STEPHANIEDEMICHELE.ORG

Takeaways from #OETC15 (Day Three)

2/12/2015

 
Picture
We're on the final day of #OETC15, and while I'm looking forward to returning home and to my boys, I'm going to miss the people I've met. From presenters to teachers to coaches, Ohio has a plethora of dedicated educators ready to transform learning and I'm thankful to them! (And thankful, too, to Twitter and Google Hangouts. Because of them, I can continue the conversations that began here.)

While I experienced more than that about which I'm writing today, it's this morning's keynote speech that impactfully resonated with me and one which my brain simply refuses to evict. It seems an exceptional presentation on which to reflect and dissect, and with which to conclude my series on #OETC15.

Fixing the Past or Inventing the Future: Education Reforms that Matter
Yong Zhao is the Presidential Chair and Director of the Institute for Global and Online Education in the College of Education at the University of Oregon

You gotta love a man (and a Duck!) who bravely comes to Columbus on the heels of losing the national championship. 

And I'm so glad he did. 

Dr. Yong Zhao's message of entrepreneurial-based education reform is desperately needed in this day and age of "college and career readiness."  Especially in an era where 53% of our most recent college graduates are either unemployed or underemployed. (That is not a typo.) 

Instead of touting college and career readiness, Dr. Zhao encourages us to instead embrace a culture of "out-of-the-basement readiness," which is especially apt with our boomerang generation. (And, frankly, especially hilarious when you think about it. Or especially sad if you yourself are the parent of said basement-dweller.)

The disconnect between education and career these days, notes Dr. Zhao, can be contained in the metaphor of Nokia vs. Apple. (The metaphor appeals to the former English teacher in me.) Do you remember Nokia phones? In a nutshell, Apple didn't kill Nokia; Nokia killed Nokia by trying to add smart features to a dumb phone, and in inventing the smart phone, well...we all know how that turned out for Apple. 

If you apply this metaphor to current education reforms, our Industrial Age model of education is the dumb phone, and yet we're trying to pile on smart features (technology, Common Core, NGAs) to that dumb phone. It epically failed for Nokia, so what makes us think it will succeed for education?

Dr. Zhao asserts, and the current statistics certainly support, that our children are miseducated in that they are educated for the wrong economy. A good education should keep your children out of the basement--not destine them to it.

So our current model is failing our students; certainly not making them college and career ready. Our "homogenous sausage-making" approach fails to give birth to visionaries, creators, makers, inventors, and problem-solvers: which is exactly what a global economy needs. 

Dr. Zhao urges us as educators to invent a new smart phone. If creativity is job security today, then let's (please!) abandon the homogenous model of learning. We tend to devalue innovation and creativity in the classroom because we're pressured to get the students ready for "the test." And as we all know, "the test" precludes innovation and creativity. (An interesting fact: 40% of Google employees don't have college degrees. Think about THAT.)

Our new smartphone model of education should both permit and accommodate the following for each and every student:
  • unique talent
  • creativity
  • entrenpreneurship

In Dr. Zhao's words, "schools should become personalized learning ecosystems." 

How great is that?

What if we allowed for product-oriented learning? What if--instead of testers--we created innovators? What if we provided future-oriented experiences for our learners? What if we practiced what we preached? What if we truly decided to start a revolution to make our students both college and career ready?

Yes, I suppose we need to have the tests; they measure growth. But if employees have evaluations, shouldn't students have the same--with authentic products that serve a REAL purpose in our real world? Do we have to have tests only?

We have to chuck the idea of "traditional" classrooms and "traditional" learning. We have to, as Dr. Zhao asserts, "stop fixing the past and invent the future." We simply have to.

Or America's going to have a lot of dumb phones on its hands.

Picture
0 Comments

Takeaways from #OETC15 (Day Two)

2/11/2015

 
Picture
It's Day 2 here at OETC15, and judging from how difficult it was to obtain parking, SRO at the keynote session isn't surprising. (Seriously, I spent more time in the line for the parking garage than I did getting here this morning.)

It was great bumping into my favorite peeps from back home, and even better sharing what we've learned AND bouncing ideas off each other. I especially enjoyed running into an old friend from my teaching days. 

Then it was time to go learn something...

Session #1: Call It What You Want! Smashing, Crashing, Slamming iPad Apps 2.0 - Using Tech for Deeper Learning
Jen and Karen are tech coaches for the Mentor schools and two people who I've come to rely on quite a bit for outstanding advice and support as I make this journey. Their presentation not only provided a useful list of apps, but it also offered up a "philosophy" for app smashing:
  1. Begin with the end in mind. What is the final product you want your students to create? Work backwards from there.
  2. Create a list of apps you want to use, especially apps that might have the same function. This gives students both choice and voice. 
  3. Smash the Flow. Create the flow chart or outline of apps you'll be smashing. 
And my slap-my-head-duh!-moment of the session: The camera roll is the first tool to app smashing. (Thanks, Jen, Darlene, and Karen, for the reminder!) See the Math SMASH slide and the Book Review SMASH slide in the presentation for two very practical ideas of app smashing, and also check out my Pinterest board on app smashing.


Session #2: Changing Roles of Students and Teachers in Instruction & Learning
I knew weeks ago that I would attend Anthony Luscre's presentation on the shifting paradigm of education because I've been talking myself blue about the teacher/learner shift for at least six years now, so it's always comforting to find a kindred spirit. Here's what I learned:
  • We still need each other. Self-directed learners are teacher-encouraged learners.
  • TAYH (Teaching Above your Head) is scary but sooooo worth it! Take the plunge. Speaking from experience, even if you fail, your students win.
  • If you feel completely comfortable and in control, you are preparing your students for your past and not their futures. Wow...if that's not an argument to relinquish your tight grasp, then I don't know what is.
  • Getting uncomfortable looks good. Students will learn the importance of self-learning, lifelong learning, the real test is the test of life, teachers aren't the only ones who should be doing the heavy lifting.
  • You don't really know something until you can teach it. See. Do Teach. Learners are pretty good at the first two, but not so much at the third one.
  • Competency-based testing is a better assessment of growth and learning than traditional testing. Get rid of your paper and pencil tests in favor of portfolios, oral presentations, sales pitches, websites, and technical writing.
  • Spaces are important, too. Don't just transform how we learn, but where we learn. Change the way your classroom looks. Make it less traditional.
  • Learn something new everyday. 'Nuff said.


Session #3: Your School's Story Matters! Use Social Media to Tell It
A little self-promtoion never hurt anyone (or any district)...and everyone loves a good story. Principal Ryan McLane and Assistant Principal Eric Lowe shared their social media story with us.

MYTHS
  1. Parents and students are reading your paper and email newsletters.
  2. Parents and students first go to the school/district website for information. 
  3. That "all-call" system you subscribe to is really effective in reaching your audience.

Don't expect people to come to you. We need to go where they are, and that's at: 
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • Blogger
  • Flipboard
  • YouTube

Miscellaneous
  • To post student photos, permission forms from parents are necessary from parents (Hint: Instead of having parents give permission, provide an opt-out.) 
  • Revise your district's AUP to include consequences for inappropriate comments on social media.
  • Always keep it positive.
  • Consider posting a character message to students every day
  • Don't use student names in your posts; or only use first names.
  • Always post links that redirect to your school's website.
  • If you're considering not allowing comments on your social media sites, remember that comments in front of your face are more easily handled than comments behind your back.
  • Over-communication, IMHO, is better than miscommunication.

0 Comments

Takeaways from #OETC15 (Day One)

2/10/2015

 
Picture
I'm at the Ohio Educational Technology Conference in Columbus this week and feeling lucky to be here, sharing, learning, and collaborating. Since I know I have more than a few colleagues who couldn't attend, I'm engaging in some "mini-journaling" so they can be here vicariously!

Morning Session: Flipping Your Staff Meeting
Develop the definition of a Flipped Staff Meeting, look at activities which work well presented through the Flipped model, and discover tools to implement.
  • DO create videos for your staff to watch. 
  • DON'T record yourself talking for ten minutes. That's not innovative. Or creative. Recorded lecturing is just as boring as live lecturing. 
  • DO provide an agenda of bullet points to be covered. 
  • DON'T read directly from PowerPoint slides. Again, boring.
  • DO make it fun. Add a soundtrack. Use a trailer template from iMovie. trailers. Go outside. Use PowToon. Personalize it. Put yourself in there. 
  • DON'T record yourself sitting in your office. 
  • DO offer questions and videos to review before the meeting and to be discussed during the meeting.
  • A flipped meeting is NOT a substitute for a staff meeting so don't treat it like one. Be creative, be engaging, and have FUN!
  • Oh, and podcasts are an option, too!

Afternoon Session: Online Assessments Toolkit
Want to truly prepare our students for the NGAs? Then start providing assignments and assessments that are "NGA-esque." While Eric Curts provided a literal plethora of helpful tools and resources today, here are my faves:
  • Slideshow: "Creating Online Assessments with Google Forms" Don't let the title fool you. View this slideshow to see some startling statistics about how students are faring on the NGAs and how they see things.
  • Cool Tool: EdCite This is THE tool I'll be sharing with our teachers. EdCite allows teachers to build NGA homework assignments on their own...and even allows them to pull from a vast library. 

0 Comments
    Picture

    Stephanie DeMichele

    Learning Designer. Instructional Coach. Trainer. Working my hardest to create Teacher-Bordered Classrooms.​

    Categories

    All
    Blended Learning
    Book Trailers
    Canva
    Chainsmokers
    Change
    Citation
    Classroom Design
    Common Core
    Copyright
    Data
    Digital Do Overs
    Digital Do-overs
    Edcamp
    Educational Technology
    Educreations
    Evaluating Websites
    Fair Use
    Fear
    Flipping
    Formative Assessment
    Game Based Learning
    Game-based Learning
    Generation Z
    Homework
    IMovie
    Instructional Design
    Kahoot
    Knowmia
    LectureLESS
    Oetc
    Parents
    #pedtech
    Performance Based Assessments
    Performance-based Assessments
    Plagiarism
    Professional Development
    Public Domain
    Qr Codes
    Questioning
    Research
    SAMR
    ShowMe
    Slides
    Socrative
    Station Rotation
    Students
    Teachers
    Thinglink
    Twitter

    Archives

    May 2020
    March 2020
    September 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    August 2018
    May 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    May 2016
    April 2016
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    October 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014

Picture
©2023 stephaniedemichele.org | All Rights Reserved
  • home
  • discover
  • contact
  • blog
  • home
  • discover
  • contact
  • blog