Deanna's Digital Digest

ISTE is like NETA only bigger and better!  Yes, that was what you could hear being said by many Nebraska teachers this June in Denver!  ISTE, International Society for Technology in Education, held its international conference in Denver this summer.  This year there were more than 17,500 attendees, of which 800 were from outside the US, and

4,000+ were vendors.  Can you imagine? That is a lot of people! Then consider the equipment they brought.  Most likely, they had a laptop and possibly an iPod or a Smart Phone.  That is a remarkable amount of network connections!  There were no glitches or problems.  It was great experience!

The conference officially started Sunday evening with a keynote address by Jean-François Rischard, the former vice-president of the World Bank and the author of High Noon.  He opened everyone’s eyes to the need for global education.  Global education is a strong player in 21st Century Skills (http://www.p21.org/).  It has less to do with being “green” than being aware of what is going on in the world.  What are
the economic conditions of the entire globe?  What are the worldly environmental conditions? What are the health conditions of the people of our world?  The most powerful recommendation that Jean-Francois had for this enormous auditorium full of educators was to focus on thinking and teaching GLOBALLY in your classrooms.  Then the national, state, and local support and concern will naturally occur!

Video conferencing was a major piece of the conference puzzle this year.   With today’s technology, video conferencing can be done by any teacher in their classroom!  The static distance learning classrooms are quickly becoming a tool of the past with the mobile set-ups taking over as necessary tools for learners and educators of the 21st Century.

Along the same line of global thinking was the ubiquitous presence of social networks!  The Blogger’s Cafe was always filled with people who are informally learning and networking during this conference.  There were also some “unplugged” sessions happening in the Blogger’s Cafe.  These were kind of like side-shows of the big conference and incredibly valuable to those in attendance.

THE most popular sessions at the conference have recently been the Bring-Your-Own-Laptop sessions.  These required preregistration and some required a registration fee.  I attended two of these sessions, Geo-Tagging and Diigo.

Geo-Tagging is basically adding geographic information to your photos.  Tools used in this were GPS devices, iPhoto, Microsoft Pro Photo, Google Picasa and Google Earth.  Many of the smart phones and new cameras are adding geographical information to the photos as you take them!

Diigo is an online bookmarking tool with an aspect of social networking.  Do you have dozens of bookmarks in your browser at school? Do you sometimes wish you could get to those bookmarks at home or while you are at a conference?  Diigo is the tool you need to sign up for!  Go to http://diigo.com and register for your new free account.  Your new
account will save your bookmarks online so that you can get to them from any machine that is connected to the internet.  This also makes it very convenient to share bookmarks with students!

SMART was again a major sponsor of the ISTE conference.  There were other new tools that were quickly being talked about.  One that isn’t really new in concept but is a fantastic price is the IPEVO document camera for $69.00 (http://www.ipevo.com/Point-2-View-USB-Camera_p_70.html).  The other is the Epson BrightLink short-throw interactive projector (http://www.epsonbrightlink.webengager.com/) This projector runs about $1700.  There is no need to buy a special whiteboard with this projector.  Your only cost is the projector!

I get a lot of teachers that ask me after these conferences, “so, what is the latest and greatest this year?”  In the past I could usually answer that in one word or one vendor name.  That is education of the past.  Kids have grown up in a very visual environment compared to what you and I grew up in!  Because of this, teaching them differently is a
necessary adjustment.  Working online, social networking, visuals and project-based learning are all ways to do this.  The vessels to make these changes are no longer laptops in a one-to-one environment. Our eyes were opened to the fact that our schools are already almost a one-to-one environment with smart phones.  Kids are always connected!  It is predicted that in less than 5 years, every student in the US will have a smart phone in their hands for use in school.  For more educational predictions, check out the Horizon Report (http://www.nmc.org/horizon linked along the right side of the web
page).  Cell phones were a huge topic at this year’s conference because they can do almost everything a laptop can do, with some limitations of course, but they are far more accessible!  What does this mean for education in the US?  Our state?  Our ESU schools? Our students?

Today’s students have never had to learn in black and white; their world is animated and colorful.  They never have to say good-bye to their classmates because they are always connected though cell phones and social networks.  ISTE 2010 brought together the predictions of the Horizon Report and the guidance of the 21st Century Skills.  There is no longer one technology tool that will be easily implemented to update instructional skills.  There is no longer one new approach to try once a school year to meet requirements.  This is new education!  Think globally!

Today we did a WordPress training in Loup City! Great Ladies here today and we are having a GREAT time!

I have had several conversations lately that have triggered some passion from me.  I would like to post my thoughts here.  Remember these are just my thoughts combined with my conversations.  And I would like to hear from YOU as well!

Early in January, I talked to a principal that was really pushing teachers toward technology.  I wouldn’t call him a techie by any means.  He has been putting together the importance of these tools and how it will change, for the better, the way teachers teach and the design of their lessons.  We talked about the importance of being able to teach online whether that is in person or distance.  I wondered about these teachers that are unwilling to see new possibilities.  If funding is no longer available for these small or even medium sized schools in Nebraska, what will Nebraska teachers need to do to keep their jobs?  I think teachers will be needed to teach over video conferencing equipment or through web-based means.  In days gone by, people moved to where the jobs were or the schools were but I don’t think that will happen anymore.  Why should it?  Students even out in the country can receive an internet signal and thus be in contact with educational resources.  What happens if teachers can’t teach this way because their “style” doesn’t work on such a platform anymore?  I worry that teachers will be without a job.

The argument then for school buildings/structures is that being IN schools is better for kids.  Why?  I am aware of teachers now that aren’t getting to know their students both in face-to-face classes and over video conferencing.  Both types are not getting anything out of students and aren’t effective teachers.  But I am not going to rule out distance education because of that one teacher!  Nor am I going to rule out face-to-face education because of the ineffective classroom teachers either.  So what speaks louder than “what is best for students?” MONEY!  If there is no money, there isn’t going to be a building full of teachers that only see 120 students each a day.  The building is going to be full of high definition video conferencing equipment full of teachers that can reach 300+ students each a day.  As these jobless teachers are being escorted out of the buildings you will hear screams of “teaching in-person is best for kids!” And they will still be escorted out of the buildings, if there ARE buildings.  Who needs a building if you don’t have students physically present?  Teach from home in your sweats!!!  Keep in mind, I am just thinking out loud!

So here I am trying to train teachers, specifically on technology.  Technology changes all the time so why  should I teach them how to run a computer if it is going to change?  How can I keep up with that when I have 2500 teachers in my ESU area?  I probably should be training them on how to be a dynamic, effective teacher both in the classroom and across distances.  Instructional design now trumps everything in education (except knowing your students and how they learn best)!  Even the “higher-ups” have been talking about this in other conversations I have had recently!  Teach the teachers how to learn!  That is a great charge for me and I completely believe this is what I need to do.  But change is hard for people.

Yesterday I had Fine Arts teachers in the building.  The purpose was to get them together to share and collaborate.  We showed them the Manhattan School of Music  and how they are using video conferencing for lessons, coaching, concerts and other presentations.  I was in AWE!  It was the coolest thing I have ever seen!  Teachers hang-ups: not in person and too much money ($200-300 for coaching).  So why not do something like that in our own ESU area?  Teacher hang-ups: can’t work out the times, can’t teach art without being in person, audio will be behind.  Change is hard! There ARE teachers that WILL do this though, so those that don’t…. well, think about it.  So if you don’t want to teach ___ over distance because it isn’t good for kids, someone else WILL!  Wouldn’t you like to be the one to do that and do it right?

So in a nutshell, my new focus is on finding and teaching/preaching instructional design.  What makes a good lesson?  What format will work the best for a lesson?  Some of that is hard to teach!  We have to also follow our own preachings as we teach the teachers.

Some of this sounds pretty arrogant maybe but I am truly worried about teachers and their jobs.  There are a lot of good teachers out there that wouldn’t make it in a virtual world.  I keep hearing more and more about virtual school in Nebraska.  That is a distinct possibility!  What will that mean to YOUR school? I also think that school districts boundaries could change.  Why run 15 little local schools when you could combine the budget and administration and run just one district with many smaller buildings? What will THAT do for teachers? Communities?

Now, where do I start….

http://learningscience.org/index.htm