(This is being mobloged, so please forgive misspelling and awkwardness)
You can still buy mimeograph materials. He found the ordering information. People are still using this stuff. He just showed us a picture of one of the old optic projector, and reminded us of the smell of your book starting to catch on fire. He’s got the crowd going, especially considering his opening. I’ll write about that later!
He’s now showing a picture of a classroom, next to a typical starbucks. One is real, and one is fantasy. There is a real disconnect between classrooms and work and play rooms.
Woe! RateMyTeacher is now RSS syndicated. Interesting in lots of ways. He’s talking about a John Mayer concert that he attended with his sister. All of the kids had their cell phones out, where text messaging and calling each other from different points in the concert hall, and people out side. Conversations, conversation, conversations, on many levels.
David just went through four pages of company logos, that everyone recognized, dozens of them. Then he posted a list of statistics, and asked us what they represented. The statistics were staggering, representing the growth of Moodle, Wikipedia, Flickr, Blogs, and YouTube.
- They’re obviously sticky
- But not in our classrooms
To be sticky:
- Innovation must have multiple entry points for a spectrum of usership. Lots of uses for lots of users.
- The teacher becomes a confident, active, and visible user.
- High degree of organizational readiness. (You need Connectors and Mavens)
- The innovation must in clearly address an instructional need, with benefits for both teachers and students
- The technology has been taken out of the technology, or innovation.
- The innovations must add value to an instructional process.
There must be visible and tangible results indicating that the innovation improves student learning.
Teachers are making amazing use of Blackboard in David’s school district. He’s demonstrating a science teacher’s blackboard, where she merely posts an essential question, and student create their own wiki page in Blackboard, and then use it as a research tool for compiling and then formating their reports. They didn’t have to teach the students how to use the wiki.
Now he’s just demonstrated using PhotoStory 3, and in a matter of seconds produced a nice little video about not being from texas. When students are doing this, the video is easy. What’s hard is the writing, the literacy. But kids want to do it, when they can show it.
David
this is really good to hear that teachers across the world are preparing to actually address the divide between what is taught in schools and the cultural experiences children have beyond it.
I was on a field trip to a cinema screening with my class the other day and I had a chat with five of my children in my class (10 year olds) 4 of them had a mobile phone better than mine – one of them had already downloaded the mp3s of the soundtrack to the film we were about to watch! I have told them about how we can blog from our phones – they were really excited and have been nagging me to do it with them!
I think that it is vital that we don’t just talk about the changes that should be made but actually MAKE THEM!!