My Island View

Short Term Learner

September 8, 2010 by Tom Whitby @tomwhitby

Personal Learning Networks have taken up a great deal of my time of late, about the last two years. I have always had a PLN although it was never called that. The digital slant, of what before this, might have been called a group of study buddies, has caused a re-examination by educators on a global scale. Instead of being limited to a small group of educators comparing notes or lessons in a building, a PLN can now draw upon literally thousands of educators, worldwide, at any given time. Study buddies without the boundaries of time or space, very Star-Trekkie. Educators can even Skype anywhere in the world for the ultimate video connection. It is no flying car, but the video phone was predicted at the ’64 World’s Fair. I remember. I was there. Belgian Waffles were great.

The key to developing my Personal Learning Network had nothing to do with me being a digital Native, because I am not. My motivation to learn comes from somewhere within. I enjoy taking my own route to get to a goal that I set for myself. I think the term Lifelong Learner applies to me. The thing that makes the learning fun and easy for me is the technology. I am not always comfortable with it, but I do not fear it. I only say that because the reasons I am most often given by others for educators not embracing technology is that educators are fearful of it, or they are not comfortable with it.

Learning is not a passive activity. One cannot place a tape recorder (old tech term) under a pillow at night and wake up with the knowledge in the morning. I have personally researched this. Additionally, one can’t join a Personal Learning Network. If it is to be of value, it needs to be built by the individual who owns it. This requires a commitment of time, but not so much energy, except for the exercising of the mind. When one engages a Digital PLN, it will involve receiving a great deal of information in the form of links. Each link is a hot button. It is a click to: a website, a blog post, a video, an article, a webcast, a podcast, or a picture. I imagine without the technology, one would read books, Journals, articles, videotapes, DVR’s and talk to people face to face. That would be a very early 20^th century PLN, but still doable today for a while longer anyway.

It takes a lifelong learner’s commitment to a PLN to reap the benefits and apply it to teaching. This should be no problem for educators because they all teach kids to be Lifelong Learners. If you don’t believe me ask a teacher. Better yet, look at the school’s Mission Statement; it probably addresses the school’s dedication to lifelong learning. The problem is that too often that only applies to the kids and not the staff. Lifelong learning is too much a case of do as I say, and not as I do. Too many educators subscribe to the theory that once the degree is secured, and the teaching license in hand, the goal is reached, and now the coasting begins. Maybe some courses to meet requirements will be taken. Certainly, courses for pay raises would be needed, but those are but small bumps in the road. I know, not everyone is like this. However, we are in a profession that is in a fishbowl and under attack. We cannot afford to have any individuals representing us with this mindset. These folks are not the majority but this minority has an ability to influence others to the dark side. We cannot have this jeopardizing our profession.

Most educators are collaborative and nurturing individuals. That is their strength. We use those qualities with our students. We need to apply them to our colleagues. All information does not stop evolving once we get our teaching job. We need to stay relevant. In a world with a technology rich environment it is fool hearty for educators to think they still have a choice about using technology as a tool in education. We are teaching kids who will be affected by more technology than we have today. They will have jobs that are not yet in existence. Their skills will require the use of technology.

Educators teach skills and encourage children to learn. A good teacher can do that without technology, but why? Technology is but a tool for educators and students to use. The skills remain the same no matter what the tool. Teachers do not need to be technology experts to allow students to use it to retrieve information, collaborate, create, and communicate. That is what will be required of them in their world. While educators debate and control technology as a tool, business and industry are embracing it. Technology continues to advance and many educators are not even familiar with what possibilities are available. If technology requires a new form of literacy, many of our educators are illiterate.

A PLN allows people to explore and collaborate on whatever it is they determine as a need to know. A PLN is not exclusive to educators. They can have: Boat builders connected to boat builders, doctors connected to doctors, educators connected to educators, learners connected to learners. People can choose their direction and go down that road as far as they need to go. A PLN enables a person to control her or his learning. A PLN is a digital tool for learning. We can use it to model the very thing that we strive to teach our students. A PLN is not learned, as much as experienced. A PLN enables us to continue our path to Lifelong Learning.

Posted in Administrator, EdChat, Education, Filtering, Leadership, Ning, PLN, Reform, Skills, Social Media, Teacher, Teched, Technology, Thought Provoking, Twitter | 7 Comments »

Lack of Discipline

August 21, 2010 by Tom Whitby @tomwhitby

Based on my experience and observations I have learned one or two things about discipline policies in schools. First, an effective discipline policy is often not mentioned by staff members because it is a non-issue. An ineffective discipline policy can dominate the complaints and become a demoralizing factor with any staff. It also does not serve as a model for students to understand that there are consequences for poor decisions.

The effectiveness of any discipline policy will rely on the person in charge of enforcing it. This is often put down as the function of the principal or, on the secondary level, an assistant principal. The enforcement or interpretation of the policy by that person goes a long way in making the policy effective or not. For that reason many schools have spelled out the possible infractions, as well as the escalating consequences for repeat offenses. This limits interpretation making it fair for all offenders. It also limits the pleading parents pointing out the Johnny did the same thing and received no punishment, and asking,”Why are you persecuting my child and letting Johnny go Scott-free?”

Until recently, most offenses were familiar to administrators. There were enough repetitive offenses to examine, catalog, and even predict things that kids would do, which would require consequences. Armed with such a list the best course of action would be to: list them out, assign consequences, develop a repeat offense clause with escalating consequences, publish the Discipline Policy, read it to all students, and finally send a copy to the parents, getting a signature indicating their understanding of the policy. All of that being done, all is right with the world or at least the world of school.

The Fly in the ointment; Technology has now arrived on the scene. It brings unpredicted behavior. It is wrapped in myths and misconceptions. The reality for administrators is that perception is reality for teachers and parents. If teachers and parents buy the myths than the administrator often bases the discipline policy on those perceptions, or misconceptions. This accounts for the development of other policies: Internet safety, Cyber-bullying, Banning the Internet, and Banning cell phones.

I am in not in any way minimizing the dangers of the internet. There is danger in the lack of understanding and in the misuse and abuse of any technology. But these issues cannot be solely addressed in one discipline policy. They are as much a matter of teaching and learning as they are a matter of disciplinary action.

Cyber bullying is extremely devastating, but it is a modern form of Bullying. It does not have to be a separate policy. Bullying is something every district should be addressing as early as possible. Being a good citizen extends to the digital world. We need to teach kids to deal with those issues that they need to know for their world. When I was a kid the computers we had, took up a room and ordinary people had no access, but we had bullies. The way it was handled then was to teach self-defense and tell the kid to stand up to the bully and try to beat the crap out of him (bullies often thought to be males in those days).

The issue of Bullying was brought to the forefront of Education after the Columbine massacre. I do not know if it was Cyber bullying or the regular version that set that into motion. I do not know if the percentage of cyber bullying exceeds the percentage of everyday intimidation by non-digital bullies. My point is we need to address the concept of bullying in any form and not concentrate or address one form over another.

The new debate is the removal of the barriers of walls, time, and distance. Technology allows bullies to intimidate students in other buildings and after school hours. This is not an easy issue for many administrators to handle. For others it is as simple as any other bullying issue. The student’s safety and security in the learning environment are paramount. If a student is being bullied by someone face to face or digitally because of their contact within the learning environment it must be dealt with by the administrator. That is one of the many things they are suppose do.

Another issue is the banning of all cell phones because students text during class. To me it is another short-sighted policy which can easily be addressed in a discipline policy. First, I taught on the secondary level for 34 years and for every class during each of those years, I established rules for the classroom. If I was teaching that level today, I would address the proper use and etiquette of the Mobile Learning Devise in the classroom. I teach college now and the first question I would ask myself if I have a student texting during my class is “what am I not doing to engage this kid in learning? It would be on me initially. If it continues after my adjustments then a discipline policy should cover a continued infraction. I would never ask an administrator to enact a school-wide policy because I could not enforce rules in my class.

Finally, my soapbox issue, the banning of the internet because students may access inappropriate material is another knee-jerk policy. I have discussed this issue in many previous posts. In this post however, it is purely from a discipline point of view. It is my contention that we must educate our students about the internet from early on. They need to be taught what is appropriate and what is not. We need to teach them good digital citizenry and then we may hold them accountable. Appropriate use of technology should be a part of any discipline policy today. The rub comes in kids understanding of appropriate use. As it is now many kids get their internet experience “from the Streets” because we are not addressing it in the schools at age-appropriate times. We cannot hold them responsible for what we refuse to teach.

Of course there is also the perception that children will be lured from the schools and be molested by an internet lurking child predator. This has happened and there is no denying that. It is also probably one of the biggest fears parents have in regard to their children. When we look at the real numbers of child molestation however, we need to understand it is more likely (about 90% likely) that a child will be molested by a family member or a close family friend. Are we addressing this in schools? I think it is not possible to Ban families.

Without a safe and secure teaching environment we cannot expect the level of learning we need to happen the way we expect. It requires thought and consideration to address the real issues to protect and discipline kids. This is a topic close to the hearts of many educators, and as such I expect a great many comments. I also realize that one’s position in the system will affect the perspective on this issue. I expect administrators’ comments to be different from teachers’ comments. Have at it folks, or should I say, have at me!

Posted in Administrator, Banning, Child Predator, EdChat, Education, Filtering, Leadership, Reform, Social Media, Teacher, Teched, Technology, Thought Provoking | 11 Comments »

Native Reality

August 16, 2010 by Tom Whitby @tomwhitby

My 34 years as a secondary English teacher, as a well as working as a professor of students studying to be secondary English teachers has given me a unique perspective on our educational system. I know what people are like in the system, and I know what people are like who are joining the system. As an observer, I do not see our young teachers entering the system as many are expecting them to be. I love my students. They are bright and enthusiastic and they know content, as all recently educated students should. They are not however, the rising wave of technology integrating educators expected by many to take our students and our system through the 21^st century. I often hear that, as the new crop of teachers enters the system, the older “burned-out” teachers will retire. This will allow the newer tech-savvy teachers to integrate technology into the system and all will be right with the world. What a crock that is.

Students entering college are a product of our secondary system. We are producing FaceBook-Savvy students with technology skills that amount to texting and downloading music. Those are not even skills learned in school, but mostly self-taught. Schools frown on texting, ban social media, and discourage listening to recorded music. When students arrive at colleges they are not all the Tech-savvy geeks that most people seem to think they are. They know more about some technologies than their parents, but what measure of mastery is that? Many of their professors are at best Power Point proficient or at least overhead experts. Obviously, this is not true of all college professors, but it may be true of more than most people would expect. Life-long learning is a goal to which many educators aspire for their students, but many do not model it in reality. It is more a case of do as I say, not as I do.

I to believed that youth was the answer to solving the slow movement of technology integration of education. With my involvement in Social Media I considered myself an exception. Considering my age and my awareness of technology beyond Power Point and Email, as well as my immersion in social Media I was way ahead of those other old folks. I was a believer and a supporter of the digital natives as opposed to the digital immigrants. The whole idea of digital natives and digital immigrants implied that the immigrants would die off (not literally) and the natives would take over the system. But alas, computers entered the system in the eighties and we are still talking about integrating Technology into education in 2010. (30 years, if you don’t have a calculator) When will the natives take over from the dying immigrants and save the system? It is not happening.

There are no natives or immigrants. There are only people who learn differently. Social Media has not arrived to change the world of education. I have two daughters who have grown up with Technology and are quite adept in its use. I often overlook the fact that my wife and I are educators who have always used technology and have modeled that for our girls for their lifetime. They are constantly using technology to learn. They are not typical, so that takes my personal family experience out of the mix of what one would expect from today’s students. Technology is not being modeled in schools. The internet is filtered for both students and teachers. Mobile learning devices are banned in many schools. Students are often not allowed use of their personal laptops in schools. Social Media is not taught as a tool for learning and collaboration, but addressed as a safety issue to be feared and avoided. This is not true in every school, but it is true in more schools than it should be.

We cannot wait for the digital natives to arrive and move the immigrants out of power to lead us into the future. There are no natives and immigrants, only learners. Some employ technology and some don’t. As Technology advances, as it inevitably does, the skills needed to learn and grow will need to be adapted. Teachers waiting for the new generation to take up that challenge will be disappointed. Using technology skills to learn, collaborate, communicate, and create are not in our biological makeup. If we are not teaching these skills, they do not happen. Today’s teachers need to be technology literate. They need not be experts, but at least they need to be aware of what will be required of their students insofar as technology skills required to compete in a technological society.
Please feel free to comment.

This is the video link that prompted this post. http://edupln.ning.com/video/nativeimmigrant-versus

Posted in Banning, Education, Filtering, Leadership, PLN, Social Media, Teacher, Teched, Technology, Thought Provoking | 10 Comments »

PLN Envy!

August 9, 2010 by Tom Whitby @tomwhitby

There seems to be a whole crop of Building a PLN “how to’s” popping up all over. This will be another to add to the collection. Since I have developed my Personal Learning Network over years however, I hope to provide some insights that newbies or analyzers of PLN’s might not have a clue about.

Before tech was ever involved I developed a PLN based on face to face contact. This was limited to the people who I worked with within my school building or district. I was able to expand the contacts from my local network when I attended Education conferences locally, regionally or occasionally nationally. I was fortunate to get to go to certain Education conferences, an experience not always afforded classroom teachers. I would always share my findings with others when I returned from conferences. Since I saw tech in education as a way to move education along, I was thought of as a “tech guy”. I was not. I was a teacher using tech as a tool to teach. I learned what I needed to know to accomplish that. I was always an English teacher first. Keeping up with tech was easier back in the day. Stuff actually lasted more than a year. There was time to experience and adjust to a tech tool before the next tool came out. Every new tool had to be researched before being accepted after long periods of consideration. The internet did not change that process, but it did offer us a chance to explore other websites put up by teachers and vendors. It informed us of things available for a price.

With the advent of Social Media the development of The Personal Learning Network really started to change in the look and feel of professional development. Web 2.0 tools also enabled a more rapid development. The only educators who noticed however, were those involved with Social Media, and that was not a large percentage of educators. It is a challenge to get educators to use technology, now the challenge is not only to use it, but additionally, to convince them of an educational purpose for Social Media.

I used email and list-serves early on for connecting with educators or topics to help me learn as a teacher. My first foray into Social Media was joining Linkedin. I found many EDU groups, but after joining and engaging people in these groups, I found that they did not completely meet my needs. I created my own groups to do that. I formed Linkedin groups for educators only. I kept out vendors, consultants, and curiosity seekers. I defined the discussions to be academically oriented. It worked. I have five educational Groups on Linkedin. The largest is over 1,700 members.

Linkedin was the first component of my technology-assisted PLN. It was not fast enough for me. The discussions were in depth and very helpful, but they took weeks to develop. Linkedin members visit their accounts less frequently than other venues. It was through Linkedin that I discovered Twitter. At first, I did not get it. I was following ten people and they were not always on the twitter stream, and they were socializing and not putting out educational links. I used my Linkedin connections to gather educators who used Twitter and this increased my people to follow. I concentrated on recruiting educators who engaged on Linkedin. I began expanding from there, concentrating on following educators who offered information. This accounted for the second component of my growing PLN. My Twitter component proved to be the best and fastest methods of gathering and sharing information.Adding to my 400 Linkedin connections Twitter now has 6,000 people following me.

There was now a stream of information coming to me on a daily basis from Linkedin and Twitter. The need to store and categorize all of this for future reference was now the primary goal. Two applications were suggested by my PLN, Delicious and Diigo. They offered many of the same bells and whistles, but I caught a conference where they did a workshop on Delicious, so my choice was made. I began bookmarking every website, video, application, podcast, webinar and article that came my way. I also began a network of people on my Delicious site since it too is a SM application. I accumulated over 400 sites on my own. My big “get” however is that I connected with 91 other educators giving me access to their bookmarks as well. Since we are all educators considering and saving good educational material, I now have access to 121,000 educational sites. This is now another component of my PLN. A search of a topic on Google may offer 5,000 websites on a subject. The same search on Delicious may yield 5 sites vetted and used by teachers. Saving time and gaining proven sites are two reasons to do delicious over Google.

As an educational professor I was able to provide all of this information to my students for their future use as teachers. My problem was that they were not ready for all of this at once. I needed to create a place to hold this stuff until they were ready to accept it. Beyond my current class, I also wanted my future students, of classes yet to be, to be able to access the same information. I investigated the world of Ning. It was not a mystical Asian fantasy world, but a collaborative community. I could store all of my Links and invite all of my students to join me in one location. It was a private site where we could collaborate in real-time as well as time shift. All the information that I was able to store, could be shared. This became another component of my PLN.

It was soon apparent that I needed to also create a site for all of the followers that I accumulated on my Twitter account as well as the connections from my Linkedin Account. I had a very strong feeling about sharing with the people who share with me. The idea of a PLN is a collegial relationship. It also underscores the fact that a PLN is not a passive endeavor,but one that must be actively pursued and maintained. One must work it to get value from it. All of this led to the development of another Ning, The Educator’s PLN. http://edupln.ning.com/ “The Educator’s PLN” is a source site for educators to access many sources, as well as new people, for their PLN”s. It is loaded with links, tutorials and videos, groups and blog posts dealing with education. In addition to the members to follow there are lists of educators to follow on twitter. These lists are fairly new and with one click, one can follow hundreds of valuable user-educators. This saves months of time compared to the old method of one person to follow at a time.This Ning site now has 5,000 collaborating educator-members.

Since many of the links people put out involve Blog posts it is easy to understand how many useful posts are repeated if they are deemed valuable. Educational Bloggers are quickly singled out and considered valuable sources. To get access to these Bloggers directly, I subscribed to their blog posts with Google reader. It delivers the latest posts directly to me. Another component of my PLN. By the way feel free to add my Blog to your Google reader.

This was the story of the development of my Personal Learning Network. It works for me. I developed it with tools I discovered and was comfortable with. It was on an as needed basis. There is no one place to go for a PLN. There is no Twitter PLN. There is no Linkedin PLN. There is no Ning PLN. Your PLN is built and developed and improved with various tech tools to extend your reach beyond the walls of your building.It is not about who has the biggest PLN. It comes with a price. People need to give information in order to get information from others. One can “Lurk and Learn” on the PLN until a comfort level is attained. The learning however, is deeper and quicker when one engages others in sharing and collaborating.

On a PLN people are accepted for their ideas and not their titles. One will often be asked to give an opinion. There are pitfalls. Some believe that they must always offer opinions, even if they don’t know enough about the subject to responsibly offer an opinion. Sometimes the answer must be, “I don’t know”. The other pitfall is to speak in 140 characters all of the time. The 140 limit forces one to be concise and to the point. The dark side is that some people begin to sound like a cross between a fortune cookie and Forrest Gump’s Mama.

Develop your PLN at your pace with whatever Tech you are comfortable with. Start with a social media tool to acquire information. Add a tool to save the information. Balance your time. At first the tendency is to spend a great deal of time. That pays off getting people to see you and recognize you. After things begin to happen, you will adjust the time on your PLN as needed. It is your PLN and your rules. You may add or drop people as you go. Strive to maintain those who offer quality information. Discard those who detract or distract from your goal of sharing and collaborating.

Posted in Administrator, Blog, Education, Leadership, Ning, PLN, Pre-Service teachers, Reform, Social Media, Teacher, Teched, Technology, Thought Provoking, Twitter | 12 Comments »

What’s In A Name?

July 26, 2010 by Tom Whitby @tomwhitby

Since my blog is a personal reflection page, my personal experiences generally guide its content. My experience last evening took me to a conversation about the title of my Ning site The Educator’s PLN. It was a drawn-out discussion on the choice of the word “The” in the title of the name that I created for the site. It is based on that conversation that I feel a need to at least describe my thoughts and understanding on the topic of Personal Learning Networks that led me to choosing the Title of my Ning site. If you haven’t clicked off of this post yet, I am grateful, because I would have. I find it hard to believe that something this simple would get anyone upset, let alone me.

If my house were burning down and I yelled to a crowd of onlookers, “CALL 911” there are several things I would not want to hear coming back. “What’s the Magic word?” and “What do you mean by the word CALL?”are two questions that come to mind. Some people need to argue for the sake of argument and not in an effort to acquire a clearer understanding. This is a quality probably better suited for a lawyer than an educator, but that is an argument that I will not pursue.

The point that I believe that these individuals attempted to register with me, was that the word “THE” suggested that this was the only place one could go to be part of THE PLN. If anyone else has that feeling, then I really screwed up in my choice of Title. My personal understanding of what a PLN is, may best explain my choice of words.

The fact that this label of “PLN” is fairly new to some and also unknown to many educators lends to the confusion. That combined with the number of similar labels referring to the same or very similar concepts further confuses things. We start with Personal Learning Network and then Professional Learning Network. We have the Personal Learning Environment and the Personal Learning Community. There are a number of variations which interchange the words Professional and Personal.

To attempt to clear things up a little, let me explain my understanding of the concept and you may call it anything that suits your purpose. I clearly understood this concept from the time I left elementary school and learning became more complicated than it was in elementary school. I quickly adapted by surrounding myself with people who could explain things differently than they were presented in class. I personally selected the people I needed to help me along with my learning. I actually created a network of people I could go to for various things and they were not always academic. Since this network of people was constructed with my personal selections to help my personal needs for learning, I guess I could call this my personal learning network. It was unique to me and to my learning needs. It changed over the years as did my learning needs. This was not a personal learning network for other people. They needed to get their own. They could use some of my people for their network, but there was no exclusive ownership of sources. Now, with the advent of technology and the development of Social Media, I can extend my reach. I can grab sources globally. And even better there are several free Social media applications I can use for this purpose.

I used Email, Linkedin, FaceBook, MySpace, Twitter, Skype, and Delicious to connect with people and acquire sources. This network of people helped me learn by answering questions, passing along articles, websites, experts, podcasts, webcasts, online conferences. The best part is that it was all directed by my personal inquiries to meet my personal learning needs. This is also a flexible and adaptive network. It expands with new sources, information, concepts and tools. It works for me and that makes it personal. It will not work for every learner. The sources that I have chosen may not be the sources others would choose. They need to create their Personal Learning Network. There is NO “The PLN” if there were it would be “The LN”.

Now getting back to my Ning site, I had many questions from many individuals about sources. People wanted to create their Personal Learning Networks. They needed a little help getting started. They needed people to contact, how-to tutorials, groups of people with common interests. I knew how to do this, because that is how I learn. I created a site to help any educator who needed help developing his or her personal Learning Network. It gave them a means to do it. It is not the place to go for an instant PLN. It is a place for direction and sources. I needed to call it something, a name that would conveniently fit in a tweet. Hence, the name “The Educator’s PLN”, a singular educator and a singular personal network for learning. It neatly abbreviated to EDU PLN for tweeting purposes.

I want to be clear, I make no claim to ownership of anything about any PLN other than a Ning site that I created to help others develop their own Personal Learning Networks. I do take credit for my own PLN which consists of 2 Ning sites, 5 Linkedin Educational Groups, a Blog, a twitter account, a FaceBook account, a Skype account, a delicious account, an author stream account a Google reader account, Google mail, and probably a dozen other things as well. I am also the co-creator of #EDCHAT which has had a profound effect on my personal learning as an educator. That is my Personal Learning Network and not yours.

Now, I need to get back to my evening discussion. I imagine that a very good argument could be made to call The Old Man and The Sea, The Old Man and the Fish, but why? I named MY NING site The Educator’s PLN not because it is the place to end up, but one possible place to begin for those who do not know where to begin. If it is not for you, do not join. If you join and do not like it, follow the rule of two feet. Get up and leave. All I ask is that you let me call it what I called it.

If we keep arguing about the little stuff and not the ideas, it will take a long time to get from where we are to where we need to be in education. The idea of PLN’s is taking people from places of isolation to places of expanded thinking. We cannot keep saying no to everything without offering alternatives and expect things to change on their own. Rather than spend time arguing semantics, we need to address real issues. I promise to think more about Titles if I ever decide to create something that I believe will help others, because words are important.

The Educator’s PLN http://edupln.ning.com/

And now your comments, please.

Posted in Administrator, EdChat, Education, Leadership, Ning, PLN, Reform, Social Media, Teacher, Teched, Technology, Thought Provoking, Twitter | 20 Comments »

Is It Something, or Nothing?

July 22, 2010 by Tom Whitby @tomwhitby

I have always enjoyed attending educational conferences. I have been an organizer, committee member, presenter, moderator, panelist, and attendee for various conferences over my career as an educator. Educational conferences were always more than seeing the latest and greatest gadgets and gimmicks being offered to teachers to involve students in learning. I always recognized the energy that comes from these events. Educators who attend conferences get to listen to other ideas and share their own. They network and collaborate. They are introduced to new ideas, as well as stretch existing ideas to new dimensions. Conferences also provided best practices examples that many school districts lacked in their Professional Development. Teachers often returned to their Districts recharged and eager to put into practice that which they were exposed to at whatever conference the last attended.

I must admit that I was also critical of some aspects of educational conferences. I understand the high cost of putting such conferences together. That fact limits the number of people any District can send to a conference. It also seemed to me that many districts focused on sending administrators more often to conferences than teachers. I understand there are very good reasons why administrators need to attend conferences, but the ratio of Administrators to classroom teachers was always out of whack. It seemed to me that the administrators outnumbered the classroom teachers. Considering the number of Administrators to teachers in any district, there should always be more classroom teachers by a 10 to 1 margin. Of course this is not possible. Teachers cannot leave their students for extended periods of time. Vendors whose table fees make these conferences profitable, much prefer the movers and shakers of education to be in attendance in larger numbers. Buying decisions are not usually made in large numbers by teachers.

Districts interested in making the most from conferences will rotate their people to conferences. They will limit the same people from going to the same conferences year after year. They will encourage teachers not only to attend, but encourage them to present. Districts need to consider branding their schools with educators whose best practices are shared with other educators, locally, statewide, nationally, and globally. This recognition builds pride and expertise that benefits everyone including the students.

Now there seems to be new models of educational conferences emerging. It is yet to be determined if they will become permanent fixtures in the world of education. The new models are a direct result of today’s technology. Social Media has connected a great number of teachers from around the world. It not only brings educators together virtually and intellectually, but it enables them to organize and plan face to face gatherings without the need for professional organizations. The development of webcast applications is also enabling people to organize and present to large groups of educators who are securely nestled in the safety of their home cocoons and the comfort of their pajamas. The U-Streaming and archiving applications enable presenters to record presentation for those who could not attend in real-time. It time shifts professional Development for convenience.

These online symposiums, and unconferences or camps and webcasts are beginning to happen more and more in many locations around the world. Educational Ning sites are having more and more webcasts with both educational luminaries, as well as classroom teachers offering best practices for professional Development. People are being accepted by what they have to offer in the way of ideas and not by what their title is. These conferences are for the most part free to attendees. They bring together educators worldwide. They are allowing Higher Ed teachers link up and interact with K-12 educators. Authors are no longer just faces on a book cover, but participants in the discussion. Contacts made from these conferences become continual with social media allow connections to stay connected. The energy is renewed on a weekly or daily basis as opposed to months or years at a time.

Time will tell if these tech-assisted conferences help us move professional development to a point where the new literacy required to learn, teach and communicate with technology can be mastered by a majority of educators. This may be at best a gateway to educational reform and at worst an idea expanding experience. I guess that falls in the category of a win/win situation.

I needed to finish this post today for tomorrow I am meeting up with Eric Sheninger, @nmhsprincipal and Steve Anderson, @web20classroom to drive to Philadelphia for the #ntcamp. That is an Unconference for new teachers. It was organized by teachers for new teachers. The word went out over social media and many members of my Personal Learning Network are coming together in Philly to work with any of the new teachers who will be in attendance for no charge. This could be something or it could be nothing. Knowing the people involved I would bet that it will be something. Take a look at the site. http://www.ntcamp.org/2010/ntcamp-update/

Your Thoughts are most welcomed.

Posted in Administrator, conference, Education, ISTE, Leadership, Ning, PLN, Pre-Service teachers, Reform, Skills, Social Media, Teacher, Teched, Technology, Thought Provoking, Twitter, unconference | 11 Comments »

REFORM vs. TRANSFORM

July 10, 2010 by Tom Whitby @tomwhitby

For those of you who are unaware of what #Edchat is, it is a weekly discussion involving thousands of educators discussing a specific educational issue. The discussion takes place on Twitter with two sessions, each discussing a different pre-selected topic. A common bond of an interest in education is only one of several bonds common to a majority of participants. Most chatters are technology literate or at least Twitter literate in order to participate. One may also assume that their participation indicates a common interest in the specific topic being discussed. The majority of the group is teachers. Others involved would be administrators, educational consultants, educational vendors, parents, authors, and people who were interested in the topic that was being discussed on social media channels in preparation for the Chat.

The many factors of commonality among the participants often foster agreement as to solutions for the problems being discussed. That does not mean that the solutions are weak or less warranted, only that they are recognized and agreed to by many of the participants. Educators, being who they are, often challenge these ideas to test their worth during the chat. It would seem the profession attracts those who love playing the “Devil’s Advocate”. This agreement on solutions among participants has labeled Edchat among some as an “echo chamber”. Unfortunately, labels sometimes cast doubt over what are very sound ideas as people place the emphasis on the label rather than the idea.

Changing education reform from discussion to action was the topic of last week’s #Edchat. It was one of the most active chats we have had since we began #Edchat. It was obvious that another interest common to #Edchat participants is the belief that there is a need for education reform and a need for educators to have some say in how that will happen. The resulting Blog posts during the week provided some answers to a growing frustration with things either not happening fast enough or not happening at all. People put forward some strategies for action.

The whole idea of connectiveness among educators for collaboration is still new to many. Again, labels seem to get in the way of progress. Twitter is connecting tens of thousands of educators around the world. They are successfully exchanging ideas and collaborating around the clock and over every time zone. Tens of thousands of educators collaborating sounds great until we consider the fact that there are millions of educators out there. Even if 200,000 educators were connected and collaborating, it is still a minority. There is a stigma attached to the technology label among some educators. There is a huge stigma attached to Twitter a s a legitimate form of collaboration or conveyance of ideas. The approach to Social Media and technology in general by educational institutions go a long way in discouraging participation in any collaboration amongst educators.

Technology is still viewed as something separate from education. People are still debating its place in education. They are still debating whether or not it promotes learning. There are some who insist on discussing if technology can ever take the place of the teacher. There are some who demand more research must take place before we can accept technology in education. All of this stalls any forward movement to change.

If we accept that “Ubiquitous” means omnipresent: being present everywhere at once, it would certainly apply to our everyday lives in regard to technology. It has affected most of what we do or come in contact with. Our health, transportation, entertainment, manufacturing, communication, appliances, and leisure time have all been infused with technology. We never debated it. We never questioned it. We never researched it. Except for a Will Smith and a Robin Williams movie of fiction, we never really questioned whether technology would replace people. Yet, in education, these questions are debated all of the time. ENOUGH ALREADY!

Technology is only a tool. It is the Platform that our children must use to earn a livelihood. Our children need to have skills that use the technologies that are ubiquitous in our society and the world. Educators do not need to teach technology, but they need technology to teach. Yes, one can be a great teacher without using technology, but what good does that do for a child who must use those learned skills in a society where technology is ubiquitous? A teacher providing the skills without technology is providing an incomplete set of skills for what today’s children need. It will be up to that child to fill in the blanks in his/her education. That child will need to pick up technology skills on his own. He will need to correlate the acquired skills from that teacher into a technology rich environment, which the teacher failed to do, in order to succeed.

There is no longer a debate to be had on whether or not educators should employ technology as a tool. It is already ubiquitous in our culture. It is here to stay. It is developing and moving forward. Our education system is not keeping up with that change. Our children are either on that train prepared to move forward or waving bye-bye at the station. Relevance is now key to our educators, because it is key to our children. There is now a new literacy required to use technology successfully. How many of our educators are lacking in that literacy? How many educators are now illiterate?

There are so many problems to address in education that it is always a challenge as to where to begin. My suggestion is to stop creating impediments by debating the need for something which is ubiquitous in our society and will only be more evident in the culture of our children. We need to encourage the smart use of technology. We need to teach and develop the smart use of technology with professional development. We need our administrators and teachers to model the smart use of technology. We need to provide exposure, education, and participation of parents in the smart use of technology.

We need to understand that teaching writing with an Underwood typewriter and erasable bond paper is not the best way to teach today’s children to be writers. Let us not debate whether it could be done that way. Of course it could, but why would we do that? We as educators must be relevant and that is a day-to-day struggle. Educators can use technology to accomplish this. We need to educate the educators how they can maintain relevance.

Feel free to comment

Posted in Administrator, EdChat, Education, ISTE, Leadership, PLN, Reform, Skills, Social Media, Teacher, Teched, Technology, Thought Provoking, Twitter | 31 Comments »

#Edchat Revisited

June 23, 2010 by Tom Whitby @tomwhitby

When Shelly Terrell and I first discussed the idea that spawned #Edchat neither of us had any idea what it would become. It started as a place to begin, conduct and record some thought-provoking discussions about topics in education that we had an interest to discuss. We created the hashtag, #Edchat, selected a time, contacted Steve Anderson for techy help, and we were off and running. We started with a few people who followed us and we discussed topics on the fly.

We began to involve more and more people, and soon needed more of a structure. Steve developed our #Edchat Poll and we began to publicize the established day and time of the chat. It truly was a case of “If you build it, they will come”. It was that simple. We were not building on other models. We were not pioneers, but more like novices on Twitter. We were in new territory, but we knew that we needed to develop strategies for success. We added moderators as we grew, and we needed to archive the sessions to accommodate those who were not able to attend live. Being educators we constantly assessed, reflected, and modified.

The hashtag, #Edchat, soon grew beyond a hashtag for a discussion. It was now a place for educators to shout out their ideas for education to an audience far beyond the limitations of their personal followers. Anyone following the #Edchat hashtag would receive those tweets. Additionally,we needed to create an afternoon #Edchat to involve the global Time zones. There are now requests for a third chat to involve more time zones. The chats grew from fifty participants to well over a thousand for every session. During an #Edchat tweets come in at a rate of about one tweet every second. We had a need to create a Facebook page to accommodate more people. We also created a Wiki Page to act as a depository for the #Edchat Archives. It has grown far beyond that which we originally discussed almost a year ago.

Considering the size of the chat, and the speed at which ideas fly in, participants need a strategy to get anything from #Edchat. The first consideration is to select a platform to maximize the flow of information. I use TweetDeck others use Tweetgrid. The last thing one wants to use is the Twitter platform itself. I need three screens. One screen follows #Edchat. That screen rolls by quickly with everyone’s #Edchat tweets. The second screen is for my Mentions. Anyone directing a tweet directly to me appears on this screen. The third screen is my DM or Direct Message screen. This is for any followers sending me personal messages during the #Edchat. Others have their own strategies, but this is what works for me.

There is no way for anyone to follow every #Edchat tweet as they roll in at a rate of over 3,000 in an hour. My strategy is to look at this as a very big party. I can’t talk to everyone, but I can pick and choose a few folks to converse with. I start by posting a few provocative educational questions pertaining to the topic. Usually, two or three responses will roll in and we are off and running. More and more people join in as we go. There are many discussions like this going on simultaneously in an #Edchat. The only way to see it all is to review the Archives which are posted shortly after the #Edchat conclusion. The official length of an #Edchat is one hour, but many people hang in longer to continue.

The Live engagement during an #Edchat creates a great deal of energy. Participants are usually enthusiastic and driven in their contributions and responses. The lasting effect of #Edchat, however, does not happen until after the chat is over. Almost immediately educators who participated begin posting to their blogs those ideas that were generated and expanded during the chat. Even more posts appear during the week that follows with more reflection and deeper thought on the topic discussed.

Beyond the great subjects explored during the #Edchat there are a few other elements that I appreciate about this weekly event. The ideas are the center of the discussion. Members of the #Edchat discussions are students, parents, teachers, administrators, professors, authors, and some people just interested in the discussion. These participants leave their credentials at the door and discuss the topic with their ideas and contributions evaluated with equal weight within the discussion. The ideas stand on their own to be reflected upon and evaluated based solely on their own merit without regard to who contributed the initial thought. Contributors do not seem to be limited or discouraged by the 140 character limitations.

I know this has all been said before and written about in a number of Educational Journals, as well as many Blogs, but there is always someone who is just joining us or creating a Professional Learning Network. We are even highlighting #Edchat to educators by conducting a large group participation #Edchat at the upcoming ISTE10 Conference. Anyone having questions may contact me on Twitter @tomwhitby.You may want to join us on The Educator’s PLN Ning at http://www.edupln.com. Visit the #Edchat Page on FaceBook at http://bit.ly/aN71KJ. Check out the #Edchat Archives of all the previous #Edchat discussions at http://bit.ly/c6yowP.

Your comments about this post or #Edchat are most welcomed here.

Posted in Blog, EdChat, ISTE, Leadership, Reform, Social Media, Teacher, Teched, Thought Provoking, Twitter | 15 Comments »

Tech Org Reorg

June 18, 2010 by Tom Whitby @tomwhitby

This post needs a bit of a disclaimer in the beginning. For several years I was a member of the Board of Directors of the New York State Association for Computers and Technologies in Education, NYSCATE an ISTE affiliate. Like many Educational Technology organizations its mission is to promote the use of technology in education. This organization is similar to many other State wide organizations of other states with the same basic purpose. The leaders of these organizations are volunteers, some paid, most unpaid. These are people who work hard for long hours in support of these organizations and the mission.

That being said, and this being my post, I am going to openly reflect on technology organization stuff. These are my reflections as an educator and a former director of an educational technology group. If it were a lesson, I would assess, reflect and then change things as needed to become more effective. Since I don’t lead any of these organizations, I guess I stop at reflection. I have no ability to change things.

Technology in Education has always been a sticky subject. It requires understanding, training, modeling and innovation in order to be successful in the system. Some districts have recognized this and have had great successes. It is still a lesson to be learned in many other places. The mission of the Educational Technology organizations however, goes beyond a few forward-thinking districts. That term “forward-thinking” itself implies that technology is the future in education and not the now. My question to start would be: If the purpose of Educational Technology Organizations is to achieve ubiquitous use of technology in education, how do we do a formative assessment of that mission? Technology is always evolving, but many of these organizations were formed in the 70’s and 80’s. After over 30 years of striving to promote Technology use in Education, how close are we to ubiquitous use. Yes, we are using more Tech than ever before, but many places are still debating its value in education. We may also be using more technology because there is so much more to use, which has little to do with the influence of these organizations.

“Top Down” and “Bottom up” are two of the ways Technology is adopted in schools. As a classroom teacher, I was always partial to bottom up stuff, because it came from other teachers who used it successfully with kids. Top down to me meant it was a product that an administrator was sold on, with limited knowledge of how it worked, or what was involved for the teacher to make it work. Mandates are rarely successful. My experience has taught me that people need to be lead and not directed. Leaders cannot demonstrate a product and overwhelm folks with bells and whistles and tell them that they will use it from now on. We lose the required understanding, training, modeling and innovation in order to be successful. If you doubt that, look at the Interactive Whiteboards placed in schools all over the country. What percentage of these expensive boards are being used as Video, or PowerPoint projectors.

Now we need to consider the leadership of these organizations, as well as, who participates in their conferences. Being a leader in any of these organizations requires a huge amount of time. Time to a teacher is not negotiable. The flexibility of time is more in the domain of the administrators. It stands to reason that it is easier to provide release time to an administrator than to a classroom teacher. Therefore, it stands to reason that more administrators than classroom teachers run these groups.

The perspective of the teachers in the organization is; “how do I get kids to use this technology to learn?” The Perspective of the Administrator is; “how do I get my teachers to use this Technology?” both of these perspectives must be considered, but it must be in balance. As Administrators monopolize the leadership, that balance seems to be lost. There is almost an elitist air about these organizations. Classroom teachers are the very people we need to attend these conferences. If you ask a classroom teacher if they would attend an ISTE Conference and you then explained what ISTE was, the response would be simple. “I don’t teach Technology, why would I attend that conference?” It is my observation that some of the leadership of these organizations shift focus. The focus shifts from the success of the mission to the success of running the group. To some that comes down to the success of the conference in attendance and buzz. Attendance is measurable, Buzz is not.

A goal should be to involve as many classroom teachers in the synergy that is evident at any of these conferences. It would be hoped that while they were pumped up with the conference high, they would advocate for tech with their fellow teachers. That would be “bottom up”. Who really attends these conferences anyway? I do not even know if that data is tracked. I do know from personal experience I saw a great many administrators repeatedly attending the conferences year after year. Not that anything is wrong with that, but if a majority of the attendees each year are the same administrators who deal with technology as part of their job, where does that leave the classroom teacher and the group’s mission? It should not be an elite club for technology administrators.

Before everyone starts to run to the comment box to blast me on the elite club comment consider this. If these organizations were not being perceived this way by a large group of educators, why are Tech camps springing up all over? Teachers have been filling the void. They are doing their own mini conferences. They are providing sessions on the Internet. They are involving educators in technology in greater and greater numbers. PLN’s for teachers are providing information and collaboration that these organizations have not provided to the classroom teacher.

Educators are striving everyday to be relevant. That is why Professional Learning Networks are expanding by the minute. When we talk about education Reform, relevance is a big part of it. We need relevant Educators. The same can be said of Educational Technology Organizations. They are needed and necessary. They need to focus on their mission and not their organization. If they put the mission first the organization will succeed. Again this is not an attack, but a reflection. If we cannot see where we are going wrong we cannot adjust to correct it.

Now you can run to the comment box and blast away!

Posted in Administrator, EdChat, Education, Interactive White Board, ISTE, IWB's, Leadership, PLN, Reform, Social Media, Teacher, Teched, Technology, Thought Provoking, Truth | 9 Comments »

Feast of Assumptions

June 3, 2010 by Tom Whitby @tomwhitby

An assumption is a proposition that is taken for granted, as if it were true based upon presupposition without preponderance of the facts. There are many assumptions in education that are common in many schools from many districts. Some assumptions can be a hindrance to education reforms. Because these assumptions are believed by many educators to be true, they plan and make decisions based on these assumptions as if they were facts. Assumptions are not facts, but people continue to believe that they are. By the way I have no way of proving these statements that I am about to explore before you. I am making the assumption that my observations over the length of my career are proof enough for me to make generalizations.

First Assumption: Kids know more about technology than the teachers. We do not have to deal with technology since they know all about it.

Kids; are cell phone masters, can program DVR’s (VCR’s before that), text, use social media, download mp3 files, download videos, and use search engines. All of these abilities, however, are not a mastery of technology, although it might seem so to those who are even less technologically skilled.

Second Assumption: As an educator, if I can do PowerPoint presentations, I am effectively integrating technology into education.

With the introduction of a vast array of Web2.0 tools technology is cheap and abundant with applications to search, analyze, collaborate, create, communicate, and present. PowerPoint as good as it is, has become a digital Overhead projector. It is still useful, but limited compared to combinations of applications available.

Third Assumption: Colleges will turn out students to become teachers with a complete understanding of technology and education integration.

Many Colleges are using more and more Adjuncts. Many of these Adjuncts come from the ranks of secondary teachers, often older and many are retired. These are the very same educators who failed to integrate technology into education to begin with. They are believers of the first two assumptions.

Fourth Assumption: Senior teachers will never change; they are burnouts and will never take the time to learn new things.

As the founder of The Educator’s PLN Ning I accept members to that site every day. Many if not most of over 4,000 members are over 45 years of age. Veteran teachers are becoming targets and victims of assumptions. They are the highest salaried teachers, so the reason for targeting should be obvious. The fuel for this might be those senior teachers who do burn out, or refuse to professionally develop, but we are talking about a few and applying it to the whole.

Fifth Assumption: Administrators do not need to go through Professional Development. It is geared to teachers and not Administrators.

Administrators are our educational leaders. They need to model that which they expect their teachers to do. It goes without saying that they need to understand pedagogy to assess teachers’ lessons. Why should we not expect them to have a working knowledge of the newest tools of education as well?

Sixth Assumption: If we teach every bell and whistle in an application, teachers will see its worth and make it work in their class.

IT people need to understand that teachers need to fit the tool to the lesson not learn the application just to create a lesson. Professional development is very important for educators to stay relevant. I received a Masters degree in Educational Technology and none of the software or hardware that I learned on even exists today. Without Updating with PD I could not enable my students to effectively use the tools that they will need to be effective educators in our digital world.

I have offered a feast of assumptions which I have observed. I assume that you have your own favorites from you own experiences. The point of this post however, is not to swap war stories. We need to question and reflect on assumptions that are stalling change in our education system.

The biggest assumption: If I teach the way I learned, they will get it. We don’t need this technology stuff. If it was good enough for me it will be good enough for them.

I could continue the assumption list, but unless you have been living in a cave you should get the point and see some comparison of my examples to your own experiences. Feel free to comment here on assumptions that you are aware of and expose them. The sooner we dispel this stuff the sooner we can focus on what is real and get on with change. By the way I believe that my assumptions about these assumptions are factual.