Massachusetts Computer Using Educators

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Massachusetts Computer Using Educators

CONTENTS

Fear and Control

Web 2.0: Clarion Call forChange

Power of Podcastiing

Funding a 21st CenturyEducation

Technology LeadershipSymposium

Meet the MassCUEBoard

Writing and TechnologyROCKS

Science Probes

Continued on page 2.

Alan November

is the senior partner of November Learning. He isan international speaker and consultant. As practitioner, designer,and author, Alan has guided schools, government organizations,and industry leaders plan to improve quality with technology.

Fable:

ong long ago, therewas a magical inven-tion called paper.Children learned quicklyhow to use this new technol-ogy for activities such asreading and writing, longbefore many of their teach-ers and parents knew how.It was so much faster, easier(and lighter!) than stone andchisel.The children were ex-cited about all of the pos-sibilities of this new tech-nology. They could expressthemselves to the world!However, since there werefew adult role models toprovide proper guidance,some children abused thisnewfound power. Middleschool girls were known towrite mean and nasty notesto one another. Boys werespending way too much timeusing it for playing gamesrather than accomplishingsomething worthwhile. Pa-per was causing all sorts of problems.When the adults foundout what the children were

Fear and Control

lAn

ovember

up to with the technology,

they were horried. Paper

had to be stopped! It wasmaking the children do badthings, and they needed tobe protected. And so it wasdecided that paper shouldbe banned from schools.The children were not upsetbecause they knew theycould still use the new tech-nology when they were out-side of school. It could bemade from trees, and therewas nothing to stop themfrom accessing all theywanted without parents andteachers even knowing.Banning paper from theschools did not help curbthe children’s abuse of it. Infact, things became much,much worse.Years later, some of the adults, particularly theeducators, reconsidered theoriginal ban and decidedto embed the technologyinto the process of learning.Paper became the primarymedia of learning and en-tirely replaced stone andchisel. Adults provided rolemodels every day for read-ing and producing content.A new literacy was born,and children were taughthow to apply it across thecurriculum.It turned out that papermade life much easier. Youcould create content and nothave to move around heavystone. Historians credit thenew paper technology forthe foundation of the Re-naissance and the eventualdevelopment of democracy.Centuries later, a newand even more powerfultechnology emerged thatstarted to replace paper.It was called the Internet.Once again, many childrenstarted to use it long beforemany of their parents andteachers knew how. As withthe printing revolution, thenew medium led to massivechange across cultural struc-tures, from the organizationof work, to politics to medi-cine, personal relationships,

and nally education.

We have some veryimportant decisions to makeif we want to truly prepareour children for a world inwhich the Internet is thedominant media. Continu-ing our current strategy of

ltering the Internet is nolonger sufcient. Children

need us to be exemplaryrole models.The reality is that whenmany of our children comehome from school, they areuploading and downloadingvideos; they are creatingtheir own web sites and

Massachusetts Computer Using Educators

COPYRIGHT: ©2008 by the Massachusetts Computer Using Educators, Inc. All rights reserved. Permission tocopy most or part of this material is granted provided thecopies are not made or distributed for direct commercialadvantage. Title of publication and its date, author, andnotice that copying is by permission of MassCUE mustbe given. Several articles contained in this issue arecopyrighted by the author or another publication. Please

contact MassCUE for clarication.

We are currently soliciting submissions for our Spring2008 issue of on Cue. We welcome submissions on alltopics related to instructional technology. Submissionsmay include action research, interviews, opinion pieces,and articles that contribute to a greater understanding of the integration of technology into all levels of education.Deadline for submissions:

March 15, 2008.

Please read

below for submission specications.

We prefer to publish original articles not previouslypublished in other journals. In the event an author wantsto submit an article that has already been published to

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, s/he should make the managing editor aware of this.The article will not be reviewed by the editorial committeeuntil the author has gained copyright permission from theoriginal journal for it to be republished.Opinions expressed by the authors are not necessarilythose of the journal or publisher. Mention of products bytrade name in editorial matter or advertisements in noway constitutes endorsements by MassCUE.Editorial Policy: The editor reserves the right to rewriteor paraphrase any submitted article. Email articles to<masscue@masscue.org>.

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collaborating with peers. Their Inter-

net searches are not ltered. In fact, as

I write this, my high school age son,Dan, is in the basement with six of hisfriends playing video games with otherpeople from around the world. Danhas the latest Internet video game tech-

nology, and his friends have ocked to

our house to connect with the world.They are operating in multiple win-dows, making mapping strategies,making collaborative and individualdecisions, and communicating face-to-face and across the Web. The capacityof the game is 32 simultaneous users.It is approaching 11 P.M. and I willhave to ask them to return to their ownhomes soon.If it were only about games, wecould probably ignore much of whatthe Internet has to offer. However,as Thomas Friedman so articulatelydescribed in his book,

The World IsFlat,

connections around the world aretransforming developing countries intohotbeds of engineering and innovation.Those who have the ability to managemassive amounts of information andassemble teams of high-performingworkers, regardless of time zones, willhave capacity to contribute more tosociety.Our students deserve our thought-ful and balanced approach to tappingthe Web for their learning. They needus to be role models. We must learnmore about why they are so motivatedto connect with people around theworld. As many schools are choosingto “protect” students from the outsideworld, students are in turn pushingthe limits. They are creating three-dimensional virtual models, usingtools like MySpace to collaborativelyraise money for worthy charities, andteaching each other using podcastsand screencasts. But as we all know,for as many inspiring stories as thereare, there are just as many stories, and

Fear and Control

Continued from page 1.

more, of students actively plagiarizingthe work of others, losing ownershipof content they place on MySpace, andunknowingly putting themselves atrisk. The decision not to educate ourstudents in this new media is a danger-ous one.After more than 40 years of dominance, the Internet has replacedtelevision as the primary media forpresidential candidates to raise moneyand broadcast their messages. The useof blogs, YouTube videos, podcasts,and RSS feeds have become the foun-dation strategy of how we elect people

to the highest ofce in the land. Yet,

if we do not teach our students how tothink critically about this media, theywill not have the ability to separatethe message from the medium. In thisregard it is a very dangerous time.It is also a very exciting time.Like the presidential candidates, edu-cators can harness the power of theInternet to get their message out andto empower students to become moreactively involved in managing theirown learning. We can teach studentscritical thinking and how to be so-cially responsible when they use theInternet to have a globally connectedvoice. For example, if my son weregiven the chance to debate studentsin England about the origins of theAmerican Revolution and his teacherwere to record and podcast the de-bate across iTunes, he would likelybe very motivated to prepare for thisauthentic audience—perhaps muchmore motivated than preparing for atest on the same subject next Friday.As soon as that podcast is posted iniTunes, he would download it to hisiPod for his personal review. Today inmany schools, iTunes and global com-munication tools are blocked, makingthis kind of rigorous and motivatingassignment impossible.While some third world countriesare tapping into every tool they canget their hands on, the strategy in theUnited States remains mired in a pol-icy of control. The gap between whatsome of our students do at home andschool is widening. We should be feel-ing a sense of urgency to tap the toolsour students love to use.

This is an excerpt from Alan Novem-ber’s upcoming book

Webliteracy forEducators

being published by CorwinPress in 2008. We encourage you to join us at the Building Learning Com-munities conference where you’ll meet leading-edge thinkers, international leaders in education, and colleagues from around the world. This year’sconference will be held from July14th-18th at the Boston Newton Mar-riott and features hands-on pre-conference workshops, keynotes, and over90 main session workshops.,For more information, visit

http:// www.novemberlearning.com/blc

WINTER 2008

AssAchusetts

omputer

sing

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, i

on Cue

Journal of theMassachusetts Computer Using Educators, Inc.Winter 2008 Volume 18, Issue 1MassCUE, Inc.P.O. Box 812188, Wellesley, MA 02482-0015781-235-5332 Fax: 781-416-4002

masscue@masscue.org www.masscue.org

Editors

Jean Tower, Managing Editor

Wayland Public Schools

Bill Drury

Dighton-Rehoboth Regional School District

Priscilla Kotyk

Acton-Boxborough Regional School District

Michael Purdy

Hanover Public Schools

Features

Bill Drury

Dighton-Rehoboth Regional School District

Carol Holzberg

District Technology Coordinator, Greeneld

Public Schools and Greeneld Center School

Copy Editors

Steve Olivo, Lelia Richardson

Founder

Earle D. Hancock

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will be published in May.Deadline for articles: March 15, 2008Ad space reservation: April 1, 2008Ad copy due: April 15, 2008Questions? 781-235-5332 masscue@masscue.org

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UPDATE FROM the MassCUE PRESIDENT

ince taking the Presidency with MassCUE in November, I havedelved into learning all the aspects of the organization; this includ-ed an opportunity to schedule a retreat in January with the Board.I cannot tell you how invaluable that time was for me, and I sensed itwas just as valuable for most board members. Since we have a mix of seasoned members and new members, it gave the newer members an op-portunity to understand their roles as board members of MassCUE. It is aprivilege for me to be working with such committed, accomplished, andknowledgeable professionals. As I witnessed this board working together,I could feel the energy and enthusiasm in the room. What are some thingsto look for in the near future? A user-friendly web site, increase in mem-bership from across the state, reaching out to administrators and highereducation, streamlined access to resources for members, recognition tothe technology innovators within our schools, vendor collaboration forcompetitive pricing, professional development opportunities that support21st Century Skills in our classrooms, and the newly formed METAA(Massachusetts Educational Technology Administrators Association).One question I was asked during the conference was what do I get forbeing a member of MassCUE? Besides access to a network of colleagues,MassCUE offers grant opportunities, awards and recognitions including

the Webbie Awards and Pathnders, on Cue, ENewsletters published

quarterly, vendor discounts, and numerous professional development op-portunities including the fall conference and Leadership Symposium. We

are also afliates with the New England ISTE, which gives us access to

numerous resources from ISTE. Any member of MassCUE is welcome to join any one of the MassCUE committees, which include Finance, SIGS(Special Interest Groups), Outreach and Development, Professional De-velopment, Bylaws, Policies and Procedures, Awards and Recognitions,Communications, Technology Directors (METAA), and Grants. As acommittee member, you have an opportunity to give valuable input andinsight into moving MassCUE forward. I encourage you to contact me orany of the committee chairs if you are interested in joining a committee.Hope to see you at the Leadership Symposium in March. Electionsare right around the corner. Please remember to check the MassCUE website for updates.This board is so energized — the possibilities are endless for Mass-CUE and its members. Stay tuned!!

“Putting technology in the hands of our students can make them active participants and not passive recipients of their education.”

—Annamaria Pisari Schrimpf, MassCUE President