Mobile Reach Podcast: Adam Bellow, EduClipper, 1-to-1 iPads, and the Ed Tech Challenge

I was lucky to participate in the Mobile Reach podcast tonight (hosted by the fantastic educators Sue Gorman and David Freeburg) with fellow ISTE Outstanding Young Educators Adam Bellow (2011) and Caroline Haebig (2012). Adam talked about his transition into entrepreneurship with his app EduClipper (seriously- check it out if you haven't yet!), Caroline talked about her work with a 1-to-1 iPad roll-out, and I talked about my work building challenge-based, blended learning professional development workshops for teachers (the Ed Tech Challenge). Video below!

Encouraging the Conversation: Strategic Integration of Technology

The first time I held a workshop on Google Docs, three people showed up. The second time I held a workshop, five people showed up. The third time I held a workshop, two people showed up. Months later, I still couldn’t increase my numbers to more than ten participants- in a district of almost 450 employees.

I didn’t understand it. I wasn’t exactly Sir Ken Robinson, but I definitely had more than five people in the audience when I spoke at conferences. What was going on?

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In my world (and the world of the #edtech gurus I follow on Twitter), technology can increase efficiency, encourage collaboration, and help support personalized learning environments. However, in the world of most teachers, technology seems like just ANOTHER thing to add to an already-increasing list of expectations. Between Common Core, Response to Intervention, common assessments, this initiative and that initiative... who has time to learn about Google Docs?

I was teaching technology for technology’s sake- and I was completely failing in my approach.

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I realized that throwing haphazard workshops on “20 Ways to Use an iPad in the Classroom” was about as effective as throwing workshops on “20 Ways to Use a Pencil in the Classroom”. It was time to rethink my approach- and figure out what actually was working.

Below, I have an example of two of my teachers moving along a continuum of technology use- from Phase I - Unaware to Phase IV - Integration (see right for the scale my district is using).

As you’ll see below, the instructional technology coaches weren’t serving as evangelists for technology. Instead, they end up serving three roles: first, as doctors (recognizing inefficiencies and prescribing solutions); second, as cheerleaders (encouraging conversation and experimentation); and third, as counselors (encouraging reflection and refinement).

The entire conversation starts and ends with the teachers- the focus is always on what the teacher is doing in his/her classroom, and the coach is merely there to encourage that conversation.

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Phase I: Unaware → Phase II: Awareness

• Phase I: You are either unaware of the technology alternatives, or you are unaware of how you can use that technology to make your tasks more efficient or more effective. 
• Phase II: You are aware of the technology alternative and developing foundational skills. You may be able to apply the technology when prompted, but you often rely on others to determine which technology to use. 

Role of the technology integration coach: 

• Doctor- recognize inefficiencies and prescribe solutions 

How to move out of Phase I: 

• A technology integration coach notices a task or process in the teacher’s classroom, and suggests a possible efficiency solution. 

Example: 

• In the email exchange to the right, Mary (a 2nd grade teacher) mentions a discussion she had with Holli (a Library Media Specialist). Holli suggested the app Class Dojo to help streamline Mary’s process of tracking and communicating student behaviors (as part of the school-wide initiative, PBIS- Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports). Mary sets up an appointment to learn more about the tool. 

CONTINUE READING ON THE JUST START BLOG ---->

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Guest Post Guidelines and Full Disclosure Statement

Are you interested in writing a guest post for this blog? If so, please send me an email with the following information:

1) Your role in education. Please, current educators only!

2) What you are interested in writing about and how it relates to education technology. Here's an example of a post on formative assessment that my Wisconsin colleague Nathan wrote.

I don't pay people to write on my blog and I don't accept money (so don't ask!). This blog is not monetized, and I started it for my own purposes. See below for my full-disclosure.

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Ed Tech Coaching Full-Disclosure Statement:

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me, and does not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of my current or past employers. I write for my own purposes. This blog does not accept any form of advertising, sponsorship, or paid insertions. I am not compensated as an owner of this blog to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. If I claim or appear to be an expert on a certain topic or product or service area, I will only endorse products or services that I believe, based on my expertise, are worthy of such endorsement. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider.

As owner of this blog, I would like to disclose the following existing relationships. These are companies, organizations or individuals that may have a significant impact on the content of this blog. I am a contributing writer for the Just Start Kids and Schools blog, which I do not receive compensation for. I am personally connected to an individual who works at the company ClassDojo. I am not directly compensated by Google Inc., but I am a Google Certified Teacher and Apps Certified Trainer, and have offered consulting services to private and public organizations in the past. I am also not compensated directly by ISTE, but have served on committees to further the organization's mission in my roles as an award honoree- in 2012, as an Emerging Leader, and in 2013, as an Outstanding Young Educator. These awards have included membership reimbursements, cash prizes, and travel stipends, all of which are fully disclosed on the ISTE website.

Auto-Creating Student Schedules with Google Spreadsheet- Factorials and the VLOOKUP Formula

I received a question this morning about scheduling. I was supposed to present at the Wisconsin Math Council today, but am stuck home sick... so... what sounds better than drinking orange juice, eating vegetable soup, listening to Ludovico Einaudi, and playing with spreadsheets? :)

ISSUE TO BE SOLVED: 

scheduling students for classes

I am sure that there are a lot of student information systems that do this (right?), BUT if you want to do this in a spreadsheet, all you need is a little background in pre-calculus (remember factorials?), and the VLOOKUP formula... (which, by the way, is my favorite formula of all the formulas!). Let's nerd it up...

***Step One: Determine the combinations of classes

There are three groups of two options, so we need to figure out how many different combinations there actually are. I've actually had this problem before- and I'll never forget it, because I couldn't solve it at the time. I was in middle school at a Math Counts competition, and I didn't figure out the answer until after I went home (Yes, that happened, and yes, there are pictures. For the sake of my former schoolmates, however, I will not post the photo I have of us... in our school uniforms... holding oversized pencils and calculators... while we smile geekily at the camera).

So... to compute a combination with repetition, we need to use a factorial... so if there are 3 options, the total number of possibilities are six (3! = 3x2x1 = 6).

By applying this to our situation (3 groups of 2 possibilities), we end up with 46 possible options (3!x2!x2!x2!). Create a new spreadsheet, title it "Combinations", and plug in all the possibilities (see below). In the furthest left column, assign a letter to every combination (46 will get you up to "AV").

You can't Change the World from an Island

I didn't go to the ASU/GSV Education Innovation Summit, but I wish I would have, just so I could have heard Andy Kessler's closing keynote. I followed the conversation on Twitter, and I read articles that reacted to his speech- which allegedly created a dichotomy between teachers and technology. I loved the reaction from Betsy Corcoran, CEO of EdSurge, who wrote: "Technologists--or aging former financial analysts--who try to bully either teachers (or for that matter, parents) into thinking that technology is "the solution" are simply that: bullies. ...So far, few companies have grasped the essence of education that learning -great learning- comes from inspiration. It starts with curiosity and joy and wit. It starts with people. With teachers. Listen to educators. Listen to our teachers. Build the tools they need--not the ones that are just easy for you to build."

I could launch into another diatribe about how "it's not about the technology", but instead, I'm going to address the bigger issue that Betsy addresses.

"Listen to our teachers," she says. This isn't just a message that our technologists or venture capalists need to hear. This is a message our policy makers need to hear. This is a message our community needs to hear. This is a message our parents need to hear. This is a message our administrators need to hear. No matter what role we play in education, this is a message we need to hear.

We all need to STOP talking, and start listening.

No one can change the world from an island, and our teachers are trying to do exactly that- every day. This isn't just about ineffective tools (or ineffective teachers as our media continues to suggest)... this is about an ineffective system that isn't giving our teachers the support they need to make the transition into an increasingly digital world.

Guest Post: How Does Technology Support Formative Assessment?

This guest post was written by Nathan Mielke, the data coordinator and instructional technology integrator for the Germantown School District in Wisconsin. We started talking about formative assessment a few months ago after I noticed one of his posts on Twitter- my school district is currently running an action research learning team with Shirley Clarke, so I've been particularly interested in ways to increase the efficiency of giving feedback during the learning process. In this post, Nathan talks about some of the ways that technology (particularly Google Apps) can help automate aspects of the formative assessment process. You can follow Nathan on Twitter at @ndmielke or read his blog at beofuse.blogspot.com.

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In 1998, Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam published a groundbreaking study about the importance of formative assessment, or assessment for learning, in raising student achievement. In Wiliam’s most recent work he makes the case that focusing on formative assessment is our most direct and successful way to improve classroom instruction with our current teaching force.

Since 1998, other researchers have made the case for the importance of assessment for learning. There are clear common themes from educational researchers on the essential aspects of good instruction. Rick Stiggins, et al, list Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning (2012). Wiliam credits five key strategies of formative assessment (2011). John Hattie created a list of Effect Size (ES) on what what truly has an impact on learning. A few themes include:

• Feedback to improve/progress learning
• Student self-assessment and ownership in their own learning

Feedback is the highest influence on Hattie's Effect Size chart - scoring a 1.13 - which equates to improving learning achievement more than 50% in one schools year. If feedback is so essential to learning, how can we make it doable?