Encouraging Words for Surrey Bringing Innovation to Schools

 

Bringing Innovation to School – Empowering Students to thrive in a changing world by Suzie Boss

Reading the first half of the book, I couldn’t put it down.  In my limited spare time, I have completed the rest of the book this week.  My first response – Wow.  With some reflection I see that Wow as affirming what we have already been moving towards and that it is a very practical book to help us get the rest of the way there.

With chapters like: See Educators as Innovators, Growing a New Global Skill Set and Seeding Innovation this book so resonated with my beliefs and my actions for the past several years as a district helping teacher or consultant.

This was one of the books that I had to keep something to write with nearby while I was reading.  So many ideas were generated, and honed that I had to stop reading until I wrote them down.

Some Affirmations

-       We have been working for 3 years to provide Innovative Learning Designs projects with a focus on inquiry.  While the projects are extremely varied, they look for unique solutions to the differentiated needs of the classes involved.  The whole project has created an incubator for innovation to occur in our classrooms.

-       The climate within our team has been “Yes and” thinking.  We have worked to make the impossible possible – When barriers to learning  were identified, we strive to eliminate or minimize them.

-     We have provided iPads to teachers that have taken on leadership roles within the schools as Information and Media Literacy Representatives.  They have been able to explore, tinker, take risks before schools purchased class sets.

New or Extended Ideas

-       As a large district, it is hard to do things small.  We have started to create amazing networks through our larger events; however, we need to empower smaller networks.  For relationships and trust to build, we need to foster groups of 12 or less. 

-       A favourite expression of mine that will be used more often

What would it look like if …

o   We helped coordinate / host book groups of up to 12 with fantastic  books like this one

o   We provided and supported additional (inexpensive) resources such as Computers for Schools computers targeted as Tinker Stations.  These could be single purpose machines for tinkering. 

o   We provided low cost computers to be used as Display Kiosks – What would it look like if we left a cheap computer at the front lobby to display student work.  Photos, programs, movies, multimedia would constantly fill the entrance to our schools

o   We need to bring students into our Professional Development.  If we are to change from the holder of all knowledge to the connector, we need to stop being the holder of all knowledge.

o   We hosted Innovation events for students and teachers.  We could celebrate success and share failures.  We could encourage risk taking.   We could encourage out of the box thinking. 

Each idea we explore, risk we take, opportunity we offer we have done to benefit the learning culture of our district.  We have a great resource in this book to catalyze additional opportunities, explorations and risks.  I am charged up to return to my position as an enabler of innovation in our district.

The continuing mission, to ....

I love my iPad but it is not the full answer. Even though I am dedicated to using it, I yearn for the full power of a laptop. I have allowed myself flex to do menial tasks like sorting and putting into folders 75 emails etc.

While an ad can recapture productivity times when you just have 5 min before a meeting starts or suring the meeting, it loses in other areas with functionality and data entry.

My goal this weekend was to be creative. I went for a walk with my girls(iPad and a camera in hand). Boy did I feel awkward carrying the iPad in the trails. I did some filming as they played by the strem; however they were more interested in the woods than the ipad( yeah:)

A bit later we fed some ducks and geese. The iPad was functional but I preferred making photos on my point and shoot camera. I held it just off the water to get some creative shots. Not as simple to be creative at the shore with a bulky low res iPad camera.

I have now began to look at telling a story with the raw footage. Walking, talking, ducks, geese, feeding, stills and video.

First up. IMovie (4.99)- easy to use, I would feel comfortable teaching k/1 to make a movie no problem. The finger gestures are easy to learn. I made a movie quickly.

Aha moment - you can transfer the raw movie between devices with iTunes sharing. You can export the final movie to a service like YouTube or the camera roll but you have to wait for it to render. I started it and switched tasks... Returned to have to restart the rendering.

Next. The Avid Studio app(4.99) - pretty powerful. I would not use this with K/1 (at least at first). The expanded features and options in comparison to iMovie allow for much more fine editing and higher quality end product

(high quality end products should not be the goal though. We want students to be able to create and communicate - both do the task and iMovie is simpler to use)

Splice (free and 3.99) (with additional in app purchase for special fx) (iPhone not universal app). This is a very simple to use app. The workflow makes sense. Being an iPhone app that does the same as the first two, I would stick to them on the iPad. For an iPod/ iPhone app, I would use Splice


A turn in a different but relevant direction is to film and event and provide a vice and annotation analysis. Coaches Eye (4.99). Let's you film a clip, then record your review and notes over it. Awesome tool. (I will revisit this looking at tools like Show Me or Explain Everything)

My choice for starting with students - iMovie. (I may move to Avid later with them)
My choice for a project of mine - Avid Studio
My choice if on my iPod - Spilce
My choice for annotating or teaching through the video - Coaches Eye
(in short - choose the right tool at the right time)

Now that I had fun creating, I just want to touch on the why again.

I believe that students need to be creative and be creators. These tools allow a very engaging way to do both.
Reasons to have students create a video:

Exploration / wonder
Review of learning
Explaining learning of a concept
Interviewing
Speech practice
Creative writing coming to life
Practicing oral fluency
Describing a piece of their work - author statement
Public service announcements
(feel free to comment and add to the list)

Life on an iPad 2

I have continued using my iPad as my device if choice. This post will be typed with the iPad and no corrections.

OnFriday I challenged myself to type as fast as I could. I tried a passage with a laptop , I typed 43 wpm. The same passage with touch typing on the iPad 18.6 wpm. Then with a stylus still 17 wpm

So typing is slower but when do I Ned to type large amounts?

Great that it has a 10 hour battery but the iPad gets used 10 hours a day and needs charging before going to work the next day.

My goal this weeks to move beyond caring about data entry. Last week I has the pleasure of wattending an iPad boot camp with Bryan Hughes. Teacher librarian in north Vancouver. Some great new apps and ways to consider their use.

Flowing from data entry though is being productive. The top 5 apps I use tobe productive included:
Mail/ First Class
Calendar
Paper port notes by nuance
Google docs
Dropbox

The obvious reasons fr a mail application apply but the productivity comes from not needing to be connected. I can get so much done in those 5 minutes waiting in line, for the water to boil, or before a meeting starts. I likely gain 2 hours a day having access with a device (I use my iPod touch a lot for that)

Calendar is fat as I don't worry about tomorrow. I always have it in my devices. I also can add information like phone, address, and agendas to the events

PaperPport Notes is much like notes but far better. It allows stickies, voice notes/ conversion, highlights, and drawing all in the same document and syncing between devices

Google docs has been amazing for our team. We organize events collaboratively, have registrations for events and download the lists to print name tags etc. so easy and shared access - anywhere with wifi

Dropbox. I can't say enough about it. It has changed the way I store information If I need to use it once, I don't put it in the cloud. If I just want an archive, such as a YouTube video, I store it locally, the best part is that the three of us on the team all have a shared Dropbox folder, we all can work on our documents and see them to answer questions for others when we aren't there. I even have a share now with my wife to keep some documents accessible at home or work for us both

I don't think I can live without these tools anymore. It does say some things about my life though. I rely on the technology and expect it to be there. To quote Lisa Domeier de Suarez, 'Internet access is the new electricity'. A teacher at a nearby school was allowing students to bring in their devices. They could take pictures of their notes or homework, until the admin heard about it and said,'they would have to discuss it.' which meant. Once I talk to your teacher the answer is no. Sad that a passionate knowledgable educator making connections for his students got shut down.

Just try to have an electricity free school.

Living on an iPad.

I have tried very hard to just use my iPad as my computing device for the last two days. It really is challenging. I dietary and prepare by enabling print sharing the night before. It configured at home but not within the district network. Took some MacBook time to try tweaking but to no avail(I have submitted a service page and will see if that provides an option)

I needed to break from the plan to:
1. Try tweaking a printing solution
2. Create a fireworks logo that needed printing. Since I had one that needed editing it was easier than creating a new one in a new software.
3. I also needed over the last two days to print.

Printing is not going away. When I work with teachers new to iPads I ask why you would need to print. I have now got several answers..
Printing posters for bulletin boards
Printing expense claims ( that I have to attach receipts and submit))
Printing a document requiring a signature
Printing an attendance sheet for a workshop. (I could have used an app and have them sign in on my device; however I would then dedicate a 500 device to act as a $0.05 piece of paper and not be able to use it myself while they sign in.)

Beyond the basics...
Multitasking
I am trying to be true to the concept; however, I find myself wanting to 'quickly' do some multitasking work while I was on my laptop to print. It brought to my attenttion that I multi task heavily. If a website takes time to load, I move to another task. If a file is uploading, I switch and do something else. If I am answering email, I like to have my calendar open at the same time (without switching)

Creative work ...
I haven't had time to do any today... My IPad is being used as a small laptop without a tactile keyboard. I am doing quite well atyping and allowing autocorrect to do its magic. Still slower than using a keyboard (when I am focused on typing I can type 60 wpm). Currently I am able to type about 30 wpm on the iPad. The iPad is not the best typing device. I personally miss the tab key, the underscore on the main keyboard, and cursor keys

Internet ...
Most websites are working fine. You learn some quirks like entering dates on calendars that are not optimized for mobile devices - zoom and slide etc. We are doing a pedometer challenge in our building and that site must use flash as it just appears blank. If it was just me, I would use a different site, but I have to use the site provided. (and they dont have an app).

I needed to edit a web page but the wysiwyg editor did not show properly on the iPad I managed to accomplish it but not as easy in a full browser.

I didn't realize just how much I did in emails / paperwork in a day. It was harder to be as efficient getting my regular work load done. That is real aha though.

I need to spend more time in the classroom. We have several key events coming up that require a level of productivity, but I will stick to using iPad. It will force me to think differently.

What if the iPad was the only device available to a teacher, a student, a class. Should it be wasted on productivity.... Perhaps there are other ways to get the desired result on an iPad by doing it differently or to quote APPLE Think different

Off to finish my emails today. Tomorrow I will do my blog without backspace for corrections...

Does an iPad replace other computers ?

I have bantered the idea of using my iPad only for the month of February.  If I am going to be immersed in supporting iPads with our teachers, I need to make the mind shift to use it for everything.

Currently my iPad is used less than maximum; however, I have access to a MacbookPro for work and a PC at home.

The question rises for schools - what if I only have an iPad?  Should we buy desktops or even laptops anymore?

I haven't quite decided myself if I will take on this challenge as there are challenges that I know will arise.
- What if I want to print?  Do I send it to a colleague? (not fair to them)  Do I try to get the district to have a new printer that accepts AirPrint?
- Can I create everything I need to on an iPad? - (Pages on iPad can't export to ePub)
- Will I be as efficient?  To search in First Class, it takes more steps on an iPad...

I am thinking that I should try this, but allow 30 minutes a day access to another computer.

Any thoughts or advice?

Technology as a change driver

Always fun to read something and see it with a different perspective.  This (http://t.co/8AwhthBe)  article from Finland shared that "Frequent surveys of Finnish teachers' use of technology in instruction, however, demonstrated that technology can't be the main driver of change in education."


This could be read as - 'Don't expect technology integration to result in changes to education." or "Technology doesn't drive change." or "Don't bother spending money on technology because it doesn't make a difference."


Using the driving metaphor, I support technology is not the driver of change; however, I would propose that it is the highway change is driving on.  The bumpy dirt road of the internet and pentium 100 computers of 15 years ago were dirt roads - they still got you places - but slower and maybe with some bumps and bruises along the way.


It was incredible today as I was talking with an incredible teacher colleague.  In one year, the work of his students has gathered 101, 000 views in their youtube channel.  The automotive industry is one of the most high tech in the world, yet schools often send their struggling and disengaged students there.  Mani Grewal at Frank Hurt Secondary School (http://www.youtube.com/user/FrankHurtAuto) has grown his program into an immensely popular program at the school and engages students with real world learning experiences and sharing their learning with the real world.  His shop functions as a shop with customers bringing in their vehicles with unknown problems.  The learning output of his students is phenomenal.  During this semester, they have overhauled 2 engines, did 6 cylinder gaskets, 3 clutches and numerous smaller jobs.  On top of it, they produced 6 more videos explaining their learning.


Students are learning with technology constantly in this 'classroom.'  They use All Data to assist with diagnosis and repair, they use power points and videos regularly in the classroom, and they use their personal devices to assist them writing tests.  


Returning to my premise though... Technology has empowered this awesome teacher to engage students, provide them extensive life skills, and provide a world audience to their work.  The driver is good thoughtful teaching.  The learning is deep and fast empowered by technology.

Response to InnovativeLearningDesigns.ca - To Gel or Not to Gel

I read the blog post noted above, and posted a comment.  After seeing what I was able to articulate, I thought it was worthy of its own post....


1.  Living, Learning and Teaching in Transformation is tiring and uncomfortable.  I believe that new learning doesn't occur unless we are a place of transformation.  If we are not uncomfortable, we know it already and are not motivated to learn.  Equally though we may learn every single day; we don't need to be learning every moment of every day.  Everything I know says if I want to learn French, I need to be immersed in French and not have English as an option.  Certainly uncomfortable but I would learn the language better than being a 'Language Tourist' where I can step back to being comfortable.

2.  Digital is a language.  Many of our students are Digital Natives and speak Digital fluently; however, just like our classrooms, not everyone comes to school with the skills to speak and learn with the language proficiently - even though it is the expected norm.

With Marc Prensky's work came the term Digital Immigrant and Digital Native.  The concept was native speakers and second language learners.  Research shows learning multiple languages is easiest before 6 years and dramatically difficult after 10 years old.  If we remain as a Digital Tourist that can use the language for 'excursions' of learning but return 'home' and revert to our old language, then students lose the immersion experience and we actually make it harder for students to learn the language as they get older.

Many students are bi-lingual with English and Digital; most teachers are too old to be Digital Native speakers.  Rather than being a Digital Tourist, some teachers have chosen to immerse themselves in Digital.  These teachers can become fluent in Digital and English.  Ideally all teachers will be fluent in both languages, but the most impact would be for helping students be bi-lingual by the age of 10.

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.  

Web 2.0 is not the Future of Education

In response to http://injenuity.com/archives/207#comment-1109

Jen,

An interesting conversation. I have to say I found your initial post provoking; however, I understand where you are coming from.

Our District Motto is "Keeping Learners at the Centre."

I don't know that Web2.0 is the right catch all but I will work within that category. I believe students today are different than even 10 years ago. If we want to keep them at the centre, we need to change as they and society changes. I do a lot of professional development workshops and get quite annoyed being asked to teach a software title. I reflect back to the requester to tell tell me what their learning goals are and ask how this will integrate to the curriculum.

A quote from Brigham Young University that I just love is "The goal of teaching is to teach our students to be learners. The content is what they practice with. "

With the world changing in ways such as a online community being compared to being a country with its size and other features. Students are different and have opportunities to learn differently. A few years back (probably 10 now) Bernajean Porter worked with our Ministry of Education to define technology use in three ways - Literacy - Adaptive and Transformative.

At some point we all need the literacy level (skills), then we can move to doing what we already do (PPT) to doing things not possible before. Transformative is where I want to see most of the time spent. Voice Thread was an example discussed earlier. If we just record ourselves that is just literacy, if we use it to practice a speech that might be adaptive, but if we use it to , that could have been done before . Using Voice Thread for a global (or local) conversation with voice, text, files, annotations was not possible.

Students and Teachers don't need to learn every Web2.0 application; however, we do need to prepare students to learn and use the tools that they will need throughout their life. (I actually don't use Voice Thread myself but I can see the potential.) I love working with wikispaces.com. It doesn't matter if you use Wikispaces or PB Wiki or any other tool. What I am teaching is becoming creators of information and publishing to a limited (or global audience.) I would hope that spending time learning to write with a wiki would transfer to other wikis, blogs, voice threads, and even podcasts.

I love using technology. I see so much potential. I totally agree that learning should be central.

I question where the balance is between "I am teaching them to learn so technology is a lower priority" and "I am teaching them to learn with technology"
Kevin