1. 11 Apr


    world-shaker: Nerdy observation from someone who works in edtech: It is no longer okay to not know how to hook your computer up to the projector. Are you using a computer? Does it need to be hooked up to a projector? Then you need to learn how to do that. I tried giving him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the laptop VGA connection is missing or hidden. Maybe he’s not wise enough to know he can unhook the VGA cable from that doc camera, or even the computer in the workstation to his left (and use that for his laptop instead). Maybe he forgot the dongle he needs to hook up his Mac. But if none of those things are true, then this type of nonsense is just not okay. As someone who actually wants to work in edtech, it’s actually really sad to have to say these kinds of observations. It’s sad that being able to connect a laptop to a projector to show a PowerPoint/Keynote (or Prezi- but please, God, no Prezi) is considered instructional technology. It should be common sense, not the introduction to an entire field. And if it’s a PowerPont/Keynote, he should know what’s he’s presenting on well enough to be able to lecture about it (or pitch) without having to use slides. 

    world-shaker:

    Nerdy observation from someone who works in edtech:

    It is no longer okay to not know how to hook your computer up to the projector. Are you using a computer? Does it need to be hooked up to a projector? Then you need to learn how to do that.

    I tried giving him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the laptop VGA connection is missing or hidden. Maybe he’s not wise enough to know he can unhook the VGA cable from that doc camera, or even the computer in the workstation to his left (and use that for his laptop instead). Maybe he forgot the dongle he needs to hook up his Mac. But if none of those things are true, then this type of nonsense is just not okay.

    As someone who actually wants to work in edtech, it’s actually really sad to have to say these kinds of observations. It’s sad that being able to connect a laptop to a projector to show a PowerPoint/Keynote (or Prezi- but please, God, no Prezi) is considered instructional technology. It should be common sense, not the introduction to an entire field.

    And if it’s a PowerPont/Keynote, he should know what’s he’s presenting on well enough to be able to lecture about it (or pitch) without having to use slides. 

     

  2. 13 Feb



    Why Every Educator Should Read Hacker News

    stevekinney:

    Even more interesting is the idea of an education-focused GitHub.

    I love his points about culture, and how the conversation isn’t just about hacking, but about anything intellectually stimulating. There should be more communities like that. 

    As educators we are constantly trying to spark our student’s “intellectual curiosity”.  Many of us have sought out to spark our colleagues’ intellectual curiosity as well through social media sharing. However, what makes Hacker News so special is the community within this simple site…

    The list could go on, but I think the point is clear. If we want education to continue to move forward we all need to get on board with sharing, collaborating, and discussing best and next practices. I’m thrilled that thousands of educators around the world have been doing this for years, and I know how many of us want this type of open culture to be “our culture”

    I think the one point he misses is wanting it to be an educator only community. Yes, there is a lot to be said for sharing lesson plans and advice, but those communities already exist. What’s missing is a place where everyone involved in the education community: edtech hackers, entrepreneurs, administrators, counselors, students, parents, designers, bloggers, etc., could engage in conversations, collaborate, and share resources. That’s the other thing about the hacking community, they realize that it’s not just programmers that make an excellent hacking community. It also takes designers, marketers, business experts, and more to make a lively community that creates a lot of great products. Education needs more of that.

     

  3. 28 Dec



    Our open, publicly-funded public school system, deeply woven into the fabric of our open, freedom- and innovation-loving society, is the gem in the crown of America that people from around the world for decades have tried to replicate…

    Poverty, hunger, homelessness, parents who are ineffective or unable to parent – these are all analog problems kids have that need the help of other people, not only computers, to solve. What Gene Marks and other Silicon Valley “edupreneurs” forget is that we live in a complicated three-dimensional world that doesn’t fit on a spreadsheet or a computer screen. Digital bootstraps aren’t enough; to help all the nation’s kids we need lifelines offered face to face to real kids, from a person who cares in their neighborhood schools.

    — 

    “Digital Bootstraps for Analog Problems” - Cynthia Liu

    Am I the only one who catches the irony of a tradition-laden school system in an innovation-loving society? 

    Education technology is not supposed to be the magic cure all for all of society’s ills, or even education’s. But if students aren’t getting what they need from the traditional method, don’t they deserve to have a chance to digitally bootstrap? Support is the most powerful thing that someone can give a student, and if a teacher, counselor, parent, or administrator isn’t there to give it to them, why should we criticize those who are digitally offering support? Besides, there’s more to education technology than AV technology and learning management systems, something that is often ignored in #pencilchat-type debates. Most importantly, people forget that there are people behind these products. People who care about students and education. From experience in trying to build a technology startup, one simply cannot start a tech company just for fun. They have to be committed to the idea, or else their hours, blood, sweat, and tears, and minimal income (especially in the education sector) are going to waste because lack of passion will kill them and their company.

    Digital bootstrapping may not be sufficient for many, but why should we be angry at edupreneurs for trying? They’re the ones trying the hardest to innovate our public schools, and they’re moving faster than policy makers and individual teachers can. Maybe we should let them go full speed ahead, and let the rest of us focus on solving “analog problems.”

     

  4. 13 Dec


    Does anyone else see a problem with this screen capture? Heaven forbid, there isn’t any clip art. This isn’t just about design or taste. Personally, I think that Jeff Goins sums it up best in his blog post, “Why Clip Art Sucks.” Clip art sucks because: It’s a lazy way to tell a story. There are better alternatives. It’s just plain tacky. You know better. This is even more so the case for educators. Clip art is bad teaching. Subversive ICT describes why: Now this isn’t just a matter of aesthetics or taste. This stuff sends important messages to kids about what is “good” and that their own stuff needs tarting up before it’s any good, and that “fluff” is cool and “teacher approved”. And all this is wrong. BAN THE FLUFF. Value the kids’ creativity, which is so much better than the commercial monkeys and floating flowers. Teachers must teach this, model it. No clipart in our school, ever. No superfluous borders and other crap. Worry about the content. Ask the students, “What are you saying, what are you showing? Is is quality? How do you know?” These are thinking skills. The thinking skills we neglect, unfortunately. Critical judgement.

    Does anyone else see a problem with this screen capture? Heaven forbid, there isn’t any clip art.

    This isn’t just about design or taste. Personally, I think that Jeff Goins sums it up best in his blog post, “Why Clip Art Sucks.” Clip art sucks because:

    1. It’s a lazy way to tell a story.
    2. There are better alternatives.
    3. It’s just plain tacky.
    4. You know better.

    This is even more so the case for educators. Clip art is bad teaching. Subversive ICT describes why:

    Now this isn’t just a matter of aesthetics or taste. This stuff sends important messages to kids about what is “good” and that their own stuff needs tarting up before it’s any good, and that “fluff” is cool and “teacher approved”. And all this is wrong. BAN THE FLUFF. Value the kids’ creativity, which is so much better than the commercial monkeys and floating flowers. Teachers must teach this, model it. No clipart in our school, ever. No superfluous borders and other crap. 

    Worry about the content. Ask the students, “What are you saying, what are you showing? Is is quality? How do you know?” These are thinking skills. The thinking skills we neglect, unfortunately. Critical judgement.

     

  5. 5 Sep


    This is a waste of a word cloud. Word clouds are to convey the interconnected nature of phrases, their relativity to one another, and their popularity. This is just a messy logo and three word tagline. But it’s not about the word cloud. Part of what disturbs me about pushes for education technology and discussions around education technology are things like this. This jpeg is the perfect analogy for many tools that are marketed as great educational technology tools. In theory, the tools are great, but without researching and analyzing the capabilities of tools and possible uses for them, there is often a lack of great application in the education context. Take smartboards for example; they are capable of so much more than just being a touchscreen board for powerpoint presentations, but so seldom does one see a teacher using it for other purposes, at least in the schools I have seen. I’m not saying that there has to be intensive professional development for the use of education technology. In fact, there should be less professional development. Too often, professional development becomes consulting from afar or for a day, when it should be about mentorship and facilitated learning (funny, that sounds just like teaching!). And as any millennial will tell you, there’s no way to learn technology than to just play with it for a little while. Teachers should have time to just play with technology, like their students do, and be encouraged to be creative and collaborative with one another in the use of technology, not just told case uses for new tools. If we’re using education technology with the goal of helping students build 21st century skills and to not just manual readers, why are we making teachers read the manual and not use their own 21st century skills?

    This is a waste of a word cloud. Word clouds are to convey the interconnected nature of phrases, their relativity to one another, and their popularity. This is just a messy logo and three word tagline.

    But it’s not about the word cloud.

    Part of what disturbs me about pushes for education technology and discussions around education technology are things like this. This jpeg is the perfect analogy for many tools that are marketed as great educational technology tools. In theory, the tools are great, but without researching and analyzing the capabilities of tools and possible uses for them, there is often a lack of great application in the education context. Take smartboards for example; they are capable of so much more than just being a touchscreen board for powerpoint presentations, but so seldom does one see a teacher using it for other purposes, at least in the schools I have seen. I’m not saying that there has to be intensive professional development for the use of education technology. In fact, there should be less professional development. Too often, professional development becomes consulting from afar or for a day, when it should be about mentorship and facilitated learning (funny, that sounds just like teaching!). And as any millennial will tell you, there’s no way to learn technology than to just play with it for a little while. Teachers should have time to just play with technology, like their students do, and be encouraged to be creative and collaborative with one another in the use of technology, not just told case uses for new tools. If we’re using education technology with the goal of helping students build 21st century skills and to not just manual readers, why are we making teachers read the manual and not use their own 21st century skills?

     

  6. 4 Sep


    I still cannot get over how great my friend Adam Bellow’s (of EduTecher) presentation at #140edu was. He has some great quotes, the right sentiment, and an excellent presentation. The girl cheering at the end was me. 

     
     

  7. 4 Sep


    Every time I hear about the wonders of the flipped classroom, I can’t help but to think about this tweet:  Not that I’m a disbeliever, but can we really expect such dramatic shift in school learning with flipped classrooms? It obviously works well for college students and personal learning plans, but what about younger students? Heaven knows our National History Test results weren’t too hot this year. What makes the flipped classroom different?

    Every time I hear about the wonders of the flipped classroom, I can’t help but to think about this tweet: 

    Not that I’m a disbeliever, but can we really expect such dramatic shift in school learning with flipped classrooms? It obviously works well for college students and personal learning plans, but what about younger students? Heaven knows our National History Test results weren’t too hot this year. What makes the flipped classroom different?

     

  8. 4 Sep



    Google Body

    revolutionizeed:

    I just found this amazing program made by Google which is basically an interactive body for you to study the human anatomy with.  I wish we had programs like this when I took human anatomy in high school instead of just random bones and plastic organs.  Check it out…but it doesn’t work with Internet Explorer!

    Biodigital Human is even better, in my opinion. Everyone who looks at Google Body should do a comparison for themselves: http://www.biodigitalhuman.com/default.html

    (Source: revolutionizeed)

     

  9. 26 Aug



    We are treating students like cogs in a factory, not like the unique individuals they actually are. We push students forward, without ever really addressing their individual needs, until many become disengaged and give up. And while most of the debate focuses on the “under-performing” students, I would argue that we’re not exactly doing a great job with the students who seem to be passing by fine. Many of them are never pushed to their true abilities, and they quickly lose their natural enthusiasm for learning.
    — Funny how I had teachers in high school that told me to work to break the machine. Well, the education machine is still kicking.  (via thoughted)