Educators understand that failing is a huge part of the learning process. This is especially true for my fellow STEAM and robotics educators, whose students are often asked to try something, fail, try again, and eventually succeed. We call this “meaningful failure,” and it is one of the best ways for students to build resilience and confidence. Once they succeed, they feel confident in their ability as a learner. 

That all being said, it is much easier for an educator to encourage their students to embrace failure than it is for the teacher to embrace failure. 

The recent school closures provided teachers the opportunity to experience firsthand what it means to fail, learn from that failure, and build confidence to improve. 

As a former technology coordinator at a school, I have seen teachers hesitate to use new technology in the classroom for fear of making a mistake. With distance learning, however, educators can no longer avoid using technology, and many are now embracing it. 

I am impressed with how teachers have gone all in on learning and using technology needed to conduct the best distance learning for their students. Sometimes it does not work – maybe the connection isn’t great, or their favorite lesson doesn’t translate well – yet teachers are still embracing technology, learning from mistakes, and finding the confidence and resiliency within themselves to keep going. 

While this school year has come to an end, we may still be doing distance learning next year. For educators who are struggling, here are my tips on how to embrace failure while doing distance learning: 

Embrace new learning techniques 

Many parents, students, and educators think everything must be perfect the first time – even though we know that is not realistic. I teach robotics for grades 1 through 6 and my students use LEGO Education solutions to build and code their creations, which provides hands-on opportunities and encourages students to learn by doing and learn through their mistakes. When a student asks me how to get an “A” in my class, I tell them they must fail because that’s the way they will learn how to try again and build in a different, new and better way the next time.  

This same lesson can be applied to educators who are distance teaching for the first time. Part of learning is the doing, and it can be easy to get overwhelmed focusing on what students “should do.” 

Consider hopping on whatever LMS you’re using, reviewing the latest projects students are working on, and simply sending feedback to students such as, “What can you do to make it better?” And then, turn to yourself, and ask the same question. 

Whenever possible, I encourage teachers to push ourselves to try innovative lesson plans and learning techniques to help students continue to learn while at home. 

Incorporate learning through play 

A silver lining with distance learning that I am seeing is a lot more play and discovery happening among students. As a robotics teacher, I have seen the amazing benefits of learning through play in my classroom, and distance learning is a great time for educators to try bring playful learning into their teaching as well. 

For example, a colleague who is a science teacher came up with the creative idea to do a simulated mission to the moon. His students meet via Zoom as though they are all astronauts trying to get to the moon. They are learning history, engineering, and problem-solving in a hands-on and playful way that he wouldn’t typically do in his classroom. His students are benefiting from this new way of learning, and he’ll likely weave it into his teaching once back in a physical classroom. 

I encourage all educators to embrace this time to find ways to be creative and playful and think about how to bring that back into the classroom. 

Be flexible

There is no playbook for how we should continue teaching robotics during a pandemic, and certainly no right or wrong way of doing things. Even in “normal” times, we know that all children are different (as are adults). One student could be thriving during remote learning, while another is struggling to keep up. 

Same with teachers – one of your colleagues could be loving all the screen time and video calls, while you might be still trying to figure how to translate your classroom assignments online. 

Now more than ever, we need to be flexible with students and ourselves. For example, while I normally recommend limiting screen time, I am now embracing it. Special circumstances call for special exceptions. Remember to adapt and be flexible, and you will make it through.  

Take on the role of facilitator

After being in the classroom as many years as I have, I know things will go wrong. The best thing is that students either do not know that it’s going wrong (so don’t worry about impressing them), or are so resilient that regardless of what happens, they will come back more ready to learn than ever. 

In a ‘normal’ classroom, I would be using robotics kits and hands-on activities; while at home, I am still having kids continue to get hands-on, but work on basic skills such as drawing to get better at conveying an idea in a picture, or building challenges in which students pick what they get to work on and create projects with whatever materials they have available at home. 

It can be uncomfortable for some, but I encourage teachers to embrace the role of facilitator rather than leader, and allowing kids more opportunities to fail while making sure communication is open for questions. 

Now is the perfect time to help your students learn resiliency and problem-solving, and an even better time to finetune these skills for yourself as an educator. 

Bruce Nelson is a Robotics & Design teacher at Indian Creek Elementary and LEGO Education Master Educator 

• What is Remote Learning?
• 10 Tips to Support Mental Health During Remote Learning

During the first virtual Google Educator Meetup, I hosted a session called: One Great Thing. In it, educators shared one great thing that has happened during this time of remote teaching and learning. 

Some great things resulting from remote learning

Accelerated Technology Adoption

• We accomplished what we set out to do in our five year tech plan in one year. I couldn't be more thrilled to write a new plan.
• My goal was 100% Google Classroom adoption and remote learning made it happen.
• Teachers hungry to learn technology and rising to the challenge. They are making mistakes and learning from them. They are are adding new tools to their teaching craft.
• Witnessing the almost overnight transformation of teachers who thought they could never participate in digital spaces is deeply fulfilling.

Silos broken down / Connections made

• We’re isolated by grade band in school. With remote learning I see staff across the school more often.
• I work in an office where we generally are heads down and work within our team. In all my years I've never worked across offices, divisions, and departments nor met so many new people as I have during remote learning.
• This was my first year in my school. I’ve actually gotten to meet more people in my building than ever before.
• Virtual office hours have been a great way to make more frequent connections with students. It's easier to have private one-on-one conversations and support than in the classroom.

Innovative work with students

• Attack Chess Club- Chess meeting once a week with instruction and having all members join a site LICHESS.Org so they can play against one another online.
• My students made each other greetings in scratch. It was super cool that they came up with a lot on their own with very little instruction.
• We made a movie of photos of staff at home with their kids, dogs etc and signs saying We Miss You etc. This was posted it in every classroom. Next week we are going to compile one of all the student’s doing their work at home that have been uploaded to Classroom.

Tech companies are accelerating updates

Updates in Google Meets:

• Official Google Announcement 
• Grid view
• Chrome Unboxed Blog

Updates in MS Teams

• End meeting for all
• Custom video background
• Attendance report
• Raised hand
• Grid view

Clemencia Acevedo

Peter Kornicker

Sean Arnold

Steven J. Scheiner

Jackie Patanio

Joseph Sanfilippo

Tricia Clarke

Anthony Casanovas

Apologies for anyone I missed. Teams me and I'll be happy to add you.

cross posted at The Innovative Educator 

Lisa Nielsen (@InnovativeEdu) has worked as a public-school educator and administrator since 1997. She is a prolific writer best known for her award-winning blog, The Innovative Educator. Nielsen is the author of several booksand her writing has been featured in media outlets such as The New York Times,The Wall Street Journal, Tech&Learning, and T.H.E. Journal.  

Like teachers all around the globe I am in the process of transforming my face-to-face classroom instruction into one that is delivered 100% virtually from my living room.  Below is the daily schedule that my school, Sonoma Academy, is transitioning to. 

Like teachers all around the globe I am in the process of transforming my face-to-face classroom instruction into one that is delivered 100% virtually from my living room.  Below is the daily schedule that my school, Sonoma Academy, is transitioning to. 

Currently I teach 3 courses that all pose their own unique challenges in preparing for this transition: 10th grade Honors Chemistry (CD Period), 10-12th grade Biochemistry (EF Period), and 10th-12th grade Engineering for Social Good (AB Period).  

The Pedagogy in each course ranges from an Inquiry Learning approach in Honors Chemistry that I have been developing for the past 20 years, to Biochemistry and Engineering for Social Good, two new elective courses that I developed and was teaching for the very first time. 

Biochemistry following a similar Inquiry Learning approach, while Engineering for Social Good is a heavily Project-Based. Transitioning each course to an online version that is MEANINGFUL, EFFECTIVE, and most importantly: LEVERAGES THE ONLINE LEARNING MEDIUM is proving to be a very daunting task. 

Our online learning program launches 10 days from now. My plan is to write a short blog post each day, sharing lessons learned, resources acquired, frustrations, modifications, reflections, tool, ideas, etc. etc., as I embark on this scary and vulnerable time with all of you. 

cross posted at www.cyclesoflearning.com

Ramsey Musallam teaches science and robotics at Sonoma Academy in Santa Rosa, California, with the aim of fostering inquiry-based learning environments fueled by student curiosity. He presents widely on sparking student curiosity and teaching with technology. Musallam is a Google Certified Teacher, a YouTube Star Teacher, and a Leading Edge Certified Teacher. Watch his TED talk here and read his blog at www.cyclesoflearning.com

It’s been interesting to watch the world react to the COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the “Coronavirus”. In the age of social media and instant notifications on our mobile devices, it’s made this pandemic seem like the worst on record when in fact, it’s not even close. That said, as with any disaster or pandemic, there comes an increased awareness to how schools and districts respond to it. Many schools are on alert, creating plans and awaiting guidance. While others, like this school in Seattle, are shutting down as a precaution.

Last week I posted the question of how schools prepared for a long-term closure using Facebook, Twitter, and group texts as ways to crowd-source responses.  Those responses varied from “packets, we’ll just give them lots of packets” to “we’ll use Google Classroom to hand out assignments.”  Neither of these responses are inherently good or bad, but it does open the door to a slew of questions schools and districts need to be asking themselves when it comes to continuing the learning even when the building is closed to students.

This post is a cumulation of those responses crowd-sourced from school administrators across the globe. As every district is different, it’s impossible to come up with a one-size-fits-all approach to long-term closure. However, I do hope these questions can help guide you as you see what kind of plan you have in place should the unfortunate happen. Being from Texas, I know that weather can cause long-term closure as well (see Hurricane Harvey). For the purposes of the following questions, I’m going to assume that it’s a pandemic and that it’s affecting the entire community and surrounding districts. I will also post some ideas and solutions that were shared with me in the hopes of sparking an idea for your school or community.

1. How will you deliver learning to your students?

I purposefully put “learning” instead of “content” as too often times we default to what we know. Learning online looks a lot different than learning in a physical classroom. Some mentioned using LMS platforms like Schoology or Google Classroom to deliver the learning to their students but this assumes that A) they have devices and B) they have internet access (see next question). Also, most of the responses pertained to students in grades 6 and up. Some had some measures for 3-5 students while most had no plans for online learning when it came to K-2 students.

Ideas/Solutions: As mentioned, using LMS platforms seemed to be the most common response to this question, with Google Classroom being mentioned the most. Sometimes these can be online assignments, digital worksheets, or journal prompts. Some mentioned using live chats, YouTube, and Google Hangouts as a way to supplement the learning, including having “office hours” where teachers take 10-15 minutes to check in virtually with each of their students. A couple of districts mentioned their teachers creating lessons on Nearpod and using the “student-paced” option to send work home as it tracks their answers and allows them to upload work. Andrew Wallace from South Portland Maine Schools shared another creative solution. In his district, they send home a “one page cheat sheet” with passwords and usernames for online resources like Newsela, Tumble Books, Overdrive, and BrainPop (which already has a new lesson on the CoronaVirus – see below) In Grapevine-Colleyville ISD, Kyle Berger deploys a Classlink portal for all teachers, parents and students to access resources. Of course, this all still assumes that all kids have devices and internet at home which leads me to my second question.

2. How many of your students DO NOT have online access at home and how do you deliver learning to them?

This is a question many schools may already know the answer to. Online survey tools like Survey Monkey and Bright Bytes can help collect this data (ironically, you have to be online to take the survey) or you could collect this information during school registration. Regardless of how you collect it, you’ll likely have a percentage of students without access that you’ll have to plan for.

Ideas/Solutions: There were a WIDE variety of ideas and solutions for this question. Bonnie Blan from Southwest Christian School was able to leverage discounted internet access for families in need using Kajeet and the BroadbandNow initiative. Others mentioned giving out hotspots as it would be likely that students wouldn’t be able to go to places like McDonald’s or Starbucks during a quarantine (although some adults might risk it for coffee :). With either of these solutions, you would need to set these up well before disaster strikes, but I like that schools are solving this issue regardless. In general, the responses from educators seemed to indicate that you should be prepared to have some analog mixed with digital. Writing in journals and reading are easy enough for ELA, but having prompts for writing helps. Some schools mentioned having students check out extra books out of the library just in case.

3. How prepared are staff and what is their role?

Like Jennifer mentioned, setting up a bunch of brand new tools during a stressful time like a long-term closure wouldn’t be wise. Staff will be worried about their own families as well as their students. Anything that is implemented would either need to be put in place before hand or easily deliverable to a teacher’s existing curriculum and instruction. While not ideal, this could mean just sending home paper or digital worksheets, but even that can be a challenge.

Ideas/Solutions: Having a plan in place with deliverables to staff would be a smart thing to create and have on hand regardless of a global pandemic. These can range from having some one-page step-sets that show teachers how to deliver a variety of content on your LMS of choice to an internal website with a range of ideas for online learning. Schools can leverage tools like Microsoft Teams as a way to collaborate or have conversations or create Padlet walls that students can post ideas on. Any and all solutions should be web-based, device agnostic and able to work on a smartphone as that may be the only online access they have.

One bit of advice from Jennifer Pearson, a Tech Coordinator who works at the International School of Nanshan Shenzhen in China – “There should be a plan. The plan should be consistent and NOT introduce a bunch of new techy tools.”

4. Are these days recognized by your state or country as actual instructional days?

As you might imagine, each state and country has different rules around this. Here in Texas, we count instructional days based on the actual amount of minutes our students are physically in school. While there might be exemptions made, currently those days won’t count and schools would presumably have to extend the school year to make up for the loss of days and weeks while shut down which would likely push through the end of June. While I think learning should still continue even if your state or country doesn’t recognize it officially, this brings about many other questions, including contract lengths of your professional teaching staff.

Ideas/Solutions: Some states, like Illinois, recognizes a handful of “eLearning Days” that can often times come about due to poor weather. These days are counted as official instructional days and were recognized by the state, which means no make-up days at the end of the year. Phil Hintz from Gurnee D56 in the Chicago area was a part of a handful of districts that ran the pilot for eLearning days starting in 2016. While not a solution for weeks of closure, the framework they built was around giving students windows of time to complete assignments and using Title 1 funds to get those without access Kajeet Hotspots. Here’s a video of his school’s experience with eLearning day.

5. What role do other “non-classroom” professionals play?

In an average school building there are many professional, salaried staff working along side the classroom teachers. Some of these teach special area subjects like art, music and PE. Others include counselors, nurses, and campus administration. While the majority of the interaction of students will come from the teacher in an eLearning concept, these staff still have a role to play.

Ideas/Solutions: Principals are the go to source for school-to-home communication. They should be posting updates regularly to both parents but also to staff and help identify families that might not have online access at home. They also have to set expectations for teaching staff in making sure online instruction is consistent. Special area teachers should continue to serve students and provide instruction whether it be having students post a video of them doing push-ups on a FlipGrid or capture their art and reflect using a digital portfolio tool like Bulb. Counselors and nurses can provide support to families in need either through one-on-one at home visits or through online video chat tools.

6. What about itinerant and paraprofessional staff?

Those professional staff on salary can rest easy knowing that they are still getting their paycheck every month, even if the school is closed. Sure they may have to work some extra days, but they aren’t clocking in to work an hourly job. Custodians, administrative assistants, cafeteria workers and teacher aides don’t have that luxury. For them, a shut down could be a devastating hit to them financially if they aren’t working.

Ideas/Solutions: There are still roles for many of these staff to play even if the building is closed, but they may be very different compared to the normal school day. Custodial staff should do a deep cleaning of the building and prepare it for the eventual return of students. Admin assistants can help connect teachers with students and vice versa as they have access to parent contact information. Cafeteria workers can help provide and deliver meals to those families in need. Teacher aides can use tools like Google Hangouts to meet with those students they serve and check in or assist on the work that they have to do at home. In some cases, while human contact in masse is to be avoided, they can also make one-on-one home visits like the counselors and nurses. While the building may be closed, there is still plenty of work to be done and these staff are vital to keeping things running efficiently as well as helping our students with special needs.

In summary, there is a LOT to consider before shutting a school down for a few days or even a few weeks. The questions above are just the tip of the iceberg, but they come from a multitude of librarians, teachers, and administrators across the world that genuinely care about keeping the progress of learning happening despite the closure of a physical building.

What plans does your school or district have in place? If I’ve learned anything from this post, it’s that we all are better when we work and collaborate on ideas together.

cross-posted at https://hookedoninnovation.com

Carl Hooker has been a part of a strong educational shift with technology integration since becoming an educator. As Director of Innovation & Digital Learning at Eanes ISD, he has helped spearhead the LEAP program, which put one-to-one iPads in the hands of all K-12 students in his 8000-student district. He is also the founder of “iPadpalooza”- a three-day “learning festival” held in Austin annually. He's also the author of the six-book series titled Mobile Learning Mindset, a guide for teachers, administrators, parents and others to support and embrace mobile learning in our schools. Read more at Hooked on Innovation.

Throughout the K-12 learning landscape, assessment practices are changing to embrace assessment for learning, not assessment of learning. Consistent with 21st-century learning and the benefits brought on by better assessment tools, assessment is becoming more student-centric, offering educators the insights that will help them determine the best instructional next-steps and how to make learning more personal for the individual student.

Trading the punitive elements of policies like No Child Left Behind for the growth mindset presented in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), states are now able and incentivized to take advantage of alternatives to the expensive, high-stakes, end-of-level tests that have persisted for decades despite providing little benefit to the students.

There is Power in Formative Assessment

Though this may be a list of trends, the growing practice of deliberate formative assessment is here to stay. When educators embed frequent, in-class assessment into daily instruction, they’re gathering the data they need to identify student levels of understanding, target intervention, and evaluate their instructional practices individually and across their teams.

Formative assessments, whether graded or ungraded, can and should be carried out in a variety of modalities (i.e. paper-and-pencil or online quizzes, verbal cues, informal observations by the teacher, etc). Each should provide nuanced insights into student understanding that drive instruction. By doing so, teachers and students begin to view assessments as informative rather than punitive. Differentiated, ongoing assessments should address the varied levels of understanding that make up every classroom. 

The power of formative assessment therefore lies not in the data but in how the data can be used to inform teaching and learning.

From Traditional Grading to Standards-Based

“When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.” --Goodhart’s Law

Traditional grading approaches provide letter and/or number grades meant to show a student’s overall academic standing, yet this offers students, teachers, and parents little-to-no insight into what the student has actually learned. 

Standards-based learning greatly benefits students by changing the conversation from “What is my grade?” to “What do I know?” This seemingly subtle difference leads to not-so-subtle shifts in how educators approach learning and address student levels of understanding. 

When focused on what students actually know and don’t know, teachers and stakeholders realize the need to identify deficiencies in a student’s learning, and can use these insights to adjust instruction. Students can work to achieve mastery prior to moving on to more complicated skills and concepts. Progression is now based on understanding and readiness rather than by some other schedule disconnected from the student’s needs.

More than just a tactic, the standards-based model supports the growth mindset behind authentic life-long learning. 

More Actionable Assessment Data

As the edtech landscape has evolved, so too has the ability to gather student performance data. The large quantities of data thus begs the question: What to do with it?

Among the shifting mindsets within K-12 education is the need for schools and districts to move from a culture of collecting data to one of using data. Formative and benchmark assessments provide data teachers can use, in the moment, to improve student outcomes. By upgrading the tech tools used in the assessment process, teachers can simplify and shorten the feedback loop, becoming increasingly accustomed to using data to drive their instruction. 

As teachers, schools, and entire districts find themselves using common platforms for gathering and using formative and benchmark assessment data--all aligned to common standards--such stakeholders are better able (and more willing) to collaborate around assessment data to support resource sharing, instructional best practices, and larger learning trends.

Alternatives to End-of-Level Testing

With the unacceptable results of high-stakes testing persisting each year, ESSA offered states much needed relief with the opportunity to replace end-of-level tests with alternative “innovative assessments.”

Among the alternatives being developed, breakthroughs in machine learning have allowed psychometric models (i.e. valid and reliable) that reduce assessment seat times and improve the quality of actionable data. These models can do far more to improve student growth while requiring much less of the students, from a testing standpoint. It’s a win across the board, but most importantly for the students and their academic growth.

Assessment Tech is Evolving

Across the board, the world of education is growing accustomed to the presence of tech, even coming to expect it as a part of the learning process. Teachers have moved from the question of “Should I tech?” to “How can I integrate tech best, enhancing the learning experience without hijacking it?” Students are increasingly comfortable with the myriad ways in which tech allows them to gain, and demonstrate, skills and understanding. Even parents are expecting more frequent and extensive insight into their child’s learning and classroom environment, accessing such insights directly from their phone. 

Whether it’s the mindset, the tech, the practice, or something yet unseen, what is certain is that change will continue to impact our teachers and students in the classroom. When it comes to changes in assessment, we should always seek to better understand the needs of each student. Most importantly, we must always remember that if we solicit data from students, we have a moral obligation to use that data to directly benefit those students.  

The goal of any change should always be to improve and make learning personal for each student. That’s the change we like to see. 

Trenton co-founded MasteryConnect after more than twenty years as a public school teacher and principal. With its acquisition by Instructure in 2019, Trenton now serves as VP of K-12 Learning. He remains a passionate advocate for K-12 educators, supporting schools and districts in implementing mastery learning, PLCs, and effective assessment strategies.

Last summer, Adam Phyall and I were engaged in an interesting conversation. This isn’t uncommon as anyone that knows us knows we can debate and discuss just about anything under the sun, but this time it was different. For one, we weren’t at a conference or a school building. We were “tubing” down a river in central Texas (a favorite past-time of ours down here). I throw that in not as a non sequitur, but to mention that we were both out of our normal “professional” environments which enabled some freedom in what turned into a highly engaging discussion around equity. During our 3 hours down the river we discussed our backgrounds. Where we came from. How we were raised. What we each had to overcome and what kind of supports we had. How we raise our children and how we find and cultivate “our crew” of friends.

We discussed race openly and honestly. This included conversations that might be uncomfortable for some, but with our years of friendship and genuine empathy, it was absolutely captivating.  We wondered – how do we help students understand the differences in race and culture in a way that is productive? Too often uncomfortable conversations are avoided or left to HR personnel that come in and talk to staff about equity in the hopes it makes its way into the classroom. Not knowing how to proceed on that front, we stuck a pin in the conversation until a later date.

That later date was a month later. I was about to take the stage at the GAMEIS conference in Savannah when Adam came in to chat. We sat in the front row and re-engaged in the conversation from a month before, albeit in a much more formal setting now. As we went back and forth, we weren’t aware that more and more people began to seat around us and listen in to our discussion. They were both “highly engaged and intellectually stimulated” (their quote, not mine) at not only our content but how we addressed what they admitted was a hard topic to tackle with honesty. At one point near the end of the conversation, Adam remarked, “We should just do this as a session.”

Our opportunity would arrive just a few weeks later. As we are both national advisors for Future Ready Schools, there was an opportunity to present our idea at the February TCEA conference in Austin. Future Ready Schools not only tackles the issues of technology, budget, privacy, and curriculum, but is also an organization that champions opportunities to solve issues of inequity in schools across the country. Adam and I had our opportunity to formalize what started as an informal discussion and turn it into an interactive conversation around equity.

On February 3rd, we walked into our session with both excitement and un-easiness as to how our conversation would be accepted. To ramp up the talk, we decided to wear coordinating t-shirts of “Ebony” for me and “Ivory” for him. As it was a Monday morning session in a week-long conference focused on technology tools, we weren’t sure how many people to expect around the topic. We were pleased to see so many show up ready to engage and discuss the truth about stereotypes we make regularly in our schools and how to use student backgrounds as a way to better inform our instruction rather than pass judgment on their character.

During one of the segments, we asked the audience to list what words we use in education that could lead unintended stereotypes. While Adam and I brainstormed a few, they came up with an overwhelming amount as you can see in the screen shot below:

We also discussed recent cases in Texas and New Jersey of students being asked to change their appearance and what other cultural assumptions we might be making in schools. Technology also has a part to play in this discussion. As was witnessed at the conference, eSports is making a HUGE splash across many high schools throughout the country. Those students on eSports teams can practice in school but many also practice at home on $3000+ computer gaming systems.  That immediately eliminates many of our lower-economic students from participating, a talking point many in the crowd hadn’t immediately considered.

While I won’t go through every point of the talk, our main goal was not to tell them how to solve every issue of inequity, but rather to make them think and reflect on their current situations. Neither of us represent an entire race. We only represent a viewpoint of two educators that have lived somewhat mirrored lives only from opposite identities when it comes to race. We listed the following three questions for audience members to reflect on:

At the end, we attempted to summarize our unique viewpoints with passion and emotion in 3 minute co-poetry slam titled “Ebony and Ivory”. After the talk ended, we were overwhelmed with the amount of support and interest from the audience. Many commented on the fact that these were the conversations we needed to be having regularly in schools. What kinds of conversations are you having at your school around equity and race? Too often times, these conversations are not conversations at all. They are a set of bullet points on a powerpoint at the beginning of the year staff orientation or a required video that staff watch along with blood-born pathogens so that schools can “check the box” on equity training.

We had definitely touched on a nerve while at the same time stretching both of us out of comfort zones when it comes to presenting. We’re not sure where this goes next but we do have some plans on how to engage students more in this conversation at the classroom level (stay tuned). We also hope to expand this session to more events in the future, as we feel this is a conversation that needs to take place in district offices and classrooms across the country.

cross-posted at https://hookedoninnovation.com

Carl Hooker has been a part of a strong educational shift with technology integration since becoming an educator. As Director of Innovation & Digital Learning at Eanes ISD, he has helped spearhead the LEAP program, which put one-to-one iPads in the hands of all K-12 students in his 8000-student district. He is also the founder of “iPadpalooza”- a three-day “learning festival” held in Austin annually. He's also the author of the six-book series titled Mobile Learning Mindset, a guide for teachers, administrators, parents and others to support and embrace mobile learning in our schools. Read more at Hooked on Innovation.

I spent the past 21 years in education as a teacher and administrator. During that time I spent a great deal of my efforts on bringing high quality professional learning to our staff and community. In many cases, the professional learning events we provided would have not been possible without the help and support of an amazing team of educational technologists and coaches. While surveys and reviews of our work was always very positive, I started to learn during my career that sometimes, teachers need a change of voice and perspective to inspire them.

In 2011, I remember Dean Shareski being in Austin for a TEC-SIG event. I’d followed Dean on twitter like thousands of other educators and had been a part of his highly engaging conference sessions. When our librarian (Carolyn Foote – a superstar in her own right) told me that Dean was willing to come in a day early and do some training with staff, I jumped on the opportunity.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Dean spent the entire day at Westlake High School training teachers on digital literacy, creativity and the importance of building a good network. While these were all things that Carolyn and I had been preaching to staff for years, there was something magical that happened when Dean said it. The staff lit up with ideas and began to come to us inspired to try new things.

As I left that day, I remembered two things that have stuck with me and are now the driving force in my new career as an educational consultant and speaker:

• Timing is everything when it comes to having a culture ready to try new things along with the tools and support with which to implement the change.
• Having an outside voice validate and align with your beliefs while also inspiring staff is a powerful catalyst to implementing campus and district-wide change.

Over the years, I’ve been lucky enough to get to know Dean better as well as many other educators that travel the world making an impact on education through story-telling, resource-sharing, and idea-inspiring professional learning. As someone who now does this for a living, I hold that responsibility with the upmost importance. A district is putting their trust in me to not only align with their vision, but also inspire their staff to grow, innovate and learn.

Flash forward to the fall of 2018.

Our district had run several extremely successful professional learning events with iPadpalooza and LearnFestATX. These events brought in speakers and ideas from all over the world. Our staff were exposed to some of the greatest minds and most passionate educators I had ever met. As we were gearing up for our 2018 Professional Learning Conference (an internal-only event required of all staff to attend at the beginning of the school year), we debated who to bring in as a keynote speaker. In the past we had brought in a mixed bag of speakers. Some were inspirational (like Angela Maiers) and others were not as well received for a variety of reasons.

When we surveyed the staff the number one reason why they didn’t respond well to certain speakers, the top reason was a lack of authenticity. They felt as they were being sold an idea that either they weren’t ready for or felt like they didn’t have the support for (see my reason #1 above on timing). One staff member even wrote in her review of a particular speaker that she felt like she was “listening to a used car salesman”. Those reviews and the feelings of staff have greatly affected the way I do things when handed a microphone and a stage, but also really put the pressure on me and my team to bring in the best speaker possible. One that was authentic and would inspire as well as someone who truly cared about being on stage and sharing their story.

Enter Tom Murray. I’d gotten to know Tom over the years through my work with his organization Future Ready Schools. He and I share similar beliefs and approaches when it comes to making the most of your opportunity on stage in front of a school staff. As we are friends, I didn’t want to introduce him as I felt like that could affect perceptions of the staff (“oh, it’s one of Carl’s friends), and wanted to see how they would take him without any background. One of the trademark moments of many of Tom’s talks is a part where he talks about “misunderstood song lyrics” and how what we communicate can sometimes be misread. While I’ve seen him do it a bunch of times, it culminates with the crowd singing Bon Jovi’s Living on a Prayer with extreme enthusiasm.

Knowing my staff as well as I thought I did, I bet Tom back stage that there was NO WAY the staff would respond to this. Needless to say, I completely lost my bet. Not only did they respond to him, his message, and his story, when the Bon Jovi part came, they stood up and sang. And not just the next lyric, they sang the ENTIRE SONG!(See below) Later, I came on stage as Tom received one of the first standing ovations I can ever remember our staff giving.  I told the crowd that he was my friend, but if he didn’t do well, I was going to claim I didn’t know him :).

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Tom, Dean, Angela, and others have spent thousands of hours working on their craft as orators of information. They truly embrace the opportunity to share with staff from all over the world. They provide an authentic and different voice that schools need when the timing is right. This blog isn’t necessarily a tribute to them, but more of a reflection of an “awakening” I had while being in their presence as well as the many amazing speakers we had hosted over the years.

Having someone who agrees with your vision and can effectively articulate your message is a powerful thing. If the timing is right and the staff is ready to hear the message, brining in the right outside voice can have a positive impact on your learning culture for years to come. And most importantly, as teachers take ownership of that message, it will ultimately impact the learning of thousands of kids in classrooms in your school.

School districts spend millions on technology and flexible furniture, but the hardest thing to change is pedagogy and culture. Do not feel like you have to do it all by yourself. Bring in authentic voices to help you light a fire behind your vision and use them as a catalyst for the change your striving for.

I for one am glad we did with Dean, Tom and Angela. Their impact and support over the years is still with me and I will forever be grateful to them for both inspiring me and seeing the power of this work.

cross-posted at https://hookedoninnovation.com

Carl Hooker has been a part of a strong educational shift with technology integration since becoming an educator. As Director of Innovation & Digital Learning at Eanes ISD, he has helped spearhead the LEAP program, which put one-to-one iPads in the hands of all K-12 students in his 8000-student district. He is also the founder of “iPadpalooza”- a three-day “learning festival” held in Austin annually. He's also the author of the six-book series titled Mobile Learning Mindset, a guide for teachers, administrators, parents and others to support and embrace mobile learning in our schools. Read more at Hooked on Innovation.

This year marks the 22nd year that I’ll be attending the TCEA conference. For those of you joining me at the event this year, I thought it might be nice to share a few ideas on how to make the best of your TCEA experience.  I created this “manifesto” of sorts for those that are either going for the first time or are just needing help not being overwhelmed by all the great sessions in their lineup.

If you are a first-time or veteran TCEA-er, hopefully some of these tips will help you as you make your way towards Austin next week.

If you are with a group, create a back channel

Attending a large conference with a group can be engaging but you also can run into serious FOMO (Fear of missing out) on sessions you don’t attend. At my previous district, I invited all of our staff attending to our own district Slack channel. Slack is a great way to share resources and communicate in a group format that won’t crowd your inbox during an event like this. I consider it kind of like a group text on steroids. If you aren’t comfortable with Slack, using a running Google doc or a Wakelet board would be another way to collaborate and share resources. We will still encourage staff to follow along at the #TCEA2020 hashtag, but using a private back channel can be powerful when reflecting and sharing after the event is over.

Download the app

Once on site, you’ll want to make sure you have a mobile version of the schedule. You can grab the giant paper notebook schedule if you prefer, but lugging that thing around can be cumbersome and you won’t know when sessions cancel at the last minute. Create an account and save sessions you’ll want to attend on the app. There’s also a social feed, a map, and a few other goodies located in the app. Be sure to upload a profile picture so you aren’t just a walking silhouette. 

Events

TCEA has several vendor-sponsored events that happen each evening of the week (especially Tuesday-Thursday). While it’s nice to have free food and beverages, I’ve found that these events are where I make the best professional connections. Sharing stories about our successes and failures over a malted, fermented beverage can be quite the bonding experience after all. The Exhibit hall opens at 3pm on Tuesday this year, so be sure to visit some of the vendor booths and see what is going on in terms of evening events and the tons of amazing giveaways they seem to always have. Also, check your email, as many VIP or after hours events may get lost in your spam.

Scheduling Quirks

TCEA doesn’t follow traditional conference schedules (1 hour sessions repeating throughout). There are variety of sessions from 50-minute talks to 90-minute hands-on to 2-hour poster sessions and even half and full-day workshops. When you are locating your favorite sessions in the app, be sure to pay attention to the start and end times as many overlap.  Also, note that this year, TCEA has a dedicated time slot for the Exhibit hall (2:00-3:00) on Wednesday and Thursday, so that will likely be when it is most packed.

Sessions that intrigue me

I’m lucky enough to have 5 sessions accepted this year, but as they are spread out throughout the week, I’ll likely get a chance to check out many more sessions than I normally do (see my session list at the bottom of this post). Here are a handful of the sessions I’m intrigued with by day:

Monday – 

Fake News, Alternative Facts – Jennifer LaGarde

Empowered by What You See – Kasey Hutchinson & Adam Phyall

Making OER SMART – Leo Brehm & Bruce Umpstead

Tuesday – 

Curating Virtual Reality w/Spark – Monica Burns

Esports Immersive Experiences

Future Ready Culture: Creating Equity through Empathy – Brianna Hodges

Wednesday – 

Digital Wellness: Engagement Toolkit – Lisa Johnson & Chris Hanson

Educated by Design – Rabbi Michael Cohen

Creative Story Telling with Spark – Claudio Zavala Jr

Thursday – 

Personal & Authentic – Tom Murray

Let’s Bring Literacy to Life with Making – Shannon Miller

Infographics: Not Just Posters, 25 Creative uses – Rachelle Poth

Friday – 

Top Apps and Practices for Busy Administrators – Leslie Fisher

Create Augmented, Virtual, and Mixed Reality – Jaime Donally

Takeaways and Reflections

Attending an event like this can be incredibly rewarding and energizing to those of us in education. However, it’s important that those that attend also bring back and share their learning with others on campus.

Here is a list of questions to keep in the back of your mind as you attend sessions and look for things to bring back. (shout out to Lisa Johnson @techchef4u for these)

• What are the top sessions/topics that you liked?
• What are the top sessions/topics that you would like to take back to your campus to impact change?
• What are the top sessions/topics that challenged your beliefs?
• Who was someone you connected with that impacted you?
• Who are the top people that engaged you?
• What are the top resources you found most impactful?
• What are the top pieces of research or studies you feel are most impactful for our students and/or teachers?
• How will I share my new discoveries from this event with my staff?

While there are many other questions you are thinking about than the ones above, keeping these in the back of your mind while attending TCEA allows you time to reflect when it’s all over and also think about ways to share your new discoveries with others when you return.  Learning doesn’t happen in isolation.

For me personally, my barometer of success is fairly low. If I walk away every day and have both learned something new and met a new colleague, I consider the day a success. I hope you all have many successes next week and please come by and see me either at my sessions or somewhere in between!

cross-posted at https://hookedoninnovation.com

Carl Hooker has been a part of a strong educational shift with technology integration since becoming an educator. As Director of Innovation & Digital Learning at Eanes ISD, he has helped spearhead the LEAP program, which put one-to-one iPads in the hands of all K-12 students in his 8000-student district. He is also the founder of “iPadpalooza”- a three-day “learning festival” held in Austin annually. He's also the author of the six-book series titled Mobile Learning Mindset, a guide for teachers, administrators, parents and others to support and embrace mobile learning in our schools. Read more at Hooked on Innovation.

As I got out of my Lyft at the Miami airport Friday, I realize I am saying goodbye to some great new connections I made. This year’s FETC made a considerable impact on me. My next challenge is how to take all these connections and learning and enhance education in my district as well as grow as a leader. I sat at the airport a little numb. Maybe from all the walking, possibly from carrying around my books for the meet the author table (I need a cart on wheels), perhaps a little sad about just meeting some new connections and now leaving, or just could be too many “complementary” refreshments. My guess is a combination of all. I got the Miami airport and made a video urging everyone to reflect.

However, I began to reflect on the flight home and thought to myself, “what does that mean?” We often give advice and maybe do not know how it will look in real-time. Just like me urging others to “Reflect.” So, I began to reflect on reflection (say that five times fast). I started by remembering a quote from Margaret J. Wheatley “Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful.” My first thought is, “Oh, I want to achieve so much after this event, I better get to reflecting so I can get to the action.”

My next thought is, “How fortunate am I to have had this experience. And how honored to be mentioned in the same lens as educators I look up to on the administrative track.”

My next thought was, “reflection is one skill I did not use early enough in my tenure as a principal.” Now reflection is a skill I use regularly and find it a great benefit. Reflection takes many forms, and I think it is an integral part of education and our growth as leaders. Great leaders/teachers reflect on their practice and tweak their plans, units, interactions, and attitudes. With a profession as challenging as teaching, self-reflection offers leaders and teachers an opportunity to think about what works and what doesn’t in their schools/classrooms. This reflection (well blog to reflect) will be done in one take and probably spelling errors or run-on sentences. For me, reflection is about free flowing thought and not going back to wordsmith or knit pick. I typically don’t share my reflection but wanted to be vulnerable and share and share some reflection strategies.

Self-reflection is about asking yourself thought-provoking questions so that you can develop a deeper level of understanding yourself. New thoughts lead to new emotions and, consequently, to further actions and personal growth. Too often in education, we are so busy that you aren’t even aware of how you’re feeling or take time to take a breath. As we leave Miami or in whatever capacity you are in, take time to reflect on what next steps. I recommend these strategies to support your reflection.

Look in the mirror: I think the first step is to consider looking in the mirror and being honest with yourself. Before you can look deep, you should examine your beliefs and successes or areas of improvement with new ideas from FETC or ideas you launched this year.

If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten: Jessie Potter used this expression in 1981, and I have heard it and used it many times. It is unavoidable, but we all get comfortable with specific strategies and methods. As educational settings evolve and change, we should be willing to update and modify our approach to educating students. As hard as this may be, we must reflect on our approaches and see if it is best practice for the student’s needs.

Write to reflect: I was not someone who liked writing but recently have found this reflective practice provides vital insights and allows for free-flowing thinking that you can look back on overtime.

Use a critical friend: I know I can be biased toward my own strengths and weaknesses, and because of this, it is extremely important I use a critical friend during self-reflection. The best thing about using a trusted colleague is they will give you honest advice and feedback and notice about you that provide insight into who you really are as an educator.

We often ask students to “Think-Pair-Share” but is it just “Pair-Share” how much thinking time do we give. Hence this blog coming out five days after landing in Boston. I wanted time to think before I shared it.

My biggest take away from #FETC is we are #BETTERTOGETHER. There is NO magic potion to change education, not a quick fix or program. It is impactful educators. I met so many and learned from their stories, and I hope they were able to take from mine.

Think about some of the recent movie blockbusters like The Avengers, Justice League, and X-Men. Yes, these are fictional characters, but what do they have in common? They are all stories of individuals combining their talents to achieve a common goal. Collaboration produces victory in the world of blockbuster movies and can help you do the same in education.

Unlike professionals who work in the private sector, educators spend most of the day with children in classrooms or with other adults as school/district leaders. How do we prioritize finding ways for educators to work together when it’s hard for them to find even a few minutes to use the bathroom. My biggest take away from #FETC is continuing to stay connected and learn from others. One of my best sessions was turning the floor over to Jeni Long (@jlo731) and Sallee Clark (@SalleeClark), two EdTech Coaches, and letting them shine. I learned a ton, and our professional connected deepened. Why not…I shouldn’t do that because my name was on the program, or I am a Doctor and Feature Speaker. Nope, it is about learning, and our session was better because of our collaboration.

I had other reflections takeaways such as:

• Taking risks in teaching and learning and letting your students’ creativity and discovery learning take center stage.
• Upgrading Your PBL Practice: New Support for Project-Based Teaching
• Challenge yourself to be the best you can be.
• Tell your district/school’s story: Branding your learning culture is everyone’s job.
• Be flexible with learning spaces: Students want more than the “sit and get”—they want to be actively involved in their learning.
• Create ongoing projects: The key to projects is to provide plenty of real-world choices that enable students to demonstrate what they are learning.

So as we all head back to our roles and try to prioritize all the learning. Well, unless you are cool enough to head to BETT. FYI, I want to go next year if anyone can hook me up.

Anyway… as we look to implement all our learning, start with reflection. It’s important to take time to reflect before jumping into new ideas or strategies. Three days full of speakers and breakout learning at FETC gave everyone a lot to soak in. Them draft a plan. As tempting as it might be to put things into practice right away, mapping out a plan is often the most effective strategy. Take the learning and make it your own and see how it fits with your district/class. The implementation will not be believable and sustainable if you repeat a speaker’s message, as valuable as it may have been, without making the idea your own.

I am so fortunate to have met or reconnected with so many impactful educators. Either in my session or at events – I am driven to take what I learned, continue to evolve, and put ideas into practice. And of course will remember the fun too…ya Miami is a fun place! See you in Orlando for FETC 21.

cross posted at https://techinnovation.live

Dr. Matthew X. Joseph is currently the Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment in Leicester Public Schools. He has been a school and district leader in many capacities in public education over his 25 years in the field. Experiences such as the Director of Digital Learning and Innovation, elementary school principal, classroom teacher, and district professional development specialist. His work and experience focus on supporting teaching and learning. Follow Dr. Joseph on twitter at @MatthewXJoseph or read his blog techinnovation.live

A new year AND a new decade.  WOW. That went by pretty fast. It feels like just last year I was in the classroom trying to figure out why the Reader Rabbit CDs weren’t working on my Compaq computer. A lot has changed in the past decade and a lot WILL change in the next one. It’s hard to believe that I’ve done these predictive posts every year now since 2013.

Last year, one prediction that I totally missed was that I would leave my district administration job after 21 years in schools to take on the role of full-time consulting and speaking. While I didn’t predict that, I can say that so far I’ve loved working with schools and conferences all over the world to collaborate on thoughts and ideas for improving education. When it comes to my predictions over the last 7 years, my success rate has been around 50% which is much better than any baseball player or professional gambler.

That said, these predictions are meant to be taken with a grain of salt. They are meant to challenge both your thinking and mine. Some of them may seem like a future Black Mirror episode while others are just silly, but I’m trying to be BOLD so cut me some slack. So buckle up for 2020!

Social Media gets a mute button

With the 2020 election coming up at the end of the year, you know social media will be rabid with people from both sides of the aisle as well as a LARGE amount of trolls from Russia. While some companies like Facebook have tinkered with a snooze button, I think this is the year that an app comes out that takes all of your social media, text messages, emails, smoke signals, etc. and mutes them all for a period of time. This would be much simpler then having to delete all of your accounts or even mess with notification settings (although those are good skills to teach students).

A school goes 1:1….exercise bikes

Last week I caught wind of a tweet by @MrHamiltonPE (which as since been deleted) where they started a “READ and RIDE” program at their school designed to get some motion into their day. Almost immediately twitter tore it apart claiming it had to have been an article from the Onion or at best it was a misinterpretation of “active learners”. Part of the dangers of thinking differently is that you risk ridicule, but I don’t think the concept is completely out of realm of possibility. Personally, part of my daily routine is to now spend an hour on a stationary bike doing research or reading a book. Movement is a good thing when it comes to increasing oxygen levels in the brain and awaking the receptors for learning. So while this strategy might not be the right fit, there is something to adding more movement to the classroom. So why not go 1:1 with exercise bikes?  Remember when we used to spend thousands of dollars on eClickers?

With gamification and Orange Theories popping up everywhere, it might only be a time before a tool like CyclePath becomes widespread.  It connects to games that you play on a mobile device so if you want to run in the game, you have to actually cycle faster.  Not a terrible idea…

The Ed Poet’s Society goes Global

Back in 2017, following Lisa Johnson’s inspiration, we began an Ed Tech Poetry Slam (click here to watch the ISTE 2018 version). What started as a fun after-conference event idea has grown substantially since then, mostly due to the amazing educators who are a part of the Ed Poet’s Society. Brett Salakas (@mrsalakas) has taken this idea to Australia and really started to run with it, hosting his own poetry slam events down under. This year, he and I have a couple of tricks up our sleeves, but our hope is that this becomes less a prediction and more of a self-fulfilling prophecy as we try to make Ed Poet’s a global phenomenon. Stay tuned!

The 2020 Election will be heavily influenced by TikTok

As I mentioned in my first post, social media will play a huge role in the 2020 election. This particular prediction may have seemed crazy a few years ago, but when you think about how the last few years have gone with our leaders and their use of social media, is this really out of the realm of possibilities?  I think with TikTok announcing tighter security measures and guidelines last week, they are setting up to potentially be the go to source for where the masses get their information. While the company wants to remain politics free, this is social media…they should know by now that they have no control over that. This year, the election will be televised! (in little 10-15 second cute, loopy videos)

Elon Musk takes a crack at “disrupting” education

Will this be the year Musk takes a crack at education?

The mogul has taken on space travel with SpaceX and extremely strange concept electronic cybertruck recently. He is known for taking on concepts and ideas that seem to be rooted in traditionalism and then re-imaging them. So why not education? It’s 2020 and we are still hearing terms about how education needs to take a step into the 21st century. Flexible furniture and mobile devices aren’t enough, we need significant changes in mindset and vision. Time for Mr. Musk to take a crack at disrupting education. Let’s just hope it turns out better than his truck windows.

The Ambient Classroom becomes a concept

We’ve heard a lot about artificial intelligence and the use of digital assistants like Google Home and Amazon’s Alexa to help us through our day at home. Despite some security concerns, some schools have even started to implement programs with the consumer listening device in classrooms. This isn’t a new thing as you can find articles from the past couple of years about using inexpensive Echo Dots in the classroom.  “Ambient Intelligence” is the next level in artificial intelligence and I predict (assuming security concerns are addressed), that it could have a HUGE impact in the classroom.  Imagine a classroom environment that adjusts based on the mood, lesson, time of day, activity, etc? It is technology that actually reacts to the users in the room. How’s that for personalized learning?

“WiFi for All” finally happens

In 2013, President Barack Obama announced his ConnectEd initiative with the goal of getting internet access to underserved schools all over the country. While this has only been mildly successful, there are still many without access. With the rapid push towards 5G and the launch of satellite internet in the past year, there should be a point in the near future where students shouldn’t have to go to Starbucks for free WiFi. The LEO (Low Earth Orbit) satellites launched by Amazon and Tesla claim to offer robust internet access to even the most rural communities. Not only that, but with more internet options (like in my neighborhood, where I only have one), that would mean competitive pricing for current internet services. So, while it might not be free yet, I think we are closer to being a completely internet-saturated country, which will be important for all the TikTok videos we’ll be watching this year.

The micro-projector movement takes hold

A kindergarten teacher does small group instruction as her Nebula projects her iPad in the background

Remember back in the day when schools would spend over $5000 to install an interactive whiteboard to be mounted on the wall? It was one of ed tech’s early attempts at “modernizing” the classroom, but in reality, it only perpetuated the ‘sage on the stage’ approach to learning. Now many districts are shifting to large, mobile interactive displays. While I like that these are becoming more mobile, they are not very cost-effective for the district trying to keep their budget afloat. One of the districts I consult with was trying to come up with an idea for making presenting information more mobile but at a lower price than those large mobile displays. We decided to try a mobile micro-projector. For around $250, they purchased a handful of these Nebula Capsule and almost immediately saw benefits to both teacher and students in having an alternate way to display information. With built-in airplay and an HDMI port, any device can connect and display information on a flat surface. The screen instantly adjusts and bezels based on what it is projecting on. (hint – the lighter the color of the surface the better) It was amazing to see how just having one other projector made the classroom much more dynamic and less “front of the room” focused.

I will publish three VERY different books this year

I’ve been predicting that I will publish a children’s book for the last 3 years and failed on that prediction every year, but this year, I’m raising the bar.

This year I will publish 3 books in three different genres.

This prediction could be more about me blackmailing, but I already have the early ground work laid to make this happen. I’m hopeful I can find a willing publisher out there to take a risk with me, but if not, maybe I’ll take the ultimate risk and self-publish!

There you have it folks. My latest bold predictions for tech and it’s impact on education in 2020. One thing I didn’t list is less of a prediction and more of a hope. As I travel around in my new role, I hope that I get the opportunity to meet and engage in conversation with more fellow educators and colleagues. Despite all the excitement and rapid changes in technology, I still find that having good discussions with thoughtful educators is the biggest thrill for me.

I wish you all an innovative and safe 2020 and hope to see you at an event in your neighborhood this year!

cross-posted at https://hookedoninnovation.com

Carl Hooker has been a part of a strong educational shift with technology integration since becoming an educator. As Director of Innovation & Digital Learning at Eanes ISD, he has helped spearhead the LEAP program, which put one-to-one iPads in the hands of all K-12 students in his 8000-student district. He is also the founder of “iPadpalooza”- a three-day “learning festival” held in Austin annually. He's also the author of the six-book series titled Mobile Learning Mindset, a guide for teachers, administrators, parents and others to support and embrace mobile learning in our schools. Read more at Hooked on Innovation.

I’m starting to get the feeling that we’ve reached critical mass. When I work with social studies teachers around the country, I always make sure they’re familiar with the work by Sam Wineburg and the Stanford History Education Group.

SHEG’s Reading Like a Historian lessons and Beyond the Bubble assessments are the kinds of non-negotiable tools that belong in every teacher’s toolkit. But for the longest time, it seemed as if very few teachers had actually heard about the SHEG site. Of course, as soon as these teachers had the chance to explore the available tools, they were blown away.

Lately I’ve run into more and more teachers who are already familiar with the site and are finding very cool ways of integrating SHEG resources into their instruction. Maybe we’ve reached the point where most teachers have heard about the SHEG goodness and we all love it. (If you’re still not sure what sorts of SHEG lessons and assessments are available, for Pete’s sake, stop reading and head over to check it out.)

If you are using SHEG resources, I feel a little like a TV infomercial host this morning when I say, “but wait . . . there’s more.”

Because SHEG has some new stuff.

Several years ago, SHEG added what they called Civic Online Reasoning tools. But it was a bit understated. This fall?

They’ve gone full blown into supporting both lessons and assessments that you can use to help kids make sense of online information. Their new COR site has been re-organized and repackaged, they’ve added to new tools and resources, and they’re sharing the research that supports their work.

On the new site, SHEG founder Sam Wineburg posted a great article titled “What’s at Stake.” Based a bit on his latest book, Why Study History (When It’s Already on Your Phone,) the article lays out the reasons why these new SHEG resources are so important. Simply put, Wineburg claims that our democracy is at stake.

University of Connecticut professor Michael Lynch calls the internet “both the world’s best fact checker and the world’s best bias confirmer – often at the same time.”

I’ve come to believe that reliable information is to civic health what clean water and proper sanitation are to public health. Never has so much information been at our fingertips as it is today. Whether this bounty will make us smarter and better informed or more ignorant and narrow-minded will depend on one thing: our educational response to this challenge.

Their short video clip also lays out some of the great reasons why we should all be checking out these new tools:

The curriculum is broken into lessons, assessments, and what SHEG is calling collections. At first, it might be a bit confusing finding what you need. But keep at it – all of the tools are based on strategies they’ve identified when observing fact checkers from the nation’s most prestigious news organizations. The curriculum is the “fruit of years of research and field-testing.” Their work is enriched by their ongoing collaboration with the Poynter Institute and participation in the MediaWise initiative.

The cool thing about all of the resources (not just the COR tools) created by SHEG is that they’ve been tested in real classrooms. I love that the stuff I’m getting has been vetted by actual teachers who’ve used these things with kids.

All of the work is based on three questions:

The best way to find what you’re looking for is to simply click on one of the three questions. This takes you directly to that section of tools for quick and easy access.

You can also click the Curriculum tab, then Lessons & Assessments, and finally the List button on the right hand side. This gives you all of the resources in scrollable and viewable format. You also have the option to use a keyword search but . . . until you’ve played with the site a bit, you’re probably not really sure what to search for.

A great example of the kinds of things your kids will learn through COR is the ability to evaluate photos with reverse image search. Photographs and other images circulate rapidly online and are often gripping, persuasive forms of evidence. It is difficult to tell if these images accurately depict what their posters claim they do, and it is often tempting to take these images at face value. If we trust images without verifying their accuracy, we risk believing false claims and narratives. This lesson helps you train your kids to be better at discovering origins of images they experience online. And every lesson and assessment comes with a student video and teaching materials that are available for download.

But no matter how you find and use what you need, this is a valuable third leg of the SHEG stool. History lessons. History assessments. And now civic online reasoning tools.

Because Sam is right. Training our kids to make sense of evidence and to use it appropriately is too important to leave to hit and miss.

cross posted at glennwiebe.org

Glenn Wiebe is an education and technology consultant with 15 years' experience teaching history and social studies. He is a curriculum consultant for ESSDACK, an educational service center in Hutchinson, Kansas, blogs frequently at History Tech and maintains Social Studies Central, a repository of resources targeted at K-12 educators. Visit glennwiebe.org to learn more about his speaking and presentation on education technology, innovative instruction and social studies.

Editor's note: Google has recently announced it is scrapping its VR projects leaving educators questioning the place of this technology in the learning environment. Virtual reality (VR) expert and global conference presenter Kai Liang unravels the findings of this news report and sheds light on the reality of virtual reality. 

Proponents of VR believe that it is an excellent educational tool which allows students to play a more active role in learning by exploring and manipulating three-dimensional, interactive environments that create a feeling of ‘being there’; especially beneficial for concepts that can’t be ‘seen’. Taking chemistry as an example of one curriculum area, rather than trying to understand atoms from a textbook, using VR, students can ‘fly’ inside various molecules, making invisible atomic and molecular concepts visible and experienced on a human scale. 

I play an active part in the majority of EdTech developments in China, Australia, Romania, UK and South East Asia. In China in particular, the government is committed to VR in education. With all this in mind, I was interested in finding out more about Google’s perceived move away from VR production. Of course, as with many news items, the headline doesn’t tell the full story.

At first glance, the headline suggests its move away from VR is because it doesn’t believe in the benefits of the technology. However, when you read further, the report actually stated that it was simply a case of its VR hub funding coming to an end.

Google’s decision to move away from VR hardware development was also not based on its lack of belief in the power of VR in education; it was because it doesn’t see a future for smartphone-based VR in a box, and I agree with this. The second reason is an age-old problem that we see too often in education: it’s not a big enough audience to attract these multi-national giants. The current uptake of VR in schools is gaining good speed, but this is simply NOT comparable to the quantity of business Google expects in the consumer space. 

The changing face of VR content supply

When I started out in the VR space, there were more than a hundred VR content developers in China; these companies were trying to be everything for everyone. Unsurprisingly, today, this has thinned down to leave only those who are fully committed to supporting the education sector. 

Of course, while the hardware headsets are important, the quality of the content is the real king! Google Expeditions, zSpace, Lifeliqe are good examples but the strength of education content developers such as MEL Science is based on their starting out as science education companies, not VR developers. It’s not about VR, it’s about using the technology for education to enable students to learn knowledge points better by interacting with otherwise invisible micro-level processes; for me, this is the right way to approach VR content development. 

So, where do decisions like these leave schools who appreciate the value of VR in the classroom? 

As the appreciation of the important benefits of VR leads to more schools committing to the technology, we will see these high quality EdTech developers grow further, increasing the quality and diversity of their learning content. The future is bright! 

Google’s decision is, in a way, a positive move for schools. The education content providers that are surviving are the good ones that are carefully matching the content to the curriculum; in effect the market has created its own natural filter of quality. 

VR hardware maturity

At an entry level schools can actually make VR headsets very easily out of cardboard! One step up from this is DIY kits that produce a plastic headset; a slightly better VR experience for around $25. Taking another step up in terms of cost and quality comes manufactured headsets such as Oculus Go’s for $199. Huawei’s new super light and relatively cheap VR Glass headset is expected to sell millions and ignite the market; good news for the quality content providers in education. 

When we look at the growing maturity of VR technology, it’s interesting to note that there are an increasing number of universities offering a degree course in VR, something that was unheard of a few years ago. So, whether you use VR because of its incredible education power or because students will undoubtedly be using the technology in their future lives, VR is here to stay.

For the past several years I’ve made an attempt to make some bold predictions on the future of technology and its impact in schools and society. They range from semi-realistic to too-silly-to-be-true, but ironically, some do come true. Before I post my list for 2020, it’s always good to look back and judge how I did. After all, the internet never forgets, so I might as well own my mistakes.

Prediction: Virtual Reality takes fright…er….flight in the classroom

Outcome: Getting close

While some would say this post is a bit of a softball toss considering VR has been around for more than a decade, recent explosions in inexpensive hardware has made it much more attainable. I still think we are only scratching the surface of this prediction and will be interested to see how it progresses in 2020.

Prediction: The Universal Translator will make learning a foreign language obsolete

Outcome: No lo creo (translation: I don’t think so)

Like most new things in tech, the first generations of these translators are still pretty awful. I don’t think the foreign language department or language immersion schools have much to worry about…yet. However, my guess is people that worked for Blockbuster thought similar things about Netflix and Redbox….and you see how that ended up.  Not very bueno.

Prediction: Alexa will accidentally burn down someone’s house

Outcome: Nailed it…unfortunately

Yes, this was a strange and morbid prediction loosely based on my story from the previous year of “When Smart Homes Attack“. However, about 2 months after I posted this, a retired firefighter actually returned to his home and found that his 3rd gen Echo Dot had set ablaze. While this wasn’t exactly what I predicted (my thought would be that some sort of stove would turn on by accident), it does raise awareness of the power of AI as we put it into our homes.

Prediction: Netflix will launch an EDU Version of its service

Outcome: Still out of service

While many other video streaming companies are out there vying for clicks and views, the major player in paid video streaming is still not taking my calls or emails to launch NetflixEDU. Sounds like a wasted opportunity to me or more than likely a way to avoid major copyright infringement by them. Some how, it has to work though…

Prediction: Restaurants will post non-device zones similar to non-smoking areas

Outcome: Going unplugged is trending

My blurry pic at a recent restaurant banning phones

It’s becoming more and more of a status symbol for fancy restaurants to block and ban cell phones to the supposed joy of patrons. However, it’s not just fancy restaurants doing this as I snapped this quick pic of a BBQ joint outside of Ft. Worth over the holidays. (blurry because as I took out my phone, someone yelled at me)

Prediction: Someone will write a blog/paper using only predictive text

Outcome: It has been predicted

This one was definitely silly, but I thought I would put it out there in the universe and even tried to write a sentence in predictive text. I will say, that my Gmail is getting smarter and smarter at completing my sentences for me (at what cost? who knows…) but we are still a few years off (maybe?) at this happening over an entire blog post. Yes there are tons of social media bots out there doing this to manipulate us daily (reminder folks, it’s 2020 – election time), but not a blog post. However, someone at the New Yorker took my idea an ran with it in this October 2019 article titled “The Next Word“. Close enough for a win for me!

Prediction: A couple will get married over Facetime

Outcome: Still illegal, but not for long

In doing some more digging around this prediction, technically it is possible to have a proxy marriage and Facetime could facilitate that. However, that still hasn’t happened. That said, it is interesting that there are a WIDE variety of Facetime marriage counselors out there…which is interesting.

Prediction: There will be a FortniteEDU for schools

Outcome: Won the Battle Royale

I might have cheated on this one a tad as I know Mike Washburn was working on this behind the scenes. I chatted with him a bit last month while being interviewed on his recent OnEducation podcast and while we didn’t bring the topic up on air, he mentioned some recent developments on this front.  In December he posted a link on his twitter account (pic below) to Epic Games reaching hosting an Interactive 3D contest for teachers with likely more ideas to come.

Prediction: A SMART toilet will save someone’s life

Outcome: Not fully flushed-out yet

I’m a CES nerd, so when I saw these trending last year, I thought there might be a chance someone would buy one and have it save their life via early detection.  As of this writing, it hasn’t happened yet that I can find, but someone did write just a few weeks after my prediction about the future of these devices and our health. This prediction isn’t totally down the toilet yet(although my puns are starting to stink).

Prediction: LearnFestATX will again break the rules when it comes to a conference

Outcome: It was a game-changer (and ender)

LearnFestATX Dueling Keynote – Ann Kozma vs. Matt Joseph

Little did I know when I wrote that post that it would also mark the end of my 13-year tenure with Eanes ISD. However, we did do some pretty epic things to finish out the event including the still-never-attempted “Dueling Keynotes” using silent disco headphones. What a great way to end my run in the district and kick off the #NextChapter in my career as speaker/consultant. I’ll miss that event and iPadpalooza that came before it, but predict there might be other exciting events to lead in my near future…..stay tuned. 

Prediction: Robotics enter mainstream curriculum

Outcome: We will See-3PO if it happens

I think this ground swell is continuing to grow and we’ll see more and more examples of teachers using inventive ways to use coding and robotics to showcase student learning. I’ve been lucky to advise on one of the companies (Trashbots) and have seen them really work hard at seamlessly integrating STEM into mainstream curriculum without a ‘heavy lift’ for classroom teachers. I’m excited to see where the future of this ends up in our schools.

Prediction: THIS will be the year my children’s book series actually gets published

Outcome: Progress, just not published

I predicted this for 3 years and finally started down the path to production. By soliciting the help of best friend, fellow educator and amazing artist Chris Parker (@kreyus), I might have finally overcome the final roadblock holding this project back. Hoping for a summer launch of this new series as well as…wait….don’t want to give too much away. 

So there you have it. Overall, 2019 wasn’t a bad year for my predictions although there were some surprises. I’ve got some ideas brewing for 2020 and will have those up in the next week but here’s a hint: It’s time to be BOLD.

cross-posted at https://hookedoninnovation.com

Carl Hooker has been a part of a strong educational shift with technology integration since becoming an educator. As Director of Innovation & Digital Learning at Eanes ISD, he has helped spearhead the LEAP program, which put one-to-one iPads in the hands of all K-12 students in his 8000-student district. He is also the founder of “iPadpalooza”- a three-day “learning festival” held in Austin annually. He's also the author of the six-book series titled Mobile Learning Mindset, a guide for teachers, administrators, parents and others to support and embrace mobile learning in our schools. Read more at Hooked on Innovation.

What technology can we expect to see more of in 2020? That was the topic of discussion at the Tech & Learning Leadership Summit which took place December 2019. Leaders from across the United States came together to share the newest technologies being used in their districts.  Here's what they shared: 

Emerging Trends

AR and VR
Augmented and virtual reality are being used to expose students to cultural experiences they may not have the means to experience otherwise

Tele-Classroom Robotics
Schools using robots for tele-classroom experiences have found that it provides more Social Emotional Learning than what they had imagined 

eSports
This is growing across districts. As a result there is competition between districts on what is offered. Local Military are interested in recruiting eSports players to support them in areas such as drone operation.

Voice activated devices
Districts are seeing more and more value in voice activated devices. The focus must turn to addressing recommended use and privacy concerns.

Fiber optics owned by district or state
District or state owned fiber optics can provide more resources among schools systems.

Data privacy
This is a concern around what we can do with data and ultimately need to do in order to help our students.

cross posted at The Innovative Educator 

Lisa Nielsen (@InnovativeEdu) has worked as a public-school educator and administrator since 1997. She is a prolific writer best known for her award-winning blog, The Innovative Educator. Nielsen is the author of several booksand her writing has been featured in media outlets such as The New York Times,The Wall Street Journal, Tech&Learning, and T.H.E. Journal. 

If you are in the world of education and you haven’t heard the acronym “SEL,” you are probably in the minority. SEL stands for “Social-Emotional Learning,” the label given to the “soft skills” students need to be successful. 

Skills like collaboration, self-awareness, self-regulation, and decision-making are all part of a broad category that is being looked at as essential for success beyond the classroom. Students today are coming to school with more trauma, more fears, more anxiety, and generally more needs than ever before. Learning how to cope with these challenges is vital, but many students still struggle with finding social-emotional balance. 

There have been many theories about why social and emotional skills are not as strong as they could be. One theory is that as technology access grows, social and emotional skills decrease. 

Authors like Dr. Jean Twenge lend credence to the idea that technology is to blame in the decrease of social and emotional skills. In her book, iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant,  Less Happy--and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood, Dr. Twenge lays out the differences between previous generations and the one she has named “iGen” -- a term for students growing up after the infiltration of smart devices into society.

Dr. Twenge’s argument is that the immediate gratification and overwhelming amount of information available at our fingertips can become an obsession. If not used as the tool it is, a smart device has the ability to become extremely detrimental to social and emotional skills. 

Technology is not blameless in the decrease of social-emotional skills. However, technology can also open up opportunities for social-emotional well-being. Here are just a few examples:

• Mindfulness and meditation apps are available on smart devices. What used to require an in-person guide can now be achieved from the comfort of your bedroom, opening up the benefits of self-awareness to thousands more than ever before.
• Google Forms and other similar collaborative tools can engage those students who are uncomfortable talking about problems, but are willing to write about them. The teacher can then have access to that information in real-time, the student has not embarrassed himself by speaking in front of the whole class, and follow-up can be done discreetly.
• Companies are designing user experiences for the education sector with SEL in mind. Beyond the companies that are creating mindfulness practices, all content area designers are looking for ways to integrate more “soft skills” into their programs.
• Virtual and augmented reality can be used to provide students with immersive experiences that can foster empathy. With this technology, students can visit other places and times, such as concentration camps to Cambodia, to understand the horrors of genocide that they would never experience without technology.  
• There are endless opportunities to use Hangouts or similar virtual conference technology to expand learning and access to professionals, from school psychologists to AP teachers, to world languages. 

The melding of SEL and technology has gone so far as to become a focus for ISTE sessions (Read Caitlin Krause’s article, “Social Emotional Learning Revolutionizes ISTE: Is “Edtech” Edging Toward Redundancy?” here https://www.techlearning.com/resources/social-emotional-learning) and other technology conferences. 

As educators, we can help our students focus on the positive use of technology to support social emotional well-being. We can model for them what it looks like to have a disconnected conversation. We can allow them to use the tools available in their lives to improve their lives. And, we can guide them to know when enough is enough when it comes to their mental health around connected devices.

Nikki Schafer is an Instructional Technology Specialist in Omaha, Nebraska, where she lives with her husband, two little girls and two large dogs. Nikki has a bachelors in Music Education from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, a Masters in Instructional Technology from the University of Nebraska at Kearney, and is currently working towards a Masters in Educational Leadership with Doane University. 

Where do I start? As Tech&Learning rolls into its fifth decade, exciting new developments are happening at every turn—improved coverage, expanded topics, new opportunities.

Most exciting? T&L is headed to college. Keeping in the tradition of reporting excellence at T&L’s new parent Future Publishing and brands like TechRadar, PC Gamer, and Tom’s Guide, https://www.techlearninguniversity.com now covers the hottest topics in higher ed today — from esports to cloud to data & security — to give higher ed tech directors the information they need to support instruction through the meaningful use of technology.

“It’s a time of dramatic change in higher ed,” says Contributing Editor Dr. Margot Douaihy. “Tech & Learning University will be a vital media ecosystem for higher education stakeholders—technologists, instructional designers, integrators, faculty, and staff—who want to learn, share, adopt innovative pedagogies, and transform their campuses. As college tuition increases and student enrollment fluctuates, smarter tools and strategies can help schools stay resilient.”

What I find most interesting is that the issues and technologies overlap much more than may be perceived. Granted, kindergarten apps for the iPad may not exactly match up with MIT MOOCs, but I do believe you, the reader, will find inspiration from both. For instance, read page twelve for details on video walls in schools—maybe not something at the top of the budget for your local board of education now, but I believe will be on the docket soon enough. I encourage you to bookmark the page and sign up for the email newsletter.

Happy New Year!

Technology in education, like most other areas of education, has fads, buzzwords, and trends that come and go often. There have been many predictions in the past regarding the future of technology in schools. This list contains a variety of trends that did not meet expectations, but also did not completely flop. The primary focus is on K-12 education, but there will be a few exceptions that apply to education at all levels and in general.

1. Virtual Reality (VR) & Augmented Reality (AR)
   It still seems that the price tag still remains a major barrier of entry for Virtual Reality. Once this barrier is breached, then the issue becomes finding sufficient appropriate learning materials that use the virtual reality components in an efficient and effective educational manner. Augmented reality has become more widespread due to lower barriers of entry, but many implementations of AR could be seen as a simple short-term use gimmick. On top of the barriers of entry, there are also reported issues of headaches and motion sickness which make the selection of VR/AR less desirable to some. While there surely are many people that successfully use both AR and VR in their classrooms, it will likely take further improvements in the technology, more development of appropriate educational programs that can be used on a VR/AR platform, and a lower price point to make this trend reach its full potential.
   
2. Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD)
   The idea of having students bring their own devices to school is a very polarizing issue.  Some think it is a great idea to have students connect their education to their personal devices since they spend a lot of time on them anyway.  Others would say that it is a terrible idea, since the school may not be able to adequately monitor exactly what the students are doing on their devices since they are not school-issued and maintained.  Part of the reason why this may have not caught on to a higher degree could be because of the issue of what to do with students that do not own their own device, or whose parents do not permit them to take their devices to school.  This adds another layer of required management.  Some schools may collect old devices and enable them to be used by students without their own devices, or schools may purchase several loaner devices, but doing so undermines the concept of BYOD to a certain degree.  This is a trend/prediction that could go either way.  Schools could make a push to gather and repurpose used devices for students that do not have the ability to bring their own device.  On the other hand, schools could all together ban the use of personal devices (specifically as it relates to the educational experience) and only allow for school-owned devices to be used in schools.
   
3. Interactive Whiteboards
   This is a trend that I feel has already hit its peak and will begin to fade.  For many students in a 1:1 device environment, the need to have a central presentation location seems to be diminishing.  The expense of purchasing and maintaining the equipment can be high, compared to programs that can allow one computer to share a screen with a class of students on their own devices.  The fate of this trend seems largely tied to a variety of other trends in education that place priority on individualized learning over large group lecture-style learning.
   
4. Computer Labs
   While still somewhere in the middle, this seems to be a trend that is on its way down.  1:1 devices, inexpensive laptops, tablets, BYOD, and other related tech trends all seem to point towards the end of single-purpose computer labs.  While there is certainly still a need for students to learn computer skills, a dedicated lab of computer seems like it will soon no longer be the place.  Students may be able to get a better learning experience in any learning space with their own device and a teacher guiding them through productivity apps, computer science, and/or basic functions of a computer.  There will certainly be exceptions to this.  Rather than eliminating the space altogether, these spaces seem to be prime for morphing into STEM labs and maker spaces.  
   
5. Wearables
   I have predicted it in the past as an upcoming tech trend in education.  But its not quite there yet.  This can include a huge variety of tech-enhanced items including smartwatches, enhanced virtual glasses, and assistive technology for individuals with disabilities.  There still remains relatively high price points for these devices, and many are small and have the potential to be easily lost or damaged by students.  These issues seem to be preventing wearables from becoming a bigger trend in educational technology than they have been so far.  I still feel that this category has great potential to become a major tech trend in education in the future.

Dr. Lahullier is the Coordinator of Technology Services for the Rochelle Park (NJ) School District.

Remember the good old days of inappropriate use of the internet? The teacher would just take away the student's "privilege" of using a computer and give them paper instead. Those were the days when many educators using computers were just in the first stage of SAMR. Technology served as a "substitute" and provided no functional change.

The good old days weren't really so good

Fast forward to today and many administrators and educators realize those good old days really weren't so good after all. Today, technology, is not a privilege. Equitable access to technology is a right. It allows students to do work that is real, relevant, and authentic in ways that are not possible or even conceivable without it. The introduction of technology is no longer an enhancement of what paper can do, it transforms what students can do. Additionally, technology makes learning accessible and inclusive for all students including those with disabilities and who aren't fluent in the language.  

New consequences for inappropriate use

At the Tech & Learning Leadership Summit that took place December 2019, leaders in technology and education discussed the new consequences for inappropriate use.  Here were some ideas shared.

Step 1: Lock down the filtering
Step 2: Only open it up after students have:

• Completed an online course in digital citizenship 
• Met with the guidance counselor to address the issue 
• Discussed the issue with their family and school staff

This strategy doesn't focus on punishment. It focuses on helping the student learn and grow.

cross posted at The Innovative Educator 

Lisa Nielsen (@InnovativeEdu) has worked as a public-school educator and administrator since 1997. She is a prolific writer best known for her award-winning blog, The Innovative Educator. Nielsen is the author of several booksand her writing has been featured in media outlets such as The New York Times,The Wall Street Journal, Tech&Learning, and T.H.E. Journal. 

Leaders in education and technology came from around the country to the Tech & Learning Leadership Summit. There they spoke openly and passionately about current trends, critical problems, and possible solutions. 

Home use:

It’s a myth that kids aren’t responsible enough to take devices home. There was a consensus among attendees that If schools and districts put the right systems and structures in place, students can not only use devices at home during the school year, but they can also use them during breaks and in the summertime. Doing so benefits students and the feeling of device ownership reduces damage.

Ransomware and phishing: 

These are now emerging as enormous areas of concerns for educational institutions. 

Device diversity: 

Attendees were split on the idea of student choice when it comes to devices. Some districts felt it was important for students to pick the right technology for the task. In other districts it was an equity issue. It would not be okay for some students to have zippy brand new devices while others had older devices that couldn’t perform the same tasks. These districts provide all students with the same device. 

Evolving conversations: 

Joe Kuzo, Director of Technology at Quakertown Community School District in Pennsylvania, shared that it was nice to hear about the emotional, life-changing impact technology had on students' lives. 

Shifting digital citizenship conversations: 

Paul Sanfrancesco, Director of Technology for Owen J. Roberts School District in Pottstown, PA pointed out that the focus used to be on ensuring students are using technology responsibly. These days, the focus is shifting to ensuring the adults, teachers and parents, are responsible users. It is likely that our students will fix some of the mess we are experiencing now with responsible use. 

Student data privacy: 

We keep coming back to the conversation of student data privacy. We need to figure this out and get beyond this so we can get to focusing on the teaching and learning that students need.

cross posted at The Innovative Educator 

Lisa Nielsen (@InnovativeEdu) has worked as a public-school educator and administrator since 1997. She is a prolific writer best known for her award-winning blog, The Innovative Educator. Nielsen is the author of several booksand her writing has been featured in media outlets such as The New York Times,The Wall Street Journal, Tech&Learning, and T.H.E. Journal.  

cross posted at www.cyclesoflearning.com

Ramsey Musallam teaches science and robotics at Sonoma Academy in Santa Rosa, California, with the aim of fostering inquiry-based learning environments fueled by student curiosity. He presents widely on sparking student curiosity and teaching with technology. Musallam is a Google Certified Teacher, a YouTube Star Teacher, and a Leading Edge Certified Teacher. Watch his TED talk here and read his blog at www.cyclesoflearning.com.

CoSpaces Edu

VR design tool sparks creativity for those with the coding chops

Pros: Provides a fully engaging and immersive way to create virtual, 3D worlds.

Cons: Since there's not much support, users will need a strong background in coding to take full advantage of the site.

Bottom Line: This is a well-designed VR playground for experienced coders.

Read more 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

An excerpt from COSN’s K12 Cybersecurity cost report, released in September, argues that E-rate funds should not only make the Internet accessible to all students, but also make it safe.

Since the E-Rate program was created as part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 it has helped ensure that eligible schools and libraries have affordable access to the Internet. The 2014 E-Rate modernization orders (July & December 2014) continued this commitment.

However, network access and Internet connectivity are no longer enough. While E-Rate funds help level the playing field by defraying school system costs for Internet access and network infrastructure, the very nature of the Internet has changed since the program’s inception.

The Internet is now an essential communications and data transmission conduit for education, government, business, and personal activity. In addition, it is also host to a wide range of nefarious hackers, identity thieves, and criminal and nation-state sponsored organizations utilizing networks to steal data, disrupt network activities, and destroy data systems.

The risks to school systems are only increasing as the number of data breaches and cyberattacks increase every year. According to USA Today, billions of people were affected by data breaches and cyberattacks in 2018 — 765 million in the months of April, May and June alone. In addition to data theft, ransomware attacks continue to pose a very real threat to school systems. This was recently demonstrated by the rash of ransomware attacks in Louisiana school systems in July 2019 which caused Louisiana Governor Edwards to declare a state of emergency. Louisiana’s experience is not an isolated incident; in 2018 there were over 204 million ransomware attacks worldwide.

While E-Rate should not be expected to cover all aspects of school cybersecurity, several simple changes to the E-Rate program would have a very profound impact on the ability of school systems to protect and defend their networks and systems from cyberattacks.

1. Expanding the range of firewall services that can be reimbursed through E-Rate would significantly increase perimeter and data transit security for school system networks and Internet access. This would include expanding the definition of covered firewall equipment and services in Category 2 beyond the current basic firewall functionality of ingress/egress traffic management to encompass advanced protections such as intrusion detection/prevention systems (IDS/IPS), advanced threat protection (ATP), anti-virus/anti-malware filtering, SSL encryption, encrypted traffic inspection, data loss prevention(DLP), and spam filtering. These are examples of additional functionality available on next generation firewalls that are not currently funded by E-Rate.

2. Expanding E-Rate to cover advanced security services provided by a school system’s Internet Service Provider, including DDoS mitigation and the same advanced firewall features recommended to be added under Category 1, would both enhance school system cybersecurity and remove the burden of finding staffing to support these systems. Currently, ERate will discount basic ingress/egress firewalls provided by the Internet Service Provider, if that is part of the ISPs basic service package. However, this is limited to the most basic of firewall functionality. Expanding the definition of covered firewall services that an ISP could provide would allow school systems to contract with their ISP for advanced firewall features to protect their networks, and have the ISP be responsible for operating and managing these systems, reducing the burden on school systems to find positions and qualified staff to do this work in house. Many school systems use the same ISP provider, being able to purchase advanced firewall functionality through the ISP could be more cost-effective and leverage economies of scale driving down the price as more school systems purchase additional cybersecurity services. E-Rate does not currently offer discounts for distributed denial of service (DDoS) mitigation services that help school systems maintain connectivity and availability when faced with a DDoS attack. Where school systems have been able to find funding for DDoS mitigation provided by their ISP, this has been an effective method to mitigate the impact of DDoS attacks on teaching and learning and deter future attacks. Those districts have found the rates of attempted DDoS attacks decrease once attackers discover DDoS mitigation has rendered this attack vector ineffective.

3. Clarifying or updating the definition of “basic firewall” to align with technology industry standards would enable school systems to align their cybersecurity defenses with recognized industry standards and provide improved protection of their networks. E-Rate currently funds “basic firewall” services in both Category 1 and Category 2, and “basic” has been interpreted to be limited to ingress/egress traffic management. As noted earlier, this leaves school systems with inadequate firewall defenses. This definition of “basic firewall” no longer aligns with technology industry standards.

A “standard” firewall across the technology industry is typically a next generation firewall (NGFW) or unified threat management (UTM) appliance or service that offers, but is not limited to, the following protections:

■ Advanced threat protection (ATP)
■ Anti-virus & anti-malware protection
■ Data loss prevention (DLP)
■ DDoS mitigation » Intrusion detection/protection (IDS/IPS)
■ SSL inspection
■ Virtual private network (VPN)
■ Web filtering

As new cybersecurity defense technologies become available, the definition of discounted firewall services should expand to encompass current protections.

4. Making managed security services and/or security operations center (SOC) services for the purposes of monitoring and responding to cybersecurity attacks and incursions eligible for E-Rate funding would significantly improve the ability of school systems to monitor and defend their networks. Managed security services and SOCs leverage economies of scale to monitor and respond to security incidents across multiple organizations’ networks. The ability to fund participation in these services through E-Rate would expand school system access to cybersecurity tools and trained resources, removing staffing and technology funding challenges from the cybersecurity equation.

5. Adding web content filtering to the list of discounted services would remove a significant financial burden from school systems. The implementation of web content filtering is required for participation in the E-Rate program but is not a covered expense. The FCC’s 2014 E-rate Modernization Order reiterates, citing to the 2001 Children’s Internet Protection Act Order, the agency’s position that the Children’s Internet Protection Act prohibits the use of Universal Service Fund resources for filtering. We believe Congress’s intent was for that prohibition to apply to other appropriated funding, and not E-rate funds, and we urge the FCC to work with Congress to address this issue.

The E-Rate program has the opportunity to significantly improve the cybersecurity stance of currently funded networks and Internet access. An E-Rate program that does not address the lack of adequate funding for school cybersecurity equipment, services and personnel is putting schools and their communities at risk. The recommendations above do not include expansion of E-Rate funding to include user and end point protection technologies such as anti-virus/anti-malware endpoint protection, multi-factor authentication, mobile device management, and identity and access management. Those technologies are targeted toward end user devices and access, and as such, are less directly correlated to E-Rate’s goal of providing network and Internet connectivity and access to schools. The recommended changes focus on providing responsible and secure network and Internet connectivity and access to schools.

For the full report, go to: tinyurl.com/y5tg7xa2