There is certainly no doubt that today’s youth are connected. Some of them even become “famous” through their well-know Internet blogs an video posts. But just how much can that fame be worth?

Some edubloggers have been discussing the idea of “social capital”, the premise that the connections you bring to an organization through digital networking can be of significant value. For instance, would someone like Jeff Utecht, Clay Burell or Karl Fisch, all well-known edubloggers, be of more value to a school just because of the connections they have developed with others?

Now comes word that maybe the social capital or digital fame can be worth marks. Maybe the difference between an A+ and a C can be measured by Technorati? One educator seems to think so.

As detailed in this CNN story, grades in Jamie Wilkinson’s class at Parsons The New School for Design in New York City are generated by a computer, based on traffic on student websites. Students can track grades in real time on the class blog. Wilkinson argues that these skills are of value in the new global economy.

“In a world where Facebook is valued at something like $16 billion, it makes sense to encourage students and faculty to study together — not just to explore how these new online systems work, or to sit around reading case studies, but to interact directly and play with these systems,” says Ted Byfield, associate chair of Parsons’ department of communication, design and technology. “This isn’t 16th-century German literature; you can’t have an expert from the field come in and teach. There’s no established body of knowledge. It’s all new.”

Certainly the ability to build a global learning / work network will be a valuable tool in the next few years. My concern lies in the methods students used to generate traffic. Global citizenship will require not just connectedness, but value to that connectedness. Students soon found that more traffic can be generated by questionable content that content of redeeming social value. What do they learn from this? Where do we start the discussions of digital citizenship when the biggest library is but a click away from the world’s largest arcade, the world’s largest “TV/movie/music” store and the world’s largest porn shop?

Hopefully they are getting the notion that the only way to build a solid and lasting network, or “famo” as they call it, is through consistent quality and challenging content.

A mighty challenge lies ahead.

tags: technology, education, parsons new school, whipple

My wife often tells me (usually when I have deserved a calling out) that “it’s not what I say, it’s how I say it”. I know it’s true.

Over on the new – and very active – Students 2.0 blog, quickly given the moniker “S2-oh”, Nicole Kim‘s “The Difference Between Teaching and Preaching” post has generated a lot of conversation surrounding the need for schools and teachers to offer students some respect and an opportunity to direct more of their own learning.

Preaching is what most teachers do today. We sit in classrooms for a certain amount of time listening to the “Teacher’s Bible of Study,” devouring information. Projects are limited to be viewed only by the class, and occasionally meet the hallway display.

She makes a plea for teachers to turn over some control of their classrooms, offering some democracy to make learning participatory.

If we were left to do what we wanted to do, “learners” who are mature enough will self-guide themselves to read the greatest plays ever written. If we are left alone with responsibilities, young adults will start taking them seriously.

While it is often difficult for us adults, who have been exposed to a much different story of education – a very traditional, teacher-centered classroom – it is necessary for us to start listening to our students. They are demanding, while not all as eloquently as Nicole, to build their own learning connections.

I had the pleasure of working for two years in a pilot 1-to-1 laptop environment that was hugely successful. However, it wasn’t the laptops that made the difference, but the environment we were able to create. 55 learners (students), 2 learning leaders (teachers), one BIG room, wireless technology, few filters, connectedness, no bells, community, all-day together, flexible (no?) schedule, project-based learning, no textbooks….I could go on…

In short, it wasn’t about the technology. It was about the vision, the ideas, the connectedness with each other and the information. It was amazing. I can’t wait to go back!

I don’t hold myself out as a great learning leader. In fact, I have much to learn about leading in a classroom. But I am a much better learner, and by daring to step outside the comfort zone of many, taking a chance, creating a “flatter” classroom, we were able to create a pretty darned good learning environment.

I don’t think it’s about what we say as teachers, it’s how we say it. As learning leaders, we have a pivotal role to play as we bring knowledge and focus to the learning enterprise. Students without leadership are unlikely to accomplish much. Experienced leaders sharing knowledge must happen in a classroom to some extent. The crucial balance is when and how to present information and how to involve students in that discovery in a way that treats them with respect as learning partners. In short, how to teach, and not preach.

I must say, it’s nice to hear such vibrant student voices offered in the edublogosphere. S2-oh has definitely earned a spot in my feedreader.

tags: technology, education, learning, students 2.0, whipple

Until now, the blogosphere – at least that part devoted to issues of education and technology – has been the domain of adults. We have held conversations, mostly valuable, about the shift from teaching to learning, how today’s learners are different, the need for them to make connections in their learning (with each other and the information), and the role of technology in that process.

But one thing has been missing from those conversations – the voice of young learners. Until now!

My friend from Seoul, Clay Burell, brings word this morning of a global collective of young edubloggers who will soon launch Students 2.0, conversations about learning from the youth perspective. This is exciting.

Check out this original, student-produced video, and keep watching the Students 2.0 badge at the top right. It all takes flight in a few days.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/gwQOyEwspKY" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

I hope you will all drop by when they launch, say hi, and start to include and engage them in quality conversations. I just have a feeling you’ll be impressed.

tags: technology, education, learning, students 2.0, whipple

As I have been working with teachers on trying to change the focus from teaching to learning, I have been trying to change the language I use to promote the point.

In conversations, I am trying to replace the word “teacher” with one of two terms, depending on the nature of the focus. In it’s place, I will use the term “learning leader” or “leading learner”. While the difference appears slight, simply reversing the words has great impact. The terms are not interchangeable, and their use depends on the context of the conversation.

When using the term “learning leader”, the noun is leader, with learning as a supporting adjective. The focus is on the leader part of the teacher’s job. As a pedagogical leader within the school, the teacher’s expertise in curricula, planning, design, preparation and assessment is critical to creating a dynamic and engaging learning environment. We need and expect teachers to be leaders. Most teachers are eager to accept this term.

On the other hand, the term “leading learner” is more complicated, the noun (and the focus) on being a learner, with the word leader serving as a descriptor. These teachers assume the identity as a learner within a community of learners, open to change and willing to switch between the traditional roles of student and teacher. They blur the lines between themselves and the students, offering to model 21st century learning at the risk of failure. This is a harder sell with educators, especially those who hold dear to traditional ideas about learning.

I believe how teachers accept the role as a leading learner is what sets great teachers apart from mere competent ones. They are part of a collective, collaborating with colleagues, “students” and others to establish a flexible, innovative and dynamic learning community.  I believe it speaks to their ability to help prepare a new generation of young people to work, play and learn in a 21st century global community.

Photo credit: “Learner-Learner Interaction”, Originally uploaded to Flickr by jrhode

tags: technology, education, learning, whipple

Having been recently invited to join my district’s Leadership Development Program, I spent the better part of two days this week in the first module, which focused on developing “Professional Learning Communities”.

It was an interesting couple of days, with many opportunities to share and influence through conversations. I’ll add more at a later date as I continue along this path, but I do have two quick observations.

One of the questions we were asked to ponder was the mission, vision, purpose and structure of school.  Guess they decided to start us off with the small stuff first!  It was interesting as many offered learning, preparing students for the future, citizenship.  Some even talked about 21st century learning.  I think some even recognized that there was a shift taking place, but most were not able to offer why.

Of the 19 people in the module, I was a bit lonely as the only one who offered that access to networked digital information was crucial to learning environments in the 21st century.

I was able to share some of my understandings.  One of the focus’ of the program is to promote professional reading.  After peeking in on my feedreader on Friday morning before the sessions and immediatelty seeing it’s value, the coordinator asked if I would share this at sometime during the day.  Later, after a break, I was able to share reading blogs – in addition to academic reading – as a learning tool and how to use RSS and feedreaders to bring the info to the learner.  In addition, I was able to share with my fellow learners the power of podcasts (specifically podcasts available FREE through the iTunes store).  This was a wow moment for many. Kewl!

tags: technology, education, learning, whipple

Every once in a while someone out there brings a bit of creativity that stirs the mind and starts many conversations. The latest offering comes from Jeff Utecht, a fellow edublogger from an international school in Shanghai, China.

Click on the image to see Jeff’s work in adapting original ad copy from Honda to speak to his new vision of school.

Jeff is one of the creative young minds internationally, as evidenced by his work and vision.

Thanks Jeff. I am sure this will start many new conversations, at my school and around the planet.

Photo originally uploaded to Flickr.com by jutecht

tags: technology, education, learning, whipple, jeff utecht

I am spending the day at a local high school, helping teachers and students during a national learning video conference initiative on Diet and Body Image. Billed as a national youth town hall, and supported / organized by the National Reseach Council and CRC-Canada’s Virtual Classroom Program the event allowed youth in five schools – one in Newfoundland, one in Alberta, two in Ontario and one here in Fredericton – the opportunity to share and learn about a number of issues (diet, activity, eating disorders, steroids, plastic surgery) with each other.

Students worked synchronously in large group and smaller backchannel conversations in breakout discussions using video conferencing, asynchronously in smaller groups using posts in video kiosks to a website and by blogging their issues and solutions.

Plain and simple, having students bringing their knowledge to the table, mashing it up with new understandings and ideas and working together to communicate and share this knowledge with others is a model for the new learning communities we need to promote in the 21st century.

In the end, they probably haven’t solved the issues surrounding body image, but by working together, having conversations where they connect their own understandings and by communicating these new ideas – all through the opportunities afforded by technology – to their fellow learners they have begun to learn just how to connect, collaborate and communicate – they keys to school 2.0!

It is not about the technology – it’s about the information. But technology is the key to the possibilities.

tags: technology, education, learning, whipple, school 2.0