NY Tech Forum Live Blog

cross posted at Bernies World

I'm at the IBM Palisades Conference Center for a conference sponsored by Technology & Learning. It's geared toward educators and technology leaders, and it offers an exciting array of options for learning.

"Thinking Bigger While the World Gets Smaller"
Opening the conference was Hall Davidson. If you have not seen Hall, it is worth the price of admission. He is funny, self-deprecating, and just a little brilliant. He discussed many cool tools that can help the modern educator in preparing lessons, and a number of ways to use the "technology in their pocket." His take on cell phones in the classroom is unusual and exciting at the same time. Since every kid in the class these days has a cell phone with a camera and a net connection, why not have them use them as a tool when it comes out or rings in class? Take this annoyance and make it a tool. "Go out and take a picture of an animal, a plant, and an insect". Poof. A science lesson.

"Communicating and Collaborating Online Using Video"
So far it's not too much new for me, but I forget sometimes that I'm looking at this technology through jaded eyes- I've been video conferencing for years. (Thank you, Nora and Crhristina!) This was my first international video conference, however- these folks brought in a school in the UK and a few schools in NYC. 4 windows simultaneously, by the way- very cool!

Dr. Gersh of Dominican College, a few scant miles from here, is a last minute fill in for one of the presenters who is out. She's getting into Skype Conferencing, which I find fascinating. I will be asking about the possibility of getting these technologies to communicate. It would be great to be able to send a webcam to someone (or maybe they have one) and connect with them on the school's video conferencing gear. We're skyping now with Dr. Norman Shapiro of CultureQuest. He's telling us about their project, where students use the internet for research and come in direct contact with individuals from other cultures to verify their research and learn about the culture directly. They are looking to grow, and you can learn more at CultureQuest Consortium News.

Corbett Beder of BX21 is covering Blogs and Vlogs. BX21 is a program that's not using live video connections, but using prepared content. 150 students participate in this program, and study these emerging technologies. He's pointing out the importance of planning and preproduction, but they use all types of tools, from camera phones to serious camera gear. They cover low to high end software, and they even teach about intellectual property and Creative Commons. Cool!

Lunchtime
Met some nice folks from a small private school in Jersey, as well as a staff member in the State Education Offices in Connecticut. The food was amazing!

Note to self
Do not go to another conference without my camera. This place is gorgeous, and I have no way to share it with you. I know Hall took pictures- maybe he will Flickr them.

Blogs, Wikis, and RSS
Susan Silverman of Kids-learn.org ran our Round-Table Session, in which she told about her work in these areas. The questions around the table were interesting, and it's clear that there is great interest in these areas of growth. In three years, as Hall said this morning, this is where we will all be. If you didn't know, by the way, Wiki Spaces is offering free wikis to educators. 85,000 are left as of today. (To all my tablemates- If you are visiting, Thanks for coming, and for sharing at the table! Comment and say hello. Don't forget to go to the other podcast.)

The Ten Keys to Effective Professional Development
David Jakes is the guy I came to see. If you don't know, he is a prolific blogger, well respected presenter, and all around fun guy. He opened up by sharing a little fun video on Conference Bike
and then leapt into what good staff development ought to look like. His top ten (paraphrased by me, with apologies):

1. Have a mantra.
• Do you have a vision statement? A mission statement? A mantra is better. No b.s. What are the watch words that help you plan your professional development?
2. Align professional growth with organizational goals.
• Why are we doing what we do, if it's not helping us meet our goals? Who has that kind of time?
  
3. Know your audience.
• How many times have you sat every teacher in a room and give them one session, regardless of their prior experience and current comfort level? David used a picture of leather buckets. Each one ready to receive, but all different in some way.
  
4. Pilot, Pilot, Pilot.
• How will you know if it works? How do you know if it meets your needs? How will you be certain you have the infrastructure to support an initiative?
  
5. Use your people resources effectively.
• Do you need outside contractors? Should you do it yourself? Why not have a group of turn-key trainers (from your pilots!) to teach your teachers?
  
6. Have a dedicated space and resources for professional development.
• David showed us the dedicated space in his district. Have someone available throughout the day to offer staff development. Folks in the building. All day. David has 8 period covered by releasing 4 teachers from supervision and 1 class each day.
  
7. Get out and see new things.
• One gentleman pointed out that we do not give teachers enough time to get out and see new things. It is so difficult to get someone into the class, they don't leave. Add in the cost restrictions and it becomes nearly impossible. (#8 helps with this)
  
8. Support individual professional growth with time and resources.
• David spent some time here on Blogger, Bloglines and RSS feeds. These can create opportunities for individuals to learn from the great resources available on the internet. Even students can be participants in this process. Let them learn and choose what is appropriate for their growth. The K-12 Online Conference was featured here. Cool idea here- use this as a source of professional development. Sign up and select a workshop to see/ listen to.
9. Extend opportunities through learning teams and clubs.
• When folks come back after professional development, have them come back and observe and share these ideas. 95% of teachers participate? Wow. I would have guessed half. It's costly but worth it, because it costs time and subs.
  
10. Evaluate professional development growth.
• Evaluate Participant Reactions, Participant Learning, Organizational Readiness (oof- we don't do this), Participant Use of Learning, Student Learning. This helps us to gauge our performance as developers and the ability of the student to take our work back to the classroom and use it effectively.
  
• Student Learning = Student Performance + Student Achievement. We can evaluate learning by looking at their work and their product.
  

By the way, David- I was the Project Adventure Guy.

Products
OK, I know I'm talking in broad terms here, and I get no money from them (unless they would like to send a check...), but I love the stuff that SMART Technologies sells. Their new products, the 600i series and the Sympodium are amazing products. I love the 600i because it works without a computer and will allow you to download your work to a flash drive for printing and saving later. The Sympodium removes the SMARTBoard from the equation, and may be utilized in a place where standing in fornt of the board is just ineffective. High ceilings, large rooms, multiple screens.

Filed in: techforumny06