Education List Serv
June 22, 2009
My friend, Mike Rosskamm, is starting an education listserv. Here is an excerpt from his introductory e-mail:
The purpose of this email is to try to bring together an online group of people who are interested in/ dedicated to the improvement of public education in the US.
Why? Over the last few years, I have had many one-off conversations with friends and colleagues who are interested in the education space. Through those conversations I have realized a few things:
- Education matters! It is one of the most important issues of our day and it is motivating/ inspiring to have conversations with peers who share that passion and are looking for ways to have an impact
- There are a lot of people who care about and want to get involved in the education world and have been unable to do it in a satisfactory manner (auxiliary boards are not quite getting the job done)
- A surprising number of people are developing skills in other jobs (consulting, brand, etc.) before they pursue education full time
- Those people already in the education world are consistently looking for help with new projects/ proposals, difficult problems, or simply want an outsider’s perspective
Based on these realizations, I believe that there is an opportunity to connect with people in a virtual space to help each other accomplish some of our own goals around education.
Specifically, the goals of the group are as follows:
- Connect people, regardless of their current level of engagement in education, around the mission of improving public education in the US
- Enable those currently involved in the education world to access a committed group of individuals willing to provide them with important resources (brainstorming, strategic direction, contacts, board level involvement, etc.)
- Enable those not currently involved in the education world to be aware of what initiatives are taking place, to find ways to stay connected, and to learn about opportunities to get involved more permanently in the education world
- Provide a forum to discuss and debate current events in the education world
- Inspire and motivate each other to take on more of a role in working towards improving public education in the US
If you would like to join this interesting group, please send Mike an e-mail.
Smart Solutions K12 – June 2009 Newsletter
June 3, 2009
Welcome Back!
SSI K-12 has taken an 7 month hiatus and has returned with a new look! We hope that you like the new version of our monthly newsletter and welcome your comments. Please email Jay White if you would like to be added to this newsletter: jwhite@smartsolutionsonline.com.
Education Technology Trends
Have you made using an RSS reader a habit yet? If not, the summer is a great time to get started! RSS readers are a great way to “subscribe” to your favorite websites; using an RSS reader allows you to save time while keeping up with the latest information in your field.
This quick video can help you get started: http://www.commoncraft.com/rss_plain_english.
Here are some of the interesting things that have recently come across our RSS Readers:
- 10 tips for Creating effective professional development in a difficult economy from the National Staff Development Council
- An online community where teachers can find partners for global collaborative projects from Free Technology for Teachers
- A new way to download YouTube videos from Free Technology for Teachers
- A recent article by Bill Ferriter in Educational Leadership, Learning with Blogs and Wikis, describes the potential of blogs as a resource for ongoing personal and professional learning and provides some advice for getting started.
Contact akelton@smartsolutionsonline.com if you have any questions. To find out more, please contact Abby Kelton.
SSI K-12 Blog
SSI K-12 Vice President Nitin Julka writes on our company blog. This month, Nitin shares a variety of useful sites and links. Visit the SSI K-12 Blog
Did You Know?
This spring, Ohio launched Ohio on iTunes U, a collection of digital media resources including educational materials, professional development resources, and student video. As stated on the eTech website, the project allows Ohio to share educational resources, professional development materials, and student videos which have been produced by members of higher education, the K-12 community, and community partners free of charge with unlimited access. Click here to read more. (More Details)
New Products and Services
In working with schools and districts for twenty-five years, it has been our experience that HR departments use ineffective home grown databases and have a need for HR software to significantly enhance business processes and improve time management. In response to this need, Smart Solutions has developed an HR Management Suite for Schools called SmaHRt People. SmaHRt People has been developed in partnership with Lakewood City Schools and will be offered as a web-based product hosted by Ohio ITC partners OMERESA, NEONET, AND LNOCA. There are 2 pricing options, and special discounts are available through July 1, 2009.
For more information or to schedule a demonstration, please contact Paul Karlin.
Recent Projects – A Typical School Year!
For our managed services clients, Smart Solutions keeps technology running. We monitor and administer the network, respond to trouble tickets,and generally make sure technology is available and working in classrooms and offices. When it comes to implementing NEW technology projects, Smart Solutions keeps very busy as well. This past year at just one of our managed services districts in NE Ohio, here is a list of projects we completed:
- installed laptops, projectors, and whiteboards in 51 classrooms;
- set up new PC’s for the entire Administrative and support staff;
- configured, tested, and put into service 2 Citrix servers and 2 file servers;
- deployed wireless campuses at the middle school and high school;
- assembled 3 new computer labs;
- built a new district website;
- updated the district’s outbound dialing system;
- and converted 50 Macintosh computers into thin client workstations.
Our managed services clients love the way we manage and complete projects on time and on budget.
If you are considering a new technology project this summer or fall, contact Doug Jones to see how Smart Solutions can help.
Company Information
SSI K-12 is the Education Division of Smart Solutions, Inc. Smart Solutions K-12 provides products and services to increase IT efficiency and enhance student achievement. Our team includes experienced educators, highly skilled engineers and technicians, and curriculum and technology specialists. Smart Solutions is a 25-year-old company with over 75 employees and offices in Cleveland, Canton, Columbus, and Detroit.
Contact Us
Nitin Julka
Vice President
njulka@smartsolutionsonline.com
216-765-1122 ext. 8370
Doug Jones
Managed Technology Services and Data Solutions
djones@smartsolutionsonline.com
216-765-1122 ext. 8380
Paul Karlin
E-Rate and Technology Solutions
pkarlin@smartsolutionsonline.com
216-765-1122 ext. 8371
Abby Kelton
Professional Development and Software Solutions
akelton@smartsolutionsonline.com
Smart Solutions K-12 Digital Academy Success
May 29, 2009
Hello! My name is Michele Gasser and I am a recent addition to the Smart Solutions K-12 team. In my role as a Professional Development Specialist, I work with Ohio school districts to help teachers learn 21st century technology tools to enhance student learning. When I joined the team in January, I hit the ground running with my first project, a Digital Academy designed for Brunswick City Schools in Brunswick, Ohio.
Kicked off in February, the nine-week program included three groups of elementary, middle and high school teachers from throughout the district. These teachers met once a week for face-to-face sessions and supplemented their learning with a Moodle course custom-designed to their needs.
The focus of the academy was to learn about the exciting ways that web 2.0 tools would enhance not only their personal learning but their teaching style as well. By the end of the nine weeks, I was hearing comments from teachers on how much more engaged their students were. The new technology certainly made an impact in their classrooms. We covered a broad range of topics including Social Bookmarking, Blogs, Wikis, Moodle, SMART Notebook software, SMART Sync classroom management software, Google Docs, Google Forms and more! (By the way, you may be familiar with some of these tools and some of them you may not. Look for more information on these in future posts.)
One of the goals of the Digital Academy was for participants to learn how to collaborate and make a team wiki. The wiki would be used to share quality lesson plans and as a one-stop-shop technology resource for the other teachers in the district. The resulting Brunswick etoos4teachers wiki is a great example of their collaborative effort and mastery of the new skills learned throughout the course.
It was exciting for me as an instructor to watch the enthusiasm for technology grow and it was just as exciting for the teachers to see the same results in their students. Just days after the Digital Academy finished up, I received a wonderful email from a kindergarten teacher with a link to a Mother’s Day project her kindergarten students made in Voicethread (one of the tools we explored in class). Their slide-show presentation consisted of students’ drawings of their mothers accompanied by audio clips of the students’ Mother’s Day greetings. It is absolutely delightful to see children this young interacting with technology. What a great way to introduce them to the 21st century!
Results like this are what make my work so rewarding. I look forward to sharing more success stories with you in the future.
Random Sites and Links
May 13, 2009
I thought that I would share some of the latest random things that I have read or seen over the last few months.
Finance
I have tried to stay away from politics in this blog. But everyone realizes that we are in the midst of one of the worst financial crises in our history. Therefore, I think it is important to share two of the best articles that I have read about the current crisis in the last few months.
“In Praise of Primitive Finance” by Amar Bhide
“Making Banking Boring” by Paul Krugman
Design
This neat site, 99Designs, allows individuals to bid on logos and web designs. It is a really innovative Web 2.0-ey way to do design work.
Voice Chat
Voxli is an extremely easy to use internet-based group chat service. I believe it was actually developed for use by computer game players, but I think this service could easily become the next standard in phone conferencing. If you are using another application, your chat continues without disruption. Imagine combining this with Google Presentation and we have a distance learning platform.
The Greatest Product Demo Ever
An Open Institutional Learning Network
This blog post is an informative window into the future of course management and data management in a school district.
6th Sense
Awesome video from the Ted Talks.
Datasets
This web site has links to hundreds of datasets from around the internet. As a former data junkie in my previous life as a consultant, I get very excited when I find easy access to data!
Top 25 Social Enterprise Web Sites
Open Source Textbooks
I recently discovered this awesome web site of Open Source textbooks. I believe the publishing industry, particularly the textbook industry, is ripe for disruptive innovations due to technology. It seems highly natural for the industry to move towards a more individualized wiki-style organization rather than large centralized publishing companies dictating the only texts to be used. The school publishing industry will soon follow the fate of the encyclopedia market.
University of Chicago 6to16: College Success for More Urban Students
April 22, 2009
My friend is a Consultant, and is currently working on a project called 6:16 College Success for More Urban Students at the Urban Education Institute at University of Chicago.
Here is a YouTube video of the program:
From everything that my friend described to me, this appears to be one of the most technologically advanced and innovative school programs that I have ever heard. I may not be getting the details of this program correct, but let me recap some of the ideas from our conversation.
Apparently, the goal of this program is to prepare Urban students for college. It is currently being piloted as a school based initiative, but the program is being designed to serve in a variety of situations including during after school programs, through community based organizations, or in the home.
There are many components to the program, including: Virtual Worlds; community mentorship; eLearning; Social Networking; and an advisory-based curriculum.
One activity is that students participate in a Virtual Game in which their objective is to best prepare your character for college. The purpose of the game is to teach students about the importance of college and socialize them to soft skills necessary to “win” in the game of life. Students can see how College acceptance and readiness leads to life and career success.
The premise of this game and the rest of the program is that Urban students have simply not associated the idea that getting into college is the path to success. Therefore, the game allows students to create and reinforce this connection. Once the connection is made, the students are better focused and perform better in their classes.
The results of the student’s game (and other activities) are also posted on a social network where everyone can evaluate each other’s results. In addition, the social network connects students with community mentors who provide real-life examples of people creating successful lives for themselves by getting into college and getting a quality education.
The program sounds fascinating, and I have never heard of something this innovative happening in any schools today.
21st Century Professional Learning – Powerful Learning Practice
April 6, 2009
The following guest post was written by Lani Ritter Hall, an instructional designer for online professional development, and former teacher for 35 years.
We hope you can join Sheryl and Will for an informational webinar session on April 14, 2009 at 10 AM, or, April 23, 2009 at 2 PM.
Contact Lani Ritter Hall, lanihall [at] windstream [dot] net or Abby Kelton, akelton [at] smartsolutionsonline [dot] com, at Smart Solutions for additional information.
Please also check out this Webinar!
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21st century learners: connected, social, engaged, collaborating outside of school. Schools: isolated, competitive, irrelevant to many of those learners. This chasm grows wider daily, requiring leaps and “shifts” in our beliefs about learning to embrace tenets of networked learning that facilitates students reaching their full potential. For many educators, those shifts and leaps are intimidating and foreign as previous professional and personal learning experiences were disjointed and unrelated to the real world.
“Many teachers receive professional development that is episodic and disconnected from real problems and practice, said Linda Darling-Hammond, Charles E. Ducommon Professor of Teaching and Teacher Education at Stanford University. But research tells us that teachers need to learn the way other professionals do: continually, collaboratively and on the job.”
“Research shows that professional learning can have a powerful effect on teacher skills and knowledge and on student learning. To be effective, however, it must be sustained, focused on important content, and embedded in the work of collaborative professional learning teams that support ongoing improvements in teachers’ practice and student achievement.” National Staff Development Council
Aligned with Ohio Professional Development Standards and current research, Powerful Learning Practice (PLP), co founded by Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and Will Richardson, offers a unique opportunity for educators to participate in a long-term, job-embedded professional development program through immersion in learning environments that allow them to learn and own the literacies of 21st Century learning and teaching.
During the initial 8 month cycle PLP participants learn together as part of a cohort composed of 20 school or district teams with 5 educators on each team and 10 “21st Century Fellows” selected from participating districts. Educators experience:
* Two full-day face to face workshops for cohort participants held at a regional site
* Five, two hour synchronous online 21st Century curriculum modules:
1. Setting the Stage: Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century – What is 21st Century learning? Why is it important? This session introduces the context, research and trends shaping the current shifts.
2. Network Literacy: Sharing, Cooperation and Collective Action – This session moves team members from talking about 21st century learning to examining some specific tools and how they are used to promote the building of Personal Learning Networks for sharing, cooperation, and collective action.
3. Network Driven Inquiry: Technological Pedagogy in Action – This session takes a closer look at the pedagogy involved in using web- based strategies to support passion-based and inquiry-driven approaches to learning.
4. Project Workshop – School teams have an opportunity to get feedback on their emerging team projects as well as showcase, reflect, and celebrate the success and outcomes of their learning
5. Long Range Planning and Implementation Workshop – Working with school teams to develop a collective vision and implementation plan to build momentum for change in their schools and districts.
* Immersion in an asynchronous Virtual Learning Community
* Ongoing capacity building with 21st Century Fellows
As educators build these communities of learning that exist outside of traditional time and place, vastly different from schools they attended as children, they find the connections and opportunities they can build with the new emerging medias are key to powerful learning. Powerful Learning Practice understands these connections and understands that the tools are easy; it’s the connections that are hard.
Over 1000 educators worldwide have found PLP energizing, and transformative. Lisa, from the ADVIS cohort reflects upon her experience:
Boy, they weren’t kidding when they said this would be powerful! From the very first, I’ve done nothing but learn. I would admit, though, that a lot of what I’ve learned I had not expected to . . .
What I’ve come to realize is that, through PLP, we are gaining exposure to the world that our kids already inhabit easily – and learning in that environment is not neat and tidy. I wrote my first Ning post about ambiguity and how learning to live – and learn – in an ambiguous world is not easy. It requires openness to new experiences and letting-go of my tradition-based ideas of what schooling is. Learning is not linear, and while I’ve espoused that for years, it wasn’t until this experience of PLP that I was able to live the non-linear, sometimes frustrating, always interesting world of a 21st century learner . . .
Learn more about the current cohort activities from this newsletter and from the PLP website.
Then consider the chasm, consider the challenge, consider PLP! Can you afford not to? Participate in the upcoming 2009-10 Ohio cohort.
We hope you can join Sheryl and Will for an informational webinar session on April 14, 2009 at 10 AM, or, April 23, 2009 at 2 PM.
Contact Lani Ritter Hall, lanihall [at] windstream [dot] net or Abby Kelton, akelton [at] smartsolutionsonline [dot] com, at Smart Solutions for additional information.
Short Book Reviews
April 4, 2009
I wanted to post short reviews on some of the books that I have read in the last few weeks.
Ready for Anything by David Allen
This book is an easy read! It is a great book to read in a few hours to refresh your personal productivity strategy. Even if you do not follow Getting Things Done to a t, Ready for Anything will have insights for you. There are also a bunch of great quotes along the margins throughout the entire book.
Outliers by Malcom Gladwell
One of the weird things about this book is that along the back cover, it states that Gladwell is the author of two of the most influential books of our time, Blink and Tipping Point. I read Tipping Point, and read book reviews about Blink. I found it a bit pretentious to claim that your own book was one of the most influential books of our time.
Outliers was a creative idea taken too far. The original nugget of an idea is that an individual’s success is somewhat a function of his or her unique ability, but mostly a function of the unique time, place, and context of where this individual was born. Gladwell gives a lot of interesting examples of this phenomenon.
The problem with this book is that it was boring. Once you read the first few chapters, there was really no benefit to reading the entire book. In fact, once you have read my summary, there is probably no need to read anything else.
7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
My top 3 business books of all time are:
- Feiner Points of Leadership by Michael Feiner
- Getting to Yes by
- and Getting Things Done by David Allen
7 Habits has now claimed the top position above all 3 of these books. It is difficult to describe how transformative an experience it is to read this book. Covey does it all. He is able to tie together fundamental negotiations, leadership, values, principles, and day-to-day tactics and personal productivity.
The funniest part of the book is that it is very human and imperfect. Covey readily admits that he is unable to follow the 7 Habits, particularly the “seek first to be understand, and then be understood.” He admits his inability to listen. He gives the reader insights into some of the bizarre arguments that he has with his wife.
But this superb book about leadership in the voice of an imperfect man makes it an even better read. I highly recommend this book to all individuals.
Jump the Curve by Jack Uldrich
I did not like this book. I thought Uldrich is not technical enough to have any interesting techncial insights. But he is not too business/strategy minded either. I do not have much more to say about this one.
Crash Course on ASCD – My Day 1
March 15, 2009
I am one of the lucky few who is currently attending the ASCD conference in Orlando. ASCD is a “nonprofit educational leadership association that develops programs, products, and services essential to the way educators learn, teach, and lead.” I am quickly learning that ASCD is the leading curriculum and professional development organization in the world. Apparently, they have a whopping 175,000 members from over 119 countries.
My initial impression of ASCD is that they “get it.” The conference theme was the excellent “Learning Beyond Boundaries.” There was also a focus on 21st Century Skills – and particularly how to inspire creativity in students.
I felt more comfortable at this conference than others ed tech conferences because it was centered around teaching and learning. Often times, education technology conferences seem disconnected from instruction.
The conference organizers have also been extremely friendly to mew media. The organizers created a Twitter tag, #ASCD09, and have been giving bloggers and members of the press equal conference privileges. The ASCD communications team is also doing their own live-blogging on the ASCD web site.
There was a variety of vendors at the conference including: technology; professional development; furniture; garment; publishers; and others.
The technology companies that attend ASCD are mostly established players with a demonstrated track record who are selling enterprise level solutions. The other unique aspect of the vendor crowd is that senior level executives were manning the booths that I visited.
While I only had the chance to attend one workshop today, I understand that they were a mixed bag.
The workshop that I attended was Borderless Learning: Using Technology to Connect Classrooms Worldwide. I was hoping this session would present a guidebook on “how to meet international partners.” Unfortunately, it went over the same tired Web 2.0 tools that I was already familiar with. One person asked the great question, “How do I connect with people in other countries?” The presenter’s answer was weak and uninformative.
I have been studying how to find international partner schools and the best examples that I have found are The Flat Classroom Project, the Global Education Collaborative, or Classroom 2.0. (There is also this great thread on Scott McLeod’s site with more ideas.)
One of my colleagues attended a session titled, Grading that Facilitates and Reflects Learning. The session was taught by Assistant Superintendent of Grand Island Public Schools, Stephen Burkholder. My colleague described the session as “excellent.” The overall idea was to stop using grades as punishments or as rewards – but instead to start using them to reflect what the students are learning. For example, instead of a grade for Reading, they may have rubric-based marks for Fluency, Decoding Strategies, and Comprehension.
Overall, it is wonderful to see an organization as large as the ASCD embrace global collaboration. Collaborative technologies create a wonderful channel to connect with like-minded individuals who are passionate about similar topics. Technology allows us to build Personal Learning Networks beyond boundaries. The ASCD is doing a great job of helping educators understand this trend and ready themselves for the massive changes underway.
2009 Chagrin Falls Education Technology Day
March 9, 2009
The 2009 Chagrin Falls Education Technology Day was a home run! We had a wonderful group of speakers from across the State come speak to us about how technology is transforming teaching and learning at their districts.
We learned about Web 2.0, Personal Productivity, Personal Learning Networks, Course Management Systems, 21st Century Skills, and just about every other important ed tech topic.
All of the materials are being shared on the Chagrin Falls wiki and 21st Century Learning wiki. If you want to read other great debriefs about this event, check out Lani Ritter Hall’s blog, or Doug Jones “Jones’n”, Director of our education division.
There were two other elements of this day that have stuck with me.
1) This day created dialogue across the district and beyond about 21st Century Skills. I do not believe it would have been possible to attend this one-day event without shifting your outlook about the role of technology in education. Every teacher, administrators, and staff member was touched by something at this conference.
2) Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach remains one of the most inspirational figures in my life. Her energy and vision are contagious. She bravely asserts her point of view and pushes the envelope to extend everyone’s thinking. Here is an excerpt of an e-mail that I sent to her:
I strongly felt that your message was clear to every person in the auditorium. I heard MULTIPLE Superintendents say that they were totally on board with your message. I loved the quotes about technology at the end of your presentation. Everything you spoke about was extremely powerful, persuasive, and mind-changing.
I thought your workshop facilitation was one of the most mind-opening, fascinating, productive “work shops” that I have ever been a part of. We need more Sheryl’s in the world. You were dynamite. That event at Chagrin Falls certainly galvanized my interest in the role of technology in education. Since the first time I met you and stumbled around your blog, you have helped ignite a passion for 21st Century Learning and Personal Learning Networks in me as well. I will be forever grateful to you for this.
The Superintendent of Chardon Schools, Joe Bergant, has joined twitter and is driving change at his district as a result of this wonderful day!
Thank you to all the speakers and attendees for organizing a wonderful event. It is exciting and humbling to be part of a business that is helping drive so much positive change in our community.
Re-imagining the classroom
February 23, 2009
(FROM THE HP WEB SITE)
Re-imagining the classroom
The 2009 HP Innovations in Education grants for secondary school districts in the US fund school districts to launch innovative pilot initiatives that support the administrators and teachers responsible for student success in math and science in middle schools and/or high schools.
In the US, HP plans to award approximately 25 grants to public or qualified private school districts Each grant is valued at more than $270,000 in HP technology, cash, and professional development to support innovations in the following areas:
- Leadership Capacity – creating a network of school administrators and key teachers who implement innovative approaches to curriculum, instruction, and the use of technology to enhance math/science learning
- Digital Learning Environments – using technology to fundamentally redesign the learning experience in ways that lead to increased student engagement and academic success; can include innovations in online learning, virtual worlds, gaming for learning, and simulations
- The Secondary Student Design & Research Experience –making math and science real and relevant by involving secondary students in design and research challenges that address real needs in society; can include local and/or global service learning
- High-Tech Career Awareness – engaging administrators, teachers, and students in ways that increase awareness and interest in high-tech college degree programs and careers