Curriculum Development and Informal Learning

So here is the West Coast trend; Informal Learning and Web 2.0 will foster the next wave of elearning. Informal and Learning 2.0 are the innovations we have all been waiting for. This is the Montessori school approach that parents are rushing towards, however when it comes to corporate learning the Formal Curriculum Rules the roost. The rough part is, is that the same parents who are sending their children to a Montessori education are the same ones that want a Formal Curriculum for employees. Try to explain Informal Learning or Web 2.0 to someone trying so hard to get to Level 3 or 4 on the Kirkpatrick model. Corporations want solid ROI measurable SMART objectives not social networking.

So here is the challenge while I agree with the likes of Jay Cross and Tony Carr that there is a revolution of sorts taking place in this space, I challenge the thought leaders to provide some of the keys to program development that leverages these technologies in a tangible way.

I recently took up the challenge myself a bit in the creation of a presentation on learning communities and informal learning. See my presentation on slideshare:

Schools Expect to Swap Textbooks for Digital Ones

In Singapore, more classrooms will be digital in the future. More students can soon replace bound texts with Tablet PCs.

The Backpack.net centre, located on the grounds of the National Institute of Education, aims to bring digital learning to schools also in Korea, Malaysia and Indonesia.

I wonder what the relative cost will be for a Tablet PC for each student vs. multiple printed hardcopy textbooks? Someone must have run these estimates, or investments if you please. I'll see what I can find.

Summer Academy for Talented Youth 2007

Vanderbilt University offers a Summer Academy 2007 (VSA) for talented youth, rising 8th to 12th grades.

... highly gifted students can soar—learning at a rapid pace in a true community of peers. Students have the opportunity to flex their intellectual muscles, make lifelong friends, and have lots of fun ...

Check it out, Students. Here's another credit/application-entry-item and more skills you can add to your toolbox for applying successfully to the university of your choice.

Ask your teachers for help in applying, but expect to carry your own water as a demonstration of part of your qualification for admission.

If it doesn't work out for you this summer, note the week-end and other programs available for talented youth, including for those of you in kindergarten.

Also, other universities offer similar programs. See Stanford, Duke, ...

Be sure to ask if they support you using your Tablet PC or UMPC. The answers may please you!

2008 Tablet PC Academy

Rob Mancabelli, Director of Information Systems at Hunterdon Central School District, Flemington, New Jersey, invites teachers to consider attending their 2008 Tablet PC Academy, July 15-17 and July 22-24.

Rob said in an email, Our teachers began using tablet PCs 4 years ago, and it has evolved into a District-wide initiative where over 250 teachers use tablet PCs each day in conjunction with a wireless projector and wireless connectivity. It has had an amazing effect on the integration of technology into instruction and has improved teaching and learning outcomes across our classes. In fact, Purdue University Press just published the findings of one of our research studies in a book called Beyond the Tipping Point which illustrates the implementation of pen technologies in education.

As a Tablet PC Cohort teacher said about using a tablet in the classroom, “This has been the most fun and exciting [time] of my teaching career -- after 14 years, that's saying a lot” (title page).

And that's just the beginning of useful information in this research report.

The Academy appears to address important points for teachers wanting to use Tablet PCs and other mobile PCs in classrooms:

􀂾 Learn practical applications for tablet PC integration in your classrooms

􀂾 Use the tablet to increase student engagement

􀂾 Practice productivity tips

􀂾 Share knowledge with colleagues

􀂾 Collaborate with other professionals

􀂾 Understand how to plan a successful tablet PC program

Kudos, Rob, your IT team, and school personnel from Board of Education, administrators, and instruction and support staff for setting a brisk pace by demonstrating how public schools can use mobile PC technology to increase student learning.

And thanks, community tax payers, for supporting and encouraging this bold move to provide contemporary schooling practices for your young people.

Thanks, Rob, for reminding me of your program! Let us know of your progress. Many of us are interested.

Call for Fordham Scholar Grants

(The program) ... aims to fund junior researchers working on key issues in American K-12 education.

The foundation will award three to five grants ranging from $15,000 to $25,000 each year.

Advanced doctoral students and junior faculty members--especially those in economics, law, political science, and public policy--are invited to apply for these grants.

This year's theme: The Courts and K-12 Education. Successful projects will examine how the courts (state, federal, etc.) may affect the ability of educators, policymakers, and entrepreneurs to foster stronger pupil achievement; greater choices for families; more efficient school operations; promising innovations in curriculum, instruction, school organization and, leadership; and sound, workable accountability mechanisms.

Under the topic of "School finance litigation and its effect on sound budgetary practices," I wonder who might submit a proposal to examine the redeployment of budget items from, say, personnel (administrative?) lines, to Tablet PC, and other mobile PC equipment purchases and support in order to increase teaching-learning efficiency.

Or perhaps, under the topic "Special education litigation (and costs)," to analyze the extent to which special education funds may be used to purchase and maintain mobile PCs for special education students to complete successfully more regular curricula than now.

State High School Exit Exams: Working to Raise Test Scores

The Center on Education Policy released the report State High School Exit Exams: Working to Raise Test Scores.

... the Center’s findings indicate that the exams are having a major impact in influencing curriculum and instruction, especially for disadvantaged students. To develop a better understanding of this relationship, the Center recommends that states take steps to monitor the effectiveness of high school exit exams as a tool for influencing and advancing curriculum, instruction and student performance.

“States have poured valuable resources into exit exams without seemingly having a clear purpose for their use,” said Jack Jennings, president & CEO of the enter. “And regardless of the aim of the tests, they are having a major impact on classroom teaching and learning, which leads to serious questions about the rigor of state standards and tests.”

More than half of the exit exam states reported providing targeted funding or technical assistance intended to close achievement gaps in mathematics (14 states) and reading/language arts (15 states).

Programs often included funding specifically to help English language learners, disabled, and low-income students.

States reported that students with disabilities are the at-risk group whose performance is most difficult to lift.

State exams equate to 10th grade performance expectations, and do not indicate a graduate is prepared for college or for work.

The Center on Education Policy is a national, independent advocate for public education and for more effective public schools. They do not represent any special interests and try to help make sense of conflicting opinions and perceptions about public education in order to help create conditions that may lead to better public schools.

From Tech to Teaching

The Associated Press published a story about Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's bet of using experienced scientists and engineers nearing the end of the professional careers to help ease the shortage of math and science teachers in California.

The $12 million initiative, part of his 2007-08 budget proposal, would be a small step toward addressing the state's acute teacher shortage.

Better trained math and science students will strengthen the California labor pool and businesses that rely on sophisticated math and science employees.

He wants to encourage retirees to contribute their experience to their replacements. IBM and six other companies already have signed on to the venture, dubbed EnCorps. Its goal is to recruit 2,000 would-be teachers during the first two years after the program is funded. Their companies will provide up to $15,000 per teacher candidate, with no limit on the number of participants. Candidates will collect their retirement benefits along with their teachers' salaries.

Participants in the new program must have a bachelor's degree, allowing them to earn a teaching credential in one year. They would be required to pass the same tests as other teachers.

Now, let's support them with infrastructurre so they will bring their Tablet PCs, UMPCs, and other mobile PCs into classrooms.

Teacher Prep at High Tech High

Erik W. Robelen reports that The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing has approved High Tech High to certify teachers in mathematics, science, English, history/social studies, Spanish, Mandarin, and art through its Teacher Intern Program.

High Tech High leaders say establishing formal programs for educators was a natural outgrowth of a school climate that by design fosters adult learning.

“We already have lots of contexts within the teacher’s day where teachers reflect on their practice and do planning together,” said Robert C. Riordan, High Tech High’s director of instructional support.

The program will have distinguished visiting faculty members, including Mr. Vander Ark (former official of the Bill and Milenda Gates Foundation), who is now the executive director of the X Prize Foundation in Santa Monica, Calif., and Theodore R. Sizer, the founder of the Oakland, Calif.-based Coalition of Essential Schools and a former dean of the Harvard education school.

Will Robots Join Classrooms?

The consumer robotics market is expanding with the arrival of 'bots that can spy inside your home when you're away or arrange virtual meetings of family or friends. A new vacuum cleaner, a webcam bulging from the top.

"As these kinds of devices mature in the years ahead, I expect them to gradually become more sophisticated in terms of providing gestures, object interaction such as picking things up, and eventually moving toward a more human shape," said James Kuffner, an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute.

Parents on a business trip can use ConnectR through a Web connection to a home wireless network in order to send remotely the wheeled robot into a bedroom. There, the children could open a book in front of the robot's camera. The parent could then read the story aloud and watch and hear the kids' reactions. The family could also converse.

The user can operate the robot with either a joystick or a computer installed with iRobot-supplied software.

Color digital video streams only one way. Thus, a traveling parent could see the kids but not vice versa.

Up to 10 parties can have PIN-number access to the gadget, allowing distant relatives or friends to keep in touch, as well as immediate family.

IRobot says ConnectR will become broadly available early next year for less than $500.

Hmmm. It seems an obvious to ask, "Are remote controlled electronic observations a next step in educator accountability to the broader community? How many boards of education have addressed the issue of remotely controlled observations in classrooms and school related meetings? Given the existence of the technology potential, when will ConnectR's off-spring or competitor enter classrooms as unauthorized spys or as a parent's authorized third-party-observer?"

A Vision of Students Today

Michael Wesch, uses survey data from 133 Kansas State University ANTHRO 200 students to describe how they learn.

… the basic idea is to create a 3 minute video highlighting the most important characteristics of (university) students today - how they learn (bold added), what they need to learn, their goals, hopes, dreams, what their lives will be like, and what kinds of changes they will experience in their lifetime.

Check out the video. For some it's provocative, for others it confirms opinions about student academic performances. From either conclusion, it describes thoughtfully assembled data.

Over the course of a week, 367 edits were made to his original survey document. Students wrote the script for the video, and made suggestions for survey questions to ask the entire class.

Wesch already knows some things from previous research about what students say about how they learn. Other things he will need to find out.

Here's a sample of what he found out from students (bolds added):

I complete 49% of the readings assigned to me.
Survey: Not including this class, what percentage of assigned readings do you complete? Average: 48.73

Only 26% … relative to my life
Survey: Not including this class, what percentage of assigned readings do you find relevant to your life? Average: 25.95

“I will read 8 books this year.”
Survey: How many books have you read this year? Average 8.03 (ranging from 0-200)

Not a surprise to most of us, they read and write more online than with class assignments.

Do these results mean they are required to perform at an inadequate level of academic rigor or that students apply class learning and academic rigor outside of class?

He's using an interesting process to understand an important topic, one that provides teachers with databased insights into what students do with assignments, during lectures and other classroom presentations without mobile PCs.

Wesch asks students, "Please add whatever you want to know or present.” Since this topic appears to be a current research focus for Wesch, perhaps he would appreciate learning what your Tablet PC, UMPC, or other mobile PC students say about how they learn classroom assignments.

Hmm, at least I'm interested, and will post it for you or direct readers to your site.