Moving!

Please visit http://www.pamelalivingston.com for a newly combined blog and page on services available!

1-to-1 - Now and Then

I’m prepar­ing for a trip to school in South Korea in the process of a robust 1-to-1 pro­gram and reflect­ing on the past 7+ years work­ing with schools tak­ing this jour­ney.  Here are some over­all observations:

1. It’s still about the peo­ple – the edu­ca­tors, the stu­dents, the par­ents, and admin­is­tra­tors – and mak­ing sure voices are heard, stake­hold­ers are brought into all con­ver­sa­tions. Deci­sions should start with these types of ques­tions – How will [stu­dents] ben­e­fit and par­tic­i­pate? How will [teach­ers] lead? How will [par­ents] sup­port? Then ask the ques­tions again but switch the stake­holder name.

2. Every pro­gram is dif­fer­ent – because each school’s mis­sion, cul­ture, and goals are dif­fer­ent. Ensur­ing align­ment to the school or dis­trict is key.

3. Stu­dents need to be empow­ered and should be part of the plan­ning and dis­cus­sions, and not just as the tar­get of the program.

4. There is no such thing as over plan­ning or over com­mu­ni­cat­ing. Plans will change and be fluid. Every­one will fill in the silence with their own inter­pre­ta­tion if there is not enough communication.

5. Hard­ware and soft­ware keeps get­ting bet­ter, more flex­i­ble, and eas­ier to use.

6. An online learn­ing com­mu­nity is vital  — one that every­one can access – to elim­i­nate unin­ten­tional silos of learn­ing, clut­tered email and frac­tured stu­dent experiences.

7. Fur­ni­ture is improv­ing – check this out: http://www.ideo.com/work/node-chair/

8.  Wifi is bet­ter but a net­work audit is still de rigeur. Most hard­ware ven­dors will help out with this at a low price in hopes of get­ting the contract.

9. Learner-centricity and per­son­al­ized learn­ing is what 1-to-1 is all about. What a plea­sure to see it writ­ten into so many school 1-to-1 plans.

10. Logis­tics still count; lap­tops still break; insur­ance is still needed; elec­tric­ity is a fact of 1-to-1 life.

11. Par­ents are our best part­ners; when they embrace 1-to-1 in their home prac­tices much of the bat­tle is won.

12. Relat­ing 1-to-1 to pre­vi­ous fac­ulty work can be a smart move. One school mod­eled their pend­ing 1-to-1 in part on dis­cus­sions with their fac­ulty sev­eral years back on “what is a 21^st cen­tury class­room.” The ideas of their fac­ulty then became the impor­tant frame­work for pro­vid­ing lap­tops to students.

It’s so great to see that 1-to-1 con­tin­ues to flourish.

- Pamela Livingston

(Also posted on 1to1schools.net)

1-to-1, Flipped Learning, and Online Communities

When I was first speaking with schools about 1-to-1 not long after edition 1 of my book (now in its 2^nd edition) was published, two big questions were – Is your school/district wireless? Are you providing students with email accounts?  Back then, not every school could respond to both questions in the affirmative.

Now we are seeing more ubiquitous devices including tablets, laptops, smart phones and the complexity that ensues. This previous post went into some of the issues faced by schools when introducing BYOD, the comments provide more depth and ideas as well. Any 1-to-1 or BYOD school is wired now as it would make so sense otherwise.

There’s also the concept of flipped learning – an idea even more feasible when students all possess some type of device that is as mobile as they are and which is used to learn, review and synthesize content away from the classroom followed by more indepth social, hands-on learning when back in the classroom. To me, it’s all about learner centricity – if done right. This is a great thing and what we have always wanted – the learner has the resources at his/her fingertips, learning is continously available – and the user-created artifacts of learning are organized and available to the learner at any time.

However, the piece that is also needed is some type of online learning community. Rather than email, which we all know has become a boondoggle in our lives and which students are moving away from in droves, an online learning community can offer a safe, contained space for teachers and students.  

I’ll be presenting at NCCE on Friday, March 1 at 2:30 a session entitled “A ‘Cloud’ for Flipped Classrooms” which is all about how implementing flipped classrooms, or really most technology integration projects, ought to have the cornerstone of an online learning community. The benefits of a learning community include:

•   Providing a central space for learning that extends the classroom
•    Eliminating “Web 2.0 site of the week” syndrome which results in
•   login fatigue (trying to remember which ID and password to use)
•   fractured student experiences (having multiple interfaces to know and navigate)
•      Preventing email clutter
•   Rather than the teacher maintaining lists of internal or external emails, the community uses its own internal messaging
•  Messaging can include sending student documents, marking them up, and returning to the student via attachments – trackable and centralized
•     Threaded discussions
•   Real discussions can occur and be followed
•      Promotes collaboration
• Students can work as a whole class or in smaller groups with teacher oversight
•    Increased student accountability
• No lost paper – the Internet is everywhere – even at McDonald’s!
•   Date and time is stamped with work turned in
•       Shared resources
•  Everyone sees the links, the resources, the photos, podcasts, etc.
•      Assignment posting, turning in
• The assignments and the work are centralized
•     Class calendar
•    A calendar for the class is available

Full disclosure: I manage a great (IMHO!) product that does all this. But this list applies in general as well. 1-to-1 needs an online learning community to unleash its true potential.

Your thoughts and comments are welcome!

-        Pamela Livingston

    (This was also posted at 1to1schools.net)

1-to-1 for Global Learning - Free Webinar!

1-to-1 is as good as what you do with it. If educators view this as a vehicle for critical thinking and 21st Century learning skills, and are ready to allow students to roll up their sleeves and get deeply into thinking, analysis, questions, problems, and ideas, 1-to-1 can offer the facility, resources and tools to make learning happen in deep and meaningful ways. 

An important manifestation for 21st Century learning today is global awareness and understanding. The challenge is for students to embrace our new global world, develop an understanding of other cultures, hone skills and increase knowledge of other ideas and people. 1-to-1 deepens this because student have at their fingertips paths to researching, communicating, sharing and collaborating online.

A leader in global learning is Lucy Gray. I'd like to invite everyone to participate in a free Webinar all about Global Learning from Lucy who heads up the Global Education Conference. It will be Wednesday 10/24 at 1 p.m. Eastern. Please sign up here and feel free to invite others.

Hope to see you there!

Pamela Livingston

BYOD - Questions to Consider - Reposting from 1to1schools.net

BYOD Questions to Consider 

The buzz in 1-to-1 right now is about BYOD - Bring Your Own Device - and it's not a fad and it's not going away. There's a convergence of factors causing it including:

• Hardware is diverse and at price points that are more affordable

• Schools are hyper budget conscious

• The "cloud" (previously called The Internet, the Web and the Information Superhighway) is ideal for core apps which are free or inexpensive such as Google (although be sure to use GAFE), and Zoho

• Parents are realizing that a digital device is necessary for learning

• Schools want to be sure students possess 21st Century skills

But BYOD upsets apple carts right and left. We've been building school infrastructures for a long time that have supported a data-centric model in that IT directors allow or disallow devices on the school network according to a set model which is partly about good design and support, partly about supporting what already exists and partly about not taking on new projects or approaches that require more work, resources, and skill sets. And I've been a tech director in schools so know firsthand that opening a can of worms when it impacts the network, the laptop/desktop standardization, and the hardware replacement plan is not something many people will relish.

But then there are the students. They grow and develop and move to the next grade level and out the door to college and to life. They need to be empowered and learn in an environment that encourages them to think and write and research and publish and present and analyze and create new ideas and solutions to problems. They also need to own and understand the vehicles used for learning. So this might mean BYOD.

In order for BYOD to work well there must be a strong partnership between administration, Board members, teachers, technology, students, and parents. Everyone is going to be impacted by 1-to-1 no matter how it is implemented, whether BYOD or a standard hardware platform either provided or specified by the school or district. But with BYOD it's likely you are going to see some pushback from technology people because of the complexity, change, work, planning and resources required. So here are some questions to consider:

• Have you visited a BYOD school or district?
• If not a team with representative stakeholders should do so armed with lots of questions
• Are you already using Google or Zoho or some cloud solution?
• Without cloud apps BYOD is going to be nearly impossible to implement in a meaningful way
• You need the entire school/district community to be able to communicate, publish, present and share centrally
• How will you define BYOD?
• Will there be a minimum device or specification?
• Will smartphones be one of the devices?
• How's your network - is it ready for
• Wifi everywhere with multiple roaming wireless devices
• Centralized data security (Barracuda, Lightspeed, etc.)
• How will you address logistics?
• Will students be charged with keeping their devices charged, ready and safe/secure?
• Will you have "loaner" devices?
• Will devices be locked up somewhere/somehow during lunch, tests, sports?
• How's your curriculum?
• Are teachers already used to assignments in Google and in using online social media tools so that student work is already free of hardware requirements - and happening in "the cloud"?
• How's your digital citizenship education?
• Do students already know how to keep a respectful appropriate digital footprint?
• In my book I talk about L.A.R.K. - technology use by students should be L - Legal, A - Appropriate, R - Responsible, K - Kind
• How's your communication channel with parents, students?
• If the device is purchased, maintained, repaired and managed by parents and students, it's going to be important to communicate often and well
• How's your budget?
• Unless you have planned fully for the changes of BYOD you might be blindsided by some upgrades or unexpected costs so make sure to ask these questions when you are visiting BYOD schools

There are terrific schools that have been BYOD for years, The Harker School in San Jose comes to mind for instance. Many people I respect have been writing about BYOD including William Stites who posted this blog post for Educational Collaborators early this year, Lisa Nielsen who wrote about debunking BYOD for T.H.E. Journal and a recent article in District Administrator starts with a quote from Lucy Gray who I respect very much -this entire article by the way is an important read. The Laptop Institute which is highly recommended will have threads this summer in Memphis on BYOD.

BYOD can be a solution if you do your planning and homework and try to figure out up front exactly what you're getting into and plan carefully. You'll want to be ready to rethink your network as not being about enabling a few models of specific controllable devices but instead as a pathway to the cloud where your school/district-wide learning community resides.

- Pamela Livingston

Teachers - All Teachers; Students - All Students

Recently I was on a listserv where a discussion on different philosophies and teachers and school models ensued. We seem to have replaced some of the Mac Vs. PC "wars" that used to occur (partly because of  most apps moving so clearly and fully to the cloud) to the private (independent school) vs. charter schools vs. public school arguments.

My take on it - we should be student-centered. That's what I believe. When you are in a student centered environment it is clear from the beginning when you walk in that students are valued, are part of decisions, are included in thinking/planning/ideas, are respected and important. It's not just lip service - it's the real thing. If a school or district makes students integral to the community in multiple ways, students know and value this and I believe will achieve more.

My take on professional development is that it should be teacher-centered. Teachers should participate, chose, frame, give meaningful feedback on, and be heard about what they want to learn, how, when and with whom.

I have personally seen and experienced student-centered spaces in private, public and charter schools. I have also personally seen and experienced highly adult-centered spaces as well. I have also seen and experienced teacher-centered PD in all three spaces; along with PD clearly not involving teachers in meaningful hands-on, community-building and enhancing ways.

Professional Development and - Students?

Professional Development - learning for teachers - should take students into account not just as the "targets" or recipients of what teachers will put in place in the classroom - but - as the active participants in a school wide learning community including teacher PD.  What might this mean?

Students are the largest stakeholder in schools or districts by measure of numbers and impact on their lives and their future. Yet they are routinely not brought into planning, decision-making, and thinking and even being informed about the integral components that will impact them for the rest of their lives.

Recently I worked with a school district in Missouri helping them design their PD program and brought up the idea of students as co-learners, even teachers, and as consultants in the design of how and what their teachers might learn.  Schools are using students in meaningful ways as co-learners and as teachers at The Urban School in San Francisco, and with many schools employing GenYes - just for instance.

Why not bring students into PD design, into your planning and goals, into sessions with teachers, why not have them learn along with the teachers?  If students need to know inquiry-based learning and how to ask deeper and more meaningful questions - and if your teachers need to create classroom goals that are deep and meaningful - why not combine this so that teachers and students consider deeply overarching important questions and goals - together.  If your school or district establishes yearlong goals   which are incorporated into teaching - have a student group that helps plan and create the content that will be taught.

Let students see "behind the curtain" that teachers are learners, too. Let teachers openly share with their students what they are learning about and ask students questions about how they view this learning and their suggestions for improvement.  Teachers can tell students that they never stop learning and give examples and bring up some of their "homework" and ask students how they might approach some ideas.

We speak of Learning Communities and Learning Environments - yet we just assume that students are already members of these communities because they are the targeted learners.  Take them out of the "end result" position and put them closer to all the learners actively engaged in the activities of planning and co-constructing knowledge.  You will be surprised at how much they know and what they are thinking about - and how engaged they will likely be with the process.

Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay run the excellent Flat Classroom Project which you can join with your students.  But how will your school flatten all learning so that students are more than the end recipients and instead move up to a place of full participation in a vibrant learning community of all children and adults - including PD?

Conferences That Work - And Why I'm Loving This Book

I am reading this book Conferences that Work - Creating Events That People Love by Adrian Segar.  I've known Adrian for quite a while since attending the excellent edACCESS conference for the first time while an IT director at an independent school some time ago.  I'd seen the book in pdf version when Adrian asked me and several others to give feedback, I thought it was great then, now think it's even better in print (and check out the Web site as well which is descriptive and will start your creative juices flowing.)

However I'm not planning a conference right now, I'm redesigning a 2-day workshop Middle and High School teachers in Iowa at a school district about to go 1-to-1.  Why would the idea of peer conferences be applicable for a workshop of teachers?  Because, frankly, most PD (professional development) does not deliver what teachers and administrators want - real learning, understanding, and applicability to the point of meaningful replication in the classroom.  And also while we're being honest here, I am becoming less and less interested in the stand-and-deliver version of presentations - keynoting, presenting face-front sessions, watch me and I'll show you things and hope to make it fun and exciting and also try to involve you.

I want everyone to get their hands dirty myself included and to experience what adult learners need - practical ideas they can use, mediated by their own needs, opportunities to do and not just view, time to try and experiment and experience possibilities, metacognitive time to discuss what they are learning and what they are grappling with, and something they will come away with and have to use again at the end.

So thank you Adrian for an excellent book the elements of which will be included in a future workshop for me, even though it won't be a "conference" per se.

#iste11 - ISTE 2011 - Trends I noticed

I've been going to ISTE since about 1998 or so, have presented at maybe 7 or 8. It has been interesting seeing it grow and change and to take note of what seems to be trending every year.

This year I noticed back channels in just about every session (oh except that one where they gave us pieces of paper from a notebook to write down our questions which were then collected), hashtags to follow, QR Codes (which I am particularly intrigued by), iPads everywhere used by attendees and as raffle items, BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) discussions rather than just providing laptops, flash mobs, and pretty good to excellent keynotes. The Blogger Cafe was cramped and too small imho but still where great things were discussed, the poster sessions with students was bigger than previously (yay!) and had great presentations such as by Kristin Sigler and her awesome students, the book section was larger (yay!) and comfortable shoes were de rigueur because of how many buildings were involved and how long it took to walk from one place to another (passing time needed perhaps!) I saw some great sessions including a panel of PA coaches from the Classrooms for the Future project and it was wonderful to see Holly Jobe from PA and lead of the aforementioned CFF, who is so talented and experienced yet ever gracious and humble, take the stage as ISTE president.

I am continually inspired by the energy and innovation of my fellow educators. It is why I stay in this space and why I am continually inspired.

Knitting Your Own Bones

I will be leaving soon for the drive to Philadelphia where I teach a grad class entitled "Emerging Technologies for the Classroom and Corporation" (GRIT550 at Chestnut Hill College). In addition to the great pleasure it is for me to get to know the hard-working adult teachers and other professionals who take the class, and to hear their ideas, it keeps me dwelling in K-12, new technologies, and what is happening in areas needing instructional technology. This is in addition to my full-time job now as Product Manager at Tutor.com which also keeps me in the K-12 space along with managing and leading teams in how products are envisioned, designed, programmed, rolled out, implemented, assessed, and scaled up for the market.

But back to GRIT550. One of the themes of this class is to "knit your own bones." This is an old-fashioned phrase my mother used. The idea is that when you break your arm, doctors do not go in and operate (usually) but instead immobilize the arm with a cast so that the bones themselves will heal and eventually "knit" and one day your arm will be okay. An x-ray will show that there was a break but for most intents and purposes, your arm is now healed and usable.

This applies to learning technology because if you knit your own bones, find ways to solve your own problems and issues, don't get the "answer" (e.g. surgery - or having the professor or someone else tell you precisely what to do and how to do it) you have now grown and expanded and you own the new bone you grew yourself. Like with the x-ray evidence, you can relate in detail to others what it took to grow this new "bone"/technology or other knowledge.

So instead of giving a step-by-step tutorial with everyone taking notes while I show how to use Wikispaces, Weebly, Glogster, or Google sites (the four tools they may chose from for the project which has components due during the course) everyone must learn the tool through the online help or another source. If students get stuck, I ask that everyone go to 1. the help for the tool 2. your PLN (and part of the class is choosing and expanding your PLN) 3. another student 4. "the Google" or another search vehicle. Of course I am to be asked as well but often that results in my posing questions about 1., 2., 3., and 4. with some more suggestions about PLN sources of help.

And an x-ray of my "bones" will show evidence of years and years of knitting as well.

1-to-1: The Next Generation

I am hoping to get 1-to-1 schools or districts to respond to my survey 1-to-1: The Next Generation. Results will be used for a blog post here; at 1-to-1schools.net and at the Anytime Anywhere Learning Foundation. Thanks if you can participate - feel free to forward to others as well.

Sustainability

Just got off a conference call with a school district in Wisconsin. One of the topics was sustainability of 1-to-1 programs and my first thought was "funding" - that if the program isn't funded year after year and if the people, resources, hardware and infrastructure don't have the financial support to move forward, the program will languish and possibly fail.

But this school district brought up the sustainability of Professional Development. The light bulb went off in my head.

Here's a possible sustainability list:

1. Funding (hardware, software, applications, infrastructure, resources, support, people)

2. Professional Development - most schools/districts will have an initial "let's get going" PD plan with all attention on teachers and the classroom - but how is this maintained/refreshed year after year? If after say 4 years the school/district has 25% new teachers and maybe another 10% teaching something different - can the remaining 65% of teachers who benefitted from the initial PD carry it forward? Without a plan - doubtful.

3. Leadership - again after several years leaders will move on or move to other spots - do the administrators and teacher leaders still have the initial goals still clearly in focus?

4. Goals - do the initial goals still work and are they sustainable as it or do they need a refresh, update, clarification

5. Measurement - if the goals need refreshing so will the metrics

6. Tech support staff - skills, goals, etc. Has there been turnover in the people supporting the program and if so how have they been brought onboard?

Many schools/districts get high grades on the rollout because so much attention, time, resources, and money is involved. Sustainability needs to also be considered. Your rollout plan ought to also have a Sustainaibility Plan.

2011 Predictions - Sticking My Neck Out Again

Not sure if this is nuts again but here I go. Here are some general 2011 predictions for the U.S. and educational technology in general.

1. Credit recovery and self-directed learning - which is not just now about learning what you want but about earning credits you want/need that maybe you didn't get the right way or missed or lost somehow - will be even more important. Just like many people take longer than 4 years to get a college degree, there will be more ways to get a high school diploma outside of the traditional/same school for 4 years/route. It won't be as easy for students as it seems, though, because independent learning takes a lot of self-motivation.

2. Chrome PC will take off even more - and others will enter the foray of cloud-based computing devices. Privacy concerns will become factors, though, as people who are now beta testing start to realize that everywhere they are going is being tracked in even greater detail than before. Still, it will make sense to not be tied to hardware operating systems so closely. Apple, Microsoft, Dell, IBM and the big players will take serious note.

3. Tablets, eReaders - tipped! Everywhere! Just look around on any airplane now. This will continue and the devices and offerings will get better.

4. Nearly everyone with a smart phone. Just as you can't hardly find a soul older than about 15 without a cell phone, you won't be able to hardly find anyone without a smart phone.

5. Schools start looking around and worrying about 1-to-1. Yes, people like me have been advocates and many have gotten on the bandwagon. But have they followed what ought to be in place in my book, or with what Project Red recommends? Well ... not exactly ... so time to regroup, rethink and restrategize.

6. The economy grows a bit but not enough.

7. More contract work takes off, more people realize they need to go back to college and learn more skills, and the shrinking of fulltime jobs continues as I blogged previously.

8. Fewer service workers, everywhere. Grocery stores, restaurants, bookstores, retail, etc. will see shrinking needs for humans as online offerings plus in-store automation appeal to everyone wanting quick results without waiting on line.

9. Employers will start getting more interested in where applicants went to high school, not just college, and will start asking questions about how technology was used throughout applicants' educational journey. Graduates of schools known for integrating technology will start promoting themselves as such.

10. The move towards utility-based technology without centralized technology departments will grow with co-lo, offsite support increasing. Schools preventing Web 2.0 activities will find educators have a better approach in their student-centered classrooms empowered by open-ended emerging technologies.

Of course I could be all wrong!

The Computer I'd LIke - Too Bad It Doesn't Exist (with everything I want) yet

I am picking up my new PC laptop this morning, already have a Mac laptop, and need to be fully cross-platform. But here are the specs of the device I wish I were picking up:

• A slate - to write on and use - that also has a keyboard if I need it - keyboard is full size
• This part's new: a fully native "reading" mode that softens the glare and the light so that when I download eBooks and other things I can read without eyestrain
  
• This is new as well - extremely lightweight - maybe 2 lbs or less - but with native USB ports - 3 of them - for my printer, external backup, camera, etc.
• Built in standard VGA port - no adapter
• Takes phone calls natively without 3rd party product in that when my phone rings it goes to my phone AND to this device and I can press a button and go into automatic speaker mode (if I want to) or ignore the call
• Operating system fully integrates with built-in native antivirus antispyware antimaleware tight firewall and automatically updates - for no additional cost
  
• 8 gigs RAM native that the operating system fully accesses all the time
• 500 gig hard drive
• Runs all the apps I have right now plus lots of things built just for the slate
• Mac/PC immaterial - it all runs, even including Office - AND MS Office keeps up with updates and doesn't do the Mac on one version PC on another thing
  

Along with it I want all projectors to be fully wireless and connect to my slate with enough bandwidth to run streaming video as needed. Basically one-stop shopping, and I'll just be carrying my slate and my smartphone and so will everyone else.

Oh and it costs $500 fully loaded.

Maybe it's ... on the way?

Inspired by 21 Things That Will Become Obsolete in 20 years

I've been inspired by this posting 21 Things That Will Become Obsolete in Schools in 2020 and here's my list:

1. Fixed spaces for learning - eventually there will be much more movement than we see now, think of Google or similar environments. There are "offices" but there are also spaces to meet, there are big spaces and a few smaller spaces and areas for collaboration and areas for gathering. Or think School of One with one big space segmented into functional areas.

2. I second the idea that IT departments as we know them will be different - instead I think (and said in my book as well) that we'll be outsourced for connectivity with 3rd party co-location areas which house applications that aren't in the cloud (and likely most will be) with the high end network manager no longer needed. Schools will pay per computing device which will include applications and Internet access.

3. Specialized teachers with just one role. We're already seeing this for budgetary reasons but I think eventually the teacher who only teaches 4 sections of Latin will find himself/herself needed to have more content/subject expertise. Teachers will lead the way in retooling and reeducating themselves according to what needs to be taught and how - and colleges/universities will help.

4. Libraries as we know them. These are already changing and I think will continue to change into spaces with varied functions - perhaps very large spaces where lots of things are happening and where books, Kindles, iPods or whatever digital assistants are called in 2020 are available - they may even be where online learning takes place. Think of the Online School for Girls where physical brick-and-mortar classes are supplemented by online classes. When the online learning happens during the school day - where does it happen? How about in the Library which has morphed into a School of One/large Google space with collaboration and other possibilities going on.

5. Being uninformed. Everyone will get the feeds they need to be informed as learners and as community members. However, somehow the filtering and the digesting and the organizing has got to be better than it is right now.

6. Teachers not being available to students. This is controversial I know. But somehow if education is moving away from a traditional school day there has to be a way for teachers to be more available. Whatever the equivalent of texting, Skype, etc. will allow teachers and students to communicate more frequently with teachers able to indicate when they are on the grid and when they are away.

7. Lack of choice by students. Students will have more choice about what they learn, how they learn, and how they will demonstrate what they've learned. I talked to a student in Iowa who said one of her favorite history classes allowed her to take a project and just learn about it the way she wanted and then demonstrate it using the tools and vehicles she wanted.

8. Big old heavy textbooks. Yes, they will be a thing of the past and my daughter (age 18) and her generation will say, "in my day we carried these huge backpacks that weighed nearly half what we did and our spines just about got permanently curved."

9. The Digital Divide. This cannot continue, education must be universal, so therefore must be access to everything including technology.

10. Traditional college applications. They'll be video based, face-to-face, portfolio-informed, with teachers giving their "recommendations" as videos - or - in video response to video questions posed by colleges.

11. Bandwidth Issues. Obviously, this must go away, and high speed access must be the norm in every community whether wealthy or poor, urban or rural.

I can hardly wait!

The End of - Full Time Jobs?

I was in Sydney, Australia last week working with Digital Education Revolution NSW Australia and giving a keynote and workshops to Secondary School Principals, all around 1-to-1. I was talking with Ben Jones who explained that he worked on a contract basis as do many Australians with contracts expired and renewed after the job expires or changes and with an expectation that this is how work will occur.

Thinking now of what is happening in the U.S. with a 9.6% unemployment rate, with much underemployment and disenfranchised people who have stopped looking for work, talk that many of the lost jobs are never coming back and wondering if this is the beginning of the end of the full time job as we know it.

Technology for all its benefit also has a downside in that it can automate away jobs. Just look at how many workers were required 30 years for nearly any organization and how many are needed now. A trip to the grocery store to see the advance of self checkout is just one example.

So many things have converged right now - globalism, high speed Internet, accessible open-ended tools, economic crises, more Americans working from their homes.

What if where we are leading is to have contract-based work everywhere, with organizations finding pools of workers to accomplish projects for short periods and paying just on the work needed, a truly mobile and responsive workforce without the guarantee of a fulltime job of indefinite length - but instead working by contract to do specific projects for specific amounts of time at hourly or per diem rates. People will be working from their homes or possibly temporarily from the organizations, using technology (computers, smart phones, Internet, conferencing and Web based collaborative tools) to work with their fellow temporary team members to accomplish the project and then disband for the next contract.

If so, we have even more reason to ensure that the students we are teaching learn how to be flexible and adaptable, able to locate, leverage and synthesize information quickly to solve problems, report and publish on findings, and create new ideas.

It's exciting to live now but the sand is shifting continually.

Thinking About Sydney - Keynote for Educational Leadership - Getting Teachers Onboard

First let me invite you to an EduTweetup if it can work for you - that's Sydney time by the way, NYC + 15 hours.

Next, enjoyably neck deep in creating a keynote and a workshop (to be given several times) in Sydney the week of November 15. Some ideas coming to the forefront:

• We have to change the assignments if we don't want the same old thing -- static reports that only reward Master Manual Regurgitators to now static reports that reward Master Digital Regurgitators. Why regurgitate at all? Wasn't good then, not good now. In fact counterproductive and time-wasting even.
• The hard stuff with 1-to-1 happens AFTER the hardware/network/infrastructure/logistics/initial buyin happens - that's the humanly complex process of adaptating, morphing, reflecting, rethinking and changing.
• Adult learning is not always considered when PD is designed and should always be.
• Interactivity is key in the classroom and in the keynote room.
• I have learned a whole lot from my PLN - they inform me every time I create a Prezi or write an article. How lucky are we to live in a time when collaboration is so accessible.

Australia!

1-to-1 and Leadership

Thinking about 1-to-1 and leadership for possible workshop series in Australia and one thought came to mind: probably the very best thing leaders of laptop/tablet programs can do is empower their master teachers to rethink teaching and learning utilizing 1-to-1. And then to find ways to share what and how the master teachers teachers are using 1-to-1 with the entire faculty. Teachers respect and emulate the master teachers amongst their ranks.

Research continually points to effective teaching as the most important element for student achievement. If you can facilitate having a core group of your master teachers onboard your 1-to-1 program, many other necessary elements will follow.

I (Heart) Lausanne Laptop Institute - 2010

I am really looking forward to the Lausanne Laptop Institute from 7/18 - 7/20 at the Lausanne Collegiate School in Memphis, TN. I'll be presenting two sessions - one on a review of current literature on studies/research on 1-to-1 programs in schools and one as part of the Adaptive Technologies new thinktank partnership of ISM and the Laptop Institute. Note for the Adaptive Technologies session you need to sign up when registering - but there's no additional fee.

Here are descriptions and links to both sessions. It promises to be a terrific conference so do consider attending if at all possible - but sign up right away in case it's filled up. (By the way it also happens to be one of the most FUN conferences anywhere with cameraderie, Beale Street, great food and a really warm and friendly vibe everywhere!)

Examining New Models … The Shift in Process – Pamela Livingston - Monday July 19 11-12:30

These are exciting but shifting times. The old model for education, which worked for most all of us, doesn’t really fit our shifting world. Education has been slower than other organizations to adapt and change but now global and economic factors are forcing the change. Educators immersing themselves in the shift can be part of what comes next – or as Shakespeare in Hamlet said, “The readiness is all.”

This session is about looking at some innovative models bubbling up in education – virtual schools, project-based-learning schools, blended approaches, and other examples of how schools have seen the need to change and responded with a new model.

• We’ll start with a brief overview of several new models

• We’ll then form groups, with each group honing suggested open-ended questions according to what members of the group want to know and understand about these new models – with an eye towards bringing strategies and approaches back to their own schools

• Each group will then take a deep critical dive into several innovative models, responding to the group’s questions, and recording their thoughts into a Wiki.

• We’ll end with a sharing by each group of what was discovered, what was of interest and what conversations or strategies might happen next at everyone’s schools.

Review of Current Research on 1-to-1

Session Summary: This review of current studies and research on 1-to-1 is based on some work I've been doing. Participants will understand the benefits, challenges, and results from a synthesizing of 1-to-1 research and studies.

Presenter(s): Livingston, Director of Information Technology, TEAM Charter Schools of Newark, NJ, Newark, NJ USA

Day / Time / Room: Tuesday, July 20 / 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM / UM 205

2 Projectors

I was emailing Tami Brass (she's got a terrific blog to follow - I find myself retweeting her all the time and using her Diigo bookmarks as a first stop when researching) and was talking about the idea of 2 projectors.

The question is: why is there only 1 projector in a classroom, or even at a conference where there are speakers? Why is the projector fixed in the "front" of the classroom or meeting space and pointing to one wall or screen - meaning that the "owner" of the projector is the owner of the material - and he/she "releases" that position for the students or the audience? (Or sometimes does not ever release that position for others.)

Why not 2 projectors? (Yes, I understand about the cost) But why not have a projector just for the students to use so when they are working together and want to share with the smaller or whole group, it's easy to do? Why not a projector for the audience members when there is work to be done so that groups can also share together or for a larger group? Or even then both the students and the audience can use both projectors as needed.

I've started requesting 2 projectors sometimes when speaking. I am still working on the model so it's a bit messy right now but conceptually it feels like it could work. Knocking the sage off the stage often takes multiple tries and approaches.