The End of Books...

Will Richardson makes an interesting case for the use of eReaders ala Kindle over physical books. It's a compelling argument (be sure to read the comments), and I'm even more convinced that I want an iPad.

While there is a case to be made (and I and others have made it) that iPads in schools create a problem in that they are consumption based, let's face it: a large part of learning is STILL about consuming material, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. There is even some evidence (from a tweet by @dianadell) that the current emphasis on discovery-based learning may be misguided. As always with education, I think good teachers use a mixture of pedagogical methods.

Anyway, the ability to share textual annotations around, say, a reading of Gatsby could have a fairly profound impact on class dicussions and students' understanding of the text, allowing for greater nuance in interpretation.  It would also make it easier to MODEL active reading--something that's very difficult for students.

It would be interesting to do a comparative study of two classes reading the same text, one with physical books, the other using Kindle and sharing notes. With everything else the same, would the Kindle students show a deeper understanding of the text? 

To Penzu or Not to Penzu--That Is the Question

I just spent some spent awhile looking at Penzu, an online journal-writing tool Kathy showed us. It has the questionable advantage of being completely private, unless the writer chooses to share, unlike many online tools which are public by default, with the option of being private.

Penzu is low on bells and whistles--not always a bad thing!--and is just what it says--a place to journal online, with the option to add images. No comments, no online communities. It's the virtual equivalent of paper and pencil.



So here's my question: What's the point? I'm no fan of technology for technology's sake, so while Penzu saves some trees, but if you're not worried about that, why not just use a journal, especially since there's no RSS feed, so you'd have to go to each student's site individually.

My larger concern relates back to the Will Richardson workshop I attended earlier, and our necessity to move beyond merely publishing, to engage students in an ongoing dialogue to develop and extend their ideas, making connections both literally and intellectually.

Penzu obviously hinders that process. And while there is a place for "mere" journaling, I wonder if this might not be a better tool for personal, rather than educational use?

Having said that, Kathy said teachers are thrilled by it because they don't have to worry about online privacy issues. Maybe I'm just thinking like a high school teacher, and for younger students this is a good introduction to establishing some sort of online presence?

Connectivity

Richardson's still talking (I mean that a lot more positively than it sounds!), and pointing out what a poor use we're making of the web's ability to connect kids to learning communities, or even in helping them to create their own communities.

With that in mind, and thinking about my earlier post on"what happens after you publish," I started thinking about my film studies class next semester.

I'm planning on having them do an independent study on a film genre of their choice. During that process, they'll keep a blog and do online reading. I think I'll also have them find a couple of related blogs they'll read regularly, and comment on. Even inviting comments on their own blog? Certainly I'll encourage (require?) they respond to each other, but it would be very powerful for them if that community expanded into the real world.

Yale film school is up the road. I wonder if some of the film students would be willing to be e-mentors?

I do think it's difficult to convince teachers to move beyond the blog-as-journal. Whether it's safety issues or whatever, there is considerable resistance even to encouraging students to read widely online and link/synthesize in their blog, let alone enourage beyond-the-firewall comments.

Read, Write, Publish....Now What?

Will Richardson is speaking this morning at a laptop conference I'm attending. One point he made that really caught my attention: We're really starting to get the whole read/write thing with the web. Kids blog and wiki and youtube profusely. But it stops with the publishing.

We need to start thinking about what happens after publishing--how do students connect with people around the things they're publishing?

Engaging Students in Real Learning

As the semester winds down, I've been thinking a lot about how much I've learned doing this independent study. I recognize the difference in how I think about this "class," vs. the other three "have-to's" I'm taking. They've been interesting, but haven't generated the same kind of passion and intensity and excitement. I willingly spend HOURS reading and researching Web 2.0, and only grudgingly skim the readings for, as an example, my organizing information class. My only guidance has been the initial planner I set up for myself and the plethora of blogs and books I found. Gurus like David Warlick, Will Richardson, Doug Johnson, Joyce Valenza and Vicki Davis act as signposts on the journey, wisely suggesting directions I might like to explore; immersing myself in the ed tech network until I all but live, eat and breathe the stuff has profoundly affected my understanding of technology and its use . I don't know if I would be so melodramatic as to say it changed my life, but it certainly changed how I think about my teaching and, more importantly, my own learning.

As I start making plans for using this information next year, I realize this is what student-centered learning is all about: guiding students to discover and explore their bliss, as Joseph Campbell would put it. While I do have an obligation to teach some content (!), I also want to recreate this experience for my students, to help them find the passion to become motivated self-teachers and learners. Obviously, giving assignments on the use of symbolism in The Joy Luck Club isn't going to do that.

So I'm thinking that, in addition to the usual kinds of assignments--which will now be A LOT more collaborative and student led, I want to give them the chance to research, explore and blog about one topic per semester that's of interest to them. They'll still need to incorporate the writing, technical and analytical skills needed for class, but that should be inherent in the topic, especially as, (Inshallah!) they work deeper into the topic and become more engaged.

I have a paper to write for Friday, then I'm going to sit down and plan out the general overview of how such a project will look. I'll blog it when I'm finished.

Read, Write and Ruminate

Will Richardson's blog from Wednesday is causing quite a stir among the ed tech blogosphere. In it, he states teachers, on the whole, use technology as an electronic version of pen and paper show-what-you-know pedagogy, rather than allowing the process to take over and engage students in authentic experience and learning. (At least that's my take on it.) Now most teachers don't want or need to hear another claim that we're failing to do our jobs; yet sometimes the last thing you want to hear is most what you need to hear.

I'm no tech guru, but my classes usually integrate technology more than other teachers'. Looking back on some of those assignments, however, I recognize their somewhat rote nature: they were online essays. Ironically, the best tech assignment I ever gave was the one I knew least about. The first video documentaries I did. I was clueless about the technology, or even much beyond the basics of how to put a documentary together, so the students had to figure it out themselves with some rough guidance from me. As you can imagine, their product wasn't all that great (with a few exceptions), but they learned so much about collaborating and teamwork and planning and, yes, even persuasion in its various forms. I learned from this experience that sometimes the best way to teach is to simply get out of the way and let students learn.

It's not that traditional books and essays don't allow this. I wrote a paper while working on my Master's in English that, quite literally, change the course of my life because of what I realized as I wrote it. (It's a long story) But I do think its a more solitary event and happens less frequently with traditional methods. It takes a certain willingness to immerse yourself in language that few people possess. Technology facilitates those connections--whether through the literal linking of pages/ideas or through the collaboration process and "wisdom of crowds" phenomenon, or both, or neither. That's the thing about technology--it embeds you in process. Writing this blog has been an act of learning for me even more than one of sharing/teaching. (grin--fortunately! This start-up lack of readers thing can be a bit disheartening!) It forces me to make some sort of coherent whole out of the chaos of my reading, then allows me to directly link to those readings and draws it all together, so I start seeing relationships. Traditional writing does that, too, but in a much more abstract way.

Where the real difference lies, however, is in David Warlick's profound response to Richardson's column. He wrote (in the comments):

I would rather not look at the production of a video or a podcast as the end of an assignment, but as the beginning or continuation of a conversation. We are so focused, as educators, with what is learned. I wish we were more focused on learning.

That blew me away, because he's absolutely right and describes what is so absolutely wrong with NCLB and standardized tests and the general way we educate students. We focus on content, not skills. We focus on product, not process. We focus on teaching, not learning. It's not that the product isn't important: Imagine trying to tell your boss, "Oh, I know the presentation wasn't very good, but I learned SO MUCH putting it together!" However, we tend to rush students through those beginning and oh-so-necessary phases in our efforts to get something to grade so we can move on to the next bit of content we need to cover. We don't give them enough time to explore and engage, because we have to finish Chapter 13 by January.

More importantly, we're so overwhelmed with the minutiae of the job, that we seldom allow ourselves the time to learn ourselves. This independent study has been a real god-send for me. I floundered the first few weeks, trying to figure out what I should be exploring, but as I searched and probed and dug, out of that mess process grew the roots of a solid understanding not only of the technologies, but of how they can be used to best advantage. Well, the beginnings of an understanding anyway. More importantly, I'm excited. Truly and honestly boring everyone around me with my enthusiasm excited. I haven't felt that way about teaching in a few years; I can't wait to try out my ideas this fall. And don't we owe it to ourselves (and our students) to do everything we can to encourage and nurture that passion? To move beyond covering content and into enthusiastic engagement?

I think so.

I actually had more to say, including an article I read about being a "Techno-Constructivist," but I'll save that for my next blog!

Lost in the Tech Speak

I've been burying myself in Web 2.0 the past few weeks, and trying to figure out best practice for integrating it into the classroom, especially since my new job requires me to teach it to other educators! With that in mind, I purchased two books, one published last year and one published last month.

Will Richardson's Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms is a god-send. A fire up Amazon and BUY THIS NOW!!! kind of book. If you are AT ALL interested in educational technology, this book will not only answer your questions (or questions you never thought of), it also gives you practical, start-to-use-it-on Monday advice and ideas for classroom use. It explains not just the what, but also the why and the how. I've never had a clue how to really use RSS feeds, but Richardson not only explained the technology in easy to understand language, he gave great examples of how to get set up and ideas for using RSS feeds in the classroom (and why every teacher should). I'm convinced! He gives plenty of examples K-12. As an ex-English teacher, he makes a strong case for building the read/write web into the English classroom, with fewer compelling cross-the-curriculum examples, though he does try. My strongest praise would be that my school offered to let me teach an English class along with the library duties, if I wanted. Originally, I planned to turn that down so I could concentrate on the library (English teacher burn out!). Having read Richardson, I'm now so excited to try these techniques in the classroom, I not only WANT to teach a class again, I'm excited about the possibilities.


Less compelling (as a practicing teacher/librarian) is Gary Bitter and Jane Legacy's Using Technology in the Classroom (7th Edition), just published a few weeks ago. Written as a textbook rather than a practical "how to,' the book serves more as an introduction to educational technology for the neophyte ed student. While I knew what the technologies were after reading this (well, I knew before, but I'm speaking as a tech-tyro here), I really didn't have a clue how to get started using them, or what to do with them if I managed to get up and running. Some chapters offer a few teaching ideas, but I found them limited in scope. The book comes with a DVD and an companion website; frankly, what working teacher has time? What were incredibly useful (and almost worth the $90 price!) were the plethora of links and and resources at the end of each chapter. This alone will save you HOURS culling the web for content.