Google+ for Education Preview

I've advocated explicit teaching of social media skills for around 2 years now, and I've had a couple of opportunities to speak on the subject. One thing I have realized is that when it comes to social media instruction, lecture is a severely inadequate method of directing students towards more positive behaviors.

This year I had cause to investigate some problematic uses of social media by students at my school. Without going into any detail, let's just say the behaviors were typical of teens acting without adult supervision. That of course means, that the students viewed Twitter and Facebook as their little adult-free conversation space which they were freely using while they were in class.

Amazingly, after I made it clear to our students that someone was paying attention to their Twitter conversations, most of the worst behavior ceased immediately. Of course students continue to use Twitter when they should be working, and some of their language is not for polite, public conversation, but just letting the students know they are being watched by someone other than their friends, did make a difference.

There are many lessons to be learned from this experience. Here are the top 4 I would like to address:

1. Students primarily use social media as a means of trying to impress their friends, often with an attitude that does not match their in-person, school persona.
2. Students clearly need adult correction and role-models if they are to use social media in a professional and productive way
3. Merely telling students how to behave in cyberspace is completely worthless, as all students in the school received 1 or 2 lectures on the subject in the first months of the school year.
4. Blocking social Web sites is completely ineffective and most likely interferes with educators actually doing something to help students behave in a positive way online

Shortly after forming these conclusions, Google made available its Google+ for Education to its school customers on a trial, preview basis. I am fortunate that work for a New Tech Network school that uses Google Applications and  immediately jumped at the opportunity to launch the preview.

I briefly considered the downside before doing this. Some schools ban teachers contacting students via social media because it may lead to improper relationships. Would Google+ lead to boundary issues? Secondly, perhaps Google+ would be just another distraction that will negatively effect students attention to academic tasks. Lastly, there isn't much time for staff development to fully train the teachers. How would this work out without training.

With regards to the first potential objection....our school already has a Gmail domain that allows for frequent student-teacher contact. If there are no problems with email, there isn't likely to be any with a social network. 

As far as an academic distraction, that's a very valid concern. However, by following students I can clearly see which ones are spending too much time on Google+, whereas on Twitter and Facebook, I have no easy way of doing so. Indeed, I noticed a couple students that were getting a little carried away with posting to Google+, but the good news is that their postings were completely acceptable and often very humorous and interesting. Also, I was able to talk to these students, both commending them for their interesting posts that I actually enjoyed and telling them gently that school comes first and to post a few times a day instead of 30-40 times a time. This was a net positive in my view, since the students responded well to my compliment and correction.

Now the real problem with implementing Google+ education is of course its adoption by teachers, staff and students. Teachers generally have enough to do without learning yet another technology tool. It's difficult to squeeze in something that is not directly related to curriculum. Also, the students are busy as well and have plenty of online tools at their disposal. What is their incentive to join Google+?

I believe Google+ is a worthwhile initiative and here are my 5 reasons:

1. Google+ is a terrific technology with much to recommend it. It combines the best of Twitter, Skype and Facebook in one. Hangouts in particular of many instructional uses. These great features are the attraction to get teachers and students on board.
2. With an education domain, it creates a safe place to practice and learn social networking skills without everything visible to the outside world as the settings are controlled by a local administrator (me).
3. I believe very strongly that students need adult role-models in social media and a Google+ domain for school allows teachers and staff to be those role models for students.
4. Google+ is a  fun way of learning more about students and building school community
5.  By providing Google+ service separate from the students personal accounts on Twitter, Facebook and other social networks, it creates a place for students to practice professional and academic uses of social media in a 'school space.' Nothing will help students more than giving them the opportunity to practice professional, 'adult' social networking behaviors.

In conclusion, just by turning on Google+ Preview, I've already seen enough positives to justify the service, and virtually no negatives. Adoption is slower than I would like to see, but I'm working to add more teachers to the mix by highlighting uses for Google+ that they would likely find beneficial. I've started to see students complaining about teachers inviting them to circles. That's a good thing! It reminds me of when parents started to join social networks and then kids had to find better ways of acting online. Even if they sneak around on other social networks beyond the view of adults, I do believe that mature adult presence on social networks is a net positive. If we as educators make a conscious and concerted effort to reach and teach students using Google+ we'll all be better for the effort.

Getting Social: My presentation to 9th grade students

I'm grateful for a job that gives me the opportunity to talk to young adults about social media and it's importance to their futures. Most of the talk in schools that I have seen primarily focus on the 'fear factor' and telling students what they shouldn't do. I wanted to talk solely about the positive possibilities of social media with the intention of opening up students' minds about the tremendous benefits of using social media effectively.

For this talk, I used CPS systems to anonymously poll members of each class. The slides with the tan background and black text are the questions for the 'clickers.'

Getting social

View more presentations from Dallas ISD New Tech High School

The interactive nature of the talk gave me some interesting insights into the students thinking. Here are a couple of things I learned:

1. Students have a fairly low regard for expert opinions. They had a strong preference for getting information from Google or people they know, but seemed completely disinclined to seek out an expert in a field. I will certainly follow up on this when presenting on sources and credibility of information!
2. In one class only 1 of 20 students reported writing for their own blog, while in the others the percentage of bloggers was right at 50%. The class with only one blogger was also the least engaged and receptive to my message. To me this suggests that teaching social media in itself would be ineffective without addressing the students' writing abilities and confidence in their communication skills. 

I hope others can benefit from my experience and would love to here from other educators that are presenting or wish to present a positive message regarding social media to teenagers.

What is it like for a New Tech HS Media Specialist?

The big questions I have been trying to answer in my new position are the same as the Library/Media specialist profession as a whole. How does a library and librarian figure into the future of education? Will we have jobs in the future? How will our roles evolve?

The good news for the more traditional librarian, is that my new state of the art high school has a print library and it opened for business at the end of the first week of school. So far approximately 10% of the student body has checked out an old-fashioned book during the first week of operations. That's with absolutely no effort on my part; no marketing, no book talks, no classes, just placing the books out on display.

The bad news for the more traditional librarian is that 90% of my time has been spent on duties completely unrelated to the print library, and I have been very busy. Part of the reason I was hired for this job in the first place was my willingness to serve outside of the normal capacity of a librarian. It's doubtful that this campus would have a librarian if he/she were unwilling to also take on the responsibility of Technology Manager. My role as Technology Manager, though somewhat unrelated to library services is completely vital to a New Tech High School. In this capacity I have helped set up user accounts in our Echo learning management system and our Google Apps. Since the staff is completely new and few have had any prior experience with these systems, it has been up to me to anticipate and identify problems and help teachers get up and running during the critical first week of school.

The upside of my service as Technology Manager from a library perspective, is that I have learned the names of many students, been a visible presence in the classroom and developed collaborative partnerships with teachers and students. As someone with an inside view of how the students are using the social features of our technology systems, I have also gathered vital intelligence for future lessons and discussions on digital citizenship and and cyber-ethics. These are certainly aspects of a 21st Century Librarian's job, so in a sense the Tech Manager role is not entirely separate.

The most exciting aspects of my job are in fact related to library services. Though the print library is in place with over 1,000 volumes for 140 students, the rest of the library program and facility is still in the incubation and planning stages. Our New Tech HS is a community just 2 weeks old, and amidst all of the flurry of activity in this startup period, I have managed to make progress in the following areas:

1. Ordered Nooks and Ipads for periodical reading and library system access. The periodical collection will be mostly print-free! These devices will be replace print magazines and also lead library services in an exciting new direction.
2. Planned the implementation of the new Media Cast system. The Media Cast platform will completely replace the VHS/DVD collection and put all video on demand, including local and cable TV programming. The system is capable of live broadcasts and has a Kiosk feature that will control screens around the campus. These Kiosks will disseminate school information including library programming ads, book trailers and other forms of literacy promotions.
3. Started the online learning commons an established productive online relationships with students. The chess club and anime club are now library programs with a student-driven online presence!
4. Met with architect to plan remodel of facility, including spacious and technology rich teaching space and relaxed area based on the coffee shop model.
   

Yes, there is a lot on my plate, but I wouldn't have it any other way. When asked how my new job, I give the same answer; "The student population I serve is only one-tenth of my previous schools, but I'm at least 3-times as busy." In short, my role as library/media specialist within the traditional comprehensive high school was limited by campus culture and the teacher's comfort-level with technology and the Internet. At New Tech High School the campus culture propels me towards innovation and challenges me daily to learn and apply new skills. I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity at this stage of my career and I sincerely wish others in the library profession will have the same opportunity.

Seven Effective Twitter Habits for Teachers

Twitter has occupied so much of my thinking lately and now it's time to blog about it. There are so many good guides to getting started on Twitter, that I won't do that here. Twitter is so important in today's world, that I believe all educators should be involved. Here are some simple ideas and procedures for Twitter teachers. My apologies if they are not original.

1. Follow a Twitter feed about current events via TwiterFall or some other hashtag aggregator. Good activity for getting analyzing points of view, fact vs. opinion, etc.

2. Locate hashtags for big global sporting events such as Tour De France, World Cup and the Olympics and see how many languages you can identify in the feed. Then try translating to English.

3. Identify and follow thought leaders, writers and major figures in your content area/field. If you start interacting with them, try inviting them to your class or conference. It never hurts to ask!

4. Start discussions on Twitter and give out a prize for the best Tweet.

5. If you do anything creative, such as a video or a killer lesson be sure to share it and Tweet it.

6. If you present anything for a local training, a conference, put it on Slideshare and tweet it.

7. After you've been on Twitter a while, you will naturally develop your Professional Learning Network (PLN), the folks that share your passion. Be sure to interact with them and thank them for their ideas. If you go to conferences, make sure you meet them in person. That's probably the best part of being a Tweeter.

My First Prezi for Librarians Summit

At the point of this writing, I am 2 days away from presenting at the Dallas ISD Librarians Summit. I'm really stretching myself for this one. It's the first time I am using Prezi instead of Power Point. I'm a little nervous about it, but I've prepared a good rough draft I think. Take a look and send me any corrections/suggestions.

Technology Tuesdays: Become a Technology Leader on Campus on Prezi

What really is the problem we are trying to solve?

Nothing like a good conference to revive my professional soul, not to mention this blog! ISTE 2010 was wonderful, not just for the stimulating sessions, but just to be in rooms filled with hundreds of kindred spirits. I'm now motivated to begin anew.

So, what is the problem we (Ed Tech proponents) are trying to solve? As much as I loved ISTE, I don't know if we really know the answer or the question. Technology is only effective if applied strategically towards a very specific objective. Can technology simultaneously solve the problems of bored, under-achieving students, over-burdened teachers, test-obsessed administrators, and a stagnant culture in public education? My guess is we are not going to see progress by leaps and bounds this year or next year, or in any year unless we clearly identify the problem and plot a way forward using the appropriate technologies.

I see the big question as "Can technology transform education the way it has transformed virtually all other industries and sectors of government?" Think of such specific industries such as journalism, advertising and entertainment. Each of these fields has been turned up-side-down by technology, yet education continues along with its tremendous inertia. Heck, even the Post Office has been dramatically changed by technology.

So what will be the killer App that induces some good old American creative destruction on the education establishment? One thing I know for certain, is that hardware initiatives such as 1-1 Laptops don't in themselves change education. If the basic workflow and teaching practices endure after the technology is implemented, then we aren't much further ahead. Worse yet, if progressive administrators that pursue these costly programs can't show measurable results, we end up taking more steps backward then forward.

It seems to me that the main purpose of technology is to make things dramatically more efficient and dynamic. This means that technology has to liberate teachers from the stifling drudgery of having to manage attendance, discipline, parental contacts, assessment and instructional preparation on a daily basis. Technology has to make all of this easier. Today, online curricula seem to make preparing for daily lessons more difficult. Let's start with this so that the online curriculum is merged with everything else, including video, e-texts, online collaborative research assignments and even video-conferencing. It goes without saying that attendance, discipline, photocopying, transparency making and all the other administrivia should be made effortless by technology, but the technology really needs to free up the teachers so they can be expected to put everything into student relationships, coaching and motivation. Now let's get busy and make it happen.

Customer focused Web site

I have seen school districts adopt all sorts of technology systems including grade books, online curricula, learning modules, and other information systems. Most of the time, the selection of these tools is based on the administrator's need of the moment and little thought is given to the usability of the system and how well it will adapt to changes elsewhere in the system. Countless hours of teacher time are wasted training them to use horrible software and millions of dollars are thrown away on systems ill-suited to the needs of teachers and students. On top of that administrators' dictates that require teachers to use these systems create enormous amounts of stress for teachers for little benefit. What is needed is a new approach that focuses on designing flexible systems, run by knowledgeable administrators who's primary mission is to meet the needs of busy teachers and students.

This brings me to my new big idea. My new Web site, www.wildcatlearning.org is focused on quickly building a learning portal for our school that grows organically while giving teachers many options and making their lives easier. My dream is to harness all of the creative energy of the most tech-savvy teachers in the school toward building a "one-stop" destination for information and learning technology. I'm offering these teachers not just a technology platform but the necessary support and training that helps them get the job done.

I'm not going to do any training or staff-development train users for this Web site, but I do hope to steer teachers here because it makes implementing technology in their class much easier. It must be my crazy idealism, butI think it's better to try to entice teachers by offering them help and point-of-need training and easy implementation rather than trying to bribe them to attend tech trainings with food or without the administration mandating anything. We'll see if it works.

What is a School Technology Paradise?

In my mind, we really don't need paradise, but K-12 education could at least strive to be like major universities and colleges or even corporations and the Federal government. Here are some things that would be indicative of a School Tech Paradise:

1. Technology Department is user-centered-Nearly every school district that I am aware of has a tech department that rarely communicates with those that actually use their technology. The primary concern of school technology types seems to be on security and stability instead of usability. All that's needed is a little cultural change of expecting school technology personnel to focus on the needs and desires of their end users. This means consulting with teachers about software adoption.

2. School takes advantage of ubiquitous connectivitySchools today are making futile efforts to block student from using cell-phones and various internet tools while at school. In stead of expending our money and effort on a lost cause, we need to make efforts to train our educators to use this technology to promote learning and engage students.

3. Campus professionals are expected to use technology. All too often laggard teachers that don't use even basic technology are coddled and protected. There are places where large numbers of so-called professionals won't even read emails from administration. Fire them or make their lives miserable so they quit. Don't enable the techno-phobes. Expect them to adapt.

4. Technology is used to make school efficient. Eliminate irrelevant intercom announcements and replace them with occasional video, blogs, text messages and other tools that reach the intended audience. Teachers should prepare all of their lessons electronically so we don't have to deal with expensive copiers that break down. We can eliminate the practice of purchasing and checking out mind-numbing textbooks and expecting them to be returned without doodling all over them.

5. School Web sites contemporary and up-to-date!Look all around. School Web sites are a joke mostly, using design templates that are 10-years out-of-date, hosting content that is stagnant and rarely updated. Upgrading the schools' Web systems is the first step in changing our image and the way we operate.

6. No one looks for the quick fix. Decision makers in education often purchase technology systems for some narrow purpose, such as drilling kids on skills to improve test scores. These systems are out-of-date in a few years, and they don't improve teaching and learning. Integrating technology takes smarts, strategic planning and hard work. Unfortunately some companies seem to be very effective at peddling technology packages that promise easy and quick results without any positive influence on long-term school improvement.

Of course I could go on an on about specifics, but if we could just focus on these 6 things, we could make so much progress.