My ePortfolio

My ePortfolio, a work in progress, is now online. I am really excited about it and will be working on it throughout the summer.

Please visit my ePortfolio and send me your comments, suggestions, and questions!

technorati tags: professional development ePortfolio portfolio

My ePortfolio

My ePortfolio

My ePortfolio, a work in progress, is now online. I am really excited about it and will be working on it throughout the summer.

Please visit my ePortfolio and send me your comments, suggestions, and questions!

technorati tags: professional development ePortfolio portfolio

My ePortfolio

Thesis: problems and questions

This summer I begin work on a practical prospectus, a road map for my thesis, which I will begin writing this fall. I plan to use this blog as a repository of ideas and a place to make my thinking more transparent.

I am told by my graduate advisor that all good research begins with a question. I know this! I've led 9th grade English students through the research process more times than I can count.

So, why is this so difficult?

After a long weekend of "creative procrastination," this is my first stab at a description of the problem followed by some preliminary questions:

Problem: The problem simply stated is there is an exciting new world of collaborative and interactive tech tools that is expanding at breakneck speed, and teachers and schools are struggling to keep pace with the change.

This is nothing new. For as long as I have been a teacher, the complaint about technology has been, “When do I have the time to learn all this new stuff, and if I learn it, will there be the support I need to keep it functional and accessible for me and my students during the school day?"

What is new about the problem of technology and curriculum integration is that now the technology is highly functional, reliable, cheap, easy to use, and easy to access (as easy as a cell phone in the palm of your hand). How is this a problem? Well, it is an especially interesting and compelling problem that because of technology's ease and ubiquity, our students are increasingly more “expert” at it than we are! Adolescents are using technology outside the confines of the traditional classroom, often in unsupervised, unregulated contexts.

We regularly hear and read about young people's use and abuse of technology, their absolute dependence on it and near obsession with it. Stories abound about Internet sex predators, unflattering YouTube videos, and slanderous MySpace pages. These serve to make jumpy teachers and school administrators feel even less inclined to adapt.

Question: How might I tap into technology in ways that add relevance and rigor to my course content and, at the same time, teach young people to engage more critically and responsibly with all forms of new and electronic media?

Problem: Many of the new, web-based tools (wikis, blogs, file-sharing and social networking sites – what Will Richardson calls the “read/write web”) enable us to research, create, and communicate in new and exciting ways. As a language arts educator with interests in journalism and media education, I see a natural fit into my curriculum.

Question: What does “Classroom 2.0” look like in a language arts context? Who is doing it successfully? How are they doing it?

Problem: But reading, writing, researching, and communicating are broad instructional objectives, which suggest that technology integration should not be happening in isolation but collaboratively, across disciplines. Going back to the “rigor and relevance” I mentioned before, this seems to me to be the only way to have a lasting impact on learning. In other words, the “silo” approach to implementation ultimately won't work. “Classroom 2.0” must be supported school-wide, with progressive policy and pedagogy.

Question: What does “School 2.0” look like? Who is doing it successfully? How are they doing it?

Thesis: problems and questions

Thesis: problems and questions

This summer I begin work on a practical prospectus, a road map for my thesis, which I will begin writing this fall. I plan to use this blog as a repository of ideas and a place to make my thinking more transparent.

I am told by my graduate advisor that all good research begins with a question. I know this! I've led 9th grade English students through the research process more times than I can count.

So, why is this so difficult?

After a long weekend of "creative procrastination," this is my first stab at a description of the problem followed by some preliminary questions:

Problem: The problem simply stated is there is an exciting new world of collaborative and interactive tech tools that is expanding at breakneck speed, and teachers and schools are struggling to keep pace with the change.

This is nothing new. For as long as I have been a teacher, the complaint about technology has been, “When do I have the time to learn all this new stuff, and if I learn it, will there be the support I need to keep it functional and accessible for me and my students during the school day?"

What is new about the problem of technology and curriculum integration is that now the technology is highly functional, reliable, cheap, easy to use, and easy to access (as easy as a cell phone in the palm of your hand). How is this a problem? Well, it is an especially interesting and compelling problem that because of technology's ease and ubiquity, our students are increasingly more “expert” at it than we are! Adolescents are using technology outside the confines of the traditional classroom, often in unsupervised, unregulated contexts.

We regularly hear and read about young people's use and abuse of technology, their absolute dependence on it and near obsession with it. Stories abound about Internet sex predators, unflattering YouTube videos, and slanderous MySpace pages. These serve to make jumpy teachers and school administrators feel even less inclined to adapt.

Question: How might I tap into technology in ways that add relevance and rigor to my course content and, at the same time, teach young people to engage more critically and responsibly with all forms of new and electronic media?

Problem: Many of the new, web-based tools (wikis, blogs, file-sharing and social networking sites – what Will Richardson calls the “read/write web”) enable us to research, create, and communicate in new and exciting ways. As a language arts educator with interests in journalism and media education, I see a natural fit into my curriculum.

Question: What does “Classroom 2.0” look like in a language arts context? Who is doing it successfully? How are they doing it?

Problem: But reading, writing, researching, and communicating are broad instructional objectives, which suggest that technology integration should not be happening in isolation but collaboratively, across disciplines. Going back to the “rigor and relevance” I mentioned before, this seems to me to be the only way to have a lasting impact on learning. In other words, the “silo” approach to implementation ultimately won't work. “Classroom 2.0” must be supported school-wide, with progressive policy and pedagogy.

Question: What does “School 2.0” look like? Who is doing it successfully? How are they doing it?

Thesis: problems and questions

School web publishing policies

As part of a recent assignment for a course I am taking this summer at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, I had to investigate an organization's web publishing policy and report on it in an online forum (Moodle) so my classmates and I could discuss and compare our findings. It was a great exercise, and I am still pondering some of the ideas that bubbled up. In fact, I may integrate this subject into the mini-prospectus I am writing for my upcoming thesis work.

In hopes of eliciting additional insights from folks near and far, I am now posting my response to the assignment here:

To begin with, I am VERY interested in understanding how centralized systems of authority (in this case, schools) are adapting (failing to adapt?) their policies and practices to accommodate the current explosion in web publishing opportunities – wikis, blogs, social networking and file sharing sites, all things "2.0," as well as traditional web pages.

I approached this assignment from the perspective of a classroom teacher in Knox County Schools, where I was employed as a high school language arts teacher up until 2005 when I took an extended leave. In some regards, I am inclined to think the KCS web publishing policy is restrictive; I hope to gain some clarity/perspective on this from folks who might read this blog and post a comment.

The KCS web publishing policies can be accessed in PDF in the lower-left margin on the Web Services page at the district's web site. I sought further clarification about the policy from a KCS technology trainer. These are the steps a KCS teacher should follow to publish content on the web (parenthetical comments are my two cents thrown in):

1. Read the School Board Policy on Web Pages and the Web Page Guidelines from the Procedures Handbook.


2. Call the Public Affairs Office and let them know what you are doing. (This is not written into policy, but it is suggested on the Web Services home page.)


3. Advise your building-level principal about what you are doing. Assuming your principal approves the project, you now become his or her “designated representative,” meaning you assume absolute responsibility for all files posted (unless, of course, the principal wants to review all posts prior to you uploading them to the server, which is highly unlikely).


4. Learn to use Contribute, a sister product of Dreamweaver. (You can use any application you want to generate your HTML, but if you want KCS tech support, use Contribute. This is the preferred HTML editor for Knox schools; every school in the county has a site license. Contribute was chosen because it is inexpensive, has a number of security features, supports multiple users, and works across platforms.)


5. If your project involves student-generated web page content, you must adhere to the board-mandated policy of prior review. To quote: “At no time will files be posted that are submitted directly by students.”


6. If you are uploading student-generated content, you must have on file a signed KCS authorization to publish form from the student's parent/guardian. These can be downloaded and duplicated as needed from the district web site.


7. (And here's where it gets sticky . . . . ) Upload all files to the school web server. Under no circumstances are files to be hosted on external servers, especially if these files contain student-generated materials. (All Knox schools have a network server with plenty of space to accommodate student and teacher web projects, but I suspect this policy has nothing to do with cost, space, or utility. I think it is a control issue.)

For more information about web site requirement and restrictions, tech support, and security procedures, read the complete Web Page Guidelines from the Knox County School Board.

So, compared to other systems around the state and nation, how does Knox County stack up?

School web publishing policies

School web publishing policies

As part of a recent assignment for a course I am taking this summer at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, I had to investigate an organization's web publishing policy and report on it in an online forum (Moodle) so my classmates and I could discuss and compare our findings. It was a great exercise, and I am still pondering some of the ideas that bubbled up. In fact, I may integrate this subject into the mini-prospectus I am writing for my upcoming thesis work.

In hopes of eliciting additional insights from folks near and far, I am now posting my response to the assignment here:

To begin with, I am VERY interested in understanding how centralized systems of authority (in this case, schools) are adapting (failing to adapt?) their policies and practices to accommodate the current explosion in web publishing opportunities – wikis, blogs, social networking and file sharing sites, all things "2.0," as well as traditional web pages.

I approached this assignment from the perspective of a classroom teacher in Knox County Schools, where I was employed as a high school language arts teacher up until 2005 when I took an extended leave. In some regards, I am inclined to think the KCS web publishing policy is restrictive; I hope to gain some clarity/perspective on this from folks who might read this blog and post a comment.

The KCS web publishing policies can be accessed in PDF in the lower-left margin on the Web Services page at the district's web site. I sought further clarification about the policy from a KCS technology trainer. These are the steps a KCS teacher should follow to publish content on the web (parenthetical comments are my two cents thrown in):

1. Read the School Board Policy on Web Pages and the Web Page Guidelines from the Procedures Handbook.
2. Call the Public Affairs Office and let them know what you are doing. (This is not written into policy, but it is suggested on the Web Services home page.)
3. Advise your building-level principal about what you are doing. Assuming your principal approves the project, you now become his or her “designated representative,” meaning you assume absolute responsibility for all files posted (unless, of course, the principal wants to review all posts prior to you uploading them to the server, which is highly unlikely).
4. Learn to use Contribute, a sister product of Dreamweaver. (You can use any application you want to generate your HTML, but if you want KCS tech support, use Contribute. This is the preferred HTML editor for Knox schools; every school in the county has a site license. Contribute was chosen because it is inexpensive, has a number of security features, supports multiple users, and works across platforms.)
5. If your project involves student-generated web page content, you must adhere to the board-mandated policy of prior review. To quote: “At no time will files be posted that are submitted directly by students.”
6. If you are uploading student-generated content, you must have on file a signed KCS authorization to publish form from the student's parent/guardian. These can be downloaded and duplicated as needed from the district web site.
7. (And here's where it gets sticky . . . . ) Upload all files to the school web server. Under no circumstances are files to be hosted on external servers, especially if these files contain student-generated materials. (All Knox schools have a network server with plenty of space to accommodate student and teacher web projects, but I suspect this policy has nothing to do with cost, space, or utility. I think it is a control issue.)

For more information about web site requirement and restrictions, tech support, and security procedures, read the complete Web Page Guidelines from the Knox County School Board.

So, compared to other systems around the state and nation, how does Knox County stack up?

School web publishing policies

Awesome hubby wins big award

I want to send a big shout-out to my husband, Ron, who traveled to the 11th Annual Webby Awards in New York last week to collect a trophy for diynetwork.com, the website he directs. The New York Times calls the Webby Awards "the Oscars of the Internet," and when you consider the billions of web pages out there, the old cliche "it's an honor just to be nominated" really rings true. Ron and his group won The People's Voice Award in the Lifestyle category, which means out of a field of five nominees, diynetwork.com received the most votes from the online community.

In keeping with World Wide Web language conventions, winners' acceptance speeches are limited to just five words. (A convention I tried to follow when titling this post.) The group had weeks to collaborate on a five-word sentence and ultimately arrived at this gem, which incorporates a clever plug for a new DIY network series on the art of demolition: "Now, let's get hammered." As site director, Ron went on stage to accept the award and deliver the "speech," which he says received the loudest applause of the evening, a fact I am sure had nothing to do with Absolut Vodka being one of the program sponsors.

Visit the official Webby home page to learn more about the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences and to see a complete list of winners and nominees. If you have some time to kill, browse the cool, interactive Flash gallery of winners. It's a fun way to discover some hidden treasure on the Internet. In addition to diynetwork.com, two winning web sites worth visiting are SaveTheInternet.com and PoetryFoundation.org.

Awesome hubby wins big award

Awesome hubby wins big award

I want to send a big shout-out to my husband, Ron, who traveled to the 11th Annual Webby Awards in New York last week to collect a trophy for diynetwork.com, the website he directs. The New York Times calls the Webby Awards "the Oscars of the Internet," and when you consider the billions of web pages out there, the old cliche "it's an honor just to be nominated" really rings true. Ron and his group won The People's Voice Award in the Lifestyle category, which means out of a field of five nominees, diynetwork.com received the most votes from the online community.

In keeping with World Wide Web language conventions, winners' acceptance speeches are limited to just five words. (A convention I tried to follow when titling this post.) The group had weeks to collaborate on a five-word sentence and ultimately arrived at this gem, which incorporates a clever plug for a new DIY network series on the art of demolition: "Now, let's get hammered." As site director, Ron went on stage to accept the award and deliver the "speech," which he says received the loudest applause of the evening, a fact I am sure had nothing to do with Absolut Vodka being one of the program sponsors.

Visit the official Webby home page to learn more about the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences and to see a complete list of winners and nominees. If you have some time to kill, browse the cool, interactive Flash gallery of winners. It's a fun way to discover some hidden treasure on the Internet. In addition to diynetwork.com, two winning web sites worth visiting are SaveTheInternet.com and PoetryFoundation.org.

Awesome hubby wins big award