Future of Education

Exemplary Answers

Toby Fischer — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:58:22 +0000

On October 19th I ran a professional development session showing exemplars of 21st Century Learning. Most exemplars of 21st century lessons are going to have a technology component to them. In order to field questions about the lessons and technologies, I had participants text me questions using poll everywhere. Here are the questions I didn’t get to answer during the session and my answers to them:

What would b easier 2 manage – a wiki or moodle?

It depends on your goal. Moodle is a course management system. It does a lot more then a wiki can. A wiki is a website that is easily edited by many users. My suggestion is to discuss this question with an Integration Coach.

Could we see rubrics from teachers in the district?

We will be working on gathering and creating rubrics this year. The goal is to share them out with staff once they are gathered.

How time consuming is having a moodle with ur students? How do u manage?

If you manage it effectively, it will take you no more time that you are currently spending assessing your students. Anytime you do something new to accomplish a curricular goal, you should let something go. When you start using Moodle begin small. Ex. Replace a traditional formative open ended short answer writing with a forum in Moodle. You now have a rich discussion instead of an individual writing what they think the teacher wants to hear.

Have you seen teachers use this in class?

I have used every one of these items in class myself and endorse them all as powerful tools for student learning.

do u need to download voice thread? Could u share how to add it to Moodle?

Voicethread is a web based tool, No download is needed. I do not have a quick tutorial on how to embed Voicethread in Moodle. I will look for one.

do u think having the kids maintain a wiki with newsletter info would work?

That is a great idea for how to use a wiki!

pros / cons of using a wiki within moodle?

Pro: Inside moodle with all of your other course assignments, easy to manage groups of students and permissions.

Cons: Not as graphically pleasing as pbworks or wikispaces, only visable to students in your class (this could be a pro depending on the purpose)

can you use moodle for peer editing?

You sure can, here is an example of how one teacher used it for peer evaluation. Contact a coach and we can show you how to use it for peer editing.

can you show me how to have my students text me questions?

The website is polleverywhere.com. I would be more than happy to give a quick overview of how to use it.

My question to leave this post, based upon this event, do cell phones have a place in school?

Today is Going to be a Great Day.

Toby Fischer — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:26:26 +0000

I started my day off like most; shower, coffee, in the car for my 30 minute drive… Then the juices started flowing. I had a new thought. A potential solution to a dilemma I was faced with last week. Then, I hit a traffic jam that I knew was going to cause me to be a little late. Usually I start griping and looking for people to pass, not today. Today I pulled out my iPhone, opened the voice recorder app and started talking. The ideas were coming out faster than the rain of the day was coming down.

Then…

It hit me. I control this everyday. I don’t control everyone else. I control me. This is such a simple concept. Why don’t we all see it? In education there is so much to get overwhelmed with. Last week I sat at meeting and everything that came up boiled my blood a bit. Many of these decisions just didn’t make sense to me.

What I thought about today was, this is reality. How to I affect this reality positively? If I join the gripers, I just become part of the problem. I stop progress. As a leader in the area of 21century skills, it would be hypocritical for me to impede progress.

I’m not saying I am going to stop working for what I believe in. I am going to change how I frame things in my mind. If this is reality, what can I do to this reality to make it a positive one? I am going to make every day a great one!

Why Can’t All Classrooms Look Like This?

Toby Fischer — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 03:07:20 +0000

I am in Chicago attending the Partnership for 21st Century Skills Professional Development Affiliates event. We were given the assignment tonight to watch this video. My questions to all of you are: why can’t all classrooms look like this? What can we do to shift our schools to this 21st century model of teaching?

Anyone who questions 21st century skills needs to see this clip. Collaboration, communication, critical thinking, problem solving, self-direction…All while learning content at a deeper level than most classrooms.

Can this Video get Teachers Started?

Toby Fischer — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 02:52:12 +0000

I always start professional development sessions with a video clip if I can find a good one that fits. I just saw this one and am wondering how teachers would react to it. What do you think?

Should Schools be Equal?

Toby Fischer — Thu, 07 May 2009 19:38:50 +0000

I have a question. Should all students have the option of getting an equal education? (Equal does not mean the same). Does anyone really need to think about this? If so, what is there to think about?
The 6th largest district in the state of Ohio, nearly 21,000 K-12 students, failed another levy this week. Attached to that failure is the loss of teachers, athletics, high school busing, band, theater, all after school activities. For some students they lost the reason they come to school in the first place. Some can claim the failure was due to the economy. I don’t because two-thirds of the levies in central Ohio passed the same day. I put part of the blame on sections of the community not putting a value on a quality education for the students who live in the neighboring homes. The big question is, do those people have the right to choose the quality of education our children will receive?
I put the majority of the blame on a broken system. A system that give individuals who feel little or no tie to the local schools the ability to choose the fate of its students. All students deserve a quality education. Not just the ones coming from a community that backs it schools because they know the value of a quality education. While a high school teacher in Southwestern City teaches 155 students a day, teachers in neighboring districts will teach 120, 100 and even some as low as 80.
So, what is the solution? We need to stop relying on property taxes to fund schools. There needs to be a solution in which a set dollar amount is guaranteed to be spent on every student in the state. This amount needs to figure in reasonable loads for teachers based upon university research on class sizes. It needs to include technology. In the 21st century, technology should be ubiquitous in our schools. In Southwestern it is just old and dusty (Some labs have 10 year old computers). This money should include choices for our students. High schools should look more like colleges because of the vast experiences that are offered.
I know life is not fair, but should we be teaching that lesson to our youth through an unfair education system? Only a voice as loud as thousands can make a change to this reality.

I Don’t have Time for That

Toby Fischer — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 20:03:33 +0000

About a week ago I asked my PLN on Twitter, “When a teacher says ‘I don’t have time for that’ do they mean, I don’t know how & I’m not willing to take the time to learn.” I will start by saying this is not my opinion, I was trying to start a discussion.

There was a great amount of wisdom in the responses.

@futureofedu It might just mean “I’m scared to try that!” from @kellyhines

I agree, many want to jump in, they are just scared of the water. In my district, there is me and the others in our educational technology department there to be their life jackets. Still, not all people are jumpping in.

@futureofedu means teacher doesn’t know how said thing fits w/curriculum therefore said thing is perceived as added on to curriculum. from @nancydevine

We must stress that it isn’t one more thing. When we talk about embedding technology and 21st century skills, it happens with the teaching of content, not separately.

@futureofedu Probably more like: “I’m being pulled in too many directions with stuff I already know to take on something else.” from @nlowell

@futureofedu Yes and no-My current workload exceeds my contractual liability.Should I feel pressured into even more with no allowance – no? from @sdisbury

@zemote @futureofedu re: teachers/time – I don’t even have time to do the things I know how to do and I desperately want to do. from @teacherc

Dear adminstrtors, please make time in your teachers schedule for them to learn and grow. Hire people in your district that can support this professional learning.

Dear Politician, Find a way for the above statement to be financially feasible for ALL schools.

Teachers need to shift their practices to embed 21st century skills and technology. This should not be an option. The problem is the lack of understanding and funding for this shift to happen at the speed it should be. The question I am left to ponder, what do we do to change this?

21st Century Schools Suggested by my Tweeps

Toby Fischer — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 01:26:30 +0000

A month or so ago our board of eduction asked me and my colleague’s to find some of the best schools in the country. The purpose was for us to visit the best and learn from them. I threw the question out to my twitter friends and here where the replies I received.

arvind@futureofedu 21st century school: Science Leadership Academy

jonbecker@futureofedu have you seen/read about High Tech High?

jonbecker@futureofedu they started in SD and have spread their wings: http://is.gd/kYrR

brueckj23@futureofedu Follow teacher @ this school on Plurk. Seem 2 b right there when it comes 2 things you are looking 4. http://bit.ly/CEaZq

Franki22@futureofedu I would say Center For Inquiry in SC is a model school–not sure what they do but questions and student thinking is key there

Here a few others I have found in my own searches:

Walter Payton HS (Illinois)

South Park Elementary

I’ll post more in the upcoming weeks as I continue my research. I hope to get a chance to visit the Science Learning Academy next year during the Educon conference.

It looks like the winner of this list for my travels will be High Tech High in San Diego. I am looking forward to the opportunity to go out there and see what they are doing. Hopefully we can go out there learn a few lessons and make our district one everyone wants to see in the future.

My First uStream–Social Media

Toby Fischer — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:53:18 +0000

On Thursday February 19th, the Future of Education channel on uStream will have its first broadcast at 8:05 AM EST. This is a very exciting event for me. If you are not familiar with uStream, my experience so far has been great. Amazing how easy it is to setup and get running.

Thursdays broadcast will feature Billy Fischer of b & a, a 21st century advertising firm. The idea behind how the company is run is very interesting. Check out this article from the Columbus Dispatch to see for yourself.

Billy will talk:

I. about myself
II. about b&a
III. about the work we do and how we do it
IV. about how we are using social media for ourselves and our clients
V. about his recommendations to students as they move towards college and developing their own personal brand using social media

If you are free, come learn with us. If you cannot attend, I will try and have the video uploaded to this site at some point this week.

We Need More Admins Like This

Toby Fischer — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 17:22:01 +0000

I just came across this interview with David Sherman, the principal of South Park Elementary School in Deerfield, Illinois. I’m sure he gets plenty of cracks about “South Park”. One statement he made stood out to me;

…I believe that I must model the use of Web 2.0 tools for the staff and parents. I feel that it is my responsibility to keep learning about these tools, which I do mostly through RSS feeds. I am confident that the teachers now know enough about Web 2.0 tools to start using them, so I am starting to “push” a little harder at the individual teacher level whenever the time is right. I spend a lot of time talking with teachers about ways to incorporate these tools into their teaching. Often, these discussion come from my classroom visits and teacher observations.

I don’t expect all administrators to as tech savvy as David Sherman, or others such as Chris Lehmann. What I would like to see is all administrators to have a basic understanding of technology, specifically web 2.0. I want them to understand the role technology plays in an effective 21st century school. I want them to be able to employ these technologies to increase student achievement in their district/building . When I say administrators, I mean superintendents, principals, directors and any other personnel in a position of leadership.

Once the administrators take on this role as a technology user, then more teachers in their district will take steps to do the same. At that point we will be able to push the way David Sherman is. Getting his teachers to a new level. If the teachers are moving to a new level, just think about the places they must be taking their students. I hope I can play a role in helping my district reach these new levels.

eTech09 Reflection Part 1

Toby Fischer — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 02:12:02 +0000

I am very fortunate to have one of the largest technology conferences in the US only 15 minutes from my front door. The unfortunate part is the lack of technology available at this conference. We have some of the best minds in the country keynote every year. This year Wes Fryer was the opening keynote speaker. He brought a great message of bringing change into the educational world. With thousands of educators in the audience he tweeted a message that he was going to have a back channel open using chazzy. As the introductions were made, he chatted with those of use that were in the chat room. WOW, chatting with the keynote speaker 2 minutes before he walked on stage, this is cool use of technology. This could have been a powerful conversation, but!

There is no wireless Internet at this conference. Ok, there is a coffee shop with one small hotspot. The only people in this conversation were those of us with smart phones (as if I needed a reason to love my iPhone, it gave me another). What about all the people in the audience who could have benefited from the conversation?

So what does this mean? Every negative has a lesson. The lessons I learned are:
•    Make sure you have the connectivity to support your audience. In schools, the wires, servers and other network hardware are more important than the computers. Feed your funds into the backbone of your network!
•    It is productive to have a digital background conversation during a lecture. I was engaged in the lecture (which is what a keynote really is). Our students can text, chat, IM during class and be productive. There need to be rules and guidelines though. I need to ponder this one a bit more.
•    Even the tech people evolve. A year ago I would have never said “let them use their cell phones I class.” This showed me as a learner how it can be done productively.

Those are lessons I have the ability to affect. One lesson I can’t affect is regarding eTech Ohio. I’ve been told for years about the dysfunction of eTech. This conference displays the dysfunction. Hopefully new leadership in the state of Ohio will bring new life to the governing body of technology in the state.