Sailing for Success

Educators need to know how to design effective and appropriate online learning experiences for a number of reasons.  One of the more powerful reasons, in my opinion, is that online courses help to transfer learning from the classroom to home and other real world situations.  Wiggins and McTighe say that understanding is characterized by the ability to transfer learning to new situations.  That transfer can be difficult to promote.  I believe that students associate learning with the specific environment where they are taught.  The use of an online learning tool that requires student participation in a variety of environments including school and home helps with the transfer that Wiggins and McTighe discuss.  It is also becoming more and more important to be able to function in an online learning environment.  More colleges and universities are expecting students to participate in online courses.  Online interaction in all kinds of organizations including businesses is also becoming more prevalent.  The idea that online learning is not appropriate for some students is not something we can afford to follow anymore.  Students need to develop the discipline, study habits, and communication skills that are important to function in an online environment.  The online learning environment can also involve parents in the course, giving them information about what students are learning and due dates.

I’ll use the course I created to train teachers.  Many of our teachers are using the Internet for research.  The course I created is intended give teachers information and tools to teach students how to manage all the information they will encounter in their lives.  It is focused on Internet research, but the ideas presented apply to all of the forms information can take.  In this divisive political climate, it is becoming more and more important to determine the reliability of information.  This will be a part of a larger course intended to ensure that teachers have the basic technology skills required by the SBEC.  The concept of backward design will be something that I use to make this course a tool for teachers to design activities that incorporate technology into their core curriculum areas.

I would like to make every technology offering an online course.  The plan would be to provide a face to face day to help those who need help with the course and the skills it teaches.  This would give every teacher experience with an online course.  The teachers that attend the face to face course would get the same experience, but they would have the support of an instructional technology trainer to guide them through and provide hands on help if needed.

I was not very happy with the schoology system.  It had a good platform, but it was very basic and I would prefer a system with a wider variety of activities.  I would like to learn more about some other platforms for online learning.  I have learned a lot from this degree program through Lamar.  Some more experience with structuring a unit of study would be good.  This course was a very good start, but experience and guidance with more projects like this would be very helpful.  It takes time and practice to develop the thought processes a part of all planning.

This new learning will be a part of all of my planning for professional development.  Our training is going to be put all online so I’ll be developing several courses for teachers.  I have to learn a few other systems for our courses, but this experience has prepared me to begin this initiative.  The backward design concept has reinforced the need to make all of my training experiences apply to the classroom so teachers have a product that they leave with.  It takes sustained training and practice to transfer learning to new situations.  Often in professional development we don’t get to take that much time or expect that much practice.  My goal is to have teachers leave with a product that they can use in their classroom and a plan for doing so.

I got the opportunity to hear Dr. Stephen Covey speak Monday.  if you are not sure who he is, Dr. Covey wrote The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People among many other books.   He spoke extensively about the difference between Industrial Age organizations and Knowledge Age organizations.  He mentioned that 80% of companies are Industrial Age companies.  The Industrial Age system of management is characterized as a top down command and control model.  The Knowledge Age organization is a a worker empowered system with shared responsibility.

Some key ideas I feel are worth mentioning.

The Industrial Age organization is characterized by kind benevolent control.  Leadership is shown through position with formal authority given.  The culture is boss centered.  People are expensed.  Motivation is external.  The boss owns responsibility.

The Knowledge Age organization is characterized by unleashing the talent within the organization.  Leadership style is one of choice with workers accepting moral authority over their tasks.  The culture is centered around complementary teams with an attitude of servant leadership.  People in the organization have been given a voice and are primarily a leveraged asset.  Motivation is internal run by inspiration.  The culture of the organization owns responsibility.

When asked how a person within an organization can move it from an Industrial Age to a Knowledge Age organization, he mentioned two things.  First, he said to make recommendations to your boss.  The second thing he said was to take initiative.  The thing that I noticed was that these things put the ownership of this change on the workers.  In other words, don’t complain about your boss.  You have the power to affect change.  This is an interesting concept and one that I feel is powerful.  We have accessibility to the organization because we make up the organization.

Another thing that I thought was interesting.  Dr. Covey mentioned a Deming study of organizations.  According to their study of activities that people in an organization perform, people in award winning organizations spend 68-80% of their time doing important but not urgent activities.  This is compared to all of the other organizations which showed their people spent 50-60% of their time performing urgent but not important activities.  That means the people in common organizations are spending most of their time putting out fires.  People in award winning organizations were preventing fires and working on the important and fruitful parts of their jobs that others rarely get to do.

More from Dr. Covey in another post.

Let me start by saying that this is a failure on my part. I am a technology trainer, the primary trainer that teachers on many of our campuses work with, so this is a failure on my part. That said, I am wondering why the computer lab is still considered an event like recess that students are left to manage themselves with little structure or guidance and can be removed from as a punishment. There are two problems that I am seeing. One is that students are brought into the lab and left to “play” on a drawing program, or an educational gaming site. The teacher doesn’t guide them and games rarely have any connection to the classroom. In effect, the kids are at recess. They are talking, playing, walking around, etc. but they aren’t learning. Worse yet, students are sitting by the wall for punishment. I have been in the computer labs before when the wall was full of students. Just like the kids that sit out during recess because of behavior.

I’ll admit that a few years ago technology was a privilege. A privilege that could be revoked when students were not behaving. Now, however almost everyone acknowledges the importance of technology and the idea that technology is an essential part of learning. I’m just wondering if these kids have to sit by the wall during Spelling or Math time and if so, do they miss it entirely or is the time made up with them later.

When I started reading the book Using Technology With Classroom Instruction that Works by Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski a discussion really struck me.  It illustrates how our perspective affects the way we see things and the need to shift our perspective when it comes to technology in education.

A group of instructors were touring a school with a 1 to 1 laptop computer initiative when a superintendent had this discussion with a student.

“So, how is this really making a difference for you?”

The student replied, “Sir, I’m special ed and I’ve been special ed all of my life.  but with this thing here (the laptop) I am just as smart as the next kid.”

“No, really.  How is it making a difference for you?”

“I don’t read so well, and learning through my eyes is hard.  With the laptop, what I do is write what I am going to turn in, like an essay or answers, then I go up to the menu bar and pull down to ‘speak it.’  Then I put on my headphones, close my eyes, and listen as the computer reads back to me what I have written.  If what I have written makes sense, I turn it in.  If not, then I can go back and make any corrections.”

As the chapter points out, that students learning style had been controlled by his teachers his entire school career.  The superintendent didn’t see what the student saw.  His perspective was that technology had to teach the student, or touch him in some way.  The student had a different perspective, technology finally gave him the power to learn when he had dealt with problems his entire life.  It wasn’t about technology, it was about learning and who had control of the learning.  Often we see technology as something that does something to students, like give them knowledge or simulate a process.  Many look for educational software that teaches, rather than programs that allow students to apply learning in an authentic setting.  That was the superintendent’s question, “What has the computer done for you?”  I have a different perspective and thus a different question that I always ask.  “What have you done with the computer?”  My perspective is set just as firmly as that superintendent.  I don’t know, maybe that is just as bad.  We all need to be able to look at things from a different perspective to really analyze them.

I read an interesting blog post a while back by Michael Summers titled 21st Century Skills Use It or Lose It.  We have a problem in education that he points out.  It is a general consensus that we have to prepare students for the 21st century, but there isn’t an agreed upon road map to that goal.  Many people will say that we have to teach kids how to use the computer so they can succeed in the work place.  PowerPoint, Word, Excel, blogs, and wikis are high on these people’s lists as essential lessons we have to teach kids.  Even project-based activities are focused on teaching essential computer applications for the business world.  That will serve our students that are in high school and close to entering the workforce, but how does it serve our students who are 8-10 years out of the business world?

This is an addendum to the previous post, but being primarily a result of self analysis, I thought it should be placed in a post of its own.

Filed under: Thomas Friedman Book Study

Chapter 13 is about how the flat world platform allows grass-roots efforts to become global causes.  The Internet, particularly the newest web based technologies, enable local groups to upload their ideas and issues and then connect with other groups with similar interests.  These coalitions have the power to get the attention (and more importantly, the cooperation) of the biggest corporations and governments.  These global communities shine the light on governments and corporations.  Their corporate walls don’t just allow them to ignore the outside world.  Corporate walls hide the activities of opposing organizations, until the activist’s shouts bring down the walls and shake the establishment to its core.  These big corporations are learning that they have to change the way they do business.  A corporation has to make their walls transparent to allow the outside world to watch them, and to keep a wary eye on the outside world.    Friedman’s point is that one person can make a difference.  If change is not happening, if the issues that you hold dear aren’t gaining support, it might be because you aren’t participating.

What does this mean for education? A lot of things, but the one that I will focus on is teaching civic responsibility.  I constantly ask myself why technology is important.  The answers that come to mind are using collaborative tools, developing 21st century skills, problem-solving skills, and now I add another, effective participation in civic issues .  We have been teaching kids that when they believe in something then they should get involved.  The Nike© slogan, “Just Do It,” sums up the message of this chapter.  As long as I can remember, teachers have gotten kids involved by collecting pennies, writing letters, sending teddy bears, etc.  Maybe it’s time to get kids involved in a way that really makes a difference.  Pennies are just tokens, empty words to teach the basic precepts of citizenship.  Now student’s voices can contribute to a worthy cause in a global community.

This is not without risks.  Participation in a cause that actually has a chance of making a difference carries the potential for controversy.  A flat world forces educational organizations and their agents to choose between safe but merely symbolic efforts or effective but controversial causes.  I think that one could ask the question, “If we teach kids civic responsibility by getting involved in meaningless actions, what are we really teaching them?”

I don’t know, maybe we should just stay in our shell and send pennies, and letters.  It is a much more comfortable option.
Filed under: Thomas Friedman Book Study

Comments

Chris Turek said:

Another ahaaa! moment for me in this chapter!  When I first started considering the opportunity to work for Magnolia ISD there was a very big factor I wanted to make sure of.  Before I took the step out of the life changing opportunity of working with Alan and November Learning, I wanted to ensure whatever organization I was going to work for was willing to step towards transparency through the use of collaborative tools for both instruction and communication.  During this time I read Mr. Holland’s statement on the web site:

“I believe that Magnolia is a quality community that supports a quality school district. We ought to make our schools out of glass so people can see what a fantastic job our teachers are doing. The schools belong to the people, and I have an obligation to them and to their children. However, it takes the efforts of the entire community – parents, staff, and children, all working together – to reach our vision. Please come and join us in our quest to become the “best district in the state of Texas.”
Michael Holland – Superintendent of Schools”

The line that really moved me was, …We ought to make our schools out of glass so people can see what a fantastic job our teachers are doing.

Corporate America, government, and many other public institutions are realizing that they need to be transparent because no matter how many shinney press releases you send out, the world will know your true actions because of the flattening of the world through viral communication.

Teaching our students to harness this viral communication to start their own grass roots campaign to promote themselves will pay off HUGE dividends as they progress into higher education, the work force, and life in general.  If the world is Googling, MySpace Searching, or YouTubing you – instead of fearing that notion – embrace it – put your best foot forward – post your academic and extracurricular successes to YouTube, a blog, and any other social networking site.  Our next President is, why aren’t you? December 14, 2007 7:43 AM [Remove this Comment]

Scrooge said:

How do you teach someone to care?  The seeds of compasion and passion should be planted at home and then nurtured throughout a child’s life, both at home and in school.  Though it is not impossible to instill a sense of caring and responsibility for one’s environment and its inhabitants, this charge is sometimes difficult to fulfill in education, given the array of distractions which bombard our children these days.  I fear that Ayn Rand, author of The Fountainhead, may have hit the nail on the head.  She forecasted that in order for dramatic change to occur, man must hit the bottom of the barrel.  She contends that when a man hits the lowest low, then, and only then, will he have no other course of action except change.  In this situation, he would then give his new course total attention and complete devotion because there is no other way to survive.  Now, I don’t want to see this same thing happen to our children, our society, or our world, but it frightens me to think that it may reach the lowest low before it turns around.

My solution: time.  Spend time, take time, make time, and when you get that time, be sure that it is quality time, infused with nuturing of the mind and body.  Classroom teachers should capture any moment that they can to do the same, and activities/lessons should be designed to foster these ideals.  Maybe by the time they get to be seniors, our children will consider these values and behaviors second nature.  If we show them that we care about them, they should. December 14, 2007 9:24 AM [Remove this Comment]

twalton said:

I think that globalization can be a great thing.  However, when it comes to education, you must be very careful.  Students learn from watching their teachers, parents and mentors.  That means as educators we must be very careful.

There are many positive things that Friedman lists that are the result of flattening such as the potential to homogenize cultures.  However, flattening also enables criminal groups ease in coming together.  Friedman uses the Justin Berry case from several years ago.

One example that I saw on the news last week is of a beating that occured on the subway.  The problem is that it was taped and then put on UTUBE.  I have to wonder if the teenagers that participated in this staged this event purely for the “fame” of being on UTUBE.

Have we gone so far off path with trying to “technologize” students that somewhere they learned it was okay to do this?  Howe do we as educators turn this around so that we still foster the use of technology but in a more positive role? December 14, 2007 1:27 PM [Remove this Comment]

There is a certain amount of concern that the Flat world platform as Friedman calls it would Americanize the world.  The potential for that is present, but the opposite is what has actually happened.  Friedman calls this the globalization of the local.  I would call it global multiculturalism.  The Internet, particularly the latest web 2.0 tools have allowed people to upload their culture.

Last week, I had the opportunity to present at a workshop about China.  The presentation was an opportunity, but I found the greatest benefit was the chance to hear the other presentations before and after mine.  I really didn’t have to go to Texas A&M to get this exposure to the culture.  The Chinese culture and many others are being shared on youtube and many other sites.  How does this affect education?  We have so many opportunities to connect our students with other cultures.  It is a great time to be a teacher.  The books that we use to teach world geography and other culturally focused courses are just the beginning.

What is our obligation to our students?  Is it our obligation to teach other cultures, share resources that let kids make stronger connections with other cultures, or do we go beyond that and make contributions that allow other people to connect to our culture?  I would say all of the above.  Connecting to another culture is a lower standard that sharing your culture.  Friedman discusses the American culture as McDonalds and Coca Cola.  The American culture isn’t Walmart, warmongering, or a corrupt corporate system.  Perhaps we need to begin teaching what is good about our people, art, and culture.  Set the standard above multiculturalism.  Teaching tolerance is important, but teaching inclusiveness should be the standard.  That involves learning about other cultures, sharing our culture, and then mashing them together to create an environment for collaboration and advancement.
Filed under: Web 2.0, Thomas Friedman Book Study

Comments

rmiller said:

What struck me in Chapter 12, “The Unflat World,” was the description on humiliation.  I have assumed that the have nots are always fighting for the things the haves have. But it goes beyond not having stuff (i.e. food, clothing, shelter, safety). People need pride in themselves too. This is what makes people strive for better. Unfortunately, the Arab-Muslems are now fighting back in the wrong way.

You can draw a parallel from those who follow bin Laden to the 19 year old shooter from Omaha, David S. Horvath. From what I’ve read, he probably suffered from humilitaton. We need to teach our kids to treat everyone equally and fairly. Counselors and administrators need to tag those people who are like Horvath or some of the other kids in the past decade who have gone on a shooting war path. We got to get these kids help. December 6, 2007 8:02 PM [Remove this Comment]

Melissa said:

Great comments, Rob & Jamie…

Kids of course are a passion of mine.  If they weren’t then I am in the wrong business.   We all are if we dont have a passion for children.

Chris & I were just talking about this today.  I shared with him how a teacher had told me that there were 4-5 students at her campus that werent allowed on the computer – period…. at all……   I thought that was so sad.  He shared with me how his wife sees those kinds of students when they get to college.   Chris, tell them what you told me.  I believe you cannot shield kids from the dangers of the internet.  You do your best to teach them and educate them on how to deal with these dangers and everything else they come across.  If you dont teach them, how the heck are they going to know what to do when a situation presents itself??  And believe me, it will.

About what Rob said, I wholeheartedly agree with that too.  One of the biggest lessons you can teach a child is acceptance – acceptance of others and their differences.  Teach them not to judge or look down on someone that’s different due to their race, religious beliefs, appearance, or whatever it might be.   I heard something today that made me very sad.  I was talking to a lady I know.  We were talking about another lady who is older and getting married for the second time.  I asked if the new hubby had any kids.  I was told his kids were grown and that one of his daughters was married to a  black man.  Things were in such a tizzy because my neighbor said that some people wondered if this daughter and her hubby would show up.  My friend told me that “Old Magnolia” just didnt stand for that kind of stuff.

That’s just ridiculous.  Its very discouraging to know that there are still people out there with that antiquated point of view.

I wish I was going to be there tomorrow.  It sounds like it will be a lively discussion  :-) December 6, 2007 11:26 PM [Remove this Comment]

Charlie said:

Well, like the rest of you, this chapter brought to mind some thoughts about our culture here in the states.  It kinda reminded me of a man who keeps a picture of his daughters in his wallet……a picture of when they were 4 and 5 years old.  They are now 18 and 19.  I asked him why he didn’t update his pictures, and he said, “Because that was when we had such wonderful times together, and that’s the way I want to remember them.”  I said, “You know, if you don’t allow your relationship with them to grow and change, it won’t be long before you don’t have a relationship at all.”

So, as our culture sits in a wallet like a 14 year old picture,
the rest of the world is growing and changing.  If we continue not to address the evolution of business, interpersonal relationships, communication, collaboration, hard work, tolerance, inclusion, and all of the other characteristics of this world, then we might as well live in the past and reminisce about what was, and thereby condemn what could be. December 7, 2007 6:57 AM [Remove this Comment]

Edumash said:

In this flattening world that is become flatter at an increasing rate we find that many people are not… December 7, 2007 8:01 AM [Remove this Comment]

cturek said:

Not sure if my Trackback came through – so here is a direct comment:

In this flattening world that is becoming flatter at an increasing rate we find that many people are not able to take part in the benefits that a more “intimate” world can offer.  Freidman points out that as people in areas where these benefits have not made their way due to dominating public health issues or corrupt governments, these are the people that are lashing out the most against the flattening of the world or just lashing out in general.  Some of them aren’t trying to stop the flattening, but rather want the opportunity to participate but do not know how to go about it.  As we work with students and these world flattening tools we need to realize, like Rob pointed out in his post, it isn’t always our “stuff” or lifestyle these other cultures want.  It is the pride of making their own way in the world and participating in a way that is meaningful for them.  Jamie pointed out the blending of cultures and I totally agree in that is the ultimate mashup. When people can derive value from other cultures and form a hybrid retaining the valued mores of their own and the valued attributes of the foreign, you could find a kinder, more understanding, happier society.  Unfortunately, like Friedman points out, when people are looking into the good ol’ USA they often only see the Paris Hilton / Brittany Spears decadence that does exist in our culture.  This is why I am so excited about getting our students to use “REAL” tools like YouTube and blogging in the classroom.  It is in the classroom where a lot of our American goodness rears its head.  If we are supplying digital artifacts of all this goodness from our learning environments we can provide a better context of what the USA is really like, or what it can be. December 7, 2007 8:02 AM [Remove this Comment]

Edumash said:

After a long Christmas break of moving to our new home I was finally able to sit down and get through… January 11, 2008 7:39 AM [Remove this Comment]

These chapters of The World is Flat by Thomas Freedman can, in my opinion, be summed up in the following excerpt from the book.

Filed under: Thomas Friedman Book Study

In 1962 JFK issued a challenge to put a man on the moon.  Friedman says that we need a challenge now.  He places the following responsibilities on the following groups:

Filed under: Thomas Friedman Book Study