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Eric Grant
This was the best session ever! I learned all the knowledge ever produced, went from the periphery to the center, and developed a positive epistemic identity.

Lucy's notes


Gaming Table Notes (the loud, fun group):

Strategies for Implementation? Barriers to Implementation?

- BARRIERS: time, culture, funding, training, cultural desire/need, better technology
- BARRIER: social class and geography limits access to social capital
  • The real creative class is being built today in wealthy communities with supplementary educational services and the collective social capital
- BARRIER: scalable ways to transform teaching on scale
- STRATEGY: Need to be present. Closing laptops during meetings. Attention is paramount to learning
- STRATEGY: Focus on educational goals first, technology second
- STRATEGY: Leadership is key. Need to train new leaders and teachers that know how to leverage new tools in scalable, realistic ways.
  • Tech offers just another way solve a learning goal - we need to be aware of all the alternatives
  • Teachers need to offer diverse learning opportunities
- STRATEGY: rely on knowledge and skills of whole community - everyone is a teacher
- STRATEGY: decentralized educational strategies where we have multiple touch points on kids ex. virtual schooling models
- STRATEGY: rely on market forces more, not less, to solve these issues; supporting social entrepreneurship

Mass Collaboration/Social Networking Group (the serious, visual, well working group)


1. Competing or no common, shared vision of what teaching is and what technology can do
2. Different approach to implementation: give teachers freedom to explore their own implementation Top, bottom and community – who are the decision-makers? Consensus.
Teacher buy-in: why, WIIFM, NCLB - Get early adopters first (speedboat, barge, rocks). Get speedboats first to get out of the way. Focus on the barge – handholding, mentoring, good PD, let them one thing at a time.
- Do you have something that solves their problem, ex: NCLB?
- Exploring existing models that work
- Measurement for comparison and success
- Bottom up influence: tipping point to move forward
- Teacher support
- Reward teachers
- Give teachers ideas and *follow up*
- Teacher tech roadshow: see what other teachers are doing.
- Small steps!!!
Technology is fragile: doesn’t always work. Is this a reasonable implementation choice. Smart implementers won’t try this technology. Do something that works.
Technology: so many options, how do you find it, how do you know what works for you? Mentors, colleague to observe.
Support network of teachers may not be the answer – maybe have a network of students to help
Time for teachers (PD, etc) Build in time into the day schedule
Think about the context of this happening
Personnel: instructional mentorship
Budget and resources in the classroom Grants, $100 computer, manpower: technology facilitators

The No Name Table (Karl, Lucy, Kit, Rosalind, Gerri)
Lucy: Living in age of censorship. Blogs are blocked at the school district level that then keep teachers and students from contributing. We need to be doing more with the digital citizenship…not just letting kids “go” and do what they want, but we should educate and not ban (Karl).
Karl: Education tends to be more “conservative” (not necessarily politically) but in keeping things the same. Many people are talking about how to change the blocking and censorship but it will take time. The more we have these conversations the more they can think things through and share expectations with kids about what they allowed to do and should do. We tend to write rules expecting kids to mess up instead of writing things that expect kids to make the correct decision.
Kit: How do you explain to administration what the “new school” looks like? Changing mind set of parents so that they feel safe sending their students to this school would be a challenge.
Lucy: Laptops for every student.
Karl: Good pedagogy to go with those laptops.
Kit: How would timeframe look for implementation?
Lucy: Nuts and bolts and deployment are not the hard part. The hard part is the pedagogy.
Kit: Is lugging around a laptop going to be outdated pretty soon? Are policies such as Berkley has that won’t allow laptops into the classroom a good idea? Kids are interacting and totally focusing on the instruction. Is the 1-1 ratio where we need and want to be?
Lucy: Truly believes that the 1-1 is where it needs to be.
Karl: Key factor for implementation is professional development and TIME…time to learn, time to fail, time to collaborate, so that the pedagogy is there. Teachers need to change their approach to teaching which then transforms to the students learning. Some kids use technology a little, some a lot, it is about individualizing it for the students. Find what turn the kids on…relate it them.
Lucy: Infrastructure needs to be improved…same access to same bandwidth…tech support …retrofitting existing infrastructure. (Lightweight infrastructure)
Karl: All kids should have access to enough bandwidth at home too. Schools have physical presence throughout the community.
Kit: Cost of infrastructure is key.
Karl: Adaptable spaces….no fixed spaces.
Gerri: Wireless is key for future planning.
Rosalinda: Need a PLAN for using the laptops.
Kit: 1-1 did not work for her school. Maybe need more than one vision. Isn’t necessary to always walk around with the laptops.
Karl: Mobility is important to think about when planning for projects, etc.
Kit: Very difficult to have a plan that works for everyone.
Rosalinda: Shared vision is important.
Kit: Maybe the “need” is the key element…tying the technology to the need for each person.
Lucy: Using technology to improve the science gap. Using those tools in whatever environment you are in.
Lucy: The training piece is missing in many cases end the users then don’t use the technology. People are buying things and not using them.
Karl: The approach to teaching will sometimes indicate the type of technology is used. It is not the technology gets in the way, it is the pedagogy that gets in the way.