Learning, Teaching & Technology

http://www.nhcmtc.org/ is the link to the New Hampshire “Christa McAuliffe Technology Conference” with Richard Sellinger. We went to some great keynote sessions by David Warlick and Yong Chao. Their focus was that we need to change what we are teaching in our schools if we want students to be prepared for the future. I tested my new flipcam to record some of Yong Chao’s talk and I was impressed by the qualilty of the audio and the video. Richard and I attended some sessions given by teachers, but we didn’t learn much that we weren’t already aware of. We had some good chances to talk and work with each other and I went to a good session on SCRATCH from MIT Media Lab. I plan to set it up in the lab and teach it to fourth graders.

The collaboration continues from the conference through online blogs, webcasts, etc. so it is turning into a neverending conference.

Hopefully there will be opportunities this fall to share the ideas about creativity, innovation and expanded environments for learning that were prevalent at the conference.

I am working this summer on formats for sharing through my portfolio, team meetings, faculty meetings and various online tools. The conversation will continue at the October ACTEM conference with Will Richardson and Vicki Davis as workshop presenters on Thursday as well as a full day of session on Friday. Alice and I are presenters and we hope to have a contingent of Yarmouth K-12 educators attend.

I have accumulated quite a stack of readings and weblinks. In particular the Horizon Report 2007 which is “a research-oriented effort that seeks to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, or creative expression within higher education.” While the report’s specific focus is on ‘higher education’ I see it as connecting to our staff development in Yarmouth as well as the K-12 preparation for our students’ futures (see p. 7 “We are seeing the convergence of many new ideas on how we work, learn and interact…). The most recent Pew Internet Users Study also has some important information about the uses of information and communications technologies by adults.