Dangerously Irrelevant

Chad Frerichs, Director of Technology for the Okoboji (IA) Community Schools, listened to Episode 4 of the 4 Guys Talking podcast and disagreed with Jeff Mao’s assertion that netbooks were not viable options for 1:1 laptop programs.

Here is Chad’s Tweet:

Here is Chad’s follow-up e-mail to me:

We've not been using them yet. I have been demoing varioius units for the last 2 months for consideration for purchase for next school year. I have been loving them. I have to admit I was skeptical and had the same reservations going in, but I have proven myself wrong. I have upgraded each demo unit to XP Pro (we have available licenses), and they have all ran smoothly. I await Win 7 which is supposed to have Atom specific things in it. I have been using Google Earth, Movie Maker, Gimp, OpenOffice.org, etc. without issue. Granted Google Earth is slow during the 3D stuff, and Movie Maker takes a little longer to do massive amounts of transitions/effects, but it is very workable. I have made a 'news cast' on each of the netbooks demoed with multiple transitions/effects with the built in camera and mic. A project I envision students doing. I have edited photos in Gimp and applied multiple filters without issues.
 
I have been proven wrong about these things. I think they are a viable solution for us, and possibly others. Are there drawbacks? Absolutely, but viable none-the-less. I think we will be ordering 72 or 96 of them for next year.

Your thoughts?

Okay, I don’t know if this is a great idea or a dumb one but I thought I’d roll it out and see (the Twittersphere seemed to like it a few days ago)…

I am pleased to announce the formation of BlogTweetCook.org, an online edublogger/eduTwitterer cookbook. Are you an educator who blogs or tweets? Do you also have a great recipe to share? If so, head on over to Blog Tweet Cook and add your delicious contribution(s)!

As always, suggestions and feedback are welcome!

[Hat tip to an earlier, unpublicized idea by Jennifer Jones, John Pederson (Pot Roast Nachos!), and Cindy Seibel.]

A week ago I asked for your help identifying model 21st century schools. Although I knew of a few schools or districts that were good models of what the new learning paradigm might look like, I was sure that there were many more schools out there that were doing great things when it came to project- or inquiry-based learning, technology integration, and so on.

Here’s what we have so far:

• 36 schools/districts in the USA, representing only 18 states
• 6 international schools, representing 5 countries

So, as you can see, we have a long way to go toward meeting my goal of at least 2 schools in each state and at least 50 in other countries.

Why don’t we have more? Several reasons, I’m guessing:

1. My readers don’t know what the exemplary 21st century schools are in their state/country,
2. I wasn’t persuasive enough for my readers to actually go to the Moving Forward wiki and enter the schools that they know about, and/or
3. There just aren’t that many exemplary 21st century schools.

While #3 is probably true to a certain extent, I’m guessing (hoping?) that each state has at least 2 schools that can serve as models for others. And I’m positive that some states, like California or Texas, have many more than 2. So I’m asking for your help again. Please go to the United States or International wiki pages and enter schools in your state/country that you know about. Also pass this quest along to others who may have knowledge in this area. We’re in desperate need of models of 21st century schooling. Help me create a shared resource that will be of value to everyone?

Dr. Lane Mills, Associate Professor at East Carolina University (ECU) and board member for the journal, Innovate, will be our next guest on the 4 Guys Talking podcast. Lane's working hard to integrate digital technologies into the Educational Leadership program at ECU. He also does a great deal of technology-facilitated data-driven decision-making work with school districts.

You can join Lane and us on May 11, 9am Central, for the live podcast. Feel free to call in and join the conversation yourself and/or help us brainstorm some questions for Lane beforehand. The podcast also will be available for download afterward. Thanks!

The elementary principals here are collectively rearranging their schools’ schedules to create a unified literacy block every morning and greater opportunity for teachers to have common planning time. In order to do this, Art and Physical Education time will take a hit, as will some elementary teachers’ ability to focus on one particular subject area (i.e., just math) rather than having to teach all of the subjects. I think that the new schedules also will allow for a greater possibility of doing flexibile ability grouping within subject areas.

Many parents and teachers are unhappy about the changes. I’ve heard from several of them and this was under my windshield wiper last night when I left our school’s Science Night:

There are both pros and cons to the changes. My kids’ elementary school has a phenomenal art teacher and we’re not too keen on our kids seeing her less often. And, of course, regular physical activity is important too, particularly given the growing problem of childhood obesity. On the other hand, I’ve seen firsthand in many schools the benefits of having common planning periods, a greater emphasis on unified literacy instruction, flexible ability grouping, and so on. In a community like ours, where the family demographics are such that most districts would die to have the standardized test results and college attendance rates that we do, there also is a strong element of ‘the current system is working fine so why change it?’

The interesting issue for me is the communication problem that’s highlighted here. The plan was presented a week or two ago and the uproar is now starting to reach critical levels. If the principals had done a better job of communicating their intentions and involving teachers and parents in the planning, could this emotional upheaval have been avoided? Without admittedly knowing any of the particulars, I’m guessing that there probably was a way to avoid some of this.

On another note, paper flyers on windshields? Um, the Internet, anyone? Maybe even e-mail? Another tree gives its life to the cause…

[FYI, the title quote is from Cool Hand Luke.]

From Mike Sansone:

I once asked a teacher what would happen if they treated their students like customers, with a design philosophy of customer experience in mind. The teacher was taken aback. She said the day she treats her students like customers is the day she would lose control of the room.

At that moment, I knew she was standing on the line of irrelevancy — and about to cross over. The reality is, she should have been looking for ways to share control rather than try to own it alone.

Hmmm… reminds me a bit of this Robert Fried quote.

In other news, student enrollments in more-personalized choice options such as charter schools, virtual schools, alternative schools, and home schooling continue to rise…

This year I started writing a column in the SAI Report, the monthly PDF newsletter put out by the School Administrators of Iowa for its members. With SAI’s permission, I’ve decided to occasionally share my articles on this blog so that you can see what I’m writing to the principals and superintendents here in Iowa. Below is my April article. Let me know what you think and/or if you have any suggestions for me for future articles!

RESOURCE ROUNDUP, APRIL 2009

Hi, everyone. This month I’m going to highlight several resources that should be of interest to technology-interested principals and superintendents. That means all of you since we now live in a digital, global era!

The Horizon Report, 2009 K-12 Edition

Be sure to check out the 2009 K-12 Horizon Report (snipurl.com/2009k12horizonreport). This first-ever report describes six emerging technologies that are “likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, research, or creative expression within [K-12] education around the globe.” The authors note that collaborative environments and online communication tools are expected to have major impacts on K-12 classrooms in the next year or so. Online services that are profiled include Google Docs, Ning, Moodle, Skype, Edmodo, VoiceThread, Twitter, Zoey’s Room, and more. Impactful technologies with time horizons slightly further out – i.e., in the next two to five years – include mobile phones, cloud computing, smart objects, and the personal web. The report includes descriptions of each emerging technology along with accompanying URLs of helpful resources and examples of classroom use. This is a must-read for any administrator interested in better technology integration within his or her school organization.

Google Docs for Educators

Speaking of Google Docs, Google recently released a video highlighting how educators are using its online office software suite in productive ways. The video is available at the Google Docs for Educators page (snipurl.com/googledocs4educators), which also contains additional resources, tips, and suggestions for P-12 teachers and administrators. Some school districts are using Google Apps for Education (snipurl.com/googleapps4education) – which includes Google Docs as well as e-mail, calendar, instant messaging, and wiki services – to save a great deal of money on server maintenance, software licensing, and other costs.

The Iowa series

I recently concluded a series of guest blog posts for The Des Moines Register that highlighted five essential levers that I believe are necessary to move Iowa schools forward and help our graduates survive and thrive in this new digital, global age in which we now live. These represent some of my best and most recent thinking on these topics:

• snipurl.com/dmr01a  (21st century curricula)
• snipurl.com/dmr02a  (a robust system of online learning)
• snipurl.com/dmr03  (a computer in every hand)
• snipurl.com/dmr04  (invest in leadership)
• snipurl.com/dmr05  (better information)

The netbook effect

Some of you are considering netbooks as possibilities for 1:1 laptop initiatives in your schools. Read Wired’s new article, The Netbook Effect (snipurl.com/netbookeffect), to understand why netbooks are selling like hotcakes.

SAI web site

You may have noticed some changes to the SAI web site! CASTLE has been working with SAI to update the site, make it more interactive, etc. For example, Dan Smith currently is hosting a book discussion on The Global Achievement Gap by Tony Wagner. Matt Carver also recently posted about Iowa school districts’ cell phone policies. Both conversations are available in the Member Forum (the link is on the right side of the SAI web site). If you see Tracy Harms, give her a hearty thanks for all of her hard work. Look for additional tools, discussions, and resources in the months to come!

Dangerously Irrelevant

If you are enjoying this column, I would encourage you to check out my blog, dangerouslyirrelevant.org, where I write about technology leadership issues on a regular basis.

Invest in yourselves

Finally, I’ll make yet another plea for you to invest in yourselves. If P-12 school organizations are to ever catch up to the demands of a digital, creative, information economy, we must have technology knowledgeable and  savvy administrators. Please use some of those precious professional development monies to which your school district may soon have access to further your own understanding and skill development.

If you’d like to dialogue further about these issues or think that CASTLE and SAI might be able to help with your planning, purchasing, and/or staff development decisions, please stay in touch!

Yesterday was Episode 4 of 4 Guys Talking, the new ‘talk radio’ podcast series from CASTLE. We spent the entire time talking about 1:1 laptop programs. Our first 50 minutes was spent with Jeff Mao, Learning Technology Policy Director for the State of Maine. Among other things, Jeff talked about funding models, professional development for teachers and administrators, pedagogical frameworks, challenges faced by the state over the past few years, and, perhaps surprisingly, the relative lack of emphasis on standardized test scores as measurable outcomes for the initiative. He also shared his strong feelings about laptops v. netbooks for 1:1 programs. After Jeff left us, we spent the last 10 minutes debriefing, sharing thoughts, and raising further questions.

You can download the podcast or listen to a Web-streamed version here:

• www.blogtalkradio.com/uceacastle

You also can subscribe to the 4 Guys Talking feed using iTunes or a RSS reader.

Thanks to those of you who joined us live yesterday, either by calling in or listening over the Web. Future dates/times are as follows (all times Central):

• May 11, 9am to 10am
• May 26, 1pm to 2pm

[Yes, I'm still reworking CASTLE Conversations, the old CASTLE podcast channel, which will include all previous and podcasts (including 4 Guys Talking). I'll post about it when it's ready (probably not until summer).]

Happy listening!

Photo credit: An Apple in the dark 2

Which schools are good models that others could (should) visit to see what a new educational paradigm might look like?

This is the #1 question I get asked when I work with K-12 educators. I know a few, but I’m guessing that you know more. So I’m on a quest…

1. Think about who's doing a nice job in your state/country of infusing 21st century skills, digital technologies, problem- or inquiry-based learning, and other innovative practices into their school organization.
2. Go to the United States and/or International page at CASTLE’s Moving Forward wiki and add the name of the school organization and contact person in the appropriate place. If your state/territory/country isn’t listed, please add it.
3. Using the category list at the top of the page, indicate the category of innovation at the end of your entry so that visitors know which schools to visit for what. If you need to add a category, please do so.
4. Hyperlink the name of the school organization to its web site.
5. Repeat Steps 2 through 4 for each school organization that is a model of 21st century learning.

By Monday, April 27, I’m hoping that together we can identify at least 150 model school organizations, including at least 2 in every state and at least 50 overseas. I will be reporting out daily on our progress both here and via Twitter.

Please pass along this quest. The more model 21st century schools we get, the better resources these two pages will be for everyone. Feel free to use the logo as desired. Thank you!

Incumbents very seldom invent the future.

– Eric Schmidt, Google CEO, in Dinosaur at the Gate