The End of the Computer Lab

The days of the Computer Lab in schools are over. For years, our schools have supported rooms full of desktop computers that teachers can reserve for small periods of time for their classes. Typical use of these computers labs is

• short-term, due to the shared nature of the room and school bell schedules;
• outside of the standard classroom setting, disrupting any continuation of learning;
• individual, usually with computers in rows on tables;
• often disconnected to other coursework in the class, due to the need to schedule computer time weeks in advance.

Every single one of these characteristics is exactly opposite of what we know about effective use of instructional technology. There is good research that shows that for educational technology to really be valuable in improving students' learning, it should be

• used regularly over a long period of time;
• embedded into students' regular class settings;
• part of students collaborating and working with each other;
• and integrated into the immediate context of the lesson or project.

For these reasons, among others, computer labs are going the way of the ditto machine and the chalk board. A much better model for integrating technology into instruction is a 1:1 or 2:1 adoption, with devices in student hands during most of the class day. Some districts are accomplishing this by purchasing devices for all students; others, including our district, have chosen the BYOD path, supplemented by Chromebooks. In either case, use of information technology should be embedded into every class period, instead of relegated to "special" days when we "go to the computer lab."

Copyright and Fair Use

I had several conversations with teachers this summer about copyright protection and what constitutes fair use of someone's material.  The big misconception I've seen among teachers in our district is that putting materials behind a password (like in Blackboard) means that we don't have to worry about copyright restrictions.  This is patently not true: it's like stealing a car and hiding it in your garage instead of parking it in your driveway.  It makes it less likely that you'll get caught, but it's still not the right way to get around town.

A large part of the problem is that "Fair Use" is an inherently fuzzy concept.  The fair-use provision of copyright law does not provide specific definitions for what is or is not fair use.  Instead, it lays out guidelines for what kinds of factors a court might consider when deciding when a particular use is covered under "Fair Use".  Ultimately, "Fair Use" is what a court decides it is.

Here are three resources that explore copyright and fair use in more depth:

• Short and to the point, emphasis on fair use: www.cwu.edu/~pierckat/copyright.html
• A little bit longer, but more comprehensive: www.gcflearnfree.org/useinformationcorrectly/module/12
• A six-minute sorta-cheesy cartoon, but worth watching: www.freetech4teachers.com/2013/05/copyright-on-campus-six-minute.html#.UfcuUI0m0dV

As we implement Common Core, with resources developed in states all over the country, it is important for teachers to remember applicable copyright laws, so we can model appropriate behavior for our students.

Common Core Literacy Standards for Science and Technical Subjects, Summarized

Through a colleague on Twitter, I came across this great post from Mark Clements about how he had taken the Social Science CCSS Literacy standards, summarized them, and re-grouped them, in an attempt to make them easier to digest for teachers who may not be very familiar with Common Core.  Since I will be working with Science teachers later this month, to introduce the CCSS Literacy standards for Science and Technical Subjects, I was inspired to follow his example with the Science standards.  Here's what I came up with.

First, the Reading standards, summarized:

Next, the Writing standards, similarly shortened:

From these restatements, I was able to group the standards into four categories:

And here's how I grouped the standards into those categories:

As with Mark Clements' Social Science summary, I present this in the spirit of beginning discussion; I'm sure someone else will be able to summarize and organize these better than I did.  If you'd like to make edits, here is a link to a Word document with these tables.

Be More Dog!

I'm No Rock Star, But I Sure Love to Play!

Notes from CUE Rock Star Summer Camp in Solana Beach:

My world has been rocked by the options for changing the way I teach this summer. For those of you who know me personally, you know it usually doesn't take much to rock my world, but this Professional Development was beyond the scope of most. I was joined by Shea Star and Samantha Greenstein at Skyline School for three days of sessions on tools for 21st Century learners. The connections we made were invaluable, and the programs presented were inspiring.

My first session was on digital portfolios. I learned the importance of teaching students to be a global contributor and the need to teach students about digital citizenship and building a personal brand online. A great question to ask the students in the fall: Why should teens be managing their digital footprint? The most exciting program I learned in this session (and probably from the whole workshop) was TouchCast. On it one creates a screencast that links viewers visually to many forms of supplemental digital information on the topic you are teaching. By touching it, the screen opens to that digital source. If you try out nothing else this year, try this one! Kids are going to LOVE it!

In another session with Will Kimberly I saw the power of using Apple TV and my iPad to create a portable document camera. The implications for teaching writing with this option made me want to keep teaching for another ten years just to see what was coming next. (Kevin and Joel are working on making this possible for us without using Apple TV...they have their reasons.)

Sessions on blogging, Google Maps, and collaboration were equally inspiring. Below I will list some great apps and programs you may want to try. In addition, I made some great Twitter connections and resources I will list, too. I am so excited and inspired to be still teaching, learning, and growing after 25 years in the classroom. My mind is wide-open to where we are headed in education. You can bet I am going to be playing with some of these new tools next year. I hope you will play, too!

Tools:

TouchCast
Explain Everything
Weebly
Camtasia
ThinkLink
iPevo Whiteboard
Animoto
Sundry Notes
Ask 3 (love it!)
vimeo
Subtext
Socrative
Skype
Tweet Deck
Blogger
Tumbler
Quadblogg

People to follow on Twitter for more inspiration:

@HollyEdTechDiva
@JenRoberts1
@edtechschools
@mrhooker
@kylepace
@alicekeeler
@Ahangazadeh
@lindayollis
@gregkulowiec
@gmiller66

Links from Tuesday at ISTE 13

Fifth in a series from San Antonio Convention Center...

Here are some links that I gathered today:

• Resources to support BYOD; re MIT (My Instructional Technology)
• BYOT Resources from Williamson County Schools
• Project-Based Learning from Carroll County High School
• Reflective Coaching: Using Digital Video to Improve Teacher Practice
• Modeling Effective PD
• NETS for Instructional Coaches

Tuesday ruminations from ISTE

Fourth in a series from the San Antonio Convention Center...

I left yesterday more than a little frustrated, feeling like the sessions I attended were long on inspiration and short on implementation.  Today is a different story.  I think I picked well, as the first two sessions I attended (other than the keynote) were highly practical and left me with some great ideas for next year.

The first was on modeling effective Professional Learning (PL).  (Professional Learning is teacher-initiated, individually selected; Professional Development is something that is done to teachers in a group.)  They made the point that if we want teachers to shift their instructional methods, then we must model that instruction in their PL sessions.  We cannot stand and lecture from a PowerPoint to a room full of inert, inactive bodies and then expect them to go back to their classrooms and teach in an active, engaging way.  Just as a teacher has to model desired behaviors for students, PL leaders have to model desired behaviors for teachers.  This has some pretty profound and obvious implications for the way our district and sites deliver inservices.

The second session was about a relatively new initiative from ISTE to support instructional coaches.  In the last six months, this group has developed National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for coaches, as well as established a Special Interest Group for Educational Technology Coaches (SIGETC).  The presenters at this session cited research indicating that in order for PL to produce lasting beneficial change in classroom instruction, it must be

• Job-embedded;
• Intensive and ongoing;
• Connected to practice;
• Collaborative among teachers; and
• Connected to school initiatives.

Instructional coaching can fulfill all of those qualifications in a way that no other delivery model for PL can do.

This is a promising model that I think I can begin to implement next year.  In addition to myself and our other established ToSA, our district has one new full-time ToSA and six new part-time ToSAs.  I want to explore ways to make this the norm in our schools next year.