Reflection Week 12

Ahhh…Barbra and Tracie strike again! They're invaluable input has got me on target to 'hook' teachers to use the iPads and ween myself from mentoring duties. I had plans to follow up with a meeting to demonstrate apps they could use however I will also add to this blogs they can follow and ways for teachers  to research apps in the future. Handing over the reins. Hmm… may be I'll even help them set up a blog for the staff to share their app findings with each other and the world.
Heather's post put my knowledge in perspective. I always assume people know what I do and therefore don't feel like I have anything special to share. This is true in all aspects of my life, not just technology. But Heather's explanation of her mentee not being comfortable with technology made me realize not everyone is on board the technology train. This has given me confidence to share what I know more freely rather than waiting to be asked. Big step.

670 Reflection Week 6

Thomas shared a great TED Talk about electronic tattoos. Definitely something to keep in mind as we share our thoughts and lives with the world. He agreed that "technology affords us many opportunities for creativity and self-actualization" as do I. But it was at this point that I found I was coming at the essential question from two sides: the students (digital natives) and the creators of the tech plan (digital
immigrants). And it got me thinking, are we trying to plan for and measure creativity, art, and collaboration that is already happening naturally for our students? Are we essentially then creating a document to catch up and fit with where our students are? It made me realize how important input from students is for tech planning. Tiffany also expressed that significant forms of creativity and ingenuity currently exist, siting YouTube as an example of art, collaboration, and science. I'm beginning to see the tech plan as a document to help the digital immigrants catch up to the natives.
Colin mentioned on my blog that he believed "within every organization a unique culture will evolve that sets what the current 'appropriate boundaries' are." I found that statement to be very true and had experienced just that myself this past week in communications with a group. There was just a sense of needing a more personal touch on the particular matter so I placed individual phone calls instead of sending a bulk email. The personal calls were very well received and I was glad I trusted my gut. So I wonder, can just trust people's intuition to know which form of digital communication is appropriate? And if this is the case, we wouldn't need to address emotional intelligence in a tech plan. Of course, individual personalities will lend themselves more easily to certain communications than others… oh man, just brought myself back full circle! No solid answers this week but lots of thoughts :)

670 Importance of Art, Collaboration and EI to Tech Planning

How is art, collaboration, and emotional intelligence important to technology planning in terms of process, and outcomes?

The essential question had me thinking of tech planning from two sides. The process, which includes the teachers and other staff creating the document. And the outcome, or the students who will be experiencing education as laid out by the tech plan. 

For those creating and participating in the technology planning, I believe we are in this current state: "E-communications such as text messaging, instant messaging and even email have contributed to a decline in the quality of communication in the workplace." And so, "we must work to maintain and develop our EQ. Leaders who make a point to pick up the phone or walk into a colleague’s office will set an example for staff to limit digital messaging to simple, non-emotional issues. A simple awareness that our emotional intelligence is affected by our reliance on digital communication is a first step in improving the 21st century workplace. " (Larson) So from this perspective I believe EQ  and collaboration are especially important in the process of technology planning. We are on the slippery slope, adapting to the fast changing technology thrust upon us, we must be sure to incorporate some feeling and face to face dialogue in the creation process as well as in the execution of the tech plan. Chernek found these tips to build a collaborative team based on EI:
"1. Vision creates the project's framework; passion holds it together. 
2. Collaborators use humor and stamina to carry them through.
3. Collaborators know what they don't know and what they need.
4. Collaborators chip in when the reality of tasks become burdensome.
5. Collaborators rely on living discussions to keep projects flowing."

And in terms of outcomes (our students) we need creativity, art, and collaboration to avoid creating students like "The old computer nerd stereotype: the code monkey with his eyes glued to the screen, tapping away at his keyboard, and awkwardly avoiding interaction with anyone else in the office."  (Saumell) However, students today seem to be all about creativity, art, and collaboration when using technology for their own personal use (see youtube). Emotional intelligence is the one area that appears to be lacking so it must be considered as part of the outcome of a technology plan. 

We must remember "Being creative is not only about thinking: it is about feeling." (Robinson)

Chernek, V. (January 8, 2008). NCTI. The Art of Collaboration Using Emotional Intelligence. Retrieved from http://www.nationaltechcenter.org/index.php/2008/01/08/emotional-intelligence/

Larson, F. (Aug 14). TTI Success Insights. Technology's Effect on Emotional Intelligence. Retrieved from http://www.ttisuccessinsights.com/blog/posts/technology-s-effect-on-emotional-intelligence

Robinson, K. (2011) Out of Our Minds. 

Saumell, C.  (May 14, 2013). AshleyEllis. Is Emotional Intelligence Important in Information Technology?

Mentoring Project Data Analysis

I mentored a part-time librarian, a friend and colleague, in uses and implementation of one iPad in each classroom at my child's grade three through six elementary school. The librarian purchased one iPad for each teacher and was looking for assistance in finding best uses and practices for the teachers with the new devices. They had approached me for help as they were not quite sure where to even begin. I started with researching recommended subject-specific apps and sharing them with my mentee. We then remained in regular weekly contact trouble shooting and evaluating the direction we were heading.  I collected data through my own reflective journal after each interaction with my mentee. I also observed the teachers' responses and their embracing or ignoring of the apps presented, and planned to send a survey via survey monkey to the teachers if I did not get a good read from my observations. Since my child is a student in the school I also got a sense of the impact any apps had on his particular learning.

Reflective journal:
Week 1: We started off strong with me sending them a quick list of apps to explore and get a feel for what is out there. It was greatly appreciated and shared with any one who asked.
Week 2: Our next interaction she felt slightly overwhelmed on how to weed through the list ever growing list. We discussed looking at prices and reviews to start. She also asked specifically for some teacher approved apps.
Week 3: I responded with teacher recommended apps from classmates and on twitter as well as an image on keeping the use of technology on focus. This was met with gratitude and a calmer sense of this is doable.
Week 4: My mentee approached me with some apps to research which I followed up on and we then discussed getting together to look at and discuss apps. Definitely a sense that she needed more assistance.
Week 5: The librarian thanked me for the provided apps. She was planning an 'apps with apps' meeting and wanted me in attendance. Appeared very grateful but uncertain about being able to setting time for meeting in the near future.
Week 6: No correspondence.
Week 7: Sheepishly admitted teachers have been using iPads and just looking at list of potential apps as necessary. Still dedicated to having a bigger meeting to introduce more apps to teachers but appeared mildly embarrassed the meeting didn't happen first.

Observations of teachers:
Within the first week of providing a list of apps for my mentee, I was approached by another teacher in the building for help finding subject specific apps for two of her students. I quickly sent a list off to which she responded, "Wow! Thank you" and referred to me as a technology guru. I also ran into another parent around town two weeks later who thanked me for the apps, the librarian had passed my list on to her, and she was extremely grateful to have a 'guide' for apps for her kids to use rather than 'spending two or more hours every night' searching and not finding much. There seems to be a definite need for assistance in wading through the endless apps available.

Survey:
I felt I had a pretty strong read from my observations on how the apps were being received. Since we have yet to hold a meeting to formally introduce the implementation and uses of the iPads an survey of my mentee and teachers did not seem appropriate or necessary.

Student learning: My own child's teacher has the iPad in her class and occasionally lets students use it as another computing device for an online exercise. It has not been used beyond that as far as he reports.

Overall, it was a mainly successful endeavor however I need to keep the ball rolling. It was easy to get caught up in the busy-ness of the year and push this project aside for both myself and my mentee. But we are not finished yet. She has requested assistance using the Reflector app which we both believe will open doors for many new uses of the iPads for the teachers. The shear volume of apps available is definitely overwhelming for many so it is useful to have a PLN to help navigate and share findings with  to educate others. Finally, technology integration takes time and will evolve as needs and opportunities arise.

Karimi, S. (n.d.). How to Write a Data Analysis. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/how_4830939_write-data-analysis.html

MENTOR. National Mentoring Partnership. Retrieved from http://www.mentoring.org/get_involved/for_mentors

NCWIT Mentoring-in-a-Box: Technical Women at Work. Mentoring Basics - A Mentor's Guide to Success. Retrieve from http://www.ncwit.org/sites/default/files/legacy/pdf/IMentor_MentorGuide.pdf

Reflection Week 11

I received lots of great feedback this week from classmates. I will be more specific in my list of ways for helping students adapt to change as suggested by Barbra, Heather, and Hallie. Instead of just listing real life applications and  hooks I will add lists and links of examples to get me started. As well I will broaden my focus from 'next semester' to the near future so as not to limit myself like Tracie advised. 

I struggled this week keeping my focus on my motto for 668 and my vision for 670. I kept interchanging the two and confusing my thoughts. Although they kind of go hand in hand. Where I plan to go with respect to technology in the future and how I will adapt to that ever changing technology. Kept it interesting anyway:)

670 Week 5 Reflection

This week I shared the idea of groupthink with Thomas. Just something to be aware of as we continue our discussion on collaboration and learning in groups. There is another side to it that students could fall victim too.
Colin and I agreed that the specific tools should not be the focus. These tools won't even be around when our students graduate so why the fuss to learn a specific program? If the jobs we are training students for don't even exist yet it is probably safe to say the tools they may be using won't either. Our focus should be on the transferable 'skills of writing, editing, collaborating, and publishing stuff online'.
Tiffany introduced me to Vine. An app for making looping 6 second videos. Her question 'what would happen if we let students take off with their own creations? Got me thinking about my own kids making iMovie trailers. They figured out the technology themselves in moments but spent hours creating, editing, cooperating, and sharing their masterpiece. I think it's an inspiring idea although guidance for appropriateness would likely need to be interjected from time to time. She also had me revisit my thoughts about achieving our tech vision is a slow process. What would it be like if we just made the giant leap now? Throwing all caution the wind, staring with a completely new slate? Sounds kind of like the way our students do things nowadays anyway. Not logistically possible but fun to think about.

670 Technology Vision for Schools

Vision: Students Learning Naturally.
Get it? Students Learning, Naturally. AND Students, Learning Naturally.

Rationale:
The Accenture Technology Vision 2013 site emphasizes seven trends that should be shaping a digital business for the future. We can easily substitute students for employees and schools for businesses throughout their site and apply it to education.

"Accenture identifies the top emerging technology trends that will transform businesses (education) in the next three to five years.  With technology now intertwined with every aspect of business (education),  your digital efforts will be the key to how you innovate and expand". The word intertwined really struck a cord with me as did the following: "for collaboration to work better, employees (students) don't need more social channels - they need the work itself to be more social." (ATV, 2013) Social, like the kids already are.

I liked this image as well, however, I saw search engine optimization overlapping both school and work  on the time line.

Robinson (2011) mentions "Technology, as was once said, is not technology if it happened before you were born"so it follows technology to our students is "as natural as the air they breathe". Therefore we need to quit focussing on 'technology the tool', it's here, it's part of life.  Don't put it in it's own box.

It should influence and be at the core of education. Our focus should be on the purpose of the tools not the tools itself.

Robinson also said, "When people find their medium, they discover their real creative strengths and come into their own." Sounds pretty natural to me.

Attainability:
Is my vision reasonable? I think so. It's time for change, technology is here, let's use it to empower and educate.
Is my vision attainable? Let's say to get from where we are to where I see us going it will be like turning a large cargo ship. Slow and steady. It is a big leap from here to there. We can start with the some of the trends identified by Accenture as we slowly blur the line between technology as a tool and technology for a purpose including:
Digital Relationships - move beyond transactions to digital relationships
Collaboration - make work more social



Accenture Technology Vision 2013. Retrieved from http://www.accenture.com/microsites/it-trends-innovations-2013/Pages/home.aspx

Robinson, K. (2011). Out of Our Minds. Kindle Reader.

Philosophy of Adaptation

1. My motto for creating 21st Century Learners: "Learning Together"

The resources below (as well as the video at the end) aided in my development of this motto. I wanted to capture it is a group journey, no longer teacher led, and also to incorporate the world outside the classroom walls. If we are in this together it is going to require communication and social networking and exchanging of ideas.   

"Technology is only technology to those who were born before it." (Nielsen)


 2. How do I adapt to change in my environment?

*Take a moment to decipher if it is something I need or could use, will it benefit my students and how?  Then fill in the blanks:   (technology tool)    for the purpose of ____________ ? "to keep focus on the learning purpose not the tools". (McLeod, 2013)  

*Jump in and play around with it, explore.

*Search for people with experience with the tool either students or colleagues within my building or members of my PLN via twitter asking for assistance and feedback.

*Essentially be the 21st century learner we are trying to develop: approach the change by working in a team, asking good questions, and having big picture views. (Riordan)

3. How do I support my students in adapting to change?

Currently:

*Promote collaboration, peer to peer learning via blog. Form partnerships, small groups, encourage students to look outside of class for assistance. 

*Offer various sources for external learning and have students share what they have found

In the future:

*Use real life applications and hooks to increase passion and enthusiasm as listed in Teach Like a PIRATE

*Will introduce more Project Based Learning using Andrew Blair's site as a starting point

*Encourage more video conferencing for peer collaboration. Provide tool for students to conference each other without teacher facilitation.

*Incorporate room for creativity within correspondence, PBL, and hooks. Change assignments to allow for more freedom and creativity. Videos, Vines, Comics, Prezis, Glogsters etc. 

Burgess, D. (2012). Teach Like a PIRATE.

Hamilton, P. (November 30, 2012). The 21st Century Student. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrPS_UIn9Lg

McLeod, S. (October 24, 2013). For the Purpose Of. Retrieved from http://www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org 

Nielsen, L. (April 15, 2008). The Innovative Educator: Ten 21st Century Education Quotes I Carry With Me. Retrieved from http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2008/04/ten-21st-century-education-quotes-i.html

Riordan, B. High Tech High, San Diego California: The Culture of 21st Century Schools. Retrieved from http://www.pearsonschool.com/index.cfm?locator=PSZjZd

Reflection Week 10

Barbra's comment on my blog took me further into thoughts on gaming. We agreed not everyone is motivated by gaming. So what do we do with the remaining students? Try to motivate them to do gaming? Or differentiate their learning to something that does motivate them? If we make the full shift to student directed learning, they will find their motivation, but will they only learn what they are interested in? And if they do, is that such a bad thing? If they follow their true talents and interests would that not be the epitome of education?

Jonathan's post seconded these thoughts. He brought up the idea of ownership in his interview with gamers. If the students have a vested interest in the content, ownership ensues and from that follows honesty and shared learning. Sounds like ideal way for learning to take place.

Tracie also voiced this idea for education. She stated "I think it's a whole new way of looking at curriculum so that it's really powered - "designed" - by the students." It seems this would be the direction to head, now the big question... how?

670 Week 4 Reflection

I liked Matt's analogy on his video, also enjoyed the iMovie, must try that in the future. Being that we are evaluating the same plan I brought to light the technology plan hidden within the technology plan document. Unfortunately, that mini technology plan only referred to, and explicitly stated so, the computer recycling of the district. It seems the district lost track of what they were creating some where along the way. I suggested maybe a renaming of either part would lead to less confusion.

Tiffany's shared link on her glogster really got me thinking? Are a strategic and technology plan just a duplication of each other? If the strategic plan is to state who we are and where we are going, can we not just assume since we are heading into the future that technology is going to be involved? Instead of two distinct plans, the technology plan covers the goals and how to with technology, but is there really a plan that won't include tech? Maybe that's where my district got lost on their naming of their plan.
Also it's helpful to think that planning is really just a guide, we know technology is always changing, we need to be flexible and willing to adapt instead of following a document that seems written in stone.  

Thomas pointed out that creating his comic helped get his creative juices flowing and I completely agreed. I wasn't sure what direction I was going until I sat down and just started to work on my comic. Just picking my character sparked a bunch of ideas. The creative nature of this week's post took more time but definitely allowed me to formulate more complete thoughts on the topic.

670 Relationship Between Technology Planning and Strategic Planning

It seems to me that a school's technology plan and strategic plan should be aligned and support one another. A strategic plan should answer the question "What do we do?" and include the goals of the school. A technology plan should explain how we will use technology to help meet those goals. The technology plan is the map of where the school is heading and the strategic plan explains the why you would want to head there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_planning

Leadership Lessons from Gamers

I interviewed two high school gamers this week, asking them the following questions:

A - high school senior (female)

B - high school senior (male)

1. What is the atmosphere like when you first join a game?
A- I was a little young, and inexperienced, it was not friendly and I was asked to leave in not a nice way.
B - Friendly, cooperative

2. How do you find a team/guild?

A- I find my friends and then hook up online.

B - Type in chat: "Please let me join, please I beg of you."

3. How does the climate stay positive? Is there any bullying? A way to manage unruly players?

A - If in the same room with friends it's positive or with players of the same age or younger, it's friendly because they don't have as much time invested. I feel I am in control of myself, if I don't feel comfortable, I just leave the room.
B - Some people are buttheads and destroy everything I have and loved.

4. What draws you to put in so much time? 

A - The individual accomplishment of reaching a new level, it's not competitive with others. Appreciate the collaboration.
B - It's fun to build stuff. Most games are about fighting/killing.

5. How do you get more members to join? Is it about getting the numbers to increase?

A - Not really trying to do that, it's very individual. 

I was most interested in the culture of gaming, what the interactions are like, how relationships are formed and what the draw really is to invest so much time in a game. I wondered if it is a certain personality type that plays or if the environment of mmogs only appeals to a certain type of 'student'.

Thomas and Brown state "In almost all guilds, players are required both to participate - they can't just sit back and watch everyone else - and to advance the progression of the guild."  And it sounds like if you don't participate, you will be told to leave. So how could we motivate students to get involved? Is it only those interested that will participate? Or those with outgoing personalities? Or maybe those with the skills to successfully navigate the game well? Thomas and Brown also say in mmogs imagination is required. "And where imaginations play, learning happens." But I wonder can you force imagination?

It seems from my interview of the female gamer that there is a lot of self regulation and collaboration amongst known peers, it's not necessarily strangers gathering to succeed. She prefers to stay connected with friends, maybe there is safety in numbers or just in creating your own positive environment. However, the male gamer seemed more confident about navigating his way around the gaming world, disgruntled by 'buttheads' but not letting them influence his experience. Not sure if this due to genders or personalities. This could also be due to the fact that I interviewed teenagers, I would suspect older more experienced gamers would be more confident to navigate the gaming world solo, like the male interviewee. The motivation to play seems to be intrinsic and based on individual improvements. There is not necessarily a competition to be in the best team/guild or to work with the top players but rather to work at your own level, making individual accomplishments. This self seeking collaboration and motivation would lend well to education, with students self regulating their own achievements and creating their own learning collectives with peers. By doing so they would be creating their own comfort zone to participate in. They could focus on their own immediate part of the gaming world and individual successes and wouldn't necessarily get hung up on what the cream of the crop are doing. A positive, calm, self created learning environment with friends to collaborate and motivation to improve individually. Definitely sounds like something education should learn from!

Thomas, D. & Brown, J. (2011). A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change. 

Reflection Week 9

Warm fuzzy feelings this week. Barbra reminded me I'm not alone and to reach out to my PLN whenever I'm stumped. My instinct is still to tackle the issue on my own via the internet instead of learning in the collective. Guess I need to take a page from my own teacher book :)
Margo and I concurred over the enormity of change and the limits of time, to which with both decided one step at a time is the way to tackle it.
Heather and I shared a mutual appreciation of each other and a swap of math links (see below) to make our shift to where and how easier. Ginger also expressed gratitude for those links.
Sharing, contributing, helping, supporting. A good week.

http://www.realworldmath.org/
http://www.thirteen.org/get-the-math/
http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/mathchat/mathchat019.shtml
http://ed.ted.com/series/math-in-real-life

670 Reflection Week 3

This week my thoughts started with yes, we can and should include creativity in a tech plan. Besides technologies naturally lend themselves by their very nature to creativity. This thought was seconded by Colin  and I then extended it to Matt and Thomas who were coming from the angle that creativity has to  likely come down from the teacher. However, upon listening to Dr. Sugata Mitra's TED talk that Chris provided I started to rethink the entire role of a tech plan. If schools as we know them are obsolete, why are we trying to fit a technology plan into an obsolete machine? Perhaps the new 'school' would be the tech plan itself. Describing what technologies to expose students to and then let the 'learning emerge' from the students as Mitra stated. A big leap, but really had me looking at technology plans as a new entity rather than a square peg being fit into a round hole.

670 Creativity in Technology Plans

OH NOOOOOO!!! I have been slowly accumulating ideas to transform my course, researching before making major changes, knowing my course was not the best design but would work in the mean time and would so be worth the wait. Until this week, when a student made this statement explaining how she is overcoming her confusion...'I keep telling myself to not ask questions just follow the given steps'. AHHHHHH! I have managed to unintentionally squash the creativity and curiosity out of student with respect to math. This is like a kiss of death. Needless to say I have been motivated to put my transformation into action tout suite. When I started teaching online three years ago, the technology I used seemed cutting edge but THAT WAS THREE YEARS AGO! I know how quickly technology is changing, so I am using the equivalent of perhaps a colored TV to teach. Not only am I using outdated tools, I am also using the outdated formats that are killing creativity. Yikes. What a wake up call!

I see now the importance of having an active technology plan, you can't just sit back and ride on what you currently have. Constant or ongoing evaluation of the plan seems necessary. On the other hand, evaluations of the students is a different thing. Robinson says "instead of examinations and tests being an indicator of how they are progressing, they are like continually pulling up a plant to see how well it is growing". A statement I plan to use to guide me as I transform my course to one with creativity, collaboration, and understanding. Evaluation of technology used? Yes. Of students learning? Not as much.

Is it reasonable to build creativity into our Technology Plans? Maybe. It definitely seems that certain technologies lend themselves to creativity more than others. But can creativity be measured and evaluated as part of a plan? And ideally, does it need to be? Robinson states about Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler "they did not solve an old problem: they asked a new question and in doing so they changed the whole basis on which the old questions had been framed." So perhaps we need to look at our technology plans not as a way to supplement current education but use it as a way to ask a new question about what education should be. The Burlington Public Schools District Technology Plan states in their benchmark "Technology is no longer an extra or supplemental material found in some classrooms". 

On the flip side, I found an article on this business Creative Technology in China that plans to be less 'creative'. Granted it's a technology business and not a school but think the warning is real of the other extreme. "The company's "curse" was that it had been too "creative" and this led to too many ideas and launching too many products". So I suppose there can be a down side to too much creativity.

I just had a conversation with a parent whose daughter is a senior with top grades and a talented dancer. When discussing her options for next year, she was looking for colleges. Then upon seeing a Quixotic performance and taking some classes with them announced 'maybe I will just join the circus instead'. To which her father replied, 'Great! Go, be true to yourself and do what makes your heart flutter.' I found this very refreshing and 
inspiring. I wonder if he is in the minority of parents with these thoughts or if people in general are seeing the lack of demand for higher education as Robinson pointed out? 


Franklin, Benjamin. Retrieved from http://doe.virginia.gov/support/technology/edtech_plan/plan.pdf


Phneah, Ellyne. (June 5, 2012). Creative Plans to be less 'Creative'. ZDNet. Retrieved from http://www.zdnet.com/creative-plans-to-be-less-creative-2062305023/

Robinson, Ken. (2011). Out of Our Minds