If you are not familiar with the show "Little House on the Prairie," it is about a family in Minnesota that is trying to make a life in the 1870's and 1880's. One particular setting on the show is the one-room schoolhouse where one teacher presented different course material to the students who ranged in age from kindergarten through grade twelve.

Fast forward to the current time and place. Cloud computing is now the age in which we are living. The Internet is a transporter of information, and, therefore, it can be argued that is has become the one-room schoolhouse of this generation. Similar to the traditional one-room schoolhouse, the Internet is a "classroom" where ample information can be presented and different ages are represented.

This, however, does not mean that the Internet should replace the roles and responsibilities of the teacher. Instead, it should become a resource that teachers allow their students to access within the classroom, and, as easily as they could if they were doing schoolwork at home. Can any one of us say that we do not turn to the Internet when we need help answering a question or trying to solve a problem? As adults, we have the flexibility and freedom to use the tools that help us learn, while students are, often times, forced to practice more conventional approaches while confined inside the four walls of a classroom.

Consider the fact that educators are constantly being reminded to differentiate their instruction-- to make modifications and accommodations so that the playing field is leveled for the variety of learners within one classroom. The Internet can serve as a tool that allows students to explore what they need to learn, at a pace and level that suits them as individuals.

It is no secret that education is going through a transformation because of technology. It is likely that within twenty years, because of the Internet and cloud computing, that we will go back to the one room schoolhouse. We will start to see more "guides on the side" where the guides will steer the learning of the students and ask questions to prod thinking. This is an exciting time, and it is only going to get better as technology continues to improve and more individualized instruction becomes commonplace inside and outside the classroom.
James Yap and Teresa Ivey

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Last week, the latest version of "Did You Know" was released. Like the previous versions, it was filled with stats that were surprising and also thought provoking. The statistics are there to jolt us to action and to make us, as educators, realize the world in which we live and teach. One statistic that really shocked me was the fact that in the last 2 months, more hours of video have been uploaded to YouTube than all the broadcast hours of TV of the four major networks since 1948 combined! This is an astounding statistic because it has so many different layers of impact.

One impact in particular is that today's students are visual learners, but they are also visual creators and consumers. This means that the old film strip with the beep to tell you to move to the next picture is really not going to cut it. In some cases, your students could probably do a better job of cinematography and explaining the content than the Betamax video that you have in your closet!

Our students have grown up on the visual medium and are used to having things explained to them in this way. They are also astute creators of it. Once again, however, this is where we hit a roadblock due to teacher reluctance to switch to this medium because they believe it to be too time consuming, while the administrators fear the cost involved. To the teachers, I say, put trust in your students. Most of them know more about technology than we do, and they can be excellent teachers of how to use technology. When students are the creators of a video, for example, they learn more about whatever their topic is--they are the researchers, writers, editors, actors, and producers. Whatever the content is of the video is not lost in the creation of it. Instead, it becomes ingrained in their minds because it has meaning to them.

To the administrators who fear the cost involved, for about $80 you can get a Flip camera that allows students to create and edit videos. If Flip cameras are not in the budget, why not allow the students to use the technology they bring with them to school every day? With the new I-phone, you can take video and edit on the camera itself.

The fact remains that our students are digital creators and digital learners. They are comfortable with and know how to use technology. They are ready to change they way they learn. The question remains, When will their administrators and teachers be ready?
James Yap and Teresa Ivey

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Nothing can be done in a school district without the help from several people, especially, if what is being done, is a district wide initiative. This statement has been proven true countless times this summer as my district rolls out a new student information system. The transition has been a bumpy one, but I believe the benefits will outweigh the challenges in the long run.

While embarking on this particular new journey, the patience of all of the administrators and guidance staff was tested. They spent incalculable hours learning how to use the program, and, along the way, encountered problems that created stress for them, consequently impacting and strengthening our collegial relationships.

Reflecting on this process created a new level of awareness for me regarding the challenges of working closely with people who are also friends. As an administrator, you do not want to be accused of abusing the friendship just so you can advance an initiative. This is especially touchy when the person is someone that you directly supervise or anyone who is not at the same "level" as you. So, what do you do?

It is inevitable that, as social creatures, administrators will make friends of people they supervise, especially if they are building level administrators. The help of a friend and/or colleage is invaluable; therefore, boundaries must be developed between being a professional colleague and being a friend. Although I have spent time reflecting on this and have tried to brainstorm the ways to continue maintaining a professional relationship while being a friend, the only suggestion I could arrive at is the following: Invest quality time before and after any "favor" to show that you genuinely care about your colleagues, who may also be your friends. This, however, cannot be the only suggestion...What are you thoughts on such a difficult topic?

James Yap and Teresa Ivey ( A friend and colleague that helped me write on this difficult topic)

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Fact: We have lived through several revolutions. The one in which we currently live should be dubbed the communication revolution. Today, we have more ways of communicating than ever before and at speeds that even a few years ago would seem ludicrous.

Think about all the different forms of communication. Now imagine a traditional classroom, and ask yourself, What ways is information communicated?

The stark contrast between what and how students learn in a traditional classroom environment and the 21st century possibilities becomes strikingly evident. As educational leaders, it is our responsibility to learn about, utilize and convey our knowledge of the various modes of information communication to our teachers. After all, what is communication? Information!

Many educational leaders and their teachers may struggle with envisioning ways in which technology can be implemented into their instruction. Below is a sampling of some of the most powerful ways and ideas that teachers can incorporate 21st century communication into their teaching. Fear not... students are already familiar, comfortable and capable of using these forms of technology... another reason why educators must open their minds to information communication.

Twitter- WOW! This is a powerful technology! We just installed Tweetdeck on every single computer in my district. Why not have your teachers start to "follow" experts in their area of focus?
RSS- Have the news come to you by using RSS aggregators like Netvibes, iGoogle, or Pageflakes.
Skype- If you cannot afford a huge Polycom videoconferencing unit, then you can probably do a lot of the same things by using Skype or Ichat and using a $40 camera.
Wikis-An asynchronous and/or synchronous way of communicating and collaborating information.
Blogs- Have your students comment AND post.
Social Networking- Change the word "Social" to "Academic" networking, which is what we are doing in Ramapo Central. It is really starting to take off. We use a site called Saywire that provides a safe learning environment and teaches students to use social networking to their advantage.
Mogulus, Ustream- These are ways of streaming video like a live or recorded TV show of a class.

This being said, the first challenge for you as an educational leader is providing opportunities for professional development so your staff can learn about how to use these tools effectively. The second challenge is making sure that these ways of communicating information become customary in the classroom. As you begin to plan for the 2009 - 2010 school year, let this subject be your guide for your district's and individual school's goals. The students will thank you for it!

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As the largest educational technology conference, National Educational Computing Conference-NECC, is going on, I started to think about the different vendors I work with, the relationships I have with them, and the characteristics that help me choose some venders over others.

As a former athlete and coach, I decided to use the analogy of a team. When it comes to this part of the profession, I have two teams: an internal and an external. To be successful, I must have a strong internal and external team and I am fortunate to have both.

My internal team is made up of the instructional technology facilitators that work in each building. They are an impressive group of professionals. All of them, without exception, contribute significantly to the success of technology infusion into the curriculum. They are a great resource to all their teachers and they are all intrinsically motivated to learn and grow as professionals. When Jim Collins talks about having the right people in the right seats on the bus in his book, Good to Great, I am extremely appreciative with who is sitting on my bus and the seats that they occupy. This would not be possible without the "owner" (my superintendent), who is the kind of "owner" of which most professionals can only dream. Not only is his understanding about the role of technology in education profound, but he is a reputable leader, a confidant, and allows me to grow as an administrator.

However, to be truly successful in educational technology there must be a strong external team as well. The vendors that I have partnered with are people that I trust implicitly; they are people who are willing to listen and allow for constructive feedback about their product. To be a good leader in this field, which is still relatively new, it is imperative that leaders treat the relationship as as a partner-vendor relationship and not as a client-vendor relationship. Administrators should view the relationship with vendors as one that is critical to the learning environment of their students. After all, they are putting the tools of learning into the hands of students and teachers.

This summer, while previewing products, look at the people that are selling the product and ask the tough, yet essential question, "How can I partner with this company to increase the learning and ultimate success of my students?"
James Yap

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Recently several discussions, articles I have read, experiences I have had and also videos I have seen, have give me reason to believe that colleges are not preparing teachers to teach the youth of the 21st century in the realms of cultural sensitivity and technology (to name only two areas).

The link below will show a video that is in American Sign Language. I used to teach deaf students, so it strikes a chord with me. It describes how one program from Southern Mississippi was lauded as a great program for deaf education. However, after looking at the courses offered, it became clear that they view deafness as a pathology and ignored the cultural components that make up deaf culture. What does this say about our teacher prep programs when they ignore such a rich culture and language that is viable in the 21st century? After all, this is a language that has been shown in numerous research studies to help young children with verbal and nonverbal skills.

Another example is that many colleges and universities do not even require teachers to take one technology course as part of their degree. New teachers come to the classroom with the knowledge of Facebook but have no idea on how to apply Web 2.0, specifically, social networking to the classroom! We are coming across teacher after teacher that do not know how to take the skills that they may know and apply them to their pedagogy. Teacher prep programs should require the application of skills and not only the knowledge of them.

So look at the clip below and answer the question that Sean Connery asks.

James Yap

Deaf Ed. Example
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/LeaderTalk/upload/2009/05/jamesyap/elliottness.flv

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Barack Obama has gone from Reaganomics, which has ruled the US economic policy for the last 30 years, to behavioral economics, which is shaping our current economic situation. Authors Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein address this contemporary idea in Nudge (2009) and illustrate how gentle "nudging" can influence humans to make better life choices. Humans are creatures of habit by nature, however, as Thaler and Cass exemplify through several scenarios in their book, habits can be broken by a slight nudge in the right direction.

Educational leaders are constantly searching for innovative ways to involve their faculty and staff in lifelong learning opportunities. Change, which is often a daunting word in the field of education, can be seen as less intimidating through "nudging" when done properly.
This could be from learning new technologies, to working on their pedagogy, to continuing to look at the data that is now available to them. So what is the "nudge" that we, educational leaders need to get these things done?

I propose that the "nudge" we need is collaboration. Collaboration as defined as not only as collaboration between teachers but also between admins and teachers. True collaboration means that there is a listening on both sides of the equation so that the best learning environment can be developed by both staff members and educational leaders. You need to create a climate of openness and respect so that everyone feels like they have a voice in the development of the curriculum and the child. Teachers are professionals and need to treated as such by the educational leaders.

If we can accomplish this "nudge", I believe education will definitely experience significant change for the better.


James Yap

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In today’s instructional technology, many people are still arguing about what operating system is right for contemporary classrooms: Apple, Linux, or Windows? This, however, is the wrong conversation.

First and foremost educators should always be talking about curriculum and how technology can enhance the delivery of instruction. However, that is a whole separate discussion. When it comes to a delivery component, the real debate should not be about the operating system, but about the browser.

In the last few years, we have seen an explosion of educational content that is online. The academic world is beginning to catch up and produce valuable content available on the Internet. We should embrace this development because among other things, it supports authentic lifelong learning experiences.

Lifelong learning is possible because content is available on the Internet. A student no longer has to worry about whether he understands new material within a certain time period; he does not have to worry that he will only have one other opportunity to learn the new material at the same “Bat Time, same Bat channel” the next day. This is true whether the content is a CD- based piece of software, or instruction directly from the teacher. Students should have content available whenever they like. This might even revolutionize the way districts organize the school day and for districts to re-examine why students continue to learn in a factory model. Considering when students learn best depending on their age, they could be learning at 2AM and get a better grasp of new material, compared to learning at 7AM when the research shows that most teenagers do not learn best at that time.

Teachers appreciate the flexibility of using online educational content as much as students enjoy learning from online content. If educators are going to add technology to an already packed curriculum, then they need to provide opportunities to engage their students by using any connected computer in the world. That allows teachers to deliver content in multiple ways and levels the playing field for students of all learning styles.

Online educational content has become so powerful, and full of rich content that, in some cases, it can only be delivered via the Internet. So the next time you are watching television and a “I am a PC” or a “Mac versus PC” commercial comes on, have a good laugh and then realize that within the next 5-10 years, the question will be moot.

James Yap

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What does it take right now to register a student in your school and have them fully functional as a part of your learning community? Really think about it. They have to go to one office and register then that clerical staff will have to either walk or send, in some way, his/her information to probably four or five different offices at the very least.
What if I were to tell you that my school district will have it down to one office in our school district by the beginning of next school year. What if I were to tell you that the same will be for staff? This sounds like a Utopia kind of situation but it is not something mythical. It is actually something technological. It is SIF. SIF stands for Schools Interoperability Framework. It is a way that multiple databases can talk to each other. The states of Virginia and Ohio are really leading the charge from a top down approach but there are also other school districts that are also starting to really get into SIF. SIF is really a specification that vendors have to adopt to become "SIF certified". Once they do, their data can be passed to other databases or they can receive data. I do not want to get into all the technical jargon but I rather lay out some scenarios for you.

Johny Smith and his family have just come to your district mid- year. He goes to your registrar's office and they fill out a few forms that are common to most school districts. The registrar confirms the information and then types it into the computer. By entering it into the student management system, it then blasts through and out to all your other systems. Within seconds, he can now check out a book, log on to a computer, be on a teacher's roster, be assigned to the right bus, have lunch, and even possibly have an IEP started for him, if needed.

Second scenario is similar, except it is a staff member. They come to you at the beginning of the year so you put them in your student management system. Now they can check out a book, sign onto a computer, be in the payroll system, sign up for professional development, start to access their student's data, see the curriculum maps for their classes, look at the IEPs for their students. All of this within seconds after being put into the student management system.

This is the power of SIF. If you are school districts has not already started to look at it, they should. It will save hours of time for your clerical staff and keep your data clean since there is only one entry point. Again SIF is not a vendor but just a specification. There is a good chance that a lot of the vendors you already use, have a SIF "agent". Our district has invested heavily already and it is paying huge dividends. I hope your school district can have the same benefit. To learn more go to http://www.sifinfo.org

James Yap

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When we usually talk about teachers and their technology skills we usually separate them into two categories: technology averse or technology savvy. However I believe that there is a third category that is gaining traction. This new category I am calling tech-welcoming. These teachers are the teachers that need extra help to really understand the technology and to get it infused into their pedagogy and curriculum. However, they are trying. They really try to understand the technology and they are willing to try it out and make it part of their instruction.

Especially with the tough economic times we are facing and that we need to start to target professional development dollars so that we get the most out of it, I believe that this group of teachers are the ones that we really need to target. The technology averse will come up with excuses as well as just not want to take part in the training. The technology savvy teachers either usually know it or if you just barely expose them to something that could help them, they are off and running. That leaves us with the tech welcoming teachers. These teachers need our help but they are willing. They will take longer to get it and it sometimes it might even get frustrating but they usually become your biggest advocate.

What do you think of the term "tech welcoming"? How are you targeting these teachers in your school or district?

James Yap

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We all probably have New Year resolutions that are personal and that we try to keep up. However, what is your New Year's resolution in your professional life? More importantly, how are you insuring that you keep it? Please comment so everyone can see what great things that people are trying to do in their school district. I will raise the proverbial glass to all in the hopes that we are all successful in our resolutions. Happy New Year!

James Yap

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