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.