Taste of Tech

Earlier this week, I was asked to respond to an inquiry from one of our high school students. He’s writing an article for the school paper about technology in the schools, and he had several questions about how technology has changed society and school since the start of the millennium. Because this was an inquiry about the high school, my remarks are more 9-12 focused than they normally would be.

Which changes in technology have you noticed in the past 8 years?
The biggest change I’ve seen is 24/7 access to technology and networks. We’re connected now in ways that weren’t feasible just a few years ago. Look at something as simple as a phone. In the last decade, we’ve switched from the idea that phones are tied to places (home phone, work phone, etc.) to phones that are tied to people. Everybody has a phone, and it’s with them and on all the time. We’re not using email as much anymore, because it’s too slow. Now we’ve moved on to text messaging and Twitter and other more immediate forms of communication.

The other big thing is social networking. The Internet has become a much more interactive place. In the 90’s, we were talking about using the web for research. There are all kinds of resources available out there. We have to be able to find them, filter them, figure out what’s relevant, and then use them in responsible ways. Now, that’s only part of the picture. You can go to CNN and read a story and then comment on it. Or blog about it. And people read those comments and make their own comments about your comments. You can create your own music and video and upload it and share it and remix it and do some really creative things. The Pew Internet and American Life Project reports that 2/3 of teens create content and post it online. That’s a huge change from just a few years ago. You can also keep track of what your friends are doing and reading and thinking about, and what their friends are up to. We’re building our own networks to tell us what’s important. The Internet has become interactive.

How have they affected our lives?
These changes affect where we go for information, and how we consume it. A generation ago, everyone read the morning newspaper and watched the evening news. That’s how we found out about what was happening in the world. That changed in the 80’s with the advent of the 24-hour news channels. Now, we find out about news as it’s happening. That means that we get the story in pieces. We have a hard time figuring out where the credible sources are, and who has accurate information.

That also means we tend to get inaccurate information, so our understanding of “truth” is constantly changing. On 9/11, if you were watching CNN, they were reporting that the plane hitting the North tower of the World Trade Center was a horrific — but accidental — crash. They were trying to figure out how the plane got off course, or what conditions led to this. It wasn’t until the second plane hit that anyone realized we were under attack. Of course, by the time the news came around at 6:30 that night, we knew a lot more. And when the papers came out the next morning, we had a much better idea of what was going on. But that initial rush was kind of chaotic, and, to a large degree, inaccurate.

Earlier this year, we had a gas leak at the high school, and the building was evacuated as a precaution. No one was quite sure what was going on, and the rumors started almost immediately. Lots of people have cell phones, and they started messaging each other and their parents. Within a few minutes, the high school and board office were getting calls from parents and the news media wanting to know what was going on. I think a lot of adults were frustrated by that, because no one was really sure what was happening, and the school didn’t want to give out inaccurate information. But the technology meant that it was easier to get the information out. Once the school had a handle on the situation, the AlertNow emergency notification system was used to contact parents and let them know what happened.

What technological changes have been made to the school and how have they helped us?
Looking back at the last eight years, a lot has changed. It’s actually hard to believe that we didn’t have computers in every classroom until 2003. In that time, we have also added 30 laptops to the media center, more than doubled the number of desktops in the media center, and added two computer labs. We have wireless network access in the media center and cafeteria (and sometimes outside), so students can use their own devices to access the Internet. We’re doing a lot more with online learning tools like WebAssign and Moodle. While some students see that as a bad thing, those tools help keep homework relevant and tie the work you’re doing outside of class with the things happening in class. At the same time, it helps the teacher make more productive use of class time.

The addition of SMART Boards this year has changed instruction in a number of classrooms. Teachers are excited about sharing their notes online, reviewing material covered earlier, and using some of the built-in software tools to enhance instruction.

Which changes have proven detrimental to society?
I think we’re now in an always-on society, and that’s not necessarily a good thing. If I turn everything off and get away from the technology for the evening, I return to about 40-50 email messages, 30 Twitter messages, 4-5 missed Skype conversations, and a couple voicemail messages. Sometimes we get hung up on the idea that if we’re not connected, we’re missing something. We’re not spending as much time reading and thinking and writing and interacting face-to-face. Look at this interview. I’m typing this in an email message [and, later, editing it in a blog post], and you’re presumably going to read it at some point and do some copying and pasting and rewording in order to write your article. But we’re not interacting, so we both miss the personality and spontaneity of a real conversation. So while this is more convenient, we’re still missing something.

I think we also don’t realize the permanence of things we share online. Once something’s on the Internet, it’s out there forever. I’ve found things online that I wrote in forums in 1989. From a student’s perspective, it’s hard to wrap your mind around that. How are you going to feel about that picture or video or blog post in 15 or 20 years, or what are your kids going to think about it when they find it online? When you Google your parents, you probably don’t find much. But that won’t be the same for your kids. A lot of employers (including some people in the school district) look at social networks and blogs and in all kinds of places for information about their applicants. So maintaining your online image is something you have to worry about now.

Our school?
It’s easier to hit and run. A lot of people are fooled into thinking that they can be anonymous online. So they say things about people that they wouldn’t say to their faces. Or they take things that don’t belong to them. Or they destroy or deface someone else’s work. I think we’ve seen an erosion of that sense of personal responsibility — that I am responsible for the choices I make and the actions I take.

What do you see in the future of technology?
Smaller. Faster. Cheaper. I’d like to see us stop buying textbooks. Most of your books are around $100 each. That’s a lot of money, a lot of paper, and a lot of pounds in the backpack. I’d like to see us moving toward digital books that you can put on your mp3 player, or a little laptop or pda.

I also see us doing more with connective technologies. When I was in college, I worked for a company that made auto parts. One of the pieces we made was the tail light assembly for the Ford Thunderbird. It had about 30 light bulbs in it. We would make the parts in Ohio, and ship them to Asia. There, they would pay workers a few cents an hour to put the light bulbs in. Then, they would ship them back to the US to put them in the cars. Of course, they did that because it was cheaper than paying someone here to put the light bulbs in. And that was 20 years ago. With the Asian and Indian labor markets opening up, we’re seeing a lot more of that kind of thing. Increasingly, they’re doing more skilled jobs, too.

Globalization is here. You’re going to be working with people from all over the world. Lots of people in education are talking about 21st Century Skills. We need to prepare students to be innovative thinkers and collaborators. You need to be information-literate. Technology will help with all of those. But the biggest thing it can do is put you in touch with other people who aren’t living in Ohio, or the US, or North America. I regularly use Internet telephony software to talk to people all over the US, in Canada, in Europe, and in Australia. Ironically, I can call up my friend Jason in Sydney, Australia, and talk to him for free. But I have to pay extra to call into school from home because it’s “long distance.” When this whole crisis erupted in Tibet, I knew someone who has lived there, and talked to him about it. When the wildfires were burning in California last fall, I knew someone who lived a few miles from there. It makes the world a much more personal place. And those are the kinds of experiences students need to be having too. And it’ll come.

EarthCast 2008 is a  webcast taking place on April 22, 2008. It started at midnight GMT, and continues for 24 hours. This is a continuous, day-long conversation about the Earth and taking care of it.

Matt Montagne has spearheaded this effort, with a great deal of support from Doug Symington, Jose Rodriguez, and others in the EdTech community. Jason Robershaw created an outstanding promo explaining what EarthCast is all about, and how you can participate.

Students and teachers are participating from the United States, Mexico, the UK, and Germany. You can listen live, participate in the text chat, or use Skype to call in and share your views.

While the project ends at 9PM EDT, much of the archived audio will be available afterwards on the web site.

World Have Your Say is a call-in radio program. There’s nothing special about that. Nearly every station on the AM dial has one. The hosts talk about current events, and people can call in to give their opinions. WHYS, though, takes the idea of talk radio several steps further.

First of all, it’s a global show. Originating in London, it actively seeks participation from the global audience. They regularly have callers from the middle east, and Africa, and Asia, and places where you’d think they can’t even listen to the BBC. And the perspectives of these people can differ drastically from the media we’re fed by CNN and AP and even Reuters.

The other neat thing WHYS has done is to embrace some of the interactive web technologies. They blog about the topics discussed on the show, and encourage site visitors to comment. They also solicit discussion and debate topics through the web site. And, of course, you can listen live to the show online or catch the podcast version later.

Recently, they’ve begun using Twitter to let people know about the topics they’re going to be discussing on the show. In addition to giving people a heads-up about show topics, it provides a nice, concise list of world events and issues. Here’s the recent list:

• Do you want your leader to go to Olympics?
• What’s it like being white in Zimbabwe at the moment?
• Are you worried about rising food prices?
• Should your boss know your family plans?
• Are protesters ruining the Olympics?
• Should women dress modestly?
• Can Muslims take a joke about Islam?

Nearly every day, they have a compelling question or two, and they seek input from the global audience. If we really want our students to have a global perspective, and to be able to work with people from different cultures, this is the kind of thing they should be listening to.

World Have Your Say is broadcast on weekdays at 1700 GMT. If you’re in the North American Eastern time zone, that’s 1:00 PM. You can listen online or find a station near you.

I attended a meeting last week that wasn’t a complete waste of time. A shock, I know. Sure, it did take 45 minutes to drive the 13 miles to the meeting. It was rush hour, after all. All told, the trip took me 4 1/2 hours, which included about 2 1/2 hours of presentations.

The presentations were mostly of the endless-Powerpoint-bullet variety. While they did contain a few nuggets of really useful information, that information was more than covered in the 150 pages (!) of printed materials provided. Still, the presenters had something to say, and they were well prepared. That made this meeting better than most.

The valuable part, of course, was the informal interaction with the other participants. In all, there were about 100 people in attendance. I talked to other tech coordinators about Internet filtering, and learned about a new method students are using to bypass proxy servers. We also discussed various approaches to professional development, online learning with Moodle, and e-rate filing procedures. None of these were on the agenda for the day.

It’s not new for the informal bits of meetings and conferences to be more valuable than the structured parts. Many people express the idea that the best part of a conference is the discussion that takes place in the hallway, or the person you meet while waiting for a keynote to start, or the breakout session you attended by mistake after getting the room number wrong. These serendipitous moments are the best part.

So why do we bother with the formal agenda? If the whole event were structured to take advantage of these informal moments, it would certainly save a lot of planning time, and everyone would get more out of it, right? That’s the concept behind an unconference. While the idea has been around for decades, they’ve started to become really popular in the last few years.

The concept is an acknowledgment that, in most cases, the expertise present in the audience far outpaces the expertise of the people on stage. Dave Winer explained it better than I can, but I’ll give it a shot. Everyone in the audience becomes a “participant.” The leader isn’t a presenter. He doesn’t have scores of Powerpoint slides prepared. He knows something about the topic (yes, there’s a topic pre-decided). He leads a discussion, asks questions, and encourages people in the room to participate. No one gets to dominate the discourse. Different points of view are expressed and challenged. At the end of it all, we have a broader picture of the topic, based on the collective experience of the participants, that is far more valuable than anything a single person could have presented.

Now, what if we take this a step further? Rather than meeting in a conference room at a hotel or convention center, why can’t we meet online? We have all of the tools. Combine Skype, Yugma, Skrbl, Google Docs, and Ustream, all of which are free. The session can be recorded, so people unable to attend can watch it later. I don’t have to sit in traffic, so a one hour meeting actually takes one hour. Plus, anyone in the world can attend.

It’s going to take a while, but this is going to change how we interact professionally.

A pdf version of this document is also available.

What is Del.icio.us and Why Do I Care?
One of the first things we learned about using the web is how to save bookmarks. You are visiting some web site, and you want to save that link so you can come back to it later. So you save it as a bookmark (or favorite), and it gets added to your list of saved sites.

This works fine. All of your bookmarked sites show up in a list in your browser, and you can return to them any time. You can even organize your bookmarks into folders, just like you would with your files. Use different folders for different topics, and you have a nicely organized collection of web sites that you can return to with ease at the click of a mouse.

There are two problems with this. Many teachers use multiple computers. At the very least, you probably have one at school and one at home. In some cases, teachers share rooms and end up using several different computers at school throughout the course of the day. But the bookmarks are stored on the computer you were using when you created them. That means you can’t get to bookmarks you created on another computer.

There’s also another problem. If your bookmarks are stored on your computer, what happens when the computer’s hard drive dies? Your bookmarks die along with it.

What we really need is bookmark portability.

Delicious (http://del.icio.us) is one service that helps you manage your bookmarks. Start by signing up for a free account. You will also need to install a toolbar, so you have access to the Delicious tools. Then, when you’re surfing the web and encounter a site you want to bookmark, use Delicious instead. You can add notes about the site and choose one or more “tags” for it. Tags are one-word descriptors for categorizing your sites. For example, I use the tag “profdev” for sites related to professional development. I use “2blog” for sites that I want to blog about. You can use any tags you like.

Delicious then allows you to access your links from any computer. Simply log in to your account, and you can manage your links. If you want, you can choose to share your links with others, too.

You can also search Delicious to see which sites other people have tagged in a certain way. Maybe you’re doing a lesson on photosynthesis. You can search delicious for items that other people have tagged with “photosynthesis.” The result is a list of hundreds of web sites about photosynthesis that others have found valuable enough to bookmark.

By sharing your links, you contribute to the global collection of annotated resources related to whatever topics your tags cover.

So How Do I Do This?
First, go to the Del.icio.us site. It’s at http://del.icio.us. There aren’t any www’s in there. There’s no dot com. They were being cute when they set up the site. Most people just find it annoying because they can’t remember where to put the dots.

Once you’re on the Delicious site, click the Register button in the upper-right corner. Fill out the information they ask for. The password has to be at least six characters, and it has to have either a number or a symbol in it.

Once you register, you’ll be taken to a page that allows you to install software in your browser to integrate with your Delicious account. This page should automatically detect your browser and operating system, and take you to the right tool.

Go ahead and install the buttons (or extension). In Internet Explorer, this will add a Delicious toolbar to your browser. In Firefox, it’ll add new buttons to your navigation toolbar.

If you want to install these buttons on other computers, you can find them in the “Bookmarking” section of the Help page on the Delicious web site.

It’s Installed. Now what?
When you’re on a web site that you want to bookmark, click on the new TAG button. When you do this, a pop-up window will appear, allowing you to add notes about this site.

You can also enter tags. Think of tags as being categories for your links. You can display lists of sites that are tagged a certain way. Because links can have as many tags as you want, you can organize your links in lots of different ways.

Your Delicious links are available by clicking on the Delicious icon, or by going to http://del.icio.us/username, where “username” is your username. This is great, because it gives you access to your links from any Internet-connected computer.

What Else Do I Need to Know?
Privacy
By default, your bookmarks are public. That means anyone can see the list of things you’re bookmarking. There may be sites you want to bookmark that you don’t want everyone to know about. When tagging these sites, just click “Do Not Share” and they won’t be visible unless you’re logged in to your Delicious account.

For this to work, you may need to enable private saving. From the Delicious page, select Settings, and then Private Saving under Bookmarks. Then, check the box to allow private saving, and save the change.

Importing
You can import your bookmarks from your browser. From the Settings page, select Import/Export under Bookmarks, and follow the instructions provided.

Sharing Links
If you want to share a link with another Delicious user, add an additional tag of “for:username” when you tag the link. Replace “username” with the person’s Delicious username. Then, the link will go onto their “Links for You” page.