Stumble Upon

G'Day,

I've made the case that the shift of getting broadband speeds through our phones will change WWW from "World Wide Web" to "Whatever, Whenever, Wherever" because if we're into music, video, gaming, gambling, chatting, buying, trading, etc. we'll get access to whatever we want wherever and whenever. Neil Postman's title then comes immediately to mind, what's to stop us from "amusing ourselves to death?" This has been one of my soapboxes for a couple years - especially as it relates to children whom I believe are even more vulnerable than we are (because they know that getting what they want will make then happy ;-).

Now I have to change tact. A couple days ago, I downloaded the new version of Firefox and checked out a few of the extensions. You have to give Stumble Upon a try. Follow the directions on the last link and you'll get a new browser toolbar installed that looks something like this:

Do the registration thing and start clicking on the "Stumble!" button. This little browser extension is like PopUrls, Delicious, MySpace, YouTube, Messenger, etc. rolled into one ridiculously easy and fun interface.

Remember how cool Random URL was in the early days of the Web? Tripping over to some other country with the click of a button, not knowing what you'd come across. Now warp that early experience with the social networking and AJAX applications of Web 2.0.

So I have to revise my use of Postman. We now face a greater threat to actually getting any work or learning done. We could spend the rest of our lives "intriguing ourselves to death."

Let us know what you think. To whet your appetite, here are a couple sites I stumbled upon: Drawtoy and Transparent Screens.

Redesigning the Research Assignment

On my way to parent's weekend at my son's college, I pulled into a cute little town around noontime, and discovered the best homestyle cooking. I used a proven research technique for quickly finding a good restaurant in a new town; I asked a couple experts at the gas station on the corner. Both times I got the same answer. When I drove in I noticed a long line and thought "hmm that's a good sign".

Social bookmarking tools such as del.icio.us and Furl allow students to use the same ‘proven’ techniques for their research assignments while also allowing teachers to redesign research assignments requiring higher levels of critical thinking (high on the list of 21st century skills) Instead of searching the “whole web” to find websites that contain “statistics about teens and alcohol”, searching FURL or del.ico.us brings you to a list of websites other users found worth bookmarking about the topic. Does that guarantee that a site that’s been bookmarked by 944 other users contains the information you’re looking for? Not anymore than the long line out the restaurant door guarantees a prime dining experience; but I’d be willing to bet that “people’s choice” provide me more useful results more often than “search engine optimization” results for many research projects.

I can almost hear the MOANS… “great, not only do my students have an easier time plagiarizing because of the WWW, but now someone else can do their research for them?” But wait, working smarter might be the “hook’ to engage your students into using these tools, but the REAL reason I’d advocate using social bookmarking tools is that they allow teachers to redesign assignments in ways that require higher critical thinking skills.

Following the advice of Alan November that teachers redesign the assignment, Vermont middle school teachers, Melissa Haberman and Deb McCarthy, have redesigned the research phase leading to their students creating of public service announcements on Teen Issues. By using “cut and paste” and the “notes” feature of del.icio.us along with the ability to TAG, these middle school students are totally engaged by the ability to work ‘smarter’ and skip some of the tedium associated with traditional research methods. Meanwhile, teachers are clicking on the ‘tags’ with the students name and reading the “notes” sections to assess their students’ critical thinking skills in being able to include relevant data from each bookmarked websites that answers the “guiding question”. One student came back to class the next day and said “I installed del.cio.us at home last night; is it okay if I use it for other things besides this project, like can I bookmark websites about “puppies”. Thumbs up to these teachers for engaging their students with technology tools that require higher critical thinking skills; thumbs up to the students for transferring the skills to life outside the classroom.

Athough ‘redesigning research” is one potential use of social bookmarking sites, the potential uses to these tool in education increases as each adds new features. (The Social Bookmarking FaceOff post on Read/Write/Web) Although I was surprised, that this review did not mention one of my favorite features of FURL as a research tool (the ability to export a selected list of sites in APA or MLA format). Do I hear another MOAN…”you mean my students don’t have to suffer through correctly punctuating their Works Cited page like I did ”… SIGH!

21st Century Skills and the Infinite World of Information

Three years ago Steven Glyer, Director of Educational Technology at the Newport-Mesa Unified School District in California, introduced me to a document called enGauge: 21st Century Skills for 21st Century Learners. The framework presented by NCREL and the Metiri Group includes Digital Age Literacies, Inventive Thinking, Effective Communication, and High Productivity. Each of these sections include elements you would expect, but there are a few surprises I find important.

For instance, there are eight Digital-Age Literacies, which include multicultural literacy and global awareness. Also, within the area of inventive thinking, we find my favorite 21st century skill, risk taking. (Teachers often ask me how to teach risk taking, and I think that is another post, but I'm certain it requires a learning environment in which it is ok to fail - and to learn from failure.) Under Effective Communication you'll find sections on personal, social, and civic responsibility. And the most significant element under High Productivity is the ability to produce relevant products.

My perspective on all of these skills was changed about a year ago when Clark Aldrich (author of Simulations and the Future of Learning and Learn By Doing) remarked as I interviewed him that these are more than just 21st century skills... they might be called life skills (except for the potentially negative connotations) or success skills - and they have been the skills of the successful for centuries, at least.

Some of these skills, though, are changing in the 21st century, particularly information literacy. Students need to be able to make sense of the overwhelming amount of information available today, particularly on the web. In fact, I thought I would use this topic to illustrate some of the search tools that can help make sense of the "infinite world of information" that is at our fingertips.

A quick web search reveals that the enGauge document is not the top hit. An organization called the Partnership for 21st Century Skills at www.21stcenturyskills.org shows up first. They may have a better URL, but their site is much harder to navigate. Still, with a little digging I turned up this alternative framework of 21st Century skills.

Recent news on the subject is equally easy to come by. A news search reveals, among other things, an article from September 25th titled Partnership for 21st Century Skills Calls for Innovative NCLB Reauthorization. Note that adding quotes to this news search focuses the results even further.

More indepth and more scholarly resources are also available. A book search reveals a wide variety of related volumes and excerpts. Similarly, a search of scholarly sources produces still more resources, and if you find one that is relevant to you, such as J Salpeter's 21st Century Skills: Will Our Students Be Prepared, you can then click on Cited by to discover sources that cited the article. (This is the reverse of looking in Salpeter's references to see who he cited... and this produces newer and potentially more relevant results.)

Of course, if you are interested in what people are saying informally about 21st century skills, you can search online groups, which reveals many people with questions (and perhaps answers) about this topic - or better yet, do a blog search. In this case, we discover a relevant post at one of my trusted sources, Jeff Utecht's The Thinking Stick.

And if other media than text interests you, there is always an image search, from which I located the image for this post, or a video search, which brings us to a video in which you can listen to a "Nppissing University Instructor discuss technology in learning and how Nortel LearniT helps his pre-service teachers develop their 21st century learning skills." Whatever your learning style, there is information out there for you.

I even tried a map search, which made me curious about the connection between the Partnership for 21st Century Skills in Tucson, Arizona and this office in New York.

This is only scratching the surface of the research process of course, but my fellow ITM bloggers and I will be returning to these tools often I'm sure. Meanwhile, these links can get anyone started in their own exploration of 21st Century Skills and what they mean to you and your students.

Digital refugees and bridges

Mark Prensky is relatively well known in educational technology circles for his 2001 article, "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants." (PDF) The vocabulary of referring to younger people as "the digital natives" for whom technology use comes more naturally and "the immigrants" to the digital landscape who comprise most of the adult population and teaching cadre in our schools and universities can be helpful in understanding the divides which often separate and define generations of learners.

An additional term may be needed, however, in addition to "native" and "immigrant." We may need to recognize the existence of some among us who fit better in the category of "digital refugee" rather than immigrant. At my podcasting workshop last Thursday for Tulsa Public Schools, librarian Barbara McCrary observed that many teachers may self-select the "refugee camp" instead of choosing immigrant status. I agree with her, and created the following graphic this evening to illustrate and expand further on this idea:



These groups may be definied in the following ways:

The Natives: Students who have and are growing up in the digital age, who assimilate digital tools and methods for communication as easily as they breathe.

The Immigrants: The older adults in society (and in our schools) who did not grow up with digital technology tools, but are working to "learn the language" and communicate effectively with the natives all around them. Some of the immigrants are open and accepting of "native ways," but many are resistant to change.

The Refugees: The older adults in society who have chosen to flee rather than integrate into the native culture. Digital refugees often feel lost in a threatening and dangerous environment, and perceive themselves to be homeless. They have chosen to flee rather than remain immigrants, and may actively work against the goals and interests of both the digital natives and the digital immigrants. The refugees are primarily motivated by fear and a staunch desire to not only resist change but actively oppose it, deny the existence of a changed environment, and/or ignore it.

The Bridges: The digital bridges are neither truly natives nor fully digital immigrants. Similar to millenials who have one foot in each century, the bridges have both native and immigrant traits. As a result, digital bridges are able to communicate relatively effectively with both groups.

The Undecided: These people have not made up their mind which group they fit in, or which group they want to fit in. They are likely immigrants or refugees, but may not have taken sufficient action to reveal their identities and/or preferences for group identity.

Do you know any "digital refugees?" I think many of the educators and leaders we term "laggards" may fit into this "digital refugee" camp more than they fit into the "digital immigrant" group. I do think their status in either of these two groups IS a choice.

David Warlick has challenged us to "stop acting like immigrants, and start acting like natives." What, however, are we supposed to do with the digital refugees in our midst- especially when they may comprise our school boards and many on our district administrative teams? What do you think?

Technorati Tags: k12online06 k12online

Conferring on Conferences

Live from Bloomington, Minnesota… I am posting this while waiting for a session to begin at an assistive technology conference called Closing the Gap.

In coming weeks, I plan to expand on my Jumping In post by adding thoughts on why technology has compelling implications for education. Right now, however, I would like to start a discussion on education conferences as I am in the midst of one. Not only am I attending this conference for the first time, but I am co-presenting two workshops for Apple with fellow Apple Distinguished Educator, Kris Hill. I am also here to educate myself because I work with a few kids with learning differences, and I am the parent of a child with a mild learning disability.

Closing the Gap is one of the nation’s first assistive technology conferences, started by parents of a deaf student in 1983. It was billed to me as conference full of tech savvy educators passionate about their niche in our profession. It’s a whole new world to me as I do not have a special education orientation. I am amazed as I walk through the exhibition hall at the variety of software and devices available for today’s students. The sessions have I attended have carefully crafted program descriptions, handouts which are always beloved by attendees, and detailed presentations. Overall, it’s a well organized conference with high expectations for all involved.

Kris and I had dinner last night with another ADE Gayle Berthiaume who lives here in MinneSOHTA and she told us about another concurrent conference that sounds interesting. Sponsored by Education Minnesota, the state teachers’ union resulting from the merger of state NEA and AFT chapters, their Professional Conference is free and open to the public. Teachers in this state seem to have these two days off in order to attend. I have never heard of another state doing something like this and to me, it speaks volumes about how Minnesota values professional development.

Other conferences I regularly attend include the National Educational Computing Conference and the Illinois Technology Conference for Educators. My questions for you are:

-What education conferences do you attend, if any?

-What makes a conference a worthwhile experience for you?

-Are your schools supportive of you attending conferences? And if not, what can be done to help teachers have this kind of opportunity?

Leave your thoughts in the comments section above!

ITM #2: The Write Stuff

ITM #2 dives into the world of language arts with some great web resources and instructional strategies. Pour yourself a cold glass of milk and enjoy!

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Show Notes:

The History is Elementary blog is great resource for practical ideas on teaching history, especially in elementary school. The Shake and Bake post is particularly inspired, providing great ideas for hooking kids on Shakespeare by introducing them to the mystery of his identity.

Type in "Answer to life the Universe and everything" on the Google search bar and click "I'm Feeling Lucky". Hint: It's an obscure literary reference to a famous science fiction novel. If you want to cut right to the chase, check out this entry in Wikipedia.

The Gmaps Pedometer is a FREE web tool that measures and records walking distances from one point to another. It even measures changes in elevation! Use this tool with kids to help measure the exact distance between two points or to monitor your exercise path. FYI - Although Gmaps Pedometer uses Google Maps to help make it work, the website is not affiliated with Google in any way.

Ken Stein's Teacher Blog is a "sandbox" for ideas and resources related to teaching writing. It's just one of many great resources provided by the New York City Writing Project. His post on "Things to do with Writely" has 10 specific tips on how teachers and students can get the most from Writely (now called Google Docs) and other online word processors. Zoho Writer, AjaxWrite, and ThinkFree are a few other online tools to check out.

Google Docs & Spreadsheets (formerly Writely) is a free web-based word processor and spreadsheet tool.

Mike Lawrence is a former high school English teacher who currently serves as the Executive Director of Computer Using Educators. He visited Price Elementary School in Anaheim, CA for his "field trip" to see how they were using online word processors in their writing process.

The Big 6 is an information and technology literacy model and curriculum developed by educators Mike Eisenberg and Bob Berkowitz. It is the most widely-known and widely-used approach to teaching information and technology skills in the world. On the main Big Six website, you can get lesson ideas, read about their evidence of success, and access grade appropriate tools.

There are lots of FREE online dictionaries (Dictionary.com and Free Dictionary are two of the most popular), but you can also define words straight from the Google search bar. This simple tool allows you to quickly view multiple definitions of words and follow the link to the original source of that definition.

Your Homework Assignment: Take one of the ideas or resources mentioned in this episode and use it in your school or classroom. Post your results to the comments section of this blog (see the blue "comments" link above) or send us an email.

Thanks to the students from Mr. Hernandez' class at Price Elementary School in Anaheim, CA, for helping us explain what the Infinite Thinking Machine is!

The Student as Historian

I interviewed Doc Searls recently, and he said that he likes to think of what he does as releasing ideas as "snowballs" to see if they gain momentum and strength as they roll down through the blogosphere. OK, so here's an Ed Tech "snowball."

One of the intriguing elements of the "read/write" web is the opportunity that all students now actually have for their work to gain a wider audience and to truly contribute to the sum of public knowledge. Here is one idea to give them a taste of this truly remarkable change.

While it is unlikely that you're going to have a student who will unearth some new, significant information about Lincoln or Napoleon (although this may also happen), it is likely that all of your students could become the world-experts on their grandparents, great-grandparents, or other long-lost relatives. Those boxes of old family photos, newspaper clippings, and letters in their attics or closets or basements--combined with the power of wikis, blogs photo-sharing, and podcasting--give your student the chance to become primary-source historians.

This isn't just important (and I think it is important, since this kind of a project can help students better understand their heritage and what history is, as well as actually providing valuable historical information), but it can be very exciting. I had an experience that convinced me of that.

Some years ago I received an email from a woman asking if I had ever heard of a "Kate Hargadon" (my same last name), who had been the traveling companion of her grandmother on the Titanic. This intrigued me, so I searched the web to find that all the Titanic websites listed a young woman age 17, from Ballysodare, Co Sligo, Ireland, whose name was spelled "Kate Hagardon." This young woman boarded the Titanic at Queenstown and, sadly, died in the sinking of the ship. Because all of the members of the "Hargadon" family trace back to County Sligo in Ireland, it seemed possible to me that "Hagardon" was actually mis-transcribed from "Hargadon." I wrote the Irish Titanic Historical Society, who had someone look up the original passenger manifest, and found that "Kate Hargardon" was in fact "Kate Hargadon." They in turn informed all of the Titanic historical sites, and for many years every mention of "Kate Hargadon" carried a footnote acknowledging me as the "historian" who had discovered this.

Now, I majored in history in college, but nothing I did in school compared with how exciting and fun it this little historical adventure was. Truth be told, it wasn't anything earth-shattering, but it had some small historical significance, and it was me being involved in history in a very real and tangible way. The read/write web now provides an opportunity for students to experience this same kind of excitement. Let me know what you think.