Due to displeasure with Edublogs’ new embedded advertising practices, I’ve moved over to Wordpress.  My new site is http://waltersdesign.wordpress.com.

I’d appreciate a visit there.  I don’t plan to take this blog down on the off chance that Edublogs decides to rethink its money making strategy (perhaps less intrusive banner ads??).  I simply won’t be updating this blog for awhile.

Thanks,

Clint

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…

So I feel like I’m always ranting.  I go forever without posting, and then something annoys me, and I go off. I’m really sorry about that… really… I am.  Sometime soon, I’ll write a non-ranting post.  Today, however, the Juvinalian Muse is upon me.

The Quest for Authentic Instruction & Fluency Building

In designing my current curriculum for CIT, I was heavily influenced by Cool Cat’s post, “Get Past Teaching Apps: Build and Use a Student Technology Toolbelt“.  I am particularly interested in building my 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.  I focus quite a bit on teaching the students to use the skills I use personally to master computer applications, rather than just teaching them what I know.  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.”

So, how do I learn apps? Well, I certainly don’t take classes, and I don’t troll through all of those instructional tomes that are destined for Ollie’s when the app gets a version upgrade.  I do what every tech savvy wannabe super-geek does.  I Google it.  Through the use of these search terms combined with the app I’m trying to learn, I usually try to find resources in the following order:

• Video Tutorials
• Tutorials with Screen Shots
• Help from (app manufacturer, eg Adobe or Microsoft)
• Documentation

Thanks to the rapid improvement and dissemination of screencasting technology, there is a wealth of the first resource available, so much so that it is beginning to replace the the other resources.  Very few sites are providing text directions with screenshots anymore, and even forward-thinking software manufacturers are posting their official help and documentation in the form of screencasts.

Thus we arrive at…

The problem with Streaming Media

Allowing students to move between apps and choose the appropriate app for the task at hand is an admirable goal and one I continue to strive toward.  I also want to see students be able to work at their own pace in a self-directed way.  This however comes often into conflict with the reality of my teaching context.  I often have to stop everything and teach apps if I want quality work because I can’t teach students to use my technique for learning apps… Why?  Well, check out the following example.

One of the things I’m very blessed, fortunate, and proud to have in my lab, which is in a Middle School, no less, is Adobe Creative Suite 4, Design Premium.  (Yeah, I know… I should have nothing to rant about…ever). Anyway, Adobe used to have this great repository of online demos and tutorials for CS3, called the “Adobe Design Center”.  This was exceptionally handy for allowing students to get the basics of a program like Photoshop down (like how to use the interface and find stuff) before I provided mini-lessons.  This is exceptionally time saving and promotes independent, self-directed discovery rather than forced drill and practice.  With CS4, however, Adobe discontinued the design center and replaced it with Adobe TV, which is a really nice streaming site, containing way more than tutorials.  The problem is, since I started using Adobe CS4, in December 08, Adobe has redirected the streams for Adobe.TV at least 3 times.  I know this because I have to keep putting in IT requests to have it re-opened.

Another one of the things I’m very blessed, fortunate, and proud to have in my District is an excellent IT department, that manages to keep everything working smoothly despite servers that are hanging by a thread and buildings that are spread all over the county.  One of the reasons they run such a tight ship, however, is the level of security on our network.  For example, we’ve locked out all streaming media to all users with the exception of TeacherTube, Discovery Streaming, and (thanks to my incessant requests) Adobe.TV.  It’s because of this sweeping wall of defense that any minor re-direct changes undergone by Adobe.tv immedaitely cut off student access to the videos there.  This is why I haven’t invested any budget money in Lynda.com.  I would be really ticked if I were paying for this stuff and losing access when my students are trying to use it.

The last time one of our IT guys and I were trying to track down this re-direct (which took a double period by the way), he said to me “That’s the problem with streaming media”.  I wanted to say, “that’s the problem with backward-thinking overly-tight security”.  I didn’t, though, not because I was trying to avoid conflict, but because it isn’t necessarily true.  Our security keeps our network running smoothly.  It does agitate me, though, that I cannot teach my students the learning techniques that will help them build lasting tech fluency due to the limitations of our network.

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??

Good Reads

In other news, you’ll notice my new Good Reads widget.  I’ve recently joined that site.  If you’re a good reader and want to check out my profile, just follow the link on the book montage widget.

Explorer vs. Wordpress???

Okay, so I’m a Linux guy.  I still live in reality, though, and I teach in a WinXP environment at school.  I tend to use Firefox on my own workstation because I’m more comfortable with it.  Today, though, I looked at my own blog in Internet Explorer for the first time in awhile.  Surprisingly, despite Wordpress’ tightly controlled style sheet, Explorer stuck my sidebars at the bottom of my page, and tweaked half of my fonts all funky (even in my widgets!).  I tried to figure out what the issue was, and after a small amount of Googling, I discovered that this is a typical problem.  Apparently, after the most recent Wordpress update, the majority of blogs look fine in Firefox, Safari, Opera, and even Chrome… but not Explorer.

“Wait”, you might say, “Isn’t this the fault of Wordpress?”  After all, they did the update.  True, but you have to wonder what kind of funky (wow, that’s twice in one post) proprietary coding Microsoft has going on in there that it’s the only browser that screws with our blogs.

The Moral:

The point is, if you’re looking at my blog on Internet Explorer, I know it looks bad.  I just want you to know, It’s not my fault.

Despite increased globalization; the need to prepare students to access, evaluate, synthesize, and build upon information and media; and the drive to promote Creativity, Innovation, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, Communication, and Collaboration, the curriculum of our district’s Computer Information Technology program hinges on Keyboarding. I’m not kidding. This is apparently very serious stuff. One teacher commented at a recent curriculum meeting that this is “becoming a management and discipline issue at the high school.” Wow. It seems that students, who have formed bad keyboarding habits despite intensive training at the Elementary level, are resorting to the technique that works best for them when teachers turn their backs.  Huh…  The nerve of some people’s children…

The Answer

Never fear, though.  We’re going to get a handle on this pesky issue of students ignoring their homerow keys like they weren’t the most critical factor in their technology toolbox.  How?  We’re going to ignore most of the current research (poppycock) and move keyboarding instruction to seventh and eighth grade.  That should solve most of these issues.  Never mind the pervasive research that says “It is recommended that all students begin to learn correct placement of fingers on the keyboard as soon as they begin to use the computer. However, mastery is most efficiently attained at the fifth- to sixth-grade years” (Keyboarding research and resources).  Never mind that “Most research supports starting students on formal keyboarding around grade 4,” (Education World).

Honestly

Admittedly, the real point, as if it weren’t absolutely transparent, is that I don’t want to teach keyboarding! First of all, I would not pass our District keyboarding test (no, I’m not kidding… we actually have one of those) and I’m a successful web designer, online college facilitator, and middle school computer teacher.  Second of all, keyboarding feels like a ridiculous pursuit on this grade level, when so many middle school students are immersing themselves in a read-write web we’ve taught them nothing about.

Another aspect of our scope and sequence (educator-ese for what gets taught when) that became glaringly apparent during this meeting (in addtion to the aformentioned tragic neglect of middle school keyboarding instruction) was the simple fact that any mention of digital citizenship, online collaborative technologies, or responsible communication and online publishing begins in grade seven and is never mentioned again after grade eight.

This is exceptionally sad because, as Will Richardson notes in a recent ASCD Article, “Footprints in the Digital Age”:

A recent National School Boards Association survey (2007) announced that upward of 80 percent of young people who are online are networking and that 70 percent of them are regularly discussing education-related topics. They’re creating all sorts of content-some, as we all know, doing so very badly-and they’re doing all sorts of things with online tools that, for the most part, we’re not teaching them anything about. In the process, they’re becoming Googleable without us.

In a recent blog post, entitled “It’s the Parents’ Fault. Not“, Richardson expands this idea:

But whose job is it to educate kids to use those sites well and appropriately? I doubt that most of their parents really have enough of an understanding of what their doing to prepare them.

Ironically, The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, was mentioned multiple times during this whole keyboarding dialog, while the greater context was entirely ignored.  No one, with the exception of our Technology Specialist, even noticed the resounding lack of:

Creativity and Innovation

• Demonstrating originality and inventiveness in work
• Developing, implementing and communicating new ideas to others
• Being open and responsive to new and diverse perspectives
• Acting on creative ideas to make a tangible and useful contribution to the domain in which the innovation occurs

Information Literacy

• Accessing information efficiently and effectively, evaluating information critically and competently and using information accurately and creatively for the issue or problem at hand
• Possessing a fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal issues surrounding the access and use of information

Media Literacy

• Understanding how media messages are constructed, for what purposes and using which tools, characteristics and conventions.
• Examining how individuals interpret messages differently, how values and points of view are included or excluded and how media can influence beliefs and behaviors.
• Possessing a fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal issues surrounding the access and use of information

ICT Literacy

• Using digital technology, communication tools and/or networks appropriately to access, manage, integrate, evaluate, and create information in order to function in a knowledge economy
• Using technology as a tool to research, organize, evaluate and communicate information, and the possession of a fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal issues surrounding the access and use of information

Need I continue???

The wrong focus

This may be the first large technological shift in history that’s being driven by children (Richardson, 08).

Apparently, I’ve foolishly been blundering into this whole situation with the wrong focus.  I’m clearly wasting time on all this flashy fancy Web 2.0 garbage.  I should in fact be getting back to the basics, like keyboarding.  We’ll leave the largest technological shift of our time to the experts, our kids.  If they can use their homerow keys, they’ll be okay.

Richardson, goes on in his article to point out that, “In short, for a host of reasons, we’re failing to empower kids to use one of the most important technologies for learning that we’ve ever had.”  I agree!  Of course, he goes on to ruin his credibility here by saying, “One of the biggest challenges educators face right now is figuring out how to help students create, navigate, and grow the powerful, individualized networks of learning that bloom on the Web and helping them do this effectively, ethically, and safely”.  Sorry, Willy, old chap, but your focus is a wee bit off there.  Clearly, what you meant to say was, One of the biggest challenges educators face right now is figuring out how to help students find their homerow keys, sit up straight, face the screen, and effectively type 25 words per minute with 95% accuracy.

Economics or Steel?

I teach students a variety of technology related concepts and applications with in my seventh and eighth grade course called “Technology”.  The course centers on the following skills:

Learning and Innovation:

• Creativity and Innovation
• Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
• Communication and Collaboration

Information, Media and Technology:

• Information Literacy
• Media Literacy
• ICT Literacy

Look familiar?  It should.  The primary focus is the Framework for 21st Century Learning.  The context within which I do this includes:

• MS Office
  • Word
  • PowerPoint
  • Excel
  • Visio
• Blogging
• Wikis
• Adobe Creative Suite
  • (Design Premium)
• Moodle
• WizIQ
• Novell Teaming
• Google Docs

Apparently, although most of these technologies have to do with communication, collaboration, and creativity, I, as a former Communication Arts teacher am not qualified to teach this class in the fair state of Pennsylvania.  In fact, in order to continue teaching this class I need to get a new certification.  Fair enough.  I am a Web Designer.  I have a Master’s degree in Online Learning.  I maintain my own web server in my home office.  I could easily certify to teach computers in PA, if there was a computer certification in PA.  There isn’t.  To teach a computer class in PA, you must certify in Technology (what we called shop class in my day) or Business.

Since I have little hope of explaining the why and how of particular aspects of steel manufacturing, I’ve decided to pursue the business certificate.  It’s my hope that I can actually pass a 125 question Multiple choice test on business vocabulary.  Of course, there is the snag that I know almost nothing about Business!  I’m a computer teacher.  If you bothered to check out the link above, you realize that I have the knowledge to answer approximately 17% of the questions on this test.  This is why I’m using my Discovery Streaming membership to watch such exciting videos in my spare time as “Business Basics: Supply & Demand”, which pursues the role of supply and demand in economics through real-life examples of how the laws of supply and demand work in the American economy; reading business textbooks; and listening to Marketplace.  Okay, to be honest, I enjoy Marketplace, and it probably won’t actually help with the test.

Really: NCLB, Highly Qualified teachers, and Finance

Apparently, while the spirit of the law is to help children by ensuring they’re never learning Calculus from someone with an Elementary Ed. Certification.  The letter of the law becomes quite ridiculous, particularly when you say the all things computer-related are the unique unapproachable realm of Business and Shop teachers… Really?

Apparently knowledge of carpentry, finance, energy production, and macroeconomics makes one uniquely suited to teach computer applications like Wordpress and Adobe Illustrator… Really?

Obviously, I realize that there are connections between both disciplines and computer technology.  I’m not arguing that point at all.  I can even see that for those teaching such subjects, the idea of trying to get an additional computer technology certification would be ridiculous.  My question is, how is it any less ridiculous for a Communication Arts, Science, or Math Teacher?  All of these disciplines connect as well.  What about blogs, wikis, web pages, and threaded forums makes them not a part of Communication Arts or “English”?  Incidentally, if you want to get really picky, the PA Standards for Technology fall under Science.

Resources and Sharing

Okay, so I’m going to do everything I can to collect resources and prepare for this test.  I also hope to share what I find here.  If anyone else has found anything useful, please share it.  Finally, if you’re teaching computers on the secondary level in PA, act now!  Register for a test and get it done before the policy changes.  Currently, there is talk of adjusting the law so one must take the schooling in order to add the certification.  If you don’t want your MBA or training on Bandsaws, I suggest you get moving.

Anyway, here’s some stuff that was shared with me or that I found.

• BCIT Study Notes (A google doc)
• Teachnology forums Thread
• A to Z Teacher Forums Thread

As a teacher of technology, I am very interested in the “new literacies” related to information management, often referred to as Information Literacy, Media Literacy, Digital Literacy, and Network Literacy. I recently read Judy Salpeter’s article, “Make Students Info Literate” in the May 22, 2008 issue of “Techlearning” magazine. In the article, Salpeter succinctly makes several points that I’ve been trying to make with colleagues for the last four years.

Salpeter (2008) sums up these new literacies as “The ability to access, evaluate, synthesize, and build upon information and media.” ISTE, The International Society for Technology in Education, (2007) notes that students should be able to “locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media and evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks.” NCTE, The National Council of Teachers of English, (2008) says that students should be able to “manage, analyze, and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous information; create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multimedia texts; and attend to the ethical responsibilities required by these complex environments.”

What does this all mean for those of us in the trenches, so to speak? It’s a sad truth, but despite the tremendous advances in information management we’ve seen in the last several years, many teachers are still requiring students to rely on antiquated research methods. Salpeter puts it beautifully when she says, “remember typewritten card catalogs, multi-volume print encyclopedias, and dusty library shelves with outdated topics and material for classroom research? Today’s students don’t” (2008). Yet, many of todays educators are pushing these methods on unwilling and disengaged students. I see it all the time in my school. Why? The reason that we can all relate to is, “many students cannot discriminate between posts that are accurate and attributable and those that are undocumented and misleading” (Salpeter 2008). The natural reaction; throw up our hands and stick with the Library. Oddly, our library isn’t even called a library any more. It’s a “Media Center”, and our “Media Specialist” works hard to teach information literacy through the use of subscription databases, such as POWER Library (http://www.powerlibrary.org/) or peer reviewed search engines such as NetTrekker (http://www.nettrekker.com/). The thing is, students don’t want to go through the complicated steps required to search POWER or even log in to NetTrekker when they can simply pull up Google and hit “search”. As soon as you turn your back on them or give them an independent project, they’re right back to Google and Wikipedia. Instead of trying to ban Google and Wikipedia, Salpeter argues and I agree, we should teach students to responsibly use these resources.

For starters, we need to teach students to search. Salpeter points out that, “young people, while perfectly comfortable using computers and the Internet, are not naturally adept at search strategies. Left to their own devices, students will depend on natural language to search rather than analyze keywords that would be more effective” (2008). Google actually has some great resources on searching that I use with my students already (http://www.google.com/educators/posters.html). One thing Salpeter suggests and I try to do is “challenge students to search using a variety of strategies and tools and report back on the most and least effective search approaches” (Salpeter, 2008). This might stick a bit more than an extensive 40 minute demonstration of Boolean searching using online subscription databases. On of Salpeter’s (2008) suggestions that I’ll certainly share with colleagues is, “as students prepare for a major research project, require them to include a number of keywords and search options they used along with their traditional, footnoted attributions”. That’s simply brilliant.

Of course in all of this, we can’t ignore that Wikipedia elephant in the room. Most of our students’ general information searches are going to yield results from Wikipedia. Indeed, a lot of attention has been “paid to inaccuracies found in the Wikipedia Web site and other collaboratively created online sources, prompting certain educational organizations to ban their use for research” (Salpeter, 2008). Stephen Colbert has brought a lot of attention to this idea, through his references to Wikipedia, which he refers to as his favorite website, generally in “The Wørd” segment. This all began on the July 31, 2006 broadcast, when “The Wørd” was Wikiality, defined as the concept that “together we can create a reality that we all agree on — the reality we just agreed on.” I would respond to such statements first by pointing out the work of Halavias (2004) and Giles (2005) mentioned in the Will Richardson’s “Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts” (2006), which compares Wikipedia’s accuracy to that of Britannica’s and Encarta’s. Then I would encourage teachers to, as Salpeter suggests, “have students do their own accuracy analysis as they explore a topic with which they are particularly knowledgeable—their home community, for example, or a favorite sport or hobby”. As a class activity, students could perhaps visit the site to check out a topic the class is particularly knowledgeable on, test the accuracy and maybe even contribute. Indeed we should “encourage students to responsibly edit Wikipedia articles” (Salpeter, 2008). I also like the idea of sharing the discussion section of Wikipedia, “where editors pose questions, raise concerns, and explain why they think certain items should be added, deleted, or modified” (Salpeter, 2008).

There is more out there than Wikipedia, though, and we need to discuss with students “what makes a reliable source and what makes a piece of information verifiable” (Salpeter, 2008). There are many great resources for this discussion on the web, including the following:

• http://www.kyrene.org/schools/brisas/sunda/webquest/evaluating_reliability.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reliable_sources
• http://www.coastal.edu/writingcenter/wcdocs/credibility.pdf
• http://www.lib.purdue.edu/ugrl/inst/evaluatingsources.pdf
• http://www.virtualsalt.com/evalu8it.htm

Additionally, I agree that, “such conversations [should] also involve a look at the advantages and disadvantages of various resources—not only with regard to the accuracy issues discussed earlier but also in terms of the fluidity and speed at which information is updated” (Salpeter, 2008). Incidentally, use of the Internet for obtaining information has moved way beyond browsing. As Salpeter (2008) notes, “Forward-thinking teachers are encouraging students to explore the new generation of options designed to connect them with digital media as well as with other human beings—tools such as del.icio.us (for organizing and sharing links with others), Flickr (for photo sharing), or aggregators such as Bloglines (for consolidating information based on RSS tags).” I particularly like Will Richardson’s suggestions for setting up RSS feeds to “search” news stories based on a particular keyword or phrase found at http://weblogg-ed.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/05/RSSFAQ4.pdf.

Finally, we all know what students do when the do hit the information jackpot; copy and paste. This is a fact that makes content area teachers and librarians, excuse me, media specialists the world over cringe as though they had been struck. How do we respond to this? I would argue that the answer does not lie in the seven page MLA citation packet we throw at kids the first week of school every school year. Sure, “the ease by which we all cut and paste these days raises many questions about the definition of the word plagiarism,” (Salpeter, 2008), but students simply ignore such cumbersome style sheet information, particularly when they’re not working on a major research paper. In quick discussion papers, blog posts, or forum responses, often a URL would suffice perfectly without bogging students down in a world of carrots, quotation marks, underlines, and italics. Heck, I’ve used APA for so long, I can barely keep MLA straight. As Salpeter (2008) argues, “By expecting students to provide attribution to the best of their ability, and discussing the challenges they encounter as they try to do this, the education world can help redefine what it means to be an ethical and active participant in collaborative authoring ventures”. I’ve heard numerous student frustrations with this process during my lab periods as they try their best to find the “date of publication” for their “Document from an Internet site”. A great site I use to explain issues of copyright and teach students how to attribute their own work is Creative Commons (www.creativecommons.org). I particularly recommend the “Get Creative” video (http://mirrors.creativecommons.org/getcreative/).

Whether Information Literacy, Media Literacy, Digital Literacy, or Network Literacy, todays students need help in becoming “knowledgeable digital citizens who can operate in the unregulated online world” (Salpeter, 2008). It’s our responsibility to help them navigate these issues, and it is tragically neglectful of us to simply resort to antiquated methods in the name of academic honesty and source reliability.

Richardson, W. (2006). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press

Salpeter, Judy (2008, May, 22). Make Students Info Literate. Techlearning, Retrieved August 5, 2008, from http://www.techlearning.com/showArticle.php?articleID=196605232