from the Director's Desk

Farewell, at least for now

2008-01-01T20:39:00.000-05:00

It seems appropriate that my final posting as Director should be a hopeful one. According to the latest Pew Internet and American Life Project report, Information Searches that Solve Problems, “Libraries drew visits by more than half of Americans (53%) in the past year for all kinds of purposes . . .. And it was the young adults in tech-loving Generation Y (age 18-30) who led the pack. Compared to their elders, Gen Y members were the most likely to use libraries for problem-solving information and in general patronage for any purpose.” (See the whole report at http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/231/report_display.asp )

Perhaps this is because of the work that each of you is doing to make media and technology relevant to our K-12 audience on a daily basis. As you continue to help students and teachers find, evaluate, and use information regardless of format, please realize that your work is more important than ever. Each of you holds the future of our nation and our society within your media centers, computer labs, and classrooms. It’s the most important job in the world, and I am proud to say that I have had a small part in all you do. Thank you for your support, your enthusiasm and dedication, and most of all your belief in our children and their potential.

Is she really a teacher?

2007-11-30T15:22:00.000-05:00

This is just too good not to share! I'm still uncertain how I feel about this, but it just boggles my mind, especially the part about training the computer to recognize students' expressions. We've always said that the computer cannot replace the teacher . . .

New Zealand Gives Birth to it First Virtual Teacher

A research team based at the Auckland Institute of Information and Mathematical Sciences has developed a near-human animated teacher and says the development has drawn the attention of scientists across the computing world. Eve, an attractive blonde, is able to respond to children’s moods and is being hailed as a critical tool in the expanding long-distance learning market.

Eve, intended to teach math one-on-one to 8 year olds, is what is known in the information sciences as an affective tutoring system; designed to adapt its responses to the emotional state of people by interaction through a computer system.

Linked to a child via computer, the virtual teacher can tell if the child is frustrated, angry or confused by the on-screen teaching session and can adapt the tutoring session appropriately. Eve can ask questions, give feedback, discuss questions and solutions and show emotion.

In developing the software, the Massey team observed children and their interactions with teachers and captured them on thousands of images. From these images they developed programs that would capture and recognize facial expression, body movement, and via a mouse, heart rate and skin resistance. The system uses a network of computer systems, mainly embedded devices, to detect student emotion and thought to e the first if its type. (from Public School Forum's Friday Report, 11/30/07)

Ice Cream or Toppings (thanks to Jeff Utecht)

2007-08-21T13:38:00.000-04:00

It's time to get back to school--for all of us!--and what better way than finding a thought-provoking blog: http://www.techlearning.com/blog/2007/08/do_you_offer_ice_cream_or_topp.php Jeff Utecht asks the provocative question: Do we offer ice cream or toppings?

In short, our students all get free ice cream--the free Internet resources that abound. But it's our job as educators, particularly media and technology personnel, to make sure that we provide the toppings--the educationally sound ways of using the technology to support teaching and learning. We add the toppings--the value--to the technology. That, of course, is the hard work. Finding educationally sound ways to integrate all these tools and resources into our daily teaching practice takes time, energy, and lots of faith. Every time we bring in a new tool or teaching strategy, ask another essential question for our students to answer, or collaborate with others and hand off part of our responsibility to them, we are taking a risk. It's scary stuff. But truthfully, isn't it a greater risk not to add the "topping" value to our ice-cream craving kids?

2007-04-05T10:42:00.000-04:00

According to this morning's News and Observer (http://www.newsobserver.com/146/story/560918.html), the US Department of Education released a study yesterday that states: "Educational software, a $2 billion-a-year industry that has become the darling of school systems across the country, has no significant effect on student performance, according to a study by the U.S. Department of Education. The long-awaited report amounts to a rebuke of educational technology, a business whose growth has been spurred by schools desperate to meet the testing mandates of President Bush's No Child Left Behind law." (http://ies.ed.gov/ )

Let's be frank. This is not new information. The researchers are looking at Math and Reading drill and practice programs, not authentic uses of technology that help students become 21st Century life-long learners. Authentic technology skills include using the tools that are and will be a part of their lives. Drill and practice programs, no matter how sophisticated, will never give students authentic learning experiences. They only attempt to prepare them for 20th Century multiple-choice tests--our present, not their future.

Furthermore, research has always warned teachers that as soon as students begin to progress on these programs, they should be moved to the types of technology tools and programs that promote higher order thinking, problem-solving skills, and more authentic learning experiences. In truth, higher level students' test scores often slide when they are put on these drill and practice programs.

Yes, technology can make a difference in teaching and learning. Even drill and practice programs have their place in the academic environment. After all, core skills are essential for both 20th Century and 21st Century learning, and we're still testing students primarily in this environment. But the collaborative, problem-based teaching and learning environment that emphasizes authentic tasks that require higher order thinking skills--those things that technology resources allow us to embrace--WILL make a difference.

And it just makes good sense. Technology resources are the tools that adults use daily. Why would we want our students educated any differently than we work?

2007-03-14T21:21:00.000-04:00

David Warlick and I presented a session at NCaect in RTP today on the educational and policy ramifications of the new social networking tools. The discussion was challenging and, I think, productive. We in Instructional Technology are posting a white paper to help all of us think through the issues of managing these powerful resources within our schools and school systems. As many in the session today reiterated, this is a delicate dance, one that needs a variety of controls based on the curriculum, educational need, network capacity, and ethical/safety issues. I'm posting this white paper here so that we all have the opportunity to continue the discussion that was begun this morning. I hope you will all help us make this a useful document as we move towards a more participatory, collaborative educational culture.

Harnessing (and Managing) the Power of Collaboration

Blogs, wikis, e-mail, chat, IM, podcasts, Flickr, YouTube, and RSS feeds—all Web 2.0 tools with collaborative potential. Why are these resources suddenly such exciting educational opportunities? How can we continue to manage a safe environment for our students, while providing these critical experiences in our schools?

The Opportunities Social Networks Provide

The MacArthur Foundation calls it the participatory culture and defines it as one

“with relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement, strong support for creating and sharing one’s creations, and some type of information mentorship whereby what is known by the most experienced is passed along to novices. A participatory culture is also one in which members believe their contributions matter, and feel some degree of social connection with one another (at least they care what other people think about what they have created).”

“Access to this participatory culture functions as a new form of the hidden curriculum, shaping which youth will succeed and which will be left behind as they enter school and the workplace.” (Jenkins et al, 2006:3)

In essence, literacy skills for the 21^st Century are social skills—participatory skills—that are equally as important as traditional literacy skills such as reading, writing, and computation.

It is this opportunity to be in charge of one’s own learning, become a part of a larger community of learners, share expertise and learn from others more experienced and knowledgeable, and create products, experiences, and opportunities that explains the educational benefits of social networking. It is the chance to offer the ability to cultivate and safely practice the “skills, knowledge, ethical frameworks and self confidence” (Jenkins et al, 2006: 8) necessary for the 21^st Century workplace. They provide students the opportunity to be guided and facilitated by a knowledgeable classroom teacher who understands and appreciates the potential of Web 2.0, but who also is cognizant and on guard for the dangers inherent in such an open, collaborative environment.

In-school and after-school programs offer all students a level playing field in which to participate in this collaborative environment regardless of their home access and connectivity or their parents’ income or ability to support these educational experiences. Schools have an obligation to provide these opportunities to all students or run the risk of creating a society in which a few succeed at the expense of many and other nations, because of their sheer numbers, outperform our elite.

Managing Web 2.0 in Schools

As lofty as these goals of providing social networking opportunities for all students in a school-based setting are, the responsibilities are daunting. For every story of an exciting student educational experience, there exists at least one equally horrifying. How do we navigate this tenuous environment?

Start with the Teachers

Make sure teachers understand the social networking landscape. Create professional development opportunities that introduce them to blogging, wikis, and other innovations as they appear. Give them opportunities to practice their skills, and make sure they have good examples of classroom practice and resources that enable creative, productive, and educationally sound social networking. These tools can be an avenue of professional development in their own right. Not only do they offer examples of 21^st Century classroom practice, they encourage teachers to grow in their own skill set via curriculum- or pedagogy-based blogs, wikis, podcasts, and the like.

Educate teachers about their public persona. Web 2.0 opens wide the door of private correspondence and gives it a public face. Private blogs become fodder for news outlets if controversy erupts. Above all, teachers need to understand that nothing is private in a Web 2.0 environment! If they understand and appreciate that fact, so will their students.

Examine Your AUP

Can your Acceptable Use Policy handle social networking situations? Apply a reality check: can you link back to a district policy to manage online behavior (i.e cyberbullying to bullying) or do you need to create new ones (i.e. posting images on sites such as Flickr and YouTube)? Can you cover yourself with the caveat that all equipment/resources used within the school are for educational purposes only, or is that too limiting in this participatory environment? Should you have teachers as well as students sign it? Should parents be asked to sign the child’s AUP, or should Internet access be treated the same as textbook access, without signed permissions but with specific consequences for misuse?

Reconsider the Traditional “Nos”

Traditionally Acceptable Use Policies have banned gaming, chats, and even personal e-mail. In this more connected environment, these banned behaviors may be not only acceptable but important. “Chat” is now a component of most online courses, and educational games are beginning to take hold as a way to teach real-world problem-solving. E-mail will always be problematic, but its importance as a mode of communication between teachers and parents, students and teachers, and students with other students cannot be overlooked. Rather than avoiding e-mail altogether, consider manageable solutions such as student-specific e-mail programs for school use.

Accept the inevitability that 21^st Century AUPs are works in progress. They will have to be re-examined, and possibly rewritten, more frequently than in the past. Remain open to new technologies as they relate to education, and constantly evaluate school and LEA policies and procedures to include them where appropriate.

Educate Your Parents

Consider parents your first line of support and defense. Constantly inform them of the exciting Web 2.0 experiences your school and district are providing. Work diligently to get their buy-in as you open up your system to the opportunities for students to experience social networking opportunities.

Above all, teach parents strategies for keeping their children safe on the Internet. Provide resources and training in how to monitor their children’s Internet use—and offer strategies for talking with their children about the opportunities and challenges of staying safe in an interconnected world. Inform parents that they should continually monitor their children’s Web postings and that they should report threatening comments, sexual predation, or cyberbullying to both the school and local law enforcement. Also remember that reaching out to parents offers a subtle opportunity to review or update them on copyright and fair use.

Filter Flexibly While Teaching

Invest in filters that allow easy blocking and unblocking of sites—and consider enabling that process at the school or even teacher level. Filter flexibility must go hand-in-hand with the education process, however. Consider this teaching opportunity to be character education as well as technology education. Start in kindergarten by teaching students such basics as using the back button (and informing the teacher if they come upon an inappropriate site). Emphasize the Societal and Ethical Behavior Competency Goal of the Computer Skills Curriculum throughout each student’s PreK-13 career. View inadvertent access to inappropriate Web sites as teachable moments akin to teaching children to cross the street rather than locking them in the house. Consider graduated access from primary to elementary to middle school to high school, emphasizing that this privilege is accompanied with increased responsibility for individual behavior as well as life-long learning.

Conclusion

Four levels of challenges exist for successful use of Web 2.0 tools:

1. Technical: The network must be flexible enough to allow students to use collaborative online tools and yet provide a safety net to block harmful content from reaching students or the network.

2. Teaching and learning: To be effective, Web 2.0 tools must be used to accomplish instructional goals. This provides an opportunity for technology facilitators and media coordinators to support instruction through collaborative planning as well as professional development on Web 2.0 tools and teaching.

3. Students: Use of Web 2.0 tools provides students the opportunity to construct meaning from assignments and share that meaning with others rather than simply submitting a paper or project to the teacher.

4. Parents: Web 2.0 provides opportunities for schools to partner with parents in new ways. Parents should be offered training on how students can be safe online, what to do if they discover inappropriate content, and how Web 2.0 can be used productively.

As the world becomes more participatory, education must become more participatory as well. We cannot allow our fears to overcome our reason and our nation’s ability to remain competitive. The educational potential of Web 2.0 is too important to ignore. We must learn to take advantage of it—and manage it.

Resources: http://sencinsttech.wikispaces.com/White+Paper+Resources?token=c57f2d8df1967d652549db127bd88c00

2007-02-28T17:41:00.000-05:00

Playing the Game

Last week was a fascinating week. I observed 9 IMPACT Model/Award schools' 4th, 5th, and 6th grade teachers as they learned to think inside a gaming environment. Through the generous support of Food Lion in North Carolina, we have been given the opportunity to participate in a unique research study out of the Indiana University's Center for Research on Teaching and Learning. They explain it best:

"Quest Atlantishttp://crlt.indiana.edu/research/qa.html is a National Science Foundation (NSF) -funded learning and teaching project that uses a 3D multi-user environment to immerse children, ages 9 to 12, in educational tasks. Currently over 4,500 registered users from five continents use Quest Atlantis in formal school environments as well as in after-school settings. Building on strategies from online role-playing games, Quest Atlantis combines features used in commercial gaming environments with lessons from educational research on learning and motivation. The core elements of Quest Atlantis are: 1) a 3-D multi-user virtual environment (MUVE); 2) learning Quests and unit plans; 3) a storyline presented through an introductory video as well as novellas and a comic book that involves a mythical Council and a set of social commitments; and 4) a globally-distributed community of participants."

Some of the questions we will be helping the Center answer are:
1. Will students learn through this gaming environment? We know they will play, but will they actually learn curriculum content while playing?
2. Can teachers become comfortable teaching in this environment? Do they feel--can they be--effective in this environment?

As I listened to the Quest Atlantis developer, Sasha Barab, describe the worlds he was imagining and putting into the 3D educational environment, I realized that I actually had comparable experiences as a child. As I was growing up, I loved to play with paper dolls. I would design clothes for them, build houses, towns, and experiences for them. I created another world for them--and for myself. This is not so different for our children today. It's just a different set of tools. Instead of paper, pencils, crayons, scissors, they have computers. And they are being challenged to solve real-world problems in this virtual environment, something I can't admit to in my paper doll world. What an incredible opportunity for these students! And if the pilot is successful, Food Lion is willing to help implement Quest Atlantis across the state.

Go take a look at the Quest Atlantis demo site http://atlantis.crlt.indiana.edu/ and let us know what you think. How do you feel about moving into a gaming environment in education? Do you have reservations or are you--and your students--ready to move to a higher level of learning?

2007-02-21T05:39:00.000-05:00

Lucky? Maybe . . .

One of the saddest censorship stories that I can remember in many years is playing out on the national stage right now. Susan Patron's Newbury Award book for upper elementary school children, The Higher Power of Lucky, is being written about, removed from shelves, or not even ordered because of one very proper, anatomically correct word. The august New York Times added fuel to the fire on Sunday with a front-page article by Julie Bosman "With One Word Children's Book Sets Off Uproar. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/18/books/18newb.html?ex=1172466000&en=56f706fa0066c379&ei=5065&partner=MYWAY

Yes, it's a most unfortunate censorship case, but my colleague Acacia Dixon pointed out yesterday that it is a fine example of the new world many of us media and technology professionals are facing. She says it quite well:

"Many of the quotes lifted for the Times article come from postings to listservs or other communication venues like LM-NET. For years we have said that email is a postcard not an envelope, especially when items are archived online for the whole world to peruse. There is some interesting indignation that this information was used against librarians as a whole. I agree it was taken out of context and that the flip side of the conversation was not covered. This does however play right into the hands of stringent policy makers (think PA) who wish to limit professional expression via social networking avenues."

Very insightful, Acacia! Yes, how do we align school policy with our professional right to free speech--and even philosophical conversation? What are your thoughts on handling this difficult issue?

2007-02-15T05:07:00.000-05:00

LSTD Part II

And now a word to our sponsors! The state of North Carolina provides no direct dollars for Legislative School Technology Day, only our time. It is the vendor community that bears the weight of the expense, the tools, and the services to hold this event, and it is not small change! From the generators that bring in the electricity to the laptops the children use and the lunch and t-shirts for the kids--all this is provided through vendor contributions.

Wynn Smith said it best in her e-mail thank you yesterday:

"I would like to take a minute this morning to say a great big "Thank You." Legislative School Technology Day was a great success yesterday!

First, let me say that it would not have happened without your financial and technical support.

Second, let me also say:

"Thank you" to all of you who were able to attend, taking off your vendor hats and representing the state as a team.
"Thank you" to the technical team that was here all day Monday and Tuesday making sure the network was ready.
"Thank you" to those of you who could not attend for many reasons (prior commitments, sick children, etc.) but sent emails wishing us well yesterday morning.

We are proud to work with such a great group of people!"

2007-02-14T05:20:00.000-05:00

LSTD 2007

Yesterday was the third Legislative School Technology Day in Raleigh. And what a success! Sixty-five schools from across North Carolina sent their students and teachers to demonstrate how they use technology for 21st Century teaching and learning. We saw such interesting things yesterday: hydrocell cars, podcasts (a middle school interviewed legislators about the technology used in their schools as they were growing up. What an eye-opener for them!), science experiments, a live exchange with a teacher's son in Thailand, even a video update of a book finished in class while part of them were in Raleigh at LSTD! A State Board member said that she truly understood now why funding technology was important--"You can do so many more interesting, compelling things with technology! Learning is just more exciting!" Well-said.

But amidst all our enthusiasm for the day, please allow me a moment to talk about the back-stage planning. Yes, I am going to tell you about the incredible teamwork necessary to put on Legislative School Technology Day. And I cannot, regardless of the length of this post, do justice to it. Every single person in the Division of Instructional Technology is responsible for a portion of LSTD's success, from the small things like making sure the names of the partners are spelled correctly on the t-shirts, to taping down power cords so no one will trip; from e-mailing every single legislator reminding them to come see their school(s), to staying in the office to answer phones while the rest of us basked the success of the moment; from providing the power generators and laptops that the schools used, to helping to pay for lunch and t-shirts. Technology businesses and services, every-day competitors, team with us at DPI to make this day a shining success. Even NCAECT gets into the act, with Jeff Tudor keeping our books!

But there are unsung leaders in this event and today I would like to highlight three: Wynn Smith, John Brim, and Dan Sparlin. Wynn has the organizational mind of a wizard! She is behind all the logistics of the schools' attendance, from original contact to t-shirts on the tables for students to don when they arrive. Nothing gets past her steel-trap mind--every school and their legislator is contacted and logged--over and over again. Every map indicates school placement, with each analyzed for visibility (younger ones in front, high schoolers behind if we must), every vendor contact and contribution tallied and accounted for.

Then there are John and Dan, the connectivity team. They have to organize generators to bring power into the building, the connectivity so necessary for technology, even the extension cords and power strips that connect each table's equipment! And all this within the parameters of the Legislature, an organization that must maintain at least a semblance of business-as-usual in spite of the intrusion and whose staff really does work with us far beyond the call of duty--all in the name of what's good for children! It's a logistical dance that's amazing to behold as it comes together--starting at 9am the day before.

So, three months of planning and a 40-hour blitz to pull this off. The Division of Instructional Technology is the most amazing team! I very publicly, and humbly, say Thank You!

2007-02-09T17:09:00.000-05:00

Colliding Realities

My vision of a 21st Century school just collided with another reality, one that makes me empathize with those who are uncomfortable with and uncertain about my previously published entry. Yesterday Joe Poletti blogged that the New York Times editor had confessed recently that he wasn't sure they would be publishing the paper version of the newspaper in five years--and he really didn't care that they might not be publishing in hard copy. Wait a minute! I am so ill when my morning paper is not delivered in time to savor with my cup of coffee! I carve out time every morning, regardless of my schedule, to have that quiet moment to prepare myself mentally (the N&O writes at least one education-related story most days) and physically (that delightful easing into reality) for the day ahead. And reading it on the web is not the same!

Then Gerry Solomon sent me the link to a YouTube video that signals the same shift, a shift that on one level I not only accept but endorse. On another level, however, I quietly protest, "Please don't take away my book." Sure, make it electronic paper if you must--that might even be convenient. (My house is awash in books!) But make sure I can take it to bed at night, or to the beach on vacation, or tuck it into my pocketbook for cross-country entertainment.

Please, just let me keep my book, my newspaper, and my routine.

2007-02-08T05:42:00.000-05:00

I have a vision of a school . . .

Some of us are in Facilitative Leadership training this week. Today our assignment is to promote a vision. I thought I'd share my vision with those of you who read this blog.

I have a vision of a school in which:

Learning takes place 24/7/7, with caring adults present who are passionate about their own learning and can convey that passion to their students;
High-speed ubiquitous connectivity gives students and teachers opportunities to collaborate with experts and each other from around the world--or in the next classroom;
Resources are available as needed regardless of format. Students and teachers know when and how to use the most appropriate tool for the assignment;
Teachers collaborate with the school library media coordinator and technology facilitator to create units of instruction that reflect and validate their students' knowledge and experiences, yet push them to stretch and grow to reach their highest potential;
Children are surrounded by a culture of reading and learning that assumes that everyone in the school will be successful, well-read, and a life-long learner;
Parents are educated side-by-side with their children regardless of education or income level, so that they too are successful life-long learners who stimulate and encourage their children's learning--and stick around;
A community reflects the values and success of its schools, attracting business and industry because of its educational priorities and vision, so that everyone in the community has the opportunity to care for their families and live out the American dream.

These are the schools of the 21st Century--education 24/7/7, life-long learning from cradle to grave, a piece of the American dream for all.

2007-02-05T06:59:00.000-05:00

ECU Librarian-to-Librarian Networking Conference

Saturday I was at the East Carolina University Librarian to Librarian Networking Conference. It's a charming one-day conference held in Joyner Library's Teaching Resources Center (TRC), where the general session is held in the story area, break-out sessions in library conference rooms, and lunch served among the stacks. Actually, several of us from Instructional Technology were there facilitating sessions. You see, the format for this conference is different. We weren't presenters as such; we were facilitators who provided a few minutes of information and then opened the remainder of the session for discussion, allowing the conversation to range widely based on the needs and interests of the participants.

My two topics were IMPACT and a general session of Ask Frances. I think--I hope!--the discussions were valuable. What did we talk about? Well, in the IMPACT session, the focus was mainly on scheduling: how do you schedule collaborative planning without media assistants or when you are assumed to be part of the planning block. The Ask Frances session involved discussions about reading, particularly Accelerated Reader; the state of school library collections; whether to allow students to use Google; and the future of school libraries.

One of the most interesting pieces of information shared in that session was by Cheryl Reddish, a professor at NCCU Department of Library and Information Sciences. She said that one of her students was particularly distressed by the condition of her book collection; its average age was 1964! So she decided to issue the Yellow Dot Challenge. All the books that needed to be weeded from the collection were tagged with large yellow dots and the children, the PTO, and the community were challenged to buy a book to replace one of the yellow dotted ones. The media coordinator had a list of suitable books that could be ordered as replacements with its appropriate price, and contributors were encouraged to choose the book from the list that would replace its older counterpart. There was even a large thermometer (similar to the United Way gauges) on the front yard of the school! According to Cheryl, within three months the face of that collection had changed.

Just one of the many good ideas that came from that very special Librarian to Librarian Networking Conference!

2007-02-01T09:46:00.000-05:00

Snow Day

A walk in the snowy woods this morning led to a fascinating philosophical conversation. It started with the state's drop-out rate, as announced by the State Board yesterday and, of course, gravitated to technology rather quickly. Would technology really change the educational landscape as we predict?

What struck me was my media specialist husband's comment. "I don't care whether teachers use technology or not. I just want them to be passionate about something. No one can be passionate about everything they teach; all I want is for them to be passionate about something." He went on to describe a biology teacher at his school who is passionate about nanotechnology. What's incredible is how many of his students are now absorbed in nanotechnology themselves--collaborating with NCSU professors, talking about nanotechnology at lunch, in the media center--you get the idea. The same with a History teacher who's in love with the period 1800-1840. Go figure! BUT the excitement she brings to her subject because of this passion creates real learners in her classroom.

My contention is that once you find your passion (after all, that's what a huge part of Kaleidoscope is all about), you can't avoid technology--and all kinds of resources. Those high school students are using technology to collaborate with the NCSU faculty; the History students use all kinds of primary documents including American Memory. But he's right. It's the passion that ignites.

Back on the Horse: NCLB Update

2007-01-31T16:56:00.000-05:00

It’s been awhile. Making the commitment to blog is daunting, but Henry Johnson’s visit to the State Board of Education meeting today has finally given me the impetus to do so.

Dr. Johnson has left his official position at the US Department of Education, but Chairman Lee invited him to drop by and give the SBE some information on the direction NCLB seemed to be taking in its reauthorization process. Here’s what Dr. Johnson told the Board:

Both Democrats and Republicans are committed to reauthorizing NCLB. They may have different concerns and focus, but they are committed to its reauthorization.
Reauthorization should bring greater emphasis on teacher competency. The President has highlighted AP and IB teachers, and there appears to be support for rewarding teachers and principals when they:

Close the achievement gap
Agree to teach in low-performing, restructuring schools

Dr. Johnson predicts an increased focus on:

School success
More options for parents
More funding

He believes that the reauthorized NCLB will have the following priorities:

High school reform
Closing the achievement gap
Empowering parents, i.e.choice
Rural schools
Increased flexibility (including the EETT formula grants)

Reading First will be moving into the middle and high schools and will be called the Striving Readers Program. Reading First in the elementary grades will be continued.
Based on the success of Reading First, the US ED is proposing a similar program for Math entitled Math Now. This will be for elementary and middle schools and will bring forth scientifically-based methodology in the teaching of math in much the same manner as Reading First was launched.
Dr. Johnson predicts that reauthorization will bring about discussions regarding expanding private school options. Specifically the US ED is proposing Promise Scholarships. These scholarships will be targeted at students transferring to private schools or another district from schools in restructure. In addition to the proposed $2500 scholarship, federal funding will also follow the student.
Finally, he predicts that states receiving federal NCLB money will be required to submit NAEP data.

As Dr. Johnson so understatedly put it, some of these recommendations will create discussion. At least EETT appears to be part of that discussion, contentious or otherwise!

What Is Safe Anyway?

2006-05-31T15:46:00.000-04:00

Years ago when some of us were first advocating Internet as a tool for classroom instruction, we talked about creating a safe environment for our students by bookmarking sites, designing our own web pages, and of course requiring signed AUPs. We also talked about the pros and cons of filtering because this was before CIPA (Children’s Internet Protection Act) that mandates all schools receiving E-Rate and other federal dollars must provide filtered access on all computers. I had hoped that we could now concentrate on conversations about using technology resources in educational and productive ways.

Unfortunately, that’s not always possible. Recently valid concerns have reached the ears of Congress—realities that every parent, educator, and/or responsible adult should be aware of. Far too often our children are finding, downloading, and even interacting with electronic resources and the people behind them in inappropriate ways. They are giving out their addresses and phone numbers, creating relationships with individuals far too old and experienced for their childhood or teenage years, even participating in games or behavior that would make our adult selves cringe in horror or disgust.

But is DOPA http://www.politechbot.com/docs/fitzpatrick.social.networking.051006.pdf, which piggybacks on CIPA and its E-Rate provision and broadens filtering in schools to include social networking sites like blogs and podcasts, the answer to our fear and uncertainty in a sometimes alien environment? Can we as a nation legislate good behavior with such a broad brush? Are there more effective ways to counter the less savory aspects of electronic resources? Should schools be the primary focus here? Shouldn’t sites such as the blogs that Carteret County teachers are using with their students http://jpoletti.edublogs.org/ or the podcasts that Williford Elementary is creating for EOG review http://wrmt-tv.blogspot.com/2005/12/what-is-podcasting.html be encouraged, not limited by possible legislation?

What a shame that some of these innovative ways of enticing teachers and students to use technology educationally and productively may disappear under DOPA, along with the more raunchy ones! A small price to pay, you say? Perhaps you may want to reconsider and even write to your Congress person. Joe Poletti has a sample letter on his blog http://blog.carteretcountyschools.org/ Check it out and thank Joe for his activism.

HB 1981

2006-05-17T13:52:00.000-04:00

Last week Rep. Joe Tolson, Rep. Becky Carney, and Rep. Douglass Yongue filed House Bill 1981 http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2005/Bills/House/HTML/H1981v0.html the Teachers’ IT Funding Initiative. Basically it allocates $52M to LEAs to spend, based on Average Daily Membership (ADM), on personnel, hardware, software, and/or professional development as specified in their LEA technology plans.

The intent is for this to be a separate fund, not PRC 15, and that it be used to supplement not supplant currently funded technology initiatives. The Governor’s budget requested $4M for connectivity and $2.5M for the North Carolina Virtual Public School. All this points to the understanding that in order for NC to prosper economically, we must create opportunities and resources for moving our schools toward a more technologically savvy environment.

Now is the time for us to thank those responsible for introducing these bills, and begin the careful lobbying for this technology legislation. We must go forward supporting all educational initiatives, highlighting the ways in which technology is helping move all instructional programs forward. Please begin the conversation by inviting a legislator, State Board member, or member of the Governor’s staff to your LEA. Let them see for themselves how important it is to IMPACT Teaching, IMPACT Learning, IMPACT motivation, and IMPACT student achievement.

"Hot" Technologies--New Ideas

2006-05-12T17:25:00.000-04:00

The State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) had an interesting conference call today. Members of CoSN updated us on the newest technologies, many of which you probably already use or have known about for some time. But the applications of these technologies were what really caught my interest.

iPods have come on strong in the NC education community this year. Many of you have talked about how you use them for EOG review. Having students create review questions for their fellow classmates—or for younger children in the school—has been a popular application. On the conference call today they talked about:
How one school district has distributed video iPods to all their technology staff with the expectation that they will be in charge of their own professional development—via their iPods.
Another school has found that cell phones have been particularly useful with their job-embedded students. If they have a problem on the job with a particular piece of equipment, etc., they can just take a picture of it and send it to their job coach.
A central office staff is using their Trios to take pictures/videos of best practices as they visit classrooms.

They also talked about intelligent essay graders, not for teachers to use to give final grades on student papers, but as a first draft reader/responder. Students can submit their papers to the website and get immediate feedback, especially on grammatical errors, punctuation—the kind of errors that drive English teachers crazy. As the presenter said, “The best thing about these sites is that they are non-judgmental, consistent, and offer a timely response.”

One school system has a new policy about their teacher websites. Teacher websites must actually teach students something; it is not enough that they provide information about the daily schedule, the week’s homework, or the field trip information. I would have liked some further discussion on this because I think they have an interesting point. Hopefully just taping classroom lessons isn’t what they mean here!

The final technology they discussed was Radio Frequency Identification (RFIA). These are building entry key cards and the like. Schools are using them for managing equipment inventories and library books. They are also tracking students within the buildings and on the buses, even taking attendance at the door of the school or classroom as the students enter. CoSN will soon publish a position paper advising states and local school districts to consider carefully before they ban these RFID options, since they are such an important resource for both teacher efficiency and security.

I found all this information fascinating and would like to hear from you about your latest uses of the newer technologies. What are you doing that others across the state would find interesting and useful?

Filters--Again

2006-04-27T04:45:00.000-04:00

The filtering debate is just like the energizer bunny, “It just keeps going, and going and going . . .” and as Martha says, “This is a good thing.” I think the debate of how much is too much has resurfaced recently because of the MySpace controversy and the very real fear that our children are in danger. This time it is our older children, but the debate is the same—if we lock down our computers hard, then we can protect them just a little longer.

I suppose I have come to an uneasy acceptance of filters; after all, our federal dollars are the carrot (or stick!) here. Yet I cannot overcome my frustration with the point of control debate. In a perfect world, tech directors and/or filtering companies would be able to determine once and for all those sites that are educationally inappropriate. But this version of the Internet doesn’t work that way. Sites morph from relevant to irreverent; the curriculum undergoes revision; a more student-centered, authentic learning environment fosters a diversity of information needs that often cannot be anticipated. This reality means that it is imperative that the block/unblock decision be made as close to the source as is technologically possible.

In a perfect world, no individual would find it necessary to apply his personal biases to the rest of society—or punish all of us for the sins of a few. But human nature is just that—human. Thus, the power to block/unblock shouldn’t rest in the hands of one individual or company. Collaborative decision-making both at the initial site block selection and during regularly scheduled reviews is vital to intellectual freedom and curriculum support.

The more complicated the block/unblock process is, the less likely teachers and students will be to request it. The more restrictive a filter, the less likely teachers may be to use online resources—and technology in general. Involving teachers as well as media and technology personnel in the decisions about how and how much to filter, while time-consuming, will pay dividends over time. No filter is perfect, no human infallible; therefore bringing the block/unblock decision as close to the instructional point-of-need as legally and educationally possible should be every school system’s goal.

Note: Thanks to Joe Poletti and his Haulin' Net blog http://blog.carteretcountyschools.org/ for spurring this post.

21st Century Schools

2006-03-16T11:16:00.000-05:00

We've about finished reading technology plans, so my goal is to try to be more regular about blog contributions. Having said that, I have been doing a great deal of writing for other venues, and I thought you might be interested in what I wrote for eNC and their connectivity project that was mandated by the legislature. It's about 21st century learning. Many of you already have schools that look like this, and even if you don't, I suspect this is your vision as well. Let me know what you think!

Twenty-first Century schools are exciting places in which to teach and learn! In general, there are more small group learning activities and less whole-class, teacher-centered instruction . Since the goal of education is to teach children how to learn, not necessarily what to learn, most teachers use an inquiry-based, constructivist approach in which students solve problems. Learning is based on prior knowledge and focused around guided research and systematically cultivated higher order thinking skills. All schools are supported by a team of school library media and technology specialists who collaborate with classroom teachers to provide a resource-rich, technology-rich teaching and learning environment while simultaneously lowering student/teacher ratio.

Each school has facilities and personnel that are necessary for a 21st Century education. Besides individual classroom spaces - many with movable walls and flexible desk/table/cubicle configurations - each school has a media center, computer lab(s), and a TV studio. These facilities are open beyond the traditional school day. Students and the community have extended learning opportunities early in the morning, late into the evening, and on weekends. A variety of school library media and technology personnel, both instructional and technical, support all these spaces, working collaboratively with teachers, administrators, and community members to provide technology and resources within a 24/7 learning environment for every citizen.

The resources are ubiquitous! High speed Internet access allows students and teachers to use a wide variety of resources like NC WiseOwl, videostreaming, online courses, video conferencing, and project-based collaborative environments. The Web, the Deep Web, and Internet 2 are all options, as teachers help students learn to discern which resources, experts, or platforms are the most appropriate for their particular project or course of study.

The technology itself is ubiquitous as well. Every student has access to a computing device at school and at home, with a variety of peripherals to supplement its use including assistive/adaptive devices for special needs. Teachers and administrators are provided a variety of tools—handheld devices for easy, walk-around assessment and classroom/building management chores; a tablet computer for field trips, work at home, meetings, and notetaking; and a desktop for data analysis, multimedia production, and creating documents and reports.

Each classroom is outfitted with an interactive digital white board and data projector, a classroom set of individual student response devices, digital and video cameras, a telephone, one or more multimedia work stations that include printers, science probeware for experiments, digital microscopes, and graphing scientific calculators for the upper grades. Technology is transparent, with students and teachers naturally using appropriate technology resources as needs arise, treating them as problem-solving, enabling tools.

The technology is used developmentally, with applications and tools chosen based on the educational- and age-appropriateness for the students involved. For instance, in primary schools learning centers abound, with computers sharing the stage with housekeeping stations, sand and water play stations, and spaces for small-group instruction and quiet reading. Children walk up to the interactive digital white board to identify vowels or solve simple addition problems while their classmates watch from their seats, eagerly waiting their turns for teacher praise and validation. At reading assessment time, teachers follow along and log students’ progress using hand-held devices, eventually downloading their data for comparative analysis. Even the youngest children take digital pictures or videos, using them to tell a story or to document a process or project. Their teachers demonstrate early science concepts using digital microscopes and probeware, building on all children’s natural curiosity of the world around them.

These young students learn to use the library media center immediately, moving back and forth between it and their classrooms with great regularity, even several times a day. They are thrilled with the responsibility they have been given of checking in and out their books through the automated circulation system. The library media coordinator and technology facilitator collaborate consistently with these classroom teachers in providing research projects so that these primary students learn what it is to become problem-solvers and independent learners. They are using early reading Web sites and software, making their own classroom books, hosting school-wide television shows, and sending encouraging e-mails to sick classmates early in their school careers.

As these children move into upper elementary grades, they are gradually introduced to one-to-one computing. Students use their own computing device for research, project development, and possibly extra assistance in grasping complex tasks. The learning center approach of the primary grades morphs into small group work, with children of various interests and abilities taught how to accept responsibility for their own and others’ work within the project-based learning environment. The media coordinator, technology facilitator, and classroom teachers work together to design units and projects based on the curriculum found in the North Carolina Standard Course of Study that supplement, expand, and enhance instruction. Students move in and out of the media center, continuing to explore their reading interests, both personal and curriculum-related. They also begin the exciting process of small group research work that combines blocks of classroom and media center time, as they gather a variety of resources—books, websites, videos, personal interviews—and pull information from all these sources to create new knowledge-based projects. These projects could be as diverse as an extended interview or video for the school’s daily TV program, a PowerPoint presentation for the next PTO program, a group-created Web site, or a project book bound and housed in the school’s library media center.

This independent-learner-centered environment is continued and increased throughout a student’s middle school career. Once again student abilities and skills are acknowledged and built upon as teachers use technology resources and project-based learning to differentiate instruction. Interactive digital whiteboards and individual student response systems help teachers to determine the percentage of students who understand certain skills or concepts, allowing re-teaching for either the whole class or individual students as necessary. Some students will be introduced to online courses. Others may use online modules from a learning object repository that illustrate specific concepts for review or that enrich instruction. Still others will be paired with community members, distant experts, or students from other states or countries as they work together on common classroom or personal projects. Teachers continue to plan, structure, and guide these endeavors carefully. They rely upon media and technology personnel to move in and out of their classrooms, just as students cycle through the media and technology facilities. This effectively reduces class size, provides individual attention where needed, and offers the chance to encourage early adolescents to develop special relationships with positive role models.

In high schools, students use technology to transform their educational environment. Some students may choose to expand their school day, taking traditional face-to-face classes during school hours and online courses at other times. Others may choose to supplement the school day with one or more online courses while a small number of teens may opt out of traditional high school altogether and graduate from an online program. Colleges and universities provide video and online instruction so that high school students can begin to gain college credit. High school graduation projects are enabled by technology tools that help students collaborate with scientists or researchers from around the world. Students may physically leave the high school campus and remain connected to their schools via e-mail, cell phones, webcams, and chat. Media and technology personnel and facilities continue to be vital in this learning equation as they help students research potential learning partners and situations, complete large projects and papers, and explore and provide new learning technologies and resources.

Technology is especially helpful to our most challenged students. Computers help ADD and LD children focus on the task at hand; interactive drill-and-practice programs provide extra help to slower students; assistive technologies give physically challenged children the tools to communicate; successful experiences with interactive digital white boards can produce a smile or a few first words from an autistic child; and a school television studio can convince an abused child that life is worth living. Technology success can equal self-esteem and confidence in children who need hope and encouragement, opening doors where they thought there were none.

Technology in schools is an amazing accelerator and motivator, yet it is meaningless without the careful guidance and nurturing of classroom teachers and media and technology personnel. These are the individuals who bring the rigor, relevance, and relationships so important to 21st Century learning; technology is only the tool they use to help them work their magic.

Open Source reference

2005-12-05T17:12:00.000-05:00

A fascinating article has been published in the New York Times Week in Review http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/04/weekinreview/04seelye.html It appears that Wikipedia had published a false biography of John Seigenthaler Sr. , the former editor of the Tennessean, a Nashville newspaper. An unknown poster implicated Seigenthaler in the assassination of President John Kennedy, an out-right fabrication.

How many other inaccurate entries are posted on Widipedia? How much false information is found on the Internet? For media and technology people, this question has been primary since the Web's inception. But it becomes more insidious with an open source project such as Wikipedia, which has enjoyed a reasonably good reputation among the general public if not librarians, is confronted with this high-profile inaccuracy.

What are we as educators, especially media and technology educators, to do? How do we counter the popular student belief that "open source" information on the Internet is at least as accurate as our subscription resources, such as those found on NC WiseOwl? Perhaps it is as simple as making sure our students read a copy of this article--and even listen to the interesting discussion on NPR's Talk of the Nation at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4986453 Or is it possible to create exercises that take Wikipedia articles, compare them with subscription articles of the same topic, and even print reference sources to prove a point?

Of course, the danger is that there may actually be more information on Wikipedia--and it may be equally accurate. But I don't see this as a real problem. Students need to appreciate the Web for its diversity and the amount of information it contains. They also need to understand the efficiency and effectiveness of using subscription resouces when producing assignments that value accuracy. It's all part of the depth and breadth that our students should experience in their K-12 educations, in order to prepare them to be life-long learners.

Technology and the Historical Record

2005-11-22T10:02:00.000-05:00

Sunday (November 20, 2005) the Raleigh News and Observer dedicated the front page of their editorial section to the question: Is technology making us dumber? The paper did not come to a conclusion, but it certainly brought up many of the usual arguments:
Cashiers can’t make change on their own . . .
Kids can’t spell . . .
Plagiarism is so easy . . .
No one can remember phone numbers any more . . .

Frankly, I believe that we do run the risk of brain atrophy if its use is not cultivated, yet my greatest concern with technology is that we seem to be losing our history. Technology morphs before our eyes, and our archiving systems have not changed with it. E-mails vanish, web sites move or disappear, entire journals and articles appear only in electronic format.

All this is symptomatic; my greatest concern is our potential inability to explore in depth our historical record. Far too often we fail to learn from our past mistakes, both as individuals and as a nation. Obviously careful documentation of centuries of historical data does not assure that we or our leaders will actually study the past as decisions are being made. But if we cannot access that past experience, if indeed those awful lessons learned are unavailable or at least unreadable, then we have little chance of survival. Truly technology will have made us dumb—and possibly extinct.

We in technology continue to wrestle with the challenge of archiving, backing-up, and storing. What solutions are you using at the LEA level to ensure that your system’s and individual schools’ records will be available and accessible into the next century? How are you instilling in your students an awareness of the value of historical preservation in this age of immediate gratification and superficial knowledge?

The Missing 21st Century Skill Set

2005-11-10T16:55:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was the dedication of the Bill and Ida Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at NC State University. For the past two years I have had the privilege of being a member of its National Advisory Board. It has been an incredible professional development experience for me as I have represented the Department of Public Instruction and all instructional technology educators across the state.

(Full disclosure: This is the third year that the Friday Institute and NCSU have been the external evaluators for our IMPACT Model School Grants as well as one of our partners in the US ED LANCET Study (part of the federal Evaluating State Educational Technology Projects 3-year grant).

Today was a particularly fascinating meeting. A couple of facts you might be interested in:
• Gambling surpassed pornography as the greatest money-maker on the Internet this year.
• In North Carolina, of every 100 students who enter high school:
o 61 will finish high school
o 41 will go on to some sort of post-secondary education
o 19 will graduate from some sort of post-secondary education

I find both these pieces of data depressing for very different reasons, but depressing nonetheless. But in some ways they also fit into the keynote presentation by Chris Dede, who is Timothy E. Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies at Harvard University. Dede talked about 21st Century skills and their relationship to economic development. The focus was on how we need to link education--K-12 education particularly--with the state’s economic development. But since “all politics is local,” this ultimately means we all need to link our individual school systems to the economic development and well-being of our individual communities.

My true ah-ha moment came, however, when Dede made the observation about where he saw the gaps in the 21st Century Learning Skills recommendations. As you well know, these skills encompass 6 key elements:
• Core Subjects (Science, Math, Language Arts, Foreign Languages, etc.
• Learning Skills (ICT [information and communication technologies], thinking and problem-solving skills, and interpersonal and self-directional skills)
• 21st Century Tools (tools to manage, construct, and communicate new knowledge)
• 21st Century Context (academic content based on real-world, authentic experiences)
• 21st Century Content (global awareness; financial, economic, and business literacy; civic literacy)
• 21st Century Assessments (high-quality standardized tests for accountability and classroom assessments for improved teaching and learning)
http://www.21stcenturyskills.org

His contention is that we are missing those skills that can be learned, but cannot be taught. He delineates them as follows:
• Problem-finding
• Leadership
• Creativity
• Entreprenureship

Obviously these 4 skills that he has identified are the true key not just to economic development, but to economic empowerment. His question for the Friday Institute and for all of us: How do we create learning environments that do not teach specific skills, but have the tacit supports needed to help kids learn those “unteachable but very learnable” skills?

Please share your thoughts or answers to this all-important question. . .

Why I'm Blogging

2005-09-23T14:58:00.000-04:00

Since a couple of the consultants mentioned in their weekly updates that I had begun a blog, I’ve had a couple of questions about my intent, the platform I have chosen, and how I think blogs could be used in the classroom.

1.My Intent: For some time now, we have talked about the need for a Director’s Page or something similar that would give me an opportunity to highlight articles I have been reading, special projects we are doing in Instructional Technology, and perhaps some of the research and data that we are uncovering. I also believe that we in this division have a responsibility to model effective uses of media and technology in our professional lives—as I’m sure you all do as well. Creating a blog seemed a natural way to meet both these objectives.

2.Blogger: Our reasoning behind choosing Blogger is simple: it’s free and easy to use. We don’t have a php server, nor do we have money to subscribe to a commercial server-based blog. Granted, Blogger is not a secure environment. One of my first comments was spam, but we’re all adults here and I can certainly act as my own censor if necessary. As our technology options improve here at DPI, we may upgrade our platform, but ‘til then, Blogger is a good option for us—and moving through some of the other blogs on the site has been fascinating!

3.Use of blogs in the classroom: I think blogs have the potential to be a wonderful new tool for classroom use, especially in English/Language Arts and Social Studies classes. I can see English teachers setting up a blog for students to use rather than having them submit traditional book reports. History teachers can ask students to choose a current topic (the Iraq War, aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, how the oil producing countries are responding to the US oil crisis) and blog at least once weekly on how the week’s events are affecting their specific topic. Media and technology personnel could ask students to create a blog rather than a formal research paper, documenting their daily exploration into an assigned topic—rather than writing the dreaded research paper. Obviously, I’d advise teachers to make sure their blog and their students’ blogs are located in a secure environment—and that they have control over content and access. (David Warlick has a wonderful secure blog option on his Landmark for Teachers site http://www.landmark-project.com/index.php ) But aside from the usual care we all take when our students go online at school, take advantage of a new way of teaching and learning. It has so much potential!

Gleanings from Readings

2005-09-08T08:46:00.000-04:00

Student information systems have a new, very important role.
According to eSchool News, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Louisana and Alabama are using their SISs to transfer information to school systems that are accepting "visiting students," while Mississippi is helping individual schools and school systems rebuild their student databases from information housed in the state's SIS. Systems designed to track individual students from school to school and district to district are now a first line of disaster recovery that will allow children a safe refuge and normalcy within the chaos and confusion of rebuilding.

"61% of teachers agree that their students' academic performance has improved with the use of classroom computers." survey by CDW-G, reported in September 2005 eSchool News, pp 1, 37.
BUT this is down from 81% of the teachers surveyed by CDW-G/QED in 2004. Teachers are particularly realistic about the value of computers in preparing students for standardized tests: only 58% believe that "computers are somewhat or very effective when used to improve performance on standardized tests." CDW-G did not speculate on the reason for the drop in teacher confidence as to student academic achievement.

I wonder if it might be that these teachers are moving through the ACOT stages and are currently somewhere between Adoption and Invention. In these stages, teachers become more familiar with technology, but as they move it into classroom use, they also become more uneasy about their mentoring ability. This could translate into a realization that they need to do a better job of integrating it into their classroom content. As these teachers move more toward the facileness that assumes technology to be a tool--just like pencils, books, lab equipment--we can all hope that the percentage will rise again.

2005-09-01T16:48:00.000-04:00

Frances Bryant Bradburn

Welcome to our Blog!

2005-09-01T16:19:00.000-04:00

It's the beginning of another school year, and the Division of Instructional Technology introduced several exciting new resources for your use: the revision of IMPACT, a copyright DVD, the Collaboration Toolkit, and eBistro. All these were previewed at the 8 August Workshops we conducted across the state.

It's fortunate that we were able to do these when we did because it looks like our staff will not be traveling for the next several weeks. The Governor has cut all state employee travel except for emergency personnel because of the potential gas crisis. We can only hope that all conditions in the southeast, especially in the Gulf states, stabilize quickly. The impact on us here in North Carolina is so minimal compared with our southern friends. We will implement a variety of solutions to meet your needs and steward the state's resources. Just call us--we'll work with you any way possible.

Have a great year!