Bud the Teacher

Connected

Jennifer Jones tweeted a link to this video this morning, and I think it's a fine example of what a connected organization, in this case Abilene Christian University, and connected teaching and learning,  can look like. 

We're getting to a stage in the learning game where we should be thinking about ways to help students create connections to each other and to their learning.  Handing students and teacher a device that connects students and serves as a platform for the teaching and learning in a system just makes sense, even though it's not always a socially or culturally or politically accepted idea.  That needs to change.  Soon.  I feel like the political climate for 1:1 (or even 1:3, or 1:10) continues to improve - but we're still in a transitional place between analog and digital instruction. 
    I can't say that the iPhone is THE device - I couldn't imagine writing anything of substance on the iPhone or any other tool without a reasonable keyboard - but I understand why they featured it, as I do think it's a game-changer, in terms of its functionality and ease of use.  Of course, there are plenty of other game-changers coming to the table at the moment.

The Podcast: 2 Conferences and a Monster

   

Today's podcast, one of several recorded today, is a reflection about my upcoming session for Learning 2.0: A Colorado Conversation, recorded on my way home from the Colorado Podcast Summit.  I hope to post more audio from the summit as time allows.  (But, since time won't ever allow, I'll try to do so anyway.)

Save the Date

  Save the Date 
  Originally uploaded by Bud the Teacher

It IS About the Tools, Sometimes

    I've been reading lots of folks lately writing to the effect that this whole read/write web world is not about the tools, it's about how we use them.  I agree with that notion.  Mostly.
    In some of the conversations I've been having recently, I've been arguing that, at least at some level, the focus should be on the tools, for a couple of reasons.  One, we need to have a handle on what the tools can do so that we can apply them to our particular teaching and learning situations.  If I don't know how to publish to the web (or that it's completely safe for students to do so), then I can't consider it as a possibility in my classes.   Further, if I don't know that most wikis won't allow for same-time multiple edits/editors, then I won't realize (until it's too late) that having everyone edit the same piece of text in class is just won't work. 

  The second reason is a little trickier, but was really brought home to me this week as I was involved in some training on a web-based gradebook. 
    This particular tool, the one that our district provides to teachers as an electronic gradebook, appears to require a letter grade as an output.  What I mean is that, as it's currently configured, the only possible output for a student grade is a percentage tied to a letter.  While we could tinker with what percentages resulted in what letter, that was all the tinkering that we could do.  So this particular tool (certainly, not a read/write tool, but a technology tool nonetheless) only allows for a particular type of output.  Not using letter grades is not an option with this tool.  (I know - I've really, really stated that - but I think it's very important.)

    While I'm not going to make a case right now for eliminating letter grades, I want to point out that, if my school system decided tomorrow to eliminate letter grading, we couldn't.  Our computer system would not "allow" it. 
  Currently, many of our middle schools have assessment systems that are standards based and don't involve letter grades.  The software that creates those is aging and might not be compatible with the new system.  See the potential for a problem?

    I'll end this post for fear of beginning to lose my point, which is this:  Sometimes, it is about the tools, and about how those tools shape what is and is not "possible" in particular situations.  The tools and their use (or misuse) can completely drive a classroom or management scenario.   Pretending that it is never about the tools, and is only about the pedagogy or philosophy, is shortsighted and ultimately problematic. 

The Podcast: Late June Braindump

    In this podcast, recorded on my way to the second day of the 21st Century Learning Navigator's Conference, I discuss my thoughts on day one of the event, as well as an update on one of the challenges of my new job and some of my other work and travels this month.  Oh -- Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point gets mentioned, too, as well as a congratulatory message to Ben Wilkoff, a totally wired teacher. 

One Thing That Keeps Worrying Me

    I guess what concerns me the most about trying to fix all the not-working-so-well things about schools  is not that I fear we cannot fix them. 
    It's that we can, but we aren't, or won't.