The Sweet Spot: Building the Right Technology Curriculum

" . . . and the pitcher throws and your looking for that pill and suddenly there is nothing else in the ballpark you and it and sometimes when your feeling right and there is a groove there and the bat just eases into it and meets that ball. When the bat meets that ball you can feel that ball just give and you know it is going to go a long way. Damn, if you don't feel like your going to live forever." - John Cusack as Buck Weaver in Eight Men Out (1988)

http://sampleandhold-r2.blogspot.com/2011/07/sweet-spot.html

We (administrators, a diverse group of faculty and our wonderful librarians) are searching for our "sweet spot" in technology integration. According to Wikipedia,  "A sweet spot is a place, often numerical as opposed to physical, where a combination of factors results in a maximum response for a given amount of effort." We are hoping to dig deep and work toward finding that just right combination of learning supported, infused, enriched or extended by technology. While we realize that this is not a static target but constantly moving, we are working towards creating an environment where as many of those sweet spots can exist.

On our PD day January 2nd, we will being the exciting task of creating anew a technology curriculum (preK-12) for our school. In preparation for this task, I've gathered resources (outside of our own curriculum maps, academic goals, and strategic management plan) to both provoke new perspectives and to ensure that we truly consider what would be the best sweet spot for us. By sweet spot, I mean that wonderful area where preparation, training, knowledge, and talent meet to enable both students and teachers to consistently connect with learning with depth and joy. Creating that sweet spot means we need to have the necessary tools, a deep understanding of pedagogy,  enough professional development, and a supportive community of learners to foster  that sweet spot.


The resources I've gathered fall into three categories:

1. 21st Century Learning/Learners
2. Innovation Trends
3. ICT Integration Protocols

21st Century Learning & Learners:

• Pat Bassett-Demonstrations of Learning for 21st Century Schools: http://www.nais.org/publications/ismagazinearticle.cfm?ItemNumber=152280
• Tony Wagner-The Global Achievement Gap & 7 Survival Skills: http://www.tonywagner.com/7-survival-skills
• Future Work Skills 2020 http://iftf.org/futureworkskills2020
• Ryan Bretag: We Are Doing All the Cs! http://www.ryanbretag.com/blog/?p=2744
  
• Karl Fisch: http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/
• NoTosh (Ewan McIntosh/Tom Barrett) http://www.notosh.com/
• NY Times Schools for Tomorrow: http://www.notosh.com/2011/09/new-york-times-schools-for-tomorrow/
• Reflections from the Ohio Summit: http://dwightcarter.edublogs.org/2011/12/20/reflections-from-the-ohio-summit-2-5-part-1/

INNOVATION TRENDS

• The Top Ten Ed Tech Trends (Audrey Watters) http://www.hackeducation.com/2011/12/16/top-10-ed-tech-trends-of-2011/
• The Top Ten Tech Trends for 2012 http://edition.cnn.com/2011/12/19/tech/innovation/top-tech-trends-2012/index.html
• 7 Trends to Come (Dave Cormier) http://davecormier.com/edblog/2011/12/19/top-ten-black-swans/
• The Future of Libraries http://mindshift.kqed.org/2011/12/books-and-band-saws-the-future-of-libraries/

ICT Integration Protocols: 

Educational Origami: http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/Facilitating+21st+Century+Learning

• What are your schools identified ICT objectives and goals?
• Are these goals administratively focused or educationally focused?
• Where does your school want to be ICT wise in 1 year, 5 years or 10 years?
• What level of consultation and buy in did key groups have, namely students, staff, the community?
• How are these goals integrated into your budgeting and curriculum planning?
• How are these goals supported by professional development for staff?
• How are these goals resourced?
• How are these goals implemented in the school, departments/faculties and the classroom?
• Do you have peer review of your curriculum, subject, unit plans and of teaching practice? Is this collegial support or appraisal?
• In Industry implementation of a new product and the training of staff are usually dollar for dollar. What is your ratio of ICT investments to training investment?
• What revision and review process do you have in place for your ICT goals, investment and training? To what degree are your students, community and staff involved in these reviews?
• To what level is the implementation of ICT into teaching and learning mandated? Is there any mechanism for checking or accountability?
• What accountability is in place for technologies put into the classroom to ensure they are utilised?
• What decision making process is involved in setting student and staff access and administrative rights to computers, networks and the internet? Who established your policy, your board, the principal or the technician(s)/support staff? What are the rationale for this decision - technical, administrative and educational? Who and how is this reviewed?
• Are your pedagogies reflective of 21st Century teaching and learning? 

 Edutopia: http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration  [one of the best compilation of resources on this area}


 The Plan:


 My plan is for us to discuss our dream graduate profile, work which we began in our Academic Council, and then build backward from there using Understanding by Design principles. Basically, if we know where we want to be, then we work backwards from there to build the road to get to the destination. In what ways can educational technology help all our students get there? We are going to meet first as a group and then split into three teams based on ISTE standards: Team 1: Creativity & Innovation, Team 2: Communication & Collaboration,  Team 3: Research & Information Fluency [combined with] Critical Thinking, Problem Solving & Decision Making and the last two standards (Digital Citizenship and Technology Operations and Concepts) will be examined by the core group of technology integration team. It is my hope that by dividing the work into teams with us coming together to report on our progress and to continue to draft and present our findings, we will create a living document, adaptable to change, reflective of our philosophy, and firmly focused on providing the best learning opportunities for our students. Hmmm, it seems suitable to close with another one of my favorite baseball quotes:

Dr. Archibald "Moonlight" Graham: That's what I wish for. Chance to squint at a sky so blue that it hurts your eyes just to look at it. To feel the tingling in your arm as you connect with the ball. To run the bases - stretch a double into a triple, and flop face-first into third, wrap your arms around the bag. That's my wish, Ray Kinsella. That's my wish. And is there enough magic out there in the moonlight to make this dream come true?  [Field of Dreams].

I think there's enough magic out there. I'll keep you posted :)

Be Humble & Celebrate Your Team: I-Leadership

 Since Steve Jobs announced that he is stepping down as CEO of Apple; stories, videos, collection of quotes, and whatnot are circulating around the web celebrating his reign as arguably the most inventive and creative leader of one of the most successful companies in the world. Especially popular is the 2005 commencement speech Jobs delivered at Stanford. My favorite excerpt from that speech:

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.

Essentially Steve was relating to the graduates that if you do what you love, you should not fear failure, it is part of the process of learning. However, my personal favorite Steve Jobs clip showed up in my G+ stream this morning. It is Steve Jobs at the WWDC conference in 1997. Jobs is back at Apple, and charged with bringing it back to life. No mean feat, especially after the failure of NeXT. An audience member questions Steve's ability to lead and calls him out on his lack of technical expertise [boy, I bet that guy feels like a jerk now]. There is a long painful pause and then Jobs rises from his stool,  almost like a down and out fighter, to reply to the smarmy, insulting questions. Steve Jobs is one of the smartest people I know and he has a wicked sense of humor so no doubt he could have squashed this fellow like a bug. Instead, Steve Jobs demonstrated the following leadership lessons:

• Great leaders rise to the occasion (demonstrating restraint, class, and thoughtfulness).
• Great leaders are humble about what they don't know and confident about what they do know.
• Great leaders support and empower their team. They recognize what they are capable of and get out of their way.
• Great leaders know it is NOT all about them. Jobs mentioned folks by name and celebrated their contributions to Apple.
• Great leaders admit when they are wrong. 
• Great leaders are candid and engaging.
• Great leaders are  visionary and "get it" [new vision for Apple: it's about the consumer experience, not the tech] 
• Great leaders are passionate about what they believe in and they invite you to follow them on that journey

And to you Steve Jobs, may God watch over you and your family. Yes, you have given us great products over the years and changed immeasurably how we interact with technology, but more importantly, you have give us endless inspiration, increased our aspirations, and generously shared your hard won life lessons. You have given us the ability to connect with each other in ways that I believe have far greater implications which we will probably not realize for another decade. So thank you Steve Jobs for your courage, vision and your heart. You taught me the most important lesson of all, don't let failure shape your life, instead let the architecture be the lessons you learn---and never be afraid to share those lessons. Thank you, Steve.

What Would Darth Vadar Do?

     Many teachers, good teachers, even GREAT teachers, think of technology as the DARK SIDE. Why? Well, perhaps it is just a fear of the unknown. Perhaps these teachers fear loss of control as technology sometimes slides you into more of a facilitator role (isn't that a good thing?). If you are a content area teacher, you keep up with how your content evolves so why not keep up with the best means to engage your students? If your lack of technology expertise makes you feel inadequate, become better educated. Make it a priority. After all, the fate of the Galactic universe is in your hands. As I blogged earlier, it's really a mindset issue that I believe will take more than one Jedi to fix.
      What would Darth do? I'm sure the Emperor would tweet him to find the best teacher who integrates technology seamlessly into his or her curriculum and then clone that person--and of course, blast any teachers who did not comply. Boy, that would give a whole new meaning to mandated professional development. I'm betting Darth wouldn't think that was the best method. Darth would probably consult his PLN for a solution. I think Darth would agree with Tom Whitby that we should begin with a different type of PD. Darth would push for relentless, rigorous technology training and he would then follow up with multiple classroom visits to see how things are going. (Can you picture that black cape strutting down your hallway?) Darth, although not the best dad, knows his son, Luke, while skilled, is no digital native Jedi. Darth knows that a Jedi only becomes a master through a lot of training and support. Of course, wouldn't all teachers want to become Jedis as they are given so much respect? Wouldn't all Jedis want to become Master Jedis?
     Lots of talk out there in the universe about "no excuses". I hear you. I understand your frustration. So Administrators, let's set the bar high. Let's set clear expectations about technology implementation in every classroom. Let's evaluate teachers based on those expectations. Let's make sure we support them with the right training, tools and encouragement. Let's remember what Yoda said, "There is not try, there is only do." So, let's do.

Darth Vadar, pictured here at the Laptop Institute during a lightsaber demonstration.