Two Great New Developments at Two of My Favorite Tools

The folks at Google have responded to external pressure or internal drive and added some key features to Google Docs and Spreadsheets. For a more complete review, check out the write up at the Official Docs and Spreadsheets Blog. My favorite features are that folders have now been introduced. I wasn't a big fan of the tags feature, especially when trying to show teachers and students this as an option. I also like the new visual appearance of the site--much more aesthetically pleasing than the old version, which had some DOS feeling to it.

What's missing for me is the inclusion of the chat function from Spreadsheets in Docs. Admittedly, I use Docs much more than I use Spreadsheets, so that feature is lost on me. I was really hoping to see it migrate to Documents.

Also, PBWiki has just leaped ahead in the race to capture K-12 audiences in my book with their partnership (I think) with YackPack. This allows users of the space to collaborate and converse at the same time using the same interface. They have also pulled in a spreadsheet application and the ability to plan and organize an event, plus sell tickets! I haven't explored these yet, but I plan on doing so prior to my summer wiki workshops. This would be beneficial, perhaps to something like Clay's Global Chilling Project.

My NECC Strategy

Being that I am on the outside looking in, I've tried a few approaches:

• I took all of the tags that were associated with NECC proper (NECC07, NECC2007) and did a Google Blog Search for them, then I subscribed to the feed for that search.
• Next, I did the same for Technorati

Note: This has caused a fair amount of double-dipping, but at least I am getting some good intel.

• I also took a gander at Steve Hargadon's blog where he labeled each of the sessions with specific tags. Any session that I would have attended I grabbed the tag and did a Google Blog Search and aggregated it as well.
  

What this has given me is a general picture of what has been occurring; however, the main aspect that I am lacking, or was until about three hours ago, was the conversations that were occurring. The secret there? Twitter. I have resisted for too long, but could no longer. My resistance was not due to a perceived illegitimacy, but rather due to a fear that this would pull me further into a life that I was not comfortable with just yet. The amount of time I am spending in front of my machine here has increased significantly in the last few months. My feeling was that if this was going to pull me further down that rabbit hole, it wasn't something that I thought I could do.

Watching, reading, and listening to the activity surrounding NECC this past week has convinced me that this is another tool that will have some use for me, especially in a large group collaborative session. I love how someone, I think it was Jeff, claimed that Twitter has emerged as the "backchannel" for the conference.

Using Data to Initiate Change

I know this might sound simple to some of you, but I have recently started trying to visualize some of the data that pertains to what I do here.





In a nutshell, what these pictures do for me is provide a measuring stick to judge against for next year. Also, when I really begin to analyze what I need to do for next year and plan to build consensus, these numbers tell me where to start, and who to build on.

Educational Heroes

I pulled this image from Ben Wilkoff's Academy of Discovery Wiki, and he attributes it to the folks as Science Leadership Academy, but is something I think everyone involved in education should examine.

Let's take a look at some of the words that are used to describe and "Educational Hero" in this picture:

• Provocative: the first on the list, and for good reason. What is someone in education if not provocative. By nature, information is meant to incite in us something that lay dormant or underutilized. Giving our students access to such provocation is an act that we need to do often.
• Risk-Takers: We teach our students to take compositional risks, to make cognitive leaps, and to attempt to connect several disparate ideas into one usable and coherent whole. Why should we as teachers not be doing the same? By nature, our approach should be daring, and variable based on "teachable moments."
  
• Balance-Freedom-Guidance: I like the inclusion of these words, and of "nurturing," because if nothing else, our students need to feel valuable and safe before they can take the risks that they need to. These words, these actions are what makes it easier for learners to reach from the solid ground of what they know towards that which is shaky, unknown, yet incredibly valuable.
• Humble: When I work with teachers who are trying to shift away from being the sole arbiters of information in the classroom, I always stress humility over the stress of trying to know everything. Being grounded, centered and comfortable with the idea that you do not have all the answers, and that these students can help you continue to learn, makes it all beautiful, doesn't it?
• Want to be like them: Perhaps the highest compliment anyone in education can receive. With the omnipresent stream of role models of ill-repute, being someone that learners want to be "when they grow up" is no small feat. I remember the moments that some of my past teachers did something amazing, showed us a door that we didn't know existed, and then thinking back to it years later as I was doing the same thing to a group of students. It is high praise indeed.

The Kind of Blogging that Makes you Sweat

The other day I posted about Cathy Wille, a Phys Ed teacher in our high school. She's been really pushing her professional development this year, and after a year of looking at the direction of her teaching, the curriculum, and the technology available to her, she has taken the first, and most important step: she has a blog.

The first thing I do when I tell people about blogging is to bring up a statement that I heard from Will Richardson, and I know I have echoed before: this is the best professional development available. I have learned more from blogging and interacting than I could have anywhere else. It's about access to wicked smart people whenever you need it, and I love wicked smart people.

Cathy is still feeling out what she should do with the blog site: whether it should be for driving her class or building a new platform for Physical Education and Health teachers to move to. Often times, that department of schools is the least likely to bring technology into their practices, if only because of the lack of portability in the past. A cursory blog search turns up a few hits, like PE Central, which serves more to aggregate news stories concerning developments in PE. That is essential, but can we do more for this discipline?

Is it possible to gather a slew of resources for Health and PE teachers to use if they choose to? If you have any, we could pass them on to Cathy's blog. If you can, go visit her at HyPE 2.0. I'll start:

• g-maps pedometer- mashup that allows users to plot and store their running, cycling, or walking routes on a Google Map. I use this one all of the time.
• NationMaster and it's partner-site StateMaster- provides great statistics for health units, including the always elusive STD's.

It's Coming!!

News today from the Read/Write Web about Google's latest acquisition. Soon enough, we will see the Google Office suite!

This could be a potential cost-saver for many schools and businesses, especially if the price remains free.

Reflections

We have done quite a bit this year regarding moving our teaching to another level: we've introduced the read/write web into our teacher's lexicon and their tool kits; we've shown the power of using social bookmarking; we have shown them how to aggregate feeds and bring their research and planning to a new level. But that is me talking--that is what I think we've done. Over the next few days, I am going to try to include some teacher reflections on what they have seen this year.

Note to all: I did not solicit these in the form of asking for performance reviews on my part. Nor am I posting them for any reason than utter transparency. That some of them may reference me is in no way meant for self-promotion or ego inflation.

The first one here is from Jo, who along with Erica (whose quote follows hers), worked together on Ambertangerine, a wiki used as a book discussion. She has been a mainstay at my professional development classes since last summer and has made some amazing discoveries. She brings such a great teaching style to the classroom, and technology is just one way she uses to reach the students:

This year, I believe that I have crossed the line. I used to be the teacher who used bits and pieces of technology while integrating the curriculum. This year, however, I feel confident that I can use new, advanced, and innovative technology with my students. I am able to understand that students today learn differently and deserve to be taught differently than my generation. I have been fortunate to have the support of Patrick Higgins and Erica for these endeavors. Their expertise in technology has helped me to develop an interest and willingness to further my knowledge in this area as well as to strive to integrate more technology into my lessons. I have participated in several technology courses offered by Patrick Higgins, and I plan on attending more throughout the summer. This is only the beginning...

Erica came to me this year with so many ideas to implement in her classroom, and was one of our first teachers to utilize Lecture123 effectively:

This is what she had to say about her experiences this year:

I think it is important that if you are teaching “digital natives” you must be a digital native yourself, at the very least. To be even more effective, you must be a digital pioneer, always one step ahead of the students. This year was the first year it didn’t feel like I was integrating technology in my classroom, it just was a seamless part of everyday instruction and assessment, almost completely invisible. A big part of that comes from having an ingenious technology coordinator to work with. Teachers often have great ideas, but have trouble implementing them due to lack of time or technology. However, with the support of a technology facilitator such as Mr. Higgins our dreams of technology integration became a reality greater than I could have imagined. Best of all, the students became global citizens and digital pioneers themselves.

I have noticed a lot of others in this sphere have been doing this as well, and I think it is truly important for tech coordinators to allow teachers to articulate what they are learning, just as I believe in that for students.