My Experience This Quarter with the PLN

Learning how to create a PLN this quarter has been an enriching journey. As we mentioned in class, this class should be offered closer to the beginning of the JDP--so that we can use the PLN for the whole program. I think the technology bits could be integrated fairly seamlessly into the "Rethinking Leadership" course taught by Dr. Daly in the winter of year 1.

As for the trip this quarter...Twitter is great for staying on top of the issues, and easily sharing news articles, etc. I find with colleagues. I don't like the Android tweetdeck app. You have to scroll too much if you don't check it often enough. Diigo is really awesome--I like having all my bookmarks available no matter what device I'm on. In general, I am working to move everything to "the cloud" since I never know where and when I'll need to access stuff.  So Diigo is great for that. Of course, it is HUGE to have access to my colleagues' bookmarks as well. I need to work on organizing my bookmarks into lists. Room for growth :-)

The blog...not my favorite. I've never been a journal writer. But I certainly see the value in reflection and I'm glad the course was structured to allow us to reflect in this format instead of emailing word docs or posting to WebCT, etc. If I were a classroom teacher, I think the blog format would be a great way for students to do assignments. 

A question for Jeff: you mentioned that your Facebook is personal...what do you do when there are professional Facebook pages you are interested in? Do you have a separate Facebook account? Or just have settings so you can see those organizations'/people's pages and they can't see yours?

The Future of Unions

This is an interesting article written by a retired teacher: http://www.city-journal.org/2011/cjc1114ls.html about the imminent death of unions due to technology, blended learning, etc.

My initial reaction is to hate anything anti-union. Growing up, when the teachers would strike, we did not go to school: I was raised to believe in workers' rights. I know that unions have improved work conditions for so many. In my 9 years as a teacher, 4 years were in non-union states. I'm not sure if unions are illegal in Virginia and Texas, but when I worked in those states, the teachers did not belong to a union. The consequences were pretty awful: for example, we were not given bathroom breaks, lunch time, etc. in my Virginia school. Even here is California, working with union protection, the work conditions at times were physically taxing. 

On the other hand, I can see how in some cases unions can get in the way of reform, as described in the article.  But I don't really think blended learning means you need fewer teachers or professors. Who is creating the content, interacting with students, and giving them feedback? In my research, it seems that a barrier to kids' getting the the benefits they need from relationships with educators is lack of TIME, too many students for each teacher, counselor, etc. There is plenty of work to go around, I guess is my point.

Inter-generational Learning

I loved this blog that Susan tweeted: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/teaching-tech-older-adults-daphne-bradford about 10th and 11th graders from Crenshaw High in LA teaching older adults about technology. This is a great example of the value of Twitter and of blogs....the teacher who came up with this innovation blogged about it, including step by step instructions of how to replicate what she did. Then, of course, I would never have seen the blog if Susan hadn't tweeted it. Very cool.

As for the content of the blog post, this inter-generational interaction is so needed on so many levels! Especially in terms of the relationships that can develop between students and adults. The students are the teachers here--but I am sure they ended up learning a lot from the adult mentors as well.

Futurist Scenario Continued

Strengths: A strength of my idea to provide Migrant Ed students with mobile devices is that they can take them to different locations to access the Internet. Also, depending on the device we choose, the price point is relatively low compared to a computer.

Weaknesses: The price is also a weakness, as even $200 per student is a lot.  Also, SDCOE has a lot of regulations when they purchase technology, and I am not sure about the legality of giving devices to students. I wonder if we could loan them? My boss recently mentioned that she does not think providing devices for students is a good idea, because students might move away and not give the devices back.

Opportunities: The opportunity is we could really help students complete schoolwork, as well as give them extra practice using software. Valley Center purchased iPod touches to use with Migrant students over the summer and they experienced success (however, they never left the iPod touches in the homes nor out of sight of a staff member).

Threats: My boss is against providing this type of technology for students because of the risk of loss.  For example, we recently upgraded our staff's laptops, and we are not supposed to loan the old laptops to students. Although I am probably going to do it anyway.

Things I could/should do:

• visit/talk to Valley Center to see the ways they are using their iPods
• visit/talk to EUSD to see how they are using their iPods
• purchase one or two devices and pilot them with a couple of students
• talk to students about what schoolwork they need to do online and how they get Internet access presently
• loan old laptops to students and monitor their use--like a pilot

How do I monitor trends?

Currently, I monitor trends by listening to the experiences of families and students. I hear about issues related to Internet access mostly through my staff, as they are in the students' homes frequently.

How do I need to adjust my radar?

It would be helpful for me to spend more time talking to students about what homework and projects they are assigned, and what they do to get it done.