Tech EDGE Reflections. The end?

Laurie Friedrich and I have been doing Tech EDGE for 6 years. We have just finished our 16th! conference. Each conference has served on average between 100-150 participants. Our channel on youtube has about 40,000 views and over 600 subscribers we are also watched on iTunesU as a podcast on iTunes, on YouKu (in China) and on UNL's media hub. On all channels, we are approaching 200,000 views.

What have I learned? I learned that it is hard work. As soon as we finish one event we start nailing down details for another. We are constantly looking for great presenters who live meaningful technology integration not just talk about it. I learned that there are many dedicated educators who are looking to do well by their students and are craving support, ideas, and recognition. This is a simple process in a way. Simple does not mean easy, though. The trick is to keep on going, to find ways to motivate yourself and others as you keep going.

This week Laurie asked me if I was sad. Sad?I asked. Not really. Just tired. Many things piled up, and for a moment, I thought: Maybe, we're done? Perhaps, I've ran out of gas? It's hard to let go of a project you've poured your mind and soul into for 6 years, but I need to know to walk away. 

Participating yesterday, hearing classroom teachers sharing their moments of triumph, learning and sometimes failure gave me energy. The interaction with practicing educators working hard reminded me that I am not doing this alone, nor am I doing it to satisfy my need to be famous. I am doing it because this way I am helping shape the way we educate. Hopefully coming a bit closer to the vision of a creative, caring and competent citizenry.

That said, I am happy next week is spring break!

Top Ten Netcasts: iPad in the Classroom

It is traditional to create top ten lists at the end of the year. So here is my top ten most watched videos on the Tech EDGE channel on youtube:

Tech Edge - Episode 38,English Language Learners

Tech Edge, iPads In TheClassroom - Episode 49, Top Free Apps for a One iPad Classroom Part 1

Tech Edge - Episode 11,Apps for Teachers

Innovation In TeacherEducation

Tech Edge, iPads In TheClassroom - Episode 50, Top Free Apps for a One iPad Classroom Part 2

Tech Edge, iPads In TheClassroom - Episode 85, Video Physics & Graphical Analysis

Tech Edge, iPads In TheClassroom - Trailer

Tech Edge ConferenceInterview with Jason Wilmot

Tech Edge - Episode 14,Teaching Exceptional Students

Tech Edge - Episode 8,Maps and Apps for Social Studies

Enjoy!

Back at the Reading Center- iPads and pre service teachers

 I come back to Reading Center every summer with anticipation. It is a great place to try out new ideas and examine change in teachers and students over short periods of time. During the last few years integrating technology especially tablets (well really iPads) has been a focal point. Two years ago we experimented with iPads for instructors, coaches, and teachers working with struggling readers. The following summer we purchased a classroom set and integrated technology into every aspect of the course.

This summer technology, when it is useful, is ubiquitous- which ultimately is our goal. During the first day about a third of my students showed up with their own tablets. By mid course it was over a half. As students saw that tablet use is encouraged, almost required, they brought devices they already had. The rest are still using our class set.

I am not a big fan of a random BYOD. It creates more problems than solutions. As a program we moved into defining a requirement that will create enough uniformity allowing faculty and students to find a common path. At the same time I am finding that students are eager to bring their devices and use them to support instruction.

I love hearing comments like: "this is much better when I use my phone" or this works better without using the iPads. It means that teachers (and future teachers) are developing the capacity to use technology and make professional judgements about utility and cost benefit.

The impact can be seen through comment by one of our teachers last week:

Alan lights up whenever I pull out the iPad and always wants to know where I found a certain app, or how I created a game. Alan even goes home and adds the free apps to his iPad at home. I have liked using just the basic Safari browser for Google Images. Alan has a hard time picturing words he's never heard of, so we look up pictures of him. This week I used iCardSort, Safari, Dragon Dictation, iDictionary, and Track and Change. (Names were changed)

Change now is multi level. Teachers are coming with more willingness and more access to devices. They see the connection to devices already in the schools, and finally we can add to their knowledge and flexible implementation of technology integration.

Classroom in Conditional Tense

Last Tuesday we had our summer Tech EDGE conference. It was a great day with excellent presentations, great conversation and participation. We have been playing with formats for a closing section. This time we tried out an "Imagine" session. A forum to ask questions and generate ideas for collaboration and collegial support between university, district, schools, and teachers.

I am still not this session was successful and I think our follow-up next year will tell. I would like to respond more thoughtfully to a question posed during the session. Mary, one of our cooperating teachers asked what classrooms of the future look like. I responded at the time with- I don't really know and by the time I do it will change again.

Later when I had time to reflect I came to understand her question differently: What should/could our classrooms look like now? Now, that is a question I can address and wish I did then.

I first would like to point out that technology is just a small piece of what a great classroom space is and should be. There needs to be enough room for all kinds of real world activities. Virtual is great but it complements and not replaces painting, sculpting, outdoor spaces, a vegetable garden, animals, musical instruments and more. As far as technology I still think the device is a tablet and right now an iPad. The device should be individual (1:1) and students should be able to take it home. This way you can flip your classroom, communicate with parents, and assign digital homework without thinking whether our students have access at home. Classroom technology should  add a few desktop machines with large screen for applications and websites that are not currently optimized on tablets. For example Google Earth is great on mobile devices but some features appear only on computers. Finally the ability to project in the classroom.

The real clincher for me is actually in the availability of software/apps. Not everything teachers need is currently available but needs are going to emerge as we experiment and develop ideas. While districts like creating app packages I would argue that teachers need some flexibility in trying out and downloading apps with a great fit to their classroom and curriculum. I truly believe that our power s schools is through the diversity of experiences we provide to our students and then share with our colleagues.

This is very simple, and actually doable. To make it work though we need two things: room for students and teachers to experiment and ERR. And professional development that focuses on long-term collaboration.
The main obstacle is implementation like this requires trust- community to trust schools, administrators to trust teachers, and teachers to trust students. Can we?

iPads Pre-service teachers and Technology Integration

We are now summarizing our first (funded) year of Tech EDGE- Educating in Digital and Global Environments. The premise for Tech EDGE was to create a new generation of teachers for the 21st century by combining professional development for Teacher Education faculty, cooperating teachers and preservice teachers while providing access to devices in our case iPads.

While we have a lot of data about different aspects of the projects I would like to start by sharing the results of a Technology Pedagogical Content Knowledge instrument that Angie Wassenmiller created two years ago. The results for the preservice teachers stunned me- so much that I had to check it multiple times. The chart shows the difference between the cohort graduating in 2011 and the cohort graduating in 2013. The average difference is an effect size of more than 2 standard deviations (presented as the error bars). This is a huge difference far outstripping what we initially expected.

I do not claim that the project is the sole reason for this change, in effect I believe that the project accelerated many processes that were already operating and gave substance and direction to the efforts of many individual teachers, teacher educators and preservice teachers. Part of the success was our ability to move all elements of our program including practicum. Another part was the integration of iPads. iPads were most visible in our Reading Center where all preservice teachers were able to use them intensively. I would argue that the devices do matter- and they make integration much more effective and impactful.

Learning Design in Educational Apps

In the past few weeks I have started a netcast on using iPads in k12 education (tech edge on iTunesU). My co-host Allison and I spend quite a few hours every week trying to find apps that are educationally sound. The challenge is quite real. What we've learned may not be surprising, but it spells opportunity or disaster. Most of the "educational" apps are based on implicit and false theories of learning and design. This is not a failure of understanding a specific domain (say social studies) but instead a failure of understanding how we learn.
So what do I mean by opportunity or disaster? The opportunity exists for innovation to take over the marketplace with excellently designed educational apps. The disaster will emerge if after schools invest heavily in mobile devices and fail to deliver on learning simply because the apps that carry the lad are subpar.
We will keep looking fir educationally sound apps (or try to get close).
Check out the website and connect to the netcast:
http://cehs15.unl.edu/cms/index.php?s=18&p=190



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Changing Media

In the past few months I have been carefully planning a shift from writing to video as an expression. I have to admit that it is still very much a work in progress but we finally came up with UNL Tech EDGE available through iTunes U and UNL's Media Hub. Working in a new media is a challenge but I have to admit that I am enjoying it. Maybe it's just a novelty effect...
We have received a grant from Nebraska's Coordinating Commission for Post Secondary Education that will support our professional development efforts across the state. In the grant we combine four professional development days, technology coaching and online resources for teachers- including our netcast about iPads in education.
More soon.