Tools of Engagement

While blogging as a means of personal learning is still very new to me, the reading and writing I’ve done in the last few days authenticates the value of this format for me. Participating in this type of learning means assembling a personal learning network (PLN) and my network, while still small, contributed to my learning coming full circle in very big ways.

 The progression went something like this:

A few days ago I read a thought provoking post called “Letting Go” by Alec Couros which contained this…

What if you know deep down that schools need to change drastically or cease to exist at all before there will ever be any significant change? What if you feel you are just prolonging the inevitable, and simply giving temporary life to a model that is clearly in its death throes?

This theme of our model of education needing a monumental shift in order to serve 21C learners is very prevalent in the edublogosphere. Almost everyone writes about it in some way and some even suggest abandoning schools altogether . I wanted to develop my own thoughts here at Tools of Engagement but didn’t have the time to devote so I commented:

… while I believe that what goes on inside our schools MUST change, we need to use technology to engage students and help each of them to grow a large web of flat world relationships, we must also see our schools as social places, as communities, where we come together to learn rather than teach.

Now that I’m taking the time to expand on my thinking I’ve revisited some experiences from 2007 that I learned a great deal from. There were two key events I attended last year (both sponsored by the NB Department of Education) that convinced me that while our schools must change there is a place for them in future learning models.

The first event was Let Children be Children (slides) presented by John Abbott of the 21st Century Learning Initiative.  This lecture provided much insight into how we can move from teaching to learning, from the factory school to the community school,  and from teacher directed learning to self directed learning. The vision of 21st Century Learning Initiative is:

New understandings about the brain; about how people learn; about the potential of information and communication technologies;about radical changes in patterns of work as well as deep fears about social divisions in society, necessitate a profound rethinking of the structures of education.

Developing schools that integrate the home, the school and the community and that employ emerging technologies to engage all partners in a learning community are essential.  

The second learning event was Literacy & Learning in the 21st Century with keynote by David Warlick. David delivered his message that it is not about the technology but about how we redefine and integrate literacy in the new digital landscape. Literacy in the 21C is “exposing truth” (reading), “expressing ideas” (writing) “employing information” (’rithmatic) AND tying it all together “ethics”.  At this conference David implored teachers to “let them see you learn“. It’s a phrase I’ve quoted in a few speeches and advice I’ve taken with my own children.

To come full circle - a link recently tweeted by Cindy Siebel led me to Innovative Learning Service (ILS) part of the Calgary Board of Education.  I spent several hours soaking up information and finished with a determination to encourage a similar approach to innovation and 21C learning here at home.

One of the items explored at the site is the OECD’s six scenarios for the future of schooling.  I particularly liked #4 Schools as Social Centres as it brings the ideas of Abbott and Warlick together: 

• Digital technologies will enable schooling to become a far more shared endeavor.
• Schools and other community organizations, (family, libraries, the work place, churches etc…) will assume a shared responsibility for the education of the young.   Expertise is activated from wherever it is located.  
• Teacher professionals will be defined more around understanding the nature of learning and of brain research rather than around a comprehensive understanding of the disciplines.
• Teachers will recognize that continuous professional development both around digital technologies and learning theory will be essential. Schools will recognize the necessity and desirability for constant interaction with the community.
• Schools and teachers are seen as leaders in this endeavour and are elevated to a position of influence and esteem in the communities they serve.  
• Here digital technologies will emphasize communication among and by all stakeholders in the equation - learners, educators, community members and parents.
• Networking is what it is all about.

So “the school is dead” as a factory, as kill and drill, as talk and chalk, and as institutionalized curriculum with little regard for digital literacy.

And “long live the school” as a student centred, community supported, collaborative, connected place to for all of us to learn.

Special thanks to Cindy for tweeting the ILS nugget and to Lorna and Jeff for convincing me that Twitter can be a valuable tool in a developing a personal learning network.

Today I read an old post by Konrad Glogowski on passion based learning (found via Remote Access) that stopped me in my tracks.  The following passage says so much about what we need to be considering:

Today, however, we tend to think that using online tools that appeal to young people will automatically ensure their engagement. Genuine passion cannot be ignited with a podcast or a blog. Instead, we need to give our students the freedom to learn and engage with ideas that they find relevant and important.

My interest in blogging comes from wanting to learn more about engagement of parents and students. Coming into this I knew ”it’s not the tools, it’s what you do with them“, but I was thinking in terms of having parents and students take greater interest in education because they were participating in it. Now I hope we can go even further - all the way to schools that ignite passion.   

I think the idea of giving a student the freedom to find his/her passion resonates with me because my son has the opportunity to pick a subject or topic for a project that he can work on independently when he has completed his regular class work, and he will have access to a computer (not sure what that means in terms of web tools yet). 

Problem - our discussion of passion revealed he didn’t really understand what I was getting at. (So I had him look up the meaning of the word online without thinking of how else the word is used - I had to think quickly to get out of that jam). We finally made some progress when we discussed what he was interested in learning about. 

In the absence of knowing ones passions can we substitute interests?  Perhaps as a child explores interests they will become passions over time. So far we have determined his interests are figuring things out, puzzles, mazes, codes and making things.

As he would like to use the computer for this learning we’ve looked for some possible resources, but so far much of what I’ve found would amount to him “playing” online.  He doesn’t really want to do a “history of” research piece - he wants to make something.

So, I’d welcome any suggestions you may have (other than Scratch which he uses a lot at home)…

Over the past few days I’ve spent several hours reading 8 blog posts at The Faculty Room debating the pros and cons of homework.  So many opinions, so many comments ! (100+ across the posts). If you’re interested in the debate I suggest starting with the wrap up post and then going back to the beginning if you want more detail (If you can’t read them all, don’t miss the post by Alfie Kohn). 

I can really only comment on what I see happening at the elementary grades as that is where my children are. I would definitely be on the “no homework, please” side of the debate.  I would much prefer to use home time for other activities or for relaxation.  So far we’ve been lucky in that homework really has been light enough that it has not interfered with our other pursuits.

So why a post about homework in this blog? Because I can’t help but wonder if  what “pro-homework” parents are really looking for is a connection to what is happening in the classroom. I wonder if the desire for homework is really a desire for some sort of accountability…it is “proof” that our teachers are teaching and our children are learning.

If what we are really looking for is connection then communication is key. How can we use technology to fill this need for a connection to what is happening in the classroom? 

• What if teachers took the time used for preparation and marking of homework to provide parents with communication specific to the progress of their child?  A once-a-week email hi-lighting progress toward outcomes with information on how parents can help their child if they are falling behind, or challenge them if they are working ahead of the class.  
• How about using blogs and wikis for language arts and encouraging parents to read and comment?
• What if teachers could use a learning management system that provides controlled access to assignments, grades, messages, even audio and video clips? (here is one example)

I know there are lots of ways to use web tools for homework, but what if we used those tools for what we really want during the early years - connection and communication - instead?

Curious: marked by a desire to investigate and learn.

I’ve always been a curious person. Perhaps it stems from being an only child who found companionship in books; perhaps it stems from having parents who valued post-secondary education enough to help me earn two degrees in very different fields; perhaps it is just a matter of my genes imparting me with a high curiosity quotient.

My curious nature has led me to be a “news junkie” and the easily consumable news offered by the internet led me to spend more and more time online.  A few years ago my time online morphed into reading (and occasionally commenting on) political blogs.  

About 18 monts ago I came across a newspaper article that struck a deep cord. It was by a technology mentor (Jeff Whipple) who was so enthusiastic about the potential of 1:1 learning environments that he was driven to let the world (okay New Brunswick) know about their potential.  I began reading his blog and eventually I contacted him to learn more. Jeff made sure I was invited to the 21C Learning conference held here last August where David Warlick was the keynote speaker. After hearing David I was hooked.

My time as a pure consumer lasted about 8 months. I had accumulated so much inspiration, information, stimulation and frustration,  I needed a place to put it all together and make sense of it. Hence Tools of Engagement, my personal learning environment, was born.

Final Note to this reflection blog - this post was originally inspired by Jeff Utecht’s post of March 12 “Moving from Consumer to Producer of Information“, but it has come full-circle this evening. After reading Will Richardson’s post ”On Infovores and Infofighters” I now understand I’m an “infovore” (an information junkie) just looking to create a little love!

and all the men and women are avid players.

It seems one of the most popular social networking tools around is Twitter - a microblogging application that asks people “what are you doing right now”.  The personal learning networks of many people I follow in RSS have embraced Twitter as an important participatory tool, and for some people tweeting has replaced blogging.

When I began writing this post yesterday I was firmly convinced that I should master the art of blogging before becoming at Twitterer. Reading Will Richardson’s  recent post I doubted Twitter’s claim  that ”It puts you in control and becomes a modern antidote to information overload”. Will asked the question:

Are we getting too distracted, too connected, too participatory for our own good?

My 20C skills kept telling me to not get distracted - take these applications 1 at a time. Alas Lorna Costantini’s opinion that some parents who may not have/take the time to blog may still communicate on Twitter by posting links, etc made me reconsider my views. 

I’ve realized that embracing 21C tools means giving up some of my 20C mindset - these tools aren’t hieracrchical and sometimes you have to go wide before you can go deep. 

Certainly I have benefitted already from those who tweet - much of the early traffic to Tools of Engagement is thanks to Jeff Whipple who let people know about my blog. Thanks Jeff, and thank you to all who have left encouraging comments.

The number of bloggers writing about education, in particular technology in education, is huge.  I have more than 30 in my feed-reader that I try to keep up with everyday and I’ve visited hundreds more over the last year.  Teachers and technology leaders are definitely engaged in the conversation of learning in the 21 century.

But where are the parents?  I’ve seen a few blog commentators that look at things from the perspective of a parent, and of course many teachers/tech leaders are parents too, but it is rare to find people outside the school involved in the conversations. 

There is one group of people I’ve found trying to change that.  Lorna Costantini, Matt Montagne and Rhoda Cipparone host a webcast called “Parents as Partners” at EdTechTalk. They are using webcasts and associated chat rooms to bring parents together to discuss parent involvement and how social networking tools can help parents support education. (Lorna’s blog found at ourschool.ca has more information on past and future guests and some great links too.)

This webcast truly is a means of  using “tools of engagement” when you want, where you want, and how you want. You can listen live or later on, you can chat in the back channel or not, and you can follow the links that are provided to learn more if you choose. 

The next webcast is scheduled for March 17 - I’ll be there, will you?

Thinking about what might be covered in Prof.  Barney’s lecture March 14 led me to re-visit some links I’ve kept while lurking on the edtech blogosphere. I re-discovered a source that excited me greatly when I first found it…and reading again now has confirmed why it is time for me to join the conversation.

The work of Howard Rheingold is quite inspirational. In particular the keynote (audio) lecture he gave on participatory media in Australia provides so much food for thought. One thing that stood out as I re-read the summary notes was:

Learning to use participatory media to learn and speak and organize about issues might well be the most important citizenship skill that digital natives need to learn if they’re going to maintain, or revive, democratic governance.

Governance, public voice, community wide collaboration - all things that I’ve personally exercised in my life, but I’m one of the few. Why is that? Absent web tools, it took a lot of time and effort (not to mention confidence) to express one’s views of education,  and the “system” seemed able to  discourage progress.

NOT ANYMORE. Our new tech tools mean that we can find others with the same ideas and encourage each other, we can find people with different ideas and try to influence each other and we can collectively act to make any “system” take note of our concerns.

Conversation and collaboration can happen when you want, where you want, how you want - the only barriers are learning to use the tools. Rather than “teach” our children how to have a voice in society, we need to let them see us learn how to use participatory media and be real examples for change.

On Friday evening McGill professor Darin Barney will give a talk titled “One Nation under Google: Citizenship in the Technological Republic”. Since I can’t be in Montreal for the free lecture, I’ll be tuning in to CKUTRadio McGill, the event sponsor (hopefully they will be broadcasting it live).

One of the reasons I’m interested in web tools in education is the possibility they offer for true engagement in a democratic society.  Prof. Barney will contest the idea that technology leads to enhanced freedom and improved civic engagement.  Should be very interesting.