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A Secondary Idea

Posted in Administrator, Assessment, Banning, Education, EduCon, Elementary, Homework, Leadership, Literacy, Mentoring, PLN, Reform, Skills, Social Media, Teacher, Teched, Technology, Thought leadership, Thought Provoking on February 21, 2011| 5 Comments »

This post is the third and last on a topic involving a change in the way most schools incorporate technology into the curriculum for the benefit of students and teachers alike. The overall idea was spelled out in Piece of the Pie, and suggested changes on the elementary and secondary levels in our approach to technology integration. A more detailed description of the Elementary piece was explored in An Elementary Idea. In this post I would like to offer a suggestion for an approach on the secondary level.

Many of the obstacles to integrating technology into the curriculum as tools for learning are the same on the secondary level as they are on the elementary level. Insofar as teachers needing to seek professional development the problem remains the same. Too often teachers don’t know what it is that they don’t know when it comes to technology in education. It goes beyond just learning tech. It requires a continual commitment to learning with the ability to provide the time to do so. Beyond that commitment, the idea of comfort is always worked into the discussion. Teachers seem to have a need to be comfortable with technology in order to learn or use it. Little of this helps get technology into the classroom. The time restraints and discomfort of some, deny the access of technology in the curriculum for many. Beyond the teachers however, the other obstacle is a lack of support on the part of the district. This is usually a result of lack of money, or understanding, or leadership. Too often it’s a combination of all of those elements.

The plan for the secondary level is as simple as scheduling a study hall. It will require a model very familiar to special education teachers. It is a resource room with access to technology. The teacher in charge of the room may become a jack of all trades and a master of none. It will require the teacher to be a mentor more than a content expert. The teacher’s expertise will be in knowing where to direct kids to go for an exploration of content. The room will require access to technology or at least the ability for students to use their own personal tools to access the internet.

In this scheduled class students may be directed to any number of tutorial sites like the Kahn Academy. This will enable students to explore subjects in ways that may be different from those presented in the regular class. The idea of open source exploration may also slip the bonds of the textbook of the classroom with the guidance of the tech resource teacher. This will be a place of exploration to teach students the ability to explore subjects independently in an effort to develop independent life-long Learners.

This learning environment will also allow students to understand and develop their own Personal Learning Networks. The idea of responsible digital citizenship will be reinforced on a daily basis. Emphasis can be placed on the positive aspects of social media and social learning. The skills of collaboration and communication will be the focus. Students needing to work on projects or presentations will also benefit in this learning environment. The ability to Skype with experts and authors can take place to benefit all in this collaborative environment.

The age of the students should not matter. Freshmen to seniors mixed in one place can all benefit from this mentoring process. The mission of this environment would be to create a mentoring environment with access to technology to supplement, and enhance that which is being taught in the various classes of the students in this environment. This will remove the classroom barriers as students gain independence in learning outside the classroom. The idea would be to make them participatory learners, directing their own learning. There would also be a need to teach and strengthen critical thinking skills in order to improve the ability to acquire accurate and relevant information. These students will be media literate. The benefits of this learning environment hopefully will spill over to the other classes.

That would be my proposal with some of the benefits spelled out. It will meet certain academic and media literacy needs. It will require a change in thinking on the part of some, but it would be fairly simple to implement. It addresses the 21^st century skills that we hear and talk so much about. This proposal however, will also probably never go anywhere but this post for two reasons. One, It cannot be measured by a standardized test. Two, it requires people to think and do things differently from the way they are doing things now. Our need to talk, debate and argue endlessly about reform without change will continue. I will however probably feel compelled to continue making suggestions for reform.

Comments are welcomed.

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An Elementary Idea.

Posted in Administrator, Assessment, Banning, Blog, Elementary, Leadership, Literacy, Mentoring, Parents, PLN, Reform, Skills, Social Media, Teachmeet, Technology, Thought leadership, Thought Provoking, tagged Elementary, Parents, PD, Professional Development on February 18, 2011| 24 Comments »

In my last post, Piece of the Pie, I suggested adding a teacher to the elementary program in order to better utilize technology as a tool for learning. I have had a number of requests to expand on that idea. I have never been an elementary teacher, so I am not sure I have the clearest picture of how to make the right changes, but I can frame the problem and offer a suggestion which can be changed accordingly.

When we talk about reform in education there are no easy solutions. There are layers of problems intertwined with more layers of problems. Often a solution in one area may ripple out and cause problems in other areas. This is a primary reason many people would like to blow up the system and start from scratch.

In order to appreciate my suggestion for change, I think I might best start by addressing the problems that I am attempting to address. It is not a single issue but, again, a layer of intertwined conditions preventing or at least obstructing our ability to create the best environment for learning for our kids.

The first part of this problem involves teachers and Technology. For a myriad of reasons the advance of technology development is out pacing our teachers’ ability, or understanding as to how to use it effectively as a tool for learning. We need not explore the reasons for this gap, but we must acknowledge that for a huge number of our teachers this gap exists.

The second part of this problem is the need for our kids to understand the advantages as well, as the pitfalls, in the use of technology in order to prepare for a technology driven society. Yes, there are those who feel that people should reject the fact that we are becoming a technology driven society and they have that right. They don’t have the right to make that decision for others however. In order to decide about any choice, one needs to understand the choices and their implications. That being said, technology does have a place in education as a tool for learning.

Of course I am making a recommendation to add teachers in an era of cutbacks and layoffs, so this entire idea may be a non-starter. I would like to see an elementary teaching position created for the purpose of integrating technology into the elementary classroom. This is not an IT position, but a classroom teacher position. This would be a revolving teacher, one who schedules visits to many classrooms as a support person. This Tech teacher would enter classes one or two times a week for a period of time to work with kids using technology as tools for learning in support of the curriculum that is being taught by the primary teacher.

This Tech teacher will be responsible for planning with the primary teacher in order to integrate technology in a meaningful way to the class environment. This can be done with applications or websites. Skyping in experts and authors can be an activity for this Tech teacher. The introduction of Social Media and responsible digital citizenship could be added to the list. Tech tools for the creation of content are another area the Tech teacher could explore. She/he would also be the Go-to person for Parent Workshops for technology in the classroom sessions. A teacher offering to be a source parent support.

It would need to be mandated with required a schedule for this Tech teacher to enter these classrooms on a regular basis. There is an argument for this to be applicable at every grade level, but at the very least it should happen from fourth grade, and continue through sixth.

The addition of this Tech teacher is the best form of Professional Development in technology for the entire staff. Teachers, who are not now using tech for whatever reason, will see its benefits in their own class without needing to do it themselves. They will also have a say in how to incorporate it in what they want to do. This increases their understanding and guides them through its use. It will also increase collaboration with all teachers since the Tech Teacher revolving from class to class will be making connections with teachers with similar interests, goals and lessons.

Every Tech teacher should have a COW. That would be a cart with a class set of laptops, Computers On Wheels. Being able to have a person responsible to guide the students to the best sites and the best free web 2.0 tools will be a great help to the primary teacher. It also allows the primary teacher to explore the benefits of student, and class blogging. That opens the door to responsible digital citizenship, critical thinking, reflective thinking, creation of content, collaboration, communication, and enhancement of self-esteem.

Using the push-in teacher model enables the primary teacher the time and incentive to learn and grow with the students. Hopefully, the more they learn and share, the more they will venture forward. Both teachers and students may begin to develop connections with others who have similar likes and interests, as well as people who are experts in various areas. We know this a Personal Learning Network. Imagine what could happen if kids learned to responsibly create their own PLN’s as elementary students and develop and grow that PLN throughout their academic career.

There are many pluses in this plan, at least as I have laid it out, but there are huge obstacles to make it happen. When it comes to education reform, many wants reform, but few want change. Out of the Box innovation does not come from in the box regulation. I proposed an idea that addresses many issues and may offer solutions to persisting problems in Professional Development and use of Technology. I am only a Shaker, I am not a Mover. If we are to ever get Education Reform, we need educators, not only discussing reform, but making changes as well. The alternative will be business mandated labor reforms couched in the cloak of Education Reform for the sake of privatization and profit.

I now need to post a similar idea for the secondary Level.

Comments and ratings welcomed

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Piece of the Pie.

Posted in Administrator, Blog, Education, Leadership, Literacy, Mentoring, Parents, PLN, Reform, Skills, Social Media, Teacher, Teched, Technology, Thought leadership, Truth on February 16, 2011| 6 Comments »

I have been corresponding with a high school student who contacted our college about the effects of Personal Learning Networks on high school students. He was doing research for a report. I was impressed with his curiosity, as well as his grasp of the subject. My interaction has caused me to reflect on my own beliefs as I explained things to him.

In order to learn about any subject, one needs to seek out a source with expertise on the subject to obtain the information or content needed to understand that subject. That is a simple explanation. Our education system not only provides those experts to our citizenry, but it trains experts of content to continue the process. We know those content experts as teachers. This is how things went for decades. Content was delivered by the systems experts. The exception would be those who sought out the expertise of books by self-directing their search for knowledge in libraries.

In the age of the Internet all of that has changed. Information or content can be searched and stored digitally. Beyond that, it can also be created, published, and communicated in ways never before possible. To accelerate the entire process, we now have Social Media which provides a global gateway for the flow of information in numbers never imagined when information was only in printed-in-ink text form.

The new tools of technology, as well as the vast amount of content now available, have created a new form of literacy. The skills required to master this literacy will enable our students to gather, create, collaborate, and communicate with content globally. It is not a passing fad, but rather a shift in the way we interact as a culture. This is the reality for which we, as educators, are helping to create lifelong learners.

Our education system has not yet recognized this as the new reality. There are still stand-and-deliver educators who are wonderful educators. They do get their content across to a number of students. Bill Gates has a vision of all teachers having the TED Talks model of content delivery. The methods taught to teachers are only now taking on the tools of technology in the methods used to teach. Not every teacher in the system today has had the access needed to be comfortable using those tools. Not every parent has had the opportunity to explore the possibilities of learning for their children with the tools of technology.

I have always felt that if we are to reform the education system we need to change the culture. We are beginning to see a change coming as our culture is being further immersed in a technologically-driven society. The needs of the society are requiring a citizenry that is technologically literate. In order for our children to be literate and competitive we need to shift our focus in education.

There are times when a stand and deliver model of teaching will be required. The front of the room content delivery system will always be needed at times. Students however need to know that they are capable of getting beyond that. They can go beyond that model to seek out what it is they need to know. We need to teach them how to do that. We need them to understand what id is to be a responsible digital citizen. We need them to understand how to navigate the internet to seek information. We need them to understand that there are people the can connect with on a global level willing to collaborate on content. They need to understand that they can create content in many forms and publish it to the world as an audience. They need to understand that they can communicate their ideas to others worldwide. E are not lofty goals available to a limited few. They are real attainable goals available to anyone who is technologically literate.

“How do we get there?”, you may ask. That is the change in the culture and reform education part. In my view of the perfect system, we would start in elementary school. We would teach digital citizenship and safety on the internet. We would focus on critical thinking to have students understand the difference between fact and fiction, and be separate facts from sound bytes. We will teach them how to gather, collaborate, create and communicate content using technology tools. We would begin to have them develop their own Personal Learning Networks which will continue to grow as they do. It will be populated with people who will help with what each student wants to learn as well as what needs to be learned. The teacher will not be a content delivery expert, but rather a content expert who guides the students in a mentoring model. Wherever it is fitting, technology tools will be used for learning, but it will not be a forced issue. If technology tools are not appropriate they need not be used.

Of course this is not possible. I don’t make the rules. The policies determining the direction of education is not being made by me. Some might argue it’s not even being made by educators. I am a realist. I don’t expect to get the whole pie, but I would love to get a piece of it.

How about if we do not implement this school wide around the country. What if we started a push-in program where a teacher would on a regular schedule drop into classes on the elementary level to mentor students in the areas discussed here. This teacher would also be a liaison with the parents. Parents are most active with their child’s education on the elementary level. What better time to train them in the use of technology and to dispel the myths connected with it. This will allow parents a greater involvement with their child’s education.

What if on the secondary level, instead of doing what is needed with technology in every academic class, we created a separate mentoring class. At each meeting the teacher of that class would address the needs of the students in using tech learning tools to accomplish goals in all academic areas.The teacher would act as a guide, an expert in the area of learning with tech tools for learning. If the program is successful other academic teachers should soon adopt the practices of the mentoring teacher as they learn from their students. Students could use this mentoring class to refine PLN’s with experts and others with similar interests. This PLN will go with the student after graduation to ensure lifelong learning.

These are getting to be cliché’s but someone needs to pay attention. The status Quo is not working. We can’t expect out of the box innovation, if we do not allow out of the box thinking. We do need our teachers to be better learners, if we expect them to be better teachers.

I am most grateful to that high school student who engaged me in this conversation. By the way he is creating his Personal Learning Network in order to research what a personal learning network is. Amazing is this wonderful, magical world of learning!

Two follow up posts to this: An Elementary Idea, and A Secondary Idea

Your comments and ratings are welcomed.

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Ubiquitous Technology?

Posted in Administrator, Banning, conference, Education, EduCon, FaceBook, Filtering, ISTE, Leadership, Literacy, Observation, PLN, Reform, Skills, Social Media, Teacher, Teched, Technology, Thought leadership, Twitter, unconference, tagged PD, Professional Development on February 4, 2011| 15 Comments »

It has been almost a week since I went to EduCon 2.3 in Philadelphia, and I am still going over many things in my head that I discussed, or experienced in that atmosphere of educational collaboration. “What is EduCon?” you may ask. “It is, hopefully, an innovation conference where we can come together, both in person and virtually, to discuss the future of schools.” The “in person” attendance was limited to 300 educators who came from all over the country. Many of the attendees were educators who were connected to each other through Social Media. Many, although maybe meeting face to face for the first time, were very familiar with the beliefs and attributes of their fellow attendees long before this conference.

Social Media is the new factor in educational conferences that is changing the way many educators interact. Its effect is not only taking hold on educators at conferences, but on the population of countries as well. Social Media is having a profound effect on the revolution going on in the Middle East. The first reaction of repressive governments used to be to control the TV and Radio stations. Today, their first reaction to revolt is to block the internet, specifically Twitter and Facebook. This control of social Media has become a prime directive in China. The idea of keeping entire populations without access to technology of any kind, with the possible exception of weapons, may be a goal of many Middle Eastern countries

I have said enough about international conflict, so back to Philly and EduCon 2.3. I really enjoyed going out with so many people after a day of conferring on Education. At my hotel we gathered a group of about 30 people for dinner. It was great meeting in the hotel lobby. The energy level was high with everyone recapping the events of the day. We were expanding and exploring much of day’s topics, while interspersing jokes and personal anecdotes. After traveling to two restaurants and realizing that no one was going to host a group of 30 people we broke down into two groups. My group of about a dozen people went to a really nice pub that took us in and seated us in an isolated alcove at the back of the pub.

As we were seated, we resembled any group of close friends out for a night of celebration and frivolity. That appearance belied the fact that many of us, although familiar with each other through social media, were together face to face for the first time. It mattered not because of our strong connections developed virtually through social media over the past year. We had a great time talking about the day, the people we met and the things we had learned.

The Waiter brought the menus and we all perused the fare to decide on our meals. After the orders were given and the waiter went off with his order pad and something happened. Everyone at the table, I think it was twelve total, pulled out their mobile learning devices to check-in, tweet out or catch-up. Some even texted the other half of the original group from our hotel. My immediate reaction was to ask the group, would you do this at a restaurant with your families? Of course the response was a resounding NO. “They do not understand” was in the majority of responses. The smart phones, or mobile learning devices, were then used to share with each of the dinners family photos, links to educational sites, blogs, and sites stored from the day’s encounters. It was a collaboration fest. The sight that grabbed me was that a dozen people, all seated at a long combination of tables, were all looking at their individual mobile learning devices all at the same time. It took about ten minutes until the first round of drinks arrived and the devices disappeared and the face to face socializing began.

The encounter stuck with me through the next day. The idea of how mobile learning devices have crept into our interaction and collaboration began to implant itself in my head. I knew how it affected me, but now I observed its effect on many educator/learners who I have come to know and respect. The next day at the conference I continued my observation of mobile learning devices. In every session I attended, I observed a great majority of the attendees using Laptops, I Pads, or Smart Phones during each of the sessions. These learner educators were recording and back channeling information from each of the sessions. (Back Channeling is sending out comments, quotes, or reactions to a session or a speaker through social media.) These people represented some of the best informed educator learners in education today all using mobile technology to learn and collaborate.

Now for my reflection: It was obvious to me that some of the most avid learners that I have ever known have embraced mobile devices in their learning. They use it in their formal learning environments as well as personal lives. For these learners, learning technology is ubiquitous. (ubiquitous existing or being everywhere, especially at the same time; omnipresent.) Laptops, I Pads, and mobile phones were everywhere in this conference of über learners.

Now, I need to present my long-awaited reflection. I wonder, given the two examples offered, where should American education fall with a policy on Mobile Learning Devices. Should it follow the model of outstanding educators who are proven learners? That would involve the ubiquitous use of learning technologies. The other option: Should it follow the model of Middle Eastern countries attempting to keep their populations in the centuries of the past? Blocking the internet and controlling the use of Mobile Learning Devices. Should American Educators resist the advent of learning technologies, or should they embrace it. Embracing it will require Professional Development. Rejecting it requires absolutely nothing.

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DIY Thought Leadership

Posted in Administrator, Blog, conference, Edcamp, EdChat, Education, EduCon, ISTE, Leadership, Literacy, Mentoring, PLN, Reform, Skills, Social Media, Teacher assessment, Teachmeet, Teched, Technology, Thought leadership, Thought Provoking, Truth, Twitter, unconference, tagged Professional Development on January 30, 2011| 7 Comments »

Many folks are reflecting on their #EduCon experience of this past weekend. #EduCon is a unique education conference in that it has no vendor support or “How-To workshops”. It consists of intellectual conversations dealing with ideas and concerns of that which we call education or learning. It is limited to 300 participants drawing from some of the leading Thought Leaders in education from across the country. The idea of Thought Leader is in fact the focus of this post.

I never knew of the term Thought Leader as it applied to educators. I never heard it over a 34 year career as a secondary English teacher. I did not hear of it when I first entered the Higher Ed arena. I did hear of it as I entered the world of Social Media. I have come to believe that a Thought Leader is one who encourages, promotes, stimulates, or fosters thought in the area of Education. Other areas and industries have their own Thought Leaders.

What set me off on this reflection was a tweet by Ira Socol about EduCon having a hierarchy of attendees, an “A-List” as it were. I took that to mean a group of people who were above the average attendees, the Educator Elite who others look up to for direction. They would be the recognized Thought Leaders. In fact there was a number of attendees who travel the education circuit as Keynote Speakers and paid consultants. That however, does not diminish their expertise in the area of education. In fact they were not at EduCon as paid Keynotes or paid consultants. They were there as educators and education experts exchanging ideas with other educators. Since many of them have been on the education circuit for quite a while, they are familiar with each other and naturally gravitate together. What separates them from the label of elite is their approachability and openness to sharing. They are there as sources. I will not list names, because I know, I will undoubtedly, leave someone out, and feelings will be hurt. Let us acknowledge that these Thought Leaders were at EduCon to share and offer their expertise as much as any other attendee there. They paid the same fee we all did.

There is also a secondary level of this Hierarchy. These individuals might be thought of as the Nouveau riche amongst educators. They acquired their gravitas through social media. With a combination of education, learning, and experience, they have assembled a number of opinions on various subjects within education and have tweeted them out or blogged to a following. Their opinions have been weighed and measured and by all accounts they are recognized as sound. Others have Re-Tweeted their tweets or recommended their blogs to such an extent that global recognition has been acquired. These are the individuals who made up a bulk of the conversation moderators at EduCon. Again, they were very approachable with sharing and exchanging ideas the focus of their attendance at the conference.They are giving as much as they are taking. That is the theory of sharing.

Now to the point of this post, anyone has the ability to be a Thought Leader. I was taken aback at a comment by one of the attendees at EduCon who said that she would never tweet out a promotion of her Blog post. I immediately pictured an elementary student after being nominated for class president being told that she/he cannot vote for her/himself. If you do not believe you are the best person for the job, why run? If you do not believe your post has value and should be shared for comment and reflection, why write it? How can you test the value of your beliefs? The purpose of your post should be your belief in the value of your opinion. Comments will direct your reflection and possible change in thought. We are not politicians. Educators are expected to be flexible and change when needed.

With the help of Social Media I have been referred to as a Thought Leader. It is not a title I claimed, or gave to myself. It is a title that others have given me and it comes with responsibility. People begin to look to me for thought or even some leadership in thought. It is a title that can be claimed by anyone who comes to the social media table with knowledge, experience, flexibility and small amount of social media savvy along with a few contributions to add to the educational slow pot cooker.

To become a Do It Yourself Thought Leader:

Select your area of expertise.
Use twitter to Micro blog your ideas.
Respond to others on your topic.
Engage educators in discussions of your topic.
Write a blog on your Topic
Promote your posts on Twitter to drive traffic to your Blog
Submit proposals for presentations at Education conferences.

Social Media has offered educators another avenue to become a Thought Leader. It is not an easy road, but it is possible to step up and move forward. It is also a role that needs to be filled in a climate of change and reform. We need more educators to step up and offer guidance through the obstacles to change.

Please, help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope!

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Tightrope Teaching

Posted in Administrator, Assessment, Blog, cooperating Teacher, Education, Leadership, Mentoring, PLN, Pre-Service teachers, Reform, Skills, Social Media, Student teaching, Teacher, Teacher assessment, Teched, Technology, Thought Provoking, Truth on January 24, 2011| 9 Comments »

As an adjunct professor at a local private college, I have the privilege each semester to teach one of several methods courses required for our secondary English education students. In addition, I supervise a group of student teachers in their assignments which requires me to observe each student in each of their teaching assignments, one a middle school and the other a High school placement. Within my methods course I engage my students in many of the educational topics relevant to educators today. I have them use Social Media to create Personal Learning Networks, and I require these future English teachers to blog and post comments on blogs of others. They do not take tests, but rather are assessed on lessons, projects and Unit plans that they are required to create and develop.

To many of the educators with whom I am in daily digital contact this probably sounds like it should be the way all methods courses should be taught. Anyone familiar with what I have written over the past year on this blog would know that I believe in integrating technology into education. That is an emphasis I use in my class. This too might be praised by the choir of tweeting educators with whom I have come to belong. With all of this support, one would think that I would be convinced and resolute in a mission to put my stamp of relevance on all of my students. Not so fast!

I have a very strong belief in teaching the right thing as I have come to understand it. I also have an obligation to prepare my students to be the best possible candidates for a teaching position. This is the tightrope part. My biggest dilemma is that I can prepare them with what they need, but I can’t hire them. I know that many of the methods I am using and teaching strategies that I promote, may not be the same as those ascribed to by their perspective employers. There are many times when I will give my opinion and tell my students that they may not want to mention that in a job interview.

The other force that pulls my students is that of experience. Most have experienced teachers who demand memorization followed by a test, followed by more memorization and another test. This was their elementary and secondary experience and for many it continues in some classes in their college experience. Professors tell them that there is no need for technology in education and Social Media is trouble to be avoided by educators. I find it difficult to tell them that this is completely wrong, although I believe it. The truth is that this is an attitude of many educators today. These are the very people who will be in a position to hire and work with my students.

It is one thing to know the right thing to do, but it is another to tell someone else that, what they are doing is wrong. How do we teach relevant methods for teaching without selling it as something that must be hidden until it can be determined where the administration or even future colleagues stand on such issues? Of course this is changing, but it has been changing for 30 years and we are still discussing it. I see the reluctance to change with every school that I enter to do observations. Yes, it is getting better, but if education was really moving forward, the word “reform” would only apply to politicians and business people and not the other way around.

I know that my experience in this is not unique. We need to teach our future teachers relevant methods, techniques and tools, but that is not the only path to reform. We need to continue to engage our colleagues, administrators and Leaders in accepting change. We should not have to qualify or make excuses for being relevant and using technology as a tool for learning. Social Media, like any tool, may be misused, but it has a greater potential to be used as a positive force for change. We need to promote reform within the system for it will be too slow in coming if we wait for the colleges. We need to be the change. I want my students to clearly understand the expectations, so they can focus on their goal. I want to come down from the tightrope.

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From One Blog To Another

Posted in Blog, Edcamp, EdChat, Education, ISTE, Leadership, Linkedin, Literacy, Ning, PLN, Pre-Service teachers, Reform, Skills, Social Media, Student teaching, Teacher, Thought Provoking, Truth, Twitter, unconference on January 18, 2011| 5 Comments »

Once again, I am finding it to my advantage to share my learning experiences on my Blog. I find this helpful because it can be interesting to the reader, but more importantly, it gives me something to write about. This is most helpful when one has a blog that requires occasional posts to keep the site running.

My wife met Larry Jacobs recently at an Education conference and introduced him to me in the belief that we each had something of value to offer the other. Larry is a Talk Radio Education Blogger, which seems to be a growing area in social media. Larry’s “thing” is doing educational interviews. What I like about Larry’s approach to this, is that he has figured out how to make some money at doing it. Doing what you love and getting paid for it is always the ultimate goal. I love what I do, but I depend on my pension to survive. But alas, if only I could charge for tweets? I guess however, charging for tweets would greatly reduce the number of people who now at least read what I put out.

Larry and I spoke a few times, and I was able to get him to revisit Twitter after his first foray and eventually dropping off this social media staple. This is a place that many Twitterers have visited in their Personal Learning Network development. After a little guidance and a few introduction tweets, Larry was able to go from 14 to 140 followers in a day. His site began getting more hits, and he began to see the benefits of Twitter and the advantages of a Personal Learning Network. He was then interested in talking about what it was that I did with Social Media in education and wanted to put it on the air.

I visited his site to listen to a number of his interviews. What I found helpful in deciding whether or not to do it was the ease in which Larry made his guests comfortable. He seemed at ease with the subject matter of each of his guests and kept the pace of the discussion flowing. This was done in great part because he actually listened to his guests’ answers. This is a skill not mastered by all interviewers. After I accepted Larry’s invitation, he forwarded a list of Tips to follow as well as a request for six questions to carry us on our journey through the interview.

I was quite calm as I awaited the day and the hour of the air time. About two hours before I was to go on however, I realized that I was on my own with this. In all of the interviews I have done in the past, I had Shelly Terrell, Steve Anderson, or Eric Sheninger at my side to step in to fill the gaps. The worst part is that my wife was away on a business trip leaving only my faithful King Charles spaniel, Louie to guide me through any technical glitches that I might encounter. He has always endured my screen-screaming bouts with my computer in the past. He offers more of a comforting twist of his head as opposed to great technical advice. Nevertheless, he was all I had.

I decided on a Hashtag, #twetr, as if I was going to be able to multi-task and follow a back channel stream of questions. For those who do not know, back channeling allows people on Twitter to comment and question during a presentation. It is actually affecting, in many ways, the way Educational Presentations are being delivered. Who was I kidding? I could talk the talk, but if I tried the walk, it would somewhat resemble Jackie Gleeson on roller skates during an episode of the Honeymooners, but much less graceful.

I had my laptop, my IPad, and two handsets for my phone, just in case the battery ran out on one. I was set to go with a page of notes and the set of questions that I forwarded Larry. I practiced the phone call at 9 AM to make sure all was good with a sound check. All that was left was to tweet out the time and place of the interview on Twitter. I did that several times to make sure someone would be in the audience. I had everything covered. I then made the final call, and I was connected to Larry live. I was in the Queue, and I coughed. That was my introduction.

The time arrived and the first question was asked. All I could think of was,” what makes up my Personal Learning Network?” Through my head ran Linkedin, Twitter, Ning, FaceBook, Skype, Blogs, RSS Reader, Tweet Deck, Flashboard, #EDCHAT, edcamps, and Teachmeets. It was all too much for a 43 minute Radio Interview. I had no back up and I could not in good conscience HANG UP, although the thought did cross my mind. Through his vast interviewing experience, Larry Jacobs guided me through. After all was said and done, it was a lightning fast 43 minutes. Larry and I left the audience wanting more and he asked me to come back. The next session however, will be more limited in scope to put a laser focus on the subject. One of the benefits of Radio Blogs is that they are archived. Now you can judge for yourself and consider all that preceded the interview. Here it is: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/edutalk/2011/01/18/educators-as-social-networkers

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Edu Conferences and the Twitter Effect

Posted in Administrator, Blog, conference, Edcamp, EdChat, Education, ISTE, Leadership, Linkedin, Ning, PLN, Reform, Skills, Social Media, Teacher, Teachmeet, Teched, Technology, Thought Provoking, Truth, Twitter, unconference on January 16, 2011| 10 Comments »

As a blogger for only a year now, I have tried not to revisit topics and be repetitive. There are some things however, that need to be revisited at certain times of the year. Just as: Thanksgiving brings on articles of thankfulness, Christmas brings on articles of Peace and Love, and New Years brings on articles of recent loss and future resolutions, this time of year brings on articles about Education Conferences. I guess that is because plans are being made to attend the largest conferences of the year. There does seem to be a change in the approach to connections, as well as anticipation and expectations of these conferences much of which may be attributed to Social Media.

As a classroom teacher I was very fortunate to serve for many years on the Board of Directors of NYSCATE, the Educational Technology group for New York educators. For the most part many Professional Education Organizations are run by administrators. I find nothing wrong with that, because running these organizations requires a certain skill set, as well as time commitment that fits the abilities of administrators better than those of classroom teachers. I understand that. I also understand that as much as any of these groups will deny it, there is a perspective or a focus of these conferences that leans more toward administrators than classroom teachers. That is fitting, since a majority of the attendees are administrators. With budgets as they are, it is reasonable that district should get more bang for their buck by sending their technology leaders as opposed to the technology users. This all makes sense in a world of top down management in education.

Of course these organizations will point out that a many of the workshops are done by classroom teachers, and that is true. The workshops and the Keynotes are all selected and approved by the organization leadership. This is not an attack on any organization. This seems to be how it has been done for years and that is the way it worked best. The need for me to explain all of this will enable me to point out the difference that Social Media is making in the process.

The development and broadening effects of Personal Learning Networks are giving educators facts and insights in education that were never before so readily available to them. Twitter, Twitter Chats, Nings, and Blogs are providing teachers with information in greater quantities and personally delivered to them. The direct contact and connections between educators is promoting more awareness, collaboration, and reflection on topics that concern them and their students directly. All of this prepares educators for dealing with conferences as they have not been able to do before.

Ironically, the social aspects of Social Media, in regard to teachers, are often overlooked. I know from experience that I have personal connections with many educators from around the world. When I think of what is meant by “colleagues”, I am no longer limited to the people I work with in a building. These global connections are real and in many instances, very strong connections. If I was traveling, I know I could call upon many of my PLN members for a place to stay if needed. I can’t say that about most people with whom I work.

If I attend a conference, I may very well have had personal contact with many of the attendees, as well as possibly the Keynote Speaker. This is an experience I have had on several occasions at conferences over the past year. At a recent conference, I entered an auditorium to listen to a Keynote speech a few minutes after it began. I entered the auditorium at the back and the seats were all filled to see a great presentation on Blogging as Educators. It was standing room only, and that is what I did at the back of the big room. It was after a minute or so, that the speaker saw me at the back, stopped the speech, and said hello to me. Lisa Nielsen, a great blogger, speaker and wonderful person has been connected with me for quite a while through our PLN’s. Her Blog is The Innovative Educator, http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/ . This never would have happened without the Social Media connection. This is an experience that, to some degree, is common to many Twitter-Using Educators as they attend conferences. This more solid the connection with educators, whose ideas we are familiar with, and whose lives have in some part been shared, make for a more meaningful conference experience.

A greater effect that Social Media is having on Professional Organization Conferences is the whole Edcamp movement. More and more Edcamps, or Teachmeets are cropping up all over the country, or more accurately the world. These conferences are free to participants. Teachers step up and volunteer to present a workshop or a discussion in a certain time slot. Any educator interested in attending all or any part of that workshop may do so. These are organized and publicized using Social Media. I call it a movement because of the number and frequency that I am observing as these pop up around the world. In addition, to Edcamps, we are seeing more and more Free Webinars for teachers being presented through Ning and Wiki sites.

All of this exchange of ideas and collaboration prepares educators to know what they need as individuals from these conferences. It also enables them to knowledgeably tweet out comments from workshops and Keynotes to the twitter stream engaging educators who are unable to personally attend. This ”Backchanneling” holds presenters accountable to be prepared and relevant. All of these factors are enabling Social Media to give a face lift to Professional Organization Conferences.

Finally, I love meeting my PLN members at conferences. I have a problem recognizing them in person and I realize that we all have that problem. I have created my Twitter name tag to address this issue. I used my Twitter Profile Pic, and @tomwhitby on a second name tag that I wear to all conferences. The Hawaiian Shirt may also help identify me.

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What’s Our Stake in High Stakes Testing?

Posted in Administrator, Assessment, EdChat, Education, Leadership, Mentoring, PLN, Reform, Seniority, Skills, Social Media, Student teaching, Teacher, Teacher assessment, Teched, Technology, Tenure, Thought Provoking, Truth on January 7, 2011| 15 Comments »

If you are not familiar with #Edchat, it is a Twitter discussion on specific topics held every Tuesday at Noon and 7 PM EST. A full explanation may be found at this Link: https://tomwhitby.wordpress.com/2010/06/23/edchat-revisited/. I am revealing in this post that I am the one who makes up a bulk of the #Edchat Topic choices. We do get some outside contributions, but each week I try to lift relevant topics from the Twitterstream and current Educational Blogs to explore further in an #Edchat discussion. It has been a successful formula thus far. My dilemma however, is always when is it a good time to revisit a topic. I recently received a comment from an educator that stated he always found the topic choices very interesting, but eventually we would need to discuss Standardized Testing or High Stakes Testing as a topic. Actually, #Edchat has discussed this topic in the past. The problem I have however is that in trying to keep the pulse of education concerns, Standardized Testing is the one topic that has an overwhelming majority of educators mentioning their opposition on a daily basis. Educators seem to be in agreement that Standardized Testing is a major roadblock to Education Reform. One growing opinion seems to be that the emphasis has become the tests and not the education.

Assessment has been and always will be part of education. A simple explanation: As educators we use Formative assessment to make sure we are succeeding with our students as we go. Do they get it? This allows for adjustments along the way. The Summative assessment tells educators how successful the complete endeavor was. After all is said and done, have the students gotten it? Educators do this to determine the next step, so they may continue to build on this education. This is the teacher’s assessment of learning for the purpose of the determining of what comes next. The curriculum is the roadmap of where to go. The assessments tell the teacher if the students are there yet. Teachers can always take students beyond the original destination.

Now we should look at High stakes testing. Its purpose is to accumulate data on education. Data requires simple, objective answers that are easily converted to numbers for analysis. As a former English teacher, I often envied Math teachers whose test answers were either right or wrong. As an English teacher I was always trying to figure out shades of right or wrong with essays. That oversimplification of math testing is less true of Math today with the changes that have been made requiring more of an explanation of reasoning. I hope no math teachers were offended.

The purpose of High Stakes testing seems to be changing. If it was originally intended to assess where we were with student learning in order to offer directions for places to improve, we may have strayed from that goal. It is now used to: determine funding, determine remediation, determine school closings, determine careers, and as a stretch, determine elections. These reasons have little to do with what educators use testing for.

Of course there is a simple solution; Teach to the test. That would give everyone what was needed. A problem with this however is that it will not work. It will not work because it does not consider all of the other factors involved in a student’s education; poverty, environment, culture, and even family relationships. How do we ask questions for the purpose of converting these factors into data in order to take all of this into account? Of course a more obvious reason teaching to the test won’t work is that it is not educating any one. Teaching to the test is preparing kids for a Jeopardy round, not life.

Now here is where I begin to sound like a conspiracy theorist. I, along with almost everyone in America, recognize that we are in a dire economic period. I understand we need to cut costs and increase revenue, and we will all need to sacrifice. One of our greatest expenses is education. Education has been highlighted as a political concern. It is apparent to some of us that the call for education Reform is code for cut taxes. The high stakes tests are not being used to examine and address changes in methods and curriculum as much as to vilify teachers. This call for reform by some is not a call for education reform, but rather a call for labor reform. It is a call to do away with Unions and due process for teachers. These tests are not being used to free teachers to innovate, but rather to begin to dismantle public education for the purpose of privatization for profit.

How can so many educators on every level be so opposed to high stakes testing and still it thrives? How can the mixed to dismal results of a Charter School movement still allow politicians to call for more Charter Schools? How can the influence on education by Poverty, Race, Environment, and Family go unrecognized as factors in need of reform?

We do need to reform education, but we need a better understanding of what changes will have a meaningful effect. There are many things that unions and teachers can do to affect change, but the greater changes however need to be made in methods and focus of curriculum. The emphasis of needed skills for a growing technology-driven society will be another game changer.

Assessment is needed and has a purpose in education. We need to focus assessments on the learning and not the Labor. The vast majority of educators are intelligent, dedicated, people-oriented, sharers. They may need to be given guidance and professional development in the latest methods and technologies, but they are the best source we have to support our education system. Firing teachers, closing schools, busting unions, and dismantling Public Education may be Reform to some, but to many others this is a destructive path. We need educational leaders to stand up and be heard on this. Voices of education need to be heard over those voices of business and politics and vocal disgruntled taxpayers. ( We are probably all disgruntled about taxes.)

Now I have to put up an #Edchat Topic dealing with High Stakes Testing. Your comments are welcomed here.

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My PLN Blueprint in 5 parts

Posted in Administrator, Blog, EdChat, Education, Filtering, Leadership, Linkedin, Literacy, Ning, PLN, Pre-Service teachers, Reform, Skills, Social Media, Teacher, Teched, Technology, Thought Provoking on December 21, 2010| 15 Comments »

Shelly Terrell and Ken Royal are two friends who encouraged me to blog. Both are bloggers and saw something in me and my ability to communicate that I didn’t recognize. Through their encouragement, coaxing and hand holding, I did guest blogs for each of them. I was the Reluctant Blogger. This was one of my early posts explaining how I became involved in Social Media and the idea of a Personal Learning Network.It seems to be a topic that needs to be continually explained because of the growing number of educators who continue to enter the world of social media for educators.

Part 1

One of today’s educational buzzwords, or fad terms is the PLN. For my purposes it stands for Personal Learning Network. Others call it a Professional Learning Network or Community or even Environment. That would be PLN, PLN, PLC, or PLE. Many educators today are involved understanding and developing their own PLN’s. Everyone has one, and each is different and as unique as a fingerprint. Some employ technology, and others dwell in faculty rooms across the country and around the world.

The history of my PLN began back in the late 70’s. It was formed not through the technology of the computer, but rather about the technology of a 27 foot sailing vessel. It was merely a sailboat, but in my mind, being my first boat, it was truly a vessel.

I live on Long Island in New York. It is a place where boating thrives for about five to six months a year, beginning in June and ending in October. As I grew up, I always went on others’ boats, but never owned my own. Working in a school district of a community on the shore of an island, I found many of my faculty friends were avid boaters. More specifically they were sail boaters , or more accurately, sailors. It was at this time of my life that I made a big decision to become a boat owner. I purchased a brand new 27 foot O’Day sailboat. There was only one small drawback to this major purchase and commitment, I had no idea how to sail.

I took a Coast Guard Course and read a bunch of books. I ordered several catalogues and every sailing Magazine subscription I could get delivered. As my purchase was being readied for delivery, I determined that my preparation might be lacking. That is when I developed a plan out of desperation. This was to be my first organized development of a Personal Learning Network.

The plan was simple and bordered on genius. It was based on knowing that sailors are a breed of boaters who love to sail at every opportunity. I informed the Yacht dealer that I wanted to take delivery of my vessel in the water and ready to sail in April. This was unheard of, since boating season did not really get going until June. That, however, was the genius part. I had two months before all of the sailors that I knew would have their own boats in the water. I on the other hand had a spanking-new Sailing vessel at their “Beck and call”. They only needed to take the owner along for the sail. I had about ten experienced sailors teaching me all that they knew in my Personal Learning Network. I was golden.

I also recognized that I stumbled upon a real plan for personal learning. I did not want to make any other major purchases to test my assumptions, but I did pay close attention to what I had accomplished and how I did it. I took note of what I needed to know and how I gather those who knew it around me. With the advent of the Internet I have expanded my reach for those who know what I need to know. I have developed a PLN beyond the faculty room and to Educational experts literally around the world.

Part 2

My early entry into the digital Personal Learning Network world came through necessity and dumb luck. This may have started out as a whim, but now it takes up serious time during the day. It is a challenge. This is the history of the development for the first level of my PLN and it provides a depth in discussion and collaboration that is often needed to accomplish success.

I am a retired secondary English teacher. I started working as an Adjunct Education professor at St. Joseph’s College in New York. Going from secondary to higher education was a little intimidating and very different. After 34 years of teaching English, I thought I could walk on in and teach students everything they needed to be successful teachers. In fact I was the one who needed the education.

I have an MS in Educational Technology from 1991 and I did not know what I did not know. I was emailing and Googling and I had mastered PowerPoint. I was even able to get by in Blackboard, but beyond that, I had a million questions as to what to do and how to do it.

Faculty members are usually tech savvy, or tech shy. Since I was new to the staff, I was still learning names with little regard as to who knew what about technology. It was at that time that I was getting involved with Linkedin. Before I knew it, I had a number of Education Connections. Since these people were on a social network, they had at least a modicum of tech savvy, so I began asking questions of them. I had more questions than sources, so I determined that I needed more sources, but I had a limited network.

I thought that if I started a group of technology-using professors, I would have a virtual cornucopia of sources. Not only would I have my own posse, but, if I was selective, they would be really smart sources. My goal was to involve only Higher Ed professors at any level. After all, I was only a lowly adjunct and I did not want to create a group that would exclude me. I was only interested in the opinions of those who are really teaching people. Vendors and consultants serve a different audience, so I limited the membership to educators only. It was totally self-serving, my group, my rules.

The restrictions took up more time than I imagined. Profiles vary so much in job descriptions and institutions that it is sometimes hard to tell what someone does or for whom they work. Another consideration was that Email on Linkedin costs money, so I needed a cheaper way to contact people. Messages from member to member of groups are free. Learning that, I started joining groups. I recruited twenty-five members on my first sweep through the groups. At that time I only belonged to about five groups, so after soliciting membership from those groups twice, I needed to join more groups to hit other people. Any group where one could find professors was a group I targeted. It did not take long to belong to 30 groups.

As people joined I sent them a welcoming message. I had become a “group-joining expert” by this time and determined that most groups sent nothing. Others sent me a do’s and don’ts do list. I wanted to be more welcoming. After all, these people were to be my personal group of technology advisers, my Personal Learning Network. It was easy to develop personal relationships.

As a child, when I sent away for free stuff, I checked for the mailman every day until the stuff arrived. As an adult, I found myself checking my computer constantly for new arrivals to the group. The best part about my group was that the people involved are already intellectually curious and damned smart. Since they are educators, most have a sharing quality built into their personality It always helps to personally thank those members who continually add to thoughtful and provocative discussions.

Taking toll of my Linkedin connections or the Linkedin segment of my PLN I find that I have 230 direct connections. I founded seven groups and one subgroup. I have joined over 60 other groups and I have maintained membership in 46 of them. The Technology-Using Professors Group now numbers over 1,500 members. I have direct messaging capability to thousands of educators.

The discussion within the groups started to be sprinkled with funny looking links which lead to additional sources. My curiosity got the best of me and I began inquiring as to what these were and where they were coming from. TWITTER was the answer. That led me to a digital journey which took me to the second tier of my Personal Learning Network and the subject of my next post.

Part 3

Like many people my entry into Twitter was at the invitation of a friend. Like many people I was connected to a few folks who were recommended upon my registration. Like many people I tweeted out nonsense, got no response, and left the application not to return for several weeks. Unlike many People I returned determined to figure out what Twitter was. I knew from my Linkedin connections that folks were getting funny looking abbreviated links to very helpful blogs, posts, wikis, Videos, audio files, PowerPoint presentations, and websites. Twitter by appearances held a virtual Treasure Trove of educational information and I needed the map to get to it.

I used my Linkedin connections to find out who was Twitter connected. I quickly followed those who I knew and trusted as serious educators. After that source was exhausted the process became simple. I looked at who each of those folks were following and I ripped them off. I followed everyone who even looked like an educator. However, the call of celebrity was a little too much, as I began to follow Regis Philbin. I was sorely disappointed in Regis’s tweets. They were non-existent. Regis does not get computers. With this devastating discovery Regis taught me that someone who has nothing to offer in education was not part of the goal that I had in mind. I refocused on Educators. If there was nothing educational in someone’s Twitter bio I did not follow. Since I needed information provided to me I realized that, who I followed was more important than, who followed me. The people I followed were the information providers. It is not possible to even see what followers tweet. Thanks Reg.

With my focus clear following became second nature. Now I moved on to the next thing. What do I tweet? I learned very quickly that RT meant Retweet. This was a key discovery. All I needed to do was recognize a tweet with value to an educator and I could pass it along to others. This is the neat part. Not only does the original Tweeter get credit, but so did I. I couldn’t believe it. Other very smart people could make me look smart on twitter and I did not have to go back to school to accomplish this. I could be an expert on the backs of others. It was imperative to RT the right stuff if I was to pull this off. I started looking at every tweet with promise before I RTed it (that is Twitter talk). I built a whole reputation as a great educational tweeter based on other’s tweets. This was my kinda media.

Now came the challenge, what do I do if someone asks a question? This is considered an original tweet. As I looked at my followers list I discover that I had over 500 followers. I could not believe it. I put a few thoughts together and carefully worded them heeding the 140 character limit. It is very much like writing fortunes for cookies or facts for Snapple caps.

I sent out a few things about technology in education and much to my surprise, I received many tweets of agreement with my opinions. My educational philosophy was being taken seriously by other educators. After 34 years of teaching and saying this stuff, I now find people who agree. This was fun. What I came to realize over time was that I developed this PLN and many of its members are forward thinking educators who are all seeking the same sources that I am seeking. That fact makes them different from many educators in the system today. It is like preaching to the choir. That doesn’t mean that what I had to say was not accurate and noteworthy, but it is important to keep a perspective. The same arguments would be lost on educators who do not even understand the discussion.

Now I have all of this information flowing. I have educators listening to me and even hanging on my words. Questions are coming over the Twitter Timeline for me to answer every day. I have 1,500 followers. In addition I have my Linkedin connections discussing and collaborating. It is time to develop a plan to use and coordinate all that is the digital social network for my Personal Learning Network. The plan begins its formation in PLN Blueprint PT 3.

Part 4

One thing that I never considered in all of this was the personal relationships that are developed along the way. One very cool thing occurred as I attended an Educational Technology Conference, something I had done for so many years previous. This time, however, it was different. I was different. At the conclusion of a panel discussion containing some educational luminaries, I approached the stage and, as I mentioned my name to one member, my name and I were instantly recognized by other panel members. I was talking and joking with the President ofISTE on a first name basis. I felt great and, much to my surprise; the panelists felt great for meeting me. After being together virtually on the PLN, we were now all connected in the real world. One needs to experience this to understand it.

The personal connections come from all directions and take many forms: questions, answers, requests for advice, or requests for help. Collaboration starts with inquiries and progresses to full discussions using Linkedin, Skype, or a dozen other methods of connection. With each connection there is a new lesson learned. It is the need to collaborate and communicate that prompts the learning. I had no idea what most of this stuff was when I started out on this journey.

I am an educator and definitely not a Techie. My guiding question was where does this fit in the classroom? My dilemma was that I could no longer live with my definition of classroom. Most of my learning through this entire process was done when my school was on summer break. My classroom was the couch in the den. It was just me, my laptop, and my dog, who always wanted to play. He is not a techie either. If an old guy like me can get as much as I have gotten on my own, what could brighter, younger students with proper guidance accomplish?

The constraints of time and space that once defined our process were no longer relevant. In an ideal world, a classroom might one day become a place for guidance, reflection, and redirection from the teacher. Learning could be going on elsewhere at a more individualized rate and time-shifted for convenience. That is Flash Gordon stuff for some, Star Trek stuff for others, a real stretch of reality. It is technologically possible but the mindset for support is far from even being close. Many need to hold on to that sense of history for comfort. I digress and must refocus.

The Power of what I had created in my Personal Learning Network came upon me in the form of a tweet that I sent out. There had been a buzz on the timeline (twitter talk). Many people tweeting about the lack of educational technology support from administrators. Much of this was prompted and spurred on from discussions that I started. Feeling a responsibility for starting this little brush fire, I proposed a simple solution, a gift idea.

I knew how long it took to develop a working PLN. I also knew its value and its ability to support advancement of technology in education. I also have a firsthand knowledge of how many education administrators are so time-pressed with administrative duties that they could not have time to develop a proper PLN. My tweet was a gift idea for Administrators. Give an administrator a twitter account with an established PLN on it and show them how to use it. The value would be soon recognized by forward-thinking administrators.

The next day the internet was atwitter with RT’s and reactions. Everyone had something to say. It was mentioned in a dozen educational blogs. I was interviewed by a national magazine. I wrote guest Blogs. I arrived as a member of the group that is looked up to for educational reform. I was a player. I was silently laughing to myself as my family looked on and questioned why anyone would listen to me. I had the same concerns as my family. A retired teacher who is now an adjunct professor of Education being listened to by thousands of educators. How do I keep my feet on the ground with my head in the clouds? It was at this point that I was reminded of a cartoon of two dogs at a computer. The one dog at the keyboard turned to the other dog and said, “They don’t know you are a dog on the internet”.

This called for serious reflection. What the heck could I be saying that all these people find of value. I began to go over much of what I had tweeted. I looked over the blogs. I gathered as much of what I had put out as possible. I examined my digital footprint. I realized that my thoughts did have value. They did not come from any one thing that I had read. Much of what I talk about is using technology for learning. I also talk about sharing and collaboration in the form of a Personal Learning Network. On those topics I am an authority of sorts. I have been pitching the same arguments for Technology in education and also collegial collaboration since 1971. It is funny how the same discussions continue today. Reform is not that new a concept in the world of education.

With the advent of the internet and the melding with social media the PLN is powerful. People will connect and ideas will be exchanged. Learning will go beyond the limitations of a single teacher. Learning will be an ongoing collaboration. My thoughts on how to organize all of this in the next Part.

Part 5

My final reflection for the purpose of this series takes stock in what I have learned from the Personal Learning Network and what should I do with it as an educator. Through the use of social media and several internet tools, I was transformed from an educational technology advocate, to an educational technology power user. Educators who use their age as an excuse not to use technology should take note that my involvement at this level came four years after my retirement from a 34-year career. I am an old dog learning new tricks. That would be a very old dog and very new tricks.

I am not holding myself up as the model educator by which all should rule and guide their lives. Most of my former colleagues would have a great laugh if that were the case. I am, however an educator who sees the value of technology and has a vision for its use as an educational tool. This belief or a similar one should be something that all educators have.

The relevancy of all education lies in the education system’s ability to stay relevant. To exclude access to information in an educational environment goes a long way in insuring irrelevancy. Our efforts should be focusing on the proper way to access real information and passing it on to other learners. We need not fan the fires of fear with phrases like “safety from the internet” as an excuse for banning and filtering not only student learners, but also their adult educators. This is a practice that occurs in too many districts around the country. We cannot expect innovation to help our society dig its way out of economic disaster if we block our best hope for that innovation from that which has already been innovated. We cannot expect learning to grow with our youth if we practice blocking and filtering the best tool to promote that learning.

The power of the PLN needs to be supported by educators. If students were encouraged by educators to develop their own PLN’s many educators would have to do the same to keep up with the learning. This is a double-edged sword. It is a challenge to some and a threat to others. Those who would be threatened need to be gently brought into the fold. Students should not be bound by their teachers’ limitations.

I recognize a trait in my personality that forces me to immerse myself in projects that I am drawn to. I realize that everyone is not like this and that I cannot expect everyone to jump onboard my train. I do however have a belief that when people are presented with a strategy that will improve their ability to accomplish their goals, they will support it. Of course I also recognize that educators being who they are will find a need to pick apart and analyze every aspect of this simple proposal before anyone but me will support it. Is the Personal Learning Network using social media and other internet tools a worthwhile endeavor for educators. This is a discussion that educators need to have. Let the debate begin.