Weekly Reflections about 21st Century Learning

StoryTelling - Every Student is an Individual Story

2011-11-16T13:58:00.001-06:00

I've been thinking a great deal about the importance of storytelling lately. We all know people in our lives that have been great storytellers. We could sit and listen to them for hours. Their stories made us laugh, gasp, or even make us cry. But these people have a knack at telling stories because they usually made a point. There was a climax to the story they told. It engaged you as a listener. You don't have to have the best voice to tell a good story, you don't have to look perfect either. One of the best storytellers of our time is Malcolm Gladwell. He has the frizziest hairdo, his voice has a bit of a warble, but he is amazing at telling stories that draws you in as a listener. He rounds out of his stories with a point that doesn't sound preachy, but still gets a point across and makes you think. Let's watch an example of his on TedTalks.

So what is the point I am trying to make you may ask?

Hemingway

I was a conference recently, and the speaker, Sir Ken Robinson said this, "Education has to be personal. Every student is an individual story. Unless education is personal, it is nothing." What piqued my interest is the phrase that every student is an individual story. I don't want our students coming to school each day as part of a mechanical process, but as an organic process. Learning must have a life of it's own. With that life is a story. Each student at Credenda is a story. A story that I want told. I don't care about what any of us look like, or sounds like, I care about about the story that is told, and we all need to listen to each others stories. It was Hemingway that said, "when people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen." I want the students of Credenda to know, that we are listening. We want to hear your stories of hope, challenges, failures, successes, and more. That is what makes our lives richer. So when you do your assignments, or come to class, approach your learning as you are telling your story. I'm listening, and so are our teachers.

Now a cool tool that I think might come in handy with teachers is CiteThisForMe. One of the things going for it, is that it allows for books, journals, newspapers, and websites to be cited and then added to your document that you are working on. It's clean and easy to use. And it's free.

BYOD - bring your own device

2011-10-19T10:08:00.001-06:00

Just sitting here listening to Jason Ohler speak at the Leadership 2011 conference in Edmonton, AB. My interested was piqued with a couple of statements he made around digital literacy. "We limit our students from expressing themselves with the medium they know. They live a non-digitalized life at school and digital life outside of school."

He's referring to how many times we take the cell phones or smartphones from our students and force them to write an essay about an outcome that could been demonstrated with some form of media that the students already know and used outside of school.

Now he wasn't saying that we stop writing, in fact, he said that the writing is critical to good productions with media. However, we need to encourage the students to use the media they are familiar with to create visual writing. It's important that common activities for math, language arts, science be done in ways that a story can to told with media.

To illustrate, he showed the video by Hans Rosling that took normal boring stats and animated them telling a story.

I think this is a great illustration of bringing the ordinary alive.

On a another note, here's a great tool, Tagxedo. This tool turns words, speeches, and more into shapes. It's something like Wordle but with specific shapes and patterns. Pretty cool.

The Flipped Classroom

2011-04-07T10:44:00.007-06:00

What is a flipped classroom? According to Jerry Overmyer a "Flipped Classroom is a model of teaching in which a student’s homework is the traditional lecture viewed outside of class on a vodcast. Then class time is spent on inquiry-based learning which would include what would traditionally be viewed as a student’s homework assignment. Synonymous with Reverse Classroom."

I've been hearing a lot lately about this relatively new education practice. It is very constructivist and project-based for that matter. Some might say this isn't anything really new, but I think it is. The difference comes from the use of the video blended with a screencast. Here's a video that describes how one teacher uses it:

Here's another teacher using the flipped model:

These teachers are creating their own resources. Great stuff! But it also takes a lot of work. Another teacher flipped his classroom using Khan Academy math, science, and humanities resources. Here's the link to this story: The Flipped Classroom Advances: Developments in Reverse Learning and Instruction

I guess some of my interest was piqued recently around the Flipped Classroom, when I watched a TedTalk video by Salman Khan. Here it is:

Here at Credenda, we use live instruction with ElluminateLive to deliver our instruction. Even though we use technology to deliver instruction, it can be very much a matter of an eTeacher trying to recreate a face to face classroom online. That doesn't work, because lecture styled instruction doesn't necessarily work best. We have to make the learning experience more engaging. Using technology like an iTouch with videos is very creative, using screencasts makes sense as well. Sometimes I think we overwhelm our students with too much information, and really not think about how much are they retaining.

So how can we at Credenda create a flipped classroom for our students? First of all, I would hate to lose the live experience in creating a flipped classroom. I don't think we would have to either. Using ElluminateLive and using the video inset into the session with the whiteboard as the screencast is what we do each day already. The difference comes into play when we allow students to access their archived, recorded classes on their own time as in a Flipped Classroom, and using the regularly scheduled time during the day to help students with their homework. Could it work? Yes. I think it could, but it would take some reeducating of eStudents and eTeachers. If we try something like this at Credenda, we need to run a pilot first and see how it works.

Honour the Treaties!!!

2011-03-16T09:26:00.011-06:00

I don't generally venture into the political in a public forum, however, some things need to be said because it is just right to speak out. It was Martin Luther King Jr. who said, “Justice denied anywhere diminishes justice everywhere.” To remain quiet is to ignore the great need in a land where truth, justice and liberty are upheld. Aaron Huey: America's Native Prisoners of War video brought this to mind when I recently watched this TedTalk video. What a powerful photo essay about a place that I had the opportunity to visit in July 2010.

Aaron passionately outlined the challenges the Lakota and Sioux are facing. Last summer, I had an opportunity to see it firsthand, and the images are not easily erased. Let me describe my experience. We drove down to South Dakota for a family vacation to attend a weekend of outdoor concerts, see Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Monument, Devil's Tower, the Black Hills, and go camping. After we finished seeing the sites, I had one more thing in my bucket list that I wanted to do. I wanted to go to Wounded Knee. If you look at the map I've embedded, the Oglala Reservation is a large area south of Rapid City, and from first glance, Wounded Knee should be pretty straight forward to find.

Not so! We drove southeast from Rapid City watching the looming black horizon filled with lightning draw near, almost as a metaphor of what we were soon to see. We drove eventfully on to the Reservation filled with wide open fields; some developed and others empty grassland. I couldn't believe how much land there was. Then out of the blue was a huge casino and hotel in the middle of nowhere. My wife and I looked at each other and commented about how it seemed so oddly placed. Beyond the casino, we continued to drive and see relatively nothing again for miles. Slowly, we began to see the odd house trailer scattered alongside the road. There was so little development of the land or resources.

Then we drove into Pine Ridge past the Red Cloud Indian School, which was a stark contrast from the rest of the homes and buildings that displayed so much poverty. We were overwhelmed by what we saw. I reflected back to my days of growing up on Atikameg Lake First Nation in Canada, and found myself thinking that even though we had very little back in the 1960's, these people in 2010 have far less. Little did I know what I would hear firsthand from some of the community members.

We looked at the map and continued down the #18 highway in search of Wounded Knee. We drove past Batesland realizing we were now off the Reserve, but we hadn't seen a sign for Wounded Knee. I kept saying, "You'd think with such a huge significant event like Wounded Knee, there would be a sign." We had been so used to signs everywhere pointing out Mt. Rushmore, and every little underground cave open for tours. But not one sign for Wounded Knee. I put it into the GPS, and nothing. The map just showed a general area, but no roads. We knew we were in the right area, so we started taking roads north of the #18 and crisscrossing back and forth. Finally, we found it. A big green sign with writing on it describing the events of the that dreadful day in 1890.

Not much of a sign considering what happened over a hundred years ago. It was almost as if the American government didn't really care if people visited this site, read about it, or even found it for that matter. There was no tourist booth, other than free standing poles with makeshift pine boughs draped across to shelter people selling a few trinkets and necklaces from the summer heat To one side of the stand were two binders full of photocopied pictures describing the Massacre at Wounded Knee, but no government issued pamphlets or brochures. One elder was there who explained about the living conditions on the Reserve. Across the way, his sister lived in a trailer without power or running water. She used an outhouse, and had a 100 ft. extension cord running from a power pole that had a makeshift power box so she could run a hot plate. The stories were sad and heart wrenching.

And then there was this picture taken in 1890. The elder asked me if I knew why the person pictured to the left was wearing a scarf around his head. I shrugged, "I don't know." He replied, "Because he was scalped by the Cavalry." I don't know about you, but that really hit me hard. The whole event was wrong, but so much information is being buried from the public. I left Wounded Knee that day with a pit in my stomach. It stayed with me for days, and rightly so. Herein lies the problem. The treaties, which are binding covenants between the government and the people need to be honoured. Apologies for the atrocities need to be made. The government cannot look the other way and ignore what is happening in Oglala.

I really appreciated Aaron Huey's talk. It made me think, it made me remember, now I want my voice to to join his and speak out calling for action.

Have Fun with the JibJab Tool for Christmas

2010-12-01T09:24:00.004-06:00

It's been awhile since I worked on my blog. I need to get into the routine of it again. Maybe that will be a New Year's resolution. So one way to get it going again is by recommending tools for the classroom and showcasing JibJib that one of the staff made up of some Credenda staff. It's fun and easy to use.

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

I have a paid account, which didn't cost much, but you can do a number of activities for free. The students in a classroom could have some fun with this and get themselves ready for the Christmas cheer. Check it out.

Synchronizing with Google Apps

2010-09-07T15:11:00.011-06:00

I've been using Google Calndar Sync for awhile and it's worked really well for me, but a few weeks ago, I struck out to try the new version of Google Apps Sync. I must say, in the few weeks I have been using it, I'm impressed.

Let me start by elaborating on the old standby, but true Google Calendar Sync. I'm still using my Treo 700 Palm smartphone. It be a little outdated, but I'm staunchly rebellious when it comes to parting with a great operating system like Palm, knowing there is really nothing out there quite like it., But I digress. I synchronize my smartphone daily with my Outlook, but I have reserved Outlook for ISP email. So I have my smartphone synchronizing with a few different email addresses, one of which is a Gmail account. So I like synchronizing my calendar from Outlook to my Gmail account. The Google Calendar Sync works great for this. However, it does come with a few warnings. I generally have it syncing only one direction, but you can easily come up with duplicate entries and that can be a headache getting rid of these.

So when I came across the Google Apps Sync recently, I was interested because I had tried them before, but with less than happy results. This time my experience was completely different. This is a great tool. The first thing I noticed was that all my folders that I created for storing my emails automatically were created on my computer after it synchronized with my Google Email. That was was very helpful. In addition, I can go offline and still read emails on my computer, because they were downloaded as well. We don't have an Exchange server at work, but with this app, I'm wondering why we would need it. Google Apps Sync provides everything we would have had with Exchange.

I found this short video online describing how it works in a little more detail. Check it out.

Here's the link for the App: Google App Sync. One thing to note is that it requires a Google Apps Premier Edition or Education Edition account. At Credenda, we have the Education Edition account, so it works for all of out staff and site teachers, who have a Credenda.net email account.

Let me leave you with this at the close of the school year!

2010-06-28T14:59:00.002-06:00

It's been a great school year. We have met so many new faces, experienced so many new things, learned so many new outcomes. In the end, our lives are better and enriched by working together, studying together, learning together. It really is about the human side of everything. That being said, I leave you with this video that speaks to our human side. Loving each other and caring about one another. We have promoted the idea of "Being the Change you Want to See" and I want us to continue with that theme as we go into summer break, new jobs, new schools, and more. Have a great summer. I'll look at posting some stories over the summer.

It really sucks to be hacked!!!!

2010-05-31T18:58:00.010-06:00

Yesterday, I arrive at work for 8AM and am sitting down for a cup of tea, my morning usual, when I receive a phone call from a former eTeacher asking whether I'm okay. I reply that I'm fine. She goes on to say, she received an email from my GMail account saying I was stranded in Wales after being mugged. I raced to my computer and try to log on to my account with no success. Someone had hacked my account and was using it for their own personal scam. As a computer guy, who takes tremendous precautions with my accounts and using the Internet, I was frustrated.

I immediately go to where Gmail directs you to reset your password, and receive an email at my alternate email account saying my password is reset and am able to log in. I frantically begin to email all 839 of my contacts that I'm sorry for any inconvenience, but am unable to because I have maxed my limit for emails as the hacker had already sent the maximum amount of emails and I couldn't send anymore. In hindsight, I needed to go through my account settings and change all forwarding information that was being redirected to the hackers email. So when I reset my password, I didn't think about the hacker getting an email that the password was changed at the same time. So while I was logged on, the hacker entered my account and changed the password on me again logging me out of my session. I go back to Gmail to reset my password. I get back in and am looking for the forwarding information. I delete that incident. What I didn't realize is there is a second place to go to change the password recovery information. The hacker had changed things there too. This is one of things he/she changed. They had the mail being forwarded to another Yahoo account.

In addition, they had the inserted their mobile number under the Accounts and Import Tab, Change Account Settings. They changed my personal security question as well.

The above image illustrates where I didn't update my information quickly enough when I would get back into my account. So every time I reset the password, the hacker was being notified by text message and at the secondary email address. I've since researched that it is important to insert your mobile number in this place in the event that an individual does breach your account and change the password, it alerts you immediately and you may prevent what happened to me.

Upon being blocked out completely, I was unable to access this blog, because it was linked to my Gmail account. I then went to the FBI site and filed a complaint with the information I had retrieved from the account forwarding. I had written down the email address. I then sent an email to the hacker from another Gmail account I created just for them informing them that I had contacted the FBI.

I tried to call Google, but every thing was closed for Memorial Day. Trying to find a contact phone number for Google was difficult. I finally found it on some forum. After some digging around I found a link at Gmail for resetting your password that sent an email to my primary email account and I got into my account, changed all the forwarding information to my own. When the hacker tried again, I received the email that they had reset the password instead of them receiving it this time. In the meantime, when I finally got into my account the hacker had deleted all my contacts and every email for 5 years.

That was frustrating. Another frustration is Gmail asking for when you created the account. If you cannot answer the question, you cannot report the account as being compromised. The only way you find out when your account was created is by your first few emails, if you kept them.

Here's the message that was sent out, so you are aware. It's not new. After searching, I have found that it has been used since January of this year.

"I'm writing this with tears in my eyes,my fam and I came down here to Wales,United Kingdom for a short vacation unfortunately we were mugged at the park of the hotel where we stayed,all cash,credit card and cell were stolen off us but luckily for us we still have our passports with us. We've been to the embassy and the Police here but they're not helping issues at all and our flight leaves in less than few hours from now but we're having problems settling the hotel bills and the hotel manager won't let us leave until we settle the bills, I'm freaked out at the moment."

When any of my contacts responded, they received this response:

"Glad you replied back.All i need is a quick loan of $1,300 to sort out the hotel bills cos the authorities have already make arrangement for our return tickets and I thought about having it wired to my bank account but i can't find a branch of my financial institution anywhere close,There's a Western Union money transfer service very close to Heath row Airport(that's where we're flying from).I can receive it there within minutes right after you have wired the cash to my name. you can send it from any western union outlet around you. Here are the details needed to get it to me Name: (My Name) Location:Cardiff Wales United Kingdom As soon as it has been done, kindly get back to me with the MTCN confirmation number"

How did this happen you might ask? I recently was at my Wilkes University graduation in Pennsylvania, and accessed my Gmail on the hotel wireless, which was unsecure. Two days ago, I received notification from Gmail, that someone was tampering with my account, and was I in the vicinity of any of the following IP addresses. I looked them over, and thought. They were just checking to see if I had accessed the account from another locale. I shrugged it off, thinking it probably was okay. That was my second mistake. I really needed to pay attention to that warning. The first mistake was using an unsecure network. As I type this blog from a hotel room in Saskatchewan, I am hardwired, because the network is unsecure here as well. I'm taking no chances.

I want to thank all the concerned friends that called my from as far away as Columbus, Ohio to check that I was okay. Greatly appreciated.

On a positive note, I finished my Master of Science in Education degree with Wilkes University. That will always be a highlight, despite the hacking experience. Hopefully folks will be warned and take the necessary precautions to prevent this from happening to them. I thought I was cautious, but obviously not enough. I take comfort that I'm not the only computer guy, who has been hacked. If you want, take the time to read the blog (Gmail and Google Apps Account) from another individual who was hacked. He gives some great recommendations, which I've already began to implement.

On another positive note, I want to leave you with another powerful video by Ken Robinson at TedTalks. You may remember the talk he gave about Schools killing Creativity. This is a follow-up called "Bring on the Learning Revolution." Absolutely great!

Enjoy!

Digital Learners! Real Learning!

2010-05-17T19:55:00.010-06:00

This past week has been hectic with everything needing to get done at the office. But it's the evening class I'm teaching that is really making all the hustle and bustle worthwhile. As I am preparing the materials, I find myself scanning through oodles of videos that I can embed into my lesson. There is so much out there. I'm teaching a class called "Supporting Language Instruction" for Teacher (Education) Assistants. The students are getting a lot of technology thrown at them, but they are getting it. Some will say at the beginning, "I don't get it." But I work with them on Elluminate Live, either by desktop sharing, or application sharing, and it is so cool seeing people succeed in using the technology and learning.

We've incorporated using a Wikispace as a place for the students to create a page of resources for themselves to use later and share with other para-professionals. I really hope that the wiki can be a site where it can remain evergreen and current for each other. But it can be a challenge for learners (adult), who have used very little technology to learn about create links, or embedding favourite videos from TedTalk or TeacherTube.

Here's a sample of video that I watched this week from TedTalk that I really liked. I liked it so much that I sent out a mass email (which I rarely do) to teachers all across Saskatchewan about the need for math curriculums needing a makeover. In Saskatchewan, the trend is to move towards making math more of a real life experience, rather than the prescriptive, problem-solving, formula driven math of the past.

This young teacher really captures the reality that math needs to become more real for students. Part of making it more real, is using technology to enhance the experience for students. I was challenged by this video, because it stressed how we have busied ourselves with trying to bring students from point A to point B. This is not only for math, but many subject areas. We've taught know the facts, but missed the boat by not stressing the point of experiencing the facts. As I write this, I'm reminded of Bloom's revised taxonomy, which shifts away from the knowledge focus to the understanding all the way to the creating emphasis.

This blog was abruptly interrupted due to some technological issues with Firefox. Funny how, I'm trying to promote the use of technology and sometimes the technology doesn't support me with my claims. :) For whatever reason, javascript won't work with certain applets in Firefox 3.6.3 and Windows 7. Thinking of making the switch to Google Chrome. So back to the technical issues, I couldn't embed the taxonomy image into the blog, because the insert image applet wouldn't work on my home laptop, so I'm finishing this off at the office. What's the lesson here? Well, this is real life. Sometimes things don't work right with technology, but we don't abandon it. We find ways to make it work for us. Unfortunately, our students encounter huge technical issues in their remote communities. Last night for example, two students experienced a thunderstorm that caused them to get booted from their live classroom because Internet kept fluctuating. Frustrating for them, but they didn't give up. We worked through it and learned lots in the process. That being said, I leave you with another little gem for a video that promotes the use of digital learning.

Well, that's my thoughts and ramblings for this week.

Searching and Sharing Made Interesting and Easy

2010-03-23T11:40:00.015-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, I was introduced to a couple of great Web 2.0 tools that I think would be great in a classroom and might make a teacher's life a little easier and maybe a student's interest level increase.

I don't know about you, but I'm always looking for search engines that make web searching a little more interesting than text based links. But I'm also looking for time savers when it comes to finding web pages. I really like this new tool called SpaceTime 3D. Those of you who have used Cooliris will know what I am talking about. Cooliris gives you the ability to search for photos from either Google images or Yahoo images galleries and present them in 3D format. You can move your mouse over the photos and scroll through a list with one click, rather than having to go each page and view an image individually. It's a great add-on in Firefox and a great resource for searching images fast and easy, but I digress.

I did a quick search for Credenda Virtual in the SpaceTime and this is what came up for an image. What this search engine does is loads a number of pages in sequence that the searcher can scroll through without having to go to each page individually.

To get a larger view, just click on the above image. But this hopefully gives you an idea of the potential of a tool like this. Now a drawback might be bandwidth issues. Because it pre-loads the web pages in the background it does use up more bandwidth.

Another feature SpaceTime 3D offers is a separate browser that can be downloaded and used outside of Firefox, IE, or Safari. With this browser, you can save your searches and go back and forth between stacked search windows.

I see how youth are attracted to images and I think that this search engine may increase the levels of engagement for students. For myself, I really get tired of browsing through pages of searches to find what I am looking for. I've used add-on tools like SearchPreview in Firefox, because I want to see a snapshot of what the search list has found so I don't have to visit one page at a time and which can be a huge time-waster. So this is one tool that was shared with me recently, that I thought be of some value in our classroom.

The other Web 2.0 tool is LiveBinder. Wow. What a great tool! I recently completed a digital portfolio for myself and this tool really impressed me and worked well at placing all my webpages, videos, and resources that I have created in Wikispaces, Ning, LinkedIn in one hosted environment. Imagine a tool that will allow your students to work in groups and create different media resources that they can place in one location and share with other group members or with the teacher.

Some of the features include:

View URL links within a binder page
Upload Word docs, or PDF's that are embedded in the a page
Create tabs and subtabs for organizing information
Upload media: Quicktime, SWF, and more into a page
Use it for classroom presentations
Build a library of resources for students to access
Create group projects to share with other group members

Here's a quick overview of LiveBinders for Teachers.

Once you've created your LiveBinder, you can share it our by email, Twitter, Facebook, or embed it like I'm doing here. Check it out.

My Digital Portfolio

Pretty cool, Eh? Can you tell I'm Canadian? Hope you enjoy this quick tour in my LiveBinder. It's just a smattering of some of the work I have done in the past year, and work I continue to do. Check it out.

Social Networks - Friends or Not?

2010-03-18T14:43:00.010-06:00

I deactivated my Facebook account about eight weeks ago, and I don't miss it. Really, at first I was checking it every spare hour I had, but I got to the place that I really started to dislike it. A lot of it centred around privacy issues for me. I'm sure we have all heard stories of people losing their jobs because of pictures being posted or comments being made that were inappropriate. While I was not worried about anything being posted without my permission or that might be compromising, because my life is pretty quiet (almost boring), I disliked having to read other people's news feeds that was full of swearing or silly comments.

Initially when the fad started I added everybody I knew. People I hadn't seen or heard from for years were adding me. I never talked to them even after they became my Facebook friends, but they were on list. That's all that matter. But eventually I started filtering out people I didn't want on my friends list. Apparently deleting them from your list is called a Facebook slam. However, the intention was not to slam anybody, but just bring my list down to a realistic number of people I wanted as friends.

But even after that people were tagging photos they posted of me and writing silly comments that I got tired of. So I made the plunge to deactivate the account to see how I might survive without it. I have done very well without it. I really don't miss it all.

I have concerns about how young people are using it today. I realize that it is pretty hard to ban the use of Facebook in schools when almost every student is carrying a cellphone that they can use to access Facebook. But I find it a huge time waster. I have seen young people sit in front of the computer screen going through photos after photos, writing comments, chatting online for hours. It clearly has become a major social network for students to use to communicate with one another. But clearly, they need to learn about how much information to post about themselves and how they need to interact with one another. Just like we used to spend time teaching our own children and our students about how to speak to one another politely and courteously, we need to teach our students about social networking etiquette. Here's a couple of links about determining how to use a social network like Facebook; Social Networking Etiquette or The Ultimate Social Media Etiquette.

Recently, I had a conversation with a number of educators about whether or not they added their students to their Facebook friends list. The overwhelming consensus was "absolutely no way!" And I agree.

Call me old fashion, but let's put this into context. Remember the time before computers and MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter, did we engage in social activities with our students? Did we go to the weekend party they were at and hang out with them? We didn't have email, or SMS, or Facebook, but did we send them Valentine cards in the mail, or write personal letters to them telling them about what we were doing in our lives, or share our photo albums with them. We didn't do any of that stuff, because it would have seemed weird and inappropriate.

So my question is how does the new trend of social networks and technology make it acceptable. I know teachers who have students as their friends in Facebook and use it to post assignments. But in a case like this, I would want a separate account that was just a teacher profile. But most students don't take the time to create two profiles, and I'm not sure I want to see all the stuff they put on their profiles. I think that is the parents job to see what their children are doing online.

While the majority of teachers are trustworthy, I think friending students on Facebook is risky and weird. I wouldn't recommend it. While I don't want to sound paranoid, I do think there is potential for both teachers or students to get into trouble by what gets posted. Everybody, who is friends with that person, sees what is said about them, to them.

Reputations are on the line. Kids innocence needs to be protected. I wouldn't do it. There are other resources like Ning, EduBlog, Wikispace to use with students.

However, I was introduced by Greg Limperis, founder of the Technology Integration in Education to LinkedIn. This site is makes it's distinction from Facebook by being a professional network. It's a place to collaborate with people in the same line of work or share similar interests with one another. I certainly haven't figured out all the ins and outs about it's advantages and disadvantages. But my first impression is that it's not in the same category as Facebook. So I'm going to try it for awhile.

I hope to add to some of the educational discussions that come up in this network. I'm really not interested in sharing with the world what I'm eating today, or what I'm watching on TV this very moment, but I am interested in participating in dialogues about how do we improve learning standards in our classrooms, or how to integrate 21st Century technology with our learning outcomes. These are the things that excite me. That being said, I really enjoyed this video called, Learning to Change - Changing to Learn. I hope you like it too. I think is has some important things to say to us as educators, parents, and students.

Can we motivate students? Or do they have to be self-motivated?

2010-02-01T20:36:00.006-06:00

We’ve all had those students in our classroom that we just couldn’t get motivated for all the effort we tried. Whether it was using a rewards system with lots of extrinsic motivation, short of literally going and picking the student up from home and bringing them to school, it seemed like everything we did failed to produced long-term results. One school where I worked paid the students $25.00 per month for perfect attendance. The students clearly learned you go to school, no matter if you learn anything or not, you get paid. The reward system clearly didn’t work, and students were no more motivated by extrinsic means than they were when they began school. In fact, they may have been less motivated. So how do we tap into a students’ own intrinsic motivation? How do we kick start it if extrinsic motivation doesn’t work? This is where the constructivist in me shows itself. I believe that technology can and will aid in tapping into a students’ intrinsic motivation by engaging their creativity.

Recently, I had the good fortune of getting a pre-released copy of Daniel Pink’s new book, Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us, which is coming out in January. Although this book was written for corporate America in mind, there are some tremendous applications for students and teachers. But the research is really solid and supports my premise that extrinsic motivation does not work. Prior to reading this book, I could tell you qualitatively from my experience that motivation is something that a person possesses for them self. I cannot force a student to be motivated to do something. Motivation seems to have to come from a person’s own volition. If I force a person to do something, it’s not their motivation that is responding. It may be fear or compliance, but the moment I withdraw the external pressure, that person will in all probability cease to do what they were doing. The same goes for using rewards on students. The reward becomes a form of bribery that replaces the intrinsic motivation of doing a task for the sake of the task itself or from the mere pleasure from accomplishing the task. We’ve probably all heard the frustrated parent in the shopping centre telling the screaming child that if they stop crying they would get an ice cream later. It worked for the moment, but the child was no closer to not putting up a fuss in the future. In fact, they only came to expect something extra in subsequent outings. We see this example and say we would never do this, but whenever posed with the similar situation or a classroom with students crawling up the walls, we are tempted to try these tactics, because they produce short-term results. But this does not mean we have tapped into the intrinsic motivation of the student and helped them on the road to learning.

Schools and the corporate world has been dangling carrots and sticks in front of students and workers for years with the hope that it would “improve performance, increase productivity, and encourage excellence” by rewarding the good and punishing the bad (Pink, 2009, p. 17). Despite the evidence that in most cases it doesn’t produce lasting, real results, our schools keep doing it right along with the corporate world. No Child Left Behind is perfect example of placing huge pressure on schools to produce results through strict compliance to standards for accountability purposes, yet our student results show little or no evidence of improvement, because we have not tapped into the intrinsic motivation of the child.

Pink shares some fascinating research in 1969 where individuals were placed into two groups: one group received a reward, the other received no reward. Each group was given puzzle pieces and asked to construct according to the drawings provided showing three configurations. The group that received the reward was told they would be paid for each successful puzzle, while the other group was simply asked to construct the puzzles. Both were given a time limit of eight minutes. The researchers were testing the hypothesis; Give me a reward, and I’ll work harder. What surprised them was that over a period of time, the group that received the payment actually took longer to perform the task than the group that received no payment. The researchers were surprised to learn that the reward actually had a negative impact on the subjects. What it did tell them was the individuals who received no payment drew from a greater sense of innate creativity and drive for facing and exploring a challenge (Pink, 2009, pp. 5-8). Further research has since been done with different variations with similar results. When people are rewarded for their performance, they are less creative and even more stressed to accomplish the task. Even more importantly, when the rewards are taken away, an apathy set in where the individuals had little or no motivation to do the work or task given. Pink goes on to say that after 128 experiments in 1999, the conclusion was that “tangible rewards tend to have a substantially negative effect on intrinsic motivation (2009, p.35).” Furthermore, when the “focus is short-term and opts for controlling people’s behaviour, (2009, p.35) there is long-term damage.

What does this mean for students and schools? We need to be careful not to use extrinsic motivation in drawing out our students to learn. In fact, research seems to show us that we need to really tap into our students intrinsic motivation, which according to Pink is “the drive to do something because it is interesting, challenging, and absorbing, which is essential for high levels of creativity (2009, P. 43).” Our students need to be challenged, but not necessarily from a perspective that they comply by doing a prescribed task that we have given them. Instead, we need to engage our students in the learning process by getting them to exercise their creativity. Often times, this means that it is less teacher directed, and more student initiated or determined. Self-determination theory (SDT) suggests that intrinsic motivation loves to learn and know, and accomplish things, and experience stimulation that produces mastery in particular subject areas (Peterson & Seligman, 2004, pp. 165-166). Further to this, Pink says that “human beings have an innate drive to be autonomous, self-determined, and connected to each other. And when this drive is liberated, people achieve more and live richer lives (2009, p. 67).” From a constructivist perspective that embraces SDT, we need to be conscientious and aware that students, deep inside their brain and under what may appear as apathy, is a love for learning, but it needs to be fostered and encourage in the right environment. As teachers, we need to create a safe place to learn that promotes the positive.

Students have been confined to performing limiting tasks in schools that restrict their creativity. For years, they have been assigned the standard paragraph or essay writing exercise that when given the choice to do something different, they often resort back to what they are familiar with and find less risky. This needs to change for our students. If we are going to see our students intrinsically motivated about learning and better prepared for the workplace, we need to let them express themselves creatively. They need to be able to do so with some freedom. Times are changing. The workplace is demanding that individuals be able to think more creatively. Pink states that during the 20^th Century, most work was algorithmic, which was very organized, prescribed, and layered in what was to be done. This approach is very much dependent on extrinsic motivation. However, in the 21^st Century, more workplaces are encouraging a heuristic focus that allows for more freedom and interpretation and does not respond very well to extrinsic motivation (2009, pp. 25-26). Think about the implications for our students. We need to do less algorithmic work with them such as memorization and following a textbook and allow more interpretation and self discovery from our students.

This is where the technology comes into play. Think of the potential for students when given choice to create freely as an expression of themselves, how liberating and self-motivating this can be. Imagine with me the potential of connecting with a student on a level of engagement that has brain synapses firing wildly because of the learning and stimulation that is taking place. Sadly, most classrooms do not connect on this level, but they really need to for the sake of the students. There are a number of ways that this can be accomplished. Let us take a standard piece of literature for example, Hamlet. A typical approach to this Shakespearean play is to read the individual acts and complete review questions. Sometimes there is some class discussion about themes and the language used. An essay is assigned to discuss the role of the protagonist and antagonist in the play. At the end, everyone sits in their seats watching the Mel Gibson version of Hamlet on DVD. Students fumble through the play wondering how this is going to help them be better prepared for post-secondary education or the workplace. Yet, the play is rich in themes that relate to everyday life, but rarely do we see the creative expressions of students touch on these themes. Instead of giving students the prescribed lists of questions, we need to give students choices using technology to express themselves. Maybe one of the choices is to create a short digital video using Lego to re-enact a key scene. This is no small feat reconstructing a scene with Lego, but it comes with a challenge. For example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-HW8xk0N3g Maybe it’s not Lego, but modeling clay, or sticks, or digitally created figurines. Even this needs to be a choice for the students. The teacher may need to brainstorm with the students about ideas. Maybe they use PhotoStory made up with still shots that are put together. Students could use Animoto to make a music video version of a scene like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_xPPrTkV30 . Once the students have finished their project, they can post them on a Wikispace and review each other’s digital short movies like this site, http://hamletremixed.wikispaces.com/ . The main purpose of this is not to create a fun assignment, but something challenging, rewarding, and fulfilling. The students need to think about what they are contributing to the world at large with a project such as theirs. How are they helping others? What can they share in their creative product that teaches others about themselves? There needs to be meaning attached to what the students do that adds to the creativity.

Technology is simply the tool that facilitates and broadens the students understanding and learning and self-expression. As educators, we need to embrace technology. The opportunities are limitless for students with technology. It gives them the opportunity to connect with other students around the world and collaborate on projects using Ning or some other Web 2.0 tool. Pink in quoting Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi, says, “creativity generally involves crossing the boundaries of domains (2006, p. 135).” Using technology in the classroom can definitely be a matter of crossing domains. Moving out of the traditional modality of using pen and paper to embracing technology in teaching can be a challenge. Often we used paper, such as worksheets, as a means of classroom control. Using technology to have the students write their papers on Microsoft Word just to replace paper isn’t necessarily crossing domains or being creative. We’re talking about really letting ourselves as teachers explore technology as a creative exercise for ourselves first, so that we can help the students get there. There’s no sense trying to lead students in using technology to tap into their intrinsic motivation, if we as educators are not prepared to go there. If we want students to engage in learning, then we as educators need to engage as well. Engagement leads to mastery, which is self-satisfying. This is what Csikszentmihalyi calls, ““autotelic experiences”, where the goal is self-fulfilling, and the activity is its own reward (Pink, 2009, p. 104).” As educators, we need to really encourage our students in embracing the creative dimension of their being. But how can we do this, if we are not prepared to embrace it for ourselves.

As much as technology can be a hurdle for everyone, we need to come up with fewer excuses and take on the challenge. Technology can allow students creativity to flow that further motivates them to pursue new challenges. The possibilities are limitless.

References:

Peterson, C, & Seligman, M. (2004). Character Strengths & Virtues: A Handbook and Classification. New York: Oxford University Press.

Pink, Daniel. (2006). A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers will Rule the Future. Riverhead Books. New York, New York.

Pink, Daniel. (2009). Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us. Riverhead Books. New York, New York.

Nelso2004. (2008, January 13) Lego Hamlet. Retrieved December 4, 2009 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-HW8xk0N3g

Pray4peace4ever. (2009, November, 08) William Shakespeare: Animoto Video. Retrieved December 4, 2009 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_xPPrTkV30

Credenda's Response to Haiti

2010-01-18T09:09:00.010-06:00

It has been at least a month since I submitted a blog entry and it's time to do it. Especially in light of what has recently happened in Haiti. I don't know about you, but I watch the news with horror. I can't imagine the terror people felt watching their worlds come crashing down around them. Children left without parents. Schools and hospitals destroyed. The pictures over the news show tremendous devastation.

Many of us enjoy the luxuries of life in Canada. We have shelter and food. When the H1N1 virus hit, the government made the vaccine available to every citizen that wanted it. Granted there were some glitches, but in the end, we didn't end up on the streets sleep with the dead. I'm not trying to be morbid, but we need to be aware and face some of these harsh realities. But facing them is not enough if we are not moved to action.

As a virtual school and college, we want to do something. We talk about character with our students all the time. It's time to do something. The Canadian government has agreed to match dollar for dollar to the money that is donated to the Haiti Relief, if donated between January 12 and February 12, 2010. That has spurred us to do something similar with our students. We want to encourage our eStudents and faculty from both the high school and college to consider donating money to provide some relief to Haiti. We've agreed to match whatever our eStudents or faculty give from Credenda as well. So not only will a Credenda staff or student's financial donation be double by the federal government, Credenda will match it as well.

We are researching the best way to collect the funds from the staff and students. Some suggestions have been made about using PayPal, but more details will come out as we find out the best way to do this. There are a few sites I want you to check out that provide stories of hope.

The first site is a blog from Tom Vanderwell, at the orphanage called God's Littlest Angels. Tom is keeping the information current each day as new information comes out. I heard recently, that there are over 50,000 orphans in Haiti. Since this earthquake we don't know the numbers of orphans there are now. Some governments are considering passing bills that would allow for adoptions to be fast tracked.

Another site that is keeping the world informed and collecting money for Haiti is World Vision. World Vision has been around for a long time and has a great reputation for being accountable. We've worked with them in the past, and we will work with them during this crisis. We want to think of ways that we can do something to address the educational needs of the children. Since we are a virtual school, is there something we can do to assist in the delivery of education to children without schools. if you have any ideas, let us know. We are open to all kinds of suggestions.

Here's a video to watch:

We need to do something. Now is the time to act. Remember our motto this year is "Be the change you want to see."

Memory Techniques Assisted by Web 2.0 Tools

2009-11-26T21:05:00.002-06:00

I don't know about the rest of you, but my memory is going, not coming. There are a number of factors that I believe are contributing to this. I think first and foremost, fatigue is making it harder to remember things. Yes, I know I should slow things down, but it's pretty hard to do, when you have so much that has to be done. Besides, I'm also doing it to myself to some degree, because I signed up for two courses this time. I wanted to get done sooner and didn't think it would be much extra work. Well, I was wrong. My evenings and weekends are spent working on coursework and as a result my memory is going. Now I don't know if this scientifically proven despite all the research, but experientially, I can attest to forgetting things because I am just so tired. Now I say this not for sympathy, but because I wonder how this translates to our students.

I remember so many of my students coming to class and falling asleep, because they had been up all night watching TV or playing video games. Some of them were so involved in sports that they had little time to breathe between doing homework, going to practices, and traveling and playing games. As a result, when the students came to class exhausted from a lack of sleep, it is little wonder why they did so poorly in class. I believe their lack of sleep led to poor memory which resulted in low grades. That being said, this week's review of a few short term memory aids was interesting, and maybe even helpful.

1) Chunking

I know chunking works, because I've used it before. It's not a new thing, because I used it back in the early 80's. It 's the strategy of grouping numbers or words that we want to remember. For example, if I want to remember a Christmas wish list, then I can create a word from the first letter of each item in my wish list, or I can break numbers up into workable groups. In Canada, we have 9 digit social insurance numbers that are broken up into 3 groups of 3 so that we can remember them more easily. That's a technique of chunking. Do students find this useful? Absolutely! I sure did when I was in university trying to remember all the historical events and dates. I found it really worked.

2) Linking system for encoding memory

I was particularly fascinated by this experiment. Think about the potential for students to link words or terminologies in science with a related location and be able to recall these for testing purposes. One tool that could help people link with images could be Glogster. This would help people connect the words with images not only in the mind, but visually as an aid. I found a Web 2.0 tool called Knowtes, http://www.knowtes.com/ . Unfortunately, it's by invitation only for now. But it uses a flashcard system to remember information by associating with images.

3) Mind Mapping

This technique is unique by suggesting only using one word on each branch, as well as having the line only as long as the word. I can see how having the branch as long as the word keeps it from losing its focus. Mind42, http://www.mind42.com is a tool that demonstrates this strategy with the aid of pictures and colours. It's in beta right now. Another Web 2.0 tool that uses a visual tree as part of the mind mapping is Exploratree, http://www.exploratree.org.uk/.

After all is said and done, I need to get some sleep, and start trying out some of these memory techniques for myself. Here's hoping.

Can We Help a Student Want to Learn?

2009-11-08T20:36:00.003-06:00

This is something I have been pondering for some years. I remember having a conversation with Linda Kavelin-Popov, founder of Virtues Project International, a few years back. We were talking about motivation, and she said, "We cannot motivate people to do the right thing; we can only inspire them to do the right thing." Now I realize that sounds somewhat "airy ferry" or new age, but it's changed how I look at what I can do with students rightly or wrongly. Sergiovanni (2005: 10-11) says that we need to move away from the theory that what gets done gets rewarded (extrinsic motivation) to a better strategy, of what is rewarding gets done even if no one is looking (intrinsic motivation). I now look at my role as a teacher and administrator as one that needs to inspire learning by living out my passion for lifelong learning. I'm one of those guys who believes that I need to encourage the growth and development of natural virtue, or character strengths according to Seligman & Peterson, in students (2004) that becomes the driving force of what they do and how they live.

It's been awhile since I have been active in the classroom, but I hear teachers often say that students seem so apathetic and uninterested in learning or life for that matter. Motivating a child with extrinsic rewards, as Dan Pink states in his TedTalk (2009) presentation, often has a negative and opposite result. I tend to agree with Pink.

Motivation becomes almost like a pull or push action, especially if we are dangling the candy in front of the student as if we are trying to bribe them to follow. Pretty soon the candy loses its appeal and we're looking for bigger candy to lure the student into learning. We've seen this for years in the classrooms with reward systems. I must confess, in my early years of teaching, I bought into the rewards thing. I bought this treasure box and it was filled with coins and tokens. Every time a student did something right or worked hard I gave them a token or coin. At the end of the month, they could turn in their coins and purchases prizes like pencils, books, stickers, and more. But that lasted six months and the students were bored with it. Meanwhile, I was exhausted from trying to administer it. In the end, I realized that the students were not learning or behaving because it was a good thing or for its intrinsic value or merit, but because I was bribing them.

This is why I lean more to the inspiration model. Motivation, even intrinsic, has to have a cause. At the root of intrinsic motivation is a value system that is based upon natural virtue and character strengths. If I am in a dangerous situation, I am motivated to flee to safety because of the value I place on my life, because I care (virtue) about me. When I sit in class and apply myself or am intrinsically motivated to learn, it is because I value learning and knowledge, because I am a person striving for excellence (virtue) in my life. Motivation is the action and relies on a cause. Motivation sometimes is short lived though. How many times have we heard a stirring speech or speaker, and people say, "Wow! That was motivating." But they go back to the normal lives and nothing changes permanently, it may for a short while. That's because at the core nothing changed.

As an educator, I can affirm a student in their character strengths so they flourish and grow more love, joy, kindness, understanding, care, determination, responsibility, courage, excellence, assertiveness, trust, and more virtues. When a student’s feels good about themselves as a person, and believes that they possess these qualities even in a small way, they live out these qualities. Instead of being pushed or pulled into learning, I inspire them to be what they can be with my words of affirmation and encouragement. My warm friendly interactions create a safe and caring learning environment where they can feel motivated to learn. Yet after all this, I understand that students (Arthur: 29) may possess the same virtues as each other, but their motivation may vary in strength or output because of their will.

All I can do is try to help a student want to learn. I can encourage. I can be an example. But in the end, the student must want to learn for themselves. I can only hope I have encouraged them so they want to learn. This is why this subject is no simple matter and will be debated for a long time. But they are my thoughts and observations.

Sergiovanni, T.J. (2005). Strengthening the heartbeat: leading and learning together in schools. San Fransico: Jossey-Bass.

Seligman, M. E. P., & Peterson, C. (2004). Character strengths and virtues. Oxford University Press, USA.

TedTalk. (Producer). (2009). Dan pink on the surprising science of motivation [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.html

Arthur, J. (2003). Education with character: the moral economy od schooling. New York: RoutledgeFalmer.

Adam

2009-11-02T22:16:00.001-06:00

The Role of Technology, Emotion, and Social Interaction in Learning

2009-11-02T22:13:00.005-06:00

This past week, I’ve learned a lot about the importance of emotion, language, and humour in learning. In addition to reading Daniel Pink’s book, A Whole New Mind, I watched a great video by Patricia Kuhl about the importance of early childhood learning in a child’s language development.

I was so impressed by the research that is being done with infants that shows the importance of socially interacting with an infant between 8-10 months old and using lots of language filled with emotion. What was also intriguing was that plain audio or TV did not produce any noticeable improvements in a child’s language development when a child listened or viewed it. That made me think about how many times we put TV shows on in our daycares thinking the exposure may give children an advantage. But what that research tells us is there is no substitute for human interaction between an adult and child. An emotionless TV or audio player cannot replace human interaction.

We are emotional beings that are dependent upon other human beings for growth and development. I was having this conversation with a colleague recently where we mused about what happens to children that are deprived of love and affection during these formative years. This research only scratches the surface about the importance of emotional stimuli in the development of language. But what happens to learning when children are abused or neglected? Do we understand the huge negative impact to learning or brain development in these cases? We have done a great deal to warn of the effects of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), but what happens to the brain during early childhood development when they receive little or no affection or lacking feeling the security of a loving home. I have seen children passed from parent to grandparent to aunt to cousin. And we wonder why this child isn’t doing well in school. I’ve seen the negative effects on these students and chalked it up to their social environment, but maybe there is more to it than the living conditions or home life. Maybe something never developed properly for these students during those all important years.

Now I said earlier that research shows virtually no noticeable difference in language development when a child watches TV or listens to audio. This does not mean that technology has no use or purpose in learning. What it does mean is that we need to be more creative in how we use it so that we can effectively transmit human emotion and social interaction. When I go use a tool like ElluminateLive, I still feel the emotion of another person communicating with me with live audio. When I use a webcam on Skype, I can see the facial expressions that accompany a person’s voice or words spoken. So technology can effectively assist in the role of learning, particularly because we can use storytelling that is packed full of emotion and connects another person’s experience with my life. A great example of this was when I viewed a Voicethread of a colleague and friend, Rod Murray about a former student of his, Adam. I’ve added a link to this Voicethread, because it’s a wonderful story and serves as a great example of how storytelling filled with emotion taught me something new about autism and friendship and I learned from the use of this technology.

So emotion and social interaction do serve a purpose in human learning, but so does technology. We just have to be more creatively.

Wordle, Voki, Etherpad, and other normal labels!

2009-10-23T20:46:00.018-06:00

This week I had some fun working with a few Web 2.0 tools that I think have real value in the classroom especially when it comes to expressing creativity. In light of all the talk about our society placing such great value on left brain or L-Directed Thinking, we need some outlets in our classrooms that encourage students to think from the right hemisphere that explores the arts, language, individuality, colour, and design. Technology has made it possible for students to express themselves in ways I would never have imagined possible when I was a student in elementary school. Our world has come a long ways from slate boards and Crayons.

The first tool I tried out was Wordle. What a fun tool! I love language and words. Wordle is a tool that generates “word clouds” from text that you provide. The collection of words are given greater prominence based upon the frequency of the text or words used. You can change the design by using different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. You can randomize the layout so hundreds of other designs are produced with the same highlighted words. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.Very cool. Let me demonstrate by grabbing the text from last week's blog. I used one word more frequently, so it is displayed more prominently. Can you tell which word I used? I will also display a couple of different random images of the same words.

These are just two examples of what Wordle can do. Imagine the fun students can have writing a topical paragraph and then copying and pasting the paragraph into Wordle and creating beautiful expressions of their writing. Then the student can share this Wordle with their peers and have then guess or decode the message found in the image.

The second tool was Voki. I've embedded a Voki, which is a blend of voice and avatar. This year, our theme for our students is "Be the change you want to see." This is a quote from Gandhi. So I found a Gandhi talking head and recorded a message for viewers, such as yourself. I tried to find an actual mp3 of Gandhi's voice saying these words, but was unsuccessful.

But you can upload mp3 files and the avatar will mouth the words for you. The beauty of a tool like this is how it gives students a voice when many lack the confidence to video themselves. Students can choose from a wide array of avatars, dress them up, add backgrounds, and more. Once again this Web 2.0 tool can be a way of students expressing themselves for presentations that the teacher plays on a digital projector for the class, or embed in a website or wikispace, or place in a PowerPoint presentation. There are so many options available with this little tool. Great way to encourage to students to speak out.

The final tool I was introduced this week was EtherPad. Most of us have used Google Docs and shared out files with peers or colleagues. But EtherPad gives you the opportunity to edit documents live in real-time with another colleague. When multiple people edit the same document simultaneously, any changes are instantly reflected on everyone's screen. This is a great way to collaborate on text documents, and extremely useful for meeting notes, drafting sessions, education, team programming, and more. Students can use this in global projects or collaborate with other schools in the same division, or across the globe. When a number of the staff were looking at this tool in a PD session we had today, many of the responses were, "Wow." This is a group of staff that have seen a lot of web resources since they teach online. When a tool like EtherPad gets "wows" it must be pretty impressive. The only drawback is that there is cost associated with it if you have more than three people wanting to edit at the same time. Despite this, I see a lot of uses for it. I just might have to be creative!

I've embedded a demo of EtherPad. Check it out!

Be the Change...

2009-10-15T21:05:00.008-06:00

Recently, a friend of mine, who just started blogging I might add, posted a poll asking readers if they thought that Manitoba is a welfare state. The results of his small but significant sample was that 93% of respondents agreed that Manitoba was a welfare state. Now I generally leave the controversial topics to my friend, but it left me asking the question, "What's wrong with our economic, political, social, or educational system that we are seeing a dependency on social assistance?" I remember back some years ago when my students turned 18 years old, they would leave school at 3:30 and immediately lined up at the band office to collect their cheque for $122.50 twice a month.

This week, I sat down with an Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) official, who explained the new Active Measures program targeting 15-30 year old First Nations youth living on-reserve. I didn't know this, but things have changed with regard to welfare. Once you turn 18 years old, you don't automatically qualify for Social Assistance (SA). You have to sit down with the SA worker and develop a plan that includes, finishing your education and getting training. There has to be a plan for getting the 18 yr old or older off SA and entering the workforce. So things are changing, and this is a good thing for our youth. They need to stay in school and finish their education. They need to have a plan for their life and what they want to do, or what career they want to enter. It is time for our First Nations youth to be as Gandhi said, "Be the change you want to see in the world." Yes, we have had it rough sometimes in the past living on the Rez. I've been there and done that, too. But we can choose to live like there is no hope, and feeling stuck, or we can be the change we want to see. We want change on the Rez, then it can start with each one of us living on the Rez. We want to see businesses develop and employment opportunities, then we need to be the change and make it happen. It is time for change.

I watched this video from Tedtalk yesterday about a young name in Malawi, who grew up on a poor farm. He dropped out of school to help his father farm, but then a famine hit, and they had nothing. No SA from the government. No outside aid from relief agencies. So one day he went to the village library and read a Physics book about how to create a windmill for pumping water and creating electricity. It's an amazing story of innovation and hope. It's about a young man, who decided to be the change and make a difference. Great story! William Kamkwamba: How I harnessed the wind

I realize that not everyone is as creative as William, but I believe that all of our eStudents Credenda have potential to express creativity in a variety of ways and better their lives with education. We just celebrated Thanksgiving in Canada, and yet what did we give thanks for? We could live in Malawi, or another third world country racked with poverty, civil war, disease, and suffering. But many of us live in great wealth, and have to wear the latest LuluLemon outfit, or drive the fanciest car to be happy. And yet sadly, many times I find myself and others grumbling and complaining. I need to be the change as well. It's not just our kids; it's us as adults as well. I want to possess the drive like young William to bring change, positive change to my life and the lives of others. Together, we can do this. Are you in?

Playing Games is More Than Having Fun

2009-10-09T13:26:00.004-06:00

I know one of my kids favourite pastimes is playing board games or card games during the holidays, and especially "Stratego". That's usually the only time we can get together as a family. But do they love to play games. I guess my kids learned to love playing games from my mother. She is fierce competitor when it comes to games. Thankfully, I was able to tame any extreme "game playing" behaviours in my children, before they morphed into my mother. :) (She knows it, so I'm not telling any family secrets!) However, I truly acknowledge my mother's love for playing games in her senior years. Sadly, the older we get, I think we get crotchety and forget how to have fun and play. There is something appealing about a child's desire for play that I wish for myself. I'm not sure why I been so reflective in my blogs lately.

Dr. Stuart Brown makes some really good points at TedTalks about the importance of play being more than fun(you must know now how much I like TedTalks), so I've embedded the video here:

Back to the subject at hand; there is a place for play in the classroom. It is not to be confined to the playground, the monkey bars, the jungle gyms, or the lighter or easier subject areas either. I really believe that we need to develop youth as multifaceted, whole beings. As much as we develop their intellect, we need to balance it off with the laughter and fun. That's as much an intellectual pursuit as the more serious minded stuff of academia. Just like we balance between critical and creative thinking with application and doing, we need to introduce games and play to balance the serious quest for knowledge and understanding.

When I first started teaching, we played a lot of games in the classroom. I was a trained high school teacher completely out of his element teaching grade 2/3. It was my first teaching job, and I flew by the seat of my pants most of the time. My daybook was mostly filled with scribbles of what I changed on the fly, because what I had planned was often a complete failure. The students I inherited from the previous grade were left unable to read and write, because the teacher spent most of her time behind the desk doing beadwork. So I read, and read, and read to these students. I acted out scenes, changed my voice, entertained mostly! But the students had fun, and one by one, lights went on as they began to associate letters and groupings of letter with words and sounds. So much of this was accomplished with play. We made games of childrens books. We did the same with math, science, social studies, and health. Everything was an object lesson.

If I was to reflect back and think about what the students got out playing games, I would say it was these four things: connection, exploration, engagement, and application.

Connection: I found students connecting game activities with math concepts that we were covering. Connection is big in my books. That's when you see lights going on for students and you see that "I get it" look in their eyes. This is where the learning moved from the passive to the active.

Exploration: Students were able to explore math concepts we were learning in the classroom and see that they were not just numbers, fractions, or formulas, but they had real world relevance. They could explore how these concepts might be found in practical everyday life. It opened their minds to see beyond the pages.

Engagement: Some of the research I read about games suggest that games are a great motivator (Phelps, Egert, & Bayliss: 2009). Well, I come from a philosophical perspective that believes that motivation not only should be intrinsic, but is intrinsic and not extrinsic. While rewards and punishment have been considered extrinsic, the motivation is still internal within the individual, whether it is desire for reward, or fear of punishment. I believe I cannot motivate a child, I can inspire a child. I cannot make them want to do work or play a game. However, I digress! From my experience, I found that games not only help students explore concepts more fully, but gave them an place to engage on a level of desire and enjoyment. As a teacher, it was my role to inspire the students with wonder and fun by joining along with them in the games and not be a bystander.

Application: I also firmly believe that games encourage students to apply a number of skills to real life situations. It gets them trying things for themselves and learning from that experience, in addition to developing some very important teamwork and collaboration skills. Students learn to play and play fair. They learn to share. They learn how to be competitive, yet caring for the others playing. Research also shows this as well. (Vondracek & Pittman: 2002)

These are just a few of the ways, I found games worked in my classroom. Now my challenge is how to translate some of these traditional style game concepts into an online world, and not look cheesy, when students are so used to Wii, PlayStation 3, and more. Games have advanced tremendously from the Commodore 64 Paddle game. I'm not saying it can't be done, but I think the challenge is greater to connect and engage students with low budget games that can't compare to the multi-billion dollar gaming industry that produces such high quality graphical games. I guess that's our challenge.

The Importance and Value of Committed Staff!!!

2009-10-01T18:52:00.004-06:00

For the past four years, I have been slogging away at trying to get Credenda to a place where it could run without me. I mean this really. For the first four years, if I had walked away from it, it would have died. I'm not saying I was so central to Credenda's success. No rather, the challenge was we were so limited in resources and funding, we couldn’t afford additional help. We operated with a very small, but extremely dedicated staff that did their job plus two others at the same time.

But finally things have changes, and we have better funding in place, new staff, and great results. The team has gotten bigger and better. What an amazing group of staff we have this year. It is has been fantastic to sit back and watch this staff interact with each other. Just last Friday, we had an online PD session, and it was great. The ideas were flying around the virtual room, and the exchanges between staff were lighthearted, yet engaging. I came away from the session feeling tired from the level of discussion, but challenged intellectually. What a treat!

Tired is, unfortunately, something I feel a lot more of these days. It's been a long four and a half years from creating Credenda to today, where Credenda is thriving and bubbling with activity and hope. I just hope that I'm not too worn out to enjoy it. Hopefully, I can ride on the virtual coattails of our new staff's enthusiasm for awhile and catch my breath with a fresh new breeze of life and rejuvenation. Today, we have 28 staff working for Credenda, a huge increase from the 5 of us who started in 2005. Today, we have 268 eStudents in high school; 203 first time eStudents, and 65 returning eStudents. 168 of those new eStudents are First Nation from all across the province. We have 150 college eStudents as well. These are exciting numbers for us.

But it's the staff that make all of this work. Let me give you an example of just today how the staff make the difference, and why I believe we are as successful as we are today:

October 1, 2009: The principal - southern campus emailed me today suggesting we start a Credenda Leadership Camp that takes eStudents out of their home situations for a week during the summer. Great idea, and great commitment.

At the end of a long exhausting day, the principal - northern campus gets up from his laptop and says, “I just emailed all of the perfect attender students and thanked them for their commitment to coming to school.” Isn't that fantastic? How do you think those kids felt getting that email?

We've been working on developing on a new template for our course developers to use with clearly delineated themes and branding. Two of the course developers have spent countless, stressful hours working on this project outside of their already full duties. This afternoon, they presented this template to the other developers for them to use. Huge team effort!

At 7:40 AM, I received an email from our Science eTeacher sharing a PowerPoint presentation with me that an eStudent submitted. It was brilliant, and the new eTeacher was in awe! That felt good!

At 3:30 PM, I received a call from our Guidance Counselor, who drove four hours one way to visit and encourage 11 Leadership eStudents. That's real love and commitment for youth.

And you know what? That wasn't the half of what happened today. So much more went on and peoples lives were touched by caring and respectful staff. Do we have a great team? Absolutely! Credenda is way bigger than any one of us, because it's made up of all of us.

I am finally feeling like I am not shouldering this challenge alone. The team has gotten bigger and they are rallying around each other, and it feels good. It really is great to have good staff!

TicTacToe Boards: Never heard of them before!

2009-09-24T18:39:00.013-06:00

This past week I was introduced to TicTacToe Boards as a differentiated instructional strategy. It seems the idea originates with Grace Smith and Stephanie Throne, authors of Differentiating Instruction with Technology in K-5 Classrooms. I must admit at first glance, I was skeptical. I'm not a big fan of creating activities for students that categorize them into groups based on their intellectual abilities. I want students to be able to try different activities that enable them to understand the outcomes that the teacher is facilitating and leading the students towards no matter what their knowledge or abilities or skills are.

We have to be very careful of tiering or scaling what we teach to students because we don't think they are capable of doing the work. All students need to experience activities that facility their success in and out of the classroom. And as I have been stressing in these blogs, technology can be the great leveler!

So in a continued effort to develop a social responsibility course for Credenda, I decided to put together a TicTacToe Board for the course. But before I could do this, I needed to understand how Smith & Throne categorized learning into three intelligences; analytic, interactive, and introspective. These intelligences do not seem to be based on Bloom's Taxonomy or even Revised Taxonomy, but on three simple ways we see people think and learn.

The nine intelligences or SMART's are based however on Howard G ardners Multiple Intelligences. Under each category, the authors determined that we demonstrate intelligence by three different SMART expressions. Under the analytic category, we learn better with activities that center around patterns, logical or mathematical thinking called Logic Smart, or with musical expressions such as dance or singing, which is Music Smart, or with engaging in science experiments or observation, which is Nature Smart.

Under the interactive category, Smith & Throne suggest that we learn better with activities that involve movement or kinesthestic, which is called Body Smart, or understanding relationships and mood, which is the interpersonal expression called People Smart, or listening, reading, or verbal skills, which we call the Word Smart.

Finally, the last category is the introspective column that engages the student in asking questions around values and and philosophical questions, which we call the Wonder Smart, or the visual expression using lots of imagery, which we call the Picture Smart, or the person who connects with themselves and life on a intrapersonal level, which we call the Self Smart.

The way this activity or strategy works is each student is asked to complete three activities either horizontally or diagonally to complete a line that crosses over the three different intelligences. Teachers can modify the order of the Smart lists, which do not necessarily have to be placed in the top, middle, or bottom box, as they are not hierarchical orders of learning. Each student is asked to complete these activities that allows them to work within their interests and in ways that they feel most comfortable learning. In the end, my skepticism was replaced by enthusiasm. I think this is a great way to engage learning across a variety of intelligences and does not limit students from expanding their understanding of the outcomes.

If you wish to see a larger image of the document, please click the table below to zoom in and see the text better.

Revised Bloom's Taxonomy Integrated with Technology

2009-09-16T19:55:00.005-06:00

I've been messing around with a little Bloom's Taxonomy these past few weeks, and I've got to say, I like the new categories. While maybe not new, per say, they've been revised since I was in university over 20 years ago. I like the new Revised Bloom's because I think it reflects more accurately what we do with students in the classroom around learning.

The terms themselves are now constructed to reflect active verbs; something I hope we are doing with our students. We want our students remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. So I'm good with the new categories.

Now the challenge is to integrate technology into each of levels of thinking. I've come up with a table of links of Web 2.0 tools that a teacher may want to use with their students to extending the thinking levels with technology. Hopefully they are helpful.

Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy	Technology Tools	Use of Each Tool
Remembering	Factbook Beta	Listing the countries that fit the third world categories and struggle with poverty, health issues, low GDP, and more
	Ekoloko	Playing on online environmental game that helps eStudents identify global environmental issues.
	Tag Galaxy	Finding pictures on a range of topics using this tool with key word searches.
Understanding	Bubbl.us	Classifying and mapping out information gathered from searches on the Internet
	Slatebox	Explaining what students found by using this tool that mindmaps images by thinking in pictures
	EduBlog	Summarizing the information by paraphrasing and journaling using a blog.
Applying	Screencast O Matic	Sharing the information by making a video with this tool that others can view
	SumoPaint	Editing images found in previous searches for upcoming projects with this online paint tool
	Glogster	Uploading and sharing images, videos, audio files onto a Glogster poster that expresses ideas and information about the topic.
Analyzing	Survs	Surveying other students about their views and ideas around social responsibility issues with this simply but powerful tool
	Quibblo	Finding out about other students likes and dislikes using this online quiz builder and survey tool
	Creately	Diagramming and analyzing collaboratively about student ideas and understanding of social responsibility issues.
Evaluating	WetpaintWiki	Reviewing other students posts on the class wiki and commenting about ideas
	Ning	Networking and collaborating with other students about information and evaluating the strengths and weaknesses the postings possess in conveying an accurate message
	ResearchGate	Hypothesize and critique other student researchers’ findings or positions by collaboratively working together on solutions to address social issues.
Creating	UnLtdWorld	Construct a community with other like minded youth that want to change the world and network ideas with one another.
	Up2Maps	Create world maps with data and images and share them with others that illustrate visually a clear understanding of the topic
	Animoto	Directing the production of a video that is integrated with music and images that illustrate the topic and achieve a desired effect from the viewers.

By no means is this list exhaustive, because there are so many tools out there. If you have any thoughts or comments, please leave them for me to read. I would love to hear your feedback.

Having Technology Nurture Learning

2009-09-03T21:17:00.005-06:00

I‘ve read a lot of research lately about instructional strategies, best practices, and standards. While much of it is interesting and makes you think about how I taught (since I am out of the classroom now), or what I expect from my eTeachers at Credenda as an administrator, there’s a real risk of jumping on a bandwagon with one perspective and not remaining balanced in our approach to learning or learning theories.

Case in point, in Saskatchewan, we have what is called Common Essential Learnings (CEL’S). Great concept. It promotes the idea that teachers always incorporate one of the CEL’s, such as critical and creative thinking, or independent thinking, or technological literacy into the lesson or instruction. There are six of them. However, it’s really tempting to fall into the trap of inserting a CEL concept in the lesson for the sake of the administrator, who may come around and look at the day planner and ask what CEL’s are you using today in your lesson, but really you never really gave it much thought. Does it sound like I am speaking from experience as a teacher? Well, I am.

This is the challenge I have with the 9 Instructional Strategies as presented by Marzano. Once again, it’s a great concept, but there is a risk of using the list to simply suggest that a particular strategy was used in teaching, and never really think about the reason it was implemented. I think that Marzano would agree with me that he wants the list to be guide and not a prescription of how to instruct. Why? Because the list is by no means exhaustive. There are other skill sets that are as equally important to be practiced or used in the classroom. For example, his research shows the instructional strategy of cooperative learning producing a 27% percentile gain, yet some students may respond better and produce higher results due to a particular learning style that fits them better.

Recently, a colleague shared with me that at the beginning of this school year they sat down as a department with the department chair and were told they needed to incorporate the instructional strategy “identifying similarities and differences” into each of the lessons, because as a strategy it produced the highest results in research with a 45% percentile gain. I was shocked to hear this, because I can’t imagine being a student sitting in the classroom having the same instructional strategy thrown at me every day. That is not differentiated instruction. That is one person jumping on the bandwagon and deciding it’s all about best results, not about the students and their needs.

So when it comes to using technology in the classroom to aid in implementing a variety of instructional strategies, it is really important to mix it up. Teachers need to put themselves in the shoes of their students and think about how they might feel sitting there. Just because they may have a preference in how to teach doesn’t mean that the students are learning. The same goes for technology; just because a teacher is using technology doesn’t mean that students are learning either.

But I did find myself chewing over these few facts, this week, about using technology in the classroom from Smith & Throne (2007) as cited in the research from the Center of Applied Research in Educational Technology: Technology improves student performance when the application directly supports the curriculum objectives being assessed; provides opportunities for student collaboration; adjusts the students ability and prior experience, and provides feedback to the student and teacher about student performance or progress with the application; is integrated into the typical instructional day; provides opportunities for students to design and implement projects that extend the curriculum content being assessed by a particular standardized test; when used in an environment where teachers, the school community, and school and district administrators support the use of technology.

I agree that technology is a very good thing to use in the classroom. While it is very good and useful, I don’t want even our virtual high school to be exclusively about technology. In fact, I want it to be more about relationship building. The technology is the servant, the delivery agent; it never replaces the people.

Smith, G. & Throne, S. (2007). Differentiating instruction with technology in K-5 classrooms. Eugene:ISTE.

RSS? Oh! Really Simple Syndication

2009-07-30T18:38:00.013-06:00

I'm a relative newbie to RSS. I've got an understanding of how it works and the why's as well. I've looked at it before in the past, but wasn't really sure how I might use it, or even why. To be fair, that was a couple of years ago when I first looked at it, but it was mostly top news related stories then. I wasn't so sure how I would use it to scan through specific news topics and stories, or if I would want to for that matter. RSS (Really Simple Syndication) allows a person to subscribe to a news site or blog that feeds stories as they are posted, so you don't have to go to multiple sites to read them. Instead, you can go directly to your reader and get all the story headlines in one click. In theory, it sounds great. But you need to be fairly organized to enjoy this service. A person needs to determine beforehand the story topics they want to read.

So as an exercise to see about whether I see any merits in using this type of tool with students, I needed to see if I would use it myself. I was pleasantly surprised at how many education related feeds are out there. In no time, I set up 15 different feeds related to online education, educational strategies, web 2.0 tools and more. Immediately, I had 361 new stories for me to look through on Google Reader. Google Reader is the RSS feed reader that I use. There are lots of other readers out there. Firefox has added on tools that allow for reading in the browser, while Safari has a built in reader. There are other standalone readers that you can download and use. But it really comes down to preference. But back to Google Reader, when I opened it, I had multiple story headlines to go through. Each story is a headline with a synopsis of the full article. The results? I found some great stories, as I scanned through the stories. First of all, I added Tedtalk RSS feed. I love this site so much, that I have it linked to my Twitter as well, so any new video that is posted comes to my Smartphone via text with Twitter.

I added the eSchool RSS feed for top stories and conference news. There was a great video from the recent ISTE conference in Atlanta, Georgia by keynote speaker, Malcolm Gladwell. Very interesting! So I'm linking it here for you to see. It's worth watching.

At Alltop RSS, I learned that a new release of MindMap 1.3 is out now. That's a great web 2.0 tool for mindmapping with students. I wouldn't have known about the new release, if I hadn't added this site to my reader. But in a flash, I had it at my fingertips.

Also, this week I had a copy of the eLearners Survival Guide emailed to me by one of my eTeacher's. It's a free download, and this was also posted on my reader feeds from Workplace Learning Today. If you are an eLearner or working in this world, this is a 325 page manual that covers a lot of important information, and well worth downloading and reading. Susan Smith Nash put a lot of work into it, and should be given alot of credit for it.

That's just a few of the things I picked up in a few short minutes going through Google Reader. So do I think it's worthwhile as a tool to list resources and topics for students to access when doing research for projects? Absolutely.

Teachers just need to setup an account and add feeds for students to access. They don't have to spend a lot of time surfing the Internet and trying to find sites about information they are looking for assignments. Teachers can organize the feeds into topics, or different projects for the matter. The nice thing about the information, is that it is so current. Generally, the information is well sourced and researched as well. So overall, it's been a good week searching out RSS feeds. I've heard it said it can be addictive. Watch out, because I think I may be in trouble. ;)

Podcasting on the GCast

2009-07-28T18:25:00.008-06:00

First of all, I'm back from a 10 day mountain hiking experience in the Canadian Rockies. I went to Banff National Park, Kootenay National Park, Revelstoke National Park, Glacier National Park, Yoho National Park, and Jasper National Park. Absolutely amazing and breathtaking! This picture to the left is of a the Inkpots above Johnstone Canyon (a 6km hike up). It's a beautiful up there. I had no Internet for 10 days. Slept in a tent and saw three bears (each at different times) and survived. It is kind of weird coming back to technology and switching gears, but I must.

I spent a little time with GCast this week, and although I'm sure a lot of people use the free Web 2.0 service, I'm still trying to figure out how I would use it with students in a classroom situation. So many of our students need to feel entertained in order to keep their attention, so I'm not sure how GCast will do the job. If I was teaching English, or Communications, I might use it for students to do readings of poetry, short stories that they have written. Especially if students are reserved about speaking in public. I might use it for virtual public speaking or having students record skits or plays and creating radio dramas. One of the challenges I find is how to use it in the maths and some of the sciences.

I certainly don't want podcasts being used in the classroom because it's the newest and latest thing going. It has to have purpose. Besides, there are some challenges before you even get to using GCast. To GCasts credit, it is a very simple tool to use online. A person can have an account created and a podcast produced and published in 5 minutes. It's really that simple.

My challenge was using Audacity, since I'm not using a Mac with Garageband built into it. And from what I hear from friends with Macs, it's very easy to use. But this week, I sat down to create my mp3 file with Audacity, and it wasn't anything like Adobe Premiere, which I've used a great deal before. I was almost tempted to switch over half way through, but I decided to stick it out with Audacity. Because time was an issue, I wasn't able to figure out how to use some of the features that later on, when I went through a number of Youtube video tutorials, I learned about mixing and adding music to voice.

Here was my first kick at it. It's just me talking. And really, that's where I think unless the students know how to enhance the audio, it's going to come off very flat and stilted. It's really important that students don't just read a script without emotion. But a great rubric could be created for elements of voice control and delivery that would address some of these challenges.

For this GCast, I was talking about the history of the Water Quality Project from the wikispace site. Here's the enhanced podcast with music, after playing around with it on Audacity and adding some Freeplay music.

Subscribe Free
Add to my Page

Hope this makes sense.

Anyone for a Picnik?

2009-07-16T19:31:00.007-06:00

Had a chance to work with Picnik this week. I had a lot of fun with it. So I am going to review it this week and provide some feedback how I used it and the many uses it has for students in the classroom.

To the left, I took a few pictures today as I headed out on my big camping trip in the mountains. - Sure got to be thankful for free Internet outside hotel lobbies :) Silly me, I forget to change the settings on my camera. For those of you who know a little about cameras, I left the ISO at 1600 for indoor photos, instead of using a 200 setting for outdoor pictures. So the picture was completely overexposed as shown in the left.

So I logged on to my Picnik account and uploaded this picture. In a few minutes I began to work the contrasts and exposure and add a few simple effects to the picture. What an improvement! I was able to take a poor photo and turn it into a quaint little photo. I realize it's not perfect, but when I think about the potential for students to use it, I'm very impressed.

I've used expensive software, like Photoshop, but not everyone can afford to buy these kinds of software, especially schools that can barely equip their computer labs with P4 computers or better. Here's a great online Web 2.0 tool that students can access from their classrooms without having to install anything special on to the computer. Anybody and everyone can access this for themselves.

Students can edits photos with great ease. It didn't take much to use the tool. Changing the exposure, brightness, cropping, touch ups was very straight forward. Adding a few effects like a drop shadow, or a 1960's look, or changing a photo to look more vintage, or softening the photo was as easy as making one simple click, and it was changed. A person can add text, do touch ups that eliminate blemishes as quickly as they edited the photos.

I would encourage any student to use this tool just to learn about colour and presentations. As a student plays with some of the adjustments, they immediately see the effects of the changes. Quickly, students develop a sense of what makes a good photo, because they see the improvements before their eyes. I would want students to then use the photos to enhance their presentations, which I will talk about next week.

In closing, here's another picture I took today. The antelope was too far away to zoom in anymore. So I cropped and zoomed into the photo with Picnik; I think it turned out okay.

DIIGO (dee go) - Digest of Internet Information, Groups and Other stuff

2009-07-13T17:10:00.009-06:00

DIIGO - Digest of Internet Information, Groups and Other stuff. What a great service this group provides! Love what it does, how it works! Love it, Love it, Love it! Fantastic! I realize this sounds pretty biased, but what can I say.

I've been using Diigo for about six months, and it's one of my favorite Web 2.0 tools. I love to be organized, and this tool does it for me. I'm a bigtime user of browser. Prior to finding Diigo, I used and still to some extent use Xmarks. It allows me to synchronize my bookmarks between computers by creating an online account that stores my information and updates automatically when I bookmark a site. This is good, but still requires the user to have a high level of organization.

Generally, Diigo is classified as a social bookmarking tool, and I suppose it probably is used this way by tweenagers around the world sharing the latest bookmarks of the Jonas Brothers sites with their friends, but that is not how I use Diigo. It's certainly not a social bookmarking service, but instead a professional bookmarking service. I'm not sure I'm ready to share out my bookmarks to my friends for easy access to links to my online banking, or bookmarks to to my email logins. That's why I still use Xmarks. In fact, Xmarks has added an encrypted security feature that is very good at preventing people from using your computer to access your bookmarks. But for me, Diigo allows me to create categories of topics that I can share out among my staff and colleagues. I realize there are other sites like this out there like del.icio.us, or Reddit, or StumbleUpon. They all have their strengths, but I'm still partial to Diigo.

Here's a video overview worth watching.

After watching this video, it's not hard to see why educators love this tool. Here are a few ways to use it with students:

Create a group and have your students become members of a related specific topic or theme, where they will add bookmarks for others students and the teacher to view,
When the students add Diigo bookmarks, often a tag lists comes up with it already, so you don't have to add more, or you can list as it relates to the theme or topic they are working on,
A teacher can have the students highlight specific parts of a webpage that really stood out for them by right clicking and highlighting the text and then adding an annotation for others to view, (Students need to download and install the Diigo Toolbar for Firefox or Internet Explorer for this feature to work properly),
When a teacher wants to leave a note for students to read about a site when they get there, they can right click and leave a digital sticky note for students to read and add comments,
It's a great way to collaborate and share information between students and students, and students and teachers,
After the teacher and students have created a list of bookmarks about a topic, they can organize them, annotate them, tag them, and then share them in a webslide format. I did my first webslide this past week about Web 2.0 tools I particularly like and use, and added music to the slideshow by clicking on the customize feature. Here it is: Web 2.0 Webslide. This a great feature to publish your findings for others.

Here's a video that provides a demo and overview of a few elements of Diigo, particularly how a teacher might use it in giving feedback to students.

There are so many more things a teacher can do with this tool. I'm barely scratching the surface about its potential. Because I'm not in the classroom, I use Diigo mostly to share resources for professional development of teachers. But if I was in the classroom, I would use this tool all the time. Check it out, it really is a worthwhile Web 2.0 tool.

Twittering Thoughts

2009-07-07T12:25:00.012-06:00

I’ve been Twittering for a couple of months now. It's been a somewhat interesting experience. I think largely why the experience has not been as positive is because of the reasons behind why people use it. Is it an amazing tool? Absolutely, if you use it correctly. As you're reading this, I'm sure you want me to clarify what I mean. I recently viewed a video online with Liz Pullen, a sociologist, who has been researching Twitter to determine whether people are using it as a micro-blogging or information platform, or treating it like a social network. The creators of Twitter have recently spoken out that Twitter is an information platform and not a social network. Here's the video. It's worth watching.

The Sociology of Twitter, Video Interview with Liz Pullen from ReadWriteWeb on Vimeo.

I think this interview addresses the question that if clarified by the users can correct some of the challenges I have run into. First, I find people write the most bizaar things about themselves. One Twitter reads like this: 1) Just got up! 2) Going to shower now. 3) Ate breakfast, Not much to eat, Need to go shopping... and so on. Personally, I'm not interested in that much boring information, but these folks are treating it like Facebook, and are essentially updating their status every 15 minutes so their friends know their every move. Sometimes the information is way too personal as well. Twitter has recently turned off some search features because a person could search out information about a specific topic, you could find a list of entries from various users, and some of it not very carefully posted.

The second challenge I have is people saying they are following me that are, how should I say this tactfully, just looking to advertise their love interests. Basically, it's a spam feature. Some sites are generating inquiries and sending out requests to follow so that people will go to there porn sites or whatever. That being said, it creates great concern for having students, especially younger students sign up to use this service and have them being spammed by tasteless spammers.

However, before we throw out the tool completely, there may be ways to use it among peers for professional development purposes and to support pedagogy. I have had to place boundaries on what and why I use Twitter, or who I follow to get their messages. I do not use it provide useless personal information to professional colleagues and friends. I only use Twitter to post something I have learned about Web 2.0 tools I am using, or wanting to learn about, and how I would use these ideas in a classroom situation. Essentially, I developed a purpose for using it. I think Twitter can very useful in sharing ideas between teachers about particular topics. You get to post a question, and have your peers make comments that could be insightful to your question. For example, I was having trouble with understanding how to change a page in wikispace. I posted the question, and had a few responses from colleagues suggesting solutions within hours.

The other day, I announced that I finally figured out how to add Statcounter and Clustrmaps to my blog site. Now if any of my friends want to know how to do it, they can just contact me, and I can lead them through the process. In the end, they don't have to go searching all over the Internet to find solutions like I did, which takes a lot of time.

I was also interested in a recent article with the Wichita Eagle at College professors find Twitter a useful educational tool, that highlighted the uses for Twitter in a higher education setting, which I think has it's uses. Some students enter lecture highlights on the Twitter site with a laptop or use their Twitter cellphone feature for note-taking purposes. One student commented that by doing this, it helps him remember the lecture better, and besides, he can just print off the page later at home. Student can twitter discussions about topics among others doing group work to share ideas. Teachers can Twitter due dates and expectations for assignments. These ideas may work better for older students. It's pretty tough to think about how to use Twitter in grade two with great effectiveness.

Two other great sites that promote Twitter in teaching are: 25 ways to teach with Twitter and 100 Tips, Apps, and Resources for Teachers using Twitter.

Overall, Twitter has potential to be used by teachers and between teachers, and possibly older students, but everyone needs to remember it's a information platform, not a social network.

Key Elements for Effective Blogging

2009-07-07T12:24:00.025-06:00

I've read a lot of blogs this week. Some good, some bad. Some which haven't been updated for months and more, even years. As a result, I have a few ideas that might make your blog more effective for your targeted audience, especially if you are wanting to use it with students for educational purposes.

1. Define your purpose.

One thing that is common to most, if not all, is that the authors or writers have something to say. Contrary to the Seinfeld episode, "a show about nothing," bloggers have something generally they want to say, and sometimes abruptly stop because they have run out of things to say, or have moved on to the next fad, or are just too busy to keep it going. Sadly, that's what happened to me in during my first go-around with blogging about 2 years ago. I had great intentions, but I hadn't clearly defined my purpose of why I was blogging, it was something new, and I wanted to try it. I still have that blog, which I should really delete, because I never look at it. Instead, I keep this blog on 21st Century Learning going on a fairly regular basis, because I have set out for myself a clearly defined purpose about what I want to say or accomplish. This is largely in part due to my role as an administrator of a virtual high school, that it needs to be on the cutting edge of technology, not for the sake of using Web 2.0 tools just to say we are technologically advanced, but to engage with students about learning. So each week I try to pick a topic that I can write about and encourage my teaching staff about how to use the technology with greater results, or should I say more meaningful results from students. Too often I see technology used simply for the sake of using it because someone else is using it, and not really understanding how to enhance learning. but I'll save that for another blog. Back to the intend audience, little did I know that what I write is reaching a far greater audience than just my eTeachers.

2. Be aware of the potential of expanding your readership.

Recently, I added Statcounter and ClustrMaps to my blog. I did this because a colleague of mine, Sue Hellman, Small Changes, Big Return was telling me about how many people read her blog weekly, which set my mind spinning realizing I have no idea who visits and reads my blog other than I hope my eTeachers take the time to read it. So I set about a mission to figure out how to add a counter of some sort to the blog. I already had a Statcounter account, and realized I could add a javascript code from Statcounter to one of the Blogger gadgets and it records where people are coming from to read my blog. I was shocked, and pleased to say the least. I did the same with ClustrMaps, which is a cool application that shows the location of visitors from around the world, who are stopping by to read something I said. Honestly, I had no idea that this was happening. I did some shameless self promotion by pinging my blogging site so that Google ranked it higher in searches, but it worked. Now that I know I have people reading from all over, the pressure is on to put even more thought into what I say and even broaden the application of what I am saying to include more than just my eTeachers. But just learning these results of how many more people are reading my blog has really opened my eyes to the potential for students to use blogging as a tool to express themselves and give them a voice to be heard by other peers.

3. Embrace the language of blogging.

I think it is very important to know who your audience is. We tell our students, know your audience, who are you writing for, use appropriate language that will be understood by your audience. Why would it be any different with this medium? It isn't! I, by no means, am an expert on blogging, but I am a former English teacher, and I want writing to have feeling. Blogging doesn't have to be stiff, technical writing. It should express ideas that connect with people. So I try to write less formally and maybe a little more casually. I hope that it increases the readability, because I want it to come across more conversationally.

During this past week while reading a number of blogs, I found many that were simply records of weeks and weeks of tweets from Twitter. Brutal to read actually. I think I stayed on the site for 30 seconds and left. Another group of blogs were just delicio.us bookmarks, which honestly was interesting for the first few links, but became boring and cumbersome after awhile. Coming back to my initial point, blogs should say something of value. They should make important contributions to ideas on a wide range of topics, but still say something.

4. Encourage feedback or comments from readers.

In some respect blog writing is different than other writing, because it allows for people to provide instant feedback to what you say. The challenge is to get people to comment. Unfortunately, many people read your blog, but never leave any comments, unless you are terribly controversial and you really ticked them off. That shouldn't be the only way people are motivated to comment on your blog. I've seen a few blogs where they put a bold "Suggestions, Comments" at the end to encourage feedback. Overall, comments after a blog make it more meaningful to the writer and for other readers as well. For students, I think it is important that they are encouraged to provide feedback to one another. I would make that one of the requirements that they respond to one another blogs. Of course, I would want to make sure that each student has control over posting those comments before they are published on their blogsite.

5. Consider the length

Some blogs just go on and on and on... It's really critical to get to the point and say what you need to say and avoid rambling. It's a tough sell to get people to want to read something if it's too long. I don't know if it's just me, but it seems like my attention span is getting shorter and shorter. So if you don't grab my attention in the first few minutes, you lost me. Part of it is length, organization, and the next point the look and feel of a site.

6. Consider the value of incorporating design elements.

I'm a firm believer of the look and feel of a website or blogsite. Sometimes just the look of a site determines whether I stay on the site and look at it for awhile. Presentation is key. I really like a site to be clean and clearly layed out for readers. If it's cluttered and hard to navigate around a site, it's just easier to go somewhere else instead. There are tons of great resources of templates for bloggers to use to create a feel. Here's a few that I use and work for either Blogger.com or Wordpress.com.

Our Blogger Templates is great. Beautiful designs and layouts.
BTemplates is another great site. Really worth checking out if you want to create an atmosphere that accompanies the blog.
Blogger Styles is another great resource of templates to help with your design.
Check out Blogger Buzz, a blog I follow that always has super information about blogging.

Now maybe it's just me, or others feel the same way, but I think a few pictures or videos help make a blog page look more appealing. It showcases expression and heightens interest. Maybe it's the artist in me, but pictures, images, artwork, video just add so much to blogs. I say this, because I really think we need to encourage our students to express themselves creatively with artwork and images. it's not only the written words that will grab the reader but visual expressions as well. So helping students with design templates and devising a rubric for layout and content elements is very helpful for students.

Please post your pictorial or video reponse to this blog!

So because of the length of this blog, I'm going to go against my own advice and not post a picture or video, but instead ask you to post a picture or video link that you think might me helpful to express the language of blogging.

PLN's (Personal Learning Networks)?

2009-07-01T10:31:00.014-06:00

Well, another week has gone by and it's time to write another reflection about learning. This week I want to talk about personal learning networks. Some people call them personal social networks, which they are indeed, but I guess my focus today is how we turn them around to have an educational purpose or to achieve a learning outcome. When I was searching out online networks, of course I came across the standard Facebook, MySpace, Tagged, Hi5 social networks, which I have heard teachers turn into something educational, like posting assignments and discussions about classroom material. However, there are indeed more Web 2.0 networking tools out there.

But before I go any further, here's a great little video that explains Social Networking in Plain English.

There are even social networks for business people, such as Linkedin, or Spoke that promote building relationships between professional business people, who feel the need to network in a competitive world. There are other networks out there for teachers as well, which I highly recommend. I've been a member of Classroom 2.0 for about a year now, and love the opportunity to posts questions and have hundreds, if not thousands of other teachers comment about what they think about technology, classroom management challenges, pedagogy, and more. Another teacher social networking site that is good, but not near the quality of Classroom 2.0 is Ning in Education. The downside of this ning site, is that I get requests from people, who are members of this site and have no educational background asking me to be their friend, which I have to block, but you'll get that anywhere I guess, but it is annoying.

Social networks can be a great resource for teachers just among themselves, but they also have a great role and purpose in the classroom. I watched a video this week about a teacher who recounted being taught to teach reading and writing a set way, but now that he has introduced blogs and ning, he has seen a wonderful transformation in student success and learning with these web tools. Here's the video:

I think this teacher captures the benefit of using social networking sites for educational purposes. It's exciting to see how people are integrating the Google calendar into the Ning for students to keep track of activities, assignments, pace themselves on projects, and more. Students can upload photos of work they are doing on a project, or create a PowerPoint presentation and insert it for everyone to view. Students can make videos and upload those as well, or search out instructional videos from the internet and embed the code into Ning for everyone to view. If teachers are concerned about security issues, they can make the Ning site a closed account that is restricted to just members.

I was curious how other teachers might use Ning, so what better place to go to see what people are doing but Classroom 2.0 itself. I went to the forum and typed in ning in the classroom. I came up with pages of discussion forums with multiple replies from teachers all around the world using the technology in the classroom.

Here's Margaret Haviland's reply; We are using Ning.com for a student current events forum. Almost all upper level (11&12 grade history students) at Westtown School, Westtown, PA participate. Students choose an article (news, columns, editorials are all fair game) read it, write a summary, analysis and reaction, and post it within the "Westtown History Classroom" social network at Historyclass.ning.com. Other students comment! I experimented with this last year with one section and now rather than a pool of 18 students to read and comment we have 74+. Each teacher has a slightly different assessment method and number of original posts and comments. (in my student's case there are limits to using US news sources as well as the bbc.com, they have to post 2X a trimester and comment 5X) The kids are engaging in great discussions. We are beginning to discuss the possibility of inviting another school (perhaps outside of the US) to join with us in the spring.

Another teacher, Matt Montagne, replied: Last spring one of our 8th grade US History teachers at my previous school did a fantastic activity where each one of his students took on the role of figure from the US civil rights era. He called it the "Civil Rights Era Facebook" project. Students engaged in discussions and other virtual interactions (posting photos, videos, completing polls, etc) using the 1st person point of view of their figure. They had to "friend" others in the community that they would've friended in the physical world (for example, ML King wouldn't have friended Malcolm X, as they had different approaches and philosophies on the movement).

Anyway, the network that they used may be browsed online here: http://civilrightsfacebook1.ning.com/

Pretty neat project done by one of the best teachers I have ever worked with.

These are just two examples of thousands of responses from teachers that are using Ning in the classroom. I'm including a link to the Ning site I created for a Water Quality Research project for grade 10 students. Enjoy!

A Technology Toolbox: Web 2.0

2009-06-24T19:35:00.010-06:00

It's been some time now since I last wrote on my blog. I've been busily working on an Assessment course that has actually consumed my waking hours and taken all of my attention to successfully complete. In the end, I think I'm left with more questions than answers about assessment, which is blog session for another day.

This week, I want to focus my attention on how teaching and learning can be enhanced through Web 2.0 tools. I must preface everything I say first by declaring myself a huge fan of Web 2.0 tools. So whatever I say here on in, it is completely biased. Learning about Web 2.0 has turned my pedagogical thinking completely around, so much so that my teaching philosophy is almost completely constructivist. To quote Wikipedia, "Constructivism is a psychological theory of knowledge which argues that humans generate knowledge and meaning from their experiences." I think meaning is the key word here. It is critical that students engage in learning that is meaningful and can be transferred to real life situations. In a sense it has a cyclical effect. The student learns from experiences that are created for them or by themselves that are meaningful, and in turn apply that learning to further situations where they have more experiences. And Web 2.0 tools help a great deal to facilitate this kind of learning.

First, I want to have you watch two videos that I thought were tremendously thought provoking. Michael Wesch, of Kansas State University, directed these both with the help from students with interesting results.

The first video, The Machine is Us/ing Us, really illustrates the ever fast pace the world around us that is moving and changing. It's almost dizzying. But unless we wise up to how much the technology is contributing to this deluge of information that our students live and participate in, we are going to miss a golden opportunity to capitalize on transferring this information into some meaningful educational experience for students to use in life and a career.

The second video, A Vision of Students Today, highlights where our students are coming from as they enter our classrooms. How are we engaging these students in learning? How are we using the technologies they use everyday into something that will enhance learning? If these numbers accurately reflect what our students are doing in a typical classroom of higher learning, we're in trouble unless we do something different.

This is where the Web 2.0 tools can assist the teacher today. Let me use my daughter for an example. My daughter is in university, and one of professors had them blogging weekly. I watched her blog each week from 800km away, but I saw how much work she put into it, because she loved using the technology. She uses her cellphone to send out messages on Twitter about topics of social interest with colleagues and friends (she's an activist at heart). She listens to tons of music, but doesn't buy CD's anymore, she downloads from iTunes exclusively. She watches digital movies on her iPod, and watches the TV shows she missed during the week online at MegaVideo, commercial free.

If a teacher wants to reach her, they need to engage in using the technology. So using Wikispaces or Wikis in the Classroom to collaborate projects in classes will work. Using Jing to snag screen images off the web or accessing Flickr images is critical to develop wonderful class presentations on Slideshare or SlideRocket. Or get students to use Bubbl.us or Mindomo or Mindmeister for mind mapping their ideas and posting them online. I might also use Diigo or Delicious for class projects and regularly update relevant websites that might assist students in research. I could create a Ning site and host my class materials right online with discussion threads and open forums for student interactions.

There are thousands of resources out there on the web for teachers to use to enhance the teaching and learning in the classroom.

Habits of the Mind and Heart

2009-04-21T18:16:00.005-06:00

This week I read an article titled, "Habits of Mind," that it sent me on a chase to track down the original list from Costa and Kallick. Here is the link. Interesting stuff.

But as I'm reading this list I started noticing the similarities with the list and with the virtues we use in our classrooms here, and thought about taking a stab at adapting the list for a school using the Virtues Project material and keeping things consistent for those involved.

1. Practicing Perseverance

Don't give up easily. Analyze a problem, develop a system, structure, or strategy to attack a problem.

2. Live Intentionally with Idealism

Think before you act. Intentionally form a vision of a product, plan of action, goal or a destination before they begin.

3. Listening with Understanding

Listening is the beginning of understanding..... To empathize with, and to understand their point of view.

4. Think with Flexibility

Flexible people are the ones with the most control. They have the capacity to change their mind as they receive additional data.

5. Commitment to Thinking About our Thinking (Metacognition)

Metacognition is our ability to know what we know and what we don't know. Plan a strategy before embarking on a course of action.

6. Striving For Excellence

The desire for craftsmanship, mastery, flawlessness and economy of energy to produce exceptional results.

7. Questioning and Posing Problems with Assertiveness

Effective problem solvers know how to ask questions to fill in the gaps between what they know and what they don't know.

8. Applying Past Knowledge with Wisdom

Intelligent human beings learn from experience.

9. Thinking and Communicating with Truthfulness

Support your statements with explanations, comparisons, quantification, and evidence.

10. Gathering Data with Tact and Integrity

Intelligent people know that all information gets into the brain through the sensory pathways: gustatory, olfactory, tactile, kinesthetic, auditory, visual, most linguistic, cultural.

11. Imagining Solutions with Creativity

Creative human beings try to conceive problem solutions differently, examining alternative possibilities from many angles.

12. Responding with Wonderment and Awe

Creative thinkers who have a passion for what they do. "I CAN" attitude, but also an "I ENJOY" feeling.

13. Taking Risks with Responsibility

The urge to go beyond established limits. Risk takers seem compelled to place themselves in situations where they do not know what the outcome will be,

14. Engaging in Gentle Humor

People who engage in the mystery of humor have the ability to perceive situations from an original and often interesting vantage point.

15. Work in Unity and Cooperation

Cooperative humans realize that all of us together are more powerful, intellectually and/or physically, than any one individual

16 Learning with Purposefulness and Enthusiasm

Intelligent people are in a continuous learning mode.. People with this Habit of Mind are always striving for improvement, always growing, always learning, always modifying and improving themselves.

Effective Management of Project-Based Learning

2009-04-15T18:01:00.009-06:00

I have seen more projects fail than I care to recall. We often make the assumption that equates teaching with management. They are not synonymous. A teacher may know how to teach, but not facilitate. Also, a facilitator may not be able to teach effectively either, but can encourage a group to do wonders.

But saying this doesn`t let anyone of the hook just yet. A teacher can still learn to be a good facilitator that manages projects effectively. He or she may not be a great facilitator like those we see in some classrooms, who are naturally gifted, but we can all become good effective facilitators of project-based learning in the classrooms with a little effort and a good attitude (something, I might add, we expects from the students).

Here are seven areas that need to be considered when developing a project for the classroom. To make it practical, let`s use the Water Quality Project designed for grade ten science. I`ve included the wikispace address for referencing.

1) Orient - I`ve seen teachers sometimes randomly throw out an assignment to students and let them flounder around trying to figure things out without any preparation or guidance about a topic. That is incredibly frustrating for students. I`ve taken courses during my graduate and post-graduate studies that were designed the same way. Students were overwhelmned and frustrated, and some eventually gave up. It is so important to orient students about the topic. So with regard to the Water Quality study, students need to have discussions about water. What is so important about water? What do they know about water? Mindmap this with Bubbl.us with a data projector so students can watch it grow. Make sure that students have a good grasp about the water issues. On the wikispace site, there a few videos that explain the concern about water to orient students about the subject.

2) Group - The second step is grouping students that you know can work together, but more importantly understand what is involved in the group work. Sit down with each group individually as they brainstorming their ideas around the driving question, which in this project case is, "What is the value of water?" As a group take them through the wikispace site and decide who is going to do what. Observe them as they organize their group and encourage them to take control of the project. As a group, they may want to create their own Ning or wiki site to collaborate their project, and even use Edmodo to communicate with each other about expectations.

3) Organize - I've already mentioned the importance of organizing, but I cannot overemphasize this point. It is so critical that there is orgranization behind what the teacher does and what the students do. At the wikispace site, everything is layed out for the students and the teachers. Each has their own section. Have the students organize their research and information. Use Diigo to keep track of website resources and for referencing later.

A big part of organizing for the teacher is ensuring that the students have a good grasp of the driving question. Has this been spelled out clearly for students to be able to know where their strating point is for their project. So make sure students really understand the project ideas that are outlined in the wikispace. When they do their interviews, make sure they keep the information organized and recorded. If they digitally record the interviews, everything needs to be filed properly. Make sure students understand the importance of the process.

4) Clarify - This is important for students to come back to the driving question and refocus. Sometimes we need to allow students an opportunity to ask those important questions that will clarify the issues they are looking at. Use the extra videos and get students to share their findings and ideas. Make sure that students are checking out the various sites that have been bookmarked for them. These are only starting points; they may find other sites.

5) Monitor and regulate - There's the expression, "A teacher's work is never done." Well, this is so important when having students working on projects. The teacher really needs to monitor students to ensure they are on task and ask questions. In addition, the teacher needs to work with the students about the timelines for when work will be completed. The Google calendar has been inserted in the wikispace for the teacher to use and put in their deadlines. Edmodo works really well to set out assignment timelines.

6) Manage - The teacher needs to stay on top of what the students are doing. With this project, some students are going to be collecting interviews, others are going to be out on the lake or river using the GPS and collecting water samples, others are going to be doing video projects. All of these require an incredible amount of assitance from other teachers and administration and coordination. You can't just wing this. So this will require a great deal of management, but it can be done, by meeting with all the players involved and assigning everyone their reponsibilities.

7) Evaluate - In end, we expect teachers to use the rubric we have included on the wikispace, but they may want to create their own on rubistar. I would also encourage group evaluations. The important piece here is what did the students learn doing this project. Do they undertstand better the value of water? Did this spur them into action and want to do something within their community about water quality?

Overall, I think this project can be a lot of fun for everyone involved, especailly when it is managed effectively. Have fun with it!

Students meeting the NETS-S

2009-04-09T20:39:00.018-06:00

When I opened up this file this week: NETS for Students 2007, I immediately sent it to all three of my IT guys at Credenda and said, we need to put together a strategic plan to ensure that the 28 schools we provide IT services to have all these areas addressed. What a great standard not only for ensuring that the schools computer labs are adequately setup to meet these standards, but we need to make sure when we are using technology, that we meet standards that ensure learning is taking place and not just a lot of busy work.

In Saskatchewan, we use CELS's as standards for every lesson that is taught, and so there is similarities between NETS & CEL's.

The following standards can easily be met with the use of Web 2.0 tools.

1. Creativity and Innovation:

Without a doubt, I would use Animoto and Moonk as two great Web 2.0 applications for students expressing creativity and innovation. Both give students the ability to create video with ease. Animoto has one drawback that unless it is a education account, the video length is limited to one minute. But with an education account, which you can request, students can upload pictures and choose music to create amazing presentations that are fun and very professional looking.

Moonk is similar, but also adds features for slideshows and jukebox presentations that can be embedded into your blog or a social network, like MySpace. My interest in this application is how it can be used to enhance a blog. Now normally, I like to embed a video or two or some images into my blogs, it just adds some extra flare and creativity. Students need to do this as well to express themselves creatively for NETS-S.

2. Communication and Collaboration:

I've really enjoyed working with Diigo as a Web 2.0 application for collaboration. Even the logo reveals the intention of collaboration and communicating between individuals and groups in the sharing of bookmarks. Now there are other tools out there that are similar, but I really like some added features that Diigo has, such as the ability to highlight information on a given web page that a teacher wants students to notice, or to add sticky notes and write brief descriptions for students to focus in on when viewing the page. Great tool for sharing bookmarks on a particular theme with students. This is a must for collaboration for students.

3. Research and Information Fluency:

I already mentioned Wikispace in my previous blog, but a close second and maybe a better tool for sharing research information and increasing information fluency is Ning. We use Wikispace for the student and teachers project site, but we use Ning for the researchers to collaborate their data findings, and pull in the results from the wikispace project that the students post. Ning is a great web 2.0 application to facilitate this for our research project. I can see students using it as well. It has great added features to promote learning and be more than a social network. But more importantly, it's a great site for housing data and information that students can process, evaluate, write reports about the research for others in their group to view and collaborate.

4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making:

Another really cool site that facilitates learning and promotes the thinking is the Oracle site called ThinkQues t:Think.com. It was a toss up between this and Global Schoolnet. Both are good, and both promote the idea of using 21st Century tools to create projects for teachers and students around the world to share ideas with or work on together. These projects are not just so students can learn more about a topic, but so that they can critically think about the issues, develop solutions, and then put together action plans to make a difference. Now both of these web applications do the same, but ThinkQuest provides a nice site to house the project and use the tools that Oracle is developing for the business world.

5. Digital Citizenship:

My favorite site for promoting citizenship, which by extension, builds digital citizenship, is GoodTube. Now I realize the idea behind digital citizenship is having students communicate respectfully with one another in the digital world. We want students to be safe and behave legally online. We don't want them sharing personal information with complete strangers. But rather than focus on the negatives, I want to promote a web application called GoodTube that makes it their mission to share and post video stories that promote caring, respect, and causes that good people are working to promote. It's a great resource for teachers to use with their students to create a greater sense of helping others out and making the world a better place to live. Students can create their own digital stories and feature them here as well.

6. Technology Operations and Concepts:

The purpose of this strategy is to ensure that students are applying the various applications to learning and are transferring this learning into something practical. There is no one web 2.0 application that stands out to do this, in fact, this is where the teachers need to really focused on what the outcome is for the lesson. There are great tools out there like Bubbl.us that are great for mindmapping, or Freemind, as well. These are great tools for brainstorming the concepts with students, but I still believe that if a teacher isn't being challenged themselves to think and consider new ideas, none of these web 2.0 applications will make any difference in learning. So I need to promote my favorite site for learning, Ted.com. Absolutely a must for every teacher to spend 30 minutes a week and feed there mind with something challenging or encouraging from this website. I love the ideas that are shared at this site. I find myself fed and energized after listening to a variety of people share their ideas. Afterwards, I find myself thinking about how I can communicate the lesson I've learned to students and friends. If I want my students to be a lifelong learner, then I must be as well.

Ideas for Implementing Web 2.0

2009-04-08T19:47:00.001-06:00

Well, this week I'm going to feature three different Web 2.0 tools that can be very useful in a classroom situation. My brain is a little fried from going through numerous tools before settling on these three. I found a pdf on Scribd.com that actually listed 3000 Web 2.0 tools from www.go2web20.net. Amazing resource! So narrowing the list to three was a challenge.

But when I looked at the first category, Communication Platforms, I really liked this simple little tool that has so much potential for classrooms with limited resources called Edmodo.

The first thing I notice is how easy this tool is to use and navigate. The interface is very clean and appealing. But what is it? Edmodo calls itself a communications platform designed for educators. It's a web tool that enables teachers to communicate with students about assignments, expectations, discussion threads, and more. But what I really liked about it was the potential to use it with elementary students. I could easily see Edmodo being used with younger students with little or no explanation. It's so simple to use.

The other feature is that student privacy is totally protected and restricted. The teacher moderates all messages and discussions, so nothing gets posted that shouldn't be posted.

If I was in a traditional classroom setting, I would use Edmodo in setting up projects for my students and have this a central repository for assignments and other files. I could use this medium to communicate with the students about ideas to help them in their assignments, and also communicate deadlines. Great little tool. Check it out at www.edmodo.com.

The next tool from the Collaboration Platform that amazed me was Wikispace. Here's a video that shows you how to set up a Wiki as a teacher for your classroom.

That video is a quick overview of setting up a wiki. I remember hearing people talk about wiki's for a few years now, but really didn't pay attention. I must admit also, that the first time I looked at a wikispace, I thought it looked amateurish. In contrast, Ning and it's graphical layout had grabbed my eye with all of it's shiny presentation. But while working on our Water Quality Project on Wikispace, I was wowed! What a robust and versatile tool for bringing everything together in one place to collaborate with people around the globe. Fantastic!

Wikispace is a collection of web pages where teachers can create projects for students to share their project ideas, assignments, or findings (if they are doing research). No personal information is shared on the site, but a teacher may want to send a letter home with students just to let them know what they are doing, and invite the parents to visit the site periodically and see the work that is being done. It's a great way to engage the parents in what the their child is learning.

What really heightened my interest in Wikispace is the ability to embed so many additional tools that allow the teacher to localize the places they have to go to research topics, or access tools to use to complete their projects. I'm so impressed with the versatility of this tool. I'm now working with two other colleagues on our Wiki, and loving it. Here's the project site: Water Quality Project. I think you may get the idea after checking out our wiki.

The final tool from the Publishing Platforms that I recommend is EduBlog. There are a lot of great publishing tools like TeacherTube, Moonk, Animoto, and Voicethread, but since blogging is a such a universal tool that I would love every classroom using, I was intrigued by the a blogging tool for educational purposes.

This is a cool little video called, Why Let our Students Blog. Check it out.

Blogging to learn! A novel idea. I've used Blogger here for a couple of years; my daughter prefers Wordpress, but Edublog focuses on providing a publishing tool to teachers to use in a school setting. The interface is very easy to use. In fact, I like Edublogs ability to add video, images, and files easily. The themes available are great; far more than available with Blogger. When I looked at it from a students perspective, I found myself being able to maneuver the site with little difficulty. The help button provided numerous swf videos showing how to use the site and covering all the basic functions. This was very helpful.

Regarding parental consent, the teacher can invite all the students to join their group and thus limit access from the outside. But I still would like to have parents give consent and be made aware of what the students are doing on the site. Blogging is a great way for students to publish their work and have other students read what they said and comment on it. It gives students the ability to embed other media resources into their work.

The drawback to Edublog is the cost to open up additional features that I would think need to be available to everyone. However, there are enough features with Edublog to make it worth it.

Challenges to Global PBL

2009-04-02T19:49:00.001-06:00

I read two different articles this week about PBL; one with tremendous suggestions about embarking upon a global PBL project and some ideas that might minimize some of the cultural barriers and risks of offending people from another culture, and the other which presented two contrasting perspectives about PBL. Both present some of the challenges when implementing PBL. Here are the links: “A Teacher’s Guide to International Collaboration on the Internet: Tips for Online Collaboration” on ED.gov and “Point/Counterpoint: Is Project-based Learning Practical?” in Leading and Learning with Technology, August 2007. But before, I elaborate about some of the challenges facing global PBL, I want to show the video from TeacherTube, called What to expect in class?. What a great accounting of a teacher's experience using PBL in the classroom and the students extremely positive feedback! So before we look at the challenges, let's see the successes first.

I'm not sure of your reaction, but I was fascinated by the successes of this ordinary teacher touching the lives of students with an approach that some teachers find too difficult to try, because it's too complicated to manage the students. No one is suggesting PBL is a one stop shop that fits all learning styles. Nor are the experts suggesting that this type of learning is only aptly suited for exceptional, or gifted students either. However, the evidence clearly shows that most students, when engaged in the learning process with hands-on practical activities, the results are noticeably higher than traditional teaching strategies with the teacher standing in the front of the classroom lecturing to rows of students.

Kevin Scott states that PBL "takes more time, energy, and resources for too little payoff." He further adds that students need basic comprehension of basic skills in order to be successful in PBL. PBL, in general, is more time consuming to plan and organize, but the payoff is truly worth the effort. But the key challenge is planning. To achieve the positive results, a teacher must be very organized. It is not a matter of slapping a project together on the fly and hoping for good results. Sometimes it is this effort required that turns some teacher off from attempting to try PBL. Sad really! I agree with Kevin Scott's second point that students do need basic comprehension of basic skills, and too often teachers try too much at once in PBL and the students become overwhelmed because too much is thrown at them. The challenge is to take students through the process of implementing tools and resources gradually throughout the project, or "scaffolding" as Nancy Carswell loves to remind me. This week, I saw first hand in a presentation by Thomas Cooper, how he implements PBL with the use of Wikispaces, Google Earth, Gliffy, and StoryBoarding to teach his Expedition Lit Trips: Outdoor Culture and Technology. He outlined how he successfully takes students through the steps of understanding and using the tools while reading and journaling the books they are reading. Amazing story!

A teacher can minimize the challenges of PBL simply by planning, and methodically taking students through the process so they understand how to use the resources available to successfully complete the project. Now add the wonderful dynamic of engaging your students with students from around the world on global projects. Global projects are a wonderful tool to encourage students to learn about other cultures, customs, language, geography, and religious beliefs. All these elements pose challenges to students, especially at the risk of offending the guest classroom from the other side of the globe. This is where teachers need to do their research beforehand and inform their students about the cultural differences or whatever else is different. It is really important for students to respect those differences as well, and not judge another culture for doing things that may conflict with their own way of thinking or believing. This is great opportunity to learn the value of tolerance and diversity.

On the technological front, it is also important to note that many of these other countries have limited access to technological resources. Many of the methods of delivery we take for granted cannot be used because they simply do not have the bandwidth or quality of service from an Internet Service Provider. So tools for communicating effectively need to be considered as well. There are resources such as ePals, or Taking it Globally that are very good for connecting classrooms. In addition, LearnCentral is great site for providing access to ElluminateLive for global projects so that classrooms can collaborate and share ideas via the webinar tool.

All in all, global PBL is a chance to turn a challenge into an opportunity. It just may require a little effort and creativity to make it work. But I believe the effort is worth it in the end.

Pedagogical Justification (Gk - παιδαγωγέω δικαίωμα) for Project Based Learning

2009-03-19T18:01:00.000-06:00

"Pedagogical justification." Well, that's a mouth full. It might as well be Greek to some folks. But to put that into layman's terms, "pedagogical" comes from the Greek word, παιδαγωγέω, or paidagōgeō, which literally means "to lead a child, or go with a child." In early Greek culture, the slaves were required to attend training sessions with the slave owners child, and the phrase meant to go with or accompany the child to school or whatever training session they were supposed to attend. We now use the term to refer to instructional strategies or styles of teaching.

What does this mean for this week's assignment? I'm supposed to provide support or justification for the use of Project Based Learning (PBL) in the classroom. Last week, I explained what PBL was and the six distinctive features that make an effective PBL classroom experience. We looked at three different classes and what was common among each.

This week, before I launch into the justification of why we should use PBL in the classroom, I want you to watch another video, Picturing the Possibilities, Project Based Learning, that explains in further detail how PBL has been very effective in teaching math skills to students. (The audio is a little out of snyc, but it is worth watching.)

First and foremost in defending the use of PBL in the classroom, as the teacher in this video stated, "it's all about the learning." Of course we want the learning experience to be fun and interesting, but above all, it's about whether the students are learning. For those in the US, who have to comply to State standards, teachers have that added factor to ensure that students are not only learning, but learning that meets the State standards. So much of teaching that takes place at many schools, unfortunately, is not about the learning. The focus gets placed on making sure that students make it through the curriculum or creating a lot of busy work for them.

Properly designed and implemented Project Based Learning places a great amount of emphasis on student learning. By starting with the open-ended driving question for the students to develop and center their project around, students are forced to examine the essentials questions that engage higher order thinking. With that level of thinking, students begin to attach greater meaning to what they learning, because they now must analyze and synthesize the information into something relevant. The project forces the student to take what is known intellectually and apply it to real life. This is no small conquest. These real-life activities challenge students to become problem solvers, a skill that is critical for our future labour force.

If we as teachers are to take seriously the task of engaging students in learning for meaning and ensure that this learning is transferred into real world application, we must take seriously the use of Project Based Learning. When this approach to learning is constructed correctly from an instructional design perspective, it takes learning to new heights. The research, such as, PBL Research Summary: Studies Validate Project-Based Learning, is starting to show that student achievement scores are improving, student retentions rates are growing, and student engagement is on the rise.

We only have look as far as this video we just watched and see PBL in action and listen to the comments from the teacher and students about their experiences and see how successful PBL is in the classroom. That being said, another research article, NMSA Research Summary: PBL in Middle Grades Mathematics states that "Project-based learning can only be considered a useful pedagogical strategy if, through its use, teachers can be reasonably assured that mathematics content and concept development are realized." A project for the sake of having a project does not mean guaranteed results. But when a teacher effectively establishes a knowledgebase with students that engages in learning, student motivation and attitudes towards the subject matter takes on a new reality. When students are excited about learning because of PBL, it is hard to argue with this approach.

So to summarize, when PBL stresses learning for meaning; transferring learning into real-world activities; high level thinking and problem solving; student engagement; research shows that students perform better academically and are motivated to become lifelong learners.

What do worms, architecture, and butterflies have in common?

2009-03-09T20:20:00.000-06:00

It's been a couple of weeks since my last blog, but it's time to sit down and write down some thoughts. I watched three videos this week on Edutopia.com that featured the use of Project Based Learning (PBL). More than a Barrel of...Worms was the first video.

The second video was Geometry Students Angle into Architecture Through Project Learning.

The third video was March of the Monarchs: Students Follow the Butterflies' Migration.

I found myself watching these teachers and marvelling at their ability to achieve amazing results from implementing Project Based Learning (PBL). What is PBL? How does it work? According to Edutopia.org, there are six steps to successfully implementing PBL into the classroom. They are:

Start with a central question that may be answered in a variety of ways,
Design a plan for the project that includes the students in providing direction and decision-making,
Create a schedule that outlines timelines that are flexible,
Facilitate and guide the process with the students and monitor the progress of the project
Assess the outcome with feedback, or formal rubrics, and self-assessment
Evaluate the experience through discussions, reflection, and sharing of ideas and feelings.

Let me illustrate by referencing the videos you just watched for these elements being used by the teachers featured. There are common design principles shared by all three teachers that follow the six steps. First, the teachers set out real life questions for the students to answer knowing they might derive different conclusions. For example, I love the class where a few students decide to do a project on a fellow classmate who has Cystic Fibrosis. This was a real life situation for these children, and they wanted to understand what their classmate was experiencing. The project involved science, social studies, language arts, and health in one theme. The geometry class looked at geometric principles from a real life perspective of what schools might look like 50 years down the road. They all came to different conclusions and answers, but their learning involved high levels of engagement.

The second step was illustrated when the teachers design a project that was somewhat open-ended and allowed for students to provide input about the various design elements, but still complying to the overall educational outcomes that the teachers hoped the students would achieve. As you listen to the students talk about their projects they clearly feel a sense of ownership for their learning. What a marvel it must have been for students to experience a butterfly emerging from its cocoon right before their eyes! And for these students to be entirely in control of the project design was very important.

Each teacher stressed the importance of setting timelines for the students to complete their projects. This is realistic for students to understand that projects need to be completely within a set period of time. The geometry teacher made it clear that the project was scheduled for the last six weeks of the term, but what was significant was that the students were having the opportunity to apply their knowledge from a theory perspective to a practical context.

In each of the videos the teachers provide an important role of coaching and guiding the students through the process. In each case the teachers use a tremendous amount of technology with their students. Further to this, these teachers do not simply layer technology with traditional teaching strategies. They embrace the technology in a way that enables the students to take full advantage of it as a learning tool. The students are guided and provided direction, but not so much that they take over the project.

In the end, the students are assessed for the answers they reached in their projects. But, one thing that stands out and that doesn’t get assessed is the learning that takes place among the peers in the class. In each video there is the level of sharing among each group with the other classmates about what they have learned completing their projects. Not only did each student learn from their own project, they learned from listening to their classmates share their learnings. Very cool!

There is little doubt about why these students are successful. They are engaged in the learning process from the beginning of the project. Both the students and teacher are active participants in the learning. The students are not the only learners involved. The teachers are lifelong learners as well, and they communicate their enthusiasm and excitement for learning with their students as they share the results of their projects. This increases the level of engagement for learning immeasurably. But further to this, the students are able to establish meaning of their learnings and transfer this knowledge into practical situations that they may face in life after school. This is such a key element of the learning for students to make a connection with what they are learning in school and see how it fits into real life. Often, we as teachers do a poor job of this, and we need to be more diligent in making this happen.

In contrast to these teachers use of PBL, most of us have done group work activities and usually were pulling out our hair by the end of it, because it seemed like a lot of work with minimal results. I think back now, and there were a few reasons I was unsuccessful with group work. First, I didn't have the first clue where to start with projects when I started teaching. I was taught at university how to teach students with traditional methods that were more teacher-centred, and besides "having students sit in rows doing busy work minimizes discipline issues." As a result, I tried to force students to conform to what the textbook prescribed.

As I reflected on these videos and the use of PBL, I was challenged to think about how many times I didn’t step outside the traditional teaching style, and as a result my students missed out on an opportunity to have a learning experience that was meaningful and transferable, because I was so concerned about covering the curriculum outcomes. I guess I have a lot to learn still, especially since I am a lifelong learner as well as the students.

Caring for the Elders

2009-02-22T16:07:00.002-06:00

Here's a lesson I developed this week that I would like to share with teachers and eTeachers alike. In fact, this lesson could be adapted to any grade level. I was really intrigued by this project and found myself thinking; "Why couldn't we do something like this in Canada, in any of our communities?" Hope some of you find it useful.

If you are not teaching online live classes, then of course you won't use ElluminateLive to teach this lesson.

Grades 10-12

Adopt a Native Elder Program

The Adopt-A-Native-Elder Program was started by Linda Myers of Park City, Utah. In the late 1980's Linda, was touched by the stories of the Dine' people that prompted her to get involved in gathering donated food, clothing and simple medicines and driving to the reservation in Northern Arizona to deliver them to Elders living traditionally on the Land. It's an amazing story of caring and empathy. The significance of this story to Canada is that the Navajo (Dine') people are first cousins to the Dene of northern Saskatchewan. Although separated by 3500 miles, they can speak their languages to each other and understand each other completely.

Learner Outcomes:

eStudents will understand the background to the creation of the organization, Adopt a Native Elder Program, and what prompted Linda Myers to do something about it.
eStudents will comprehend the issues facing the Native Elder of Arizona who are struggling to survive and keep their culture despite hard conditions and living on the land.
eStudents will interpret and evaluate the information that will be provided to them and discussed to develop interview questions for creating a video of elders in their respective communities that will create awareness to issues facing elders today.

Introduction:

Credenda Virtual High School is a First Nations online school that provides education to eStudents, which are approximately 50% First Nations. Many of our elders in our communities have had really tough lives from living on the land, trapping for survival, and being so remote from access to healthcare and education. As these elders die, so do their stories and knowledge that they carry with them from the past. They are often neglected.

Prior Knowledge:

Have eStudents discuss and share about elders they know in their communities. Have they ever sat down and listened to their stories about the past? What did they find interesting? What are the concerns that the elders have about life today? How is their health and wellbeing?

Present New Content:

Read the quote by Thomas Jefferson: "I believe that every human mind feels pleasure doing good to another." Discuss what that means in context of helping the elders in our communities.
Have eStudents visit the following site while in ElluminateLive class by using web tour feature and watch both part 1 and 2 of the video entitled, Adopt a Native Elder:

Have the eStudents watch the videos that describes the program that Linda Meyer started. They should take notes of what things the program is doing to help and still maintain the elders dignity.

Independent Learning Experience:

In breakout groups still in ElluminateLive, have students work collaboratively to develop a list of interview questions.
Individually, each eStudent will conduct an interview with an elder in their community. Make sure to follow protocols. If they can videotape the interview, that would be good. If they can record the audio with an mp3 player that records, that's good too. If they don't have either, in all cases, they should have pictures to insert into a short film they will make using Movie Maker.
After these videos are completed, they will be viewed online in an ElluminateLive class by all the eStudents in class.
Then the videos will be uploaded to Credenda's NIng site for the all eStudents to access later.

Feedback:

The eTeacher will go into each breakout room on ElluminateLive, and provide feedback to each group and observe their discussions.

Assessment:

The video will be scored by a rubric which has been distributed and discussed in advance for content, style, technique, and presentation.

Transfer:

Discussion of what it might feel like to live as an elder with very little life left to live and watching the world go by. What can we do to help elders not be forgotten? How can we help?

Technology Tools and Learning: A review of Elluminate Live

2009-02-12T20:33:00.001-06:00

Credenda Virtual High School has been incredibly successful and it‘s been amazing to watch it grow. We certainly don’t take it for granted. It has taken a great deal of hard work, dedication, and creativity to reach the level of success that we have been able to achieve. We recently started the second semester with 227 eStudents. These are amazing numbers for us, and we are ecstatic. More and more eStudents are signing up for classes because they are excited to learn they can take live, synchronous classes with engaging eTeachers during scheduled class times. Many of these eStudents are not be able to access the courses we offer in their schools within their communities. Now they are able to graduate from high school with a full range of high school credits that allows them direct entry and access into post-secondary institutions without having to go through upgrading.

As proud as we are of how many eStudents are signing up for classes, we attribute much of our success to the people of Credenda. First and foremost, the eTeachers care about the eStudents and learning. You can’t necessarily teach that skill, it’s something specific to the individual that fosters a spirit of care and character in their own life. That quality then flows freely out to the eStudents, and they feel it. At Credenda, we believe that learning begins with relationship, and we strive to build that relationship with our eStudents.

When I was researching best practices back in 2005 in the creation of this online school, I learned quickly that just putting a bunch of text online and calling it a virtual school didn’t mean eStudents would learn. In fact the success rates of such an online school have been dismal largely because there is little interaction or relationship between eStudents and eTeachers. We knew that in order for us to replicate as close as possible a face to face experience for our learners, we needed to have the technology that would facilitate this phenomenon. That’s when we sat down with Elluminate.

Elluminate is a java-based software program that was designed for education that enables users to communicate in real-time via their Internet connection. eTeachers and eStudents are able to speak to each other via a headset with microphone, use the direct messaging or chat feature, raise their hand to ask a question, draw on a whiteboard, stream out video, share files, and much more.

Each live classroom session is recorded and archived for eStudents to access later for review, or completion of their assignments. This tool was tested against other leading communication tools and came out on top in every independent test, because of its ability to compress data without loss of audio. It was critical that we find a tool that was reliable as many of our eStudents are located in remote communities without the high-speed internet. We needed a communication tool that eTeachers could teach their lessons where the quality of the audio would not be distorted or drop off. Elluminate Live has done that for us. While the cost of the product is not cheap, it was important that we had the best product possible to ensure we had a quality eLearning program for our eStudents. In addition, many of our students do not have access to the most recent computers in their schools or homes, so we needed a tool like Elluminate that works on any PC or Mac computer that has java installed. In the end, we have been very happy with Elluminate, and it has a tremendously important communication tool for Credenda.

This technology helps students understand the world better in which they live and beyond in a greater way because it allows us to connect with people from all around the world. Last year, we had an eStudent taking live classes with us from Namibia, Africa. She was able to maintain daily contact with her peers in Canada, and also educate her friends online about life in Africa. Another eStudent would never have been able to graduate from regular high school because she was already 19 years old and a high fashion model in England, France, Spain, and New York. She was away from her home in Saskatchewan so much that she was unable to complete the work in a regular bricks and mortar school, but because we record our online classes daily with Elluminate, she was able to access the instruction and stay in regular contact with her eTeacher. In addition, she was able to share her career with all the eStudents at our monthly live eStudent assembly.

The technologies we use help eStudents gain valuable skills necessary to be competitive in a global business environment, because they are increasing their basic computer skills in the process of learning their subject. It’s amazing how comfortable eStudents are with using the computer after a few classes. Elluminate integrates word-processing, file sharing, video streaming, remote desktop sharing, Internet surfing and more into its operation. These are tremendous skills for everyone to possess in order to be competitive in a global environment, but more importantly, using Elluminate has really enabled our eStudents to increase overall success in learning. We believe this tool enables eStudents and eTeachers to connect and communicate in such a way that heightens the learning experience. Credenda wouldn’t be where we are without it. Read about our success story at Elluminate.

Cultural Capital in a New Millennium

2009-02-06T06:17:00.001-06:00

I’ve just returned from visiting a number of our northern communities in Saskatchewan. Each time I get a chance to fly north, it feels like I’m going home. In reality, I feel most comfortable in many of our First Nations communities. Whether it’s a Dene or Cree community, there’s something familiar for me. Maybe part of it is growing up in a northern Alberta Cree community as a child, before moving back to New Brunswick for 13 years, and then eventually moving back into northern Canada as an adult for the next 20 years. Even though that is not the way I live today, because I live in Prince Albert, SK, a city of 40,000; when I am in those remote northern communities, I immediately have that connection to the people and the land. It’s a world of snowmobiles, boats, hunting, fishing, community, language, cultural events, and more. While I am nostalgic for the past, I am also deeply concerned about the present. Something is getting lost. It’s hard to put my finger on it.

However, something I read this week tweaked my interest about culture, anthropologist James Watson said that culture is no longer “a knowledge system inherited from ancestors. Contemporary anthropologists, sociologists, and media specialist treat culture as a set of ideas, attributes, and expectations that is constantly changing as people react to changing circumstances.” This grabbed my attention, because I think we spend a great deal of energy trying to recover the past, when we expend very little energy helping people live for today. We reminisce about the simplicity of living in the old days, when in truth, those were tough days. We had less access to medicine, doctors, medical treatments, just to name a few things that we take for granted today.

In our First Nations world, we talk a lot about reclaiming our culture, but mostly people are talking about retrieving long lost religious beliefs and traditions practiced by our ancestors. Yet, we are neglecting a whole generation of youth, who are developing a whole new set of ideas, attributes and expectations for themselves that has no interest in practicing the old ways of life. They have their own culture emerging that is completely different than ours. Lecturing the youth doesn’t work, they don’t want us telling them what to do. This is a generation of youth that are asking a lot of questions, and sadly very few people are stopping to take the time to listen.

What’s getting lost is the values that many of us were taught growing up about how to respect and care for one another. Growing up we learned about the importance of showing kindness to people in all situations and practice generosity by sharing what little you had, because your character mattered. Our culture is changing and seems to be in flux, but the values or virtues of life don’t need to be lost in the midst of changing ideas. In fact, the change of ideas, attributes, and expectations need to be rooted and directed in those core values and virtues that should not be representative of only our ancestors in the past, but of each of us in the present.

As I sit with many of our First Nations youth and listen to them talk about their lives and problems, so many of them feel lost. But I see so much potential. Just yesterday, I watched a young lady, who graduated from our high school two years ago, demonstrate tremendous ability and aptitude to logically analyze a mechanical malfunction of a school photocopier that three seasoned, veteran teachers laboured over for 30 minutes to no avail. She stepped in and had it figured out in minutes without any training. I couldn’t let that go unnoticed, I had to tell her, that I saw wonderful potential in her technologically and with her grades, she could be an engineer. Her response? “Awesome. How do I do this? Where can I go to get this training?” We need to affirm the youth, and build their confidence in themselves. When we affirm them for who they are as individuals that matter, all the changes going on around them will not steer them, but rather they will steer the changes for positive results for themselves. In fact, a new culture emerges that develops positives ideas of themselves based on attributes and values that recognize the good they have to offer and determines their goals and expectations in life.

A Flat World? Economic Forces Influencing Education

2009-01-31T16:12:00.002-06:00

It seems like most in North America are afraid of "offsourcing." What is offsourcing? Offsourcing is simply outsourcing work, services, or the production of a particular product offshore or across the globe to a country like India, or China, because they can deliver the product or service for cheaper than in America. I realize the whole issue of offsourcing is certainly not a popular notion, especially with the news filled with doom and gloom stories of people losing their jobs because of the recession that has hit North America. This past week, the Canadian government introduced the new federal budget with $40 billion dollars worth of spending initiatives to bolster the economy and pull it out of recession. The United States is discussing similar measures to prevent the auto industry from collapsing and driving the American economy into the ground further after the recent real estate fiasco that buried a number of US financial institutions. So I can understand why North Americans are a little nervous and a little less than enthusiastic to share in India's exuberance of new found riches with the thousands of jobs transplanted from the US or Canada to call centres in India.

However, we can look at the present situation with a doom and gloom attitude, or see this as an opportunity for us to get better at what we do, and seize further opportunities. I like what Rajesh Rao said, as quoted by Freidman (2005), instead of complaining about outsourcing the western world would "be better off thinking about how you can raise the bar and raise yourselves into doing something better." I think this is the right perspective. We can complain and bellyache about the situation, or we can do something about fixing it; making it better. The reality is, people want to have hope. I can barely watch the news for all of its negativity and hopelessness. I want to hope for possibilities of a better future for our First Nations people. Why are so many in Canada enamoured with Barack Obama, especially in our First Nation world? Because he consistently speaks of hope, people want to have hope for tomorrow. I believe that the media is in a large way responsible for the recent recession, because the consistent message from the media has been one of mass hysteria mingled with fear mongering ultimately undermining people's confidence to invest, spend, and buy. What we need to hear is the good that is coming from a development of a global economy.

Recently, I watched a video on Ted.com by Hans Rosling, (2007) New insights on poverty and life around the world, where he elegantly demonstrates how the global economy is producing tremendous improvements in the lives of people around the world, especially those in developing world. Countries like India now have more educated people in the field of technology and software development comparable to the US and Canada than ever before, and yet charging a quarter the cost to have the same thing done in North America.

Recently, we were commissioned to build an interactive game by the Office of the Treaty Commission here in Saskatchewan. We gladly accepted the opportunity to develop such a learning tool for students to learn about the Treaties in Canada though the entertaining medium of an online game. We approached various gaming companies in Canada, who never returned our calls. We then turned to the United States, and were shown a little more interest, but prices were out of reach for the budget. Finally, we turned to a gaming company in Pakistan, which did the work for us and were absolutely wonderful to work with. What that experience taught me was that we need to be far more competitive in North America, and not so begrudging of those who do the work more affordably and with little complaint. Why shouldn't they profit from the opportunity? Wealth should not be restricted to Canada or the US.

I hate seeing the poverty in the media of people starving, children dying, and HIV destroying families. I want for people around the world to have an opportunity to prosper. The virtues of caring and kindness cannot be limited to my world, but must include a global perspective. Hytten and Bettez (2008) propose we need to be globally aware and empathetic so that we can be responsible global citizens caring for everyone and our environment. So if a little offsourcing takes place to make another person's world better, that's a bonus. I guess I have to be better at what I do then as well.

Globalization

2009-01-28T19:01:00.000-06:00

The world is going global. It is not very hard to make a case to support that statement. When I was growing up in northern Alberta, Canada, as a young boy in the 60’s, living on a First Nations reserve without running water, electricity, and gas heating, we were literally cut off from the world. Our world was confined to our localized area in which we lived and depended upon for our sustainability. We carried the water from the river to the house; we used kerosene lanterns in the evening, and burned firewood to keep us warm. That was only forty years ago and yet the picture described is reminiscent of a Little House on the Prairies episode. But what stands out for me is how little information and news we had about the world as we know it today.

Today, I can go into any northern community in Canada and nearly every home has a satellite dish attached to the house with 200 channels and a computer is connected to high speed internet. The world has come to them. They still live in isolated, remote communities that may only be accessed by plane, but they are connected to the world events and people around the world. Recently, I flew into a northern community of Black Lake, Saskatchewan (north of the 59th parallel), where I met with the Education Director for the local school. On her computer, she had a live feed of a church service being held in Medigorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina, where thousands of devote Catholics make their pilgrimage to visit the statue of Mary. Her parents, along with thirty-four Athabascan Dene, were at the service half way around the world, and she was watching it live on her laptop.

Later that morning, the entire school of Dene students watched the inauguration of Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States of America get sworn into office on CNN, being beamed into every classroom in the school. It was an historic day, and as First Nations people, we were able to share in that momentous event as if we were there in person.

Our world has become smaller in many ways. Suarez-Orozco & Qin-Hilliard (2004) suggest that “globalization means that the lives of children growing up today will be shaped in no small measure by global processes in economy, society, and culture.” Clearly, television and internet are shaping the Dene world that once was limited to hunting for caribou and fishing for livelihood, and celebrating cultural events with traditional drumming and singing. Now youth wear their iPods to schools loaded with the latest rap music downloaded from iTunes. These youth no longer understand their identity as a singular culture, but as multiple identities as C. Suarez-Orozco argues that require youth to “function in diverse, often incommensurable cultural realities.” Globalization has not necessarily taught our youth to be better individuals, but rather has appealed to mass conformity or homogenization of identity that looks more American than First Nations. Maira discusses how cultural citizenship among immigrant youth in the United States has shifted from their countries of origin to a more “flexible citizenship” representative of two or more cultural contexts. While this research was focussed around the immigrant context, this phenomenon appears to be happening in our remote, isolated world in northern Canada.

While globalization is neither good nor bad, significant changes are taking place in cultural values and identities that are causing confusion and a sense of loss for many First Nations people. The changes have taken place so rapidly, that it has allowed for little time for gradual adaptation and understanding of what is transpiring. Educational institutions can play a significant role in helping youth transition and understand the complexity of challenges that arise from being exposed to other cultures and other worlds. Along with the exposure comes an increased expectation for youth to possess higher order and diverse cognitive skills for dealing with the wealth of information being thrust upon them. But in order for educational institutions to assist youth, they must examine whether they adequately equipped or resourced to prepare our youth for lies ahead. Do they understand the real issues youth are facing today? Unfortunately, many educational institutions are still using pedagogical methodology from the distant past, and are not engaging our youth with technology and creativity that assists them in facing the global world.

Christmas Week

2008-12-23T09:51:00.003-06:00

Technorati Tags: Credenda,Virtual,High School,Christmas

Credenda moved it’s office last week, and I missed blogging. But I still want to get something up for everyone about Christmas. A couple of weeks ago, three of our eTeachers flew North to Fond du Lac, Stony Rapids, and Black Lake to visit our eStudents. They put together a video for our eStudent Assembly, which is recorded and posted at the Credenda website.

We have another video we want to post, but we need releases signed first. In any case, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

We have a lot to be thankful for. I see a lot of people less fortunate than myself, and I am reminded of how much I have. During this season, please take time to think of others and be filled with care and cheer. See you when we get back from the holidays.

Week 7

2008-12-08T19:22:00.001-06:00

This week's virtue is Creativity. Creativity is the power of imagination. Creativity is a way to develop your special talents, gifts or abilities. It is seeing something in a new way, finding a different way to solve a problem. Creativity is using your imagination to bring something new into the world. These are just a few ways to describe, "creativity." The sad reality is that many of us growing up and going to school had our creativity, (how do I say it tactfully?) kind of squashed out of us.

Well, at least that was my experience for the most part, except for that one social studies class in Grade eight. The assignment was to do a group project about the Loyalists in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. I don't remember what the other students did, but I remember our project, because I had never had so much fun creating a skit with my three friends. The teacher was so supportive and I felt so affirmed. One of the elements of the skit was using a little comedy. We were acting out Loyalists hiding in the night trying to keep from getting discovered. We used magic candles that relight every time you tried to blow them out, until we dipped them in water. It really added to the suspense and the comedy. We had so much fun. But unfortunately, that was one of the rare moments where I remember I was allowed, no, I was encouraged to use my creativity.

A few weeks ago, we were asked to watch a video by Sir Ken Robinson on Ted.com called, Do Schools Kill Creativity?

Robinson says that creativity in schools should treated as importantly as literacy. I believe he is right! Here at Credenda, we want our eTeachers and eStudents alike to realize their potential not only in math, science, and literacy, but also in their creative expressions of each of these subject areas. We want learning to be fun, interesting, and relevant. I'm not interested in assignments being given to eStudents just for the sake of being given an assignment. It must have a purpose, and there are a variety of ways to achieve that purpose. Not only do I want Credenda to be that place of learning, but that kind of experience; the Credenda experience that embraces creativity. I love the potential to use technology to achieve these goals. Over the past weeks, I have been encouraging you to use blogs as one of those ways to express yourself. You can embed video, images, put links to other sources, and more. Blogging is becoming increasingly recognized as a valuable medium for communicating. Today's employers are looking for workers, who understand technology and the many ways to use it to communicate, and work collaboratively. In many ways, they are looking for creative people. You think about that!

Week 6

2008-12-02T17:33:00.001-06:00

Each week I'm trying to introduce a different topic that are practical for both eStudents and eTeachers. This is week is no different than the rest, so here it goes. I don't know about you, but the news that came out of Mumbai this week evoked a variety of emotion for me. First, I felt shock, disbelief at the terrorist actions of killing innocent people. It's difficult to understand how people can do these terrible kinds of things. What is going through there minds? Second, I felt sad at the loss of life. Stories have poured out of children watching their parents both being killed in front of them. Terrible! Third, I felt anger at those that did this. I had to be careful not to dwell on this emotion. I know I cannot change what happened there, but I think about what positive things can I do with the people I meet or work with daily, or speak with regularly or infrequently in meetings or wherever.

That's why at Credenda, we promote the virtues in our school. Virtues are those positive qualities that we need to grow in ourselves and encourage in others. Everyone has virtues, but often the challenge is for us to recognize those virtues in ourselves and bring those great qualities out in others around us. Each week, we promote a different virtue that each one of us can work on for ourselves and encourage in others. This weeks virtue is "Honour." What is honour? Honour is living with a sense of respect for what you believe is right. It is living by the virtues, showing great respect for yourself, other people, and the rules you live by. When you are honourable, you don't have to feel ashamed of who you are or what you are doing. You are worthy of respect. You set a good example. Part of that good example is speaking the language of the virtues. A couple of months ago, I did a few interviews about the importance speaking to one another that encourages others, rather than shame them. I posted this video on YouTube, and here it is.

We all need to use this language with one another.

Also, at Credenda, we promote a different charitable project each year. A couple of years ago, we sponsored World Vision, last year, we sponsored "Save Darfur," this year we are sponsoring "100-School Challenge." In November, Heather Barkley of Free the Children shared amazing stories of hope that transpire when young people help others. Heather explained this three step doable action plan; 1) Tell one person. 2) Find your passion. 3) Get involved with Adopt a Village. Why 2) Find your passion? The Adopt a Village program works to provide clean water, teach alternative incomes, and build schools.

Our eStudents and eTeachers are excited about helping each other and the world be a better place to live. We are committed to developing minds and hearts that are respectful to one another and the world. We believe that we can make a difference.

Week 5

2008-11-24T11:14:00.001-06:00

I'm actually enjoying blogging. Didn't know I would like it so much. You can share what you want, no more, no less. I'm sure some folks have blogs that don't make any sense, and maybe this is one of them. (lol) But I am trying to using this blog as a means that steers eStudents and eTeachers alike towards resources and tools available that can enhance learning. Sadly, some educators use the new tools in their classrooms like they would the old exercises and assignments. It's just simply replacing the pen and paper with a keyboard and computer. Just because someone is using technology doesn't mean they learned more. Too often assignment are simply make work projects, or busy work. The learning outcome is not the priority.

I need to be careful to be understood that I am promoting technology, especially since I am the ePrincipal of Credenda. I love technology, but I am not in favour of just using technology to replace old bad habits. There needs to be purpose in using it.

That leads me to my ramblings this week on how can we have eStudents use techonology to share the work they are doing with their peers that encourages connections. I'm not talking about Facebook, Bebo, Tagged, or MySpace. I think one of the greatest tools for eStudents to share work is blogging. It's simple, it's easy, and it's free. Now if I may self-indulge for a moment, but allow me this, because it relates. My younger daughter, Bailey, is at University of Lethbridge, AB. She is taking a Sociology course, where she and 4 other classmates were required to keep a weekly blog about any topic they wished as long as it related to their class. I want to share that blog, because it is a great example of how this tool can used very effectively by students.

Digitally Delicious This a group of socially and politically conscious young people that care about food and what they eat. They get to share their opinions with their peers and know that there voice is being heard. One week, they featured a restaurant that specializes in organic food from New York City. The owner, contacted them afterwards and thanked them for the plug. They were delighted. And rightly so too. I'm really proud of the work they are doing, and they get a lot of visits to their site now. They are very creative and it shines through.

There are a variety of blogging tools out there, but here are a few to mention: Blogger. If you have a gmail account, you can sign up very easily for this blogger. The reason I use this one is because I have a gmail account, but I also can blog from my Treo700 Smartphone directly to my account. So I can do this from the road, literally. Preferably when I'm not driving. The other one that is often highly recommended is WordPress. This is one my daughter, Bailey, uses. She likes it and finds it very easy to use as well. It's important, when you select a blogger account, that it can embed video and images easily. WordPress does both of these well.

In closing, I'm embedding a YouTube video that explains blogging in very simple terms. Check it out and have a good week.

Week 4

2008-11-17T19:14:00.001-06:00

Last week, I changed the background to black to honour Remembrance Day. I hope you took the time to watch the videos.It is pretty important to remember our veterans.

This week, I'm suppose to challenge each one of us to explore a digital too or resource for learning. We are very fortunate to have an engaging, never-tiring, course designer at Credenda, Randy Robert, who loves to share new tools and resources that he has found on the web. I honestly love the sites he sends links for me to look up. Here are a few samples, before I review and describe the website I want to feature this week.

For example: VozMe. Very cool! If you didn't notice, look at the top right of the blog page, I added the light blue button that says, "Select a text, and click here for voice." Try it! Just highlight the text in this blog and click the button at the top right, and then javascript converts the text into voice and reads it for you. A great tool for English as a Second Language.

Another great site was Animoto. This is a special tool that enables you to make video with your images that are analyzed by the online software and coordinated with the music you select to play with the video. Great tool for digital storytelling. Here's a sample of what it can do. This was our ELCC Grad this past weekend.

Another site is the Microsoft Telescope This is very cool site that allows you and your students to see the galaxy via the Internet. Amazing!This would be a great tool for teaching science without having to even go outside with a big telescope.

Finally, the site that Randy sent me that I was very intrigued with was Yoowalk. This is a website that allows you to set up a profile and avatar, and then create a virtual world of links that you can browse in and out of as an actual person walking through the streets. I've enclosed an image to illustrate at the top of the page. As a teacher, you can set up a world of links where your students can tour for information and resources. This is a very site. As a teacher, I could see myself using it to get students engaged in learning. I would even ask them how they would use it too to get the most out of it.

Enjoy, and be creative.

Week 3

2008-11-10T09:08:00.001-06:00

Well, this is week 3 of my new adventures of blogging. Actually, I'm enjoying it. In fact, I hear that eStudents and eTeachers are actually reading it. Cool. Not sure how much I'm actually contributing to pedagogy, but it is fun to ramble on.

This week I want to focus on Remembrance Day, November 11. Personally, I'm a big fan of our veterans. I try to think of what it must have felt like to ship out from Canada on a boat across the Atlantic to fight in World War I & II. I really can't get my head around it. I think it would have been terrifying. I'm a peace loving guy to begin with, and I imagine most of those who went to war were also peace loving family guys, who had a deep commitment and loyalty to Canada.

It still strikes me when I watch the Remembrance Day services and see the dwindling numbers of veterans with tears streaming down their faces, like the memory of the war was just yesterday, and they are still grieving the loss of that buddy, or buddies like it was today. I don't think we appreciate the significance enough of what happened and what they did for our freedoms. It is so easy to take it for granted.

I love history, so I have spent lots of time with veterans, and listened to their stories. They love to tell their stories. Pretty soon they will be gone, and those stories will go with them. We need to hear those stories, record those stories, and honour they stories by keeping them alive. So here's what I would like us to do this week.

We are going to combine a little History with Language Arts. I want you to watch this video called Learn about Remembrance Day.

Learn about Remembrance Day

In the video, she mentions Lt. Col. John McRae poem, "In Flanders Field's." Now that poem has been put to music as well, and this video combines images from WWI & WWII with the song.

Now after hearing about the history of Remembrance Day and the Poppy, combined with the poem/song, In Flander's Field, write your response on my blog here. "What does it make you think about? How do you feel about what the veterans did for us? What do we need to do to keep their stories and memories alive?" Tell me what you think, even in a few sentences.

For those of you with a video camera, and you know a veteran, go out a record a story and post it on my blog, or your own blog site.

Lest we forget!

Week 2

2008-11-04T18:09:00.002-06:00

Well, I'm sitting here in Prince Albert, SK watching the election results for the American election. A week ago, I was in the capital of Canada; Ottawa, the hub of all political happenings for Canada. However, the recent media coverage of the American election has overshadowed our own political events. It was only three weeks ago, we had our own national election. Less than a week ago, our government appointed 38 Conservative cabinet ministers, the most in years. How many Americans could name the leaders of the five main Canadian political parties, while we, in Canada, know the names of the two presidential leaders, their running mates, their spouses, and how many houses they own. Somehow our political news seems to pale in comparison to the historical US election that will affect us in Canada. Maybe that's why we are fixated to this presidential race.

A recent Environics survey reported by the CBC said that, "Fifteen per cent of Canadians would give up their ballot in Canada's next federal election to vote in the U.S. election." Wow! Some might wonder why I'm venturing into politics on this blog. But I believe it is important to us to teach our youth about the importance of politics and how the American political scenery influences our Canadian economy (the recent sub-prime bailout and market drop), our foreign policy (Canadian troops in Afghanistan), to just name a few.

It's the Message, Stupid: What Really Matters in American Politics examines the strategies that both the Democrats and Republicans use to spin the message. This week, I would like our eTeachers and eStudents alike to consider a variety of questions with regard to the election. It is important that we think about this topic from a variety of perspectives, in order to develop a well-rounded understanding of politics, both Canadian and American.

1) What are the implications of the USA possibly electing an African American president or a female Vice President? How has the USA been able to move past race and gender issues to embrace change from traditional voting patterns? What would it take for Canada to elect a First Nations Prime Minister? What would need to change to make that happen? Write a blog expressing an opinion on this.

2) Is the message the most important aspect, or is it the experience or character of the leader that determines who should be elected? After viewing the Discovery video, produce a sixty second video with your webcam and post it on Youtube stating your opinion about whether the message is the most important or something else.

3) Watch the SNL video of the Obama vs. McCain debate poking a little fun at the event. Produce a viral video with your cellphone or webcam putting a humorous spin on politics as you see it playing out. Keep it clean!

4) Read the article: Obama: A Full Partnership with Indian Country and discuss the position of Barack Obama towards Native Americans and how it compares or differs from Canadian political attitudes or platforms towards our First Nations people. Discuss your response with another person.

5) Respond to the CBC quote of 15% of Canadians wishing to vote in the American election by writing a paragraph stating your position: Agree or Disagree. Why or why not?

Hope you give some thought to this topic. See you next week.

Week 1

2008-10-28T15:07:00.000-06:00

First of all, I'm sitting in my hotel room in Ottawa, Ont. where I'm attending a Data Management Workshop hosted by the Canadian Council of Learning. I'm here because, we are investigating the potential for Credenda to be a host for our regional data. But I digress.

My name is Vince Hill. I'm the Director/Principal of Credenda Virtual High School. I was invited to Prince Albert Grand Council to create the online solution in response to a 2004 Indicators Report they produced that outlined a shortage of math and science classes being offered in our northern schools in Saskatchewan.

Today, we offer over 30 online, live courses to over 150 high school eStudents from across the province, and 4 post-secondary programs to over 120 eStudents. Our website is www.credenda.net. Currently, we have four of us taking the Wilkes program and another to join us in January. During the last class, Digital Storytelling, which I thoroughly enjoyed, I set up an online group discussion using our ElluminateLive tool. We had 9 - 10 participants join us, included the instructor, where we discussed the assignments and gave feedback to ideas. That really added to my online experience, and I believe to others as well. (We meet on Tuesday evening, 9PM on ElluminateLive. Just enter your name and no password. Better to have a headset with a microphone.)

I'm looking forward to this class, Digital Media in the Classroom, for different reasons than maybe others, because I am an administrator. I don't have a class to teach, but I supervise the eTeachers that are taking this course. I am particularly interested in how I can support them in their online classrooms in using various types of media to teach our eStudents. I want to be versed in what they are doing, so I can assist them and our eStudents.