without technology. What I also understand, though, is that technology offers opportunities that are not present without the technology. Conversing with (and seeing) a group of students across the country during the regularly scheduled school day didn't regularly happen before Skype existed. Collaborating and collectively crafting presentations, articles, and projects without planning a face-to-face meeting time didn't happen before the days of wikis and learning management systems. For this reason, teachers that request and put technology to use in their classroom create opportunities for their students that other students lack as a result of lacking access to that same technology.
Perhaps the higher ground is to take a diversified approach to the technology purchasing strategy at any school. By maintaining a pulse on the wave of widely adopted/accepted technology, we can make reasonable predications about the technologies that have caught on and the technologies that are still kept at arms length by the general public. For instance, A crystal ball isn't necessary to see the trend in wireless technology. The expectation for most tech users is open access to the Internet. Outfitting our buildings and learning environments with the wireless infrastructure (complete with a guest network) is certainly a justifiable cost with most school boards. Providing a laptop/net book/tablet for each teacher is also one of those increasingly obvious purchases, primarily because the public has generally accepted these technologies as an element of workplace productivity. These are wise "infrastructural" investments because they open up possibilities for experimental adoption/trials of other less accepted technologies.
However, more controversial purchases, such as a 1:1 laptop initiative for each student, perhaps should be reserved, at least at first, to a per request purchase process. That kind of significant financial investment needs to see a legitimate return on investment. That means that teachers with the intrinsic motivation to use that technology regularly should be the ones to trial it first. First impressions matter, and when a school outfits its students with hundreds of iPads or net books, only to have many of them vastly under utilized, it becomes a tough pill for parents, taxpayers, and board members to swallow when the question of continued support of the program rears its head.
Non-negotiables exist in this conversation, though. Regardless of the model that any organization adopts, honesty, trust, and open communication must exist between those who purchase and support the technology, and those who put that technology to use. Tech departments that do not listen to and address the needs of classroom teachers and students invalidate the value of either purchasing model. When end users do not feel adequately supported, they are less likely to take risks in using new technologies. When end users don't feel trusted, they are less likely to form a working relationship with their tech department, thus decreasing the likelihood will engage in the meaningful communication that must exist between the two groups. Until both sides feel that they are working toward the same goals, meaningful experimentation cannot take place.
The last non-negotiable element is having a rock solid, consistently reliable technology infrastructure in place from the beginning. It is the foundation on which any technological advancements take place, so there is simply no room for inconsistent or unreliable performance. I equate this to the infrastructure of roads and bridges. Due to the reliability and consistency of this infrastructure, most Americans can focus on the type of vehicle that suits their personality or lifestyle, not on the type of vehicle that will allow them to travel through the terrain of their daily commute. End users should be able to depend on their tech infrastructure in the same way, allowing them to make decisions based upon goals or purpose, not based upon access or reliability.
I hope this rant has helped you think through the question I posed at the beginning. While a correct answer doesn't exist, a logical rationale in a district's tech purchasing model is an essential starting point.
Evidence of Moore's Law Right Under My Tree
If you don't know what Moore's Law is, it's time to figure it out. I'll save you the extra steps of going to Wikipedia yourself to learn about it...here it is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore%27s_law
Understanding that Moore's Law relates to exponential growth of technology as time advances is one thing. Seeing your own children open Christmas gifts that truly display the effect of Moore's Law on our lives shifts it to a whole different level of importance for me.
I have a three-year-old and a one-year-old. Admittedly, these kids are both already playing with the iPad and both are getting more screen time than I did as a child at their age. They are not going to be technological misfits -- of that I am fairly certain! However, this Christmas I saw them open gifts that seem to be absolute game changers in the way of personal learning. And then to think about the gifts they received last year and to compare them completely demonstrated for me the true impact of exponential change in our lifetime.
Last year my older daughter received a Leap Frog device that had a keyboard and a mouse and software cartridges that plugged in. When it worked properly she learned some basic skills, such as the hand/eye coordination needed to maneuver the mouse, along with participating in some basic shape and color learning activities. It was impressive to see her work and adapt to the technology, but the technology wasn't mind blowing or even surprising. It was what I would have expected it to be.
This year, my younger daughter (only one) got an age-appropriate stuffed toy from Leap Frog, and it is completely knocking my socks off with possibilities. This little pooch plugs in to the computer via USB cable and customizes itself to say her name, play some music of our choosing, and do some other basic customizations. However, it is tied to her name and an email account. Every month, with a reconnect of the USB cable, the dog will upload information to the Leap Frog website, and I (and the grandma that was responsible for the purchase) will be getting an email that tracks what she is doing and learning in her interactions with the plush canine friend. Just think of the possibility of that kind of personalized learning and tracking. Just imagine what next year's toy for two and three-year-old children may be able to do.
My older daughter, now three, received Kinectimals, an interactive game for the Xbox Kinect platform where she interacts with her tiger cub, Atro (don't ask me where that name came from...when your three any sound that comes out of your mouth seems to be a perfectly suitable name for a pet, doll, or digital tiger cub...although I question why her dolly is named panther and her tiger cub is the one named Atro, but again, the logic will fail me every time). What amazed me was that she adapted to the onscreen interactions so quickly and so easily that I felt a bit embarrassed that my own onscreen interaction is so jumpy and unnatural. Only a year before she struggled for some time with the concepts of mouse and keyboard. This year she naturally saw the connection between the movement of her hand (without any additional sensor) to the movement of the onscreen hands that allowed her to interact with a digital creature. I know that developmentally this makes sense (she is far more ready for this kind of interaction at this age), but think about the impact of that kind of exposure at such a young age. I recently watched (with an audience full of adults) a video from Microsoft that demonstrated their vision of how we would work and interact with technology in the future. I know I was moved but questioned the possibility of some of the technologies displayed in the video. However, the reality is that my daughter (and all the other little ones exposed to this kind of technology during their lives) will expect the technology to be seamless and ever-present. My three-year-old is already reaching for my laptop screen and the television screen from time to time and trying to swipe icons or change channels by pressing the screen. Her exposure is minimal, but it is developing an expectation of the way we interact with these devices. It seems that the paradigm paralysis that so many of the adults struggle with in adopting the new technologies (the paralysis that has kept some of the technology at bay due to lack of serious adoption by a large percentage of the population) is also shifting to a period of exponential change as young people not only accept but expect this technology to be a part of their working and educational worlds.
I have long argued that the failure of our educational system to adapt and change to a model that holds relevance to our customers (the students that attend our schools and the parents that expect the best from our schools) places us in a position where one innovation may entirely invalidate the need for a public educational system. For several nights now I've laid in bed and marveled at the concept that my children received gifts that may be one or two generations away from being the tools that make public education entirely irrelevant, primarily because these tools are entirely customizable to the individual and because they can be accessed at any time or any place. These are the things we know our public schools need to do to advance, but it is the paradigm paralysis of the adults that forces us closer and closer to the edge of extinction, while young, innocent children are introduced to the tools that will educate them in the future. It is almost eerie to consider!
Hopefully some key players in education also had a similar experience this holiday season and are starting to see the writing on the wall. Perhaps we'll come back to 2011 invigorated and motivated to actually do something about making our educational system once again relevant.
Adopting educational technology: The journey to full integration
What I love most about my professional learning network (PLN) is the continuous opportunities it has provided me for reflection on my professional practice. It never fails to inspire me when I'm in a funk, teach me something new when I least expect it, or provide insight that I would not have come to on my own. My PLN has been particularly helpful lately as I've experienced incredible frustration with the sluggish pace of educational reform.
Recently while fumbling between an Ed Tech Talk podcast, reviewing some of the recent Tweets I missed, and I was thinking about comments I heard a recent tech committee meeting at our school. I was specifically stuck on a comment made by one person that suggested that the district needed to provide both quality educational experiences and experiences utilizing technology. The suggestion that the two could not work in tandem reminded me that everyone at the table was at a very different place regarding their conceptual understanding of the role technology could play in changing the way we teach students.
Through the combination of it all I was reminded of just how much I've grown in my understanding of the ways that technology can transform and enhance educational delivery and instructional practice for educators willing to embrace it. It wasn't really so long ago when I was the one scoffing at some of the very same ideas I now promote in these meetings. I, too, probably wondered how we could find enough time in the day to teach all of the regular curriculum and then add new "technology specific skills" to the list. The epiphany that technology can alter what education looks like probably never struck me when I was just beginning to grasp the concepts I fully accept now. That is a realization one has to come to as we allow these concepts to roll around for a while.
This strikes me as an important revelation to hold on to when I experience the frustration that comes with trying to move the juggernaut of education at anything faster than a snail's pace.
While seeing can be believing within the world of educational technology (and thus doing is adopting???), there is no substitute for the time needed to allow the innovative ideas of this movement/pedagogy/practice to really take hold and transform the thoughts/beliefs/practices of those on the journey to adoption and integration of instructional technology principles. Those of us that have made a habit of drinking the koolaid have to remember that. Most of us needed that time to adjust as well. It just happened that so many of us, as early adopters, were so far ahead of the wave that there was no pressure to adopt these ideas overnight. Too often I find myself wanting to push the masses of educators just arriving to these concepts in a direction that they are not mentally prepared to accept. I feel like that little kid who has been in the cave hundreds of times; now I just need my friends to trust me enough to follow me blindly into the darkness. Fortunately, these professionals value their students and their profession enough to step cautiously when entering the darkness. They are not going to follow blindly. The result: I'm left to search for new and better ways to urge these educators along on the path to adoption and integration of educational technology more quickly than I came to the same full acceptance I want them to achieve.
One of the best ways that I can think of to help them achieve this growth and adoption more quickly is to take full advantage of something I was skeptical of during my journey: developing a high quality PLN. For me my Twitter, Teachers 2.0, podcast, and personal networks serve as an ongoing source of ideas that help me to uncover new ideas, explore new terrain, and reflect on my practice.(you see, of course, the circular reasoning of this post...I end in the same place that I started). My PLN serves as the ongoing backdrop of professional conversations that keep me focused on the areas of interest to me. If I had the benefit of these conversations earlier in my educational technology adoption journey, perhaps I would have started to accept these ideas/practices more quickly.
Therefore, I'm going to begin suggesting to those that I would like to see move along more quickly in their instructional technology adoption that they form a network of influential thinkers that may help keep them focused on the task at hand: using technology to transform education. Of course, this suggesting will best be served with a side of mentoring as to how to actually achieve this(do you remember how hard it was to start developing a high quality PLN?). By the way, this is a heck of a way to start gaining even more followers and growing my virtual ego to an even greater extent.