Posts Tagged ‘social networking’

Blips not to overlook

January 31st, 2013 by Butch Owens

Radar screenAs we venture forth into 2013, I thought it might be a good time to take a look at some items that should be on every administrator’s radar.  We all need to be developing a plan on how we will incorporate each into our schools.

Learning Management Systems

A learning management system (LMS) is a software application or Web-based technology used to plan, implement, and assess a specific learning process. Typically, a learning management system provides an instructor with a way to create and deliver content, monitor student participation, and assess student performance. A learning management system may also provide students with the ability to use interactive features such as threaded discussions, video conferencing, and discussion forums.  Read more.

Flipped Classrooms

Flip teaching (or flipped classroom) is a form of blended learning which encompasses any use of technology to leverage the learning in a classroom, so a teacher can spend more time interacting with students instead of lecturing. This is most commonly being done using teacher-created videos that students view outside of class time. It is also known as backwards classroom, reverse instruction, flipping the classroom, and reverse teaching.  Read more.

BYOD

Bring your own device (also referred to as Bring your own technology (BYOT), Bring your own phone (BYOP), and Bring your own PC (BYOPC)) is a term that is frequently used to describe the policy of permitting employees to bring personally owned mobile devices (laptops, tablets, and smart phones) to their place of work and use those devices to access privileged company information and applications.[1] The term is also used to describe the same practice applied to students using personally owned devices in education settings.  Read more.

MOOC

A massive open online course (MOOC) is a type of online course aimed at large-scale participation and open access via the web. MOOCs are a recent development in the area of distance education and a progression of the kind of open education ideals suggested by open educational resources. Examples include Khan Academy and free offerings from Stanford and MIT.  Read more.

Google Docs

Google Docs is a free web-based office suite offered by Google within its Google Drive service. It also was a storage service but has since been replaced by the before-mentioned Google Drive. It allows users to create and edit documents online while collaborating in real-time with other users. Google Docs combines the features of Writely and Spreadsheets with a presentation program incorporating technology designed by Tonic Systems.  Learn more.

California Student Bill of Rights Initiative

The California Student Bill of Rights Initiative did not make the ballot last November, but had it qualified for the ballot and been approved by the state’s voters, it would have:

  • Authorized school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools to claim average daily attendance funding for student participation in approved online courses.
  • Authorized school districts to contract with public and private providers to deliver online courses taught by credentialed teachers.
  • Allowed students to take online courses offered by any school district, regardless of student’s residence.
  • Provided students access to courses required for admission to state universities.
  • Established the “California Diploma”, which would have demonstrated completion of courses required for University of California and California State University admission.

If students need flexibility in their schedule or a teacher in another district has a great online course, students will definitely seek out that option if available—and the ADA would follow the student for that course. Students will no longer be held hostage to what their local district, school or individual teacher of a course is offering.

Huffington article on California online bill of rights

Click image above to read this Huffington post article.

Personal Learning Networks

A personal learning network (PLN) is an informal learning network that consists of the people a learner interacts with and derives knowledge from in a personal learning environment. In a PLN, a person makes a connection with another person with the specific intent that some type of learning will occur because of that connection.  Read more.

Sir Ken Robinson: Changing Educational Paradigms

This is a great 11 minute video by Sir Ken Robinson to open up the dialog about the need to change and adapt our schools to meet the needs of students today and into the future. Pay particular attention to the section on divergent thinking. As Sir Ken points out this is one of the most important traits students will need to be successful in our changing world.  Learn more.

A Question

Let me finish by posing a question. If students truly have a choice about what courses they take and where they take them, will they choose to stay enrolled in a course that is textbook-driven and without access to technology or any expectation to use technology to produce evidence of their learning? Or would they choose a hybrid or blended course with online,24/7, access to highly interactive threaded discussions, media rich resources, and the ability to schedule the class around other commitments and activities?

Take for example this brief blog post.  It starts with a brief description and includes links to other resources for those looking to explore a topic in depth.  Compare this to a one page article with definitions of each trend. Which would provide a better understanding of the topic? Which would lead to a deeper understanding? Which is more engaging?

If you are looking to continue this conversation you should consider attending the Leadership 3.0 Symposium sponsored by TICAL, ACSA and CUE.  It takes place April 11–13, 2013 at the Hyatt Regency, Irvine, California.  Learn more.

 

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Posted in Leadership, Pondering, Technology Planning | 3 Comments »

Classroom Visits Inform and Inspire

November 22nd, 2012 by Devin Vodicka

After 13 wonderful years with the Carlsbad Unified School District, I made the leap to neighboring Vista Unified as the new Superintendent in July.  Vista Unified is the fourth-largest district in San Diego County with over 22,000 students (25,000 when charters are included) and 32 school sites.  To help me to understand the new setting I made it a goal to visit every classroom within the first two months of the school year.  While I still have a few to see, I have managed to see hundreds of classrooms within that timeframe.

Though the duration of each visit was relatively brief, I saw amazing consistency in many respects and I also observed some unique and innovative practices.  In all, it has been a tremendous learning opportunity and I wish that I could share the experience in great detail.  In the spirit of brevity, here are three examples I doubt I would have seen even a few years ago.

High School

At Rancho Buena Vista High School the students in an English class had worked in small groups to create posters with content that would be used in an upcoming test.  In lieu of having each student copy the documents, the teacher invited students to take photos using their smartphones and then share the images with peers.  Brilliant!

 

High school students using cellphone in English class.

Rancho Buena Vista High School student uses phone to capture image of documents in English class.

Elementary School

In a primary classroom at Beaumont Elementary School, one teacher asked students to compose messages that could fit in a 140-character Twitter post to share their impressions of the classroom with me.  This was a great cross-disciplinary idea that required students to use a sentence frame and their writing skills.  Counting the characters required some number sense and application of mathematics.  Who knew that a Twitter assignment could be used as a prompt for first-grade students?

 

Twitter messages to the new superintendent.

Twitter messages to the new superintendent.

 

Tablets absolutely are  beginning to transform the educational experience for students.  In this photo from Temple Heights Elementary School the teacher was able to replay the work that a student had done on a particular math problem to better understand their reasoning and problem-solving approach.  The ease of use, portability, and flexibility of the tablets seem to be leading to higher levels of use than the computers that have all-too-frequently been left alone in the corners of the classroom.  I saw tablets being used for independent work, guided activities, and direct instruction in conjunction with LCD projectors.  I suspect that what I saw was simply the tip of the iceberg.

 

Elementary student using a tablet computer.

Elementary student using a tablet computer.

Insights

In reflecting on this experience, here are two quick insights:

  1. This is an amazing time to be in education.  New and innovative options for teaching and learning are emerging daily.
  2. Any educator in need of inspiration should find a way to visit classrooms.  The enthusiasm of the students—and the adults—is absolutely contagious.

I am already looking forward to the next round of visits!

Stay connected and follow our progress ….

Editor’s note: Here’s one of Devin’s recent Twitter posts.

 

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Posted in Integration, Leadership, Models | 6 Comments »

Gaining Perspective with LinkedIn

July 24th, 2012 by Lisa Marie Gonzales

Charlie Rose interviews LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman and Jeff Weiner.

I’ll admit it. I’m a LinkedIn convert.

As of this summer, my time spent on LinkedIn has surpassed my use of Facebook. My colleagues would be proud but, until now, I haven’t come out of the closet to share my newfound interest.

Yes, I am one of those who joined LinkedIn years ago, as did my non-techie husband (he was member number 1,060 but the first 1,000 were Beta and according to him “didn’t really count”).  I never really saw the application in education until this summer when I spent a little time with a true LinkedIn believer who just happens to be one of the company’s vice presidents.

Before, when asked by colleagues in education, “Should I join LinkedIn?” my response was consistent: “It doesn’t hurt but it’s really designed for use in the non-education, business world.”

Shows what little I knew.

Robust World of Discussions

A robust world of discussions from education leaders all over the country exists in “groups” on LinkedIn, with the periodic international educator jumping in with a global perspective that often makes me sit back and think a little deeper.   Take, for example, the group established by the American Association of School Administrators.  The 6,000 members in its LinkedIn group have been exploring conversations about reform efforts like K-12 grouping structures, recommended professional reads for professional learning communities, and incentives for behavior programs. I spent this morning joining in the discussion about K-12 multi-age groupings, and within an hour had taken the conversation offline and now have research and three PowerPoint presentations from different leaders in the conversation on how they implemented multi-age classrooms, plus longitudinal data on its impact.

ASCD has another rich conversation network, thanks to its 3,700-member group.  Looking for a resource?  Perhaps 7-12th grade student-centered math projects?  This is a great place to ask for help as the breadth of members allows for a broader perspective and analysis of resources and best practices that we might not be as familiar with here in California.

One of my favorites is the Technology Integration in Education group, now close to 16,000 members strong. The discussions progress quickly, though you do have to sort through those initiated by vendors. I have a tech presentation I was asked to present to our countywide Library Camp next month. While I know what tech tools and web resources may be valuable for teachers and administrators, I struggled with the newly changing librarian perspective.  Two days after my query in this group, I had enough resources to double the length of my presentation.

Customized Suggestions

This morning I made the mistake of clicking on “Groups You Might Like.”  Thanks to its analytical tools, LinkedIn has figured out my preferences, dislikes, and what I most desire for dinner tonight. I selected a few more groups than I think I can handle monitoring on a regular basis, including the 5,300 member strong STEM Connections for K-12 Education (can I get them to consider adding the “A” to STEM for the arts?). Not surprising that 57 of my LinkedIn friends, known as “connections,” are already members of this group. Great minds think alike. Or maybe I have too many connections.  The International Society for Technology in Education was my second choice. It’s got close to 17,000 members!  I am confident I will have more to share with TICAL colleagues and other tech leaders after a little time in this group.

CUE, Inc. has a group on LinkedIn (thanks to Mike Lawrence who clearly realized the value of LinkedIn before I did). So does ACSA, but its moving much more slowly than others. We’ll see what we can do about that.

Jobs, too!

I guess it would be irresponsible for me not to also share that LinkedIn is great for networking to find jobs all over the country. The more information you put in your profile, including links to Slideshare presentations, articles published and volunteer work, the more views  your profile will have and the more connections you can make. And you never know when you might need a contact in El Paso, Texas.

I’ll stalk you, er, I mean “see” you on LinkedIn!

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Posted in General, Productivity, Professional development | 4 Comments »

How Social Media is Changing School Business

February 20th, 2012 by Devin Vodicka

Technology is impacting international diplomacy.  Under Hillary Clinton’s leadership, the U.S. Department of State is embracing 21st Century Statecraft, which it defines as “The complementing of traditional foreign policy tools with newly innovated and adapted instruments of statecraft that fully leverage the networks, technologies, and demographics of our interconnected world.”  In Secretary Clinton’s own words,

“We’re working to leverage the power and potential in what I call 21st century statecraft. Part of our approach is to embrace new tools, like using cell phones for mobile banking or to monitor elections. But we’re also reaching to the people behind these tools, the innovators and entrepreneurs themselves.”

Interestingly, the Secretary’s comments reflect changes that we also see in local politics and leadership for school districts.  Like many school districts, Carlsbad Unified is facing significant financial challenges due to ongoing revenue reductions.  As a result, our district has been forced to make difficult decisions regarding layoffs, the elimination of programs, bargaining concessions with employee groups, and other expenditure reductions.  Each of these decisions at a local level is inherently political. In the process, our school board faces genuine and legitimate pressure from numerous constituents, all of  whom have strong feelings about protecting services that they feel have the strongest impact on students, families, and the community.

If international policy is now shaped by “using social media and the Internet in combination with more traditional … tools,” what does this imply for leaders at the local level?  First and foremost, I believe that educational leaders must recognize that the impact of social media is a significant factor in shaping perceptions and beliefs.  2011 research by the Pew Internet and American Life Project shows that 65% of adults are now active on social networking sites.  In addition, the research found that even controlling for demographic factors such as age and education, social network users “were more likely to be politically involved than similar Americans.”

Once we as school leaders recognize this reality, the first step is to become engaged in the social networks as a contributor.  In our district, we have been using Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Blogger as platforms to share good news and to help us respond in crisis situations.  More recently, I started a blog to share business services updates, most of which focus on our current financial challenges.  Information posted to the blog is then fed into our district website, shared through the district Facebook page, and linked in a Twitter update.  These multiple avenues allow others to re-tweet, share the Facebook update, subscribe to the blog, or embed elements in their own websites.

The “viral” effect has been amazing.  Here is a screenshot of data from some uploads to the blog.  Given that we have around 11,000 students in our district, the number of times these documents have been viewed shows that there is a high level of interest from the community in these topics.

The benefits of getting accurate, timely information out to the community are tremendous in terms of ensuring a common base of knowledge.  While our challenges are still monumental, and virtually every possible option for cutting expenses remains controversial, I believe that our process of seeking financial balance would be significantly more difficult if we were not using these social media outlets to help with communications.

My strong opinion, based on these recent experiences, is that school leaders at every level should be determining the best ways to leverage social media and social networks to enhance communications and effectiveness.  If we don’t make a presence in this virtual arena, our absence will indicate a lack of engagement and diminish the relevance of our efforts.  If we truly want schools that prepare students for success in this digital age, we as leaders need to model the way.

For leaders interested in learning more about using social media in schools, I recommend the following resources:

 

 

 

 

 

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Posted in Financial Planning, Leadership, Models, Productivity | No Comments »

Facebook & Twitter Revisited

September 13th, 2010 by Lisa Marie Gonzales

The mere mention of Facebook makes some of us administrators cringe.  Talk about Twitter and eyes roll.  But I say to you, think again.

Facebook now has 511 million active users worldwide, 57% of whom are in the United States.  Establish your school or district on Facebook and you have an instant public relations and communication opportunity.

You have options.   You could start with an official community Facebook page for your school, accessible to anyone in the Facebook world.  It’s easy to add photos, links, discussions, notes, events, and more.  And it’s a multi-way communication tool because people can post messages on your “wall.”  One challenge with a community page is that updates don’t show up in the News Feed.  Also, community pages are limited to 5,000 “followers,” but isn’t garnering that much support a problem we’d all like to have?

A Facebook group is an alternative.  What’s the difference?  For one thing, their size is smaller.  Intended to be places for people to get together and share information, groups are limited to 1,000 members.  But a more important distinction is that groups can be closed.  People who want to participate need your prior approval.  With a closed group, you may feel more comfortable posting pictures or videos from events, working online with your PTA or School Site Council—or even Robotics or Dance Team parents.  You might also like the feature that lets you quickly send messages to group members.

Facebook can be a powerful tool for pushing information out to parents and the larger community about your events, programs, themes, and more. For example, if you have recognize character traits each month, such as caring, respect, or resiliency, you can share and reinforce examples on Facebook.  Its also a great way to publicly thank parents and other volunteers who support your events.  After all, don’t we all love to see our name in lights?

Twitter is another social networking tool that may seem silly to some but can be a loyal ally in your communication campaign.  Each day, some 190 million users send out more than 65 million 140-character “tweets.”  Why not you?  Again, this is not about letting your friends in on what you had for breakfast; this is about building community and connecting with those who you want to know about your programs in your school or district.  Some schools even use it for fund raising.  That’s right: Tweet for dollars!

For both tools, here are some tips.  Think “down to earth.”  Be personable.  Add smiley faces on Facebook—and, yes, copious exclamation marks!!!!!  These touches make people want to follow you and tune in.  Don’t just communicate when something goes wrong or when you need people to act.  Share the fun in school and the accomplishments.   “Wow!  400 students joined me at flag salute today who had perfect attendance for the month of September!  Next month we’re shooting for 500!”  Then sit back and see how many people click, “Like it!”

Too busy to mess with both a Facebook page and a Twitter account?  Not a problem.  You can link your Twitter and Facebook accounts so that when you update Facebook, the information is immediately shared on Twitter, and vice versa.  I prefer to post to Facebook because I don’t have to worry about Twitter’s 140 word limit.  My Twitter followers get a truncated tweet, like a headline, that links to the full version on Facebook.

Sites like Facebook and Twitter are not just for the kids.  These easy-to-use Web 2.0 tools can help you build more of a sense of community and share the message you want others to hear about the work you do.  Learn more from these TICAL resources!

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Posted in Productivity | 1 Comment »