Who do I believe? Where can I get good advice?

Who do I believe? Where can I get good advice? How often do I hear this. Just last week I had to principals and a manager from an ICT cluster asked me the very same questions.
They were after independent advice on ICT purchases and planning and could never get an answer as everyone has a vested interest in some product.

To begin with, I am often asked. Which is the best interactive whiteboard. Promethean! Smartboard! Teamboard! How can you tell which is the best. Most consultants have a lean to a particular board as they know someone or have the chance to get commission or favours for their referrals.
I guess that makes me a little different. I do know someone that sells IWB’s, however I know someone that sells every different brand. When asked recently which board I preferred, I had to refer to the current election and say I was like a swing voter. My opinion changes as new features are developed.
I think the Teamboard is a great entry level board. They are slowly developing online resources and the boards have a much lower entry price. Sales and support is very good.
Smartboard has always had an advantage for me, as it allows children to touch and feel the board. To my way of thinking, children using the interactive whiteboard is where engagement happens. As my good friend Gary Stager has often said, “I think we have moved back to the dark ages of chalk and talk. Engaged teachers at the front of the class using the IWB, while students watch on with boredom glued to their face”. I see this all too often. There are times when teachers need to demonstrate using the board, but it should not become a screen for a data projector. It’s touching the board above the use of a pen enhances this experience for children.

But I did say I was a swing voter and the new ACTIVarena from Promethean has just jumped ahead for me. Built using technology similar to the I-phone and I-touch. For me, this is where real collaboration occurs. When students can use this technology to work together, to create, to interact and share ideas. This is exciting collaboration.
The technology will keep changing and my preference will move with it. The main thing I suggest with IWB’s is to purchase them with the built on projector and boom arm. Promethean and Smartboard both supply these and they reduce shadows, movement (out of sync) and much more.

Where do we get good advice? Should we have labs, should we disperse computers, should we have laptops and trolleys, should we be a laptop program? I could argue for and against all of these concepts. Each school is different and the vision, leadership, technical support, funding models, professional development needs, staff skill level, and classroom designs will be a key factor. Too often we have principals or administrators making decisions without really being informed about the best way to use technology and how children really use technology.
With children fully immersed in technology, this is not a time for schools to be playing games with children’s education. No wonder the disconnect with technology often occurs when students arrive at school. Engaged curriculum needs engaging learning environments.

Why block so many great educational web sites

As some of you know, my work involves the delivery of Internet Safety Awareness Programs all over Australia. In my other life, I am a great advocate for Web 2.0 technologies and their use in education.
I can argue the case for both sides, for and against.
So I thought I should share a few of my thoughts and observations.

The innovators and early adopters in teaching have moved to Web 2.0 tools just as quickly as students have. They see great value in these technologies and are keen to integrate them into their classrooms. These are the teachers you meet at most technology in education conferences.
Many have are using blogs, wikis, and podcasts in the classroom and playing with more.
There is also a small group of teachers who are beginning to look at ways that they can use mobile (cell) phones for education purposes in the classroom. Perhaps this will be the future, when students provide the technology for schools, especially in state education.

We must remember that these are the early adopters and most other educators have still not heard of web 2.0 or if they have, do not understand it or have not dabbled with it.

The early adopters are voicing significant concern at the moment about their ability to use web 2.0 tools in the classroom.
In many schools, school districts and at state levels there is an increasing reaction to the use of these web sites by blocking them. This is the easiest option.

The first to be blocked was myspace, then bebo and other social networking sites.
Then came google images, flickr and youtube.

There is a small number of students who used these sites in inappropriate ways, however for many, it has become the world that they live in. They update their social networking sites on a regular basis and become connected each night when the log on to their own personal community.
The VELs (Victorian Essential Learning’s) standards that have been introduced into Victoria schools have the same ICT outcomes as similar standards in Tasmania and Queensland, with Western Australia to follow suit.
Students are expected to:
· Create Digital Portfolios
· Collaborate using blogs, email etc
· Present information to others
· Manipulate information on web sites and in presentations
· Test and evaluate web sites
· Manage files and desktops
These are the skills we are expecting children to display and demonstrate in schools. Most students are already achieving well above these levels at home, yet they are given basic technology tasks in schools that match teacher comfort zones. Even more of a concern is that these students are publishing content for a global audience, yet coming to school and creating content for one. Their teacher!
In fact many cannot even showcase their ability to their teachers as the sites they use at home are blocked in their schools.

At the Navcon 2007 conference recently held in Gosford, NSW, Australia, I continually heard the frustration from teachers.
The new web 2.0 technologies, blogs and wikis are being blocked more and more. PBwikis and wikispaces are the two most common sites for students to work in a collaborative on line manner, yet many schools or sectors are now blocking these to go with youtube and myspace.
Youtube has some of the best video footage available yet it is often blocked at the state level. We also want students to publish to a global audience, however too often this is not possible due to restricted access to web 2.0.
Some teachers tell me that they are not even telling their school leaders or technology administrators about the innovation in their classrooms, for fear the web 2.0 sites they are using will be blocked the next day.
I think it’s time for education bodies to come up to speed on web 2.0 and the positive impact it can have in classrooms. Yes there are risks to children who use these sites in an inappropriate way and if anyone should know about this it’s me, however we need to start educating children about their responsibilities as digital citizens.
We cannot expect students to use technologies in schools and homes without informing and educating them about how to keep safe on the internet and how to ingrain responsible use of the technology. Students who are immersed in this technology have to understand that they have a moral responsibility to use this technology wisely. They are the digital natives and need to develop their own code of conduct. For many, this cannot be done without the help of educators.

This is our role.

Too often the easiest outcome is to block, ban or remove the access. Web 2.0 provides low cost, easy access to technologies that will be a large part of every child’s future. Schools, Districts, Education Sectors!!!!!!! Come up to speed. This is the new world of technology. Students who use the technologies are meeting most of the learning outcomes we set for children. Unfortunately, most of this is occurring at home and can only be achieved at home.

Navcon 2007

Ok, Ok. I am at Navcon 2007 and have just conducted a session on web 2.0 and in particular how I subscribe to Blogs using Google Reader. I was talking about Blogfluenza and how every one is blogging and realised I was a Bluker (reading blogs but not commenting or adding to the community). But then again, with my on-going travel there is little free time to blog.

Rather than spend time focusing on the conference, I thought I would reflect on some of my observations.

Firstly the range of knowledge at the conference is again so diverse. We have some of the leaders in the use of new and emerging technologies in our groups, however we also have many who have never heard of Web 2.0.

The most popular themes are blogging, podcasting, RSS feeds, animation and wikis.

There is some reference to some of the newer web 2.0 sites, but not a lot.

Keynote speakers were:
Dr Yoram Harpaz - Beit Berl Teachers College, Isreal
Leigh Blackall - Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand
Dr Adam Lefstein - Oxford University, United Kingdom

One of the interesting delegates I meet at lunch was John Larkin from StJosephs Catholic High School. John is a great fan of Jaiku, a mini blog program with a social messagging feature.

Oh my apologies to Kathy Schrock, as I have used her blog Kaffeeklatsch, as the sample to sign everyone up in my work shop using google reader.

Links to web sites and videos shown in my spotlight and workshops can be found here. Greg's Navcon2k7 Workshops.