Teacher Tech Talk

Let’s hope this movement keeps growing. Check out this post from MindShift.

21st Century Skills…21st Century Learning…21st Century competencies…

To many, these just sound like education buzz words that won’t seem to go away no matter how much new technology becomes part of what we do in schools.   We’re well into the 21st century, so shouldn’t this stuff be self-evident by now?  I mean, after all, here in Madison we all have teacher web pages where students access homework assignments and other resources that teachers post, and parents can even check their children’s grades from home on Infinite Campus. Aren’t these examples of 21st century learning in action? Well…sort of. You see, it’s not just about using technology to automate the kind of work we’ve always done. Being able to post homework assignments is great for home-school communication, but it doesn’t have much to do with 21st century skills, other than knowing how to navigate and manage a web page. Real 21st century learning can be seen in other Finalsite features, like the discussion boards that allow students to exercise their critical thinking, communication and collaboration skills.  So it’s not just about the technology, but how we leverage the technology to develop deeper understandings.

For me, 21st century competencies are best described by the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) developed by The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE®), the premier association for educators engaged in improving learning and teaching through effective uses of technology. ISTE developed these standards not only for students, but for teachers, administrators, and instructional technology coaches like myself. It’s important to get to know them because they’ve definitely informed the recently developed Common Core standards, as well as some new initiatives in Madison’s new 3-year Tech Plan, which you’ll be able to see as the BOE approves it. You can check out all the different versions of the NETS here, but I suggest starting with the NETS for students. After reading through them, reflect a bit on where we do a good job fostering these standards, these 21st century competencies, and where we need to focus more of our attention. Please share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.

Despite their best efforts, school districts everywhere struggle with providing teachers with professional development activities and opportunities that meet the needs of all teachers. While we all educate students, we all have different needs due to the variety of subjects and ages we teach, not to mention the variety of learning styles we each have as adult learners. Some activities are a no-brainer…when there’s a new student information system that all teachers will be using (think Infinite Campus), everyone will benefit from a workshop that shows teachers how to use it.  However, when it comes to professional growth related to instructional practices, a one-size-fits-all doesn’t usually work. This is why some districts are encouraging teachers to develop professional/personal learning networks (PLN’s). A PLN is basically a personalized social network, developed by the individual teacher, full of digital resources that pertain to his/her specific needs or interests as an educator.

One great way to start developing a personal learning network is by reading blogs, using an RSS feed aggregator, like GoogleReader. This article does a great job discussing the role of RSS feeds and wikis in developing PLN’s.  To learn about the basic concept of RSS, click on the video below.

Another great PLN tool is Twitter.  This article by New Milford High School (NJ) principal Eric Sheninger explains why Twitter should be a vital component to anyone’s PLN. How many of you are on Twitter and use it as a means for professional growth? Leave a comment below to share your experiences. Then hit me up on Twitter…my handle is @MadisonITS.

How did I miss this? I blogged a while ago about WatchKnowLearn, a great video resource site for educators, but I didn’t find out about YouTube EDU until today. Perhaps this is YouTube’s response to WatchKnowLearn, or maybe they’re just smart enough to understand the educational potential of their product.

At any rate, YouTube EDU offers students and teachers access to a broad set of educational videos that range from academic lectures to inspirational speeches and everything in between. School districts can also sign up for YouTube for Schools, which is basically the offers schools more control over the content their students have access to throughout the school day.

Want to engage students with more video content? Well, you now have what I’m calling The Free Big 3: WatchKnowLearn, YouTube EDU, and The Khan Academy. I realize that some schools in Madison also have access to DiscoveryEducation Streaming, but as much as I enjoy its content, it’s not free.

So what are your thoughts about the quality of the sites mentioned above? Do some offer better selections than others? Is the copyright-protected content on DiscoveryEd that much better than what The Free Big 3 have to offer? Please leave a comment below.

So I know I keep posting about the “flipped” classroom model (already blogged about it here and here), but when something this transformational hits education, it bears repeating. I know what you’re thinking… This is just the latest instructional fad, destined to be forgotten a few years from now until the next one comes along. I’m normally just as skeptical when it comes to new trends in education, but this time it’s different. How so? Well, how about the fact that the students you teach now are different…more so than at any other point in your career. Sure, they have the same growing pains, insecurities, curiosities, hopes, and dreams that kids have had since since the first public school house opened, but these kids now…they’re digital natives. They love screens, learning from videos as well as people, and contributing to the flow of information on the Web.  And aside from all that, the flipped model just makes sense from a pedagogical standpoint.  But don’t take my word for it.  Those in the Polson math department who have tried it so far have had great things to say about it.

Plus the fact that 60 Minutes dedicated part of Sunday night’s episode to the flipped classroom model and its godfather, Sal Khan, tells me two things: 1) this is something we all need to pay attention to, and 2) Bill Gates endorsements sure are helpful. The fact that The Khan Academy‘s YouTube channel has over 45 million views so far is also noteworthy.  But is this the future of education? As much as I think the flipped model can be a great instructional tool for certain learning concepts, there is plenty to be skeptical about from the 60 Minutes segment below.  Like the way Khan’s mission is now expanding to the point where kids walk into a classroom, log into a laptop to pick up where they each left off on the last lesson, and start quietly hammering away at the keyboard while their teacher circulates. Really? This strikes me as kind of sad, and I’m not alone in feeling this way.

But I’m more interested in what you think. See what you may have missed below, and let us know.

Every year I make it a point to go to the Connecticut Educators Computer Association (CECA) conference to learn about the latest trends in digital learning. The best part of these conferences isn’t always listening to guest lectures from experts in the field of educational technology, though it’s certainly one of the highlights. Instead it’s listening to real teachers share their experiences of exploring new digital learning strategies with their students. To encourage more teachers to share their digital learning experiences and further its vision of promoting effective 21st century educational technologies for Connecticut, CECA has just announced its CECA Educator Awards–three awards of $1,000 each to recognize excellence in the integration of technology into classroom learning. You can apply as an individual teacher or as a team of teachers. Learn how to apply here.

I recently got at tip from DHHS’s Mike Docker on great teacher resource that he found on the Web. It’s a site called TeachingChannel, and it is chock full of videos designed to inspire teachers to try new instructional strategies that work. Here’s a brief one that covers a classroom management strategy geared at teachers of grades K-2. Check out the site and let us know what you think by leaving a comment below.