Field Trips: Beginning or End of Learning

The other day my daughter comes home to tell me her class is going on a field trip to the Museum of Idaho next week. I thought, what an awesome opportunity to let the kids do some hands on learning and perhaps even some project-based learning. However, when I asked her why they were going to the museum, she told me it was a reward for doing good on something or another. I pressed harder to find out what the instructional purpose behind the trip was, but she is 9 and I was getting nowhere. As I read the permission slip and flyer that was sent home, I was left with more questions than answers. Here is what the flyer said:

So here are the questions I had after reading this flyer.

• What is the purpose of the Field Trip?
• What will the kids be doing to prepare for the field trip? 
• What is their assigned task while they are at the exhibit? 
• What will they produce as a result of the visit?
• How will they reflect on their visit and their new learning?

To be fair, my daughter's teacher is a young 3rd grade teacher and he might not understand why I wanted to know more, or perhaps even how he could make the trip better. So I wrote him the following email:

To which I received the following message this morning:

So apparently in 2014, in a world of budget cuts, global economies, technological advances, and high stakes testing, a field trip is the result of learning rather than an experience and tool for more learning! What burns me up more than anything else is that this field trip could be an awesome learning opportunity where the students could go, see, touch, listen, discuss, and produce some really fantastic artifacts that demonstrate what they learn. Then that student work could be used to show real evidence of learning instead of testing data. Then, next year when the school board needs to cut spending and field trips, they could have tangible evidence of student skills and knowledge. A field trip could be AWESOME SAUCE for learning. Students have a real opportunity to get out of the classroom and experiment with their knowledge, and do some extraordinary things.  But no, as teachers, we'd rather write home to the parent like they're idiots and give them reasons for going on a field trip instead of purposes. What a joke!  I'm through.

9 Reasons All K-12 Teachers Need a Web Presence

After speaking with my daughters teacher at parent teacher conferences and being told that I need to login to PowerSchool to see what the class is doing... And then being referred back to the gradebook portal when I complain about the lack of plans for a classroom field trip, I've decided that too many teachers rely on the gradebook portal as their preferred parental communication portal.

So here are my 9 reasons why every K-12 teacher should have a blog or website:

Educational Technology: Instructional Soul or IT Backbone?

Is your technology dept. run by an IT professional or an educator?

Over the past several years I've seen K-12 school districts on both sides of this proverbial fence, and I also have acquaintances and colleagues in one roll or the other. However, I've seen very little discussion on the topic, and it's a shame. Real conversation about this position needs to happen. There are undoubtedly hundreds of Superintendents staffing this position for the wrong reasons.

The Instructional Soul of Educational Technology

In the more traditional roles of educational leadership, like the principal or superintendent, would a school district ever dream of hiring a professional from the business world without having spent a significant period of time in the classroom as a teacher?  Surely not. The fact is that educators resent leaders who haven't spent time in the trenches. School districts want leadership with a real time and experiences in schools and classrooms. They want someone who can walk the walk and talk the talk. This is evidenced by the hiring practices for most campus and district leadership in K-12 school systems across the country.  With the exception, that is, of the technology department.

Some districts have found the value in staffing a strong portion of the technology staff with teachers. But this philosophy, although good, misses the mark of what a technology department could be. A technology department with an instructional soul has certain advantages over departments without. The technology department with an instructional staff becomes a service-oriented department, in the business of life-long learning and innovation. Having an instructional soul gives all technology staff a stewardship over technology skills, organizational efficiency, and the overall level of education they are able to provide for the community they serve.

I read a blog post a few months ago that surmised that teachers who teach with technology are the most likely to innovate and reform education. This statement rings true for me. I've seen it time after time. A teacher starts using technology and almost inherently becomes a leader on that campus. Eventually these people go on to become technology or curriculum coaches. Unfortunately they rarely go on to become campus or district administrators. Probably because those who use technology know how much they must work to stay on top of the latest tools and practices. Whereas principals and other district administrators must equally hard to stay on top of government regulation, local policies, school boards and more. Still, the teacher who teaches with technology can be one of the most valuable assets to a district office.

The Strong Backbone of IT

Today's technology has brought about the need for talented IT professionals as well.  Those who understand
its complex nature and also posses a passion for keeping up with change. Today's schools need professionals who understand complex networks, network management, hardware, big data, student information systems, learning management systems, web management, video production, Flipped Classroom, social media, and more. Unfortunately, with the state of today's school systems and economy, many school systems are able to employ only a small handful of employees to conquer all of these tasks.

IT professionals are notorious for using their skills to make themselves more powerful and influential in the organizations they manage. In most cases this is a strength, but in education, it can be an achilles heel. In education, the IT department needs to have an enabling and coaching spirit rather than serve as the gatekeeper over all things technology. Or worse yet, are the many IT professionals who talk down to teachers because they don't understand the complex, technical aspects of the tools they are working with. Does this sound like any experiences you've had when dealing with your IT department? This kind of department perpetuates contempt, stagnation, and even loathing of technology and especially instructional technology.

Challenges Facing IT Leaders

To make the matter more difficult, today's IT director's responsibilities stretch far beyond networks, switches and servers.  Today's IT director is also tasked with writing policies and procedures which are needed to protect students, teachers, employees, as well as manage the very limited resources of the district. They are asked to review software, purchase hardware for the classroom, make decisions about filtering websites, and much more. The point is this, the responsibilities placed on today's technology directors is complex, and requires a profound knowledge of teaching, the classroom, and educational institutions as a whole.

 The responsibilities are so great in fact that today's Educational Technology director need be more than an IT specialist, and more than a teacher. Today's schools need 3 things:

#1. Schools need teachers with profound leadership qualities, passion and knowledge of technology, and quality experience in the classroom.

#2. Schools need IT professionals with profound leadership qualities, a passion for teaching & learning, and a solid knowledge of IT.

#3. Schools need Superintendents who see the value in having instructional technology personnel in key leadership positions around the district and in schools. 

Do your schools have these 3 components working or does your district continue to 'kick against the pricks' and fall behind as other schools implement Google Apps, Chromebooks, iPads, Flipped Classrooms, blended learning, and other innovative approaches to learning? I'd love to hear from you. Let us know what is happening in your district around technology leadership.

It's Time We Innovate Educational Data

Data...Educational leaders love it.  Many go to great lengths to find it.  Some even do it just to have others call them by another title.   (That's a joke Dr. Larson.)

All joking aside, today's schools are ripe for disruptive change in the realm of instructional data.  Education has an enormous problem with data that will require world changing solutions.

Schools are starving for data.  There are lots of companies offering programs that provide data to schools and teachers.  Some even do a decent job providing data that is easy to consume and interpret.  BUT, they all miss the mark.  Let me paint a clearer picture.  States require standardized testing at various levels and subjects.  They return data by which districts, schools, and teachers are measured.  The data includes course objectives, standards, student demographics, etc.  Districts and schools then purchase specialized programs for student remediation, tutoring, and progress monitoring.  Any given school might have 3-10 specialized programs that also house more data revealing bits and pieces of valuable information. I call it valuable, because I think that data, if used properly, could reveal the keys to learning.  How likely is a teacher to be able to use this data effectively when it is broken into so many fragments?  They don't have time or expertise to be able to use the data when it is provided to them in such an unorganized mess.

I question current educational methods for providing feedback on student performance and skill mastery to key stakeholders in a child's education.  What is the standard method for providing feedback on  student performance?  It's primarily letter grades.  Yes, we also give standardized testing scores and other sundry pieces of data that may or may not reveal student progress.  But in today's educational culture of NCLB they don't quite fit in.  The further my children get in their educations, the more I wish I had more specific data from their teachers that could assist my wife and I in finding activities, games, etc. that would move toward mastery of classroom objectives with which they need the most help.  It makes me ponder a world where a child is a data driven report of their skill mastery rather than a holistic grade that reveals their willingness/ability to complete tasks.

Here is the point...

Education needs a standard or a platform for housing student data.  A system that is either open source or has open standards, or APIs.  A standard for data that will allow data to be moved from platform to platform.  A platform that inspires talented developers and visionaries to create tools and systems where educational data is easy to collect, evaluate, and used to improve student learning.  We need to be able to track student performance across countless assessments, activities, programs, and other teacher-made assessments.  Educators, students, and parents need data to be easy, nimble, and powerful.  On top of all this it needs to ensure a strict level of security and privacy.  Then it must be widely adopted by state education agencies and private companies alike.

This would create a frenzy of innovation in the market of educational data and tools.  Look at the past few years in technology.  Take the MP3 file format, for example.  It was a revolutionary standard for transforming the music industry making music easier to create, and consume.  From it we were introduced to MP3 players, iTunes, iPods, and countless other music players and programs that are a part of our everyday lives now.  Then there is Twitter.  Twitter created a simple platform for sharing ideas, links, pictures, and more.  From it spawned the creation of hashtags, retweets, and countless new apps for creating and consuming media.  It was a simple platform that was easy for developers and users alike.  Yet, it was a powerful tool for communication, and remains so today.

It's a huge task, I know.  If done right, however, it could create a new market full of tools for creating and consuming instructional-based data.

So who's going to be next to change the world?

Becoming a Tech Facilitator: Part II

This post is probably better titled "Becoming an EdTech Leader/Innovator."  I spent almost 4 years a TIF.  It was a blast!  It was one of the few jobs I felt that I really excelled at.  So for Part II let me share with you 8 things that I believe make a good EdTech Leader.  (If you missed Part I, click here)

1. A Spirit of Service - Most technology staff in any school district are really 'Support Staff.'  It is important to remember that your job is to do anything you can to help make the classroom environment better.  For me, this meant remembering how difficult it can be to be a teacher.  Knowing when to do things for teachers to save them time, when to try to teach a new skill.  Above all, your service should be driven by a desire to understand and serve your teachers, their students, their curriculum, their problems, and their teaching styles.
2. Life-Long Learner - Technology changes fast!  In the past 30 years, it has been phenomenal to watch.  But if all you are doing is 'watching,' you will fall behind.  An EdTech leader must have a desire to  find answers to questions, learn and search out things that they don't know, etc.  I can't tell you how many times teachers, students and administrators have asked me questions that they could've found easily themselves on the internet. (LMGTFY) Many desired answers but not learning.  I love helping though, because I'm guaranteed the learning, while they are guaranteed only answers.
3. Connections & Resources - Many times referred to a PLC's.  Any EdTech leader worth their weight has multiple networks and resources that they rely on for their own learning.  These networks should be both digital and personal; online and offline, global as well as local.  I don't see how anyone can consider themselves an EdTech leader without a social network presence.  On the other hand I also don't think one can be a leader without being personable either.
4. Research & Development - A great deal of effort needs to be put into researching and testing any technology that is deemed worthy of trying into the classroom.  But there are 2 philosophies here:
1. The Google method - Get a good understanding of the product and it's workings and take it to the classroom with the understanding that things will be new and exciting, but not perfect. They will require polishing, but a learning experience is guaranteed.
2. The Apple method - Research, test, and polish; then do it all over again until you have a perfect product that will work just as promised.  This method takes longer and perhaps no amount of testing can equal true classroom integration.  (I sat in a meeting this week where the State Dept. of Ed. said they would be testing a new tool for  evaluating tech integration over the next 18 months before it would be rolled out to districts...my grandma moves faster in her sleep than this.  News flash: It will be obsolete when it's released.)
5. Addicted to Change - To be a leader in educational technology, you have to love change.  This desire is the fuel that keeps you on top of emerging technologies.  Staying on top helps you to see a bigger picture of technology and direction you will need to go in the future.
6. Cutting edge vs. Bleeding edge - Knowing the difference between the two and important to schools.  You want your students and teachers to have the latest and greatest, but if you're on the bleeding edge it will backfire and ruin the trust your teachers have in you and technology in general.  It requires the learning of emerging technologies, while possessing the maturity to know when to wait for the shiny appeal to wear off and the bugs to be worked out.
7. Desiring to solve problems with streamlined processes - One factor drives the technology industry today, more than most others.  It is the desire to find technology solutions to problems that people may or may not be aware of.  Today's classrooms are being pulled in hundreds or thousands of directions, whether from stdudents, parents, administrators, or even worse... legislators and governments.  Be an advocate for teachers and their classrooms.  Try to find tools or create ways to use existing tools that will create solutions, streamline processes, save time, and improve instruction in the classroom.
8. Passion - Perhaps above all the previously listed traits in this post, we must have passion for education and technology.  Let your passion show!  Let your passion help you create, innovate, and share with other educators.  Believe that EdTech can change instruction.  Believe that technology can place powerful tools in the hands of any human being, and any person with those tools can do wonderful things to change the world.

These are a few of my beliefs according to what I've seen through my experiences in edtech.  If you disagree of have anything to add, please leave me a comment.  If you like what you've read, please +1 or thumbs up below.

Becoming a Tech Facilitator: Part I

About a month ago I was asked by @pronovost, via twitter, to do a post on becoming a Technology Integration Facilitator.  So I'll take a just a few moments today to tell my story.  Consider this Part I: How I became a 'Geek Teacher'.

Classroom Blog
My path toward educational technology began with a blog; SURPRISE! SURPRISE!  That blog taught me a lot about the internet and the power behind communication and transparency with parents and students.  Perhaps the best part about blogging in my classroom was that it helped me reflect on my own classroom and teaching.  That reflection helped me become a better teacher, then the technology encouraged me to continue improving and innovating new ways that I could get my course content into my students hands.  This is precisely why I continue to blog today.  The reflection time it takes to write each blog post helps me collect my thoughts, consider my methods, and refocus my energy toward worthwhile goals.

My blog began as a daily journal of classroom activities.  In fact, check out my very first post below:

It was my best answer for keeping that every day classroom management problems to a minimum.  The monotony of answering "Mr. Ashby, did we do anything important while I was gone yesterday?" was killing my instruction time, not to mention my morale.  The blog fixed this.  I started conditioning my students to go to the blog before they asked me what we did in class yesterday.

Within a few weeks my students were emailing me from home in the middle of the day, asking me when that day's blog post would be up.  I discovered that they didn't want to fall behind.  All I had to do was make the information available to them and they would take care of the rest.

During my first interview to become I technology integration facilitator I was asked to show my blog.  I'm convinced that my blog played a major factor in me getting hired.  It really couldn't have been bubbly personality :)

Posting documents:
A few weeks later I was posting documents.  In one case I posted a study guide to a test.  A few days later I posted the answer key to that study guide.  For some reason I decided to use that study guide as the actual test...I didn't change a thing.  Most of my student's grades went up a little.  One student, however, scored a 32%.  Her mom came into my classroom after school and demanded to know what was going on.  I pulled up the blog, showed her the study guide, then the answers, and then showed the student's test.  The mom turned and smacked her daughter on the back of the head!  "What were you thinkin'?" she asked.  "He gave you the answers, and you still failed."  The student didn't fail another test that semester.

Interwrite slate by eInstruction. My first IWB.

Interactive Whiteboard:
As I got better with my blog, I decided that I could do more with it.  I found out that my campus had interactive whiteboard software.  Instead of trying to learn it first, I decided I would just start using it...Cold Turkey!  My students laughed at me as I fumbled through it.  But over the next few weeks I got better, I let them use it, they got better, and we learned a new piece of technology together.  It set a tone in my classroom that I had never seen before.  It was powerful.

The interactive whiteboard helped me solve 2 big problems:

1. I had a student who was visually impaired.  She couldn't see what I wrote on the whiteboard, and she needed a hard copy of all the notes I took in class.  The IWB software enabled me to print a copy of everything I wrote on the board.  Then I found out that her specific disability she couldn't read from a white board, but she could, however, read white on black if the writing were big enough.  The IWB helped this student and I bridge a gap that we had both struggled with for months prior.
2. The screen capture and recording feature of the IWB enabled me to create my own tutorial videos.  My students were more often inclined to watch a video of a concept and rewind it as often as they needed instead of asking me, and having to deal with the societal pressures of asking questions in front of their peers.  It also helped them view the videos according to their own busy schedules and not just during my 3 hours of tutorial times during the week.

I began posting these to my blog.  I setup my own routine of recording the videos 2-3 times a week during my planning period.  That was also when I posted to my blog.

CPS clicker by eInstruction

Response clickers:

The next step in my classroom evolution, was CPS response clickers.  My school's Educational Technologist helped send me to TCEA conference of 2008.  While working the vendor floor, I won my very own set of CPS clickers.  I learned them backwards and forwards.  My students and I used them 3 days out of 5.  It helped me acquire data about my students knowledge and skills, which I turned around to use to re-teach and plan lessons targeted at the deficiencies of my students.  They also allowed my students to gain instantaneous feedback about their own performance.  The era of spending a day or two grading and then handing back assignments only to see them end up in the trash minutes later, were history for me.  Grading papers by hand was inefficient.  Today's teacher needs to use time better to find students' needs and plan lessons designed to captivate students while filling those needs.

Multi Media:

I had at my disposal a Sanako audio language/computer lab, where I could have my students sit in a cubicle and record their speech while I teamed them up with any group of students in the classroom.  I made every effort I could to learn that system backward and forward so that I knew what it was capable of and could build lessons on top of.  I found that the playback of recorded audio was priceless to my young language learners.  So I branched out and started having my kids do video.  I didn't have video cameras at my disposal.  I found that many kids had camera phones, point & shoot cameras, and other devices that also recorded video, so I had the students team up and use their own equipment at home to record movies, cooking shows, and more.  The playback was entertaining, but it was also much more...It was teaching the students to look and listen to themselves and compare themselves to the accents they heard of natives and their peers in the classroom.

Sharing with Colleagues:

Sharing my knowledge and ideas with my colleagues is very important for me.  Like my blog, it allows me to throw my ideas out there and start conversations and collaborations with peers.  I use these conversations and collaborations to: 

• Polish and develop my ideas
• Continue to learn
• Create team work opportunities
• Establish rapport 
• Learn from the creativity of others
• Bring recognition to the creativity and accomplishments of my peers & teachers in general

The four walls of the classroom can be very isolating.  Technology can break down those walls and open opportunities for learning, not just for our students but for ourselves also.  Technology helped me see teaching, learning, myself, and the world in a much different light.  It gave me the confidence to try anything, even pivoting my career.

Pitfalls of Mobile Devices in Today's Classroom

Over the last year or so I have become an advocate for using mobile devices in the classroom.  Mobile devices like the smarthphone, iPad, & iPod touch have helped educational technology spread in classrooms due to their enormous popularity, lower prices, and size for mobility.

However, over the last few days I've become aware of some problems with mobile devices, that all teachers should be cognizant of and try to avoid.

Mobile devices were originally designed and created for 1 purpose...Content Consumption!  Although many of these devices are now acquiring more apps, like iMovie that allow for creation and productivity, the entire platform of mobile was built on consumption.  Let's go back to the Bloom's Taxonomy.  Where would you put digital consumption?  (Pretty hard question, wouldn't you say?)

While I will continue to be an advocate for mobile devices in the classroom, I am now making a more concerted effort to help teachers find ways in which students can do more creating.  Whether that creation happens with the mobile device or traditional computer doesn't matter, so long as the student gets the opportunity to learn how to use technology to create and be productive.

A quick example I have are QR codes.  They've infiltrated many schools in the last 2 years, and most teachers love the lessons they have done with them.  But lets ask this question..."If all your students do with a QR code is scan it with their phone, what have they learned to create?"  Lets be more open to students helping us create more elements of our lessons and consequently new skills that teach our youth the power of creation vs consumpiton.

A generation of consumers who don't know how to be producers is a dangerous imbalance in any economy.  Let's make it a goal to let students do more creating with technology.  Creating websites, blogs, documents, presentations, movies, music, art, newscasts, podcasts, timelines, web 2.0 things, etc.  Creation requires knowledge, ingenuity, creativity, and discipline.  Those are the higher order skills that we are striving for as 21st century educators.

K12 Students Need Email...

Email, Who doesn't use email at work these days?  Very few jobs.  Problem is, who trains people to use email properly &  professionally?

Students in K12 schools need more access to email!  It has become one of the most used, if not the most used, form of communication in the workplace.  It is a skill that today's students will need to master if they are to be effective communicators in their future careers.  We've all been on the receiving end of emails messages that range from unprofessional to vague, to unclear, to perhaps even threatening.  Unless you're this person's supervisor, it's difficult to help them see the problems with their email etiquette.  What are you going to do, reply back to Bob and say "Hey Bob, your emails are so vague they leave the rest of us wondering if their are any lights on upstairs."

The student/teacher relationship, however, lends itself very well to training youth the proper skills, practices, and etiquette for using email efficiently and effectively.  If students were required to communicate with teachers via email they would be able to practice many of the skills below:

• How to create a distribution list & when to use it
• When/Why use "Reply All"
• When/Why use CC & BC
• When/How ineffective email can be and how to avoid miscommunication and other common problems
• Knowledge of attachments and file types
• How/When to sound formal or professional
• How to keep email organized
• How to to differentiate between texting and email
• Using email with mobile devices
• How to keep your email secure

It's not necessary for elementary school-aged kids to have email, but students should be fairly proficient and comfortable with the tool before they get into high school.  I tried to find estimates on how many schools/districts provide their students with email accounts, but was unable to find any reliable data.  However, it has been my experience that the majority of public education institutions still do not provide students with an official email address.

There are many ways for schools and districts to provide email to their students:

• Google Apps for EDU (free) 
• Microsoft Live @ EDU
• Gaggle.net - Has some great filters built-in that filter language, attachments, topics, etc.

I consider email to be one of the most basic 21st Century Skills that today's students need to know, and yet many of our students don't use it at school.  It's time to bring this skill deficiency to table and address it.  Let's use email with our students and train them in an environment where they can make mistakes with consequences that won't cost them their jobs, or more.

McAllen ISD

This video came accross my email today.  This is one of the best promo videos I've seen for technology in education.  It is worth the 8 minutes.

Google Hangouts: Possibilities for Education

Google is trying to revolutionize the online social world, and it might just succeed. One of the features built into the network is something called "Hangouts". While I'm not sure if I have my brain totally wrapped around the concept, I do want to share a few thoughts I had on how I think it might benefit the classroom (*when it becomes part of Google Apps AND if your organization turns it on.)

Here's the concept behind Hangouts...While on your G+ home screen you can "Start a Hangout." A Hangout is, essentially, a video chat room for up 10 people. When starting your hangout you can choose your different circles of friends to hangout with. It then opens the room and allows anyone from your selected circles to join in the hangout, up to 10 people at once. As long a there are 2 people in the hangout, it will remain open. In other words it isn't hosted or owned by the creator, which allows the conversation to move and evolve in a real fashion and less constrained by the tool. Although video chatting isn't new, this concept of a hangout is a giant leap forward.

Seeing as how my technology world revolves around education, Hangouts has blown my mind wide open with concepts, lessons, and activities that can been done with Hangouts. Here are a few:

Q&A/Tutoring - Imagine this...the teacher opens a hangout specifically dedicated for Q&A or tutoring. Students come and go listening to questions/answers, and asking questions of their own.

Extended Discussion - After a classroom discussion, a student opens a hangout to further explore the topic. They bounce ideas off other students or teachers, or perhaps other people that are knowledgeable about that topic.

Scheduled discussions - Groups could schedule hangouts to hold a discussion or debate about their course material. Authorities on the subject matter could be invited to add extra value to the discussion.

Global Classroom discussions - Classrooms from across the the globe could hangout together and discuss subject matter, bringing in various points of view from the varying cultures and backgrounds.

Online classes - Group video chat within a social network is perfect for online learning. It is a way to still get the personal interaction without having to physically meet. On top of all that, the 10 person limit is a great size for a learning environment.

Presentation collaboration - Students giving a presentation together can meet when it is convenient for each member. They can talk face to face and work together to grow and develop their ideas and presentation strategies. While chatting they could simultaneously use Google docs or any other collaboration tool to create and polish their presentation materials.

Guest Speakers - Guest Speakers could speak to multiple classrooms or schools simultaneously. It's a superb use of time and resources. I would love to see people dedicating an hour or so a few times a year, for hanging out in classrooms.

Author Visits - Librarians could start following all the authors that are pertinent to their students. Authors could post times that they will start a hangout and ask for students to submit questions. The Author could get to talk to many schools at once, which could add to the overall content of the the conversation with the Author.

The future of Google+ is anything but certain. And it's use in education is even less so. The one thing that is certain is that if you give a tool like this to talented teachers, they will put it to use and educational experiences will run rampant.

These ideas are, by no means, the only ways or even the best ways to use Hangouts. If you have some other thoughts or idea please leave a comment or follow me on Google+.

Destructive vs Productive Students...

One thing I hear over and over is how tech savvy our students are. Too often this statement comes from self-defeated teachers who all but give up becuase the think their students know more than they do.

The problem is, most students know more about causing problems with technology than they know about being productive with technology. This is why educational technology is so important. It is our role, as teachers, to teach our students how these tools can help them be more than they are without them. More time effective, more efficient, more communicative, more proficient, more productive.

So when I have students who would rather disrupt class by messing with our device settings or finding ways around the security in place, I tell them...

"Any Punk can be DESTRUCTIVE. It takes real skill & discipline to be PRODUCTIVE."

The New Media & Education...

Just as the printing press changed the world by placing books & information in more hands, I believe that today's new media is revolutionizing the world. Do we, as teachers, understand the significance of "New Media" and how it is changing the lives of our students?

The printing press made it possible to mass produce/re-produce text so that more people could obtain information than was ever possible before. However, a select few controlled those presses. Even with development of radio and television, wealthy individuals and corporations served as the gate-keepers to those channels. Still today, the cost to publish a book or to communicate via radio or TV, is astronomical.

With the "New Media" of today, however, the paradigms of publishing and broadcasting are changing. For example, Radio and Television shows can be made with consumer grade audio & video hardware. They can then be edited with almost any computer running fairly inexpensive software. Then distributed via the internet for little to almost no cost at all! Books are just as easy. With a good idea, anyone can write a book, format it digitally for any/all eReader devices and distribute that book in any eBook store like Amazon, or iBooks. A great example of the power of "New Media" is the story of Greyson Chance. Greyson, at the age of 12 performed a cover of Lady Gaga's hit "Paparazzi." The video was posted to YouTube and as of today has nearly 39 million hits. It was viewed by Ellen DeGeneres, he was invited on her show and signed to a record deal with her record label.

So what does this new media mean for today's students? It means that ideas are no longer controlled by traditional media outlets. Any good idea, talent, or work can be shared, published and distributed by anyone, at anytime; with little, to no cost...especially when compared to traditional means. By teaching technology along with our subjects we are teaching our students skills that can open doors of opportunity beyond the imagination of prior generations. Today, we have not only information, but tools, and medium that can bring the world and it's opportunities at our fingertips. We need teachers that understand this concept, teach it, and thus empower today's students.

New media is not limited to radio, TV & Books. There is a gold rush happening in the world of mobile apps today. The software required to develop these apps is available for free. There are classes being offered in secondary schools, colleges, and even summer camps, on how to develop your own mobile app.

Today's media brings many challenges to education. However, new media is not to be feared, but rather taught, studied, understood, and leveraged to show our students that they, truly, can do anything they put their minds to.