Does the Computer Lab have a Future?

I just finished reading this article from Educational Technology:

http://www.assortedstuff.com/?p=3723

Below I've pasted the body of the text. Go to the link and read the Comments. They're worthwhile.

Read carefully, it's less about the Lab or Mobile Carts, or even 1:1 settings, and more about how technology is used. I do tend to agree that the geography of the Lab as a place set apart - especially when "Computers" is taught as a separate special subject permitting the classroom teacher a planning period - adds to a real disjunction. Yet, as is mentioned, even in a classroom, technology can be nothing more than a simple extension of traditional pedagogy.

I do see the Lab as a place that makes training and demonstration easier. And, I suppose, computer labs in public schools, with the increase in online testing/assessments, makes the process easier. Other than those functions - training and testing - I hope we can move to 1:1 - including the use of various devices, not just laptops or netbooks.

I think we've all discovered that real infusion is about a different kind of pedagogy and then developing the technologies that encourage and enhance those different ways of learning.

Oct
12

Time to Kill the Lab?

In a post from a couple of weeks ago, a colleague asked for help with setting up a computer lab at his school.

He was looking for something other than the “conventional wisdom” - 30 machines lined up inside a rectangular space in such a way to make it easy for the teacher to have everyone to work on the same assignment.

Over the past few months as I’ve been working with some of our school-based trainers, I’ve also been thinking a lot about the idea of computers labs.

Not so much the arrangement of the room but whether they are an impediment to the process of technology integration and need to disappear.

When I watch what goes on in the computers labs at most schools, regardless of the level, it’s rather depressing.

Rote lessons in which students are all doing the same activity (“open the map of Virginia and draw the four regions of the state”), as a reward for kids getting their real work done, to take tests (lots and lots of tests), or just to make sure we get our technology requirement checked off.

It seems as if very little about the way kids use the technology in their lab time is integrated into the learning that occurs back in their “regular” classroom, and it certainly doesn’t lend itself to the concept of a “lab”, a place in which experimentation occurs.

So what about mobile labs, those big carts full of laptops are rolled in and out of classrooms, that many of our schools have been putting in place over the past few years?

Well, the potential to do something better is there. But what I usually see looks very much like a traditional computer lab, often complete with the teacher machine projecting to an interactive whiteboard with no interactivity going on.

So, is this a chicken-and-egg situation?

If the lab went away (or the arrangement changed) would the way teachers use computers in their instruction change? Or if teachers wanted to change their instruction, would labs disappear?

Either way, I think it’s about time to kill the concept of the traditional school computer lab.

Am I wrong? Missing something?

Wordle

I just received my first issue of the CUE magazine, CUE is "Computer-Using Educators" basically California teachers using educational technology.

There is an article on "free" software, which I'll talk about another time. Presently, I'd like to pass on some ideas from an article about Wordle: Creating Word Clouds on Your Computer, by Lynell Burmark.

One technical tip - She made a word list in MS Word then did a Copy/Paste into the box in the Advanced section of the Wordle website. She writes that the numbers - indicating size - next to the words are more art than science, but for regular printing anything less than 600 is too small. For poster-size prints, you can have smaller than 600 because the print itself will be so much larger.

Now for some educational tips.

One idea was to create a Wordle of important words, words to know, etc., as a pre-exercise - before reading a selection, before watching a video. The same Wordle could be used for later discussion, or as a way to recall.

Another idea was to make Wordles of the Dolch Words. She writes: Because the brain thrives on making connections (and because the connecting 'glue' makes learning memorable and 'sticky'), the most effective Dolch Wordles would be ones where the words were grouped in some meaningful manner.

That thought would probably apply as well to other kinds of Wordles.

If you have a Projector and a Whiteboard, the Wordles would be especially useful.

No Child Left Thinking Dr. Joel Westheimer

Continuing my thoughts on Diane Ravitch's latest book and what is happening in school reform. One of the things she's most concerned about is the importance of a curriculum in the humanities. That we can't have achievement goals which are devoid of content. Part of her thinking is that a deep curriculum is essential for a democracy.

I came across this video today while reading a blog called open thinking. What is public education about? Isn't it about developing an educated and informed citizenry, a thinking citizenry?

Anyway, take a look. Oh, it's long. The first 45 minutes or so is his talking; that's followed by a Q&A. During the questioning there's some conversation about Quaker Education -

Diane Ravitch The Death and Life of the Great American School System

I've just started Diane Ravitch's new book. Early on she writes about the necessity for a policy maker seeing like a state. She says "...I began 'seeing like a state,' looking at schools and teachers and students from an altitude of 20,000 feet and seeing them as objects to be moved around by big ideas and great plans. It reminded me of a distinction I heard many years ago.

I was working for the American Friends Service Committee as Director of the High School Program for the Middle Atlantic Region. Among other things, I organized four seminars for students throughout the region which met in Washington, DC. The topics varied. This particular one was on international relations, the Cold War, Democracy vs. Communism. It was back in the late 60s. One particular scholar made a distinction - between idealism and ideology.
His point was that the roots of the two concepts in language and thought were very different. One, quite American - was idealism; we are, by intellectual disposition, idealists. The other, based on the Greek ideos, has a very different basis. Ideologies are abstract systems. He spent some time talking about Plato.

In any case, I've been thinking about the Race to the Floor, Standards vs Standardization, etc. and it occurred to me that his distinction might be useful to me. The present controllers of the debate are ideologues, not idealists. What happens to the school as a living organism when ideology replace idealism?

Oh, I thought I'd give you some Bach. Click on the Left.

Science Daily News

A site which I have been using more and more over the past year is:

Science Daily News

http://www.sciencedaily.com/

I recommend it highly - not only for "narrowly defined" science articles but for social studies, history, etc. For example, I recently did a search on racism in the site and found a variety of articles.

Socio-emotional Goals, Cooperative Learning & Good Teaching

Although the context for this video from Edutopia is teaching math at the elementary school level, what's happening is worthwhile for any teacher of any subject at any level. The insights and basis practices are sensitive and insightful.

http://www.edutopia.org/math-social-activity-sel-video

Wiki, Ning, and Google Docs

I've been assigned to think about these Web tools and how I might use them - their advantages and disadvantages.

Well, to deal with a specific problem at my workplace - Google Docs etc. is blocked by the IT department, as is all email except the organization's email. So, for the present, Google's tools aren't really an option.

However, I've used both Google Docs and Groups before. One of the nicest things about these tools is that everything is under one umbrella - Google's. You have a Google account and access to everything else is quick and easy. Google is dissimilar from a Ning in that with Google, you're still dealing separately with separate applications. In a Ning, most of the applications you want are all there on the Home Page.

I do wish there was a Wiki app in Ning - then everything would be perfect.

I do like Wikis for collaboration. Perhaps it has something to do with the way I design Active Learning Projects. Wikis just seem to fit. Co-ownership, co-editing, commenting, asking questions, sharing etc., a group of people all working together "on the same page," simply appeals to me.

Initially I wasn't sure about Nings, but now that I have spent even a short time with one, I certainly see their power. After looking at some of the larger ones, I am wary of them for large groups of people. Navigating through everything starts making this social networking tool, just another impersonal tool.

Reading Video on TeacherTube

Here's a link to a Middle School video encouraging reading - Worth a look

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity | Video on TED.com

TED talks - I have become more and more enamored of this site. This is a particularly powerful example.
Click on the link. The presentation by Ken Robinson is about 20 minutes long. So, make a cup of tea and
a couple of cookies and get comfortable.

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity | Video on TED.com

Hooray! The Ning has its 1st Member

Last night, I checked the new Diverity and MANSEF Ning which I created. We now have out 1st member. Let's hope that when we send out invitations to the presentation participants that others will join - and they'll write Notes, and Blog entries, and we'll start groups.

Happy St. Valentine's Day!

The Diversity and MANSEF Ning

Well, it's been created.

Here's the link:

http://diversitymansef.ning.com/

It's clearly just a framework. I like that Blogs are embedded; there's some immediate discomfort about the advertisements. Is there a way to embed Wikis?

Now I really do have to search out some Nings. First those on Diversity & Cultural Differences in schools. There's an Independent School Ning with a Diversity Group. I'm not sure how active it is. Next, I want to find how teachers are using Nings in various classroom and school settings.

Nings, Web 2.0 tools, and Repeating Ourselves

I haven't heard from my colleague at the Harford campus about the Diversity Ning, so perhaps I'll begin and we can collaborate.

Learning the tools. There is this learning curve. How does the tool work? What are its possibilities? How do I plan, create lessons etc. etc. .... We can really get absorbed in the tool.

Like so many other people, teachers too, once we've have reached a comfort level with the tool, the plan, the project, we do some refining and then begin to repeat ourselves. It doesn't make any difference what the tool is - hotlists, audio or video podcasts, wikis, blogs. We just get into this habit of repeating ourselves.

Why am I writing this? Because I just noticed that the wiki I'm developing for the Harford campus class is a repeat of what I did with my Chesapeake Academy classes. Shame on me! I'll go ahead with it, but next time I will not repeat myself. Next time, I'll do some research. Check out what other people are doing with wikis. Ask some questions, explore the possibilities. That's what we ask our students to do; we should not ask any less of ourselves.

Class Wiki Harford Campus

I've added some content to Mr. Ward's Class Wiki. Came across this site at some point over the weekend:

http://www.teachersfirst.com/content/wiki/wikiideas1.cfm

It's a quick introduction on the use of wikis in an educational setting. Certainly worth using when someone asks "What's a Wiki?"

Wikispaces Class Site for Maryland

William Ward, a teacher at the Harford Campus, and I are going to begin a Wikispaces site for his class. I'm used to PBWiki, so there will be a learning curve. I would have liked to explore a Ning, but they are all under 13 years old.

We introduced the idea to the class today. They're quite excited. As they were leaving the Media Center, they wanted to know when they could start the project. I'm hoping we can frame the Opening Page and a Letter to Parents over the next few days. We shouldn't start without signed Parental Permissions and Acceptable Use Policies.

We'll be concentrating on Maryland as a topic. We can take it in a number of ways. Presently, the basic idea is to use the Wiki as a place to collect research, write drafts, collaborate on editing, and make suggestions for improvement. At least that's the overt agenda. We could then use the content as a basis for other presentation products.

It looks like I'm really going to have to spend some time exploring the Wonderful World of Ning. On the basis of today's class, there are lots of possibilities for older - age 13 - and above. I'll spend some time talking to Veronica tomorrow. The agenda will have to be the Basics. What questions do we need to ask? What's the Ning's 1st purpose?

A New Ning?

I've been emailing two of my colleagues who gave a presentation on Diversity and Multiculturalism at a conference. They have been talking about finding a way to stay in touch with the participants in the session. It occurred to me that a Ning might work. I've sent them some samples to look at. I'm looking forward to the experiment. Regardless, I should learn some things.

Diigo & Hotlists

For more years than I care to count I've been using annotated hotlists as a way to: One, develop a list of safe sites for students to use in their research, and Two teach students how to examine websites for content, appearance, etc. as a way for them to assess and describe websites - for themselves and others.

I'm still committed to this approach, but Social Bookmarking Tools , Diigo or delicious for example, provides another arrow in the quiver of creating effective research tools.

I'm particularly interested in their collective and collaborative aspects. For example, assigning a small group of students finding, describing, and tagging 10 sites on a particular topic. Two students could be Researchers, one could be the Editor, with the jobs rotating. The activity would present the group with the tasks of finding the appropriate sites, writing brief, accurate, and complete descriptions, and creating tags. The assignment could be coupled with a wiki for on-line discussions. Finally, since their work - on the wiki and the ning - would be public, it would provide others students and the teacher to make comments, suggestions, etc.

Diigo and Delicious

It's been an interesting switch from delicious to Diigo. I've used both for so long, but not until my new class on Webpage 2.0 did I think about using Diigo exclusively.

An important element in making the switch go well was to add a Diigo toolbar. Some sites don't include Diigo as a default option. With the Diigo toolbar, being able to simply click Bookmark on that toolbar, made the process quick and easy.

With four different groups, at present, if I want to add a site to more than one group, it appears I have to repeat the process for each group. Perhaps there's a way to do more than one at a time. If you know how, I'd love a Comment telling me how.