Observations on Student Tech Use

by Shelly Blake-Plock

Wandering around the cafe today during a lunch duty, I took mental notes on the tech usage by high school students.

Counted a half-dozen kids on Skype; one of them was sharing photos from a school event. A handful of kids were listening to stuff on iPods; at least two students were downloading songs from sites I'm not familiar with -- one looked to be some sort of message board (isn't that so 90's?).

One student was sitting at a table of gamers making a proxy to hack passed the school's firewall. About a half-dozen students were playing MMOGs. One student was playing a beta version of a first-person game called MineWars, or something of that sort.

One student was using Google Translate to read a Chinese newspaper. One student was watching a YouTube video of a ballet recital, another was showing her friends videos of cheerleading practice. One student was busy on his iPhone and a few others were texting.

Two students were on Facebook (despite the fact it's, um, "blocked"). And three students were on Twitter -- which is not blocked.

No one seemed to be doing any software-based stuff; everything was online. Oh, and from what I could tell, about 90% of the kids were using Google Chrome.

Talked to kids about IM'ing and everyone said they used Skype the most (as in, it was always on). Facebook came in second. No one -- as in not a single kid -- said they use Google Chat or Google Talk. They said passwords were a pain in the butt. And they don't like email.

By and large, according to the students, Twitter was something you might use for class. Very "business-like". Though one student loves it to follow ESPN writers. In fact, ESPN was mentioned several times.

One student was obsessed with Google News -- it's where he gets his news. Another uses four different gaming interfaces "daily". Just about every student said Facebook was the place to be outside of school (as though it were a "place" -- like the mall) -- and several mentioned that the thing they liked about FB was the "privacy". Huh.

I think it's a good idea now and then to pay attention to what the kids are doing -- to see what's trending and to see what's not. More than anything, I'm interested in seeing what develops as the "normal", the "standard", and the "go-to". Because the tools we use tell volumes about our needs and desires.

More on Why I Want Students to Blog

Yesterday, I posted about a Freshman who had published over 100 blog posts in a single semester of my West Civ class. A few readers asked if he was one of those outliers who stand apart from the crowd.

That's a tough one to answer. Because in one sense, yes of course any kid who writes that much over the course of a semester is an 'outlier' of sorts. But so are the kids who only produce a dozen posts. In my classes, over 80% of the students posted more than what was required. What does that mean? "Why" are some kids compelled to write so much and put so much time into their blogs? I come back to the idea that a student writes 100+ posts in a semester because the student owns the learning.

I've posted here screenclips of blog archives of four students in my Latin III class. These are high school juniors in a year-long class. Collectively, they produced five-hundred-and-fourteen posts in a single semester. They comprise everything from notes on vocab to student translations of Latin primary sources to pieces that consider current events from the eyes of ancient historians.

And by-and-large, few of these posts were instigated by me. Rather, the students decided what, when, and how to blog. Each student used her or his blog in a slightly different way. Some use them as their primary 'notebooks' while others use them more for personal reflection on issues both within and without the classroom. The students post tests, translations, and bibliographies directly to their blogs: this way, they have easy searchable access to all of that material available on the Cloud via any computer or device.

As a blogger myself, I certainly subscribe to the notion that our blogs are extensions of our personalities and windows into our thought processes. On a personal level, blogs are searchable web-based archives of our own formation and development as thinkers and learners. In recognizing that, we come face to face with a new reality about the way that we should be assessing our students -- as well as ourselves.

Why I Want Students to Blog

Got a screen-clipping I'd like to share with you.

This is from the blog of one of my Freshmen in West Civ class. You can see the titles of his recent posts: "Exam Practice", "Battle of Tours Wiki Source", "Notes West Civ 5/20/10", "Is Monarchy More or Less Effective Than Democracy?", etc.

You'll also notice the number of posts this student published in 2010. He published 113 blog posts.

One-hundred and thirteen blog posts.

During a semester long course.

The required number of blog posts for the course?

65.

What is going on here?

What's going on here is a case where we've got a student who OWNS his blog. We've got a student who has turned his blog into a veritable compendium of West Civ that he is going to be able to use as a searchable reference throughout his high school career.

He is going to eat AP Modern Euro for lunch. He is going to pwn British Literature in his senior year.

Because he owns his knowledge. He owns his understanding. And he's made something authentic: his own personal resource... and a record of the history of his own ideas.

That's why I want students to blog.

The Further Adventures of Students Designing Their Own Final Exam

So my Latin III students have begun the process of designing their own final exam.

They've decided to collaborate on writing an eBook about life as a Latin student in the year 2010.

I've given them a broad outline of what I'd "like" to see them accomplish in the exam -- demonstrate understanding of selected poems of Horace, Ovid, Catullus (poems mostly from the old AP syllabus with a few of my personal favorites thrown in); demonstrate mastery in morphology and vocab; and show the development of their skill in translating by comparing translations they did in Freshman year to translations they are producing now (easy to do because they've been keeping a blog of all of their translations since day one of Freshman year).

I'd also like them to show what they've learned about ancient cultures and show what they've learned about themselves over the course of three years studying a language that most folks figure is good for getting by on the SAT and not much else.

The students are working on developing a series of assessments; each one will correspond to one of the items I've suggested, but they will be approached individually from the point-of-view of each student's personal interest -- history, politics, creative writing, etc.

Combined, the assessments will take the format of the chapters of a book. We'll then publish on Blurb or Lulu or somewhere cool so that all students will have a complete eBook and if they choose to they can order a print copy (one student already wants to give one to her mom).

Imagine that: wanting to give a copy of your final exam to your mom as a present.

I think we're on the right track.

Final Exams: Of the Students, By the Students, For the Students

It's that time of year again.

That time of year when teachers start reviewing months' worth of information and learning for the sake of cramming enough into the minds of students that they'll be able to sit in a chair for two hours and complete a final exam without throwing the curve off by too much.

I'm not a huge fan of final exams; but I am a huge fan of finding out what students know. So, this year, my Latin III students -- kids I've taught for three straight years -- will be designing their own final exam as a way of showing me what it is that they know.

I've given them all next week to collaborate on the design of the exam -- the questions, the content, the way the whole thing should be assessed. I'll be there to help out, to meddle, and to instigate them to dig deeper into what they have learned to produce an exam that will ultimately better demonstrate how it is that they've developed as learners over these three years.

But ultimately it'll be there's.

If they make it purposefully easy, well, by our agreement that's what it'll be: an easy exam. But I've told them expressly that I expect them to push themselves to and beyond their max -- and not to give in to the easy option.

And time and again -- in fact most everytime I've given them complete control over their learning destiny -- they've pushed themselves harder than I would have thought to push them.

Which, of course, ups the ante.

So here they are with one week to prepare the exam that will accurately assess the learning they've done over the past three years, the trust we have fostered over that span, and the quality of their development as they see it -- not with them as bit-players -- entries in a gradebook -- but as young adults with full awareness of what they are capable of, full cognizance of what the challenges are, and full responsibility for pushing themselves further than they thought they could go.

My students are writing their own final exam.

And I'd bet my last nickel that it's going to be the most challenging exam they've ever sat for.

Student Access

TechCrunch reports on big news on the Google front today. It's about 'Froyo', the new Android 2.2, and it has huge implications for web access in schools:

Froyo will have built in USB tethering so you can share your data connection with your laptop... And even better: you can turn your Android phone into a portable wifi hotspot as well.

@concretekax asks four great questions this morning on his blog that all school admins and teachers should be thinking about right about now:

• Will this type of technology make cable connections obsolete
• Is paying to put Wi-Fi hotspots in school buildings also a waste of money?
• Will schools allow students to use this technology or pay waste money on equipment to block the signals?
• Will this help end the filtering debates and make CIPA irrelevant?

Are you ready for students creating their own wi-fi hotspots? You better be. Because this is the type of thing that more than anything suggests what the future looks like: it's mobile, it's accessible, what used to be public is personal and what used to be personal is public.

Better get to work on those new digital health classes you are going to be offering. You'll have a couple extra bucks to pay for 'em now that your Internet blocking software is obsolete.

"We launched our own computer lab in my classroom."

I continue to be absolutely humbled by the fearlessness of teachers and students who took part in last week's Paperless Earth Day.

A few days back, I published a post of things teachers had done to go paperless in their classrooms.  Some were high-tech and some were lo-tech. They were all creative, thoughtful, determined, and pro-student.

This evening I got word of another project a teacher and his students took on. And I'm in awe.

"My 130 + students decided that we were not going to go paperless for just Earth Day, but rather the remainder of the year. We discussed a plan and then put that plan into action. My students and I were able to take a laptop cart that had been abandoned by most at the school due to the operating issue of the machines, which are about six years old. We spent the next few weeks leading up to Earth Day repairing and cleaning the machines up after school.

"On April 22, we launched our own computer lab in my classroom."

That's from a post by Mike Meechin, a high school teacher in Florida. He posted it on his blog -- Innovate Education -- and I, for one, am looking forward to checking in throughout these last several weeks of the school year to see how he and his students are doing.

Open Blog: What Device is it that Students and Teachers are Looking For?

So, the Google Tablet is imminent.

And so it's time to open up the bloglines to some reader opinion and comments.

For you iPad-wielding folks, based on your experience so far, what's needed to make these types of devices more applicable for students and teachers? Or is the 'right' device something entirely different?

Can/Would education benefit from a ubiquitous device? And let's just talk devices for a moment.

What do we teachers 'need' in terms of a device? What do our students need? What exactly is it that we 'need' to get to -- and use -- all our stuff out there on the Web?

Lot's of questions. Let's hear what you've got to say.

Because the History Classroom Just Ain't What It Used To Be

No sooner did I ask you all to check out my students' new West Civ blog than Andrew B. Watt delivers a comment that turns our student editor's argument on its head.

Fantastic.

Imagine being 15-years-old and putting your work out there for criticism and argument. And imagine receiving criticism and argument almost immediately from some source -- some real person -- beyond the walls of your classroom. Imagine having to think about that and deal with it. And having to do all that in a public sphere.

This is what learning looks like in the 21st century.

I was talking to @schickbob about it earlier, and he nailed it: "The learning starts when commenters start disagreeing with them".

That's what it's all about.

Authentic experiences. Real blogging. Authentic learning. In public.

And learning that you've got to back up what you say and that there's more than one angle to every story.

We can't just pat kids on the head for making a blog. If we do that, we're gonna end up just as inauthentic as the teachers who patted us on the head for writing crappy poetry and putting together cookie-cutter science fair tri-folds. Rather, we've got to use blogs and the connection to the world that the Internet provides to engage our students in real ways to live up to the potential of their convictions while likewise having the humility and sense of civility to provide a forum for discourse.

Thanks to all of you who have supported us along the way to initiating this project and thanks to those of you today who commented on the posts. We plan to post often and we've got some surprises in store as well.

Our tagline is: "Because history just ain't what it used to be". But it might as well be: "Because the history classroom just ain't what it used to be".

Using Authentic Gaming to Engage Kids in Authentic Learning

Here's a reader comment from Steve Lissenden on yesterday's post about gaming and student networks. I repost it here for your perusal as I think he touches on some really important topics -- like using MMOGs to foster creative writing -- that all of us should consider when we talk about authentic assessment and measuring student understanding.

I'm a teaching assistant in a year 5 class (9/10 years old) I am trying to engage one student, who is almost totally switched off from most lessons, by tapping into her interest in WoW. I asked her yesterday to write me a story based upon her adventures in WoW and she straight away picked up her pen and started to list the characters in her story. She has not yet started writing sentences but even so this is progress.

I intend to keep going down this route and intend to bring in opportunities to explore other virtual worlds, such as Myst, as a platform to engage creative writing.

I'm also having conversations with the children about the games they are playing on their consoles to understand the networks they are involved in and the contexts they prefer. This in itself is something new as I have found most teachers either do not think to discuss gaming or, in some cases, actively discourage talk about games. This something I find baffling considering the major part gaming plays in children's lives and the many opportunities this provides for educators to connect with their students in meaningful ways.

Gaming itself is a form of 'text'. And, especially in terms of fantasy MMOGs, games are complex narratives. Well, if you've got a kid who won't read a book, but who maintains a high-level character on a complicated MMOG, the problem likely isn't that the kid isn't able to understand complex narratives.

There's something deeper going on.

I think the key to Steve's method is getting the student to write about his or her character and their experiences in the game. As any gamer knows, it's easily possible to get by on quests after only reading a small portion of the available [directional] text within the game itself; so the experience within the game is often more self-directed and often less driven by a written narrative.

A problem for teaching kids reading and writing?

Not necessarily. Steve's method bypasses the obvious difficulty therein presented. [i.e. Steve makes it not about reading the text necessarily, but reading the experience.]

For if I'm reading him correctly, what Steve is getting at is that he's got a student who may not be a great reader, but who has a natural inclination for internalizing narrative.

And I think most kids internalize narrative. And it expresses itself in different ways whether in MMOGs or running around in the backyard with a wooden sword. It's the foundation of the kinds of role playing games all creative kids enjoy.

The thing we have to consider in terms of reaching these kids is that their internalized narrative might turn out being a better vehicle for expressing understanding and aptitude than any narrative we can pull from the shelf and force upon them. The internalized narrative might prove more valuable to authentic assessment than any of the books on our shelves.

Bring on the Kids

I fully realize that's there's no chance in hell of it actually happening, but I'm still pushing for kids to keynote ISTE 2010.

Russ Goerend Tweeted me this eve with a note that there are a couple other student-led proposals. I say: Right on, let's vote for them, too!

The first is a proposal entitled 'PLN: For Students by Students'. The second is 'Real Voices from Students and Teachers: The Real Impact of 21st Century Learning'.

Either would be fine with me.

When it comes down to it, I just want to see what the kids have to say to us. I find it so frustrating that every time I go to a conference I get talked to by some professional commentator or another.

Enough.

I want the real thing. I want students to stand up there on stage and give us the low-down.

ISTE is accepting votes through Nov 15. And while there are some noble ideas at the top of the heap -- 'Effective School Leadership for the Digital, Global Era' / 'Trends, Tools and Tactics for 21st Century Learning' / 'Universal Design for Learning' -- the conference-goer in me just finds the topics kinda 'meh'.

Especially given the fact that this crowd-sourced keynote will represent only one of four.

I guess I feel like I've heard the experts. Now, I want to know what's really going on.

Bring on the kids.

The Network Saves Lives

Short (though intentionally ambiguous) Story Short: Thanks to the 21st century network, we've got one more shining light (in the form of a student) still on the horizon.

This had nothing to do with 'health' health; this had to do with 'academic' health.

Ironically, nothing about this will be explicated via a blog post. Consider it just one of those things you've got to ask me about in person.

Because sometimes we have to take the role of academic ambulance; and all you drivers just gotta get outta the way. (I apologize in advance for any and all mixed metaphors... it's part of the business.)

The Kids are Alright (so give 'em the stage)

No limit on the number of keynote suggestions you can make for the ISTE 2010 keynote, so I made another one. One I've been mulling over in the days since I first heard about the way ISTE was crowdsourcing part of the selection process this year.

Here's the proposal in a nutshell:

'The Kids are Alright (so give 'em the stage)'

Unless you are 15 years old in 2010, you have no idea what it's like to be 15 years old in 2010.

One of the most frustrating things about the education profession is the scant amount of time we spend listening to the ideas and reflections of the students we teach when it comes to the realities of what it feels like to be taught and to learn. We can talk amongst ourselves all we like about 'leadership' and 'educational tools' and 'best practices', but over and over again it's the voice of the students themselves -- the ones with the biggest stake in the debate -- that goes missing from the discussion.

So let's do something different with this keynote: Let's hear from the kids. Let's hear from the real experts: the students. Let's hear from kids who have no nostalgia for an analogue past. Let's hear from the idealists. Let's hear from the ones whose career and profession don't depend on scoring a keynote.

The kids are alright. Let's give 'em the stage.

Reflecting on what it is that I do everyday and what so many of you do everyday, I can't think of a better opportunity to really use the ISTE stage for something worthwhile than to hand it over to the students.

So often at these conferences, I feel like we talk about kids like they are mice in a lab.

Well, I say we shake up the conference scene and let the mice sing.

If you are with me on this, go ahead and vote here on ISTE's site.

A Response to 'Letter to the Teachers of My Children'

Have gotten a lot of responses from folks on this blog and on Twitter as well as in person regarding my 'Letter to the Teachers of My Children' posted last week.

Today an anonymous comment rolled in and I think it's worth taking a good long look at it:

Glad to know you know so much more than your kids' teachers do about what tbey should learn and how they should learn it. Why don't you just save the whole lot of you a bunch of trouble and home school your kids?

Now I have no idea who wrote this, but I do care a lot about what they think. Because I think if one's immediate reaction to a letter from a parent is to fall into an 'us' versus 'them' mentality where we tell parents to go homeschool their kids, then we really aren't getting anywhere in education.

Secondly, I do know more about my boys than their 3rd grade teacher. I do know how one of them clams up when in conversation with strangers and I know how the other obsesses over every little thing. I know what books they've read and what books they've thought were fluff. I know that they hate 'childrens' music' and that they think Disney sucks. I know what they look like when they are happy and I know when they are faking it (and they are good at that).

Their third grade teacher will have known them for two days; I've known them for close to nine years.

Now I have no idea whether the writer of the comment was a teacher. Maybe, maybe not. Hope not. But maybe.

Let's for the sake of discussion say it was.

Well, in that case, rather than getting huffy about somebody stepping on the toes of your profession, you'd sure as heck be better off starting to try to build closer relations with families. Because kids don't learn just because they are in a classroom; and just because the kid isn't in the classroom doesn't mean he's not learning.

I cherish every meeting I've ever had with a parent (even the one where a mother threw books and papers at me); because insight into the world of a parent and insight into the ways a parent sees their child is insight into the world of the child. And it's that child that you as teacher have the honor of spending some time with everyday.

Each kid in your class is an honor.

So don't give me some anonymous junk about "You should just homeschool your kids". I'm a teacher myself, I'm a professional, and I don't have the audacity to pretend that the parents of my kids can't help me to better teach them.

ISTEvision: Digital Stories from Teachers and Students

One part of the virtual NECC has been ISTEvision.

My favorite aspect of the site is the section devoted to digital stories by real teachers and real students.

From the story of a rural Idaho classroom which has connected to a classroom in New Zealand to teacher statements about their commitment to bringing authentic educational uses of technology into their classrooms, this series of videos -- from the amateur to the glossy -- is testament to the dedication of teachers and students to meeting the demands of the 21st century.

Quest Atlantis at NECC: Using Virtual Worlds to Teach Net Citizenship

Comment came from the panel at the Quest Atlantis session this afternoon with regard to something that came up during one of the leadership sessions at NECC 2009.

One of the members there suggested that we just get beyond fear.

Start acting like educators and stop being afraid of making mistakes.

Allow mistakes to produce innovation.

And that's so right on. Maybe we should ask the folks who demand we live by the rules of their fear exactly what it is that they've innovated recently.

None of us want kids to be put in harms' way. I've got three elementary aged kids of my own. I want them to be safe online.

But in the same way that you need to go through the somewhat dangerous practice of driver's ed in order to teach a kid how to drive safely, you need to teach kids how to exist in the virtual realm in order to teach them how to be a responsible Web citizen.

Quest Atlantis is exactly the type of virtual world to allow this sense of play and learning about virtual worlds among schoolkids.

***

In the same session, the question of strangers and meeting people online came up.

Quest Atlantis itself is a very safe virtual environment for kids. Second Life it is not. It's more of a practice world where students get to take in all different sorts of lessons.

But there's really an even bigger reason we need kids to learn to manage their online lives as young people. Because, the world that they will enter into as young adults will be a world where they can NOT hide from strangers and the unknown. It is a world in which -- if they are going to be successful -- they will have to be prepared to ENGAGE strangers and the unknown.

Rather than hide from strangers, the panel threw down the real gauntlet:

"We should be TRYING to meet other people".

What it comes down to is this: we need to teach kids how to become citizens of the world. This doesn't mean we want to throw them into some imaginary nest of Internet perverts in a Second Life whorehouse. It means we want them to understand that 'being connected' means being connected to everyone; and that with connection comes responsibility.

And - most of all -- it means that you are not the center of, but rather a vital part of that world. You and billions of other people.

Student-centered virtual worlds such as Quest Atlantis are precisely the type of place where this education in digital citizenship can start.

***

Get beyond fear.

No fear of technology. No fear of one another.

Idealistic? Yes.

Necessary? Absolutely.

Possible? If you want it.

You Wanna Know What's Going on in Ed Tech? Ask the teachers and students.

Finally found what I came here for.

Unsurprisingly, perhaps, in room dedicated to the student showcase.

No corporate spokespeople. No flashy commercial displays. Just real kids and real teachers showing what they are doing integrating technology into their classrooms.

When it comes down to the brass tacks, this is what NECC is all about.

Because without those kids and those teachers actually having the audacity to engage with tech in their learning environments, all is for naught.

Without that connection being made, without that learning taking place, it's all a carnival.

Among my favorites was a project taken on by Antonio Lenoyr and his students at the Cedros school using Google SketchUp to visualize concepts in geometry and architecture in a unit on 'Architecture and Urbanism'. Another was a presentation on 'Virtual Pioneers' by a teacher named Andrew Wheelock and his middle-school students. And then there was the digital portfolio program from Rhode Island public schools.

In the center of the room is a '21st century Media Center' where teachers and librarians are helping each other learn how to navigate Second Life, create digital storyboards, edit Wikis, and create their own blogs. It's hands-on learning at its best.

As I'm sitting here blogging in the center of all of this activity, I can't help but think: this is what it's all about. It's about giving the tools to students and teachers so that they can make connections. And who are we to say what those connections will or will not be.

Our task as educators is to confirm in our students' hearts and minds that they have both the right and capability to think, make, and do. Our task is to give them the support via content, tools, and skills to think, make, and do. But our task is not to teach them what to think, make, and do.

The big difference between this room of teachers and students and a lot of what was going on downstairs in the big convention room full of tech and software companies lies in that distinction.

Real Time Learning

A reader writes:

I know my students are always asking "why am I learning this". With social media as the initial introduction, they might never ask that question again. Things are happening in the "real" world in "real" time. They will see the need for educating themselves.

They will see the need if we model it to them. That's part of what it takes to be a 21st century teacher: you must model authentic and connected real-time learning.

A 21st Century Dilemma

Interesting question from Ann Darling popped up in the comments of the Blocking discussion over at ISTE:

Is it ethical to use web 2.0 tools in classrooms knowing that our students must provide personal information to create their accounts?

Hmm. Talk about ethical dilemmas!

We all know that an alias and an alt Gmail account pwn any Web 2.0 log-in without giving away any personal information. We also know how annoying it is to have to deal with anons on blogs or discussion boards.

So, the dilemma: Do you let kids alt their way around outmoded firewalls and proceed anonymously through Web 2.0, or do you teach them to approach social media in an open manner and risk whatever consequences?

Discussion on Students and Internet Blocking at ISTE Connects

The discussion at ISTE Connects concerning Students and Internet Blocking has been remarkable.

In the past week, we've had discussion between teachers and admins on all sides of the debate, IT and tech workers whose job description entails doing the actual blocking, and even executives from the filtering industry.

I'd like to thank the folks at ISTE for giving me the opportunity to guest blog on their site; this has opened up a wonderful conversation.