Dangerously Irrelevant

Model 21st century schools - Update 2

Here’s how we’re doing at collectively creating a list of model 21st century schools that are doing a nice job of infusing 21st century skills, digital technologies, problem- or inquiry-based learning, and other innovative practices into their school organization:

Those 59 United States schools represent 26 states. The International schools are in 10 different countries.

So we’re making GREAT progress. However, we still have a number of states (and countries) that don’t have a single school organization listed. I know that there are schools in every state that are doing wonderful things in the areas of problem-based learning, 21st century skills, or technology integration. Would you help us identify more model schools, either by adding them yourself or passing this quest along to others? We are in desperate need of good models that educators can learn from and visit. Thanks!

Model 21st century schools - Update 1

A week ago I asked for your help identifying model 21st century schools. Although I knew of a few schools or districts that were good models of what the new learning paradigm might look like, I was sure that there were many more schools out there that were doing great things when it came to project- or inquiry-based learning, technology integration, and so on.

Here’s what we have so far:

• 36 schools/districts in the USA, representing only 18 states
• 6 international schools, representing 5 countries

So, as you can see, we have a long way to go toward meeting my goal of at least 2 schools in each state and at least 50 in other countries.

Why don’t we have more? Several reasons, I’m guessing:

1. My readers don’t know what the exemplary 21st century schools are in their state/country,
2. I wasn’t persuasive enough for my readers to actually go to the Moving Forward wiki and enter the schools that they know about, and/or
3. There just aren’t that many exemplary 21st century schools.

While #3 is probably true to a certain extent, I’m guessing (hoping?) that each state has at least 2 schools that can serve as models for others. And I’m positive that some states, like California or Texas, have many more than 2. So I’m asking for your help again. Please go to the United States or International wiki pages and enter schools in your state/country that you know about. Also pass this quest along to others who may have knowledge in this area. We’re in desperate need of models of 21st century schooling. Help me create a shared resource that will be of value to everyone?

Help wanted: Model 21st century schools?

Which schools are good models that others could (should) visit to see what a new educational paradigm might look like?

This is the #1 question I get asked when I work with K-12 educators. I know a few, but I’m guessing that you know more. So I’m on a quest…

1. Think about who's doing a nice job in your state/country of infusing 21st century skills, digital technologies, problem- or inquiry-based learning, and other innovative practices into their school organization.
2. Go to the United States and/or International page at CASTLE’s Moving Forward wiki and add the name of the school organization and contact person in the appropriate place. If your state/territory/country isn’t listed, please add it.
3. Using the category list at the top of the page, indicate the category of innovation at the end of your entry so that visitors know which schools to visit for what. If you need to add a category, please do so.
4. Hyperlink the name of the school organization to its web site.
5. Repeat Steps 2 through 4 for each school organization that is a model of 21st century learning.

By Monday, April 27, I’m hoping that together we can identify at least 150 model school organizations, including at least 2 in every state and at least 50 overseas. I will be reporting out daily on our progress both here and via Twitter.

Please pass along this quest. The more model 21st century schools we get, the better resources these two pages will be for everyone. Feel free to use the logo as desired. Thank you!

Help wanted: Sites that connect classrooms across the globe?

I confess that my knowledge is sparse of web sites, wikis, etc. that aim to connect classrooms together for projects. Yet I’m starting to get asked more and more often by educators for places where they can go to connect their classrooms with others from across the globe. Suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

Slide - Digital, global world. Analog, local schools.

[Download these files: png 1 png 2 png 3 ppt pptx]

Disagreeing with Jeff Utecht

Jeff Utecht says that in America (as opposed to China):

[W]e focus on getting students to think different, we encourage them to think, to analyze, to question their findings. We teach them to learn on their own.

Do we, Jeff? Or do we just benefit from our country’s overall openness compared to China? ‘Cause I gotta tell you, I don’t see a lot of explicit instruction here in American schools regarding how to learn on your own, at least not using present-day information and communication technologies (which, of course, are what people need to master to be effective learners in this century). And I don’t see a lot of encouragement of students to really think, to critically dissect and analyze information that’s meaningful and important (as opposed to better regurgitating factual-procedural knowledge or doing what we say more often). And I see few opportunities for children to engage in discovery learning opportunities where they might actually have findings that are interesting and worth questioning (as opposed to the controlled and often contrived ‘experiments’ that accompany publishers’ science curricula).

I’m fairly certain that Postman & Weingartner’s quote from Teaching as a Subversive Activity is as applicable now as it was in 1969:

What students do in the classroom is what they learn (as Dewey would say) . . . Now, what is it that students do in the classroom? Well, mostly, they sit and listen to the teacher. . . . Mostly, they are required to remember. . . . It is practically unheard of for students to play any role in determining what problems are worth studying or what procedures of inquiry ought to be used. . . . Here is the point: Once you have learned how to ask questions – relevant and appropriate and substantial questions – you have learned how to learn and no one can keep you from learning whatever you want or need to know . . . [However,] what students are restricted to (solely and even vengefully) is the process of memorizing . . . somebody else’s answers to somebody else’s questions. It is staggering to consider the implications of this fact. The most important intellectual ability man has yet developed – the art and science of asking questions – is not taught in school! Moreover, it is not “taught” in the most devastating way possible: by arranging the environment so that significant question asking is not valued. It is doubtful if you can think of many schools that include question-asking, or methods of inquiry, as part of their curriculum.

I agree with the general theme of your post, Jeff, but so far I disagree with you on this issue. I think that whatever advantages America may enjoy over China regarding critical thinking, creativity, innovation, and the like might be occurring despite our schools, not because of them.

Thoughts, anyone else?

Tracy Rosen is revisiting digital literacy

Head on over to Leading From the Heart and leave Tracy Rosen a comment on her thought-provoking post about revisiting digital literacy. Here’s the comment I just left her:

I am by no means a ‘literacy’ expert. For me, the idea of literacy means something like ‘fluency in the dominant information landscape(s) of your time, both as a consumer and as a producer.’ In the past, that has meant being an adequate reader and an adequate writer. It is increasingly clear that the dominant information landscape of our present and future is one that is digital, networked, interactive, hyperconnected, dispersed, rapidly-changing, multimedia, and so on. This new information landscape requires additional fluencies beyond those needed for a paper-based world.

Fluency in paper-bound text and graphics is still a necessary skill today. The need to be a high-level reader and writer is going to be around for a long while. But the dominance of the written word slowly will be eroded by other forms of audio/video expression. For me, the exciting thing about many of these new ‘literacies’ is that students and educators now have unprecedented opportunities to create things of value to the larger world, to have a legitimate voice, and to reach authentic audiences.

Like any good progressive, Chris Lehmann advocates emphasis on facilitation of students as digital citizens rather than emphasis on preparing students to be digital workers. I too am very much in favor of empowering students personally and on the citizenship front. But I also want my kids to have a meaningful, rewarding career (that, hopefully, also contributes to society in some way). And that means getting what Richard Florida calls a ‘creative class’ job – one that requires autonomy, independent judgment, creativity, innovation, creative problem-solving, and, yes, fluency with digital technologies. Creative class jobs are facilitated and enhanced by digital technologies, not replaced by them (as often happens with service or working class jobs).

So I empathize with your concern, Tracy, about respecting others’ approaches to sense-making. And I too am concerned with the differential access that developing countries and underserved student populations have. But I think the task for all of us is to bring them into the digital, global 21st century, not to define ‘literacy’ in ways that continue to disempower them socially and/or economically for decades to come (note: I’m not saying you’re doing this).

Here’s an old post of mine on social justice that might be of interest:

  http://snipurl.com/35ivk

Thanks for a thoughtful, thought-provoking post. I look forward to reading others’ comments!

NECC 2008 - From digital divide to digital opportunities

Here are my notes from ISTE’s annual digital equity summit at NECC. There is too much information to fit in one post so I’m breaking it up…

From Digital Divide to Digital Opportunities
Dr. Paul Resta, U. Texas-Austin

• Current estimate of world repository of pictures/words/movies = 7 exabytes (Library of Congress is largest in world = 20 terabytes)
• It’s not just more information. More is now different.
• UNESCO Digital Opportunity Index allows the tracking and comparison of countries in different aspects of the information society
• Essential conditions – access to…
• Basic literacy skills
• 26% of world adult population (1 billion people) is non-literate (2/3 are women)
• ICT devices, software, and sufficient bandwidth for Internet connectivity
• Most of Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East has less than 10% of the population with personal computers
• High-income economies are far ahead (International Telecommunications Union, World Information Society 2007 Report)
• The top 1,000 companies in the world have over 70 million computers to dispose of
• Low-cost laptops: OLPC (600,000 orders from Birmingham (AL), Peru, Haiti, Afghanistan, Rwanda, Mexico, Uruguay, Mongolia), EeePC, Intel Classmate (150,000 orders from Nigeria, Libya)
• Cloud computing (virtual servers) means not much power has to reside on the computers themselves
• Asia and Europe both have more Internet users than North America; a near-perfect relationship between Internet use and income
• Broadband access takes up 2.1% of high-income (and 909% of low-income) yearly wages
• USA is now 15th in broadband penetration (see www.itif.org)
• Wireless access is increasing exponentially in many developing countries
• Meaningful, high-quality, culturally-relevant content in local languages
• 68% of Internet content is in English; next highest is Japanese (6%)
• 4Directions project is an indigenous model of education to create culturally-relevant curriculum resources
• Virtual museum partnerships
• Creating, sharing, and exchanging digital content
• The majority of the 7 billion videos streamed on the Internet each month are user-generated
• The number of blogs has roughly doubled every 6 months
• We need to enable indigenous voices and to use the Internat to foster cross-cultural understandings and share knowledge
• Educators who know how to use digital tools and resources in pedagogically-sound, culturally-responsible ways
• UNESCO ICT Competency Standards for Teachers
• Development of National Plans for ICT in Teacher Education
• Teacher Learning in E-Learning Age (UNESCO, forthcoming)
• Effective leadership in policy and planning
• Removing policy barriers and formulating new policy frameworks
• Broadband challenges require new thinking
• There is a need for ICTs customized to the needs of the poor in the developing world
• How do we ensure that the USA stays competitive?
• What is our role as educators to help address the global digital divide?
• From the Digital Divide to Digital Opportunities

The rise of the rest

If you haven’t yet done so, The Rise of the Rest in Newsweek is worth reading. Here’s an excerpt (hat tip to Richard Florida):

American parochialism is particularly evident in foreign policy. Economically, as other countries grow, for the most part the pie expands and everyone wins. But geopolitics is a struggle for influence: as other nations become more active internationally, they will seek greater freedom of action. This necessarily means that America's unimpeded influence will decline. But if the world that's being created has more power centers, nearly all are invested in order, stability and progress. Rather than narrowly obsessing about our own short-term interests and interest groups, our chief priority should be to bring these rising forces into the global system, to integrate them so that they in turn broaden and deepen global economic, political, and cultural ties. If China, India, Russia, Brazil all feel that they have a stake in the existing global order, there will be less danger of war, depression, panics, and breakdowns. There will be lots of problems, crisis, and tensions, but they will occur against a backdrop of systemic stability. This benefits them but also us. It's the ultimate win-win.

To bring others into this world, the United States needs to make its own commitment to the system clear. So far, America has been able to have it both ways. It is the global rule-maker but doesn't always play by the rules. And forget about standards created by others. Only three countries in the world don't use the metric system—Liberia, Myanmar, and the United States. For America to continue to lead the world, we will have to first join it.

Americans—particularly the American government—have not really understood the rise of the rest. This is one of the most thrilling stories in history. Billions of people are escaping from abject poverty. The world will be enriched and ennobled as they become consumers, producers, inventors, thinkers, dreamers, and doers. This is all happening because of American ideas and actions. For 60 years, the United States has pushed countries to open their markets, free up their politics, and embrace trade and technology. American diplomats, businessmen, and intellectuals have urged people in distant lands to be unafraid of change, to join the advanced world, to learn the secrets of our success. Yet just as they are beginning to do so, we are losing faith in such ideas. We have become suspicious of trade, openness, immigration, and investment because now it's not Americans going abroad but foreigners coming to America. Just as the world is opening up, we are closing down.

Generations from now, when historians write about these times, they might note that by the turn of the 21st century, the United States had succeeded in its great, historical mission—globalizing the world. We don't want them to write that along the way, we forgot to globalize ourselves.

I love those last two paragraphs!

The world is spiky

[cross-posted at the TechLearning blog]

I’m working my way through Dr. Richard Florida’s new book, Who’s Your City? Many of you may be familiar with Dr. Florida’s previous books, The Rise of the Creative Class and The Flight of the Creative Class. I typically recommend one or both (along with some other texts) to school leaders who wish to learn more about global workforce changes.

Dr. Florida notes that the world isn’t as ‘flat’ as we have been led to believe. Instead, the world is rather spiky. As he describes in his opening chapter (and in his excellent article in The Atlantic Monthly), half of the world’s population now lives in urban areas, up from about 3 percent two hundred years ago. Indeed, in industrialized countries, this percentage is around 75%, not 50%. This is societal shift on a massive scale.

So what? Why does it matter that the world is spiky rather than flat? Well, as Florida describes, often it actually does matter where you live (unlike what Friedman sometimes says in The World Is Flat). For example, we are seeing the emergence of ‘mega-regions,’ areas like the Boston-New York-Washington, DC corridor or the Amsterdam-Antwerp-Brussel region that not only are the ‘powerhouses behind national economies; they’re behind the global economy as well’ (p. 24). There are only a couple of dozen ‘places worldwide that generate significant innovation. These regions have ecosystems of leading-edge universities, high-powered companies, flexible labor markets, and venture capital that are attuned to the demands of commercial innovation’ (p. 27).

As Florida notes…

Creative people cluster not simply because they like to be around one another or prefer cosmopolitan centers with lots of amenities (though both things tend to be true). They cluster because density brings such powerful productivity advantages, economies of scale, and knowledge spillovers. Four kinds of places make up the landscape of our spiky world: first, the tallest spikes that attract global talent, generate knowledge, and produce the lion's share of global innovation. Second are the emerging peaks that use established ideas, often imported, to produce goods and services. Some of these cities, such as Dublin and Seoul, are transitioning into places that generate innovation, but most, from Guadalajara to Shanghai, function primarily as the manufacturing and service centers of the 21st-century global economy. The two remaining types of places are being left behind: third-world megacities distinguished by large-scale "global slums," with high levels of social and political unrest and little meaningful economic activity; and the huge valleys of the spiky world, rural areas with little concentration of population or economic activity. The main difference between now and a couple of decades ago is that the economic and social distance between the peaks has gotten smaller. People in spiky places are often more connected to one another, even from half a world away, than they are to people in their own backyards.

We have to note the clustering effects of the global economy (the ‘centrifugal force’), not just the spread (the ‘centripetal force’). Florida says in his new book that ‘the reality is that globalization has two sides. The first and more obvious one is the geographic spread of routine economic funtions such as simple manufacturing or service work (for example, making or answering telephone calls). The second, less obvious side to globalization is the tendency for higher-level economic activities such as innovation, design, finance, and media to cluster in a relatively small number of locations‘ (p. 19).

I just moved to Ames, Iowa. The state capital, Des Moines, is a small creative center just 25 minutes away. Given his methodology, I’m guessing that Ames and Iowa State University are included in Dr. Florida’s statistics on the Des Moines region. Of all medium-sized U.S. regions (0.5 to 1 million people), Dr. Florida ranks Des Moines as the #1 ‘Best Buy’ region for families with children and #2 for professionals age 29–44. That’s cool for me and my family and my professional colleagues. But the reality is that we’re surrounded by fields. Over 90% of the state is corn or soybean fields (or hog farms).

So what do I tell the rural school leaders with whom I’ll be working? They’re already in communities that are struggling to survive. Do I tell them that, because they live in Florida’s ‘huge valleys,’ that their schools and communities are basically doomed? Or is there a way for them to still be economically productive and viable?

Conference 2.0: The Global Stage Awaits

[cross-posted at E-Learning Journeys]

My life as an international educator is bursting with exciting opportunities and experiences. Being a guest blogger for Dr Scott McLeod is one challenge I have been looking forward to. As a leader in educational technology I blog about my own journey in the classroom as well as interactions and collaborations with colleagues around the world and try to make sense of the changing learning landscape.

Recently I have had the opportunity to attend in person conferences in Madrid, Prague and Mumbai. I have also been able to attend virtually a number of online events/conferences, in particular EduCon 2.0, where I was Skyped in by George Mayo to discuss global collaboration and the amazing CUE 2008 this past weekend where I was Skyped in by Steve Hargadon to a session discussing Web 2.0 in Education.  I have been reflecting on what it means to be a 21st century conference attendee and presenter at, as it is being called, Conference 2.0. Gone are the days when information is only delivered via the conference presenter and only at the conference. Gone are the days where information is uni-directional and non-conversational. Gone are the days when information is delivered via hard-copy handout and boring bullet-points on a ubiquitous slideshow.

To be a leader in education today means to be a contributor, not a passive onlooker. A 'conference' opportunity is to be embraced for all of the dynamic cross-links and flowing ideas it brings. Let's use Web 2.0 tools and what ever else we can online to enhance and extend the experience and learning.

So what does a Conference 2.0 look like? On one level it has presenters who have set up learning experiences and objects ahead of time including posting resources online and organizing virtual input via Skype and chat etc. Let me tell a story here and then give credit to some great colleagues out there who are already writing about this in a more succinct way than I am.

My experience at the ASB Unplugged conference in Mumbai, India recently highlighted the need to be mobile, online and interacting at different levels. Connected to the WLAN and therefore with connectivity to the world (the only way to be at a conference!) I was able to 'moblog' to our school Ning (mobile blogging, or blogging on the run, a phrase coined by David Warlick I believe), Twitter, Google Chat and search for resource URLs as presenters mentioned them...all at the same time. In one session I remember Twittering with Kim Cofino, who was also attending a conference in Berlin, Germany, while at the same time chatting with Vicki Davis, who was also at a conference presenting on our Flat Classroom Project and more in Illinois ICE and wowing the crowd with her exemplary style and sharing her latest Zoho online material with me, while continuing to blog and interact with people back at Qatar Academy via the Ning and also with people around me re the current presentation in Mumbai.

What I really missed in Mumbai was what is called a 'backchannel' where the audience (real and virtual) can chat about the presentation. An effective way to do this is to have the backchannel (using a tool such as chatzy.com) projected onto the screen so the whole room can see what is being said (including the presenter) and react to it as needed. This method was also used by Karl Fisch, although using slightly different tools, for his fishbowl sessions with students and guests discussing Pink's 'A Whole New Mind' recently.

What I also miss at non-Conference 2.0 events is the use of RSS as the glue to bind us all together. Once again David Warlick leads the way with his hitchhikr.com conference aggregator. I need to know where I can find other blog posts, images, etc tagged for the events I am in. I need to know what the tagging standard is so I can use it. I feel this still has not caught on with educators around the world as it should have done.

I am in awe of the recent blog post by Steve Hargadon detailing his views and experiences with Conference 2.0 ideals and thoroughly  recommend his new wiki Conference 2.0 where, in typical Steve style he has provided a valuable resource and service for everyone to use when attending/presenting at a conference. Describing this wiki he states:

Web 2.0 has provided a number of opportunities for new collaborative events to take place at and around conferences. The events can enhance participants' connections, dialog, and engagement. Here are a number of these activities that can be planned specifically for educational technology.

A recent blog post "The Ultimate Conference Attendee" by Will Richardson, although a little esoteric, has similar sentiments.

So, it is true, the global stage does await every real and virtual attendee at a conference. There are opportunities to foster and continue conversations, make connections, squeeze the essence out of each session and breath life into the topic. Is this information overload? Is this too geeky for the average conference goer....well yes, maybe it is however let's lead the way, let's set the standards internationally and move beyond the static, dry, hard-copy handout, non-Internet based session that does not deserve to exist in the Conference 2.0 mode.

Julie Lindsay, Guest blogger

Technorati Tags: georgemayo stevehargadon conference20 asbunplugged davidwarlick twitter kimcofino vickidavis karlfisch willrichardson

Musings from Mumbai: Fostering a climate of innovation in the middle and high schools

ASB Unplugged is a 1:1 laptop conference for international schools, hosted by the American School of Bombay and the Laptop Institute. These are notes from a session I attended on technology-related change at the secondary level…

• Andrew Hoover, middle school principal
• Devin Pratt, high school principal
• Dianna Pratt, middle/high school tech coordinator

[the educators in this room are from more countries than you probably can place on a map!]

• Change is not linear
  • Expect both bursts and delays
• Complacency and resistance come from…
  • Being busy
  • Maybe being risk adverse
  • Perceived (and actual) threats to professional identity
• DyKnow software really takes advantage of the tablet PCs’ functionality, making it worth the tablets’ extra cost
• Key implementation stages (from John Kotter)
  • Establish a sense of urgency
    • Generate cognitive dissonance!
  • Create a guiding coalition
    • The leadership team has to be on board
  • Develop a vision and strategy
  • Communicate the change vision
    • Repetition of message, vision, goals, etc. is key
    • Lead by example
  • Empower educators for broad-based action
    • Lots of just-in-time professional development
    • Ongoing instrucational support
    • Reliable technology and infrastructure
    • Small, frequent, purposeful meetings
  • Generate short-term wins
    • Teacher-sponsored demos and highlights, tied into concept of enduring understandings
      • Repetition of this gradually overcomes the resisters
    • Teachers are asked to use DyKnow just once and have the lesson observed to get feedback
    • There is a curriculum to foster a sense of responsibility among students
      • Students carry around eggs first; if an egg breaks, the student has to go through a process before she gets another one
      • Later students graduate to laptops but have to leave them at school
      • Finally students get the laptops 24–7
  • Consolidate gains and produce further changes
    • “You don’t know how comfortable you are until you start moving on”
    • Keep stressing ‘here’s where we were 2 years ago and look how much progress we’ve made’
    • Andrew is using a blog to keep staff, students, and parents informed of progress
    • Work on facilitating dispersed leadership
  • Anchor new approaches in the culture of the school
    • Recognize how culture already has changed and build upon it
    • Foster a climate of continuous improvement (kaizen)

Scott’s trip to Mumbai: pics at Flickr, movies at YouTube.

Sharing the global stage: Musings on Mumbai

[cross-posted at the TechLearning blog]

After nearly 24 hours here in Mumbai, several things already are quite apparent to me…

1. The Southern states in the USA - my previous benchmark for hospitality – have nothing on the folks that I have encountered so far in India (and I say that as a native of the South). The people here have been uniformly gracious, friendly, and welcoming.
2. The word that best describes this city might be LOTS. As in LOTS of poverty (it’s staggering, really, to a Westerner such as myself). As in LOTS of traffic (a bewildering mess of cars, trucks, taxis, buses, auto-rickshaws, scooters, bicycles, and pedestrians, all darting in and out of extremely small gaps in traffic). As in LOTS of people and LOTS and LOTS of construction and LOTS of energy. Somehow it all combines together into a positive, tangible buzz. There is a feel to this place – a palpable sense that this is a city that is on the move.
3. Mumbai is a place of startling juxtapositions. At the foot of a gleaming corporate office building will be a shantytown. Adjacent to an eight-block section of decrepit, decaying apartment buildings (that, of course, are packed with residents) will be a shiny glass-and-marble shopping mall. Next to a filthy, tin-roofed store selling tires (that appears to be held up only by the posters and ads affixed to its rickety wooden walls) will be a new high-end electronics store selling HDTVs.
4. For all of the possibility that is here, there’s still an enormously long way to go. Mumbai and other parts of India may be on a tremendous upswing but there are hundreds and hundreds of millions of people who are seeing little, if any, of the economic growth. That said, it’s a numbers game. Even if only one or two hundred million people in a nation of over a billion join the Indian middle class, the economic impact on the global economy will be quite substantial.
5. Any tech plan that starts like this (as does the American School of Bombay’s) is probably going to be pretty succesful:

As our world becomes more technologically and globally interconnected, it’s increasingly imperative that we all understand and plan how to facilitate student and faculty acquisition and mastery of 21st century skills. The 21st century isn’t a time in the future; it is now.

Have I said anything that hasn’t been said before? Probably not. But I now can feel in my gut a sense of what this city is like. In Flight of the Creative Class, Richard Florida notes that the biggest danger facing the USA is not terrorism but rather that talented, creative people will stop wanting to come to America. There are places for those people here in Mumbai (and in South Korea, Australia, Singapore, Ireland…). Tom Friedman is right: we Americans are going to have to get used to sharing the global stage.

Scott’s trip to Mumbai: pics at Flickr, movies at YouTube.

[cross-posted at the TechLearning blog]

After nearly 24 hours here in Mumbai, several things already are quite apparent to me…

1. The Southern states in the USA - my previous benchmark for hospitality – have nothing on the folks that I have encountered so far in India (and I say that as a native of the South). The people here have been uniformly gracious, friendly, and welcoming.
2. The word that best describes this city might be LOTS. As in LOTS of poverty (it’s staggering, really, to a Westerner such as myself). As in LOTS of traffic (a bewildering mess of cars, trucks, taxis, buses, auto-rickshaws, scooters, bicycles, and pedestrians, all darting in and out of extremely small gaps in traffic). As in LOTS of people and LOTS and LOTS of construction and LOTS of energy. Somehow it all combines together into a positive, tangible buzz. There is a feel to this place – a palpable sense that this is a city that is on the move.
3. Mumbai is a place of startling juxtapositions. At the foot of a gleaming corporate office building will be a shantytown. Adjacent to an eight-block section of decrepit, decaying apartment buildings (that, of course, are packed with residents) will be a shiny glass-and-marble shopping mall. Next to a filthy, tin-roofed store selling tires (that appears to be held up only by the posters and ads affixed to its rickety wooden walls) will be a new high-end electronics store selling HDTVs.
4. For all of the possibility that is here, there’s still an enormously long way to go. Mumbai and other parts of India may be on a tremendous upswing but there are hundreds and hundreds of millions of people who are seeing little, if any, of the economic growth. That said, it’s a numbers game. Even if only one or two hundred million people in a nation of over a billion join the Indian middle class, the economic impact on the global economy will be quite substantial.
5. Any tech plan that starts like this (as does the American School of Bombay’s) is probably going to be pretty succesful:

ASB Unplugged

My colleague, Dr. David Quinn, and I were invited to come help with the ASB Unplugged 1:1 laptop conference for international schools in late February. We'll be working with the folks at the American School of Bombay in Mumbai, India. They're sponsoring the event along with The Laptop Institute. Hope some of you will be there too!

Two from Seth Godin

The Wikipedia gap

I don't know about you, but when I hire someone, or go to the doctor or the architect or an engineer, I could care less about how good they are at memorizing or looking up facts. I want them to be great at synthesizing ideas, the faster and more insightfully, the better.

Please don't tell me that Wikipedia isn't a real encyclopedia or one that can't be trusted. Perhaps it can't be trusted if you're prepping for a Presidential debate, but it is sure good enough to help me learn what I need to learn--which is how to quickly take a bunch of facts and turn them into a new and useful idea.

Here's what just about every exam ought to be: "Use Firefox to find the information you need to answer this question:" And as the internet gets smarter, the questions are going to have to get harder. Which is a good thing.

Until teachers get unstuck, our kids are going to be stuck and so will we.

This changes everything

This is a story about tools and bravery and marketing.

The tools: when you give a kid a net connection, access to wikipedia and to the rest of the world, things change fast. Things you wouldn't necessarily predict. Like a ten year old who can diagnose his dad's illness. Or a farmer that can ask his daughter to find out where to get a new part for the tractor. Or...

…

The marketing: Everything, even laptops for kids, works its way through the innovation diffusion curve. That means that most countries, most organizations and most communities aren't going to adopt this tool for a few years. It doesn't matter if it's perfect... these things take time. Smart marketing embraces the curve and doesn't insist that it must change for this project, right now.

One kid (or five kids) at a time. It's enough. It'll happen.

From Thailand: Leadership training from a global monk

This is the 3rd of this week's blogs from the California School Leaders in Thailand.  They are participating in an international post-graduate leadership program in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Phra Saneh Dhammavaro is as far away from what we imagine what a global leader would be.  He is modestly clothed with an orange robe, and has very little or no use for anything else except for a pair of footwear.  After spending a few hours with him, however, we were floored as our preconceived notions were instantly shattered.  He speaks with the gentlest of voices as he shared his thoughts and described his way of life.  What he was really doing was speaking to our hearts as leaders.

We listened to Phra make comparisons between our western way of life and his practices, beliefs and ideals.  He shared with us the importance of establishing balance between mind and body.  As visitors, we took care of the body’s needs satisfying the senses with Thailand’s sights, food and massage.  Phra challenged us that the mind equally needs the same attention.  From this message we were reminded that sometimes leaders must remove and place themselves above tangible material things and non-tangible items such as politics and competing ideas that clutter decision-making and focus on what is right.

He talked about world events and offered a simple solution to everyday crisis and social ills that are readily applicable to our day-to-day lives as school administrators and most importantly our personal lives. Following the way of the Buddha, he suggests, “Instead of finding fault in others, look to your own misdeeds.”  He implored us to look within our own selves and strive to find UNDERSTANDING as a way to avoid conflicts.  While this idea is not new, it is often forgotten in the context of our everyday lives and our work at schools.  Towards the end of our time together, he asked us to meditate with him.  We closed our eyes and listened to him describe a happy place free of hate, violence and pain.  He then filled the void full of love, peace and comfort- an ideal environment we strive to achieve as educators.  In closing our eyes, our consciousness opened we were reacquainted to the reasons why we entered this profession.

In search of a place for training on global leadership, one might look towards a metropolitan city such as London, Tokyo, or New York.  Perhaps Chiang Mai should be included in this list.  Thailand’s 2nd largest city of is dotted with Thai wats or temples reminding its citizens of Buddhism’s ancient and lasting legacies.  Its people especially the Thai monks, at first glance, are seemingly unaware of things taking place around them and probably have nothing to offer to us.  All of our notions were immediately dispelled after meeting Phra Saneh Dhammavaro, Director of Academic Affairs at Buddhist University in Chiang Mai. It seems as if he has known us for while, where we came from and the weight of the baggage we carry.  The way he framed and made sense of our work in the context of our world demonstrated not only his knowledge but also his understanding.  And in doing so, he moved some of us to tears as we realize how much further we need to go not only as leaders, but most importantly as human beings.

Daniel Gumarang, School Improvement Facilitator, Los Angeles Unified
School District and
Craig Knotts, Assistant Principal, Celerity Nascent Charter School
Participating in the Thailand for School Leaders Program

Leaders in Thailand: Elephant Conservation Center

Elephant Conservation Center

After an intense week of late nights working and fast-paced assignments, several members of our cohort took a needed reprieve Saturday to visit the beloved and endangered Asian elephants.  We were aware that elephant population in Thailand has declined from 5000 three years ago to less than 2000 now.  This decline has resulted from mistreatment, neglect, or abuse by trainers or owners, often vying for tourist dollars.  We also know that poaching and devastation of the elephants’ natural habitat have greatly contributed to their decline. We wanted to find a place where the elephants would be treated humanely.  Because the all-day visit to the Elephant Nature Park did not fit our schedule, we visited the Elephant Conservation Center in Lampang Province, south of Chiang Mai.  This is a government-run establishment with a unique “elephant hospital” that nurses back elephants before they are returned to the jungle.

We also had an opportunity to appreciate the skills and intelligence of these magnificent animals in an elephant show. The show was a re-enactment of the work elephants would perform in the logging industry. They have transferred these skills to entertain an enthusiastic audience. Walking in single file, holding each other’s tails, as they do in their natural habitat, the elephants enter the large corral. Guided by the ‘driver’ these enormous creatures perform their task with ease; pulling, pushing and stacking logs.  We were then treated to a musical performance and painting on canvas, done by the elephants!  Several of us purchased these paintings to hang in our homes.

Watching these animals demonstrate these amazing skills, our minds are drawn to the fact that there are similarities in what we have been experiencing as a leadership cohort.  We have all brought our unique qualities to this learning environment in an amazing country.

We have been encouraged by our teacher or ‘driver’ to perform many tasks, utilizing our inherent and transferable skills. We are all performing at a level we never thought possible! This unique environment allows us to open up to the possibilities of a new vision of leadership in the future. Our challenge is to bring this home and share our new canvas with students and staff in our schools.

JoAnne Motter & Minh Tram Nguyen

[JoAnne is Assistant Principal in the Tustin Unified School District & Tram is Principal at EnCompass Academy, Oakland Unified School District]

Greetings from Chiang Mai, Thailand!

Greetings from Chiang Mai, Thailand!

We are a cohort of 10 administrators from California who decided to take a risk and look at leadership from a global perspective. We’ve had the opportunity to experience educational programs from a fresh viewpoint.

However, there is a sea of differences in the schools we visited. The variety ranged from a university demonstration school, to a private school, to a public welfare school. Each site greeted us with openness, warmth and a willingness to share. Friendliness and grace has been experienced in each place we’ve gone and with almost every Thai we’ve encountered.

In each of the schools, they presented their program with the same pride and passion for their students and their work that each of us feels about our own work. All this was communicated even with the cross cultural differences and language barrier. In one school, we saw needy children who live in dormitories, do their own laundry, help with the cooking, and who may receive parent visitors at most twice a month. In spite of all these obstacles, the students were happy and learning.

In both places, Standards were more similar than we expected. Along with the content that our California students receive, Thai students receive religious, vocational and cultural education as well. As educational leaders developing a greater global awareness and sensitivity, at the schools we visited, we were surprised to find that this is already a part of a Thai child’s education.

Daniel Guliasi & Joann Kennelly

Daniel is Principal in the Novato Unified School District & Joann is Director of Special Education in Centinela Valley Union High School District

SMS: Be sensible, respect laws

For those of you who haven't been following politics in Thailand, apparently today's an important day. Some of the political parties there have been accused of rigging last year's election and Thailand's Constitutional Tribunal is handing down an important ruling today that may dissolve one or more of the parties. Many Thai citizens are preparing for post-decision turmoil, including stocking up on food and other essential supplies.

The Thai government sent out a SMS message yesterday to cell phone users in the country: "All Thais should embrace HM the King's words of advice. Be conscious. Cherish unity. Be sensible and Respect laws...from CNS." [CNS is the Council for National Security, the military regime currently governing Thailand]

My colleague, Dr. Gerry Fry, shares this note from his friend, David Rubin: "We have heard about protest groups and other movements of young persons all over the world using SMS through cell phones to communicate with each other as to movements and tactics, much to the chagrin of local authorities. This is the first instance I have seen of a governmental authority using the same cell phone facilities to send messages out to potential protesters."

Does the possibility of governments using cell phone SMS to reach citizens spook anyone?

Internet in a box

Internet access in developing countries can be prohibitively expensive and cumbersome (e.g., thousands of dollars per month for speeds that often are less than dial-up). Now imagine if someone identified a wealth of high-quality educational materials on the Internet, downloaded them using web site ‘scraping’ software, and then made them available on an inexpensive hard drive that could be plugged into an existing server network. All of a sudden, individuals could access many of the incredible resources on the Web quickly, easily, and cheaply, without consuming expensive bandwidth. Can you imagine how empowering that would be?

‘The Internet in a Box.’ That’s the idea behind the University of Iowa eGranary Digital Library project, which is making web sites, books, journals, and educational software available to universities, schools, clinics, and libraries in the developing world. This is a pretty nifty idea (and I’m not just saying this because I’m a U. Iowa alum). I encourage you to check out the eGranary fact sheet, content catalog, list of subscribers, and other materials.

I wonder how this could intersect with the One Laptop per Child initiative. Also, wouldn't it be a great school project to raise money to buy these for some institutions in other countries?

Leapfrogging less developed nations

I previously posted about wireless technologies in less developed nations. Kofi Annan supported this view nearly 4 years ago! One cool indigenous Wi-Fi innovation, is the Cambodian motoman. Here, motorcycle drivers equipped with with Wi-Fi contraptions, drive past schools and health centers to download and retrieve email.

"As they pass each school and one health centre, they transmit the messages they have downloaded and retrieve any outgoing mail queued in the school or health centre computer, also equipped with a similar book-sized transmission box. They then go on to the next school. At the end of the day they return to the hub to transmit all the collected e-mail to the Internet for any point on the globe."

Less developed nations are indeed making strides to leapfrog old technologies. This leapfrog effect can be seen in education, health care, information, energy, economies, and more. Thomas Friedman wrote how globalization has essentially created a 'flat' world. The globalized processes Friedman refers to have really made possible the leapfrog effect.

The question remains, how will these nations tap into digital possibilities and genuinely leapfrog industrialized nations?

ICT and sustainable development

Wired magazine ran an interesting story in their April 2007 edition about an entrepreneur in the Ivory Coast who bought a cell phone, rigged up a 'telephone booth' and earned $200 the first month charging community members 80 cents per minute. The same man bought a PlayStation and charged 10-20 cents to play a game earning him $20 in the first three days!

I mention this story because with ICT in international development, there is much promise and a lot of the best solutions are indeed indigenous (Thanks John). A main role for ICT4D planners and policy makers is localizing technology to the needs of the community. This is evident from my experiences in Cambodia where outside experts were not in touch with the needs of the teachers yet some teachers simply found applicable ways to use the skills that were outside of the scope of the training.

ICT has promise in the less developed world. However experts from more developed countries have the onus to not just plop ICTs into a nations without thinking about localization and sustainability. After all, development is not about giving fish, it is about teaching others to fish for themselves!

Embracing technology in less developed nations

The mission of the One Laptop per Child initiative begins:

"Most of the nearly two–billion children in the developing world are inadequately educated, or receive no education at all. One in three does not complete the fifth grade.

The individual and societal consequences of this chronic global crisis are profound. Children are consigned to poverty and isolation—just like their parents—never knowing what the light of learning could mean in their lives. At the same time, their governments struggle to compete in a rapidly evolving, global information economy, hobbled by a vast and increasingly urban underclass that cannot support itself, much less contribute to the commonweal, because it lacks the tools to do so."

I have been talking with collegues lately about the future of education and technologies that will fuel change. The question is usually how will advances in technology such the Nokia N800, a Wi-Fi Internet tablet which includes VoIP support and WiMax which enables long range wireless broadband access change society in less developed nations? Will these tools along with initiatives like the One Laptop per Child change education in less developed nations?

I read a lot of work by naysayers who claim that less developed nations simply do not have the capacity to embrace such technologies. I agree if we restrict our discussion to a physically tangible ICT environment...but wireless technologies change the game. For starters, simply look at how many developing nations now have more cell phones than landline telephones. When I was recently in Cambodia I had cell phone access everywhere! Even in rural areas 6 hours away from any major town I always had good reception and never had a dropped call. There is promise if planners and policymakers think outside of the box.

Networked Readiness Index

The Networked Readiness Index measures how prepared countries are to tap into the power of ICTs by focusing on the readiness of the environment and stakeholders as well as measuring the usage of stakeholders. You can read parts of the 2006-2007 Global Information Technology Report here.

The top ten nations are:

1. Denmark
2. Sweden
3. Singapore
4. Finland
5. Switzerland
6. Netherlands
7. United States
8. Iceland
9. United Kingdom
10. Norway

The bottom ten nations are (position 113-122):

• Cameroon
• Paraguay
• Mozambique
• Lesotho
• Zimbabwe
• Bangladesh
• Ethiopia
• Angola
• Burundi
• Chad

Take note that the U.S. is seventh while European nations dominate the top ten. Eight out of 10 of the bottom entries actually lost positions and fell in their rankings while six of the top ten entries gained ground and improved their NRI.

The nations that gained 10 or more position are Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Croatia, Guatemala, Ecuador, and Guyana. The nations that lost 10 or more positions are Cyprus, Pakistan, Jordan, Botswana, South Africa, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Uganda, Cameroon, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe.

Since nations in Europe are dominating this list with regard to the NRI, some nations in South America are making great strides upward, and some African nations are falling further behind, what does this mean for educational development?

I give you this background data because I am often asked about the future of ICT4D and the ability of less developed nations to really embrace ICTs. In general the pressing issues for the near future of ICT4D as I see it are:

• Professional development and technology leadership issues in South America (showing the most promise for Web 2.0 advances);
• Infrastructural development issues in Africa; and
• A balance of infrastructure, professional development, and technology leadership issues in Asia and the Middle East.

International Perspectives

Have you ever thought about technology issues facing less developed nations? Well...that is my perspective for this week. To begin my guest blogging week, I would like to share some of my experiences working in Cambodia on an ICT in education project.

First off, let me say I address the issue of technology leadership from an ICT4D (Information and Communication Technologies for Development) perspective. My focus is how less developed nations can address social, political, and educational issues through ICTs. An awesome source for grey literature on ICT4D can be found via the Washington Post. The grey literature is a great source for current and relevant pieces on this topic. If you are interested in reading only one piece, you can download ICT4D - Connecting People for a Better World as a good resource.

I could ramble on endlessly about how great my experience in Cambodia was or how amazing the Khmer people were to me. I did keep a blog about my time in Cambodia that included many cool pics but was unable to make entries regularly due to issues of time and technology. But today I would like to focus on challenges of actually implementing an ICT in education project in a less developed nation.

Imagine an expert training you how to ride a motorcycle by using a stationary bicycle. The stationary bike is great, but you do not know how to balance or turn the motorcycle; you do not know how the motorcycle will help you get to work faster when you cannot even start the contraption; once you figure out how to start the beast, you have no idea how to troubleshoot or repair when issues arise; the motorcycle given to you is old, breaks often, and it is difficult to find replacement parts; the only repair guide you have is in another language; and your trainer had little experience riding a motorcycle in your neighborhood and is thus uncertain of traffic rules and road conditions. This analogy aptly describes my experiences:

1) Experts were brought in without knowing the job demands of the teachers. Additionally, the training was focused on skills acquisition versus skills utilization. The skills were not localized to the needs of the teachers.

2) The computers donated to the country were used units. The Ministry had to literally piece together parts to build Frankenstein units.

3) There is no software support for languages such as Khmer. Thus, using drop-down menus to help figure out software was not possible.

4) The keyboards had Roman keys whereas the Khmer language uses Pallava script. Thus, teachers had learn to type using a Roman script QWERTY keyboard with a paper cutout of a Khmer keyboard taped beside the actual keyboard.

5) Donated computers are often old and slow. It was difficult to find replacement parts and find software that worked well together given hardware limitations.

6) The training was not ongoing. The lack of opportunities to practice, seek help, correct misunderstanding, and apply learnings hindered the adoption of ICTs.

Don't get me wrong...this project did some amazing things like training every teacher trainer in the country, making ICT in education a national issue, creating a national ICT in education policy, providing colleges with over 800 computers, and generally raising the ICT awareness in the country as a whole. However, I see there is still a lot of work yet to do.

Overblown alarmism and empty rhetoric

[cross-posted at the TechLearning blog]

[Law students learn to argue both sides of any issue because as attorneys they may be hired for either side of a case. Knowledge of the other side’s arguments also allows attorneys to counter those arguments and thus strengthen their own side. So with that in mind, here’s a little contrarian perspective on School 2.0. As technology advocates, we must be able to offer real solutions, not just empty rhetoric.]

 

Dear School 2.0 advocates,

We’ve heard it all before. The sky is falling. America is in danger of losing its role as lead actor on the global stage. What else is new?

National commissions? Esteemed task forces? Corporate leaders as education critics? We’ll see your Bill Gates and raise you a Sputnik.

We heard it in the 1950s:

We are engaged in a grim duel. We are beginning to recognize the threat to American technical supremacy which could materialize if Russia succeeds in her ambitious program of achieving world scientific and engineering supremacy by turning out vast numbers of well-trained scientists and engineers. . . We have let our educational problem grow much too big for comfort and safety. We are beginning to see now that we must solve it without delay. - Admiral Hyman Rickover, 1959

We heard it in the 1980s:

The risk is not only that the Japanese make automobiles more efficiently than Americans and have government subsidies for development and export. It is not just that the South Koreans recently built the world's most efficient steel mill, or that American machine tools, once the pride of the world, are being displaced by German products. It is also that these developments signify a redistribution of trained capability throughout the globe. . . If only to keep and improve on the slim competitive edge we still retain in world markets, we must dedicate ourselves to the reform of our educational system for the benefit of all--old and young alike, affluent and poor, majority and minority. Learning is the indispensable investment required for success in the "information age" we are entering. - A Nation at Risk, 1983

We heard it in the 1990s:

America’s education system is broken. - IBM CEO Louis Gerstner, 1994

And we’re hearing it again today:

Whereas for most of the 20th century the United States could take pride in having the best-educated workforce in the world, that is no longer true. Over the past 30 years, one country after another has surpassed us. . . . While our international counterparts are increasingly getting more education, their young people are getting a better education as well. . . . Our relative position in the world's education league tables [continues] its long slow decline. - The New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, 2006

America’s high schools are obsolete. - Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, 2005

And yet, somehow, despite our educational system’s long history of alleged mediocrity, our country and our economy keep chugging along quite nicely. Our standard of living is the envy of most of the world. Our gross domestic product per capita literally dwarfs those of China or India, the latest international competition du jour. Despite our country’s creativity-stifling schools, our citizens and workers continue, quite astonishingly, to build upon our nation’s well recognized and long-standing traditions of innovation and excellence to create new products, new systems, and new markets.

We’ve heard it all before. Creative thinking. Problem solving. Independent, self-directed learning. Daniel Pink, Richard Florida, John Seely Brown…

Ho hum. Ever heard of progressive education? The turn of the LAST century? Summerhill? John Dewey? Neil Postman? The 1960s? Been there, done that. Why is THIS time any different? Why is it that THIS time we should replace the entire system?

Yes, we get it. Most kids think schools are boring. Big surprise. John Goodlad told us that long ago. As if we needed ANYONE to tell us that. Isn’t that just the way school is?

Fine. School 2.0 is the “right” thing to do. Technology has the potential to transform education. Our educational institutions could be doing so much more. Educators should feel more of a moral imperative to do things differently. Blah blah blah… Let’s be honest: isn’t this true for ANY bureaucratic government entity? Do we really expect our public schools to be any different?

We’ve heard it all before. The status quo is inadequate. Too many kids drop out, our assessment systems are all wrong, and we’re squandering our children’s future. The problem is that you offer no concrete, tangible, publicly- and politically-viable alternatives.

It’s easy to throw stones at glass houses. It’s much harder to replace a venerable system that’s served us well for a century with something else. The old saw, “Never make a complaint without offering potential solutions” applies here in spades. Just for argument’s sake, let’s say that we “tore down the walls” tomorrow. What would education look like instead? How would we ever get there from where we are now? How are you going to persuade educators, and politicians, and your local community members that this is worth moving toward? That it’s not just pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking?

What’s your plan? We mean a real plan. Not just “kids learning independently on matters of personal interest, taking advantage of the power of digital technology to help them do so.” What will the structures look like? Policies? Laws? Funding streams? How will we know if kids have learned anything important? How will we handle parents’ very real needs for someone to take their kids while they go to work?

Quit offering us wishes. Quit offering us dreams. Quit preaching to us about what is morally right and educationally appropriate. Help us realize, in terms we can understand, what this new thing might actually look like AT SCALE and how we might reasonably get here. Even if we agree with you that this is important, without a vision AND a plan we’re just as stuck as you are.

We’ve heard it all before. What else you got?