K12 Online

The K12 Online Conference is now into Day 9 and there have been floods and floods of great presentations .. enough food for thought for a long time to come I feel sure.

One of the presentations that caught my eye and ear was by Wendy Drexler St. Petersburg, Florida, USA (Blog: http://www.teachweb2.blogspot.com) who was talking about 'Teaching Web 2.0' .

Now it had never occurred to me that I would want to teach such a thing and I was interested in her take on it. The wiki site she has set up could prove to be really useful for those who want to get started or see the point of using powerful Web 2.0 applications in their teaching.

I was particularly interested in the SWOT analysis of the use of the applications and this aimed at a personal analysis of the opportunity costs in developing expertise in their various uses.

If nothing else (and I feel there certainly is much else) the list on the wiki of Web 2.0 apps that people have used within an educational context is worth a long, long look.

21st Century Students Deserve a 21st Century Education

Following up on my 'What do teachers want?' question how about the 'What do children/students want?' An interesting report has come to light (for me anyway) from many sources as part of Project Tomorrow . This US project has the following aims:

The vision of Project Tomorrow is insure that today’s students are well prepared to be tomorrow’s innovators, leaders and engaged citizens of the world. We believe that by supporting the innovative uses of science, math and technology resources in our K-12 schools and communities, students will develop the critical thinking, problem solving and creativity skills needed to compete and thrive in the 21st century.

The participation in the project's survey called 'Speak Up 2007 for Students, Teachers, Parents and School Leaders' was impressive:

Participation Overview: Surveys submitted from schools in all 50 states, American DOD schools, Canada, Mexico and
Australia. Top participating states in 2007: TX, CA, AZ, IL, AL, MD, NC, PA, FL, MI

319,223 K-12 students - 25,544 teachers - 19726 parents - 3,263 school leaders

3,729 schools and 867 districts

About the 2007 Speak Up schools:
o 97% public schools – 3% private schools
o 32% Urban – 40% Suburban – 29% Rural
o 43% Title I eligible; 29% majority – minority student population

The results give an interesting overview of the state of play in the US. You can access what was said here.

There are many items worthy of thought and comment:

Students are very interested in making better use of the “computers in their pocket” for learning and particularly to assist with communications, collaborations, creativity and productivity.

Students’ frustration with school filters and firewalls has grown since 2003, with 45% of middle and high school students saying now that these tools meant to protect them inhibit their learning.

When asked how their school could make it easier for them to work electronically, almost 2/3rds of middle and high school students said “let me use my own laptop, cell phone or other mobile device at school.”

Schools and mobile phones

I am just reading a post on Will Richardson's blog about students in a school in midtown Manhattan and how they get round the school's ban on mobile phones:

...these kids don’t leave their cell phones at home. They are too important as a communications tool for safety’s sake and for social connections. Yet they can’t get these phones through the airport like scanners at the front of the building. So what do they do? Seems a little cottage industry as sprung up at the delis and bodegas around the school so that kids can check their phones in for the day at $3 a pop. They get a ticket, just like a coat check, on their way into school, and they pick it up on the way out.

It just makes you want to cry ... when will educational institutions get the message?Just go to the blog and read the post ... then read the comments !

This should be compulsory reading for every headteacher, member of a SMT, teacher, school governor, member of parliament, minister of education, the building schools for the future team,ICT training course providers, Becta employee, parent etc etc.