More show links
There were a couple of other sites that were mentioned in the show that might be useful to everyone. First, is Google Knol…sort Google’s version of Wikipedia (in it’s early stages). Another link discussed is the Infinite Thinking Machine, a combination blog, podcast, web-TV show produced by Google and WestEd. Next, are a couple of other Google tools that I have been looking at lately…Google Sky, Google Moon, and Google Mars….some very cool stuff. Okay….time to stop “pimping” Google. I would encourage you all to look at the Apple Distinguished Educators site. It provides some useful information on that program. Finally, we mentioned the newspaper for a high school in Palo Alto, CA. I would encourage you to take a look at the Paly Voice….the newspaper published by Palo Alto High School’s Journalism students. Enjoy.
| New Podcast Episode Up…
Subscribe by clicking on the link on the right side of this page or by creating a new subscription in iTunes. We’ll be adding this to the iTunes Music Store Podcast section ASAP, but for now, the old link there does not work since we moved our set up.
In this episode, Sallie, Richard and Mark talk about Google Teacher Academy and Google Apps for Education.
Show Links:
Google Teacher Academy
Google Apps for Education
Show Selections:
Mark - The Big Switch
Disrupting Class
I will have lots more to say about this book in the near future. For now, I wanted to chime in with my general early takes:
- I agree with nearly all of this book as I have said most of it in the past. I felt like I was reading my own thoughts in fact.
- Computer based learning MUST lead real changes in schools.
- Chartered (as the author refers to them) schools allow us to see a model for positive change. It’s important that K-12 public schools do not begrudge the efforts of these schools. We can learn from them.
- In 5 years - and certainly within 10 years - public schools will have begun to change in ways they might not understand now. They should embrace this as an exciting and challenging time - not as an event from which we must protect ourselves (and our jobs).
I have said for a long time - I am trying to work myself out of a job. Teachers and other K-12 Administrators need to take on that challenge.
Good book - especially for K-12 Administrators, School Board members and law makers.
Podcast coming…
After several months of laying low, the edthink group reconvenes tonight for our 3 episode. Sallie will be joining us tonight to talk about her incredible Google Teacher Academy experience (which she wrote about earlier).
Look for the episode to be posted soon.
Curriculum Evolution Template
Working with the BRVGS teachers on curriculum this past week has been exciting. The teachers, now having used Google Apps for a year, are becoming comfortable, dare I say “native” (or at least resident alien). They have been using Google Docs to collaboratively redesign their projects, pacing guide, curriculum, and communication expectations. This is the first time that I haven’t had to be the person to suggest a Google Doc. They jump all over it now and with the announcement of TEMPLATES its just going to get better!
Templates will be HUGE for helping schools move to Google Apps … bring on MLA templates and we will be ecstatic in the 9-12 arena.
The one thing that needs to be made VERY clear is that we CAN’T let the templates evolve into the same issues that we all have with PowerPoint (boring presentations that we have all seen a million times). With this fresh opportunity lets bring some Presentation Zen skills into the mix. What do you think?
PS In regards to that last statement it looks like Google is already on board! Check this out 
How much can Google Apps help your school?
ALOT! At least according to the awesome students, teachers and admins (check out the principal’s blog!) at CIS 339 in the Bronx. The way this school has fully embraced all that Google Apps has to offer has not only been amazing it is also inspiring! Even as a school that has been using Google Apps for over a year now, I am blown away with how the teachers and admins have used Google Docs as a way to support students, enrich learning, and cut down on “busy paperwork”. Check out this Google Presentation that highlights how they have been using Google Apps.
There is no doubt that the Tech Tigers will have great futures!
Somewhere in the middle
We’ve blamed Googles before. That is we’ve blamed “evil” and “self-absorbed” companies for our social ills for a long time. But, they have a famous slogan of their own which seems to suggest they don’t set out to upend social norms. Face it, companies like Google are a reflection of who we are. If they are ruining us, we have the free choice to NOT let them. Fr the record, as usual, I believe reality lies somewhere in the middle of this argument.
Further, Google is not making us stupid. I have enjoyed “The Big Switch” greatly, but I don’t think, as Mr. Carr seems to think, that Google is making me dumber. If anything, they have given me access to more information than my grandparents - all 4 of them - had access to in their lives combined.
But, then again, I’m not sure I buy into the “Google Generation” either. Kids are kids. If they think we’ll buy into them on Facebook as a learning opportunity all the time, then they’ll sell it hard.
Again, I think the truth lies in the middle.
Can we all just agree that, for the most part, these types of reactions are overblown?
Everything in moderation.
Alabama’s ACCESS
Congrats to the State of Alabama for this leading edge effort. I’ve been talking about divisions linking up and doing this for years here in Central Virginia. For whatever reason, the traction has not been here.
Again, at this point, given the evidence which seems to be there, this is the future of education. We need to see this more often and work towards some instructional best practices (they may be there, I just haven’t seen them).
The Machine is Us/ing Us
Since we are going a bit YouTube crazy here at edthink, I thought I would continue the trend. I’m going to cheat a little and steal something from one of my courses at UNC-Charlotte. Some of you may have seen The Machine is Us/ing Us already (if not, it is embedded below). It is an interesting video showing how everything is connected (among other things). I was prepping for some things and stumbled across a presentation by the author on the video. Check them both out below….interesting stuff. Also, you might want to check out the article referenced in the presentation…Kevin Kelly’s We Are the Web.
The Machine is Us/ing Us
Mike Wesch’s Explanation of The Machine is Us/ing Us
Dot and the Line
Long story as to why I got on this today. But - my return to it included watching it for what I know would be at the least the 25th time in my life. Never gets old.
Anyway, I had always intended to use this quote in the life I had originally dreamed up for myself as a Social Studies teacher.
“Freedom is not a license for chaos.”
I love that quote and had forgotten it was buried in the treasure. No real point to make other than genius is often subtle.
Stop what you’re doing…
Maybe it’s because I enjoy looking back at history and examining how we got where we are with a particular topic. Or maybe it’s because I have been making the comparison between the Internet and electricity availability for years. But “The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, From Edison to Google” is great work which seems to let us see the future. We’ve been here before. We know what is coming to some extent. And so, can’t we use that knowledge to help shape our decisions…learning from history?
My favorite quote so far is the last paragraph in the first chapter (I’ll excerpt or brevity) :
“Many of the characteristics that define American society came into being only in the aftermath of electrification….Today we think of these developments as permanent features of our society. But that’s an illusion. They’re the by products of a particular set of economic trade-offs that reflected, in large measure, the technologies of the time.”
Fantastic book bringing unprecedented clarity to our past and potential future.
Soon, we’ll all be living in the cloud. Oh, and I found some videos of Nicolas Carr, he author, on YouTube. Here is just one.
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About
EdThink is an educational technology focused group which provides training, support and consultation on the integration and management of technology of all types in K-12 classrooms. We use this site and the accompanying podcast to offer insight and opinions into the relevant topics of the day.
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