Exploring Virtual Schools

Source: http://www.p21.org/index.php

Truth be told, I knew very little about virtual schools when I became the Program Manager at iQ Academy Wisconsin. But it didn't take long for me to understand the advantages for full-time students that are not being well-served in traditional schools and the benefit for other students to supplement their traditional school education with some online classes. Students in my school are gaining 21st Century Skills (or "Essential Skills" as they are referred to in my district) by utilizing technology to fundamentally change their educational experience. They learn not only how to find information, but how to validate, manipulate, synthesize and communicate that information. They are becoming skilled at electronic communication which allows them to collaborate despite their geographic separation. And they are using technology tools to create new knowledge and solve real problems - skills that will serve them well in the "real" world of life after school.
I have also had to quickly become familiar with the Virtual Schools Legislation in Wisconsin since it directly affects my school. I was encouraged when the enrollment cap was lifted and relieved that I would never again have to inform a parent that one of their children would be allowed to attend the virtual school but the other one was not as lucky in the lottery drawing and would be excluded for no good reason. I am hopeful that the state legislature will take the next logical step and change the open enrollment policy to extend the application window to make it easier for parents to choose the virtual school option if they feel it is the best learning environment for their child.

School Website: http://www.eachieve.com

My district involvement in online learning includes offering one of Wisconsin's largest and most successful virtual school in terms of average test scores and graduation rates. Starting with the 2012-13 school year, the newly re-named eAchieve Academy will become one of the few virtual schools in the state to be operated entirely by the district, and not be affiliated with a for-profit educational services company. This is a major but necessary undertaking if we want to remain true to our mission of keeping student success as our number one priority.  
During the module I was excited to learn about the different techniques virtual school teachers use to help students learn online. This knowledge has helped me develop a deeper understanding of virtual learning and will be extremely helpful as I work to provide students and teachers with all the resources they need to create a successful online learning enterprise.

Learning is Inherently Social

My experience with online communities has grown steadily over the past few years. It started simply enough with my teenage daughter encouraging me to start a Facebook account (of course, she refused to be my friend on Facebook at first). A colleague suggested using LinkedIn when I was looking for a new job and I have found that to be a valuable professional networking resource. Since starting at my current job as administrator for a virtual charter school, I have been inextricably linked to the online school community. And since starting the M Ed in Instruction Technology program at Cardinal Stritch University, I have expanded by online community repertoire to include forays into Twitter, Diggo, Delicious, Flickr, YouTube and Blogger. 


I believe the biggest benefit of collaborative groups is that it reflects the social nature of life. Human beings are naturally social animals. Even in today's increasingly digital, connected society, human interaction is required and inevitable. The traditional school model may have students together in a classroom, but the paradigm is for them to sit quietly at their own desk, listen to the teacher, read the textbook on your own, do their own homework (which is usually only viewed by the teacher), then take a test on which each student supplies their own answers. That is completely unnatural. I can't think of a single work environment that operates that way. So how does learning that way prepare students for what they will encounter after graduation? 


The greatest challenge about working in collaborative groups is conflict resolution. Every person is unique, so by it's very nature, group interaction is bound to involve conflict. Conflict of opinion, conflict of background/experience, conflict of culture... all kinds of conflict. The question is what do we do about it? Conflict actually can be healthy as it can lead to discussion and debate and encourage group members to examine a problem or situation from a variety of viewpoints. But it can also be destructive if group members are unable or unwilling to cooperate and compromise.


If human beings are indeed social animals and learning is inherently a social activity, then it stands to reason that social development and socialization skills are essential in education and in life. However, I take serious issue with the widely held belief that students need to go to traditional face to face schools in order to learn socialization skills. If that were true, where did young people learn social skills before there were schools? Just as learning does not take place exclusively in the classroom, neither does the development of social skills. And just because a student does not attend a traditional face to face school does not necessarily mean they can't develop good, healthy social skills. Many parents object to the kind of socialization skills children can learn in traditional schools and embrace the opportunity to exercise a greater degree of influence over the kinds of social situations to which their children are exposed.

Challenges of Online Teaching

While I have not actually taught a class online (or offline for that matter) yet, I have facilitated many online parent information sessions and new student orientation sessions using the Elluminate web conference tool. Some of the challenges I have encountered include:

1. Preparation: I have found that that more you can prepare and practice ahead of time, the easier it is to facilitate an online presentation. It is also very important to practice using the online tools so you are comfortable and don't have long delays in moving between presentation elements.
2. Technology: Whenever you are using technology tools, things rarely go off without a hitch. You have to be prepared for the unexpected and have a back-up plan in case things don't work the way you envisioned. This goes for the participants as well. I have found it useful when dealing with people who may be unfamiliar with the program to have an extra person available to help participants with technical support questions while another starts the presentation. You can then utilize a break out room to get the inevitable late-comers up to speed without inconveniencing those who arrived on time and prepared.
3. Multi-tasking: I find it a real challenge to keep up with everything that is going on during a synchronous online presentation. It is difficult to focus on what you are trying to communicate while simultaneously watching the chat area for questions/comments, keeping track of participants who are entering/leaving the room and making sure the presentation/discussion stays on time and on task.

I suspect those will be the same obstacles I will encounter when I get my turn to teach my segment in this class. I think it will be important to remain focused on the learning objectives of the lesson to ensure that at the end of the session, the participants achieved the intended results.

I chose my topic, Cyberbullying, after attending a town hall meeting on the subject in Chicago. I did some more research and found out that the problem is much more pervasive than I previously thought. Anyone who works with young people in an online educational environment is likely to encounter students who have been victims of cyberbullies or have bullied others and I think it is important that educators understand the problem and know how to help students in that situation. 

http://www.rcampus.com/indexrubric.cfm

I must admit that I was skeptical about rubrics when I started this program. Not having a teaching background, I considered them to be a pretentious product of educratic idealogues and a nuisance for busy teachers (or busy grad students). That was before I started creating my own and came to a fuller appreciation of their value both for the teacher and the student. I modeled my rubric for the asynchronous discussion on the one used for participants in this class. For the synchronous discussion, I created one from scratch using a free online tool at iRubric. I found it to be very easy to use and intuitive for novice rubric creators like myself. 

Getting Started With Online Teaching

I may never get the opportunity to teach an online class, but part of my job at iQ Academy Wisconsin is to engage students in the online environment both to help them be successful in their virtual studies and to help them feel like they are a part of the online school community. Why? Because successful students who enjoy their online school experience are more likely to stay with the school and tell their friends about the opportunity. That's good for the students and for the school.

Since virtual school students are used to experiencing school both synchronously and asynchronously, engagement activities should utilize both approaches as well. I use Elluminate and Skype to communicate with students in real time. Several iQ Academy teachers use an instant messaging tool called Meebo. 

Asynchronous tools include a lot of email, a discussion board application we call iQ Commons and a school-sponsored Facebook page. Another asynchronous tool that I have used in the past and would like to incorporate again in the future is a closed social networking site. I used one based on the Ning platform that we called iQuad but we had to abandon it when Ning started charging schools to host the site.

I use a variety of activities to engage and retain virtual students. I get them together in Elluminate to play "iGames" like Pictionary, Trivial Pursuit or Would You Rather. I use Google Forms to administer interest surveys, YouTube to post orientation and social event videos and UStream to broadcast our graduation ceremony. I would like to use MicroMobs to host online discussion boards for virtual clubs. I also plan to host parent information sessions and guest speakers in Elluminate.

One program that I started to give prospective new students a taste of the virtual education experience is something we call Test Drive iQ. Before students start their sample class I send them a welcome/introductory email. I try to make the tone of the email warm and inviting so students will see the class as a fun opportunity to experience virtual learning rather than another class they have to take. I also employ the email merge function of Microsoft Word and Outlook so I can personalize the emails and provide the students and parents with their usernames and passwords. I use simple word processing techniques like bold, underline and hyperlinks to make the email instructions clear and concise and I always include my name and contact information to make it easy for students and/or parents to get a hold of me if they have any questions.

All Online Learning All the Time

It has been suggested that in the not too distant future the lines between "school" and "work" and "personal" activities will become indistinguishable; that our increasingly connected, digital world will allow/require people to move seamlessly between what were once highly segmented aspects of their lives. I see this happening already with the start of this class on Facilitating Online Learning, since virtual learning is something I deal with all day at iQ Academy.

This is a challenge for me as sometimes I feel like the last thing I want to do when I get home from work is log on to the computer. When I get home, I usually want to unplug, not plug in - especially when the subject matter is the same as what I have been thinking about all day. On the other hand, studying online learning from the curriculum development and teaching point of view does provide an opportunity for me, a non-teacher, to examine my professional life from a slightly different and very enlightening perspective.


The discussion of The Virtual Classroom highlighted for me that there are many misconceptions out there surrounding virtual education, even among well-intentioned classroom teachers. Examining the strengths and weaknesses of online learning from the student, teacher and parent perspectives provides insights that virtual schools can use in formulating mission and vision statements and marketing campaigns. 


What I really found valuable was looking at examples of online class lessons because for all of my work at a virtual school, I have not spent much time really looking at the curriculum. Taking this class online has helped me relate to some of the challenges and experiences my students deal with, and looking at specific online lessons has helped me appreciate some of the options that are available to online course designers in terms of lesson elements.

Digital Overload

I think I am suffering from digital overload. I mean really, how much technology is too much? I manage a virtual charter school which means I spend my entire work day in front of a computer. I typically have so many programs and windows and tabs open that I need two large monitors to see it all. When I'm not on my my computer, I'm on my smart phone tapping out a text message or recording a voice memo. And now my head is spinning with all of the Web 2.0 tools I have investigated in the past few weeks. Let's make a quick list, shall we?

Image courtesy of i/8681/i02/digital-overload-stress-101109-02.jpg?1296144628

Blogger, edmodo, ThinkQuest, EduBlogs, Xanga, WikiSpaces, WetPaint, PB Works, Twitter, Flickr, Picasa, Photobucket, Google reader, Bloglines, Google Sites, Screenr, ScreenJelly, EyeJot, Jing, Ning, Diigo, Delicious, micromobs and Facebook. And that is just the very tippy top of the iceberg when it comes to what is all available out there. How does one make sense of it all?

I know, I'll create an RSS feed to organize it all in one convenient location. Except that now I have 729 articles in my aggregator waiting for me to read them.
Wait, I have a better idea. I'll start following some Web 2.0 experts on Twitter so that I can keep up to date on the latest and greatest tools. I mean that's got to be easier right? How long can it take to read a 140-character tweet? Hold on now, each one of these tweets contains a link to another blog or website to read. And half these things look like they are written in a foreign language. What's with all the @'s and #'s? I'm following 40 people and they are all posting 10 times a day so that's, ummm, 400 tweets! No time for that.
OK, I've got it. I will just friend everyone and like every website and organization I'm interested in on Facebook so I can keep up with what's happening that way. Only now my newsfeed is so clogged up I can't find out what my second cousin needs for Farmville...

Time For Virtual Schools To Practice What They Preach

This week I had an opportunity to spend a few days with my virtual school colleagues from all over the country at a school leaders summit meeting in Virginia. I always enjoy getting together with this group because they are some of the best and the brightest people working in K-12 virtual education today. For two days, I heard about plans and visions for improving student achievement, new curriculum initiatives, teacher training programs, pilot projects, political and regulatory challenges, new management systems and how virtual schools are making education opportunities available to all students regardless of geography or socio-economic conditions. All good things to be sure.
But what I didn't hear, was any mention of how virtual schools are incorporating Web 2.0 tools to help individualize the educational experience and prepare students for the challenges they will likely face in a global, digital workplace of the near future. No talk about classroom blogs, wikis or websites, no creative uses of video, audio podcasts or mobile devices, no Eyejot, Edmoto, Flickr, Jing, Ning, Twitter, Oovoo, ThinkQuest, Facebook, Posterous, WetPaint, RSS Feeds, Google Sites, etc., etc. What they were describing for the most part, are ways to take the classroom experience and put it online, rather than taking the online experience and bringing it into the classroom. I found this dichotomy curious and disappointing.
It seems to me that we are missing a golden opportunity. We have a platform that is tailor-made for using digital tools to improve the educational experience for thousands of students and engage them in new and creative ways, but that doesn't seem to be happening. And I think part of the problem is that there is a disconnect between curriculum and systems development and teaching.
Imagine what would happen if hundreds of virtual teachers were connected in a social learning network where they could share ideas and best practices for using digital tools in the virtual learning environment. That information could be used to inform and direct the efforts of the systems and product development teams. There is an article in eSchool News this week about a project to try and standardize metadata for e-learning resources to make them easier for teachers to search out and find. Applying that same concept could allow teachers to locate learning assets specifically suited for an individual student's needs at the precise time that students needs it. That is the true potential of virtual schools - the ability to provide a truly personalized learning program for each child.
We've taken an important first step in eliminating the classroom walls that limit students' opportunities and imagination. Now we have to figure out how to take the next step.

Adding to My Ever-Expanding Web 2.0 Toolbox

I used to consider myself relatively well-versed in the use of tech tools. I mean, I send/receive 100 emails a day, work at a virtual school, participate in web conferences, IM, text, have 5 pages of apps on my iPhone (although I still have a 3GS and Apple is introducing the iPhone 5 today), and I even have a Facebook account. However, I am beginning to realize that when it comes to Web 2.0, I don't even know enough to know what I don't know yet. Part of the problem is that before I can catch up on the latest new thing, something newer is being invented. Another challenge for me has been that even the tools I am more or less familiar with have additional features and benefits that I haven't fully explored yet.
Some examples from this past week:

RSS Feeds
I set up an RSS Feed in Outlook about a year ago at the suggestion of my school principal to track news reports related to some virtual school bills that were making their way through the state legislature. Articles were delivered right to my inbox and I was able to keep up with the latest developments. I was able to take advantage of this tool even though I didn't fully understand how it worked.
This week I did a deeper dive into what RSS Feeds are, how they work and the benefits of using them. I set up a Google Reader account and in a few minutes, my aggregator was loaded with useful and interesting websites, new articles and blogs. This information would have taken my hours to accumulate if I had to search each site and I most certainly would have missed something. I am still a novice at using RSS Feeds but I am confident my skill level will improve and I will continue to discover more features that will make this technology even more useful. Will Richardson in his book Blogs, Wikis and Podcasts regards utilizing RSS Feeds to manage web content as a must-have skill for educators and students and know I can see why.

Photo Sharing
Photo Sharing is another Web 2.0 tool that is not new to me, but one that I discovered new applications and features for this week. Professionally, I have shared photos on Snapfish and Flickr many times. This works well in a virtual school where students are geographically separated from one another. I was able to upload pictures from prom and graduation for example, email the link and password to a closed Snapfish account and allow families to copy or print photos from those events. We have a link to our Flickr page on our school web page so that visitors or prospective new families can see some of the things we are doing. Personally, I have been known to share photos on Facebook (much to my daughter's chagrin), but creating an account on Flickr allows me to back up all my digital photos and share them with friends and family (even those who are not on Facebook). I also had no idea that I could link my Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and Blogger accounts together and share digital media across platforms. I'm sure I have only scratched the surface here as well.

Creating in a Connected World

cpschulteis' photostream on Flickr.

This is my first attempt at connecting across social media platforms. Enjoy some photos of one of my favorite photo subjects...

No Excuses For Not Using Classroom Tech Tools

Recently, I volunteered to help a parochial elementary school formulate a new strategic plan. The principal is very enthusiastic and optimistic about the school's future and very open to the transformative potential of incorporating new technology tools to improve student learning. She has bright students, a talented and dedicated teaching staff, involved parents a balanced (if somewhat inadequate) budget and stable (even slightly increasing) enrollment. By all accounts, this is a school that is primed to take a major step forward in 21st century education.

At the first strategic planning committee meeting, I did a presentation about the changing nature of education and the challenges these students will face in the knowledge economy they will encounter after school. I talked about using technology tools to teach essential 21st century skills. I explained how they could incorporate virtual classes, individualized online programs to help struggling readers and mathematicians, classroom blogs and websites, 1:1 computer programs and using technology to expand student learning beyond the school walls. The parents and teachers on the committee seemed excited.

Photo courtesy of www.st-alphonsus.org/school 

After several more committee meetings, we were ready to craft the plan. Imagine my disappointment when the parents and teachers' initial enthusiasm for educational technology had turned to skepticism and a prevailing attitude of "it'll never work." In the end, they proposed a "strategic" plan that was really nothing more than "let's just keep doing what we've always done."

Now I didn't specifically talk about classroom wikis, but I can see how teachers, schools and districts might be tempted to shun the use of such technology tools in favor of the safe, familiar approach. I can imagine teachers in my school (a virtual school of all places) saying something like, "Sure it sounds like a wonderful opportunity to teach students in a new and exciting way, and it might work in some schools, but it will never fly in our school. It's impossible." I implore teachers, school officials and parents to give technology tools like wikis and blogs a chance to radically improve education and prepare students for a future in which such skills will be not only important but indispensable. Will there be challenges to meet and obstacles to overcome? Of course. But nothing worth doing ever comes without having the courage to take a chance. To those who say it's impossible, I would remind them that people said the same thing about winning WWII, climbing Mt. Everest, ending apartheid, landing a man on the moon and building a vast network of interconnected computers so everyone has equal access to the whole of the world's knowledge.

Using Web 2.0 Tools in a Web 1.0 School

"What did we do this week that you can apply in your school or job and how might you use it?"
That is really a two-part question and requires a two-part answer. The answer to the first part may sound patronizing, but everything we did this week could apply to my job/school. The answer to the second part, how might you use it, is the real challenge.
Contrary to what you might expect, most of the online K-12 curriculum currently available to schools and districts is what I would call Web 1.0. Sure, it is online as opposed to in a book or delivered in a classroom by a teacher, and most of it is designed to be accessed in an asynchronous manner by individual students working remotely at their own pace. But that doesn't make it collaborative, or what one of the authors we read this week referred to as social constructionist. It is primarily "read-only" and the assessment and feedback is primarily between the teacher and the student. So even though my virtual school is conducted entirely over the Internet, the method of instruction has yet to incorporate the full potential of the Internet in terms of moving beyond the traditional model of acquiring factual knowledge from teachers and textbooks and regurgitating it on standardized tests, or even the more sophisticated attempts at meaning-making, critical thinking and metacognition.
If we really aspire to become a school that harnesses the full power of the Internet as a "read/write" collaborative classroom without boundaries, we must find ways to incorporate all the Web 2.0 tools we touched on this week, from edublogs and wikis to podcasts, mobile devices and game-based learning. We must open our virtual doors and let the world in by publishing to the web and welcoming interactive comments and peer review. Virtual school cannot just be a place where students go to escape the "drama" of brick and mortar school life. It has to be the medium that leads the way in opening up young minds (and not so young minds for that matter) to a new way of thinking about learning... where the distinction between being "in school" and being "out of school" is blurred. In other words, a world where life is school and learning occurs constantly.
It's not as big a leap as we might think. Every kid that updates their status on Facebook is, in essence, blogging. And every kid who comments on the silly picture their friend posted is participation in social constructionism whether they realize it or not. It's up to us as educators to first understand the learning potential of these technologies ourselves, and then help students safely and responsibly harness the power of technologies they are already using and familiar with to expand their knowledge and understanding of the world.

E-Valuating Student Work, Hardware and Software

What does it mean to evaluate something? Well, the root of the word evaluation is "value," which, as it turns out, is a word with a variety of definitions depending on what is being evaluated.
One of this week's topics was the use of rubrics to evaluate student work. Before starting this class I had only a vague understanding of rubrics so as with many unfamiliar concepts, I approached this topic with some trepidation. However, the more I read about rubrics and the more I learned as I worked on creating my own rubric, the more I have come to appreciate their usefulness. Several of the referenced articles mentioned how parents really seem to like rubrics "once they understand how they are used." This, I think, is an important consideration because most parents are probably unfamiliar with rubrics and probably regard them like I did initially. So to evaluate a student's work using a rubric is simply to measure it's worth or degree of excellence compared to a carefully considered menu of pre-defined criteria. One way to define the criteria is to base it on previous student work on the same or similar assignments. Rubrics are useful for self-evaluation by the student, the other students in the class who participate in peer evaluations, parents who want to help their child with their work and teachers who can save time in grading the work. As a non-teacher, I can think of two ways I may be able to incorporate rubrics in my daily work; in assigning and evaluating projects given to staff or teachers and in employee performance evaluations.
The other topic I spent some time considering this week was evaluating hardware and software purchases. In this case, the value is more tangible in that you are looking at the features and benefits derived from a product or service in relation to the monetary cost of that item. Most people do this kind of evaluation all the time; at the grocery store, working on the family budget, making a major purchase, planning a vacation, etc. In my previous position, I had to evaluate the purchase of promotional items and advertising space. In my current job, I provided input on the purchase of laptop computers for student use taking into consideration things like, cost, reliability, features, security, longevity and liability. For example, Apple laptops were generally more reliable and had a longer useful lifespan, but we decided to buy 1,000 Compaq laptops instead because they were a third of the cost, more familiar for most students and more easily repaired. I also evaluate software and subscriptions to learning resources like Explore Learning Gizmos and United Streaming videos. I have the teachers who request these services provide justification for classroom applications then weigh the cost implications in the context of the school budget.
I do have to take issue with one of the web resources provided to learn about evaluating hardware and software. The article has an intriguing title, "How To Buy An Educational Software In Sixty Seconds Or Less," but that turned out to be misleading. I was hoping for something that would help simplify the process, but what I got was cursory dose of low-level, and sometimes contradictory advice. On the on hand, the author says to make sure the software is fun and entertaining while later on he cautions that if the graphics are too flashy, they can be distracting to students. He also says that using educational software should be effortless. I disagree. I think teachers should put as much thought and effort into choosing education software as they do selecting any other resource and maybe even more because we all know that technology should only be used if there is a clearly identified educational purpose. 

Presentations and Digital Stories

There are some interesting similarities and contrasts between Garr Reynolds approach to presentations and Bernajean Porter's take on digital storytelling. Both emphasize the importance of using images to help tell the story and both spend a considerable amount of time discussing how to obtain, manipulate, edit and position images for greatest impact. This is an interesting approach since traditionally, both presentations and stories relied much more heavily on words than images - the printed or spoken word in stories and the much maligned bullet-point lists so often found in presentations.
Prezi fits nicely into this new way of telling stories because of it's very visual, non-linear approach to presentations - although the zooming nature of Prezi can fly in the face of the simpler, zen-like style advocated by Reynolds. I have seen some Prezis that overdo the zooming to the point beyond distraction to bordering on seasickness.
The other element both authors emphasize is the spoken narrative. Both talk about the importance of delivering the narrative in a natural way, as opposed to reading a script. Reynolds focuses more on the "naturalness" when presenting live while Porter describes how a digital storyteller can use their vocal performance tools (pauses, inflection, etc.) to help tell their story.
The combination of high-quality, carefully selected images combined with a well-planned, purposefully created narrative and tempered with restraint, simplicity and creative design makes for powerful communication instruments in the form of more engaging presentations and entertaining digital stories.

Presentation Polarization: Is There A Right And Wrong Way To Use PowerPoint?

If there is one thing we can all agree on, it's that America is becoming more polarized. Public/private, conservative/liberal, the haves and the have nots. We see it clearly in politics where there doesn't seem to be any middle ground any more. The same seems to be happening among digital presenters. I'll call the two camps "conventional" (those who use templates, bullet points, graphs and charts and hand out copies of their slides at the beginning of the presentation) and "contemporary" (no templates, lots of images, few words and a separate handout of the supporting data at the end of the presentation). I propose that in the battle for digital dominance, the two sides can, and should, coexist.

I participate in at least 2-3 meetings a week (some in person but most via web conference) and most of those meetings involve one or more slide presentations. Almost all of those slides are designed in the conventional way (i.e. Title, bullet points, charts, graphs, clipart). And you know what? They generally get the job done. I get the information I need. Are they exciting? Usually not. Are they memorable? Not particularly. Are they informative? Yes. Do they take the presenter an inordinate amount of time to create? No. Those last two points are important considerations in the corporate world. Plus, conventional PowerPoints transmit well online and are small enough files that they can be emailed to people who were not able to attend the meeting.

Now I 'm not suggesting that there is no room for improvement in the world of corporate presentations. But I do think that the principles discussed by Garr Reynolds in Presentation Zen are just not necessary or practical in every situation. If you are presenting at a conference, to a potential new business client, to make a sale or even in the classroom, a more contemporary presentation along with an accompanying handout that is not merely a printout of the slides is likely to be more effective. And in those situations, I agree entirely with Reynolds' suggestions. However, I disagree with the extremists who want to criminalize the use of PowerPoint templates and administer electric shocks through the mouse of anyone who dares to hover over the bullet point toolbar. As with most issues, there is a middle ground. Conventional PowerPoint templates are still useful and appropriate for the day-to-day business meeting.

Having said that, I found the process of taking one of my more conventional PowerPoint presentations and applying some contemporary elements to be very enlightening. Since this presentation was designed for a student and parent instructional setting, not a corporate business meeting, I think the contemporary approach is more appropriate. To that end, I eliminated much of the text, added some more graphic elements and completely revised the accompanying handout. Here's an example of the changes I made:

Before

After

 

As you can see, the original slide has a distracting and unnecessary background and contains no less than 11 bullet points. It also has inconsistent fonts and colors. This information should be mentioned by the presenter and included in the handout.

The revised slide is simplified and much more visually engaging. It uses a high-quality image and a simple title that is direct and to the point. The font and color of the text is consistent with the other revised slides which incorporates the principle of repetition.

The bottom line is I will be using the Presentation Zen concepts, but not in every situation. Future presentations to students and families or at conferences will be more contemporary, but I suspect my presentations to teachers about new procedures for using the Online Enrollment System will look very much the same as they always have.

Same Story, Different Medium

I've always enjoyed a good story and I've always been intrigued by new technology so this foray into the world of digital storytelling has been a fascinating experience so far.
I particularly liked the collection of digital stories from Next Exit Digital Drive. The storyteller does a nice job of incorporating digital tools without losing track of the elements that make for a good story. And I believe that is the key. Just like in the visual arts, the medium should never detract from the message. Rather, it should complement and enhance the message.
Finding that balance will be a challenge for teachers trying to use digital storytelling with their class. It would be very easy for students to get caught up in using video, audio and other graphic tools and lose sight of the elements of good storytelling.
The elements of good storytelling and good, or at least better, presentations are things that make them "sticky" according to this week's reading from Garr Reynold's Presentation Zen. I think the "stickiness" concepts of concreteness, credibility, simplicity, emotion and unexpectedness apply equally to stories and presentations. 
I can envision using digital stories in my role as marketing manager for iQ Academy. One of our biggest challenges is communicating the value of virtual schools to families who in many cases have never been exposed to anything other than traditional public education. To that end, digital stories told by students, parents and teachers could be particularly valuable. They are also easy to distribute to prospective families via email or posted on our website.

Digital Storytelling

As a young broadcast journalism student, I was taught that news reporting is really a form of storytelling, and that the basic elements of every story are who, what, when, where, why and how. Translated into conventional story telling jargon, that would be characters, plot, setting and motivation. Whether in news or fiction (some would ask, "What's the difference?"), you need all of those elements to tell a good story. But what if you are not satisfied with telling a "good" story? What if you want to tell a "great" story?

For the answer to that question, I turn to a master story-teller, my former pastor, the late Fr. Dave Meinholz. Fr. Dave would always reach a point in his sermons where he would pause and ask, "So What?" In other words, we understand the basic elements of the story, but how does it affect us? How does it impact our life? Why do we care? Adding this element turns a good story into a great story.

Digital storytelling, then, is the art of telling great stories combined with the science of using digital tools. I have done a fair amount of storytelling during my years in the newsroom and working in public relations and marketing, and I have learned quite a bit about using digital tools, but I have not had a lot of opportunities to combine the two. I am looking forward to being able to tell great digital stories to my current and prospective students as well as my colleagues, friends and family.

More than Words... Applying What I Learned in Enhancing Learning Materials Through Technology

Pick a cliche, "Put up or shut up," "Actions speak louder than words," "Walk the walk," "Put your money where your mouth is," "Do or do not, there is no try." OK, that last one may just be an antiquated Star Wars reference, but you get the idea. After five weeks of studying ways to integrate technology to enhance proven learning strategies, it was finally time to apply that conceptual knowledge to evaluate and improve an actual class lesson. This was a daunting task for someone like myself who has never developed a classroom lesson plan before, let alone a good one that incorporates sound learning theory supported by technology. However, emboldened by the support of my small group members, I felt I was up for the challenge.

I used the only lesson-type presentation I have developed myself - an orientation session for students participating in the Test Drive iQ Academy program. You can view my presentation at https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AbU9x8j6YWIgZGQyNnpxbTRfMThjNHg1NWh0&hl=en&authkey=CJCBu3M

So what did I learn from this exercise? Quite a lot actually. Throughout this class we have demonstrated that incorporating technology to support proven learning strategies can greatly enhance student achievement. To that end, this should be happening for every lesson in every classroom in America. What I found out is that enhancing learning materials through technology is really not all that difficult - at least in theory. If I can do it, anyone can. The realities of classroom practice may present some additional challenges, but the effort required to overcome those challenges is certainly worthwhile.

Related to that point is the realization that many teachers could do the same thing to their lessons if they knew how, which brings me to the real revelation I experienced by taking this class - that I want to help facilitate this transformation. I will start with the teachers at my school. I may have to spend some time in the classroom (physical or virtual) myself to fully comprehend the situation. But somehow, some way I want to help bring the American education system kicking and screaming into the 21st century. To do anything less would be a disservice to the next generation.

This class has really motivated me to do some more research and study of technology enhanced learning. A recent federal government report on technology in education points out that, "The challenge for our education system is to leverage the learning sciences and  modern technology to create energizing, relevant, and personalized learning experiences for all learners that mirror students’ daily lives and the reality of their futures.” One really interesting concept I came across was the "flipped classroom" (see http://youtu.be/2H4RkudFzlc). The concept is simply that the teacher assigns the traditional lecture as homework and has the student do homework (or projects, or group work) during class time. The lectures are presented as podcasts that student can watch online or on a mobile device. The benefit is that the teacher can spend more time working with students individually and the students are more engaged.

Another fascinating example is the Kahn Academy which the founder explains in Salman Khan: Let's use video to reinvent education Video on TED.com. He basically created thousands of free videos that explain individual lessons in math, science, economics and various other subjects. Then he developed a self paced, interactive program to teach the concepts online. If a student gets stuck, they link to the respective video for help. When they master 10 questions about the topic in a row, they can move on the the next one.

Both of these revolutionary ideas were developed within the past 5 years and made possible by technology. Imagine what we will be able to do 10 years from now? I want to be a part of that.

Changing the Odds for Student Success (and other Week 5 CEDO 525 stuff)

When I was 18-years old and trying to decide what I was going to be when I grew up, my parents pulled me aside and told me, "Son, you can do whatever you want to do, just don't be a teacher." Want to venture a guess as to what they did for a living? You got it, they were both public school teachers. Don't get me wrong, they both loved teaching, they just knew all too well how difficult the profession had become (even 30-years ago) and they figured I had to be able to find an easier way to make a living.
I mention that story because I recently finished reading Using Technology With Classroom Instruction That Works by Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn and Malenoski, and I can't help but wonder if I received some well-intentioned, but misleading advice. All the learning strategies in this book make perfect sense to me and I am mystified that every teacher in America is not making a conscious effort to apply these principles in every class they teach. 
Some thoughts about the last three learning strategies:

Identifying Similarities and Differences
Crucial for connecting prior knowledge and for broader understanding of concepts in context. Can be either teacher directed or student-directed. Technology supported diagrams and graphic representations are particularly effective in this exercise.
Homework and Practice 
Homework can't just be busy work - it must have a clearly defined and communicated purpose and relation to the learning targets. Allows students to extend their learning outside the classroom. Use of web-based resources is helpful because they can be accessed both in and out of the classroom.
Generating and Testing Hypotheses
Not just for science, this strategy really speaks to accessing those all-important higher order thinking skills. Students should be able to explain their hypothesis and what evidence they use to test it. Computer-based simulations are a great way to test hypotheses because it is relatively inexpensive and students get immediate feedback.

Digital Technology's Power to Transform Traditional Institutions

This week, I enjoyed watching several videos featuring NYU Interactive Telecommunications Professor Clay Shirky. According to his website, http://www.shirky.com, he studies the effects of the Internet on society and has recently written two books on the subject. I found his TED Talks videos very thought-provoking and while he does not talk specifically about education, his ideas are certainly applicable to education in general and virtual education in particular. 

Institutions vs. Collaboration

In this video, Shirky talks about how the Internet and various digital communication tools are changing the way organizations are structured. 21st century tools facilitate the formation of collaborative groups in which cooperative communication strategies are built into the structure of the organization. Anyone can become a member of these groups and they can contribute as much or as little as they want. Shirky cites the Flickr photo sharing web community, Linux, open source software, file sharing and Wikipedia as examples of cooperative systems. This model flies in the face of traditional 20th century institutions.

Education is one such institution. According to Shirky, as organizations move toward the new collaborative model, institutions are going to come under increasing pressure and the more rigidly managed and the more they rely on information monopolies, the more pressure they will be under. Conversely, loosely coordinated groups are going to be given increasingly high leverage. The more those groups forgo traditional institutional imperatives like deciding in advance what’s going to happen and the profit motive, the more leverage they will have.  Imagine the transformational leverage of an educational system based on a collaborative social model rather than a rigid institution. 

Shirky points out that the rising popularity of blogging has the potential to make professional journalism irrelevant. If that is true, then the development of cooperative social learning communities as an alternative to traditional educational institutions has the potential to do the same to the teaching profession.

This week, we also examined two more teaching strategies to enhance student learning.

Cooperative Learning

I learned quite a bit about the pros and cons of cooperative learning strategies from the two classroom teachers in my small group. Cooperative learning can certainly lead to successful academic outcomes under the right circumstances; like when students with diverse learning styles can be grouped together to take advantage of each group members' strengths and mitigate their weaknesses. However, difficulties can arise when not every student puts forth the same amount of effort, they disagree on goals and strategies or they have personality conflicts. Groups can also be difficult to manage and coordinate and pose certain challenges for assessing each student's grade based on their contribution to the final product.

Reinforcing Effort

It stands to reason that reinforcing effort will lead to better academic achievement. The classroom teachers in my group have anecdotal evidence that even seemingly small gestures of encouragement can have considerable impact on student participation and performance. However, I recently attended a meeting where a virtual school leader related a pilot program where an extrinsic motivation program was implemented. Students could earn points by completing assigned work and scoring well on tests and could then exchange those points for prizes or turn them into a donation to charity. The program seemed good in theory, but the school found it difficult to get students to participate and those that did saw very nominal academic gains - certainly not enough to justify the $19,000 price tag for the program. So it seems that intrinsic factors have a greater impact than extrinsic motivators when it comes to reinforcing effort.  

Visual Thinking

I've never really considered myself a "visual learner." I've always been more of a words and numbers kind of guy. Visual representations never really made as much sense to me as a good old-fashioned outline or a well-crafted essay. But I do like online collaboration tools so I approached this week's assignment - comparing and contrasting online mind-mapping tools - with an open mind.

I looked at Bubbl.us, Webspiration and MindMeister. All three allow users to create visual maps or graphic organizers for use in brainstorming and representing ideas, concepts and process flows. They all offer the ability to save, print and publish maps to blogs and websites and to work collaboratively online with others. 

Bubbl.us

Example from http://ca018.k12.sd.us/bubblus_example.htm

I found Bubbl.us to be quick to learn and easy to use. In fact, you can create a map without even creating an account. It is very versatile and I like the relational "family tree" structure and the fact that you can change colors and fonts to convey deeper levels of meaning.
The free account allows you to save 3 sheets at a time. For $3 per month you can save 10 sheets.
As a side note, I found out that this software was created by two students at UW Milwaukee.


Webspiration

Example from http://www.mywebspiration.com/examples 

According to the Webspiration website, "Visual thinking methodologies have been proven to increase understanding, improve retention and effectively communicate information." Seems like reason enough to check out this resource.
Webspiration seems like a feature-rich tool that would take some time to learn. The Beta version out now allows users to create a free account and start using the product right away.
I like that you can export maps as Word documents or directly into Google Docs. The website offers a clear introduction and explanation of the concept of visual thinking and several really good examples to give you an idea of the many uses of the software for business, academic and personal use. Webspiration will also let you add notes and convert your mind map to a text outline.

MindMeister
Perhaps the most intriguing of the three tools I looked at is MindMeister. The free version only allows you to save 3 mind maps, but for $18 a year you can get an academic subscription that allows you to 

Example from http://www.mindmeister.com/3365188/notes-from-get-rid-of-e-mail

save an unlimited number of maps. Again, I like that you can work collaboratively and exports maps as pdf documents and publish them to blogs and websites. I particularly like that you can access your mind maps on a mobile device because I love being able to get work done on my phone when I don't have easy access to a computer. I also like and the ability to create and work on maps offline as well.
The business applications for meeting management, project planning and presentations would be particularly useful for me, and I could see our students using MindMeister as a note taking and archiving tool.

Learning Strategies

As far as the learning strategies we discussed this week go, I understand the significant benefits for students in the classroom and the challenges for teachers in incorporating technology tools in implementing them. The challenge for me has been to examine these strategies and see if they can be applied to what I do.

Cues, Questions and Advance Organizers
One of the critical components of successful online learning is new student orientation. iQ Academy employs a mix of virtual and face to face orientation strategies. Using cues, questions and advance organizers may be a way to increase understanding and retention of the concepts presented during orientation.

Nonlinguistic Representation
Staff development is important in every learning environment, but it is particularly important in a virtual school where informal collaboration happens less frequently since teachers are not in the same building every day. There may be ways to incorporate nonlinguistic representation in the staff development program. The technology tools that allow online collaboration could be especially useful when SD sessions are held virtually. There may also be an opportunity to use nonlinguistic representation when meeting with prospective new families to explain the concepts behind online learning.

Summarizing and Note Taking
I participate in a number of virtual meetings and conference calls each week. Incorporating some of the summarizing and note taking strategies - particularly the technology based tools like MindMeister - could be useful for me personally to keep track of all the projects I am involved in.

Feedback That Fits

Before I get to the heart of this week's blog, I have to relate another example of the stark contrast between the impact of technology on society and the painfully slow adaptation of technology resources in education. A quarter century ago when I used to go bowling with my friends, we would argue over who has to keep score. It had to be someone who was trustworthy, had good math skills and legible penmanship because it was all done by hand. I just finished an afternoon of bowling at an alley where the players names are entered electronically along with their handicap. The automatic scoring system detects which pins are still standing (which was many in my case) and suggests a strategy to pick up the spare. The computer calculates the scores and before we could finish off a post-game libation, the tournament organizer handed us a printed summary of our scores. At the end of the month, final tournament results will be posted online. If bowling can adopt this level of technology, why can't education. How can we justify a society where technology tools are more pervasive in bowling alleys than in classrooms?

Now on to this week's article, Feedback That Fits by Susan Brookhart. Giving student feedback is not a topic I have really considered much before so I found the article rather interesting. Specifically, it puts a lot of pressure on the teacher when you consider the potential harmful effects of ineffective or poorly crafted feedback. This is another area, like setting learning objectives, creating learning activities and formulating summative assessments that has to be carefully considered when planning a lesson or unit.

I must say that I have experienced much more ineffective feedback than effective feedback in my academic life as well as my professional career. As a manager, a lot of the concepts presented in the article - like carefully considering the timing, amount and mode of feedback - could easily be applicable to employee and teacher evaluations. Just as it is important for students to know where they stand and what they need to do to reach their learning goals, it is equally important for employees to know how they are doing and what they need to improve on to meet organizational and professional development goals.

Now if I could just get some effective feedback on my bowling game...

Meta-Analysis Misses Mark

The title of the article, A Meta-Analysis of the Effectiveness of Teaching and Learning With Technology on Student Outcomes is a bit intimidating. So it is with some trepidation that I dare to suggest that the authors (Waxman, H.C., Lin, M., & Michko, G. M.) may have drawn the wrong conclusion. Previous studies showed that integrating technology in the classroom produced positive effects in terms facilitating independent learning and increasing time on task. This study sought to quantify the effect of classroom technology integration on student outcomes.

I'm not a research expert so I really can't comment on the study's methodology and results, but to make my point, I'm willing to accept them as valid. The analysis shows that teaching and learning with technology has a moderate positive impact on student outcomes. I am completely on board with that. My problem is with the authors' conclusion which states, "The result from the present study indicate that the overall effects are nearly twice as large as other recent meta-analyses conducted in the area of instructional technology. This finding suggests that the overall effects of technology on student outcomes may be greater than previously thought." I disagree. What this finding suggests to me is that the overall positive effects of technology on student outcomes is increasing over time.

To me, this misinterpretation is a prime example of how the educational establishment has failed to grasp the transformational effect technology has had on society, and the implications of that transformation for education. To be sure, some schools have made some progress on this front since this study was published in 2003, but while the adaptation of technology in schools has been incremental, the technological advances in business, medicine, entertainment, etc. have been monumental. The job I do today didn't even exist in 2003. When I graduated from college, the technology required to do my job would have filled a small warehouse. Today, I can do almost my entire job using the technology available in my iPhone. Are we adequately preparing young people for the kind of employment opportunities that exist today? Or do we really believe that they are better served by continuing to educate them in institutions that are not substantially different that they were 75-years ago.

If anyone is looking for a very interesting read on the topic of why education has been so slow to adapt to the "Knowledge Revolution," I recommend Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology by Allan Collins and Richard Halverson. 

Principles of Teaching and Learning

Oddly enough, after reading the article Principles of Teaching and Learning from the Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence at Carnegie Mellon University, the first thing that struck me was the juxtaposition of the two elements. The title lists Teaching first, but the body of the article talks about Learning first and Teaching second. It may seem trivial, but I think this is an important distinction. The introduction points out that a "learner-centered perspective is a hallmark of the Eberly Center’s approach to teaching." Despite the title, the article seems to have the sequence correct; the principles of learning and the needs of the students must direct the application of the teaching principles, not the other way around.

From my perspective as a non-teacher, the Principles of Learning seem to be true and accurate. One principle addresses the impact of student motivation on learning, pointing out that intrinsic motivations play a larger role in student learning as they, "gain greater autonomy over what, when and how they study and learn." Since virtual school students have a great deal more autonomy than their traditional school counterparts, this point is particularly relevant to the students at iQ Academy. According to the article, student motivation is maximized when they find positive value in the learning goal, expect to be successful and perceive support from their environment. That makes perfect sense to me and could serve as an important reference point for our teaching staff.

I found several similarities between the Teaching Principles, and the topics I hear being discussed in iQ Academy staff development sessions; things like aligning learning objectives, instructional activities and assessments, articulating explicit expectations and progressively refining our courses. The principle that talks about "acquiring relevant knowledge about students" is particularly challenging for online teachers who don't have the benefit of seeing their students every day. This was a major topic of conversation at a summit meeting I attended last week where a research firm presented their findings from a market segmentation study that looked the characteristics of different "categories" of virtual school students. The challenge to the school leaders in attendance was to figure out how to use that information to better serve our students and families. I left the meeting with a personal action item to discuss this point with our staff to see how knowing this kind of information might change the way they approach their teaching.

Overall, I found a lot to like about this article, but I do think they should consider changing the title to Principles of Learning and Teaching.