Semesters End, but Life Continues

Technology is rapidly evolving, and we need to stay on our toes to make the most of our opportunities.  What technologies can make our lives easier & classrooms better -- and what's just a distraction?  College has prepared us to be lifelong learners -- but technology demands that we do so actively, not passively.  Like fire, technology can warm our imaginations, but it can also burn us if we aren't careful or use it inappropriately.

I've written the last blog post required by my Technology in the Classroom class.  This is neither a good thing, nor a bad thing, but it is a thing -- an event, and there will be changes because of it.

While I do plan to continue this blog, but as a wife, mother, student, & employee I find that my time is stretched to the breaking point.  Now that I've completed my blogging assignments, I may run into periods when assignments and family life make writing blog posts impossible.  During a slower period, I plan to write some "blogs in reserve" to post during these busy times.  It is my goal to drop at least one post per month.

So that's the bad news - blog frequency will decline, and we may pass through some dry spells.  The good news is that I'm no longer going to be guided by a grading rubric, so I won't be going down a checklist, contriving ways to mention various talking points.  I don't mean to say that rubrics are bad -- they're not -- only that needing to hit specific talking points can sometimes create an awkward document as the writer contrives linkages between required elements.  I also hope to return to the wonder of the sci-fi theme I'd envisioned for this blog when I started it.

Well, projects are looming and my daughter's excited countdown to her birthday party (this weekend) only emphasizes how little time I have left.  It will be a minor miracle if I get another blog post off this year, but I sincerely hope to be back in January.  And so, on that note, happy holidays, and have a wonderful new year.

Like a Spelling Bee, But Different

I was reading a November 13, 2013 Lucacept blog post today, and it started me thinking in two directions.  First Jenny talks about Programming Challenge 4 Girls, which got me thinking about merging that idea with a spelling bee format, and couldn't we make a fun event that supported the curriculum while promoting technological savviness?  As the blog post continues, Jenny talks about how Victoria, Australia is gearing up for a curriculum shift, and they're using Google Hangouts and Google + to form a learning community.  She reflects on how this is a good way to train everyone when the number of trainers available isn't up to the task of covering that much geographical territory, and how bringing someone in digitally is a great way to serve the students when the expert they would benefit from simply isn't available locally.  This last bit made me wonder if she's discovered Skype in the Classroom yet, because that looks like a fantastic clearinghouse of experts willing to digitally visit classrooms for free.

Holding a Tech Bee
Ok, so maybe a "bee" format doesn't make sense, but what if there was a contest where kids used computer programming to move an avatar through an obstacle course - and the first avatar to cross the finish line won?  I can't find any justification for this sort of an event in the Common Core, but this seems like a fun way to encourage kids to learn a programming language and gain a high level of comfort using computer systems -- skills they will likely find useful as adults.

A fun idea, but how can we modify it to suit the Common Core?  I looked at how Howard County is implementing Common Core, and found something in the High School Educational Technology curriculum description.  On page 3, one of the standards is to troubleshoot hardware & software problems such as error messages, as well as being proficient in the use of computers and their accessories (page 1).  A competition to support this might be to have several heats where kids race to complete progressively harder tasks -- from successfully setting something up (wirelessly link this laptop to that projection system and start the movie playing in such a way that an entire classroom should be able to hear the audio) to fixing a known error (find out why this computer won't print - winner is the first to discover that the printer is out of paper, refill the paper tray, and print a test sheet.)  Students in different schools can compete either between each other, for a school champion, or compete between schools by having the best times collected on a common webpage.  And there's really no reason why you couldn't do both.

An unfair, but highly practical, version of this competition would be to use real malfunctioning computers.  This is unfair because the errors could range from, "I don't know what was wrong, but it's working now -- I just turned it on" to "It's dead Jim," (completely unfixable).  Such a variation in challenge difficulty (and the difficulty of determining if the student's right about a system being officially dead) wouldn't make for fair time trials - but it would help keep an aging technology fleet running.

One variant of this could be that students who rank highly in the repairs contest gain the opportunity to attempt repairs on real broken computers.  Attempting repairs should be done in a designated area, during designated times, and successful repairs can be rewarded with repair points (person with the most repair points gets hailed as "master fixer" - rather like the Scare Board on Monster's Inc - or some school treat like a free ticket to something or a free snack in the cafeteria).  On the one hand, these students would gain real world experience in computer repair, but on the other, they could damage the machines further or access data that they really shouldn't have access to (especially if it's a teacher's computer.)

The idea's far from perfect -- but maybe it can evolve again, growing into something that really can be implemented.

Digital Experts
As for the second topic for today... well, topic one was long enough so lets keep this short.  Video conferencing with real experts is an excellent idea, particularly on the last day before a break or another time when something is distracting the kids.  You've got a pair of half days just before Thanksgiving break?  Skype a marine biologist into your science class.  Maybe they're so excited that sitting and reading is difficult, but they can video conference with the author of that book you're reading in Language Arts.  Our textbook, Meaningful Learning with Technology (Howland, Jonassen & Marra, 2012) discusses a variety of video conferencing ideas and programs, but my favorite is Skype in the Classroom -- which is the technology I presented to my technology in the classroom class a couple of weeks ago.

The video conferencing that Jenny was primarily talking about in her blog, though, was for professional development -- and why not?  It's a great idea that is used in many fields of work!  If you don't have the expert you need locally, then bring them in remotely.  Whether it's teaching  the teachers across entire state (or province) about the new curriculum standards or having a professional artist explain to a high school art class about her painting technique, a live encounter (even when delivered digitally) will have a greater impact on learning than something pre-recorded and non-interactive.

So... What's out there?
Technology opens many doors to us, but if we aren't careful, we may find ourselves reinventing wheels when we could be using them instead.  Do any of you readers know of a tech competition in your area?  Have you participated in a professional development video conference?  I would love to hear about it!  Collaborating as professionals, we can enrich the learning experience for our students.

My Opinion: Student Taught vs. Teacher Taught Classrooms

I've been taking two classes this semester, so as the semester draws toward a close, I've been thinking somewhat on how the two classes were organized.

My undergraduate class had the teacher standing in front of the class, using Keynote (the Mac version of Power Point) to deliver his lectures.  Occasionally we'd turn in projects, take tests, and participate in class.  While the professor said he encouraged discussion in the class, most of his questions were rhetorical and my initial attempts to answer actually disrupted the lecture.  I get the feeling that he's become so accustomed to students not participating, that he's no longer prepared for students who do.

My graduate class, on the other hand, is in a much nicer classroom, and is full of students who had to work hard to be there.  Many of us are parents, so our being in school is hard work for our families, and not just ourselves.  In this class, we've taken turns teaching, presenting our chapters and leading discussions and hands on activities.  Conversation is active and on topic in this class.

So... which format is better?  That depends.

Subject areas where there really is a clear cut right or wrong answer, like math, benefit from having a teacher run each class.  In my undergraduate class, one of the other students talked about how, in one of her other science or medicine classes, their teacher let the class "waste their time" pursuing an incorrect line of thought for three whole class periods before he told them that the answer actually was something else.  Frankly, I'd be ... quite upset ... if that happened in one of my classes.  I am too busy to have my time wasted like that, and don't want to later have to unlearn falsehoods I learned at school!  If the other professor was teaching something by letting the students chase their tails like that, the lesson was lost on my classmate.  These subject areas might benefit from a lot of discussion, and maybe a seminar format, but for these subject areas, I want my teacher to stand up there and say, "This is how it is.  Now lets explore WHY."

Other subject areas are rapidly evolving, like technology, or are open to a certain amount of interpretation, like literature and much of history.  In these classes, having students teach at least part of the class can not only keep the lesson up to date, but will also infuse multiple points of view into the discussion.  In my technology class, our text was last revised in 2012 - and only a year later we're finding that some of the programs being discussed are no longer available.  A professor who writes his/her lesson plan too early could find the same things happening with their planned lecture.  When students are doing it, the lesson is being revised up until the absolute last minute (in most cases), keeping it fresh.  In this class format, the teacher's primary job is then to ensure that what the student is teaching is correct, and that everything that should have been covered has been.

As if this isn't a "yes and no" answer enough already, I must add a third category: the hybrid.  Lets take a subject like medicine - there are clear cut wrong answers, it is a rapidly evolving topic, and there is a certain amount of interpretation as western medicine meets eastern, holistic, and alternative medicine.  For these classes, I'd maybe devote 3/4 of the class to teacher led lecture and discussion - then leave the last 1/4 for a student presentation on topically relevant innovations or theories.

I must add a further provision onto my opinions - letting students teach a class is something that works in adult education, but I'm not sure it'd work in K-12.  I say this because the student-led classroom depends on motivated students.  After I've learned more of the teacher end of the School Librarian's craft, I may change my mind, but until then I'm just not sure it'd work.

My 21st Century Girl

My daughter's favorite song, for the moment anyway, is 21st Century Girl by Willow.  One night during bath time, she asked me for the song.  I found it on iTunes, previewed a section of it (so Bridget could tell me I had the right one, and so I could see if I objected to it), got her promise that she'd pay me the $1.30 purchase price, downloaded it, then listened to the full song -- all before bath time was over.  Wow - when I was her age, I was learning how to use our new Apple II+.  I still find it rather sci-fi that I can do all that while supervising bath time.

As I listen to the song, repeatedly, I can see why B likes it so much - the song is all about her.  B is 6 years old, so she was born in the 21st century.  She finds everything about wi-fi, tablets, and laptop computers to be status-quo, just a part of the world that she lives in.  Which it is - but 20th century girl that I am, I still remember the amazement of seeing my first flat screen monitor.  The song also talks about being strong, independent, and a rebel with class.  Personally, I have no problem with my daughter setting her sights on those goals - especially if being a rebel means that she adheres to a stronger moral code than what television tells us is normal for America.

This weekend, we shared the song with my mother.  I'd been so wrapped up in the lyrics and B's enjoyment of the song, that I'd failed to ask the obvious question -- but Mom asked it for me.  "Where's you find this song?"  Apparently, one of the other kids on B's school bus played the song on "her technology".  Really?  The BYOD pilot program in Howard County is only in 3 high schools - very definitely not reaching my daughter's elementary school yet, so the girl on the bus wasn't supposed to have "her technology" with her.  I'd thought that the bus driver had played the song on the radio.  Silly me - this is the 21st century after all.

My tech class text book has talked about how B's generation is different than mine - she's part of the mobile generation, native texters, while I'm just part of the digital age, a texting immigrant.  My parents use technology, but not with the same ease that my brothers and I do - and as B grows up, she's leaving me and her uncles in the dust.  B uses computers with the same ease that she uses crayons, and reading on the screen is as natural as reading from a page.  We're both very comfortable with the technology available to us, but where I feel amazement at everything we can do now - a science fictional magic of sorts - my 21st century girl only sees the world as it ought to be.

Budgets Cutting our Future

It has often been asserted that illiteracy rates can predict the size of future prison populations.  While Gary Romano will tell you that this is an urban legend, it is plausible enough to be repeated without a source or fact checking.  According to Gary, this easily refuted legend distracts from the proven correlation between literacy rates among the poor and high school drop out rates.  Dropping out of high school, in turn, severely limits both the student and society at large.

If literacy, and education as a whole, is so important, why are libraries, both public and in the schools, being attacked by budget cuts?  In these lean times, we must cut where we don't want to - but is it really necessary to cut our future?  Joyce Valenza quotes articles from around the country, each proclaiming another blow to their libraries.  The Common Core curriculum repeatedly emphasizes the need for students to become technologically savvy.  The Core requires that students learn how to select reputable information from a variety of sources, including online resources.  Traditionally, if a family doesn't have access to a computer at home, they could go to the library to use one - but what happens when the library and its resources are cut?

Once upon a time, while I was working for the public library, we were confident that the oncoming bad economy wouldn't hurt us too badly.  Our branch manager said that they'd keep us open and operating, because we provided computer access and shelter to the public.  In hard times, when our public finds it increasingly difficult to have these things at home, we'd become even more essential.  We'd be helping adults with resumes, children with homework, cool air in the summer and heat in the winter.  Our branch manager was wrong - and the sad thing is, it's the communities that need these services the most who are being hit the hardest.

Not all the library systems have been hit.  In Joyce's blog post (linked above), she tells us that, while both public and school libraries have been decimated by cuts in near by Philadelphia (for example, she's heard that there are no certified librarians left in Philadelphia's high schools), her library is still providing a wide range of services.

Access to libraries and librarians isn't the entirety of the issue either.  Doug Johnson's Blue Skunk Blog addressed another issue in his Tech and Trust post.  He discusses how some school systems are teaching students to be technologically responsible, while others are restricting access - both with the goal of keeping students safe.  The first group is learning how to think for themselves, and make mistakes in a relatively safe environment.  The second group is learning what's handed to them, and most of their problem solving revolves around defeating the restrictions placed upon them.  They must fail on their own time - which means that there is unlikely to be a safety net to limit the repercussions of their mistakes.

So, with the Common Core telling us things like:

"Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others."

... And the Census reporting that roughly a quarter of American households don't have access to a computer and Internet at home, it seems to be the height of irresponsibility to cut public access in order to save a little money.  In doing so, we are limiting the opportunities for the poor to gain the skills necessary to break into the middle class, which then could make it possible to move into a more affluent area with better services.

With one group of students struggling to have access to the technology needed to meet Common Core standards, or having access to technology that has been filtered to the point that they don't have to learn responsible use practices - and another group of students learning to select and use appropriate technologies for a variety of tasks... I think I know which group will generate more leaders.

Meaningful Learning with Technology, by Howland, et al, gives readers many ideas for using technology to create a meaningful learning environment for students.  With video conferencing (in chapter 5), we can visit other countries without leaving home.  Chapter 2 discusses safe ways to learn online without falling into traps laid by disreputable information sources, and becoming more responsible online citizens.  Chapter 6 speaks to ways to build up the community at large.... but the value of all these lovely ideas and capabilities is limited when access to the technology is restricted.

The information age offers many opportunities to those who have access to it.  When budget cuts necessitate limitations to public access, we are not only limiting the futures of many students, but lowering our own future tax base.  On the whole, better educated adults earn more, spend more, and pay more in taxes than those who dropped out of school.

By failing to ensure access to information for ALL Americans (which means computers, Intranet, and librarians) we are creating a trickle-up economy of failure.  Fewer opportunities lead to lower pay, leading to less tax money to fund services & jobs (and less spending, reducing the number of private sector jobs).  Fewer jobs leads to more people needing public assistance despite less money being available to pay for it... and there you have a downward spiral that is very difficult to break out of.  If, on the other hand, schools and libraries have the funding they need to engage learners, ensuring access for all, I am confidant that we can reverse the spiral into a cycle of success.

Slide Rules on Starships

Once upon a time, my parents were snuggled up on the couch, eating popcorn and oranges, and watching a sci-fi movie.  I'm not sure what they were watching, but apparently the starship had to jump into hyperdrive so the crew had to quickly calculate their destination -- a fairly common scenario, until the navigator pulled out a slide rule.  What?!  My parents were taught how to use slide rules, but my generation stands a reasonable chance of never having seen one in person and my kids have probably never even heard of them.  I understand that they are a very fast and accurate way of doing math - if you know how to use it - but the point is, they're so obsolete that its silly to find them on a starship.

I'm telling you this because I ran into a (debatably) similar situation last week.  I'm currently taking two classes, one at the graduate level, and one in undergraduate territory.  The fact that I vastly prefer grad school territory has nothing to do with the midterms and finals that undergrads need to take, but that's another story.  (Ask me in the comments area if you really want to hear it.)  So anyway... 

Once upon a time, last week, I was attending a class whose entire topic was reviewing the previous weeks' classes and preparing for the midterm.  Toward the end of class, I raised my hand, "Excuse me, but at the risk of showing my age, what format will the test be?  Bluebook?  Worksheet?  Scantron?"  I threw in the last as a joke, looking for a laugh from the teacher while risking the ridicule of my classmates for seriously considering such an old test-taking method.  When the confirmed that it would be Scantron, I thought he was joking - then I felt insulted.

Why did I feel insulted by being asked to take a Scantron?  Maybe it is because Scantron is older than I am, and I'd thought we'd left it in the dust.

It is only a slight exaggeration to say that this was my first Scantron test in 20 years.  I know I took them in high school, and I'll maybe attend my 20 year reunion in 2015.  While I might have done a Scantron in college (graduated almost 15 years ago), I'm only remembering bluebook and short answer on worksheets.  In my senior year, I took the GRE (the graduate school version of an SAT) and was among the first groups of people taking the test on a computer.  I don't remember any Scantron tests in grad school, ten years ago, but grads tend not to do midterms or finals - we do projects, papers, and presentations (the 3 P's of advanced education).  So, with my last brush with Scantron being 15 years ago, when I was given a choice between Scantron or computer... is it any wonder that I thought that the testing method had gone the way of the slide rule?

After I put a county line between me and my teacher, I was quite vocal in my indignation over being asked to take a Scantron test - and got a mixed response.  Some folks agreed with me - shocked surprise that anyone was still using that stone age technology, and I should brush up on my Cuneiform just in case the teacher used it while writing the test.  Other folks were surprised at my response - Scantron tests were quite normal - used all the time in fact.  Sure its an older technology, but we still use books, don't we?

My old roommate from Undergrad is a substitute teacher in Harford County's middle schools.  She heard me out, then told me that Scantron was used frequently in her schools because they were easier to grade and very time efficient from the teacher's point of view.  I suppose another benefit of the Scantron, as opposed to a more computer based solution, is that they already have the Scantron infrastructure set up.  My old roommate has told me about how many of the students attending her school come from disadvantaged homes - homes where academics need to take a back seat because the students weren't sure if they had food for dinner or a safe place to sleep that night.  Maybe she was exaggerating, and maybe she wasn't - but her kids aren't likely to be able to participate in any BYOD programs their school starts.

BYOD?  What's that got to do with Scantrons?

I firmly believe that it isn't enough to complain about things that bother you - you need to also offer suggestions for how to improve the situation.  Thinking back to my earlier post about Howard County's BYOD pilot program and my computerized GRE test 15 years ago, why can't computerized tests replace Scantrons?  The test can be presented using software that is readable by students' BYOD devices, and laptops can be distributed to students who either don't have a device, or who don't feel that their screen is large enough for comfortable test taking.  Maybe the teacher only uploads the test on the morning of the test, and the software prevents the use of other windows/tabs, which could be used for cheating.  If such a scenario were to take place, multiple choice tests could be graded instantly (as my GRE was) and short answer/essay questions could be integrated into the test and graded manually.

Its an idea anyway.  All the benefits of Scantron, with even faster grading and an opportunity to evolve.  Think about it - if YOU were to make a hyperspace jump, would you rather the navigator use a slide rule, or something a bit more up to date?

One More Thing About the BYOD Pilot

When I was discussing Howard County's new pilot program for BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) earlier today, I forgot to mention another aspect of the program being tested.  While I read about the BYOD program, I kept thinking about how UDL it all sounded.  UDL is Universal Design for Learning, and made me think of it was a quote in the CBS Baltimore article I read:

“They can fit what’s their style the best, and the comfort in the technology they have,” said Scott Ruehl, principal.

We learned about UDL in class a few weeks back, and its attempts to appeal to all learning types really makes me think of the Special Ed classes I was in while growing up - only rather than giving me tips and techniques to leverage my strengths into the mainstream, it is giving the bag of tricks to the mainstream for everyone to play with.  Not a bad idea, if you can make it work.

With this as my background, it is understandable that I keep thinking of BYOD as a way to not only get tech into the hands of more students, allowing them to learn by doing rather than watching, but also as a way to meet IEP in a fairly discrete manner.  A hard of hearing student may have a program loaded on their device that will translate the teacher's speech into text, which can be saved as a data file.  Students with poor eyesight can increase the font size on their screens, rather than hunching over a magnifying glass as one of my high school classmates needed to do.  Dyslexic students can have apps downloaded to their device, allowing the device to read to them through a set of earbuds.  Technology can't solve every learning challenge - but its tool box is diverse enough to accommodate most learning challenges and preferences.

One thing that I discovered, returning to this subject this evening, is that Howard County is not the first school system to try the BYOD program - it is just the first that I've heard of.  A Google search for "BYOD" comes up with a wide array of results, mostly from businesses or providing definitions and evaluations.  Refining the search to "BYOD in schools" cuts the results in half, but with around 836,000 hits - there's still plenty to choose from.  Just reading my results list, I understand that many school systems across the country are trying BYOD programs in their schools, and that there is a lively debate about whether or not this is a good thing.

At this point, I believe that BYOD has spread far enough into the worlds of business and education that the question isn't "are we going to adopt this?" but rather, "how are we going to adopt this?".   So, on that note, I'll simply leave you with links to two sites where you can find some excellent videos on BYOD: Hanover Public Schools in Pennsylvania, and Long Reach High School in Howard County, Maryland.

Howard County's New Pilot Program: May it Fly High & Far

As I mentioned in my first entry, I started this blog as part of a schoolwork assignment.  I've had a fun time writing it, but now that I've a project due date looming, I've had to sit down and evaluate whether or not I've met the blogging project's goals thus far.  Thank goodness for that!  Had it not been for this assignment, I might have missed reading about Howard County's new BYOD Pilot Program!  Seriously folks, this was like sitting down to do homework, and finding King Midas sitting across the study table from me.  (No sir - I'll get my own drink - I prefer mine to be liquid, not gold.)

So... what is this BYOD Pilot?  According to CBS Baltimore, three high schools in Howard County, Maryland are now allowing students to bring their own internet ready devices to school for use during class time.  The full details of this pilot can be found on the Howard County Public School System's website.  Included on that page are links to the guidelines that students and teachers must abide by, and a copy of the agreement that students and their parents must sign to participate.  Not only has Howard County laid out the responsibilities and consequences of bringing in personal devices, but according to CBS Baltimore's article, students are abiding by the agreements and using their technology responsibly.

I find this idea to be ultra cool both as a mother and as a future Library Media Specialist.  To fully explain why I feel this way, lets imagine that this program catches on and is rolled out county wide.  My daughter is in elementary school, and that is where I hope to land as a Media Specialist, so lets look at how this program works at the elementary school level.

Looking at the School Media curriculum, particularly for grades PreK-1, I find that locating and evaluating resources, as well as generating, recording, and organizing data, are important features of a curriculum that specifically mentions online and multimedia resources.  The BYOD program would allow more students to actively participate in the learning process without the teacher needing to reserve the computer lab or one of the mobile labs.  As they construct keyword searches, or conduct simulations in other classes, they can compare their results to what they wanted - discovering ways to become more efficient or reliable.  By breaking down larger tasks into smaller steps that they record into a todo list, using as app on their own device, or creating a research plan, the students can plan with intent in a format that they can take with them.  Most importantly, student research becomes more authentic because students are learning to use tools, hardware and software, that they can access outside of school - learning skills and approaches that they can apply to any challenge life throws at them.  The CBS Baltimore article also specifically mentions that students are working cooperatively  in the BYOD program, working in teams to compensate for not everyone having a web enabled device.

So why, your distracted mind asks, have I typed five words in bold font?  Howland, Jonassen & Marra, in their textbook Meaningful Learning with Technology, assert that these five elements (active, intentional, constructive, authentic & cooperative) are characteristics of meaningful learning.  As an introvert, I object to "cooperative" being one of these elements - but this is my class textbook, so I'll run with it for the duration of the class.  Howland et al have until Christmas to change my mind.

Despite my quibbling over one aspect of what is or is not meaningful learning, I do believe the BYOD program will promote meaningful learning with technology without creating a financial drain on the school system.  Without mucking about with keywords, BYOD allows students to use technology themselves, not just watching someone use it, discovering and solving problems using tools that they'll actually have access to outside the classroom.  The same device that helps Bridget discover the capital of Brazil can help her discover when The Little Mermaid comes out on DVD (and Mommy, can we please buy it?  Please please please???!).

As a mother, how can I not be happy when I see my kids learn to use tools to answer their own questions?  (Ok, so not the "can we buy The Little Mermaid?" question, but maybe "why is the sky blue?" or "why can't I Skype Uncle Stewart (in Japan) during lunch?")  As a Library Media Specialist, how can I not get excited at the prospect of a more hands on, interactive, approach to the online and multimedia resources that it will be my responsibility to teach?  

Many many years ago, I remember playing Where in the World is Carmen Sanediego? as part of my elementary school media class time - our teacher used it as a way to learn how to use the Card Catalog and other library tools.  Now I have visions of a classroom using their mobile devices and library resources to solve Mystery Skype challenges.  Same idea - but much cooler.

When push comes to shove, I think the only thing I'm not 100% sold on is the idea of putting an iPad into my daughter's pink, sparkly, glitter encrusted backpack and sending it to school.  I love the idea of her using one... but I guess this is something I should just learn to get comfortable with because I know that it's a good idea.  But still - first grade?!  Did you not see the pile of backpacks at the bus stop as the kids ran races while waiting for the bus this morning?  I'll just have to reimagine that iPad to have thick (pink) bumpers and other protections to guard against drops, scrapes, and other consequences of childhood use - not the sleek black case that mine has.  Ahh... that's better.

And maybe BYOD won't reach the elementary schools at all - starting in middle school perhaps.  Such a limitation would be as smart as it is unfortunate.  But for it to get there, the pilot must be successful.  For now, it appears to be doing well - let us hope it continues to fly high.

Cloning Solomon's Baby

We're all familiar with the story of King Solomon and the two women who both claimed a baby to be theirs.  His solution was to threaten to kill the child, cutting it in half, because the real mother would give up anything, even her parental rights, to see her child safe.  An interesting solution to the problem, but what if Solomon had been able to clone the child instead?

The reason I ask this is because I was reading the Blue Skunk Blog where Doug Johnson used this story to illustrate the problem - and possible solution - to IP ownership, schools, and teachers.  He claims that teachers are increasingly using Moodle units that they create instead of textbooks.  Supposing that this is true (and I don't see why not - my brief exploration of Moodle.net found some very interesting teaching tools), it raises the question of who owns the Moodle material.

According to Doug's research, at the K-12 level, current policies tend to assign IP ownership to the schools, presuming that the materials were made on school time and with school materials, but at the collegiate level, most policies assign the IP to the teacher.  Now how is either of these situations fair?  The school is paying for the teacher's time, so they should benefit from the products of that time, but the teacher actually made the IP, so they should benefit as well.

A brief tangent: this issue of IP fairness actually hits fairly close to home for me.  Family lore says that one of my great uncles invented several of the things that allow airplanes to fly as high as they do - including the pressurized cabin.  We should be rich, right?  Well no - Uncle Nathan invented these things during work time, so his employer holds the patents - and the courts upheld their claim to the royalties.

Back on topic: What Doug proposes in his Blue Skunk Blog is that, rather than maintain the current, unfair, situation, we should clone the baby.  Why not give both the school and the teacher IP ownership.  I whole heartedly agree with his proposal for how this would work.  If his proposed policy is adopted, teachers can take their work with them when the move on to another school, and the school can make the work available to all of the teachers they employ.  And if we can't tell which baby is the original and which is the clone - or if they grow up to live very different lives (one a Creative Commons piece, while the other becomes part of a subscription service) - then that's fine as well.

Good Night Tech Princess

Earlier this week, my husband practically met me at the door as I came home from working the closing shift at work.  Typically, when he does this, he hands me our toddler who has found new and innovative ways to defeat our feeble attempts at child proofing.  This week, it was different.  "She's just gone to bed.  I know its late, but she wants to read that story on the iPad with you.  If she's already asleep, I promised her 20 minutes tomorrow."

I grabbed my iPad, sprinted up the stairs and crept into her room - and there she was, awake and beaming because we got our story time.  Bridget, who's 6 1/2, loves reading Girl Genius by Phil & Kaja Foglio.  Our deal is that she reads all the humans, and I read everything else - but she keeps reading my parts.  Anyway, if you follow the link to our story, you'll discover a couple of things:

1) This is an online comic.  Some people may have issues with a comic or graphic novel being read for reading homework, but I'm not one of them.  She's reading - they're words - she understands what's going on - and most of her other books are heavily illustrated anyway.

2) As far as reading level goes - this should be beyond her.  Funny thing though - is that it isn't.  I read the monsters and the robots (called "clanks") because they sometimes talk strangely or in an odd font, but using the pictures and asking questions, she seems to be following the story quite nicely.

Now, does the fact that we're reading this on the iPad make any difference to her?  I probably would not have shared it with her if I was limited to what I could pull up on my laptop or desktop computer.  I could buy the books, but Bridget didn't appreciate the other graphic novels I've shown her.  Given that she does play with the page zoom, and we race to see who can tap the "next" button when we reach the bottom of each page... I think the digital format does matter.  And after our 10 minutes are up, our alarm goes off (a "Despicable Me" minion saying "hi") and we know it's time to stop.  This time, because it was late, I read an extra page or two as a bedtime story, kissed her goodnight, and crept downstairs.

When I bought the iPad, I never imagined that it would be such an important tool in our mother-daughter bonding.  If we didn't have the tech, we'd be reading something else together - but of all the books and games we've shared, she likes this one best.  And I like it too - the other Girl Genius browser tab is for me.

A Wedding by International Committee - Thank You Facebook

I've been reading chapter 5 of my textbook, Meaningful Learning with Technology by Howland, Jonassen & Marra, which discusses communicating with technologies, and my mind kept wandering back to my brother's wedding.

Stewart and Lena got married this summer.  It was a wonderful event and I love the new branch on our family tree, but that's not why I kept thinking of it.  Stewart and Lena live in Japan, the wedding was to be in Maryland, and the Bride's Maids/Groom's Men came from New England, California, New Orleans, North Carolina, and Maryland.  Stewart and Lena were only to arrive back in the US 1-2 weeks before the big day, so all the planning had to be done across all those time zones.  Thank God for the Internet!  (Think of the phone bills, otherwise!)

Much of our planning was done via Facebook's messages program, where we maintained at least 3 conversation threads.  We discussed decorations, shared pictures of things we either already had or could rent, and eventually got approval from the bridal pair.  Jobs were delegated through these discussions, and almost everything was planned here.  Sometimes the discussions would be real-time, when more than one person happened to be online at once, but other times we'd leave a message, go to bed, and find the response in the morning -- all because Japan's timezone is 11 hours off of Maryland.  We even managed to organize pot-luck refreshments for the reception!

Lena also used Pinterest to share pictures of things she and Stewart liked - allowing the rest of us to do the local footwork.  My daughter was the flower girl, and conversations on Facebook combined with Pinterest pictures combined to help me alter a dress to suit Lena's idea of what she wanted.  Sending pictures and questions back and forth meant that I could sew with confidence - they'd see the dress even before they arrived.

One of the people helping organize the wedding has chosen not to be on Facebook - which actually caused some problems as Facebook users had to parrot information back and forth for the non-Facebook users.  That's when Skype came in.  Stewart and Lena were able to hold real time discussions with them, working out the details.  Based upon these conversations, we were able to arrange for the various rentals.

During the wedding itself, the music was piped in via a computer's playlist, which had been carefully selected in advance, and many people were running around taking pictures with their digital cameras.  After the wedding, hundreds of these pictures were posted online - on picture sharing websites or shared on Facebook.  I can now say, with confidence, that I have more pictures of my brother's wedding than I do of my own.  And I love every one.

In the end, we were able to arrange, hold, and recover from an awesome wedding by international committee.  They said it couldn't be done - but thanks to internet based communications technology, it went very well.  Cue the music from "It's a Small World" - because it truly is.

A Whole New World

Ten years ago, I earned my Masters degree at the University of Maryland.  Returning, to become certified in school media, I find that I'm not the only one who's changed in some rather fundamental ways.

Last night, I was reading my textbook using Kindle on my iPad.  I love being able to do that, because my iPad textbook weighs far less than the print text my other class uses.  I can highlight in the app, and leave notes, but I can't leave notes floating in the margin (boo!) and I haven't figured out how to leave bookmarks yet.  Yes, the Kindle will jump straight to the page I last viewed, but I was reading chapters 1 and 10, and now I'm working on a project in chapter 5.  With a print text, I can use just about anything (flat) as a bookmark - with this e-reader, I've a learning curve ahead of me.

So, as I was saying, I was reading along in my lightweight textbook, highlighting and note taking away, quietly listening to music to screen out the distractions of working in a public place, when I came across a word I didn't know.  Ten years ago, I'd've looked for context clues to figure out what the word meant, or looked it up in the dictionary if I happened to be at home or work.  Last night, I highlighted the word and asked the app what it meant.  Kindle checked an online dictionary and I no longer had to guess.  A little while later, a quiet chime and a small box in the middle of my screen told me that it was time to pack up and walk to class.  Ten years ago, I'd've been anxiously checking my watch every minute or so, afraid that I'd be late.

Progressing on to today, when I'm back on campus for my other class - the one with the print text book.  I'm schlepping across campus with my computer bag and stuff bag, wilting under the heat and the weight.  While I'm considering converting over to a backpack, I'm also thinking about whether or not actually need everything I'm hauling with me.  The computer bag is obvious - I need the laptop and iPad to do my homework.  My other bag... what's in it?  I could leave my purse at home if I took the wallet and a few pens (which could all live in my pockets).  The real weight, and reason for the bag, is my text book and notebook.  But do I really need them?

The text book wasn't offered as an e-book, so I do need to carry it with me.  As for the notebook?  That's more complicated.  Back in the '90s, I was taught that notes were taken in notebooks.  This idea is so entrenched in my psyche that I'm having trouble accepting the evidence of my eyes - that most students in my class take their notes directly onto their laptops.  The fact that all the laptops are Macs is probably due to this being the College of Education - I'd expect the Business College to be mostly PC.  Looking at myself, my real notes (the ones that I actually review) are being taken using the Audiolio app on my iPad.  I'm an auditory learner with very little time for reading - but if I import the Audiolio file into iTunes, I can review the lecture while driving or cooking.  And do you know what?  I actually hear more of the lecture the second or third times through - content I'd've missed completely if I was relying on the traditional pen and paper notes.

I don't know when, or if, I'll be able to cut the strings and come to class without my notebook, but at least I recognize it as the crutch that it is.  Who knows, maybe the lure of leaving that second bag at home may help push me the rest of the way into the digital age.  I love technology - it's hard to believe I'm this resistant to migrating away from my (spiral) notebook!

A Beginning

Looking around me, I find that much that was science fiction is now science fact.  Anyone watching "The Prophets of Science Fiction," which I believe airs periodically on the Science Network, can see how a wide variety of technologies were predicted by science fiction authors, but it doesn't end there.  Look around you - in many ways, science fiction is science reality.  To use Star Trek's terms, I have a communicator (a non-smart cell phone) in my pocket, my rudimentary tricorder (an iTouch) went missing last month, and my data pad (an iPad) sits next to me.  I'm also typing on a laptop so thin, I could lose it under a sheet of paper if I'm not careful - but I've never seen one of those on the Enterprise.  Somehow, star ships still use desktop computers, I guess.

My point is, technology is all around us, changing how we accomplish tasks and altering what is possible.  I am beginning a class investigating the use of technology in education, so my first posts will focus on that area of advancement.  After the class, I hope to continue this blog, possibly expanding the scope to discuss other ways technology can enhance (or distract) our lives.

Have fun reading - and I hope you'll contribute your thoughts as well.