A #BYOTchat video featuring Brebeuf Jesuit Students

A submission for #BYOTchat. Thu, April 25th, 2013 at 9pm EST.
moderated by the ever-amazing @40ishoracle!

Come join in the fun!

Note: This was also my first opportunity to fill out a fair-use copyright claims dispute on youtube, so that was kind of fun.

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Shall we play a game (part III) - Demographics and Hidden Curriculum

In the first part of the series we explored Game Goals and how they influence the educational impact.
http://geekreflection.blogspot.com/2013/04/shall-we-play-game-part-ii-why-game.html
After today, there is probably about one more post in this series, namely because I am hoping to share feedback that I have received from teachers and gamers about the series so far, but it may take a back seat to my need to rant about PARCC tech requirements soon. Fair warning.

People are not Lemmings:
Considering the Demographics of Gamification

Popular Puzzle Platform Game Lemmings challenged players to solve
the puzzle before the lemming followed each other to their doom.

In the last post, we dissected the millions of hour played by gamers in the United States and distinguished the games by type, noting that the educational value, particularly what is noted in the research, refers to specific types of games that make up a portion of the games that are a) played or (as some have pointed out on social media) b) may be appropriate to be advocated in a school.

Additionally, there is a lot of data being collected about how different types of games appeal to different people. Genre preferences have been noted with regard to age, access to computers, and family income.  Some of the best data has been scraped from Facebook by the folks at Data Genetics regarding gameplay by age and gender (from 2010):

Call of Duty 4, a First-Person Shooter style game with a strong collaborative component (local or over the internet) is one of the strongest gender-biased games tracked, with over 92% of players being male. Conversely, the infinite matching game Bejeweled Blitz is a casual game that flips the demographic to almost 80% female. Similar analysis shows that changing the subject or theme of the game (but keeping similar mechanics) only slightly shifts the demographics. Casual games tend to trend female (although there is cross-gender appeal) while non-casual games heavily favor male interests.

Thus, as we begin to consider educational technology that leverages the "gaming" label, we have to understand that not only are games not created equal in terms of mechanics and desired skills, but that the appeal of certain games will not be universal in the classroom. Simply put, just because it is a "Game" does not mean that every student will be drawn to it like killer robots to surviving humans (ROBOTRON 2084, how i loath thee)



It's A Secret: Identifying the Hidden Curriculum when It is All Hidden

In the last post, we identified game genre by mechanics. Mechanics are important because that is what you DO in the game (hence, that is the skill that is developed through practice). We have also noted that mechanics is a huge driver in terms of appeal to various demographics. But it is important to note that mechanics is only a part of the overall game. Games are comprised of characters, setting, and in many cases plot and theme. These story elements are the subject of our next consideration.

Most people going through a traditional education program get exposed to the deconstructionists and their ideas of the hidden agenda. I remember in 3rd grade getting new textbooks that suddenly had names of Hispanic origin and girls playing dress-up as doctors and lawyers. A hidden curriculum that had revolved around Caucasian dominance and stereotypical gender roles in the workforce was being, at least, partially addressed in my Grammar textbook.

"Gaming-as-Learning" is full of hidden agendas. In fact, it is even marketed as such. How many ads have been in recent flyers/vendor halls/edtech magazines with catch phrases like "She won't even know she's learning" -- At the point that we have to keep the idea of learning under a bushel, our ears should begin to perk up.

Interlude: A Fashionista Nightmare
My 10 year old was playing a game on her phone (Top Model - Correction: I was informed by my now 11 year old that the game was actually TOP GIRL - The fact that both of these games are in my app store is sad) with a consistency that I found disturbing.  It was a casual game where the player took on the role of a fashion model. While the initial concern was one of screen time, when we sat down with our daughter, she began to describe the game-play:

A Casual Game with a Message -
Just the wrong one

• When models were doing a photoshoot, they were judged based on the STYLE of clothing, skimpier the better - points awarded accordingly
• After the photoshoot, they have to run down and get food. If they spend money on SANDWICHES instead of COFFEE and CELERY, they will gain weight and not fit in the clothes worth the most points.
• In order to avoid paying real money for "upgrades", you may need to rely on your BOYFRIEND who was also able to sit in judgment based on weight, attitude, style, etc.

In discussion, my daughter was able to identify the game mechanics that she liked (choices, casual play, achieving goals, virtual interaction with characters), but did not pick up on the messaging until it was drawn out. The discussion continued as we identified traits in herself and her friends that the game was reinforcing or discouraging. After a long discussion, sometimes awkward discussion, she removed the game from her phone (and discovered the SIMS)

End Interlude

Teachers who use educational games are conveying messages beyond the skills taught in the classroom. Hidden agendas can be as simple as the choice of badge (candy vs. smiley faces) for correctly solving a math problem, the amount of violence and gore that is acceptable in the name of strategic gameplay, or stereotypes that may be present in any number of plot lines.The content of the game can convey messages more effectively than passive worksheets or textbooks ever could for the same reasons that gaming itself is so persuasive -- behavior is modified to accomplish the goals -- in other words, students are taught to ACT differently based on game cues!

But there is an opportunity here: Schools, classes, teachers, and students should be encouraged to approach
the game as a subject for study as well as a tool for skill development or an amusing distraction. At some level, we have to be cautious that we are not letting bad messages get the official school seal-of-approval. But we should also use the games as artifacts for deconstruction. By teaching students to ask critical questions about story and mechanics and feedback, we teach them much more about critical thinking than they might be exposed to when deciding if the best way to kill the pig is with the red bird or the blue one (although to be fair, the red one can carry a light saber).

Up Next (final part???):

• Creativity vs. Linear Gaming - The MineCraft Effect
• Gamers' Views on Classroom Gaming

Shall We Play A Game? part II - Why Game Mechanics Matters

wow. Response to the last post has been impressive. thanks for the comments and feedback on part I (Gaming goals and Profit Motive). Let's keep it going...

Where in the World... are All These Gamers

Carmen Sandiago constantly reinvents itself for new ages

Jane McGonigal tells us there are 3 Billion hours of games played per week worldwide (183 million hours in the US). In her TED talk, she rightly calls this number of hours a parallel curriculum of learning. #Edtech vendors use this number to convince schools that "...students will WANT to do it!".

But before we spend more money on educational technology, lets press pause on on the purchase order and deconstruct that impressive number a little bit. Not all games are created equal.

Avoiding Dysentery: Thoughts on Game Mechanics

Recent Shirt sold on Woot.com pays homage to THE OREGON TRAIL

Game mechanics are the sets of rules, human actions, and game responses that make up the game (I am simplifying, you can get really in-depth here). The more complicated the mechanics, the more complicated the game. Conversely, CASUAL GAMEs are those with simple mechanics, lots of repetitive action, and low  time-investment.

Information from the Casual Games Association indicates that in 2010, 26 million people spent $6 billion dollars on games played on phones, tablets, Facebook and computers. According to NewZoo, this accounts for 39% of all that game time in the US (2011 Report).

Understanding Mechanics

Brick/Breakout Games
One of the earliest Atari video games, Breakout, provides a good example identifying game
mechanics. The basic design of the game is a series of "bricks" at the top of the screen that can be removed by a ball that crashes into it. The player moves a bar at the bottom of the screen to left or the right to bounce the ball into the walls or top of the screen. If they player misses the ball, it travels off the bottoms of the screen. Simple, right?

Game Mechanics:

• Hand-eye coordination. User must able to sync hand/finger movements with visual cues
• Elementary Physics (reflection). User should predict where a ball will travel after hitting an object
• Mechanical operation: Move Joystick Left. Move Joystick Right.

Peggle from PopCap is a new version
of a Brick Style ARCADE Game

While game elements get more complicated (different shapes, obstacles, speed of the ball, etc.), the basic mechanics do not change. This style of game and mechanics is part of the ARCADE GAME GENRE. A person could (and from personal experience, actually has) spend hundreds of hours attempting to master Brick-style arcade games in all of their forms. 

But the questions for educators, and this is important, is what skills or knowledge can be gained from this combination of Game skills (shift left, shift right); Required thought (if the ball bounces here, where will it end up?), and goals (clear the screen). Because, while thousands of hours were spent playing PEGGLE in the last two years, it has limited educational value (yes, Devil's Advocate, there are some limited applications in physics/science as well as as basic computer familiarity).

Trivial Compute: A very popular education game when the genre was first being developed was WHERE IN THE WORLD/USA/TIME IS CARMEN SANDIEGO?. This game was popular enough to spawn a game show, a theme song, a cartoon, and a love-interest meme with WHERE'S WALDO?

In the original version of this game, players were investigators in pursuit of a band of criminals. Investigators would find clues that would allow them to find move from location to location until a criminal (including the ever-elusive Carmen) could be captured.

Original Game Mechanics:

• Mechanical Operation: multiple choice selection
• Knowledge/Memory/Note Taking: Clues and locations would repeat over the course of game play.
• Research: Indexing, Keywords, Topic selection, etc. (one of the cooler elements of the original game was the inclusion of an old school Almanac used to find the answers to the clues left in the game).

Obviously, this game was conceived, marketed, sold, and played with an educational intent. It was one of the earliest examples of educational gaming. There was an inherent advantage in a player learning the answers to the geographical trivia questions that were asked through the form of (relatively simple) clues.

Another appeal was the lack of dexterity controls. While some people enjoy the need for fast or repetitive or complex button/joystick combinations (say it with me, geeks: UP UP DOWN DOWN LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT B A Start), it is not for everyone.

It just keeps going...

Temple Run - It Just Keep Going: TEMPLE RUN is an example of a Never-Ending CHASE game (aracade genre) It was one of the most popular casual games of the last few years. It is a game that is high in timing, coordination, and reflexes. There are about three patterns to learn (the most complicated being: When the game gets too fast, "trip" over a branch to slow it down).

Game Mechanics:

• Rapid Hand-Eye Coordination
• Endurance
• Mechnical Operation: Tilt left, Tilt right, Swipe Up, Swipe Down, Tap*

*the Tap feature is used to activate bonuses which can be "bought" with either game-earned points or real money

A Battle Screenshot from WoW: Cool graphics and lots of
Data to process and use

WOW - Another World of Gaming Complexity: The game referenced most often in the academic literature on Gamification is WORLD OF WARCRAFT. This game took elements of a number of genres including ADVENTURE (solving puzzles and increasing levels of complexity/challenge with experience), ACTION/ARCADE (control button patterns), FIRST PERSON SHOOTER (Targeting, selection, tactics), MUDs/Multi-User Domains (collaboration, teamwork, communication) and created a new type of immersive experience, The Massively Multi-player Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG).

Within this highly graphical system, players start with simple tasks and constantly "level up" by completing more and more complex quests that involve a variety of cognitive, collaborative, and strategic skills. Critical thinking is employed at every stage from quest selection to completing minor tasks to complete larger goals to planning multi-player attacks against enemies (both computer generated and other player).

This game genre is cited for both its complex multi-skill development and its tendency to lead to hours of (admittedly obsessive) game play.  Feedback is given to players in the form of computer-generated "Experience Points", new places and people to explore, and comments (of varying levels of appropriateness and geniality) from other players. The MMORPG genre is the ultimate prize in terms of development of complex and higher order thinking skills, investment of will and effort, and its ability to utilize real applications of communication and collaboration.


On Reflection: Regarding 10,000 hours, It's Not Very Effective

When evaluating educational gaming software, we need to avoid falling for the millions-of-hours hype that implies all games are created equal. One way to do this is to think about what our goals are for the classroom and how the experience of a game (or a lesson or a unit) will help us achieve those goals.

Many gamify--the-classroom fans like to quote Gladwell's idea from Outliers: The Story of Success about 10,000 hours. His claim is that if one practices a particular skill for 10,000 hours, one can become proficient. But for every World of Warcraft, there is a Tiny Castle. For every Carmen Sandiego there is a Temple Run. While many kids (and adults) have spent a good percentage of their 10,000 requisite hours becoming proficient at the game...at the end of the day they have mastered finger-swiping.

And that isn't even on the test.


Up Next:
Player demographics vs. Game genre; hidden agendas; creative vs. linear

References:
Most popular games of all time
Wikiepedia - Game Genres
Nielson 2009 Report on Casual Gaming

Shall we play a game? (part I) -- A Gamer's Initial Thoughts on #edtech Gamification

Ready Player One: Preparing for a Buzzword

A must read for Gamers

I can still recall sitting in my bedroom with the glow of a screen from the second level of Zelda. It was late, but I had pizza and Tab and a whole night ahead of me. I decided right then: Straight Through. No Break. No Dying. -- Time to save the princess.

So when I hear about the Gamification of learning, particularly from those who are passionate about the ability that it could have to transform the educational landscape, I become excited. If the same drive and will and energy that led me through those agonizing levels to defeat Gannon could be harnessed for the power of educational good -- EPIC WIN.

But as I begin to see "Gamification" making the same transition from innovative classroom technique to Edu.Vendor buzzword -- the same transition that "personalized" and "flipped classroom" made -- my excitement begins to slowly drain. My hyperkinetic eye movements (Pacman) and giddy shout of triumph (the first time I got Mario to bounce the turtles for 100 extra lives) are replaced by a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach: The sound of approaching doom ("I am SINISTAR")

It is thus with a nostalgic and hopeful mindset that I cautiously offer this multi-part prelection before I throw myself into Gaming as a tool to teach digital citizenship*:

*Note: Gamification encompasses a lot more than educational software and really a lot more than education in general. I am consciously limiting my focus for the purpose of this post.

Rescuing the Princess: Thinking about Goals

Gamers will go a long way for a goal

At the heart of gaming is a goal. It is this goal, and its similarity to a student's learning objective, that makes gamification appealing in the first place. After all, if a student will work voluntarily for hours to accomplish a virtual princess rescue, just imagine what we could pull off if we redirected it?

But goals are tricky things. First, they are only one part of a larger gaming landscape (we will cover other parts in the next post). A game can be burdened with a terrible ending, but can be overcome by excellent game mechanics (classroom activities) or even social features and scoreboards (group work, classroom leader boards).

Good game designers consider intermediate and long range goals carefully as they construct the overall product. The Gamification movement is about using built in structures such as rules and feedback loops to generate continued interest in the face of difficulty and challenge.

Simply saying "win the race by solving these math problems quickly" is not enough to qualify as an educational panacea, no matter how much you advertise the educational value of this particular prize. No virtual smiley faced "Badge" is particularly transformative in the long run. We have always known that kids love stickers and show them off with glee and pride.

Simply, there has to be a careful consideration about the GOAL OF THE GAME beyond THE GOAL AT THE END OF THE GAME. 

WOULD YOU HELP ME PLANT A PUMPKIN?:
The Other Goals of Gaming
There are also a number of "goals" at play in the big-picture of game-design that have little to do with saving the princess, but a lot to do with how the game is designed, marketed, played and replayed.

Interlude: Building a Tiny Castle

A casual game that leverages impatience to encourage spending

A new breed of game came along with social media websites that took "casual" to a whole new level. The goal of these environmental games might be to plant an attractive garden or build a farm. The ultimate goal though, is to get you to spend money.

In one version of this game-type, Tiny Castle, players are given extremely linear "quests". These quests might be to clear a forest, plant a specific type of tree, create a new species, or upgrade the castle. Each quest takes one or more of the essential game elements: food (to feed creatures), magic (to get rid of fog...just go with it), wishes (to become more powerful) and TIME. Lots and lots of real, one-second-at-a-time, TIME.

As we perform an analysis on the game mechanics, it would be easy to argue that the game could be an excellent way to develop time management skills and patience (i.e., if I set half of my denizens to work on a 3 hour goal and the other half to work on another 3 hour goal, I can finish two goals at the same time that will both be ready the next time I "check-in"). However, a careful look reveals a darker unstated goal. The most efficient way to grow fruit, gather dust, etc. is to be constantly plugged in, refreshing the mechanical action - strategy is replaced by repetitive clicking. Delayed gratification (setting things up and walking away) is discouraged by the game mechanic.

Know what constant clicking is? BORING!

So at any point a player can choose to supplement any of the slowly accumulating supplies by making an "in-game" purchase with real money. A player can even speed up an hours long building of a renovated castle with a wish/hour (and there are even "special sales" on wishes). To make matters worse, some of the QUESTS are completed by "making a purchase of new wishes" (but you know, the first taste is free).

Far from developing any sort of real-life transferable skill, the game discourages serious players from thinking of the game in that fashion. Even the in-game objectives lay the real objective bare: spend more real-life money on make-believe stuff.

End Interlude

While there are a number of people working on gamification (computer based and otherwise) who are passionate about learning and transformative classrooms, this prelection is a cautionary about what happens when the learning technique becomes "buzzworthy". I remember when I hit the vendor floor at ISTE last year and saw Interactive Whiteboard and Furniture vendors explaining how their equipment would help you "flip" the classroom.

The vendors are attacking "gamification" with a vengeance. We as educators need to be familiar with the strengths of Gaming before we are sold another in a long list of goods that have as much educational value as Treasure Chest of Apples or a new horse for a make-believe farm.

Up Next: 

• Gameplay mechanics -- Covered in Part II
• Creativity vs. Consumption / Linear vs. Non-linear Gaming
• Hidden Messages
• Evaluating Costs

Feel free to add, critique, comment, revise. This is relatively uncharted territory for this old school gamer and my thoughts are in flux.

Special thx to @40ishoracle (her latest post on collaboration rocks). She is the one who turned me onto Jane McGonigal, who is advocating games to save the world

When it is OK to say "NO" - An Twitter-based #edtech Reflection about IWBs

Today's post comes out of a conversation that happened out of a twitter chat that caused me to do a lot of reflection on whether or not my responses were a) appropriate or b) contradictory to many of the "Rules" that I laid out in my post from a few weeks ago (note: "10 Rules for a Successful #Edtech Department that have Little to do with Technology" is now the 3rd most popular post on this blog all-time -- thx)

Context: How Twitter Got me to this Topic
The premise put forth by @edtechempowers (Educational Researcher in Canada and great conversationalist), originally posted this comment:

37%of School District #edtech budgets go to IT services, imagine the great #edtech that could be implemented if that was eliminated. #edchat
— Brian C. Bailey (@EdTechEmpowers) March 22, 2013

Through the course of our conversation, it became apparent, that while he and I agreed about a number of things in the use of technology and the running of an IT department, he had little context for a technology department that is build around student learning, school mission, and teacher support.

@jdferries As cloud computing holds sway, and professionals become more tech-savvy, do companies really need an IT dept anymore?
— Brian C. Bailey (@EdTechEmpowers) March 22, 2013

This discussion continued the next day, as we outlined the difference between a collaborative tech department vs. one which is adversarial:

@edtechempowers my teachers don't approach us asking for alms. they come down to TRC to find new ideas and share. twitter.com/jdferries/stat…
— JD Ferries-Rowe (@jdferries) March 23, 2013

@edtechempowers but when teachers are in conversation, we can help, provide sharing of resources, etc. its symbiotic, not parasitic.
— JD Ferries-Rowe (@jdferries) March 23, 2013

Again, the conversation was more about a frame of reference for a different kind of technology program than a fundamental disagreement about technology or programs. Where the discussion got interesting was when we talked about specific tools and the role of IT in determining use.

Then we started talking about SMARTBoards...

END CONTEXT

A Topic for Discussion -- The Interactive White Board (IWB)
Many of you know that I am not a huge fan of Interactive White Boards

Background
I was given a whiteboard in my second year of teaching and had a blast discovering interesting ways to use it (my favorite was using the interactive pens to show specific cinematography choices while deconstructing Shakespeare movies).

When I became the Head Geek of Brebeuf Jesuit, I was in favor of installing IWBs as part of our build-out. We hedged our bets a little by only putting the boards in 1/3 of the classrooms -- technology moves so fast that we didn't want all our technological eggs in one basket.

We put forth a lot of training efforts -- more traditional than our flexible model now -- but with a lot of teaming opportunities, modeling of creative ways to implement, and idea sharing.

One year later, while generally disappointed in implementation  we approved a SMARTBoard-in-every-math-room proposal to respond to competition and because of the use-case presented by the teachers. After two years of training, implementation, and reflection we found that:

• The most common use for a SMARTBOARD was as a screen.
• The most common "interactive" use for a SMARTBOARD was as a mouse.
• The most common response after "do not use" regarding the digital "markers" was "I occasionally circle or underline something" (A common reason written in for why it was not used more was "I just forget")
• There was little use of screen-shading, use of SMARTNotebook or other templates, or any features that would make it a more student-centered activity.

We finally determined that there were two teachers effectively using the SMARTBoard: one teacher had converted most lectures to a SMART format that would allow the teacher (and in some cases, students) to fill in sample problems using the inking feature and another teacher had a variety of student-based activities including puzzles, word searches, "races" etc.

After another attempt to "spread the word" on these techniques and offer more individualized PD, we as an IT department made the preliminary decision to quit buying Interactive Whiteboards. This was discussed with Academic Department chairs and we closed the book.

• Follow-up 1: Teachers still wanted to be able to provide classroom interactive notes electronically.

  

  The most common use of our IWB - with Donuts
  and BatMonkey via @40ishoracle

  We found using a pen-based tablet PC, classroom computer, and UltraVNC (free software) adequately did the job -- for less money than a SMARTBoard.
• Follow-up 2: 2 years later, a teacher commented on a constituent survey regarding the IT department -- "When am I getting MY SMARTBoard?" -- it was anonymous. Communication Fail.
• Follow-up 3: 4 years later, we purchased an ENO board for our Teacher Resource Room. It is an excellent magnetic whiteboard. Each time we think "ooh. we could use the pen!", the computer has been re-imaged and does not have the software. Now we just take pictures of the board -- like the students.

The Challenge: Is It Ever OK for a Tech Department to Just Say "NO"?

@jdferries Yep - sometimes BYOD is best, sometimes a SmartBoard, sometimes something else - It's all about opening up CHOICE! #edchat
— Brian C. Bailey (@EdTechEmpowers) March 23, 2013

Ouch. Talk about hitting me where it hurts. We are a 1:1 BYOT school. To argue that denying access to an IWB is a violation of our general premise of Access, Evaluate, and Use really caused me to pause. As we begin to gear up for the next capital project, a major renovation of classrooms, were we turning a blind-eye toward technology that could be used because of our bias?

JD's 3 Rules for When It is OK to Say "No"
(with an Two Important Corollaries): 

1. The primary method of evaluating classroom technology should be impact on Student Learning (Secondary, impact on teacher productivity).

@edtechempowers its a balance. if the use of tool-x tends to disempower students, its either poor use or poor tool. 1/2 #edtech
— JD Ferries-Rowe (@jdferries) March 23, 2013

When we developed our informal walk-through evaluation system for teachers, we placed a strong focus on "what are the students doing?". The activity of the students: collaborating, note-taking, reflecting, board races, presentations, etc. are one major focus of our environment. We should encourage techniques, tools, and behaviors that enhance student learning and discourage the same when it takes away from learning.


2. The metric for student learning should be informed by the teaching methods, student context, and objectives of the school's mission

@edtechempowers covered ground. if a teacher's "thing that works" is counter to the mission of the school, teacher should not be able to use
— JD Ferries-Rowe (@jdferries) March 23, 2013

School's have personalities that are based in part on the mission and culture of the institution. In a Jesuit school, there is a heavy focus on student-teacher relationship (an understanding of student context, a trusting and caring atmosphere) and the time and space to reflect on new experiences. If a tool or technique does not provide substantive new experiences or new ways for each individual student to reflect, then the tool runs counter to the mission and should not be adopted (it is for this reason that many of our school consultations begin, not with a "state of technology" report but with an analysis of a school's context and mission).

One of our Biology teacher's put it succinctly, "Even if you have a great interactive student-centered lesson for the SMARTBoard, it's still only one student at a time. I need more efficiency in class."


3. Because there are limited resources to buy technology, time to spend with students, and opportunities for learning experiences and reflection, some technology should be discouraged or avoided - even if it "could be good".

@edtechempowers we discourage drill-n-kill even if tchr prefers. that reduced worksheet use even though it can be used well. #edtech 2/2
— JD Ferries-Rowe (@jdferries) March 23, 2013 

Ultimately, decisions have to be made on a global level. Will every classroom have a projector? a document camera? an IWB? a textbook? a computer along the back wall? a tablet in each student's hand?

Once decisions are made about the impact of a particular technology on student-learning within the context of the school's pedagogy and mission, then choices must be made about universal classroom technology. These choices can be upsetting to some teachers, but if the decisions are made out of student-impact and mission, the conversation, while painful can be authentic and even a good thing.


Corollary 1: The Admin Variation -- It is important to understand that the determinations described above are seldom in the realm-of-care of most tech.staff in an IT department. This is the realm of the Principal, the Academic/Curriculum leaders, and the Educational Technology integrators -- that includes teachers! A decision to eliminate a technology tool or to stop pursuing a path should be one of academics in all but the rarest of occasions (I am picturing a bizarre conversation regarding "we need to stop filtering for viruses because of the following academic benefits...")


Corollary 2: The Open-to-Growth Exception -- Decisions made across the board should be open to variations based on effective teaching and student impact. Just as the initial evaluation of a tool is based on the use-case and real data, the unique implementation in a classroom may be an exception to the rule. I have told the two teacher's described above that they will have the last two functional SMARTBoard in the building. They have found an effective use-case that goes beyond the typical implementation of IWB-as-oversized-mouse-for-the-teacher. Their unique use-case justifies technology that may not be used anywhere else in the building.

In the same way that pilot programs can be used to build a case for new technology in a school, an effective IT/Administrative Team will be open to finding the exceptions in policy that allow for an individual teacher to leverage technology effectively in a way that other educators were unable to do.

So there you have it. Even the most open-to-ideas, student/teacher centered program can still reject an idea or tool or technology.

Sometimes.

Gadget talk: A Windows 8 Tablet Review - an #edtech perspective

One of the basic things that the IT department has to do at our school is play with toys (yay!). Since we are a 1:1 BYOT school, we are often testing devices to see a) how well they work in our environment (the network, the classrooms, etc.), b) whether they are worth recommending to partents, and c) what we need to know when there are problems.

My latest test was the ASUS VivoTab SMART. I first saw this tablet at #FETC13 and was very intrigued with it for a number of reasons:

VivoTab SMART w/ Transleeve Keyboard

1. Full Windows 8 - none of the RT Only stuff*
2. Really thin and light - made my ASUS Transformer Prime seem a bit heavy
3. I'm a fan of the ASUS Brand - My favorite miniTab is my nexus 7 (which i carry around regularly despite having a Galaxy Note "phablet") and the aforementioned Transformer Prime (which i dutifully carried around before realizing that I only used it to read comic books).
4. The 64gb version of the tablet comes in under 500 dollars. the Transleeve keyboard and cover add an additional $125. So for a little more than an iPad you get a full windows computer, in a tablet, with a keyboard -- color me intrigued (it's kind of a dusty purple color).

* Ok, for the non-geeks out there. Windows 8 comes in two (ok, three) flavors. The full version of Windows 8 has the familiar desktop and apps but ALSO has a tablet-style interface which is called RT. There are also tablets that strip out the Windows Desktop portion and only have the tablet stylings and tablet-specific Apps. These are RT tablets. -- To be continued

Origami folding cover w/ incredibly thin bluetooth keybaord

Since I am not yet famous enough to have companies throwing their wares at me for review (what is UP with that?), I had to find one on my own. As is the case with most ASUS products, finding the device proved simpler than finding the Keyboard/Cover combination that makes this unit really appealing. Once I had the product in hand, I put away my beloved Samsung Chromebook and dedicated myself to using the VivoTab as my primary device for four weeks. I made it about 3.

Rather than give a lengthy play-by-play review of Window 8, the interface, the hardware, etc., I am going to try to keep this focused on a few basic themes that I think will be relevant to educators and other users curious about the Windows 8 tablet environment. 

Windows 8, the RT Interface, Oh My

A new "Start"  interface for selecting programs

There has been a lot written about the confusion that is inevitable with the Windows Desktop vs. the Windows RT environment. How will normal human beings every be able to cope? We have a number of our teachers who have requested the Windows 8 upgrade and, I am pleased to report, learning is still taking place.

PD Tip: think of the RT interface as a very fancy START button (this is easy, since one of the ways to access the RT screen is to hold your mouse in the bottom left corner).

From this screen, you can access a variety of Apps and a market place to add more. Some of them, such as the People App, Photo App, and the Mail App are live tiles that rotate with updates of recent posts, pictures, subjects. All of these apps tie-in with major email programs and social networks. In addition to the apps on the RT side, you can create shortcuts for frequent websites and buttons for frequently used programs (I made a group of tiles for the full MS Office, a tile for tweetdeck, etc.)

A press of the desktop app and you are at a classic windows screen complete with file folders, "my documents", all the classic programs, etc. 

The "Killer" Feature: It's Windows - Full Windows - On a Tablet

I cannot stress this enough. You have a full version of Windows. In a package that is as light and portable as a tablet. Need to screencast using camtasia? - you can. Need a heavy duty word processor? - it can be installed. The first night I was using the computer I was getting ready for a hashtag chat and realized that I hadn't looked for a decent twitter app yet. "Oh. Wait. I can just install Tweetdeck!" 

Having worked with students in our 1:1 BYOT environment for almost a year now, the strongest cases of buyer's remorse come from tablet users who love the design but want more power, fuller programs, etc. As I look to the future, I am somewhat reminded of the early days of netbooks. While netbooks started with Linux and Android, and custom software, eventually, Windows became the dominant operating system. There is just something about a full-feature OS that is part of a regular workflow, be it for a student or teacher. Add to this the ability to break out of an app walled-garden and install full versions of software and you have a lot of potential. I saw jaws drop when teachers noticed that i was taking attendance on our windows-only web-based gradebook from a tablet.

...But it's a Tablet - A very early Tablet

There is an incubation period with all tablets. When the iPad debuted, it was months before people really started to figure out what to do with the real-estate. When I bought my first Android phone (a Nextel phone that was still using Cupcake while all of my friends were eating Froyo). I remember thinking that it had 80% of what I was looking for on a phone but was nowhere near the maturity that I had imagined.

A big finger must for non-touch apps

Switching from a Nexus 7 (running Jellybean) to the Windows RT side, I am forced back into the nascent incubation stage where developers and manufacturer are waiting to see if the product is worth the investment.

Up until last week, there was no Twitter app for the Windows RT side of the tablet. While it was wonderful being able to install tweetdeck, the interface is not optimized for touch. This meant either using the keyboard (not bad for chats, but annoying for quick tweets) or constantly trying to use my finger to scroll up by aiming for that way-too-thin scroll bar (it was frustrating enough that I bought a Wacom Bamboo pen - that is a handy little device).

I was constantly running into things that were either not-ready-for-primetime (the evernote app, while present has a very constrained feel compared to the more mature apps on the other mobile platforms) or non-existent (a quick photo editor, messenger app such as gtalk or Kik, Instagram, Pinterest, good RSS reader, etc.). Some of this is a result of market issues - Google is playing coy with the interface, creating a search app and a chrome browser, but not RT versions of other major products. Part of this is the wait-and-see. Regardless, for those used to full feature tablets on either side of the ShinyFruit-CuteRobot divide, they will have some frustration.

Design - It's All about the Use Case

In some ways, everything about the VivoTab that I liked in Florida is absolutely dead-on. It is light and thin and easy to hold and feels very natural in my hand. It is as comfortable as any 10" tablet when I fire up the Comixology App and settle in to see how Batman reacts to the death of Robin (spoiler alert: not well).

There is not comfortable way to do this

But the devil, particularly in design, is in the details. A primary use case for me is to take notes and live-tweet during presentations, keynotes, meetings, etc. I can comfortably do this on my chromebook and on my transformer prime. It is nearly impossible for me to do this comfortably on the VivoTab. There is a minimum amount of surface area required for a device to rest comfortably on a lap. The Microsoft Surface pulls this off by using a kickstand and a magnetic attachment to the keyboard (we tried it, MS naysayers). Because the VivoTab keyboard does not attach to the device, you have very little surface area with which to work. So you end up using the onscreen keyboard (which is not bad, but its no SwiftKey) or you end up with some awkward positioning (see photo).

My best #FETC Swag - Avid AE-36

One presumed must-have in a Windows computer is a USB port. I was surprised when I went to start a Google+ Hangout that there is no full USB port, thus no USB headphones and no wireless mouse with micro-USB dongle -- both things that I would have made part of my regular use case. Luckily, my Avid headphones (another #FETC find) worked great by maximizing the Input/Output Combo port work like a charm.

Final Thoughts -- The Race is On

oh so portable. Keyboard
magnetically stored inside cover

I think that many parents and students, given the choice between a mobile tablet OS and the potential of a full-function machine will find full-Windows 8 tablets very appealing. While they will have to be careful to think through design and power choices (for example, ASUS is about to release a larger VivoTab that will have a high-res screen, a keyboard identical to the Transformer (with spare battery and full attachment), and a digitzing stylus to boot, there is something very appealing about having one device that does it all.

But essential to the tablet experience will be the tablet-side of the OS, namely RT. While it is wonderful to be able to open a full OS and have programs on there that I cannot access in iOS or Android, sometimes a user just wants a tablet...and a tablet is only as good as its apps. All too often, there are no results or, even worse, 3rd party crap-ware that claims to do that which it does not do (there are SO many "instragram viewers" that just link to the website). Without a satisfying tablet experience (particularly as so many people have not had a good app experience from Google&Co. or Apple), the Windows 8 advantage will be overshadowed by dissatisfaction.

I started to dread the "no apps" screen

So I see this as a race. Can Microsoft entice developers and upgrade the RT experience fast enough to be comparable with its competitors? If it can, the current "full OS experience" advantage is a huge boost, particularly if the prices stay competitive. But the pressure is on.

• Because each day, more and more people are realizing that a "tablet" experience, while limited, can fulfill most of their day-to-day needs.
• Because the ChromeOS experiment is bearing fruit and the winds of change are forecast the merging of ChromeOS with Android (oooh a chromeOS tablet).
• Because the not-so-hidden cost of a full OS is the price of programs (Office and Camtasia are wonderful, but they are not a $1.99 in the App Store). Consumer realize this.

For schools and educators and students, these products have the potential to be very appealing. But I believe that the current RT/App experience is enough of a drawback that it does not make up for the ultraportability of the form factor.

And if you are curious, I am glad to be back on my Chromebook
(and carrying my nexus 7 for tablet needs).

Have other questions? Different experiences or thoughts? Share them down below or hit me up on social media -- I'm around :)

Google I/O -- Tablets, Drives, and Skydiving Surprise

The summer month's of each year are filled with conferences, trade shows, and announcements. While I was at #iste12 last week the Google Developer's conference was taking place. Since a few teachers have been asking me for reactions, I spent a few putting my initial thoughts down. I will post more of a full review after I have played with some toys and features.

Nexus 7

The Nexus 7 is a Google branded 7"tablet built by their partners at Asus. Asus is a great tablet maker (my goto tablet is currently a Transformer Prime from them) and thd throw up a few quick thoughts. Don't consider these reviews...I have a Nexus 7 ordered and will probably be picking up a chromebox and a new chromebook but don't have them e tablet will be the first using the Jellybean version of the operating system which is getting excellent reviews.

It has that great portable size of 7" (remember, I carried a 7" tablet most of last year before switching to a galaxy note. It seems to have most of the sensors necessary to run apps (accelerometer, gyroscope, etc.). Combined with the newly announced offline Maps feature, the GPS is functional even without 3g. Bluetooth functionality makes it work with headsets (skype, hangouts) and keyboards.


The combining of Google's media delivery systems under the PLAY store (Books, Movies, Music, Apps) gives a one stop shop similar to Apple's iTunes and the Amazon's offerings on the Fire. I have never had a much reason to get into Google Play media, but with the announcement of  movies and TV shows and movies, the Nexus tablet is going directly at the Kindle Fire market. It's even priced the same.


I think there is a market for 7" tablets and the affordability is going to make this device competitive. I have often said that the Kindle Fire is secondary/consumption device. Even the interface puts all the media front and center and the apps are a backscreen afterthought (no widgets!). I want to play with the interface before I pass judgement, but this seems to place the media as a widget within the Jellybean interface. The fact that you can attach a bluetooth keyboard or switch to swype or swiftkey also ups the productivity factor (although part of JellyBean is a swiftkey-like predictor).


Full review when I mine arrives in mid-july :)

Chrome for iOS and Android

The Chrome browser is out for the iPad. This includes the tabs-from-other-browsers feature and bookmark sync. On the downside, it cannot be the default (that's Safari and you will say "thank you") and the fruit-company forces browsers to use apple's web rendering engine -- I am getting some feedback that it is significantly slower than Chrome on Android (c'mon Apple. Open yourself up to a little competition. It could be fun!)

Offline Google Docs Editiing

This one is wonderful and at this point pretty much seamless. When your connection drops while you are in a doc, you can just keep working. When the connection is re-established, it syncs. This feature currently works for word processing and should be showing up for presentations and spreadsheets soon.

Google Drive Integration

There were a lot of drive and doc integration announcements that will be bearing fruit in the next few months. My favorite (written about on my Google Drive review) is the integration of the drive as a part of the chromebook file manager (not kidding, a little giddy about this -- it will save 10-15 clicks on blogposts).  With the opening of a new API, we should start to see more "save to drive" features on Apps as well.


A Gdrive App was released for iOS, but it appears to be more of a dropbox competitor, without full-on docs editing (although you can open a doc in safari and edit there). I have a suspicion that we are seeing the surface of a deeper back-and-forth between Google and Apple on this one - with the Google acquisition of QuickOffice, I expect to see some movement on an improved Gdrive app for iOS soon.

Other Quick Hits:

• The new Samsung Chromebook got some decent airtime (new processor - Celeron, three times faster), better trackpad, Network Jack -- slightly less battery. Chromeboxes are out and tiny (chrome in a box. Thinking of a few for the library).
• Google released a media streamer with social sharing called the Nexus Q. Love the idea of sharing the playlist/dj duties at a party. Skeptical that I need to spend $300 dollars for something that is not as robust as my Roku, but I haven't played with one yet.
• Lots of Google+ announcements including a bit of a PR stumble with the new Events feature (Calendar Spam, but already fixed) 
• On the back end, Goole is launching a web data service (Compute Engine) that could compete with Amazon Web Services. Amazon, to help out the bigG a little, crashed Friday night leaving some people without Pinterest, Instagram, or Netflix -- No deaths were reported, yet.
• Day one of the show was stolen with Google Glass, the eyeglass wearable interface with lots of early potential (photo, video, sharing, data on your glasses. The skydivers were a nice touch :). This is in very early development -- in fact, the play-around-with-it version for developers onsite was $1500 and that is the only way you could get one.
• The 3D imagery on Google Earth is pretty trippy. If you haven't looked for awhile, get the update and got to a major city.
• Jellybean features (since many of you won't see these for awhile): Voice transcription on the device (no more need to be on a network - poor Siri); Google Now - This could be cool. Cards that show you your day, check on traffic, work out your appt travel schedule, etc.; Interactions with notifications (send an I'm running late text without opening messaging)

So that's two days of developer goodness. My take? 

• I am excited about some things and see a lot of potential in others. 
• Google needed to integrate the media services to compete with Apple and Amazon on that front and I am glad it happened, but teachers have had decent access to media for awhile.
• There is a new FIRE coming out and it will be directly and harshly compared with the Nexus 7. Hope that Amazon is up to the task. I am really excited to get this one in my hands and give it a work out. The OG Galaxy Tab is still my middle daughters favorite toy.
• I think that Drive and Docs may end up being the key for educators. The faster we can have a full cross-platform productivity suite, the better. Keep it simple so that teachers can concentrate on the classroom and the students. Keep it ubiquitous so that students can swtich from class-to-class and school-to-school without re-learning.

Most of this was off the top of my head. If I missed anything major or you really want my opinion on adding heat-symbols to Google Maps, please post a comment or Tweet me. Feel free to share -- would love to close out the month with 10,000 views :)

Fan-droid out.

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.