I was catching up on my reading this week and in the ISTE publication Learning & Leading with Technology Nov. 2009 issue I was drawn to the section on new multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs). I have long felt very strongly that these settings held enormous potential for advancing student learning. It was three years ago, as part of my doctoral studies at the University of Rochester, that my good friend Jeremiah Frink and I conducted an ethnography study at a popular gaming parlor in Rochester called Arena 51. During this study I had the opportunity to see first hand the sophisticated complexities of games that took place in MUVEs.  I was also struck by the types of kids who were playing…..they were not the loner, quiet, friendless,  introverted type kid that I envisioned.  In fact it was just the opposite, the people were all very social.  I really questioned my paradigm about gaming being all about shoot/kill and involving social misfits.  In fact what I learned was these MUVEs hold the potential to illustrate and actively engage students in a social atmosphere that takes on very sophisticated concepts.  Imagine a true MUVE through a human body with cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure……or the brain…

In 2008 the Pew Internet & American Life reported on a study that found

• Game playing is universal, with almost all teens playing games and at least half playing games on a given day.
• 97% of American teens ages 12-17 play some kind of video game.
• 99% of boys say they are gamers and 94% of girls report that they play games.

Gaming is a ubiquitous part of this generation.  So I was excited to read that the World of Warcraft, arguably one of the most popular MUVE game of kids is being used by schools to explore literacy, math, writing, digital citizenship, and 21st century skills.  Suffren Middle School in Suffren NY is a leader in this endeavor and it is exciting to see them engaging students in a learning medium that will continue to have a growing presence in their lives.

Photo by C Haglund

Earlier this year Google Wave got a lot of attention when it was introduced to the web.  There was quite a but of buzz and speculation about this being a “really big deal”, but after using it for a few months I understand why this excitement has cooled off as it is nothing more than a portal type dashboard to existing technologies.

While somewhat disappointed with Google Wave, I am very excited about the new paradigm that Google Chrome OS presents.  This is a operating system that allows someone to be on the Internet in 7 seconds from pressing the “on” button of a computer.  This OS goes right to the cloud and does not go through the laborious and lengthy start-up that Apples and PCs put their users through.  There is a good YouTube video on this OS

An important part of our visionary framework is to have technology that is web accessible.  This places an emphasis of putting our instructional resources in the cloud for students so that they can access their resources on any web accessible device.  Today it takes about 75 seconds for a student to turn on a computer and access the Internet.  Using Google Chrome OS students could shave 68 seconds off this time.  Assume a student does this 100 times in the year, that fress-up  6800 seconds for the student that other would have been spent staring at a screen waiting for the computer to startup.

One dimension of our technology work that is often overlooked is developing data systems that provides teachers and educational leaders with timely information that helps inform our actions to improve student learning.  This year we have been developing an articulated RTI K-12 strategy that will be very helpful for teachers who are already feeling very stretched.  A keystone to this strategy is using a new program called EXCEED by Spectrum K-12.  This work has included identifying all the assessments that are utilized with students K-12.  We have identified over 240 assessments used by teachers, most of which is New York State required assessments.  This product will allow teachers to easily access the vertical and horizontal data required to make informed decisions on the IST plans they create for students.  This software will then track the progress of the student, alerting teachers when the student falls off their desired levels of improvement.

In other words, we are trying to provide powerful tools that empower teachers with important student data in a time efficient manner which will also equate into improving student learning.

by Stefano Prigione

The Internet offers us the exciting opportunity to take our kids for tour of our world.  Using video web cams, panoramic photography, and real time images our students are able to see the world for what it really looks like.  Dr. Kimberley Ketterer offered these sites in an article she wrote in Learning & Leading with Technology.

Fullscreen 360 Take a 360 degree look at places around the world.

Mountain Visions Panoramic views

World Heritage Take a look first hand at over 270 of the World Heritage sites around the world.

Earth Cam This site holds 100’s of live cams located throughout the world.

Remember that teachers & students in Fairport all have access to Google Earth which holds a plethora of opportunities for seeing the world.

Ross Ciulla and Tom Devitt switching to the upgraded core switch

Fairport senior technician Jason Scott wiring a network rack

This morning at 7 AM the team responsible for making the switch from the old network to the new network were hard at it again.  John Poland, Ross Ciulla, Tom Devitt, and Jason Scott compile the perfect “dream team” of experts in making this switch over.  The complexity of this work is really something….it requires a rich knowledge of the relationship of electrical power and network configurations all designed specifically to empower educators with the capacity to deliver the quality of instruction as articulated by the Fairport’s TVT vision.  I feel very fortunate to have such a group of intelligent  and dedicated professionals working very hard to bring our school district to a better place.

Look before you jump to new technology

The vision for our technology use at Fairport Schools has been articulated via the work of the TVT team.  The capital projects are underway to bring us the infrastructure required to realize this vision.  To assist our teachers and administrators with determining what is contemporary technology  versus out-dated technology, we have identified a litmus test that can be applied to technology being considered for Fairport Schools.

1. Is the technology personal to the user?

2. Is the technology accessible over the Internet?

3.  Does it have an easy interface?

4. Can the technology be supported with current IT support services?

If the answer is yes to all four questions, than chances are favorable for this technology to work favorably in our new paradigm.  Let me explore these questions further….

1. Is the technology personal to the user?

20th century technology required a person to start from scratch whenever the person interacted with it.  For example, I would go to the library, search on a computer for a book called “Rifles for Watie”.  The next time I would go to the library the computer would not recognize me and I would start from scratch.  Today, I walk into the library, log on to a computer, and it would recognize me as having borrowed “Rifles for Waite” and recommend other books I might like. For students, everytime they interact with technology it should recognize them, their history, preferences, etc… Mrs. Bantle, FCSD Teacher Center Director is leading a book talk on  Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age by David Rose and Anne Meyer….one aspect of this book is how important it is for us educators to recognize how distinctively different our brains are and to alter our pedagogy to reflect this recognition…well this is at the heart of why we consider “good technology” technology that explicitly recognizes each student individually.

2. Is the technology accessible over the Internet?

Up until now students formal interactions with district owned software were very limiting….For example, in the elementary schools students access such software as Reader Rabbit once every 10-15 days which is when they are able to go to a computer lab AND because the software will only run from a specific machine (s).  Today, the vast majority of educational software is web based because schools today demand that this software be accessible to any student with Internet access.  By considering software that is web based we dramatically increase the potential impact that it might have on students.

3.  Does it have an easy interface?

Steve Jobs, when he introduced the iPhone in 2007 he spoke to why “smartphones” are really “dumb phones” because they are too complicated for the average person. …their interfaces are non-intuitive….well so too does this hold for technology to be used by our students and staff.  When considering new hardware and software we must pilot these systems with a variety  of folks to ensure that the interface is indeed intuitive….because if is not the technology will not be used!

4. Can the technology be supported?

Cutting edge technology is often called bleeding edge technology because of the many quarks and technical problems that new technology always presents….similar technology that has not been update or improved as technology has advanced poses just as many if not more problems.  At Fairport we have an extremely sharp group of professional technicians who excel at providing quality support on contemporary technologies, but we only have 7 technicians for approximately 9000 users…that is more than 1000 users per technician.  All it takes is one bad piece of software or hardware…..be it new or old….to bog down our whole support network.   This is why we are very sensitive about carefully screening all software and hardware to be purchased.

On Tuesday I had the privilege of watching a presentation made by foreign language teachers on web 2.0 technologies. I was very impressed by their demonstration of delicious, polleverywhere and glogster. This is exactly what our technology vision work is calling for and capital projects are enabling.

I also learned about possible limitations of Audacity and Voicethread. Supporting peripherals for this technology can be found on our standards page.

I would also share foreign language TV/News stations that can be watched on the web.

Skype will be on all our computers next year, enabling our staff/students to have real life audio/video conferences with their peers across the world.

www.pics4learning.

I attended a multimedia meeting at Monroe #1 BOCES today. They provide digital media and hard media to our schools. Jeremiah Frink, Director of E-Learning did a research overview which points to media is best used when it is directed to the needs of the specific learner. He presented the results of a survey of teachers, including Fairport teachers, on the present multimedia service.

Usage data of our schools shows that more digital media is being accessed than DVDs with a clear trend showing the diminishing use of DVDs.

Glen Huot, Director of Monroe #1 BOCES School Library System.He is proposing to move away from the present TekData system to utilize Ensemble (For teacher/student made video) and/or Safari Montage (for proprietary material). Safari Montage will allow us to locate appropriate media that correlates to the NYS performance indicators at each grade level.

This direction will allow us to easily select media suitable to the learner and to align it with the curriculum. These will be powerful tools for steering committees and the Curriculum Council.  One things is clear, DVDs and VHS are things of the past, video streaming is how our students will access media.

Wow, our H Drive has filled up and doing an inventory of our network we have found illegal copies of music files in peoples’ folders. I asked a colleague for their reaction and I was surprised to learn that their perception was that it was ok to take their own personal cd and copy it onto their Fairport iTunes player……friends, this is a teachable moment.

The purpose of providing applications like iTunes is to provide students with access to media resources to support their learning. We cannot host peoples’ private music collection on a public school network. CD’s can be played, but not copied into iTunes. If you subscribe to podcasts, please delete them from your library when you are done with them.

Apple has provided schools with an incredible sea of learning resources that can be used by teachers. For example, let your students listen to international radio stations via iTunes Radio. iTunes U also provides a host of learning opportunities…check out this movie for an introduction.

With the numerous blogging platforms available to users, it was a quite a feat to select a blog that would be a perfect fit with the Fairport district. Ultimately, ISC decided on installing WordPress MU because of the usability and the integration with Active Directory. What does that all mean? Well, it means:

1. you can go to blog.fairport.org
2. click on “Log In”
3. type in your user name and password (the same way you log in to any district computer)
4. you will automatically be given a blog
5. start blogging!

Any staff member may acquire a blog if used for educational purposes. Students may also obtain a blog for class. If you are interested in your students blogging, please fill out this form or contact me via email to begin the process. Stay tuned for my next post on ways to use a blog . . .