Online Learning Gets a Boost

Interesting article today on the New York Times' BITS Blog. According to a recent study done for the US Department of Education, learning done at least partially online results in a significant improvement in learning based on quantitative comparisons. (here - http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/study-finds-that-online-education-beats-the-classroom/)

This is extremely interesting to me because I've been trying to make inroads along these lines at work. Having research to fall back on will help to bolster my argument that we've become stagnant in our approach and especially as our workforce becomes increasingly infiltrated by the Millennials we'll have to keep up with their expectations for learning.

As a student of both traditional (of course) and online instruction, then as an instructor in both arenas, I recognize the challenges faces by new online learners. There is definitely a learning curve involved, and all new online learners should be prepared for a new way of doing things. But, it is my stance that the "I just learn better in a classroom" excuse is not valid. It is definitely different, and it will take some work and time to get used to, but the evidence suggesting increased value in online learning gets stronger every day. As in everything else we do as professionals, if your (learning) skillset does not evolve then you run the risk of becoming extinct.

MICCA #2 - Will Richardson (again) on "Podcast, Vodcast, Screencast Nation"

I'm sitting in on another session with Will Richardson. This session should give us plenty of information about creating and using podcasts, vcasts and the like. I am looking forward to it.

Will is once again streaming his session using the ustream service that I am extremely intreigued with. His channel on ustream is www.ustream.tv/channel/weblogg-ed-tv

Lots of interest with ustream so he spent the first few minutes, unplanned, talking about this service. I love presenters who go with their participant's interests rather than sticking to some contrived script.

Ustreamtv - live streaming of presentations, recordable for achival
Will used camtwist for Macs - nice tools for video production - use with Windows?
Search YouTube for ustreamtv for instructional videos
You can password protect streams and send links out to certain people - great for use with schools.
Embedding possibilities - post into a teacher blog post rather than use the commercial ustream site

creativecommons.com - for teachers to use to create copyright
flickr.com - creativecommons section - 50 million photos to use as long as you cite the source

_podcasting_
3 steps-Capture, produce, distribute
captureing - 3 choices - ipods w/italk connection, iriver, built-in mic
recording software - audacity, export as an mp3 - need lame plugin
upload to a server, send out a link
gcast - use phone to record, get a url to share
podomatic or odio - record right to their server,

_video_
capture - dv camera (look for a camera w/an external mic port and a firewire cable but usb2 is faster than firewire) or a flipvideo camera
produce w/ imovie or moviemaker
(see links on his wiki)

_digital storytelling_
combination of media
Alan Levine - cogdog - used 50 tools to create storytelling projects- http://cogdogroo.wikispaces.com/StoryTools

Will Richardson @ MICCA - read/write web

I'm at the MICCA conference today and I had the lucky pleasure to sit in on Will Richardson's Read/Write Web presentation. I saw his presentiaotn last year on RSS feeds and it literally changed the way I look at information and the possibilities for education.

His site for this presentation: http://willrichardson.wikispaces.com/

I took notes during the presentation, my comments are interwoven with quotes and ideas of Wills....

discussed limitations of physical space and how the web is erasing those problems through social networking

surfthechannel.com - service collecting links to pirated shows and movies - not advocating its use *wink*

children going from a filtered environment at school to an unfiltered env. @ home and not knowing what to do, how to act

lack of creativity in pulic schools, prescribed curriculum

showed his cluster map from his blog - I thought of Warlick's cluster
he mentioned that every visitor to his blog was potentially his teacher and how you can't do that in physical space

fanfiction.com - social site relating to literature, mentioned that these tools are not being used in schools. how could they be used when you can't control the content? teaching smart security is one thing but you can't control the content. you can tell them to look away but the first glance will still happen. parents will not accept that.

using phone as a text finder - "all" students have these devices, why not teach them how to use them as an educational tool? have to start in early grades, can't expect students who've used them inappropriately for 6 or 7 years to all of a sudden use them in an educationally appropriate way.

MIT Open Courseware - sharing knowledge, content is everywhere. teach students how to find it, vet it (this site happens to be worthy content but not all sites share that distinction), find others who are also passionate about it, and they can build their own learning using new tools.

wikipedia - "collaborative construction of truth"
Colbert's "truthiness" - truth is what we feel is true, not what is actually true
kids are going to be creating content but without us teaching them to check their facts, ideas, find and use worthy sources

google docs running with skype at the same time, just like sittign next to another person who shares their interests

teach them to find up to date info rather than memorize info - example of memorizing # of planets.

errors in text books - problem is not that there are errors, it is that we or they can't fix it. so why still have text books????

getting outside the classroom - thinwalled classrooms. skype to bring outside resources in.
scratch from MIT?
having a network of anyone, kid 13 y.o. from perth teaching will's kids using skype !!!!! anyone can be a teacher.

"if you have a computer in the room you are no longer the smartest person in the room."

physical space is not where the best learning takes place. don't get rid of teachers, physical space is still important, but we need to tap into outside resources to access the best learning.

the "friday folder" - all the paper in the world coming home but kids will never look at them again -->
willowdale elementary - willowweb - podcasting - authentic assessments and activities

spoke about the people who don't get the need to change or are unable to affect the change. so, think about it differently. connect with other people, get more dots on your map. presentation was running on weblogged-tv - proved that people are getting together to discuss interests that are common to the group.

*applause*

An old tool with a new face

I saw this post (http://elearningtech.blogspot.com/2008/04/social-learning-objects-flash-cards.html) to Tony Karrer’s eLearning Technology blog (http://elearningtech.blogspot.com/) and it intrigued me. Remember flash cards? Some teachers and students swore (still do?) by them, some hate them as another example of rote memorization that contradicts true learning. But, with the addition of interesting multimedia capabilities, and the ability of students to share their work and for teachers to create assessments based on these multimedia enriched flash cards, does this change the game enough for these tools to become appreciated and useful again?

An interesting conversation to have… I wonder if JAM is old enough to need these yet. Definitely next year when The Tests start. I hope he appreciates 2nd grade, 3rd grade will be all test all the time. I hate this monster we call public education and what the politicians have done to it.

I couldn't have said it better myself...

In a previous post I discussed some of the reasons why I wasn't in the classroom anymore. One of the reasons I mentioned was the (for lack of a better word) horrible behavior of some students in and out of the classroom. I discussed the culture found in the hallway and the inability of the school administration to get a handle on it.

In this week's Greenbelt Gazette there was a commentary written by a former teacher who is currently working as a retire-rehire substitute at a high school a stone's throw from my house. In his commentary Mr. Fox does a phenomenal job speaking for all of us old classroom teachers who had students disregard everything we were trying to do for them. I would recommend it to everyone who has ever been in, wants to be in, or considers themselves worthy of speaking about public-school education.

See the article at http://www.gazette.net/stories/011008/princol132359_32358.shtml

I wish it were an option

A few years ago I made a decision to leave the classroom. Although I wasn't sure it was for good I was pretty sure I would never be in front of a group of MY students ever again. And to be honest, I was happy to do it. I loved teaching. I got goosebumps countless times when I knew, for whatever reason, that I drove something home to the students. I would be standing and delivering (I really didn't do that much, I was more of a project facilitator than a lecturer) and I would see the lights come on in their eyes and I knew I earned my money that day. I had kids who had been turned away from everyone else, or who had turned away themselves, become stars in my class. I believe it was a combination of the content, the environment, and a good dose of "I ain't putting up with your crap you little over-confident under-educated 15-year-old" directed from me to them that created the atmosphere where they could settle down and succeed. Kids with straight D's and E's (remember when failing was an F?) would get their hands on a computer in my class and I would lead them to great projects that meant something to them as people and wondrous things would happen. Then, I left. For a number of reasons I think, but none more so than I couldn't stand some of the kids. Not even really my kids. Something happens when a student becomes your student. Even if they don't like you or care about your class you know them, and hopefully have their parent's ear, so most of them hop when you say hop and stop when you say stop. But it was the hallways, the lunch room, the smoking pot in the stairwell right outside my classroom that really got to me. It was when I realized that the administration at the best school in the district didn't have a clue what to do or the time to do it. Pack 3,000 students into a school that was supposed to hold just over 2,000 (how having a school with 2,000 teenagers ever sounded like a good idea to someone I will never understand) and the admins just never stood a chance. They were overworked, sometimes hardly qualified, and I just couldn't take it anymore.

Now, I wish I could go back.

Why? I miss the kids. I run into former students all the time. That happens when you live in the same town where you taught. That was one of the things I liked most about living across the street from the school, I knew I would see them and I thought that gave me some extra ownership of the whole process. I could say that I lived here and I taught at the school and people would look at me differently. It was nice. I miss building relationships with kids, "good" ones and "bad" ones. I got some kids to straighten up, I lost some kids who were used to rolling over people because they were smart, nice, or white. Yeah, they used that to their advantage. I hated that most of all. But the ones I got to I really developed lasting relationships with. I still have them emailing me. That is nice too. I like knowing I had a hand in getting them into good colleges, preparing them for the real world. I never lowered my standards for a single kid but I modified my expectations for each student. That was hard to do. But I loved it. I miss those A-Ha moments. Like I said, goosebumps. I miss MY ROOM. Man, my classroom was awesome. Ever walk into a classroom where you just know the teacher can't wait to leave at the end of the day or doesn't care one bit for the space they use? Not mine. I covered my walls with personal items, student work, anything to add interest to the space. I wanted the kids to know that they were coming into a place that I loved being in. Most of the time. Yeah, I could go on and on....

Why don't I go back? First, money. What a pitiful excuse, but I can't think of a more important one. If I went back to teaching I would be putting my families future, the future that I envisioned for us, in jeopardy. Not like mortal danger or anything, but there is only so far you can go on a teacher's paycheck. How sad!!!!!!! It isn't like I am pulling down the gonzo bucks in my new gig at a major university - it is about equal to what I would have made at the same salary over a 12-month span, not the 10-months that teachers get paid. But, it is guaranteed 12 months of money. I wouldn't have to hope that some summer work would show up. Granted, I was always really good at finding summer work at school, but it was never guaranteed. Now, I know I will have a paycheck all year. That is a nice safe feeling. Plus, the retirement is about 1,000x better. I wasn't planning on stashing away much cash as a teacher and the pensions were pitiful. This will give me enough to retire on.

Second, like I said, there is only so far you can go as a teacher. I knew that if I wanted to move upward, and I think everyone should want to move upward, I would have to move on. The biggest reason for me wanting to leave the classroom really was the fact that I wanted to help more students. At most I only had the opportunity to help the students who were enrolled in my classroom. After I left to become a technology coordinator I was in a position to help all the teachers, and by extension all the students, in the school. Now, I have the ability to possibly affect the teaching and learning across the nation. Literally. To continue working out of the classroom at the county level I would have had to become an admin, and if there is one thing about me that I know it is that I do not want to be an administrator. I want to continue in instruction because that is what I have always been. In no way do I see myself spending all of my time disciplining misbehaving students and dealing with moron parents. Yeah, I said it. Moron parents. If you have ever been in a classroom you know what I mean.

In my new life I can move into all sorts of other things, teaching being one of them (but at a higher level) but it will all be instructional in nature. I can earn my Ph.D., start speaking or writing, become an expert at one of my various passions. None of that seemed possible when I was in the classroom. Your whole life is devoted to the classroom when you are there. It is a never ending process of days, nights and weekends. No time for Ph.D.'s there as far as I could tell. Yeah, I know some people have made it work, they are far better than I.

So, I wish I could go back but I realize I can't. And it makes me sad.