Tag: Chris Lehmann

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The Philadelphia experiment – Educon 2.2

Educon 2.2. I’d flown halfway around the world to attend this conference. The merging of minds from across the United States. The conference to go to according to all in the edublogosphere. Now, how do you analyse the experience?

If my intention was to go there to meet the people I network with, then my experience was above my expections. I met wonderful people; the people who share knowledge with me, support me and my thinking, read my ponderings and co-exist in online spaces. People like Susan Carter Morgan, Carey Pohanka, Debra Garcia, Melanie Hutchinson, Silvia Tolisano, Lisa Parisi, Dianne Cordell, Beth Still, Nancy Caramanico, Mark Carls, Paul Wood, Paula White, Ben Hazzard, Rodd Lucier, Michael Wacker, the list goes on and on. From that perspective, the experience was wonderful. It does make a difference when you meet people face to face. Sometimes it’s awkward, but this experience for me was pretty positive. Friendly, interested, involved and caring teachers who are obviously all doing their level best to effect change in their learning environments and beyond.

I attended some interesting sessions where we created content and discussed how we teach and what we can do to make it more interesting for our students and maybe for us too. Ben Hazzard and Rodd Lucier led a session where we created an ebook called ‘Field Guide for Change Agents‘. A lot of fun and a good way to push people into using some tools they may not have been familiar with.

Michael Wacker led an interesting discussion about the place for direct instruction supported by screencasts, podcasts, web conferencing etc in our classrooms. Direct instruction gets a bad rap at times, but I think some educators are kidding themselves if they think there is no place for it in classrooms. Michael created a really useful Google site supporting the session that you should visit.

Sharon Peters and Cheri Toledo led a session about the potential uses of backchannel discussions in classrooms. The backchannel was working hard throughout the session and it was great interacting with people participating in the conference from outside locations.

My intention when signing up for  Educon was to be challenged intellectually; to be exposed to new thinking or ways of looking at things so that I would come back with more to share. The talk surrounding Educon is that it’s all about the conversations. I enjoyed the conversations I participated in, but I did  feel that there was room for some deeper analysis.  I really feel there’s a need to reference relevant research that’s taking place, to have discussions about how we go about systemic change, not just change in our individual classrooms or schools. I felt the the world view was lacking.  Yes, it’s an American conference , but these challenges are being faced in all corners of the world and maybe the solution lies in banding our resources together. After all, that’s what this technology is about; the ability to connect us as one. That is exactly what is happening at the research end of the spectrum. Grassroots educators need to be getting involved in those discussions. Maybe I just wasn’t talking to the right people or sitting in the right sessions. Conversations that took place at ELH here in Lorne were posed as critical conversations and really cut to the chase of how education might respond to a connected world. I felt more of this would have been worth exploring at Educon considering the quality educators a conference like this attracts.

The experience has confirmed what I was already thinking. What is happening in Australia is good. Really good. Our Government and education system is recognizing the need for action and is implementing change from the top down. Sure, we may criticize some of the methods, but at least it’s happening. We have some pretty sharp minds in our sphere who are thinking outside the box and pushing the edges. I’m so pleased to be part of a Reference Group informing ACER, because I think that’s what this push needs; the validation from a legitimate research base that education needs to look at new ways of integrating the connective tools that pervade our lives into the education of our children, enabling them to know how to use these tools to their advantage and how to do it safely and ethically. We need to look outwards, but much of what is happening internally in this country is forward thinking.

Science Leadership Academy, SLA, is a good school. Is it an outstanding school? I’d have to spend quality time in classrooms to work that out. It had the feel of schools I’ve been in where you know there’s a healthy mutual respect between staff and students. There’s common purpose and a feeling of connectedness in their school community. You can tell that from your interactions with their student population; the sheer fact that the conference was supported at a logistical level all weekend by students and parents is testament to that. Obviously leadership plays a large part in that and Chris Lehmann deserves recognition for all he is doing to bring that community together.

One of the great things about Educon 2.2 was that it was supported by Elluminate (with the help of Steve Hargadon) and all of the sessions were recorded and archived in the site. One of the realities of attending any conference is that you can’t be everywhere; invariably, you miss some of the good stuff. I’d encourage you to visit the site and look to some of the archives to see what was happening.

I’m glad I decided to attend Educon 2.2. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet members of my online network and gain some perspective of the US education system. I’m worried that a National Curriculum and the MySchool site are going to push us here in Australia into the testing regimen that pervades the public system in the US. That would be a huge mistake. The flexibility we have to develop curriculum is the thing we have, and need to hold onto, that will aid our students to become the creative individuals we need in our world.

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Passing the time with Sheryl, Chris, Wes, Kevin and Dean.

I’m frightened I’m going to sound like a braggart in this post but I’m pretty darn chuffed about being a guest panelist for Sheryl Nussbaum Beach’s workshop in West New York State on Wednesday night last week (my time 11.00pm to be exact!). Been so busy haven’t had a chance to write about it. Sheryl asked me to join a panel to discuss inquiry and project based learning utilising Web 2.0. The intention was to highlight that Web 2.0 tools are not to be taught in isolation. They need to be integrated into meaningful authentic learning tasks where they can take students to new places with their learning.

When Sheryl sent me the link to the wiki I was amazed to see who else was on the panel. Chris Lehmann, Wes Fryer, Kevin Honeycutt and Australia’s own Dean Groom (an expert in Project based learning using Web 2.0 as the driving force behind creation of tasks). Such illustrious company for little old me to be involved with. The session was for educators from West New York (State) near Buffalo. It was held using elluminate. I could see the names of the participants but couldn’t see or hear them. They could see who was speaking as we enabled our webcams to be accessed. It was a fantastic opportunity to share my experiences with people in the United States and let them know what a transformative experience it has been for me writing this blog. I was able to share with them how making connections has enabled my students to have experiences wider than the classroom walls we habitate.

You could hear the passion for the idea of Learning 2.0 from Chris, Wes, Kevin and Dean. I think it was obvious that all of us were student focused in our belief that it is transformative adopting new technologies to transform learning experiences for the students we have dealings with. I hope the participants got a sense of this and that they reach out like we have done to make connections for their students. Sheryl recorded the session so when I find out where the link is to that I’ll post it.

I’ve been involved in helping to establish the Australian arm of a global cohort for Sheryl and Will Richardson’s Powerful Learning Practice. I see it as a means of increasing the capacity of our teachers to move with change and see the potential of Learning 2.0/Web 2.0 for their classroom practice. We’re still seeking a couple of schools so if you’re an Australian educator and want some detail contact me through this blog and I’ll pass on some info.  

Thanks Sheryl for the invite. It made my week.

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Learning to change – watch it and make up your mind.

There’s a bit of debate flying around the edublogosphere regarding this video. It’s healthy debate, because it’s questioning the motivations of the group that put this video together. I always think it’s healthy when people look beyond the surface and delve for deep understanding. These are the very skills we are hoping we will impart to our students to ensure that they become well rounded citizens of the world. Good modelling all round.

Most of the debate stems from Chris Lehmann’s blog post  Pearson presents: Learning to Change.

Chris has problems with the video for a number of reasons, and you’d probably be best served by following the link and reading what he has to say. One of the points he made that rang true for me was this;

And I don’t know… perhaps under it all, I have a sense that these folks think, “If we just change it all up, the kids will all suddenly just start learning like crazy” when that misses several points — 1) we still have an insanely anti-intellectual culture that is so much more powerful than schools. 2) Deep learning is still hard, and our culture is moving away from valuing things that are hard to do. 3) We still need teachers to teach kids thoughtfulness, wisdom, care, compassion, and there’s an anti-teacher rhetoric that, to me, undermines that video’s message.

It’s point three that resonates deep with me. What underpins all good teaching and learning (IMHO) is the formation of relationships. I firmly believe that no child will learn anything from me until I’ve shown them that I’m interested in them and what they have to say. Without passionate teachers, who realise that teaching the whole person is vital, no Web 2.0 tool is going to make any huge difference to learning outcomes. The tools can make the learning more interesting and can provide them with useful skills, but they still need guidance and purpose to direct the learning that needs to take place. There’s my sermon from the mount for today!

Chris questions the motivation of the creators of the video,  Pearson Learning, a company that has a web based formative assessment testing system and reporting tool. He asks us to consider if we should be paying attention to a message from a company with a vested interest in us using the web for learning. It’s a must read post – make sure you read the comment thread that follows for more interesting discussion. Here’s what I posted in response;

Great post. I’ve seen this video at numerous blog sites over the past week and none had made mention of the production company behind it. I still like it, because I think it makes people think about the shifts that need to happen if we are going to enable our students to become fully digital literate and make the most of what the web can offer. I do think you highlight an important point – this shift is not going to be easy and we do need to focus on the learning as our most important motivation rather than communication for communications sake. I’m going to watch your keynote – interested in what you have to say.
Thanks Chris for prompting me to think and probe deeper. It’s vitally important that we remember to not always take things at face value but to question and explore. These are digital literacy skills we all need to have; both we as educators and our students. I stand by what I said in my comment – I still like this video and the things it is saying to us. I think it will assist in making people think and help to make the shift happen. I just won’t be looking at it through the same rose coloured glasses that I was wearing last week when I first saw it.