Presenting today at the The Future is Now! – Online Learning Best Practices Conference @ BSS in Toronto.

I will be talking and showcasing some tools and ideas to promote collaboration in the classroom.

It has been a while since I have posted here. Being a parent, coach and busy Technology and Learning Coordinator has left me with little time to share and write.  Such is the life of the “semi-pro”.   In the coming weeks I hope to remedy this as I reflect on the last two years here in Bangkok and what the next chapter as in store.

Tonight  Dennis, Kim and I have been invited on the S.O.S – Shift our Schools Podcast to talk about our curriculum work , our vision for 21st century literacy and the journey of thinking, talking and collaboration that has taken us to our “temporary fixed position”.  We like to use that term around here as it speaks to our evolving and shifting thinking. The S.O.S – Shift our Schools Podcast is hosted by Jeff Utech and David Carpenter and is a great bi-monthly listen. Lots of great ideas and thoughts get tossed around.

The essential question for this week’s show is:  How Do We Connect Technology and Classroom Instruction Seamlessly?

For Dennis and I the road to answering this question began two years ago with another question.

How does an information and technology curriculum stay relevant and meaningful in the 21st Century?

Prior to our roles as coordinators we had both taught in schools with elaborate technology scope and sequence plans which we felt had little to no impact on learning and often became outdated the moment they were written. We also felt that the previous NET standards were too bulky and disconnected from the average classroom teacher. We wanted to create something that could stand the test of time and be manageable to the average teacher.

As we approached answering the question we felt strongly that as the world changed around our students, so must a curriculum if it was to remain a relevant institution whose mission was to prepare students for the shifting demands of global citizenship. Every day our pupils read and navigate through a “global electronic library” as well as through the media housed in traditional libraries. They have access to a wealth of information and resources unimaginable even five years ago. Student are able to access, create, design and present information in so many new and exciting ways that educators are having trouble keeping pace. A new literacy has emerged and with it comes a brand new set of skills, responsibilities and challenges. We felt it was time to rethink the role that information technology played in schools and transition from  a disconnected entity to a partner in learning.

Now how to achieve this………………..?

To quote an earlier post:

“Looking at Wiggins and McTighe’s Understanding by Design approach to curriculum and unit design we liked how big “essential questions” and “enduring understandings” had helped us plan and design units when we were teaching math and social studies. What if this same “best practice” approach could be applied to the way technology was used and talked about in the classroom? If this was good curricular design practice, why should technology and thinking curriculum be any different? What if that same approach was used in the way we looked at connecting technology and learning across the curriculum? What if there were only a few manageable questions that even the most tech-resistant teacher could see value in? ”

We shopped the ideas around and started to create understanding within our own institution. Lots of meetings and discussion followed and over the past year with many educators participating we have come up with:

Click on the ISB21 logo to visit our curriculum in progress.

Tonight we will discuss where we are at with all this and where we are going.

We have come very far but we have to much further to go.

“What a long strange trip it’s been”

Tune in if you can.

The students at ISB have just returned from their Songkran break (Thai new year) energized and ready for ISB’s Earth Week.Lots of great events going on.

You can find out about them all on the ISB Green Panther Blog : http://isb-green-panthers.blogspot.com/

This year our Earth week will culminate with two concerts, which will be broadcast out to the world via Ustream:

Thursday April 24th

ISB Middle School Concert for Climate Change
Time: 12-2 pm Bangkok Time
Hosted by: Dennis Harter and the MS Green Panthers

Friday April 25th
The ISB Elementary Earth Day Festival for Global Cooling
Time: 8am – 1pm Bangkok
ES Event Guide - http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pj_FYKtjBP-X96A6vKMkjcw

Hosted by: Justin Medved , James Denby and Kim Cofino

You can catch all the action both days at: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/concert-for-climate-change

More news to come but a BIG thank you has to go out to Global Cooling Guru Clay Burrell  for all his tireless work in coordinating and getting this off the ground. KUDOS!

So where do we (Justin Medved and Dennis Harter) go from here?

Over the past week we have taken some time to reflect on our process of creating a meaningful and usable framework for embedding “21st century literacy” into our school curriculum. Part 1, 2, 3, 4 sought to guide you the reader through our thinking and seek out feedback and friendly criticism. Blogs are such a great venue for conversations like this.

Our final post asks for advice on how to make it a reality.

Our framework was designed with the International School of Bangkok and its teachers in mind. While we feel it could apply to any educational setting we are not bound by any external curricular limitations other than that which the International Baccalaureate sets out in grades 11 and 12. Our school is heavily invested in the UBD (Understanding by Design) approach to unit/curriculum planning and as a result we have chosen to use “essential questions” to guide our framework.

To quote from an earlier post:

“Looking at Wiggins and McTighe’s Understanding by Design approach to curriculum and unit design we liked how big “essential questions” and “enduring understandings” had helped us plan and design units when we were teaching math and social studies. What if this same “best practice” approach could be applied to the way technology was used and talked about in the classroom? If this was good curricular design practice, why should technology and thinking curriculum be any different? What if that same approach was used in the way we looked at connecting technology and learning across the curriculum? What if there were only a few manageable questions that even the most tech-resistant teacher could see value in?”

Best practices regarding meaningful technology integration vary world wide. As technology is a real and relevant teaching and learning tool, we felt that our approach should leverage internationally-recognized best practices and current research if it was to truly gain acceptance in our school. Whether you use the new NET Standards as a framework or something else, it is important that you meet your teachers where they are and stay consistent with what is accepted and established practice in your own school environments.

When we walk into school every day we are confident that kids are learning how to read, write, and do math. Our teachers are trained to teach these subjects. We trust in their professionalism and in the belief that these teachers want to prepare students for their futures.

In our embedded curriculum model, we have tried to ensure that the nature of “what teachers have to teach” seems accessible to them and just as importantly doable – that the conversations involving technology are conversations that teachers are already having about truth, safety, communication, and collaboration.

But theory is not practice.

• What are the best ways to get teachers not only on board and trained, but fundamentally believing in the importance of including this curriculum into “the way they do business”?
• How do we get to a place where we have the same confidence in students learning information literacy skills as we do in the other subject areas?
• If your school is on the right track and doing this, how have you made it happen?
• What has been the tipping point to go from talking about it, to doing it?

This is where we want to go. We would like your input. It’s time for the collective intelligence of the Web 2.0 world to kick in.

“None of us is as good as all of us”

Please chime in.

Thanks for joining us this week. In particular, thanks to Scott for lending us his audience.
We’ve enjoyed the conversation.

Justin Medved, Dennis Harter, Guest Bloggers @ Dangerously Irrelevant

Cross Posted at: Thinking Allowed and Dangerously Irrelevant

Last year we (Justin Medved and Dennis Harter) sat down to tackle the big question ” How does an information and technology curriculum stay relevant and meaningful in the 21st Century.” As Technology and Learning Coordinators at the International School of Bangkok this question was important to us for three reasons.

1) 2006-7 was a WASC accreditation year for ISB and we were charged with taking a look at the K-12 Information Technology curriculum and creating a plan of action to improve it.

2) The discussions and writings coming out of the edu-blogosphere last year were rich in ideas all about “shift” , “re-thinking” and “who is teaching these new skills?”. It was hard not to feel like there was some momentum building around a fresh educational paradigm and a shift away from the “integration of technology” in the classroom, moving towards “embedding” it in the way schools “do business”.

3) Prior to our roles as coordinators we had both taught in schools with elaborate technology scope and sequence plans which we felt had little to no impact on learning and often became outdated the moment they were written. We also felt that the previous NET standards were too bulky and disconnected from the average classroom teacher. We wanted to create something that could stand the test of time and be manageable to the average teacher.

With initiative and a purpose driving us forward we sat down to write a rationale to guide our approach. We came up with this:

“We believe that technology is a tool that can help and enhance learning. Everyday we see technology used as a tool outside of formal schooling for communication, collaboration, understanding, and accessing knowledge. It is our goal in developing an integrated curriculum to ensure that the way students learn with technology agrees with the way they live with technology.

Technology is in a constant state of evolution and change. Access speeds, hardware, software, and computer capabilities all evolve and improve on a monthly basis. This change occurs at a rate at which it is impossible for schools to keep up and adapt. Is it not time that we create a curriculum model that understands and this fact and works with it rather than tries to control it?

Too often typical information technology curricula have focused heavily on skills and their scope and sequence across the curriculum. The hard reality of this approach was that they became outdated as soon as they were printed due to changes in software, hardware and the skills that students came equipped with.”

Instead of asking the question “What technology skills must a students have to face the 21st century?” should we not be asking “What thinking and literacy skills must a students have to face the 21st century?” These skills are not tied to any particular software or technology-type, but rather aim to provide students with the thinking skill and thus the opportunity to succeed no matter what their futures hold.”

We felt strongly that for too long that way technology was integrated with learning focused more on the tool and less on the curriculum/content that it could be used to support. To compound this fact ,since technology changes so rapidly it became almost impossible to map what “skills” students needed to learn from year to year as new technology arrived on the scene and old skills trickled down age groups. It wasn’t long ago that spreadsheets were the domain of high school students in accounting classes. Now we introduce them to fifth graders doing graphing and data analysis.

Typically teachers saw teaching these technology hardware and software skills as “someone else’s job.” IT skills to be learned in isolation. Yet schools rightly began to insist that technology be integrated into classroom practice. Under this technology skill curricular model, faced with teachers ill-equipped and not believing that it was their job, IT integration was doomed to failure.

We had to think bigger different………

Looking at Wiggins and McTighe’s Understanding by Design approach to curriculum and unit design we liked how big “essential questions” and “enduring understandings” had helped us plan and design units when we were teaching math and social studies. What if this same “best practice” approach could be applied to the way technology was used and talked about in the classroom? If this was good curricular design practice, why should technology and thinking curriculum be any different? What if that same approach was used in the way we looked at connecting technology and learning across the curriculum? What if there were only a few manageable questions that even the most tech-resistant teacher could see value in?

Over the school year we fleshed out these questions and ideas and came up five essential questions that we felt addressed the core elements of a comprehensive technology and learning curriculum – one focused on the thinking that was needed for the 21st century learner, rather than the technology.

• How do you know information is true?
• How do you communicate effectively?
• What does it mean to be a global citizen?
• How do I learn best?
• How can we be safe?

You can read into the elements of each of these questions at our curriculum wiki – http://newliteracy.wikispaces.com/

What do you think of the approach? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Tomorrow’s post: Curriculum 2.0 – Creating buy-in, shopping an idea and refining through collaboration

Cross Posted at: Medagogy and Thinking Allowed and Dangerously Irrelevant

A new bi-weekly podcast aired for its second time last week. Called Shifting our Schools International podcast and hosted Jeff Utecht and David Carpenter it is set to be a new twist on an important discussion and its coming all the way from Asia! You can catch it via SOS UStream and Jeff’s On Deck blog every second Thursday. I really like the format as each show centers around an essential question that is the lens through which all discussion should flow. I was a guest on last weeks show along with Julie Lindsay and the question “How does making connections affect learning? ”

If you listen to the podcast you will get to hear some great discussion and thinking around the value of collaboration and connecting classroom from some educators who are passionate about the subject but also who are practicing what they preach. There are some big voices in the edu-blogosphere but those who resonate the loudest with me are those who are DOING what others are preaching about and making it happen in an environment that is slow to embrace change and bound by countless  barriers and distractions…………SCHOOLS. IF you are interested hearing about real application and ideas in action. Tune in! 

• The next show is Thursday February 7th. 7:00 PM Shanghai time.
• The guest will be Clay Burell from the Korea International School. Check out his Beyond School blog. This guy is worth reading and is PASSIONATE!
• Essential Question for the show: Passion for learning, how to nurture and grow it?
• Check out the SOS Del.icio.us bookmarking site for some great resources and links associated with each show.

Readers,

Thought you might be interested in the direction ISB is taking with its technology and 21st century literacy professional development for 2008. We have tried out a few models and constantly tweaking and evolving our approach to try and differentiate instruction to meet all of our teachers needs. Here is what was sent to our staff that beginning of this semester.

Update – We have also decided to Ustream the Wired Wednesday to anyone who is interested. Come join us every Wednesday at 2:15 Bangkok time here: http://ustream.tv/channel/isb-edu-stream

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ES Staff,

In response to the results from our recent technology survey we have revised our PD strategy for the year. In an attempt to encourage whole-school sharing and collaboration we have combined the three divisions into two weekly sessions. It is our hope that by bringing staff together discussions around technology, 21st century literacy and the K ­ 12 philosophy will spread. Below are the new weekly in-service opportunities available to you.

While our weekly workshops are a great way to spark and fuel ideas about how to use some of the great tools we have at ISB, the research on professional development is clear. Teachers and students learn best when technology is used in context to help attain the learning outcomes of the classroom. It is for this reason that we will be making more of an effort to embed ourselves in your team/grade/subject level meetings to co-plan with those teachers who wish to explore, promote and bring 21st century learning opportunities to their students

.Mondays: Personal Tech Support
Where: Main Library classroom
When: 2:15 ­to 3:00 pm

Need help with a technical problem? Want to spiff up a lesson? Need help finding online resources to support your unit? Want to know what Web 2.0 means and how it can impact your teaching? Want to collaborate with a global audience? Looking for some SMART Board tips? Just want to know how to podcast? Crop a photo? Download a video clip from YouTube? You have a tech question; we have an answer (we hope).

Justin, Dennis and Kim will station themselves in the Main Library classroom every Monday for any sort of tech question or help. We can work individually or present something to a group.

PD tailor made for you. You can’t beat this kind of personal, differentiated attention.

Wednesdays: Wired Wednesdays
Where: Main Library classroom
When: 2:15 to­ 3:00 pm

Are you interested in talking about technology, the future and how both will impact education? Wired Wednesdays are about that conversation. Come to these sessions to be immersed in progressive and current thinking about how teaching and learning is being redefined in a rapidly changing world and ISB’s plan to keep up. These sessions will have a strong audio/video component so whether you want to get deep or just want to be edu-tained, these sessions are for you.

Hope to see you there!

Justin, Dennis and Kim

ISB is hosting one of first FLNW unconferences. Come join us right now – Jan 16th, 2008 – 2:15pm – Bangkok Time -

http://ustream.tv/channel/isb-edu-stream

We are online right now!

This weekend I along with 49 other educators from around ASIA have been invited to attend the Apple Distinguished Educators institute in Bangkok, Thailand. It will be a chance to be indoctrinated immersed in all thing Apple through the lense of education.

What really excites me about the institute is that it is project based. All participants will be placed into groups and given themes and questions to explore using the variety of Apple products available to us. Lots of advanced workshops and new stuff to try out.

Some notable edu-bloggers (Kim, Clay) will be there along with MAC guru Steve Clark of Shanghai Community International School.

I’m psyched!

Check out all the action here