Tech Disruptions

The News from Project RED: “Technology Can Impact Learning”

Elliot: I missed the Project RED preso at ISTE 2010 in Denver but I was able to catch the rerun one School News! And, it was a block buster of a story!
Cathie: You are drawing this out unnecessarily. Cut to the chase, please and remind our readers what Project RED is before you drop into RED’s findings.
Elliot: Pretty demanding are you this morning.
Cathie: So now you talk like Yoda?
Elliot: ARGH! Project RED is run by several nationally-recognized educational groups and they have been collecting data, over the Internet, on how technology is being used in America’s schools. Their goal is to show that using technology not only leads to increased student achievement, but it saves schools money, too.
Cathie: Given that to a first order approximation technology has had zero impact on K-12 over the past 40 years, Project RED has quite a mountain to climb.
Elliot: Apparently over the past few years, some K-12 schools have learned how to use technology effectively. 
Cathie: America needs those data; I am all ears.
Elliot: This is a multi-step argument so strap on your seat belt. Project RED has data that say a 1:1 rollout …
Cathie:… where every child receives a computing device for their personal use 24/7…
Elliot: … is no more likely to improve scores on high stakes tests than using computers in the conventional manner…
Cathie: .. you mean like with COWS (computers on wheels) or labs?
Elliot: … I think so. I couldn’t find more detail on the Project RED website, but perhaps if I looked more carefully…
Cathie: That is a significant finding! Inasmuch as the cost of implementing 1:1 is high compared to implementing COWS and labs, if 1:1 doesn’t buy you more than conventional use of computers then there is no point for a school to go ahead and spend that extra money and go 1:1!!!
Elliot: Just the inference I was going to make – thank you.
Cathie: But surely 1:1 does have value!
Elliot: Yes, Project RED did see that when “properly implemented” 1:1 did have an advantage over conventional use of computers.
Cathie: “Properly implemented” – what does that mean?
Elliot: Patience, patience, patience… There are a number of factors that RED has identified that define “properly implemented.” I have included those factors in a Table below.

Cathie: While you were blithering on, I went to the Project RED website and reviewed a PowerPoint they used at ISTE. RED points out no school used all the top 6 factors. That’s most unfortunate.
Elliot: Truly and it is even more unfortunate that schools that have gone to the trouble of implementing 1:1 do not have the students use their computing devices on a daily, regular basis!!
Cathie: But Project RED does show the significant amount of money that America saves by the decrease in the drop-out rate associated with the use of technology.
Elliot: High drop out rates…
Cathie: You mean like Detroit’s, where it is almost 80% for high schoolers?
Elliot: .. have a ripple effect way beyond the economic numbers.
Cathie:  Principals and Superintendents: Project RED is a must read. (The entire report will be available in October) Finally, used “properly” technology can make a difference in America’s schools.

Information Technology Is Distracting. Go Back to Textbooks? Not a Chance!

Elliot: That article about “digital learning” in USA Today was really well-written and interesting!

Cathie: You sound surprised; oh that’s right, you are an east coast, New York Times snob.

Elliot: <broadly smiling> … you left out Martha’s Vineyard-vacationing, lefty, liberal, yellow-dog Democrat, New York Times….

Cathie: I did that on purpose of course…

Elliot: “One of these days Alice, straight to the Moon!"

Cathie: Yes, the USA Today article described many studies that show that the computer, with distracting apps such Facebook and email always one mouse click away and its cousin the Internet, with its hyperlinked, media-rich documents are actually harmful to students’ learning!

Elliot: This theme is echoed in a new book by Nicholas Carr – The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brain – where he warns: “The danger is you don’t encourage people to think critically and, ultimately, you don’t encourage them to think creatively.”

Cathie:  The USA Today article interviews a student who says he actually prefers textbooks to using eBooks and the Internet.

Elliot: I mentioned this issue to my 21 year old, Michigan State daughter and she said that during finals her friends, by mutual consent, change each other’s passwords on Facebook precisely because of its distractive influence!

Cathie: While some might say that the proper response to the distractive influence of the computer and the Internet is “Turn off the computer; cut off the Internet; go back to textbooks” the reality is this: there is no going back!

Elliot: Indeed…

Cathie: …you always say “Indeed” just before you are about to pontificate…

Elliot:… who talks like that.. “pontificate”?....  ahem! …  Indeed, 21^st century knowledge workers are continually faced with the distractive influence of the computer and the Internet and…

Cathie: … we educators need to prepare our children to be effective 21^st century knowledge workers and going back to textbooks will do our children a disservice.

Elliot: What better place to teach our children the discipline and focus that is needed to deal with the distractions of the computer and the Internet than in school?

Cathie: Indeed, indeed!

Elliot: I think you are poking fun at me again.

Cathie: <this time SHE is smiling broadly> Carr’s book sounds like Clifford Stoll’s old and sad and tired book  “High Tech Heretic: Why Computers Don't Belong in the Classroom and Other Reflections by a Computer Contrarian.”

Elliot: When it came out in 1999 Stoll’s book caused quite a stir; now no one remembers it. That says a lot.

Cathie: Nicholas Carr, however, is definitely a serious thinker who has published a pile of well-received books about information technology and its impact on productivity in the business world.

Elliot: The bottom line is this: yes, the computer and the Internet are distractions of the highest order, but they are both here to stay and thus protecting students from those distractions is, in the long run, not a helpful strategy. We must help our children learn to deal with the challenges in order to take advantage of the opportunities.

Cathie: Indeed.

Twitter and the Personal Learning Network

Cathie: Now, don’t glaze over, but I am going to tell you about a great use for Twitter!
Elliot: Oh no, Oh no… You mean “telling your 1000 dearest friends what you ate for breakfast” is not all it can do? I can’t believe YOU got the Twitter Religion! Converts tend to become such zealots and…
Cathie: OH - HUSH!
Elliot: … <stopped in mid-stream rant; mouth WI-I-IDE open>
Cathie: … If you, I and our leadership are not open to new ideas, then we are hypocritical!
Elliot: Hmm. When you’re right, you’re right. I was just taking a cheap shot at Twitter – just like when folks take cheap shots when we say “cellphones are useful in the K-12 classroom.”  I apologize…
Cathie: … accepted…
Elliot: … I am ready to listen with an open mind.
Cathie: Education professionals, such as media specialists, are linking up with fellow professionals to share new ideas, review old ideas, help with answers to questions – all via Twitter…
Elliot… and all in 140 characters or less?
Cathie: Yes! The 140 character limit is not a bug, but a feature – it helps to keep the rants down and it helps people focus on the issue, not on the hype.
Elliot: Come to think of it, I was talking with Lynne Oakvik the other day and she mentioned that she heard about mobile learning from her PLN.
Cathie: Yes, Yes… her Personal Learning Network. You got it!
Elliot: Yes, and Lynne recommended I talk with Tom Whitby…
Cathie: … He started the EDU PLN, a website that is like a “meta PLN”—it has all sorts of good information about PLNs on the site.
Elliot: Yup, here’s the URL:  http://edupln.ning.com/
Cathie: That’s the point of a PLN – in the end, it actually saves you time: it rescues you when you are in need of help.
Elliot: …Just like that bicyclist in Connecticut that had an accident in the woods and sent a Tweet to her PLN and in minutes she was rescued. I read where it said that while there might not be enough signal for a voice call, an SMS can be sent even in minimal signal areas – like a forest!
Cathie:  I was thinking a bit more figuratively…
Elliot: …I am male; literal thinking is my middle name…
Cathie: And now we are mixing a few metaphors … all in good fun!
Elliot: I am nervous; should WE join a PLN? I don’t usually like joining groups – it takes up too much time!
Cathie: But they are supposed to save you time. Folks out in ReaderLand --  tell us about your PLN experiences – are they a time waster or time saver?

Changing Education – one teacher at a time!

"Facebook has hit the 500 million member mark, adding 100 million new users to its ranks in the past six months alone."

http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/analysis/2266968/facebook-500m-users

 

"If Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest one in the world. "

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/zuckerberg-calls-movie-fiction-disputes-signing-contract-giving/story?id=11217015

 

"Mobile searches across Google's Android operating system increased 300 percent over the first six months of 2010.  Its mobile traffic has grown 500 percent over the last two years.

The Android platform has 160,000 devices activated daily. That's two every second."

http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/story/google-android-searches-300-over-first-half-2010/2010-07-16?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

 

“It doesn’t seem as hard as a computer.” (5^th grade teacher, upstate New York)

The referent of the “it” is a cellphone. Cathie was talking with a teacher who was participating in a “hands-on,” professional development workshop on the use of smartphones in the classroom. The teachers were seeing what a lesson on the water cycle would look like where all the learning activities carried out by the students and all the informational resources needed were accessed on/through the smartphone. And, since texting and voice calling were disabled by the carrier, the smartphone was literally functioning in the same capacity as desktop/laptop/netbook computer.

 

Cathie: The quotes speak for themselves.

Elliot: Yes, but…

Cathie: … I knew you couldn’t resist talking… ha ha ha…. But what?

Elliot: The scale of the growth is what gets me in those quotes – 500 percent, 300 percent, 500 hundred million, 100 hundred million and then 1 teacher.

Cathie: <spoken in a tone dripping with irony> I have told you this for how many years? Each and every teacher is THE gatekeeper of his or her classroom; if the teacher is uncomfortable with it, then the students won’t see it, whatever IT is. We change education one teacher at a time, one classroom at a time.

Elliot: Keep reminding me… I am a little slow sometimes…

Cathie: …sometimes?

Elliot: …. especially when it comes to practical matters.

Cathie: The fact that the smartphone is, for all practical purposes a computer, is not the issue.

Elliot: Yes, the teacher perceives the smartphone as being less complex, less intimidating than a regular computer.

Cathie: Teachers are familiar with the cellphones; they use them every day. Using them in the classroom then is not an issue.

Elliot: I don’t have the patience to change education one classroom at a time!! I want to move faster!

Cathie: Sorry, Charlie…

Elliot: Ok, blog readers, to whom is Cathie referring?

Cathie: What you want is of little consequence, but you are doing a good job, Elliot…

Elliot: ... thank you!

Cathie: … changing education – one teacher at a time!

Kids & Cellphones – From Mumbai, India to Tom’s River, New Jersey

[Note: Cathie and Elliot gave a keynote presentation - on mobile learning - at the Technology 4 Education Conference, Mumbai, India, July 1-3, 2010.]
Cathie: Anytime your life is kinda dull and you want a thrill…
Elliot: Take a taxi ride in Mumbai – during the monsoons!
Cathie: Yes, the experience defines the term “white knuckle ride.”  Traffic density simply beyond belief. It is telling when all the cars …
Elliot: … and bicycles and vespas and motocycles and people...
Cathie: …  are festooned with dents.
Elliot: At least our taxi had 4 wheels!
Cathie: Yes, Mumbai has “taxis” that are 3-wheeled motorcycles with a tent-like covering to keep out the elements…
Elliot: … more or less! In truth, the 4 wheeled version was only a smidgen bigger than those 3 wheeled little jobbers.
Cathie: For our readers, picture Elliot, not your Mr. Small to begin with, with an umbrella in one hand, an overstuffed computer bag in the other, squeezing himself through the narrow, back door of a Nash-Rambler-sized car…
Elliot: … as a monsoon is dropping its load of water from the skies!
Cathie:  In fairness to Elliot, he is becoming Mr. Svelte.  Everyone who knows Elliot – and that is a whole BIG bunch of people – commented about his new size during the ISTE Conference 2010 in Denver, right before we left for India.
[Note: Cathie and Elliot gave a spotlight presentation - on mobile learning - at the ISTE Conference 2010, Denver, June 27-30, 2010.]
Elliot: Oh gosh, blush, blush… I just stopped noshing and started walking…
Cathie: And that made a real difference – as all your friends noticed!
Elliot: <more blushing> From the feedback I was getting, I think our classroom and teacher stories opened T4E attendees eyes to the enormous opportunities provided by mobile learning on cellphones.
Cathie: The T4E attendees were primed to hear our message, though. Michal Yerushalmy, a long-time colleague of the famed Judah Schwartz, inventor of a still-wonderful piece of educational software - the Geometric Supposer,  presented the day before us, on her work using cellphones for math education.
Elliot:  The math apps she and her colleagues have created are MUST HAVES – and fortunately all students can indeed HAVE them since Michal is giving all her apps away free!
Cathie:  I agree with you – at least this once. Based on the penetrating questions we received at the end of our talk, I too think we did communicate our message to the T4E attendees. 
Elliot: Yes, yes, yes… like their asking –“Do teachers find it difficult to modify their curriculum to take advantage of affordances of cell phones? “
Cathie:  That is indeed one of the challenges. But the teachers in Garnerville, NY, Tom’s River, NJ, Katy, TX, Watkins Glen, NY, St. Marys, OH, all have risen to the challenge if we use the dramatic increase in their students’ test scores as a measure.
Elliot: On standardized tests no less – 30% improvement in many cases!!
Cathie: We need to document carefully those findings; honestly, it is hard to believe that scores could go up that much that fast. `
Elliot: The Tom’s River NJ teachers said that each and every student who was using a mobile learning device turned  in every bit of homework – on time and sometimes even early!
Cathie: THAT is astonishing. Yes, dear blog readers: we will document these results carefully! But, please read the case studies written by folks in the above districts recently published in a Special Section On Mobile Learning in District Administration Magazine.
Elliot: Kids are kids – in Mumbai, India or Tom’s River, New Jersey – cellphones and kids are a WORLD WIDE phenomena. Finally, each and every one of the world’s children can all have a genuine computer in their hands, 24/7.
Cathie: That is a wonderful vision…   one that won’t happen overnight, sad to say.
Elliot:  But we techies are ever the optimists!! ….. And, now that we have solid evidence that mobile learning can lead to improved student achievement, we have even more reason to be optimistic! … Now, if only I can squeeze OUT of this Mumbai taxi … so I can  catch the plane to Singapore…. Here’s my arm.. PULL, please!
[Note: Cathie and Elliot are giving a Keynote - surpise, on mobile learning - at the North Zone ICT Meeting at Nan Chiau Primary School in Singapore, July 6, 2010.  And then after traveling for another 24 hours, they will arrive back in Dallas & Ann Arbor on the same day they left Singapore, due to the magic of the International Date Line.]