Saturday
04Jul

Gaming and the Brain?

An interesting article on Yahoo caught my attention this morning as I have been investigating more about what good educational gaming means lately. Unfortunately, good educational gaming doesn't come neatly wrapped up in a tidy box that fits our school system well. My interview of Sylvia Martinez was very enlightening and hammered home that very point. While I have watched her speak before, I began to fall into the trap of asking wrong the questions when looking at educational games on the ITouch and IPhone. How can we grade out educational games properly for these devices when they don't always seem to fit neatly into a curricular area?

And according to some recent studies, it turns out that playing video games not only stimulates those synapses, but might actually make you a sharper thinker after all. - Yahoo

Information and studies like this is interesting but it most likely will never make an impact on our school systems as they are configured today. Our school systems are founded on "curricular" areas and not solely on stimulating the brain. If educational games do not fit our system, does that mean we shouldn't use them? If we should use them, how can we overcome this obstacle?

Yahoo finally says, "Plus, you know, it's just a better game. And it doesn't take a big brain to figure that out."

The educational game has to be very "fun" or it just won't make an impact on the student. Sylvia Martinez talked a lot about this aspect and I think we all need to listen closely.

- Crossposted at IEAR.org

Friday
03Jul

Is this asking too much of ISTE?

The vast majority of the reviews from NECC 2009 refer to the "conversations" as the most important aspect of their conference (Check out this spreadsheet to read more about NECC 2009).  I tend to think this is very true for those truly embedded in their personal learning networks and the vast majority of the veterans to NECC (next year it is simply ISTE).  Yes, I am sure that statement would also be true for many who attended NECC that are not involved in the "conversation" digitally, but their voices are not as loud in my opinion.  I am not saying their voices are not as important so please note that distinction!  Based upon the idea that the "conversation" is the most important aspect, I propose a new "metaphorical" floor plan for NECC 2010 (I mean ISTE 2010).

  1. The Blogger's Cafe should be reformed into what it really is, a "conversation" hub. The Illinois Computer Education conference recognized this change over a year ago and has moved in that direction.  Everything else should break off of the "conversation".
  2. I think the poster sessions should be divided up into sections that are based on the conference themes.  Poster sessions are great but they can be very "messy" as far as getting their message out and this can help alleviate a lot of that confusion.
  3. Isn't the conference really about teaching our kids and improving our practice?  Modeling classroom activities and classroom environments should be a central focus so we need to have this centrally located as well.  I highly suggest people to take a look at the thoughts of David Jakes and Ryan Bretag on Multi-Dimensional Learning Spaces and make this its own entity in the conference.  I just don't see enough emphasis at the conference on how to really coordinate online learning and do it well.
  4. Put the NETS Standards right up front and make them bold.  Personally I think ISTE made a huge mistake with putting the student's standards out first and the administrator's standards last.  This should have been flip-flopped in my opinion.  True change in my opinion will never happen until our educational leaders embed themselves.  I no longer believe that our leaders can be appreciative of technology.  There decision making continues to be off regardless of their appreciation or not as they never quite "get it". 
  5. Create like-minded sessions right up front and get people working together like the "Birds of a Feather" type activities.  Presentations are no longer as effective as they once were because they too often don't take the audiences experience into account.  We need to combine the audience and the presenters much more cohesively and build upon all of our expertise.  
  6. I think we need an area completely dedicated to Digital Citizenship (Internet Safety Issues but proactive!).
  7. Traditional sessions are still important but they need to have some refinement.  Their needs to be an evaluation system or commenting ability by participants after a session like a YouTube video.  We need to help direct the best sessions out of the conference to the rest of the education world!
  8. ISTE should change the T in its name to "Transform" as Dr. Don Knezek mentioned to a group I was working with at the conference.  Too many people think this conference is about TECHNOLOGY and that simply needs to get fixed!
  9. Finally, I think there should be an IPhone App (Blackberry as well) that can replace the NECC Program Guide.  This is a conference that should have people looking ahead and constantly working to add innovation. Video was this year's innovation for sure and it was done very well! (Self-serving plug - please check out http://www.iear.org and its community associated with it at ieducationappsreview.ning.com)
  10. Thanks ISTE for taking my advice (whether they know it or not) by adding the debate.  There should be more debate and perhaps we should even add a section to this "Metaphorical" new floor plan for NECC 2010.  We need to practice and hone our argument to make a more cohesive message.

Is this asking too much of ISTE?

Monday
22Jun

Do you have a responsibility at NECC?

Yes, I am preparing for NECC, just as so many others at this time of year. While I have the opportunity to attend a lot of local conferences and several abroad while I was teaching overseas, I must admit that this is only my 2nd NECC conference. The cost has always been to high in respect to time and money. Well, I was recently asked, "Is the conference worth the cost?". While I immediately answered yes as I wanted to justify the money and time being spent, I began to think about something else beyond that initial defensiveness.

What are my responsibilities for having the privilege of attending NECC?

I wrote a post last year after attending NECC that irritated some of my colleagues because they thought I was calling them out personally. Well, maybe I was and still am... I want to know if you think people have a responsibility when they attend NECC. What is the responsibility of the "Newbie"? What is the responsibility of the "Seasoned Veteran"? What are the responsibilities of the most well known of our niche the "Edublogosphere"?

Here is what I see as my responsibilities this year:

  1. Bring back as much specific knowledge for how classroom teachers can embrace technology in their classroom with specific curricular examples as possible.
  2. Expand my "Personal Learning Network" by embracing as many professional relationships as possible.
  3. Explore new strategies for approaching resistant educators and solidify my "Elevator Speech" and "Board of Education Messages".
  4. Form foundations of collaboration for our district staff and myself.
  5. Take my own advice and seek out a minimum of 10 attendees that I can "read" as complete newbies and start a conversation with them.
  6. Seek out conversations with those that can help me hone my communication and persuasive skills so I can become a "Prophet in my own Backyard".
  7. Balance attending presentations from those I already know and embrace conversations with those who are not embedded in the "Walled Garden" of believers.

Basically, I think it all comes back to setting some achievable goals and taking on some responsibility for attending NECC. I just hope many of us don't just isolate ourselves in a cocoon of the like minded! Break free and embrace some disagreement if you get a chance...

Basically, if you are "lucky" enough to have the time and money to attend NECC, do you have any responsibility because of that privilege? I want to know, what is your responsibility?

Monday
15Jun

Collaborative "Online" Tools w/ Providence Catholic High School

Monday
08Jun

Are you a prophet in your own backyard?

While, I really enjoy blogging for Techlearning.com, I tend to wonder if I am just continuing to preach to the choir sometimes. As the school year winds down, I am in the process of reflecting upon my work this past year and planning for next year. I am pretty happy with my work overall, but I am also very aware of my need to think "differently" in many ways. Perhaps I need a whole new sermon.

While I know that I am making a very positive impact on our students, faculty and community, I also know that my impact is limited in many regards because there are just too many other factors and hurdles to overcome that are way beyond my control. To blatantly keep this blog theme going, I can only take care of my own congregation so to speak...

I look at writing for Techlearning.com and my own blog as a component of my "official" job. As a tech facilitator, my responsibility is to help our teachers and students utilize technology better and more efficiently as an educational tool. I believe it is my responsiblity to help our distict get a better return on our "tech-investment". Perhaps I am saying that it is my responsibility to lead my flock to the promise land. (*** feel free to groan because of the theme as needed but don't give up on me now...)

Listen, I know I am already part of the tech education choir so I want to know more about ways that I can evangelize the non-believers? My passion for impacting and changing education can be overwhelming for some and over the top for others. One has to be very careful as it is a fine line between preaching and leading sometimes. Yes, I know it is about asking good "questions". I know it is about "modeling". I know... but ... well ... maybe I don't know...

While I go to conference after conference and read post after post from the most amazing educators, I tend to wonder how much impact people really have in their own backyards. Are they sometimes overemphasizing their impact or evangelizing their message a little too much? Isn't it easy to preach to the choir? Isn't it easy to have your followers agree with your message? How easy is it to make change in your own backyard?

This leads me to my burning question that I have for all of you who are part of the tech education choir, "Are you a prophet in your own backyard?". How have you approached change in your district? What is your basic sermon for your flock? How have you gone about evangelizing the non-believers? What has been most successful for you? Is it the elevator speech? Is it modeling? Is it asking great questions?

Wait a minute...

Is there something else? Maybe it is me and I need to think differently as I first mentioned... Maybe my message ... or our message is being lost because of how we think. Maybe we need to come down from our pulpits and rethink our sermon? Maybe the "religious" and "preaching" metaphor only go so far... Maybe... just maybe ... I am the non-believer... One again, I ask you, "Are you a prophet in your own backyard?"

by Scott Meech (Crossposted at SMeech.net)