Inclusion via Skype

We are living in a remarkably dynamic and interesting era of learning. Our present age bridges the "read-only" educational paradigm of the 19th and 20th centuries and the "new read-only and read-write" paradigms of the 21st. The entire concept of user created content published for a global audience was completely outside the lexicon of educators in the previous two centuries. Today, however, learners of all ages are discovering the amazing power of publishing formats like blogs, podcasts, wikis, and digital social networking environments.



The ability to "publish at will" your thoughts, reflections, ideas and opinions for a global audience is an amazingly powerful but also highly disruptive skill. The potential effect of these technologies in empowering citizen journalists is tremendous. Those who create content for others also bear some responsibility for the ideas and the effects of those ideas when they are shared with others, however. Websites like Stopcyberbullying.org (especially in its introductory Flash video) are replete with examples of POOR CHOICES when it comes to the use of digital technologies to communicate and share ideas. Issues of digital ethics and digital citizenship are vital to not only discuss but also PRACTICE with learners of all ages. That is why conversations about "safe digital social networking" and the ways educators as well as parents are helping young people (and each other) learn about the safe, appropriate and fun uses of digital technologies is and will be an enduring need now and in the years ahead.

Desktop videoconferencing technologies like Skype, which permit ad-hoc videoconferences between people using internet-connected computers, webcams and microphones, are aptly characterized by some as "disruptive technologies" which many organizational IT departments fear and resist. The value and power of connecting people both synchronously and asynchronously through voice as well as videoconferencing technologies can be amazing, however. Why do we have all these Internet connections and technology devices in our schools after all, if not to use them to connect learners to valuable content and also TO EACH OTHER?

This latter ideal is exemplified well through the work of Brian Crosby and his 4th grade students in at Agnes Risley Elementary School in Sparks, Nevada. The Washoe School District is the second largest in Nevada. After learning of a new, homebound 4th grade student in his class who has leukemia, Mr. Crosby found the resources to connect the student to her classroom from home using Internet connected computers, webcams, and Skype. The five minute video his 4th grade students created about this innovative "Inclusion" strategy is precious. Take some time to watch the video and then leave a comment on the blog page for the students!

In his February 7th update about this project, Mr. Crosby writes:

Videoconferencing works really well for certain types of lessons – brainstorming for writing (which was our first activity on the first day) works well for example – and Celest seems to be able to follow along pretty well in math - I use several web sites to have students practice multiplication facts and she is able to be just one of the students in class when we do that also. Other types of lessons we will have to work out how best to include her. I really want to try involving her in group discussions for example – and I think we can get her in music class too – the music room might be close enough to one of our wireless hubs that I can carry the laptop and web cam in so she can sing along – the music teacher is game, so we will give it a try.

What a great example of a teacher using creativity and available resources to open doors of learning not only for the homebound student, but also for every other learner in the classroom, that wouldn't have been open otherwise! Kudos to the 4th grade learners and producers of the film (including the homebound student) and Mr. Crosby for fantastic work. "Inclusion via Skype." It wouldn't have been possible even a few years ago. But today it is.

I wonder if we'll see any parents requesting "Skype connections to the classroom" on their child's IEP?! Carol Anne McGuire, who teaches children with visual impariments, already has some parents requesting podcasting on their child's IEP. Used effectively, Skype might join the list of assistive and enabling technologies that can open doors of learning possibilities for every child with special needs (because every child IS special and unique) in the years ahead.

Web 2.0 - Future Classic Video

What does the average teacher need to know about the Web, Bogs, Tags, XML or RSS?

Michael Wesch, an assistant professor at Kansas State University, provides The Machine is Us/ing Us as a convincing 5 minute video that illustrates the above acronyms. Yet it does more than that.

Sure, those who have witnessed Web history from its birth will enjoy seeing it replayed, but for the typical person, the video highlights the cultural shifts that the Web and Web 2.0 usher in. For those of us raised on reruns of I Love Lucy and Top 40 AM radio, the "everything" that is now available - on call - is radically opposite to what we have been brought up expecting. Yet it's the air waves our teenagers breathe.

As a classroom activity, why not watch the video together and discuss:

1. How we use the Web?
2. What the Web means to us?

The video concludes by suggesting, "We need to rethink a few things..." Wesch offers some examples, but how about something like, "how these Web 2.0 applications shift learning from the factory model to that of an open source mashup?"

If you want to spend more time with the text of the video, you can read it. You can also download YouTube videos and save them as .flv (flash video) files that can be viewed offline.

If the video gets you or students intrigued, take a look at Wesch's second draft of the video and the "Spot Sets" others have added to it.

You, too -- girls!

For nearly 10 years, the computer programming class met in the lab next door. Only once during those ten years, did I see a girl walk into that classroom. A little bit of research revealed that young women were notably absent from computer programming classrooms across the country. According to the New York Times article “Where The Girls Aren’t” “more than 19,000 boys took the Advanced Placement computer science examination in 2001, compared with just over 2,400 girls”. Thirty years ago, it was not unusual to see 2 or 3 girls in a Calculus class; today nearly 50% of the students taking the AP Calculus are female. Reversing this trend took a sustained investment in strategies focused on increasing the success of women in mathematics.

With the increase use of computers in today’s classrooms, work places, and living rooms, it is easy to assume that we no longer have a gender gap in high-tech courses and careers.

But the reality is that the participation of women in these areas have actually decreased over the past two decades. Whenever I lead activities that raise awareness about male/female ratios in tech related careers and courses, participants are always surprised at the gender gap. As a teacher there are many ways you can implement gender equity strategies in your classroom. Tech Integration across the curriculum is one of the top strategies. If girls are not flocking to computer classes, let’s make sure the computers come to “them”. Along with making technology part of everyday learning, creating opportunities where girls can gain skills and confidence with technology can help address the “experience gap”. One of the biggest challenges young women face when considering a high-tech class or career is not “aptitude”, but experience.

Maya, the only girl in her Java programming class, quickly noticed that
most of the boys in the class seemed to already know a lot about programming
from their experience with robotic toys, or from having built pieces of their
own computers. They seemed to already have a rapport with the
programming teacher comparing notes about their favorite video games strategies during class. Her programming class quickly turned to a very frustrating and lonely experience. When asked by she enrolled in this class, she
answered, “one of my teachers noticed that I was smart with computers and
learned HTML code quickly and invited me to participate in a Tech Savvy Girls
summer camp.” There I spent a whole week learning cool new technologies
with all girls. I even took a mini-workshop in programming. It was
fun. I felt smart. I didn’t have “less experience”. My junior year I found I had an open timeslot in my schedule. I looked at the available classes that block. If it had not been for Tech Savvy Girls, I wouldn’t have noticed programming, but some of the women role models I met in Tech Savvy Girls activities often mentioned programming as a class they took when they were in school.

Year after year, I listen to girls tell their stories during our Tech Savvy Girls activities and over and over again, I hear tales of teachers who provided awareness, inspiration, and experience opportunities to young women. “ My teacher often gave me extra computer tasks to do; my teacher recommended me for a computer camp; my teacher asked for my help with the computer; my teacher believed in me; my teacher recommended this course for when I get older;”

Look for information and opportunities to create activities such as “The Creative Side of Engineering” that send a strong message to girls that the world needs more than girls who “use” technology, the world needs their input into design and innovation.