Etale – Life in the Digital World

interdisciplinary musings on life and education in the digital world

Archive for category blog

Required Training for Online Teachers in Wisconsin

Feb 2

Posted by etale in blog | Comments off

Back in 2008, Wisconsin Act 222 was approved. This state statute requires that anyone who teaches for an online public (including charter) school in Wisconsin be required to complete at least 30 hours of training on online teaching. This act goes into effect this summer, July 2010. Training is intended to equip teachers to transfer the 10 Wisconsin Teacher standards to the online world. In addition, this professional development is expected to be built upon the National Standards for Qaulity Online Teaching.

You can learn more about this as well as the 18 (and counting) programs in Wisconsin that are committed to providing online educational opportunities for Wisconsin students by going here.

Tags:

The iPad and Apple’s Motives in Education?

Jan 28

Posted by etale in blog | Comments off

This month, I was at a conference where an Apple representative talked about their commitment to improving education, and their involvement with the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. There is much that I commend about this partnership. They do provide much food for thought about what is needed in order to best prepare students for life and learning in the 21st century landscape. As much as I appreciated the presentation from the Apple representative, I was compelled to play the devil’s advocate.

I noted that some are critical of the corporate interests within the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. I asked if Apple was truly interested in improving education, or if sales and cultivating a next generation of clients was their primary motive for being involved with such initiatives. This wasn’t an accusation. I truly wanted to hear what the representative had to say. The response was reasonable. He admitted the obvious, that Apple is a for-profit organization and that Apple obviously wants to sell their products. He continued by explaining that this doesn’t mean that they are not also interested in improving education and helping prepare the next generation for life in our ever-changing world. It was a reasonable response and I left the meeting open to giving Apple the benefit of the doubt, granted that their product decisions support such claims.

Jump to yesterday, with the official announcement of Apple’s new iPad, or what I like to call the Texan iPod Touch. It is an impressive innovation, one that immediately caught my interests because of the educational implications. However, my skepticism about Apple’s true commitment to education emerged again when I saw that picture indicating that this product might not support Flash applications. That single omission does much to hint at what may or may not be Apple’s true intentions. Think about where we see some of the most exciting interactive applications emerging in education over the last few years…interactive whiteboards like the Smart Board and Promethean Board. Now consider that a ton of the educational applications that work so wonderfully with these boards are Flash applications. So, it seems to me that, if Apple really wants to create an iPad that has the needs (and not just the wallets) of students and educators in mind, then it would support Flash applications. I’m open to a reasonable explanation from Apple or others. Is there a genuine educational benefit to the iPad not supporting the plug-in that would allow us to run the thousands of free and inexpensive applications that are already being used in classrooms? Or, have I missed something? Will the iPad support Flash applications?

I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Tags:

How is the Web Changing the Life of Artists?

Nov 3

Posted by etale in blog | Comments off

Have you noticed how online sales are changing the life and work of artists around the world? Today you can find artists selling their work directly on sites like Ebay or Etsy. In the past, some of these lesser known artists may have had the opportunity to sell work at a local or regional exhibit or craft fair. Now they are able to showcase their work to the world. I am fascinated by how is creating opportunities for folk artist in all parts of the world, allowing them to sell their work at a price that is reasonable but far more than they may have gotten locally. How is this changing or affirming the vocation of artist in the 21st century?

A Call for Theological Thinking About Life in a Digital Age

Sep 8

Posted by etale in blog | Comments off

Here is a slightly revised version of a previous presentation, shared with the faculty at Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne on September 3, 2009. It is called, “A Call for Theological Thinking about Life in a Digital Age.”

A Manifesto on Graduate E-learning Programs – Part 6

Jul 4

Posted by etale in blog | Comments off

The Importance of Disciplinary Thinking

Feedback is an essential part of all learning, and intentional plans for providing frequent feedback are essential in quality learning experiences. I know that I’ve already written about this in earlier parts of this ongoing manifesto. I return to the topic of feedback, but now with the goal of eventually talking about the importance “disciplinary thinking.”

From an instructional design perspective, I consider it important that there are planned and explicit sources of feedback throughout the entire learning experience (whether it be a program, course, unit of learning, or more organic learning community). Failure to provide adequate feedback decreases retention, student satisfaction, and student learning. It also makes it unlikely that students will learn to engage in disciplinary thinking.

In traditional education, some faculty have become convinced that the lectures they dispense to the students are their greatest contribution. I disagree. It is a rare faculty member who dispenses truly unique content that is unavailable in a variety of free or inexpensive sources. The faculty member who clings to this conviction is at the greatest risk in the future of higher education. This is not an attempt to minimize the importance of content or the expertise of a professor. Both of these remain integral parts of higher education. However, the more I look at what does and does not result in student learning, the more I am convinced that the most important trait of an effective teacher is that he or she provides the learners with frequent and meaningful feedback. Of course, being able to provide such feedback requires that the instructor is well-equipped to teach a given course, and that he or she has reached at least a moderate level of expertise in the discipline associated with the course.

Expertise involves a deep understanding of vocabulary, skills, big ideas, problems, and essential issues in a given domain. It involves the ability to identify, frame, or solve difficult problems within that domain. It entails sensitivity to nuances that would go unnoticed by the novice or untrained eye. It is more than head knowledge about a topic. It moves beyond simply having a great deal of information. Experts have true knowledge and a growing measure of wisdom within a given domain.

If one simply wants more information about a subject, then a college education is not a good investment of one’s money. Information, even knowledge, is freely available on the web, in libraries, or through a modest investment of a few good books or other sources of media. However, if one desires to pursue expertise and the ability to think and act within a discipline, then mentoring and feedback become essential and higher education becomes a valuable option. Mentoring, when done well, is rich with meaningful feedback. That is what takes place in a quality higher education experience.
Feedback can and should come from a variety of sources. It can come from:

-A qualified instructor who has developed a level of expertise within a given discipline,
-Peers (often in the form of well-designed group interactions and learning activities),
-Individual and/or group experimentation and reflection,
-Computer-generated feedback (in the form of computer-based quizzes, simulations, games and practice exercises that provide helpful instant automated feedback),
-And through self-feedback.

In the early stages, self-feedback is guided. It is modeled for the students. Students are given rubrics, checklists, and lists of questions to use for self-evaluation. However, as students progress, they also develop the capacity to do more of this self-feedback (within a given discipline) simply by tapping internalized vocabulary, skills, knowledge, priorities, and values. This intrapersonal capacity becomes a key to lifelong growth and development within a given discipline.

Quality learning communities provide this sort of disciplinary feedback. And, over the course of study, these programs move students toward mastery within a discipline (or field of study).

Mobile Devices, Volunteerism, and Social Change (or Saving the World on an iPhone)

Jul 3

Posted by etale in blog, editorials | Comments off

There are still quite a few people who have an outdated view of how the Internet is impacting society. It just isn’t as black and white as some suggest. While some studies are indicating that Internet use is deteriorating family time and other face-to-face social interactions, that isn’t the full story. The other side of that story is that people are using mobile technologies to be more active in trying effect positive change in the physical world, in connecting with others in meaningful ways. Toward that end, Linton Weeks wrote an excellent article at npr.org on The Extraordinaries: Will Microvolunteering Work? Weeks writes, “Shazzam! Charity meets brevity. Crowdsourcing for the common good. Turning ADD into AID.”

This article highlights the side of mobile technologies and the digital culture that is actually grounding us even more in the physical world around us, not to mention the physical world half a planet away. The fact is that many of us have, in the words of John Muir (although I’m admittedly re-purposing the quote) lived “on the world but not in the world” for quite some time. The full quote is, ““Most people are on the world, not in it – having no conscious sympathy or relationship to anything about them – undiffused, separate, and rigidly alone like marbles of polished stone, touching but separate”” Even when we are AWK, wandering the physical sidewalks, we often walk right past the hurting and the problems all around us. While I’m the last person to propose that mobile technologies or any other invention will improve what I consider to be a fundamentally flawed human nature, it is fascinating to see how some are making use of these mobile devices to get back into the world, reach out, help out, speak up, get up, chip in, and live in their local communities…even if it is just via a text message or a quick cell phone photo sent to public works in order to fix a pothole. Or, thanks to services like kiva.org, donorschoose, and globalgiving; we get a very different picture of what is taking place when we see that person sitting on the subway typing on a two inch keypad, seemingly oblivious to the people around. Who knows, that person might be the in the middle of giving a no interest loan to a needy and aspiring low income entrepreneur on the other side of the world.

Thanks to Linton Weeks for reporting on a wonderful and fascinating side to this new digital world.

Five Types of Educational Technology Experts – An Autobiography

Jun 23

Posted by etale in blog | Comments off

You have probably met each of the following people and you might even be one or more of them. I know that I am. In fact, I didn’t have to look beyond myself in order to create this list. Depending upon the moment, I am every one of these people. I hope you enjoy this as little more than a playful reflection on life in the digital world.

One Size Fits All - This is the person who gets attached to one or a few specific technologies and then becomes an unpaid sales person for these technologies. This person is most easily identified by the fact that he sees his favorite technologies as the solution to almost every problem. Common one-size-fits-all individuals include blogophiles, wikiheads, podcastigators, digital storytologists, voicethreaditicans, Google eathlings, moodlers, and edutweeters. It is amazingly entertaining to see the extremes that the one-size-fits-aller will go to frame his technology as the solution to everything from low math scores to classroom management problems.

Trendy Technologist – This is the person who is addicted to the current technology, current ed tech buzz word, or the latest educational technology celebrity. This is not to be confused with the gadget junkie or the person who just wants to experiment with the latest technologies. Instead, the trendy technologist seeks to be an advocate for the latest technologies as things that are inherently good for teaching and learning. Or, they constantly quote the latest educational technology buzz words or ed tech celebrity names. If you challenge them with a simple question like, “How does this improve student learning?”, you might just provoke them into repeatedly chanting “Cool Tools Rule!”, ranting about 21st century skills, or engaging in a rapid-fire quoting of a dozen ed tech celebrities. While knowledgeable, they have become more focused upon staying on the cutting edge of the field than being on the cutting edge of improved student learning.

Antique Technologist – In contrast to the trendy technologist, this is the person stuck in the 1980s or 1990s. They speak with passion about 10-20 year old technologies as if they just hit the shelves. They are the people who swear by the superiority of the overhead projector or critique current technologies based upon how they performed years ago. A common critique might be about how PowerPoint destroys the classroom, even though they are entirely unaware that PowerPoint has changed multiple times over the years, that it can be used in hundreds of different ways, or that it can be a tool for all sorts of non-linear learning experiences.

Technocrat – This is the person who is a computer programmer, network administrator, or all around technical whiz; and somehow thinks that this makes him a skilled educator. This is likely cultivated by the fact that he has seen endless teachers unable to deal with the simplest (in his view) of technological problems. As as result, the technocrat begins to think that he should make the call on what educational technologies should be adopted, who should have access to what, and how technology should or shouldn’t be used in the classroom. Interestingly enough, many school leaders submit to the technocrats. In some instances, these technocrats become more influential in curriculum and instruction decisions than curriculum specialists, instructional designers, or classroom teachers.

Expert by Recognition - This is the educational technologist who develops an inflated view of his or her expertise because of recognition. This sometimes comes from taking on the self-anointed title of blogger, getting invited to lead some in-services or workshops, having a big following on Twitter, or having a couple of YouTube videos that go viral. Unfortunately, they may have mistaken celebrity and expertise.