Wesley Fryer was kind enough to podcast the talk and post it to his blog. I’ve posted the Powerpoint at Slideshare here. Here are some of the concepts I’ve been working through:

1. I believe technology can greatly assist learning by scaffolding learning at different levels. Kids, as much as NCLB would like to have you believe, do not all learn at the same level. I brought this up by going back to the Herrnstein and Murray’s The Bell Curve. It’s not that I like what the book concludes, but I do see statistical facts for what they are. And to force a common testing paradigm on kids across all intelligence levels is simply criminal. As mentioned in a previous post, kids with high intelligence need the opportunities to excel, and kids with low intelligence need proper scaffolding and support the the smarter kids can offer. In the adult world, we work together as a community, finding a place for everyone at all levels (at least we should). We collaborate in order to bring out the strengths in everyone. And we don’t compare each through test taking (except the few weirdos who get into Mensa . I never even got to the considerations of multiple intelligences, such as the very important topic of how Emotional Intelligence factors into learning. More posts on how technology can help in that arena later.

2. Engagement is key. Kids today have found technology engages and they are going to great lengths to get their hands on it. During a visit to EA Games in California a couple of years ago, A question was asked about the increasing incidence of Attention Deficit Disorder and computer gaming. The response from one gaming programmer: “We don’t really see that as an issue. A kid will sit and concentrate on a game for 17 hours in a week.” Technology has tremendous power to engage students. A wonderful report recently released by the National School Boards Association (I will post in further detail later) makes a fundamental shift in U.S. education thinking about online social networking: this is not something to be ignored. Kids are using it, learning from it, and schools need to be thinking of ways to engage students with it. Online social networking tools can be summed up in one word: participation. Participation through creative activities online. Students are engaged when they participate and technology makes it happen.

3. How do we move away from our current paradigm of teaching that increasingly ignores differences in how students learn and fails to keep up with emerging technologies that are capturing the undivided attention of kids today? Change must take place in our schools. Change is not an easy process in educational reform, but the K20 Center has found a way that can move a school in the right direction. Development of Professional Learning Communities has found student achievement increases as well as reforms in teaching practice. This is a school-wide cultural change that brings action research into the classrooms, leading to adoption of new pedagogies. But here’s the icing on the cake: technology makes a wonderful catalyst for change. The year-long work of the K20 Center in schools, using technology as a catalyst for change, has proven to be highly effective. And all this without adding content or pushing for more test preparation.

I only take issue with one aspect of the OK-ACTS program: the technology going into the schools has one wonders to engage students, but it has been primarily by taking existing curriculum and presenting it in new and engaging ways. Instead of a lecture, the teachers are making Powerpoint presentations and showing them on Smartboards. They are getting feedback using student response systems. This is not across the board. Some teachers are increasing student participation in the learning process by having the students create the Powerpoints, but it still fails to engage them at their level.

I’m working on it. But I need to find more research on how creativity can raise student achievement. Yuck. I hate having to revert to finding methods that increase test scores, but until NLCB leaves the learning alone, I’ll work with the system. Kudos to Marco Torres for bucking the system. I wish it were so easy for the majority of teachers.

Here’s what I really like about it:

1. It’s kid classroom friendly. A teacher can create one account with her email, then create separate identities with photos for each kid. Awesome! No need to create separate student accounts!
2. It’s easy to use. The layout is minimal, clean, and intuitive.

Check it out and let me know what you’ve created! Willow and I created this one today. Register and leave her a comment!

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!