Is it okay to be technically illiterate?

Are you literate with the language in the image? Do you need to know what it says?

I sort of get the same feeling today about technology. It's acceptable to say "I don't really get computers"

If a teacher today is not technologically literate - and is unwilling to make the effort to learn more - it's equivalent to a teacher 30 years ago who didn't know how to read and write.

Quoted from Karl Fischís FischBowl Blog
http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2007/09/is-it-okay-to-be-technologically.html

Do we accept teachers not being able to read and write? It is not acceptable in society.

Is it acceptable to be technologically illiterate in todayís society?

A favourite story that I share from a previous principal relates to my work with a fantastic primary math teacher. This teacher was incredible teaching math. Students were engaged, exploring ideas, and learning beyond most other primary math classes. In sharing with said principal, I said, "I think it is OK for this teacher to not integrate technology into her lessons. She is already a fantastic teacher that is doing amazing work and students are learning."

His response was priceless. "Think of how much more her students could learn if she was able to incorporate technology as well."

That has continued to challenge me over the past 5 years. I look at situations with different glasses. I do ask the question as to what the value added parts of integrating technology really are. There are some activities that donít add value but these activities should be planned to scaffold the ones that will take the learning that much further.

While we donít need to be exceptional readers to teach students the basics of reading or the joy and love of reading, teachers do need to have the basics of Information and Media Literacy to meet the BC Ministry of Education Prescribed Learning Outcomes.

The Value of the term "Digital Native"

"I'm sorry, but I don't go for all this digital natives and immigrants stuff when it comes to this: I don't know anything about the internal combustion engine, but I know it's pretty dangerous to wander about on the road, so I've learnt to handle myself safely when I need to get from one side of the road to the other.

The phrase may have been useful to start with, but it's been over-used for a long time now. In any case, after immigrants have been in a country for a while, they become natives. We've had personal computers for 30 years, and I was using computers in my teaching back in 1975. How long does it take for someone to wake up to the fact that technology is part of life, not an add-on?
Quoted from Karl Fischís Blog on
http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2007/09/is-it-okay-to-be-technologically.html

I understand the push to have digital immigrants learn and speak as a digital native. I think the value of the terms remain in needing digital immigrants to be willing or want to learn to speak "digital."

I like the analogy of knowing how to behave safely even if you don't understand the internal workings. †As adults and especially as parents we need to know to behave safely ourselves and how to teach others to behave safely.

A personal pet peeve is watching parents of young children either drag or push in a stroller their children across streets while not at an intersection. The habits we teach from our modeling impact children.

I argue that while digital immigrants can learn the language they may always have differences between digital natives, but those differences (or accents) do not need to stop communication or learning.

Kevin

Gaming

I had the privilege of listening to Suzanne de Castell today. She has done a lot of work with gaming and learning. Currently working on several projects including one with York U.

She encouraged us that we need to learn to make curriculum but not jam the text and content into new boxes. We need to not just buy someone else's work. Years ago teachers created curriculum. With the powerful tools now available, educators can be creators of games and interactivity with students.

An interesting comment was that gaming should not be for motivation. It is a misuse of students, learning, games and motivation. Gaming is an interactive tool that people can learn. New technologies such as a GPS utilize the gaming display technology.

It is amazing that in our session with several hundred teachers. When asked how many play games, it looked like less than half. Suzanne raised the question about a culture gap between students and teachers.

Where do you fit? †Do we understand the games that children play and the influence on their lives?

I believe gaming has a place in education; however, the filter for that belief is how gaming impacts their learning. I am dead against drill and kill types of games. Problem Solving, Interactive, Collaborative, Community Building, Critical Thinking - These are the marks of good games for education.

Pushing Writing Literacy

Writing Literacy
Following the post on
http://weblogg-ed.com/2007/pushing-writing-literacy/

I realized that the ways I write today are very different from 10 years ago.
I write this blog, I maintained a weekly podcast for a year, create presentations and I still create newsletters as well.

The newest edition to my repetoire is posting to wikis. I have contributed to Wikipedia and maintain 3 other wikis on wikispaces.com.

Will Richardson is an inspiration to quote and follow up with.

"Makes me wonder, with all of the different ways in which I write, all of the different audiences I write for, all of the different ways I attempt to communicate and engage in conversations and connections around my ideas, it makes me wonder whether we'll ever see these many modes of writing as important enough to teach our kids."

I couldn't agree more. I do see some teachers valuing multiple modes of writing, but they are seen as leading edge or special. Shouldn't preparing our students to be literate be common practice?

Networking

Quoting Steve Dembo (Teach 42)
http://www.teach42.com/2007/10/18/building-out-the-choir/

[I] now believe that the most important thing you could teach a newbie would be how to build out their network. How to connect with other teachers and resources that will push their boundaries. And most importantly, how to support themselves when they stumble.
http://edtechlife.com/ Mark Wagner pitched a variation on this theme to http://center.uoregon.edu/ISTE/NECC2007/

NECC, and I hope they take him up on it. Regardless, I love the title he used. "Learning to network, networking to learn." Catchy, eh?

Falls right in line with that old phrase " Give a man to fish, he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, he'll eat for a lifetime. Connect him to networks of hunters, and AllRecipes.com and he'll be able to eat a tasty fillet of tilapia with mushroom risotto and spring vegetables with lemongrass today. And tomorrow, maybe he'll start off with some smoked salmon and capers before moving on to."


The image above is from a network diagram that I created looking at how my network has changed in just the last 3 years. It is amazing how my life has changed with facebook, delicious, other online communities.
A recent story was shared with me about a student posting an essay frame to Wikipedia. Three days later the story was written. I asked a group of teachers how they would respond:
-Well, divide the mark by the number of contributors...
-No accept it as they didn't write it...
-Make sure that they quoted their sources

I look at it in a different way. Kudos to the student for being able to get the job done. This student knew how to work collaboratively, to draw on his network, and work in a timely fashion. Providing the essay was done well, they would have full marks in my books. I am not the creator of all information that I share. Why would I expect students to have to be the creator of all of their information?

Perhaps the assignment could even be tweaked to have the whole class work collaboratively to write either individual essays or create a content resource - such as a WIKI !.
Kevin

CUEBC Conference - Reaching one at a time

At the CUEBC conference hosted in Maple Ridge BC, I had the pleasure of having a conversation with Will relating to how to meet the needs of educators. It was a refreshing and hones conversation.

At one point, the question came up as to whether to spend purchase laptops for students or for teachers. The answer was to focus on the teachers. Thirty teachers that have a laptop to integrate into their personal and professional lives will change teaching far more than a class of students.

I found this fascinating and started thinking about it. We recently did a project with providing 10 laptops to 7 schools. We were looking at how that improved student learning and in particular writing. As positive as the results were, I now wonder how different it would have been to provide laptops to even 10 teachers in each of the schools (or 3 schools with 20 teachers) Instead of impacting 14 teachers practice and 350 students each year, our impact could have been 70 teachers and 1750 students.

As we drove deeper into conversation, I realized how much more valuable working with the teachers and building their capacity was. We can change the way we think and teach in the classroom that prepares students for what they can do at home. 1400 more students can take what they see modeled in the classroom and apply it at home.

It is fair to say that some schools do not have the same access at home for their students; however, most schools still have at least a computer lab and a classroom computer. (Not ideal but better than no access at all.)

Once the teaching has been empowered, there will be a better readiness for 1 to 1 laptop initiatives in the school. Currently our district would need to invest 5 million per year into just the hardware to impact 1 grade level. Instead, an investment of 200 000 would provide all of the teachers in a grade with a laptop. (Again not ideal, but with an impact of 5000 students)

A conversation with Will stretches your own understandings. The next thought that I had was that a laptop is not enough. To integrate effectively you also need a projector to share and demonstrate with students. That would involve a projector. Double the investment and we have a projector provided as well. I think for year one of the project that would be an amazing goal to have them integrating technology and impacting the learning of 5000 students in easily imaginable ways.

The next step that I can see is to provide SMART boards the following year. Maybe not all teachers will want them, but I would hazard after 1 year of being immersed with technology, most teachers would be ready for the next leap.

Is an investment of $3000 per teacher worth investment in student lives. (Assuming a life of 4 years on each of the 3 items, this boils down to $3000 / 4 years / 100 students or $7.50 per student.

As a parent, I would very happily pay $7.50 for my childrenís teacher to have access to tools that will prepare them not for yesterday but for thinking in the world they will be living in.

The Power of YouTube

I just read a very interesting article from the Washington Post Online.com http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/18/AR2007071802528.html?hpid=topnews


CNN and YouTube are sponsoring the next presidential debate. As part of the debate, they have requested questions submitted in 30 second video clips. They had more than 1479 submissions. Twenty-four were selected to be aired during the debate and to have the hopefuls respond to it. This is a very high profile option. Instead of letter writing as the communication method to participate in the debate, the ability to record and upload a 30 second video is the level of literacy required. (If you were living in the US, )

Are you literate enough to participate in this debate?

Are you literate enough to use youtube to educate yourself on what the canditates have said?

http://youtube.com/youchoose Are you literate enough to call candidates on their beliefs and statements with direct access to their statements on youtube? Being literate has shifted. Paper and Pencil have their place, but so do other communication technologies.

How information and media literate must teachers be?

"...teachers must learn what these technologies are and can do, and understand them, but without necessarily becoming proficient in their use." Marc Presnky 2007

Marc Prensky (2007) raises the important point in the sidebar. As teachers, we do not need to be proficient in all the emerging technologies. We are responsible to know about the technologies and how they can be used in teaching and learning.

His second point is, "But what all teachers should learn to do comfortably, though, are those things we can do without "looking stupid". This (we certainly hope!) is to evaluate their students' uses of the new technologies, and teach our students the important lessons about those technologies. Teachers can and should be able to understand and teach where and how new technologies can add value in learning."

Instead of trying to be experts in everything, we should focus on teaching and learning. The key is that we are looking at how the new technologies can add value to what we do already. I recently read that the power of technology is doubling each year. This means that there will continue to be an explosion of new technologies.

I do not expect teachers to know every new technology; however, I do expect teachers to become experts at finding the best tools for learning. This can be done in concert with students. We can make learning relevant by including students in the process. Students don't have to just receive what we tell them. We can empower students to be leaders in our classroom and school. Should we respond in fear and block or ban new technologies, or empower students with a statement such as, "If you can show me the educational value of this new technology then you or we can use it."

This creates an environment of relevance.

If we block and ban, we create an environment of irrelevance.

Teachers that fear and don't understand a technology demonstrate not understanding the importance of new technology to this generation. That sends a clear message that learning in that classroom is irrelevant. In the end, teachers do not need to be proficient at all things technology. They do need to have an understanding and acceptance that technology has the power to add value to learning experiences. That understanding should stretch into classroom teaching allowing students to learn with the powerful tools available to them. http://partners.becta.org.uk/page_documents/research/emerging_technologies07_chapter4.pdf

Data Literacy

When looking at literacy, the tide is changing to understand text as oral, visual, and written language forms that we interact and construct meaning from. (Adapted from the new English Language Arts 8 - 12 IRP)

Does this include being data literate? I believe so.

Last year I heard a student that had been using computers in school for 6 years and not used a spreadsheet. I find this just amazing. I use spreadsheets and other data tools daily. The spreadsheet is not the solution to all data learning, but it is a broad tool for data literacy. Understanding relationships between data, calculating, summarizing, organizing, searching, sorting, are all concepts teachable through spreadsheets.

An extension and even more powerful tool are databases. Many schools have access to online databases.
Here is an example:http://www.sdst.org/shs/library/catalogs.html

I realize there is too many things to learn everything; however, we are responsible to prepare to be self-directed learners. If we donít provide students a foundation of data literacy, how will they be able to be self-directed learners later. I can only imagine trying to learn what I know about spreadsheets and databases from scratch. It would turn me off and I would see a different solution.

An example for me recently is that I was learning InspireData a new product from Inspiration.com. †This software tool is a student friendly spreadsheet, database and survey tool. †Trying to learn this without background knowledge would have been difficult for me. †I was able to learn the software in short order and make it do what I wanted it to do. †
†
I was able to be self-directed because I have a firm foundation. †I would not have stuck with it to create the surveys I needed trying to learn all of it new.
†

Aggregator as textbook??

I can always count on Will Richardson to invoke thought. (btw, he is presenting at the CUEBC.CA conference October 19,2007 in Maple Ridge, BC)

This blog entry,http://weblogg-ed.com/2007/aggregator-as-textbook/ provides some thought about integrating RSS and aggregators.

I guess my answer to the question is solved by asking a few other questions.
1. What do I really want to learn - facts or ideas?
2. Will the information be valuable - to me, to students, in 1 day, 1 year, 10 years?

RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication. The Aggregator brings news and blog entries to one aggregated spot for me to view. I set the preferences as to how often it checks and the entries that are brought to me.

Using any RSS aggregator, we can have students choose information that is valuable to the class and to their learning. After a course, a textbook will sit on a shelf (or ...)

Learning how to learn by managing incoming content is †an essential skill for literate citizens of today.

I was using Safari and its bookmark bar to manage my RSS feeds. I did find it quite useful. I am now using Google Reader to manage them so that I can access my feeds from any computer. I would like to have time to read by feeds daily; however, I go to them when I have time or am looking for one of my interests.

The Value of Wikipedia???

Can Wikipedia be used for research?

Reading Will Richardsonís blog entry from August 16, 2007 on "Discussions on Wikipedia," I felt I just had to add my comments. †His conclusion to the post read, "More reason why I still think Wikipedia is one of the most important sites on the Web right now for educators to fully get their brains around."

I encourage you to read the article. I have had several discussions why Wikipedia is or is not acceptable for research. †My bias is that it is acceptable. I have read some of the evaluations of Wikipedia comparing it to other encyclopedias and they both have errors.

The value of Wikipedia multi-fold.
1. It has more current information than any print or CD based encyclopedia can possibly compete with.
2. It clearly states when articles are in refute or without references
3. It challenges the reader to evaluate the information and possibly improve it.
4. It encourages critical questioning of information. Read more of Will's blog post to see the discussion that articles create can be more important than the article.

While Wikipedia as a reference source may be questioned, its value as an educational tool should not be. Wikipedia and other user created content is a tool for information and media literate citizens.

A. Do you look to Wikipedia for answers?
B. Do you contribute to Wikipedia?
C. How can Wikipedia be included in your classroom?

I have used Wikipedia, I have contributed, and I have used both the article I submitted and another wiki that I have created. Being immersed in the wealth of information available, I believe that Wikipedia is a valuable reference tool and discussion tool. Any classroom doing research could find Wikipedia of value.

Introducing the wiki - Iamliterate.wikispaces.com

This summer has been an incredible time of learning for me. Most recently, I became a wikier (term I just made up - I think) Back in April, I made an entry in Wikipedia for Information and Media Literacy as a single term. The reason for this is explained on the site.

I had difficulty getting it to work at first so I gave up until we were discussing Wikis as part of TLITE. (A post baccaleaurate diploma in Teaching and Learning in an Info Tech Environment). I had tried by posting to Wikipedia so I went back and tried again. This time I was able to access and update the entry for Information and Media Literacy.

I was also encouraged to start my own wiki. I saw the ability to easily publish information and invite others to edit. †While First Class and HCK pages allow easy editing, sharing is not intuitive.

I started http://iamliterate.wikispaces.com with only 3 pages. I was presenting at SFU Surrey on Web2.0 and Internet searching. Within 5 days, I had 15 pages linked and filled with information. I was able to add valuable information as it was needed. Most impressively, I updated my wiki while the presenter before me was presenting. I was not off task, I added the information she was teaching the group.

Wikis have incredible power as a publishing tool. I have felt free to share my work, handouts, activities for many years; however, there also needs to be a paradigm shift to accept that on the fly publishing meets needs. In addition, others need to feel empowered to make those changes. (I had one typo that a teacher in the group fixed it during the presentation.) I celebrated this with the group as it is what I want.

I have moved myself into a new aspect of being literate with Wikis. Come join me by reading and contributing to my wiki @ http://iamliterate.wikispaces.com.

Google Literature Trips

I have seen a Google Lit Trip created by Jerome Burg once before and saw a new application of it this week. The premise of the Lit Trip is to use Google to placemark locations in a book that the class is reading. This is such an incredible way for students to engage in the book. †The new application was not just for trips in books, but as either preparation or review of a field trip.

Why would anyone bother to go through the work of creating a trip in Google? Well one advantage you have in the literature world is that many other passionate educators have already created them. You can just use them to engage your students.

What I saw this week at the Apple Distinguished Educator Summer Institute was creating a trip for a trip. I immediately saw the additional potential of having the students being a creator of a trip either for the field trip or the novel they are reading in literature circles.

Creating the Lit Trip would provide an engaging assessment tool that would easily demonstrate students critical thinking through finding main ideas or key events in a story and finding ways to represent them. Students could also share their learning with their peers further deepening their own understanding of what they are reading.

Another of example of literacy in action.

Jerome Burg is an incredible Apple Distinguished Educator and Google Certified Educator in the US who has taken on the Lit Trips project.

Check out his site for more great ideas and ways to create and use this powerful mashup. http://www.googlelittrips.com/

Are we preparing students with skills they need for their life?

The short answer is NO.

The question begs a simpler question, can we prepare students with the skills they will need for their life. That answer is even easier. No.

The difference I will qualify is that we cannot prepare students with skills; however, we can prepare them with habits of mind and skills they can adapt to the not yet invented technologies.

I want all of our students to graduate being information and media literate. †Our IML capacities are not a set of skills to check off on a list. These are areas of capacity for students to grow in. †As the technology grows, they will need to grow and adapt.

A key point for me was at a recent spotlight speech at NECC2007 by Will Richardson. I recall the statement that IBM has 20 000 blogs and 50 islands in Second Life. †How many of our students are trained to cope with blogs and Second Life? I would hazard less than 1%. †Of those that are capable with Second Life or Blogs, how many have the habit of mind to shift that skill set to another application?

Students need to be literate in today's society; however, we need to prepare them to be literate for tomorrow's society.

Can we do this? I believe the answer is a resounding Yes. We have to be willing to spend time teaching students to be literate in more than just "reading text." (I am not against reading; however, to roll the metaphor further, at some point learning to read scrolls was given less time than learning to turn pages in a book.....)

I can hear the concerns from my colleagues with these statements; however, I will echo, "Students need to be literate in today's society; however, we need to prepare them to be literate for tomorrow's society."

In conclusion
IML prepares students to be 21st Century literate. Jeff Wilhelm (2000) supports this in his article, ìLiteracy by Design: †Why is all This Technology so Important?î by stating, "Technology has everything to do with literacy. And being able to use the latest electronic technologies has everything to do with being literate." He presents J. David Bolter's argument "that if our students are not reading and composing with various electronic technologies, then they are illiterate. They are not just unprepared for the future; they are illiterate right now, in our current time and context." (Wilhelm, 2000, p. 4)

Pied Piper of Educational Technology - Tim Tyson - NECC 2007 n07s713

http://mabryonline.org/

Tim Tyson is principal at Mabry Middle School. For the past six years, the school has had a Film Festival engaging students in their learning.

Highlights from his presentation include the amazing videos created by his students. He mad them a promise that if they created perfect work and meaningful to the world, he would make sure it was published internationally. They met the challenge with excellence. He also made sure that what they created

"Making a movie is like learning on steroids." - Mabry Student

"We need to shorten the distance between children and reality" - Tim Tyson.

"We have an untapped wealth of ability"- Tim Tyson.

I was impressed by all the videos that were created by Mabry students. Some of the selected ones I highly recommend include:

-Organ transplant
-Genetically Modified Foods
-Storms on the ivory coast
-Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research

They are all either Best Picture or Best Documentary form 2006 or 2007. Here are the direct links to these areas:
http://www.cobbk12.org/~mabry/movie_html/2007BestPicture/index.html
http://www.cobbk12.org/~mabry/Movies/2006FilmFestival/2006-Best-Picture.mov
http://www.cobbk12.org/~mabry/movie_html/2007BestDocumentary/index.html

In closing, this session was incredible demonstration of what these students were able to produce for real audiences and meaningful topics. I think too often we underestimate to power of a curious student.

Creating Student Video Portfolios with iMovie NECC207 n07s540

http://center.uoregon.edu/ISTE/uploads/NECC2007/KEY_39969231/Burdick_iMovie_portfolios.pdf This was a BYOL session that was well prepared and effectively hands on. The premise was having students create a portfolio of learning. The portfolio included images of work, video, and audio. The example of Cole was nice to work with. I think everyone left with the concept and how to combine the media. As I recall, Cole created the portfolio with minimal supervision. The handout steps through quite effectively on how to import the media, organize it and create a final presentation. I was impressed with the thoughtful reflection that Cole was able to share about his learning in several subjects. Using the combination of video and audio made the impact. This project demonstrated qualities in all aspects of IML.

What’s Hot for Tots: The Best Websites for PK-2 NECC 2007 n07s637

http://www.gaillovely.com/ Gail's presentation was a treat. She moved very fast through her sites; however, the full presentation is available online at http://www.4shared.com/file/18743094/82208a4a/NEWpdf_handout_necc2007GailLovelySession.html I enjoyed this session for two reasons.
1. I have a 5 and 7 year old so I was excited to find new sites for my girls.
2. I often get primary teachers explaining how they don't have time to "do technology"

The websites shared specific activities on each site as they applied to learning for PreK to Grade 2. Highlights when choosing website activities for students included:
-Non cluttered interface
-Fast Loading time
-An interface that requires little user-support
-Being Curriculum based Being very clear and reinforcing concepts
-Being language independent (for early learners)

I have archived most of the websites that were showcased in del.icio.us as http://del.icio.us/amboe_k/primary I believe a site not listed in the presentation but were discussed includes:
Kinderkids podcast http://web.mac.com/agearrings/iWeb/KinderKids/KinderKids%20Podcast/KinderKids%20Podcast.html

I believe that Gail's presentation was very well organized. She highlighted a series of sites that would address each of the refreshed NETS-Student. Thank you Gail for a wonderful assortment of websites that are aligned with supporting student learning and appropriate for primary students.

Information Avalanche Rescue: RSS Feeds in the Classroom - n07s562

http://eduscapes.com/hightech/spaces/blogs/rss.htm
http://eduscapes.com/sessions/rss

I feel fairly confident with RSS. I found this session a great primer for getting into RSS. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication.

I had been using Safari's Bookmark Bar. This was effective; however, I did not have the ability to transfer my feeds to other browsers. I have now switched most over to Google Reader.

Google has many benefits.
-I have put a direct link to the google reader in my bookmark bar
-I was able to import from my older RSS feeds at Bloglines.com

Sharing Feeds....
I haven't set this up yet; however, I know that Del.icio.us offers coding to send your daily bookmarks out as a blog. †I think that most of my feeds meet my interests and my bookmarks are more what I would share.

Classroom applications
I have used RSS for my personal growth for about 1 year now. It is incredible the time that it has saved me in going to sites to see if things have changed. I know what for sites to change and notify me.

I can see incredible opportunities for use in classrooms and for continued professional development.
Here is a brief summary of the Ten Tips for your Classroom provided in this session.

1. Stimulate Interest - provides a fresh look at traditional content
2. Evaluate information - evaluate information from multiple sources for bias.
3. Compare Perspectives - students have easy access to several views on topics.
4. Critique the Critic - students provide critiques for news or blog items citing evidence of their reading.
5. Listen to the Literature -
6. Promote Global Understanding - News feeds from around the world provide different views and information on culture.
7. Differentiate with Audio - iTunes can aggregate your audio feeds for Podcasts and VodCasts
8. Learn Step by Step -
9. Connect a Context - Upto date RSS feeds provide true world context.
10. A Daily Dose - You can either subscribe to daily dose sites for poetry, images, and sounds, or your students can provide them for the class, school or world.

For the Surrey School District, we have developed Information and Media Literacy student learning capacities. †Publishing to the Web and using RSS feeds can build capacity as a user, understanding ones role with technology, inquiry skills, communication, creation and critical thinking skills.

Really Simple Syndication has made my life long learning timely and time sensitive.

Another resource worth looking at is this video in YouTube about RSS.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU

Contemporary Literacy in the New Information Landscape n07s705

http://davidwarlick.com/wiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.RedefiningLiteracyForThe21stCentury

David Warlick presents a convincing argument for students being literate in the New Information Landscape. When Wikipedia first came out, many thought it would be incorrect information shared by a bunch of morons. It is true that it can be incorrect as was shown with the US Congress manipulating the information about their opponents.

When you compare Wikipedia to other encyclopedias for accuracy, it is basically on par with many big company encyclopedias. (Here is one example - I have not checked it for validity as it lines up with other studies I have read or heard about. http://www.nature.com/news/2005/051212/multimedia/438900a_m1.html)

A huge benefit to Wikipedia is its honesty. It clearly gives you warnings if information provided might conflict other information. (Print rarely does.) With the easy access to information, people need to be able to validate what they read. A famous example is that MartinLutherKing.org is a biased site hosted by Stormfront.org (A White Nationalist group)

In our new landscape, to be a reader Be able to Find it - in a digital networked landscape. Be able to decode it - regardless of format Be able to evaluate it - Be able to organize it Google can help us stay informed with what we need and want to be informed. It can help to sift the grain from the chaff. If you use Google News, you can enter your search, select sort by date and then select RSS. This will give you a self updating list of news in your domain of interest.

There are lots of views on Second Life. The reality is that is a major application that many people are using. Four quick examples include ISTE, National Science Center, NOAA, and IBM. These are respected organizations.

To be a published author used to be for the rich or well connected (or lucky or risk-takers). There are now opportunities to write a book online, sell a book online, and have copies printed and shipped with no risk. (One example of publishing on demand is Lulu.com)

Final comments from David Stop integrating technology - start integrating literacy. We are preparing students for an unpredictable future - learn to teach yourself and share learning literacy.

My conclusions Times have changed. People need to be digitally literate, or my term is information and media literate. To be functional in todayís digital society, one needs to speak digital. It is true that people can function today without being digitally literate; however, it is also true that people can function without electricity, health care, schools and many other things. If you are not digitally literate, are you engaged into today's and tomorrow's society?

Misc additional notes Any discussion of Literacy must include ethical considerations- is what I produce going to cause harm, who is it going to help? On Davids site - downloadable and adaptable code of ethics landmark-project.com/sl - David Warlick office in Second Life. Can download handouts from there.

From Hand It In to Publish It: Re-envisioning - NECC 2007 - n07s584

This session by Will Richardson

BTW - Will is our Keynote presenter for CUEBCís conference held in Maple Ridge October 19, 2008. [ http://www.cuebc.ca/ ]www.cuebc.ca

This was a refreshing session to listen to Will. He is a great presenter and immersed in digital literacy.

My Notes:
Wikipedia may not be fully accurate - but neither are textbooks or encyclopedia. Wikipedia is current - how many books still have world trade center buildings as tallest buildings in USA

Wikipedia has over a million changes a day.....

Why are we teaching with keyboard and mouse? - that technology will be gone in a few years. This part was pretty enlightening. Will showed a standard office and then removed all the traditional tools. One view of what this might look like is from microsoft at http://www.microsoft.com/surface/ There is another view from Jeff Hann in TED Talks bookmarked in my http://www.youtube.com/kevinamboe Youtube account or here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKh1Rv0PlOQ

Blogging as ProD
Blogging is similar to journaling of years ago. The difference is the audience. I now belong to several communities and either post directly to communities or through this blog. I can agree with Will that reading what is available and then writing reflectively on it is fantastic professional development. I can learn more in a couple of hours reading and blogging than I learned from entire university courses.

Looking at Literacy

Why are we assessing traditional literacy to determine if new literacies make a difference?
-Cooperative learning is contrived and not fully engaging
-Collaborative learning has all members engaged

IBM has 26 000 bloggers and 50 islands in Second Life.
- A graduate is not literate to work with IBM and has be retrained.

Our understanding of intelligence, literacy, and knowledge has to shift from retelling of facts. Rather than testing students on how many children are in Japan, how about asking them to determine who owns this site and whether to believe as authentic. Anyone can access a website - Can they access relevant and accurate information on a topic when they need it?

Moving from traditional literacy to Information and Media Literacy is move to real work for real purpose for real audiences.

Del.icio.us Research - n07s588

Lucie deLaBruere Lucie was articulate in sharing the history of social bookmarking. Her session notes are hosted http://necc2007.pbwiki.com/

My gleanings are listed below: While Del.icio.us was the tool of choice discussed, the merits of the following two were also included.
FURL.Net
Onlywire.com

- allows to sent to multiple tools I am a fairly confident Del.icio.us user already but was reminded of several features and learned a couple more.
1. You can create a single account and have your whole class use that one to tag and create a classroom resource.
2. By checking who else has tagged the same sites as you, you can also see if they tagged other sites that you might find valuable.
3. Using the notes section could be used to assess students understanding of the websites they are tagging. If a site is already tagged, students need to find other sites that meet the original criteria.

Other understandings
1. Gary Toews in Abbotsford created a neat way to have classes working together and be able to assess individual student contributions as well. http://sd34.homeip.net/STaRT-Training/topic/infolit/settingupdelicious/index.html
2. While Del.icio.us may not be ëauthorizedí resource such as an encyclopedia, it has only links that someone sees as valuable you can see who submitted you can see how many also tagged the site you can view other sites tagged by other users.
3. Will Richardson shared in another session a way to view how your Del.icio.us network is connected. http://www.twoantennas.com/projects/delicious-network-explorer/
4. Teachers are starting to use Del.icio.us to search for valuable sites before going to Google as the sites have all been ëapprovedí by at least one person already.

How does Del.icio.us relate to IML? Del.icio.us can easily fit all 6 aspects of IML. Using this Web2.0 tool involves understanding the social creation of knowledge, building inquiry skills, communicating, critical thinking and even creativity in how the bookmarks are socially shared.

Second Life Playground - n07s265

I consider myself fairly forward thinking but I had not stepped into my second life. After visiting the playground, I did sign up for my own avatar.

I signed in, learned how to navigate, and changed my clothes. Then I visited the ISTE island. I am still a newbie in Second Life; however, I see the potential Second Life has.

Some tidbits I collected:
-People are earning a living providing services in Second Life
-Communities are growing
-People of like interests are meeting in Second Life, then meeting face to face because their similar interests brought them to NECC
-There are guidelines for offering and accepting ëfriendshipí in SecondLife.

I have a lot to learn in Second Life but I have started the experience. Second Life is not just for teenagers. Actually, it is not for teenagers. Second Life; you need to be 18 years to join. There is a teen second life that is set up to protect children. If a teacher wanted to create a learning space for their class, they could do so but adults other than the teacher are not allowed in that space.

I think one of the most interesting aspects of second life for teaching is that you can attend a lecture or meeting and you act your role. †Acting your role includes fidgeting, shrugging and answering questions.
†
So how does this relate to Information and Media Literacy?
Second Life is more than a game for kids. † As of today, it has 7 803 000 residents and more than $2 million real US dollars were exchanged in Second Life. †Students of today are graduating into a world that includes Second Life. †There are two sides to consider in preparing our students - make sure they are safe and make sure they can be successful in their second life.

Why listen to vendor demos at conferences...

While at the NECC 2007 conference, I spent several hours on the vendor floor. There are two aspects that provide value. First, if you have no direct interest in a product, vendors often tell you all the great ways to use their product to improve student learning. A wise teacher plows through the "product" talk and gleans the good teaching practices that they are demonstrating their product with.

Secondly, since our district already owns district licensing for KidPix, Kidspiration and Inspiration, both of these vendors offer 20 minute sessions on how to use their products. I use both them them quite well and provide training on the software and I still learn something new at every session.

Keynote Panel -n07s755

This panel discussion on Tuesday morning was quite interesting. †The panel was a unique collection of creative thinker leaders.
†
Thoughts from Mary Cullinane:
How to teach and why - Microsoft school of the future
1. †Learning First
2. Focus on concept and power of the language - Principal is the Chief Learner
3. †Be comfortable not knowing †
†
A key to the design of the school of the future was the creation of adhoc gathering spaces.
†
†
Microsoft supported the school with human resources, not with funding. †Two concepts that flowed from Microsoft was that thinking is an activity and that you can spend time thinking and that there is a culture of being self critical (How can I get better?)
†
†
†
Dr. Francesc Pedro, OECD
†
Dr. Pedro shared some interesting statistics that are available through the OECD.
††††Percent of 15 year olds using computers at home and school †- Canada has the highest at home - but lower at school
†
††††More computers used at home, better at math, more computers used at school decrease in math
†
OECD.org - Understanding the brain (a report coming out soon)
†
Michael McCauley, Creative Director
†
We must have deep faith in technology and creativity and then the freedom exists to be creative
†
Imagine Innovation swimming downstream instead of getting tire swimming upstream
†
†† †This statement hit a chord for me. †I hadnít realized that much of what I do is swimming upstream....
†
Books to read
††††Whole new mind - Dan P
††††Dream Society
†
Elizabeth Streb - Strebusa.com
Elizabeth had a great energy and amazing stories to share. †My gleanings include:
†
††††Invent a mistake
††††Failure is an option - it is safe to fail
††††Get dirty, break things, go to the garage (where inventors go)
†
†
†
Listening to this panel and thinking about the questions from Andrew Zolli made this one of the best sessions I attended.
†
†
I donít recall who mentioned the next two comments
†
Ask a ninja.com - every teacher should check this out as most of our students are.

†
Goal of teaching - Make a positive indelible mark on someone's life.
†
So how does this session relate to IML?
I found this session to be empowering. †Learning doesnít have to be the way it has been for many generations. †We have the ability with technology to do more than ever before. †We could always be creative, but access to communicate beyond the classroom adds new dimensions. †
†
My two take aways

Imagine Innovation swimming downstream instead of getting tire swimming upstream.
†† †I will try and make sure that I am not the barrier to others.
†
Invent a mistake
†† †What a great way to learn. †Why try and learn what is already known. †Trying to make something next work take critical thinking and perhaps a better understanding.

NETS-T Refresh - NECC 2007 075933

This was an exciting event.  ISTE has provided leadership with the NETS for more than 8 years.  The NETS-Student was unveiled at the conference.  I fully support the resulting work of refreshing the NETS-S.  Being from Canada, we don't follow the NETS as requirement. Last July, I looked to many places for leadership on Information and Media Literacy.  NETS-S provided some insight but it was missing something.  As you have read earlier in my blog, we created our own IML Student Learning Capacities.  It was wonderful to see our IML very closely aligned with intent and even wording to the NETS-S.  After discussing the NETS-S at our table, the goal was to consider what NETS-T would look like.  Our table was so impressed that NETS-T should follow the same idea as NETS-S.  Teachers need to be information and media literate.  Much of the existing NETS-T included what I see as just good teaching - NETS-T 2,3,4,5. I would like to see that NETS-T take the 6 aspects of NETS-S and add a layer of the Art and Science of Teaching.  So much of what I believe so deeply is that we need to remove the concept of technology as something to learn.  Teachers teaching so students can learn will involve the use of technology but the focus should remain on learning.  Meeting the diverse needs of students can no longer be managed within the blinders of traditional literacy only.  A synopsis of another session by Will Richardson is appropriate here.  Students graduating today with skills taught traditionally will need to be re-taught when they are hired.  Intel has more than 26 000 internal bloggers and more than 20 islands in Second Life.  I don't know of a single Secondary English teacher preparing their students for this career opportunity.  (I realize this is a strong statement - If you know of any teachers that grow students literacy that prepare them for this environment, please contact me and I will immediately correct this blog.) More from EdTechConnection blog http://www.edtechconnection.net/blog/2007/6/24/necc-2007-nets-refresh.html

Is it about technology?

Is it okay to waste some time learning technology?  Is it okay to experiment with technology and not have it work?
 
These are good questions and should be asked about any activity that involves teaching students.  
 
Waste is inflammatory, but catches attention.  Student learning is at the center.  There are many things that provide non-ideal situations for learning.  (Planning to have students do a science journal by drawing their learning and typing a sentence on the computer... only to have the power go out without saving or printing.)
 
Well I would ask the question - did the students learn?  Yes, they did.  They accomplished their journal, they did the reflection and learned to save when working with technology.
 
While computers have been in schools for 25 (ish) years, there are still students that could graduate without being Information and Media Literate.  Students don’t have to be using a computer 5 hours per day, not even 1 hour per day.
 
Students need to be using technology as it increases their current and future learning.
 
There are times that technology is not the right answer.
 
I remember doing a project 5 years ago with laptops.  We were studying the Yanomami of the Amazon.  Students were to create a persuasive video for why they (as UN field workers) should help this indigenous people.
 
After about a week we had some partially done on laptops and some video footage, but the connection with the content had already been achieved.  I scrapped the post-production and completion.  They had already done the learning - cooperatively planning, scripting with curriculum connections, acting, practicing and taping.  
 
When it became about using a laptop and making a movie, it was no longer about learning.
 
I learned and so did my students.  While their was some disappointment, the students learned that their learning was the focus .

Student IML Learning Capacity - Think Critically

Everyone today is bombarded with information.  What information is real?
 
This is hard to know.  I don’t believe it really matters if you know for sure; you need to have thought about it critically and made a choice for yourself.  I know what I believe.  I know what I measure new information against.  When I come in contact with information that doesn’t fit my belief system, what do I do?
 
I need to Think Critically.  I remember growing up knowing that the Encyclopedia at our school and in our basement was the Gospel truth.  While the Gospel hasn’t changed, many of the truths in those books have.  
 
I grew up believing that what was written in books was right, and what teachers said was also right.
 
Times have changed.  Just because something is in print in physical or electronic form does not make it right.  Just because a teacher says it, does not make it right.  (I remember teaching that Pluto was a planet. Now I know that I was wrong and some students should get extra marks.)
 
To be Information and Media Literate in today’s society one has to be able to take in (read, see, or hear) information and be a critical thinker.  There is too much information and too much BAD information to just accept it.
 
We can teach students to think critically.  They need to evaluate information for bias, and for errors.  They need to be able to validate information through multiple primary and secondary sources.  They need to be self-directed in building understanding from the resources available (both correct and incorrect).
 
How are students going to get these skills?
    They won’t if we block websites; they will if we teach them to think critically about any kind of information or media.

Should students learn socially?

Last week an article discussing Facebook and how some jurisdictions are responding was published.
http://www.timminspress.com/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentid=537122&catname=Editorial&classif= The article raises some interesting points.  First some background...



Facebook is a social networking site.  Social Networking sites connect people.  In this case, you must accept anyone you want to associate with or be associated with as a Friend.  If they are not a friend, you don’t see what they are up to and they don’t see you.  You can customize how you are seen and how you interact on the site.



There are distinct advantages to this site and the way it is set up.  First with Nexopia and MySpace, students can publish and anyone sees them.  You can set up networks, but they are not private.



Since Facebook is such a part of the culture, is it not important that students know how to act safely?   The Simon Fraser University network has 19 000 members (including me).  When our students graduate, should they not know how to interact safely with the other students at their potential university?  The Vancouver network has 253 000 members (including me again).  



I am not naive enough to believe that Facebook is perfect.  I do believe that social networking is something that we should be teaching and harnessing for educational potential.  Just this week, they released an add-on to share your Del.icio.us tags through Facebook.  



The world that we live in and our students belong to is different than it was 30 years ago.  We were all taught how to cross the street safely, how to read traffic lights, and what side of the stairs to walk up on.  These seem just natural.  For Digital Natives, social network is already natural.



Join Facebook and try it out.  I have enjoyed touching base with old friends and current friends.  Life is so busy sometimes we forget to reflect on where we have been in life.  This has given me some perspective

                        

Joint Elementary and Secondary IML Facilitators meeting

Wednesday May 23, 2007 was an exciting day.  All of our documentation and tools had bee prepared but not put together yet.  With the help our our LRS team and CISC clerical staff, we put together 300 resource binders.
 
The binders are just a symbol of the work that has gone into preparing for this meeting.  For most of this year, we have been meeting, determining and fine tuning what Information and Media Literacy can be in Surrey.
 
During the meeting we saw some awesome examples of what our students are already doing across the grades and across the curriculum.  I was impressed to see some of the products that our Elementary Students and our Secondary Students were able to produce.  The products weren’t the key; I saw the wealth of learning that went into them.
 
I dream is that every student have opportunities to learn in the ways that the teachers showcasing their students learning have provided.  I believe working with the IML capacities across the grades and curriculum can make this a reality.
 
Thank you to everyone that participated in the meeting. 

Student IML Learning Capacities - Communicate

The six capacities of Information and Media Literacy include being a communicator of information.  While creating information is important, if it sits idle, the full benefit is not realized.  
 
Students of the 21st century have the opportunity to be more than just consumers of information.  In a keynote address by Alan November in 2006, I recall him emphasizing that students need to be contributors now.  By working with tools such as blogs, wikis and podcasts, students contribute to the knowledge of the world.  There are many aspects to communicating effectively including being safe online.

Email is still a valuable tool for personal communication; however, it isn't effective for reaching larger numbers.  Currently I have found Wikis to be the best tool for communicating.  It is so easy to build knowledge and communicate it easily to either a public or private audience.



Check out http://iamliterate.wikispaces.com

Student IML Learning Capacity - Create

The six capacities of Information and Media Literacy include being a creator of information.
 
Students of the 21st century have the opportunity to be more than just consumers of information.  In a keynote address by Alan November in 2006, I recall him emphasizing that students need to be contributors now.
 
It used to be that most people didn’t have easy access to publishing.  With the internet and desktop publishing, students can share the information they create.  
 
Web2.0 is focused around the web being read and write.  Everyone can contribute to the resources that anyone worldwide can access.  There are many examples where students can create knowledge that they didn’t read in a book.  One youth combined a Chicago crime database with google maps to identify crime in Chicago.  This information was never displayed this way before.  
 
I believe it is critical that students be given permission and the tools to be creators of knowledge.  Learning is much more relevant when it is personally engaging and students can feel the joy of discovery themselves.
 
We identify the following three aspects of being a Creator of Information.
    Documents
    Creative works
    Creating new knowledge
 
I am excited to consider what my own daughters will do as creators of information.  At four and six years old, they have both created movies telling their stories about their my little ponies.  They were able to tell their story and then we published it on my website and in youtube.com.  They are both proud producers.

(Image from http://www.hetemeel.com/einsteinform.php)

Student IML Learning Capacity - Inquire

The six capacities include inquiry for self, learning and society.  
 
Inquiry in this context includes:
   Access to Information
   Gathering Information
   Organize Information
   Process Information(Evaluate, Assess, Validate)
 
We live in an information based society.  There are many claims about how much information we have and how fast knowledge is doubling. (see reference note below).  At this point, it is even said that knowledge is doubling in less than a year.
 
With this wealth of knowledge and most of it being available online, we need (better) ways of inquiring of knowledge.  To mimic another phrase, “we are information rich and knowledge poor.”
 
In the 21st, it has become less about knowing everything and more about knowing how and where to find the information when you need it.  
 
Having access to the internet is a first step, but access to the resources of Google does not mean you will learn anything.  Students need to be able to search to find relevant information, then they need to gather and organize what they find.  In parallel is processing the information.  There is no point in writing down 100 pages of incorrect, misleading or biased information.
 
To be literate in the 21st century everyone needs to be able to inquire.  I accept that not everyone will have this capacity and they will be able to continue in their current capacity even though they may be digitally illiterate.  People have lead productive lives for hundreds of years and been illiterate.  
 
I don’t accept that anyone, especially students in our systems, need to continue to be illiterate.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Reference
 
I could not find an original source for the statistics, but this site refers to knowledge doubling.

Appendix D: Report of the Subcommittee on Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age
http://www.emory.edu/TEACHING/Report/AppendixD.html

Student IML Learning Capacities - Understand

The six capacities include understanding the role of technology for self and in society.  
 
There are many reasons students need to understand the role of technology.  The increase in access to information is just one aspect but a salient one.  A few months back, I was teaching a lesson in a grade 4 classroom.  I shared with them the above site and they believed every word.  After exploring the site and engaging them in the plight of the tree octopus, I explained how to look at information we find on the web.
 
The conversation included things like:
    checking for other sources that say the same information
        a google search has this as the first entry but others talk about hoaxes....
    checking the web host - in this case a personal .net
    checking other information on the host - in this case also AFBD
http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/
    
While the grade 4’s complained that I lied to them, I was able to redirect their energy to ways of assessing a website for authenticity and validity.
 
One last comment for today is looking at use of hardware.  Some schools are looking at banning cell phones in their school.  They are also looking at banning all digital devices between 8:00am and 3:30pm.  (Interesting how this would impact the media arts classes.)  
 
We need to teach students to be social responsible in society.  If students mis-use a cell phone in school, I ask the questions of why?
    They are bored?
    They don’t know any better?
    It is more important than learning?
    They aren’t engaged?
    They can cheat by text messaging test answers?  
        Are we asking the right questions if they can be answered by a text message?
    Why aren’t we using the cell phone features to enhance learning?
 
Thoughts??

My Students need the "Basics"

“My students need the basics before the bells and whistles.”
 
This is a fair statement.  I have three responses.  
 
First, I agree students need some basics before using computers or other technology.   They do need to be able to communicate.
 
Second, technology may provide the opportunity for students to learn the other ‘basics’ of communication.  A student using an iPod to share their learning with the teacher allows them to communicate beyond their ability to write.
 
Thirdly, you teach in your classroom.  This is an opportunity to conduct Action Research.  Action Research helps you focus what you are doing and making sure that it is impacting student learning.  You need to develop a question to investigate.  Our IML performance standards might help you identify an area of focus, then you can pick a learning activity that is aimed at improving that focus.  Using the PLO correlations, you may identify specific areas that you can make the connection so that you are not doing extra work, rather multi-tasking.
 
Surrey has more information on action research at
 
http://www.leadershipacademy.sd36.bc.ca/actionresearch/index.htm

Student Learning Capacity - Use

The ability to use technology is somewhat self explanatory.  If you can’t use something, you won’t be able to do more complex tasks.
 
Digging deeper, one can look back at the types of technology use.  Our BC Ministry of Education consulted with Bernajean Porter about 7 years ago.  She helped bring an understanding to BC about technology integration.  We can now identify 3 levels of integration
    1.  Literacy - learning the tools
    2.  Adapting - doing what we could already do
    3.  Transformative - doing what we couldn’t do before.
 
Our goal needs to be transformative; however, we can’t transform without learning how to use the tools.  Looking at the K - 7 IRP for Math (2006), with a little creativity, you can be transformative with a Grade 1 PLO.
 
The PLO is compare and order numbers up
to 100 [C, CN, R, V]
 
The suggested student achievement indicators for the PLO include:
order a given set of numbers in ascending or descending order and verify the result using a hundred chart, number line, ten frames or by making references to place value
identify errors in a given ordered sequence
identify missing numbers in a given hundred chart
identify errors in a given hundred chart
 
If Grade 1 students were using a spreadsheet....
    students could fill in the numbers in a 100 chart - adaptive
    students could fill right for one row and compare to the original - adaptive
     create a 100 chart(s) and remove numbers or make errors for their classmates to solve - adaptive to transformative - (how many charts would a grade 1 have - with a spreadsheet it removes the physical act of writing 100 numbers several times.)  Students could have many tries at the activity with them as the creator.  They can share their strategy for picking missing numbers.
 
Yes it will take a while for students to learn how to navigate a computer and spreadsheet software; however, you benefit from the learning activities - if they are crafted with purpose.
 
It is important to be able to use however, this is just one of the 6 capacities.

Student IML Learning Capacities

In developing the IML student learning capacities, we stayed very focused on learning.  When sharing this with another teacher, they commented that, “I knew you would do something with technology.”  I quickly corrected them because it has so little to do with technology.  
 
IML is all about students learning.  The term capacity was carefully chosen so that we don’t get stuck with a set of skills to learn.  As our digital society changes, so will the skills required.  At present, I don’t see the need for new learning capacities though.
 
I really like an article, “Literacy by Design” written by Jeff Wilhelm where he quotes J. David Bolter who argued in 1991 that, “if our students are not reading and composing with various electronic technologies, then they are illiterate. They are not just unprepared for the future, they are illiterate right now, in our current time and context.” http://www.teachnet-lab.org/fklane/wilhelm.htm
 
Not only is this a powerful statement for today, I see it as more powerful that it was recognized 16 years ago.  We really haven’t made the change to embrace a new understanding of literacy.  I hope that working with our district, our teachers, our administrators, our parents, our community and our students, we work towards building everyone’s Information and Media Literacy as learning capacities.
 
The attached document summarizes the 6 capacities.  I will look into each in more detail in following entries.
 
3 Key Concepts.pdf

What is Literacy?

The illiterate of the twenty-first century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn - Alvin Toffler


I like to use wikipedia for definitions because it is based on current knowledge and not just the academics.
 
According to Wikipedia
The traditional definition of literacy is considered to be the ability to read and write, or the ability to use language to read, write, listen, and speak. In modern contexts, the word refers to reading and writing at a level adequate for communication, or at a level that lets one understand and communicate ideas in a literate society, so as to take part in that society.
 
The last phrase is crucial - to take part in that society.  We have new norms of society.  Many schools are moving to reduced paper.  Regular communication is done electronically and face2face.  The paper reminders, agendas, and meeting minutes are disappearing.  (Although some have found comfort in being able to print out emails and file them in the same old ways.)
 
We want our students to take part in their society.  I was born just as the internet was invented.  It took almost 20 years for the internet to become a powerful learning tool available to the public.  Now the power of the internet is in every school in British Columbia.  Families used to buy encyclopedia sets for their children.  (My parents included.)  I haven’t heard of an encyclopedia salesperson in years.  While I try and hold my head above water, I am not a Digital Native, as Mark Prensky refers to those born after 1988.  The society of Digital Natives have different expectations for participation.  We need to empower ALL students to take part in their society, not their parents.  (I recognize the value of communication between generations; however, we can’t just teach the old ways.)