Over the next few months the TIMS department is going to participate in a book study blog to further develop our knowledge and depth of 21st Century Skills. Please download the Horizon Report and read the Executive Summary (p 3-12)
While reading the Executive Summary think about where we are and where we want to go? Please leave comments for discussion.
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TIMS Book Study Blog
Posted by birdville
in Wednesday, April 14, 2010
After reading the Executive Summary I feel a little overwhelmed about planning for the future. We are doing many of the things on the Horizon Report but only in pockets and places and not district wide. We need to develop a plan to roll out social networks, collaborative tools and mobile devices on a grander scale making it easy for teachers to implement.
Questions to ask ourselves:
1. Which social network, collaborative tools, and mobile device do we choose to keep training standardized?
2. How to do we plan to improve teaching and learning?
3. How do we sell the idea to teachers, administrators, and parents?
4. What tools are we currently using that are hindering the advancement of 21st Century Skills?
Educational gaming keeps coming up in discussions on the future of education, I have yet to see this concept work in a K-12 environment. Here is the closest thing to a working concept, but it is still in testing mode. I do believe that the Florida Virtual School have adopted this http://www.360ed.com
The greatest barrier in the Horizon Report was the learning environment. The BCTAL is the future of education, however that is just one of our thirty-two campuses.
April 19, 2010 9:54 AM
Very interesting and thought provoking. A lot of it sounded like things already being done or discussed in the district.
A couple of statements that I found particularly poignant were a) "...technology skills are also critical to success in almost every arena, and those who are more facile with technology will advance while those without access or skills will not." and b) "...digital literacy is less about tools and more about thinking."
I agree that Leadership needs to read this and possibly the Board too.
It was amazing to read this and see that we have discussed many of the ideas and issues that are brought up. As Dwight mentioned in his posting, our district is using some of these technologies already and we face the same challenges making these tools work for our teachers/kids. We do need to have larger scale implementation, but that will come with careful/detailed planning.
There is much information here to ponder. The good news is that the trends identified as key drivers of technology adoptions in being talked about already in BISD and to some degree reflected in BISD’s mission and vision statements.
As other’s have already stated, there are pockets of implementation already happening in classrooms in BISD. The challenge is to grow these pockets to become the every-day norm in all classrooms. My recent blog post, “What are you waiting for?” is fitting here. There will never be a perfect opportunity to begin something new. With new teaching practices come new teaching challenges. However, it is a risk worth taking. The life-long success of students is at stake. We need to continue to “bridge the gap between the learning that happens in school and the learning that happens out in the world.”
What exactly do we need to "grow"? I'm with Jeff, we need careful, detailed planning. I just need to know answer to the question:
What tools, how many, for who, where. Help!
Empowering students, having student's take control of one's own learning,giving student's a voice and a means to reach beyond the classroom for interaction and exploration is where Birdville is headed. Heidi Jacobs was just a beginning for us. Her visit and message that she left with our principals, teachers, and the rest of us began an movement of moving our teaching and learning toward the key trends this report is describing.
We begin with making those changes within the way we design learning exeriences and moving our learning toward innovation, creativity, communicative and collborative. Yes, it will take planning. I believe it takes place in our designing and teaching first. As we replace old ways of teaching and assessing we make sure that we have the technologies in place that support the learning.
We have a strong partnership between Curriculum and our department. Together we can make learning be what it should for our students. That is where our detailed planning should begin with Instruction.
One of the larger challenges is to help groups within the district push forward together. While all organizations have a range of personnel with different levels of both educational and technology skills, the shift to a different paradigm of learning will likely have to be addressed at a more micro level, as history, math, science, social studies departments need to look forward and determine how the material should be presented and what type of student work (papers, presentation, group projects, etc.)will be effective in both learning the material and developing effective skill sets for success in the world at large.
As I read through this, it does seem a little overwhelming at first, but we are already doing a lot of this and have been laying the ground work for it for quite sometime. These are very exciting times, and I hope that BISD can move more quickly than slowly as stated in the summary. I think with the discussions we have had, and the fact that we are working more closely with Instruction now than ever before, we can begin to see bigger and better learning in our district.
I agree with the report on both collaborative environments and the cloud computing idea. We are lacking in use of collaboration tools in my opinion. Leaders should set examples by forming virtual collaboration groups and providing concrete outcomes to show their value. We have the infrastructure and the computing abilities now to do this. I was very glad to hear the district leaders aversion to the use of mobile technologies for the classroom and slowly being lessened. The mobile devices the kids have should somehow be thought of as tools instead of as impedences. We should realize that they are only going to become more prolific so let's change our outlook on them and put them to work for us! I don't have an opinion about the game-based learning scenarios. It appears the research is showing positive outlooks for their usage, but my exposure to game-learning has been minimal. The last two technolgies are awesome and I think the report is right about their future impact.
It appears to be a very exciting time for educators and probably frustrating. After reading the report, I’m glad to see that Birdville has leaders that are steering the district in the right direction.
With evidence of growing technology trends and educational tools available today, it’s becoming more and more apparent of the need of a growing support structure to support such environments. With the availability of today’s technology and future technologies approaching at break-neck speeds, having specialized support staff in place to provide and support such innovations will be directly related to both the performance and future success of our students today and in the future.
I agree with Teresa’s statement that says detailed planning should begin with the Instruction Department. The report states one of the critical challenges is “Many policy makers and educators believe that deep reform is needed, but at the same time, there is little agreement as to what a new model of education might look like.” I believe it will have to start with assessment and when that model finally begins to change, teachers will gladly move forward and embrace teaching and learning in a way that is best for our students.
"Learners have increasing opportunities to take their education into their own hands, and options like informal education, online education, and home-based learning are attracting students away from traditional educational settings. If the system is to remain relevant it must adapt, but major
change comes hard in education." Change does come hard in education, but I think BISD is adapting to remain relevant as evidenced by our growing online learning program and other alternatives to traditional learning.
As pretty much everyone else has stated so far, we have significant pockets of almost all these technologies happening throughout the district. The key question is how to make these systemic district-wide occurrences. Instruction as well as leadership not only have to be on board, but actively engaged in one of these technologies. The social networking /collaboration avenue seems to be one ripe for a systemic change. Slight modifications in how staff development is delivered could not only model the usage of social networking and collaboration, but would also serve as training vehicle. Staff members would need to figure out how to join the network in order to make the requisite posts that would allow them to reflect on continuous improvement from the comfort of their homes, and thereby free them to have more time in the classroom. Such a shift would demonstrate the value that leadership places on this type of interaction, and teachers more flexibility in time management.
As Dwight and Jeff mentioned, selection of the social network and careful planning would be necessary to justify such a paradigm shift in delivery of district-wide staff development. Ning, prior to its new CEO would have been an obvious choice. Perhaps, they would like to partner with BISD?
After reading all the previous posts cannot add any additional thoughts except to agree with Teresa and Jon. All of these posts pretty well covered everything
I agree with Karen and Teresa that Instruction needs to lead the way with the Technology Department making sure that they have the tools to do the job. I also agree with several others very careful, thoughtful detailed planning will be the key to success
With the expansion of sophisticated cellular networks and their ability to provide data at lightning fast speeds to users around the world, the use of mobile technology in the classrooms should become a primary focus. The demand for information on-the-go is more prominent because of the continued advancement of cell phones and laptops. However, I believe that this area of learning is already being adopted at a faster rate than expected. Game-based learning and mobiles can be combined into one area. Developers are already providing users with the tools and knowledge to create your own applications and software. These areas will only increase as the cell networks and infrastructures continue to enhance their support for mobile technology.
I agree with John Norris with the emerging of technologies to teaching and learning that they might impact education in our schools. It's necessary that teachers and staff to constantly update their knowledge and skill.
The way we think of learning environments is
changing. The fundamental structure of
the K-12 education is changing. To
support such a change, both teaching practice
and the tools used in the classroom must adapt.
I am very much agree that those who
have the opportunity to learn technology skills
are in a better position to obtain and make use
of technology than those who do not.
I agree with Jon that BISD already has some areas using the technology described in the report, and it would be a huge step forward to have these technologies become district-wide. I was looking up information about SMART boards, and was surprised to learn there is a lot of curriculum already written that incorporates the SMART board. I have taken online classes myself, and see that as an avenue for future staff development, and some student classes. I also agree with Scott that there needs to be careful planning and assessment on the most advantageous way to implement and use these technologies. You would have to plan how to purchase, implement and support these technologies, as well as creating curriculum to best use them.
Once again, BISD is already implementing some of the technologies they describe. The changes that we have made and the changes to come will be hard. But with collaboration, planning, and support, we will find a way to use the new technologies to reach our kids and help them learn in new ways.
"The perceived value of innovation and creativity
is increasing". This idea would have made my school career much more fulfilling.
Another thing that caught my attention is Game-Based Learning. I am experiencing first hand the value and effectiveness of learning when children think they are having fun.
Terry
Bottom line- we need more money. Money disallows us from keeping up with the times.
However, the cash flow is not there. The reality is- kids are living and learning via technology. Incorporate more technology (at any and all levels) to keep the kids and faculty stimulated by improving upon the resources at hand through creativity and human ingenuity. Jon says "Game-Based Learning" and I agree 100%. This is today's society.
Students and Teachers have different learning styles so different avenues to teach and learn are critical. I believe game-based learning and the implementation of Mobiles would be a positive direction to follow. Careful planning is key.
Adding to what Jon mentioned regarding creativity and innovation, I would assert that we do a really poor job of promoting either. Outside of the specialized courses, such as the fine arts or robotics, there is very little of this in the secondary level. In fact, if we step back and view the curriculum as a whole, we are very strong in this area in kindergarten, and we progressively emphasize it less and less as children age. It is, in a way, reflective of the growth process outside of school. (Ever wonder where the joy of the coloring book goes as kids grow up?) In my opinion, the education system tells kids that creativity is something to outgrow, and that maturity should bring logic and order and structure. This results in adults who can't solve problems or make innovative use of existing tools/structures.
technology advances allows everyone, teachers and students both to realize their once unreachable goals. The door of opportunity are now wide open.
I agree with Terry that we need allot more funding if we are going to proceed with more technology. I believe that is a pretty big hurtle. I think we are already doing a good job compared to other districts. It will just take more collaboration to find what is best for our kids.
As far as us moving to the one on one environment, I think that a feasibilty study by an outside firm would shed some light on if its possible and if so how we can get from point a to point z in the most effective way.