MACUL SIGTELE

NECC – Sharing the Experience

July 6, 2008

It is hard to believe that a week has passed since the opening keynote for NECC 2008. My best intentions to blog each night were quickly set aside as the new experience of a national conference and resulting information overload were taken to an entirely new level. NECC is not a conference for the week of heart; with 12,000+ in attendance, the crowds alone can be overwhelming at times. Add in the many, many excellent sessions and the ability to attend only one at a time…well, the entire experience was really something! My hope is to summarize each day in separate posts on this blog, sharing my experiences and a long list of links to additional information you might find interesting. Hope you find something of use in all of this. NECC 2009 will be held in Washington DC. You might want to think about attending.

Sunday, June 29, 2008.
The Second Annual Constructivist Celebration, a pre-conference workshop with Gary Stager

Held in the historic Casa Rio Restaurant in San Antonio, I was among those fortunate to have registered for this workshop. Using a very constructivist approach, we were presented with a large amount of software (included as part of our workshop fee) and given time to work with the program of our choice to learn and build new skills and knowledge that we can take back to our classrooms. The list of software each attendee received was impressive: Inspiration (Kidspiration 3 and InspireData), Tech4Learning, (Frames, Pixie, ImageBlender, WebBlender, Twist), LCSI (MicroWorlds EX), SchoolKitT (edClass), FableVision, and Stationery Studio. I spent my time playing with MicroWorlds, InspireData, and Stationery Studio. Following a show and tell time during which workshop attendees shared what they had learned and created, representatives of each software group (including Peter Reynolds) assembled for a panel discussion to debrief the entire day. The workshop ran from 9:00 am to 3:30 pm, with a break for lunch (Mexican, of course) in the middle of the day. While the software received was exciting enough, the conversations held and the skills acquired were memorable.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

James Surowiecki, opening keynote speaker, author of The Wisdom of Crowds, spoke to a crowded room of cowboy hat clad attendees (thanks to Smart Technologies). Emphasizing the importance of collaboration, Surowiecki proposes that a group of diverse individuals will nearly always make better types of decisions or predictions better than individuals and even experts. Citing several examples from history all detailed in his book, Surowiecki connected his perspective quite neatly to the importance and potential of leveraging this sort of collaborative power in education. The 2008 conference theme of convene, connect, transform, was well delivered and equally well received. Opening receptions followed in the conference center, including live music, food and drink. Large screens behind the entertainment featured NECC 2008 in Second Life, with live video of the crowd in the background. I am still a novice in Second Life, having visited only twice. Blurring the line between real life and Second Life is still somewhat confusing for me. Oh well, it was all very exciting and quite impressive.

Monday, June 30, 2008

Open Minds, Open Education, and a View of Open Culture
David Thornburg

Stating that technology is changing faster than pedagogy, Thornburg challenged his session to consider how teaching should change. Focusing on the state of the world in which our children are growing up one solution discussed was accessibility for all learners in the world using computers and software that runs on everything – students should be able to access at home the same tools used at school. The session then focused on a variety of available resources and the falling prices on many of these: One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), The Intel Classmate, One2OneMate: a Linux computer, and koolu, a company whose focus is to provide computer appliances run of free and open-source software. There is a completely open source phone: NEO1973, and flash drives have dropped dramatically in price. After talking at some length about these low cost and free alternatives, Thornburg suggested that some people in our country are viewing children as wallets, not as human beings. Hmmmmm. Perhaps the most lasting point offered by Thornburg was the importance of cultural mixing. Borrowing a quote from his presentation, “xenophilic not xenophobic”, embracing those from different cultures rather than fearing, will result in a richer “salad” of results. Thornburg urged his session to think globally, to recognize and celebrate different cultures, and strive to bring equal learning and technology to students throughout the world.

Sarasota’s Next Generation Learning Plan With Promethean ActivBoards
Pat Henry, Promethean Inc.

Because my building is installing a Promethean board in every high school teacher’s classroom this summer, I felt I should attend a session to learn how other schools have incorporated these interactive boards in their classrooms. Mike Horan, Supervisor of Instructional Technology for Sarasota, Florida schools spoke passionately about the implementation of 3500 Promethean boards staggered over one year in his district (43,000 students). Beginning with a pilot group of just ten classrooms, the project grew quickly throughout the district. Sarasota was able to offer its teachers 2 ½ days of training, which had to occur within one week of receiving their board. The groups were limited to ten or less and were tied to their curriculum. Teachers also were provided with ½-day subs to attend the training, and were brought back together again three to four weeks later for another ½ day of training. Using AngelWeb as a course management tool (similar to BlackBoard), the district designed and provided eight modules of on-line learning for their teachers. When asked what he would change in this plan, Horan quickly added that the administrators need more training. Promethean was a tier one sponsor at NECC 2008, and their presence was everywhere, literally, as their sales representatives distributed bright orange t-shirts to many willing recipients (I have one). To make these gifts more interesting, if you were spotted wearing your shirt by a Promethean rep, you could win fabulous prizes. Very exciting! Promethean was not the only inter-active whiteboard making its presence known: Smart Technologies provided cowboy hats to all in attendance at the opening keynote, as well as the free t-shirt offer (I have one of these, too). If these boards truly deliver all the sales reps promise and Sarasota schools have achieved, it will be an eventful year at FHS.

Truly Technologically Integrated Planning for Teaching and Learning
Judi Harris, College of William & Mary with Mark Hofer

This was the most interesting and worthwhile session I attended at NECC. My dissertation focuses on the processes used by teachers when designing technology-integrated lessons. How exciting to attend a session speaking on this very same topic, and equally exciting to learn that these researchers had reached the same conclusions that I had reached. Briefly, Harris and Hofer address the issue of teachers planning instruction according to technologies. Although this is not bad when first integrating technology, they caution that eventually this approach will limit the depth and breadth of student knowledge and result in a “technocentric planning” approach. Harris and Hofer propose a learner-center, curriculum based planning that is situated, contextual, activity-based, and routinized. Their procedural design model includes the following steps: 1. Learning goals; 2. Pedagogical decisions; 3. Activity types; 4. Assessments; 5. Tools and resources. Placing the selection of tools and resources last on the list emphasizes the importance of selecting the most appropriate tool for the learning, and not the other way around (which many of us do). Their closing comments were summarized in three points: Planning, professional development, prerogative. 1. Planning should not revolve around a particular tool, but should be done holistically and based upon curriculum, content and needs. 2. Professional development should focus more on learning activities and matching these to learners, and 3. Prerogative, referring to teacher agency, the right to create the best and most appropriate learning materials for our students, which they suggest has been taken from teachers. Harris and Hofer have been developing content-based activity type taxonomies and distributed a social studies sample to the group. It was their belief that different concentrations used different kinds of thinking when planning activity types. They continue to develop this tool for other academic (and, I hope elective) areas. A reference tool like this would greatly assist teachers when planning technology-integrated lessons. I could go on and on, but I won’t. Follow this link to the session handouts if you are as interested in this as I am. Enjoy!

Digital Storytelling With Minimal Clicks: Improving Reading and Writing Skills
Wesley Fryer, AT&T with Vicki Allen and Karen Montgomery

I have followed Wesley Fryer’s blog for about two years now and was thrilled to attend one of his sessions. Digital Storytelling is something I am not very familiar with, as it seems to be a tool used mostly with elementary age students. Wes’ session guided us through the process of telling a story with just five pictures using voicethread, a web 2.0 resource. Vicki Allen and Karen Montgomery shared their experiences and knowledge on this topic, treating us all to some very cute and inspiring samples of digital stories. I found that Wesley has published a Google document with links to those mentioned during his session. You will also find additional resources at this link. I will be teaching one section of English 10 this upcoming school year and am planning to use this tool to help my students’ better express and understand some of the themes and concepts we will be covering in our literature. It should be fun.

Creating Live Web TV for the Classroom for Global Audiences
Will Richardson, Connective Learning Group

I have been a Will Richardson fan for about three years now. It was at one of his sessions that I learned how to set up my RSS feeds and about the use of blogs in the classroom. If Will is presenting, I have a hard time not attending. I was not disappointed. I have “borrowed” the NECC description to explain Will’s session:
In the last few years, streaming pre-produced video content to the classroom has become easier and easier. But now, the next big step is on the horizon: the creation of live streamed Web television from your classroom, from your home, or even on location. New Web tools like those at UStream.tv and Mogulus.com put the power of live streaming in your hands with very little need for equipment or extra computer knowledge. In this session, participants will get a look at the latest in live streaming technologies, will learn about the technical requirements and pedagogical considerations of using it in the classroom, and discuss strategies for involving global audiences in the process. We’ll also look at some best practice examples to get our thinking started.
The technology demonstrated during this session was, well, wow! Cutting edge was used by Will himself to describe how new these tools are. Helping Will onstage were several of his tech buddies: David Jakes, Ewan McIntosh and Steve Dembo. What a treat to hear from each of these skilled practitioners, and what fun! Using UStream, Will streamed the session live while amazing and amusing his audience. These sites are fairly easy to create and offer a lot of possibilities for educators. Here is a link to Will’s site so you can see what UStream in action looks like: Weblogg-ed TV In fact, you can take a look at Will’s presentation from that session (at least it is still available today). I’m still thinking about this technology, but it sure was a fun session.

Free, Open Source, and Web 2.0 Software for the Classroom.
Steve Hargadon

This was the last session I attended on Monday. Falling under the heading of “Birds of a Feather,” this was a session in which all in attendance participated by sharing their favorite web 2.0 or open source websites. I think I managed to write down all of them. Here they are:

Alice Alice is an innovative 3D programming environment that makes it easy to create an animation for telling a story, playing an interactive game, or a video to share on the web.
Animoto (contact site as an educator – will remove ads)
Audacity = podcasting software
Chacha Ask any question, anywhere, anytime on your mobile phone.
Creativecommons Creative Commons provides free tools that let authors, scientists, artists, and educators easily mark their creative work with the freedoms they want it to carry. You can use CC to change your copyright terms from “All Rights Reserved” to “Some Rights Reserved.”
Del-icio-us = social bookmarking
Diggo.com = social bookmarking
Dipity (on-line timeline)
Eduforge Eduforge is an open access environment designed for the sharing of ideas, research outcomes, open content and open source software for education. You are welcome to use our community resources or start your own project space.
epals
Freemind
Freeplaymusic
Freesound
Gaggle = safe e-mail for students
Gamemaker
Gcast
Gimpshop GIMPshop is a modification of the free/open source GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP), intended to replicate the feel of Adobe Photoshop. Its primary purpose is to make users of Photoshop feel comfortable using GIMP.
Gliffy.com Create and share flowcharts, network diagrams, floor plans, user interface designs and other drawings online.
Go2web20 A comprehensive index of logos of the latest web 2.0 sites, applications and services.
Google notebook
Jing The concept of Jing is the always-ready program that instantly captures and shares images and video…from your computer to anywhere.
Mixwit
Moodle
OpenEducationDisc
Openoffice
Phpmotion HP motion is a free to download and free to use video sharing software.
Podomatic
Praat doing phonetics by computer
Scratch Scratch is a new programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art — and share your creations on the web.
Scribus Scribus is powerful software that helps you create great looking documents of all kinds.
Slideshare
Sounddogs
Splashcast (video streaming)
Standardstoolbox Free Lesson Plans, State Standards, and Teacher Tools online lesson planning, test prep, and standards accountability
Texasgames (tutorial)
Think Think.com connects schools, teachers, and students from around the world to collaborate on projects, share experiences, and build knowledge together.
Vimeo = video sharing
Voicethread
Weebly (websites)
Wetpaint (wiki)

Enough for today…I’ll share more of my experience tomorrow.

Mary Saffron, MACUL SIGTELE Communications Officer

Entry Filed under: NECC 2008. Tags: necc08.