Passion Projects

Photo by Randalyn Hill on Unsplash

 So, teaching remotely this term, I wanted to mix things up. I decided I was not going to have zoom classes 4 hours a week. I know from having meetings over zoom for the past year, it can be mind numbing 😫, and sitting in front of screen for most of a day - and more so a week - is not good for anyone 😵. Since many of the other courses are fully on zoom - plus assignments outside of class -  I decided that I would use a combination of synchronous and asynchronous learning. One of the projects I decided on was a passion project. Everyone has things they wonder about and would like to learn about - well, they should anyway - so I took this idea, often used in K-12, and decided to go for it. The stipulations were straightforward - explore a topic related to using technology in education, make a plan, carry it out, learn, create some artifact to show the learning, reflect on the process and what you learned, share with at least one other classmate and with me.  Boom! Off they went, and the results were amazing and projects varied!  The students seemed to embrace the project, and many commented how they enjoyed doing it! My hope is that they can embrace such projects, or at least some inquiry learning, in their future classrooms. Some of the projects included:

• Several on video production - using videos in math, or physical education, or ... 
• A few looked into podcast creation and how it can be used in the classroom.
• A few looked at various apps that could be used in different subject classrooms: math, geography, the gym, etc.
• Some looked into coding, including making games, and robotics.
• One looked at using VR in physical education.
• Not to be left out, a number of music ed students looked into software for music recording or tutorials and creating amazing artifacts. One looked at using tiktok to deliver short tutorials.
• Another looked at creating tours in google earth to use in geography courses.
• Yet another collated and reviewed resources for teaching about reconciliation.
• and on and on ...

This was one project I actually enjoyed going through and providing feedback - and there were over 60 of them! My own reflection was - why didn't I do this along time ago! I will not be teaching again after this term - as noted in earlier posts, I will soon retire, but I would keep using this project if I was still in the game, and I encourage any of you out there to give it a try, the results were well worth it!

Awakening Possibilities 2014

Nice posters of sessions
outside each room -
I'm second from bottom.

On April 16 and 17, I was fortunate to attend and present at the Manitoba Teachers' Society's educational technology conference called "Awakening Possibilities". This conference was geared toward K-12 educators, in the past 6 years most of the conferences I attend are usually academic ones or ones with a more mixed audience. I was asked to present on my dissertation research, the organizers wanted some sessions based on research. My slide deck was very similar to the one I used at the National Congress on Rural Education a few weeks earlier - it is embedded in that post, so I won't embed the new one here. It can be found on my slideshare page if interested. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised at the number of people attending my session, but the topic was about using social media in the classroom - from the teacher's perspective. It went well, I think. Near the beginning I ask "What is social media?" the very definition is a confounding factor in doing research in this area. This led to a good discussion and points made - not all I agreed with, but good none the less. The rest I went through the purpose, findings and some conclusions from my study.

Now - back to the conference. It was one of the best I have attended, I actually wished I was still teaching in K-12 so I could try some of the ideas presented with kids. But alas, I will have to settle for using the ideas and examples presented in my teacher education courses instead. The number of tremendous educators and projects going on in Manitoba (and SK, in the case of Kathy Cassidy) schools is inspiring, it was too bad I had to pick some sessions over others. The tweets were also going fast and furious - which helped get a sense of other sessions going on. The keynotes, opening by Steve Dembo and closing by Chris Lehman were excellent, as were the IGNITE sessions held in the evening. Many of those were by students, all so intelligent, funny, & inspiring. Some photos and video clips from the conference can be found on the MTS Facebook page.

Kudos to the organizers and MTS for putting on this excellent conference!

I created a Storify of as many tweets in the hashtag as I could capture (unfortunately it quit working on me, I don't know if there is a limit or what - it was my first use of Storify - so please forgive me). It is here;

Some Good Quotes to Think About ... and Draft 1: done!

As I was wrapping up writing my dissertation, I was perusing some articles and came across three quotes that I thought I would share. Here they are;

"Condemning technology cannot address these concerns or engage in the affordances; active and informed engagement can." (J.S. Bianco, Women's Studies Quarterly, 37(1/2), 2009, p. 310, )

I like the phrase active and informed engagement, all too often 'we' dismiss new ideas without actually understanding or experiencing them, we are often too quick to judge.

"Some of what is unfolding is exciting; some is terrifying. The key is not to be all utopian or dystopian, but to recognize what will change and what will stay the same." (d. boyd, Educause Review, Sept/Oct 2010, p. 36)

I have always liked danah boyd's work - thoughtful and insightful. This statement is similar to the first, we rush to either embrace or condemn, but we often forget to think and experience.

"The phrase 'technology and education' usually means inventing new gadgets to teach the same old stuff in a thinly disguised version of the same old way." (S. Papert, Teaching Children thinking, Contemporary Issues in Technology & Teacher Education, 5(3/4), p. 353)

This final statement by Papert speaks about how educational technology is often employed - doing the old stuff in a thinly disguised version of the same old way; how true this often is. Sometimes it is okay, but why use expensive tools (toys?) just to do the same old - we need to shake it up and change how we teach.

To finish this post (I started it several weeks ago and life intervened), I have completed the first draft of my thesis, it has been submitted to my advisor & committee. The University of Manitoba just put in a new process for dissertations, so I am in the process, along with my advisor, in figuring out what it all means. However, it is done (for now) and I can put some attention into other parts of my work - and life! (I have actually been reading a few novels the last few weeks :-)

CASA 2013 in Beautiful St. John's NL

From July 4-6 I attended, along with a colleague, the annual conference for the Canadian Association of School Administrators (CASA). The theme was "Technology Meets Pedagogy: Hardware Meets Headware". It was enjoyable to attend a conference as a non-presenting participant for a change. St. John's, NL is also a beautiful part of our country - as you can see from the photos with this post. I am going to share some of my observations from the conference in this post. Of course, I will not go into the scenic tours, the fun Rally in the Alley & entertainment by 'The Navigators' - suffice to say it was more than just sessions to attend. 

The sessions I attended illustrated several things: that the idea that ed tech should be used thoughtfully and in support of learning is widespread - that is, pedagogy should drive instruction not technology; ed tech is being used in many creative and innovative ways to help students learn, to share learning and to increase communication with community; there are many great things happening in schools across Canada and dedicated professionals working hard to make education better for all students. I also observed the growth of people attending using devices from laptops to tablets to smartphones to document their learning - taking notes, photos, tweeting and so on. Now, if school Principals, superintendents, trustees and other educators are doing this, why do some schools/systems still ban or control their use in schools?

I won't go through all the sessions I attended, however, the point is that the times are a changin' as schools and divisions across Canada are making strides in moving forward and making classrooms more inclusive and student centred. Educational technology is playing a big role in supporting the gains as learning becomes more personal and in many cases more public. Educators are sharing ideas, successes and failures. My hope is that this sharing helps to spread the change.

During the conference there were a good many quotes and tweets. A few are below and the exchange during the Parkland SD (Alberta) was storify-ed here by Mark Carbone.

Dean gets it right here - almost all teachers are hard working and conscientious. In my dissertation research all my participants are trying to do their best for their students. If they are not all using the latest tech, it is often because they lack the time to learn or simply don't know how and would with support. Teachers are a special people - and not just because I was/am one.

I often hear from folks (including a friend of mine) that research does not support use of tech (or it does not affect 'achievement', whatever that means). Evidence is there, so is evidence to the contrary - it all comes down to how it is used. 

My colleague, Dr. Kirk attended a session about this partnership. We both see why schools enter these, but we also both think that partnerships with universities would serve school divisions better than ones with companies (after all their bottom line is to sell a product). We are looking forward to our partnership with fellow attendees from Lakeshore School Division in MB as part of  Brandon Universities VOICE project.

The conference wrapped up fittingly with an outstanding keynote by none other than Dean Shareski of Moose Jaw, SK. Dean exemplifies the ideal of sharing learning - he has skyped in to speak to my classes for 3 years now and is a splendid speaker. His slides for the keynote can be found here: http://www.slideshare.net/shareski/a-new-culture-of-leaders#

... and a few photos from in and around St. John's.

Middle Cove

Flatrock

Jelly Bean row houses

View from Signal Hill (a little hazy)

Digital Storytelling ... Part 2

Well, I thought since I labeled my last post as part 1, I'd better do a part 2! Frankly, I have not had time to keep up with etmooc much this past week. I did take in @dkuropatwa's session, but that is about it. It seems like I just have too much on my plate - for instance, right now I should be looking at student blogs and websites in order to provide feedback. Doing a MOOC while teaching 4 courses, immersed in collecting data for a dissertation, and having some home renovations in progress makes for a full schedule. On the other hand, I have been immersed in digital storytelling the past few weeks, and will be for the next as well. Multimedia and digital storytelling is the current topic in my Using ICT in Education course right now in the Faculty of Ed here at BU. So I have been discussing some of the ways, whys, and means of digital storytelling & multimedia in the classroom. Many of my students are also creating their own stories for another course they are taking - it is great to see other profs having students explore how to use technology in their practice. So far, we have looked at topics such as; what makes a good presentation, basic image editing and how even a single image can tell a story, creating short stories using multimedia (including looking at apps such as photostory, animoto, Prezi, and some iPad apps), and are now looking at elementary video production. I enjoy this topic, there are so many ways to create and share stories - and to be creative. Students also seem to enjoy it and think up great ways to use the ideas in their own (future) teaching practice. I have obtained permission from a few of my students to share some of their creations - please check out their blogs as well.

@MissLwbt created the following tutorial as a story about how to make a digital story. Kirsten is a prolific and well followed blogger and shares openly (her blog is Miss L's Whole Brain Teaching). Enjoy her creative story:

That Time I Made a Digital Story from MissLwbt

Another student, Brittani (also a former student at the school I was Principal & teacher at :-), created this wonderful little story using Storybird, Audacity & slideshare for an ELA methods class. Brittani also writes an entertaining blog for my course: Miss Britt's Blog.

How boahlcat found his wings from Brittani2644

I can share even more, but will finish with this great little animation made by Tyler (@Tyler_JL) after we heard from a few presenters in my I4Ed course to illustrate the importance of sharing our work. Tyler writes one of his several blogs at ICTyler.

 Hope you enjoyed these examples. They are better than my own stuff anyway :-)

[PS Thanks to these promising young educators for allowing me to share their work here.]

A New Paradigm?

The following video, made by RSA Animate showed up on YouTube recently. It features Sir Ken Robinson. It is a visual treat and, as anyone who has heard Sir Ken's TED talk or other talks/interviews, a very interesting and thought provoking talk. So, take a look and listen;




Sir Ken weaves an intriguing and convincing story. He causes one to ask questions, to reflect and think. Even if you do not agree with all he says, the case for a paradigm change in education rings true.

Is what he states about ADHD true? Are we medicating kids to slow them down to function in schools? Should schools be organized differently so this is not the case?

At the end of the video, Sir Ken talks about the importance of collaboration. Just think of your own learning; how often do we ask questions and discuss with others to come to an understanding? Learning is social in nature and the tools of digital technology make collaboration easier, so why not make use of them?

Does our current model of education need change? In the words of Sir Ken, schools are "modeled on the interests of industrialism" with bells, subjects, grouping by age and so on. Does the current emphasis on standards and standardized tests measure the types of learning that really counts? They often measure content knowledge and rote facts, not creativity & critical thought. It seems that the primary goal of education today is economic; preparing for the world of work. I would agree that this is important, but goals of imparting democratic values, citizenship, critical, creative, and divergent thought are vital. These goals are even more important in the age of digital technology, access to unlimited amounts of information and instant, mobile communication. Too often what is done in schools is controlled and influenced by those who do not really want people to question and think for themselves. What can we do to effect change in our schools and classrooms?

Class #2: A rose by any other name ...

Once again, during my 3-hour drive home, I contemplated my post for this class – lots of interesting stuff! Once again there are a number of ideas and concepts to choose from for discussion, from Plato to the ‘back and forth’ viewpoint. As I drove, listening to “Classic Vinyl” on XM satellite radio, the timeless Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin came on. One line in the song is: “But she wants to be sure … 'Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings.” That was it! I was going to look back at the discussions of definitions.

Language has always been a source of confusion. International agreements are often stalled by disagreements about wording; legal contracts and legislation are always open to interpretation. Every institution has its own jargon, acronyms, and conventions. Education is often one of the worst for this. I believe that, often, the fuzzy nature of some terms or wordings lead to unnecessary confusion. So, while at first thought, one might think discussing terminology is much ado about nothing, it is important to understand what the terms are referring to for the sake of clear communication.

The points made about ICT (Information and Communication Technology) are well taken. It is a vague term and is open to interpretation. The acronym itself is not known by many people, especially parents, though this is not limited to that group. I have heard many people use ITC instead – a slip? Perhaps, but many think that is the term. It might seem trivial, but it can lead to confusion. I think that perhaps the Parent Guide to Literacy with ICT that the Department of Education produced is partly to help convey the meaning of the term, among other things. In researching the digital divide for a previous paper, I came across work by Neil Selwyn, he states:

“Indeed, the term ICT more accurately refers to an updating of the conventional ‘information technology’ to encompass the rapid convergence of technologies such as computers, telecommunications and broadcasting technologies, as well as stressing the communicative and networking capacity of modern-day information technologies. Thus, the term ICT is best seen as an umbrella term for a range of technological applications…”
(Selwyn, N. (2004). Reconsidering political and popular understandings of the digital divide. New Media Society. 6(3):341–362.)

It seems to me, and I may be wrong, the term IT has a very business orientation (IT departments, etc) and ICT is used, as Selwyn states, to be more encompassing – and maybe to distinguish education from corporations?). Yes, information technologies include books, and communication technologies include pencils as Denis made clear in his draft paper. Yet, in education circles (at least in Manitoba) it is generally understood to be modern computer based technology. The problem is that this meaning must be made clear to parents and others so they know what we are talking about.

Denis also points out that this term, ICT, implies the tools, not process and pedagogy. I agree, and I think it is generally used in that way. When one looks at the Department of Education LwICT continuum, I think it also acknowledges this since it is a literacy with ICT continuum, implying that it is not the tools per se that are important, but the process of using them in an appropriate way to enhance literacy (in its broad meaning – another confusing term?) as opposed to ICT literacy, which is the actual use of the tools.

I do like the broader term, educational technology. Defined by AECT as; “the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using, and managing appropriate technological processes and resources”. It does include the process, theory and pedagogical aspects. I think the terms ethical and appropriate add some fuzziness, but it also reminds us that these technologies are not neutral and we need to be cognizant of how they are used.

In the end, as the saying goes a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, yet we must clearly communicate what we mean by these terms. While it may not really matter which term we use, it is a fun exercise to explore their meanings, and, more importantly, we must have a similar view in mind when using them in order to avoid confusion and needless disagreement.