Conference Presentations on Slideshare
Several presenters made their slides available on Slideshare, and a few are even Slidecasts (slides+podcast). Click the link to view the slides.
Shelley Rodrigo – RSS in Teaching & Learning
Biray Alsac – Twitter And Other Mobilizing Tools For Teaching And Learning
Biray Alsac – Utterz Pod
Alan Levine – Being There…@ Maricopa
Alisa Cooper – Building Community with Ning
Alisa Cooper – GrandCentral: One Number for Life
50 Web 2.0 Ways to Tell a Story
Presented by Alan Levine (Vice President, New Media Consortium Community and CTO)
Resource Site: http://cogdogroo.wikispaces.com/50+Ways
Being There… in that Unevenly Distributed Future
Video of Alan Levine’s presentation at the conference. The video starts early showing Alan getting his presentation ready. Just fast forward to the good part.
Luncheon Presentation: Julie Evans, CEO NetDay/Project Tomorrow
Luncheon Presentation: Julie Evans, CEO NetDay/Project Tomorrow “Listening to the Voices of Tomorrow’s Students: K-12 Students Speak up about Education and Technology”
We should be preparing teachers for the students of tomorrow, but why should we? Because today’s students are our future. We must listen to them to understand how to create a path to the future. For Evans’ research she surveyed students, teachers, administrators on schools usage of technology, efficiency, etc.
Every participating school has access to data on future trends, and technology, and THOUSANDS of schools nationwide have participated in the New Day survey. Technology has changed the way teachers deliver content, how info is expected to be given back, and how the students interact with future.
The data Evans shared was for National, and specifically, in Arizona.
The researchers asked district administrators “What is driving your schools?” The responses included:
a) Funding! Funding! funding! There is not enough funding in our schools to utilize all of the technologies desired
b) Test scores and No Child Left Behind
c) Increasingly parents are more involved in k-12 education then ever before
d) Teachers: the retainment of high quality teachers
e) Safety
Samplings are shaking up the way information is delivered. Currently the data is standards based, a role of education where the stakeholders are the administrators not us. We need to expect success for all and remember there are different types of learners.
Today’s students are born post 1982. This is the 1st generation ever to have better educated moms than dads. 34% DECREASE in unstructured playtime – kids looking for structured playtime, carry overs into school and work time, are USE TO being told how things are to be done.
These kids fall into various categories that include:
- special – high self esteem
- sheltered -expect to be protected
- confident – will fix the world
- team oriented – group projects and collaborations are the “norm”
- conventional
- pressured – always working on multiple things, multi-tasking
- achieving – reaching higher then ever
In a recent poll of high school students, researchers working with Evans found that:
- 85% say their generation will PROVIDE the next Bill Gates
- 67% say they KNOW the next Bill Gates
- 27% say they ARE the next Bill Gates
One of the main reasons found that students today feel this way is that they collaboratively learn “anytime, anyplace, anywhere, any pace” through structured activities and more importantly when they know the relevancy with real world. “How will this effect me?” is one of the most common questions asked by students today.
360, 000 student, parents, teachers, admins nationally were surveyed over the course of this research. The survey asked about learning and teaching with technology, web 2.0 and 3.0, 21st century skills, science instruction and global competitiveness, and emerging technology: mobile device, gaming, on line learning, and designing the 21st century class.
Evans also found that in todays current society, “Digital Disconnect” is alive and well. Digital Disconnect is the ever growing gap between todays students learning and living. And boy it is growing; between students and teachers, advanced tech and others, between boys and girls; between older and younger students, the gap has never been larger.
For our students, Internet connectivity and availability has skyrocketed, especially in the classroom setting. In 1994, 1% of US classrooms were “hooked up” to the internet. In 2002, 90% had connectivity, and today in 2008, it is speculated that almost 99% of US classrooms have Internet capabilities.
Existing students have little impact on tech in future classes, and must turn to young student (3rd graders, etc) to find out about how we will be teaching in future./p>
Evans asked “how do you assess you’re own tech usage?” to the group.
~1 or 2 novices raised hand
~10 “average” with technologies
~100 “advanced” w/ tech
However, when she posed same question to students, many students claimed only an “average” tech usage ability. Todays students are involved in robotics, internet and console gaming, cell phones, etc. While they may be Advanced Users to teachers, parents, adults, etc, they claim to only be “Ok” or “Mediocre”. What they do on a daily basis that is “advanced” to some is merely “normal” to them.
Moving along into the technologies found in todays students pockets, Evans discovered most are being used for gaming, downloading of music, communications, personal websites. Arizona students, following the national trend, are most often found using the tech for music downloading. There is no, and has never been, gender bias (that can be found in recent research) in the downloading of music, and, followed by “gaming” (ether on-line, via console, hand-held’s) no bias found in students 6th grade and under.
Communication also account for a large chunk of technology usage. However, according to conversations Evans had with students, email has fallen the way of a transportation device only (’emailing is just for grandparents’). Students have begun using email to send a file to themselves, while relying on instant messenger’s and other instant communication protocols for actual talking and information sharing. Personal website (Myspace, Facebook, etc.) usage and maintenance has also decreased recently, with only 41% students in 6-8 grades having a current one, while 64% of students 9-12 grade do. Truly “Advanced tech” kids normally DON”T have one.
Top 5 Usage’s of Tech:
1. writing assignments
2. On-line research
3. checking assignments/grades
4. creation of slide shoes, videos, web pages
5. email/i.m. classmates about assignments
How satisfied are students with tech at school?
1. filters and firewalls block sites needed
2. teachers limit our tech used
3. school rules against tech use – cost associated w/ tech, kids know costs but time to use
4. Rules prohibiting email and I.M. use – “ludicrous” to no allow access to Email
5. Internet access is too slow – too slow or not available
What can schools do?
1. let me use own tools (smartphones, laptops, etc)
2. Give me unlimited access (students often bring OWN network)
3. Let me access projects anywhere
4. Provide with communications tools
5. Give me access to the school network – even from home
Students want own the schools to provide communications (accessible E-mail address, Instant Messenger, etc) if they are not allowed to use their own. Most prevalent emerging technology found in classrooms include mobile devices such as cellphones, laptops, multimedia players, smartphones, and PDA. The proliferations of tech is staggering. Students from kindergarten to 12th grade have full access to all of those devices. Next time the poll is sent out, they will include PDA’s/Smartphones on the Kindergarten to third graders list.
How are mobile devices working in school’s?
- Communications – email teachers, classmates, access personal websites “let me use computer in my pocket”
- Collaborations- projects and calendars. “Get togethers at friends house’s” no longer
- work well for todays students. It’s all done on line, so teachers have got to ADAPT ADAPT ADAPT
- Creativity and Productivity – create share docs, research, downloads, ed games
Students use business culture words such as “productivity,” “efficiency,”and “collaborations” when referencing technology in conjunction with homework assignments.
Today’s students WANT to take on line classes. Middle school aged kids (3-12) want to take classes on-line because it helps them learn about subjects, and get extra help. High school aged students want on-line classes to get the ability to take a class not offered in person, work at own pace, get extra help, fit their busy schedule, and receive college credit. The number one on-line subject taken by students of all ages is MATH.
64% of students actively “game” on all different devices, ranging from cell phones, computer games, console players such as X-box, Playstation, Wii) , hand-held (Game Boy, PSP), web based single player games, and Massive Multi-player On-line Role Playing Games (MMORPG).
Is your school doing a good job about preparing for future jobs?
Principles and Administrators resoundingly say “Yes!” (60+%) while Advanced tech using students and parents say “NO!” AZ students says that the #1 tool that would impact their learning would be:“Give me a laptop for my personal use at school and home!”
When asked “Is school interesting?” and “Do I feel safe?,” almost 50% of elementary school kids “Yes, it is interesting.” Interestingly enough, 34% of high school aged students say. Elementary school kids also feel more positive about school in general than high school students do. Some trends to watch out for are the over-generalization of technology-using students. “All students have Internet access,” “all students will know [given process] already,” are pitfalls teachers need to be wary of. Students also are prone to bringing multiple computers to school (be them cellphones, laptops, or MP3 players).
Kids are also more adaptive than ever before; they can absorb the technologies quickly. They also want to know the RELEVANCY of what they are being taught! How does it affect them? What does it have to do with their tech-prone lives?
The #1 trend amongst students found nationally is the “Free Agent Learner.” This is a student who feels that they don’t need teachers. They don’t need instruction. All the information in the world is available to them through the use of technology at their fingertips. How do we reach these students? How are we able to get through to them? These are the students that we are going to be teaching too and will be increasingly prevalent in our classrooms.
More information can be found www.tomorrow.org
Live Blogging: Michael Wesch, Steps Toward: Digital Media Literacy for Teachers
Live Blog: Using Web 2.0 Tools to Harness Collective Intelligence & Build Community Among Students
Live Blog: Video Game Night in the Academic Library
Attend Virtually
So you couldn’t make it to the Maricopa Community College District’s 2008 Teaching & Learning with Technology Conference…that’s ok, attend virtually. The key place to track us virtually is here at http://maricopatech.org/. All of the live blogging, and other live events, will be posted in individual blog entries there.
You can also follow us and add your own comments in:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaricopaTech
- Utterz: http://www.utterz.com/~t-maricopatech/list.php
- Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/groups/maricopatech/
- YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/maricopatech (these may not be up until after the conference)
If you are feeling very brave, join our text messaging listserv by texting “MTECH” to 41411.
We also have two social networking sites set up:
- Ning: http://www.classroom20.com/group/maricopatech
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=12758986589
Whereas these may not be happening the day of the conference, let’s get them moving afterwards. Virtual attendees can help by joining and posting questions that you would like live attendees to respond to.
Similarly we have a Wetpaint Wiki started as well. Join the party by adding your own information at: http://maricopatech.wetpaint.com/
Finally, you may want to track pages attendees bookmark at:
Live Blog: Keynote Speaker: Dr. Michael Wesch -Human Futures for Technology and Education
Share Your Photos from the Conference with MaricopaTech
If you like taking pictures and do so wherever you happen to be, then you’ll love Flickr. Most people are already familiar with Flickr. Flickr allows for you to upload your photos and archive them. But Flickr’s best feature is its sharing abilities. Why take pictures and not share? So we have the options of making our personal photos public or private. If they are public, then the whole world can see them. And if you have a select group of people that you think might be interested in your photos, you can create a group in Flickr.
MaricopaTech has a photo group on Flickr, and we would like for you to join our group and share your photos. Share photos from the conference on Tuesday or any photos taken throughout the district that represent Maricopa using technology. We want to see them all. And we you to see our photos.
To join our group, log into your Flickr account.
- Click on the Groups tab.
- Scroll down to Search for a Group.
- Click on the group (MaricopaTech) from the results.
- Join by clicking the Join this group link in the upper right hand corner.
Once you upload photos to your account, just add the photos individually to the MaricopaTech group. You’ll find the link right above the photo you want to add.
