The First Hurdle: Unreliable Technology (Yes, this is a rant!)

In designing and implementing the UbD unit planned in course 4: HS ESL Independent Vocabulary Study for the current coetail course I quickly encountered my first peril, unreliable technology—a critical challenge as the unit required the use of embedded technology to enhance student learning. Student learning was delayed by this first hurdle both in delaying the design of the online unit and in delaying student access to the online unit created.

Our school has seen a growth in the use of various technological media in education such as school blogs, panthernet (the school run Virtual Learning Environment that would host the online vocabulary study unit), powerschool and other Intranet and Internet based sites over the past three years. This growth has increasingly burdened the school server. As traffic increased, access to the school server and its Intranet based sites became increasingly unreliable. In the last three months, this burden on the server was made clear to users as students, teachers and parents were often unable to access these sites as they were timed out when trying (as the traffic was heavy) or the servers and connected sites were simply down and inaccessible. Fortunately, the school server was upgraded to handle this increased traffic just three weeks ago and all appears to be working well again. Unfortunately for my students and I, our online vocabulary study unit was designed and is lodged on panthernet so the time to design and implement the unit was unfortunately delayed by a good month.

But that is not the end of my technology woes in starting up this project. Did I mention I live in Bangbuathong, the village of the golden lotus. We have many temples, klongs, and open markets but reliable and fast Internet connections have yet to reach our small Thai village. Compounding the overburdened school server I had the weak IT infrastructure for web-based learning (or any use requiring broadband Internet) in the provinces to deal with when working after school hours. When traffic gets heavy across the lines in our village, connections time out, connections are dropped, and the Internet goes down about every twenty minutes. Patience and an optimistic nature are needed to attempt web-based learning in the village of the golden lotus!

Did I mention I live in Thailand? The recent Thai political unrest, red shirts on the streets of Bangkok demanding the ouster of the current PM, has resulted in (among other actions such as a declared State of Emergency and school closures) the government stepping in to block Internet access to sites used by the red shirts to communicate online. However, the government hand that came down on the Internet was heavy and affected access to many sites...educational sites...sites used for this online project, especially during the design stage.

Could there be any more technological trials? How about three new students? In the past three weeks, three new students have entered our class. We have bee working on panthernet, on the vocabulary study unit, where all the instructions, resources, and assessments are compiled online in one place for the students. With the new students, our first challenge was to get them logged on to the school computers/the school network. We had immediate success with two out of the three students. After trying (the 'old' students and I) all that we knew to do, we called and sent the unlucky new student denied access to Ed Tech. The next challenge was to get the students on panthernet. No success. After another call to Ed Tech, we were informed the students were too 'new' to be in the system yet, and that the system would sync around 3 pm at which time the students should be able to access the panthernet. To summarize this class, ... Time spent on technological problem solving: 40 minutes ... Targeted language learning time: 0 minutes ... Frustration level: High.

Reading Perils and Promises of Educational Technology, I saw myself in the following excerpted quote "... challenges are that computers break down in ways that the teacher nor student can fix immediately. ... Any breakdown can cause a class to waste valuable time, ... In this scenario, it is equivalent to not having enough books for the students to study." I felt helpless. All that I needed to show and give and work together on with the new students was in a place we could not access. Not confident these new students would know how or be able to access the site that night, I printed the various pages and resources they needed that day.

So perils, challenges, hurdles, woes, and trials a plenty in the design and implementation stage of my final course project; however, if indeed "the end justifies the means" than all the time and effort was well-spent as all the students are now off and running (jogging? speed walking?) through their independent vocabulary study.

Reflection on Course 4 Final Project

For my course 4 final project I chose to create an independent vocabulary study unit and assessment based around our ISB K12 ESL standards that incorporate the ISB TAIL (Technology and Information Literacy) standards. I had originally wanted to incorporate the ISB TAIL standards into our EAP 10 course unit on comparative writing and had discussed and begun to articulate how such a unit would look with Dennis Harter and Jeff Utecht (our two instructors for course 4) but was unable to then convince my EAP 10 team my 'technologically enhanced' vision for the curricular unit would sufficiently enhance student leaning to offset the extra time, effort and learning (and possible failure as we would be dealing with technology) on the part of the students and teachers in order to go forward with this unit plan.

I thus decided that I would lead by example and chose to integrate the ISB TAIL standards into a course in which I am a singleton teacher as there would then be no other teachers who not having taken this course need to be convinced it's our responsibility as educators to provide a 21st Century classroom where students can learn the skills, understandings and attitudes they need to be successful in the today's wired world. The class I chose is my Foundations Communications Class. The class is for 'near rank' beginners and has just been extended from a semester to year-long course, so as of yet there is no 'set' curriculum or curricular time line to work around so that a unit can be created from scratch integrating the K-12 ESL and TAIL standards. I chose to develop a vocabulary unit for the Foundations Communication class as the HS ESL department for the past two years has made vocabulary acquisition our HS ESL organization goal. Our department goal has been to improve and challenge student learning so that each student will achieve or exceed his or her expected annual learning progress in vocabulary acquisition. Furthermore, the team had already agreed to incorporate technology tools into our goal work by setting up a wiki website for students and teachers to collaborate on and demonstrate student learning as they work toward building a personal glossary of newly acquired words. This goal work was being done in grades 9-12 with all EAP (English for Academic Purposes) students but not with the Foundations students. It thus seemed ideal to choose to bring this goal work to the Foundations students while developing a brand new Foundations vocabulary unit incorporating K-12 ESL standards and TAIL standards that could serve as a model for the grade 9-12 EAP classes vocabulary units.

An initial sketch of this unit can be found on our course wiki.

Managing technology peripherals in the ESL classroom

At ISB, we have a lot of technology tools (peripherals and equipment) and resources available to teachers and students K-12. As a high school ESL teacher, I am lucky that most of these tools are located and stored in the classroom or offices. Laptop computers for teachers and students, SMART Boards, wireless Internet, printers, video projectors, scanners, televisions, VHS and DVD players, audio cassette and CD players, document cameras, copiers, speakers, and more. Our library media center and EdTech departments also store overhead projectors, digital and video cameras, and external microphones for class use, but as most students and teachers in the High School have their own digital cameras or phones, I rarely have need to borrow these peripheral tech tools. The library DVDs are a digital resource I often make use of but again just as often I am able to download videos from the Internet that meet my classroom needs. This week's blog post question is "How do you manage the use of technology peripherals with students? What are some things you've learned (from this course) and hope to implement."

In terms of managing the use of technology peripherals in my class, most of the peripherals are attached to my computer and used with me or by me in the classroom so classroom management of these devises has not been an issue. However, what this course has taught me is that there are many other teaching, learning, or creative applications for these technology peripherals in the classrooms K-12 with the tools in the hands of the students rather than the teacher. In doing so however, I worry about two laws and one hypothesis aptly described by my fellow cohort member Rub Rubis in his weekly blog responding to these same two questions:

1) Murphy's Law—"If it can go wrong, it will"

2) Sod's Law—"A demonstration will always fail in front of an intended audience"

3) "Horseshoe Nail Hypothesis for Educators"—"For the want of a widget the lesson was lost.

However, in fear of these two laws and a hypothesis, I will not be discouraged from moving forward and creating a 21st Century classroom where technology tools are increasingly in the hands of students and teachers for the enhancement of student learning. For whenever Murphy's and Sod's Laws and the Horseshoe Nail for Educators for hypothesis enters my mind and discourages me, I will remember the following three quotes instead:

1) Quote: "You learn from your mistakes" (Thierry Henry)

2) Quote: “Fear of failure must never be a reason not to try something.” (Frederick Smith)

3) Quote: “You have to be willing to put in the time and be very patient with the technology” (Suzette Kliewer)

The last quote is from this week's readings from The New York Times, Industry Makes Pitch That Smartphones Belong in the Classroom.

Managing laptops in the ESL classroom and self access center

Truthfully, managing two carts of 12 computers (actually only 23 computer as one was 'lost' last school year) that are assigned to our school's HS ESL department (composed of six teachers, including myself, who teach in eight different classrooms) is a headache that often turns into a migraine as the two carts are also shared with two other departments (Social Studies and English, comprising over ten other teachers and classrooms) and the parent-run Dutch program (run by an unknown number of unnamed parents). Zomig please!

For some personality types, this headache could be solved with a deep breadth or a shrug of the shoulders; I require regular doses of zomig. I am very organized (detail-oriented), rule-bound, and dare I say, controlling? (My daughter nods her head.) Rules for managing the use of computers, do we have them? Of course! With over 20 adults, 200 students, and 20 classrooms jointly using two carts of 23 computers on wheels, are the rules followed consistently (without exceptions) and with consequences for breaking the rules? Of course not!

RULES FOR USE OF THE ESL LAPTOPS
1. Student sign-out system
2. Honor system for the students
3. Lock the carts at the end of class
4. Guidelines for computer use:
a. check out for one class only
b. sign-out and sign-in
c. can check out a cart if it is free on the same day
d. for educational use only during ESL class
e. return and plug in laptops in the correct cart in the right spaces

These rules were developed by our department with Dennis Harter, our school's High School Technology and Learning Coordinator, after the loss of 'the computer' last year. The rules have helped, it is the end of semester 1 in one week and no computer has been lost over the past five months. Furthermore, the mysterious case of the disappearing and reappearing weekend and overnight computers has gone cold since the new rules have been implemented (another story, another blog). So why the headache? My very organized (detail-oriented), rule-bound, and controlling personality is under constant assault by the 'unspoken rules'.

'UNSPOKEN' RULES FOR USE OF THE ESL LAPTOPS
1. There is no student sign-out system although an empty clipboard with an empty sign-out chart is occasionally spotted on the top of the carts
2. Honor system for the students—Our saving grace!
3. Lock the carts at the end of class unless you forget your keys or forget to lock up the cart (and on days when you're really rushed the classroom itself)
4. Guidelines for computer use:
a. check out for one class only, but still feel free to get computers at any time from any cart as needed
b. sign-out and sign-in (See #1 above)
c. can check out a cart if it is free on the same day with the expectation that other 20 teachers and 200 students will come knocking on your door while you're teaching class looking for a computer
d. for educational use only during ESL class, when the teacher is looking
e. return and plug in laptops in the correct cart in the right spaces, or to the nearest cart with an available slot and plug in when you think of it or a teacher is watching

What advice or best practices would I recommend based on my experience managing a shared set of departmental school laptops? Rules help but they need to be agreed upon and enforced by all users of the computers. Every teacher and student needs to feel responsible for following the rules. There needs to be consequences for breaking the rules and these consequences need to be consistently followed through on by all teachers and for all students. And finally the value of the computer as an educational tool and school resource needs to be discussed with the students. Such powerful educational tools are a gift from the school to teachers and students and as such their presence and use in the classroom should be celebrated and valued and not seen as a source of headache and stress. So if you have a personality similar to mine, establish rules but know that we are all human and rules will be broken. Take a deep breath, relax...Yoga anyone?

NETs and the "Good Educator"

I believe that as effective educators, parents, and citizens, "...(we have the responsibility and right) to ensure our students are educated in 21st century classrooms by teachers who have the skill and training to teach well in them” (quote from The International Society for Technology in Education website). This week's essential question, "What obligation is there for teachers and administrators to meet these (ISTE NETs) standards?" and related blogging question, "How relevant are the NETs for Teachers and Administrators to being a "Good Educator" today?" can both be answered by the above quote from the ITSE.

In today's world, technology has become ubiquitous and essential to our day to day life in developed and increasingly so in developing countries. It has become integral in ways both tangible and intangible in most aspects of our day-to-day life. As educators we are responsible for providing students with the skills, understandings and attitudes they need to live successfully in society, so how could we not accept or believe relevant the need to learn and teach the effective use of technology in our schools and classrooms. I believe it is the professional duty of teachers to develop, demonstrate, and teach the skills, understandings and attitudes of 21st century digital citizens.

Schools already have set standards for professional practice for their teachers and administrators. Some of these standards already recognize the relevance and importance of technology and information literacy to a teacher's or administrator's professional practice. Looking at ISB's teaching standards and comparing them to the NETs-T standards, there is a clear overlap. Where the overlap is less clear, with minimal additions but simply explicit reference to technological tools, media and environment, current teaching standards could easily incorporate the ISTE NET standards for teachers. See this linked document for a comparative alignment of the ISTE NETs-T and ISB's Teaching Standards.

Although some teachers may resist such integration or addition of new technology and information literacy standards into an already long list of professional standards for teachers, while other teachers fear the inclusion of such standards due to the dynamic and exponential growth of information and technology in today's world, teachers cannot just bury their heads in the sand and ignore the changing digital landscape of the world around them. Good teachers and good teaching have always been very much about remaining current and connected to the world around us (with our pedagogical practices and curricular content), being adaptive and responsive to the changing needs of our students and society, and integrating the new and the old and synthesizing the two in our schools and classrooms.

For schools and teachers, the questions become not "What obligation is there for teachers and administrators to meet these (ISTE NETs) standards?" and "How relevant are the NETs for Teachers and Administrators to being a "Good Educator" today?" but "How can teachers and administrators meet this obligation—the obligation to model, facilitate and inspire life long learning and creativity for students as they take on the role of responsible leaders and 21st Century digital citizens?"

Essential Learning: Students, Technology and Information Literacy

This week's blog post question is deceptively complex, "How can teachers and schools ensure that their students are learning what they need when it comes to Technology and Information Literacy?" I believe the answer however can be as simple as opening our eyes and ears and mind to the current and future uses (the educational potential) of the digital world around us and discussing these uses and potentials among ourselves (community of educators and technology experts) and with our students. At its core, ensuring that an individual has what they need is best done by asking and talking to them.

"Only children know what they are looking for." (quote from The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery)

Old models of integrating technology tools into our schools such as technology checklists, basic computer skills instruction, or more advanced computer programming and application classes have overall failed to prepare students for the dynamic, creative, collaborative, digital world we live in. What we can learn from this is that its not the more tangible and discrete skills and tools but the more intangible and integrated understandings, habits, and attitudes that will best prepare our students for success in the 21st Century.

"Here is my secret. It is very simple: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." (quote from The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery)

Most teachers today have not grown up digital natives as have the students we teach. While the ins and outs of many of today's digital tools, media and environments are familiar to students, teachers still often feel like foreigners when handling and surrounded by such technology—lacking essential knowledge, skills, and understandings and too often (unfortunately) interest. This divide is so great that for many teachers there has been a role reversal wherein the role of students have been taken on by the teachers themselves who too often rely on today's current generation of teenagers and young adults for help navigating our increasingly digital world.

"Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them." (quote from The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery)

However, as teachers and schools we have an educational perspective on today's digital tools, media and environments that our students often lack. We can take back our role of teachers. Having become digital natives mostly outside of school, on their own and with peers, and in predominately social contexts, students often discount or underutilize the full educational (learning) potential of today's technology. Without integrated technology and information standards in many schools, many students focus on the more socio-cultural aspects of the technology available to them and develop skills, knowledge, and understandings that match these social interests and needs only. So, despite being born digital natives, among today's youth there is a limited and varied range of levels of skills, knowledge, understandings, and interest in technology among students and young adults with few being fluent in the use of these digital tools, media and environments in ways that would support life-long learning.

What can schools and teachers do? They can embed technology and information literacy standards within their core course curricula and pedagogy in collaboration with experts in the field of technology and information literacy with appropriate allocation of resources and funds as needed. They can provide professional development so that teachers and all members of their school community can become competent, confident, contributing digital citizens. They can tailor classroom instruction based on regular assessment of students' needs, skills, understandings, and interests in order to differentiate instruction (content, process and/or product) based on the changing needs of the students that populate their schools and classrooms. Throughout the process, schools, teachers, and students need time to review, reflect, modify and adapt. For as I started today's blog post by saying, we can best ask, answer, and reflect on this complex yet simple question together. Students, teachers and schools together can best prepare students with the 21 Century technology and information literacy skills they need for current and future social, educational, and professional success.

"As for the future, your (our) task is not to foresee it, but to enable it." (quote from The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery)

Whose job is it?

This week's assigned blogging question is "Whose job is it to teach the NETs and AASL standards to students?" I believe the answer to the question is it's everyone's job; it's the job of classroom teachers, educational technology staff, administrators, counselors, librarians, parents, family members, family friends, peers, and the students themselves. The African proverb, as was made famous in 1996 by Hilary Clinton's book of the same name, "It takes a village to raise a child ", is I believe here apropos. As discussed in my blog post of April 15, 2009, I do believe raising children is done best as a collaborative community effort with assumed joint responsibility. Whether it is the attitudes, facts, habits, knowledge, skills, understandings, or values that a society deems essential that are being taught, each is best taught not by one person at one time but throughout a child's life at opportune times by those around him or her. I believe technological and information literacy is part of this set of essential skills, understandings, and attitudes that all children today need; and as such we all are responsible for providing essential learning experiences at opportune times for the children and young adults (and adults) around us.

Looking specifically at the ISTE NETs and AASL standards in the context of my job as a high school ESL/science teacher at International School Bangkok, I can see how easily either of these two sets of educational technology standards could be woven into the content (course) curricula, the counseling programs, the library programs, and throughout the school and community in order to develop students who are well-prepared and equipped with attitudes, facts, habits, knowledge, skills, understandings, and values they need as 21st Century learners to be able to find success in the world community. The ease of such an integration can be shown using the ISTE NETs standards as an example. With five of the six ISTE NETs strands, excepting strand 6,...

1. Creativity and Innovation
2. Communication and Collaboration
3. Research and Information Fluency
4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making
5. Digital Citizenship
6. Technology Operations and Concepts

and the descriptors under each strand,...

2. Communication and Collaboration
Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students:
a. interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media.
b. communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats.
c. develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures.
d. contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems.

there are benchmarks or learning outcomes that already exist in the ESL and science curricula in the high school at ISB, excepting direct reference to digital environments, media, formats, tools and citizenship. Four general outcomes from ISB's K-12 ESL staged curriculum that best match the descriptors of ISTE NETs strand two above are shown on the linked document to illustrate the above point. Using our existing curricula and linking in specific reference to the digital components of the ISTE NETs or other standards, a more inclusive set of essential skills, understandings, and attitudes that children today need can be easily adopted and articulated in the high school curricula. Less easy perhaps, would be providing the classroom teachers, educational technology staff, administrators, counselors, librarians, parents, family members, family friends, peers, and students with the competence, confidence and motivation to teach these newly adopted standards. Schools and communities thus need to start by building awareness, acceptance and action towards creating learning environments for teachers and students where the skills of a 21st Century learner are articulated, supported and developed.

To this end, I am supportive of and welcoming of ISB's own recently articulated ISB21 Technology and Information Literacy Standards. As a teacher, parent, and member of the ISB community and larger global community, I look forward to the guidance these standards will provide in future unplanned teachable moments as well as planned classroom lessons with the children and young adults of today's large global village.