iSean

the knowledge tree (TKT) is an online journal published down under that i’ve recently become aware of. this journal is focused on innovative technology practices in learning. in fact, i have been invited to write a lead article for this online journal, which i have accepted. there are many things i appreciate about this journal and many reasons i want to be a part of what they are doing. first, you may recall a discussion on my blog from a few weeks ago where the topic of the future of scholarly journals came up. i stated that i would love to see scholarly journals open up their process and take advantage of newer technologies. the knowledge tree is only on edition 10, but they recently made an exciting transformation. instead of just writing an article and submitting this article to the editor, i will actually be writing my article right into a WordPress blog. i’ll go through some drafts along the way and i’ll likely invite my blogging audience (all 2 of you) to visit all through the writing process. the actual article will then be published in blog format. but, the innovation of TKT goes beyond just the recognition of the power of blogging; they are also having me record my my article into a podcast (mp3), which will be available on the site as well. finally, i will participate in a live session to discuss the article with other professionals and interested parties who tune in at the specified time (down under time, mind you).

i am just finishing up an article with my wife and then i will finish up with thesis students on August 8. we’re flying out to the Rockies for some R&R through the middle of August, but i’ll get started on my article in middle to late august. i’ll post a link at that time so you can scrutinize my writing, which is due by the middle of october. i’ll use my time in the mountains to clarify my thinking and to get my topic into shape, but i anticipate writing a ground-breaking and provocative piece, so stay tuned. in the meantime, you can visit TKT today and read up on past topics.

Tags: The Knowledge Tree, blog, blogging, blogs, scholarly journals, wordpress

right now, i am SWAMPED with theses. i have 13 thesis students finishing up their master’s degree this summer and i am responsible for facilitating the writing process for each student. for the life of me, i can’t seem to get caught up. i think i am close and more arrive. i am scheduled to fly to colorado for some R&R shortly into august, so i hope the students all finish by the end of the semester.

in any regard, i wanted to briefly discuss a tool that i am using with all 13 students that really speeds up the process of editing and revising and even simplifies and tidies my comments to students. i use the editing tools built into MS Word, which i have been using for the past 6 or 7 years. everyone with Word has these tools already at their disposal. for a class like a thesis class, i can’t imagine the old fashioned way being preferred by any student over the editing tools in Word. and, i can’t imagine a professor preferring the old fashioned way once getting used to the Word editing tools. here’s a screen shot of how it looks on my Mac:

i should mention that a few of my students are not ed tech students because our counseling program had an overload, which explains the snippet in the image.

anyway, you can see that any new text i add appears as blue text in the paper (see text on the left). any text i delete is removed and placed in a red box on the right. and, any comments i add are placed in the black box. students can quickly accept all of my recommended edits and the paper cleans up instantly. better yet, no student is forced to decipher my handwriting ever again. half of the time, i can’t read what i’ve written, so this solution of typing my comments is far, far superior to the old fashioned way. plus, i don’t have to worry about running out of space as the Word solution will allow me to add as much as i want.

to turn on the editing toolbar, you merely need to choose the following Menu items: View > Toolbars > Reviewing. the toolbar  looks like this:

i click Track Changes when i start reviewing a paper and everything i do gets recorded as shown in the first image. amazing technology that has made my facilitator role much more productive and meaningful for my students.

now, if only i could find a tool that would read and edit papers for me . . .

Tags: Microsoft Word, Reviewing, Toolbars, editing, thesis, grading

i coordinate the undergraduate ed tech course at a public university in michigan with over 22,000 students. the students who take our ED 205 Computers in Education course are all studying to become teachers and the course covers the ISTE NETS standards. we have over 450 students a semester taking our class, which turns out to be about 20 or so sections a semester. i tend to teach 2 or 3 sections per semester. we have 3 full time affiliate professors who each teach 4 sections. in fact, one of our affiliates finished her PhD and is off to a full time tenure-track position. so, if you know anyone interested in her position, it’s open.

i end up having to hire about 6 (+/-) adjunct instructors each semester. and, i realize that adjunct instructors are not paid as well as i’d like. instead of having each adjunct recreate the wheel, i try and provide curricular materials to all instructors. even if i wasn’t doing it to be nice, i would do it just to ensure that our students are getting the same key course objectives regardless of the section they end up taking. so, i have a secret website that is password protected where PowerPoint files are provided that supplement the textbook chapters. the website also has lab activities that instructors can assign to help meet course objectives. finally, i place curricular materials that supplement everything else just in case an instructor wants to study something more in-depth. nobody is forced to use any of these materials; however, i encourage them to be used.

well, the labs that were a part of the program when i started were fairly diverse and they do meet the NETS. that being said, we’ve been slow as a group to update the labs. individual instructors change a lab here and there and add a lab to take advantage of current trends in technology. the past few years, i’ve had a lab that was focused on web 2.0 issues. but, this one lab was covered in one week. i am thinking of creating a web 2.0 series of labs that cover 1/2 of the class. i won’t call it web 2.0 in title, but the labs will focus on technologies that take advantage of web 2.0 features. i think we could change our digital photography lab that we currently have and add a feature to the lab where students upload photos to Flickr and use tags, etc. Rather than learning about MS Excel, perhaps the students could try Google’s spreadsheet. Personally, i dropped the spreadsheet lab from my class a while ago and made it a part of another Office-type lab, but i still have that component and what we do would work just swell in Google’s spreadsheet. i could also see students mashing up Google’s maps (or, another online service).

the thought of making this shift is exciting, but i have to ensure that i meet the NETS standards as they are written . . . or do i? perhaps i think my students would be better served to focus on one standard much more than others (e.g., demonstrate continual growth in technology knowledge and skills to stay abreast of current and emerging technologies). is it fair for my students to spend a disproportionate amount of time on this component as compared to other universities? the NETS standards were written many years ago; though, most of the standards are worded generically enough to grow with the times (so, that’s a plus, eh?). but, knowing what i know about technology in education and from working with graduate students (read: current teachers), i think some of the examples provided to meet various standards are really not as relevant in current educational settings. this PDF provides exemplary examples of how to meet the NETS with regard to social studies and here’s an example that i think is dated:

In small groups, brainstorm and record in Inspiration (Rapid Fire mode) answers to the question “Where Do I Live?”

Label the elements of the resulting Inspiration/Kidspiration diagram with the social studies standards.

i could easily see using Google maps and mash up technology to improve upon this example. then again, if we try and move beyond ISTE then how do we know that what we are valuing is what the field would want? moreover, do i even have the authority to change our course objectives without a vote from the faculty? the answer to that is NO. that being said, the course could just loosely cover material that we think is outdated to make room for the new stuff. obviously, that’s the dilemma that i’ll be wrestling with in the near future. fortunately, the top-level NETS are malleable enough to accommodate the changes that i think are necessary.

Tags: ISTE, NETS, standards, web 2.0, Google, teaching, ed tech

the The Kindergarten through 12th grade Curriculum Resource Center (KCRC) at my university is a library of sorts for our College of Education. every school or college of education in the country has a KCRC; though, the name changes from place to place. this resource center is a requirement for accreditation. students can check out textbooks from all subjects and grade levels. my students can use equipment that is often found in schools (e.g.,  Ellison machine, laminating machine, binding machine, etc.). and, for as long as i’ve been here, my students have been able to go to the KCRC and use their computers to test out hundreds and hundreds of educational software titles they had available.

well, space is a premium, which is pretty standard across all universities in my experience. the KCRC is being forced to move into two different locations and they are losing their computer lab along the way. the hundreds of software titles were going to be in limbo until i stepped in and saved the day. i now am in possession of all of the educational software that was contained in the KCRC. this stuff takes up many shelves in my office. thank gosh i keep most stuff at home so that i had the room.

i have had the software for the past 3 weeks now and i’ve slowly been bringing titles home for my kids (ages 6 and 4). it’s amazing to see how quickly my kids can acclimate to new titles and play educational games without any instruction from me. i still get calls from my own father who has difficulty using Outlook Express on his PC (i should have instructed him to get a Mac 2 years ago). he doesn’t know how to create an address book and he doesn’t realize the difference between being in his email app and being in his web browser. anyway, he’s spent far more time on a computer than my children yet he is way behind their proficiency level. there is really a general gap when it comes to using technology.

this general gap is really an item that is the subject of some debate. just from my own experience with undergrad students in addition to my own kids and my father, i think the real gap comes from those individuals who are willing to take risks and those who aren’t. my kids are not scared to click an object when they are online. they aren’t scared to fail. my father, on the other hand, is leery of everything online. perhaps he’s heard horror stories online or perhaps he’s just not confident in his abilities. i get students who fit both profiles; however, the students who are more confident are never the students who need help with technology basics . . . they’ve already taken the leap.

why don’t we see much of a gap between kids in elementary school who are scared of tech and those who aren’t? well, as kids learn technology in schools, even the kids who are scared are often getting a chance to learn slowly in elementary school where they see other kids using the technology and they often have a teacher who is ready to lend a helping hand if something were to go wrong. it’s a supportive environment versus the older generation who tend to learn all by themselves.

the generational gap will likely never disappear because technology doesn’t have a tendency to stay stagnant. that being said, i think the introduction of the internet was really a new technology paradigm . . . whereas most technology is just an improvement on some other technology or process. if no big new technologies evolve in the near future then the generational gap will shrink considerably in the next 15 years.