Addressed to Vail speaker: Would you be willing to share details of how you constructed the VICCI?
We built it with Apple's OS X Leopard Server. We utilized Open Directory for authentication and privilege management, the Wiki Server, and .ics files served over http for the shared calendars. We did NOT use iCal server, as it is not robust enough for hundreds of users, and we didn't need the multiple user read-write capability that it offered. We have only one user that creates the calendars in iCal. She exports the .ics files and saves them to a folder on the web server, where the users can subscribe to them.
Addressed to Vail speaker:How long did it take for you to get up to speed and have "enough" content per standard? How much time (on average) do teachers spend creating content?
Tough question to answer....some standards filled in quickly, as there was much interest and material. Others are just starting to get filled in, and some have nothing beyond the official curriculum unwrapped standard and formative assessment. Some early standards pages were passed over by the time we got VICCI up and running, so we're trying to backfill those now.
As for time....adding an actual resource to the page takes less than a minute. Like so many participatory things, most teachers post 1 or 2 items, some post a handful, and a few have posted over a dozen. Depends on their love of their subject and their willingness to share. We try to "havest the enthusiasm" of folks, get what they're passionate about and give them a place to shine.
We have a second-year teacher, barely 25 years old, who teaches 5th grade and has posted 18 lesson resources. That just doesn't happen anywhere else.
Since we have a section for accommodations (SPED, ELL, etc ), we can "harvest the enthusiasm" of those folks as well. We have a middle-school speech therapist that trolls the pages of K5 language standards to add helpful bits about kids who struggle with give word and sentence combinations as apppropriate. Again....that just doesn't happen anywhere else.
Addressed to the Kent speakers: Do you have data to support your statements about "students more likely to stay in school" and other positive impacts of the technology?
Our district is studying how we can keep students in school. The committee has found some excellent resources that provide information about this challenging area. I have provided links below that are good resources for anyone wanting to look into the challenges of keeping students in school. My statements came from reading the work of this committee and the research they studied.
http://www.kent.k12.wa.us/committees/committees.aspx?CommitteeId=35
http://www.kent.k12.wa.us/district/diversity/FINALGuidebook-Tool6-30-08.pdf
Addressed to the Floydada speakers: Do the high school students come before or stay after school to use their laptops for community college courses? Or do they have Internet at home and use their laptops there?
The students have dual-credit coursework scheduled into their day. We do provide access to our wireless network after school hours as part of a Rural Technology grant we were able to secure. More and more families are able to afford Internet at home, but with our population, we work to ensure that our students have access to the wireless network as needed. Students carry their laptops 24/7, except during the summer when they are collected for imaging and cleaning.
General question: Have you heard anything about a potential Mac netbook? Other advice for Mac schools trying to make 1:1 affordable?
FLOYDADA: I have not heard of any of Mac netbooks at this time. There is a lot of support for Mac/Apple schools out there and Apple provides a huge support team to their 1:1 schools. The support team structure that has been put in place for our district was developed with success strategies in mind so we could NOT fail. Again, it is a teaching/learning initiative more than a technology undertaking.
EILEEN LENTO: The Intel Powered Classmate has inspired the development of a number of netbooks specifically designed to meet the needs of young learners. Over the next year, we expect to see several new education devices from a range of computer companies. Typically computer vendors keep launch announcements under NDA until they are prepared to put forth their release announcements. Having said that, frequently there are launch leaks on the Internet.
General question: How do you get teachers to make the leap to project-based learning or to give up the textbooks? We have some teachers who jump right in, but others are more resistant. They are most comfortable with textbooks, lectures and tests. How have you approached those types of teachers?
FLOYDADA: Through a tremendous amount of professional development opportunities, first off. Secondly, they have to have the leadership support and know that they can make the move risk-free and that there is a learning curve for everyone involved.
VAIL: That’s looking at too much as an "either/or" choice. That's why we say "Beyond Textbooks"...once folks see what that can look like, and how content is delivered in a post-textbook world, then all sorts of other things become possible.
KENT: There is no magic answer to that challenge. Project-based learning has been around a long time without it ever taking off except in the hands of a few teachers. Technology can facilitate the change as it broadens the range of tools and information resources that become easily accessible to students and teachers making the projects that can be undertaken that much more involving and exciting.
A good first step is to create a supportive and safe environment for teachers to feel free to venture forth. Books and articles on the topic can provide staff with the "why" behind the change. Then handholding, coaching, scaffolding with commercial materials, and plenty of quiet time or team time to develop the projects is critical. Good projects take time to develop; particularly ones that actually will help students learn the desired skills, knowledge, and information. Synergy is a critical part of bringing about the change as when high quality teachers start to develop a project together the ideas just flow and everyone gets energized.
The reluctant are always hard to bring along. Start with the early adopters and then grow into the middle with testimonials from peers on the power of this change. After a while you can build a critical mass that will tip most teachers in the desired direction. Don't expect quick results, but persistence and support and evangelizing and encouragement can bring about the desired change. It is not about a class on project-based learning.
General question: When using the "unlimited stuff" of the Internet, how do you teach about and prevent plagiarism in student-developed content?
FLOYDADA: There are programs out there that teachers can use to check for plagiarisms. We use one (TurnItIn.com)that will tell you where it came from, what page it was on etc. Very quick and easy to use by teachers.
KENT: Deliberately. You teach about plagiarism and what is acceptable and what is not. It becomes a lesson that all staff within a school must teach and remind students about. You also have to temper this with the realization that cheating or taking shortcuts is nothing new; technology simply makes it easier than ever to do. The problem can be minimized by focusing assessments on essential questions; questions that require thinking rather than repeating information back. Original thinking supported by facts is not only much more interesting and challenging; it is much more resistant to cutting and pasting.
A bigger question about information from the Internet is the need to find quality resources and quality sources of information. Our students need to be taught all the skills necessary to separate poor information and propaganda from quality sources. Internet information has often not gone through the quality control process texts and books have gone through. Our librarians are key people in preventing plagiarism from becoming a plague in this day of cut-and-paste. We need to build a digital literacy curriculum into our district curriculum offerings.
General question: If dollars are limited, should technology be placed in the hands of students first or the teachers?
FLOYDADA: Teachers should get it first. This allows the teachers to get the technology in the classroom and start making an impact on learning.
KENT: That is an easy one: teachers. You need your teachers to develop the skills and knowledge first so they can then share that knowledge with the students. If the teachers don't know how to use the technology, they are very unlikely to use it with their students. Now, kids are great teachers and in our Technology Academy knowledge is transferred both ways; kids often teach us new and interesting things and find websites we were not aware of. But that takes an individual confident in their skills and themselves. If you build teacher confidence first, you are more likely to develop the attitudes you want to move things forward.
General question: How should teachers deal with new technology (e.g, wikis) that are not allowed by district filters?
KENT: The district needs to get over its fears of the new technology. Have open discussions about what can be gained by opening things up a bit. There are things that need to be filtered, but schools are not really a cocoon that can protect our students from all challenges in the outside world. Instead, we must do our best to teach students what is OK and what is not just as we have always done. It is really nothing new; our "playground" has just expanded.
VAIL: The filters are so much better now – so much more granular. We can permit so much and still block all the bad stuff. As far as wikis, blogs, etc., we built our own server to do it so that we don't have to worry about privacy and confidentiality.
General question: How are 21st century skills assessed and tracked when district tests are only measuring standard subjects?
KENT: Unfortunately, most of this assessment still takes the form of classroom assessments instead of district-wide or state-wide testing. I would strongly advocate for some national work on this area as assessment is difficult to do well and requires some skills and knowledge beyond what many of us possess. We teach what is tested so let's make what we test worthwhile.
VAIL: They are inherent; it becomes more a mindset rather than a discreet set of goals. I have a real problem with the whole "21st-century" mindset anyway....like somehow we're going to tell the kids "It's time to collaborate now!” I just don't buy it. You can wrap a great deal of that verbiage around your lessons and still not really be changing anything. As Margaret Thatcher put it "If you have to say you're a lady....you're not".
General question: Do you have particular sites and online resources to recommend as we move away from textbooks?
FLOYDADA: Yes we have a full list of what we are currently using. This is a “evolutionary” list that has evolved over the past 5 years. Certainly it does not look anything like the list we started with. Contact jvaughn@floydadaisd.esc17.net or cscroggs@floydadaisd.esc17.net for the list.
KENT: The Internet is dynamic; it is forever changing so what is useful now may be gone tomorrow. Tech-savvy teachers really need to develop communities of practice to share. Think of the possibilities if we make our curriculum documents living documents constantly updated by our best and brightest staff by building what we teach into learning management systems such as Moodle instead of putting them into electronic three-ring binders. I believe a change we need to make as textbooks become supplemental is to become better at teaching desired skills and knowledge with a variety of materials. Curriculum people will need to become comfortable with materials that may change from one semester to the next while objectives remain constant.
VAIL: No vendor can provide it all, even if they say they can. Think iTunes: we don't buy albums, we buy songs. I want the Civil War from one vendor, but I want WWII from another … the best bits and pieces from multiple sources that most closely match my instructional goals. Invert the curriculum! I'll find free content, and I'll also pay for premium content. Then my teachers will take all that content, align it to standards, and share it with each other. It's beautiful to see in action.
