Non-continuous

As a followup to this mornings keynote this session is a conversation with educators regarding the ideas from that session.

Scott started by mentioning a post-literate society: maybe there is a time ahead when many of us don’t need to read because electronic devices may be able listen to us and respond. Dependency on text is on the decline.

First topic: Worthwhile Apps.
Scott will post ideas for looking for good apps at his site for this conference.

Second topic: How do we get staff moving and motivated?
Initial urgency and maintenance urgency are the two main issues.
Scott mentioned Mind Dump which is a place where little snippets of information can be found to aid in chipping away at resistance.
Teachers are rational and have real reasons to be resistance. Those issues need to be addressed. They are legitimate.
We need to be aware of the “implementation” dip. How do we make it as shallow and as short as possible? Multiple support structures need to be in place. “There is no place you can turn and not get support.” See the book Influencer: The Power to Change Anything.

Third topic: What do we do about teaching to the top of Bloom’s (top 3 levels) and still maintaining AYP. Testing is asking us to live on the bottom.
What we remember is what we attach meaning to. Decontextualized stuff needs to live in contextualized place. We have to find ways to stay in context so we get the benefit of the top three levels and build meaning for the “remembering” of skills and facts.

Aside: Where do keyboarding skills stand? It should start as early as possible. Keyboarding may be replacing cursive handwriting in terms of time and necessity. In 10 years though keyboarding may not exist.

Fourth topic: What do we do about filtering?
Logging software may be useful.
We spend way too much time locking stuff down instead of teaching appropriate use.
We typically lock 95% of people down for the sake of the 5% that are the problem.

Fifth topic: How can we implement changes in the structure that we currently have?
Imagine that we start with 9th grade. There are no bells, class schedules. You give 15 teachers and every student a laptop and the current curriculum standards and that’s it. What can you build? What can you do?

Sixth topic: What would you implement for 1 to 1 initiatives?
Not an iPad. Not enough content creation – they are mostly content consumption devices.
Maybe a Netbook. Best option is a laptop.
A BYOD policy mirrors what happens in the real world, however there are equity concerns.
See Scott’s link (above) for a research brief on 1 to 1 initiatives.

Seventh topic: How do you know when you have to take a step back and avoid burnout.
Be aware that you need to either give stuff up or find more support structure. See this.

Tags: Scott McLeod