Writing Tool Belt 2.0

This is a cross-posting for a piece I did for edSocialMedia.com

No matter what new tool a carpenter may have at his disposal, he still must master the skills needed to build a house. Those tools may change the way he does his job but he still must learn the basic skills of carpentry.

Learning in the 21st century is no different.  Our students must learn many of the same skills they had to learn prior to the digital age.

No matter the tool, our students must master how to write. But wait, isn't this a site that supports technology? Yes. While our students must master skills that were taught with pen and paper, if we are to reach our students in 2009 we must update our tool belt.

Writing is essential to a students success. But we are now in an connected world and how we teach our student to write is just as important as what we teach our students to write. I read Kathleen Blake Yancey's "Writing in the 21st Century" and it only validates this fact. She states that,

"we are writing to share, yes; to encourage dialogue, perhaps; but mostly, I think, to participate"

Today, social media plays a vital role in developing these ideas. Whether you like it or not, how we write is shifting.  The media as well as our students are interacting and writing online.    As more and more people live in an connected world, the way they communicate is evolving.  Pew Research Center states that "1 in 5 online adults 18 to 24 have ... used Twitter".  If we ignore that fact and try to teach in an unconnected world our students will lose interest.

Yancy goes on to say,

"21st century writing marks a new era in literacy, a period we might call the Age of Composition, a period where composers become composer not through direct and formal instruction alone (if at all), but rather through what we might call an extra curricular social co-apprenticeship."

Writing has never been more important but we must recognize this cultural shift.  Educators must develop a new tool belt that supports the interaction and connectivity that our students now thrive upon.  Our students text, comment, and tweet.  Our job is to use the tools that they are familiar with to create an environment that develops the literacy skills Yancy mentions while building upon our students' communal interactions via social media.

In our connected world where everyone is just a click away, social media tools like Twitter, Blogs and Facebook will be essential in order to develop the writing skills our students need while keeping it relevant.

Photo Credit: Robyn00

A Response To The Textbook Debate

This is a cross post from a comment I wrote on Kevin Levin's blog.  He had written a response to my earlier post about textbooks and the role of the Internet.  Enjoy.

The Internet will only become a larger part of our lives, whether you like it or not. Our responsibility as educators, notice I say educators not teachers, is to prepare our students, we’d all agree on that. But, if we introduce the skills (no matter the discipline) we want students to learn with traditional methods, our students will lose interest. They are growing up in a world of constant connectivity. Say what you will about this, that’s the way it is. The idea behind my post in response to “Joe’s Non-Netbook” was to highlight the fact that learning without a textbook and the skills we want them to learn go hand in hand.

If we as educators determine the core skills that we want our students to master, we can use any number of resources, we are not tied to the textbook.

As for history, we are trying to engage our students in a scholarly dialog. If we present them with multimedia (video, maps, art, charts etc.) as well as several text websites that are dedicated to a certain topic but have slight differences, the class can then determine those differences on their own not having to rely upon a textbook to tell them. As for the scholarly perspective, you can post two JSTOR articles from different historians and have the students debate the arguments and then write analytical responses on their blogs about the core differences in the two articles.

Textbook or no textbook, the skills we want our students to learn are still the same: be able to think and write like a historian. If we want to do justice to our students and keep them interested, we must acknowledge that our students consume information differently. If we completely ignore that fact we are doing them a disservice. While the top 10% of the class can understand the argument by simply reading a textbook, we are missing out on the 90% who need audio or visuals that are NOT available in a textbook. Yes, this approach will take some extra time and planning to post all the resources on-line ahead of time but the benefit for the entire class is well worth the effort.

As for other disciplines like math. Yes, math is different but that doesn’t mean that students can only learn from a textbook. Dan Meyer, a math teacher in California proves this very convincingly. Here are two examples of what he does with his class: http://blog.mrmeyer.com/?p=213 and http://blog.mrmeyer.com/?p=440

To sum up, textbooks not only cost a great deal of money but they cost our students’ potential to learn. With a different approach to how we educate our students and using the plethora of multimedia and text resources available on-line, we are not only saving money but doing a great deal of good in helping to keep our students interested and wanting to learn the skills we are “teaching”.

Scholarly Crowdsourcing: Twitter Does History

Dan Cohen, the Director of the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University, my alma mater, tried an experiment yesterday that really made me think about how we can use social media in our classes.

Cohen posted on his blog that he was going to conduct an experiment using his blog and Twitter. He would post an artifact and using a Twitter hashtag, #digdil09, and his Twitter account, @dancohen. Cohen wanted to see if his Twitter and blog followers could determine what the object, shown above, was within one hour.

The post was put up at 3:00pm EST on Thursday and within the hour both @grresearch and @opencontent had found the answer.

The hashtag feed was a true example of what history is all about, investigating a problem through discussion. The "mystery", as Cohen put it, brought random people together virtually in order to solve the question through scholarly discourse using social media.

For me, this experiment again proved that Twitter isn't just for ego maniacs trying to be more popular than a news organization. Rather, this again proves that it can develop our personal learning network (PLN).

This could be an excellent opportunity for students to learn how to do research by not just simply using Google but through discussion and learning from others. With tools like Twitters and blogs, our students can now crowdsource and take advantage of the greater community of knowledge that is not only in the "blogosphere" but also in the "twittersphere".

Solving The Time Issue

A few weeks ago I wrote about the issue of time and technology. I had referred to a speech given by Clay Shirky. His argument stated that we have always had the time to investigate technology but we used that time mindlessly watching sitcoms.

The other day I read a post by Antonio Viva titled, Who Has Time for Social Media? Mr. Viva states that for the vast majority of people

social media is either a term they don’t recognize or a fad they tried and just don’t seem to have the time for.

So this brings me to my question.

What will create the shift to where the majority of people see social media and technology not simply as another thing to do but rather as THE thing that brings their lives together?

The shift is beginning to happen, we see Oprah coming to Twitter. Yes, I am following her. The Boston Globe may close. These are both important indicators. They identify the fact that mainstream media is evolving. The ways we get our information is shifting in response. Despite this, many still fight the idea of technology as a "waste of time".

For technology or social media to take hold, our communities must fully incorporate it. We work and live in communities. If we want to make that shift from seeing technology as just another responsibility, it must become our brand. It must be a ubiquitous part of our community.

When our communities develop strategies that incorporate technology seamlessly into our daily lives, we will find that elusive time that Mr. Viva was looking for.

This takes a very deliberate approach but with the right plan and support, that shift can happen.

Photo Credit: Matt Hamm

Students Can Transform Educational Technology

Sylvia Martinez, president of Generation YES, recently penned the blog entry Successful, sustainable strategies for technology integration and tech support in a tough economy.  This entry was very timely because our school, like most schools, is trying to cut costs. Some see technology has a financial burden during a recession rather than an opportunity to save some money and create a student centered environment.  Martinez's post argues for the later.

Even though students are 92% of the population at the school, and are 100% of the reason for wanting to improve education, their voice goes unheard.

The idea behind making technology integration and support successful in a school is to incorporate the students into the process.  She outlines the following reasons for including students:

• Technology literacy for all - Creating an expectation that modern technology will be used for academics, schoolwork, communication, community outreach, and teaching. A key success factor is teaching students how to support their peers as mentors and leaders.


• Student tech teams - The 21st century version of the old A/V club, this strategy expands the definition of tech support from fixing broken things to also include just-in-time support of teachers as they use new technology. This digital generation is ready, willing and able to help improve education, we just need to show them how.


• Professional development 24/7 - The old idea that teachers would go off to one workshop or a conference and immediately start using technology has been proven wrong. Truly integrated technology use requires a bigger change than that, and it doesn’t happen overnight. Teachers require more support in their classrooms that they can count on when they need it. Students can help provide teachers with this constancy and supportive community.


• Students as stakeholders - Whenever schools initiate new technology programs, there is typically a call for all stakeholders to be included. Parents, teachers, staff, board members, and members of the community are invited to participate — but rarely students. Even though students are 92% of the population at the school, and are 100% of the reason for wanting to improve education, their voice goes unheard. Students can bring passion and point-of-view to the planning and implementation of major technology initiatives. They can be allies and agents of change, rather than passive objects to be changed.


• Students as resource developers - Students can help develop the resources every teacher and student needs to use technology successfully. These resources can be help guides, posters, instructional videos, school websites, or teacher home pages. Students of all types can use their talents to build customized resources for their own school. Artists, actors, and techies can contribute to this process.

How Can We Make This A Reality

1. We are a laptop 1 to 1 school.  If we fully utilize these laptops for everything pertaining to the school, essentially going paperless, we would save a great deal of money.  If the students become a primary resource for helping faculty and other students adapt to this shift, you are not only cutting costs but you are promoting student responsibility.


2. Building upon what I just mentioned.  Many of our students know more about technology than even some of our tech savvy faculty.  We must utilize this.  If we can incorporate students into our tech training and support systems, not only will we be empowering them, but providing the school a cost saving opportunity to expand their staff and make the most of the knowledge available.


3. With the development of Twitter, chat clients, and on campus support teams, faculty professional development no longer has to be dedicated to one day workshops.  Students and the technology department could use Twitter to periodically update the faculty with tips and reminders on how to use their laptops or fix a problem.  Something like iChat has to potential to have a help desk on call when school is not in session.  Finally, if you have teams of student technology assistants, they could help solve simple problems like "Why won't the projector turn on?" This support network would bolster the faculty's  confidence when using technology.


4. Students need to be a part of the conversation.  If a school wants to fully utilize our laptops, we must consider the students' perspective.  They will have an understand how the technology is used and can help plan and implement a program as well as prevent issues from happening.  We must listen to our students, their voice and contributions are vital to a program's success.


5. Finally, students are creators.  They have grown up around digital media.  We must take advantage of their comfort with this medium and have them help create and publish digital media that can range from tech tutorials to videos for prospective students.  Their experience with that medium will promote a student centered environment and save your school some money.  Who needs a marketing firm when you have students.

The points Martinez are important. Student participation is necessary.  When we involve our students in the integration and support of technology we not only empower them and the community but also cut costs.

Photo Credit: -bartimaeus-

The Switch

As I examine my media habits I realize, like many people, that what and how I consume my information has drastically shifted.

In my previous post, Where do we find the time?, I mentioned the role of the Internet and how it can alter how we utilize our time.  After I wrote that post I started to think.

If I have shifted my media consumption habits from passively watching television to actively managing, digesting, and learning from media online shouldn't I think reconsider what media I pay for?

The reason I mention this is because I have been traveling a great deal lately and unfortunately it has been hard to find access to the Internet when and where I want it.  I spend more time trying to find a coffee shop with wireless than I do actually on the Internet.

So, if the media I consume is primarily online and I am not at home as much, why should I pay for a traditional TV and Internet plan?

Since I carry my laptop with me virtually everywhere, wouldn't it make sense to simply purchase a top of the line wireless Internet card as my means of connection? Everything I watch or read is online, from TV shows on Hulu.com to my favorite contributors on my Google Reader and Twitter.

I spend my time watching, reading and contributing to the web.  In this economy, it only makes sense to purchase a plan that fits my needs more appropriately.

By getting rid of my cable and home Internet I can access and contribute to my media anywhere and I will no longer have to search for a coffee shop with wireless.  Although a good chai latte will go a long way.

I'll let you know how it goes. Good-bye Charter Communications.

If you have suggestions on a good wireless card and carrier please lend me your expertise via the comments.


Photo Credit: droïd

Where Do We Find The Time?

Like most technology integrators, the biggest hurdle I have faced as the Director of Academic Technology has been the issue of faculty buy-in.

I consistently hear the "I don't have enough time" argument. This video of Clay Shirky, author of "Here Comes Everybody", presents an interesting perspective in regards to the use of time. Are we really lacking the time or do we need to reallocate our time?

In the following video, "Where do people find the time?", Shirky argues that investing our time in learning these technologies or spending your extra time on the Internet learning is not useless, rather it is more productive than watching TV and that we should reconsider how we "waste" our time.

So as I look at the impact for educators, my argument for teachers who say they don't have enough time is this: rather than watching that episode of "American Idol", go online, develop and learn from a Personal Learning Network. You have the time and this is much more rewarding.

Part 1

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyoNHIl-QLQ

Part 2

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNCblGv0zjU

Thanks to @arvind for reminding me of this video.

Google Maps and Writing

Writing is an essential part of what I teach.  But no matter how you slice it, the act of writing is evolving.

The short story, The 21 Steps by Charles Cumming is a prime example of this evolution.  Cumming intertwines Google Maps into his story so that a story now takes a very visual twist. The reader visually follows the protagonist as the story unfolds.

Changing The Game

With the evolution of technology has come this evolution of writing.  If we are to engage our students and make writing something they enjoy practicing, we must reconsider our approach.  As a history teacher, I value the necessity of learning how to research and write a argumentative essay, but a story like 21 Steps, Twitter, and blogging prove that the art of writing can and should be developed in other mediums.

By combining a powerful technology like Google Maps and a short story or for history, a historical narrative, a student can create a much deeper learning tool that not only develops writing skills but the visual connection reinforces and extends the learning opportunities.  Using images, or in this case, maps allows the reader to actually see where the events took place.

Using a tool like Google Maps in conjunction with a writing assignment could make writing an engaging and rewarding process for both the author and the reader.