Mother Nature and Online Learning
Posted by admin in 4 on 01 1st, 2009Mother Nature let loose on the Houston, Texas region this morning causing a great deal of flooding on the west side of the area. Many school districts and schools in the area had to cancel classes for today.
Graduation collages in Utter Pradesh – Incredible Institute of Management & Technology (IIMT) is part of Satya Bhajan society of Advance Education. The Society is manages by a team of professionals and experts from.
If you know anything about Houston, Texas and the surrounding towns, you know that the region is prone to flooding when we get heavy rains. This is not the first time that classes have been canceled due to flooding and it won’t be the last.
Thousands of students — and teachers — are sitting at home today because their schools are closed. How would life be different for them today if their school districts and schools had invested the time, money, and other resources into ensuring that the students and teachers could still interact through online learning regardless of whether or not the physical school buildings were open?
(FYI – yes, I realize that TAKS testing is this week and that even with access to online learning management systems the testing would still be affected. Suspend your personal opinion about the testing for now and just respond to the question as if there were no testing this week and teachers & students were engaged in normal curriculum & instruction activities.)
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read comments (0)Coming Soon – Wikified Schools eWorkshops
Posted by admin in 36 on 01 1st, 1970I am very excited to announce that this summer I will be launching a small collection of Wikified Schools eWorkshops to help educators begin to use wikis in their work. This idea started with local interest from a small group of people with whom I work, and after some planning and brainstorming I have decided to run the workshops completely online (asynchronously) using Moodle. I will be offering three different workshops, two of which will be free and open to anyone, anywhere, and one which will be available at a very low cost to anyone, anywhere.
I will post more detailed information later, along with instructions on how to join the workshops. For now I will share some basic info and I would be very happy if you would complete this form to let me know that you are interested, which workshop you might be interested in, and your email address so I can notify you with additional information and provide you with a reminder as the workshop dates get closer.
Workshops Offered:
Wikified Schools “Light” (Self-Paced) — Available for self-enrollment June 2009
Cost: FREE
Wikified Schools “Light” Facilitated — Two-week facilitated workshop
Session 1: June 1 -14, 2009
Session 2: July 13 – 26, 2009
Cost: FREE
Wikified Schools BootCamp — Four-week facilitated workshop
July 13 – August 9, 2009
Cost: $15.00 per person
“Facilitated” means that I will be facilitating the work daily by posting messages in the forum, looking at participant postings/work, and providing feedback on a regular basis.
“Self-Paced” will be structured for participants to learn and complete tasks on their own, at their own pace, with no facilitator guidance.
At this point in time, all of the workshops are targeted mostly to beginners or intermediate wiki users, but an advanced eWorkshop will be developed in the near future based on the level of interest.
CLICK HERE to let me know that you are interested in one of the Wikified Schools eWorkshops.
I am looking forward to these upcoming eWorkshops! Stayed tuned for more details about the workshops posted here on my blog during the month of April.
Company as Wiki and Wikified Schools
Posted by admin in 32 on 01 1st, 1970HUGE hat tip to Clarence Fisher for finding this video and posting it on his blog. This is exactly what I wrote about and what I envisioned for schools in my book Wikified Schools
I especially like the part in the video where they talk about the “Loop Marketplace” — I can easily see that translating into a “stock market” for instructional strategy ideas or lesson plans across a district.
TAKS Posts Most Popular
Posted by admin in 28 on 01 1st, 1970I’ve been noticing a lot of traffic lately related to some older blog posts that I wrote focused on the TAKS test. I looked into this a little more with my stat program and the trend is definitely noticeable. Of the hundreds of posts on this blog, the few that get the most traffic — and the most comments even 2 to 3 years after being published — are the ones focused on the stupid TAKS test.
This doesn’t surprise me.
But it does make me very sad for many reasons.
Feedback Request
Posted by admin in 24 on 01 1st, 1970Whether you are a regular subscriber to this blog or a first-time visitor, I would like to ask you to take a few moments to complete a VERY short feedback survey to help me 1) improve on current strengths and 2) make improvements if necessary.
Your input is highly valued and I thank you in advance for completing this short survey. Thanks!
Currently Reading…
Posted by admin in 20 on 01 1st, 1970I’ve been reading quite a bit of new stuff recently and I thought I would share some of these resources with you:
I purchased this because it sounded interesting and I thought it might have some relevant information for engaging students at the K12 level. Most of the information in the book is geared toward mobilizing groups of people for social or political causes, but I think most of us can see many applications for this in the classroom.
Facilitating Online Learning: Effective Strategies for Moderators
This is a great book with suggestions for facilitating online dialogue in the online classroom. I found this book to be very aligned with what I know about facilitation from my Critical Friends Group training. Great resource!
Reinventing Project-Based Learning: Your Field Guide to Real-World Projects in the Digital Age
This is a new ISTE book and it is filled with lots of strategies and suggestions for implementing real-world project-based learning using digital tools. This book makes we wish I was still in the classroom full-time 
Building Teachers’ Capacity for Success: A Collaborative Approach for Coaches and School Leaders
I’ve been reviewing this book for use with our Literacy Coaches next year. We have decided that this will be the book that the network of LCs will use to frame the nature of their work because it provides one of the best “job descriptions” that any of us have ever seen for any instructional coach position. I highly recommend this book if you work with teacher-leaders and campus administrators or if you are one yourself.
Data, Data Everywhere: Bringing All the Data Together for Continuous School Improvement
I just got this new book by Dr. Victoria Bernhardt and I am happy to say that it is a great supplement to her more comprehensive books on using data for school improvement.
What are you reading right now?
Other Duties As Assigned
Posted by admin in 16 on 01 1st, 1970(Cross-posted at Leadertalk.org)
I’ve been hearing that phrase quite a bit lately — especially from people who aren’t happy with some of the “other duties” they’ve been assigned because the other duties are not aligned with 1) their job, 2) their skills set, or because the other duties take so much time away from their core job duties that they aren’t able to perform their core duties. I now work in the central office (I am hearing these complaints from people on campuses), but I have been on a campus in an administrative position and I know all too well the pressures that come with the job. I know that too often decisions about duties can be made quickly without much thought about who, when, where, and why.
In the book “Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done” (Larry Bossidy, Ram Charan, Charles Burck), the authors list one of the “building blocks” of getting things done as “Having the Right People in the Right Place.” In fact, in the title of the chapter on this building block, the authors describe this as the one “job no leader should delegate.” The authors state:
An organization’s human beings are its most reliable resource for generating excellent results year after year. Their judgments, experiences, and capabilities make the difference between success and failure. Yet the same leaders who exclaim that “people are our most important asset” usually do not think very hard about choosing the right people for the right jobs. They and their organizations don’t have precise ideas about what jobs require–not only today, but tomorrow–and what kind of people they need to fill those jobs.
As I read that passage I also reflected on the idea that in some cases, on some campuses, the wrong people are assigned to the wrong duties because the leaders really aren’t clear on what the core jobs of those people really are — so the leader assigns “other duties” that conflict with the core job simply because they don’t have the knowledge that they need about the person’s core job.
The authors go on to explain that:
Common sense tells us the right people have to be in the right jobs. Yet so often they aren’t. What accounts for the mismatches you see every day? The leaders may pick people with whom they are comfortable, rather than others who have better skills for the job. They may not have the courage to discriminate between strong and weak performers and take the necessary actions. All of these reflect on absolutely fundamental shortcoming: The leaders aren’t personally committed to the people process and deeply engaged in it.
Do you know all of the strengths, weaknesses, talents, and interests of all of the people in your organization? Do you understand what their core job entails with regard to information processing, time, energy, and critical thinking? Do you know who on your staff really is the “right pick” for the multitude of “other duties”?
Or do you operate in what I refer to as the “warm body zone” where other duties are just assigned randomly with no deep consideration of which team member might really be the best fit for the job?
How do we become deeply engaged in the people process to ensure that we are putting the right people in the right places?
- We must take the time to know our people…
- We must take the time to understand what their current jobs are and what those jobs demand of them…
- We must know our people well enough to understand their strengths, areas for growth, talents, interests, and career aspirations…
- We must understand what each “extra duty” requires and what skill sets are essential for each duty…
- We must become good “match-makers” between people and tasks…
What else would you add to this list?
Do you have a successful process for “match-making” in your organization? How do you put the right people in the right places?
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Present at the 2010 ASCD Annual Conference
Posted by admin in 12 on 01 1st, 1970ASCD is now accepting proposals for the 2010 Annual Conference in San Antonio, Texas, March 6–8. You may submit proposals for concurrent or research sessions. Proposals are due May 1, 2009. ASCD has invited the Learning Beyond Boundaries network to work with the conference planners to shape the technology infused education sessions. Even though you have to apply through the ASCD proposal site, entering your proposal on this matrix will ensure that your proposal is given due consideration.
We have already “seeded” the matrix with some topics, some of which we know should be covered in session proposal submissions, and we encourage you to feel free to enter session proposal information for any of the topics that you feel comfortable addressing. Or if you have suggestions for topics / presenters, let us know those as well.
The deadline of May 1st is quickly approaching – submit your proposals today!
Swine Flu and Online Learning
Posted by admin in 8 on 01 1st, 1970UPDATE: One more reason for establishing more online learning: kids with illnesses
Ever since I read Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns
Over the past several months we have also been dealing with an economic situation that has even threatened some school district budgets leading some districts to cut staff. And still, for the most part, we remain steadfastly married to our traditional structures.
One year ago I took steps to begin some part-time online teaching for two reasons: 1) to learn more about the pedagogy of the online classroom and 2) to diversify my skill set and expand my employment options. Fortunately I have a bachelor’s and master’s degree in a subject area outside of education which makes it easy for me to apply for many college-level online adjunct positions in that content area. This has been a very rewarding and productive endeavor.
What I have discovered however, is that colleges and universities — and many private or for-profit K-12 virtual schools — include free training as part of the interview and hiring process, while some of the public (state-run) virtual schools require potential teachers to pay for their own state-approved training program (usually in the neighborhood of $500 per course) before being hired. There is a very strong message in both of those approaches — one says “welcome, come on in and we will prepare you for this” and the other says “sure, you can do this, as long as we don’t have to invest in your development…”
As I watch the current news about the potential Swine Flu pandemic and I read recent blog posts regarding the need for practicing online teaching and learning so that one can shift online if a state of emergency is declared (I love Brit’s suggestion of doing once-per-year weeklong “online drills”) and “laptops as response to emergency”, I can’t help but reflect back on my earlier thoughts about how unprepared our system is for anything outside of the traditional approach to education. We don’t even consider it a priority to train teachers (for free) to be able to teach online. At the very least we could set up state-approved certifications based on an exam rather than one-size-fits-all fee-based training, and allow teachers to just take a certification exam.
There are many good reasons to begin making the shift to more online or blended learning experiences in our classrooms — including emergency situations such as a major flu outbreak, snow & ice storms, or a hurricane — but we are not making the investment in this as we should be. I pray that we don’t see a widespread outbreak of this flu, but if we do then we are extremely unprepared for ensuring that learning continues even if the schools are shut down for health & safety reasons. It may be too late to prepare in this particular situation, but it’s not too late to begin preparing for future emergencies — as well as to just innovate to ensure that we can meet the needs of many students who aren’t well served by our current traditional structures.
A few things we can start doing now:
- Make more of an effort to implement 1:1 across all schools and districts
- Ensure that ALL teachers are trained and have experience in facilitating online learning
- Let go of our belief that “seat time” is the only way to measure learning or productivity
- Enable employees — including teachers — to access the network remotely via VPN
- As a society, realize that schools are not babysitters — students should stay home if they are sick
What else would you add to this list?
Love of Reading… and my fear…
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on 12 31st, 1969My friend and fellow edublogger Angela Maiers wrote a post today that really hit home with me. In her post, Reading WITHOUT Meaning – Heartbreak at Home, she described a scenario of watching her son “get through” his weekly reading assignment, after which he tells her:
“Mom, I hate reading. I did not want to tell you that, ’cause I know that it’s your job and reading is a big deal to you, but I really really hate it. I dream of the day when I will never have to do reading again. If I was on a dessert island, I would rather die of starvation, than read a book. And, if you think I am weird or something, you gotta know, all my friends feel exactly the same way.”
My beautiful 15 month old twins are voracious “readers” right now. They LOVE their books and will spend a great deal of time every day “reading” as many of their books as they can. Not only do they love to crawl into my lap with a book and demand that I read it to them, they also sit by themselves, flipping pages, and babbling as they stop on each page. They point to the pictures and tell me the story in their own words. Of course they aren’t reading the words on the page — but they get the concept and most importantly, they LOVE the concept of reading a book.
My biggest fear is that someday, somewhere, some teacher will destroy their love of reading by giving them “reading assignments” that make reading feel more like a chore rather than a pleasurable activity.
