Wow - Value in Newsletters and their title

I have an RSS reader that has right now about 40 feeds with  675 unread updates.  I won't read all of them.  I often skim the subject lines to see if I want to read further.

Today I had a moment to read a newsletter sent out by http://www.edutopia.org/ I knew from the subject line that I would be interested.  It was entitled - Technology that Enables.  I didn't have time to read it back in July when it was sent out.  I am so glad I did today.  It highlighted a 2 minute video about enabling technology including that Acrobat Reader now has built in a Reader function.  It will read the text out.  It is not perfect; however, a free tool that students can apply to any PDF document is amazing.  You could even print your own documents as a PDF and have them read back to you.  Then you can hear if your sentence structure made sense.

I get a lot of email and will often delete email from newsletters or magazines based on their title.  I would have lost this nugget had I not be captured by the subject line.

PC - File Menu - Read Out Loud

Mac - View Menu - Read Out Loud

When Technology Fails Us

As I grow as an educator, my background knowledge of technology continues to increase.  I don't claim to know all the answers, but I have developed the ability to ask questions about the failure.  What caused it?  Is it within my control?  Can I find a work around?

Today I was asked to help with a blog where the comments weren't posting properly.  I didn't know the solution, but I checked it on another computer to see if it was a computer related problem, I asked the teacher to show me what they were doing, I asked them to check through the blog management tool.  We did find the problem being that the system hadn't accepted the comment approval commands that were given before.  The point is that I don't know Edublogs.org well enough to know the answer, but by asking questions and exploring we found the answer.

This leads back to my original idea.  What about when technology fails?

I was presenting on Google Earth in Victoria, BC yesterday and technology failed me.  The projector had poor contrast so that reds, blues and blacks all showed up as black on the screen, Google Earth opened but did not have a reliable fast connection to the Internet, and I planned to show my Google Literature Trips on the Apple Learning Interchange but the Internet would go there.  Sounds like a presentation from hell - right?

Wrong - I have learned to present the concept and the process more than the details.  Much of my time was spent sharing the concepts, the rationale, and the practical applications for Literature, Mathematics and Social Studies.  It is always hard to learn from a demonstration where you can't follow along anyway.  Being forced to present highlighting the concepts and potential was much more powerful.  

I find that we (as teachers) are moving to the process oriented learning side.  In doing so, I don't have to showcase a final product, I can instead describe the process and learning encapsulated in the project.

Yes technology fails; however, so does the power from time to time.  We deal with interruptions, assemblies, fire alarms, code yellow and much more on a daily basis.  Technology is not the answer to all.  Rather technology can be the spring board to amazing learning opportunities.  I remember creating skits in groups as an intermediate student; we are really doing the same project when we have students create movies to tell a story.  It is about the process not the product.

Where do we put our energy?

I listened to a TED video today.  It is focused on the basic question ?Given $50 billion to spend, which would you solve first, AIDS or global warming? Danish political scientist Bjorn Lomborg comes up with surprising answers.  

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/bjorn_lomborg_sets_global_priorities.html

Taking this to our role in teaching and learning.  There are many problems.  Rather than prioritize problems, we should look at prioritizing solutions.  Bjorn worked with economists to determine the cost/benefit of solutions.  In terms of technology, what technologies would have the best cost / benefit ratio.  If we can help more students by doing X than helping less students with Y, which choice should we make.

I don't have the answers to the cost / benefit of providing 1 to 1 laptop initiatives.  Rather than that specific problem I think we should ask ourselves if we are making the best choices with not only technology, but how we spend our time teaching and learning.

Is there a way to show that the cost / benefit of providing school and home computers with internet access to all students is more beneficial than providing targeted support to only students that need it (after they are already falling behind in their learning and then identified to receive support.)

My statement is not which one is better, rather that decisions around the world seem to be made all in the name of 'putting learners first.'  

Do we really know what uses of technology if any are more beneficial?

Flying over storytelling tools

I really enjoyed this morning where I was able to give a high level fly past of a variety of tools that teachers might want to go.  It is nice to know what is out there even if not ready for it.  A year later, one can reflect and say, "now I need something that will do _____.  I remember that we saw something that might just do that."

In preparing to share the tools, I had even forgotten about some options.  The last one CogDogRoo has a list of 57 + ideas for storytelling with digital media.

The archive of tools I briefly covered include:

Tools for Digital Storytelling
del.icio.us/digitalstorytelling
http://screencast-o-matic.com/
http://jingproject.com/
http://mnemograph.com/
Comic Life - see district license
Inspiration - see district license
Kidspiration - see district license
KidPix - see district license
www.edublogs.org
Google Maps / Google Earth
flickr.com
quickmaps.com
clustrmaps.com
Apple Learning Interchange - http://ali.apple.com

http://electronicportfolios.org/

CogDogRoo - http://cogdogroo.wikispaces.com/StoryTools - FIfty different tools 

What is it like to just have second years....

This year we only have second years at our summer institute.  This is very interesting.  It seems more relaxed.  We are all focused on the same process.  We don't have to balance rooms, activities, times to make it all fit.

We do miss the opportunities to share with the first years.  Having second years helping the first years overcome the emotional hurdles and technical hurdles was empowering for the second years.  We don't have that same opportunity. 

We have planned less 'workshops' and more learning time, exploration, and critical reflection.  Since everyone has a base level of technological ability, there is little need to provide that kind of workshop or support.  I hope that next year when we start with first years again that we will be able to keep this decreased focus on technology and greater focus on the educational issues around integrating technology.

As a Teacher and Learner ...

As I continue as a learner, I learn more about my teacher.  I have always put myself in positions to share my knowledge.  I consider myself somewhat introverted; however, in a teaching role I seem the exact opposite.

Also in a teaching role, I force myself to be knowlegable.  This concept is odd in terms of teaching with technology.  I chose to leave my position at Frank Hurt as the Tech Facilitator because I was expected to be the expert in everything.  It just isn't possible. 

Oddly enough 3 years later, I ended up at the district level where again I am expected to 'know everything.'  The biggest difference is that I no longer try to actually know 'everything.'  Now I have a network of people and sources to point teachers to help themselves.  

With the growth of technologies, it is impossible to know everything.  I have been teaching lifeguarding for 18 years and have always taught principle oriented.  In lifesaving and first aid, you can practice procedures to deal with knowns and expecteds but rarely to accidents happen in identical ways.  I hadn't realized it until recently that teaching (especially with technology) has changed to be much more principle oriented.  

It is now no longer about knowing the answers but being willing to try and explore.  I am not an expert in most technologies; however, I can figure them out based on other existing knowledge.

I am much happier facilitating than delivering information.  I think the rich conversations during exploration and learning are worth more than the information that may have very little to do with their future life.

Kevin

Surrey TLITE 2008

I have been working with Surrey and Simon Fraser University for the past 8 years on an incredible program called TLITE - or Teaching and Learning in an Information and Technology Environment.  During August 11 to 22, I will be making some posts that might be a bit different than my usual posts.  

I wanted to warn you that as part of the coursework for the cohort everyone is blogging regularly.  I am including myself in this process.