Blog Juice for Educational Technology

Clarence shares some answers to his Podcasting, Blogging Exam Question, and my favorite without question is
“…..now that we have podcasting and blogging anyone can do it. You don’t need to be some rich person in New York, you can produce from your own home. It has also changed how we can learn in today’s society.”
Amen. […]

Just thought this post on Engadget was pretty interesting, especially the comments that follow. I know that this is a problem in just about any type of meeting situation where wifi and laptops are present. Which, of course, begs the same question that the podcasting of classes begs: If the content isn’t for the most […]

I know that I have said this before, but very few edubloggers out there have more practical experience than Barbara Ganley at Middlebury College. She’s back from an extended break with a post that talks about getting ready for her fifth year of using blogs in the classroom.

And so, here I am, back again, delighted to be a part of this evolution of blogs in our classrooms, convinced that we should take the time to help our students develop a grammar of and a practice of academic blogging, both individual and collaborative, then pretty much step out of the way except to ask questions and provide feedback (i.e. step out of the center of the blog and thus the classroom). Our students will surprise themselves by how much they accomplish even in a single course in a single semester. Imagine if all their courses, all their semesters, all their disciplines of study were connected via their blogging…

Barbara is definitely an inspiration, and she mentions a visit I made to Middlebury, must be three summers ago now to meet with her and Bryan Alexander, Sarah Lohnes, and Hector Vila. I think that was the first time that I had truly been in the company of bloggers, and the fact that it was at such a beautiful and well-respected educational setting just validated a lot of what I was feeling about blogs back then. If these guys were using them, there must be something to it.

And there definitely is. If you don’t believe me, believe Barbara, who is without question someone who has been a wonderful teacher of mine through her blog. If it’s not on your list of regular reads, it should be. I’m really looking forward to see what she has in store for her students this year.

So the Times highlights some of the pioneering work done by Bob Sprankle in podcasting at Pat Delaney in blogging. It’s really great to see Pat’s contributions highlighted as he was one of (if not the) original edublogger who has been off-blog for the past couple of years.

Mr. Sprankle’s experiment with podcasting in the classroom is just one of the interactive technologies some pioneering teachers are using in schools nationwide. Most work teachers have traditionally had students do online - searching Google instead of card catalogs, doing exercises online instead of in workbooks - has largely been in the mold of offline coursework.

These days, though, some teachers are building coursework around low-cost, software-based technologies. Some other programs include a blog shared among students in rural Maine and inner-city students in San Francisco to promote writing and cultural perspective; a voice over Internet protocol, or VoIP, exchange among schools worldwide to practice foreign language and debate skills; and an urban planning course that’s taught using a virtual world.

Even better, the article raises some of the tough questions that we’re all beginning to grapple with:

Still, some educators are not completely sold on the value of interactivity. “If interactivity becomes the fundamental basis of the educational process, how do we judge merit?” asked Robbie McClintock, a learning technologies expert at Teachers College of Columbia University.

The push by some teachers for greater interactivity in the classroom also goes against the current emphasis on testing. Testing requires a known body of material, but interactive learning often involves students’ seeking out topics on their own.

What a concept, huh? I LOVE IT! And, I love the Skype Foreign Language Lab in Del Valle, TX. Phone pals among 47 schools in seven countries!!! What an awesome idea.

Now you and I read this and go “this is the future!” But I wonder how someone with no real context for these technologies and these shifts feels. Wonderment? Fear?

Go blogs. Go!

Well, duh. Is it any surprise that a nationwide survey by the National Governors Association find dissatisfaction from students about their high school experience? Bored. Dumbed down. Not challenged.

We are becoming irrelevant because we continue to advocate a system that doesn’t allow our kids to pursue their individual interests and challenge themselves in meaningful ways.

How sad is it that “a large majority of high school students say their class work is not very difficult…” What does that say about what we’ve been doing for the last 100 years?