Tag Archives: vision

Technologies to watch

Posted on by • Posted in Educational Technology • Tagged , , , • 1 Comment

me_yuri_048What’s on the horizon for educational technology? Researchers at the New Media Consortium look into their crystal balls each year and publish the Horizon Report for higher ed and K-12 schools. The report features six technologies to watch and puts them in a likely timeframe for entrance into mainstream use for teaching and learning.

The six technologies to keep your eye on are:

Cloud Computing
Time to Adoption: One year or less

The “cloud” refers to surplus computing resources available from specialized data centers, each often hosting thousands of servers, that power the world’s largest websites and web services. Growing out of research in grid computing, cloud computing transforms once-expensive resources like disk storage and processing cycles into a readily available, cheap commodity. Development platforms layered onto the cloud infrastructure enable thin-client, web-based applications for image editing, word processing, social networking, and media creation. Many of us use the cloud, or cloud-based applications, without even being aware of it. In schools, use of cloud computing is progressing along a path that began with the adoption of collaborative tools for administrative tasks and that leads, eventually, to classroom adoption of cloud-based tools for learning.

Collaborative Environments
Time to adoption: One year or less

Collaborative environments are online spaces where the focus is on making it easy to collaborate and work in groups, no matter where the participants may be. As the typical educator’s network of contacts has grown to include colleagues who might live and work across the country, or indeed anywhere on the globe, it has become common for people who are not physically located near each other to collaborate on projects. In classrooms as well, joint projects with students at other schools or in other countries are more and more commonplace as strategies to expose learners to a variety of perspectives. Collaborative environments can be off-the-shelf or assembled from a wide variety of simple, free tools — the key is the interactions they enable, not the technologies they include.

Game-based learning
Time to adoption: 2-3 years

The interest in game-based learning has accelerated considerably in recent years, driven by clear successes in military and industrial training as well as by emerging research into the cognitive benefits of game play.
Developers and researchers are working in every area of game-based learning, including games that are
goal-oriented; social game environments; non-digital games that are easy to construct and play; games
developed expressly for education; and commercial games that lend themselves to refining team and group skills. At the low end of game technology, there are literally thousands of ways games can be — and are already being — applied in learning contexts. More complex approaches like role-playing, collaborative problem solving, and other forms of simulated experiences have broad applicability across a wide range of disciplines, and are beginning to be explored in more classrooms.

Mobiles
Time to adoption: 2-3 years

The mobile market today has more than 4 billion subscribers, more than two-thirds of whom live in developing countries. The global network supporting mobile devices of all kinds now covers more territory than the electrical grid. A massive and increasing number of people all over the world own and use computers that fit in their hand and are able to connect to the network wirelessly from virtually anywhere. Tens of thousands of applications designed to support a wide variety of tasks on a host of mobile devices and platforms are readily available, with more entering the market all the time. These mobile computing tools have become accepted aids in daily life for everything from business to personal productivity to social networking. The range and number of educational applications for mobiles are growing at a rapid pace, yet their use in schools is limited — more often constrained by policy than by the capabilities of the devices they run on.

Augmented Reality
Time to adoption: 4-5 years

While the capability to deliver augmented reality experiences has been around for decades, it is only very recently that those experiences have become easy and portable. Advances in mobile devices as well as in the different technologies that combine the real world with virtual information have led to augmented reality applications that are as near to hand as any other application on a laptop or a smart phone. New uses for augmented reality are being explored and new experiments undertaken now that it is easy to do so. Emerging augmented reality tools to date have been mainly designed for marketing, social purposes, amusement, or location-based information, but new ones continue to appear as the technology becomes more popular. Augmented reality has become simple, and is now poised to enter the mainstream in the consumer sector.

Flexible displays
Time to adoption: 4-5 years

Computer displays continue to develop in ways that are enabling whole new categories of devices. Flexible screens that can wrap around curved surfaces are in prototype, as are small, very thin interactive screens. Flexible screen technology allows displays to be literally printed onto plastic, along with the batteries that power them, enabling the sorts of live motion displays previously only hinted about in the world of Harry Potter. When the technology is developed fully it will enable integrated interactive display devices that combine input and output in a single interface, finally realizing the full potential of electronic paper, though widespread commercial use remains several years away.

Download the full report here.

TCEA 2010 Closing Session

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Wahl E webKeynote speaker for the TCEA Closing Session is Erik Wahl.

From the TCEA program:

Erik Wahl is a recognized artist and speaker who inspires professionals to achieve greater levels of performance, and who challenges organizations to transcend mediocrity through creativity. He is founder of The Wahl Group, a consulting firm that specializes in helping organizations identify and implement breakthrough thinking to achieve extraordinary results. His program, “The Art of Vision,” is uniquely designed to channel innovative strategies to create extraordinary results. By breaking apart the traditional rules, he challenges to redefine their commonly held assumptions and misconceptions about vision, goals, success, and creativity.

Wahl opens by painting a portrait of U2′s Bono and talking about a Pablo Picasso quote:

IMG00338

Every child is an artist. Our challenge is to remain an artist once we grow up.

Our challenge as educators is to retain our passion for lifelong learning and tap into our innate creativity and innovation.

Sometimes it pays to take a risk. The reason for any goal that you haven’t achieved can usually be traced back to fear. We exist in our left-brain logical world 90% of the time. We’re naturally resistant to venture into the unpredictable right-brain world because it’s scary.

We must intentionally slow down, step back and look for new and different ways of accomplishing our goals.

Some people play the game, others change the way the game is played. When the end goal is firmly engrained in your mind, it allows you to explore and try different ways of reaching that goal.

To be successful, our kids need to be able to embrace alternative thinking and imagination. We must not hold them back.





A new vision for the 21st century

Posted on by • Posted in School Libraries • Tagged , • 2 Comments

344846593_d52225b35d_oFor the past several years, librarians in my district have been talking about change and transformation.

We started several years ago, just by dipping our toes into RSS and blogging.

Then we talked about collection development and how it looks different now that so much information can be found through subscription databases and on the free web.

We all went through the “23 Things” and learned about web 2.0 technologies.

Then last year we started trying to put all of that learning together by writing a new vision statement for the library program.

A fabulous group of librarians met several times last year for this project. They took their task very seriously and had many brain-busting sessions in order to get it just right. They put together a profile of our current library program that included the history of Library Services in the district, previous vision statements, an assessment of the current services offered, and demographic information. They compiled information from current research about the characteristics and best practices of effective library programs. They also surveyed teachers and administrators in the district to get their perspective on what the library currently offered and what they wanted from the library program.

All of this information was synthesized and distilled into the following vision statement that was presented to the whole group at our first meeting of the year:

MISD librarians envision a 21st century library program that increases students’ achievement and potential for future success.

  • The 21st century library has two distinct manifestations. The physical library features an inviting, friendly atmosphere staffed by a certified professional who works to help teachers and students navigate an increasingly complex information environment; the virtual library provides access to library resources and tools 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Both physical and virtual libraries promote intellectual freedom and provide equitable access to the resources and tools required for learning.
  • In the 21st century library, reading is a foundational skill for learning, personal growth and enjoyment. It is encouraged at all grade levels through various promotional and instructional activities designed to develop successful readers.
  • In the 21st century library, inquiry provides a framework for learning. Students are taught to locate, select, evaluate and use information appropriately and effectively.
  • In the 21st century library, collaboration is fundamental. Teachers and librarians work together to deliver instruction that focuses on critical thinking skills, literacy skills and curriculum connections.
  • In the 21st century library, learning is social, customized and personalized. Students are connected with information and each other, while creating new understandings and celebrating accomplishments.
  • In the 21st century library, technology is ubiquitous. Library users employ technology to locate materials and information, circulate items, collaborate with each other and create products. Librarians provide leadership and training for teachers and students in the use of current and emerging technologies.
  • In the 21st century library, the collection is varied, balanced and current. It features information in multiple formats for all needs and interests, supports the curriculum and is appealing to library users.
  • In the 21st century library, systems and routines are established that break down barriers and allow students and teachers to use the library independently and at point of need.

What is does your vision for the 21st century school library look like?

Image citation: Forward by Bruce Berrien.

People are talking

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Twitter is everywhere these days and people are using it to talk – about librarians. On Tuesday, there was a long conversation about the role librarians should play in schools today and if they are even capable of playing it!

Joyce Valenza responded to the conversation with some very perceptive comments, as usual. She said:

Being an information (or media) specialist today means being an expert in how information and media flow TODAY!  It is about knowing how information and media are created and communicated. How to evalute, synthesize, and ethically use information and media in all their varied forms.  It is about being able to communicate knowlege in new ways for new audiences using powerful new information and communication tools.

In my mind, if you are not an expert in new information and communication tools, you are NOT a media specialist for today.

Joyce also pointed out that the Twitter conversation took place out in the open where anyone could follow it. If these are the kinds of things people are saying in public, what are they saying in private?

What are people saying about the librarians in our district? Initiatives like 23 Things and other staff development sessions that we offer are designed to help our folks be the kind of information specialists that are required in the 21st century.

Is it making enough of a difference? How would teachers and administrators in our district answer the central question of this week’s Twitter conversation: What’s the point of having a media specialist if they aren’t specialists in the media forms of the day?

How do libraries fit into a postliterate society?

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The Blue Skunk Blog has an interesting discussion going on. It started with this post, in which Doug Johnson defines postliterates as “those who can read, but chose to meet their primary information and recreational needs through audio, video, graphics and gaming.” He then suggests that, even though the term “postliterate library” seems like an oxymoron,

our best libraries are already postliterate, increasingly serving sets of users who communicate, recreate and learn using media other than print. And the attitude we as professional librarians adopt toward the postliterate may well determine whether our libraries continue to exist.

In part 2 of the discussion, Johnson lists 10 hallmarks of a postliterate library and touts librarians as leaders on the campus that can encourage the use of new technologies and resources.

Some very thought-provoking ideas here. What do you think?