Apple Conference – Sydney

Posted on December 12, 2006 by Judy O'Connell

Keynote Speaker, Stephanie Hamilton (who joined Apple in 2000 and leaving Austin Independent School District, designing and building 21st century learning environments for 110 schools) and presented the opening session of Apple’s 17th Innovative Technology Schools Conference.

Stephanie provided the ususal inspirational talk that sprang from that important message that we are all trying to communicate to our teachers and school leaders:

The only constant in life is….. CHANGE
Lifelong learning implies…..CHANGE
The road to the 21st century school is paved with ….CHANGE

She addressed all aspects of this change: changing technology; changing learners; and a changing world.

She asked “when you produce a really long document in wordprocessing, do you print it out for proofreading?” A groan of recognition hit us all – yes, we are indeed digital immigrants.

So we are working within a timeshifted world – even out technology tools have radically changed. Kids today have bypassed email, at a time when teachers are just catching up. “Email is so yesterday”! ! Yet how often do we allow students in schools to use IM. Schools still ban mobiles, and “that’s like holding back a tsunami by holding up your hand”!!

How do we take these technologies and make use of them? It is about the difference in the way we learn versus the way technologies are facilitating THEIR learning.

What is their (learning) nature?
Creative, Mobile, Multitasking, Collaborative, Productive

They are prolific writers, but we just don’t know about it, because we don’t move in the spaces they move. They demonstrate these learning characteristics, but we don’t always see it (think MySpace etc) Yet these elements are what a good employer will be looking for, and are checking profiles online as part of the employment process!
They naturally enjoy multi-tasking – today we are more likely to call this ADD. Is this the new normal?
The issue is we need to look at when it works for them, and when it works against them.

Think of there learning as ‘multi-threaded’. We approach them on one dimension, yet they have receptors to take in information on 4 dimensions! We are missing opportunities to communicate with them. Look at the way they can learn – not how we can teach.

Stephanie quoted a figure from the American Library Association: By 2020 information will double every 15 minutes. How long are our teaching periods? What facts will we teach if the information doubles three times in that teaching period!
What a fantastically challenging concept!

For those currently engaged in this discussion via edublogs Stephanie did not actually present anything new, but she did provide an invigorating reminder that there are many aspects of the digital change that we must keep in mind, and provided a few nice points that we can use effectively when encouraging new digital immigrants!

A Final Point……………

Digital Native Learning Infrastructure…..incorporates….

- - - - Knowledge Creation and dissemination
      - Creative exploration
      - Highly collaborative, Interactive and Ad-Hoc
      - Software solutions are expressive
      - User/Student Centric
      - Total Opportunity of Ownership

Google – altruism or what?

Posted on December 1, 2006 by Judy O'Connell

I had to follow up my last post, prompted by a friend, to comment on the constant rollout of stuff from Google. I’m a fan on the one hand, and then I worry on the other. Google’s technology playground, GoogleLabs, is seemingly always cooking up cool new things. The graduates of GoogleLabs soon find a place in the digital mainstream. I liked Google Desktop, for a while, then gave up a few months ago as in reality I do not work on only one computer and not enought stuff transfered – so Desktop had too many limitations. Even the indexing fails at times! I have of course dabbled with other Google goodies, and make good use of Picassa. And I am curious to see how Google Suggest shapes up. It’s fascinating to watch the hits – worth showing teachers and students.

At the back of my mind, however, is the Googlification of all things online as posed by that great flash video EPIC2015. Was 2004 really the year everything began? Can’t you just see all these Google things leading to the Evolving Personalised Information Construct?

Regardless, a Google product that has been getting some ‘press’ in the blogosphere is The Literacy Project.

Ira at SpecEdChange says ” Google has pulled together a vast collection of literacy resources into an on-line Literacy Project that can help educators assemble books, information, videos, book groups, blogs, and much more.

Take a look around, you’ll find fascinating things that may spark all sorts of classroom ideas. There are easy to follow directions for creating tech-enhanced on-line book groups, developing school-wide blogs, or for adding your own school literacy videos to this project”.

Ho Hum. I’m going to wait to see what teachers in schools can do with this.

Tom Hoffman in Emerging Technologies quoted Andy Carvin who comes down a bit on Google:

My guess is that other educational bloggers will have similar reactions. Not unlike the Google Literacy project launched the previous week, Google for Educators seems more like a promotional stunt, lacking in any new resources tailored for educators. Given Google’s superpower strength in the Web 2.0 universe, one might expect them to focus their resources a bit more on developing tools and services that teachers and students could really use.

Tom also complains about advertising – fair enough – but how else will we get lots of apps for free in schools?

In the meantime I do feel that the Google Literacy Project pulls together into one space various tools that we can use in our Web 2.0 learning environment – and from my point of view, having them together in one Project (or portal) makes it much easier to promote to reluctant teachers.

It’s just the quality that’s the issue isn’t it? But I do like fun!! So go try this out now….

From Dean Shareski:

This is just plain good fun. Spell with Flickr was fun but this is really cool. Type any name or phrase and geogreeting finds buildings that will spell your phrase.

The page itself actually finds and shows the building locations as it builds your name.

Web 2.0 special

Posted on November 6, 2006 by Judy O'Connell

From the Weekend Magazine of Guardian Unlimited – a summary of Web 2.0 in the “Weekend Web 2.0 issue” – giving us a roundup of the creators of some of our most popular tools.

It’s great to see pictures of these people! Fun roundup. Matt at WordPress really is amazing – he just keeps on churning out those enhancements and developments – making it possible for people like me to blog like this 😉

Graphical images everywhere!

Posted on November 4, 2006 by Judy O'Connell

Another librarian in comics, this time The Librarian, from the made-for-TV movie, Return to King Solomon’s Mines.

Flynn Carson, guardian of mystical artifacts scattered throughout world history! Originally appearing in the hugely popular made-for-cable film “The Librarian: Quest for the Spear”, Carson is back and this time his mission is to prevent the powerful Key of Solomon from falling into the hands of a ruthless warlord! He is joined in his quest by Emily Davenport, a beautiful fellow scientist who may be his only hope to locate the legendary Mines of King Solomon before it is too late!

Not to be outdone by movies and comics, we also have the microsoft powered LiveSearch of Ms Dewey – leaving many of us wondering if this new interface actually works!

Take a look and enjoy!

But it does have potential doesn’t it? in making the knowledge work of information seeking fun in the first instance and bringing a new interface to searching which just might hook kids?

It is a real ‘information’ problem – a globe of information – and the only discussion in some circles revolves around how to engage students with use of technology tools, forgetting that engagement involves cognitive and affective domains – i.e. I seek, I get confused, I want help, I don’t undersand, etc. While it is vital to learn to integrate technology and Web 2.0 thinking, it is also a gross error to assume that using technology = using our intelligence to full capacity.

Human knowledge is complex and requires deep thinking – and sometimes a deep capacity to search, find, sort and synthesise information, viewpoints and knowledge. 21st century wisdom builds on all that came before.

Let’s not forget the cognitive dimension of Web 2.0 and technology integration – and lets have fun with Ms Dewey and King Solomon’s mines.

Internet futures

Posted on November 1, 2006 by Judy O'Connell

Interesting to think about the future of the internet locally and globally, as Web 2.0 launches the digital future.

BBC news reports on the global Internet Governance Group. In a column for the BBC News website, Mr Desai said: “The forum will give voice to the citizens of the global net and help identify emerging issues which need to be tackled in the formal processes.” The forum is not a decision-making body but instead is designed to give stakeholders in the internet a chance to form consensus around key areas.

The four key agendas for the conference are security, diversity, openness and access.

[The forum] is about the future, the net as it will be some years from now and how we can give a voice to all who use it…… Nith Desai

Two things of particular interest:

Have Your Say: What is the future of the internet? Read the comments!
BBC Net safety guide The pdf is worth downloading, as the focus is broader, as it includes security and network issues.

You might like to Read the views of the global internet panel.

Well, this delightful picture of the Dharamsala wireless mesh and the latest addition to the Mesh at the Lower-TCV School shows how the expanding technology blanket is being wrapped around the globe.

GlobalSummit06 – Seymour Papert

Posted on October 19, 2006 by Judy O'Connell

Back to another day, and I am feeling inspired again, because the day started with a few key reflections of the events of yesterday. I felt the strong energy of the group, and the wonderful sense that attendees were genuinely reflecting, cutting and dicing – not just accepting words as received, but using them to further discussion and move in new directions.

Our online link to Dr Seymour Papert was also inspirational for the focus points that he provided us. [Dr. Papert is the inventor of the Logo computer language]

What a great thing to see this leading thinker up on the big screen, and to hear his thoughts flowing in response to questions being presented.

Seymour urged us to move our thinking from HOW to WHAT. Not how students learn and how to teach, but what children learn and what to teach. How can kids learn things in better ways?

As to our how our technology future is looking? Seymour offered four key points:

Every kid must have a computer! It is ridiculous to waste further time to debating this. Every knowledge worker (with the exception of our students) finds that technology is the proper medium for thinking work. If knowledge workers have computers, then why don’t kids!
Shift from HOW to WHAT to learn.
Recognise that it is global forces that drive change in education. Look to the forces in the global scene, rather than relentless educational debate to find the focus for future learning initiatives.
Stop talking to the computer industry, and do not accept their economic agenda to spend more in order to buy bigger and better. We should be setting the pace and saying what we need. The $100 laptop project shows the clout that we can have if we wish to really make a difference.

Through all this Seymour urges us to focus on the fundamentals (not ‘back to basics’) . Now more than ever we need to return to the fundamentals of HARD THINKING – the real issues that are below the surface.

It was great to hear these important concepts articulated by a global leader. Literacy, mathematical thinking, digital thinking ……….. or we could say that literacy remains an enabling mechanism for effective Cognitive and Metacognitive engagement …… hard thinking…… real learning.

People laughed at Seymour Papert in the sixties when he talked about students using computers as intruments for learning and for enhancing creativity. Not any longer!

Podomatic excitement

Posted on September 27, 2006 by Judy O'Connell

Joseph, a senior maths and IT teacher writing at Computers & 21CEduk8n left a nice comment on my podomatic site about my podcast.

Thanks for the feedback! 🙂

But better still, Joseph followed it up with a great post on podomatic Podomatic = Podmail and the unique options possible with podmail. Now, that’s creative, distributive, digital learning!

Well worth a read.

Shifting technologies

Posted on September 13, 2006 by Judy O'Connell

So back to the idea of the telephone or the printing press as change agents. A post from Stephen’s Lighthouse on The Primary Web Device provides some growth figures on mobile phone consumer technology.

He quotes from The Register

The cellular industry took 20 years to reach one billion connections, three years to reach two billion connections and is on target to reach its third billion in a period of just over two years,” Wireless Intelligence director Martin Garner said. “Worldwide growth is currently running at over 40m new connections per month – the highest volume of growth the market has ever seen,” he added. According to Garner, most of the current growth is coming from emerging markets with low levels of penetration, rather than from mature regions such as Europe.

Stephen covers some cool ideas in what this means for libraries. Bit different to our schools where mobile phones are usually seen as something to be locked away or banned.

His last two questions are the best. Are we preparing for new software and device modalities? Are we in K-12 prepared for the largest generation in history – with phones attached?

Frankly we have hardly begun to think this through. Will the next 12 months see a bit of a shakedown in some schools? I have had a secondhand report today that one of my Teacher Librarians is preparing to embark on a metamorphisis of her library, and in addition to reconfigurine learning spaces she will add mobile devices into the library device pool. Excellent. Let the experiments and lateral thinking begin!

What we are doing is creating a learning community. We do this by using Web 2.0 tools and a social constructivist approach to learning. Jo McLeay asked How do we know that blogs and podcasts improve student learning? The comments are well worth a read, as they show that it is learning in a Web 2.0 community that works, not technology as tool – which is what Web 1.0 was all about and which is where many of our teachers are still.

John Connell pointed to Don’s Blog and and his comments about his son’s Study Blog. His son Lewis’ learning community extended beyond his school leading to be a very productive learning experience.

Lewis received his first comment on a blog post yesterday from someone in Dublin, Ireland, in connection with a post he had put up about Proportional Representation. It’s made a real impact as he now realises there are people out there are reading what he writes. It also helped him to better understand what he is studying.

David Warlik got this feedback from his teachers about Why Kids Blog:

Even when they’re out sick, students work on their blogs.

Carol Barsotti

I’ve got 6th graders coming in during their lunch and after school to add articles to their blog and to respond to their classmates’ articles

Al Gonzalez

My students are floored when, as they say, “some random person from Texas commented on my blog!!” The students are getting real world experience with writing.

Brian McLaughlin

Why would my students want to write on paper for their teacher to see, when they could write on their blog for the whole world to see.

Kathy Cassidy

In fifteen years of teaching, I have never seen anything come along even CLOSE to motivating students to write – like blogging does.

Mark Ahlness

Our learning spaces need to get into mobile technology, mobile computing and social software to engage with the students in their world. From where teachers stand it is all about new literacies and new ways of communicating and negotiating content and meaning.

So back to that mobile phone. Take a read of Smith’s Ninth Grade Blog and To Cell Phone or Not to Cell Phone.

So today I tried something new…I had the kids turn on their cell phones and ring in their answers.

Did you guess what the students had to say about the incorporation of mobile phones into their learning experience?

Ways of learning need to change, and I like to think that the required pace of change is oh so! neatly highlighted by the growth in mobile phone connections.

Streaming media

Posted on September 9, 2006 by Judy O'Connell

I agree with Stephen Abram’s of Stephen’s Lighthouse….streaming media is definitely breaking out 😉 The Good, the Bad and the Ugly are definitely out there!

My workplace has yet to step into the streaming media phase – but we will be doing this with a rush and with considerable (learners!) enthusiasm very soon as we transform the lansdcape of our personalised learning environment. Stephen’s questions are important ones for us to consider right now.
Stephen says:

If it doesn’t already, your employer will be creating, licensing, storing and offering education, training, meeting, and communication events to its employees, partners and clients and maybe even the general public. Whether these are called streaming media, webcasts, e-learning, webinars, podcasts, Video On Demand, VODcasts, or whatever, we, as information professionals, should be ready. How do you use them? How are they acquired and what rights are licensed? How are they indexed, archived and made accessible? Can they be put into the OPAC and/or intranet? How are they preserved and stored? Can their contents be searched? Are there better formats and what are the trends? What recommendations should we be making for our companies intranet, Blackberries, browser plug-ins, etc.? There are plenty of questions!

From Islands in the Stream, Infotech Column, Information Outlook, July 2006 issue