A few months ago, I wrote a blog post titled: “Enhancement-Automating-Transforming-Informating“, where I fused two models, the SARM model by Ruben Puentedura and Alan November’s Automating vs Informating model.

It made sense to me that Puentedura’s Substitution and Augmentation stage was part of November’s Automating phase and that the Modification and Redefinition belonged to the Informating phase.

But, I feel that there is a third phase beyond the Transformative phase, that I am calling “Amplification”. Now, one can argue that the opportunity to “amplify is part of the “Redefinition” stage, since as it is defined by Puentedura (…to be able to create a task, that was not possible before, without technology), but I am arguing that goes further and deserves to be it’s own phase.

The Free Dictionary defines the verb “amplify” as:

1. To make larger or more powerful; increase.

2. To add to, as by illustrations; make complete.

3. To exaggerate.

4. To produce amplification of…

Let’s take the example of a book report, that students have been asked to produce around the world in most school systems, at many different grade levels.

The classical book report/review  (before technology) asked students to read the book and then write a review, a factual summary, interpretation or recommendation about that book. Traditionally, students used a pencil, pen or fountain pen (as I did growing up in Germany) and handed it in to the teacher, who would read it, mark mistakes (spelling/grammar), point out possible omissions, grade it and then hand it back.

Let’s enter the Substitution Stage (part of the Automating phase):

Instead of having to handwrite the report, teachers are “allowing” the report to be typed up and printed out before “handing” in the assignment. The teacher will then read it, mark mistakes (spelling/grammar), point out possible omissions, grade it and then hand it back to the students.

Using the computer to type substituted (automated) the task of writing the report by hand. There was no functional change (as Puentedura defines the stage).  Students went through the same cognitive process as they were producing the report.

Moving on to the Augmentation Stage (still part of the Automating phase), when technology substitutes a traditional task, but adds functional improvement.

The student types the assigned book report and instead of printing it out and handing it in to the teacher the following school day, the student uses Google Docs to “share” the file with her teacher. The teacher then makes suggestions via comments on the file. The student goes over teacher’s suggestions and edits the same document before a given deadline, when teacher looks at the final edit before grading the report.

In this scenario, the process of thinking as the student was producing the book report did not change. Technology allowed to share the assignment vs. handing it it, which added functionality to the process.

Now we are heading into the Informating phase by entering the Modification stage. During the Modification stage, the task itself gets redesigned. By “elevating” a task to the Informating phase, according to Alan November, we need to “think about information systems, whole systems of the flow of information and communication”.

The teacher modifies the original task of writing about a book to go beyond paraphrasing and expanding the summary of the book sleeve. She asks her students to include for example research about the author, historic events during the authors writing of the book, timelines, connections to other author’s of the same genre or same topic. The teacher encourages students to go beyond the traditional “research” sources, such as other books, newspaper articles or journals and venture into sources such as Twitter, YouTube, Delicious, blogs, Shelfari, etc. Students create a book report comparing and contrasting multiple points of view of the book.

This example shows how the task evolved from purely automating to informating. From using technology to purely doing the same thing that was previously done with a paper and a pen. The teacher is teaching her students to take advantage of the tools in the information age, helping and guiding them to develop skills and information literacy.

The next stage, Redefintion,  is also part of the Informating phase. During the Redefinition phase, technology allows for the creation of a new task, previously inconceivable.

The teacher decides that students should not be confined to produce a book report/review in one media (text) only. She chooses to give students the freedom to use different media to create a summary of their chosen book, express their own interpretation and possibly add a recommendation why or why not to read the book for a specific audience (ex. classmates).  Students could create PowerPoints, podcasts, video trailers, multimedia posters, etc. Students prepare their “report” by researching, storyboarding and searching for or producing their own media to create the final product.

In the above scenario, students are learning to express themselves and to communicate through different media. The task of thinking about a book and writing (in text) about the author, setting, characters, plot, etc., has been redesigned to include different media with its different forms of expressions and different audiences. Without the use of technology, this task wold not have been possible.

This brings us to the Amplification stage.

The book report has been created, it is in some shape or form in a digital format. So far the audience for the student’s work is an audience of one (the teacher), possibly the audience grows after the completion of the assignment to include the student’s parents or if the teacher chooses to have students present their report in front of the class.

What if the teacher specifically chooses to amplify her students work even further?  What are the implication of this choice? Last year, I wrote a post about  A Wordwide Audience for  Six Year Olds?, contemplating these questions. Does an audience for their work matter to students? How can a teacher deliberately integrate “amplification” into her teaching? Also, take a look at one of my previous posts “Framing a Skype Learning Experience“or “CSI-Twitter” where an amplification played a significant role in the learning outcome for students.

I believe that there are different degrees of amplification and that ALL teachers can amplify in some shape or form. It does not need to be on a massive scale, nor global scale… (yet…).  Teachers need to be aware that through technology it is possible though to amplify their students’ work and learning experience and create learning opportunities that without these amplifications would not have been possible before.

Amplification Degrees:

1. Share student work with the entire class
2. Connect and share your student work with other classes in your grade level/building/school
3. Place your student work on a classroom website (not password protected)
4. Tweet the link to your students’ work out to your PLN to increase traffic to thee site
5. Connect to peers, experts and eye witnesses from around the world
6. Become a curator by organizing, tagging, categorizing your students’ work to share online

As we are amplifying our students’ work, we are exposing to and modeling for our students new literacies, such as network and global literacy. They are learning and creating (highest level of Bloom’s Taxonomy’s Thinking) with an authentic, global audience in mind.

As you look at the various Amplification Degrees above, what could you add/insert/delete? Help me amplify my learning, by adding your thoughts, resources, and experiences to my own work.

I wanted to pass the following job opportunities along to my readers. Please contact the individual school directly.

Job Opportunity #1- Holy Trinity Episcopal, Melbourne, Florida

POSITION TITLE: 21st Century Learning Specialist

POSITION PURPOSE: To develop and facilitate the acquisition of 21st century digital literacy skills among faculty and students based on the ISTE NETS standards. We are looking for a forward-thinking, innovative educator who is passionate about technology, digital literacy, 21st century learning, and facilitating teacher growth.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS: Bachelor’s degree with a minimum of 3 years of teaching experience. Must be enthusiastic and knowledgeable about Web 2.0 and other digital tools and technologies. Must have excellent verbal and written communication skills; be self-directed, motivated, and a life-long learner. Eager to help teachers and students become independent learners and models of the ISTE NETS standards. Operates under the general supervision of the Director of Information Technology; works closely with Director of Studies and Administrative Team.

REPORTS TO: Director of Information Technology POSITION STATUS:    Exempt, FT, 10 1/2 Month

EXPECTATION: Serve as a positive role model who supports the mission, vision and core values of the school.

MAJOR DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:
GENERAL:

1. Work with all major departments and divisions to achieve strategic initiatives.
2. Must maintain professionalism in dress, speech and manner.
3. Must have the ability to get along with, communicate and deal effectively with all school personnel, school parents and community.
4. Willingness to perform in a manner that reflects positively on the school.
5. As a member of the HTEA team, perform all duties as requested by the Headmaster.

LEARNING SPECIALIST:

1. Collaborate with teachers and administrators to develop curriculum materials and specific lesson
   plans based on the ISTE NETS standards.
2. Model the integration of technology and the ISTE NETS standards in all curriculum areas.
3. Collaborate with faculty, technology staff, and students to evaluate and select appropriate digital
   tools.
4. Assist teachers with integrating school iPads into the curriculum.
5. Provide individualized and group professional development for teachers and administrators.
6. Actively seek out opportunities for professional growth. Online personal learning networks
   encouraged. Sharing of experiences and educational resources via blogging and other social
   media is encouraged and supported.
7. Promote partnerships that support the academic success, career readiness, and general well-being
   of all children.
8. Evaluate on an ongoing basis the effectiveness of ISTE NETS standards implementation.
9. Adhere to and communicate copyright as well as other laws and guidelines pertaining to the
   distribution and ethical use of resources.
10. Maintain professionalism in all relationships, responsibility, confidentiality, corporate loyalty, dress, speech and manners. Promote and model digital citizenship, etiquette, and responsibility.
11. Perform other duties as requested.

Job Opportunity #2 Margolin Hebrew Academy, Memphis, Tennessee

In my previous post titled Enhancement-Automating-Transforming-Informating, I described the fusion (in my mind) of the SAMR model with Alan November’s concept of Automating vs. Informating to transform teaching and learning.

Since then, my colleague Andrea Hernandez and I have set down to create a visual using the above model to include concrete examples from our school to illustrate to our teachers what tasks are considered in the substitution/augmentation/modification/redefinition stages. We want to be transparent in showing our expectations of basic tasks being led autonomously by the classroom teachers to teach and support students without the necessity of tech support to be present. At the same time, we wanted to emphasize the progression and show what transformational teaching and learning looks like.

As we were populating the chart, it became clear to me that the stages were part of a time line, a process that an individual and an entire school cultures had to go through in order to transform and leap from “preparing students for 1970s, 1980′s 1990′s to preparing them for 2020′s and beyond” (Heidi Hayes Jacobs). Once I saw the imaginary time line, I also felt that that the stages coincided with how (21st century) teaching and learning was seen. We used to see it as a:

Tools Set:

• we taught keyboarding classes
• we had classes that taught a specific version of a office program (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
• we emphasized file management
• we supported teachers when they did not know which button to click for printing
• we gave instructions, such as “click in the upper left corner for the drop down menu and save”, we gave new instructions when the software package, platform or version changed
• we gave tech support to upload, download and resize images

Then we started to understand that it was never about the tools, but about the skills teachers and students would acquire when using these tools.

Skill Set:

• we blog to teach and learn about writing, communication, networking, presentation, publishing, commenting, reflection, organization and collaboration skills. Blogging is about Digital Citizenship, Media Literacy, Information Literacy and Global Awareness.
• we use wikis to understand about copyright, evaluation and analysis of Information, collective knowledge and new writing genres.
• we skype in order to expose and connect teachers and students locally and globally to peers, experts, eye witnesses. We become more fluent in networking and and information literacies, speaking, listening and presentation skills are honed.
• we teach bookmarking skills to help teachers and students cope with the exponentially increasing information available. Finding, evaluating, analyzing, tagging, categorizing, organizing, connecting and remixing of information are just some of the skills necessary for that
• we podcast (audio and video)  to allow students to express themselves and their knowledge in more than the written form. We incorporate storytelling in order to give students multimedia skills as well as expose them to visual literacy and information literacy.

Now, it seems that teaching and learning will not necessarily move from the “enhancement” to the “transformation” stage with a tool set and the necessary skills alone. In order for teaching and learning to become transformative there also needs to be a

Mind Set:

• Our world has flattened and is interconnected
• Information is just going to continue to grow exponentially
• Students of today and tomorrow learn differently than we did
• We are life long learners
• We are self-directed learners
• “How we connect with each other is how learning occurs” (Stephen Wilmarth)
• “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read or write, but the ones who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn” (Alvin Toffler)
• “Collaboration and sharing knowledge are highly prized skills” (Alan November)

Take a look at the following graphic and keep a time line in mind, as well as the stages mentioned above to move from substitution to redefinition. Does this make sense to you? What would you add?

The job title “21st Century Learning Specialist” does not give the same clear picture to many people as  the title of 2nd grade , Librarian or Spanish teacher might. I get many blank looks when I answer the innocent question of “So, what do you do?

I blogged about my last Job Title “What Does it Mean to be an Technology Integration Facilitator” before. Maybe it is time to post a description of a day in the life of a 21st Century Learning Specialist.

My students are not only the ones that have the “official” title of “Students” at our school. I consider all teachers, assistants, educators, administration, parents, and staff as my students.

My classroom is the hallway, the school’s office, the faculty lounge, the computer lab, the principal’s and school office, a virtual Skype room, the library, the staircase, an officially designated classroom, anywhere on campus and sometimes on the cell phone too…

I wear many hats, since learning in the 21st Century happens anytime, anywhere and in so many different forms. When I tried to “categorize” what I do, I came up with the following diagram.

Professional Development:

• Teachers
• Administrators
• Staff
• Parent Education

Teaching:

• Plan
• Co-Teach
• Model
• Coach

21st Century Skills & Literacies:

• create
• communicate
• collaborate
• connect
• Basic Literacy
• Information Literacy
• Media Literacy
• Network Literacy
• Global Literacy
• Digital Citizenship

Technology Team:

• Software
• Hardware
• Web based tools
• Basic Troubleshooting

Social Network Channel:

• School Website
• Facebook
• Twitter
• iTunes Podcast
• Flickr
• Slideshare

Curriculum Liason:

• Curriculum Mapping
• 21st Century Teaching & Learning Voice

So, how does a typical day of mine look like?

I am usually in my office at 7:30 am to take advantage of the quietness that only a school can have, shortly before students arrive.  This allows me to catch up on e-mails, Twitter, write my “famous” to-do lists for the day after checking and updating my Google Calendar that is shared with faculty and administration at school.

Weekly Google Calendar

The morning hours are sometimes the perfect time bracket to skype another teacher from the Eastern Hemisphere (timezones!) to plan future collaboration. Sometimes it is the perfect time for an early meeting with a colleague to start planning a new project, coach them as they are venturing out to use web 2.0 tools or just sit beside them as they are exploring Google Apps or other communication and collaboration tools.

Typically, I will go into classrooms to observe or support a teacher’s lesson by leading “just in time” discussions about 21st Century skills and literacies or give an introduction to various tools. Observations in the classroom usually lead to a planning time with the teacher on how to upgrade a lesson, start or participate in a project, co-teach a future lesson or a 1:1 tutoring time on a specific tool. Discussion time with students usually lead to follow ups to future classroom visits, searching for further resources for students or their teacher and ideas for involvement and collaboration of (global) projects.

I might also meet with teachers and their classes in the computer lab to support them as an additional “hand on deck” as students are working on projects, such as wikis, voicethreads, digital storytelling, etc.

I document my work as much as possible by maintaining the 21st Century Learning Blog of the school. This requires me to keep up to date with writing blog drafts, take supporting images or videos of the progress of projects and post updates. I spend a regular portion of my day working on storing, categorizing and editing  media (images/video/audio) taken around campus for marketing purposes or student projects.

Professional Learning Network

Most days, I have at least a few Skype calls scheduled throughout the day. These calls usually fall in the category of making initial contact with subject matter experts, potential connections for classes, collaboration and planning calls with participants of various projects any class is participating in and calls to foster, support, nurture and maintain my Professional Learning Network. My PLN has become a vital part of the work I do. Without this network of professional educators around the world, I would not be able to connect to, collaborate with and disseminate my students’ learning to an authentic audience. The contact to my PLN via various Social Network sites keeps me up to date with the newest trends, content experts, tools, educational discussions, projects and professional support.

My day is sprinkled with meeting various teachers for 1:1 or small group Professional Development opportunities. Some of these meetings are scheduled weekly (with great success) or on an as-needed-bases. Some of them are with a pre-set topic  (blogging, podcasting, RSS, SmartBoard, etc.) while others are impromptu in nature and guided by current units of study. I also prepare small group or whole faculty PD workshops throughout the year

Preparation for and follow up for these meetings in terms of collection of resources, step by step tutorials, making authentic global connections, set-up and maintenance of collaboration platforms (wikis, google docs, blogs, VoiceThreads, Professional Development Ning etc.) for teachers and students are also part of my daily work.

Debriefing and collaboration sessions with my colleague and other half, Andrea Hernandez, about projects, grade level curriculum, school visions,  and curriculum upgrades regarding 21st Century Teaching & Learning is vital to coordinate school wide involvement, support and advancement of vision. I am also part of a technology team by attending meetings and lending guiding support to technology related matters.

Another one of our coordination efforts includes the area of Parent Education. We have successfully implemented a monthly Parent Coffee Talk. Every month we offer a different topic for parents to be exposed to/ learn about 21st Century learning and/or have hands on experience with web 2.0 tools/platforms. In the future we want to expand our offerings to different days and times (morning/evening) in order to appeal to a wider variety of parents.

The power of connecting is one of the pillars of 21st Century skills. Communicating with your students,  parent community, school community and global community by using different social network platforms is quickly becoming  a necessity. The development, supervision and update of the school’s Social Network Channels (School’s official website/blog, Classroom blogs, Twitter, Facebook, iTunes, Flickr, etc.) are part of a daily routine. Pushing out information, as well storing, documenting, tagging and connecting in “the cloud” is simply a way of 21st Century working.

I wear many different hats...

I am hoping that I am not omitting any special hat of mine  in this  “Day in the Life of a 21st Century Learning Specialist”. My job has become less a list of duties and responsibilities and more the way we simply teach and learn.

I am honored to have been chosen the “Skyping Teacher of the Week” by one of our local TV stations, First Coast News

Silvia Tolisano, the school’s 21st Century Learning Specialist started the program ‘Around the World in 80 Schools’ to bring more awareness to students. “We are promoting global awareness and global connections. Yes, today we talked to Peru and it was wonderful and this shows the students there is a world out there.”

In German there is a saying when you feel alone in what you do. “Allein auf weiter Flur stehen” is similar to the idiom of “to plough a lonely furrow”.

Allein auf weiter Flur

Most teachers who have embraced 21st century teaching and learning are indeed alone or part of a small minority in their school or district. It sure can feel that one is walking a lonely hallway with no one around or even running away as they see you approach.

I know I am very fortunate to have someone in the same building as I work in, who understands my “crazy” connected blogging twittering social networked world. Someone who will have read some of the same blog posts, understands the excitement of collaborative work, or will already have checked out the newest tips or resources circulating in the twittersphere.

I am grateful to have someone like Andrea Hernandez (@edtechworkshop) work with me. It means a lot to be able to drop by between classes or meetings to chat, brainstorm, plan, collaborate, or run something by each other.

But…we are in the minority (only ones?) in our building, county or state. We are reminded that when talking to each other we are preaching to the choir. Only on the social networks we belong to, such as Twitter, Nings and our blogs, when we connect with others virtually, do we feel as part of something greater and are lulled into a sense of reassurance that there are many others on the same path with similar ideas.

Nevertheless, I sometimes feel that I live in my own “21st Century teaching and learning” bubble, floating in a different dimension or even on a completely different planet.

The above image was created collaboratively with my Twitter network.

Thank you edtechworkshop, whynot88, JosieHolford, tecnoteach, and annemarie80!

Once I had the idea of creating a visualization of that feeling, found several images on Stock.xchng, started playing in PhotoShop, I solicited responses on Twitter. As I am receiving new keywords to be placed inside and outside the bubble, I am adding them to the PhotoShop file and then replacing the image file on Flickr.

There are three ways to contribute to this image by adding keywords describing how the inside and outside of YOUR bubble looks like.

1. Leave the keywords as a comment on this blog post
2. Leave a comment on the image’s Flickr page
3. Send a Tweet to @langwitches

Cross posted on the TechLearning Advisors Blog

As the Technology Integration Facilitator, I was “stationed’ in the computer lab. Although classroom teachers did not “drop” their students off at the lab for me to teach a separate lesson, I still felt disconnected. This was mainly due to a lack of (or no) collaborative planning time between the classroom teacher and myself, but it was also limited due to the once a week nature of scheduled lab time for the classes.

My current position as the 21st century Learning Specialist has allowed me to have the freedom of not having scheduled classes in a lab and be invited to plan and co-teach in the classroom by the teachers.

This gives me the opportunity to be with many  different grade levels (Kindergarten -8th grade) on a project based basis. I am able to support the teachers in their classrooms as much (or as little) as they desire.

I use my blog to document my work with the teachers and students, but also to share with others these projects, ideas, thoughts, lesson plans, etc.

While I twittered a link to one of my latest blog post describing a SmartBoard lesson  “Graphing on the Smartboard for Little Ones,” Paula White, who blogs at TZSTeacher, called for more posts describing lessons.

Her tweet got me thinking…

• Is there enough encouragement for teachers to share what they are doing in the classroom with a wider audience?
• Are the “in theory…”, “teachers should be doing these kind of activities…”, and “research says…” kind of blogs intimidating teachers in the trenches to share REAL examples from their classrooms?
• Do classroom teachers know that THEIR VOICES are important and others want and need to hear from them?

I was told, on several occasions, by teachers that they:

1. Wouldn’t know what to share
2. Are wondering why would anyone care to know what they are doing
3. Don’t have the time it takes to blog and share what they are doing
4. Wouldn’t know how to share what they are doing in the classroom

Here are my answers to these comments:

Teachers don’t know what to share.

If your students learned from a unit, a lesson, even from a fleeting teachable moment … it is worth sharing. If you are new to teaching and feel you could not possibly contribute anything, you are forgetting the Power of a Newbie. Although Vicki Davis writes about the tech newbie, the same concept can be applied to a teacher-newbie.

When you are a newbie, you have something that tech-experts do not have: the perspective of a new user.

If you are a veteran teacher, your experience and knowledge are invaluable. Don’t lock them up within the four walls of your classrooms. Share and allow other students to benefit and learn from them through their teachers as they learn from YOU!

Teachers are wondering, why would anyone care to know what they are doing in the classroom?

Teachers who are daily in the classroom with students have an incredible advantage over the theorists that are populating the edublogersphere. They know what works and what doesn’t with their particular group. They are not theorizing or relying on others to give them data, they are working in the trenches and are doing “it”…the real thing…the teaching… on a daily basis.

Teachers don’t have the time it takes to blog and share what they are doing.

You don’t have to write an essay or a novel. Notes, even a bullet list can be great. If you create your lesson plans electronically, it could be just a matter of copy and pasting. Documenting what you are doing with a digital video or photo camera  doesn’t have to be time consuming either. Reflections on your lesson plan, teaching and on student learning are great for a teaching portfolio and our own continues learning, but not necessary if you just want to share what you are doing.
Check out Kevin Jarrett’s incredible site, where he shares his K-4 tech lesson plans.

Teachers wouldn’t know how to share what they are doing in the classroom.

• I usually start documenting a planning session with teachers in my blog’s drafts.
• As the lesson or unit progresses, I edit and add more information to the draft.
• Take as much media as possible: images, video, audio, screenshots.
  When I take pictures and video, I am careful not to take students’ faces or anything identifying (names written on papers or their desks). Standing behind them and taking the shot “from their perspective”(back of their head)  usually works great.
  ex.:
• I add resource links used in the preparation or execution of the lesson.
• I embed video clips or other media as much as possible (if embed code available and not copyrighted).
• After the lesson or unit is completed, I go over the draft, add and edit some more, put thoughts in order, images in sequence and … publish…
• I tweet about the blog post to spread the word

We need YOU!

Why not try it out? Why not document, upload and share what you are doing in the classroom. You could use a wiki or a blog to create a presence for your teaching lessons and ideas. If you are already sharing your lessons, why not encourage and mentor another classroom teacher to do the same?

Here are some of my favorite teacher blogs who share great examples of what is happening in their classroom trenches:

• Karen Bosch’s Great Tech-spectations
• Kevin Jarrett’s NCS-Tech
• Tom Barrett’s ICT in my Classroom
• Glenn Kenyon’s Off the Hypotenuse
• Lesley Edward’s The WebFooted Booklady

Please contribute some of your favorite links to teacher who are sharing lessons.

Note: There is an email link embedded within this post, please visit this post to email it. Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

I have been thinking a lot about what it takes to shift our schools into the 21st century. You hear and read that term “Shift to the 21st century” a lot. In the past few years we have been so focused on integrating technology…maybe we tackled the desire to achieve change from the wrong angle?

Quote by George Siemens
www.connectivism.ca/?p=122
Image licensed under Creative Commons by Yohann.Aberkane
www.flickr.com/photos/yohann-aberkane/2836258475

So, I am going to make my learning ABOUT learning transparent. I am sharing the quotes and blog posts that resonated with me and are pushing my own understanding and desire to wrap my brain around the issue and make sense of it in my own mind. You can also follow the trail of my learning along the way by going in reverse chronological order through my del.icio.us bookmarks with the “learning” tag

image by Chris Campbell

As you follow the trail of MY bread crumbs, what are YOUR thoughts, WHERE does the trail lead YOU?

Weblogg-ed » Teachers as Learners Part 27

We teach teachers to teach, we don’t teach teachers to learn. Even in professional development, we teach them stuff they need to be better teachers, but do we give them the skills they need to be better learners? Do we evaluate them on what they’ve been reading? On what they’ve been writing? On their reflectiveness?

Weblogg-ed » The Steep “Unlearning Curve”

For instance, in a world where literally any place can be a classroom, we have to unlearn the comforts of four walls that we’ve become accustomed to. When we can share our work with wide audiences, we need to unlearn the idea that student writing and projects are simply ways to assess what they know.

Planning to Share versus Just Sharing at EdTechPost

Every single day I share my learning and have knowledge and learning shared back with me. I know it works. I literally don’t think I could do my job any longer without it – the pace of change is too rapid, the number of developments I need to follow and master too great, and without my network I would drown. But I am not drowning, indeed I feel regularly that I am enjoying surfing these waves and glance over to see other surfers right there beside me, silly grins on all of our faces. So it feels to me like it’s working, like we ARE sharing, and thriving because of it.

Ideas and Thoughts from an EdTech » Inside Learning

• Learning is social and connected
• Learning is personal and self-directed
• Learning is shared and transparent
• Learning is rich in content and diversity

Self Directed Learning Teams : Powerful Learning Practice, LLC

We talk of self-directed learning and its importance in education today. Usually the conversations are centered on students being self directed learners and the difficulties they seem to have understanding this concept, but this is a new experience for many teachers as well. I believe most people are used to menu option of professional development sessions offered through their employer. Many chose to attend sessions that fit into the time constraints of their lives, whether they are the most relevant or not.

The Edurati Review: It’s Not about the Technology

1. Teachers must be learners
2. Learning and Teaching are not the same thing.
3. Technology is useless without good teaching.
4. Be a 21st Century Teacher without the technology.

Connectivism

When we make our learning transparent, we become teachers. Even if we are new to a field and don’t have the confidence to dialogue with experts, we can still provide important learning opportunities to others.

DIGITAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS: Tools and Technologies for Effective Classrooms

“Learning is a mindset….We’re in a space that is redefining what expertise is. Those who were experts in one space may become obsolete because in their own mind they’ve reached proficiency. Proficiency is a blind spot. Once you have the opinion you are proficient…you stop reaching out as a learner….The successful of the future will not only be those who know how to learn but those who see themselves as LEARNERS.

Weblogg-ed » Wanted: School Chief Learning Officer

I wondered how many schools could point to someone, anyone, who is in charge of learning. By that I mean someone who manages the culture of the school by focusing not on outcomes as much as how learning is writ large in the system. Someone who also understands the ways in which social Web technologies accentuate the need for the learning skills we’ve desired all along: creativity, critical thinking, independent thought, collaboration, etc.

Jorgie’s Learning Blog: W =F x D; T = (L + R + C)Ch

T = (L + R + C)Ch Teaching equals Learning plus Retention plus connections multiplied by change. If what I do doesn’t cause people to change the way they behave I haven’t really taught them anything.

The Volcanics Journey – Conor’s blog

The (now) old phrase “poor teaching + technology = expensive poor teaching” will always hold true.

If you have not seen my previous post, click yourself through to Teacher Code of Conduct from 1915.

My first reaction to the rules were, that they infringed on teachers’ private lives.

But… I wonder… if it is not such a far cry from what is …or not… or should be happening right now.

No, I am not talking about dictating what to wear, who or when to marry or what time a teacher should be home. I am talking about a different kind of code of conduct though. A code of conduct for teachers in their ONLINE world.

I am wondering if there is  a necessity to create a guideline or code of conduct how teachers are to present themselves in their private online network places profiles? Does the administration at school or the district have the right (duty) to bring the subject up for discussion and in the end to make rules? Is it their business or not?

There is no doubt that some teachers do not have a natural filter when it comes to professional behavior online. It is incredible the kind of content teachers seem to be comfortable of uploading to their Facebook or MySpace accounts. Just google the keywords “teachers facebook, schools mySpace” and you will find many incredible stories of what teachers choose to upload. What is acceptable? What is unacceptable?

• swimsuit shots?
• partying pictures?
• bench drinking? social drinking?
• racial, discriminatory words or jokes?
• degrading words, stories and comments about students and their school.

What actions are schools and districts taking?

On eSchool News the article Teachers warned about MySpace Profiles from November 19th, 2007 shows that the issue is not new and that school districts, unions, administrators are getting involved :

An investigation by the Columbus Dispatch into educator misconduct underscores the reasons for the union’s concern.
The newspaper’s recent probe has revealed questionable or inappropriate content on at least three MySpace profiles belonging to people who say they are Ohio teachers.
One says she’s an “aggressive freak in bed,” another says she has taken drugs and likes to party, and a third describes his mood as “dirty,” the Dispatch reported Nov. 10. The guy with the dirty mood, who claims to be a 35-year-old middle school math teacher in Cleveland, reportedly listed students among his MySpace friends.

Cynthia on her blog The Learning Curve referring to the above article above asks herself:

We all want to be known for who we really are–or at least, for who we’d like people to think we are. But we may not want to be known for all of who we really are, by everybody. Social networking sites force us to make some decisions about our privacy. Especially if we’re teachers, and we have kids looking up to us.

An anonymous commenter on her post(who claims to be a High School student)  brings the perspective of the students into the mix.

If you ask me, talking to a teacher on myspace makes them real and I learn better from someone who is real then some robot afraid of reaching out beyond their little “safe zone”. People say they don’t want personal lives and school mixing. Well, what do you think is going to happen if you tell a teacher how to act outside of work.

Articles, like the one on eSchool, just shows that there is a problem. We can’t simply ignore it.

• Many people ARE posting inappropriate materials on the social network profiles. Some of them happen to be teachers.
• The boundaries between professional and private lives are blurring
• The online world is a connected world that brings people closer (sometimes too close for comfort)

Now, the question is how do we DEAL with these issues?

I posed the following question to my twitter network this morning and received an overwhelming response.

What are your thoughts about teachers’ Code of Conduct regarding their personal MySpace and Facebook accounts?

Obviously there are many points, angles, stakeholders, and perspectives to consider. The amount of responses I received from Twitter in such a short amount of time also speaks volumes to the time sensitivity of the issue. Many teachers and districts are confronted with these question:

• Is there a need to regulate or mandate teachers’ social network profiles whether they are private or not?
• Is it appropriate for students to befriend their teachers and vice-versa?
• Should contact between teachers and students be prohobited or encouraged
• Does age and grade level of students play a role?
• What are the legal implications for inappropriate content on teachers’ profiles/pages?
• Do we need to raise and educate our teachers on the the issue of “appropriate” content or do we assume that ALL of them are professionals and should know what is appropriate.
  
• Is it any of our business what teachers do and post on their (private) online profiles during their (private) time?
• Can we and should we pass judgment and make decisions based on the content of a teacher’s online profile?
• If you are “friends” with your students and you see them post inappropriate things, are you required to report it? Can you be their friend and their police?
• What are the legal/ethical implications of being friends with your students?

Mike Fisher wrote an excellent post Teachers, Students and Facebook on his blog DigiGogy. He writes:

I understand the concerns that other teachers and administrators have with networking through sites like Facebook, but I also understand that ignoring that network is ignoring a mountain of possibilities for professional development and teaching about appropriate internet usage.

Megan Golding wrote a post Facebook Privacy for Teachers, where she explains step by step how to set up your privacy settings, so students to not get her status updates about what she is doing on the weekend,  but she also cautions:

Teachers should be incredibly wary about having profiles on social networking sites. And even more wary about befriending students. That’s potentially a glimpse into your personal life you don’t need to share. At best sharing the wrong info is unprofessional.

Here are some of the responses from my Twitter network. Again I am in awe, that I can sit at home on a Sunday morning, contemplating an issue and be able to get in touch with so many other educators around the world who will push, shape, guide and challenge my thinking in so many different ways and directions. Thank you to all who took the time to respond and participate in this conversation.

Remember that the responses are in reverse chronological order.

It looks like there are many newspaper articles out there picking this touchy subject about regulating teachers’ private lives in online social network sites apart.

• Washington Post: When Young Teachers Go Wild on the Web-Public Profiles Raise Questions of Propriety and Privacy
• CNN- Online student-teacher friendship can  be tricky
• eSchool News- Schools grapple with teachers’ Facebook use
  As online social networks explode in popularity, administrators wonder: Is it OK for teachers to ‘befriend’ their students online?

So many angles, so many opinions, not just one correct anwer. What I am taking away from looking a little deeper into the issue is that teachers and administrators DO have to ask themselves where they stand.

• What do you consider being a professional in an online space?
• How comfortable are you with the blur between your private and professional lives?
• Can you “defend” any online interaction with students and back it up with educational value?

Please share if you and your school have taken steps in addressing (or not) an Online Code of Conduct for their teachers. What is your point of view? Do you have a Facebook account and are “friends” with colleagues and students?

While I was taking grad classes for my education degree several years ago, one of my professors had us read a Teacher Contract from 1915. I remember thinking, “How outdated, I am so glad that these kind of rules don’t exist”.

I can’t seem to verify the authenticity of these rules in contracts for female teacher (they are floating around on several sites with no citation). I believe that all of us can agree, whether accurate or not, that times have changed for teachers in the past 100 years.

image by Magic Foundry

Rules of Conduct for Teachers

1. You will not marry during the term of your contract.
2. You are not to keep company with men.
3. You must be home between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. unless
   attending a school function.
4. You may not loiter downtown in ice cream stores.
5. You may not travel beyond the city limits unless you have the permission of the chairman of the board.
6. You may not ride in a carriage or automobile with any man unless he is your father or brother.
7. You may not smoke cigarettes.
8. You may not dress in bright colors.
9. You may under no circumstances dye your hair.
10. You must wear at least two petticoats.
11. Your dresses must not be any shorter than two inches above the ankle.
12. To keep the schoolroom neat and clean, you must sweep the floor at least once daily; scrub the floor at least once a week  with hot, soapy water; clean the blackboards at least once a day; and start the fire at 7 am so the room will be warm by 8 am

How could an employer dictate someone’s private life (outside their hours of work) in such a way?

Once my initial outcry wore off, I started thinking and wondering how this would translate into today’s society? I believe it is worth taking another look at it from a different angle.

Watch for a  blog post I am working on about the need (or not)  for an updated teacher code of conduct.

What are your thoughts? Is there a need? Do schools have the right to mandate a certain conduct of their employees in their private lives?