Weekly Tech Tip - Assessing Online Resources

After a short break its time for another round of weekly tech tips. This week's tech tip is on a topic that I find both incredibly important but also somewhat dry. So, to hold your attention I have inserted a few lol cats. I hope they are not too distracting. The cats may also serve as a catalyst for a future tech tip on memes. It has been a few weeks since my last one so this week's list of links and blog posts will be quite extensive.

Weekly Tech Tip:

Related Links:

• Alan November - Who Owns the Websites Your Kids Access?
• 13th Annual Governor's Education Summit ...
• Web Suffixes
• Website and Email Country Codes
• Link Popularity
• Easywhois.com
  

Link Stew:

• Big Thinkers Howard Gardner on Digital Youth
• Big Thinkers Mimi Ito on Learning with New Media Edutopia
  
• USC Annenberg Center Speaker Series: Henry Jenkins
  
• Chocolate Rain by Chad Vader - I can't believe I had not seen this one before. Fantastic example of an internet meme and remix culture.
• We Need A Revolution not Evolution - Sir Ken Robinson
• 
  
• Public School Graduates and Dropouts From the Common Core of Data: School Year 2007–08
• SendGM - Free tools that lets you simultaneously send a group message via email, mobile text, and voice call.
• States Receive a Reading List: New Standards for Education
• Hot off the press: *in education* journal, Technology & Social Media Part II (Special Issue) http://bit.ly/6ue7Os
• Negroponte: One Laptop Per Child is now a $75 Android Tablet - http://bit.ly/bkdMit
• Home Page - StreetCities.com - Google Street View Resources - Embeddable Street View and Google Earth Control
• Google Releases "Cloud Course," an Open Sourced, On-line Learning App
• Beyond Current Horizons (BCH) is a 2 year program in the UK to look at the future of education and learning, especially as it involves technology.
• 19 Interesting Ways to use Wallwisher in the Classroom http://bit.ly/cvAYR9
• Fantastic recording of webinar about project-based learning and creative computing by Gary Stager now available online for free - http://bit.ly/aBAuae
• IS Parade - See yourself lead a parade of your Twitter followers
• FPS Creator - free software that lets you make your own first person shooter games
• Wherigo > Tools for creating GPS-enabled adventures
• Why Gap Year
  

Blog Carnival:

• Blog Series – Common Misconceptions Technology Integration by Michael Zimmer on Technology Bits Bytes & Nibbles
• Podcasts in Education Made Simple by Richard Byrne on Free Technology for Teachers
• 7 Tips to Live Tweet an Event Effectively By Arun Basil Lal on Million Clues
• Kids More Likely to Own a Cellphone Than a Book, Study Finds Written by Chris Cameron on Read Write Web
• When Relevance Becomes A Myth Posted by Aaron Eyler on Synthesizing Education
• Should we get rid of technology directors? by Doug Green on Dangerously Irrelevant
• Learning by Wandering: a new metaphor for the mobile age by Gary Woodill on Workplace Learning Today
• Such a Punch… by David Warlick on 2¢ Worth
• “Race to the Top” Needs Another “T” By Will Richardson on Weblogg-ed
• Reputation Managment: Understanding the Impact of Social Media on Schools and Organizations By Dean Shareski on Ideas and Thoughts of an Edtech
• Memory, History, Education By Ira Socol on SpeEdchange
  

Filling the Production Gap

PBS FRONTLINE's digital_nation is full of great clips and sound bytes. Addressed in that film by many of people interviewed as what Arne Duncan refers to as the "Opportunity Gap." This opportunity gap sounds very similar to what many of us are calling the "Production Gap." I have taken the important clips related to that topic from that documentary, added clips from a keynote speech by Alan November, interviews with Seymore Papert, and clips from old public domain ephemeral films from the Internet Archive. Combined, I feel it both explains and makes the case very well for addressing the production gap as a social justice issue.

Filling the Production Gap from Carl Anderson on Vimeo.

View this clip on Blip.tv
View the abridged version on YouTube


While school filtration policies play an important role in sustaining the production gap because they limit our ability to engage students in tools and with information as content producers they are not the only issue. What is more important are practices of pedagogy and I think the video makes this clear. So, how do we fill the production gap? Here are four simple prescriptive steps:

1. Open access to read/write web resources (stop blocking blogs, wikis, podcasts, social networking, and vodcasting sites like YouTube)
2. Create a learner-centered learning environment (tailor learning experiences to individual student interests, needs, and abilities)
3. Engage all students as content producers.
4. Provide all students with a thorough and honest digital literacy education so they understand the levity of what they post online and are able to manipulate the web to meet their academic and entrepreneurial needs.

What are your thoughts? Is the problem laid out here valid? What are the consequences of not addressing the production gap, especially for economically disadvantaged students? Would you change or add any steps to this list? Let me know.

Alan November at ITEC

This morning I attended a keynote speech by Alan November at ITEC. The following are my sketchy notes from the presentation. (Words in italics are my own thoughts) This presentation was similar to this one:

• Alan November says his generation is the boomer generation and our current generation of graduates are the boomerang generation; they go to college and come back home.
• We should connect our students with authentic audiences.
• We are teaching our children not to be free thinkers.
• When you ask employers what they are looking for in new employees they say they are looking for people who are free thinkers and can work self guided.
• Do you know how Google works?
• Shows how Wikipedia almost always comes up first.
• Students always use Wikipedia. Asks some students if any of them have never been to Wikipedia.
• Then he goes into his West Point story about searching about the impact of the Pope’s speech about Turkey.
• The internet is more a place where you can go to get your own view of the world reinforced rather than a place to expand your view or get alternative views. (Because when you search on Google you are likely to come up with only western sources first).
• Good question from the audience: “What if you search the Turkish version of Google?”
• Alan tried it and the same results came up. The algorithm is the same.
• Then he goes into his “Shots heard around the world” example.
• We spend too much time teaching teachers technology but not enough time teaching good assignment design with technology. – Applause!
• Can find schools to meet up with at epals.com
• Assessment needs to change too.
• We have underestimated what kids can do to create rich content.
• There are children around the world who are very very poor whose work ethic is scary to watch.
• Colin Powel said k12 education is the #1 thing the candidates are not talking about.
• Students are not asking for more technology, they are asking for a different role.
• www.screencast.com
• Says we should engage students with us in building learning objects.
• This totally reinforces what I have long believed.
• Demonstrates making screencast tutorials using Jing.
• Are we willing as a culture to empower students/children with more control of what happens in the class?
• Teach children real jobs, real responsibility.
• Teachable moment? Google custom search does not work in Safari but it does in Firefox?
• Teachers in elementary schools should be building search engines for students and families to use. High school students can help build this.
• He believes there should be search engines by department. Why? Why not just one for the school?
• I am thinking we should create a school del.icio.us account, require teachers to use Firefox with Del.icio.us tabs and use Del.izzy as our own custom search engine. This would make it extremely easy for teachers to use. Almost no training, almost no effort.
• We need to change the assignments we give kids.
• Don’t throw out your content after each course, keep adding.
• English teachers will be using Google Docs…It is not up to debate.
• Create a Google Doc for conference sessions and assign attendees as collaborators. In the end each attendee will have notes from all sessions, even those they did not attend. Better than each attendee blogging their notes separately.
• Screencast football plays so players can put them on their iPods.
• www.kiva.org – teaches students to make a difference in another part of the world. You can invest in companies and get your money back to invest again.

Getting Ready for ITEC

I have decided to spread my wings a little bit and venture outside of MN and present at conferences in neighboring states. I am excited to be presenting two sessions on Tuesday at ITEC. Not the company that designs theme parks or the company that sells...wait, I can't tell what they sell, I will be at the Iowa Technology & Education Connection.


I will be presenting two sessions:

Session: Virtual World WebQuests
Description: Virtual Worlds are gaining in popularity and many educational
institutions are exploring ways to establish a presence or utilize
these multi-user immersive environments for instruction. In this
session we will explore principle elements of research supported
learning experiences within these environments.
Time: Tuesday @ 1:30
Where: Des Moines Downtown Marriott Salon B

Session: Digital Backpack -Killer Online Apps for Schools
Description: Cloud computing will play a significant role in future computer
technology with great implications for education. The Digital
Backpack is a collection of free online applications that have a lot
of potential for schools. Come explore the possibilities!
Time: Tuesday @ 2:30
Where: Des Moines Downtown Marriott Salon B

I am really excited about this opportunity. Not only will I get to present two sessions on topics that I feel passionate about but I will also get a chance to hear Alan November speak in person. I also am hoping to meet Scott McLeod whose blog, Dangerously Irrevelevant, I read almost daily and often comment on. I would be nice to put a face to the name.