TechForum Midwest

Big crowd.  Should have brought a with crew with me.

Clarence Fisher–SnowLake Manitoba

glassbeed@gmail.com

remoteaccess.typepad.com

twitter.com/glassbeed

virtual is not the same as real…to whom does that message need to be delivered?!?!?!?!?!  Hummm…

is the world flat or spiky?  Freedman or Florda…..

action should be in the classrooms…not about the tech person/administrators…remember that Les and powers-that-be!

Next door test…do I want those kids, 10 years from now, living next door to me?  Love that idea!  I have some yes, some no….And not only the “smartest”, etc.  But I want adventurous, fun, smart people who get ourside and do things but can take a trip to the city and are happy to come home.  Bring the best togther.  

How do we connect to the world ourside our walls?  how to create the connections?  

CafePress.com  Brand the classroom…magnets, buttons, etc.  Hey Wes, you need to “brand your classroom” for your business class!  What about those magnets Debbie created?  Those supplies would be cheap cheap cheap.  Create a digital identity.  Share everything on flickr/twitter….

classrooms do not have to be space that people think they should be…why not a coffee shop feel?  Social availability rather than spatial proximity.  How are students socially available to others in other places…in way larger spaces!  Think in new ways…not about teaching harder, but teaching differently.  Think outside in ways we’ve questioned…let go of what a classroom “looks like” and what “activities are acceptable in them”  Experiment!  Education is an industry that’s on the move.

Voice…”you dont’ have to be a rich old guy from New York to have a voice anymore” …until now, we had lost our voice and now we’ve got it back with Twitter, blogs, etc.  But how to make it happen….how do we convince the powers that be?  What are the checks and balances so the school doesn’t end up liable?  We cannot fight with our clients–our parents, our kids, etc.  Gotta get used to changing…how do the kids insist on their voice?  

• Clear out the clutter of  ed-tech:  Society won’t change to meet us, we must change to meet society.  
  • pedagogy–absolute primary
    • Inspiration and pedagogy should be synonyms.  Underground digital apprenticeships==kids are getting what they need (picnik)…this is a concern–not because of the learning but because kids go to the web before they come to the school.  We should be giving it to them.   Dangers of institutionalized learning is that is institutionalizes our kids—tech tools allows us to customize for our kids…woohoo for messy learning!  Get past the message from on-high..embrace the messy learning, rip it apart, put it back together into something different.   WikipediaVision  Can see knowledge advancing and changing which means it can also be WRONG.  Publish first then edit–throws the writing process into chaos…but that’s okay…really, our kids publish to us first and then edit.  Think of the classroom as a studio…lots of customization–master with apprentices…think of painters.  Creativity is a national resource.  Create or die!!  Outsider may feel lonely but also be more productive–allowed to create.  Wordle fun.  Fun to take blogs or e-mails or discussion boards…and Wordle it…like one we did…was terribly insightful…Daytum  collects simple data on e.g. blog posts/topics.
  • tools
    • least interesting, most interested:  If a parent offers a $1000, we take it.  If a student brings his/her laptop to school from home, we turn them away!  We need to figure a way to allow them to bring their devices and be connected…how do we get past ownership, liability, etc.  Want to kids how to make choices…have each kids have iGoogle account and start with feeds suggest and add…Afrigadget, world changing, the Nata village blog….RSS feeds!!!!!  Gotta get those WC teachers doing it…Scratch, PHUN (3D physics sandbox) –struggle with the content  …tinkering with things is a valuable idea….lots of freebies–what do you really need to pay for????   How to get around the “no go zones”  What to do with filters??  Who do we think we’re fooling?????  Whatever is blocked they get at home.  Beyond, Porn, let it go!
  • curriculum
    • negotiated in a classroom among learners.  Giving kids standards goals and ed-tech tools can help them and us get there and track their progress.  Not going to reach all 60 standards!  What’s your passion.  More importantly, what are yours students’ passions?  How are we helping these kids connect to their passions.  Thommy’s passion–he gets online for his hunting things.  That’s his thing–we need to embrace it…truck and goose calls!  So get that page
    • Kids are hyper-connected:  16% rising to 60%…how do they see themselves?  No info-overload as much as filter-failure.  
    • my main job as a teacher is to connect kids to their information…what they need, when they need..Different from the “just in case” curriculum…rather we need “just in time” learning…Global hookups…conferencing and round-tables…
• Tackle big ideas……
  • unanswered questions
  • preparing students for life not work:  good citizens, not good workers
  • ethics:  gotta teach it in the building….copyright to citizenship
  • Informational infomatics:  finding patters in and through information–Google searches
  • How does information spread in the classroom?  Why do which ideas take hold.
  • The whole world is listening….how doe we spread the good things…we risk becoming a sideshow and jump through the hoops we need to…need to get used to being a field that is on the move