Notes from the D219 Technology Conference, April 9, 2011

Keynote: Cracking the Native Information Experience — David Warlick

Handouts at http://Handouts.idave.us

Starts presentations with something he did not know yesterday.  (Books everyone should read, info graphic)

Teachers must be master learners.
They must be able to teach themselves something new.  The question is, how do we get teachers to master learners?

We teach in classrooms rich with information abundant environments.  Students are growing up in societies with limits to learning; information is

• Networked
• Digital
• Abundant                  

If the native code can be cracked, can we hack it for learning?

Do we develop relationships with the content or with the author.? Digital content allows us to manipulate the meaning of the ideas. 

Digital environments allow for immediate assessment.

Hack:

• Responsive
• Distraction

Learning should:

• Responsive
• Inspires personal investment
• provokes conversation
• Guidely by safely made mistakes

Previous traction points:  textbook, classroom, teacher. Today’s traction points:  other students

Students are hyper-connected (and distracted)  How do we design (hack) distraction into learning?

What is the purpose of school?  (In the native experience, children succeed by getting it wrong?)

reference: Doodlebuzz.com

Can formal learning be more playful?

Students must be future-ready.

Leveraging Technology to Personalize Learning — Henry Thiele

How do we make learning more personal — understanding the individual student?
How do we use charts and graphs to help us really understand the student?
How do we respond to students when they share information that tells us their inner thoughts?

What does the hidden curriculum teach students?

Thiele used an electronic journal for student reflections.  Allowed him to learn what was going on with his students.  Journals allowed him to prepare for class pacing.

Insights:

• Facilitate two-way conversation.
• Make information available
• Increase Personal Communication
• Provide Timely Feedback
• Establish Challenging Goals

Making it Personal

1. Teach Smarter — Open-ended pretest questions.  Ask students about their preferred learning strategies to learn the content for the course.
2. Break down walls — Virtual field trips, students are constructing content based on the themes of the learning.
3. Learn from Each Other — Peer reviewing of writing.
4. Immediate Feedback — http://goo.gl/8BZhR or www.flubaroo.com
5. Meet them where they are. — online chats.
6. Make learning relevant.  Using marketing classes to promote school athletic teams.
7. Prepare for the World — Virtual business.
8. Learn to think differently.  Show vizualizations from data. 
9. Ask the Experts and Become One — Use Internet to connect to experts.  They will respond.

Presentation: http://goo.gl/xZykn

Learning Spaces — David Jakes

Dave’s website:  http://www.jakesonline.org/

Do we need classrooms and computer labs?  How can hallways be used differently?  (learning streets)

His school has an “open device” policy. 

Think about moving away from a tech rich environment to tech enabled environment.  Equity issues will exist in this tech-enabled environment

Batchgeo help produce a map of data.

Webkinz — 6 million users

Poptropica — 144 million users

togetherville — social media, facebook enabled.

www.kzero.co.us — virtual worlds registered accounts Q12011

Companies are seeing that a digital experience is valuable with the product.  What digital experiences do we have for our classrooms?

George Washington University Online High School — providing high school connected to university.

Create video — YoutTube Creator Institute.

Students will be able to choose their learning path.

Learners congregate in spaces where they can collaborate, share and learn.

Liquid Space-App — find a great space to work now.

Color – app — share photos with other Color uses in near proximity.

What does it mean to be well-educated in the 21st Century?

Have you identified the:

• Skills
• Habits
• Experiences
• Dispositions

Life-long, life wide and life deep experiences.

Do your spaces support the learning you wish to see?  Have you done a learning space inventory in your school?

Vision of Learning in Schools?

Anywhere
any time
any path
any one
any device

idea paint — what surfaces in the classroom can be used for learning.

mooc — massive open online course.  Different levels of participation.  Considerable content.  More information than student will need to learn the content.

Purdue studio

My presentation