IT @ ISM Tech Think Blog

According to ISM’s mission and our school-wide student goals, our mandate is to develop “effective communicators” and “responsible, caring and ethical contributors“. The NETS technology standards also commit us to developing digital citizens who “practice legal and ethical behavior” in their “use of information and technology“.

This may all sound well and good, but what does it mean in practice?
Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been writing a few things lately about the Internet as a tool for collaborating and connecting minds, both in terms of expanding educational opportunities and in the context of skills our students will need in the future. I’d like to explore another aspect of that for a moment…

I believe networked collaboration tools can serve a crucial role in other ways as well: as collaboration tools for social improvement. During the Long Now conference earlier this year, author Paul Hawken spoke of the emergence of what he calls ‘the largest movement in the world’: countless organizations working in decentralized unison to restore the environment and foster social justice.
Read the rest of this entry »

Mark Granovetter introduced more than thirty years ago the notion of “the strength of weak ties” - the idea that for many purposes, a large network of loose connections can be more useful for meeting many of your needs than a small network of close connections, e.g. for finding a job. This may seem counter-intuitive, but just think about it: there is typically a relatively large overlap between your network of connections and those of your close friends or family members. You already know or regularly interact with many of the same people, and it’s probably unlikely they’ll be able to pull out of a hat a connection to a person you don’t know, who possesses just the skills or resources you’re looking for. A former colleague who’s since moved on to a new occupation, however, is probably more likely to know new people and be able to put you in touch with what (or who) you need.
Read the rest of this entry »

In a previous post, Fred posted some shownotes from his recent Wednesday morning in-service on web skills. I’d just like to expand on this a bit. If you’re an MS or HS teacher and plan for your students to do research on a topic, you can share the below hints with your students before they start. Effective web searching involves a whole set of skills that need reinforcing over time.
Read the rest of this entry »

Okay, I’ll really try to keep it shorter this time!

Regular exercise or study is much more effective than intense but irregular bursts of effort (what we call ‘cramming’). Stephen Covey refers to this as “the Law of the Farm”: you can’t cram on the farm - only steady day-to-day work will provide a full harvest. Similarly, ongoing (well considered) ICT use in the day-to-day classroom environment offers more powerful and longer-lasting benefits than one-off, intensive projects.

I like to visualize this as the difference between a point and a line:
Read the rest of this entry »

Traditional education tends to relegate students to the role of consumers, of passive recipients of knowledge, which is seen as something to be delivered by the teacher (with the aid of secondary sources such as authoritative textbooks). Over the years, the underlying assumptions of this model about how learning takes place have increasingly come under criticism, but while many call for an overhaul of the teacher’s role - from “Sage on the Stage” to “Guide on the Side” - this is still effectively the model according to which many classrooms operate. The critics further argue that schools need to upgrade the students’ role to active co-producers of learning and knowledge.
Read the rest of this entry »

This morning, a student forwarded this article to me about iPods in schools. While the article mentions iPods, this could in fact apply to any mp3 player. A couple of quotes really stood out such as:

“You know the No. 1 complaint about school is that it’s boring because the traditional way it’s taught relies on passive learning,” Mr. Noguera said. “It’s not interactive enough.”

“…students seemed bored by their English-language textbooks…which they found outdated and irrelevant”

Fortunately, this is not necessarily the case at our school, however, the article made me reflect on how we are using mp3 players at ISM. In the HS, how are mp3 players used in the classroom to facilitate learning? Why are mp3 players not allowed in the MS? Now, aside from the obvious concerns about theft and loss, I think there could be real value in allowing students to bring iPods to school, however, it would require a well thought out vision that clearly outlines how iPods could be utilized and training for teachers on how to integrate this technology into the class. The groundwork for integration has already started. Training on podcasting has been offered to several departments in the school. Mp3 recorders are being used at the IB level for oral exams. The Music and Modern Language departments are recording student work for playback and self evaluation. Many of the students are already familiar with the technology and possess the tools to use it. Where do we go from here?

That’s right - last night! I put the kids to bed, brewed some of Starbucks’ finest for my wife and myself, got out a packet of Tim Tams and then got comfy in my softest lounge chair. And then I went to a conference. No need for a visa, no airport checkins, and it didn’t cost me a single centavo - basically, it was all the flavour but none of the CO2 emissions (talk about going green!). No taxis, no need for an ironed shirt. I may even attend the next session from my bathtub!

Okay, you may not be a big fan of charades, so I’ll get to the point and explain. The 2007 K-12 Online conference started last night, and it was pretty cool, I have to say. Read the rest of this entry »

image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wastrel/184559565/

Wednesday’s presentation to HS Faculty, reported yesterday on this blog, seems to have led to a few questions (offline, not in blog comments). The topic - “Efficient use of computer labs” - came about as a result of many teachers reporting difficulties getting into labs in some areas of the school. While the original intent was to seek improvements to the booking system for computer labs (other than the MC labs, where the system is working fine), a potential additional benefit discussed was ways to also improve the quality of lab usage. I raised the issue with some hesitation, as I know well that many of our teachers put great care (and skill) into designing their units and lessons. However, I hoped my intent would be clear: initiating changes to the booking system to improve access to resources for all, and offering support to those who feel unsure how best to maximize the learning impact of lab time.

One subsequent query in particular interested (and surprised) me:
Read the rest of this entry »

image: http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/

Lately, free slots in the computer lab booking calendars have become almost as rare as sightings of Pacific Northwest Tree Octopi… (and just in case you’re wondering what kind of mushrooms I’ve been eating, check out Fred’s post). While it’s great that costly resources are being put to good use, it’s probably best if we also use these resources well. Currently, I’m not sure that’s what’s happening all the time.

There seems to be a bit of a “tragedy of the commons” going on - people are generally aware that labs are a scarce resource, so some are engaging in pre-emptive bookings out of fear that others will get there before them and block book in a major way. As a consequence, students are sometimes brought to labs for lessons that have not been thoroughly thought out in advance, possibly before they are actually ready to use the computers for whatever project they’re working on. We probably need to address this culture of block booking “just-in-case”…
Read the rest of this entry »