I was reading Garth Holman's (my professor and now friend) blog, TeachersForTomorrow.Net, and he had an interesting article about his time teaching Grad Students.  It was especially interesting to me, in that I've taught students, worked with Graduate Biology Teaching Assistants, taught high school, and been in the position of being in grad school. He talked about his student's reflections on technology, and you can read the article, but here's the comment I left -


"The new teachers, the successful teachers, the teachers who are going to make the big bucks in the future, are going to be those that are not only WITH the times, but AHEAD of the times. No longer will the old geezer teacher be able to use his mimeographs from 1976 to teach.... Teaching is going from "teacher-centered" to teacher-led, and the teachers who just want to stand up in front of the room and do a powerpoint are going to be short lived. I get excited with each new contact I make, each website that has a new technology I can tinker with, and with the innovation that our 21st century promises. Whenever I hear a teacher say, "I don't know how to do that! Help me." I think, "You better learn how to figure out the answer to your questions without asking the teacher! Google it, youtube, it, collaborate - DO SOMETHING, but if you sit back and helplessly hand raise - you're going to be out of a job!" And our students are not dependent on us as "the keepers of the information" anymore. It's exciting, it's scary, and it's the future. Teachers need to innovate, or they need to get out of the way!!!"


I've been in the reality of having a teacher-peer who used mimeographs from the 70's. It even had the domains of the animal kingdom wrong! He was sitting in his classroom, doing what was easy. And I know some, if not a lot, of teachers who are making the big bucks at the end of their careers, who want to just ride it out. And riding it out is not working for our students. In order for our students to innovate, to make money, and to compete on a global level, we have to get away from what's easy. We have to use new technology. We have to collaborate GLOBALLY! There is a change in the system that has to occur. I'm not saying I can single-handedly fix education, but I sure can sit back and be quiet and easy about it! Technology makes information available to every child in America, and it's moving globally. Teachers have a DUTY to be ahead of the game. We have a duty to not take the easy road, we have a duty to do what's best for our kids. I love education, I love that I have a platform to share my ideas, and I LOVE technology!

Wikispaces is a network where students and teachers can create and work on webpages together. You could put several students in a group to work on a project, and they could design a wiki pretty easily. Wikis have all kinds of elements you can add to them, like photos, videos, links, and the most important feature (in my humble opinion) is that you can track every revision. 

So, lets say I have a class of 40 Natural Science Biology students. I put them into groups of 5. They are assigned a topic to write about, like stems cells or cloning or something science-y.  I have each group start a Wiki. They can each work on the (collective) wiki from home, school, or wherever they can login to the internet. None of this "I saved the paper on my flashdrive and lost it," or "The paper is on my computer at home." Each student has a login name, and can access the wiki.

So, as the students are building the page, you (as the teacher) can review the revision history to see what each of the members have contributed. I hear all the time "So-and-so did all the work," or "So-and-so didn't help at all." This lets you know what REALLY happened! And, rather than a boring old paper, the students can build a multimedia presentation that can be shared with other students, and can become part of the student's e-portfolio to show potential employers.

If you would like to see the wiki I build, it's here -  http://curriculumconceptmapping.wikispaces.com/ - and it's a few years old, so don't judge too harshly :)  The story behind it is that there were three of us in a group for a professor's curriculum course, and he said we could make a project about the power dynamics of a classroom, and we could do it however we wanted. I had just learned about wikis, and I wanted to give it a shot. Instead of writing a paper, or doing a poster, we took pictures of how we saw the power dynamic working in this classroom, and we described them on the wiki. I was really the only one doing the revising and editing, but the finished product was unlike anything the prof or the class had seen at the time. The prof was so impressed, he shared it with the class.

My Wiki http://curriculumconceptmapping.wikispaces.com/

Today Kersten and I had a great Skype conversation about education. The thing I loved about our experience is that even though her and I were both in the same general geographic area - we could have been in different schools, different states, or different countries. I could have been talking to Kersten while on the road, on a plane (with wi-fi), or from a different location every day. If I were a soldier, I could be talking from a war zone. If I were an inner city student, I could be talking to a Harvard professor. Video chatting, in all it's emerging forms, really widens the playing field for students. No longer are we constrained by location, and poverty becomes less of a deciding factor in the education you can receive.

Years ago, I might have worried about raising my son on the Mexican Border, where I lived. Now, I know that he can be part of a global community of educators and experiences, and will have access to all the tools to be successful.  One tool for success that Kersten and I used is Google Docs. We made a document about PBL, Inquiry learning, Webquests, and Constructivism.  You can see our work here. The amazing thing about this document is that we created, edited, saved, and shared - all while not being in the same classroom. We worked together, chatting in the sidebar, talking on Skype, and putting the pieces of our assignment together together, but apart. The uses for this in the classroom are endless!

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/professors-consider-classroom-uses-for-google-plus/32131?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

Though I don't think anyone really knows how to use it yet, or if it'll catch on, Google + is here, and looks to have some promise that other technology hasn't caught up with yet.

I am often a little weary of befriending my past or current students on Facebook.  I will sheepishly admit that I have a bit of a mouth, and that I post a lot of dumb stuff on Facebook. I like the idea of using Google + as a professional tool, where I could share articles with my colleagues, discuss assignments with my students, and share lessons with fellow teachers. I have heard Garth suggest that is what he does on Twitter, but I never got the hang of Twitter.  I like the idea of having circles of friends, family, co-workers, students, or whoever that I share certain items with.

In the article Professors Consider Classroom Uses for Google Plus, the author discusses using Google + as a tool for virtual office hours. I could see students video chatting with me, or with each other, about topics related to class. I could see having a "chat session" or a "hangout" as it's called here, to hold my weekly TA meeting or even a class discussion. I love the idea of being able to look at 10 or 20 of my peers, friends, or colleagues - and doing so from wherever I want.

I also think that using the newest technology keeps students fresh and engaged, and thinking about how the latest and greatest will advance us as a society.  As teachers, we should be trying things that make us just a bit uncomfortable, so that we can share our knowledge with others.

Google docs is an amazing tool to use in the classroom, especially with it's collaboration features.  At The University of Akron, students all have a Gmail based email account.  Therefore, the students have access to Google docs. I like to load my presentations into Google docs, then the students can chat with me while I show the presentation. This is helpful in a large lecture course, where students may be shy about asking questions.

Why is it important for students, teachers and administrators to have technology standards?

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) offers a framework for students, teachers, and administrators to improve teaching, learning, and leadership through technology in education.  The site describes the digital age we live in, and how - as society changes - education must change.  Students have to be prepared to collaborate beyond the walls of their classrooms, just as today’s business leaders reach out globally.  And to keep up with the changing world, teachers and administrators have to prepare the students for jobs that may not have even been thought of yet.  Teachers and administrators must lead in new, innovative ways - and they have a duty to keep up with professional development and changing technologies.

Standards for Global Learning in the Digital Age

"Educational technology standards are the roadmap to teaching effectively and growing professionally in an increasingly digital world. Technology literacy is a crucial component of modern society. In fact, the globalizing economy and technological advances continue to place a premium on a highly skilled labor force.

Education Must Change

As technology dramatically changes our society, educators need to demonstrate the skills and behaviors of digital-age professionals. Competence with technology is the foundation.

• Societies are changing
• Expectations are changing
• Teaching is changing
• Educators must lead

Transforming Learning Environments with Technology

Today’s educators must provide a learning environment that takes students beyond the walls of their classrooms and into a world of endless opportunities. Technology standards promote this classroom transformation by ensuring that digital-age students are empowered to learn, live, and work successfully today and tomorrow. "

How I feel about The Standards

I have always been a HUGE advocate of standards - technology based or otherwise.  If you don't have a map, sure, you'll drive around for a while, you might happen upon some cool stuff, but how do you KNOW what is out there?  When I used to teach Biology at a high school in Texas, there was another teacher who was considered to be one of the best Biology teachers.  Whenever you walked into her room, her students were doing some project or pasting leaves on the walls or drawing something cool.  Come to realize, she taught her students about plants the whole year.  She loved plants, and she never taught anything else.  Sure - it WAS Biology, but what about all the other aspects of Biology like cells, DNA, the environment, ecology, etc???  And just because her students were cutting out pictures of leaves, and drawing plants, doesn't mean they know anything about plants biologically.

Just because the students are banging away at a laptop, doesn't mean they are "becoming proficient at technology."  Students, teachers, and administrators need to know what other people are doing.  They need guidance and activities.  They need ideas and inspiration.  And they need to know how to launch our students into learning with 21st Century skills.

Teaching is not just standing in front of the students, lecturing and memorizing facts.  Teaching is a whole new profession, where we are learning coaches - facilitating the students as they think critically about real world problems, and collaborate to solve the problems.