#Flipclass in an Ignatian Context

Last week, the @40ishoracle and I along with two teachers got to visit one of our fellow Jesuit schools to talk about creating #edtech friendly environments. The keynote was a hybrid of our "Why we went BYOT" combined with a lot of the reflections from last week's blogpost "10 Rules for an #Edtech Department"

One of the breakout sessions that I was asked to give was on the flipped classroom. I will expand the presentation a little more this week (fill in some of the words that I used), but I have had some requests to post the slides, so here you go.

The presentation was a lightning round break-out (20 minutes total with at least 5 minutes reserved for questions), so the focus of the presentation is the reason to consider #flipclass in a Jesuit school -- namely, how does #flipclass support the Jesuit mission of education.

Elements of Jesuit/Ignatian Pedagogy that I focused on were:

• Understanding Student Context as an element of education
• Providing time and space for actual learning experiences (now with teacher availability)
• Providing time for reflection on that experience as a part of authentic learning

More later...

Note: Information in Pink-Boxes is an attempt to capture the spoken content

Ten Rules for a Successful #edtech program that have little to do with technology

Zooming out to see the big picture:
The @40ishoracle and I have spent a lot of time travelling and talking about BYOT and Digital Citizenship, and professional development techniques (including free coffee, comfy chairs and Twitter chats). In the last few trips, we have been asked to modify some of our presentations to focus on something that we constantly touch, but very seldom present on specifically: How did we get ourselves into the position as a school to be able to do some of the cool things that we have done?

It's an intriguing question, particularly as a school that went 1:1 BYOT but often recommends other solutions for schools based on their mission, school population, infrastructure and student needs. The more I thought about it from the head-geek standpoint, the more I realized that, while there is not one-size-fits all magic device or magic LMS...That doesn't mean that there aren't some nearly universal mindsets that will help a Information Technology department work effectively within a school and in partnership with teachers and students to make learning awesome. Thus, I humbly submit:

JD's Ten (or so) Rules of a Technology Department that have Very Little to DO with Technology!
(Ta-da!)


1. Form Relationships

The six months that I spent at Brebeuf Jesuit was an interesting time for me. I was hired to make significant changes in the way that educational technology was used in the classroom and the school and some administrators were waiting for me to wave the magic wand.

The Teacher Resource Room is one key to keeping the
conversation going about tech and education

They became frustrated because I spent most of my days walking around the school, watching classes, having conversations with teachers. I was learning about the school, its mission, and its people. While this is difficult and draining for severe introvert, it was the key to identifying problems (with the computer networks and the human-communication ones), beginning to plan, and getting people to see what was possible. Ten years later, this basic maxim is still true. The most important network the technology department can have are the teachers who leverage the technology and the students who use it as an extension of their being.

Practically applied: We created a space for teachers to meet, gather and plan called the Teacher Resource Room. We stock it with free coffee, bring in donuts on Thursday, and use it for informal gatherings, idea sharing (the brown-bag lunch), and brainstorming (whiteboards!).

2. Find People and Processes to Bridge the Gaps

This nameplate sits on @40ishoracle's Desk

The most important role in a school that wants to expand its educational technology program is the #edtech coordinator. This role became so vital in our school that when it became time to reorganize the Principal's office the natural person to help with faculty development, evaluation, and curriculum was the #edtech who had been informally doing that job for five years.

The key to the #edtech role is not based on an expansive knowledge of educational gadgetry or lists of links to include on the ubiquitous "Website Wednesday" Newsletter. The best #edtech is an educator who is capable of discussing learning objectives with teachers and then translating those objectives and dreams into concrete work orders that can be understood by techs. They serve as the bridge between two very different types of personalities (for a tongue-in-cheek look at Tech-Geek and Teach-Geek personalities, check out this post).

Practically Applied: Processes can also help to alleviate tensions between the classroom and the technology-cave. One simple method that has immediate impact is a triage system of tech issues that prioritizes classroom issues. If teachers have confidence that issues in the classroom are going to be solved quickly, they are more likely to devote class time to integrate technology.


3. Start with Learning Objectives 

Our BYOT reflections during "Boot Camps" began
with learning objectives, not tools

Want a quick test to see if a the latest cool new thing was designed by teachers or test-them-all advocates? Count the number of minutes before the sales person refers to a practical and specific student-base learning objective. If they generically refer to "personalizing education", "appealing to learning styles", or "providing data driven solutions" then it is likely that this device has never been seen in a regular classroom.

At the #edtech and brainstorming level (note: this means in the TRC, not the tech room :) ), we start almost every conversation with a teacher, "what are you hoping to have your students learn?" -- When the initial focus is on the content or the skills of the students, then it becomes difficult to derail the activity with shiny-pretty smokescreens.

Practically Applied: The grand design for our BYOT initiative started with focus groups of teachers and students: "What would you like to see in your classroom in the next 3-5 years that would transformational to the way students learn and the way you teach?" Questions like these began students and teachers thinking about how the most basic things they do in order to learn.

4. Think of the Use Case

ASUS VivoTab: Full Win 8  w/
SmartSleeve Keyboard, great on table

Similar to starting with learning objectives, we often evaluate new tools or initiatives at the most basic level of Use Case, namely, "how will this be used day-to-day." This seems to particularly apply to large implementations. Rather than being dazzled (or from the teacher point-of-view, overwhelmed) by a piece of technology, run it through paces. This can be done as a mental exercise or ideally as a pilot.

When the test of technology is use-case and not the spec sheet that is provided by vendors, the way the data is interpreted becomes different. The Learning and other

...but a laptop fail

Practically Applied: I spent two weeks playing around with an ASUS VivoTab. It was one of the best Windows 8 (not RT) tablet experiences that I have had (yes, I am working on a review). BUT, on the most practical level, it was nearly impossible to use the tablet/keyboard combination comfortably in my lap -- a requirement when trying to send out snarky tweets about a keynote speaker.

5. Build it Before They Come
Most teachers can describe a training initiative in technology that failed miserably. Often, if you listen closely, there are certain similarities to the tales. One of the most common occurrences is a promise of a technology, or tool, or method that either a) never materializes or b) shows up so far past the training, that teachers have moved on in both practicality and enthusiasm before ever integrating the tech.

Practically Applied: Tech departments should begin to speak of initiatives in very consistent and easy-to-understand terminology outside of the technology room. In our school we talk about "Investigations" (surveying technology, gathering ideas, tweeting), "Pilots" (limited tests by people who are giving feedback about classroom impact, stability, etc.), "Burn-in" (Technology is available but glitches are still being worked out) and  "Rollouts" (technology is available and ready to use).


6. Avoid Myths and Hype

Giving up on the One LMS Myth

There is no one gadget that will fulfill the needs of every student and every teachers
There is no one technology that transforms every lesson to a multi-variate experience that meets all students learning preferences
There is no Learning Management System that makes every teacher a data-driven-decision-making automaton capable of raising test-scores with the blink of a mentor-camera's electronic eye

Technology tools are designed to accomplish specific tasks in specific ways. Leveraging those tasks and methods into a learning experience takes experimentation by teachers and students. The more experienced the teacher, the more willing the students, the more focused on the learning objective, the easier it becomes to evaluate specific technologies for their educational impact.

but there is no magic wand. Period.

7. Deal with Conflict Openly and Honestly
The best of technology departments are servants to a variety of people, including students, teachers, administrators, parents, and Departments of Education. Any one of these constituents may be able to play a trump card that can frustrate another group. This can happen when the Testing Overlords declare that no device that cannot be managed can be used for high stakes testing. This can happen when parents demand online grade-updates as a matter of competition within the schools. This can happen when teachers insist on a specific program regardless of compatibility with student devices.

In these cases, it is best to let those who disagree have the conversation. Parents and Administrators, Teachers and Students, etc. can have productive, student/learning centered conversations about what system will ultimately meet the mission and student objectives of the school. Note: Technology has almost no dog in these races. Outside of network integrity, data security, and a few other practical matters, technology (see #2, Relationship Manager) serves as an implementer, not a decision maker.

Practically Applied: During our BYOT implementation discussions, the math department, a high-functioning technology department, had an extended discussion about requiring all devices to be pen-based, preferably digitizers and even more preferably windows-based tablet PCs (the device of use for all math teachers). This conflict had the potential to sidetrack the entire initiative. As the discussion progressed, math teachers and techs began to isolate the underlying student-based needs of the class apart from the technology:

• the need to take notes that included drawings. 
• the need to have access to digital notes. 
• the need to turn in assignments for homework. 

Experimentation and conversation about learning objectives showed that while some technology may better enable student learning, no specific device or technique hindered the learning irreparably.

8. Acknowledge Non-negotiables, Plan Accordingly
Occasionally, there will be non-negotiables. They are becoming increasingly rare in a world where BYOT and consumerization are impacting the classroom so strongly, but they do exist. Again, the best approach to a non-negotiable (examples include caps on bandwidth, requirements to post grades, forced authentication to wireless networks, etc.) is to be honest about it and let it frame the discussion.

A non-negotiable should be:

• explainable in terms of student learning or some other mission-based part of the school (we have to cap individual student bandwidth to ensure that classrooms have access to enough of the data stream).
• agreed upon by a variety of constituents (we usually use tech, teachers, admin, students or some combination) as a necessary if not preferred course of action
• able to be reviewed as technology, classroom methods, demographics, etc. changes.

Practically Applied: The transition from a command-level wireless network to an open wireless that allowed student devices was a study in "what are the non-negotiables". This included discussions of mandating virus protection (ultimately we decided to not to require) and authentication (we require students to use a name and password so that if they engage in inappropriate activity we can have that discussion with the student as a learning opportunity).

9. Lead as Required

Excellent leadership position: sitting at the table

Rule number nine has gone through a number of drafts. It included "don't lead from the top-down" and "don't lead at all". Ultimately, the technology department operates best when its primary goal is to facilitate learning and teaching to the best of its ability. Because a well-run technology department has time to explore new ideas and new techniques, it is often in the position of recommending methods that some teachers may not have seen.

Leadership then becomes a hybrid of many of the rules discussed. It is a system of using personal relationships to identify needs and desires and frustrations. It is putting in systems that address student needs quickly and thoroughly. It is running a technology plan that is driven by learning objectives, clear in its goals, effective in its implementation, and open for review as times change.

It requires openness and flexibility and patience and a lot of caffeine.

10. Respect the Classroom as Sacred Space

Its not about the robot

When we put away silly debates over test scores and manufactured crises in order to increase sales of testing materials and test-prep textbooks, we remember something important: Classrooms are sacred. More specifically the learning that happens when a student and a teacher are engaged in a give-and-take that opens the mind to new experiences and lets a student authentically reflect on that experience -- that is a magic that I would put above any unibody construction with a glowing piece of fruit (heck, I would even put it above a lime green robot).

Any technology department in any school should begin and end with an understanding of how learning works. Without this foundation, programs will miss the mark and teachers will be frustrated because they do not understand how decisions are being made or what is truly important. Does this mean every tech has to be a former educator? That might not even be ideal. But the department as a whole should understand its position in the school is one of serving the greater mission of the school. It is less about authority than it is about facilitating. Less about command and more about service.

- - -
So there you have it. An attempt to distill our secret formula for running a technology department. Would love to hear your thoughts and ideas, additions, or changes to the departments that you run or have encountered. Drop a comment down below or reply to us on social media.

BYOT DayByDay 15: Anecdotes & an Analysis of Tech Issues

The BYOT Day by Day Series will capture the first few weeks of implementation of the full BYOT program at Brebeuf Jesuit. Brebeuf Jesuit is 1:1 BYOT w/ financial aid support for over 25% of its student population in the form of technology grants. It will try to capture some of the tips, tricks, and pitfalls. It will highlight the successes and a few of the frustrations.

This is the penultimate post in the DaybyDay series. We will of course keep talking about BYOT, but this seems like a good place to close a "start of the year" series as we end the month of August. Also, I am really kind of excited to share some of the things going on in the Digital Citizenship class as well as some cool #flipclass examples going on throughout the school. Finally, with the election heating up, I am sure that some politician will do something that gets me a-ranting, so i need a clean plate.

I thought about doing a Pro-Con article this time, outlining the good and bad of the BYOT experience after three full weeks. But the problem with a pro-con is that it has a strange distortion effect. Each point appears to have equal weight on either side of the ledger -- a minor implementation detail has the same visual impact as a huge philosophical benefit. Thus, the attempt at balance ends up skewing the perception of the reader (I feel like I blogged about this before, but maybe i was just dreamtweeting. The NEA has a good example of what I mean -- Pro = real life examples; Con = hypotheticals that stir up the fear of the masses).

We have more or less covered chronology over the last three weeks (starting way back with "Before the Storm", then continuing in Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4&5); we put the blog in the hands of one of our math teachers for the ironically named "nouns and verbs" post; and last week's space was devoted to the largest problem of implementation thus far (the eText Conundrum part I and II).

So...

I started a list of things that I was pretty sure I had not mentioned in other places or that had been reinforced in the last few days. As the ever-amazing @40ishoracle and I began discussing it, we reflected back to our original goals and the origins of the program. We'll recap that tomorrow in our last post.

Changing Culture, Changing Classrooms

"Our students will be so much better prepared when they go to college. They see on a daily basis that problem solving is not the same thing as button pushing." - English Teacher

"I used to give a sample interest problem. Then we would solve it together. Then I would put another one on the board. Now we still solve one in class. Then I send them out to find a car website...And a bank site's interest calculator. They get to find the car of their dreams and figure out why mom and dad don't buy it for them." - Math Teacher

My Kingdom for a Printer

The dean of students came to the Teacher Resource Room for a visit. "I had an English teacher ask me if we could set up the printer in our office to be a printing station for students." This has been a growing concern, particularly upstairs. The labs upstairs are generally locked when not in use by teachers. Students who used to do work on paper, now have it digitally, so if a teacher wants to collect it the old-fashioned way, it must be printed. All student printers are centralized in the library and connected "Class Lab".

If we find a space (limited) where we could put a printer, then we open up a different set of issues. Technology that is not "owned" by someone quickly deteriorates. When a department is responsible for a lab, it is usually in pretty good condition. When copiers are put in "general use" areas (even for teachers only), they tend to have higher breakdown rates, run out of supplies more often, and need to be replaced more quickly. Haven't got the solution to this one yet, but it is going to have to be discussed.

Personalizing Education and Technical Issues

"Next year can we just require them to have Microsoft Word?"
"That would mean no tablets, no iPads. It's really restrictive"
"I am ok with that."

Macs have trouble with equation editor.
Macs have trouble with PowerPoint.
Macs have trouble with documents

"My son says he is getting a C in his class because he has an iPad"

Network admin is working on three problems at once (we counted)
While on the phone with his might-be-in-labor wife

In a large homogenous system, when something breaks, it tends to break across the board. I still cringe over days when the entire internet is inaccessible or all phones go down. In the 1:1 BYOT world, problems are more often individual ones. True, some of the individual problems repeat a lot: resetting passwords, typing in the right address to get to wireless authentication, saving a Keynote document as a PPT so that it can be opened and graded by the teacher. Occasionally the problem is unique: a bad model of wireless card that has to be replaced or a specialized program file that cannot be uploaded to a homework hand-in.

Our systems and guidelines work 95% of the time and most problems are single-fix and satisfied customers walking out the door. Occasionally, we have students who become "frequent flyers". These students have the same problems again and again (our record is a single student who created 4 accounts to access his biology textbook, had 2 different Turn-it-In accounts, and needed his gDocs account reset 4 times and counting) or find a problem with each new thing they try (these are the ones who walk in either apologetically sorry-to-bother-you-again or arrogantly your-network-is-responsible-for-my-forgotten-password-and-the-national-debt).

Teachers become frustrated when these issues interrupt their classes or derail their plans but have learned to adapt for the most part (it helps that we have chromebooks ready for grab-and-go productivity). Parents have been listening to us and are very responsive to the school's efforts to make students responsible. Most students are also very good at working around issues. Frequent flyers are rare, but in some ways, they are what we have left.

Interlude: Resetting Perspective
I was helping a student with a document upload issue (outdated java controller). When she authenticated to the server, I commented, "I am so happy when it says 'Authentication Succeeded'". She looked at me and said "hundreds of students do that every period. You only hear about the few who have issues." -- Good point. love insightful students.
End Interlude

Thus, three weeks in, we have entered an interesting phase. Most students have made accommodations necessary for their devices (I use an iPad, therefore there are extra steps when uploading documents to webpages; I use a PC, so I need to borrow or bring a different device to take decent photos; etc.). Then there are a few students:

• The student who leaves the same class four times in a week to "get computer help" but never shows up in the IT department
• The student who doesn't turn in four assignments because he has an iPad and feels it is mean of the teacher to not allow him to just email the document to her
• The student who receives a low B on his first exam after being observed gaming in class, during study periods, in the lunchroom, etc.

Each of these issues could easily be mislabeled as "tech" issues but they are actually behavioral issues. Examples of students making less-than-optimal choices. In a traditional school with a traditional technology program, many of these students would be able to slide by finding teachers willing to give them a break because computers are scary...or hard...or unreliable. Some of these students would have bad habits that would manifest in other ways (obsessive doodling/daydreaming) or not manifest at all until they get to college (insert anecdote about tweeting with students for an hour during their econ lectures).

Students, Teachers, Devices, and Education. Oh my, indeed

Because we operate in an environment where technology is not allowed to be the default bad guy, we are able to make these incidents opportunities for discussion: making better classroom choices, accepting the consequences for decisions (including the choice of tool), working with parents to find ways to encourage responsible time-use behaviors. Teachers feel supported by tech, by administration, and by parents to take a "you are responsible for getting the file to me...on time...in a readable format" stance. Parents take comfort in knowing that others are willing to fight the big scary tech battle along side them and that we are individualized enough that truly extreme circumstances can be accommodated. Tech has the trust and support of faculty and students as we make things work. Next week, we add more layers to this communication process as we begin to schedule BYOT Round Tables with students to find out what they need and how we can continue to provide it.

Thus, education is becoming more personalized and the technical problems are beginning to match. But with each problem we face, we are able to identify it as behavioral or technical or (as is often the case) messy. We work with teachers and students to take responsibility where necessary, be flexible when it promotes a greater good, and occasionally hold someone accountable for a bad decision.

Responsibility, Flexibility, Accountability -- Good for Tech and Great for College Prep.

ISTE Daily: Final Day, Wrap-Up and Takeaways

My plane landed around 5:30am EST. The overnight red-eye is never pleasant on a full flight and the work the next day put me into a contemplative (or zombie-like) mood until that night's #BYOTchat where some of the colleagues I met and #ISTE12 made some lurking in-roads into a new PLN. But before the reflection, Let's get to the last day:

7am SHRED Session:

I like the SHRED sessions for their inspiration in a broad variety of topics. I saw one preview of a digital film-making presentation that went so far beyond the typical half-hearted "digital storytelling" project. It was inspiring enough that I want to rework one of the multimedia projects in the #digcit class to incorporate Digital Book Reviews/Commercials that can be posted to the school's library blog.

I also eliminated one of my planned presentation based on the two-minute preview that made it clear this session was going to go in a direction in which i wasn't interested in...guess it has to cut both ways, neh?

The Future of Leadership:

Since I now had an open session spot, I turned to my PLN and found a new session that looked intriguing (thx @wkingbg). This was firmly a "preaching to the choir" session on digital leadership, run by the gentlemen who run #cpchat on twitter -- Connected Principal Chat. They could have been tapping into this blog with discussions about the need to participate in Social Media, Tearing down walls between admin and faculty (literally, one of the guys has his "office" in a commons area), making curricular and professional development decisions that focus on the context of the student and individualizing, rather than standardizing test-taking. Picked up a ton of new twitter connections on the back channel and will be sharing stuff from them throughout the year,

#ISTELOL -- a break for humor

One hour of education and edtech snark. Really, no one was safe. There was an operatic walkthrough of Teach-for-America invasions, a Johnny Carson-style psychic ripping on vendors and a Q&A session with some great lines. Probably should have ended my conference on this note.

[Interlude]
While this was going on, the Google I/O announced the Nexus 7 tablet. How cool would it have been for the  Google booth at ISTE to have immediately pulled out Nexus 7s for demonstration or, better yet, some giveaways. That would have been an awesome use of confluence. -- Ah well.
]End Interlude]

Primary Sources and Digital Tools

http://sourcesmouth.iu1.wikispaces.net
Put together from a social studies perspective, this was to be my last session of the conference. There is a careful balance that must be created in presentations like this one. There is the overarching theories that underscore the methods, the activities, and the apps and tools that make it possible. In addition to the usual challenges (differing audience members, differing familizarity with tools, etc).

This session began very heavy on theory name-dropping. Within five minutes, we had heard about T-Pack, the Stripling model of Inquiry, SCIM-C, Webb's Depth of Knowledge, The HOTS, The LOTS, and more. This is not to criticize any of these individual models, but when placed that close together and as a generic overview, the impact of any one idea is lessened and you lose the links to the activities.

Interesting fact: In most schools, less than 20% of the activities we do tap into the Higher Order thinking skills (HOTS) such as create, evaluate or analyze.

That being said, the presenters did a good job of introducing a variety of activites that could be done with a broad range of tools. 2 Cool Examples:

• Creating Reveal Slides: Reveal slides are portions of picture that allow the viewer to focus on the detail of one section of the slide. Forces students to distinguish between description of artifact and inferences/analysis
• 10 Words Wordle: Using a collaborative text tool (such as google docs), each student describes a picture in 10 words. Those words, from the class, are then loaded into a word-cloud generator such as Wordle.net to show the classroom concensus.

There were a lot more tools and toys that had fewer educational applications (VOKI) but when there were practical examples of primary sources (much love for the Library of Congress) combined with concrete activities supported by tools -- This presentation was at its strongest.

Final Keynote

I really don't want to spend a lot of time on this. We left early. It was about a really cool environmental advocacy program in Borneo. There was a YouTube video about it. And Orangutans use their lips on touchscreens. That about it. -- I took the redeye because I wanted to stay...for this. Lost that bet.

Summative Reflection

First of all, thanks for everyone who followed these daily posts. I hope they were useful for non-attendees and my growing #iste12 PLN.

I have been thinking over the last few days about ISTE as a conference and what role it plays in education. Some of this is centered around a growing sentiment i was picking up from veteran techs and educators in the last few days of the conference: Is ISTE still worth it?

Taking a Stand on Advocacy
At some executive level, I think ISTE needs to think about who it is as an advocacy organization. When the opening keynote had 15 minutes of pre-roll government wonks kick off a keynote that was the opposite message, the clarity of the organization is confused.

I talked to a number of ISTE board members who deeply believe in the personal context-based education that can be created by educational technology. Yet these same board members have created an expo floor that is dominated by the impersonal test-score focused, #shinypretty, LOTS. Again, the message is mixed -- in this case apparently for financial gain.

This is not to say that the body should begin excluding specific ideologies. I appreciate being able to move from a session on developing digital citizens, to arguing about BYOT, to STEM, to constructivism in its purest form. ISTE can be a big idelological tent for teachers and techs alike -- but if we are supposed to advocate on behalf of the students, it might be time to quit giving a platform to things which we as a body believe is harmful.

Keynotes: 1/3 is bad. Just ask Meatloaf.

• Make them inspiring
• Don't let the vendors tell you who to pick
• Make them relevant to the body of educators
• Don't pander to me -- I have access to the Youtubes. Amateur production quality - even as snippets -- is barely tolerated from my students.
• Don't hold a general business session before the keynote
• Be consistent in your messaging with your speakers, your thanks, your guests and, most important, My Time.

Connections will Happen given the Time, Space, and Structure

Check the twitter feed. The strongest part of #iste12 was the connections made between techs and educators, teachers and admins, etc.The difference between my time with #sigMS and in the technology pavilllion were so tremendously different. One allowed me to form connections, learn and teach from others, and discuss best practices. One of them made me feel intrusive, uncomfortable, and unwanted. The difference? Organization:

• Clearly mark the area for its purpose (signpost)
• Invite people into the conversation
• Have an organizational person there to greet, check-on, and give feedback to presenters/demonstrators/conversationalists

Is ISTE still worth it? absolutely!

As a professional and someone with ideas, a passion for teaching with technology, and for advocating to our students, this forum provides one of the best places to make the personal connection with others in a non-digital forum. It strengthens online connections and puts us all together for generative power that cannot be accomplished separately.

But there are cracks forming. Inconsistent messaging, poor efforts on keynote acquisitions, disorganization that derails effective networking. This will be a great time to refocus on what ISTE as an organization brings to the national conference table. Good luck and see you next year!

ISTE Daily: Day 4 - Crystalizing: The day it began to come together

On a personal note, thanks for all the tweets, reposts and comments. This blog is approaching 10,000 unique views and it is because of your shares. If you find useful stuff, please spread the word - thx.

There is a day at most good conferences where everything comes together and you begin to plan how this conference has changed the way you think about things and what you want to take back with you takes a more concrete form. My day for that was Day 4 -- I hope that you have found your magic day as well.

(I just pasted 4+ pages of notes into this blog from Evernote to try and distill)

CUE Shred Session

CUE, one of the ISTE sponsors is an interesting professional development format. it is focused on low presenter to attendee ratio, concentrated and focused time, and excellent presentation. The SHREDs are two minute previews of presenters. The session is low on takeaway (they are previews) but high on energy. They made me start thinking a lot about substance (most of the presentations are tool applications or single concepts lessons) vs style (high energy, FUN!). I don't harbor any bad for the concept, but it is nice to know what you are getting into...and I have been to enough presentations short on style to appreciate the concept.

They also seem to be a little self-perpetuating, but can't fault a successful business model :)

Keynote: Yong Zhao stops the show.

The ISTE organziers breathed a sigh of relief after this keynote. The opening keynote was a mess in format and message w/ frustrated takeaways and contradictory introductory messaging. It has been blogged, whispered, shouted and echo chambered into ridicule at the conference.

Yong Zhao, @yongzhaoou on twitter, brought down the house

His basic premise (watched from the overflow room, because the organizers were only allotting three sq.in. per attendee) was an analysis of international testing rankings and their meaning. Mixed with humor (the asian countries do really well -- thus we conclude that the secret is chopsticks -- fine motor skill development, complex PBL while eating soup, etc.), he explains that China, while ruling the test average ranking is (generally speaking) disappointed by other measurement: number of unique patents, paradigm shifting entrepreneurs, etc.)

He chastised American education systems for lowering our national standards in order to beat Shangai. Reading is essential, but it should never be the national goal.

His historical analysis was thought provoking: in the 1950s, the USA was bad...worse than russia -- and we won the race to the moon. In the 80s, we were bad...worse than Japan (a nation at risk) -- and we ended the cold war, spurred on the microcomputer age, and started a global transformation. Now, we are bad...worse than China.

His Question: WHY ARE WE STILL HERE?

America is not getting worse. America is not in decline. By the measures that are being looked at, we have always been bad. But we have the largest US economy. China is number 2 with 4x the population.

The key difference, he begins to unpack, is confidence and creativity. Singapore ranks number one in standardized math scores, but ranks low in confidence. Americans have an inherent belief in our rule-age.

His Conclusion: Americans care more about children than about math.

There is no standardized test that will produce a Lady Gaga or a Steve Jobs or even a Bill Gates.

We are chasing the wrong goal: Americans don't teach standardized testing well. But we have musical instruments and computers and teachers that care and students that feel their confidence and creativity empowered.

Best line: We don't teach better. But we also kill creativity less successfully.

Take away: We need to abandon the the idea of employable skills. "a 19th century horsewagon will not take us to the moon no matter how perfect it is." How do we turn each of our students into an entrepreneur? how do we create a curriculum that follows the child instead of chasing the test score? how do we maximize strengths?

I will be blogging more about this later, since i think it is the vision that lies under our leadership development program at the school. -- More to come.

Getting Stager-ized

Many of you who follow me on Twitter know that I have an odd twitter love-like-challenge relationship with @garystager. He wrote the counterpoint to @40ishoracle's article on BYOT, he and I have clashed on #flipclass and #digcit curriculum. While this is a lot like my bearded fly against is clean-shaven Colossus, I consider him an invaluable part of my PLN, because he is grounded, passionate, and cares about education. The fact that we disagree keeps me honest.

He covered a lot in his presentation: Personal Fabrication, Reggio, Generation "Yes", and more.

His take away: we need better range and better depth. Schools have always used the technology of the day and students have always shown intensity and passion.

In classic Stager fashion best quote: "ISTE Standards are harmful, dull, and serve no purpose"

Put better: Why teach students Powerpoint and Excel when they could do more interesting things? Why force them to create presentations on topics they don't care about to an audience that does not actually exist.

Ouch.

He continues: While worrying about the test score comparisons to other countries, we should be scared at the implications of a generation of children that grow up without having conversations with adults.

He bashed some Prensky and some #flipclass

...and he challenged us to raise the bar: create projects with challenges to solve. stop artificial sorting. have classes where students MAKE things.

Tapping into the tinker-movement he tied the idea of making real things to robot ballerina and super awesome sylvia. When we build on the desires of students and have an approach that focuses on teachers being in dialogue with children about what children WANT to learn -- We go further than we can when we focus on the curriculum.

Take Away -- Good Prompts:

Mediorcre prompts make for bad output and bad learning. Good prompts challenge a student to do more than he or she is currently equipped to do and motivates them:

• Brevity: a good prompt should fit on a post it note. "Build something that starts here and ends here"
• Ambiguity: don't create limits you don't care about. "Something" is better than "Car"
• Immunity from Assessment: how do you put a B- on a poem? a functioning robot?

Imagine a world where we evaluate based on key questions: does it work or not? is it moving? can it endure? are you (the student) satisfied with it?

He ended with a beautiful challenge? If we as teachers can remember baking cookies in class, playing a fun game, taking a nature walk...then it is incumbant on us to bring that back for our kids and for our colleagues who don't remember that these MEMORIES are the key to real learning.

Less US. More THEM. Time to quit being surprised when kids do extraordinary things.

The Mid-Day Malaise - The Technology Integration Pavillion

As much fun as I had conversing and network with #sigMS at their playground, I was kind of excited about being a part of the Technology Integration Pavillion, although since it was on the expo floor, i should have known better. I took some time to look at mindstorms and arduino (inspired by Stager, I am planning on doing some robot play in Advanced Apps and maybe even #digcit next year). 

I got to the TIP with my volunteer shirt and hit a void. Lacking the organizational structure of the #sigMS, the TIP was a gathering of weary-looking admins sitting and eating. No signage or structure, so it felt like interfering to strike up conversations on the topic i had prepped so i just sat and conversed about anything. 

In the presentation section of the TIP, there were a few corporate sponsors and schools talking BYOT (they keep calling it "D"...and the perspective shows). It was a little agonizing. I left early.

#sigMS Forum -- Social Media and Tools

I recharged with a monster and decided to take my last forway into being an undercover Media Center Specialist. The #sigMS forum was a lively group with lots of tools discussed, shared and thrown.

@stevehargadon gave a nice keynote about us being at the dawn of a new era: one of Co-creation, engagement culture...he used a nice image of one candle lighting another but the light never being diminished. Great image.

He focused on the positive possiblities of the grassroots and longtail nature of the new era, but I found myslef thinking of the negatives. The flip side of the world in which anyone can publish and produce is the infowhelm and confirmation bias echo-chamber. Librarians are in a unique position to combat this, but they have to be made aware -- i think we have a little too much cheerleading to offset fear going on.

Tools Highlights:

Cel.ly - a social media/backchannel/Cell phone based response system. Think twitter, todaysmeet, and poll anywhere combined.

Tricider -- online polling with social media.

sig1to1 and sigTC: More BYOT Advocacy in a BYOD curious world:

I traded out a ticket and paid an extra $20 to participate in the combined sig1to1/sigTC (technology coordinators) forum. The forum was an interesting combination of BYOT skepticism, overwhelmed techs, a few early implementers, and lots of idea generation. I am looking forward to the posted links to see the ideas generated, but mainly felt (as I did at the earlier session) that we are missing out on some obvious connections with the schools who are doing this already -- not doing it for cost savings, or out of a bizarre feeling of "we have to do something" -- but because we believe in the pedagogical advantage of having student think critically and choose the technology that best fits them and their environment.

Reflection: This was the day that gave me a lot to do when I get home. I want to redesign the #flipclass to narrow down the amount of out of class to the essential. I want to create more hands-on and more PBL. I want to take back a vision of personalization for all students and leadership development. This was an inspiring day of conversation, PLN building, and challenging but inspiring presentations.

ISTE Daily: Day 3 -- Playgrounds, Networking, and Sushi w/ Jesu_IT

Sitting this morning in the preparation for one of the CUE.SHRED sessions (lots of speakers in two minute time limits -- could be fun). Reflecting on yesterday and seeing if there is anything profound.

Let's Talk about the Natives

I went to my first hour long session. David Warlick presented on digital natives and their impact on education. He certainly made the case for the necessity of change,

Quickfact: 6 hours of YouTube videos are uploaded every 15 seconds

I'm not sure if I have heard a better argument for infowhelm and the need for students to have the ability to setup filters either through thoughtful PLN development or...well, that is really what I have at this point.

Avoid Question Proofing

He had an interesting point regarding our project design. So much of our traditional teaching methodology applied to modern PBL takes the form of question proofing -- designing each assessment so that every question is answered, every possibility is accounted for. #Edtech geeks reading this have had the experience of the nervous teacher who wants a pre-made flow chart of every question and every possibility 

aside: interestingly, this is the difference between early debate coaching -- teach them to not ask any question for which they do not know the answer -- from experienced debate coaching -- teach them to explore an opponents case with open-ended questions that  lead to closed set-traps.

Questions are good

Show a picture of a barbed wire. Say nothing. Wait for the students to begin asking. Answer clearly and succinctly:

What is that? Barbed wire

What is it for? material to build fences that hurt cows

Why would you want to hurt cows? Interesting question. Why would we want to hurt cows?

Discussion follows led by student inquiry. Boring topic made good.

Gaming and Failing as Learning Models:

One of the most popular tweets from yesterday (maybe @webclassrom20 or @sjunkins):

I have yet to have a student tell me they can't use technology in class because they haven't received any PD on it. #iste12

The idea of creating environments where we are allowed to accept wrong answers; where we take advantage of the #dignat student's natural willingness to experiment, to play, and to find value in problem solving; where we move from high-stakes cannot fail to high-value learning from mistakes.

The sigMS Playground: Draw Them in w/Toys and Talk about Learning Anyway

I had a rollercoaster ride of contacts before finding out for sure that I was presenting about digital devices and e-readers in library settings. I ended up talking about BYOT (shock); and teaching as knowing student context and learning through reflection on experiences (shock with Jesuit flava*); and letting go of control in order to focus on the things we know and can share with our students (let me hear big ups for #digcit)

How good was this? 

I got to meet the @40ishoracle groupie (her name is @bachrens and she is awesome.

I became best friends with @maureenbrunner (she lives like 30 minutes from me...we met in San Diego)

The playgrounds are great places to learn, network, meet and talk to other educators. I had absolutely no reason play #edlingo bingo and got to learn as much as I taught. -- Isn't that kind of the point?

(because of my enjoyment of this, I skipped two sessions i was planning -- if anyone has notes from Android Projects, I will give you one of my super-special #edlingo bingo prizes)

ISTE Daily: Day 2 - Keynote w/ Dr. Ken, Blossom, and a Prescient Pink Floyd Reference

This is going to be a hard blog to structure. There was so much content and so many thoughts running through my head and the structure of a daily blog makes it very difficult to organize in any kind of coherent way. So I think I am going to try chronological stream of conciousness based on my notes and tweets and see where that goes. I will be sure to signpost the snark along the way (debate geeks just chuckled, trust me).

What to do with Downtime at ISTE:

Coronado Island is a nice beachy diversion. It is a short ferry ride (takes off from right behind SDCC) over and is relatively regular in its takeoff. The @wishbabydoc and I had about the best stack of lobster and avacado we could imagine at one of the restraunts, The beach is lovely and the view of the aircraft carrrier is impressive. Because of the ferry schedule, we missed the kickoff celebration which I understood included Batman, so that was a bit of a downer, but you have to go where the sun takes you right?

not-even-an-interlude-sidenote: I love that blogger integrates with picasa/G+ enough to get pictures from my phone. so much easier than copying URL from another window.


Tweet-up and SIG Showcase:
For non- or new- ISTE people, the heavy lifting of communication and PD is often done by special interest groups. these non-exclusive groups hold webinars, maintain mailing lists and wikis, etc. Booths were setup after the kickoff so that people could wander, get added to the lists with a swipe of a barcode, and have an excuse to bump into people.

And the highlight was the bumping into people. I finally got to put names and faces with Twitter handles that I consider some of my closest colleagues in education. Some of them like @artsedtech had distinctive clothing (the batman tie was classic), others had t-shirts with twitter handles. I wore my avatars had and carried my sonic-screwdriver pen. Most people had a system of look at face, glance to nametag to see if it is somebody you are actually online besties with, and back up to face. My wife assures me that women are used to this behavior for entirely different reasons.

I had a geek-crush moment when Tom Whitby, creator of #edchat, pulled me out of a crowd to say "Hi" and introduce himself. It is fascinating how twitter and social networks have allowed us to create geek-cultures of celebrities that we can interact with.

Interlude: The dying of the connection
So...

• I realized halfway through Coronado, that using my phone for non-stop pics was killing the battery which only had half a charge when I got to the island-of-no-outlets.
• Powered up the hotspot and switched to my tablet to tweet some things but left the hotspot running through the tweetup.
• Hotspot died just before the keynote began.
• The ISTE wifi was not connecting from my seat.
• I was in a keynote ripe for livetweeting with no connectivity. 

I felt like a one of our students: twitchy, slightly annoyed, feeling like i was suffering a great injustice. But i fired up evernote and persevered.
[end Interlude]


The gathering of the educators outside the keynote was impressive. So many people it was a little overwhelming. This is not surprising given that there were 15,000 people signed up for the conference, but those kind of numbers made me find a wall and people watch quickly...

The Keynote - A Litany of Talking Heads
Awesome videoscreen. The thing was huge. Not just wide-screen huge, but E3/Olympics huge. Good production quality to set the theme through inspiration quotes and photos: Expanding Horizons.

ISTE Daily: Day One - Student Portfolios

Conference on the Bay

The ISTE Daily blogs will be less of my usual attempts to find meaning in the chaos that is #edtech and more of a recounting of some of the things heard, said, and thought during the ISTE Conference going on this week. Limited perspective, but hopefully enough of these will be around that people without the opportunity to attend (or attending other things) will find some professional development opportunities.

The official Keynotes and Kickoffs are tomorrow, so I decided to spend the day in a workshop presented by Dr. Helen Barrett (@eportfolios) titled "Student Centered Interactive E-portfolios with Google Apps". I am seriously leaning toward a portfolio model for the #digcit class at Brebeuf Jesuit and wanted to get another perspective on implementation. I am not sure if that is what I got, but it was a useful day and a good way to start the conference.

The presentation itself had tremendous content (you can in fact get an entire course worth of information here: https://sites.google.com/site/k12eportfolioapps/) and did a great job of focusing on the student-outcomes expected, but it suffered from a growing trend in conference professional development: splitting-the-difference between pedagogy and the technical. In a room filled with educators (k-college), technicians, and everything in-between, it became very difficult for her to maintain a storyline for the presentation even over the course of day-long workshop.

There were some great highlights though:

The POV of the Portfolio: Student vs School

• A six step process on e-portfolios that begins with the VISION STATEMENT. Given the types of portfolios and the numerous tools out there (even within the GoogleApp world there are choices), it is important to know what you want out of the portfolio
• In describing professional development, she made an excellent division between the pedagogical training necessary and the technical training which is necessary but can be broader, changes regularly, and may become less important as the BYOT/D mindset begins to take hold and students, at least in secondary, become more responsible for tech-maintenance. Focusing on the pedagogical objective is of course one of the mantras on this blog and I was happy to be the choir preached to.
• After over 20 years in ePortfolio design, Dr. Barrett had some amazing anecdotes and visuals. Her contrast between the student who offered a reward for her lost portfolio vs. the students who held traditional year-end bonfire to burn their collections really drove home the idea that the portfolio is a tool that is only as good as the care, effort, and purpose behind it -- what is daunting is that much of that foundation is laid by the teacher.
• Favorite Line: "Portfolios come out of the constructivist tradition; Standardized testing draws from a behavioral model." -- had never thought of it like that, but it does put the entire assessment thing in perspective. :)

There was a mixed audience, and while the planned opportunities for interaction were minimal outside of the initial icebreaker, there were those classic conference moments where the presenter took the step back and let the discussion flow. I even got into the mix a few times, dispelling the myths of the complicated back-end of the Apps-for-Education environment and a little bit of BYOT-evangelizing. It is always a great time to hear from educators as they work through the struggles of education together.

Crosspost: #Edtech Lingo Bingo with @40ishoracle

Many of you will recall the wildly popular EdLingo Bingo from last year. As you gear up for a tech integration heavy summer of webinars, conferences, and personal reflection on curriculum while bon-bon eating (aren't you glad we get #summersoff), the @40ishoracle and I have you covered. 


Introducing our new-and-improved #Edtech Lingo Bingo (now supporting hashtags). Please use with caution, this analog application will not beep, whistle, or buzz. Use of bingo markers on your #shinypretty is NOT recommended.

JD will have prizes at ISTE and BbWorld for whoever calls out first at a session I am attending.

The Digital Trojan Horse: Changing the Classroom through Technology

Psst. This Blog post is a secret. Don't tell anyone.

Scalzi's Agent to the Stars

I just finished reading John Scalzi's Agent to the Stars (ok, listening to the @wilw narration -- he is good!). In this sci-fi book, a Hollywood agent must devise a way to introduce an alien race to humanity. One of the concepts that comes up early in the book (trying to avoid spoilers) is the "Trojan Horse" -- Get people thinking about one thing, and give them something even bigger at the same time.

I think that is what technology is doing to education.

One of the common questions that we get as we have announced and begun implementing the 1:1 BYOT model for Brebeuf Jesuit has been more-or-less the "Why didn't you just get them all iPads?" question.

There are a lot of reasons for this question:

• They are the shiny pretty
• Two of our direct competitors have announced fall iPad programs along with a number of our feeders
• The mantra of consistency and efficiency (I have covered this previously) on the network
• The simple story -- I have talked a lot with our marketing people. The Indianapolis Business Journal, picked up our competitor's iPad press release and left our BYOT announcement sitting in the bin.

It is easy to picture an iPad rollout. students sit in rows with a silver square on their desk where paper, pencil, and a textbook used to be. It is even easier to visualize because it has been reinforced by millions of dollars in marketing. (note: this is not how the rollout HAS to be, but how most could picture it)

BYOT is not simple.

[Interlude]

What Google and Apple put together, let no classroom put assunder

For years, students in science have been taken through the demonstrative motions of science, working with partners or in groups to perform the same experiment, using the same equipment, filling out the same lab reports. -- It's no wonder that the collective Department's of Education are ready to let robots take a stab and grading.

Now take a moment to imagine a BYOT lab...seriously, try this one out.

You still have students.
They are still working in groups.
But each group is a little different.

Let's look at one table:

• One student takes pictures (phone), 
• another plays back recorded video of the prep lab (another phone), 
• student three researches some of the terminology since the numbers don't seem to be matching the predicted outcome (tablet), 
• that outcome was measured by student four (PC laptop w/ a Vernier probe). 
• Each student shares the results of this information (dropbox, or gdrive, or a USB key) and the group writes a report (on a Macbook).

[End Interlude]

In some ways, BYOT is exactly what we have been saying: We are shifting the tool the choice of tool from the teacher (or more likely the IT department with some input from a few teachers or administrators) to the students. This allows students to work on the tools which they are most comfortable. It frees educators to focus on the content and skills of their discipline instead of specific programs and buttons.

But, in other ways, BYOT is a Trojan Horse:

What BYOT Looks Like

• Increased critical assessment
• Increased problem solving in a real-world environment
• Increased opportunity to make decisions about one's own education

Students in a BYOT environment are encouraged to be more critical consumers of applications, of information sources, of tools, and of the content they are being given. They want to know what the value of a particular program is going to be in their world, particularly if they have already mastered the method or task another way. As I write this, a fellow Jesuit CIO just posted to our forum a question about cloud storage and cloud tools -- how do we choose which one to use? -- We don't, the teachers and students do.

Students in a BYOT environment share their experiences in a way that is much more natural. They compare problem solving strategies, think through barriers, and do not hesitate to jump to another app/program/hardware if it will be more efficient or give a better experience. -- I enjoy watching Android, Mac, PC, iOS, and Chromium users discuss "how to do this" and share ideas and collaborate. It is actually more fun than teasing the iOS users about the data-sharing limitations of their operating system.

Students in a BYOT environment are forced to choose between the easy-way-out (google it, use the calc app, open the shared notes) and the more difficult route (use google to answer the facts, but reflect on the information to draw inferences; master the technique before letting the calculator solve the problem; contribute to the shared notes with unique insights drawn from your interpretation).

Classroom Impact: Here there be Monsters

Because of these changes, professional development becomes the key. It is not professional development in the push-button sense or to force teachers to develop X amount of "integrated lessons" to guarantee some arbitrary minimum of student computing seat time. It is conversation and reflection. It is returning to learning objectives. It is separating the learning from the assignment-clocking. -- It is pedagogy. It is curriculum.

It's a Trojan Horse.

With access to so many tools and so many "quick solutions", teachers have to rethink assessments and lessons to maximize this new environment. I think this happens in most 1:1 implementations, but when you are in a command-and-control environment (lock down those tablets, control which apps are deployed), it is easier to make the technology (and students) bend to the will of the educator without much change.

As we have been working with teachers on professional development (@40ishoracle's BYOT Bootcamps), the discussion with teachers have been amazing:

• Teachers have been talking about leveraging the information at student's hands to reduce the amount of direct instruction and lecture. 
• Other teacher's are taking advantage of the consumption capability to offload content to the "homework" time so that the classroom time can be maximized (increased collaboration, increased one-to-one time with teacher and student, increased individualization -- #flipclass)
• Assessments are becoming more open as the teachers and students identify different ways to demonstrate student based objectives. This increased choice is influencing the types of skills that are being pursued by students -- in our Digital Citizenship class, I have one student who has spent more time, effort, and brainpower mastering motion-paths as a part of presentation technology than i could have ever required...and he is enjoying it.
• The advantages of Digital Textbooks (ubiquitous access, quick lookup, notation) are becoming a part of the conversation in the classroom and among teachers instead of as a new thing that publishers showcase.

These conversations happen to some extent in all schools. The best schools have an environment that encourages collaboration among professionals, regular reflection on the skills and content taught, and an ability to integrate the trends of the wider world into the life of the school.

BYOT facilitates this change.

...but don't tell anybody. It's a secret.

Special thanks to John T. Spencer. His most recent blog shaped how this post developed and his posts on twitter shape how I think of education in general.

Integrating Technology: Avoid Being Derailed by the Details

As my regular Teach-Geek and Tech-Geek readers know, I spend a lot of my time ranting about the big issues of technology and education today. However, in a change of pace (and to keep up with @40ishoracle who just killed it with her shiny-pretty post today), today i want to talk about the little things.

[Interlude - Have you tried turning it off and turning it back on?]

Anyone who has worked the level one helpdesk in tech has had the experience where one simple thing has caused so much frustration (In fact, the phrase "did you turn it off and turn it back on" made famous by The IT Crowd is a result of the tendency for restarts to wipe out a lot of user faux pas).

An example:
A relatively tech saavy user comes into the office clearly frustrated. "I usually keep my laptop plugged into the network because someone told me it was faster."

[this line is usually said in a complex tone that implies a) they are dubious that this is true and b) in saying this, they want to convey a level of tech knowledge that says "don't you dare laugh at me"]

"Now I am unplugged and my laptop wont connect at all!"

A quick glance at the screen shows that the wireless card was disabled and a quicker look around the computer locates the swtich on the front of the machine. Click-and-done (wish all tech problems were this easy). The user thanks the tech in that way that says a) I am grateful, b) why is technology so annoying, and c) if you tell anyone about this, I will end you.

And at the risk of suffering that ending at the hands of a vengeful user, I think that this issue, common to hardware techs, lies at the heart of a large issue in Educational Technology today: Being Derailed by the Little Things.

This user was stuck. There would be no surfing, no collaborating in Google docs, no lolCats. And yet the problem had a very easy fix if you knew where to look.

[End Interlude]

For the last 6 months, as we have been rolling out the BYOT program at Brebeuf Jesuit (a two year preparation), I have been struck by the lack of push back. I wasn't expecting the IT-stuffies to be burned Wizards-and-Glass Style around a Charyou Tree, but I figured there would be more than we got.

There wasn't. With one notable and respected exception, most people went with the flow. They got the major concept and idea behind BYOT.

But there were lots of little questions. -- And answering those little questions might be the key to any successful #edtech implementation.

[Interlude - The Kindle Question]

One of our top-tech users was in our Teacher Resource Room the other day (we use the wafting smell of coffee to draw them in). She was completely enthused about the BYOT model and had plans for student note-taking, cloud based podcasting, and, of course, writing papers. But she was hesitant about eTextbooks -- very hesitant.

The number one issue? how will i get them on the same page when we are discussing? Without page numbers, it will be chaos. For those of you who have been looking at or implementing eTexts, you know the stock answer:

1. most eTexts preserve the page numbers in some way, even if the text is reflowed for the screen size.
2. most students can quickly click a search bar and type in three words to get to the exact page.

"Students, I want to start the discussion on chapter 5. keyword 'exquisite little creature'" (no-prize if you name the book in the comments section)

[End Interlude]

It was a relatively minor concern that had an easy answer. But it was a roadblock to this user adopting technology or even letting that technology be used regularly in the classroom. These little questions become mental firewalls that can shutdown being open to possibilities. Even worse, unlike big issues (how are you going to pay for this? do you have the infrastructure ready?), you will often not know these issues exist in anyone's mind until they tell you.

5 Tips to avoid being derailed by the little things:

Create an Environment where it is acceptable and encouraged to ask questions

Self-selected Titles: a new trend

Nobody wants to feel like their questions are unimportant and no one likes to be dismissed out of hand. The IT Crowd is funny because it takes an amazing "Relationship Manager" to teach the geeks to talk to the norms (incidentally, @40ishoracle has a nameplate on her desk that says "Relationship Manager" -- and she's a redhead...and named Jen).

A person's legitimate concern, whether it is how to integrate a piece of student-technology into the classflow or how to reconnect wireless is a real and troubling to them until it is resolved. One of the first presentations we created was "Bridging the gap between Tech-Geek and Teach-Geek." One of the main points: make the users feel comfortable to ask questions. This is even more important when integrating technology.

Know the Context of the User: The 20-60-20 Rule

We follow a general rule called 20-60-20. Twenty percent of the people are on-board with you as soon as you announce. They may have questions but are actively ready for the solution.

Twenty percent of the people will not be convinced by you. For them, the questions are asked to poke holes in the proposal and either force you to give up or to convince others its a bad idea. These are some of the best people to talk to, because if you can address their concerns, you will have just about everything covered. But just because you have the answer, does NOT mean you will convince them in particular. They will come on board eventually, but not due to your charisma or encyclopedic knowledge.

The other 60% are waiting to see if you have answers and what other people will think. They want to be treated with respect, have their questions answered, and know that there will be support for them when they need it. 

A tip about FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions are great. They keep us from forgetting the answers that we have already come up with and give us a resource to reference. When answering a question, ANSWER THE QUESTION and follow up with the FAQ. Do not lead with "have your read the FAQ?" -- I've been bitten by that one.

Be Honest When You Don't Have the Answer:

Copyright 2006 by Sidney Harris

Because we are talking about the little things, it is likely that someone will stump you. That isn't the end of the world. Legitimately saying that you do not have the answer isn't failure. It is an invitation to converse. Clearly describe the problem or question back. Brainstorm together what some solutions will be. Find someone to be a test case. Get feedback. The person who sees you at your most vulnerable and helps solve the problem is your ally for life.

All Answers are New Answers to People Who Haven't Heard Them:

I have answered the "what if student's run out of power/forget their device/break it/lose it" question in the triple digits -- from students, teachers, and administrators. It has been asked in a panic. It has been asked with a "I have got you now" kind of snark. It has been asked in a box. It has been asked with a fox.

(The answer? multiple chromebooks in each department center for grab-and-go productivity. Short term loan-out backstock for students who need replacement or repair time -- about 10% of student population)

But each time a person asks the question, it is new-to-them. Respect it. Answer it. Move on.

Believe in the Silent Majority

There are days when I have been answering questions for the umpteenth time and feel despondent. It takes someone to remind me that, when considering the population of our school, we have received less than one-tenth of one percent negative feedback. And our "I have a question" rate is below 5%. The majority of people are positive (or apathetic). -- They just aren't the ones dressing you down in the parking lot. :)

Reflection:
In education technology, the devil is absolutely in the details. Those details are real and important. They are mystical and frustrating for users who do not spend their life immersed in code the is sensitive to misplaced semi-colons. Our job is to have answers at the ready and have an environment that can invite and work on those answers when they aren't within reach of our FAQ. As with all great classroom movements, its about the environment, the relationships, and the little things.

May the Fourth be with you. Happy #starwars day!