Innovations to Shape the Future of Teaching

the Journal article 2020 Vision: Talkin’ about a Revolution offers suggestions about changes we may see in teaching over the next decade. The ideas come from what are called “a trio of current and former federal Ed Tech honchos” and ed tech leaders. Some of their individual predictions are: students will lead changes and the relationship between teachers and students will change; there will be more collaborative learning; physical space will become less important, but there will need to be places for face-to-face collaboration; print books will still be used, but use of ebooks and online materials will surge; school environments will be less formal; lessons will be more cross curricular; software and networks  will move off-site to the cloud; students will learn no matter where they are; all students will have their own digital devices and won’t have to wait for instruction; and there will be just-in-time access to provide students with the learning, extra help, or enrichment they need. But, with the predictions come warnings. Teacher Eric Marcos, Santa Monica, CA says that because change is so slow in schools, he doesn’t see much difference ahead for schools. Many of the ed tech leaders agree and suggest that we need to do the following: commit more resources to improving and researching tech in education; help communities embrace use of technologies; be able to “package” and “deliver” teaching by, for example, an exceptional fifth grade math teacher instead of having “fifth-grade math being taught by 10,000 teachers across the country every single day”;  create a “new generation of assessments”; invest more in broadband; and make sure teachers connect with each other.

Future of Portals in our Schools

In our schools we often have administrative systems for faculty and staff and other systems such as Moodle for student, teacher, parent, and class interaction. These portals provide effective ways for networking and are being put to work to provide information about courses, grades, schedules, attendance, resources, and much more. Some include social networking, calendars, clubs, bulletins, team rosters, news, online simulations—you name it. Pam Derringer’s article The Power of Portals in Tech & Learning gives a nice description of where schools are heading with their portal tools. At the end of her piece, she lists student ideas that came from the National Speak Up Day. Student suggestions include: more “social-based learning” such as interaction with experts, “untethered learning” that goes beyond school and community restraints, and “digitally-rich learning” that is relevant to productivity.

Speak Up & Win

Project Tomorrow: Speak Up asks teachers, students and parents to share their ideas about educational issues. All schools and school districts listed in the NCES database may participate, but one adult has to activate the account for your school or district. Once the account has been activated, surveys can be completed, and you can access the aggregated results for your school or district in February 2010.  In celebration of the number Pi (3.1451), the school that submits the 31,415^th survey will win a copy of SMART Notebook Math Tools and a Classroom Set of Notebook Student Edition USB Bracelets.

Common Sense Media Toolkits for Educators

Common Sense Media is a valuable resource site for parents and educators. It’s a place where you can get the help you need to evaluate media and its impact on children. If you appreciate the resources and guidelines offered by Common Sense Media, you may want to order hard copies of the Common Sense Tool Kit for Schools and the Early Childhood Toolkits.  The school toolkit ($50) features grade-by-grade guides, tip sheets, a presentation with talking points, parent communication materials, a DVD with 22 videos, a CD with electronic versions of all parent education materials and more. The Early Childhood Toolkit ($50) provides ideas and templates for helping educators work with parents of children five-years-old and younger. It includes suggestions for a parent workshop, PowerPoint slides, an educational DVD, and handouts. The school DVD can be purchased separately for $20.

Homework As An Excuse

Most kids like to spend time online, and many parents and teachers worry about the time students spend at the keyboard. As teachers move to assigning homework that may require use of the Internet to access and complete assignments, kids have a perfect excuse for staying online.  All they have to do is to tell parents, “I’m doing my homework,” when perhaps they’ve finished what was required an hour or so ago.  This is just another way kids are finding to circumvent what we want them to do. The answer is parent and teacher communication so parents will be aware of assignments and teachers will be aware of how long students are taking to “do assignments” at home. We need to help parents learn how to monitor their children’s online activities and how to find out what’s actually assigned.

What Do Parents Want When It Comes to Tech in Schools?

Blackboard K-12 provides the download of a pdf booklet, Speak Up 2008 Selected National Findings, which discusses findings related to parent responses collected for Project Tomorrow’s Speak Up 2008.  The report says that only a third of the parents who took part in the survey thought “schools were doing a good job of preparing students for the 21^st century.” Parents were “dissatisfied with the availability of “quality technology in schools and teachers’ skills in using technology.” While both parents and students taking part in the survey wanted better technology use in schools, there were differences of opinion on what types of technologies should be used for learning. Parents tended to want tools that could be related to traditional learning such as eBooks, interactive whiteboards, and systems that let them know how their children were doing.  Students were more interested in mobile devices, media tools, games, online classes, and unlimited Internet use. Sounds right on target, doesn’t it? The survey included over 21,000 parents, almost 300,000 students, and over 30,000 teachers and administrators from 50 states.

Siemans We Can Change the World Challenge

Be on the lookout this fall (2009) for the new We Can Change the World Challenge in which Middle School students work together to make changes in our world. Throughout the competition students are given the tools, inspiration, and opportunity to make a difference. Some of the prizes from the 2008-2009 competition included the chance to appear on Discovery Network's Planet Green, win savings bonds, and go on a Discovery Adventure Trip. Besides signing up for the Challenge, take a look at the resources available for students, parents, and teachers. There's an environmental IQ test that your students will enjoy.

Fun Kids' Activities for iPhone & iPod Touch

For $2.99, you can download to iPhones and iPod Touch interactive "children's books" packed with activities young children will enjoy. They can "rub" the screen to uncover pictures, listen to stories, color pictures, read aloud, and create paintings—right on an iPhone or iPod Touch. The first book is available at the Apple APPs Store, and new ones should be coming out about once a month. The reviews look very positive for this new type of book for preschool and primary level students. You can link to the Apple Apps Store from ikidsplay.com or from your iPhone or iPod Touch. Print versions of the books are available online and at bookstores according to CoolestGadgets.com. Does this announcement get your brain whirling about possibilities of handheld technologies to support school curricula?