Learning On-Line

Move fast – don’t be afraid of failure

Empower your dreamers – say “yes”

Develop a vision and tie it to your mission

Focus on areas of most importance

Think about connecting with others

Brad Rathberger

Director, Online School for Girls

cc licensed image shared by flickr user Derek Purdy

As happens time and time again, at a professional learning experience related to technology, I learned not as much about technology as about learning.

I’ve enrolled in Charting a Direction for Online Learning, a year long course designed for educators at independent  schools. The course is sponsored by Online School for Girls, a learning organization serving a consortium of independent girls schools by assisting member schools to collaboratively develop blended learning experiences for their students. Most of the learning in this professional course occurs on-line, yet this past week I attended the first of two face to face sessions.

“Blended and online learning is as evolving of a field is there is in education. It is flipped on its head every six months or so,” shared Brad Rathberger, Director of Online School for Girls. We are beginning to recognize the potential to dramatically shift control of learning from teachers to students not as much through the technology as through the previously unimaginable potential for flexibility in the use of space and time made possible with technology.

Among the greatest moments of learning was the opportunity to hear from a number of students at School of the Holy Child. “We learn a lot about responsibility, academic integrity, learning to work with other people, and flexibility,” shared one of these very impressive high school seniors, reflecting on a course she was taking in multi-variable calculus. Participating in a college level math course, and interacting with some of the top female high school math students in the country, she interestingly didn’t reflect as much on math or technology, as on learning and growth, noting with maturity how she is less shy and more able to manage her time than she had been prior to her online learning experience.

While one cannot make generalizations about online and blended learning as there are so many approaches, evolving so rapidly, there are a number of broad models currently in use:

• Rotation Model
• Flex Model
• Self-Blend Model
• Enriched-Virtual Model

Rotation Model

Station Rotation Model

• Students rotate through three broad types of activities in a continuous loop: individualized online instruction, teacher-led instruction, and collaborative activities and stations. This is the simplest blended learning model.
• Alternatively, instead of one component of online learning there are two components, the individualized on-line instruction and the on-line assessments. Students rotate through four broad types of activities in a continuous loop: individualized online instruction, individualized online assessment, teacher-led instruction, and collaborative activities and stations.

Lab Rotation model

• There is direct instruction for 3/4 of the day in math/science and literacy/social studies with teachers. There is a learning lab with on-line activities for the rest of the day, supervised by paraprofessionals.

Individual Rotation Model

• There is a central computer lab along with numerous other learning settings, chosen depending on what a student might need; intervention, seminars, direct instruction, and group projects.

Flex Model

• Students learn in a massive computer lab staffed by paraprofessionals for about half their day; and work with teachers in small groups for the other half. They come together for lunch and social activities.

Self-Blend Model

• There is a physical place for students to come to learn in a collaborative environment when they choose to do so. Students can also work at home with their online teacher. They are not required to be in school.

Enriched Virtual Model

• Students participate in supplemental on-line courses.

Independent mission-driven schools, not yet as fast moving or skilled at collaboration with other schools as we will need to become, must overcome a number of challenges, and capitalize on numerous strengths and opportunities, in order to design our own solutions for utilizing on-line and blended learning. If we are not proactive, as Brad Rathberger warns, we may find ourselves forced into solutions that do not reflect our missions.

As we move forward, what shall we consider in the move to blended learning options? How might we imagine anew possibilities for use of space, time, and financial resources? How might we assess the quality of on-line options? How might we support teachers to adapt and prepare for teaching and learning in a blended environment? How might we prepare our students? What cautions might we consider? What might inspire and enable us to dream?

Cross Posted on Sharing Our Blessings: www.sharingourblessings.wordpress.com by Shira Leibowitz

Lots of Small Sections and Efficiency Too? The Economic Case for Building Competency in Blended Classroom + Online Learning

Guest post by Dr. Harry Bloom (hbloom1@yu.edu)

Few topics have engaged the Jewish media and Shabbos table more intensely than the day school “tuition crisis” which is jeopardizing the sustainability of our day schools by placing tremendous stress on family budgets on the one hand and on schools’ abilities to fund first rate programs on the other hand.

The pressure to reduce expenses and tuition levels is intense. Based on benchmarking analysis conducted by the YU School Partnership (YUSP) in approximately forty schools in five East Coast and Midwestern communities*, a prime source of potential efficiencies lies in making more productive use of faculty resources in our schools. After all, faculty members are the most valuable, highest cost element within our schools.  A key challenge to productivity is thinly populated class sections. By “section” we meet a course offering such as 9^th grade honors Talmud or Advanced Hebrew language.

An examination of course offering and enrollment patterns at five high schools drawn from our benchmarking school sample illustrates the point. All of the schools are college preparatory in nature, all are co-ed. Enrollment ranges from about 100 to 300.

When the schools’ sections are arrayed from high to low in terms of enrollment, we see the following pattern.

Section Enrollment	School A	B	C	D	E	School Avg
Lower 1/3	6.5	7.2	4.1	7.0	6.5	6.2
Mid 1/3	13.1	10.8	9.2	14.2	13.1	12.1
high 1/3	19.5	16.4	17.9	21.6	18.9	18.9

In terms of the extent to which the schools’ are filling their enrollment capacity with capacity defined individually by each school, a picture of underutilized capacity in two thirds of the sections emerges.

The cost implications are significant since the cost of offering a section is basically fixed: teacher compensation and facilities costs.

Options to improve capacity utilization must obviously include offering fewer sections where this is possible. Schools often take the position that they need to offer a large range of sections to meet the needs of diverse learners and to be competitive in their marketplaces.

Another obvious solution is to fill seats in low capacity sections through enhanced recruitment and retention activities. This should obviously always be a priority. But in some markets the potential student populations are already saturated and retention is high.

Fortunately, another emerging powerful solution is for schools to build their competency in blended classroom instruction and online instruction to enable fewer, larger sections coincident with more individualized instruction and high quality student learning. In a blended classroom, teachers can utilize online resources in a variety of ways to complement their own teaching: to convey new concepts and/ or reinforce concepts taught in the classroom through structured exercises tailored to each individual student. Teachers can also utilize new learning management systems to monitor the precise degree of mastery of concepts by each student and group students with common learning needs in small groups so they learn together independently.

The range of online course offerings and curricular materials is proliferating. Open source learning management systems like Moodle enable faculty members to put their own blended curricula together . We are on the cusp of a golden opportunity to blend efficiency and higher quality learning experiences. Now is the time for active experimentation with blended learning by all schools.

The YUSP’s educational technology expert, Dr. Eliezer Jones (ejones1@yu.edu), is actively exploring all of the available options including commercial platforms and curricula, open source (free and ability to customize) learning platforms and curricula, as well as the creation of consortia that pool proven open source courseware and collaboratively develop affordable and high quality online curricula in general and Judaic studies. This fall, Dr. Jones will be facilitating an online certificate program for Jewish Day School educators in online/blended instruction and design in an effort to build schools’ capacity to implement these models effectively and efficiently. He is an available resource as part of the YUSP education team focused on 21st century learning in Jewish Day Schools. Interested parties can sign up at www.YUeLearning.org to follow YUSP's work in this area.

For additional information or to share your own experiences and thoughts about this topic feel free to contact Dr. Harry Bloom at hbloom1@yu.edu

High schools should also actively consider the creation of consortia of schools with similar educational aspirations and market and customer challenges. Having school 1 take the lead in subject A and school 2 in subject B is a way for schools to capitalize on scarce talent and resources while learning through active experimentation.

It is only through this kind of purposeful and collaborative experimentation that we will learn how to achieve the benefits of truly tailored instruction and learning and efficiency, both critical elements for sustainable, high quality day schools of the future. “If not now, when?”

*This work is generously supported by The AVI CHAI Foundation and federations and foundations and schools around the country

It was WOOFINGLY good!

So – what was so great about ISTE?

As the Bearded Dog settles back into his usual kennel, having rinsed the final traces of San Diego sea-sand and sea-air from his hair (what is left of it) and his lungs, the question remains – what was so great about ISTE. What lessons will the dog apply this year, what skills gained and what knowledge acquired.

Arrff!

Without doubt, the best part of ISTE for the dog was the opportunity to meet then strangers who are now friends. As the dog always says – a stranger is simply a friend to be. And what are friends if not people of whom to take advantage? In a good way of course!

The dog considers himself to be very fortunate to have met and befriended so many wonderful people not only from the Avichai Contingency, but from the real world too. And – one of the best parts of ISTE, the “BoF” (Birds of a Feather) sessions allowed the dog to meet real people who are dealing with real Ed Tech challenges in real schools. (In the way that the dog imagines himself to be doing too!)

The dog considers himself to be “ok” with Moodle. But – as a result of ISTE, the dog has at least three real people – all of whom live in an imaginary world, with whom he can discuss Moodle questions, challenges and stumbling blocks. If ISTE provided nothing other than this – the dog would have left San Diego happily.

But what – like the Shamwow – there’s more!

The dog met many of the people who actually write – or wrote the books. Real live human beings who, up until then, existed only in the Dog’s cyber-imagination. Sir Ken Robinson (much better in the Dog’s imagination – BTW), Steve Hargadon, Karen Kator, Professor Michael Fullan, Dr Avraham Kadar (founder of Brainpop) and so many more…

ISTE offered the dog a chance to meet and interact with giants in their field.

Then, a highlight for the dog was the opportunity to participate in a real live panel on the last day of the conference.

The dog responded to a request from the Twitterverse and before you could say, “Fetch that juicy bone…” the dog had been invited to join a panel discussion around the idea of Social Media in Schools.

Arrrff! – The irony is that this very topic was reason that the Dog wanted to come to ISTE in the first place.

Led by Steve Hargadon of stevehargadon.com; Classroom 2.0; Twitter, Google+; Facebook etc fame, the panel offered its opinions on the use of Social Media in schools – and then faced questions from the audience.

The dog had a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

And learned that any one of us could be on the panel, could be on Twitter, Facebook, etc. The dog learned that, in fact – so many of the “experts” were and are ‘chalk-face’ teachers.  Actually, perhaps the correct term is SmartBoard Face Teachers. But – whatever the term, teachers who stretched themselves just a little bit and began to create a cyber presence for themselves.

Inspiring stuff!

And so the challenge remains – the dog hopes to share his experiences with his colleagues, students, faculty and community and build shared learning networks of individuals who, like those at ISTE, stretched themselves a little – and gained so much more in return!

Arrrfff!

Perhaps Small Is The New Huge

cc licensed image shared by flikr user pulihora

Forty two million new web pages were created last year and educational technology expert Adam Bellow recommended in a session at ISTE (Interational Symposium on Tech Education) trying just one. Perhaps small is the new huge.

Thinking small, or rather thinking focused, is an initially counterintuitive insight to have taken from a conference of the massive scope of ISTE. I went to San Diego, guided by numerous blog posts on how to avoid being overwhelmed by the immensity of the event: plan "must dos" in advance, leave time for serendipitous conversations, and wear comfortable shoes so as to be able to cover as much ground as possible at least literally if not figuratively.

Taking the advice seriously, I planned my ISTE strategy, making the deliberate decision to veer away from the "big names" of ed tech (although I couldn't resist learning at sessions with several ed tech leaders whose writings have guided me). Instead, I sought to connect mostly with by no means "small names" but with important voices not necessarily acclaimed; in the trenches teachers striving to make a positive difference in their schools by integrating technology to improve the quality of learning for their students. I was profoundly inspired by the array of talent among presenting teachers who are engaging students in blogging, electronic portfolios, collaborative writing, multimedia presentations, and global collaborations. I was similarly impressed by the tremendous ability and accomplishment of participants at the conference learning together. I found guidance and wisdom in areas of great interest to me.

I returned home and reflected, intending to make some initial decisions on how I might bring my learning at ISTE back to my school, wondering whether I as a principal might potentially teach courses in which students create and collaborate through blogging and electronic portfolios. Instead of rushing forward with plans, I gave myself permission to slow down and with the more relaxed pace of summer, allow learnings at ISTE to unfold and take shape in my mind without deadline. As the days and weeks passed, and the blog posts I intended to write about my experiences at ISTE swam in my head without making their way quickly into writing, I kept hearing the conversation beneath the conversation at ISTE - the passion of teachers, the gratitude toward principals who nurture and support teachers' passions, and the frustration with principals who do not as effectively nurture and support teachers' passions as effectively as they might.

I had come to ISTE with the essential question "how can I as a principal more effectively support teachers in my school to improve learning?" I wondered whether in answer to that essential question, the greatest insights might come not from the content of sessions, but rather from the emotions and longings teachers expressed quietly between the lines and beneath the content of sessions. I imagined what teachers at my school might present at a conference like ISTE and recognized a plethora of possibilities: using interactive white boards interactively in kindergarten and first grade, ipads as assistive technology for special education students, social media with training wheels: edmodo as a tool to introduce elementary school students to on-line creative collaboration, engaging families and students in learning through engaging teacher web pages, from voice threads to voki: giving voice to student voice, and flipping the classroom for the tech tentative teacher. The potential for creating a platform for teachers to share and to shine was sounding more and more compelling.

Paradoxically, perhaps the greatest gift I received at the ISTE mega conference was a new set of lenses through which to look at professional learning; focusing on small as the new huge. Forty two million new web pages were created last year. Even the most tech tentative among us can try just one. Perhaps that humble beginning will make a potent difference. Perhaps, just perhaps, small is the new huge.

Cross Posted on sharingourblessings.wordpress.com

ISTE2012 IS OVER - NOW WHAT?

So, it has been over a week since I've returned from the best experience to kick start my summer: the ISTE12 conference.  Thanks to the generosity of the Avichai Foundation, I got to spend 4 glorious days in sunny San Diego, learning all about education in the 21st century.  In my previous blog post, I reflected on the "wow" effect this conference had on me.  In this blog post, after being back for over a week, I choose to focus on the take aways and lessons learned from this conference.  First and foremost, I think that the success of this conference is in the opportunity it gives educators to network and learn from each other.  In planning for the conference, I was so focused on choosing and re-choosing the sessions.  As great as those were, I think I learned the most from the people I had the privilege to interact with and have discussions with, and most importantly, will continue to remain in touch with. I got a chance to meet and learn from some gurus in the field, and I'm so grateful for that.  But, meeting educators from all over North America, connecting and learning from them, being able to continue these connections beyond the conference, is invaluable. Second, I was re-introduced to twitter. I had an account that I signed up for a long time ago. I was not really using that account much.  When at ISTE, you kind of have to tweet, just like the saying goes "when in Rome...". Everyone was blogging and tweeting. So did I.  Every session mentioned twitter (at some point), and I kind of got into it. The truth is that I really got back into it, and I haven't stopped ever since. I'm so impressed with the wealth of information that can be found on twitter,that I'm embarrassed that I haven't kept on top of my tweeting in the past while.  As a matter of fact, I've been following so many new hash tags and been so involved in new discussions, that it feels as if ISTE never ended.  And then there is what comes next, which is sharing.  I've taken so many notes and learned about so many apps, initiatives, ideas and projects, that I am bursting at the seams. I am trying different things, setting up initiatives for the fall, trying to bring forward different suggestions and idea to my team, wanting to implement some of the wonderful things I've learned about. That is what proves that ISTE was indeed worthwhile, if the takeaways from it can or would be implemented, if it was inspiring enough to be taken further.  I'm excited about the possibilities and am determined to take it further. Yes, it is kind of overwhelming... So many notes have been taken at the conference, so many ideas and apps have been introduced.  Trying to implement it all is simply impossible. But, I'm lucky to work with an amazing team of educators, who are used to me getting excited over new initiatives that have to with technology.  They are "on board" with me, willing to try it out and implement it with my support. What will be implemented at Associated Hebrew Schools this fall? Well, we intend to experiment with QR codes. This was a big take away for me.  I saw some great examples of using those in educational settings, and the away that the codes make teaching come to life and that is certainly one thing that we will implement in the fall. Also, our school has purchased several iPads this summer that will be deployed in September. Many of the sessions I took gave me tips, tricks and ideas of how to deploy and use those iPads successfully, not to mention a huge list of apps I would like to explore. A very exciting thing to look forward to. A third initiative that has been brewing in me since coming back from ISTE has to do with student blogging. I've attended several sessions outlining the success of allowing students to blog, the way different educators have implemented student blogging in their classroom. I've even learned about the flat classroom project where blogging connected children from across the globe. I intend to pursue this with my colleagues and take it further into the implementation stage.  Lastly, I would like to further my colleagues and my learning through our PLCs (I believe that it is PLCs in Canada and PLN in the US).  Sharing knowledge and ideas, learning and reflection can all be done through these wonderful networks and communities. Whether in school, on line, or otherwise, I look forward to sharing and continuing my learning and experimentation with technology in the classroom to promote student engagement and success. Once again, thanks Avichai for all that you've done to get me to ISTE. Todda Rabba! Wishing everyone a great summer,  Avital Aharon Associated Hebrew Schools Toronto, Canada

ISTE 2012: Large-Picture Take Aways

The learning that took place at the ISTE Conference (at least for me), took place everywhere: in the exhibition hall, the various sessions, the lobbies, outdoor patios, meeting rooms and shuttle bus, not to mention our Avi Chai sessions each evening.  There are a lot of great teachers and administrators out there and I found myself trying to absorb as much as possible throughout.

That being said, the experience was also overwhelming, especially when I stopped to think about the work ahead and the feeling that no matter how pro-active we are, the risk of treading water or falling behind the eight ball looms heavily in my thoughts.  How can our school, or any school, implement all of the tools, applications or educational approaches that were presented at ISTE?  How can I possibly follow and learn something from all of my new twitter connections?  How many of the various tools presented in the exhibition hall can any one school adopt, even if budget were not an issue (which it is)? 

Then came my AHA moment…provided by a wide variety of my ISTE “teachers.”

§                     Take away one or two terrific ideas, tools or implementation ideas from any given session or discussion.

§                     Don’t worry about the tweets you miss.  Rather, be excited to learn new ideas from the tweets you were able to read and process.  Whatever you DO read and learn is more than you would have discovered only a few days ago. 

§                     Share, share, share.  Do you have a great idea that worked in your school?  Don’t be proprietary…why shouldn’t students everywhere be able to benefit from your spark?  I met a young Spanish teacher who decided that she could not teach 11 year old kids using a 13 year old textbook.  So she created her own online textbook using weebly, which anyone can view and/or use.  Take a look at this:  http://spanishtechbook.weebly.com/

§                     Don’t be afraid of failure…your own and those of your teachers.  That’s how you learn.

§                     Put the education process in the hands of your students…let them own it.

So what am I going to do this summer to prepare for the 2012-13 school year as a result of participating in the ISTE Conference?

First and foremost, I am going to develop a number of action plans for the upcoming school year, focusing on:

1)      Establishing a resource wiki or site for our teachers suggesting various web tools and providing links to some of the wonderful projects and tools I learned about at ISTE.  I look forward to having teachers add their resources to the reference site as well as feedback from others who have tried new approaches or tools.

2)      Outlining a course of professional development for our faculty for the 2012-13 academic year.  The plan will include a combination of peer mentoring, online professional development,  as well as discussions, demonstrations and presentations on curriculum development and technology integration.

3)      Widening my own personal learning network – this was one of the main messages I took away from the ISTE Conference.  In order to grow professionally and impact the learning culture at our school, I must expand my PLN and learn from the experience of others.  I am awed by the quantity and quality of dedicated education professionals who are willing to share their ideas, knowledge and skills with anyone.  I intend to take advantage of their openness and smarts (and in turn share my newly acquired knowledge with colleagues at our school).  I will encourage our faculty members to establish and/or widen their own PLNs for the same purpose.

4)      I will investigate the concept and implementation options of blended learning to see if and how our students can benefit from this educational model, both in their secular and Judaic studies.

This is a great beginning and I am excited and grateful for the opportunity provided by the Avi Chai Foundation.  I hope that other members of our faculty and administration will be able to attend ISTE in future years.

Controlling the Technology Curriculum

Controlling the Technology Curriculum

“The war between the digital natives and the digital immigrants is over, and the natives won.”  (Marc Prensky in opening ISTE keynote).  The statement points to  technologies promise for student empowerment.  Yet, just as in earlier eras when learning centers, project-based learning and differentiated instruction held such possibility, there is always a pull in the opposite direction. 

Prensky got it right in the imagery of  a “battle”.  Those of us who believe in constructivist learning, need to leverage technology for this purpose.  Alan November's workshops were all about this - empowering our students to construct their own knowledge. The other guys (top down educators) who were quite apparent in many of the packaged education technology solutions presented in the exhibition hall will use technology for their ends -  skill based learning sells.  To be sure, there is a role for skill based learning - but a limited one - one that is in the service of higher order thinking.  But the natives will move on taking their learning outside of the classroom as they do now if school use of technologically reduces to skill-based learning only.

The ISTE conference was transformative for me in that it gave me the time, space and connections to reflect about these "big" technology issues.  In the past, I would have sent only my technology teacher to a conference like this.  Thank you Avi Chai for having the wisdom of sending a Head of School.  I now can engage (and already have) my whole staff to think carefully about our technology goals for our students.  I can envision a future and build capacity in the school to set us up for best practices in this area.  This week, I sent an email to my parent body and my staff explaining Alan November's lesson about searching for credible sources on the internet.  Although it is summer, I received more responses to that note than I have to most blogs and emails that I sent throughout the year to our community.

A few more thank yous are in order:  Thank you for bringing the day schools together - it was always comforting to see and to chat with colleagues in what could have been a very overwhelming, impersonal experience.  Thank you for orchestrating complicated food needs.  Finally, thank you for making me into a tweeter, albeit a timid tweeter, but a tweeter nonetheless.