Category: Articles

I was listening to a podcast yesterday, and they played a newly found clip of an interview with Steve Jobs, recorded back in 1994. Jobs has just left Apple for the first time, and he was reflecting on his legacy. Contrary to expected, he is extremely pragmatic, claiming that everything he has done will be obsolete by the time he turned 50 (which was slightly melancholy, remembering how soon after 50 he died). Although I’ve never been part of the cult of Jobs (and as an English teacher I can never forgive Apple for the “Think Different” campaign,) but this resonated with me deeply and corresponded to remarks that I have made.

Here is the part I liked

 

Working in the area of educational technology brings with it many things, frustration, minor victories, amazing friendships, but the one thing it guarantees absolutely is a lack of permanence. I did a couple of talks last week that I originally wrote three years ago, and in revision I was shocked by the amount of ideas and facts that had been run over by the realities of just two years. I know speakers in other disciplines who go on the road for decades with basically the same ideas and just a little new stuff at the end. Likewise the programs and strategies that I work on will be shown to be laughably wrong or incomplete in a very short amount of time. If I’m lucky like Jobs, I’ll stay around long enough to bury my own ideas, but even these burials will be shoveled over before I am. Technology, particularly in the field of education, has no permanence, no monuments, no Mona Lisa’s.

However, as the video suggests there is a different kind of immortality (to use a very lofty word) in these endeavors. The evolving field, with all of the stages and people involved, is its own kind of cathedral. Our ultimate contribution may be a small layer, but as medieval cathedral builders (at least in legend) we lay our bones into the structure to build it up just a tiny bit higher. Unlike a cathedral, our monument will never be done, but we keep building higher and higher, all the way to the stars.

I’m a working on building

I’m a working on building

For my Lord, for my Lord

It’s a holy ghost buildingIt’s a holy ghost building

It’s a holy ghost buildingFor my Lord, for my Lord

If I was a preacher I tell you what I would do

I would keep on preaching and work on the building too

And that’s what it’s all for.

As always, I invite your comments

Image: ‘p.v. jensen-klint 05, grundtvig memorial church 1913-1940’http://www.flickr.com/photos/94852245@N00/2164161632 Found on flickrcc.net

And thanks to Bill Monroe for the lyrics to “Working on the Building”

 

OK, OK…it's been a long time. Life and laziness have beaten intention and resolve to keep me away from the blog keyboard with alarming regularity.

But it's now summer, better than that, it is those wonderful first weeks between June 15 and July 15 when there are not yet back to school sales in the paper, and we don't start counting down the days yet.

So now is the time to relaunch this blog with greater vigor, and in order to do that, I've created another mind-game to trick myself into writing on some sort of schedule (thanks to those fives of you who read this and participate vicariously in my mental self-manipulation gymnastics).

I'm not doing anything as ambitious as last year's 30 blogposts of summer (which was finished on Thanksgiving). However, beginning with coming week, I am committing to at least twice a week between now and September. If I do this, we should have about 20 new posts during the summer.

Another decision, I'm retiring two of my older blogs, TotechasJesusdid.com and Platformsandparadigms.com. Both of these were early experiments with the form, as I tried different approaches to sharing the word, but I haven't written in either for years (I can't write in this one). So I'm bringing old content into this blog and letting them fade away (I'll probably keep totechasjesusdid.com, because that will be the title of my book if it ever gets written…HA!).

So I invite you to join this next burst of thoughts on the world of technology in education in my schools and schools all over.

And, as always, I invite your comments.

Image: 'Sorry stamp' http://www.flickr.com/photos/7612457@N07/2617651509 Found on flickrcc.net

 

It is no surprise to anyone who knows me that I love giving talks and workshops for teachers and administrators. The ability to share with others while learning from people from all over the country has been a true revelation in this middle part of my life, and one which I hope will be continuing for years to come.

However, since most of my sessions are about Ed-tech, I am always worried about staying up to date. I looked over my list of talks earlier this spring and decided I had to retire two that simply were no longer relevant and not updatable. Even with the other talks I often need to do major revisions to reflect changes that take place between the original composition and delivery date (often between the time I'm asked to speak and the talk itself). I know that tech talks are bananas, with a very limited shelf life…and black spots appear almost immediately. If I am to keep this going, I will need a constant supply of new topics or new approaches to older material.

So I was very happy this week to light upon titles for two new workshops that I hope to offer later this year. A workshop has no reality for me until I think of the title, and I can't over-emphasize how important the title is. Often I'm speaking at places where the audience members have choices between several talks, and it is the title above all else that catches attention and draws traffic. Right now the key word is iPad. If I put this in a title, I know I'll get a good crowd (why I don't just call all my workshops “iPadding with iPads in the most iPaddy Way” I don't know). More than this, a title, often for the first time, encapsulates for me what I want to talk about and how I feel about it.

These two new titles came about within two days of each other, but in completely different ways. The first was something I said in conversation. I was talking with a colleague who is at the cutting edge of school progress about my need to develop something about blended learning (probably the iPad of the next couple of years). However, I want to think broader than just classroom blended models. I think entire schools will start blending traditional classroom attendance with a variety of external digital and other programs. “It's like there will be a double-blender,” I said.

DING!

Coming the Fall: Life in the Double Blender: How Blended Classroom Instruction and Blended School Structures Will Define the Future of Education.

Then two days later I was speaking to a great speaker who was talking about bringing his faculty along with technology progress, an ongoing topic of challenge and discussion. At one point he said, “So most of them are coming along, kicking and streaming.” Asked, he said that of course he meant screaming, and we both laughed.

DING!

Coming this Fall: Kicking and Streaming: Helping the Reluctant Educator to Move from Fear to Technological Proficiency.

I'll be very interested to see what I have to say about each of these.

As always, I welcome your comments.

Image: 'The Orpheum' http://www.flickr.com/photos/98019953@N00/6076604482 Found on flickrcc.net

 

I spent last week in Houston along with over 8,000 Catholic teachers and administrators in Houston for the 2013 National Catholic Education Association annual convention. In four days I spoke, attended workshops, and had countless enjoyable conversations with old friends and new. As I suggested in my last post, a workshop is usually not true professional development in terms of skill building, but I did learn an awful lot. Here are a few of the “Texas Ten,” the “Houston Decalogue”

• Teachers are concerned about the changes to their profession brought on by ed-tech, and many are frightened by the uncertainly of the future. However, most of those I spoke to (admittedly a self-selecting sample) are excited by the possibility of 1:1 classroom implementations and anxious to learn their role in this new world. Behind this I saw a deep concern for students and desire to do whatever it takes to serve them best.

• One of the speakers gave out a ballpoint pen with an iPad stylus on the other end. It isn't as good as my Jot pro stylus, but this is really brilliant, and I find that I'm carrying it everywhere.

• I felt and heard a strong sense of Catholic identity; that everything, all instruction, all governance, all marketing flows from this.

• Y'all is singular. All y'all is plural

• I am OVER paper. If a vendor or speaker gave me a flier or handout, this found its way to the trash at my first opportunity. Related to this, I am also over tote-bags filled with sales junk. We need a check-in where you can get a badge holder without the bag…or at least an ecologically responsible bag drop for those who choose to go without. I know this is an opportunity for vendors to get their stuff (paper) into the hands of attendees…see original statement.

• iPads continue to be the implementation of choice for schools looking 1:1. Of all the sessions in this area, I saw only 1 dedicated to Android, and nothing dedicated to PCs. While we will have to be sensitive to inevitable winds of change, this suggests that the bulk of institutional growth and professional development will be in this platform for the foreseeable future.

• Overheard many times, “I'm frustrated.” Never overheard, “I'm going to stop trying.”

• Meeting friends from Twitter whom you have never seen before in person is a rare kind of thrill (overheard coming out of my mouth, “Oh my goodness, that's Barb from Nebraska”). Finding out what truly wonderful people they are is an even bigger thrill. Related, Twitter is used only slightly less when you are all in the same room.

• Some of the vendors are the best people in the world…some less so. Interesting new game this year, I walked the aisles of the exhibit hall, deciding for each booth whether what they offered would be relevant 5 years from now. Many won't; some aren't relevant today, though they don't know it.

• Finally…DO NOT HOLD A PROFESSIONAL CONFERENCE IN 2013 AND NOT HAVE WIFI AVAILABLE IN ALL ROOMS FOR ALL USERS.

As always, I invite all y'all's comments.

 

 

As I started to plan for this post, I became painfully aware that I might be part of the problem that I am describing. So I hope that this will be instructive to me, if no one else.

Recently I participated in an office discussion regarding the number of hours of professional development we would provide for/require of teachers in my diocese. In a moment of pique, I said, “I wish we could hold teachers accountable for development instead of professional development.” This exasperated comment spoke to a more substantial frustration that I've been feeing for a while. We take such a shotgun approach to the ongoing development of teachers, and we have so few outcome demands. In our current system (and the system in most places) we require physical hours of attendance in workshops, classes, or observations. In some cases we might ask for written documentation on what was presented, but there is little concrete accountability that the teacher successfully integrate what was learned into her or his classroom teaching.

In many ways, the entire system of professional development has become the ultimate class audit, pass/fail based on attendance alone. So for many teachers, workshops and classes are like a river rushing over rocks…a few might be pushed on, all are very slowly eroded, but there is very little real movement. Imagine if we handled student assessment in the same way, “Johnny attended 180 hours of class, during which he graded papers and answered emails, therefore he is prepared to move to the next level.”

As I started this piece, my second profession as a PD speaker rightfully comes under criticism in this area. I speak to a large group, usually too large to directly involve individuals in any way, and though I work to provide useful content, I know that I can't alone bring the change that I'm encouraging. In defense, I see my role not really as professional skills development, but as motivational and philosophical direction. I'm saying, “Here's a way to look at this or approach that…now go to it.” I think (and hope) that there is a place for this in the big picture, but there must be more.

True change will only come when we break the paradigm (-5 points for using the term paradigm). Professional development has to stop being about time and start being about skills. Just as with students, we need to define the specific skills and body of knowledge (dare I say, standards) that we want in our teachers. Then we need to say to teachers, “Here are some skills I want you to develop, here are some resources, show me when you're done.” Isn't this the direction of owning the learning that we are all saying we need to go with students? Why do we think that adults should learn differently? Standards, resources, accountability…this is how we move away from “doing professional development,” and actually developing.

As always, I welcome your comments.

Image: 'pocket of rocks' http://www.flickr.com/photos/25258377@N03/4793735094 Found on flickrcc.net

 

I'm playing a new game recently, it's called “Did I just say that?” I have found myself in the middle of conversations or presentations to groups saying things that even five years ago I would have argued against, and I certainly would never had said myself. Usually these are not complete about faces like my opinion about the ipad, most often they are more extreme views about subjects I've been talking about for some time. However, my former timid language of accomodation (“Even as technology rich world, there will be a need for non-tech teachers.”) is replaced with more extreme versions or absolutes.

One area I have waffled (like the good Belgian I am) for some time has been on the subject of books and libraries. Conscious of the immense store of assigned value and nostalgia for traditional paper books, I've always tried to carve out a position that expressed my views while allowing “safety space” for those in the audience. “Electronic books will improve and grow and will take their place alongside traditional forms, creating the best of all worlds for all types of readers,” was my safe position, designed to invite but not offend, not threaten. This always received shaky nods, applause, and invitations to speak again.

So I've been as surprised as anyone else when I have recently heard a differnt position coming out of my mouth in private and public. My message of comfort and accomodation no longer resonates as true for me. I do not see parallel survival of the paper book and the electronic book; the ebook is going to win, and faster than I ever thought. There will be few general uses for “retro books,” and as these uses become fewer and fewer, publishers will no longer invest the capital of the expensive publication process which will speed the spiral. I can't pretend that I'm not announcing the death of formerly vital school features, the textbook, the bookstore, the book sale, the library…

What about libraries? These dens of learning and refuge have been the launching pad for academic careers and the interior life of most who read this today. Our nostalgia for the look, the smell, and the feel of these havens chimes at our deepest core, yet this nostalgia often flies in the face of reality. I remember how troubled I was when the card catalog was removed from my college library, yet today I couldn't picture myself thumbing through cards and copying Dewey Decimal codes on to slips of paper. The digital data base catalog gives me more information more quickly…including whether the book is there or not.

But what if books were always “there”? One of the advantages (and challenges) of digital resources is that they can be infinitely replicated. Barring financial concerns (a topic for another post) there is no longer any reason why everything should not be available to everyone everywhere. Even legacy material eventually will be available in digital form. The greatest library in the world will be in my iPad…and yours…and yours.

So back to the question about libraries. Should schools simply convert them into classrooms? rent them out to local businesses? turn them into museums? Before we move too quickly on this, we need to consider a larger definition of library, what is has been and what it can be.

I recently visited a school with a beautiful library, a huge space with an enormous collection. Just as an experiment, I visited that library at three different times during the day. Each time I visited there were between fifty and a hundred students there, a few socializing, but most seriously at work. The only thing they all had in common: not one was touching a paper book or a magazine. The school had implemented an iPad program for all students, and they had quickly switched their model of research and reading. “Books” were out everywhere, but they were on digital screens.

This experience made me pause, not in surprise over the digital shift, but in the fact that they were still there. This school had beautiful student gathering spaces both inside and out, classrooms open for student use, and a huge cafeteria, but students still went to the library as if by some vestigial muscle memory of this being the place to study.

I think it's more than that, which speaks to the future of these vital (yes, vital) school spaces. I think the future remodeled library (or whatever we call it…just please, for the love of all that's holy, let's not call it a Cybrary) can be the moden commons, a multiple use area available to all joined by a few agreed rules of etiquette. The library does not belong to any student or class, but to all. It's mission is to provide a space that supports the academic mission of the school. Resources can be picked and designed to serve this purpose: group study rooms, tech training and support, higher level computing and production tools.

The library doesn't have to be a storage space for unused books, nor does it have to disappear. It can become the embodiment of a schools mission and identity.

I'll talk about what to do with public libraries in another posts…I need to get this one posted before the web starts floating obituaries of me.

As always, I invite your comments.

Image: 'I Can Gather All the News I+Need+on+the+Weather+Report' http://www.flickr.com/photos/51035555243@N01/2671536366 Found on flickrcc.net

 

Just a quick observation today. I'm sitting in the airport waiting for my flight to San Jose where I am going for a meeting tomorrow in Cupertino, Apple's world headquarters. The purpose of this meeting is to explore future 1:1 programs in my schools using iPads and other devices. You reading this today see nothing unusual about this. However, you know who would find this inconceivable? Former me.

Only about 4 years ago, I matched the passion of every Apple fanboy in my distain for the company and its products. I scoffed at the locked-down nature of products, and I mocked the “Apple tax.” They would take my PC when they pried the double-button mouse from my cold, dead hands.

Today I am writing this blogpost on an ipad, the second that I've owned, while I'm going into the heart of darkness, making plans to put iPads, rather than PC's into school 1:1 programs. Former me would hate today me.

Perhaps the message here is that in tech, and probably most everything else, you never know what the future will do to your today convictions, and whatever you crow loudly today you may eat crow tomorrow. It also reinforces Emerson's advice “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.” If we hold strong beliefs, we must admit the possibility…and grant ourselves the space to believe something different and better in the future.

More tomorrow, when I'll write about my experience in Apple-land.

As always, I welcome your comments

Image: 'Wild' http://www.flickr.com/photos/55497864@N00/2348054384 Found on flickrcc.net

 

I know it's crazy, but I'm thinking of taking up with an old flame again. The voices of my friends and colleagues warn me, “You weren't happy. You were excited at first, we all got sick of you talking about it, but soon you felt unfulfilled and alone. We were just as sick of hearing about your disappointment afterward.” However, despite these well-intentioned warnings and the cautioning voices in my head, I feel myself being drawn back in, convinced it won't be the same, certain that I see real change, positive that we can make it work this time.

I'm seriously considering inviting Google+ back into my life.

Long time friends and readers of this blog will remember my excitement at the launch of Google's social network (I believe in my zeal I may have used the words, “Changed the world”). The ability to put contacts into “circles” and to carry on many levels of communication, seemed a perfect solution for the complicated communication graph of so many of us. I remember describing it as “Facebook with work clothes on,” as I promoted this service with friends and work associates with the desperate enthusiasm of an Amway distributer. I was forming circles with all my different groups of colleagues, and thinking about replacing other types of communication with the principals in my diocese with a huge Google+ circle.

But it didn't last. Ultimately three things soured me on my new love. First, the circles metaphor of choosing who could see individual posts and who you could see, which I found so attractive, proved impossible to explain to the casual user. I ended up setting up accounts for many of my friends and colleagues and handing it over never to be touched again. Second, the apps on iPhone and iPad were horrible, hard to follow and lacking essential functionality (for the longest time, the iPad app was simply a larger version of the iPhone app). As I moved away more and more from using a desktop machine, particularly for social networking, I was hampered with these tools and fell into Facebook and Twitter, both of which worked so well. Finally, despite the millions of users, there was a sense that no one was there. The platform seemed dedicated to technology focused individuals. Eventually I logged on less and less…drifting away with nothing but an icon on my screen to remind me of those heady days when I was completely smitten.

Recently, however, I've heard the siren song. G+ has changed it's functionality, benefits, and community. The metaphor of circles remains, but there is now an opportunity to create public or private communities. This allows me to invite and create a group easily without doing all the work myself. The iPhone/iPad apps are significantly better and beautifully support all the functions of the platform, including video conferencing. This video conferencing with up to 9 people has been improved to where it could be a real option for meetings and conferences. Probably because of these advancements, I've noticed more and more of my friends are adding G+ to their social media graph.

So, with a wary eye I'm binding up my heart and beating my way back to the Google+ door. I know that I might get burned again, but when it comes to a global social network, I wear my heart on my sleeve.

As always, I welcome your comments.

Image: 'Broken Heart' http://www.flickr.com/photos/15923063@N00/132922595 Found on flickrcc.net

 

Welcome to 2013! A year with an ominous number and endless possibilities! It's also one year closer to 2015, my stated goal year for 1:1 technology programs in all schools. As I look forward to this goal, I can't help but think of a comic from many years ago in which two professors stare at a board covered with a complex equation. The senior professor remarks that he has a question about the middle step where it is written THEN A MIRACLE HAPPENS. I know where we are today; I know where I want to be. The middle steps are still very blurry in my mind.

First among these “miracles” is faculty instruction and formation. In order to justify the cost of these devices as well as demonstrate their value, students must use their devices regularly for real purposes. Electronic textbooks will go a long way in this area. A good e-text should be self-explanatory and should provide established value at a competitive price. There are few effective arguments for staying with paper texts if an electronic reader is available. However, if electronic texts are the only use of the student machines, the value is greatly limited. This is a clear case of new wine into old wineskins, new technology used to perpetuate an old model.

No, if 1:1 is to be transformative, rather than iterative, it has to be part of a blended learning model. Blended Learning is a term describing a classroom or school where learning takes place using a combination of instruction strategies, including the use of technology. Though I'm not the largest fan of on-line courses (probably because I was never good at them) a technology based system can supplement other types of classroom instruction and provide adaptive, leveled instruction in ways that a single teacher never could. Students need to work with a teacher, with other students, and with a computer, all during the course of a school day.

However, in order to have an effective blended learning environment, we need teachers to guide it. How we give our current labor force the ability (not to mention the drive) to develop and present lessons using technology has been our mission and, to a great extent, our failure through the past decade. Imagining a time when the majority of teachers prepare live, collaborative, and on-line content is like dreaming of snow in the Bahamas.

But I'm tired of waiting, and our students can't wait any longer.

Maybe the problem is me (usually is); maybe I and other tech instructors have been approaching it the wrong way. For me, technology use is a function of a fully-integrated understanding and immersion in digital tools and options. To some extent, much professional development has been trying to create the same awareness and orientation in teachers. We've been teaching them how to build a radio, when all they want to do is play the radio.

One of the most formative books of my childhood was Madeline L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time. When I was thinking about this topic earlier, I pictured two illustrations from my 1960’s edition of the book. A quick Google search found them. I'm not certain about the legality of using these images, but I'll cite and hope for the best.

The images were used to illustrate travel by using the concept of the Tesseract, a way of compacting space as is seen below:

 

To move to an effective, widespread blended classroom model, we will need content providers to create products that comprehensively address the need for direct leveled student instruction and assessment. We can't wait for teachers to develop the tools for those students who are working at computers, nor can we rely on(or expect most teachers to understand) a kluge of free and unrelated apps and resources. There are many excellent teachers who can create this environment, but there are far more excellent teachers who cannot and will not. However, all teachers can be taught to guide students in the use of a well-developed program. We have to stop trying to urge the ant across the divide and put our fingers together to be there now!

The world of education business is a testing-obsessed culture. The amount of resources and money poured by publishers into the creation of the “perfect” standardized exams is wildly disproportionate to their educational value. Might I suggest that some of these resources be rerouted into the creation of integrated levelled instruction systems that can be used as part of a blended instructional program? My teachers do not have the ability or time to do this effectively. I don't have the time to do this effectively. Why, when I ask publishers for something like this, am I greeted with blank stares? I can describe exactly what we need…someone come and ask me!

I'm certain there will be some reaction that a structure like this would kill teacher creativity and create robot classrooms. I would argue quite the opposite. I am a strong proponent for the teacher led classroom, with teachers curating the tools that they are given, but I don't ask teachers to whittle their own quills or write their own textbooks (ignoring for the moment the arguments against traditional textbooks). Using technology to assist in student learning, particularly if the products (deliberately avoiding the overused apps) use proven methods of instruction, assessment, and reporting, can be a vital tool and essential component in a 21st century classroom.

21st century? We are THIRTEEN YEARS in already…it's time for us to stop seeing the goal from afar and to get there…now!

As always, I welcome your comments.

Image Credits:

• Tesseract. http://www.flickr.com/photos/kowalskirsflickr/3158702666/in/photostream/. Cc
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine D'Engle, Scholastic, 1962

 

I was going to write this earlier in the week, but decided to wait and see if the world was going to end…that kind of thing could really hurt my hit count

We are now in the final run up to Christmas. I remember thinking that Thanksgiving was early, so we had lots of time before Christmas this year. There would be plenty of time to do everything and do it well. No rush, no cut corners, no regrets…

Four lovely Advent candles yet to be lit.

So what happened? Why am I running around like crazy to complete some semblance of an organized celebration? The doors of my Advent calendar have been ripped off their hinges as if hit by a time tornado. Three Advent candles are burning, and from the looks of Church decorations already, the fourth is just an afterthought to be lit and pushed to the side by the Christmas monster.

So my wish today is for one more week of Advent. That's all it would take, one more week. I could get everything done. How do we go about making this happen? Do I DM @pontifex with a request? Do we need to reshape the Advent wreath to accommodate an extra candle? Rewrite old songs

O come O come, Emmanuel!

Just one week later, that would be just swell.

Of course I know that this wouldn't solve things. Parkinson's law states that a task fills up the amount of time that we have to complete this task, and I know that a week from now I would be in the same position. The illusion that there is a perfect path to a perfect Christmas celebration is one of the most maddening holiday myths, right up there with Santa Claus and good-tasting egg nog. The Christmas story starts with the Holy Family arriving to Bethlehem unprepared and without a reservation (clearly no one took the time to go to hotels.com), and in this they provided a model for the many years to come.

In this yearly failure of will over time, there are larger lessons, because we never have enough time to make it perfect, to get it just right. Whether it be a lesson or a school program or a life itself, there is always a sense that more could have been done if we just had a little more time. We always arrive at Christmas or anything with no reservations for the inn.

So my real wish for today is that I learn to accept incompletion and imperfection in my holiday celebration and in my life.

As always, I welcome your comments.

Image: 'Candelabra' http://www.flickr.com/photos/27550543@N02/3192361637 Found on flickrcc.net