Establishing tone

I believe information literacy is the responsibility of all content teachers.  The following piece is a bit about how I tend to kick off a new year, and how to easily aim at info literacy from very early on.  As I have said here before, I do not like to go shy into the new school year.  Our students are learning from us every second of every day.  The real question then is what are they learning.  As the lead learners in the classroom, this is under our control.

With this in mind, it is my goal to have my students leave the room on that first day with a few things spinning around in their heads like…

1.  “Wow. This class is active.  I was working with ideas and classmates the entire period.”

2.  “This guy means business.  He is infectiously passionate and serious about this class, and yet has room for humor within all of the intensity.”

3.  “He seems to have a longview for us in the class.  I can tell he has plans for us and cares that we are “in” as much as he is.”

4.  “I might be headed for a music major in college next year, and this will likely be my last formal science course, but I am actually thinking this class might be built with people like me (as well as the biology geeks) in mind.”

5.  “I had better get used to sharing my learning.  This class is open.  I will certainly have to step out of my comfort zone a little on this one.”

6.  “Not sure how I feel about construc…. whatever he called it…  but if it means I won’t have to sit while he talks all period, then I’m for it.”

I obviously believe in creating the ultimate mental model, and then working from there with my planning framed by those ideals.  This year we started the school year with built-in early release days and short periods.  Last Wednesday was our first full period of instruction.  I just don’t believe that on that first day you can just go gently into your course.  It is my philosophy to swing hard from day one.

So how can you teach your students who you are, what to expect, what you stand for, what and how they’ll be learning during the year…  all in one day?  As usual, I’m still debriefing the success of this one lesson, but I do believe that all of this is possible.  Stick with me on this one.  Here in a bit, I’ll ask you to help me assess some of this by scanning through the pages of online student writing about this lesson.  Here’s a small sample as a preview:

I believe this type of learning is important… the activity split up our class in two sections making each side work together in a very short amount of time. This helps build chemistry between everyone in our class which I believe is very important since we’ll be around each other for a whole year. It was also important, because it made all of us think and learn about a topic we most likely hadn’t heard anything about. Science has a lot to do with the unknown and I believe this issue on shark cartilage really challenged us on something we had no clue about. We had to work to decide whether or not the shark cartilage was effective and for that matter whether or not the information we were given was reliable.” ~Kerstyn Bolton

Day one

I don’t do stand-alone “ice breakers” any longer.  That’s not a criticism of those who do, but in my thinking that says to the students:  “we had to construct a special event outside of our normal work in this class in order to talk to and learn about one another.”  I design my first day to be authentic collaboration and sharing among students where classmates must rely on one another to complete a content-related task, or solve a content-related problem.

My learning goals for the day were rather broad.  It was day one.  They were as follows:   1. Setting classroom tone.  2. Building the foundation of a learning environment.  3. Proving the concrete, daily value of science.  4. Team-building.  5.  Evaluating and debating a scientific assertion in the field of medicine.  6.  Establishing an academic spirit for our first online work at Principles of Biology.

Shark cartilage?

So, to trim down a rather complex story…  We divided into two large groups (10 students each side) to examine the idea that shark cartilage supplements can be used as a safe and effective treatment for some types of cancer.  This is fringe alternative-medicine stuff.  There is a ton of web chatter on both sides of this issue.  Though the medical community is rather aligned on this issue, as with any “natural” treatment, there are many proponents on the fringes.  The data found on the web is, in short, a big area of gray to most people.

The information on this issue is all over the board.  There are a few freely accessible journal articles on the web, there are terribly crackpot e-commerce sites, and there are hundreds of examples in the gray area between the two.  Because I had to have a brisk pace to finish in one period, I constructed two packets… one for each group.  One group of ten got a packet full of public websites representing the “for” side of using shark cartilage supplements as a treatment for cancer.  The other group of ten were given a packet representing sites that represented the “against” side of the issue.

With no formal instruction on argument nor debate, the students were led through a protocol to digest the content of the packet in short order and prepare a speedy argument aligned with their given viewpoint.  I led them through a series of skimming, compiling, active reading, and sharing tasks to help them build structure for an argument in about 20 minutes.  Considering this was a group of ten working with a subject they knew nothing about, that is saying something.  The action was fast and furious.  Frankly, they ended up engaging in a better debate than I had even anticipated.  Battles over sources cited and inherent biases came out without being prompted.

“I LOVED learning like this because I think it gave everyone a chance to teach everyone else.” ~Hannah Rush

Ultimately, they were to take their thoughts from the day and reflect on both the content learning as well as the process of the day’s learning events.  To me, I never go a day without sharing the strategic purpose for that particular event.  If I don’t have a best-practice reason for doing what I’m doing the way I’m doing it…   then I (and they by default) would quite possibly be wasting time.  This keeps us all on our toes and makes the “game of school” completely transparent within my class.

So let’s see where the rubber meets to road on this one.  If you haven’t been tempted to click through to the discussion thread on this already, please do so now.  I think you’ll be pleasantly impressed by the willingness to dive head first into this one and really discuss the issues.  As of this morning, there are seven pages of student discourse.  I think you’ll appreciate this look into how students approach the task of reflecting deeply over their learning in this class.

“I really thought what you said about “You learn only 10% of what you read, but you learn 95% of what you teach” was very interesting…  …This makes our activity in class so much more exciting to me! I remember a lot of what my section said about shark cartilage and that’s because I had to, because my team needed me…” ~Kerstyn Bolton

My LMS can beat up your LMS

Not only should information literacy not be an add-on, nor should your Library Media Specialist.  At Benton, we are undergoing a true paradigm shift in library media services.  By hiring Melissa Corey, we have in the span of a summer updated our services to bring the library’s digital tendrils into every classroom in our building.  Last year, the physical space of our library was scrapped for a full redo to bring it up to date as a learning space for 2010.  This year, we have the personnel to put the plan into action.

As this lesson was unfolding, I realized that I was setting up our new Library Media Specialist to fly in the next period, cape and all, to deliver the way to a more rigorous online research process.  What I didn’t know is how personalized this service would be.  Boy-  were we in for a surprise.  For starters, here is the slide show she used to help deliver our learning for the day:

Thanks

Happy anniversary to “nashworld.“  This post is the 65th of the year, and it comes exactly one year after my first post on April 21st, 2008.  Wow.  Looking back at that post, it was quite clear I was full of questions for the coming year of study and reflection, but very shy of answers.  In fact, this blog was initially titled “virtual southside” that first month.  My first plan was for this space to be a group blog to facilitate PD for our brand-spanking-new tech cohort starting in June.

Forming a purpose

Then I found Ning.  In one weekend, it was clear to me that this platform would be a far better, and more flexible, match for our school’s edtech PD mission.  It also served to bring some comfort for our staff in the world of social media.  Though we control membership to the site, it is certainly a more free-wheeling place than a simple group blog.  It was the decentralized nature of a Ning network that I loved.  I didn’t want to drive “virtual southside.”  I didn’t want anyone to drive.  I wanted to be merely another loud voice on a very enthusiastic and speedy bus.

So after a quick rename, nashworld became more of a personal place for reflection, sharing, and synthesis of thought.  I do drive this bus.  However, I had my first guest move up from the passenger section just this month.  Though I certainly do have an amazing passenger list here, this is where the metaphor breaks down, for the readers of this blog certainly help steer my thoughts and words with their comments.  To those of you who have put in your two cents here, I thank you greatly.  You have helped to develop many of the thoughts and beliefs I currently own.

Year One Archive

A couple of months ago, when I started to really reflect on what blogging has meant to me over the past year, I decided to create a different type of archive for the blog.  If you look up, you’ll notice that just to the right of the “About” page is a link to a new page entitled:  “Year One Archive.”  This page lists every post I have written over the course of the year by month-  with somewhat of an abstract-like summary.  I hope this provides yet another way to navigate the site.  It certainly isn’t a quick and efficient way, but it does provide a bit of a different approach.  The archive page also serves as an interesting chronological history of the past year.

Archaeo-blogology

In fact, after that first post in April…  I didn’t write another that month.  I didn’t even write one in May.  During that month I was working hard on both Virtual Southside as well as my first shot at social media for an actual course I teach.  June, my most prolific month, was the result of using the blog  to fulfill the requirements of a really lame online grad course on “educational technology.”  Truly the worst course I have ever experienced.  You can easily tell this by the lame posts and lame books and movies and edtech articles from five and ten years ago.  Jeeeez.  I wish I hadn’t looked back over those just now.

Things got much better when school started and I began to feel a true mission for the blog.  When November began, I followed along with Steve Dembo in his 30 Days to Being a Better Blogger adventure.  That experienced helped tremendously.  Also in November, I was actually even nominated for a 2008 Edublogs Award.  You can imagine my surprise as such a green little blogger, but that was no doubt extrinsically empowering.   I am certain to post several more reflective pieces on things I have experienced, learned and accomplished over the past year.  Stay tuned for those.  As soon as my grad program is completed in May…  I have a lot of things to explore yet.  Grad school, a new baby girl…  it’s a wonder I could pull off any of this at all.

To community

Most of all-  thank you.  Thanks for coming here.  Thanks for reading.  Thanks for commenting.  Thanks for joining in the discussion.  Thank you for helping to steer my personal learning mission over the past year.  I cannot thank each and every one of you enough.  The thinking I do about the things you say… is worth a graduate course in something each time.  In reflection over this past year, I can for certain that the biggest thing I have gained from blogging is people.  I now have current and future collaborators on from all over the country.  We have and will collaborate on projects that will no doubt extend not only my learning, but that of my friends and colleagues in Saint Joseph.  I am humbled by the professionalism, creativity, and generosity of people in this newly-generated community.  Thanks isn’t enough.

Artwork:

Shifting practices

Not long ago, the MS Office suite comprised the bulk of computer applications in the world of mainstream business.  I have to admit that as a career biology educator and instructional coach, I have precious little knowledge of the “real” business world.  That said, this past year I have found my work overlapping many trends in business as I explore the efficacy of collaborative online applications in education.  I am deeply interested in them as a framework for professional development as well as for classroom utilization.

“Yeah, but mainstream businesses aren’t using the Web 2.0 stuff…  those are mostly a few cutting edge companies with money to burn.”

How much more “mainstream” can you get than Best Buy?  Will Richardson pointed to the above video a couple of days back on Twitter, and I have held that browser window open since that time.  I really enjoy some of the language found within.  For example, one gentleman interviewed said that Web 2.0 applications allow the workforce to “…try a lot of different things, fail really fast, and then try things again.“  I dig that attitude in almost any endeavor.  To me it is pretty clear that being fearless and willing to innovate is a big plus in much of the business world as well as in education.  I also like the fact that another interviewee listed the following things as benefits to social media applications being implemented within the company structure:

• better loyalty
• less office politics
• ability to meet other individuals passionate about the same things
• ability to stretch an idea across an entire organization

Shifting schools

Now which of those things is not good as well for a school faculty?  Of course blind loyalty leads often to the Abilene Paradox, and this is never a good thing.  However, other than that, I’m betting that this list of four things is something all school administrators and staff would value in their world as well.

Those four items, as well as a few others, are a target of our school’s shiny new social network- Virtual Southside.  This site was piloted by a cohort of 20 teachers and administrators at Benton High this year in the midst of an academic technology integration program.  Starting next year, with our entire staff online in the program, this site will be a major part of how we conduct asynchronous staff professional development.  Today I interviewed several cohort members about the benefits of working within our social network this past school year.  A short list of their replies about our foray into social media is as follows:

• develop general comfort with social media
• ability to collaborate asynchronously
• differentiated professional development
• makes all staff a “professional developer”
• makes professional work transparent
• allows feedback from a wider dynamic of personalities
• provides an archival record
• creates an avenue for extrinsic motivation

Nearing the end of our first year employing social media in our school and in our classrooms, I am excited to see some of the benefits rolling in.  In my opinion, the featured video showing similar strategies in a mainstream business model provides another interesting nod to the value of utilizing these strategies with our teachers and students as well.  Are collaborative social tools being used currently where you work?  What role do you see for social media in our schools and with our students?

Artwork thanks:

*Thanks to Stephen Collins for the “fail gloriously” slide image.

Just in time… guest bloggers!

We are less than a day away from our Marine Biology class field study on Andros Island in the Bahamas.  I am still waiting for students to come in to weigh their gear.  I still need to pick up a few last-minute items.  I still need to prepare to be perfectly (and wonderfully) off the grid for an entire week.  As hurried as I have been lately, I have done some fun preparation for this blog.  Since I cannot write for at least a week, two of my electronic pals have agreed to make a guest appearance in my absence!  Dr. Punya Mishra (of TPACK fame) and Stacy Baker (of Edublog Awards fame) will be taking the wheel.

I don’t exactly know what they will be bringing to nashworld other than the typical insight and wit they spill forth in their own projects on a regular basis.  Stacy’s class blog was the 2008 Edublogs Award winner for “best class blog.”  Her insight on how to pull off this type of framework will certainly be valuable.  Along with Dr. Matt Koehler, Dr. Mishra is one of the co-developers of the TPACK framework.  Our school has begun to embrace the simplicity of the framework as well as the deep commitment it takes to move toward the “center” of the model.  I am convinced this framework will be more valuable as more of America realizes the need for true integration of technology into our current and future models of education reform.

We have a ton to learn from these two.  I am already excited to read what they bring to the site while I am away.  Did I mention that I still haven’t left yet?

Andros Island?

Without going into too much detail in my frazzled state, I will say that the reason for our choice of field station locale is simple.  Andros Island boasts what is said to be the third longest barrier coral reef in the world.  We will be on 45′ sailboats for seven days, snorkeling the reef, mangroves, sandflats, blue holes, etc.  Just a few hundred miles off the coast of Florida, Andros is an amazing and surprisingly remote place.

At nearly one hundred miles long, Andros is overwhelmingly the largest land mass in the Bahamas.  Nassau, the capital city, sits on New Providence island with over 250,000 inhabitants and is the bulk of the tourism target.  Andros, on the other hand, is large, flat and green with just around 8000 inhabitants.  This island is wonderfully and yet very strangely “backwoods” considering its proximity to the United States.

Until we return with our many fish tales, take a second to visit our class network or perhaps some of the images from our 2008 field study.  The Ning site is less than a year old.  It will be exciting to spill the journals, images, and videos of eighteen students onto that space when we return.  We stopped updating our crusty old static “Web 1.0″ page back around 2003 or 2004.

Protecting living coral

That said, our crusty old static presence was still quite functional a few years back when I was contacted by a member of the Center for Biological Diversity about using some images from our site for an historic petition to list the first coral species under the Endangered Species Act.  Apparently, our images of the Andros reef chronicled the state of two threatened species of Caribbean-region corals quite nicely.  And of course, being a marine biology teacher, I have images that tell the entire “natural history” of the ecosystem as opposed to merely pretty pictures.

The petition that was prepared (by no means a typical “petition,” but instead a 111 page formal manuscript that takes patience to load) not only features one of my images on the cover, but is illustrated using mostly our images from the Andros reef.  Hey-  whoever said “Web 1.0″ wasn’t much for education?  My students get a kick out of all of the international communication that happens as a result of our network, blogs, etc.  However, this one event in 2005/2006 stuck out like crazy at the time to my students of Saint Joseph, Missouri.

I suggest checking this document out.  If for no other reason than to see what something like this entails.  Well, that and…  the photos!  If you do check out the petition, slide all the way back to the “acknowledgments” on page 111.  It was pretty cool to see our little school district listed there so prominently on such a landmark document.  The real bottom line here:  this petition succeeded in getting both Elkhorn and Staghorn coral listed as threatened species under the ESA.  These are some of the only invertebrate species ever gaining protection under the Endangered Species Act.

So stay tuned for Punya & Stacy…  and a ton of news from the reef!

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I have a brand-spanking new site to share with you and your colleagues who might teach biology/life science. The new site is a worldwide professional network I created with the help of five super collaborators from across the country. This new public network is called: The Synapse.

For my non biology-geek readers (the majority) please allow a quick define of both a synapse and the site itself:

A SYNAPSE is a minute gap between nerve cells which transmits crucial information through the nervous system. The goal of this network is to perform a similar “synaptic” function between biology instructors of all levels and locations.

The Synapse is a science content-focused site on the Ning platform. Though it is managed by six people who are all relatively well versed in educational technology, it is not the primary focus of the network. It was designed primarily as a site for life science educators to connect with others without any geographical barriers.  In fact, the site owes its origin directly from a frustrating discussion in the Twittersphere between biology instructors of many levels.  On that day, it was decided that we needed a central place to meet, share and support one another from afar.

“What’s in it for me?”

Here, teachers can sign in to create a free profile to begin commenting, sharing, etc.  The Synapse is a professional social network that features a discussion forum, blogs, event listings, images, videos, chat, etc. This is a perfect place to troll for ideas on an upcoming unit, a new strategy or approach you’d like to attempt in the classroom, etc. On The Synapse, teachers can log requests for ideas, tips or suggestions for teaching those most challenging topics or using new strategies. Teachers will also notice the ability to join or form their own subgroups within the network based on region, content focus, instructional strategy, etc.

The facilitators of this network represent different regions across the country, varying grade levels, varying approaches, varying years of experience.  In fact, diversity within the network will certainly grow quickly even more over time. As this new network begins to expand, the power of numbers will work to produce results in an even more timely fashion.  I look forward here to what James Surowiecki quite simply called “The Wisdom of Crowds.”

The real potential beauty of this network is its goal of decentralized intelligence. Online social networks such as this one harness the power of asynchronous communication to allow teachers to collaborate when and where possible within our increasingly busy lives.  Sure, your brain has a ton of neurons…  on the order of about 10 billion.  However, it also contains around 100 billion synapses.  That is, connections between neurons.  It could thus be said that the connections between these brain cells are in some ways a larger factor than the brain cells themselves.  Play that metaphor out in terms of this project.  The connections we make here are potentially larger than any of us as individuals.

Sign in

The first step is to join. The second: poke around. See what this site can do for you as a teacher who is constantly looking to improve his or her practice. The final step: share. If everyone adds that minimum of one or two special things they have to share, this site will quickly be a huge part of your personal learning network.  In fact, in the words of Dr. Geoffrey Hinton:

Learning occurs as a result of changing the effectiveness of synapses so that their influence on other neurons also changes… Learning is a function of the effectiveness of synapses to propagate signals and initiate new signals along connecting neurons. Learning and experience change the structure of the neural networks. (Geoffrey Hinton, “How Neural Networks Learn from Experience,” Scientific American, 267:3, September 1992, 145.)

Experience affects efficacy when it comes to your brain.  Aren’t we magnificently plastic creatures?  (Check out the related discussion between Dr. Doyle & I on this post.)  The fact that you could alter the structure (and thus the function) of the only brain you’ll likely ever own, is a really powerful idea.  So what on Earth are you waiting for?  Jump in.  Become one of the collaborators (neurotransmitters) within this newly-forming network.  If you aren’t one who teaches life science…  forward this post to a colleague who does.  They might just thank you.

So welcome to another outpost on the rapidly expanding web that potentially connects professional educators worldwide. With a bit of help, this tiny outpost could turn into a metropolis. We think the infrastructure is ready. What do you think?

Artwork thanks:

You know you wanna

Before I roll out the details of this little mini-project, allow me to summarize.  This project was the first of many in an attempt to characterize the differences between online writing and more traditional formats.  Students in my Dual-Credit Biology course were divided into two groups upon culmination of a biochemistry unit.  Half of the class wrote a comprehensive unit summary in a traditional format which was turned in directly to the teacher.  The other half of the class composed a summary in an online forum for a much wider audience (Ning network).

Summaries were analyzed for word count, readability and effect on content-based exam scores.  Exam scores and readability were closely aligned.  However, strong differences were noted in average word count.  Students writing in online forums used significantly fewer words to achieve the same overall impact.  Implications of using online forums for future enhancement of student summarization are discussed.  My take?  Writing online is a potentially powerful tool for summarization of course content.

The set-up

A building-wide focus for instructional improvement in my high school this year, has been to launch and maintain an instructional technology integration initiative.  The school year began with a cohort of twenty teachers who were willing to engage in training above and beyond the professional development for all staff.  I began meeting with these teachers in mid-June for three-hour technology training sessions.  The first meeting consisted of a “care and feeding” session for the 15″ MacBook Pros, Olympus digital cameras and iPod nanos the cohort teachers received.  From that session forward, training sessions integrated this hardware, as well as emerging online technologies, with solid instructional best practices for classroom learning.  These twenty teachers have followed a prescription of immersion.  New technological tools were presented alongside potential uses in a classroom setting.  An online social network was set up to facilitate learning between face-to-face meetings.

I teach one course during the regular school day.  Principles of Biology is a course in which students earn 101-level college credit through Missouri Western State University.  This course is populated by students who enjoy learning.  Work conducted by these students formed the basis of comparison in this study.  Our course network is also based on the Ning platform.  Though this network features discussion forums as well as blogs, both are examples of online writing in some form or other. As you will see, in this class, I utilize the forum much more than the blog.  This will certainly have an effect on the results of this project.

The main event

What effects, if any, does a move toward online writing generate? Actually, little has been done to characterize the impact this new “genre” of writing is having on student achievement.  In fact, blogging has been said to be different enough as to warrant a new genre of writing called “connective writing.”  As Will Richardson has said:  it is

“…a form that forces those who do it to read carefully and critically, that demands clarity and cogency in its construction, that is done for a wide audience, and that links to the sources of the ideas expressed.”

In fact, I mentioned this idea earlier this year in this post on blogging.

How was this done?

This project began at the culmination of a biochemistry and nutrition unit.  Class sessions throughout were widely varied and ranged from cooperative work in small groups, guided webquests, lecture and discussion, and wet-lab investigations.  The final strategy prior to the unit exam was to have students engage in writing a comprehensive summary of their learning throughout the unit.  Students were randomly divided into two groups.  They were then informed that they would be doing one of two types of comprehensive summary.

The only difference between the two groups of students was writing “environment.”  The “odd” group was to compose the summary on a word processor, and then print as well as e-mail the final copy directly to the instructor only.  The “even” group was to write their summary online, as a blog post, to our classroom network.  Based on previous work with the online class network, these students knew that their work would be accessible online to virtually anyone.  This group of students knew that they were writing for a potentially wide audience, while the students of the first group were writing for me alone.  Since this class is largely an inquiry-based biology class, data was analyzed by the students themselves.  Students were asked to infer from the data and make conclusions online based on the findings.

So what happened?

Overall, 20 students participated in the study- out of a total of 20 enrolled in the class.  Each student in the table is listed only by initials in order to preserve anonymity.  (Table 1) Students who constructed a comprehensive summary of nutrition unit via online blog post for a wide and potentially global audience (even group):

(Table 2) Students who constructed comprehensive summary of nutrition unit via MS Word document handed in directly to teacher (odd group):

An examination of the data will show average exam scores differed less than one-half of a point across the two groups.  Average readability was also comparable, with the average score differing less than one Flesch-Kincaid grade level.  Easily the largest difference between the two groups was the average number of words used per summary.  Students writing online summaries used an average of 239 words less (399 opposed to 638) than those writing in Microsoft Word for me alone.  Variability in all data seemed fairly low for human studies.  Word counts were tightly clustered around the mean for online writers.  Though the results here seem fairly simple to interpret, there are many factors that must be considered in any analysis and subsequent application.

Jibba-Jabba

In this study, students were instructed to create a comprehensive summary of a unit on biochemistry.  The only instructions given were that the summary should provide an understandable context for the main topics of study, and that any source used should be cited.  It was also suggested to students that the mere creation of this summary would help to prepare for the upcoming exam.  Therefore, the only difference between the groups would truly be whether the summary was composed in an online forum or in a word processor.  Also- the online group knew their summary would gain a potentially global audience while the MS Word group knew that their summary would be read only by me.

Before extrapolating too far, it is important to note that when planning to implement any new teaching strategy, the first consideration should be to do no harm.  With that philosophy in mind, the data in this study immediately suggests that when students worked online, they certainly performed no worse than their counterparts who spent their time offline.

With that in mind, the fact that both groups showed no measurable difference in exam scores, is encouraging.  Therefore, even if an instructor wanted to use online writing as nothing more than a novel approach that might excite a few reluctant learners, they would likely do no harm toward content achievement.  I had initially hypothesized that due to the connective nature of this form of writing, students would better assimilate the content of the unit and show higher exam scores.  When considering this initial study alone, that hypothesis was not supported.  Though it is also important to note that the individual classroom climate and culture could impact these results heavily.  Not only would the feel of a classroom influence these results, it is easy to see how previous instruction could change things to a large degree.

To this point, few significant differences have been shown between the two study groups.  However, when looking at raw word count per summary, things quickly diverge.  It was anticipated that the group engaging in online writing would be stimulated to write a higher volume of words.  Hey-  it’s a novel approach.  Writing online is in contrast to a traditional approach where the work is done in isolation from start to finish.  In fact, this is the opposite result seen in the trial.  The group writing online submitted a much lower word count (avg. = 399) than the word processing group (avg. = 638).  This is no small difference and would certainly register as significant on any statistical test.

Why so many fewer words per summary when writing online?  Many of the participants had an idea about this when analyzing the results after the fact.  The following statement by student “RH” typifies a common student response:

“It appeared that the papers had a higher readability and word count, which I kind of expected because I think people tend to write more formally on papers, whereas the blog posts tend to be more opinion and informal writing.”

The aspect of formality is something that was not considered to be a factor prior to the study, and yet it makes solid sense.  The type of online writing these students had engaged in prior to this study was largely of a reflective nature.  Our work online has tended to center around written reflections that helped to synthesize classroom sessions.  A more formal approach to blogging has simply not been utilized as of yet with this class.  This is something that could certainly affect the results of this study.  Online writing has been approached in many ways for many different reasons in classrooms across our building this year.  It is very interesting to think about furthering this study to investigate the details of this interaction between instruction and writing.

First phase data is soon due in from three other participating teachers.  In contrast with the class in this study, several of the other participating classes feature some “reluctant” learners.  It will be interesting to see if the results of those trials differ from these in any way.  I would guess that they will.  The analysis of this new data, will certainly provide a jumping off point for the next round of research in our school.

Wheww… finally

To conclude, this brief study demonstrated several things.  For one, the mere act of writing of a comprehensive summary prior to a unit exam seems to be an effective strategy for a class of mature high school students.  Furthermore, the nature of this summary did little to affect scores in this study.  Students writing in online forums showed an average score almost exactly equal to that of students writing in a more traditional (printed) format.

The most signficant result of this study was the analysis of word count between the study groups.  Students writing online submitted significantly more concise summaries with smaller word counts.  The implications of this data are very interesting.  Furthermore, students who wrote less (when writing online) performed equal to those students who wrote many more words.  This could directly point to the power of online writing in helping students to summarize effectively.  This is no small feat considering the difficulty many of today’s students tend to have with summarization.  Hotshot ASCD guru, Robert Marzano, makes the case that “summarization has a robust and long history of research,” and is one of the “nine most effective instructional strategies a teacher can employ.”  These final results will likely have implications for not only future research trials at our high school, but for immediate classroom action in the area of content summary writing.

You?

What do you think about writing online?  You obviously read online.  You likely even write online.  We would love feedback about what goes on in your mind when you write online in different settings.  What happens when you blog?  How are discussion forums different?  What difference does a global audience make- if any?  Weigh in.  What does change when you write online?

Artwork thanks:

*Remainder:  me.  

Here begins a new post category.  We could call it “stupid things found on the web.“  Or perhaps “computers ain’t as smart as people.“  Call it what you will- here it goes:

What do you think?  Don’t see the humor?  Keep looking- I have faith in you.  See it now?  Seriously, how great is that?  Now that couldn’t be secretly purposeful could it?  Ahhh, the perils of abbrev. 

It actually reminds me of a post I made back in June on our Marine Biology network at Ning.  It is a quick story about how Google’s AdSense ads (now removed from education networks @ Ning) can unknowingly juxtapose some really conflicting ideals.  We spend page after page of our site extolling the beauty and wonder of living coral and the ecosystems they inhabit.

So, when ads for what seem to be unethically-harvested coral began running on our page, the irony was thick.  Now those Google ads are gone.  I soon found out from Steve Hargadon that Ning was allowing educational networks (aimed at grades 7-12) to run ad-free upon request.  Of course COPPA requires that students under 13 not be allowed to use social networking sites for security and privacy issues.

And thus-  with COPPA, this post comes strangely full circle.  Wow.  I think perhaps I stumbled upon a vortex of web weirdness on this lovely winter day.

Artwork thanks:

Vitamin A?
For the purposes of this post, “Vitamin A” = administration.

Given this equation, you might assume that I am about to promote an increase in administrative positions.  No.  Then perhaps more administrative oversight in education?  No.  Then what?  Have patience, this one requires a bit of setup.

The shift
I have personally witnessed a massive paradigm shift in administrative roles since I began my career in education.  Many of the school administrators I first worked with were picked first and foremost as strong managers.  It is pretty obvious from where I sit that the recent focus has shifted tremendously toward administrators possessing strong instructional roots.

I would argue that this is absolutely one of the best things to happen in the recent history of education.  I, for one, applaud this change of tack.  I don’t really have to look too far into the past to find a former administrator of mine who was fond of openly professing the fact that he was not a very good teacher when he was in the classroom.  I really don’t think I want to say much more about that here, nor do I think I really have to.  I am sure the shift toward a standards-based system was the driving force behind much of this.  However, here locally, I really do think this shift happened purely because it is the right thing to do as much as anything else.

So assuming you agree with this premise, let’s do a quick review of what this shift has delivered to this point:

• School administrators have long been expected to be strong managers of the people as well as the “stuff” of education.
• Administrators with proof of strong instructional roots are now being sought for even lower-level administrative positions.
• School and school district administration now tend to possess a stronger command of pedagogical skills.
• School and district administration are now in a better position to not only oversee best practices in education, but to model and assess these skills.
• In a secondary school, this equates to an administration ably equipped to monitor and promote strong instructional practice to go along with the solid content knowledge our teachers tend to possess out of college.

Bridges
So here is the bridge to this argument, and it has two parts.  In my opinion we are much better off than where we have come from in the very recent past.  Of course I am speaking for my own district here, and any attempt to extrapolate outward might not fit so well.  However, I think this is likely to be a nationwide trend.  I would love some feedback from my out-of-district readers in the comments below.  Is this true in general?

However, we still have another shift that needs to happen in short order.  Our world is flattening fast and economically we are faltering in many ways as a nation.  We need to release graduates in May who are equipped to deal with a rapidly advancing technological landscape.  They need to be 18 year-olds who are ready to learn, unlearn and relearn.  They need to be flexible to roll with each technological punch the world throws at them.

Some of us who work closely with kids today realize that our “digital natives” possess a high comfort level with emerging technologies.  However, most lack any depth of proficiency in managing the firehose of information these technologies make available to us.  Most here also lack the attention to a framework of ethics that is essential to the widespread use of these now-ubiquitous technological tools.  They lack these skills because the vast majority of their experience in learning technology comes with little or no guidance…  and it rarely comes at school.

Innate comfort builds strong familiarity with some web common web tools.  It can also build enthusiasm toward a digital world.  However, what it does not provide from the outset is an organized and purposeful approach to the skills and ethics required for life in our increasingly digital age. Our kids get basic content. Our kids nail down the cell theory, figurative language, the civil war and basic mathematical expressions.

But can they efficiently and effectively use the digital tools they already prefer to use?  Perhaps more importantly, do they possess a nucleus of transferable digital skills that will allow them to roll with the “technological punches” of even the near future?  As Will Richardson asks in his article in the latest issue of Ed Leadership, “will they be Googled well?

Rumblings of hope

There are strong rumblings finally taking shape in our district.  A few teachers are finally taking the first steps in mobilizing their classroom toward the simplest of these goals.  The senior students in their classrooms will now leave school in May with at least enough of an exposure in using emerging web technologies to facilitate their own personal learning.  (I suggest David Warlick’s posts on why PLN’s are important – here is one sample.)

I believe that if we continue to offer basic support for these early-adopting teachers and their subsequent students, we will see many more technology-proficient students in our neck of the woods in the future.  But please allow me to suggest that this is not our answer.  This is far less than we need.  This is far less than our children deserve.  Our children deserve the same purposeful attention to technology that we are now systematically providing for pedagogy.

The TotalPACKage
Is one less important than another?  Is rich content less important than skillful pedagogy?  Is technology less important than either content or pedagogy?  I say no, no, and no to these questions.  I am certainly not the only person suggesting this either.  If you have not at least briefly familiarized yourself with TPCK, or TPACK as it is now often tagged, then you owe yourself a read.  Mishra & Koehler first proposed technological pedagogical content knowledge as a real and viable framework for best instructional practice.

In a nutshell, the best teaching and learning take place when an instructor possesses strong skills in not only content and pedagogy, but also in the technology that is related to both.  I scribbled a few words about this previously in this post.  Technology treated as an extra in education is a faulty approach.  It has been a faulty approach for decades and I would suggest that it is an increasingly faulty approach now.

New framework for PD
So how do we get systemic attention to technology in education?  I would assert that this level of attention can only come from the top => down.  We no longer toss out infrequent PD plans toward effective instructional skills hoping they stick.  The “spray and pray” method of PD is slowly being abandoned for more job-embedded approaches to pedagogical revival in our secondary schools.  If it is essential, we build it into the day-  over and over again.  We look for it.  We assess it.  We empower its spread.

I believe that we need a similar approach to educational technology integration.  If you are reading this from an administrator’s desk you may ask yourself “we hardly have time for the learning we now stuff into the school day and the overburdened teacher’s mind…  how can we add this too?“  Here is where I suggest how an investment in increasing the technological proficiency of our instructional staff will pay real dividends across the board.

With a technologically-proficient staff and frameworks to facilitate further learning such as online professional networks, we can build a system that will catalyze PD in all areas.  I believe that arming teachers with the tools for anytime, anyplace learning -and the essential training required to jumpstart the system-  is the way to begin.  This model of PD is producing quick successes on a smaller scale at my school where just this year, we launched a technology-integration cohort of 20 teachers.  I contend that when the remainder of our staff comes on board this next year, we will grow exponentially as a staff.

A call to action
In my building we have enthusiastic leadership toward this initiative.  I believe we have similar enthusiasm elsewhere in our district.  In fact, I know we do.  The “Vitamin A” that we really need now is for our building and district administrators to truly commit to the guidelines set out in the NETS standards for administrators (NETS-A).  We need administration that not only advocates technology within curricular adoptions for students (standard II), but also that models technological approaches to enhancing productivity and learning new and emerging technologies (standard III).

These standards were adopted in 2002.  This was really before Web 2.0 tools were widely available.  The NETS standards go through regular revisions.  The student standards were updated in 2007, the teacher standards last summer at NECC 2008 in San Antonio, and the administration standards are set for a big refresh this coming summer in Washington D.C. at NECC 2009.  In my dreams, this post would be a call to action.  It would serve as a gentle suggestion that this conversation needs to flow in both directions.  Not only do we need teachers and students making suggestions upward on the chain of command, we need some vitamin A providing nutrition of this type in the opposite direction as well.

Sign up.  Plan now to go to NECC 2009.  Plan to study this idea enough to make you dangerous (and particularly receptive) when the new NETS-A standards are unveiled there.  Blog your experience.  Join the conversations.  They are happening all around us right now, but in wireless waves encircling our heads.  Join these conversations that are occurring among passionate folks at both national and global levels.

As teachers, we are taking the first steps toward building our “technological health” from the ground up.  We are in need of some good, solid vitamin A from above.

Artwork thanks:

If the act of web surfing might keep dementia at bay, then blogging might just allow your brain to outlive your body.

The Context

I found this brief, but intriguing article from MSNBC interesting enough to engage a read-aloud with my Dual-Credit Biology class this past week.  This classroom of curious minds is full of nascent bloggers.  We have begun our journey into the blogosphere within the relatively safe confines (if the global web can be seen as “confined” in any way) of a classroom network on the Ning platform.  Here we have recently dabbled with  online discussion forums, mini-project publishing and blogging as it relates to the dynamic nature of science in general.

One must also be aware that these forms of learning are quite novel at my school of around 900 students in Saint Joseph, Missouri.  I, along with a small cohort of teachers at Benton High, have taken a step into the world of online interactivity and publishing within the standard curriculum of our courses.  After just a month and a half, we have realized the fact that the doors of our classrooms no longer lock tight at 3:00pm.  During even late nights throughout the week, many of our classrooms are still abuzz with content discourse while the mice come out to frolic in the hallways of our aging school.

I have to say, my students have bought in.  I have tried to deeply embed the daily work we do in class with the digital tendrils that run throughout the global web.  It is fun to think of these conversations happening invisibly about our heads as radio signals.  For years I have peppered my classroom mission with this ideal, but this year I have taken a full windward tack toward digital conversation.  The experimental nature of it all tends to dovetail well into the two science classes I teach (Dual-Credit Biology and Marine Biology).  Students seem to come to these classes fully prepared to confront ideas and phenomena they have yet encountered.  I have never taken that mindset lightly in what I do on a day-to-day basis.

The Article

So it is within this framework that a little article like this can get some serious play.  The suggestion that web surfing itself could prolong the cranial excitement that leads to long brain life is powerful.  The main detail that stuck out to me is the fact that fMRI scans of subjects surfing the web were more diverse than a control group who were merely reading books.  In this study, the book-reading participants showed significant brain activity in the temporal, parietal and occipital lobes of the brain.  As the article states, these regions are involved in controlling language, reading, memory and visual abilities.  This surely comes as no surprise to any reading expert as many of our current comprehension strategies are designed to take advantage of this.

However, the brains of those participants who were web surfing showed the same activity.  What is more is the fact that they also excited the frontal, temporal and cingulate areas of their noggins.  These areas of the brain control decision-making and complex reasoning.  More still is the fact that this effect was only noted in those subjects who had prior Internet experience.

“Our most striking finding was that Internet searching appears to engage a greater extent of neural circuitry that is not activated during reading.”

If ever there was a solid suggestion that a non-webbite should get on the Internet…  and now…  this could be it.  The fact that a discussion of these ideas can take place for fifteen minutes in the lives of open-minded teenagers is pretty stimulating.  To know that what you do now can effect the neural wiring of your future brain is pretty compelling.

Going Beyond

If mere web surfing can be such rich exercise for gray matter, then the act of blogging just might build the kind of active brains we strive for in education-  for blogging, is not your garden variety writing exercise.  My first experiences with blogging last March were personally empowering for many reasons.  Not the least of which was the fact that I soon felt like I was engaging in a type of writing that went way beyond anything I had done to date.

After authoring a few trial pieces to see what the phenomenon was all about, it occurred to me that I was engaged in far more than I had ever been while solely journaling.  I remember talking this out with several of my closest educator friends.  I remember making a comment that what I was doing felt like some type of “connective” writing-  perhaps even a different genre.  Of course, what felt like a shiny new endeavor to me was already a published entity.  In fact, in Will Richardson’s 2006 book, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, “connective writing” is mentioned as somewhat of a new genre starting on page 30.  Finding this little gem made me feel a little less of an explorer, but was certainly validating.

Richardson describes this type of writing as being, “a form that forces those who do it to read carefully and critically, that demands clarity and cogency in its construction, that is done for a wide audience, and that links to the sources of the ideas expressed.” He goes on to drive home the point that good blogging requires far more critical reading than might be immediately noticed by the casual reader of a blog.  There is far more rich goodness in this chapter than can be related in this post, and I highly recommend the book to anyone looking to engage students in the pedagogy of blogging.

Bottom Line

Academic blogging is rigorous synthesis.  It is an activity than can certainly enhance your classroom, and potentially extend the life of your brain.  As I finish up this post, my wife @erinNLY just chimed onto the Twitterverse with a somewhat-related line from a Flobots song:  “There is a war going on for your mind.  If you are thinking, you are winning.”

Perhaps this is a better mission statement for our school than the one we last authored.

Artwork thanks:

Mao, Isaac. “Brain.” Flickr. 13 June 2005. 18 Oct 2008 <http://flickr.com/photos/isaacmao/19245594/>.

“tmcnamee”, “Old World Brain.” Flickr. 03 APR 2007. 18 Oct 2008 <http://flickr.com/photos/mcnamee/445793409/>.

Gustav is one ugly storm. It is a category 4 storm that only lost wind speed by 10mph as it passed over land in Cuba today. Even uglier is the path it is taking. Gustav is taking a steady NW aim toward Louisiana, and perhaps, New Orleans.

Outspoken mayor of New Orleans Ray Nagin, this evening ordered the evacuation of the city of New Orleans in advance of Gustav. I cannot even imagine the struggle one goes through prior to ordering such a massive movement of people from a modern US city. The only thing that probably makes this even an easier choice for Nagin is the fact that the city is still reeling in some ways from Katrina. In his words today, “You need to get your butt out of New Orleans. This is the storm of the century.”

This is not only a storm to watch for scientific interest, but now for historical interest. Hopefully the human tragedies of Katrina will be avoided this round. Apparently even the Republican national convention will be interrupted. CNN is now reporting that McCain and Palin will be heading to Mississippi in the area of the storm. In light of these events, one has to wonder the full nature of that trip. According to CNN, some republicans are reportedly even talking of using the convention as some sort of telethon to raise support for potential victims.

From the club chair in my front room, however, there is an even interesting sub-story developing. The use of emerging Internet communications technologies is being deployed in a large scale already. Here is a use of Ning that will certainly draw attention. Perhaps you can feel proud of the fact that you are already Ning and Twitter savvy. As I type this, CNN has a giant plasma screen on their broadcast to show Twitter responses in regard to the storm and evacuation.

So Ning… Ning is versatile. I personally saw its potential for impact in education. It is now being seen as a tool that can be rapidly employed to coordinate action around an emerging crisis. Twitter was used by firefighters of the recent California wildfire outbreak to coordinate services. It will be interesting to see how technologies we are using to facilitate our learning on a day to day basis can be used to encourage and coordinate action in a really spontaneous way.

Turn on the TV, turn on the web, turn on Ning and add Twitter to not only the web, but your phone… and connect to the world. The world is talking.