Digital Education

Erin Gruwell's inspiring keynote, which marked the end of this year's NECC, illustrated the importance of making learning relevant to students and using tools, like education technology, to help students achieve.

Gruwell, a teacher from Los Angeles who started the Freedom Writer's Foundation, which encourages underachieving students to write, discussed the ways that she motivated her students to believe in themselves and ultimately share their stories in a book that went on to become a New York Times bestseller. Gruwell was able to help her students connect to writing by relating the story of Anne Frank to their own lives. Through donations, she received a computer for each of her students to type out their own stories to be shared in the book.

It's not hard to see how Gruwell was able to turn a project involving 150 students in Long Beach, Calif., into a best-selling story and feature-length movie when you hear her speak. Her excitement and passion about teaching was obvious and infectious. Listening to her story was a welcome reminder of the importance of education and the power that teachers have to change the lives of their students.

Posted by Katie Ash at 4:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The debate about 1-to-1 programs, which aim to equip every student with a laptop or mobile device, that took place at one of the last sessions at NECC, hosted by the Anytime Anywhere Foundation, was not so much about whether the initiatives are necessary or not, but rather what kinds of mobile devices should be used for 1-to-1 programs. On one side, Gary Stager, a visiting professor at Pepperdine University and ed-tech expert, argued that laptops are the appropriate device for such programs, while Sharon Peters, who works with Teachers Without Borders, discussed how cellphones and netbooks could be important devices to explore.

Stager explained educators' fascination with mobile devices as being "terribly excited over very little." He went on to say that trying to find educational uses for cellphones made teachers look silly. "You can create things on a cellphone," he said, "but I'm not sure you can create good things or deep things." Although mobile devices are less expensive than laptops, they cannot be used as a traditional computer, and "we add cost and increase frustration" by trying to make mobile devices behave like computers, said Stager.

Peters, however, talked about how mobile devices like cellphones and netbooks have many advantages, such as being portable, having a low cost, having a wide-range of functionality, and being relatively ubiquitous, especially in developing nations. She conceded that mobile devices do have constraints, such as small screens, small keyboards, and a limited ability to program or code. But with a focus on how the tools are used rather than the tools themselves, there is a lot of potential for educational opportunities, she said.

Posted by Katie Ash at 2:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

At her session about whether schools should build their own online professional development products or buy a ready-made set of online professional development courses, Nancy Howell, the president of the Atlanta-based N.W. Howell & Associates—a consulting firm that helps school districts develop online-learning and professional-development programs—discussed what kinds of factors administrators should consider when putting plans in place for online professional development.

Whether you decide to create your own courses or buy pre-made courses, having the right amount of staff and support in place is essential to the success of the program, said Howell. In addition, there needs to be open communication between teachers, administrators, and stakeholders about what the needs and expectations are for the professional development, she said.

If your district is leaning toward ready-made programs, there are certain features to check for, such as communication tools (like blogs, chat capabilities, and wikis), media tools (like streaming video), the age of the content and whether it's aligned to standards, ease of use, and the amount of support that comes with the program.

Howell's PowerPoint presentation contains much more information and is currently available online. In addition, check out Michelle Davis' Digital Directions story about this topic.

Posted by Katie Ash at 11:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

With the National Educational Computing Conference taking place in the nation's capital, there was a rare chance for hundreds of enthusiastic educators to make their presence, and their demands for ed-tech-friendly policies, known to members of Congress and their staffs.

A caravan of buses dropped the large group of ed-tech advocates off on Capitol Hill well-prepared to school lawmakers on the challenges they face in trying to integrate technology and make learning more relevant and engaging for today's digital natives.

The educators were lobbying for a restoration of the federal education technology funding in the next budget, as well as ongoing support for the e-rate program and the Preparing Teachers to be Digital Learners program.

"With this event being in Washington, it's a great opportunity when we have our legislators all in one place to get our message to them," said Terri Besnahan, director of technology for the Addison School District #4 in Illinois. "If we're all delivering the same message, we have power in numbers and unity."

Bresnahan and the corps of about 20 Illinois educators, all dressed in royal blue conference t-shirts, held meetings with their Senators and Representatives, or their staffers, to brief them about the potential for using technology to transform classrooms. Without funding, they said, all students will not have access to the tools they need to build knowledge and skills essential to success in the global workforce.

"Schools may be connected to the Internet, but because we don't have the right equipment and the right training, we can't use the technology tools that we need to improve teaching and learning," Henry Thiele, the technology director in the 7,000-student Maine Township School District 207 in Park Ridge, Ill., told staff members of in Sen. Roland Burris', D-Ill.

Ford Porter, a legislative correspondent, told the group that education is one of Sen. Burris' top priorities, but that the topic is being overshadowed by the high interest among lawmakers over the nation's health care crisis.

The teachers and administrators relayed tales of outdated computers and a lack of professional development opportunities geared toward the effective use of technology in the classroom.

"These are very, very real problems, and for the most part they are fixable," Porter told the group. "We just gotta go out and find the funding."

Posted by Kathleen Kennedy Manzo, edweek.org at 8:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Hands down the most entertaining session I attended during NECC '09 was the "Shattering Expectations and Inspiring Adventure in the Classroom," sponsored by the Verizon Foundation, which ended with two teachers and Eric Close, who plays an FBI agent on CBS's Without a Trace, being tied together, blindfolded, and made to crawl across a ladder simulating a mountain crevasse, their only guidance being a member of the audience who could direct them with vocal commands.

Beyond the entertainment value of watching that spectacle, the session aimed to simulate the strategies and tools that mountain climber Erik Weihenmeyer, who was the first blind person to reach the summit of Mt. Everest, employs to accomplish seemingly impossible goals and explore how the techniques he uses can be applied to the classroom.

"The mind works by being motivated by a sense of discovery," said Weinhenmeyer, also a former 5th grade teacher, when explaining what drove him to scale cliff faces and frozen waterfalls and learn how to paraglide, despite warnings that it could not be done by a blind person. But in order to accomplish those goals, Weinhenmeyer had to cultivate a number of tools to help him compensate for his lack of sight, just as teachers have to learn about and rely on tools to help enhance their lessons.

In addition, Weinhenmeyer attributes part of his success to the strong team of people he surrounds himself with. In mountain climbing, said Weinhenmeyer, all members of the climbing team are physically linked together, so that if one person slips, the rest of the team is responsible for stopping him or her from getting hurt. Similarly, in education, teachers are linked to students, other teachers, and parents, said Weinhenmeyer. "We're able to link together behind one vision," he said.

Posted by Katie Ash at 8:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Our intern and guest blogger, Tim Ebner, has this report:

The historic Library of Congress proved an apropos site for a field trip for the educators attending the National Educational Computing Conference here in Washington. The Library of Congress is the largest public repository of its kind in the world, home to 140 million materials, which include books, videos, and artifacts.

Visitors at a reception last night had open access to tour the library, renowned for its architectural beauty and priceless collection, and learn about its newest Web resource—a project called Teaching With Primary Sources Direct.

The free online database is a space where educators can create customizable professional development resources for educators in their school, district, or state. The TPS Direct project first received funding from Congress in 2005 and was developed over time through a partnership with 21 different colleges and universities. Elizabeth Ridgeway, the Director of Educational Outreach at the Library, said the site’s main goal is to get teachers using primary source materials that will build students’ critical-thinking skills.

“We hope that these primary source documents don’t just answer questions students might have, but also spark questions they might want to discover,” said Ridgeway.

Right now, The Library of Congress has more than 15 million digitized items online, and the TPS Direct site will show teachers how to integrate historic documents into their classroom lessons.

“By the fall, we are hoping to have every state on the site. And, we will add additional professional development exercises in the coming months, so that it serves as a living resource,” Ridgeway said

From the site’s main page, educators can build their own activities using primary documents from a variety of subject areas. Each plan is downloaded into a PDF, but there will also be another option to export these files into an HTML version soon. Right now the site has approximately 12 hours of training for using primary documents, and the Library’s Education Outreach team will add more once the materials have passed review standards set by the National Society of Staff Development and the International Society for Technology in Education.

The library is encouraging educators to test-drive the features of the new resource and provide comments or feedback.

(Photo of NECC reception at the Library of Congress, by Tim Ebner.)

Posted by Kathleen Kennedy Manzo, edweek.org at 8:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

One of the most popular draws at a big event like the National Educational Computing Conference, going on through tomorrow here in Washington, is the exhibit hall, where hundreds of vendors set up shop to show off their products. Educators flock to the vendors with the best giveaways—from candy to canvas totes to raffled-off electronics—or those with live demonstrations and opportunities to test out the tools.

A crowd, for example, packed the booth of Troxell Communications to watch how teachers can use interactive whiteboards and digital animation software to get students excited about reading activities. After writing the word "cheese" on the oversized screen, the company representative created a quick series of drawings, storing them as digital slides, to create a short film showing the word morphing into a block of Swiss.

Over in another row at the booth of Circle Twelve Inc., some attendees played educational games and tapped into the Web on a large, multi-use touch table that allows students to collaborate on projects and lessons.

With hundreds of booths of commercial products, education organizations, and services related to ed-tech applications, NECC attendees might have trouble choosing which to venture into. The next challenge for attendees might be trying to fit all the free pens, mousepads, and other marketing materials into their suitcases for the trip home.

Posted by Kathleen Kennedy Manzo, edweek.org at 2:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The two biggest worries I have when setting up and then moderating a panel discussion at big conferences like NECC is that the session will be boring, or worse yet, hardly anyone will show up except the panelists. Seriously, I literally lose sleep over those concerns.

Well, "no worries," as a colleague at work says frequently. Roughly 60 people showed up to a session we put together titled Doing More With Less: Creative Approaches to Managing IT Costs. Most of the people who attended were district level technology coordinators, and 45 minutes of the 60-minute session was a free-flowing give-and-take between the panelists and the audience on topics ranging from the cost of online learning and professional development to computer refresh cycles to the use of students for technology support.

So the discussion was interesting, useful, and anything but boring. And that made my job as the moderator easy.

But it's worth noting that we avoided the use of PowerPoint or other presentation tools to engineer this discussion. Rather, it was just a good, old-fashioned conversation about the modern challenges of using technology effectively in education. And the discussion made me appreciate how many questions ed-tech leaders have about the best tech approaches for schools in these tough budget times.

Some, for instance, are moving toward the use of open-source content to save money while others tried that approach but felt it was not effective. And some are doing more than others deploying e-learning in their schools to offer quality teaching and curriculum in a cost-effective manner.

All are in difficult budget situations. When I asked the audience who was facing budget cuts over the next year, more than half raised their hands. Money is clearly on everyone's minds.

For specific ideas about cost-saving tactics in IT, see "Dollars & Sense: Ed-Tech Leaders Employ Creative Tactics to Cut IT Costs and Save Programs."

Many thanks to panelists Janet Herdman, the executive director of the North Kansas City Schools in Missouri; Elizabeth Hoover, the director of technology services for the Alexandria Public Schools in Virginia; Tommy Whitten, the district technology coordinator for the Madison County Schools in Alabama; Steve Moskowitz, the director of information systems and instruction technology for the Brewster Central School District in New York; and Ann Flynn, the director of education technology for the National School Boards Association.

And thanks to the audience!

Posted by Kevin Bushweller at 1:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Digital Directions staff have been interviewing a plethora of notable ed-tech leaders at the NECC '09 conference in Washington D.C. this week. With topics ranging from students' use of personal technology, educators' ambivalence to cell phones in the classroom, the shrinking pot of (federal) money available for ed tech, and disruptive innovation in education, we think there's something for everyone.

Chris Dede: Disrupting The Traditional Classroom

Harvard University Professor Chris Dede discusses the potential for online learning to drive innovation in the classroom.

Elliot Soloway: Ed Tech Classroom Climate

University of Michigan professor Elliot Soloway discusses the need for effective use of technology in the classroom.

Paul Sanfrancesco: Training Teachers On The Use Of New Technology

Paul Sanfrancesco, the director of technology at the Garnet Valley School District in Glen Mills, Pa., talks about strategies for training teachers on the use new technology.

Keith Krueger: Investing In Technology During Tough Times

Consortium for School Networking CEO Keith Krueger talks about the importance of working with a variety of departments to secure funding for educational technology in a tough economic climate.

Susan Patrick: The E-Learning Challenge

The president and chief executive officer of the International Association for K-12 Online Learning talks at NECC '09 about the drive to improve virtual learning in K-12 schools.

Posted by Craig Stone at 12:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Lujean Baab, the director of M.Ed. programs at DeSales University in Center Valley, Pa., discussed some of the challenges that arise in the online classroom and some strategies to help overcome those difficulties in a session called "Managing Mayhem" today at NECC. Although she made it through only the first part of her presentation, Baab explained that an important part of running an online classroom is establishing a relationship between the teacher and the students, as well as the students with their classmates.

One way to accomplish that, Baab said, is to create a student photo gallery so students can put a face to a name when chatting with their classmates. In addition, starting each course with a "getting to know you" questionnaire can help spark discussions and build connections between students.

Another important aspect of being an online teacher is remaining a "facilitator" without stepping over the line to "delegator," said Baab. Online teachers can keep themselves in check by asking students for anonymous feedback throughout the course to evaluate what kind of teaching method they are using and how it is being perceived by their students.

Much more information about this subject is in the PowerPoint presentation Baab used in her session.

Posted by Katie Ash at 12:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)