Digital Learning

Not only can you watch an interesting video on how middle school students are helping their teachers integrate technology into their instruction, but you can see an old friend of mine, Dennis Harper.  Dennis, former Olympia School District technology coordinator in Washington state, won a federal grant in the mid 1990s that allowed him to develop a program which paired students who are familiar with technology with teachers who aren't.  In the early years of the program, students in Generation www.Y were traveling around the country with Dennis to help teachers in other states.  One visit was to inner city New York - middle grade students in white shirts and ties (students were all males in the early stages - this video shows that has changed) were working with inner city teachers.  Think about the implications there, of taking kids from Olympia, WA to work with teachers in New York! They also trained a cadre of students to take over after they left.  What a great example of the train the trainers model of PD!

Blog design from a newcomer...

I have held off blogging, trying to figure out the rules first.  What do I title the first blog? ("From the Dean" doesn't say it. Do I choose a title based on the content or is the title the title of a forever after blog space?) Who is my audience (Dataseam friends? Teacher Candidates? College faculty/staff? School leaders or teachers in the field?)? What is worth saying in a small space? Shouldn't a blog make one think? What if I don't have anything worth saying, no matter how much space? Finally, with some encouragement from Bill, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and begin by...well...just beginning!

Nora Carr (eSchool News, May, 2008, p. 41) offers blog design and writing tips for newbies. Her suggestions aren't earth shattering, but that is the point.  I should have been able to come up with the 5 tips on my own.

1. Write for an audience, not yourself.

2. Don't blog anything you don't want our mother, your principal, or school superintendent to know.

3. Provide information about yourself.

4. Start with a blog service.

5. Less copy, more often.

I'm so rule driven that when the author said, "So, here are six tips..." I kept looking for the 6th tip.  There were only 5. Aha!  The sixth tip could be "Keep them guessing so they'll come back for more!" So, 1) you are the audience - probably quite small today. 2) I haven't said anything that I wouldn't want the Provost to know. 3) You now know how bound I am by rules - something about me that you might not have known. 4) This is certainly a blog service - I didn't have to do anything except think and write. 5) And it is time to cut me off - I am not saying much so anything more is too much.  The more often? We'll see - that should leave you with something to think about. (" Will she come back for more?")

These are the slides from Cathy Gunn's presentation at the Kentucky Teaching & Learning Conference in Lousiville, March 7, 2008.

This is the first entry in in what we hope will become the hub of a community of innovative educators in Kentucky and beyond. This blog and accompanying wiki are a joint undertaking of the Morehead State University College of Education and Kentucky Dataseam as part of our now two-year-old partnership aimed at energizing teaching and learning in our state. For the past two years, I and some of my colleagues have been providing professional development workshops in school districts participating in the Kentucky Dataseam Initiative. These workshops have focused primarily on basic computer skills on the Mac platform and on multimedia creation using Apple's iLife suite.

Here, I and others will try to complement this technical training with information and resources aimed at integrating those digital tools into the classroom to improve student learning. We will also be discussing project-based learning, 21st century skills, and other concepts that form the foundation of our approach to educational technology. Undoubtedly, other interest areas and foci will emerge as our partnership with Dataseam and with Kentucky schools evolves. We welcome feedback from readers, either via comments on this blog or via email. You can send comments, questions, observations, and any other input to: w.cole@morehadstate.edu.