This week’s  MICDS Summer Teacher Institute workshops, which featured Alec Couros–Network Literacy and the Tools of Engagement, Kevin Jarrett–Literacy in the K-6 Classroom, and Kim Cofino–Connecting Across Continents, concluded yesterday with my dual topic session–Digital Storytelling and Digital Cartography.  These two topics, each of which could comprise a full day (or more) of learning and experimentation, can engage students across all grade levels and disciplines.

Digital Storytelling

Digital storytelling (workshop wiki available here) utilizes text, images, audio,  and video to create rich personal expressions.  Unlike multimedia “presentations”, a true story considers the author’s point of view, includes a dramatic question and emotional content, is enhanced by voice and often a soundtrack, and is brief but properly paced.  These elements, when combined with media in a structured process, can be transformed into a powerful tale:

For our session, we focused on seven popular tools for creating digital stories.  Each has its strengths and limitations; the key is to match the tool to the task:

• Photo Story 3:  Free Windows program that combines images, narration, and limited text; easy entry point into digital storytelling but can be used K-12.
• Ed.VoiceThread: Web-based, collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds images, documents, and videos.
• Xtranormal: Convert text-to-speech to create simple 3D movies that can include animations, sound, and expressions.
• Glogster.edu: Upload/combine images, audio, text, and video into an interactive, online poster.
• Animoto for Education: Create short music videos with images, audio and text; unlimited uploads with education account.
• Mixbook: Combine images and text into an e-book that be viewed online or ordered in print form.
• Movie Maker: Free Windows program for simple video editing.

Two keys consideration when using online storytelling tools are student privacy and teacher control.  VoiceThread, Glogster, and Animoto offer education versions that address these issues for little to no cost.

Digital Cartography

Digital cartography (workshop wiki available here) facilitates geography and culture across the curriculum, and any discipline can be approached from a geographic perspective:

• Math concepts and explorations
• Scientific data and discoveries
• Literature tours and trips
• Historical places and maps
• Language and culture
• Art and music

Google Maps and Google Earth are perhaps the two most popular cartographic applications for the classroom.  Google Maps offers custom maps, street view (select cities), photo, video, Wikipedia, and webcam overlays, and the ability to easily create placemarks with text, images, and video.  Google Earth 5.0 brings an added dimension to the world and its new features include historical imagery, oceanic data, and the ability to create narrated tours.

Those wishing to work with data should consider GeoCommons, Gapminder, and/or WorldMapper.  Combining statistical data, geography, and culture can truly enable students to view and understand the world as never before.

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Alec Couros,  professor of educational technology and media at the University of Regina, kicked off the third week of our Summer Teacher Institute with his session, Network Literacy and the Tools of Engagement:

The workshop explored the concepts of knowledge, social networks, personal learning networks, media literacy, and the tools and techniques that can support these ideas/skills in the classroom.  From the myriad examples Alec shared and the extended discussions that ensued, perhaps the two points that resonated most deeply with the participants were (1) the relative ease with which anyone (and especially our students) can create, remix, consume, and respond to  media on a global scale, and (2) the  need for educators to develop learning networks  and engage in social media so they can effectively guide their students through the intricacies of living in a networked world.

Attending the workshop was a step down the path for all the teachers who joined Alec yesterday; those wanting to explore network literacy further and experience its power firsthand should consider experimenting with Twitter, Ning,  Diigo (or any of the tools of engagement) and/or watch this segment from Alec’s morning session:

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Yesterday  Karl Fisch, Director of Technology at Arapahoe High School and the second “Featured Speaker” in our Summer Teacher Institute, shared his insight on Technology as a Cornerstone of Curriculum.  Karl’s session guided participants through how learning occurs,  “The Shift” that is occuring in education, literacies for the 21st century, and a vision of schools for 2020.

Using his What If video to begin the day and frame the group’s thinking,  Karl asked the teachers to read and comment (via Diigo) on an except from How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School.  Although the content of the article generated thoughtful discussion, the process of collabortively reading/commenting was a new experience for most of the teachers in attendance.  This seemingly simple exercise revealed an important fact; if our thinking regarding education is to shift, our practice must shift as well.

Karl’s updated Did You Know/Shift Happens video, which many in attendance had seen in some form, raised the issue of literacy in a changing world.  Quoting from Jason Ohler, he drove home the point, “Literacy means being able to consumer and produce the media forms of the day.”   In today’s world, where media is hyper-connected and anything/everything can be published, students must learn how to filter (consume) effectively  and create (produce) responsibly.  In addition,with factual information only a click (or text message) away, schools need to reconsider how knowledge is acquired, processed, and demonstrated.  As Karl noted when he introduced  WolframAlpha, “If you are a math teacher and only assigning the odd problems, you are doing your kids a disservice.”

One can only postulate  how schools will change over the next decade, but rigor must be a part of forward-thinking conversations, and Karl presented Tony Wagner’s  Rigor Redefined as one framework for consideration.  The classroom examples Karl shared from his own school provided a glimpse into meaningful learning, and hopefully inspired those in the room (and joining us via UStream) to reconsider their approach to curriculum and instruction.

To close the workshop, Karl posed some “Essential Questions” for further consideration; I hope that you can find time to reflect on them in the coming weeks and months:

• Capture Everything: What’s worth capturing in my classrooms? My building? My district? Audio? Video? Text-based assignments? Student work? Writing?
• Share Everything:  Where can I share it? With whom? What audiences is our organization working to serve? How will they benefit from these shared items? Who needs to see what’s going on?
• Open Everything:  What are the closed silos of information in our schools that shouldn’t be? What things outside of our schools have we closed (blocked)? What can we do to open both of those up?
• Only Connect: How can I help my students and teachers connect with content, with each other, and with others outside the classroom (students, teachers, experts, mentors, the community, etc.) in a meaningful way
• What questions do I have for my administrators/curriculum staff? Teaching Staff? IT Staff? Students?

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The third day of our Summer Teacher Institute focused on Literacy in the Humanities Classroom.  Using the framework of the TPCK Model (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge), we explored how traditional skills such as reading, writing, and research could be merged with emerging literacies and addressed by new tools to create a contemporary classroom:

Once the structure/definition of literacy had been established, the participants worked their way through topics including RSS, social bookmarks, collaborative notebooks, wikis, blogs,  student creation and presentation tools, photo essays, Flickr groups, Google Earth, and more.  From comic books based on The Odyssey to a Google Lit Trip of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, we explored and discussed how English/Language Arts classrooms are fertile ground for engaging students with technology and expanding their understanding of and appreciation for the humanities.

As the day drew to an end one teacher pondered the question, “I wonder what Homer would have done with resources like these?”  We can’t possibly imagine, but we can empower our students to unlock their potential as they learn to read, write, research, and become the next generation of literate citizens.

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The second workshop in our Summer Teacher Institute for Technology and Curriculum Innovation featured noted educator and author Will Richardson.  Will’s session, Writing and Connecting in a Networked, Digital World, engaged participants on the shifting notion of what it means to teach:

“This is a very challenging moment for educators. Our children are headed for a much more networked existence, one that allows for learning to occur 24, 7, 365, one that renders physical space much less important for learning, one that will challenge the relevance of classrooms as currently envisioned, and one that challenges our roles as teachers and adult learners.”

Will covered a lot of important ground and each of the teachers in attendance (whether physically in the room or joining us via UStream) undoubtedly took something different away from the experience.  Although it’s not possible to summarize all that was discussed/learned over the span of six hours, a few points in particular resonated with me as an educator.

Technology Lets Us Form Groups

The concept of groups, as it relates to education, typically involves grade levels, athlectic teams, extra-curricular clubs, academic departments, and other assemblages that are connected and constrained by physical means.  Students and teachers don’t create groups, they join groups from an often limited and prescribed list of options.  In an online environment, however, there are no limitations in terms of interests or learning opportunities.  A class of students in a brick-and-mortar settting only have their teacher and each other; consider how the boundaries expand when the knowledge of  a global audience can be leveraged:

Whether it’s through YouTube, social bookmarking, a Twitter network, or another of the countless tools readily available, we have the power to form groups that can learn and grow together.  And while the possibilities are endless and the entry points enticingly simple, students largely navigate and contribute to these online spaces without adult guidance.  If our students are going to lead transparent lives, we need to teach them differently.

In Media Today, We Are the Editors

Will noted that four years of video is uploaded to YouTube every day and that there are nearly three million articles on Wikipedia.  How does the quantity of information compare to that which existed just a few years ago, and why such an explosive growth?  Anyone can contribute.  What is the quality of all this information?  It depends on us, because in media today, we are the editors.

Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody, candidly observed that the problem with information isn’t overload, it’s filter failure.  Clay is  spot on, but we must learn how to not only  filter effectively but to produce and edit effectively.  When we interact with digital content, we do so as “prosumers” that can shape and vet media for the collective “group” that we commonly refer to as the Internet.

Reading and Writing are Social

All of the attendees, regardless of their discipline, were well read and shared a passion for the written word.  As Will demonstrated, however, reading does not have to be a solitary endeavor and the concept of audience can be elevated to a global scale.  Annotating documents using Diigo, contributing to a wiki, or maintaining a blog are but a few example of how reading and writing have become social:

These three ideas–forming groups, acting as editors, reading and writing socially–are powerful, interconnected, and represent only a small portion of today’s conversation.  If you were fortunate enough to attend in person or online, feel free to participate in this networked, digital world and share your thoughts; who knows where they might lead you.

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