Can We Afford to Wait Another 15 Years?

As originally posted on edtechdigest.com

Can We Afford to Wait Another 15 Years?
Posted on December 6, 2010 by Greg Limperis

CLASSROOM 21 | by Greg Limperis

How educators can avert déjà vu by waking up to today’s social media reality.

Fifteen years ago, I began teaching in a state-of-the-art school. Back then, it was a $40 million, first-of-its-kind elementary and middle school. An inner-city K-8 facility in Lawrence, Mass., it housed about 1400 students on opening day, and with a gymnasium, auditorium, cafeteria, library, television studio, art and home economics rooms—it was huge. It also housed three media rooms, and every classroom was outfitted with five student computers, a printer and a computer on every teacher’s desk. Every teacher was also issued a laptop, and all the computers were networked to the district intranet. There was a television in every classroom, and a library-based video center that piped out videos to any classroom upon request over the school intranet. The resources were impressive.

As a first-year teacher, I refused to let any of this go to waste, and quickly decided (with little help or support) that I would make full use of this technology in my classroom. As a homeroom teacher, I had students conduct research and present using the computer. My second year, delegates from around the world toured my class to see our daily integration of these tools used with inner city youth. By year three, I had done so much to integrate technology into our school that my principal requested that I become the school’s very first Technology Facilitator.

Over the next few years, I trained and mentored various new employees, assisting them in becoming Technology Facilitators as well. After six years, I was transferred to another, brand-new state-of-the-art school where I’ve been the Technology Facilitator ever since.

However, since leaving my first school, their tech integration has taken many steps back. Teachers aren’t trained. They have little experience with the best resources to integrate technology. Further, very few colleges do a great job of prepping teachers to integrate technology. If they do, many move into buildings unequipped to provide for these “students of the future”. Some still resemble turn-of-the-century schools. Technology very often goes unused. If it is used, it’s limited use.

Fifteen years of teaching and technology integration hasn’t progressed much further than when we first started. My new school actually has less computers per classroom, and more technology that goes unused for various reasons—not for my lack of skills or desire to train others.

In fact, two years ago, I even founded a professional learning network on Linkedin, Ning, Twitter, Diigo and Facebook to help share my skills. Though we now have thousands of members worldwide, very few are employees from my district. Why? I’m not certain, but I do know that I’ve shared the site and encouraged them to join. Instead, many teachers in my district are consumed with improving test scores. While ARRA money has been given out in the millions of dollars—and I’m sure some has reached our district (urban; 85 percent Hispanic; 85 percent at or below poverty)—for fifteen years we’ve hovered near bottom in state standardized test performance. Millions of dollars in state, federal and grant money later, little has changed.

So you ask me: What’s the future of education? What’s the influence of social media on that? My answer: the only way social media will result in any significant change to education over the next fifteen years is, if we as educators express our desire for change. Enough is enough! What we’re doing isn’t working.

As quoted in “Teaching for America” (New York Times, November 20, 2010), U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan stated in a November 4, 2010 speech:

One-quarter of U.S. high school students drop out or fail to graduate on time. Almost one million students leave our schools for the streets each year. … One of the more unusual and sobering press conferences I participated in last year was the release of a report by a group of top retired generals and admirals. Here was the stunning conclusion of their report: 75 percent of young Americans, between the ages of 17 to 24, are unable to enlist in the military today because they have failed to graduate from high school, have a criminal record, or are physically unfit.

We aren’t even preparing these students to enlist in our Army. According to the same New York Times article, the U.S. now ranks ninth in the world in college attainment.

Meanwhile, I use social media in my classroom, and I’ve polled my students on whether they enjoy using this medium better than the standard way they currently learn in the classroom. Just about every one of them has said, “Yes.” They want change. Unfortunately, we’re not providing them with any meaningful change. Yet of all the times change is possible, we’ve never been more ready or more set up to succeed than right now. With millions of dollars earmarked for education and specifically technology in education—we can’t afford to get this wrong.

How often will we be able to say this will happen? Will we do what is right for our students? Will we lead them into the future in a way that is meaningful for them, that uses cutting-edge technology to not merely enhance, but to help drive their learning? Will we give their teachers the skills and support they need in order to make this happen? Or, will we just throw all kinds of new technologies at them with little follow up and support, only to see the technology once again be used with very little purpose and even less meaningful lessons?

Where will our educators go for models of great teaching? Who will supply them with needed support if the school district does not? This is where we as educators need to make things happen for ourselves. If those in leadership positions cannot, do not, or even refuse to do it for us, we still have a tremendous opportunity to use our social networks to facilitate large-scale change.

Nonetheless, with all the teachers in this country and around the world, a professional networking group like mine shouldn’t have just 3,000 members. Classroom 2.0, the juggernaut of all social networks, shouldn’t have just 60,000 members. We should all be involved in these efforts—globally.

Our students, our countries and our future can’t wait another fifteen years for this change. It has to be swift. It has to be decisive—and change in education has to be meaningful for all students. We need to prepare our students for tomorrow today—providing them with the same tools we use in our professional lives. I would like to look back fifteen years from now and say with tickled amusement,“Hey! I remember when we used to teach that way!”—and I think our students would want that, too.

——-

Greg Limperis is a Middle School Technology Facilitator in Lawrence, Mass., who founded the very popular Technology Integration in Education professional learning network, reaching thousands of educators worldwide. He has shared with others what he knows and they have joined him in sharing their insights as well. Join them in bringing about change using your 21st century skills.

Visit: http://www.technologyintegrationineducation.com

As First posted on Edtech Digest

Posted on November 8, 2010 by Victor Rivero and Greg Limperis

From the PC to todayʼs line up, ripples of difference have become a tsunami of change.

Never before in the history of education has change come so quickly—and so decisively. What began mainly with

the PC more recently has included a whole host of maturing technologies

now effectively converging, and what were initially ripples of

difference have become a tsunami of change. Education will never be the

same. Here’s why:

1. Servers have now allowed educational institutions to connect multiple computers together sharing information in ways not

previously possible. It’s become a major part of school infrastructure;

server-based software has allowed for ease in data gathering and

dissemination.

2. With increasing online usage hours and the need to stream larger video files, educational institutions rising to meet that challenge will

turn to fiber optics. Currently, we’re using only a fraction of its capabilities.

3. Wireless technology will allow for learning to happen outside of the four walls of the classroom. Imagine the

possibilities of instantly accessing the world from any place within the

classroom or even out on the school grounds.

4. Daily arrival of new tablets such as The Kno, Moby, iPad and even e-readers such as the Kindle are helping students to

access multimedia-rich textbooks and to connect to the web via small

portable devices. Load them with student response system software and

we’ll see that data gathering and student knowledge acquisition makes

them invaluable tools for teachers. Also: seems like educational apps

for the tablet are endless.

5. Digital signage in hallways, meeting places and various school areas allow for sharing of student achievements, up and

coming events and more. Streaming content from school-based TV studios

or other sources are creating dynamic learning environments. Couple this

with touch screen monitors and you’ve got the perfect flip chart for

teachers to use in their daily instruction.

6. Interactive white boards, especially ones such as Tapit, engage students. They also help special needs learners like never before.

7. Document cameras allow students and teachers to display and share exemplary work and are an excellent way to make

stop-motion videos such as those created by Commoncraft. Projecting a document camera can be met with using a digital projector or digital display in the classroom.

8. High definition flat-screen monitors, especially LED, will become the perfect addition to a classroom. They drastically

reduce energy consumption and do away with problems inherently

associated with projectors and people standing in front of them.

9. Cell phones in the classroom will soon become inevitable. Qualcomm estimates that by 2011, more than half of all cell

phones will be smart phones. That means more than half of the 85 percent

of students who carry a cell phone now will soon have a portable

computer in their hands. How can we as educators not find a way to integrate these into our teaching?

10. Webcams and video conferencing equipment will allow us to connect with others in ways never before possible.

Larger-than-classroom learning will allow for students to connect with

others around the world in real time, anytime. Virtual field trips and

conferences will allow students to take part in previously impossible

events.

11. That said, how could we do without Skype? It allows educators, professionals and others to share information and

teachings in real time with the ability to share one’s desktop with

others while being able to see, hear and type. This will lead to

tremendous student interaction. The ability to interview professionals

at their place of work is very exciting!

12. The digital camera will be an essential tool for all educators to capture and share various events, work and more.

Digital cameras used as a documenting device for student work and

learning is obvious. From yearbooks, presentations, graphics and more,

digital cameras are transforming education in ways never thought of

years ago.

13. Cloud computing is the way of the future. Many experts will tell you that most resources will eventually be located on

the cloud. The ability for students to access data, files and programs

from any location at any time via the cloud will be needed as the

proliferation of technology in their daily learning continues.

14. The advent of the new, Web 2.0 internet has brought great potential educational tools (Facebook, Ning, Twitter,

Moodle). Students can collaborate and share 24/7 and access assignments

and fellow classmates at any time, any day.

15. What student doesn’t love to take their learning with them? With MP3s and iPods, students create easily-shared podcasts. Applications are easy to add;

there are enormous collections of academic applications helpful to

students in their daily learning.

16. YouTube provides the possibility of accessing millions of (often student-created) videos, an excellent resource.

Tutorials alone on YoutTube will help students gain further

understanding of concepts and lessons not fully grasped during class.

The ability for students to showcase some of their learning to a

worldwide audience provides an added incentive and a purpose, really, to

produce higher-quality work. The opportunities are endless.

17. Boring, perhaps, but let’s hear it for databases that can and will transform education, allowing mass amounts of

information to be stored and quickly retrieved. Educators worldwide are

now able to learn a great deal about their students thanks to key data

at their fingertips, data allowing educators to mold learning to

individual student needs.

18. Lastly, who can deny the possibilities XBOX 360’s new Kinect offers to education? Physical education uses are obvious, but with a

little programming, imagine the ability to dissect an animal with your

hands without the necessity of having a real one there. With the user’s

body as the controller, the user now becomes part of the program they

are immersed in. Being part of the software they are currently using

will only lend itself more engaged learning.

As you can see, I could go on for days. The fact is, technology is transforming education, especially student learning, in profound and

previously unimagined ways. Though I believe that these technologies

should not drive our instruction, I do hope they will transform it to

help make learning more engaging—while simultaneously broadening our

scope of knowledge. What would you add to this list? Also, any other

thoughts? Please share!

18TechsChangingEd.pdf

Why Wait for Superman?

Posted on October 6, 2010 by Victor Rivero

CLASSROOM 21 | by Greg Limperis
Click here for PDF version
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s—well, actually—why wait? Simply grab your cell and give him a call right now.
The latest documentary to hit the theaters, “Waiting for Superman,” suggests that the public school system here in America is broken and it needs to change. Yet, there’s an inherent assumption, or even a blatant suggestion almost—that we are or should be waiting. I’m not waiting. Why wait? There’s plenty that we ourselves can do.
According to Harris Interactive, four out of five teens (17 million) carry a wireless device (a 40 percent increase since 2004). Of all of those teens who are carrying a cell phone, by the end of next year, more than half of them will be carrying a smartphone. Neilsen also estimates that the amount of data usage by smartphone users has tripled in one year and the data usage is expected to go nowhere but up. Within the next year or so, these smartphones will include devices such as Apple’s iPhone, iPad; Blackberry’s Playbook, Dell’s Streak, and the multiple phone makers who will run Google’s Android or Symbian Foundation’s Symbian operating systems.
In our schools, use of a cell phone is both unheard of and unwelcome. School policies are calling for complete bans of cell phones in school and for great reasons: texting, sexting, cheating, safety and distractions are all reasons officials cite for the need to block the use of cell phones in school. Increasingly, children these days are texting, sending pictures taken on phones and communicating with others in ways never done before. As with any new technology, the tool can be a distraction. Therefore, in an effort to avoid these distractions, many schools have added to their school policies that cell phones are not allowed in school or that students need to be checking them in at the door. If this policy is not followed, students run the risk of having their cell phone taken away.
Imagine teaching a lesson, and a student has forgotten to shut off their ringer and the cell phone goes off. Or how about a fight occurring in school and students videoing it only to post it on   YouTube seconds after it happens?  Better yet, how about posting one student’s transgressions of poor sexual behavior to broadcast not just around school—but for a worldwide audience and, depending if it’s viral material, for a worldwide audience of hundreds of thousands, or even millions of viewers? Or more simply, how about the answers to a teacher’s test being shared via text message with everyone else in the room? Students have been known to steal these devices in order to have the best “status symbol” as their possession. What about the dangers of an unforeseen school emergency where rescue efforts are hampered by students calling home or alerting loved one that they are okay, only to find out their cell phone use resulted in a networked so strained that emergency calls were not able to go through? As some teachers will tell you, cell phones in the classroom are just plain distracting.
Let me tell you this, though: according to a poll conducted online at Helium, of the 8,259 people who voted when asked if students should have cell phones at school, 66 percent of them said yes. I am a teacher and I have seen these issues in my school—but, ironically, if I would have had an opportunity to vote, I’d have voted yes, too. Let me tell you why.
As I stated before, new technology can be intimidating and it can be distracting. We can either ask the student to put the distraction away—or we can address it and move on. Students are carrying around the technology which we the teachers are screaming to have in our classroom on a daily basis.
I argue, let’s not ask them to put the cell phone away. Instead, let’s ask them to take it out. Let’s ask them to call someone and get an answer to the question. Let’s ask them to text someone in another country to learn more about that person and their culture. Let’s let them use it to create a podcast of their field trip as they are on it. Let’s ask them to send us a picture of something they are learning about. Ask them to text you what they think the answer to your question is. Wouldn’t the cell phone make a great student response system? Why buy one for every student if more than half of them will have one in the next year? Forget about the possibility of using that cell phone for geocaching or surfing the net. Imagine the power of more than half of your students with their own computer in each of their hands. Folks, this isn’t science fiction. It’s a reality now.
We need to rethink education and learning all the way down to its core. Is it really cheating if a student doesn’t  know the answer but knows where to get it? Would I be a failure at my job if I didn’t know the answer to something and just said, “Oh, well.” Or, would I go ask someone who did know, and then look brilliant? Don’t you think we can find ways to overcome all of the cons to using cell phones in the classroom and instead focus on the pros?
Let’s not sit around and wait for Superman, let’s pick up that cell phone and give him a call. How much could it hurt?
——-
Greg Limperis is a Middle School Technology Facilitator in Lawrence, Mass., who founded the very popular Technology Integration in Education professional learning network, reaching thousands of educators worldwide. He has shared with others what he knows and they have joined him in sharing their insights as well. Join them in bringing about change using your 21st century skills.

Visit: http://www.technologyintegrationineducation.com

Who Needs 21st-Century Skills Anyway?

Posted on September 2, 2010 by Greg Limperis on edtechdigest.com

CLASSROOM 21 | by Greg Limperis
Click here for PDF version
So what if the information in my textbook might be a bit outdated—Pluto was a planet at one point, wasn’t it?
What’s all this talk these days about teachers needing 21^st century skills? What’s wrong with the way I, you or our parents learned, anyway?  What is wrong with putting students in rows and opening up a big textbook to learn, anyway?
There is nothing like the sound of a textbook opening for the first time. The flipping of paper and the beautiful graphics are so engaging. I know what you are thinking; a digital textbook has that and so much more.  So what if the information in my textbook might be a bit outdated—Pluto was a planet at one point, wasn’t it? The pictures are the same in the text as they are online aren’t they? I know, you can copy, save and paste pictures, text and much more into a project from your digital text but, hey! I can do that with a photocopy machine, glue and scissors anyway. Yeah, it may be messy and it may take a bit longer—but think of the great projects my students can share with each other.
Okay, so don’t tell me, you can do the same projects digitally—but add more pizzazz. What? You can add video, audio, motion and much more to your projects? Hmm, that’s interesting. What is that, you can put it online and share it with others worldwide? Others can rate the project and comment on it? They can work on it collaboratively from anywhere and at any time? Hmm, okay. But can yours be hung on a wall for others to see when you are all done? It can?  Hmm.
Well, how about pen pals?  Why do I need 21^st century skills for collaboration? What’s wrong with students picking up a piece of paper, sitting down and writing a good, old-fashioned letter and mailing it off to someone else around the world? What’s that? You can do that instantly and get back feedback on the letter all within an hour or day’s time? You can talk with someone halfway around the world live—and face to face? Hmm.
Well, hey—how about field trips? What do I need 21st-century skills for in order for my students to take a field trip? All I have to do is load them up on a bus and we can be anywhere within a hundred or so miles within a day. I do not need 21st-century skills for that.  I know it can be expensive and hard to get okays to leave the state—but it’s worth it. Oh, c’mon! Don’t tell me you can be anywhere in the world today on your field trip using your 21st-century skills. What do you mean your students took a field trip to see the Great Barrier Reef live this year? How did you do that? Isn’t it under water? Yeah, and you still went? Hmm.
Okay, but we can act out scenes in our class and create plays and share with others in the school all without using 21st-century skills. What is that you say? You do that and more? What do you mean you can create movies and share them online with the world?  Yeah, our class has a boob tube. What do you mean you have YouTube? You can share all kinds of video with everyone worldwide? You can record your play and post it online? Others can comment on it and rate it? It can be downloaded and added to other people presentations?  Hmm.
Yeah, but in this day of test taking and data, why would I need 21st-century skills for that? I’m good with data and a calculator. Yes, it takes a bit of time to gather that data and organize it so that it is meaningful, but I am eventually able to use some of it to help mold my teaching and drive my instruction.  Don’t tell me: You can do all of that instantly and changes in your teaching happen frequently? Hmm.
I have a white board, pointer, over head projector, camera and plenty of books. What else do I need? What do you mean, you have a computer, document camera, video camera, interactive white board laser pointers, student response systems and you say you haven’t even touched the tip of what is available for you to use? Wow! What’s that you say? Your students are engaged? They’re presenting, sharing, collaborating, and using higher order thinking?  That does sound fun.
Yes, I could survive and supply my students with a worthwhile education but, wow! I think yours sounds more engaging. Can I join your class? I guess I do need 21st-century skills. I want to know what this blogging thing is, what are web 2.0 tools, how do you Skype? I want to collaborate and share without leaving my classroom. I want to analyze, create, evaluate, apply, understand and remember. I want that for my students, too.
I don’t want them to feel like they are powering down when they enter my classroom. I want to meet them where they are and not expect them to meet me where I am. I am a teacher with tools available to me. I want to know how to use them. I am a continuous learner myself. I can learn these 21st-century skills. My students need them, and so don’t I.