Feeling the "disconnect" firsthand

Some illuminating comments followed recent posts by Will Richardson (on managing RSS) and Gary Stager (on posting timely comments). These discussions have helped me frame my thinking on best practices for engaged learning in the edublogosphere, specifically, and in learning communities in general.

Richardson calls the new technology "disruptive" in the way it shakes up the process and places so much responsibility back on the learner.

Confession: some days I long to be a passive, mouth-breathing student again!

It's a juggling act between reading my feeds, trying to compose thoughtful and timely responses to others' great ideas, documenting insights and "a-ha's" on my own blog, and managing the demands of a full-time graduate course load at a bricks-and-mortar university.

What is troubling (and ironic) is my "linking" and "lurking" in the blogosphere is a totally self-driven, self-directed effort that runs parallel to my "formal" education within an IT master's program. Maybe I wouldn't be so scattered if these two endeavors intersected more often instead of existing on separate planes.

Seldom, if ever, the twain shall meet.

I am gradually finding ways to integrate the two, such as the independent study I described here in this blog a few days ago. But other than some notable exceptions in my core area where the professors effectively utilized Moodle and TappedIn to stimulate student engagement and raise accountability, my classes have largely mirrored my undergraduate experience nearly (gulp) 20 years ago. Even with universal availability of Blackboard on our campus, this very expensive course management platform is grossly underutilized by most instructors, from what I have witnessed.

In "Wired students need wired approaches," Melanie McBride writes that ". . . today’s students are disengaged because teacher training programs and schools are invested in traditional instructional and curriculum paradigms that are deeply disconnected from a web 2.0 generation."

I am a reasonably confident, self-aware adult learner.

If I am feeling the disconnect, imagine how the "wired" youth in our elementary and secondary schools must feel!

technorati tags: blogs edublogs student engagement instructional technology

Feeling the "disconnect" firsthand

Independent study, fall 2007

This fall I will begin an independent study/inquiry under the supervision of Dr. Mary Anne Blank in the department of Theory and Practice in Teacher Education, University of Tennessee-Knoxville.

The topic of inquiry is how to use 21st century skills and applications to support/enhance/facilitate Knox County Schools' new teacher induction and mentoring program here in East Tennessee. The program, which just completed its first full year of systemwide implementation, has received resounding endorsement from participants as well as suggestions and feedback for growth and improvement in 2007-08.

What follows is a statement of the problem with questions, arranged using the classic K-W-L format.

What is Known or Agreed Upon:

• On mid-year and end-of-year program assessments, some novice teachers in special areas (such as art, music, etc.) indicated that their mentoring experience would have been more meaningful had they been matched with an experienced teacher in that same area. However, some campuses simply do not have building-level staff to support one-on-one mentoring in special areas. When mentors and novices cannot be in close proximity to one another, e-Mentoring may be a possible solution, such as the ENDAPT model used for interns and alumnae of the William and Mary teacher preparation program.
  
• Teachers of color have also indicated an interest in mentoring activities adjusted to meet their needs. Again, this may be a problem addressed through some sort of computer-mediated communication, such as a networked learning community that transcends classroom walls and even campus borders.
  
• Through my own experience as a mentor and mentoring team leader at Fulton High School, I know that our meetings were critical for successful implementation of our building-level action plan. I also recall that our busy schedules did not permit numerous after-school meetings, so we limited ourselves to monthly face-to-face sessions, which were not always sufficient for effective administration of the program on a day-to-day basis. In between meetings, we stayed connected with email. Email, however, does not afford the level of connectivity currently available through networking sites like Classroom 2.0 and TappedIn. In these online communities multiple users form special interest groups that collaborate and problem solve through threaded discussions, forums, and virtual "meeting rooms."

What I Want to Know:

• Clearly, there is much potential for enhancing Knox County Schools' mentoring and induction program with the integration of 21st century tools and applications. Each of the aforementioned groups might benefit from a computer-mediated intervention. Which group would be a good starting point?
• Once a focus group of mentors and/or novices is identified, what tools, applications, resources/best practices will best suit their needs?
  
• What issues, in terms of technical support and buy-in, have to be addressed before a viable prototype can be developed and piloted?
• What issues can be addressed through training? What will the training component look like?
• How will my own virtual professional development activities (TappedIn, Classroom 2.0, EdTechTalk, EdubloggerWorld) inform this inquiry?
  

What I Learned:
This section of the inquiry will become more transparent as I begin my research. Look for more installments in the coming weeks and months!

technorati tags: instructional technology research professional development web2.0 networking mentoring

Independent study, fall 2007

Reflection on Dewey

Earlier this summer I took a course in educational philosophy in which we read "A Teacher and His World," an essay by John Dewey first published in 1935 in the journal The Social Frontier.

Apart from the sexism in the title, I found resonance in Dewey's argument. I regret that I cannot locate an open-source version of the essay to link to in this post. Sigh.

Here is a quote:

The sum of the matter is that the times are out of joint, and that teachers cannot escape even if they would, some responsibility for a share in putting them right. They may regard it, like Hamlet, as a cursed spite, or as an opportunity. But they cannot avoid the responsibility. Drifting is merely a cowardly mode of choice. . . . The first need is to become aware of the kind of world in which we live; to survey its forces; to see the opposition in forces that are contending for mastery; to make up one's mind which of these forces come from a past that the world in its potential powers has outlived and which are indicative of a better and happier future.

While the social forces are different, the times remain as disjointed today as they were when Dewey first wrote his essay.

We live in an age of global connectivity and social isolation, of community building and niche marketing. Vast amounts of data and information flow freely across virtual borders, while the security of geographic borders is hotly contested. Ours is a society hobbled by provincial, close-minded attitudes even as it pays lip service to concepts like “the human network” and “the global village.”

These social and political divides are caused in large part by the advance of the digital era, and, if I heed Dewey's call, I share some responsibility in “putting them right.” As a teacher and student in instructional technology, I see Dewey's call to action as an opportunity and not “a cursed spite.”

Because of technology's impact on our culture, I interpret Dewey's recommendation as an imperative for keeping pace with the changes in technology. It is simply no longer acceptable for teachers to say, “It's too complicated – we need more training,” or “I don't have time to teach computer skills, that's the business teacher's job!”

In truth, today's technology is cheap, ubiquitous, and easy to learn and use. Young people already know this; they are utilizing technology daily to collaborate, create, and communicate with others in new and exciting ways – outside school hours. During school hours, it is another story. All they hear is a litany of “no cell phones,” “no downloading,” “no blogs,” and so on. We deny them access to the tools they use for meaning-making and then scratch our heads in bewilderment as levels of student disengagement continually soar!

Dewey's advice means not only understanding how technology works and how to employ it but also being keenly aware of its impact on society. This means teaching about and through technology.

What exactly does this practice look like and how is it done?

Another implication stemming from Dewey's imperative is that I cannot be afraid to delve into new technologies as they become available. There is no need to wait for specialized training; many of the newest tools are free, open source, and user-friendly. When necessary, defer to the experts – the students!

As an educator, I bring my own expertise to the table: the ability to facilitate a dialog about the merit and worth of technology. By modeling how to be a critical consumer of technology, I can help my students develop the affective skills they will need for a lifetime of responsible and ethical engagement with technology. This seems to be in step with Dewey's directive that we make conscious decisions about which societal forces will lead to “a better and happier future.”

Again, what exactly does this practice look like and how is it done?

technorati tags: Dewey philosophy instructional technology

Reflection on Dewey

NO LOGO by Naomi Klein

As part of a research paper on the privatization of public schools, specifically commercialization through school-business "partnerships," I began reading No Logo by Naomi Klein. Note my use of the word "began;" I got as far as Chapter 4, "The Branding of Learning," which has helped me understand how the traditional line between the pubic and private sectors has become blurred in recent years. As a whole, the book rests on the thesis that an underground revolution is simmering and a whole generation of anticorporate radicals and global citizens will rise up and reclaim our "sold planet" from the Starbucks and the Wal-marts. Maybe I'll finish the book before all that happens.

My reason for mentioning No Logo here is the connection Klein draws between the privatization of education and instructional technology. Klein theorizes that commercialism in schools is directly correlated to an increase in "info-tech hype" that started in the 1990s. During that decade, American marketers waged a successful campaign in which they appealed to the desire of many local communities and school boards to provide state-of-the-art classrooms to schoolchildren despite perennial budget shortfalls:

It was technology that lent a new urgency to nineties chronic underfunding: at the same time as schools were facing ever-deeper budget cuts, the costs of delivering a modern education were steeply rising, forcing many educators to look to alternative funding sources for help. . . . Schools that couldn't afford up-to-date textbooks were suddenly expected to provide students with audiovisual equipment, video cameras, classroom computers, desktop publishing capacity, the latest educational software programs, Internet access -- even, at some schools, video-conferencing. (p. 88)

This equation enabled the multinational brands (Coke, Disney, etc.) to essentially eliminate "the barrier between ads and education." Wow. So, it seems that instructional technologists, school reformers, administrators, teachers, really ANYONE who opens the classroom door to corporate funding needs to be able to discern what is hype and what is not hype. My guess is it's HYPE if the objective is to put a SmartBoard in every classroom or a laptop in the hands of every child. It's NOT hype if a teacher in Danbury, Texas, writes and wins a $2500 grant from Best Buy to start a student film festival. (Thanks to my mom for the newspaper clipping!)

Interesting side note: Knox County's most visible partnership with business is the annual coupon book drive, in which local and national companies sponsor money-saving coupons bound in a chunky, little book that, in turn, elementary and middle school students hawk all over the county at $10 a pop. According to the KCS website, the 2006 campaign raised a $1.5 million dollar profit. The county returns 75 percent of the funds to the schools who sell the books. Of the 67 elementary and middle schools who participated, 82 percent reported using this money to buy -- you guessed it -- technology, software, and computer upgrades. Less than 20 percent report using coupon book proceeds on the arts, playground improvements, and field trips.

NO LOGO by Naomi Klein