Introductions
Name: Jeff Giddens
jgiddens@fdesa.org
Lots of resources: http://del.icio.us/jgiddens
Why an idea buffet?
We often have
people offering us food for thought—that is, giving us a tiny concept to
consume that leads to bigger insights. Have you ever eaten something that makes
you crave more of the same? You can look at me and tell that I have. Have you
ever thought of an idea that makes you do a lot of thinking? Well, that’s what
I want to do today. I want to offer you a lot of food for thought. I want to
give you a plate full of ideas that make you do a lot of thinking. I’m going to
lead you past a table laden with rich concepts that’ll both fill you up and leave
you a little hungry for more. The emphasis here will be knowing where you can
find resources, being able to sample them, and getting others to try them as
well.
What is digital fluency?
When you’re fluent, you can effortlessly use a particular language. Technology
is a language of sorts. Those born who were born in the midst of today’s
technology—our students—are fluent in its meaning, capability, and uses. We must
strive to develop that kind of fluency with technology in order to help pupil,
teachers, parents, community members, and ourselves how to become more eloquent
and effective in the use of this ever changing “language.”
http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_1/huffaker/#h1
http://www.centerdigitaled.com/converge/?pg=magstory&id=3482
http://21cif.imsa.edu/
Concepts we’ll explore in our
session:
Why should we even want to integrate technology?
What do we have to do in order to integrate technology?
How can we foster collaboration?
What do we have to do in order to help our learning community become digitally
fluent?
Where can we find resources that help us do all of these things?
Why do should we even want to integrate it? These are reasons that EVERY
student and teacher should know and show.
-prepares students for 21st century workplace
-makes learning more efficient—“found” time!
-makes learning more effective—more engaging, retention, and transfer
-makes products of learning more accessible (in a digital format they’re easy
to replicate/share/keep over time)
-makes products more professional
-reinforces digital fluency
What does good technology integration
look like, anyway?
Administrators, teachers, students using:
-meaningful, authentic learning
-PCs/handheld PCs to collect and analyze data
-desktop publishing tools
-collecting, editing, and sharing digital media: images, sounds, video
-collaborating with others via web-based resources
-creating/maintaining digital portfolios
-using digital resources/information to refine ideas/understandings
How do we do it?
A recipe for integration/collaboration/digital fluency:
-A culture that likes/expects it—students, parents, teachers, community,
legislators, external community (the rest of the world)
-Administrative leadership/support that models and expects it
-Resources/funding: money and dependable hardware/software
-Training—staff development
-Meaningful use
-Time and patience
Before we start “consuming”—a
few things to keep in mind:
-We all have the capacity to change the world.
-We all change it in some manner or another—good, bad, and different.
-We need to, ought to, should change
the world for the better.
-Whether we like it or not it is our responsibility.
-Someone has to do it.
You can start right where you
are—your little corner of the world.
Change is like a ripple, it spreads outwardly.
The trick is finding people who can and will help you change the world.
Collaboration
I'm trying to free your
mind…I can only show you the door, you're the one that has to walk through it. (My apologies to the Matrix.)
Some big ideas
Apple’s parable of the concept car
Grabbing defeat from the jaws of victory
Show car (looks great, is great)--production car (is awful)
Why?
Designers come up with great ideas
Engineers say, “We can’t do that.”
Manufacturers say, “We can’t build that.”
Collaboration--cross pollination--concurrent
Learning in all departments,
simultaneously
Be a pain in the neck about what matters to you—if you don’t who will?
If you can persevere, others will
not be able to ignore you.
Opportunity and success belong to those who
are the best able to learn from lots of people at once
Aggregate intelligence: good ideas float up to the top
Everyone has something to offer
Example: Google
Power outside of institutional
framework
Learning that goes beyond the walls of the classroom/organization
Open-source and refinement
I do it because I want to, nobody is making me
Example: Firefox
Why Firefox—give it away and
demonstrate it
tabbed browsing
Easy del.icio.us
I can do more when I see what
other people are going
Networking and Collaboration
del.icio.us
flickr
With more choice comes more responsibility
We have to teach or at least, model ethics—do good and inspire others
Implications for student
occupations
Tighter but smaller audiences—the long tail
Nuevo riche within your niche
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Tail
Collaborative tools:
Bloglines: http://www.bloglines.com/
Social bookmarking: http://del.icio.us
IM with meebo: http://www16.meebo.com/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/
Google Earth/dynamic maps: http://earth.google.com/
Blogging: http://www.blogger.com or http://www.typepad.com
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
Web 2.0: http://del.icio.us/jgiddens/webtools
Social calendars: http://www.kiko.com/ or
http://www.formassembly.com/time-tracker/
or
http://www.tadalist.com/ or
http://www.protopage.com/
Pizza cost calculator: http://numsum.com/spreadsheet/show/200
Online spreadsheet: http://numsum.com/
Online word processor: http://www.writely.com/
