oncue winter09 kp kcc - cue | powerful learning archives...robert em craven, member...

C O M P U T E R - U S I N G E D U C AT O R S , I N C .

Winter 2009 | Vol. 31 | no. 4

Advancing Student Achievement Through Technology

OnTechnology in Support of DemocracyWorking for the First Blackberry president

ports program Connects students and Legislators

epals projects Engage students

students open Doors to Diplomacy

Winter 2009 onCUE www.cue.org

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CUECUE promotes and supports the effective use of technology in the educational community.

AdvertisingPaid advertising accepted in accordance with editorial policy. For ad deadlines or additional information, please contact CUE Inc., 877 Ygnacio Valley Road, Suite 104, Walnut Creek, CA 94596, 925.478.3460 <www.cue.org/advertising/oncue/>

OnCUE journal (ISSN 0739-9553) is published and bulk-mailed four times during the academic year by Computer-Using Educators, Inc., and is one of the benefits of membership. Membership for CUE is $40/year, U.S. regular rate, $30/year, U.S. student rate, and $20/year retired rate. Corporate memberships are available.

Entire contents Copyright 2009 by CUE, Inc., unless other-wise indicated. All rights reserved. To reprint articles that are copyrighted by the author, you must contact the author for permission. All other items may be reprinted for educational use, but not for sale, with the provision that proper credit is given to OnCUE and to the author, if any.

2009-2010 CUE Board of Directors

Mike Lawrence, Executive Director [email protected] Educators, Inc.877 Ygnacio Valley Road, Suite 104 Walnut Creek, CA 94596Phone 925.478.3460 | Fax 925.934.6799 | [email protected]

Brian Bridges, President [email protected]

Micheline LeBlanc Vice President/Treasurer [email protected]

Kurt Larsen, Ed.D., Secretary [email protected]

Sharon Sutton, Ed.D. Member at [email protected]

Debra White, Member at [email protected]

Jerome Burg, [email protected]

Robert EM Craven, Member [email protected]

Cameron McCune, Ed.D. [email protected]

Joyce Miller, [email protected]

mission

ContentsW i n t E r 2 0 0 9

Editor Layout Sara Armstrong, Ph.D. Kesler [email protected] [email protected]

Contributing Writers Barbara Bray, Brian Bridges, John Cradler, Kelley Day, Tim Landeck, Linda Oaks, David Thornburg

Bits and Bytes:

New Educational Technology Plan and Emerging State Standards ................14John Cradler

Innovative Conference Launched by CUE’s Independent School SIG .............15Barbara Barreda, Dennis Grice. and Jennifer Wagner

Features:

Working for the First Blackberry President ...................................................6Linda Fiddler

Doors to Diplomacy: Youth Envisioning the Preferable Future .......................7Yvonne Marie Andrés, Ph.D.

PORTS Program Connects Students & .......................................................8Legislators in Video ConferencesHeather McCummins

ePals Projects: Engaging Students in ............................................................20 Global Democratic Discussions & Exchanges Rita Oates, Ph.D.

Departments:

Professional Development: Digital Democracy in a Global Community: ...........10 Encouraging Student Involvement in Teaching and Learning Barbara Bray

The CUE Review .......................................................................................12Kelley Day

Technology Coordinator: The Fine Line: ......................................................18 Balancing Student File Transfers with Network SecurityBob Blackney

Columns:

Upfront: The Freedom to Dream .................................................................4Mike Lawrence

The Bleeding Edge: The Changing Face of Political Discourse: ......................5From Dialogue to MonologueDavid D. Thornburg, Ph.D.

On IT with CETPA: Value Without the Price .............................................16Steve Thornton

OnCTAP: Students Make Their Voices Heard ..............................................22Marianne Pack and Burt Lo

CUE information & Forms:

CUEtoYOU ..............................................................................................19

2010 CUE Conference ............................................................................... 23

CUE Membership Application ....................................................................24

Macworld/Leadership 3.0 ........................................................................... 26

Calendar ...................................................................................................28

With thanks to Peter Reynolds for the cover illustration (<www.fablevision.com>).

West Capitol entrance, Sacramento, CA, courtesy of the PORTS Program.

T

4 U p F r o n t


the Freedom to Dream

This issue of OnCUE focuses on the many avenues that technology provides for supporting democracy. These

efforts can take on many forms in our day-to-day work. Most notably, they all serve to advance student creativity, choice, and opportunities to achieve. Three of the most powerful examples of these today are: student media, online learning, and diverse learning tools.

STUDENT MEDIA I’m proud that CUE continues to support student media as a co-producer of the California Student Media Festival in partnership with KOCE. And this year, I’m honored to be serving as director of its 44th year. We’ve got some exciting new plans,

including a move to the online submission of projects, the bet-ter integration of regional festival participants, and new special categories.

The Festival is the nation’s oldest and has, over its history, leveraged many thousands of volunteer hours to shine the spotlight on outstanding student creativity, and awarded over $100,000 to California schools.

I’d like to take this opportunity to invite all CUE members to participate. You can do this by: 1) Encouraging and supporting K-12 students to submit projects

in all curricular areas for consideration in this year’s festival. It’s FREE!

2) Serving as a judge, or hosting a judging site. One way we keep the festival free is by leveraging the expertise of educa-tors and media professionals to judge student work and select the best. Think of it as FREE professional development!

3) Attending the festival. You’re likely to get some great ideas, and—it’s FREE!

4) Supporting your regional student media festival. From the Slick Rock Festival (Central Valley), to Digicom (Palm Springs), to Digital Voice (LA), to SEVA (Sacramento), to iVIE (San Diego) and others, we are quite likely celebrating student creativity somewhere near you. And if we aren’t— start one up!

The submission process begins in February and closes on April 9, 2010. The festival itself will be held at the Huntington Beach Library on May 22, 2010. Visit <www.mediafestival.org> for more information.

As if this wasn’t enough, CUE is launching a special “Best of the Best” of student media at the first annual CUE Festival, featur-ing many winners of the regional festivals throughout California and beyond. The Festival is only $15 to attend and will kick off this year’s CUE conference on March 3, from 5:30-8:00 P.M.

ONLINE LEARNING CUE has been making great strides as a leader in online learning in the last few years. We see this technology as enabling power-ful flexibility to advance student achievement in ways we’re only beginning to understand now. And CUE wants to make sure its members are not only prepared, but leading the way. Towards that end, we’ve successfully launched a new “eLearning” SIG and were recently named the first organizational affiliate of iNACOL, the International Association for K12 Online Learning (<www.inacol.org>). From this, we’ve partnered with the Alliance for Distance Education in California (ADEC) to host their annual Online Education Summit at the CUE Conference (<www.cue.org/conference/oes/>). And to further our efforts to provide students with the flexibility to learn whenever and wherever they are, we are partnering with the K20 California Educational Technology Consortium (CETC) to produce the Online Teach-ing Conference, to be held at San Diego City College on June 16-18, 2010 (<www.otc10.org>). Visit the websites to find out more about these developments.

DIVERSE LEARNERS SYMPOSIUM CUE has long been an advocate for universal access to the curriculum provided through technologies. In addition, many CUE members have led efforts throughout the

nation to incorporate technology in customizing the curriculum for students with learning and cognitive disabilities. To highlight these and other efforts, CUE has launched a new “symposium-within-a-conference,” called the Diverse Learners Symposium, to be held in Palm Springs in conjunction with the CUE Conference. Housed at the Hilton, this symposium boasts three rooms of concurrent sessions, featured speakers, and a hands-on workshop. And since registration to the symposium is free for all registered CUE confer-ence attendees, we invite all to join us this year, March 4-6, 2010 in Palm Springs <www.cue.org/conference/dl/>! I’m proud of the leadership roles that CUE members continue to take in supporting student creativity, choice, and opportunities to achieve. Come to think of it, these ideals are not unlike the rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” found in theDeclaration of Independence. Let us hope CUE’s efforts leave a similar legacy.

By Mike [email protected]

DIVERSE

LEARNERS SYMPOSIUM

Y

www.cue.org Winter 2009 onCUE

5

the Changing Face of political Discourse:

From Dialogue to MonologueYears ago we used to say that the power of the press belonged to those who had them. Today, with the meteoric rise of

blogging, that includes just about everyone. And, for those who can’t blog, there is always cell phone messaging. Our planet has never been as connected as it is today. Over four billion people on Earth have cell phones—that works out to two out of three people alive today.

While many herald the modern communications revolution as the triumph of democratization, it has another side that we are experienc-ing today. In the past, our messages came from only a few sources: a newspaper or two, three or four television stations, and a handful of radio stations. Communications channels were scarce, and the press realized that it had an obligation to fact-check its stories, or make abun-dantly clear when it was expressing a partisan position. The role of editors was tremendously impor-tant, and we generally looked down on media that allowed nonsense to be published. The supermarket tabloids with their stories of Elvis sightings on the Moon were, generally, laughed at. When it came to getting our political news, we put our trust in a handful of reporters who could put their personal feelings aside and report the facts as they knew them. Media in those days supported dialogue.

If informational bandwidth was scarce in the past, today it is virtu-ally infinite. Anyone with access to a computer can have a blog from which they can spread their beliefs to the world at large. The scarce resource today is not bandwidth, it is attention. To gain attention, today’s informal reporters worry less about vetting their stories than screaming their lungs out to gather as wide an audience as possible. The shift from balanced information as a springboard for dialogue has morphed into extreme positioning to gather market share, and the replacement of dialogue by monologue—with a growing movement to the adoption of rigid positions from which no attention is paid to opposing points of view.

Now if this monologue was based on the factual reporting of events, that would be one thing. Today’s bloggers have made truth a casual-ty in their quest to gain an audience. An early example of this is the oft-told story in which Vice President Gore allegedly said that he

invented the Internet. In fact, he never said that—what he did say was that he was proud to be in office and to help provide the fund-ing that made the Internet possible. This, of course, is not nearly so dramatic as the Wired News reporter’s statement that Gore claimed to have invented the Internet. Now, if this story had just stayed on

the online source, that would be one thing. But, the legacy media was feeling so much competition from online sources that it picked up this lie and passed it on as the truth, sim-ply because it would attract atten-tion. From the New York Times to Letterman, the story of Gore’s sup-posed claim spread across the coun-try and the world within a day, with the legacy reputation of mainstream media lending it credence. One can, and should, blame the mainstream media for sloppiness. Heads should have rolled. But the story was good for circulation and, except for a PBS piece I wrote (along with a few other people), no one was striving to tell the accurate story.

Instead of learning a lesson from this exercise in sloppy journalism,

political discourse has gotten even worse. Instead of the press tell-ing lies to gain circulation, we now have politicians doing the same thing—slamming their opponents with pure fabrications instead of being willing to debate honest differences of opinion.

Against this backdrop of damaging noise, we are right to wonder about the skills we are teaching children when it comes to their own understanding of the news (and political process). The Jeffersonian ideal of a well-informed populace capable of thriving in a democra-cy is at risk as it has never been before. Students need to be taught how to do the jobs we once required of editors—to sort fact from fiction. We also need to teach students how to have differences of opinion without having to scream to be heard, nor having to resort to lies to gain attention.

David D. Thornburg, Ph.D., Director, Global Operations, Thornburg Center for Professional Development (<www.tcpd.org>, <www.tcpdpodcast.org>) is also Executive Director, Thornburg Center for Space Exploration (<www.tcse-k12.org>). He has been an active supporter of CUE since its inception, and is a leader in the educational technology field.

t h E B L E E D i n g E D g E

By David D. thornburg, [email protected]

The Jeffersonian ideal of a well-informed populace capable of thriving in a democracy

is at risk as it has never been before.

F E A t U r E

WorKing For thE First

BLACKBErrY prEsiDEnt

By Linda Fiddlerfi [email protected]

OOn Election Day, I received a phone call from a volunteer in California to arrange a ride for a voter in Lima, Ohio. During a three-way exchange we arranged the ride, time of pick-up,

and reinforced our message of hope. I thanked my fellow volunteer and we marveled at what was taking place. Our nation of Obama volunteers was working together within a sophisticated system of technology that linked us together as if we were sitting next to each other in one campaign offi ce.

Conference calls, voter data-bases linked to sophisticated

neighborhood volunteer lists, texting, webi-

nars, and digitized election materi-als were our tools. A state-

wide connectivity created an inter-per-

sonal communications system between an army

of staff ers and volunteers in Ohio and the nation. Th is

“new-school” approach was the fi rst time that I have witnessed technology used as a national conduit for a collective mission and message.

As volunteer coordinator, it was my job to recruit volunteers and facilitate

a positive productive experience for them. Most of my volunteers were snagged because they had wandered in looking for a yard sign. I would explain that we didn’t have any yard signs but what we did have was a need for volunteers, and that this campaign was going to be won because volunteers can talk and yard signs can’t. Th ey still wanted yard signs; I convinced them to stay and volunteer with the guarantee that they would have fi rst dibs on yard signs when they came in.

Once the volunteers were recruited, I tried to determine their technological strengths. Unless they were only knocking on doors, every other job required some interface with technology. I spent

long hours by the sides of my volunteers signing them back into data bases, fi nding appropriate virtual call lists, and remind-ing to press “Save” when they entered data. Just hours after the phone calls had been made and the data entered, the head staff in Columbus would let us know how we were doing and instantly adjust the information in our contact lists. Th is dance went on until the last phase of the election, and we had a razor focus on the voting record and support level of registered voters in each of our neighborhoods.

During the fi nal two weeks of the election, we established stag-ing locations that moved our more than 300 active volunteers to campaign offi ces in their neighborhoods. Old lube shops, union halls, and antique stores became hubs for canvassers, virtual phone banks, and GOTV (Get Out Th e Vote) activities. Th e only com-monality was that wireless was required so crucial data could be entered and retrieved. On Election Day, cell phones and Blackber-ries were abuzz as team leaders checked in every hour to report ac-tivity in their neighborhoods. Mid-day on November 4th, we sent an army of texting expert twenty-somethings to quickly record the identifi cation numbers of the people who had already voted. Th is information went directly into the database and the names of the voters were removed, leaving only those we needed to target. At 3 PM, we generated our last call and walk lists, and sent out our last wave of campaign volunteers.

Th roughout the three months that I worked on the campaign, I got to know the voices of my fellow staff ers, volunteers, and Barack Obama. He was relaxed and funny on our weekly confer-ence calls. We felt as if he was speaking to all of us individually. Sometimes when he was speaking we could hear a crowd cheer, airplane engines, or background voices. He was speaking to us from his Blackberry.

Linda Fiddler has been a teacher with the Bakersfi eld City School Dis-trict and an advocate for technology in education for almost 20 years. She earned a BA in English and a Masters in Education. She was the technology coordinator for her school site for 10 years and participated on district-wide technology committees. Linda is a board member for Kern CUE and serves on the CUE Legislative Advocacy Committee.

6


(CUE member Linda Fiddler took a leave of absence from her classroom to volunteer for the Obama presidential campaign. Th e task led her to work in the “battleground” state of Ohio as a volunteer coordinator.)

Conference calls, voter data-bases linked to sophisticated

neighborhood volunteer lists, texting, webi-

nars, and digitized

wide connectivity created an inter-per-

sonal communications system between an army

of staff ers and volunteers in Ohio and the nation. Th is

“new-school” approach was the fi rst time that I have witnessed technology used as a national conduit for a collective mission and message.

As volunteer coordinator, it was my job to recruit volunteers and facilitate

This…was the fi rst time

that I have witnessed

technology used as

a national conduit for a

collective mission

and message.

7


F E A t U r E

If you construct your vision of reality from the daily print and broadcast media information stream, you might be convinced that humanity is doomed. How can we possibly rise above the

perils of corrupt politicians and business leaders, out-of-control global warming, dying oceans, economic depression, conspiracy theories, worldwide health pandemics, and irrational terrorist threats?

Yet while many adults face these important issues with pessimism and inertia, middle school and high school students worldwide are embracing optimism and action through Doors to Diplomacy (<www.globalschoolnet.org/gsndoors/>), an educational challenge with participants in more than 70 countries.

The U.S. Department of State sponsors the annual competition to encourage youth to produce original online projects that educate others about the importance of international affairs and diplomacy. Students investigate controver-sial issues with an unbiased view, present various perspectives for diplomatic solutions, and then select the solutions that they believe to be the most viable. They work in small teams with teacher-coaches and compete for scholarships and cash awards. Judging is performed by student peers and educational professionals, with the final selections made by a team of State Department judges from the Bureau of Public Affairs. The program is co-sponsored and man-aged by the non-profit Global SchoolNet Foundation (<www.gsn.org>). A library containing thousands of student projects has been produced during the eight years that the program has been in existence, and is available free of charge as learning tools to millions of people around the globe.

Doors to Diplomacy program provides innovative and localized web-based curricula that integrates standards-based coursework, creates opportunities to apply core skills to real world situations, involves students in assessment, and allows for collaboration, higher-order thinking, and problem solving. This constructivist learning model increases student motivation, productivity, aca-demic achievement, and global literacy. Participants find that they

must often use diplomacy to determine what content to include in their projects. “Uzbekistan: Opaque Reality,” created by a diverse team of students from Tash-kent, Zimbabwe, and Seoul, provides background on international human rights and their importance to society. It also tells about the status of human rights in Uzbekistan, its development, imple-mentation, and violations. One of the students reported, “This was a big challenge for us, because many people we interviewed asked us not to use their names. They were afraid of the conse-quences. So, we decided to conduct an anonymous survey.”

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell encouraged youth to famil-iarize themselves with international relations, saying “Get a sense of the broader world in which you live—out of your community, out of your neighborhood, out of this country—and give yourself a sense of what foreign policy is all about and how the United States has to work with some 190 nations

around the world and look at all it takes to keep our foreign policy on track.”

What are some issues that youth are concerned about?

• “History of Foreign Relations: Past, Present, Future” was produced by students from Kendallville, IN, who created an interactive tutorial to demonstrate how throughout history di-plomacy has “not been easy, it has been essential.” Teacher coach Robert Waterly added, “The welfare of all people depends upon the efforts of our world leaders and it is drastically important that we educate students about world affairs and other cultures.”

• “A Study of Security Council Diplomacy” was created by La Jolla High School, La Jolla, CA, juniors, who researched important historical events, including the Suez Canal Crisis,

Yvonne Marie Andrés, [email protected]

Students investigate controversial issues with an unbiased view, present various

perspectives for diplomatic solutions, and then select the solutions that they believe

to be the most viable.

Doors to DipLoMACY: Youth Envisioning the preferable Future

I

Continued on page 25

Notre Dame Academy, Toledo Ohio, United States.


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A

F E A t U r E

ports program Connects students & Legislators in Video Conferences

By heather [email protected]

A middle school student in his Los Angeles classroom looks directly into the eyes of an experienced state legislator and unabashedly inquires, “I am terrified to walk to school

because of gang violence. What are you doing to help make our streets and schools safe?” Imagine this occurring in your class, with your students conversing face-to-face with their state representa-tive about legislative bills, local and statewide political issues, or ways legislators and students can impact your community. The dream of your students directly participating in rep-resentative democracy can now be a reality through the use of technology and California State Parks’ PORTS (Parks Online Resources for Teachers and Students) program. With PORTS, technology can be used to not only address aca-demic content standards, but to ultimately produce a literate and involved citizenry.

PORTS is a distance learning program that uses the power of California’s K-12 High Speed Network (HSN) and the educa-tional potential of videoconferencing. The various PORTS units of study address a wide range of academic content standard areas and grade levels, exploring subjects like geologic processes, evolu-tion, and California history while challenging students to con-sider their role in and impact on California’s natural and cultural environment. Designed to augment what is already taught in the classroom, PORTS units of study are comprised of two elements:

1) The “On-Line, On-Demand” element provides lesson plans, digital video, digital images, scoring rubrics, and other materials to teachers and students through the PORTS website (www.ports.parks.ca.gov). These materials prepare students for the second element.

2) Videoconferencing between the classroom and parks provides real-time, two-way, audio and video communication. Videocon-ferencing allows park interpreters to interact with students sitting miles away in a classroom.

PORTS currently provides programs from seven different park locations: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Crystal Cove State Park, Columbia State Historic Park, Hearst Castle State Histori-

cal Monument, Seacliff State Beach, the North Coast Redwoods District, and the California State Capitol Museum.

At the California State Capitol Museum, PORTS brings the importance of an informed citizenry and the role of legislators into classrooms throughout California. While this unit is written to

address eighth grade History/Social Science standards, we often work with teachers to modify the program for high school or other grade levels.

From the Historic Governor’s Of-fice at the California State Capitol

Museum, PORTS con-nects classrooms to their state representative with videoconferencing. This two-way communication allows the legislator sitting in Sacramento to see your students in the classroom and to answer their pre-pared questions. During the “Your Voice in Gov-ernment” unit of study, stu-dents research that particu-lar legislator’s background, key pieces of legislation he

or she supports, and any local issues of concern in order to prepare questions for the videoconference. Students become knowledge-able about political issues and the legislative process. They are able to consider what they can do to get involved. After participating in a program, a student at Centennial School in Santa Ana wrote, “I just wanted to say u (sic) have given me the inspiration to become a better citizen to our country and to start making a dif-ference in the Hispanic culture…I want to change things around for those in need….”

The PORTS staff will work with your school district administra-tion to schedule the program with your state legislators. While legislators’ schedules are extremely unpredictable and busy, they generally go out of their way to participate in these programs. As-semblymember Hector De La Torre from Southgate has participat-

Students become knowledgeable about political issues and the legislative process. They are able to consider what they can

do to get involved.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Jack O’Connell

9F E A t U r E

ed in the program many times. His experience with Los Angeles Unified School District students through PORTS has left a lasting impression on both him and the students. A Los Angeles area student wrote, “I guess being a senator, president or governor has a lot of responsibilities. Learning all these wonderful things makes me even want to succeed in life and put more effort in school. Also that our voices are being heard and our opinions are being responded to.”

Assemblymember Jared Huffman, representative for the 6th Assem-bly District, which encompasses all of Marin County and portions of southern Sonoma County, and the Chair of the Assembly Com-mittee on Water, Parks and Wildlife, has spoken to many classrooms from the historic State Capitol using the PORTS program. “Speak-ing with young constituents is extremely important,” Huffman said. “The PORTS program is a perfect tool to bring the worlds of government and resource management together. I think it gives the students a real idea of how politics can have an effect on the envi-ronment and how they can be a part of creating a clean and green 21st Century economy. At the same time, it provides a real-world application to a subject beyond what a text book can provide.”

State senators and as-semblymembers are not the only participants in the Capitol PORTS program. Among the non-legislators who have participated are First Lady Maria Shriver and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell. Superinten-dent O’Connell has said, “In addition to highlight-ing the eco-diversity of the state, the venues selected for the PORTS program also seek to

provide access to largely urban and ethnically diverse schools. By providing universal access to all students, the PORTS program serves to help close the achievement gap.”

The technical requirements to participate in PORTS are fairly simple. You will need a connection to the HSN (public Internet is workable, but HSN is preferable) capable of providing speeds of at least 384 Kbps, a standards-based videoconferencing machine, and a large television or LCD projector. We recommend you use an IP standards-based, stand alone videoconference machine. Webcams, Skype, and Apple iChat generally provide an inferior experience. PORTS staff will work with your school, district, and COE IT staffs to ensure that the videoconferences are successful. If your school does not own videoconferencing equipment, the PORTS staff can guide you in ways to borrow it.

If you are interested in participating in a PORTS program, first contact your IT staff to ensure the technological capability of your school. Visit our website at <www.ports.parks.ca.gov> to view all of our PORTS units of study. To schedule a PORTS program, contact your local PORTS Program Coordinator and/or the PORTS interpreter listed for that particular unit of study. Our state park interpreters will work with teachers to ensure the mate-rial presented during the PORTS program correlates to exactly what you want addressed.

Technology has expanded the horizons and educational oppor-tunities for teachers and students. Videoconference technol-ogy allows students direct access to, and communication with, content experts. Capitol PORTS provides a unique opportu-nity to help students become a literate and involved citizenry by connecting them to their state representatives in a manner never before possible.

Contact information:

Heather McCummins grew up in California State Parks—her father was a Ranger at Red Rock Canyon State Park and La Purrisima Mission State Historic Park. Growing up in an Historic State Park sparked her lifelong interest in history and led to her receiving her Masters’ degree in public history, with a focus on museum education, from CSU Sacramento. Working for the California State Parks Interpretation and Education Division for six years, she currently serves as northern California program coor-dinator for the Parks Online Resources for Teachers and Students (PORTS) distance learning program.


Joe von Herrmann Program Manager (916) 947-8073 [email protected]

Heather McCummins Program Coordinator Northern California (916) 240-1068 [email protected]

Ty Smith Program Coordinator Central California (916) 997-7468 [email protected]

Brad Krey Program Coordinator Southern California (619) 228-6785 [email protected]

First Lady Maria Shriver with California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura, California School Gar-den Network Chief Tim Alderson, and Park Interpreter Berndt Stolfi.

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10

The world is shrinking. Boundaries are fading between schools, organizations, and countries. The Internet has changed how

we work, communicate, and connect with others. Businesses and governments are developing strategies to address how they are using technology in their daily operations, marketing, and future planning. Schools are taking longer to integrate technology into all facets of teaching and learning, but this will change if our students have a say. We are in the middle of a digital revolution. Younger generations are challenging the status quo with the words, “So what?” and “That’s just your opinion.”

In 1995, Don Tap-scott stated, “Today we are witnessing the early, turbulent days of a revolu-tion as significant as any other in hu-man history. A new medium of human communications is emerging, one that may prove to surpass all previous revolu-tions—the printing press, the telephone, the television, the computer—in its impact on our economic and social life.” The Internet became the most quickly adopted “disruptive” technology in history by achieving mass use in only four years. Tapscott never predicted that it would change how we would interact in schools, businesses, and even with our families. I never thought I’d see the day when everyone in my family had a Facebook account.

Tim Clydesdale wrote an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education about how today’s university students see knowledge as something to be approached more democratically, with less ac-ceptance of expert knowledge, and not necessarily an acceptance of traditional notions of “knowledge for knowledge’s sake. “ He observed that notions of “truth” and textual authority continue to be challenged. Many of us have observed that younger people no

longer place much credence on textbooks nor on so-called knowl-edgeable people. It seems experience, credentials, publications, and even position carry little value for younger generations.

Clydesdale wrote, “Today’s students know full well that authori-ties can be found for every position and any knowledge claim, and consequently the students are dubious (privately, that is) about anything we [academics and scholars] claim to be true or impor-

tant...Of course, this new epistemology does not imply that our students have become skilled arbi-ters of information and interpretation. It simply means that they arrive at college with well-established methods of sorting, doubting, or ignor-ing the same.”

You probably have heard, “That might be true for you, but not for me.”

Knowledge varies with the individual,

circumstances, and time. The democratization of knowledge has led to new types of communities and new forms of communica-tion where ideas are shared and everyone is more of a producer than consumer.

Roland Barthes in his essay, “The Death of the Author, “ written over forty years ago, posited that we no longer have the focus of creative influence. The author is merely a “scriptor” used to disrupt the traditional continuity of power between the terms “author” and “authority.” The scriptor exists to produce but not to explain the work and “is born simultaneously with the text, is in no way equipped with a being preceding or exceeding the writing, [and] is not the subject with the book as predicate.”

As I interpret Clydesdale’s and Barthes’ writings, the message seems to be that no one is an expert anymore. Now, everyone can be

Digital Democracy in a global Community: Encouraging student involvement in teaching and Learning


p r o F E s s i o n A L D E V E L o p M E n t

By Barbaray [email protected]


p r o F E s s i o n A L D E V E L o p M E n t 11

an author and a knowledge worker borrowing and sharing information and ideas with each other. This new knowledge worker knows how to use information effectively. Peer groups are now more important sources of advice, support, and knowledge than a teacher. This is one reason that social networks such as Facebook and Twitter are so popular.

An important question arises: If all this is true, how do you teach today’s knowledge workers in a traditional classroom with existing curriculum? Answer: We don’t.

We must change the learning environment and democratize the information so all content is digital and free—such as that offered through MIT courseware. We must use social media to share what we know and learn. We must change the way we provide profes-sional development. We must consider everyone a teacher and a learner. We can start by surveying the entire school community to find their strengths and weaknesses, with questions such as

• What prior knowledge do you have about the content? • What are you really interested in? • What skills can you share with others?

Based on this information, let’s imagine a learning environment where students are the technology interpreters coaching each other and their teachers, administrators, and parents. Teachers do not have to be the experts on the subjects they teach anymore. Necessary information—including digital textbooks—is available online. As facilitators, teachers can impart how to evaluate and use information. It is time to rethink filtering out content and teach-ing what is appropriate, what to avoid, and what to share. We can block out content at the school site, but not at home or even the public library. Information is available to all ages most anywhere, so wouldn’t it be better to develop critical thinking skills and teach everyone how to use information and behave appropriately online? (Remember “Teach them how to fish...”?)

Democratizing the learning environment means that learners ...

• are any age • live anywhere • share their strengths • connect to other learners • coach each other

Now that the world is getting smaller, there are students all over the world who are sharing and learning from each other. A sixth grade student in Iowa can be tutored by a tenth grade student from India. Collaborative projects like “Flat Classroom” (<www.flatclass

roomproject.org>) are cross-curricular and aim for cultural diversity, join-ing together middle and senior high school students. Co-founded by Vicki Davis (Westwood Schools, USA) and Julie Lindsay (Qatar Academy, Qatar) in 2006, this project traditionally runs October to December each year. The project uses Web 2.0 tools to make communication and interaction between students and teachers from

all participating classrooms easier. The topics studied and discussed are real-world scenarios based on the book, The World is Flat, by Thomas Friedman.

When teachers start letting go, administrators stop filtering con-tent, and students from different classrooms and even countries start talking to each other, some exciting collaborative projects will happen. Teaching and learning will change because it has to for our students to be competitive in today’s market place. Change isn’t easy—especially for teachers who usually teach the way they have been taught. However, we are seeing changes already through what teachers are sharing on wikis, blogs, Curriki (<www.curriki.org>), Open Educational Resources Commons (<www.oercom mons.org>) and even in My eCoach’s eLibrary (<my-ecoach.com/elibrary/>).

References:

Barthes, Ronald. “The Death of an Author,” Aspen, No. 5-6, 1967. www.ubu.com/aspen/aspen5and6/threeEssays.html#barthes.

Clydesdale, Tim. “Wake Up and Smell the New Epistemology,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, January 23, 2009, <chronicle.com/article/Wake-UpSmell-the-New-E/4568/>.

Friedman, Thomas. The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century, Farrar, Strous and Giroux, New York, 2006.

Tapscott, Don. The Digital Economy: Promise and Peril in the Age of Networked Intelligence. McGraw Hill, New York. 1996.

Barbara Bray, President of My eCoach (<my-ecoach.com>), writes a regular column on professional development for OnCUE, presents at national conferences, and has worked with schools, districts, and organizations around the U.S. implementing personalized coaching programs. Comments are welcome on her blog, Rethinking Learning: <barbarabray.my-ecoach.com> or on Twitter: bbray.

Many of us have observed that younger people no longer place much

credence on textbooks nor on so-called knowledgeable people.


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Lthe CUE review

t h E C U E r E V i E W

By Kelley [email protected]

Locally to nationwide, students are im-mersed in campaign signs and commer-cials. Take the opportunity to teach them about democracy in your city, county,

state, and country. Many free resources are available in the CLRN Web Information Links database to link students to the demo-cratic process.

Title: Democracy in AmericaPublisher: Annenberg Media Grades: Teacher resource Media Type: InternetURL: http://www.clrn.org/weblinks/details.cfm?id=3438 Subject Area: History-Social Science This is a video course for high school, college, and adult learners with 15 half-hour video programs, a print guide, and related web site. The video programs, hosted by national television correspon-dent Renée Poussaint, provide inservice and preservice teachers with both cognitive and experiential learning in civics education.

Title: Vote! The Machinery of Democracy Publisher: Smithsonian InstitutionGrades: 11-12 Media Type: InternetURL: http://www.clrn.org/weblinks/details.cfm?id=1696 Subject Area: History/Social Science Follow the evolution of voting in the United States, and the controversies along the way, from early elections to the modern patchwork of manual, mechanical, and electronic balloting. Ex-plore different types of voting machines and ballots, including the butterfly ballot used in Palm Beach County, Florida, in 2000; and find out how your county cast votes in the 2004 election, using the interactive map.

Title: What is Democracy?Publisher: U.S. Department of StateGrades: 8-12 Media Type: InternetURL: http://www.clrn.org/weblinks/details.cfm?id=437 Subject Area: History-Social ScienceThis site highlights such aspects of democratic society as rights of the individual, the rule of law, elections, the democratic culture and government, politics, economics, and pluralism. Emphasizes how the citizens of a democracy must take responsibility for the fate of the society in which they live.

Title: 1896: The Presidential Campaign: Cartoons and CommentaryPublisher: Rebecca Edwards and Vassar CollegeGrades: 8-12 Media Type: InternetURL: http://www.clrn.org/weblinks/details.cfm?id=587 Subject Area: History-Social ScienceThis website provides an introduction to one aspect of the 1896 Presidential campaign: the hundreds of political cartoons published in newspapers around the country. Most of these cartoons have been buried in archival microfilms, unavailable to students. They offer a window into political structures and issues, society, and culture in the United States, just before the turn of the last century. The site in-cludes presidential election results by state. Separate sections focus on: Leaders, Themes of the Campaign, and Popular Culture in the 1890s.

Title: California’s LegislaturePublisher: The Legislative Counsel of CaliforniaGrades: 4-12 Media Type: InternetURL: http://www.clrn.org/weblinks/details.cfm?id=267 Subject Area: History-Social ScienceThis Reference Guide is an in-depth introduction to the legisla-tive process and state government. This heavily illustrated book includes topics such as state history, constitutional and election law, term limits, state emblems, legislative procedure, the executive and judicial branches, and a legislative glossary. The latest edition also includes information on the Electoral College, reapportionment, trial court unification, California’s new “Modified Closed Primary” system, and many previously unpublished historical photos.

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