IT Rivers Merge - Educational Applications

May 31 - Synthesis of Last 3 Blogs and How it Concerns IT Education

I was fortunate to fly over the Bhramaputra River Delta a few months ago. I marveled at how the various streams and rivers flowed into and between one another in an intricate and fascinating web, and then eventually emptied into the vastness of the ocean (at the top of the image). This blog is like that - neural pathways and streams of consciousness, flowing and merging and eventually being dumped into the public obscurity of the world wide web.

In posting the last three blogs in three days, I think I've completed the requirements for my tech class, but my brain says I need to synthesize and connect this information in a meaningful way and relate it to my role as a teacher.

These are the questions I'm still trying to find the answers to.

1) How do we shelter children from the flood of information available to them, much of which is frightening or otherwise inappropriate for their delicate years?

An interesting wiki entitled The Reality of Internet Filtering/Blocking, cited numerous sources which discussed how best to shelter children from inappropriate material on the internet. The major challenge was how to continually filter out inappropriate material without also blocking sites that are fine for children to visit.

As a society we realize that young children do not have the maturity to deal with adult issues, so we protect them while they are very young, and support them as they grow and begin to explore more mature material. This is why there are 'Adult' sections in public libraries and 'Adult Only' shelves in movie rental stores. This is why good parents monitor what their children watch on TV, especially during times of crisis. This is not censorship, or a violation of the First Amendment, this is common sense, and it applies to the internet as well.

Just as all school librarians carefully select the books they order for their collections, school tech departments need to set up safety nets to block inappropriate sites. Children must be taught that if they come across something that makes them feel uncomfortable, unsafe or afraid, they should leave the site immediately and tell a trusted adult. Children must also be supervised by a responsible adult while using the internet.

2) How do we teach our students to glean the most reliable information from the glut of smut that flows through the net?

The website for The Sheridan Libraries of Johns Hopkins University offered an excellent tutorial in how to find reliable information on the internet. This would be a good starting point for teachers who are helping their students gain the skill of discernment when it comes to using the internet.

The key things to consider are as follows:
Authorship
Publishing body
Point of view or bias
Referral to other sources
Verifiability
Currency

3) How do we teach our students to make the best personal choices based on the information they determine is reliable and relevant to their lives?

A goal of most quality schools is help students develop proficient skills in critical-thinking, problem-solving and decision-making. Good teachers provide a supportive environment where students can reflect on and explore issues of citizenship within a variety of communities. Parents and families provide a framework of morality which can further guide children as they determine their place in the world. With these three support systems, children have a sturdy stool to stand on as they reach for their goals and discover how they can contribute to making the world a better place.

I'm quite convinced that my musings here will enjoy a measure of obscurity, since I doubt few, if any others will find this blog worthy of their time. However, writing this blog was a helpful exercise for me as I recorded the ideas that have been chasing around in my brain the last few weeks. My husband pointed out that instead of jotting down my notes in a journal, I've now posted them on this blog and some climate-controlled server farm will have to store it for all eternity, wasting vast amounts of energy. (So much for being environmentally friendly.) My last question is this: Is this blog worth it?

IT in Kenya circa 1983

May 30 - Things have changed a little bit since I was in school.

The political situation in Thailand is not completely unfamiliar to me. I have lived through a
revolution in Ethiopia and a civil war in Uganda. In both countries I gathered information about the situation from any friendly adults who chose to inform me, or from what I could overhear of their conversations. It seemed most of their information was from 'word-of-mouth' too.

Things have changed a bit since those days, and it annoys me that in this "information age" we expect to have all the information we want with a few clicks of the keyboard, or finger swipes on the iphone.

So for all you impatient internet users who complain about not enough information, here's a flash from the not-too-distant past.

My parents were missionaries in Ethiopia and Uganda, and when I was in Jr. High and High School in the 1980s, I was sent to boarding school at Rift Valley Academy in Kenya. RVA is a marvelous school and is perched on the escarpment of the great Rift Valley looking out over a vast plain and ancient volcano, Mt. Longonot. (Nestled on one of the world's natural satellite dishes, I wonder if they have decent high-speed internet now.)

Those were the days before email, and snail mail earned its name. Very often I would return home for my trimester vacation ahead of the letter I'd posted three months earlier at the start of the previous school term. Those tear-splattered letters which described my homesickness and the pathetic details of my early adolescence were received warmly by my parents, but they were tragically out-dated by the time they arrived. I'd somehow survived the teasing and loneliness, and now I was home and all was well with the world. "But why didn't you call us?" they enquired.

Phoning Mbale, Uganda from Kijabe, Kenya in the mid-80s required standing in the cold wind at the phone booth for an hour or more, several nights in a row, with unpredictable results.

My brother and I would give the crank on the phone several enthusiastic spins, lift the earpiece and lean in to the wall-mounted mouthpiece. When the operator responded, we asked to be connected with Mbale Three. (My parents had the third phone line in the town.) We could hear the operator pulling out and pushing in plugs in the telecommunications office down the hill in Kijabe town and shouting, "Kijabe One to Mbale Three. Kijabe One to Mbale Three! Hello? Hello?" Then she would say to us, "You wait now." And that was it. We waited. Sometimes she called back to tell us she couldn't get through to Mbale Three. Sometimes we called her back to cancel the call because we had to meet curfew. As we left for our separate dorms, we would agree to meet the following evening to try again.

Day after day we would try, and sometimes we were lucky. As we stood dancing from foot to foot to keep warm, or huddled in the deep window wells on Kiambogo porch, sometimes the phone would ring and we would nearly collide trying to reach it first. "Mom? Dad? Is that you?" And if it was, we would take turns shouting above the static about nothing in particular, just being comforted by the sound of our parent's voices. I tried not to cry because I could hear the tightness in Mom's voice and knew she was trying not to cry too.

The phones lines were often down; they were highly valued for making jewelry or binding crops, so the governments of both countries had quite a job replacing them. The missionaries communicated with one another daily by radio.

When Museveni's army put Obote's army on the run, I heard rumors of fighting near my hometown. At school we did not have access to TV or radios, and remember, these were the days before the internet. The information we received was from other missionary children who had successfully called home and heard the news that had come over the two-way radio. If anything extraordinary happened, a local missionary would drive up to school to relay the news.

For the most part, we kids were kept in the dark. I suppose that was for the best, after all, we had our studies and social lives to attend to, but there was always that nagging, lurking fear that lingered in the back of my mind. I was taught to pray and trust in God, so I did. I prayed and trusted that at the end of the term, my parents would arrive to take me home.

So, when I'm frustrated with the spinning wheel on my screen, or the choppy skype connection, I don't have to riffle far through my memories to dig up those cold, windy nights on Kiambogo porch, when all I could do was pray for a connection. I think I'll print out the picture at the top of this page and tape it up behind my computer to remind me.

Not Enough Information

May 27 - I just posted my Too Much Information blog, but it was in my desktop 'to edit' folder for over a month. I've seen the flip side of the coin and have come to realize that perhaps there are times when there's not quite enough information.

The recent events here in Thailand kept me glued to the TV and computer as I tried to get up-to-the-minute information about what was happening in our city. For once, I wanted AS MUCH INFORMATION as I could get. I wanted to know that my family was safe, and I wanted to know where that enormous, billowing cloud of black smoke was coming from that I could see from my front porch.

Besides the usual frustrations of lop-sided reporting and borderline propaganda by major news agencies, I found myself equally annoyed with self-proclaimed 'journalists' on Twitter. When anybody can don the "media" pass, you get a lot of misinformation.

I finally ventured out of hiding the other day and drove past a building that was supposedly set on fire during the rampaging after the crackdown. Not a trace of damage could be detected. Thanks to Twitter, I thought one of my favorite neighborhood movie theaters was torched. Nope; it's fine too.

Who are these Tweeting rumormongers? Is anyone holding them accountable? How am I supposed to know if they are telling it straight? Perhaps Twitter "journalists" should apply for a Reliability Rating. Joe On The Street has a 4-Star RR since he also writes for Time Magazine, but Mo On The Scene has a rating of 1 because he is accountable to no one. Do you want a mob of fans? followers? people who LIKE you? Then prove your reliability.

Until then, I say, "No thank you, Twitter, for your up-to-the-minute misinformation, I'm going back to The News at Nine where it's easier to spot the slant and tilt my head to compensate."

Too Much Information

April '10 - I use this phrase on a regular basis in my home. When my daughter wants to tell me the details about what happened to her little friend in the bathroom at school, I hold up my hand and say, “STOP! Too Much Information!” When my son wants to describe the reproductive activities of our pet hamsters I say, “WHOA! Too Much Information!” When my husband lists all the different places we could visit on our upcoming trip … you get the picture.

I am forever trying to find ways to simplify my life. Perhaps I am a very unusual person, but I hold out hope that there are other people like me in the world, people who prefer fewer choices and fewer demands on their senses.

Shopping is overwhelming for me – there are just too many options. I grew up in Africa in the 1970s and 1980s. We had three, count them, three choices of breakfast cereal and yet we somehow managed to survive. I don’t need 70 options - and I don't want 70 options.

I’m so glad I live in Thailand where commercials are censored; I’d rather not be bombarded with the latest information on all the new products or trendy new TV dramas that demand my immediate attention. If I want to know what’s on TV I’ll look in the TV Guide. If I need something, I’ll go shopping.

I’m one of those people who rarely turns music on; I don’t wear headphones when I exercise. This is not because I don’t enjoy music, but because when I add extra sounds to my environment, I miss out on the natural music of my surroundings: birdsong, the whisperings of leaves in the trees, children laughing and shouting, even the sound of my own rhythmic breathing when I exercise. If I want music, I’ll sing. Too much noise is sensory overload for me.

I recently finished reading a book – yup, a real, hold-it-in-your-hands-and-turn-the-pages book (call me old-fashioned) entitled “How We Decide” by Jonah Lehrer. He begins by explaining how experts make decisions. Their years of training and practice become a solid foundation for their decisions. The pro quarterback doesn’t evaluate each play and make a conscious choice about which receiver to throw to, he just gets a feel for the action on the field and then lets his instincts direct his hand. There is just TOO MUCH INFORMATION coming his way during a 15-second play for him to analyze. He has to rely on his emotions – yup, you read that right, his gut tells him when to throw the ball and to whom. According to Mr. Lehrer, this holds true for most other skilled professionals as well.

Mr. Lehrer then goes on to describe a multitude of studies which show that when people are asked to explain their reasons WHY they should choose one type of jelly or wine over another, or why they should buy the new house in the suburbs, or why they like this poster more than that poster, people are far more likely to make a bad choice that they will later REGRET. Thinking too much about their likes and dislikes, and having to justify their thoughts, actually causes them to choose something that is not the best choice for them.

Mr. Lehrer explains that 'overthinkers' are relying on one myth that we as a society perpetuate: rational thought and informed decision-making should guide our choices.

A friend of mine is considering which preschool is the right one for her daughter. Our babysitter is trying to choose just the right college. A colleague is considering several job opportunities. My neighbor is looking to buy a car. Each of these decisions is highly complex. With a multitude of factors to consider, how does one weigh the pros and cons of each factor and arrive at the most logical, rational decision?

Mr. Lehrer states, "The main problem is that the human brian wasn't designed to deal with such a surfeit of data. As a result, we are constantly exceeding the capacity of our prefrontal cortices, feeding them more facts and figures than they can handle. It's like trying to run a new computer program on an old machine; the antique microchips try to keep up, but eventually they fizzle out." (pg. 158) Our frontal cortex, the part of our brain responsible for rational thought, is new on the evolutionary scene. However, our limbic system which is responsible for generating feelings, is located in the brain stem, our primitive brain. This is a brain part that we have in common with dinosaurs and therefore, quite a bit older on the evolutionary timeline. Modern man tries to use our newest, and most glitchy brain region to determine the best course of action when we would probably be better off trusting our most evolved and experienced brain region - and trusting those gut feelings.

Thank you, Mr. Lehrer! I've been waiting for someone to validate the way I make decisions; a) get a fair idea of what the options are, b) see what my wallet can responsibly manage, c) pray and sleep on it if it's expensive or really important, and then d) go with my gut feeling. This old operating system seems to be working just fine, so can anyone tell me how to jam those annoying program update pop-ups that keep interrupting this blog entry?

Should I post all my reflections and questions?

I recently read a thought-provoking blog, If Only Time Was Really An Issue by my course instructor Jeff Utecht. It encouraged me to take time, as an educator, to reflect. So I did. On my computer I tapped out a reflection on a recent teaching assignment, thinking it would make an interesting blog post and fulfill this week's posting requirement for the tech course. However, those thoughts will not be published. Turning in a hand-written reflection for my teacher to review requires a certain balance of courage and trust, but making my reflection public in a post which anyone can read, infringes on my sense of privacy.

I have had the wonderful opportunity this year to work as a substitute teacher in classes all across the school. I have seen the programs at work and have tried my best to keep student learning on track as per the plans left to me by the teachers. I am very excited about the new programs the school has adopted for Math, Science, Reading and Writing, and I am impressed with how each teacher implements the programs in ways that meet the specific needs of the students and skills/personalities of the teacher.

In jotting down my reflections, I realized that I have a lot of questions too. I will be joining the faculty next August and am thrilled to finally be a part of such a dynamic, hard-working, thoughtful and talented group of educators. I trust some of my questions will be answered in time, but I am not certain if it is wise to pose all my questions here. For the time being, I think I will guard my reflections and questions, but the maxim "Leave no answer unquestioned" will be nagging me.

Adding an image to a blog.

Today I learned the steps for adding an image to my blog. If I don't write it all down, I will forget the steps within days, so here it is.

Steps for adding an image to a blog.

1) Sign in to Blogger and select New Post
2) Search for image from
http://search.creativecommons.org/#
from their Flickr, Google, Yahoo ... links. For this post I chose Flickr.
3) Choose your image. I think this little girl is trying to remember the steps to adding an image to her blog.
4) Select the All Sizes button then select the size of photo you want to use (select from: square, thumbnail, small, medium, large, original). Small is recommended for photos posted to blog.
5) Control click on the image and Copy Image Location.
6) Return to Blogger. Select Add Image icon and paste image location into the box Add An Image From The Web - check to see that the URL ends in .jpg.
7) Choose A Layout - I chose to put the image on the right hand side of the page.
8) Select Upload Image. Click Done.
9) Return to Creative Commons and highlight the URL in the web browser.
10) In Blogger, click on to select the image in your post, select Add a Link back to the image (photo icon), and paste URL into dropbox.
11) It is also recommended to cite your source back to the artist/photographer through a link in the post. Photographer's information can be found on the right hand side of the Flickr page. For example:

Little girl trying to remember how to add an image in a blog post by: Andrew Eick

Reflection on Process of Creating Final Project

I like to think I am a very practical person and would rather not spend hours designing a project that will never be used. Since I am merely a substitute teacher and do not have a class of my own yet, I decided to plan my project for implementation next year when I will have a class of students - perhaps in the 4th grade at ISB.

One of my professional goals is to incorporate the use of new media in my classroom. As a parent I have enjoyed looking at photos and videos on my own childrens' class blogs, and this seems to be a good way to communicate the goings-on in the class to parents and other interested individuals.

Expecting 4th grade students to COLLABORATIVELY DESIGN AND MAINTAIN A CLASS BLOG seems a natural way to communicate with parents and to keep the learning of technology, writing, and reflection skills authentic and relevant to the students. This is what I decided to do for MY FINAL PROJECT, and I hope my future students will find the task challenging, enjoyable and engaging as they work together and take ownership of their learning, and also the sharing of their learning with others.

With my idea drafted and approved by the teacher, I began to look through curriculum documents which would guide my project. I explored ISB's TAIL Standards, ISB's Integrated Language Arts Outcomes, and the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS-S) and was pleased to find that my project met such a range of standards.

Using the template on the class wiki was quite easy. I found the program itself straightforward and easy to use.

I wasn't quite sure what content was expected under the Six Facets of Understanding, so I had a look at my classmates' projects and at the exemplar, and was able to figure it out. The same was true for the GRASPS Task section.

I must admit that I basically just made up the Enduring Understandings. I wasn't sure if these needed to come from a curriculum document.

I noticed a lot of different responses in the section of "Lesson Notes". Some projects did not have any notes listed, others had detailed lesson plans. Since I will not begin to implement my project until next school year, I decided to simply record some ideas and resources in this section. I am very thankful to Chrissy Hellyer who led a session on Classroom Blogs during the Professional Development day, April 6. I looked at most of the resources she posted on her PD Day google doc and added the links to my project.

One site in particular seemed helpful - Sylvia Tolisano's Blogging Unit for Download. I know that sometimes when you go back to find a helpful article, it has vanished, so I printed out the lessons in order to have them on hand when I start to teach in August. However, there was one drawback, there are multiple links in the documents and these were simply printed as links without the actual URLs on the document. If I want to follow the links, I will either have to copy them all now, or pray that the site is still available next year. For this reason, I included both a link and copied the URL in my project document. It doesn't look pretty, but if someone (not sure who) finds my project interesting and wishes to print it out, they will have all the URLs for the links.

One point of frustration for me was trying to find ISB's curriculum documents on the school website. I was assured that they were there, but finally had to ask the curriculum coordinator to send them my way. They were on the "Curriculum Office Blog" which doesn't seem to have a link from the school's homepage. (I have had other problems finding links on the school's website. For example, I would think that the High School's publication, The International, would have a link on the school website, but I was unable to find it. Not even the search feature on the site was helpful. Perhaps I need a course in basic web browsing.)

With my project and this blog completed, I can take a deep breath and celebrate completing the work for this course - I think - I still haven't been able to find that nifty document that shows what work of mine is recorded as having been completed and what assignments are still outstanding. I do have another blog post in draft form, just in case I need it.

With that said, I am very glad I had the time to take this course and I hope I don't forget everything over the summer break. I've become rather attached to my RSS Reader, and I am looking at each blog with a critical eye as I plan to implement my project, but the jury is still out regarding Facebook, Delicious and Twitter.

My reluctance to embed an image

I've noticed this week in reading the class blogs that many people are adding images and videos. So far, I have embedded links, but I have not included images in my blogs and was wondering if this was a class expectation.

Then I read this article, and was encouraged a bit.
Nation Shudders At Large Block Of Uninterrupted Text

Messing Around and Hanging Out with Facebook

Reading Reflection by Caryn Macky

Last week I took the plunge and 'got' Facebook. Why did I wait so long? Because I was afraid an old boyfriend would find me. Why did I finally join Facebook? I found out that that old boyfriend had just died of cancer. I didn’t even know he was sick. I wish I had been able to reassure him that I had forgiven him and did not hold a grudge. I was aware of what technology could accomplish, but I allowed fear to hold me back.

So, now I’m “out there” and I’m wracking my brain to see if there are any other unresolved relationship issues from my past that will need to be addressed. Joining Facebook was a bit of a leap of faith for me – a step into the unknown.

The first day on Facebook I spent my entire lunch break tootling around, and “messing around … tinkering, exploring, and extending [my] understanding.” (Living and Learning with New Media pg. 20) After my students left for the day, I spent a couple more hours on my profile and privacy settings. Then I typed a VERY LONG email to an old friend to express my fears about 'social networking' sites, my perceived loss of privacy and anonymity, and my concern that the time I spent maintaining my online relationships would interfere with my offline?/real-time?/tangible?/in person?/f2f ? (what’s the word I’m looking for?) relationships. I chalked up 4 hours of screen-time the first day – a marathon for me.

I'm still trying to decide if I've made the right choice. Already I've had to spend minutes of my life trying to decide whether or not to accept friend requests from far-flung former classmates. These are minutes I WILL NEVER GET BACK!

Out of a whopping 160 posts in just 5 days, only two were remotely interesting and relevant to me. What have I gotten myself into? Is Facebook just a waste of time? I’m sure I have much better things to do than read about who went shopping and what they bought. Give me a break!

My husband asks why I even bother with Facebook. My reply is that I want to know what Facebook is.

He responds, "Now that you know what it is, you can ignore most of it."

Actually, I don't just want to know what it is – I’m sure Wikipedia could give me a decent definition; I want to know how it works. I want a deeper understanding. Besides learning the 'critical details' of who left the sausages on the counter overnight, I want to discover what deeper purpose Facebook serves. Facebook is a reality that I know very little about. I want to be able to make an informed opinion about its usefulness.

In Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project, the authors of the Digital Youth Project state that one of the study’s goals is “to understand how media and technology are meaningful to people in their everyday lives.” (pg. 7) That’s what I’m looking for too … MEANING.

In Shaping Tech for the Classroom, Marc Prensky states that, “these computers become extensions of the students’ personal self and brain.” That is a frightening thought. “Hello Cylons, here we come!” Is this really so? Are students’ identities so completely tied to their online profiles that their social lives suffer when, heaven forbid, Facebook is blocked by the school?

Yenning Lee writes for ISB’s High school publication, The International. It seems that the blocking of Facebook was a subject of deep concern for the students who, “use Facebook at some time” when they have access to computers in class. According to a survey conducted by Mr. Bradley, the High school principal, “Nearly 70% of students in the survey admitted that they get off-task [during class] and the number one thing they did was go on Facebook.” Mr. Harter, the High school technology and learning coordinator stated that, “if social networking is interfering with learning, then educators have to do something about it.”

Oooh Hooo! Marc Prensky would have a heyday with that quote! He would argue that the students who are on Facebook during class are merely doing an “old thing” (passing notes) in a “new way”. He would say that if we “first consult the students,” we will see that what they have LEARNED is to take “advantage of digital technology and to use it to their advantage … using their connectivity, and maximizing their hardware … to develop their skills in …” yada yada yada. Sorry, my train of thought, like Marc’s, jumped the track somewhere back there.

Now, where was I going with all this? Oh yeah, the deeper purpose of Facebook.

In Living and Learning with New Media I learned that “hanging out” isn’t what I remember it to be. It seems that the use of new media plays an integral part in facilitating socialization for today’s teens. This was confirmed by Ms. Lee’s article in The International. I was interested to learn that ‘hanging out’ often leads to ‘messing around’ (also, not what I remember it to be) as kids help one another create their profiles and share interests through and about new media. I was comforted to know that “the vast majority of teens use new media to reach out to their friends; [and that] they overwhelmingly define their friends as peers they met in school, summer camps, sports activities, and places of worship.” (pg. 19) WHEW! As a parent of a pre-teen, these savory bits of information will be filed away for use in the near future. I need to be aware that my children may consider Facebook and other new media a “necessity” in maintaining their social relationships. I also need to remember that in order to avoid violating their trust, I need to respect their privacy online as well as offline.

I still haven’t made up my mind about Facebook. I’ll give it a few months to see if it is the right tool for me as I strive to maintain my social relationships across the world. That is how I view ‘new media,’ they are new tools. With a hammer I can build a wall or tear it down. The hammer is just a tool. With Facebook, and any other new technological tool, I can build people up or tear them down. Facebook was blocked at ISB because it was being used to tear people down. For me, what it comes down to in the end, is RELATIONSHIPS. How will I choose to use the tools at my disposal to build people up and to build meaningful relationships?

Ms. Lee warns her fellow students that “Facebook, like other social networking websites should be used with caution and responsibility since after all, the internet is serious business.” I agree. (Is it ok to mention that Yenning was my student when she was in first grade? I’m so proud! She’s turned out pretty well so far and the only time we used the computer together back in first grade was to draw on Kidpix. By the way, she still smiles when she says “Hi” to me in the hallway, I think that says something about relationship, don’t you?

Caryn's Thoughts on "World Without Walls"

CARYN'S PERSONAL REFLECTIONS on "World Without Walls: Learning Well with Others" by Will Richardson

WARNING: This blog post is simply my note-taking and thinking on the required reading article. Perhaps I am a complete dolt, but I have a lot of questions about this article and some of the ideas it presents. My theories and ideas at the end of this post are not set in stone, I'm a work in progress and so are my thoughts.

Who is this guy?
From a BRIEF google search which included Wikipedia and District Administration Magazine column "The Pulse", the author of this article was a public school teacher in New Jersey for 22 years, is the author of a book, "Blogs, Wikis...", runs the Weblogged blog, and is a speaker, presenter, etc. of implementing technology into the classroom.

Paragraph 5 - "Welcome to the Collaboration Age" where all can access the "most transformative connecting technologies the world has ever seen." Hmmm.

Paragraph 6 - We can "mine the wisdom and experiences of more than 1 billion people" and "do good work together." Just how many of those 1 billion people are actually wise enough in experiences and maturity for me to consider appropriate teachers for my students? And if we can "do good work together" then can't these technologies also help the less moral to do bad work together?

Paragraph 7 - "Our ability to learn whatever we want, whenever we want, from whomever we want is rendering the linear, age-grouped, teacher-guided curriculum less and less relevant." Really? As adults, we have the life experience and educational foundation on which to build new learning and explore our passions. Do children have the basic foundation on which they can construct meaning for themselves about whatever they want from whomever they want?

Paragraph 9 - "...facts and truths are constantly changing..." Which facts are constantly changing? Which truths are constantly changing? The internet and it's capabilities are certainly undergoing radical change, but I'd say a pebble is still a pebble, and a mother's love for her child are facts and truths that don't change that much across the years.
"...working together is becoming the norm, not the exception." When has working alone been the norm? Since the dawn of humanity, any significant endeavor from planting a garden, to constructing a building, to raising children has been accomplished by people working together.

Paragraph 10 - "It's about being able to form safe, effective networks and communities around those explorations, trust and be trusted in the process..." How do you develop trust with someone you have never met and only know in relation to one, shared interest?

Paragraph 11 - "It's about working together to create our own curricula..." Do you mean that we get to decide what we think we should learn? Do kids also get to create their own curricula? Do they have the maturity to know what it is they need to learn? From my experience, these young individuals, if given the choice, would eat junk food, shun vegetables, never bathe or brush their teeth, stay up too late, and watch junk on a screen instead of getting exercise. Should they be creating their own curricula?

Paragraph 12 - the "most effective teachers will be the ones they discover, not the ones they are given." Yes, this can sometimes be the case. It is also true that some of the teachers we learn the most from are the people we would never have chosen to be our teachers.

Paragraph 13 - "That's no slight against the people in their face-to-face classrooms, who are equally important in a connected world..." Um, well, actually, I am feeling a bit slighted. And exactly HOW are face-to-face teachers "equally important?" It's a nice, PR statement with nothing to back it up.

Paragraph 16 - "We must also expand our ability to think critically about the deluge of information now being produced by millions of amateur authors without traditional editors and researchers as gatekeepers." YES! Anyone can be an author these days. All you have to do is sign up and post your blog. You can put anything you want on your profile page. Who's going to check?

Paragraph 18 - New word for me: Vetting - checking out someone's background.

Paragraph 22 - "We no longer have to be present to participate." Yes, but how fully can one participate without being present? It's all good and fine to offer your opinion on what is being done somewhere else by someone else, but there is no substitute for real-time, hands-on participation.

Paragraph 24 - "...not to mention maintaining a healthy balance between our face-to-face and virtual lives..." Has anyone defined what this sort of healthy balance looks like? I'd like to know. Again, this is a nice quip with no support.

Paragraph 28 - "In our zeal to hold on to the old structures of teaching and learning..." Sorry, as a teacher my zeal is for my students, not for my structures of teaching. If I'm not trying to foster a love of learning and helping each of my students to develop a solid foundation for their future learning, then I shouldn't be a teacher.

Paragraphs 29 & 30 - "What educators must do now" is "begin to co-create and colearn the same way may of our students already do." I do not disagree. There are many ways to use technology to collaborate and connect with learners not sharing your classroom.

However, when push comes to shove, we all still need to learn to work with the people that we sit next to in class, rub shoulders with in the hallways, and see each day. This is why many of today's teachers are best equipped to teach today's students. We may not know how to navigate our way adroitly around the web, but we know how to walk across the room, say hello, shake a hand, work on a joint project, and think of clever and meaningful ways to interact without having to resort to the backspace key.

Real-time, face-to-face interactions and hands-on participation are facts and truths that will not change. No matter how much time we spend interacting with one another, screen-to-screen, from the safety of our cubicles, there is a real world out there where we still need to work. Real people need eye-contact. Real people need real hugs. Real problems need real people and a commitment to be present to participate.

Caryn's Synthesis of Disruptive Innovation Theory

CARYN'S PERSONAL REFLECTIONS on "Disrupting Class: Student-Centric Education Is The Future" by Clayton M. Christensen and Michael B. Horn

WARNING: This blog post is simply my note-taking and thinking on the required reading article.

What I underlined that got me thinking:
- Computers installed in classrooms in the US in the last 2 decades haven't "transformed the classroom" and their use has not "boosted learning." They have only added a heavy price tag to the existing system. (paragraph 12)

- "An organization's natural instinct is to cram the innovation into its existing operating model to sustain what it already does." (paragraph 13)

- Instead, technology can be used to transform the classroom when it does not "compete against the existing paradigm or serve existing customers" but rather "targets those who are not being served..." (paragraph 14)

- Potential of learning software modules: "Parents and teachers will be able to diagnose why children are not learning and find customized instructional software written to help students who closely match their children in learning style." (paragraph 25)

My Thoughts:
Caryn's Synthesis of Article - It seems to me that "Disruptive innovation theory" in education means finding an area of curriculum that a school cannot or does not yet offer and then start at that point for implementing the use of technology. For example, any remedial or advanced course, or any language class not normally offered can be first offered via an online option. Once the technology successfully meets the new need, it will grow to become a fully-functioning program which is user-friendly and meets the needs of the target group.

Caryn's Practice Blog - practicing embedding links.

After the session with Chris Betcher, I found the following things meaningful.

I don't read the news on a regular basis. I want a quick site that tells me what is the most important/newsworthy news of the day.

The newsmap site was great.

I also found the google tool Google Squared was a fabulous place where information is synthesized, combining many searches in one spreadsheet. I will be able to share this with the 4th grade team this week. The students are doing author studies and will be searching for information about a chosen children's book author.

Widget

The other day I said to a friend, "Sorry I was a little late, Caspian, my 9 year old son, was helping me put a widget on my blog." The interesting thing was that I actually understand what I had just said. I couldn't have said that a week ago.

What do I hope to get out of this course?

I hope to be able to set up a blog for use in my classroom next year. If I am to be expected to use a blog to communicate with my students' parents, I want to do some of the learning now when I have fewer demands on my time.

Although I am not eager to spend more of my time in front of a screen, I realize that there might be times when communicating by this method will be more effective.

I find that spending time with my family and friends f2f is a priority for me. Maintaining relationships with friends and family via email/texting/blogging happens only when face to face contact is impossible.

Blog Test

This is a test. This is only a test. Do not freak out, it's only a new blog.