Having students create and present what they are learning is a highly effective teaching strategy. Web connected students have a community that goes well beyond the classroom. They have the potential to engage with a global audience, one of the themes of Alan November’s BLC conference, which becomes a powerful student engagement strategy.

Powerpoint presentations are a common teaching and learning tool used both by teachers and students. I have often found Powerpoint to be a modified high tech version of the old didactic teaching paradigm when used by some teachers, but it can become a powerful teaching tool if used creatively. I’ll post more on creative uses of Powerpoint in the future, but do want to introduce one creative and powerful tool: Slideshare.

Slideshare provides an easy way to post Powerpoints. The slide show is converted to a Flash object that can be viewed on any web connected platform. A voice annotation feature makes slidecasts easy, although the voice file must be uploaded elsewhere. For classrooms using Powerpoint, Slideshare is a great way to have students share their knowledge and receive feedback on the Slideshare website or through embedding the slideshow in a blog.

Besides a great tool for students, I would highly recommend teachers use Slideshare to share their own Powerpoints. Students can review the presentations without needing the Powerpoint application. Combine it with a classroom blog!

Dr. Resnick is the professor many of us conjure up in our minds as whimsical, slightly aloof, bearded and scraggly, and always very excited to talk about his work (with the occasional inexplicable pause in his demonstration as his mind wanders off to pursue a facet of his invention he hasn’t considered before).

Scratch is a computer program created for kids of all ages to teach the basics of programming. The program is inherently scalable to allow kids with different experiences to create simple to complex programs. With mastery of this program, students could quickly move onto more complex languages, such as C++ and Java. The interface is very well thought out to make it easy to begin. In fact, the program is downright amazing. There is an external USB controller available. At $25, it is worth the investment to enhance your creations.

I had a blast creating a Pac-Man type game, and will be showing my six-year old daughter the game at home (she, like any six-year old, is capable of understanding the concepts, but I’ll have to find a way to make it relevant to her play). I’ll post updates on her progress!

Apart from the great application, his team has put together a website reminiscent of YouTube as a way to share creations. This truly is the icing on an already wonderful cake. The site allows comments, downloading the “code” of each project, and featured projects. As your audience becomes global, your creations take on a new meaning. An excellent educational tool!

Shuchi discusses teaching in India…Indian schools are silos. Educator communities are few and far between. Blogging was an answer, but it also is a single medium of communication. Some teachers don’t participate. This doesn’t mean 21st century skills are talked about, but infrastructure hasn’t been presence. Global online resources were not necessarily applicable to Indian schools. Language is a barrier, but there are still hundreds of thousands of English speaking educators.

Mindmapping provided needs, features, barriers, and led to a vision for the creation of the online community. Implementation started with a small beta audience. Shuchi admits it is still difficult to get participation. She pays particular attention to the language of the site, for example, interchanging Topics and Tags as a header. Usage data is provided by by Google Analytics and site surveys.

Overall, the site is being used, but only by a small percentage of the educators. She is listening to the feedback and continuing development.

Btw, Shuchi likes to use the open source mind-mapping program: Freemind. Her online community is developed on Drupal.

Meta analysis of technology in education research: Metiri Group shows than when technology is done right it can be a powerful transformer of education. Tech is being over promised, thus the negative press. In most classrooms it is not integral to the education mission and it is used at the margins. Profound impact is changing the process. Consider the business community.

Teachers are saying their technology skills are improving. But the technology is more personalized use than actual use in classroom teaching. Students are finding classrooms and lessons lack the rich technology they use outside of the classrooms.

Where does the US fit it the policy context? With the current fear of global competitiveness, the dialog is driven towards Science, Engineering, and Math. Where’s Technology in the STEM? Technology is not producing adequate ROI, thus the drop in EETT funding. Education sits 55th in technology funding as a sector, below coal mining. Nonetheless, data-driven decision making is strong. COSN is looking at Value of Investment (VOI) on ed tech: www.edtechvoi.org

So what are other countries doing (for more details, visit his blog)? Hong Kong… impact where technology supported constructivist learning. and where leadership is supportive. In south Korea there is very high infusion of technology, highly open source, and has clear policymaker support. Singapore focuses on self-directed learning. On math and science they are high in PISA ranking. Despite their success, they have a new paradigm for education: “Teach Less, Learn More.” Australia has it’s Learning Federation focusing on digital learning. The collaboration is fundamental across the country. Britain has added personalization as a pillar to their educational reform strategy. Investment is significant, educators are moving along a growth continuum.

To bring it together, some themes emerge. Global competitiveness is leading the charge for 21st century skills. Leadership and vision matters. Rethinking pedagogy is essential. At the national level we need to keep up with increasing broadband access and invest in learning objects. We need to look at metrics for success for educational technology.

Action steps at the local level: Vision, Leadership, understand TCO and VOI, Community, and Advocacy. In a nutshell: Do something, don’t just stand there!

Technology integration must be at a system level. He iterates that teachers already have too much on their plate to be expected to lead the charge. And what can we do to help teachers? Look at what machines can do to replace medial tasks, including in the teaching process. If we can offload repetitive tasks, streamline processes, it is possible to make more time available for quality student interaction. And how do we educate teachers on globalization? Eye-popping facts.

And don’t like NCLB? Voice your concerns. Speak up! Of course, legislators are about their own constituents, which can make it hard to think globally. There is some positive signs… like the College Board’s effort to revise the SAT. But don’t judge college readiness as scores on the SAT. US colleges have a good system for picking students based on multiple factors, and we shouldn’t lose that.

What would he do if he could open a school? Provide vertical tiering of teachers with experience and skills as criteria (I’m not sure what he really means here…). Make sure they are working together. They are the counselors and advisers. Provide system software to track students horizontally across areas and vertically across grades. Trust students. They do better if you trust them. Look at learning levels to use appropriate technologies (books, computers, etc). Trust the teachers. Bridge technology use in personal and professional life. Bring the outside world in. Engage cyberlearning. Make sure students have virtual mentors and peers. Create spaces and opportunities that allow students to personalize learning. Open technologies, different species of technologies for flexibility. Core learning at early grades, but projects at higher grades. Allow kids to share personalized stories to a global audience. And the school as a whole? It is an ecology. Think of how resources effect the pond.

His Chinese language game is Zon. First a game, then a platform for education. Brilliant. It is a cultural experience. Come in as a tourist and you can explore in English. But if you want to play (own a teahouse, for example) you must learn Chinese.

And his big concern with globalization? Global peace. He’s working on the Global Village Academies. This would bring students together from around the world. ETC, Education for Global Citizenship, is another project of his. The current curriculum is on East versus West, with making it uncomfortable for the students to effect change. Risk with support creates an opportunity to learn.

Oh, and look for his upcoming book, The Digital Pencil.

For a nation of fear, fear of globalization in the US is not surprising. Globalization needs to be embraced. What is the alternative? Think of Vietnam shortly after the American War (pardon the global perspective). Vietnam went off the map, but are back with a vengeance. I suppose, the US could do the same. We’d cause a catastrophic failure of Walmart, but despite any animosity on my part for the chain, I don’t want it to happen. The fact is, we cannot expect to compete without being a player. To be a player, we need to find a role. And we need to redefine education.