Archive for May, 2007

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Rose Hill JHS Visits Generation YES

Wednesday, May 16th, 2007

Monday May 14th the Generation YES Olympia staff had the opportunity to meet a long time GenYES school, Rose Hill JHS located in Redmond, WA. The day was filled with topics on Web 2.0, Generation YES business structure and student voice. Students had the opportunity to take pictures, videotape and learn about web design from our web master Kevin Dibble.

After a demonstration on VideoCue Pro for Podcasting, the students, teachers and myself went to Red Robin for lunch and conversation. The rest of afternoon was spent at Capital High School, another long time Generation YES school. Scott LeDuc, creator of GenTECH, paired Rose Hill JHS students with his high school GenTECH students. Students were asked to blog on the GenTECH Blog Roll about “ How can students use Web 2.0 tools such as Podcasting, Blogging, YouTube, ect. in an education environment?” The students then had a discussion on the topic and shared projects both schools were working on in GenYES and GenTECH programs.

The day was great and I had so much fun with this school, Thanks Rose Hill JHS!

Check out some of Rose Hill JHS GenYES projects:

https://schools.lwsd.org/RHJH/genyes/index.htm
img_0399.jpg

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Posted in GenYES, In the news, podcasts, student project samples, student voice, web 2.0 | Comments Off

Second Life

Tuesday, May 15th, 2007

Second Life logoSo everybody’s heard something about Second Life by now. Second Life is an online world that you can visit as an “avatar” - a 3D creature that you can design and control. Teen Second Life offers a similar experience for teens 13-17 years old. People purchase virtual land, build virtual homes, sell each other virtual clothes and services, companies have set up virtual shop (CNN - Real Cars Drive into Second Life), and probably every real transaction translated to the virtual world.

Virtual cars

So what’s the connection to K-12 education?

Educators are allowed in Teen Second Life under very limited conditions, so talking about the use of Second Life in K-12 education fall into two categories.

1. A meeting space for educators in the adult Second Life. ISTE and other educational groups have set up spaces to hold meetings, offer places for virtual collaboration, and experimentation. I’ve been invited to join a group called the Center for Advanced Virtual Education (CAVE) and am looking forward to the experience. Will Richardson, David Warlick, Kathy Schrock and others have been invited. I’m sharing an office with Andy Carvin, and hope to learn a lot. CAVE is a research project of Walden University researcher, Kevin Jarrett.

2. Islands in Teen Second Life created specifically for virtual educational experiences. The 3D building tools and interactive capabilities offer the ability to offer things like role playing exercises, building environments, scripting objects, virtual field trips and more. Suffern Middle School has done some interesting things.

I have to say I’m starting out from a position of skepticism for some of the benefits that people are talking about. I’m not here saying that I don’t see any value or that I don’t want to give it a shot. The truth is that I’ve been in all kinds of virtual worlds from Tapped In, to MUDs and MOOs, and a couple of the original 3D worlds, so long ago I can’t even remember their names. I remember hearing the same “this will change everything” talk back then too.

Things I get:

  • a collaboration space
  • meeting people you wouldn’t otherwise meet in real life
  • some fun building experiences
  • designing your own avatar and experimenting with the concept of self
  • student role playing, meeting spaces, programming, scripting, constructing and economic simulations

Things I’m suspicious about:

  • Unexamined optimism about the educational implications of Second Life. I’ve heard people say, “wouldn’t this be a great place to set up physics simulations.” I don’t see that yet. Besides -the history of educational technology is filled with great physics simulation applications that aren’t used. Why do we think they will be used in a virtual world? Just because you can let the kids have blue hair while they play with the simulations?
  • Yes, you can build things, but how easy is to create physical attributes like mass or density? You can set sizes of things, but can you measure them? Can you make a spring? How much math is possible? The scripting language is event-driven, meaning it’s best at reacting to user contact. Will this just mean that we move further away from the “computing” part of computers? I don’t know, that’s why I want to try things myself.
  • I fear our tendency to create canned educational experiences so that no one really has to learn the tools. What’s interesting is the ability for kids to make stuff. 3D click-and-explores are not.
  • People rushing to find reasons to use this technology in education just because it’s new.
  • Precious time wasted avoiding the hard work of teaching and learning in the real world.

Doug and me in Second LifeI was just logged in and ran into Doug Johnson (Blue Skunk Blog) - he and I had a blog exchange the other day about “tinker toy” software, meaning tools that offer a “low floor and high ceiling”. Does Second Life meet this criteria? Not sure yet.

PS My “in world” name is Kay Idziak - say hi if you see me.

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Posted in cool links, fun/free stuff, second life | 9 Comments »

The Power of Youth Voice

Friday, May 11th, 2007

Given all the technology available to today’s youth, it is sometimes disappointing how little youth speak out. Little in school prepares students to utilize modern Web 2.0 technologies to voice their opinion in powerful ways. There are some exceptions and I always marvel at how adults will really listen to students who have a powerful mesaage. This video clip is one of my favorite examples of how profound a 13-year-old student can be. Enjoy and feel free to comment on both the content and and how youth voice can be enhanced through today’s technology.

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Posted in Generation YES, conferences, student voice, web 2.0 | Comments Off

The future that never was

Friday, May 11th, 2007

Paleo-FuturePaleo-Future is a very cool website that collects visions of the future as seen by people in the past. The motto is, “A Look into the Future that Never Was.”

Ideas for the classroom might be:

  • Use these as examples to create your own videos, pictures or articles about the future
  • Discuss what people thought would happen, but didn’t
  • Find examples of predictions that really did happen
  • Find out why these videos were made (eg was it a commercial, a contest, a prediction intended to warn people, etc.)
  • Find out more about who made these videos
  • Discuss the difference between technology change and social change, and why one might be more or less hard to predict
  • Look for examples of current commercials, books, or websites that predict the future. How far in the future are these predictions? What else might happen if they come true?

Here are some fun places to start -

  • The Homework Machine is a good one. Chemistry done without actual messy chemicals and math drills - bad ideas never go out of style. Searching for things like “homework”, “classroom” and “textbook” provides hours of good finds.
  • 1999 AD and Online Shopping both have pretty good predictions about the use of technology in kitchens and for shopping, but the happy homemaker who controls all this and is a slave to her husband and children is pretty funny. She selects things and he pays for it, while grimacing at the picture of the handwritten bill on his screen. Why did they get some of the technology right (the appliances), some miss the mark (the handwritten bill), and the social stuff just completely wrong?
  • The Road Ahead: Future Classroom is from 1997- not that long ago. Cool technology, but does the student really say anything in his report?

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TechYES Takes Over 5th and 6th Grade Classrooms

Thursday, May 10th, 2007

TechYES LogoFifth and sixth grade students are taking Technology by storm. The students of Nevada Middle School in Nevada, Iowa have been working hard at producing TechYES projects that have emerged from self-interest and passion to help others. Projects range from iMovies to Webpages and are designed to help other students, community members and to learn more about something they had interest in.

This is the first year TechYES has been implemented at Nevada Middle School. The program is lead by TechYES advisor Ann Malven. Ann has recently submitted 173 TechYES certificates awarding all 5th and 6th grade students National Certification. Ann reports “The TechYES program has totally transformed the way we teach technology in the 5th and 6th grades. I have enjoyed it immensely, and so have the kids and teachers. I wish you could see how excited they are to work on their projects.”

We are so happy to hear that students have found meaning behind these projects and they have truly made them their own.

Follow these links to see some of the great projects that these TechYES certified students created.

Nevada Middle School Projects- https://www.nevada.k12.ia.us/

Project Descriptions- www.techyes.net

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Contructivist Teaching - Cheap Prices and Huge Selection

Wednesday, May 9th, 2007

Wondering what constructivist teaching looks like?

Apparently, on Feedster you can find anything.For Sale

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Application triage to enable differentiated learning

Wednesday, May 9th, 2007

Doug Johnson of the Blue Skunk Blog had an interesting post the other day about how to choose from the zillions of software and web 2.0 choices bombarding us every day. He called it - Application Triage.

His criteria:

  1. Simplicity
  2. Ubiquity
  3. Reliability
  4. Usability
  5. Affordability

In a comment, I suggested adding “Extensibility” - the idea that applications selected for students should have ways to accommodate more expert use, without compromising the simplicity and usability criteria. Doug asked if I could provide examples, saying, “I’ve personally always like what I call “tinker toy” software that lets me build instead of just use things that are already built. And a lot of kids do too. Not so sure about adults!“

Unfortunately, there used to be more examples in widespread use in schools. Logo, HyperStudio and HyperCard were great applications that provided this “no floor, no ceiling” experience.

Good examples: hardware - cameras, computers, even ipods have hidden features that most people don’t know and don’t care about. You can click the button and get a nice picture or hear a song, but if you want to, there are settings and options that allow greater creativity and artistry. When you are ready, the hardware accommodates your new interest.

I think the key phrases here are: if you want to, and when you are ready…

Tools with programming - There are a few programming languages very appropriate for students that offer easy entry and quick ways to do presentations and multimedia projects, but also allow for user control of objects (if you want to, when you are ready…)

For example, why teach PowerPoint when Flash is just as easy to learn, yet can be programmed AND do animations? I hear people say that PowerPoint is a good place to start, but it’s often the end as well. What a shame. For a student who has the potential to develop more expertise, PowerPoint is a limiting technology, not an enabling one.

Sure, use PowerPoint when needed, but it’s hardly worth teaching students endless lessons and activities to improve their PowerPoint use. Move along here, there’s nothing to see.

Or - Why not teach kids HTML instead of making them learn some “easy” editor. Most student web pages use 3 or 4 basic HTML tags. It’s hardly rocket science. I know, I know I can hear the groans from teachers everywhere.

But HTML (if you want to, when you are ready…) is the basic building block of every website from Amazon.com to your own school site.

It’s an unfortunate fact that many issues surrounding teaching technology reflect adult fears, not student ability or needs.

We talk about differentiated instruction, but that concept shouldn’t stop at the instructional door. Everything we put in kids’ hands should have the ability to offer differentiated and leveled experiences for kids when they want to, when they are ready…

Sylvia

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Posted in constructivism, web 2.0 | 1 Comment »

Students Rebuilding a Nation with Technology

Tuesday, May 8th, 2007

I just spent nearly three weeks in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Both these West African nations have been through some recent bad times. While in Liberia, President Ellen Sirleaf presided over the groundbreaking for the Liberia Renaissance Education Complex. Check out her groundbreaking speech. Of course, the new school will utilize the Generation YES way with students being an integral part of the way the school operates.

While in Monrovia I had the pleasure of meeting with members of the Liberian chapter of the Taking It Global organization. Check out this organization’s projects and learn about its founder Michael Furdyk. Michael is a perfect example of what an empowered tech-savvy teenager can accomplish.

The young people I met with had a very clear idea of how both technology and youth can rebuild a nation. If any of you are interested in corresponding with these agents for peace in Liberia, you can email them at [email protected].

Dennis

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Speak Up 2006 - listening to student (and parent and teacher) voice

Monday, May 7th, 2007

Speak Up Day logoThe Speak Up 2006 survey gave 232,781 students, 21,272 teachers and 15,317 parents the opportunity to speak out about their views on technology, education, and the impact on their lives. All the survey data is online at the Speak Up site, including useful podcasts and slideshows you can share with others.

One of the most interesting sections of this year’s survey reveled student interest in math and science.

  • Students want to learn science and math through real world problem solving, visiting places where science is in action, talking to professionals in those fields and using technology in many ways.
  • While 86% of students in K-2 are interested in specific careers in science and/or math, starting in grade 3 that interest starts to decrease. In grades 3-12 over 1/3 of students say that they are not interested in any careers in science, math, technology or engineering.

It’s not surprising that students are not connecting real-world problem solving and authentic science with the test-focused curriculum in their schools.

Students ARE interested in doing hard work-but interesting, engaging work, just like real scientists, engineers and mathematicians do. We are doing students a disservice by not listening to their voices, and not giving them a glimpse at the jobs that matter in this century.

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Posted in Generation YES, In the news, student voice | 1 Comment »

Constructivist teaching - virtually

Friday, May 4th, 2007

Here’s a video of a music teacher in Newfoundland who teaches students across the miles.

From a teaching point of view, there are many noteworthy things in this video that are applicable to any subject, whether virtual or not.

  1. The teacher’s personal passion for the subject.
  2. The teacher’s focus on connecting the student’s existing interests and experiences to the class material.
  3. The teacher’s interest in finding tools that allow students to construct final products that are meaningful to the student and that can be shared with others.

The fact that this teacher uses a particular blog tool or sound editor is not as important as the fact that he makes these choices to leverage the students ability to produce something beyond the blog and beyond the mere output of a sound file.

Blogging is not a magic tool. Just the mere act of blogging is not constructive, it’s just another way to write. There are blogs being assigned to students today that are the virtual equivalent of the 5 paragraph essay-unauthentic and completely lacking value in the real world.

Creating a constructivist learning experience still takes a teacher who can create a learning environment, virtual or not, that pushes students to see themselves as capable of producing something of value to themselves and to others, and then facillitates them doing just that.

Thanks to Kelly Christopherson who posted this (and where it’s from) on his blog on Classroom 2.0.

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Posted in blogs, constructivism, web 2.0 | 1 Comment »

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