As I have mentioned in earlier posts, I am working hard to develop a curriculum that “Get[s] Past Teaching Apps [and helping students] Build and Use a Student Technology Toolbelt“ (Cool Cat).  This focus is defined in my curriculum in terms of  students’ technology fluency, which is defined in Cool Cat’s post as:

the ability to determine and use the appropriate technology tool(s) for the task at hand in a manner that allows seamless transfer of created objects and documents to flow easily between the selected tools without outside intervention.

I also want students to be able to think critically and solve problems within a computing environment since things keep changing. As Cool Cat notes and Karl Fisch supports, “We cannot fathom what the future holds for them but we know what it won’t hold: It won’t hold the software that we taught them this year in its present fashion.”

Incidentally, the best way to do this would seem to be Project Based Learning (PBL), which Edutopia defines as:

a dynamic approach to teaching in which students explore real-world problems and challenges. With this type of active and engaged learning, students are inspired to obtain a deeper knowledge of the subjects they’re studying.

I must admit, however, that despite being somewhat creative is several areas, when it comes to project ideas, I’ve always been a bit of a parasite.  I, of course, like to think of it as symbiosis, since I do add to the projects I steal and share alike.  This has brought me to a discovery that there is not very much in the way of good solid projects for a stand-alone CIT classroom.  Most of what is available via, Edutopia, for example is cross-curricular in nature, applying CIT in the context of multiple subjects.  This makes sense since it is the most authentic way to apply technology.  Of course, I teach CIT in a vacuum, made more pronounced by the fact that I’m on a 9-week rotation, whilst my colleagues in the core subjects are on a 180-day rotation.

Occasionally, I find a gem, like “This New House” from High Tech High.  Again, it’s a cross-curricular project, but I was able to tweak it for use in my class.  This was so fabulous that I’m using it for Seventh and Eighth grade this nine weeks… As you can guess, this means I need a new 8th grade project for next year… I have all summer, I suppose…

So, knowing that there are others out there like me, including my wife, who teaches a similar class in another district, I have a mission of sorts.  I intend to either find an online community repository of PBL resources for Computer Technology teachers or make one myself.

Beyond Apps, but Don’t forget them…

Again, Coolcat is absolutely right, we do need to get past teaching apps, but we are in turns limited and empowered by those apps available to us.  Coolcat, for example, is lucky enough to be working in a Mac lab, which seems to be considered unholy by most IT departments in York County.  Her district’s network security policy must also be a bit more liberal than ours.  She has access the the following:

I can’t complain, though.  I don’t need access to Mac’s myriad apps.  My district was forward thinking enough to have Adobe CS4 Design Premium licensed for grades 5-12, which gives me access to a wealth of opportunity in terms of what students can produce.  I also have MS Office, including Visio and Publisher.  Granted, network security is tight at my district, making me continually frustrated in attempting to use anything for online collaboration.  I’ve struck out with just about every white-boarding technology out there, but I can still access tools such as blogs and social bookmarking.  Whether my students can sign up for these or not is debatable because we do not have a system for student email.  My students, can thrive, though, because they do have access to a lot of great tools.

I happen to know an elementary computer teacher with a lab full of antiquated PCs, a poor network connection, a host of useless and cheesy games, and MS Office (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint ‘03).  Did I mention that the network connection is so bad that she can’t even use Office Clipart without crashing the workstations? Obviously, I can’t share many of my projects with her.  She’s very limited by the software available to her and a disheveled IT department.  Apparently MS Movie Maker is on her workstations, but it’s hidden and only accessible by those with administrative privileges (IT is working on that).  Yeah, my blood pressure rises every time I hear about it. Incidentally, she’s good to go for any projects that may include Carmen Sandiego or Oregon Trail.

Obviously, any attempt to share projects is going to hinge on the resources available.  If you don’t have a lot available, you’re limited in the scope of what you can do.  If you have some expensive specialized apps available, there’s a great deal of pressure to make sure they get opened and used.

Constructivism, Collaboration, Context, and Experience

I like to consider myself a radical constructivist. I’m also aware that the world is moving toward more and more collaboration, online & otherwise.  I’m aware of all the benefits of cooperative learning and have advocated them loudly and somewhat abrasively for a long time.  I’m not, however, entirely unaware of my surroundings, and I do tend to learn from experience.  Here are some observations I’ve made about cooperative learning and collaboration in the middle school context…

Group Work

Sadly, despite a wealth of research supporting such techniques and a seemingly unending barrage of educational workshops, staff development sessions, and in-service events on the subject, students still enter the Middle School entirely unequipped to function in small group dynamics.  What’s more, I’ve observed that despite individual teaching style and philosophy, it continues to be, with very few exceptions, only the first through third year teachers who seem to use group work.  Does this mean that teachers become lazy and disinterested in best practice as time goes on, or, as in my experience, do they discover that despite their best efforts, do they continually get work of a decidedly lower quality out of group assignments?

Yes, I know that you have to teach students how to work in groups.  I’ve had several classes in doing so.  I’m not some crotchety old codger who has tried this twice and given up.  My current course-wide project is being accomplished in small groups (thus far, to disastrous results , I might add).

Will I try group work next year?  Probably.  Should I have learned by now? Definitely.  Am I a glutton for punishment?  Evidence and experience would suggest “yes”.

Online Collaboration

You’re only as good as your lowest common denominator.

My newest San Juan Hill is Web 2.0 technologies for collaboration and publication.  I find myself viewing this issue with increasing urgency, particularly when I read articles, like the one quoted below.

Whether we like it or not, social Web technologies are having a huge influence on students who are lucky enough to be connected, even the youngest ones. Many 7- and 8-year-olds are busy exploring Club Penguin or Webkinz with other 7- and 8-year-olds half a world away, middle schoolers are connecting with global warriors in World of Warcraft, and adolescents preen themselves in front of their “friends” on MySpace and Facebook (Richardson, 2008).

As Susan McLester (2007) notes, “Our challenge as educators, parents, and community members: How do we empower and protect our students in an environment that increasingly excludes us?”  We have to get on board with this stuff.  I’m not just talking Blogs, either.  I’m talking Newsgroups, Social Networking, Real-time conferencing technologies and more.

Results of a 2007 national survey conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project show that 55 percent of all online American young people between the ages of 12 and 17 use social networking sites for communicating about everything from school-related issues to where the next party is taking place.

Clearly, this generation-poised to shape the future-has already found Web 2.0 applications integral to daily life. And for education not to step up and maximize these resources for teaching, learning, and driving innovation is to risk becoming marginalized as a viable influence in helping to shape the 21st century (Susan McLester, 2007).

With all of this urgency, one would assume that my classes singularly represent a Web 2.0 collage of collaborative awesomeness.  They don’t.  I’ve made a few relatively unsuccessful attempts at class-wide blogging this year.  Why? You’re only as good as your lowest common denominator.

It’s an unfortunate result of this highly-litigious age, where education is so often the target of frustrated parents, zealous politicians, and a sensational news media that we’re too darn scared to provide students with the most elementary of 21’st Century tools, an email address.  It’s all but impossible to unlock the potential of Web 2.0 tools without an email address, and roughly 1/8th of my students don’t have one.  Those that do cannot access it at school.  Thanks to a host of issues, then, from the digital divide to over-protective guardians who do not give kids their own email address, it’s all but impossible to teach these tools on a class-wide basis, particularly when your district is not will to invest in it with money for subscription services or server space.

A group of individuals: Whole class collaboration

Probably the most successful example of collaboration I’ve experienced in my lab was implemented through the use of multicolored Solo Cups.

I stole this technique from another teacher in my district and was heckled by my IT guys, who considered it flawed in light of the source, but I have found great success with it.

Basically, students have a stack of cups (green, yellow, red) on their workstations.  If they begin to run into a snag, they put their yellow cup to the top of the stack, and begin “Googling” thier problem, consulting the “Help” menu, and using any other available resources.  Meanwhile, nearby students, noting the yellow cup, may (and often do) come and halp the student.  When these resources are exhausted, and those nearby can’t help, the red cup goes on top.  This is like raising your hand for teacher assistance, but unlike raising your hand, you are still able to work on your problem with both hands and a fully attended mind while your red cup does the job of getting my attention.

This may seem silly, and somewhat elementary, but it works wonders for whole group collaboration, often allowing me to learn from students who are very savvy in a particular application.

What I’ve found thus far…

A list of resources for those of us teaching tech (in a vacuum or otherwise)

I intend to keep adding to this list as I find new resources.  I also encourage you to comment me with any resources you’ve found for the good of the cause.

Projects

• High Tech High
• Adobe Digital School
• Adobe Creative Suite
• “Lesson Plan” Sources
  • Integrated Technology Lesson Plans
  • Education World: Tech Lesson OTW Archive (great Elem resource)
    

Articles and Inspiration

• General Sources (where most everything is worthwhile)
  • Edutopia
  • Tech Learning
• Specific Articles
  • Footprints in the Digital Age
  • Get Past Teaching Apps: Build and Use a Student Technology Toolbelt

Curriculum

• Curriki

More to come…

Okay, let’s face it.  The world is moving toward more and more online collaboration.  We need to prep our students for this.  One project I currently have simmering on the back burner is a “design team” project where student groups would “meet” online with clients to discuss the design of everything from logos to web sites.  The ideal tool for such an undertaking is Acrobat.com:

• Acrobat.com

This tool is ideal for real-time online meeting, sketching ideas on the whiteboard, uploading sample files and presentations, and even sharing screens.  It’s even free.  The problem is, it doesn’t work on our student workstations…  It’s fine on my workstation and most of my colleagues.  My students, on the other hand, always get “invalid ticket” errors.  I swear this is deep freeze, but I can’t get anyone to believe me.

Here are some other possibilities that may not already be on your radar because they haven’t been mentioned in a summer workshop or whatever (I find we’re constantly told about the same old resources again and again). These, however, all require signup and therefore open up a whole other can of worms, particularly if your district doesn’t have student email…

• WizIq
• Thinkature

Free Apps you should have but probably aren’t allowed to install yourself…

Okay, so if you teach computer classes in the public education system and you don’t have a cool class like “Web Design” or “Desktop Publishing”, you probably get pretty sick of Microsoft Office.  You also probably are not in a position to beg your district to buy you new apps.

• Adobe Air (a world of widgety goodness and free mini-apps awaits)
• Google Sketch-up (who can argue with 3d drawing)
• Audacity (a little slice of near-pro podcasting goodness)
• Gimp (open source alternative to Photoshop)
• Inkscape (open source alternative to Illustrator)

Of course, you probably can’t install these yourself so put in an IT request, beg your tech department, and bake them cookies.

Okay, I understand.  Edublogs needs to make money to keep their servers running, but there are various degrees along the spectrum of supporting oneself and selling out.  Edublogs has sold out.  An appropriate banner ad or two is expected on most free web services, but embedded advertising links???

Will Richardson, whom I respect greatly, defines real blogging as,

Links with analysis and synthesis that articulates a deeper understanding or relationship to the content being linked and written with potential audience response in mind.

If this is the case, and links are an integral aspect of the connective writing process known as blogging, then what is one supposed to think when and ad agency can trump the links within a post with their own??  Ironically, Edublogs appears to be one of the sponsors of Weblogged.  I wonder what Will thinks of their new advertising practice??

Southwood begins by posing the following question.

Q: Your students are most likely to be learning the real-world skills that employers demand when they are:

a) In the classroom, following the lessons in the textbook.
b) At home, completing assigned homework.
c) On line, playing World of Warcraft.
d) On a class field trip, visiting the offices of a local corporation.

The answer is, of course, WOW (World of Warcraft). More and more, educators, scientists, and business executives are apparently coming to believe that such games require players to master skills in demand by today’s employers, such as critical thinking, team building, problem solving, and collaboration.

There is one category of mainstream computer games that Southwood believes should be a standard part of the curriculum in every high school is Computer role-playing games or RPGs. These games are unrivaled in their complex structure and emphasis on team building.

My generation came up thinking of an RPG in terms of Dungeons and Dragons. Even with such pencil, paper, and dice based table top RPG’s you were able to work as a team, building a rapport with your group both in and out of the game and relying on each other’s strengths to accomplish epic feats. Admittedly, I am a tabletop role-player, and so I can speak to that scene first-hand. It was always limited, though, to those of us who were geeky or self-confident (take your pick) enough to participate without fear of being shunned by friends and potential mates.

Today, modern computer RPG’s, like the World of Warcraft, have brought the gaming culture into the mainstream, promoting social interaction among students who might not otherwise interact with each other. You may be online at home slaying orcs, escaping a galactic prison, or circumventing a sniper nest with a Football player from Penn State, an accountant in Chicago, and a 30 year-old grocery clerk in his mom’s basement. Additionally, Southwood points out, RPG’s can bring many of the “benefits of school sports programs to students who are unable to participate in those programs”. If you have the hand-eye coordination of a slug, like myself, how are you going to experience the team-building and collaboration skills that come with being on the soccer or football team?

Grouping, teamwork, and cooperative learning are all buzzwords, but for any of you who work with middle-schoolers and even some that work with high-schoolers know that most students see teamwork or group projects as an opportunity to divide up the work to be done “the way you would cut up a pie”. This essentially defeats the whole purpose and benefit of such activities, leaving teachers frustrated and wondering why bother. Most of us really want to give our students the tools to tackle the collaborative projects they may face in the workplace, using each others’ strengths to create products far superior to what could have been accomplished individually. Unfortunately, the acronym agenda (NCLB, AYP, etc), among other things, prevents most of us from having the time to build quality collaborative groups through repeated exercises, such as those they put us through in professional development classes on group dynamics. You know the drill. “Many tasks require a combination of different skills, and the best team for those tasks will offer a variety of abilities, with each person doing the part he or she can do best. Most sports teams are set up this way. Once the team is formed, the members must learn to trust each other and each member must show the others that he or she is dependable and worthy of trust” (Southwood 2007).

Personally, I see RPG’s as the ultimate constructivist activity.  A player is immersed into a situation where he or she must work with others to solve problems and succeed.  To get by, one must access everything in his or her repitoire of skills, knowledge, and people skills.

Will we ever actually see RPG’s in school?  Considering how well they build and reinforce real-world skills valued by business, I highly doubt it.  Anything that good is sure to not fit in at school for some reason.  If anything, educational software companies, like AutoSkill, will crank out some cheesy dumbed-down version that doesn’t really encourage any problem-solving or collaboration but does generate very concrete performance data of some kind.  It will no-doubt pupport to increase standardized test-scores, and districts will buy into it.  Ultimately, students will hate it with the same passion with which they hate “Academy of Reading”, and it will do nothing to prepare them for the real world.  Students will continue learning more at home and life will go on.