From the Edtech Posse site:
Ewan McIntosh came over from Scotland to share a pint and a pretty decent conversation with us. Rob Wall, Alec Couros, Dean Shareski, Cindy Seibel and Kyle Lichtenwald sat down with Ewan at Bobby’s Tavern in Moose Jaw. A big thanks to Dean for hosting a great get together in his home city.
(Photo credit, Dean Shareski)
It was terrific to meet Ewan, and it was a great day for learning with good friends.
Project Tomorrow has released its “Selected National Findings“, an analysis of data from online surveys, focus groups and interviews of parents, teachers, school leaders and students in the US. Project Tomorrow touts itself as “the nation’s leading education nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring that today’s students are well prepared to be tomorrow’s innovators, leaders and engaged citizens of the world.”
These findings were particularly interesting to me.
Re: Filters (both technical and human) –
Students’ frustration with school filters and firewalls has grown since 2003, with 45% of middle and high school students saying now that these tools meant to protect them inhibit their learning. And since 2004 we have heard repeatedly and more strongly each year, students’ discontent with school rules that limit their access to technology at school and rules that prohibit them from using at school the very technology tools and devices that they use constantly outside of school (cell phones, email, IM, Text messaging) in all aspects of their lives. That discontent factor has grown by 46% over the past four years. The other major obstacle today is the teacher – over 40% of students in grades 6-12 cite their teacher as an obstacle since it is the teacher who increasingly is limiting the “when and where†of using technology at school.
Re: Personal Learning –
When asked how their school could make it easier for them to work electronically, almost 2/3rds of middle and high school students said “let me use my own laptop, cell phone or other mobile device at school.†50% would like to be able to access their school work related software applications and projects from any computer in the school network and have unlimited Internet access on campus. Students also would like tools to help them communicate with their classmates (45%), their teachers (34%) and to organize their schoolwork (42%).
Re: Emerging Technologies –
Over 50% of students in grades 3-12 would like to see more educational gaming in their 21st century school; only 16% of teachers, 15% of administrators, and 19% of parents endorse that concept. While 53% of middle and high school students are excited about using mobile devices within learning, only 15% of school leaders support that idea. Less than half as many parents as students see a place for online
learning in the 21st century school. And even fewer teacher, parents and school leaders want students to have access to emails and IM accounts from school.
Re: Student-Directed Change –
As one high school student in a recent focus
group told us, his vision for the ultimate school is a school where the teachers and the principal actively seek and regularly include the ideas of students in discussions and planning for all aspects of education, not just about technology. As the student so eloquently said, “This is about our future after all. Our ideas should count, too.â€
There are many familiar themes here, yet the same barriers exist. While it is great to see another report supporting much of what is written daily in my corner of the edublogosphere, I am looking forward to reading a report that describes the results of a project in an educational context where many of these barriers have already been addressed.
Dean Shareski was our guest in EC&I 831 this past Tuesday. Dean did an incredible job of sharing his story of virtual and face-to-face experiences with his “personal research team”. This team includes many well known educators, Dean’s colleagues, his students, family and probably you … the person reading this. Dean’s presentation was engaging, there were several lessons learned, and my students have reacted very positively in their own blogging spaces.
Dean’s Slide Deck:
You can also experience the entire presentation through the recorded Elluminate session.
Thanks again Dean. This was a terrific presentation, and you have represented yourself very well within the growing list of amazing EC&I 831 presenters.
I don’t have the time to adequately respond to Jennifer Jones’ excellent post on what she calls “viral professional development”. Once I do get time, I would like to talk to Jen more about this because it has really hit some parallel thoughts in my own recent thinking.
So, for now … read this post. There are several important points for anyone involved in professional development programs at their institutions or are concerned with their own professional learning.
Thanks Jen. Great post.
I’ve been wanting to talk about the importance of helping teacher embrace and participate in rich, learning networks vs. bombarding them with the tools. However, Kelly Christopherson has done this for me.
Showing other teachers all the tools isn’t what is needed. Helping them develop relationships and make connections is. We can show and demonstrate, rave and mandate; it will not bring others to question, grow and adopt. We have many examples of educators who are beginning to delve into using these tools. Overwhelming them with the possibilities just pushes them away. Helping them to build their own networks, seeking out teachers who, like themselves, are testing the water and encouraging them to continue in their own lifelong learning will empower them to develop even more. Not all of them will see the benefits of all the tools they encounter but the relationships they develop during this process will go further, I believe, to bringing about powerful change than any tech person can hope to do by themselves.
This is one of the important ideas that I am trying to extend in my Grad course. Read the rest of this excellent post here.
