Filed under: Instructional Leader, Leadership, Modeler, Visionary | Tags: 21st Century Schools, change, Collaboration, Learning, MOOC, Personal Learning Networks, project based learning, Teams
Fairly early on in this MOOC we had to form teams. I’m very interested in how this process works because it seems quite different than how we typically assign groups in the classroom. Note that I used the term “assign”.
Below is detailed information on the assignment, team formation and suggestions for teams. Are you using any of these during your team or group work? Do you provide the groups/teams with detailed information? Can the kids self -select? Are the students coached on selecting teams based on interest and complementary skills and knowledge?
The Following information was taken from the Designing a New Learning Environment, Professor Paul Kim, Stanford University
- There is no deadline to form a Team, but it is an important step to complete so that you can begin meeting, working, and innovating together!
- Anyone may create a team. When you create a team you are the Team Leader.
- The Team Leader can add new members by contacting classmates and asking them for their registered email addresses.
- When creating a Team, use detailed descriptions and information so that others will be able to thoughtfully consider whether your Project idea and interests may be a good match.
- If you have started a Team and are looking for members, you should use the Students menu (under Community) to find recruit your classmates.
- If you are looking for a Team to join, you should use Teams menu (under Community) to search for different teams. Use the contact button on the team page to contact all Team Members the Team Leader to join the team. Every time somebody invites you to their Team, you will receive a new invitation under your Conversations, Team notifications tab. That message contains links to accept or reject an invitation.
- Team formation has a very open dynamic, at any point you can decide to leave a Team and join a new one, without penality. The Team Leader can decide to remove inactive or uncooperative members from the Team. (In that case the member will receive a team notification about this decision, and if you think that the Team Leader has made a mistake, you can appeal Team Leader’s decision. If half of Team Members agree with you; you will be added back as a member of the Team. If a Team Leader chooses to leave his/her Team, he/she can assign Team Leadership to another user. Continuity among Team Members will be important to successful execution of the Team Project, however all users have the option to switch a Team that is not a good fit for them.
- The recommended Team size is 4-7 people.
- You may only be a member of one Team at a time.
- One of most important variables in Team composition is shared passion about the project idea / topic area. We suggest that Teams be made up of people with a range of backgrounds and technical skills, but ultimately a shared interest in the idea is what will support project momentum and involvement. It is useful to think about geographical considerations in a variety of ways: if you are considering an educational innovation for primary education in Tanzania, for example, it would be very useful to have a team member from, or knowledgeable Tanzania, to help inform analysis of needs, barriers, implementation, and sustainability. However, geographical considerations, such as time difference, may also come to play when collaborating or scheduling Team Member tasks. We encourage you to think and be transparent about these in terms of what is important for your project and for your working style, while also demonstrating the flexibility and generosity of spirit that will help us grow from each other’s perspectives and experiences.
Getting Started with Your Team:
- Start communicating about your Team Project idea. Complete and maintain your Team Profile with an up-to-date (brief) Project Description (these may start simply as general interests, and may change or evolve over time).
- Every Team has a Team Journal. You should feel free to write on it about your Team activities, post pictures of your meetings or collaboration strategies, and write about your new ideas or progress for the Team Project. The Journal can also be used as a discussion tool. Your classmates will be able to follow your team blog and receive updates.
Team Project:
- Teams will design a new educational technology or learning environment catering to 21st century environments and learners. Designs should include interaction activities and learning support features in ways that are effective and appropriate for today’s computing and communication devices, and that consider the classroom, school, and community ecosystem in which it will operate.
- Presentation of your design should include details about the users, environment, and educational objectives of your design (the “who? what? when? where? why? and how?” questions).
- Your presentation should also address how your designed innovation would implemented and sustained, including considerations about idiosyncrasies with various learning devices (e.g., web, iOS, mobile devices, and Mac/PC) and infrastructure requirements (e.g., cellular network, wi-fi, Bluetooth).
- Your team should create and defend a business model (non-profit, for-profit, or hybrid) for the launch and scale up their solution.
- You will not need to conduct an actual needs analysis or develop an actually functioning technology or solution. You may describe a hypothetical solution in detail through text, visual mock-ups, and prototypes.
- Additional consideration will be given to teams that come up with system feature ideas presenting meaningful learning interaction and performance analytics.
Evaluation:
- The Final Team Project will undergo the official Peer Review process.
- The Final Team Project is due at 11:59pm (Pacific Standards Time) on Sunday, December 16.
- The broad criteria for Final Team Project Evaluation (these will be addressed further later in the course):
1) Creativity and originality of the system design (Is the design substantially distinguishable from existing and conventional solutions?);
2) Educationally sound (Does the design promote higher order learning or generate learnable moments?);
3) Engagement and interactivity (Is the design engaging and interactive for the learner?);
4) Accessibility (Is the design accessible for people with disabilities or for people living in underserved communities?)
5) Scalability and sustainability (How sound is the implementation plan and business model?)
- At the end of the course, you will also be evaluated by your other Team Members on your contribution to the Team efforts and Team Project. In addition to your Assignments, this peer evaluation will affect your Rank in the course.
Intellectual Property and Confidentiality Considerations:
- Some of the major goals of this course are to instill the mindset for thinking about innovations aimed at improving education, and to create a space for developing those ideas into thoughtful designs. We would like you to continue to develop your work and Projects beyond this course into the real world. The Intellectual Property rights relating to your Individual Assignments, Team Assignments, Journal entries, and other materials created by you remain with you (and with the Co-Creators for Team Assignments and Jointly Authored Works)–they are not Stanford’s, not Venture Lab’s, and not Dr. Paul Kim’s.
- At the same time, this space is public to others in the course–all Journal and Forum posts, as well as all Assignments will be visible to all others enrolled in the course. Viewing and learning from each other’s discussions and work products will expose us to new ways of approaching different problems and will help us develop a more critical eye for the benefits and limitations of technology solutions. Because all projects are shared with other DNLE-ers (strictly for educational purposes), an idea or product requiring strict confidentiality or formal business agreements would not be a good candidate for a Final Team Project. Please consider this when creating or joining a team.
Filed under: Leadership | Tags: 21st Century Schools, change, Graded, Leadership, Planning, Professional Development
On Sunday, September 16th eighty six members of the Graded community participated in the 20ª Maratona Pão de Açúcar. It was a phenomenal community event despite the temperature reaching 33 degrees Celsius. The relay format meant that teams of either 8, 4 or 2 completed a full marathon. I’m happy to report that all fourteen teams finished the race. One of our teachers, single handedly recruited teachers, students, parents, staff members and administrators to participate in the race. With so much happening at Graded this year the timing for the event was perfect. All 86 of us were able to go out successfully complete a physically challenging task and then celebrate our accomplishment.
During my portion of the race I started thinking about how this event compares to the year that we are having at school. At Graded, like all other schools, we work extremely hard every year, but for some reason this year seems to be supercharged. Our continuous improvement efforts on curriculum development and implementation, assessment practices, implementing a 1 to 1 laptop program in the high school, completing our AdvancED self study and the IB Diploma Program 5-year review, plus hosting the Global Issues Network Conference of the Americas, Innovate 2013, and all of the other normal day to day stuff is wearing us out (OK, just looking at the list is enough to make anyone hyperventilate).
Here is what I came up with.
1. Each one of us wants to do our best to support the team effort – The marathon format is interesting because you are running for yourself and for you team. This means that you want to do your best so that the team can succeed. While a few people considered pulling out before the race due to injuries, lack of training, other conflicts, in doing so, the team would have been let down. On the flip side, others trained extensively so that they would contribute to the team’s success. In true team spirit, everyone followed through to ensure that the team would be succeed. Each person took the responsibility seriously and was committed to the team.
The same holds true for our day to day work at Graded. As professionals we understand our responsibilities to the team of teachers, students, parents, and administrators. We know that it’s not just about what we do as individuals. It’s about our work with the entire community. There is pressure on us, as educators, to provide students with the best learning experiences possible. This means not only doing so in the classroom but also in the many extracurricular, athletic, and community service activities. Unlike the race, our work just isn’t one Sunday out of the year, which means that we’re striving to be on top of our games from August through June.
2. Every individual’s level of preparation varied – First, when people signed up for the race in August, everyone was at a different level of readiness. The training approaches and the amount of time that individuals devoted to preparation varied greatly. Many of the students who are on athletic teams relied on the practices with their teams. I think that these students found that the practices and training were sufficient for the 5k race, but not enough for the 10k distance. Some individuals dedicated a significant amount of time preparing for the race, while others did very little and then gutted it out to the finish. As far as I know, group training did not happen due to our busy schedules. This meant that the overall majority of the training happened individually. Those who set goals for individual or team times had to tailor their training accordingly.
With the work that we, as educators are doing this year the same holds true for preparation. We’re all at different levels of expertise in our knowledge of the curriculum, assessment practices, and the integration of technology to enhance learning and there are a variety of plans in play. As a school, we have tried to embed as much professional development related to these areas into our work. But, just as the athletes learned, we’re learning that there is a need for some of us to seek additional learning opportunities to take us to another level. We also struggle with finding time to get groups together for collaborative planning and learning. This is where technology can really help us through the connections that we can make with our Graded colleagues and educators from around the world. We’re all working diligently to grow as educators and we’ve set our goals with steps that we are planning to take throughout the year.
3. During the race, people took different approaches – It was fun to watch different personalities come out during the race. Some runners were vocal about cheering the teams on while others were quiet and focused. Many were quiet because they were nervous. I remember seeing one colleagues twice on the course and he was in his own world with his headphones and music on. There were others who were loud and vocal whenever a Graded runner passed by. It didn’t really matter which type of person you were, we all knew that we were in this together. We certainly did not take silence to mean that you weren’t being supportive of the other members in the group. It’s just the state of mind that the individual was in at the time.
The same holds true for our work this year. Personalities come out naturally when working together and with over a 140 faculty members, we find that each person handles things differently. We have our cheerleaders, our work horses, our shy types and the middle of the road ones. The key is making sure that we all are respectful of our differences and to find ways to let each other know that we support each others work.
4. The race was tough – It’s safe to say that just about everyone was challenged by the event. Even the fittest runners had to deal with the heat, the crowd and the desire to run a fast pace. The work was hard and there were some who weren’t sure that they would finish. All of us had to cut back on our pace and some had to walk. Even our best runner had a slower than normal time and was wiped out by the end of his leg.
This is true with our work this year as well. The work is certainly difficult for all of us. We are working to grow and change our practices which is never easy. Recently I referred to this EDS commercial where the airplane builders are building the plane while flying. We’re trying to keep up with the normal day to day things while planning ahead for the future. We all feel stretched to thin and we’re not doing our job well. Some of us even question why we are trying to do so much in a short amount of time. Just about all of us have to walk occasionally to catch our breath and even those who are at the top of their profession realize that the work is not easy.
5. The post race celebration was important – After the race we met for brunch at a nearby restaurant. Forget the fact that we were really hungry, the importance of this was that we were able to celebrate our accomplishments. The medals were proudly worn and the stories were flowing. Everyone was smiling, laughing and enjoying that post race high. It was a wonderful way to end the event.
We realize that we need to find more time to celebrate our successes through stories. This should be done even though the race isn’t over yet. I envision us celebrating after the visiting team comes for our self-study accreditation visit in April. It may not feel like it now, but we will certainly have much to celebrate at that time. We may not be wearing medals but there will be special stories to share and laughs to be had.
Filed under: Change Agent, Instructional Leader, Visionary | Tags: 1:1 Laptop Programs, 21st Century Schools, change, cpchat, Learning, Technology, Vision
- We have been planning for our 1:1 rollout for the past year and a half and the event finally took place last week. Graded is fully 1:1 in the middle and high schools. During this time it has become clear to all of us that all of our talk about 1:1 was just a head fake. Randy Pausch described the “head fake” in , “Last Lecture: Achieving your Childhood Dreams”. Dr. Pausch talks about the indirect learning that happens when you’re involved in an activity. One example that he offers is from parents wanting their children to play football.
“We actually don’t want our kids to learn football. … we send our kids out to learn much more important things. Teamwork, sportsmanship, perseverance, et cetera, et cetera.”
For all of our talk about becoming a 1:1 school, we didn’t just want teachers and students walking around campus with machines. We learned quickly that what we wanted was so much more. This is where the commonly heard expression “it’s not about the technology” fits. Sure, we planned for electricity, software, bandwidth, polices and procedures, but the real learning came with those bigger questions that we are still tackling.
Finding the answers to these questions is where the real learning occurs and this is why our journey will continue.
- What skills and knowledge do our students need to learn for now? Future?
- Is the culture of learning different today?
- “How do I help teachers bring authentic assessment and real world problem solving to the classrooms?”
- With the technology in hand, what new resources will help with learning?
- “How can we balance the teaching-learning process both on-line and face to face mode in a 1:1 program?”
- “The relationship between new learning and old learning – is it a paradigm shift or a continuum?”
- “How do we manage student learning as we encourage more outside/digital interaction/play?”
- “What is the best way to change structures at Graded to support learning outside of traditional classes…and should we?”
We know that we have just begun the journey and that it’s going to be an exciting one for our entire community. If was really just about moving to a 1:1 environment we’d be done and we could check that task off our list.
Filed under: Change Agent, Leadership, Visionary | Tags: 21st Century Schools, change, Leadership, Vision
We returned to school today and two brothers both said to me, “My dad shared this video with me that I think that you will really likeThanks to Brian and Kevin
The video is exclusively on Vimeo so you will find it here.
Filed under: Instructional Leader, Leadership, Modeler | Tags: change, Collaboration, Modeler, Risk taking, Technology
A couple of weeks ago our lower school academic technology coordinator, Jennifer Peterson, and a 4th grade teacher, Maranda Schwartz, were grappling with whether or not to use Google SketchUp on the medieval unit on castles. Maranda had heard that 4th graders at another international school were using it so Jennifer decided to test it out. In the process, Jennifer learned that Google SketchUp is an extremely powerful tool that takes time to master and understand. She consulted online tutorials and used trial and error to create her own castle. Maranda and Jennifer were not sure that their idea was even realistic. There was little time for them to prepare and students only had a few sessions to create their castles. At one point the two of them were going to scrap the project in favor of traditional castle building. At the last minute they decided to test it out and see how it would go. Jennifer presented the tool to the students but made sure that they knew that she was not going to be the expert with the tool and that they would all need to seek online resources and help each other out. What happened then, surprised everyone. Many of the kids picked up the tool much quicker than Jennifer and Maranda had expected. The students helped each other out and they sought out resources for their learning. In the end, the project turned out to be a success.
Imagine if Jennifer and Maranda had decided to not take a risk to introduce this to students. It would have been a lost learning opportunity for the everyone. This story got me thinking about how often we decide to not do something because we think that the students can’t handle it or that we don’t have enough time to become the experts. One of the most powerful learning experiences from this example came from the teachers not being the experts. They were just learners alongside other learners. Kudos to the both of them for taking a risk that benefited the students.
Check out the final projects to see for yourself.
Filed under: Change Agent, Instructional Leader, Leadership | Tags: 1:1 Laptop Programs, 21st Century Schools, Action Plans, change, Learning, Risk taking, Technology Plans
Flickr by Edge of Space
In December 2009, I used this photo in my Leadership and 1:1 Bus post and last year I used it with the Graded faculty to describe our journey to provide students with a relevant education for today and the future. This journey includes going 1:1 in August 2012. For me the photo conjures up excitement and fear. And while some people are adventurous enough to sit on top or hang on the side, others feel more comfortable inside. It doesn’t matter where one sits, the important thing is that we’re all together on the journey.
When is it exciting and often magical? When our students are using technology for learning, creative and original thinking, communication and collaboration, research and information literacy and critical thinking and problem solving.
When is it a bit scary? When we are uncertain of what is coming next or when we have to step outside our comfort zone to try something new.
We have so much to be proud because we have traveled so far in such a short amount of time. This year we have done the following to prepare for a full 1:1 rollout in August.
- Support professional development at conferences by providing faculty with the opportunity to attend the Laptop Institute at Lausanne Collegiate and Unplugged at the American School of Bombay.
- Provided all of our teachers and administrators with laptops so that we all get used to working anytime, anywhere.
- Using digital tools to help us with our work and our learning. The idea is that we will experiment and figure out what works as we do the same in our classrooms.
- Created PLCs around assessment in today’s digital environment.
- Reviewed and redesigned our curriculum in science and English with a 21st century lens.
- Encouraged students to bring in laptops to ease the transition for August.
- Defined our Information Communication and Technology standards that will be integrated schoolwide next year.
- Provided teachers with a full-time academic technology coordinator to support them with integrating technology and professional development.
- Developed our acceptable use policy and LARK guidelines so that our community members can be responsible digital citizens.
- Developed a digital toolkit that will provide us with some software standardization in our bring your own laptop environment.
- Upgraded facilities so that we have electrical power throughout the campus.
We realize that the journey is not over yet. In reality, we’ve really only traveled a short distance. The key is that we are well on our way to transforming the learning experiences for our students.
Filed under: Change Agent, Visionary | Tags: 21st Century Schools, change, Facilities, Future, Vision
It has been a blast participating in the process to help design the Graded of the future. Our school is embarking on a major rebuilding project that is expected to take 8 years to complete. During our conversations we are continually asking ourselves, “What will education look like in 2020?”. We have to keep this in focus as we help design a multi-million dollar facility. Here are just a few ideas that come to mind.
- Based on the the current model we project that the school will be able to house 1600 students. If Clayton Christensen and Mike Horn are right in Disrupting Class, then many of our students will be studying online and they may not even need to be on campus. That means that a “Graded student” may not even live in Sao Paulo. If this is the case enrollment may be much larger.
- We are designing an integrated science program in the high school and we are using this to imagine the science labs. By 2020 we’ll have already completed another science curriculum review and our courses may look totally different. What features will be needed in these new labs?
- We are committed to creating collaborative space that we’re calling “collaboratories”. These are flexible spaces that teachers can use as needed. While we are sure that these will be used in the future, I wonder if this is really true. Will we need to develop strategies for learning that take advantage of the space? A test to the idea that, ”If we build it, they will come.”
- We have decided to not increase the size of the MS/HS library even though the number of students will grow. This is based on the thinking that the bookshelves will take up much less space and that users will continue to use the resources from off site. Will we even need a space labeled “Library” when access to digital resources will be available from anywhere?
- Our athletic and physical education facilities look much the same as they do now. Well, of course they’ll be upgraded significantly. In the back of our minds we keep wondering if we should be considering adding facilities for wellness, health and life fitness. Maybe we should be considering a mountain biking track, a huge rock climbing wall, and a swimming pool.
Considering that we’re planning facilities where there are still many questions regarding education in 2020 we keep coming back to the idea that we need to plan flexible spaces. Spaces that can be modified and converted to meet the needs of students and teachers. Fascinating when you think that the buildings will be completed in 2020 and they’ll have a lifespan of 50+ years.
Filed under: Change Agent, Leadership | Tags: cell phones, change, Leadership, Physical Education, physical education classes, School Policy, schuylkill river trail, ugg boots
BTWPhoto on Flickr by UggBoy/UggGirl
As I was running on the Schuylkill River trail last week, I could not help but think how sad the recent ruling to ban Ugg boots by the Pottstown Middle School in PA was. I just don’t understand it. What do the Ugg boots have to do with a cell phone policy at school?
- Students record their data during the workout in their portfolio.
- Students take photos and/or video of their workout and then they are able to look at their technique. The feedback is immediate and they can make corrections right there on the spot.
- Students listen to music while they are working out. Pretty important since studies have shown that music can lead to better workouts.
This has been an excellent learning experience for the students and we feel that this will set the stage for lifelong fitness. I really feel sorry for those students and teachers in Pottstown Middle School who are talking about the Ugg boot ban instead of teaching and learning in today’s world.Filed under: Change Agent, Instructional Leader, Leadership | Tags: change, k12online, Leadership, Risk taking
My presentation, School Leaders Set the Tone by Playing, Experimenting and Taking Risks went live yesterday. While I have given many conference presentations over the years, this one is something new and different for me. The reality that my work will be on the website for the world to see for who knows how long, is exciting. At the school level is was neat to see colleagues show up for an after school session where my video was the main event. On a global level, I loved seeing educators tweeting about watching the presentation. The MS teachers at Singapore American School were probably surprised to see a clip from their assembly Flashmob video.
This process made me realize the importance of sharing ideas with my own school community and getting them involved in the discussion. In the past I may have gone off and presented without sharing with the faculty and students. In this presentation I included teachers and students in the process. While I’m not someone who enjoys self-promotion, in this case I think that it will be valuable for our school community to view the presentation and spend time discussing the ideas. The concept of risk taking for innovation is one that we all should consider. While I didn’t mention it in the presentation, I view the act of creating a K12 Online Conference presentations risky. We’re all putting ourselves out there for the world to see.
You can hear my Voicethread description of the story behind the making of the presentation at the 2011 Presenter Backstories page. Creating a video was a new endeavor for me. One that I hope to repeat in the future. I know for a fact that I’ll do a much better job of editing the final product. That’s the one area that needs the most work.
Who knows how many people will be exposed to these ideas?
Photo from Creative Commons: Boy Scouts – Gettysburg
Michael Coakley holds the new official NBA basketball, left, and the old one, at right. outside the Winstanley offices in Lenox. Tue June 27 2006 (Bonnivier)
For those of us who are promoters of change it’s important for us to step back and carefully consider how those involved with the change initiative are feeling. In 2006, the NBA made the decision to change from leather to synthetic basketballs. There hadn’t been a change to the basketball in 35 years. Talk about a sensitive subject.
The league tested out the synthetic balls for approximately 3 months. Spalding, the ball manufacturer, stated “We believe the microfiber composite ball offers many superior characteristics to leather…” After the player’s union filed a grievance and many of the players complained, the NBA decided to switch back to the leather balls. At the time, David Stern reported “Although testing performed by Spalding and the NBA demonstrated that the new composite basketball was more consistent than leather, and statistically there has been an improvement in shooting, scoring and ball-related turnovers, the most important statistic is the view of our players.”
“The only thing that we love the most is the basketball. That’s your comfort. I mean, without your basketball, it doesn’t work. That was my biggest problem, was, why would you change something that means so much to us? ” —LeBron James, Cleveland
So, the NBA decided to listen to the players and not make the change.
I’ve been thinking about this example a lot lately as we take on change at school. While we’re not going to drop our work on assessment, PLCs, and teaching and learning in today’s digital world in a 1:1 environment, we can certainly decide to slow down or backtrack a bit when necessary. Whenever we make significant changes there are always unanticipated demands on time and energy. These demands can lead to frustration, anxiety, anger and grievances among colleagues. Sometimes the leader has to press on, and act as a cheerleader for change. Other times the leader has to listen to the teachers, students and other administrators and slow down or back track a bit. David Stern certainly understood this in 2006 and the league backtracking didn’t seem to have a negative impact on the NBA.
Like David Stern, I hope that I am able to recognize when it’s time to back track on planned changes.
Photo from Jacobwolman
