21st Century Learning

Working Toward Excellence

It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.
Alan Cohen

Have you ever been part of something so significant that it almost seems surreal? Have you ever personally seen your vision, your hard work, your passion become a reality?

Well I have. These last two years working on the 21st Century Learning project with the Alabama Best Practice Center funded by a Microsoft Partners in Learning grant have been incredible. Witnessing the culture shift of the teachers in the 40 schools we served across Alabama has been so affirming. It has instilled in me the faith that it is not as some say, too late for public schools, but rather schools can and are making principled changes in keeping with the needs of the 21st Century learner.

My friend and colleague John Norton, educational writer and virtual community champion, and Cathy Gassenheimer, Managing Director of the A+ Education Foundation  and president of the Alabama Best Practice Center and I developed a two year professional development opportunity around the question--

How do education leaders effectively promote the knowledge, skills and sense of urgency for 21st Century teaching and learning among all the teachers in their schools?   

In our two-year pilot project we sought to maximize our available resources by adopting a “champion-building” approach to spreading awareness and interest in Web-based teaching strategies.             

We asked each principal in our 40 participating schools to select a five-teacher team to join our 21st Century Schools professional development community. Each team agreed to share what they learned with their own faculties, including the rationale behind the urgency for change, and the exciting possibilities of technology-infused learning.

Our goal was not to train teachers to use technology (a massive undertaking far beyond our means) but to create “aha” moments among creative, forward-thinking teachers by introducing them to the concepts of “Classroom 2.0”. We hoped they would be intrigued by – and ultimately be champions for - web 2.0  and other social networking tools as a means for engaging students in higher order learning experiences.

Currently, I am in deep analysis of the data we have collected to look at outcomes and measured success of the project. But we also have collected a great deal of anecdotal evidence that this change initiative is one that has potential to scale in changing the culture of schools, the practice of teachers, and the processes we use to educate our children.

Want to see what I mean? We went to the schools in our project looking for evidence that our curriculum and process had made an impact.

Want to be inspired? Take a look at what we found!

http://www.abpc21.org/

Rather have print copies? Here is our newsletter for year 1 & 2 of this project.

Download  the print version of Working Toward  Excellence: Classroom 2.0 in PDF format.            

Download Working Toward Excellence: Educating the Digital Generation in PDF format.

Photo credit: http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/infokits/change-management/aspects-of-change

Art Education Community

Have you ever felt so overwhelmed with what you have to do that you find yourself in deep avoidance? The Web is perfect for moments like that.

I am part of a panel symposium on Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts in CLTNet. As the lead presenter, I have  been fast at work sharing resources and answering questions.

This morning I followed a link to a Ning community for art educators that one of the participants shared and was so taken with the intellectual  eye candy!

The pic featured here I drew using Kaleidoscope Painter, which was a shared resource in the community.

What first caught my eye though was this animation painter. The animation is done in Flash and it begins with a female skeleton which then is given flesh, underwear, and ends with a designer outfit.

I watched it 2xs and was blown away both times. I could learn to draw like this. I never got to take an art class in school, not one. And yet I come from a family of artists and gave birth to four talented artists. I have taught courses on creativity on the college level and I was known for the creative displays in my classrooms. I wish someone in my K-12 experience had seen the potential and put me in those classes. But typically, poor kids weren't the ones nurtured in the arts, maybe it is different now? Not.

Another cool video piece I found while there was this one on Women in Art.

 

Find more videos like this on Art Education 2.0

Or this video about Gilles Tréhin, a dedicated artist and artistic savant, who began designing an imaginary city, Dumont d'Urville.

Take some time and check out this Ning community, but be prepared to get lost in learning for a few hours!

PD 2.0: It's All about Building Community

This is my most recent entry over at techLEARNING. I would love for you to stop by there an leave your comments! Let's put our ideas all in one place and get our collective PD 2.0 together.

When preparing for the recent three day workshop- High Schools New Face I tried to model the concepts I would be teaching and designed what I hoped would be seen as Professional Development 2.0. I wanted the secondary teachers, administrators, and superintendents attending to experience personalized learning, development of their own personal learning networks and virtual communities of practice.

Using Wikis to Build Learning Communities

Wikis are a wonderful tool for building community in a blended environment. My first goal in building community with my conference cohort was to have everyone join the wiki so that we could all edit and add to different pages. My thinking is that by creating a collaborative space we all experience a sense of ownership in that process.

I also wanted to use the workshop wiki to connect the face-to-face participants to the synchronous online guests giving them a way to connect and feel part of the same community. 

I also used the wiki to:
--- access the workshop goals
--- deliver my curriculum
--- give everyone access to all the resources
--- store the materials and movies I used during the workshop
--- promote collaboration
--- link to all the content being created

The workshop goals for the three days were as follows:
 
1. PRIMARY OBJECTIVE - For you to go back and change at least one thing your are doing in your typical practice in the classroom. We will revisit this goal.
2. To expose you to several tools and strategies used to make connections with content experts beyond the four walls of your classroom.
3. To network you with some of the widely recognized 21st Century learners/teachers in the blogosphere for ongoing professional development.
4. To establish a virtual community of practice where you can continue to connect with each other long after the workshop ends.
5. To help you become comfortable with and create your own blog, wiki, podcasts and other social networking accounts in an effort to help you gain ownership of the new learning landscape.
6. To promote the knowledge, skills and sense of urgency for 21st Century teaching and learning.

Blogging for Reflection and Building a Sense of Trust

Another tool I used was a workshop blog. My purpose in doing so was three fold. I wanted to model the use of blogs, help participants understand the strength of comments, and allow a place for reflection. Using a group blog is a perfect "first step" towards encouraging the adoption of blogs as an educational strategy. This also gave the cohort a place to start sharing ideas and a way to get to know each other. Having introductions happen via the blog saves time and yet works toward instilling trust as we get to know a little about each other, while at the same time giving practice to those who have never used a blog.

In an intentional effort to build trust for our developing community I also created a team building activity within the wiki. This activity enabled participants to engage as a team, practice posting to a wiki, explore and discuss Creative Commons licenses and copyright issues. It also taught the skill of finding and posting a copyright free picture using proper citation. Once team identity was established the small groups discussed a few prompts that deepened their understanding and ownership of the changing educational landscape.

Developing the Professional Learning Network

The most powerful component of participatory media (Web 2.0) is the ability to build diverse personal and professional learning networks. Using a connectivism framework and Gizmo, a VoIP tool, we engaged in an activity called Virtual Speed Dating-Web 2.0 Discussion. While there was no dating intent involved, the quick introductions, high energy conversations and 15 minute per conversation time frame helped earn the  provocative name. Educational bloggers who use Web 2.0 tools with their teachers or students  from Australia, New Zealand, Wales, and across the US agreed to participate.

Speed Dating Set-Up

I asked ten tech savvy, blogging, Web 2.0 using, professionals to each download Gizmo and add me. Ten computers with Gizmo loaded were placed in various places in the training space. At the designated time we called each guest via Gizmo. Five to six participants sat at each table and began to introduce themselves. The invited guest had 15 minutes to lead a fast, succinct, informal conversation around how they use participatory media in their own teaching or PD opportunities and encourage a back and forth conversation.

Getting to know each group and sharing was fast and furious (like speed dating) as they only had 15 minutes before we transitioned to another fresh group of 5-6 people and the process started over again. We did this four times.

Outcomes of the Exercise

For the most part this wildly fun event went like planned, but even when the live events like this do not go exactly as planned they are still very valuable in terms of experience and learning. Wes Fryer, one of the virtual "speed daters" described the questions as "very challenging and thought provoking... reminded me of college debate cross examinations!" Paul Harrington, another one of the guests who actually podcasted his experience had this to say,

While I know some of the speed daters had technical problems, this happens with this technology sometimes. In fact, I often marvel at the way it actually works at all. We have all tried to push the envelope in our own ways, many of us trying out the technology in presentations because we are following your very considerable lead in tech use both in the classroom and the lecture hall.

I found even the pre-meeting Skype chat with fellow 'daters' an invaluable experience. I also appreciate how much the whole experience meant to the most important people there -the attendees at your course. After all our driving aim as educational technologists is to push more educators to join this phenomenal way of re-defining teaching and learning in our own classrooms.

The attendees enjoyed the experience as well. Several principals who were not in my cohort came up to me at dinner and shared how excited their staff was in describing the "speed dating" event. In addition, many listed "speed dating" as the most valuable part of the workshop.

Elluminate Me

Another networking strategy I used was to offer an Elluminate session with four of the Alabama Best Practice Center  21st Century Fellows. The Fellows were new to Web 2.0 tools just two short years ago. I felt that by having them share their stories in Elluminate breakout rooms participants could get a feel for a virtual classroom, while also learning about how these teachers developed their 21st Century pedagogy using Web 2.0 tools to create projects that aligned with school and district goals. Everyone put on head sets and logged into our virtual classroom. After a quick overview of the tools we went into virtual break out rooms with about 10-15 participants each. After a brief presentation (inside Elluminate) showing wikis, slides, and blogs related to the projects, the Fellows opened the room up to questions. Participants raised their hands virtually and used a microphone to ask teachers in Alabama to explain details. After 20 minutes we switched rooms and the participants got to hear a different Fellow speak.

Twitter Camp- (picture is from Alan's NMC conference- not ours)

Another networking tool that provided connections and yet another way for participants to build their own personal learning networks was Twitter. I had each of the participants create an account and to add me as a friend. Like in the picture above, I added a message that showed how they could post to our camp. I also alerted others who were my friend in Twitter to please add our @hsnf account. So that throughout the first day of the workshop participants and my friends in the blogosphere communicated and made connections.

Blogging Begins with Reading

As a way of introducing blogging for scholarship and how just like good writing begins with reading, so does blogging, I had participants visit the blogs of Edubloggers who came to the NECC Edubloggercon.The participants were asked to spend sometime reading and exploring these blogs and then post a reflection on the workshop blog of what they found interesting. We also practiced embedding the link of the blog they read by using html code.

The activity was an intentional way to model the building of personal/professional networks by locating blogs and adding them to an RSS feed. We created our own feeds and practiced adding some newly favored blogs.

Virtual Learning Communities   

The component I think is really missing from most professional development opportunities is follow through. Typically, we send teachers to workshops and they get fired up and come back unable to sustain the momentum without support.

One solution to this problem is to create a virtual learning community (VLC) using one of the available platforms like Tapped In or Ning. Getting the participants established in the community while you are still together face-to-face helps ensure use of the resource after the workshop ends. Obviously, most of us who deliver professional development will not have time to facilitate a learning community for each workshop given, so it is imperative that ownership for the community is given to several interested attendees while you are at the workshop. They take on the role of moderator.

We decided to create a learning community inside Tapped In as a way of staying connected long after the workshop ends. We explored Ning too and many joined Classroom 2.0. One superintendent even created his own Ning community to use with his teachers.

It's All about the Learning

Teachers like tangibles. I think the reason there is so much focus on the tools, rather than how to use the tools to support learning is because when we are learning something new we want something concrete to manipulate. Web 2.0 tools like blogs, wikis and podcasts give us that concrete fix. Teachers, like their students, need time to explore the tools before getting on with the learning. However, at some point in a PD 2.0 workshop the focus needs to switch from the tool itself to making the tool a seamless medium for mastery of standards-based objectives and 21st Century life skills.

After looking at many examples of 21st Century teaching and learning, we broke into groups based on disciplines. Using Post It notes each person at the table generated one idea per note for how these new concepts and tools could translate to learning in the classroom. Next, we worked in pairs to chunk the ideas into manageable categories. Finally, as a group we used chart paper and synthesized the information into workable lesson ideas. A reporter in the group then captured what was generated for the wiki so everyone could benefit.

The final activity was a Birds of a Feather exercise where we grouped by interests: blogs, social networking tools, podcasting, Second Life, or virtual learning communities. Groups then took an unconference approach to what was discussed. The activity was intentionally unstructured and the learning needs/wants of the individual were met by others who could informally show them what they needed to know. The discussions and demos developed organically based on learner interest and "just in time" learning needs.

Next Steps

One distinctive factor of PD 2.0 is that after the workshop ends the communication and collaboration doesn't. Using our VLC, linking to and commenting on each others blogs, and bumping into each other on Twitter, Skype, delicious and other social networking tools will ensure that we all continue to learn and grow from each other. Individuals involved in my cohort in New York become part of the larger international community and as champions develop and teach others, the ideas spread and educational reform takes place through a "none of us are as good as all of us" mentality. Even as we speak, Paul Harrington has joined the Tapped In group and is answering questions from the NY teachers about how he uses Classblogmeister.

Professional Development 2.0 is about personalized learning for teachers. It is about ownership, developing your online voice and joining professional networks. As teachers we must first own these concepts and skills before we can give them to our students. And by using these 21st Century strategies to create networks of 'teachers teaching teachers' we can ensure that none of us get left behind and that every child will be prepared to meet the future that awaits them.

Your PD 2.0 Ideas Needed
What 21st Century strategies have you used in a PD 2.0 workshop? What ideas have you tried that worked or didn't work in helping teachers to understand the changing learning landscape? Do share!
As my friend in New Zealand, Jane Nicholls likes to say, "Problem solving is more fun with a friend." 

Broadening the Scope of What is Possible

H
  Originally uploaded by briangrenier

Have you ever been part of a workshop that stretched you and you ended up learning as much or more than you taught? Well my time at High Schools New Face at Holiday Valley in Ellicottville, NY was just such a time for me. It was a wonderful personal learning experience for all that attended.

High Schools New Face: Broadening the Scope of What is Possible
The conference began by streaming the opening. The stream is really good, you can view it here. In addition to the wonderful district and political speakers there is an opening keynote by a student. (A must see).

But my favorite was meeting and watching Monte Selby perform.

I bought two of his books and was delighted to find out that my TLN colleague, Rick Wormeli coauthored both books with him! The two books I bought were: Middle School Matters and Because You Teach.I bought them for the CDs.

If you would like a taste of the songs Monte writes I recorded two with my digital camera. The sound quality on both are pretty good. You can also see them at the end of the stream above.

Because You Teach

Architects of Change

Multimedia Push

One of the things that made this conference such a success was the mash-up of content creation and creativity. Pictures that were taken throughout the conference were put in a slide show that was shown.
A comedy troupe performed teacher type humor, musicians performed, movie clips that were created were shared, and the leadership breakfast had a variety of hands-on activities. It set the tone for being creative and truly broadening perspectives. In the conference bags were the traditional t-shirts and booklets but also each participant got an i-Pod shuffle and a flash drive!!

There were iPod stations set up around the conference and even an i-Pod university that attendees could go to to learn more about their gift.

National Speakers

Engaging the 21st Century Teen - The Flippen Group – Bethany Rosebroch
Connecting the 21st Century Teen- Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach
Designing a School for the 21st Century Teen - Susan Szachowicz, Maria LeFort &
Joyce Phillips & Team
Personalizing for the 21st Century Teen - Monte Selby & Tony Limoges
Leading the Way - Neil Rochelle & Bonnie Smith

Here are the photos I took in my Flickr stream.

Never Met a Stranger

I have been told that I never meet a stranger and to some extent that is true. I warm up to folks very quickly. But I met a group of educators who put me to shame in terms of being able to make someone feel like family immediately. Seeing I had always heard that New Yorkers were less than warm and friendly, I found this to be so exciting!

I come in to the hotel in between workshops sessions. As I went to go to my room, I notice that there are two of the principals I had sat with at the leadership breakfast siting in the lobby. I walk over to say hello. They invite me to sit with them a minute. The minute turns into an hour of the most lively conversation. We talk about demographics, race, educational reform, and my coming to do an inservice in their district. Then they invite me to dinner with their school team as their guest. What a delightful group! We ended up making plans to go see Niagara Falls before I returned to Va Beach. The plans were canceled due to weather, but the point is that they asked me to go! I had never felt so honored and welcomed by a group of educators who I had only met a little while ago. Amazing!

So my hat is off to Michelle Spasiano and her team at Niagara Wheatfield HS and Sushma Sztorc and her team at Niagara Academy! I sincerely hope to see them again.

It was a great conference and I learned a great deal, made some new friends, shared some of what I know, lost a lot of sleep and birthed a few bloggers! Thanks Will Richardson and Neil Rochelle for recommending me and Gail Hirst for having me. Feel free to contact me anytime!

Architects of Change

What a wonderful start to the Joint Management Team of Western New York's retreat on high school reform. First off, this couldn't be held in a more beautiful place on earth- Holiday Valley Ski Resort, located in Ellicottville, New York. The best part is I get to see it while it is lush and green.

My room is absolutely the best! My bed is in a loft, there is a winding staircase, the bath tub is jetted and the view is incredible.

At dinner last night Monte Selby sang an original song about educational leaders all becoming Architects of Change. The lyrics really resonated with me as to why we have to get serious about change. I finally got the meet the incredible Neil Rochelle and he was everything I expected and more!

The conference kicks off this morning with a great line up of speakers and then we break into cohorts. My workshop is all about connections- Connecting the 21st Century Teen. I am so looking forward to all we have planned and learning from those who attend.

A big thank you to Rick, Michelle, Tony and the team that stayed with me on site last night making sure everything was up and running. Highlight of today should be the virtual speed dating event we have planned with the international edublogger community.

If you would like to check out the conference they are streaming it at http://highschoolsnewface.org

More to come!

It Just Keeps Getting Better

I have decided I was born at the perfect time! I use to think I was born for a gentler time than this and only if I could have lived in the late 1800s, I would have fit in perfectly. But the ability to communicate with and learn from people around the globe at the drop of a hat, at no cost except time invested, still rocks my world.

Here is a story to illustrate what I mean. So I am on Twitter and I see that Jason Hando, a Head Teacher in a high school in Sydney, Australia is trying to organize a teacher 2.0 inservice. I quickly add him to Skype and ask him to accept me. He does. We start chatting about his ideas for his inservice. I start throwing out a few thoughts and then I get this idea. Why don't we set up something akin to virtual speed dating and move folks through a series of speakers quickly who can intro themselves and chat a bit about Web 2.0 tools they use? We both liked the idea immediately. I have decided to do it in a large NY workshop I am doing in a few days. I suggested that he create a wiki where each of his "speed dating" participants could list their information and serve as a follow-up.

Last night, at 11am on Friday in Sydney, 6pm on Thursday in Calif, 9pm on Thursday in Va Beach, and 1pm and snowing in New Zealand we all convened via Skype. First together, with Jason Hando, Quentin Hordern, Jill Stovell, Dave Jenkins and Neil Davies sitting near by listening as Jason kicked us off and then in two Skype stations- the NZ channel with my friend Allanah King and the US channel with the amazing Jen Wagner and myself. The conversations were relaxed and revolved around who we are and what we do (all of us) and branched off from there. Jason and Allanah recorded and Jason uploaded the recording to podomatic! You are welcome to listen below or add the podcast to your collection through this feed.  If you would like to be pat of my NY virtual teacher 2.0 "speed dating" adventure- please leave me a comment below!

 

 

Click here to get your own player.

Big Things Do Come in Small Packages

TechLEARNING blog post conversation
I have been thinking a great deal lately about the role of learning communities and communities of practice in helping to move educational reform at the school level.  However, this topic seems to be one to which many can relate. I published a post at techLEARNING entitled Virtual Communities as a Canvas of Educational Reform and the conversation in the comments that followed has been amazing!
There is a great deal of back and forth in terms of ideas, questions, and advice. I am learning a lot.

In fact, we have now started to discuss  the "how to" and the impact of developing a culture of risk takers in our schools. I sure would love it if you all would drop by and add your perspective to the "wisdom of the crowds."

Learning Community Alabama Style
Related to learning communities and how to measure their impact on serving as a catalyst for change, the state superintendent of Alabama released this (below) today. West Blocton is one of the school teams that participated in the 21st Century teaching and learning initiative I helped to design and lead. The outcome below was related to that work. Feels good to know your work is taking hold!

I have been analyzing the data for Year 2 of the Alabama project. The preliminary results have been encouraging in terms of the success of the project. The evaluation includes a content analysis of the computer mediated conversations that took place within the community, a content analysis of the randomly selected focus group conversations, and a LoTi survey used to determine if a difference exists between the responses of ABPC Powerful Conversation educators at schools participating in the 21st Century Strand and educators in schools who are not participating in the 21st Century Strand (Non 21^st Century Schools).

A LoTi survey was conducted to ascertain each participant's current level of technology implementation using the Level of Technology Implementation questionnaire. This questionnaire measures three critical components related to supporting or implementing the instructional use of computers in our project: LoTi (Levels of Technology Implementation), PCU (Personal Computer Use), and CIP (Current Instructional Practices). The profile focused on the use of technology as an interactive learning medium because we feel this particular component has the greatest and lasting impact on classroom pedagogy and is the most difficult to implement and assess.

The results and summary will be forth coming.

	State of Alabama Department of Education Joseph B. Morton State Superintendent of Education
	Alabama State Board of Education   Gov. Bob Riley President   Randy McKinney District I President Pro Tem   Betty Peters District II   Stephanie W. Bell District III   Dr. Ethel H. Hall District IV Vice President Emerita   Ella B. Bell District V   David F. Byers, Jr. District VI   Sandra Ray District VII Vice President   Dr. Mary Jane Caylor District VIII   Joseph B. Morton Secretary and Executive Officer	FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 11, 2007 Contact: Edith Parten 334-242-9950 eparten@alsde.edu Big Things Do Come in Small Packages Elementary Students Receive Top Honors for Educational Web Site Montgomery, AL - Students at West Blocton Elementary School may be small in size, but their Big Idea landed them top honors in a global contest that challenges students to create innovative Web sites. The group of fourth-graders from the Bibb County School formed a team called C-S-I: Cahaba Student Investigators as they set out to investigate water quality and the importance of keeping our water clean. They received Honorable Mention for their educational Web site, “The Case of the Mysterious Macros,” in the ThinkQuest International 2007 Competition. Out of the approximate 500 entries, the West Blocton students were one of only 10 U.S. teams who received recognition. Each student and teacher participant of the winning teams receives a laptop computer and their sponsoring school receives $1,000. “We are just so proud of the finished product,” said Annette Harris, the teacher-coach for the project. “I learned as they learned about water quality,” Harris added. Students say they wanted their site to be more “kid friendly” with many drawings, bright colors, and great links. They drew all of the images and took their own pictures for the Web site filled with colorful pages, team members, photos, interesting sidebars and impressive academic citations. The Web site, designed to help teach fellow classmates about the importance of keeping our water clean, is shared with classmates and peers around the world. The students hope their site will convince people to stop trashing and polluting our water. The West Blocton students collaborated in the research, writing and creation of “The Case of the Mysterious Macros,” Web site. They conducted a water quality study at Caffee Creek which runs into the Cahaba River and learned about topics such as watersheds, water pollution, aquatic insects, and aquatic ecosystems. The students said the project was one of the most fun things they’ve ever done at school. Students work in teams made up of three to six kids from across the world under the supervision of a teacher-coach. Their mission: build innovative and educational Web sites to share with the world. The winning team from Alabama is made up of four 4th graders from West Blocton Elementary, one student from Florida, and a sixth team member from Slovakia. The young scholars join fellow winners on 30 teams from 17 countries. Harris said she chose team members based on their ability to work independently, technical skills and proven work ethics. The West Blocton team and project will be featured in theWorking Toward Excellence journal, about how they are bridging the digital divide. The team also traveled to Atlanta in June to present their Web site at a National Technology Conference. The ThinkQuest competition is a program of the Oracle Foundation, and is a renowned global contest that challenges students to create innovative Web sites to share with peers around the world. It is utilized by teachers to engage students in developing critical skills for life and work in the 21st century. “The students not only learn about the topic at hand, but to meet deadlines, envision and complete a project, and they learn how to contribute to the workforce as a team”, Harris said. “The most important thing I learned is that teachers must be willing to learn new things right along with their students.” “It is truly inspiring to see what the students accomplish. The education Web sites that they produce are absolutely first-rate. Equally impressive, however, is that throughout the competition, they are honing skills that are key to success in the 21st century workplace,” said Clare Dolan, Vice-President, Oracle Education Initiatives. “We are hoping to expand by adding another team, and teacher-coach for next year’s competition,” Harris said. The teacher-coach said a new group of students have already started a topic and research for next year. ###
		Gordon Persons Building • P.O. Box 302101 • Montgomery, AL 36130 Telephone (334)242-9700 • Fax (334)242-9708 • Web site:www.alsde.edu

 

 

Robo Cup 2007 in Atlanta

Georgia Tech hosted the annual Robo Cup in Atlanta this week.

According to Slashdot, "RoboCup is an international robotics symposium and competition whose goal is to advance the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence to the point that in 2050 a robot soccer team can defeat the human world champions. This year, RoboCup is located on the Georgia Tech campus in Atlanta, GA, marking the first time a university is hosting it and only the second time since it began in 1993 that it is located in the United States."

For soccer fans it was incredible to watch the robot goalies dive to make the save. The seamless way these robots get back up after a fall and use intimidation of their fellow robots players was just too real.

As someone who has been a fan of robots since the Rockem Sockem days

this gathering of all things robotic makes me wish I had attended.

Here is the Flickr pool and the YouTube library that is beginning to form.

The most advertised event was the brand new " Nanogram Demonstration challenges", where robots in the 10s to 100s of micrometers in size, are required to manipulate objects and perform certain tasks. The competition took place under a microscope (!) and was broadcasted to large screens for the audience to see.

For robots to play soccer, various technologies have be developed including artificial intelligence so the robots know who to pass to and how best to defeat an opponent as well as sophisticated robotics and sensors. RoboCup is a stunning international joint project that promotes AI (Artificial Intelligence) robotics. As you watch this clip, keep saying to yourself- this isnt remote control this is artifical intelligence. Amazing.

Now, tell me why you do not feel compelled to rethink what we are teaching in school? And why again is it you do not feel the urgency to adopt 21st Century teaching and learning skills?

Virtual Communities as a Canvas of Educational Reform

Just posted the following over at TechLearning blog where I am serving as one of the collaborative bloggers. Would love it if you would scoot over there and leave me a comment. Consider it a house warming gift to my newest blogging dig. See ya there!

How do we promote the knowledge, skills and sense of urgency for 21st Century teaching and learning among all teachers in our schools? How do we come to the place we are willing to change – to risk change – to meet the obvious need for better alignment between "school as we know it" and the needs of 21st Century learners?

I believe that as the physical and virtual worlds converge to become the ‘real world’ of teaching and learning, virtual learning communities will play increasingly important roles in educational reform.

Defining Virtual Community-What is it?
My earliest memories of the term “virtual community” came from Howard Rheingold’s book The Virtual Community, about The Well, a social experiment of the 1980’s. Mr. Rheingold explains that virtual communities are “cultural aggregations that emerge when enough people bump into each other often enough in cyberspaces.

To read the rest of this post... Click here.

Announcing K12 Online 2007 Line up

We have posted the official list of the 2007 K-12 Online Conference presenters and their presentation titles! Make your plans to attend now! Congrats to all who were selected by our international blind review teams!  

K12 Online is a  conference for teachers, administrators and educators around the world interested in the use of Web 2.0 tools in classrooms and professional practice! This year’s conference is scheduled to be held over two weeks, October 15-19 and October 22-26 of 2007, and will include a preconference keynote during the week of October 8. This year’s conference theme is “Playing with Boundaries.”

This year's line up:

Preconference Keynote:

David Warlick

Classroom 2.0 Presenters:

Keynote: Clarence Fisher

Silvia Tolisano
“Travel Through Space and Time”

Drew Murphy
“Step by Step- Building a Web2.0 Classroom”

Chris Harbeck
“Release the Hounds”

Vance Stevens
“Motivating Student Writers by Fostering Collaboration through Tagging and Aggregating”

Wendy Wolfe
“If All My Classes Did This”

Konrad Glogowski
“Assessment and Evaluation”

Anne Davis
“Putting the Pedagogy into the Tools”

Dean Shareski
“Design matters”

Jeff Utecht
“Sustained Blogging in the Classroom”

New Tools Presenters:

Keynotes:The Three Amigos: Alan Levine, Brian Lamb and D’Arcy Norman

Liz Kolb
“Cell Phones as Classroom Learning Tools”

Frank Pirrone
“Collaborative Concept Mapping - Breaking the Bounds of Location and Time… for $0.00 per Seat”

Cheryl Oakes, Bob Sprankle, Alice Barr
“Flat Agents of Change”

Anne Davis
“Learn to Blog : Blog to Learn”

Jason Hando
“LMS 2.0 - Engaging Learners Using  More Advanced Techniques and the Odd Mash-up inside Moodle”

Sharon Betts
“Oodles of Googles”

Kevin Jarrett and Sylvia Martinez
“Second Life: K-20 Educators Exploring Virtual Worlds - Panel”

Kurt Paccio and James Gates
“The Electric Slide! Twenty-First Century Style”

April Chamberlain
“Trailfire”

Professional Learning Networks Presenters:

Keynote: Derek Wenmoth

Jen Wagner, Cheryl Oakes, Vicki Davis, Sharon Peters
“Webcasting for Educators: Expanding the Conversation”

Brandi Caldwell
“Creating PLE’s with TLC”

Kevin Hodgson and Bonnie Kaplan
“The Collaborative ABC Project: Using Technology to Tell Stories”

Lee Baber, Paul Allison, Susan Ettenheim and Thomas Locke
“Building Online Communities for Youth”

Jeff Utecht
“Online Professional Development”

James Folkestad
“Changing a System: Network Centric Learning Communities”

Sharon Peters, Vincent Jansen
“Building a Yardstick for PD Success: Establishing Key Performance Indicators for Web 2.0 Personal Optimized Learning Environments”

Vinnie Vrotny
“Expanding Horizons - Engaging the Adult Members of your Community (Teachers, Administrators, and Parents) through the Use of Personal/Professional Learning Networks”

Alex Ragone and Arvind Grover
“EdTechTalk: A Network of Homegrown Webcasters”

Obstacles to Opportunities Presenters:

Keynote: Brian Cosby

Patrick Ledesma
“The Technology Specialist as Teacher Leader: Strategies to Ensure Successful Technology Integration and Student Learning in Schools”

Ben Wilkoff
“Starting From Scratch: Framing Change for All Stakeholders”

Karen Richardson
“Crossing the Copyright Boundary in the Digital Age”

Shawn Nutting
“Creating a Paradigm Shift in Technology”

Lisa Durff
“Pushing the Envelope or How to Integrate Web 2.0 Tools on a Shoestring”

John Pearce
”Me blog? No way!!!”

Sylvia Martinez
“Web 2.0 Share the Adventure”

Joseph Bires
“Acceptable Use and the Web 2.0”

Sylvia Martinez
“Challenging Assumptions about Technology Professional Development”