Sharon Peters recently blogged her thoughts on the recent report by the Quebec English School Boards Association on Internet Use.  I was curious to find out if the report looked at how school boards and their associated schools used Internet tools to communicate with parents and communities so I read the full report (Towards Empowerment, Respect and Accountability  PDF here). 

While the research did not address my questions it did make some very interesting recommendations about involving parents in the development of a technology-rich school environment.  The report clearly encourages us to move from seeing the Internet as a “threat” to embracing it as an “opportunity”.

The QESBA Task Force set out a framework of prinicples to guide policy and practice which includes the following:

…parents can and must be active partners in better understanding the dynamics and impact of new technologies on their children, and in engaging and guiding them in the responsible and accountable use of those technologies.

There are many good recommendations in the report, but the following are pertinent to parental involvement.

• Educate and involve community partners in responsible and informed Internet use
  • Involve students, teachers and parents directly in developing and delivering (as well as receiving) information, skills and approaches on rules of Internet use, conduct and respect for privacy.
  • Enhance on-going and open communications between school and home on these issues. Seek to involve the co-operation, collaboration and participation of parents who are a key source behind the possibility for action and change.
  • Provide accessible materials, interactive training for interested parents on Internet use and abuse, appropriate supervision techniques and modeling behavior for their own consideration.

The authors of the report also recognized the importance of involving students in this process. I particularly like the following statement:

The task force has learned of a pressing need for educational and transformative approaches and preventative practices to more fully engage students in dialogue, provide them with responsibility, leadership and learning opportunities within ethical frameworks that guide both young people and adult stakeholders to appreciate the impact of their words and expressions on others.  

And this recommendation:

• Encourage young technology users to work with adults to teach them more about the technologies, and show confidence in their expertise.

 The QESBA report encourages a reasoned, balanced and collaborative approach to embracing 21C tools. Hopefully it will be read by school boards and governance bodies across Canada.

Thank you Sharon for bringing it to my attention.

Recently Cindy Seibel wrote a post asking the question “Can there be too much information for parents?” (you can read her post “Is it ever too much?” here and read the original story in the NY Times ”I know what you did in Math Class” here)

As a parent interested in engaging other parents in our education system I wondered if these web service companies would go beyond what a parent would need to assess their own child’s performance - could they be used to increase the involvement of parents in schools, and ultimately to engage parents in school improvement planning? I decided to explore a few of these commercial school data systems and as in everything I found there is a wide variety of services - some simply offer parents access to information on grades, homework, and attendance, while others go much further and provide tools for multi-level communication and collaboration.   

Those of us involved in education governance often discuss the role of communication in increasing parent involvement/engagement, we talk about the processof communication.  Some of us see great potential in using web technology to improve this process - to reach more people where they are, when they want and how they want. Web tools such as blogs, wikis, nings and webcasts provide us with a lot of options for reaching parents (and many of them are free!). So in the absence of an integrated school community management system accessible to parents these tools could be quite useful.

But what kind of information should we be sharing to improve collaboration? What do parents need to know and discuss in order to be engaged in schools?

In my province we are a long way from finding that tipping point from enough information to too much.  A large number of parents I talk to do not feel really connected to what is happening with their child in the classroom, and fewer are aware of what is happening educationally on a school wide basis. They want to have more frequent contact with classroom teachers as well as school administrators. Until parents feel there is adequate communication with teachers and principals can we really expect them to feel comfortable in a open, collaborative school improvement process?

It has been almost two months since my last post.   Before I return to my personal learning network and exploring how parents can use web tools to connect with education, I need to write about why I’ve been quiet for so long. 

Some time ago I wrote about curiosity and being an only child who read a lot of books and newspapers.  That early love of current events, exploring opinion, and getting the facts was spurred by my father.  He taught me many things and he shaped my personality in many ways.  

And now he is gone. The loss came too soon. In less than six months a very active man with so much to give and so much to teach became very ill.  The person who could fix anything finally had to put down his tools.

While much of what happened in early May is a blur, I do know that we could not have gotten through it without the help of our friends, neighbours, and close relatives. So many acts of kindness came our way - so many brought food - enough food to feed us for days, complete meals, no fewer than four full meals centered around beautiful baked hams.   

Life does move on and so must I.  In the last few weeks I’ve been able to catch up with piles of posts in my feedreader, peak into Twitter, update my Facebook page and listen to some great podcasts that I missed while I was unplugged. But most importantly, I’ve spent time connecting with family and friends face to face. 

As much as I believe that technology can help us form new communities - groups of people who will help us learn, give us guidance and support, open our eyes to new ideas - our online network simply cannot replace our friends and neighbours.  During a time of profound grief, when you need someone to sit in a hospital room with you all night long, or you need a shoulder to cry on,  or you need a hot meal, it is those people who are close to you that will get you through.

So for all of us who are working hard to use technology to create and support online relationships - we must also remember to nurture our offline relationships.  We have to be sure to take care of and connect with those people who will be good enough to bring the ham.  

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.