Dangerously Irrelevant

Some of you have noticed that CASTLE has a new blog: 1to1 Schools. We’re excited about this new venture, which is meant to highlight news, stories, videos, and other resources related to elementary and secondary 1:1 laptop programs.

1to1 Schools is a group blog. For example, check out Nick Sauers’ series on using John Kotter’s 8–stage change process as a model framework for schools that are considering 1:1. Or his post on banning boredom, not laptops. Nick and I also have been on the road with our Flip camcorders, making videos of educators who are involved in laptop programs (see, e.g., our chats with Wynn Draper-Bryant and Marge Beatty).

Pamela Livingston, author of 1-to-1 Learning: Laptop Programs That Work, recently had two posts about an international survey of students in 1:1 programs:

• Part 1
• Part 2

She also wrote recently about how laptops are NOT for listening.

Blair Peterson, another occasional contributor, has noted that we should be prepared for the expected opposition to laptop programs.

The blog is a work in progress - and like many new blogs we’re still working on finding our voice - so if you have suggestions. If you’d like to be a contributor (or know someone else who’d be a good writer for us) please let us know that too.

Happy reading!

Over on the World Class Schools for Iowa blog, Linda Fandel of the Des Moines Register interviewed Chris Bern, new president of the Iowa State Education Association. At the end of the interview, Fandel asked Bern if teachers were treated with respect by students. Here is Bern’s reply:

Our students still have very much Midwest values, and most parents raise their children to respect their elders. Is it the same as it was 20 years ago? No, but then it’s not that way with the general public, either. The way people behave is different than it was 20 years ago with regard to each other. I don’t believe the general public respects teachers as much as they did [emphasis added].

Here are the first seven reader comments following the interview (click on the image for a larger version):

Yeah, I’d say he’s right…

As promised, here is my interview of Mike Vitelli, CEO of The Gaming Krib:

• Conversation 29: Interview with Mike Vitelli

Happy listening!

Is it already July 3? Way back on June 20 I had the pleasure of talking with Chris Craft about online learning for a class he’s taking. The focus was mainly on higher education but much of our conversation was relevant to the K-12 world as well. Chris posted our discussion as a podcast in case you’d like to hear it:

• Interview with Chris Craft (23:46)

I have had the pleasure of working with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) on several occasions over the past few years, primarily in conjunction with its Principal Technology Leadership Institute (PTLI), which is a collaborative venture with the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). I really enjoy the CPS folks. They face numerous challenges but are some of the most dedicated educators I know.

Some of the principals participating in the data-driven decision-making strand of the PTLI (which I helped design) had some questions that they wanted me to answer about data-driven leadership, so today I had a very pleasant conversation with Phala Daniel, who works in CPS’ eLearning office along with Gerry Beimler (who is one of our CASTLE graduate certificate students). I recorded our 37-minute discussion and present it for your listening pleasure:

• May 25, 2007 CPS DDDM Podcast

  (36:36, 33.35 MB .mp3)

FYI, here’s one example of a protocol for a data-driven team meeting (as mentioned in the conversation). Hope you enjoy the podcast. Let me know what you think!

Today I uploaded the second CASTLE Conversations podcast for our data-driven decision-making podcast series. After feeding them a yummy lunch, I had a great discussion with Joan MacDonald, Linda Perdaems, and Colleen Wambach, three data-savvy principals here in Minnesota. If you enjoyed our previous conversation with Dr. Jan Witthuhn, you’ll like this one too!

The intent of CASTLE Conversations is to interview folks that have expertise and are
doing interesting things but may not have much national visibility. Keep giving us feedback and let us know what
you think. As always, we’re interested in your nominations for interviewees.

Happy listening!

We’ve started a new initiative we are calling CASTLE Conversations: interviews with interesting people about technology and/or leadership issues. In some ways it will be very similar to the awesome work that Steve Hargadon is doing (and that others are doing). However, we’re mostly going to interview people that have expertise and are doing interesting things but may not have much national visibility.

Happy listening!