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.

Joe's Non-Netbook vs. The Internet

Today I was reading Jeff Richardson's blog entry, Textbooks... Are they old-school?, and it touched on a point that has been brought up in several recent conversations.

Should we move away from textbooks?

Jeff posted the following video made by Joe, a student at Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia, PA, which highlights this issue.



While the video takes an amusing look at textbooks, Joe's Non-Netbook ties into deeper questions about the direction schools should be taking.

Inquiry And Textbooks

No matter how you slice it, a textbook cannot provide the same richness, depth, and perspective as the Internet.  A textbook limits a student, it prevents inquiry and further investigation.  As educators, if we are attempting to develop critical thinkers and challenge our students to ask thoughtful questions, they need to have access to multiple points of view and should be able to investigate on their own.  A textbook cannot provide that, the Internet does.

The Cost Of Textbooks

The argument is presented, but it would cost too much to put a computer in every students hands.  If you compare the cost of bound textbooks over four years (at least one textbook per class) to the cost of a having all texts housed on the Internet through an online course management software (CMS) and a top of the line HP netbook ($499), it's not even close.  You would save hundreds of dollars.

The Environmental And Economic Impact

Whether a school is trying to cut budgets, support efforts for environmental sustainability, or both, it is a good call to invest in online texts.  The amount of paper that is printed can be cut substantially when using online texts and laptops.  If a school invests in high speed scanners and all paper resources are made digital and posted online, a school is able to cut down on not only the amount of paper used but the number of copiers and printers needed on campus.

Conclusion

Joe's video may of taken a satirical look at bound textbooks but it definitely hits a nerve.  When we look at transforming our schools and truly preparing our students we must reconsider what we use to teach.  In a world where our students are constantly connected online and have access to the world, are we really going to turn that off and give them a book with no hyperlinks or alternatives and expect them to really learn?

Bursting the Bubble (Tests)

I read an Op-Ed the other day in the New York Times by professor E. D. Hirsch, Jr.  The article supported the value of the fill in the blank bubble test.  He asserted that while the current format is faulty, there is validity to the data and reliability of the test.  Dr. Hirsch made some valid points including:

the key to comprehension is familiarity with the relevant subject. For a student with a basic ability to decode print, a reading-comprehension test is not chiefly a test of formal techniques but a test of background knowledge.

While this may be the case, and we must assess our students on relevant materials.  That does not mean that bubble testing is the answer to the question of assessment reform.  Bubble tests have been around since 1938 and like the lecture only classroom, is seriously outdated.  In an era in which we know that students learn in many different ways, we must reconsider how we assess our students.

In his article, Beyond the Bubble, Bill Tucker argues that we can assess using the technology that are relevant to our students

Using multiple forms of media that allow for both visual and graphical representations, we can present complex, multi-step problems for students to solve, and we can collect detailed information about an individual student's approach to problem solving. This information may allow educators to better comprehend how students arrive at their answers and learn what those pathways reveal about students' grasp of underlying concepts, as well as to discover how they can alter their instruction to help move students forward.

I find this argument interesting.  I am not saying we should not assess.  I simply believe that with the understanding of differentiated learning styles and multiple intelligences, we must shift our understanding of teaching and assessment and disrupt the current model.  Bubble testing does not effectively represent what and how our students learn.  In the 21st century, our students are learning differently, interacting differently, and we must assess differently.

Assessments are a core part of preparing our students for the global marketplace but in an interactive and connected world, do bubble tests really prepare students for what lies ahead?

In utilizing the concepts of differentiated learning, we can to develop a form of assessment that takes advantage of the available technology and supports the skills the students must master to succeed in today's world. This will take some time and effort but to do justice to our students and their future we must burst the bubble tests.

Photo Credit: Thant Zin Myint

Using Video To Communicate To Your Class

Are you looking for a different way to post your assignments?  I wasn't but I have started playing with an option that I think will be beneficial in the long run.

I use Moodle for my course management.  It is simple, clean, and effective.  While it has been useful, i figured there should be a better way of posting assignments, giving instructions for a class that I would have to miss, or supplementing the content to be covered in class.

Homework

I have started using YouTube's quick capture feature to fill this gap.  See my first post below.  Not only can the students comment on the video to ask questions but by keeping the video broadcasts in a central location, it is simple to find assignments or instructions that the teacher wants to send out to the students.

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

Lectures

Another use of video I have been thinking about comes from the fact that I teach AP World History.  One of the challenges I face is the fact that I want to do too much in class.  I believe that getting students to practice the art of examining documents or debating theories is much more powerful than listening to a lecture.  The idea is simple, screen cast my lectures and post them on Vimeo the night before class.  Have the students watch the lecture for homework.  Then use class time to create lessons based upon historical discussion or investigation based upon the ideas introduced in the video lecture.

We'll see how this turns out but as I try to reexamine how my students learn and how to best use my classroom time, it's worth a try.

Net Generation Education Project

My World Civilizations II class and I were recently selected to particpate in the Net Generation Education Project organized by Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay.

My class will work with schools from around the world as we will examing Don Tapscott's book, Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World and the 2009 Horizon Report in order to determine what the future of education will look like.

We will be using multiple platforms, including a Ning, a Wiki, a Google Group to communicate with the other schools and discuss the ideas behind our final product: a video on what education should look like.  This video is to be part of Tapscott's Net Generation Education Challenge competition in which the winning entry will receive $10,000 in scholarship money.

The project begins this weekend, my students and I are excited to particpate and I will make sure to update the blog and let you know how it is going.

Technology Is Not The Solution

It might be a strange title for a post coming from a Director of Academic Technology but...

I just read an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, "Technology not the panacea for education", written by Todd Oppenheimer, author of The Flickering Mind: Saving Education from the False Promise of Technology. I found it using my education Alltop page, a free news aggregation website.

Oppenheimer is on target for the most part.  Throwing technology at a school will not improve education, teaching technology skills will not prepare our students for the challenges that lay ahead.  He calls the use of technology, "Education's WMD".

He goes on to quote a report from Information Technology Association of America on what students to learn in school.

Know something about the problems that need to be solved.

The concept is absolutely correct.  Students do not need to be taught how to use a word processor or for schools to purchase expensive content management systems.  That being said, technology CAN help students learn how to solve challenging problems and support the writing and reasoning skills Oppenheimer so strongly emphasizes in his article.

While technology is not a panacea and must be used with curriculum designed to support

writing and reasoning; reliable work habits; the capacity for concentration and face-to-face communication; a sense of history, cultural anthropology...[and] higher math and science

it can provide a wealth of knowledge and opportunities that will develop and support these skills.

Money for education should be invested in building or redesigning schools and curriculum that can develop the skills Oppenheimer mentions.  But, we would be foolish not to utilize the free or inexpensive technologies like Alltop, Skype, or Delicious, to only name a few that will only bolster that learning process.

Photo Credit:  Matthew Clark Photography & Design

The New Liberal Arts

I was learning more about a presentation on activism in the Middle East to be put on by the Berkman Center at Harvard next Monday when I saw another post on the Digital Natives website about the "New Liberal Arts".  After talking with my boss over the past few months about the idea of the New Humanities, created by Rutgers and now Stanford, this entry caught my eye.  A group called Snarkmarket posed the question, "What are the new liberal arts?"

This then prompted the group to open the idea up to the world for feed back and the idea is now turning into a book.  Snarkmarket is looking for your opinions on what the new liberal arts should include:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtLVFWXF_UQ&eurl=http://snarkmarket.com/blog/snarkives/books_writing_such/a_snarkmarket_book_project_the_new_liberal_arts/&feature=player_embedded

Our students are digital natives who live in a very different world.  We must adapt our curriculum to support the skills and thought processes that they will require in the 21st century.

With that in mind, I ask you to support Snarkmarket and their book in one of two ways:

1. Make a pitch for a new liberal art. It can be something you know lots about, or something you wish you knew lots about. It can be general or specific. It can be anything. Leave your first draft as a comment on this post, and don’t worry about thinking it all the way through. Don’t worry about length, either. If we decide to include your pitch in the book, we’ll work all of that out. ( click here to add your new liberal art)


2. Help promote the project. Even if pitching a new liberal art isn’t your speed, someone in your network might have a great idea. So blog this post; Twitter it; email it to your two nerdiest friends. Here’s a shortened link, if it’s helpful: http://is.gd/i4lG

Photo Credit: quinn.anya