Techlearning blog

Allowing for System Failures and the Unexpected

2008-07-03T11:28:10Z

Three things you can count on in life: death, taxes, and your computer will fail. As a computer teacher, my lessons rely on 23 boxes that need to work for most of my objectives to be met. As part of my job, I keep the computers in good working order ---it's something that I can control. But I am always at the mercy of a working Internet connection ---something I never have control over. Solution: I always have a backup. A couple of weeks ago, the students and I weren't able to connect to a site that we needed for the lesson I had prepared on "Communicating Ideas." We tried several times, and then I decided to just "punt" and use one of the links that I have at the ready in my "Link of the Week" section on our website. These links are primarily geared for students to use at home, but at times, we visit them during class as well. The link I chose to substitute the lesson with was an addition/subtraction game over at Arcademic Skills Builders. The kids went absolutely wild over the game, and I've never seen students so excited about addition and subtraction. The reason was clearly because they learned how to "host" their own games and race their "jet skis" against other students in the same room. The skills of being able to login, set up a game, and create or access a password is an entire lesson in itself. Quickly, I realized that the substitution was so much better than the lesson I had planned, or at least was a lesson that I needed to include in the curriculum rather than just providing the link as an add-on. In short, I was thankful the original site didn't work and even when it came back 5 minutes later, I ditched it. In March, Pete Riley wrote an entry at District Administration Magazine called Teacher Dropouts. It highlights the top reasons why teachers leave the profession, based on survey data where ex-teachers compared their new private industry jobs to their previous teaching jobs. The top difference between both jobs cited was Autonomy. In ditching the planned lesson in the lab the other day, I did what I had to do. It made sense and I'm sure any administrator visiting my room to see how my lesson was going would understand that this was the smart decision, that I couldn't do anything about the failed connection to the site included in my lesson. I probably would even be congratulated for my "smart thinking" or for having a backup plan. In this climate of high-stakes, standards-based curriculum and assessment, I wonder how many classroom teachers have this same opportunity for autonomy that I had in the lab the other day. How many of us are allowed to "go off script" ---for whatever reason the teacher deems necessary? In working with a classroom full of human beings, complicated and multifaceted as individuals and even more so as a group, there are constantly reasons to "ditch the best laid plans" and seek alternative and "on-the-fly" solutions. I won't even try to compile a short list of reasons here because it's probably futile to give any of the issues any more prestige than the other infinite things that can occur in a classroom which may demand a chucking of the prepared lesson. This is what the teacher's first responsibility is: attending to the needs of the students at the moment. Like a ship's captain, she must be on the lookout for icebergs and reefs and veer off course when needed. I wonder how many teachers are still afforded this liberty. Are you allowed to chart your own course when necessary, or are you to stay true to the fixed and unwavering course? I'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback, which you can leave at my blog if you're unable to leave comments here at TechLearning.

Guess who is coming to dinner?

2008-07-01T15:02:14Z

What happens when you invite one person to dinner in San Antonio, NECC 2008? 52 diners show up! No this is not a bad dream, it is a reality. Thanks to Deb Boisvert for this inspiration! Twitterverse, many of us were setting our sights on converging in San Antonio for NECC 2008. Well, in the old days, about 365 of them ago, we probably would have sent an email to a few friends, and asked them to invite a friend and we would name a restaurant and a time. Probably by the time dinner rolled around we would have a dozen or so folks deciding upon a place to dine, all of us then would walk to the restaurant and have a fabulous time. Fast forward to May 2008, 365 days later, and Sharon Betts asked a twitter friend to meet up with her for dinner at NECC08. All of this took place on twitter, a social network where one can leave a message with no more than 140 characters, to an individual or to the group, while singling out an individual. Sharon made a "mistake" and messaged the crowd on twitter rather than a direct message to the friend. In a matter of 2 min. someone else responded that they too would like to meet up for dinner in San Antonio. In a matter of 20 minutes, there were over 20 people interested in meeting for dinner. The numbers swelled, and a project ensued. Sharon created a wikispace in order to collect ideas for restaurants, a meeting time, directions etc. In the end there were over 90 people who signed up for dinner. While only 52 were able to attend, when was the last time you organized a dinner party for 52? Sharon searched and found a great spot in San Antonio, on the blue trolley line. She reserved a space for 90 of her closest friends and a time was agreed upon. Now, you may be thinking this is not so remarkable. YET! You see, many of us in the group had only chatted by twitter, or blog comments or chats at edtechtalk.com . Many of us had never met face to face. And especially since a whole contingent of people, were traveling from Australia, the UK, all around the US and Canada, this was an event! How could you say no to this event? Now, if you are still looking for purpose in using Twitter, think if you might use this social network tool to find information about a new Web 2.0 tool, a new book, a new idea, an old idea needing a revision, a collaborative project for your classroom. I can tell you that I rely on twitter as a comprehensive tool in my daily communication among my peers. I can rely on my twitter friends to come to my rescue when I am in need of an idea or support about something. This is the spirit of NECC, trying something new, trying something using the new tools, sharing with others and keeping the conversation alive. Thanks to Sharon and all who participated. Not only was I able to expand my knowledge, I enjoyed meeting each and everyone of you face to face. Our collective knowledge is more dynamic than our own knowledge. Thanks to all who helped with this post! Please go to wocsdtechtalk.blogspot.com to leave your comments!]]>

Challenging the Trumpets in San Antonio

2008-06-26T22:55:25Z

Around this time last year, I wrote a post Challenging the Trumpets in Atlanta that I had sought out this evening because I think it remains critical for those attending NECC in San Antonio. For me, I can only hope that all the amazing educators attending NECC will challenge more than they accept. One key to attending NECC is not to be overtaken by the glitz (or is that glitch) and glamor of ideas, products, and names (you know, the gods of the Ed Tech world). The idea is to seek balance by entertaining the ideas of the "cheerleaders" BUT also listening/interacting with a critical eye and pondering the thoughts of "naysayers". In other words, avoid simply listening to those that "trumpet the wonders of technologies" (McKenzie, 2002, p.26) and thinking that this is the way to eternal happiness and success. What trumpets are sure to be played? Well, the old Web 2.0, School 2.0, and everything else 2.0 will undoubtedly be there plus any number of addition number we want to add (3.0, 3.5, and maybe even a 10.1). Mostly, TOOLS will dominate and I challenge you to ask WHY before being sucked in by the WHAT that will be all over NECC and the side action taking place there. There will also be a flood of talk about the networks, everybody coming, and many other words/phrases perfect for Buzzword Bingo. Not to mention, I'm sure there will be push back on a shared technical culture. Whether you have completely bought into these ideas or not, you should never stop challenging the "trumpet" players because Mckenzie (2002) is right in what happens if we became another cog in the system:

"If we simply take notes when sitting at technology conferences, we become the blind following the blind" (p. 25)

While I've chosen not to attend NECC 2008 because of work responsibilities/priorities, I can only hope those that have are full of excitement BUT also have their mind ready to be challenged AND TO CHALLENGE. Ed Tech needs Push Back and Leaders NOT more followers! After all, NECC will play host to the greatest minds in our field and I'm thinking they would expect nothing less. What do they want from their audience members? Something tells me they want to be challenged and engaged within the context of a professional learning community. I assume they don't want us to sit there and just consume. Maybe I'm wrong but I just don't see these leaders wanting passive recipients. So the question is this: Are you heading to NECC 2008 to enjoy the trumpet, play the trumpet, or challenge the trumpet? Reference Mckenzie, J. (2002). Just in time technology. WA: FNO Press. Open for Comments at Metanoia

Writer's block? There's no such thing

2008-06-24T01:33:54Z

I think "writers' block" is a condition invented by people who can't write, and need an excuse to cover their inadequacies. Real writers do not suffer from it. However, if you think you are suffering from it, here are some things you can do with technology to help you snap out of it.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, writers' block is "a periodic lack of inspiration afflicting creative writers". Hmmm. Well, when I lack inspiration to write, I either write about that, write about something other than the topic I am uninspired to write about, or go for a walk. What I do not do is simply say "I've got writers' block" and use that as an excuse.

I believe that a true writer will always find something to do even if, like Oscar Wilde, he or she only inserts a comma and then takes it out again:

"I have spent most of the day putting in a comma and the rest of the day taking it out."

So, if you do think you have the condition known as "writers' block", what can you do about it from a technological point of view? Here are my suggestions:

Sign up to a micro-blogging site like Twitter, and start tweeting. You should be able to manage 140 characters, come on!
Sign up to a more focused micro-blogging site like Blippr. I have started to use Blippr to get my mental and creative juices flowing at the start of the day. This morning, for example, I wrote a review of a book called "Biggles in Spain". The MD of Blippr has given me loads of invites to give away (it's in beta at the moment and so not publicly accessible). If you would like one, subscribe to my newsletter "Computers in Classrooms" (it's free) and then drop me an email with the word "Blippr" in the subject line.
Use a mind map to start drafting ideas. I use FreeMind myself, which is great, and free.
Start a wiki about anything, and invite people to contribute. Bouncing ideas off others always helps.
Grab your digital camera and go out and take some pics, and then write about them. Or use my photos of patterns or everyday life as a starting point.
Listen to a podcast about something other than your subject.
Read a blog post about your subject by someone whom you tend to violently disagree with.
Write a blog post saying that you have writers' block. I will probably pick it up and email you or comment to say I think you should snap out of it and to stop being such a wimp. That will wind you up so much it will be sure to galvanise you out of your despondency. You'll thank me for it in the end .

It's Elementary Time

2008-06-19T10:25:13Z

I'd like to take the opportunity this week to direct you to an outstanding paper by Rima Shore, Ph.D from the Joan Ganz Cooney Center. It's called, "The Power of Pow! Wham!: Children, Digital Media & Our Nation's Future." This paper tackles "Three Challenges for the Coming Decade." One of the refreshing things about the paper and the research that is being carried out by the Center is that it is focusing on Elementary grade students, acknowledging that there has been a deficit in literature and study for this age level. The 3 challenges put forth in the paper are: 1) The Call for Coherent Research and Development, 2) Rethink Literacy and Learning for the Digital Age, and 3) Advance Digital Equity, Reaching All Children with Today's Most Powerful Learning Tools. While all three challenges have equal importance, the last 2 have particular relevance to classroom teachers. In "Rethinking Literacy and Learning for the Digital Age," the paper clearly identifies the most important areas for teachers to expand the literacy curriculum in order to prepare students with skills for their futures. They include: Using digital tools effectively and safely; Think critically; Understanding complex systems; Know about other countries and cultures; Participate in collaborative learning communities; Invent, create, and design ---alone and with others; and Find wholeness in a "remix" world. This expansion is a necessity and is further argued in the 3rd challenge of "Advancing Digital Equity." This equity problem has mostly been articulated as those with the technology and those without, but it goes much farther than that: the paper argues that this also means the discrepancy between students who are having these skills "scaffolded" with support from adults and those that don't. Rather than just allowing students to "have at" the technology, we need to be assisting, coaching, guiding. The amount of technology is not as important as support and input from adults. ------------------ Shore, Ph.D., Rima. "The Power of Pow! Wham!: Children, Digital Media & Our Nation's Future." (2008):

Ed tech quarantine?

2008-06-18T23:07:14Z

This is a picture of the Mobile Quarantine Facility built by NASA for astronauts returning from the Moon. It’s basically a modified Airstream trailer. The idea was to isolate the astronauts until it was determined that they didn’t have ‘moon germs.’ Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins stayed in this quarantine trailer for 65 hours after their return to Earth (Welcome back, heroes. Get in this trailer!).

Of course my pathetic brain saw this and immediately started thinking about educational technology. How sad is that?!

This MQF (gotta love those government acronyms!) got me thinking about whether we technology early adopters need a self-imposed moratorium on talking about new technology tools, at least in certain settings. One of the most common refrains heard from teachers or administrators who listen to us talk or blog about all of these new cool tools is “Why do I care about this as an educator?” In our eagerness to share our nearly-palpable glee and excitement, we often struggle to adequately answer the “So what?” question in ways that are substantive and meaningful to the average teacher or administrator.

So when a new tool comes out – Twitter, Diigo, whatever – maybe we should hold off for a bit before we start blabbing to educators who don’t live as close to the ed tech edge as we do. Maybe we should voluntarily follow a process that looks something like this:

I believe that an emphasis on pilot testing, experimentation, and identification of both mainstream educator use(s) and optimal training mechanisms before introduction to other educators often would help us quite a bit. Instead of turning off the very educators that we want using many of these tools, some time spent in the ed tech quarantine might go a long way toward facilitating our overall goal of greater technology adoption in K-12 classrooms.

I don’t know if I’ve gotten the quarantine process exactly right. And of course many of you already do some version of this. But I think this is a concept that generally should be kept closer to the forefront of our brains. What do you think?

Dear student, (put your own name here)

2008-06-17T03:12:42Z

This is a continuation of my last post Dear Administrator. This post first appeared when I was a guest blogger at Wes Fryer's Speed of Creativity last year. Dear student, ]]> Beth Ritter Guth, is a college professor who has designed her college literacy classes in Second Life. Read some of her students work, you will be amazed at the depth of their writing! Students here are NOT just writing for their teacher, they are writing for the world. Teen Grid in Second Life, here are some resources for examining Second Life for a teen grid and how Teen Second Life could be used for educational purposes. Here are fascinating essays on MMORPG’s and economics and education. The reason the United States Army has taken the challenge to develop one of the most popular online games is this is where they are spreading the word and marketing. Look at their success. Look at the changes they have made in the past FEW years. Has education even made a stab at these kinds of changes? Have you? Beginners guide in World of Warcraft 2. Teachers and administrators check out the reading level in this online manual. Check out the comprehension if you think these games are dumb. Better yet, read a few paragraphs and check your own comprehension. I don’t mean see if you can answer questions about your reading either. Go to the game and see how long you survive! PS Or you can be like me and check out an easier version of an online game Webkinz. When I was researching for this story my niece popped up online and asked if I wanted to play a game in Webkinz. She is 500 miles away, and I only see her a few times a year. However, through Webkinz I get to play games with her and watch her strategies grow and sometimes I even talk to her on the phone and she explains the games to me. She is 8 and I am 55. I am learning so much from her and I know I will be able to apply this to other games as I mature in my gaming profession. BTW, she beat me in the game! I, for one, am glad I have some summertime to perfect my game image. Now if I can only learn how to land gracefully in SL, I would meet my standard!

Teachable Moments

2008-06-12T23:31:41Z

Every night, I've sat down ready to write an email back to a teacher on a list-serv who provided an example of blogging to one of my networks. Each night, I close that email never sending the thoughts I have about what at best is an attempt at a discussion board and at worst is an electronic worksheet. Sadly, this isn't the only case where I've not offered the critical feedback. Sure, I've blogged about it. I've presented about it. I've written about it. However, it is always in the abstract. What I missed doing was taking advantage of the teachable moment and that is just poor practice. Not only is it bad for the individual that shared the example, it is really harmful for those that take the lack of criticism from others as a sign that this is how a teacher should implement these tools into the classroom. Just think about the examples provided when someone ask for great examples of blogs or wikis in the classroom. What we typically see are discussion boards or teacher websites using the blog or wiki platform. How many of these examples were not exemplars and yet no one provided feedback, no one challenged this teacher to see beyond their current practices, and no one helped this teacher and those watching grow? I know I've failed to take advantage of these teachable moments and that is simply poor leadership. Yes, it is hard to be a person offering that type of feedback especially in this day of "there are no rules; go crazy!" attitude that rears its head when someone does offer feedback. However, we have to remember that we have a professional responsibility to provide this type of critical feedback especially those that are considered or consider themselves leaders in the area of educational technology (not me by any stretch of the imagination). Remember, these teachers are being observed and evaluated. These teachers are sharing with colleagues. Most importantly, these teachers are teaching students. If these teachers are not engaging in best practices (I know... I know...), how can we simply turn a blind eye? How can we set these teachers up for failure in their classroom? How can we let these poor ideas spread to others? How can we let what were less than stellar practices before participatory media continue just because they are using technology? How can we let students suffer from these poor practices? Across networking sites, educators in various positions constantly share examples of participatory media in the classroom and the feedback is usually non-existent or if there is feedback, it is excitement that they are using these tools INSTEAD of looking at how they are using these tools. Isn't it time that along with the sharing of the uses of participatory media, there is some questioning and some challenging? Isn't it our professional responsibility to capture these teachable moments?

"A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go but ought to be." Rosalynn Carter

"Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputation and social standing, never can bring about a reform. Those who are really in earnest must be willing to be anything or nothing in the world's estimation, and publicly and privately, in season and out, avow their sympathy with despised and persecuted ideas and their advocates, and bear the consequences." Susan B Anthony

If you would like to comment, this post is available on Metanoia.

A First Look at "Disrupting Class" by Clayton Christensen

2008-06-11T04:49:20Z

It took me all of about three minutes to decide to order Disrupting Class by Clayton M. Christensen, Michael B. Horn, and Curtis W. Johnson. Computers, education, and change? How fast can I get it? But the review I read in Education Week, "Online Education Cast as ‘Disruptive Innovation’", which so intrigued me, may have gotten the main idea of the book wrong. The caveat I need to give is that I've only read the beginning and ending portions of the book (when I'm truly engaged in a book why read it in order?!). However, there's enough meat in what I did read to do a short overview here, and to try and explain where the authors are headed and why it the message has been unique to me. From my reading, the disruptive innovation is not online education, but the increasing expectation that our children/students will have a customized educational experience. This makes a lot of sense to me, since having watched the ed tech world for some years now, it's hard to imagine a "technology" (even one as compelling as online education) motivating educators or parents to dramatic change. There are just too many practical daily concerns to make it believable that the unfulfilled promise of computing would "disrupt" our current system. On the other hand, a shift from the industrial model of schooling to one that is more responsive to our individual children does seem like an unstoppable force, since increasing parents' expectations for the education of their own children carries huge motivation and power (the authors' claim that in many school districts already over a third of their spending is on special education students [p. 34].) Professor Christensen is the lead author, and he acknowledges that he is not an "expert" in education, although he has a lot of practice in it (he's a professor at Harvard Business School). However that may be, he was asked to look at the problems of education through the "lens" of his body of theory about how organizational cultures react to "disruptive" change--with the hope that this study might help to frame why schools have struggled and how to solve their problems (p. v). In beginning to discuss disruptive innovation theory, the authors break with some expectations and praise public schooling: "[A]s we will show, contrary to widespread perception, on average, public schools have a steady record of improving on the metrics by which they are judged, just like other organizations we've studied" (p. 44). But even with this positive record, there is a specific kind of innovation which almost always "trips up well-managed, improving" organizations and which defies "the abilities of even the most capable executives in the world's best companies" (p. 44-45). They believe public schools are going to experience this, since:

...two significant disruptions of this sort have swept through the U.S. public schools, marked by the Nation at Risk report and the No Child Left Behind Act. Assigning schools new jobs for which they were not built--and therefore are not necessarily doing--has meant that schools don't look as good in light of the new requirements. But given how difficult it is to negotiate these disruptive currents, as we show in the pages that follow, the schools have done remarkably well--which provides some hope that they may be able to switch to a student-centric learning mode, too, through a disruptive implementation of computer-based learning. (p. 45)

So, if I'm reading this correctly, the disruption is the switch to expectations for student-centric learning, and that online learning (or the computer) becomes the solution--not the original disruption. The use of the word "disruptive" for the implementation of the solution has me a little confused as to what the disruption is, but I'm going to leave that for now. Chapter 2 has more detail on the model of disruptive innovation, but for our purposes I want to go back to the introductory chapter. The introduction to the book tries to define what the problems in the U.S. public school system really are, and it gave me a new framework for trying to understand the philosophical tension in my own mind (and the nation's?) between authoritative and constructivist education. The authors start with a summary of four commonly-held aspirations for our schools:

1. Maximize human potential. 2. Facilitate a vibrant, participative democracy in which we have an informed electorate... 3. Hone the skills, capabilities, and attitudes that will help our economy... 4. Nurture the understanding that people can see things differently--and that those differences merit respect... (p. 1)

Acknowledging that we are not doing well in these areas, the authors then propose seven common theories for the lack of school improvement--and then refute each as the root cause. and even all as the main dynamic.

"[S]chools are underfunded." However: "The U.S. public education system spends more per student than all but a few countries, and yet, on average, its student often perform at or below the level of those in other economically advanced countries" (p. 2).
"[T]here aren't enough computers in the classroom." However: "If the addition of computers to classrooms were a cure, there would be evidence of it by now" (p. 3)
Students and their parents are to blame. However: this is a serious factor (especially in the light of the increases in minority-background students, who have historically performed least well), but there are enough exceptions to believe "[t]here has to be a better answer" (p. 4).
"The U.S. teaching model is simply broken." However: we often make mistakes when imagining how our teaching model is compared with other countries (see the fascinating exercise the reader goes through on p. 4 here).
"[T]he teacher unions must be the problem." However: "Like all explanations, this may be true to a degree, but as the definitive explanation, it doesn't hold up."
All of the above are "conspiring collectively to constrain" the U.S. However: Of course, they state. "[A]ll these issues are at work in other nations' schools as well--and yet the evidence is that many of them obtain better results than do those in the United States" (p. 5).
Finally, the "way we measure schools' performance is fundamentally flawed." However: Of course, as well, but not the root cause. "Today a stunning proportion of the people in [the] offices and cubicles of [Silicon Valley] are Israeli, Indian, and Chinese. Those educated in the U.S. schools are losing share--and it's not because the United States is uniquely unable to measure true academic achievement. The United States has kept its technological edge in the world not because its public schools are sending the best potential technologists to U.S. colleges. The United States is clinging to its advantage because it has continued to be a magnet for the best talent in the world" (p. 6).

If, the authors now ask, all of the above "do not explain the problem, what is the reason for the educational woes? ...If other countries have these same factors at work in their schools, why is it that so many of their students outperform U.S. students?" (p. 6) Basically, they say, it comes down to motivation. "Unless students (and teachers, for that matter) are motivated, they will reject the rigor of any learning task and abandon it before achieving success" (p. 7). So, when there is high "extrinsic" motivation, as is the case in societies and families that are depending on education to raise themselves from poverty, the system of education is not as important as the end result. Standardized, factory-style learning works just fine in that setting because the end goal is more important than the journey to those folks. But without extrinsic motivation, as is arguably the case for the United States, the job of schools is much harder since educators must appeal to the "intrinsic" motivation of students--and intrinsic motivation clashes with standardized learning. A dependence on intrinsic motivation means that we can no longer ignore different learning needs and styles, and the customization in learning they bring is the disruptive force we are starting to feel, and that seems will be answered by the use of "student-centric technology." There's obviously much more to this book than I have started to explore (and maybe I'm wrong in my interpretation of its message), but hopefully this gives you a starting point for considering to read it. I'm going to keep plowing away!

Testing times: Ay, there's the rubric

2008-06-10T00:01:00Z

I was recently approached by Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis with an invitation to be a "meta-judge" on the Horizon 2008 Project. It was a great honour to be asked, and I hope my judgements are received in a positive way.

But, as usually the case with this sort of thing, it did raise doubts in my mind about the value of rubrics for this type of activity. They are useful, but they are also limited, and not nearly as objective as one might think.

]]> You can read about the Horizon Project by clicking the link given above. In a nutshell, it involved students from several countries collaborating with each other to do research into how modern technology is affecting various aspects of modern life (government, education, health and others). The end product, besides the wiki itself, was a video submitted by each student. These have been judged by a number of educationalists, who decided on the winner in each of the 13 categories. My role as "meta-judge" was to decide which of these 13 finalists was the ultimate winner.

I have to say that this was not an easy task despite having the rubric to guide me. It isn't easy on a human level, if I can put it that way. The trouble with identifying one winner is that by doing so you automatically identify 12 "losers"! I would hope that those 12 don't see it that way. The quality of all the videos was extremely high, and there are even one or two that didn't come out on top that I will have no hesitation in using in my own work (with full credit and citation given, of course). To end up as one of just 13 finalists is good going, and all of the students should feel proud of themselves.

Indeed, even those students not in the final line-up did a fantastic job. Just look at the wiki and you will discover a cornucopia of ideas and resources, almost all of which were put together by the students.

You should also, incidentally, visit the wiki to see how Julie and Vicki organised the project, using such approaches as student project managers. (If you would like an insight into how that worked and what it entailed, from a student's perspective, read the article by Casey Cox in the June 2007 edition of Computers in Classrooms.)

The rubric I used is called Rubric 1, Multimedia Artifact, and may be found here. As rubrics go, it isn't bad at all. It's shorter than many, which is good, because the longer, ie more detailed, they are, the more easy they are to apply, but the less meaningful they become. The reason is that once you start breaking things down into their component parts, you end up with a tick list of competencies which, taken together, may not mean very much at all. That is because the whole is nearly always greater than the sum of its parts, so even if someone has all of the individual skills required or, as in this case, has carried out all of the tasks required, the end result may still not be very good. So you end up having to use your own judgement about how to grade something, which is exactly what a rubric is meant to avoid in the first place. Let me give you a concrete example.

One of the sentences in the rubric reads:

"Content is constructed from a superficial synthesis of information on the wiki."

That seems straightforward enough, until you come across a case where the content on the wiki page is itself superficial -- in which case the right thing for the student to have done would have been to ignore the wiki page all together and put in some fresh insights. But if they had done that, they wouldn't get credit for using the information on the wiki page. In other words, it's a no-win situation which actually penalises the student who exercises her own judgement.

I think the main problems with rubrics in general can be summarised as follows:

1. Do the individual criteria reflect what it is we are trying to measure? This is the problem of validity which I discussed in my first post in this mini-series.

2. Are the criteria "locked down" sufficiently to ensure that the rubric yields consistent results between different students and between different assessors (judges)? This is known as the problem of reliability.

3. Are the criteria too "locked down", which could lead to an incorrect overall assessment being made (the validity problem) or assessors introducing their own interpretations to aid the process of coming to a "correct" conclusion (the reliability problem)?

4. Does the rubric emphasise process at the expense of product? It is often said that in educational ICT, it's the process that's important. Well actually, that is not entirely true, and we do young people a grave disservice if we fail to tell them so. If you don't agree with me, that's fine, but I invite you to consider two scenarios, and reflect which one is the most likely to happen in real life:

Imagine: Your Headteacher or Principal asks you to write a report on whether there is a gender bias in the examination results for your subject, in time for a review meeting next Wednesday. You can't find the information you need, so you write a report on the benefits of blogging instead. You desktop publish it so it looks great, and even burn it onto a CD for good measure. To add the icing on the cake, you even make a 5 minute video introducing the topic in order to get the meeting off to a flying start.

Scenario 1:

The boss says:

"Wow, that is fantastic. It's not what I asked for at all, but let's face it, it's the process that's important. Let me raise your salary."

Scenario 2:

The boss says:

"What is this? I asked you to produce a report on gender issues. If you can't follow a simple instruction like that, do you really think you're cut out for this job?"

OK, I know that both responses are slightly far-fetched, but hopefully I've made my point.

Which also leads me on to another thing. I think some of my judgements (which you can see throughout the Horizon Project Ning's video section)may come across as a bit uncompromising. But I really do not see the point of saying something like "Great video", or even "Poor video", without adding enough information for the student to get a good idea of why it was good or poor, and how to improve their work and take it to the next level in the rubric.

Getting back to the issue of interpretation, I am afraid that, in the interests of better accuracy and of giving the students useful feedback, I introduced some of my own criteria. Well, I was the sole meta-judge, a title so grand that I felt it gave me carte blanche to interpret the rubric as I saw fit. Lord Acton was right: absolute power really does corrupt absolutely .

The extra criteria I applied were as follows:

1. Did the medium reflect the message?

To explain what I mean by this, let me give you an example of where it didn't. In one of the videos, the viewer was shown some text which said that businesses can now make predictions. This was then followed by a photograph of chips used in casinos. So, unless the video was intended to convey the idea that predictions can now be made which are subject to pure chance, which I somehow doubt, that was a completely inappropriate message.

2. Could I learn what I needed to know about the topic without having to read the wiki? If not, then I would be at a loss to explain the point of having the video, unless question #3 applied. This includes the question: is the information given actually meaningful? Look at that point about businesses can now make predictions. Businesses have always made predictions, so that statement tells me nothing. What I want to know is, how does communications technology aid forecasting, and does it make the process more accurate?

3. Did the video inspire me to want to find out more, or to do something, even though there wasn't much substance to it? If so, and if that was at least partly the aim, maybe that would be perfectly OK. I'd take some convincing though.

4. Did the video only synthesise the information on the wiki, or did it do more? The word "synthesise" implies adding value in some way: it's more than merely "summarise". But if if the information was of a poor quality, did the student deal with the matter effectively or merely accept the situation?

5. In every case I watched the video first, and then read the wiki, because I wanted to come to it with as few preconceived ideas as possible, to see if the video was able to stand on its own. I then read the wiki and then re-watched the video (sometimes more than once), looking for specific things.

To see the list of all videos submitted, look here.

To view the recording of the Awards ceremony which took place at 7pm GMT on 9th June, click here.

If you have any views on using rubrics, I'd love to hear them -- especially if you completely disagree with anything I've said in this post!

The title is a horrible play on words, although I have to say I'm quite proud of it! It is, of course, taken from Hamlet's "To be or not to be" soliloquy, in which he says, "Ay, there's the rub".

Animated Fourth Graders

2008-06-06T12:10:50Z

I just found ps233techteacher and I LOVE the site. If you're in elementary ed, you should take a look at the amazing work being done by this school, in particular, the amazing animations that their fourth graders are producing.]]> Harriet Tubman Animated Video shared on the TechConnect Blog on edublogs. What I like best is the comments from the students as they reflected:

"Amber: “I really enjoyed working on this animation project.One reason was because me and my partner both communicated with each other pretty well so we were able to finish the work that we did.Me and Halina both did a equal amount of work so it was fair.While we worked on our animation it was fun because we actually got to learn some things about the history of Harriet Tubman.I thought we did a very good job.”
Halina: “I liked the animation a lot. In the beginning we had trouble, as we moved on we got better at it.I enjoyed working with Amber. I like to do animations now.I wish to do another animation with Amber because it was easy for us because we agreed with each other. If I could do another animation it would be about my experience doing my first animation.I had a lot of fun.”

What a great learning experience! Please watch their video and leave a message at the original blog post to encourage these students! ( I found this blog because the teacher had linked to me and was following some backlinks today! Wow!) How did they do that? tag: animation, Harriet Tubman, history, blogging, learning, education, teaching

Here Comes Summer

2008-06-05T10:03:00Z

I get a kick out of my Twitter stats (produced by TweetStats): I could interpret this graph in many ways, but one thing is certain: this past year, I've Twittered (meaning actually contributing to "micro-blogging") more in the summer than during the school year. This comes as no surprise to me. There are a lot other things that I do more in the summer. I imagine this same graph could be used to illustrate how often I go swimming, how many podcasts I get accomplished, how many movies I watch, how many books I read, how late I stay up, how much ice cream I eat... I think I could also apply this visual to one of the most important activities of my summer time: revision. Though I constantly edit my lessons throughout the year, nothing affords a complete reexamination or rebuilding as the summer break does. Much like turning over the soil in the garden and being able to add in rich fertilizer and compost, I can "rototill" my curriculum with this gift of time--- toss out things that are no longer working to make room for new ideas and make existing successes even more formidable. In the United States, we're heading into our summer break and across the blogosphere, I see folks talking about the professional development that they'll be undertaking. Books, conferences, projects... people are planning how to reexamine, revise, rip-apart, rebuild, refresh... I used to believe in a year-long school calendar--- mostly to support students by not interrupting the learning process. I confess, I've changed over the years. I feel incredibly fortunate to be given this break to work on the craft of my profession out of the daily business of actually carrying out the task. I've got several week-long tech courses to start my summer off and I'm also looking forward to the Building Learning Communities Conference where I'll chat late into the night--- face2face--- with many other educators from around the world. Together we'll share strategies, challenge each other's ideas, dissect and review our years, examine where we've come from and where we are heading. I can't wait. I'm sure I'll have a lot to report on Twitter (http://twitter.com/bobsprankle). What's on your plate this summer? What do you have planned to refuel and rebuild? I'd love to hear your plans here in the comments, or back at my blog.