Maintaining a Positive Online Reputation

Unfortunately, many people do not realize that postings to the Internet are not private. We forget that data is being collected and shared about each of us as we participate on various social media and internet sites. For example; ESPN.com, the Facebook “Like” button, Pandora and even Yelp.com will share our likes, clicks and preferences. My feelings are often hurt as I continually encounter wrinkle cream ads and weight- loss advertisements via my Facebook page due to my age even though I am very careful about my personal online profile.

We have all heard of at least one example of poor decision making regarding online posting like the Taco bell employee who was fired a day after his shell licking photo was posted to the company’s Facebook page, the Greek Olympian Voula Papachristou who was booted from her country’s Olympic team after posting a racial joke to Twitter or the numerous political figures who just don’t seem to get it. Clearly, once we post content online we have no control over how or where the content is shared or the subsequent consequences. All of us need to consider the importance of protecting our online presence or reputation.

This has become an important educational issue as well as a parental one. How can we help our children and students consider the importance of thinking before they post content that they will later regret?

First of all we must realize that all children and young adults are not equally at risk. If a child engages in risky behavior offline it is more likely he will make poor choices online.  There seems to be a parallel between children with a history of physical or sexual abuse or low self-esteem and risky behavior online.  

Children today are often quite tech savvy and may know more than many adults about the technology tools and devices available to them.  After all,  they consume an average of 8 hour sof digital media a day.  They are not, however, necessarily  “life savvy” and need our guidance and involvement as they learn to make decisions and manage their online activity.

To that end, parents need to devote the time to becoming more knowledgeable and comfortable with the tools our children use. We should teach our children how to block users from various communication tools and how to save screen shots when they feel uncomfortable with an online interaction. Their biggest fear, and the reason they are hesitant to tell parents about inappropriate interactions online,  is that the technology will be taken away.  It is important to never overreact and to calmly respond when they share sensitive information. Keeping the lines of communication open is critical.

For younger children, an internet filter such as K9 Web Protection (free download) or using  Open DNS on your network can be helpful in restricting explicit content. A family generated contract can also be used to communicate  Internet behavior expectations. The contract also provides an opportunity for family dialogue to openly talk about the issues. I do think that our children will only learn to make good choices if they are gradually given opportunities to make choices for themselves.   As they get older, they should be given more and more freedom as they demonstrate the ability to manage themselves online. Conversely, we must be willing to parent and enforce the rules.  The goal is to help them develop.

Our children are going to make mistakes online. We can help them by making sure they understand the viral nature of online content, keeping an eye out for questionable behavior and at risk children, becoming more tech savvy, keeping the lines of communication open and utilizing available filters and controls.

Helpful sites:

Common Sense Media - http://www.commonsensemedia.org/ - Excellent reviews, recommendations and parent tips for movies, games, apps, websites, books and music.

My Wiki – http://www.cwhitetech.wikispaces.com – I have shared dozens of links to help parents with setting up parental controls, family contracts, plagiarism resources and much more.

http://www.Netfamilynews.org - Anne Collier does a wonderful job of keeping parents and educators informed and engaged on a variety of topics related to our young people’s use of technology.

Drop and Give Me 20 - The Importance of Physical Activity to Learning

In this blog I thought I would share some of the things I’ve learned about how important movement and exercise is to learning. This topic is particularly relevant at this point in the evolution of education because many schools are choosing to eliminate physical education and recess in order to spend more time on subject areas that will be tested on standardized tests.

The science supporting the positive effect of movement and exercise on learning is real.  Research shows that physical activity catalyzes a biological process that causes brain cells to bind to each other.  These connections are directly related to the brain’s ability to learn.  In her book The New Science of Teaching and Learning, Tracey Tokuhama-Esponisa refers to substantial studies which support alternating movement activities and thinking activities as a means of focusing and re-focusing attention in the classroom to enhance learning.  Further, she details studies which support the theory that increased blood flow from physical activity enhances concentration and memory. 

      

When in early elementary school, our oldest son could simply not sit still. He had a horrible time paying attention and was later identified as having ADHD.  There was a large gap between his exceptionally high IQ and his academic performance. We struggled through the years until he took a summer course at Riverside Millitary Academy.  When he would be distracted, fidgety, unable to concentrate and off task, his teacher would command “drop and give me 20.”  He learned that after doing 20 push-ups he could again focus.  His classroom performance skyrocketed.  Our daughter, now a junior in High School, can often be seen studying while performing gymnastics routines around the room.  It seems unorthodox, but it’s effective!    

There are probably many things to which a general decline in classroom performance across the country can be attributed.  Perhaps, chief among them is the insistence that our children sit down, sit still and pay attention.

In response, some schools are adding exercise balls as chairs in classrooms or allowing fidgeting children to stand behind their chairs instead of making them sit in them.  Others are intentionally adding movement to the class experience. Naperville Central High School in west Chicago has gained national attention for emphasizing fitness at their school. They believe that physical education class should be used to instruct kids how to monitor and maintain their own health and fitness for the rest of their lives. The students develop healthy habits, learn how their bodies work and have fun. These educators also know how important physical activity is to learning.  In addition to being fit, the academic performance of the Naperville students in the classroom and on standardized tests has improved exponentially.  As one innovative NCHS physical education teacher put it, “It’s not really my job to teach them anything.  It’s my job to get them ready to learn.”   

There is a correlation between physical movement and academic achievement. Research also supports the idea that exercise may help improve the effects of addictions, stress, depression, anxiety, ADHD, menopause and even Alzheimer’s .  For more on this topic, read “Spark” by John J. Ratey, MD. 

Bottom line…movement can improve our ability to think and function well.  I think I’ll take that morning walk I’ve been putting off.

Seeing is Believing...

I was teaching Physics in North Carolina when the state first implemented End of Course Testing.  The test results revealed that my students had performed quite poorly on the unit pertaining to light and diffraction.  It was a humbling and eye-opening experience for me, a new teacher.  I remember reflecting on the fact that I had “covered” the unit rather quickly and admitted that I had done so because I lacked self-confidence in teaching the material.  I understood the material but did not know how to effectively teach it. 

Fortunately for me, North Carolina State University offered an on-campus course the summer following my students’ poor performance.  It was designed to help physics teachers sharply focus on particular topics using an instructional strategy called “the station approach.”  Basically, the strategy suggested that students rotate through various classroom “stations” in order to experience and interact with a given topic in a variety of ways.  I needed help and decided to attend.  My group set out to design stations that would help students gain mastery of light and diffraction using the technologies that were available in 1995.  We designed an experiment using lasers which allowed students to actively measure first and second order diffraction.  Another station design utilized a ripple tank so students could study waves in a tangible, hands-on way.

Shelby City Schools was one of the first systems to purchase IBM computers for classrooms.  The one in my classroom became an exploration station loaded with real-world trial and error simulations.  I would serve as a facilitator rather than a lecturer as my students worked through stations where they encountered a variety of interactive, problem solving experiences.  To my delight, my students engaged and began to enjoy the challenges the material presented to them.  They were motivated.  They were learning.

I eventually began to use this model with other physics units. My goal was to present difficult material in ways my students could understand and internalize. I built an air track out of PVC pipe and a vacuum cleaner.   We used gliders to create frictionless collisions.  I used data collection probes, built a “bed of nails” to demonstrate physics principles. Our class became the place to be!

Not surprisingly, my students scored extremely well on the light and diffraction unit the next year (as well as the other areas!)  In fact, they did so well I was asked to write questions for the End of Course test.

After all these years, much of what I learned in 1995 still holds true.  When students are given meaningful problems to solve, are allowed to think for themselves, are allowed to work collaboratively through a variety of experiences, are allowed to experiment, to touch, to feel, and are allowed the time to reflect – learning and retention increase.

The idea was formalized in 2006 with the introduction of the TPACK model of instruction (Mishra and Koehler.)  It involves combining technology, pedagogy (teaching strategy) and content knowledge to reach that sweet spot of instruction which fosters learning. 

The world has changed, our students have changed, and college and workplace expectations have changed.  One thing holds true. When teachers use available tools, resources, and creativity in classroom environments where students are allowed to engage, experiment and problem solve – learning happens.        

Brain Science and Learning

Reading, writing and arithmetic.  From yesterday’s one room schoolhouse to today’s virtual classroom and from high school campuses that look like small towns to the desks of home school students, the driving questions in education remain the same.  “How do students best learn?” and “How do teachers best teach?”   Answering those questions has been my life’s work for over 20 years both in and out of the classroom.  My passion is to help teachers incorporate strategies, methods and techniques that foster student engagement and learning.  Further, I help students understand how they learn and empower them to take control over their learning.   

A great deal of attention has been paid to how the brain works in recent years.  Some of the research findings offer new information and possibilities, some simply affirm what has long been accepted as true, and some findings completely dispel previous assumptions about the brain and learning.  Experts in the field of brain research and education such as Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa (The New Science of Teaching and Learning), Mariee Springer (Brain-Based Teaching in the Digital Age), Gary Small (iBrain), David Sousa (How the Brain Learns) and John Hattie (Visible Learning for Teachers) are helping us understand how students learn and how teachers, in response, should mobilize.  A number of noteworthy facts and strategies have emerged.

For instance, learning is largely an emotional exercise.  Two of the most important factors in learning are whether the student thinks the teacher likes or cares about him and whether the student thinks the teacher believes in him and his abilities.  If a teacher expresses a lack of confidence in the ability of the student, learning declines dramatically and failure becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

Research has also concluded that the brain is a “use it or lose it” organ.  Parts of the brain that are unused wither.  The parts of the brain that are used, however, become stronger.  This is good news for learners of all ages.  With activity and use, neural circuits grow and re-wire.  Neuro-pathways and connections become stronger and information is stored and retained.  It can also be more readily retrieved.  Neuroscientists call this process brain plasticity.   Contrary to popular belief, one can grow his brain function.  It is not static.

Learning is also increased and retrieval made easier when different types of memory pathways are incorporated when teaching.  In addition to auditory and visual strategies, kinesthetic pathways should be activated to incorporate as many of the senses as possible.

Another key component to teaching and learning is relevancy.  How many times have you heard it said (or said yourself), “Why do I need to know this?”  If learning experiences are designed to solve real world, meaningful problems the information is more likely to make it to long term memory.  If the learning is tied in some way to something the student is interested in or cares about, the likelihood of long term memory and retrieval increases even more.  It takes time and careful planning, but delivering content in engaging, experiential and relevant ways is critical to successful teaching.

Additional findings include the concept of “chunking.” Since the brain can process a maximum of four items at a time, which is much fewer than previously thought, it is helpful for information to be grouped together in manageable “chunks.”  “Chunking” occurs when working memory processes a set of data as a single item. (like memorizing stanzas of a poem)We can then access large amounts of relevant knowledge from long-term memory.

Finally, time considerations are important.  The average attention span of a child is 10 to 20 minutes.  Any learning experience should change person, place or topic frequently.  Adding a component of reflection to the learning experience will yield tremendous gains as well.  When students are given an opportunity to simply think about what they have just taken in, learning is deepened.

Other factors such as nutrition, exercise, hydration, sleep and even laughter are important. While teachers have little control over these a strong partnership between parents and teachers will help tremendously.  

Evaluating Classroom Technology Integration

There are, of course, many thoughts and ideas on how best to evaluate our teachers' proficiency with classroom technology integration. There is no shortage of evaluation tools and rubrics. During the past couple of weeks, I've been designing yet another one because of my belief that successful technology integration is about so much more than what occurs during an observed 50 minute class. At about mid-way through, however, my attention shifted from "how do we measure" to "how can we help?" There are at least 4 big buckets.

1. Personal Productivity - How can we help our teachers get organized? We can help set up folders and files to organize data and resources for quick accessibility. Are they aware of online, social bookmarking tools such as Delicious, Diigo or Zotero? How well does the teacher communicate? We can help with communication by reminding our teachers to check email often and to respond to students, parents and colleagues in a timely manner. Does the teacher participate in a self-developed personal learning network in order to explore creative ways to use technology to improve student learning? Let's help them find Nings, blogs, listserves, RSS feeds, and Tweeters that may be helpful to them.

2. Instructional Practices - With the learning goal clearly in mind, how can we help our teachers continue to move from Teacher Centered Activities toward Student Centered Activities? How can we better equip them to not rely solely on such things as presentation software, embedded video clips, and Internet resources and to employ dynamic methodologies to truly engage students such as student exploration, innovation, collaboration and research (with real world issues and applications,) writing and publishing, creation, problem solving, and project based learning? How can we gently suggest bumping up the Bloom levels?

3. Teacher - Student Interaction... Does the teacher post resources to her teacher portal, calendar, wiki, or Blackboard / Moodle site? Can we help them do this easily and confidently? What classroom management strategies can we suggest to help our teachers keep their students engaged and on task? Can we help with ongoing formative and summative, aligned assessments and rubrics? How can we encourage technology-enriched learning environments that encourages the involvement of students in setting their own learning goals, management and assessment?

4. Ongoing Plan / Follow-up Dialogue... What steps is the teacher taking to continually improve his technology integration skills? Is it a part of his professional development plan? What resources and opportunities can we provide for them? Is digital citizenship continually communicated and do we have a strong education component in place? Can we equip our teachers to give their students the opportunity to locate, analyze, evaluate and use age appropriate information to enhance learning? Can we be helpful in helping the teacher plan to use technology to differentiate instruction for various types of learners and ability levels? Have we helped our teachers know which technology tools might be appropriate given the learning goal, classroom environment, and student make-up? How can we help the teacher use the technology expertly and seamlessly?

I started out designing a rubric to be used as a tool for classroom technology integration. I ended up doing a self-evaluation.

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7 Ways to Move Your Technology Program Forward When Everything Else is Frozen!

Some of our budgets have been cut back or frozen. Some of our planned capital expenditures have been postponed. Some of us have lost staff or anticipated staff expansions have been put on hold. We're living through some pretty trying times but it doesn't mean that we can't use this time to move forward! Here are 7 things you might want to consider.

1. Use the time to step up staff development.

Since we aren't spending our time buying and installing, we've focused on staff development. It is a great time to work with teachers on their technology skills and curriculum integration. We had already established minimum technology competencies, now we are offering expanded technology training to help our faculty achieve them.

2. Consider sharing budgets with other departments.

Technology is a tool to help other departments achieve their goals. Incurred costs are inevitable. Why not consider sharing budgets with other departments in order to foot the bill? For example, our marketing department wanted additional space on a server to hold multimedia for the website. Since we did not have the money in our budget, they were willing to share the cost for this upgrade.

3. Negotiate and Re-negotiate with your valued vendors.

We all spend a great deal of time developing vendor relationships. We work hard to keep the relationships mutually beneficial. The fact is, we want to keep our vendors and our vendors want to keep us. Some honest talk and negotiation can result in some significant cost savings.

4. Shop better.

This is pretty simple. Be willing to wait for deals. Look for the "2 for 1" sales. Sometimes replacement parts can be found at eBay or other discount sites. Explore pilot programs. Patience is a virtue!

5. Look for ways that your technology program can actually be used to cut costs.

Have power saving and life extending strategy discussions with your providers. Our faculty has embraced Moodle as a way to communicate and save costly printing costs. Turn off the color printers (or at least monitor them.) Encourage and train your faculty to utilize Personal Learning Networks, webinars, and Skype in order to cut down on meeting travel and conference costs. Enabling cost saving measures keeps you in good stead with your finance department.

6. Find ways to use what you have better.

Faculty laptops are generally taken out of commission after four years. We re-imaged them with a lighter load, added new batteries and turned 24 of them into an additional laptop cart for student use. (Linux as an operating system is worth considering)

7. Plan better for future purchases.

We've had a laptop/tablet program for 10 years in our upper school. We are in the process of expanding our 1:1 program to our middle school. We will lower costs significantly by going with Netbooks. We are also planning to reduce the number of textbooks purchased by using online resources.