Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was awarded the Hart Vision Elected Official of the Year Award. Mayor Villaraigosa has been a passionate advocate of the charter school movement. He oversees the Partnership for LA Schools, which runs ten of the lowest-performing schools in the district and is seeing improvement in test scores. Mayor Villaraigosa challenged charter schools to not only build new schools, but to take on the lowest performing schools and turn them around. In addition, he urged the charter school movement to hold itself to a higher standard of performance and shut failing charter schools down. By taking on the lowest performing schools, turning them around, and holding charter schools to the highest standards, Mayor Villaraigosa insisted that charter schools can destroy the myth that they are cherry-picking the best students.

Sal Khan of the Kahn Academy delivered a powerful keynote address that showcased the power of disruptive technology. His Kahn Academy is very reminiscent of what Clayton Christensen speaks of in his book Disrupting Class. From humble beginnings tutoring his niece, Sal has been noticed by Microsoft, Google, and Bill Gates as an educational innovator. In highlighting the future of his non-profit Kahn Academy, Sal pulled back the curtain on what has become an increasingly hot topic, inverting or flipping the traditional teaching model. By making the lecture content available for the student to access outside of class, the teacher is allowed to focus on the critical learning moments in class and once again truly teach.

Much attention has been focused on tracking student learning and providing meaningful data for both teachers and students. Despite the detractors that feel it discourages innovative learning, it is a vital step in truly personalizing a students learning. Several vendors provided a look at how schools can improve this process. Both Illuminate and Scantron show-cased platforms to help this task become easier and more efficient.

The march for schools to more fully integrate cloud resources was readily apparent. CloudConnect, sponsored by the San Diego County Office of Education, is a browser-based platform that incorporates virtual learning environments, single-log-ins, data storage, and curriculum offerings for both schools and individual teachers. It leverages the mobility of cloud resources to provide a dynamic and 24-7 learning option. EduTone is another vendor that provides software-as-a-service and bills itself as connecting all the dots. They provide a single-sign-on gateway for their customers and have leveraged the power of the Google App Marketplace. In addition, they have a marketplace of services that can be added to their customers menu of options. This provides a slick and cost-effective environment for schools looking to save on their IT budgets.

Finally, it was great to meet so many of you that are engaged in making education better. The conversations and ideas that were shared will fuel my own work for quite a while. As always, feel free to share your comments and I look forward to hearing about your experiences.

Inverting learning requires shifting certain learning activities traditionally completed in the classroom to home. According to Stansbury,

“Students can absorb the material as homework and then practice what they’ve learned with guided help from the teacher if they need it. This new learning style not only makes class time more productive for both teachers and students, but also increases student engagement, increases achievement, and caters to all forms of personalized learning, say the teachers.”

What makes this instructional approach intriguing is it enables teachers to customize learning to meet individual student needs. By moving certain learning activities out of the classroom (e.g., direct instruction, etc.), teachers free up valuable time during class to be available for students when they could use the teacher’s attention most. Inverted learning provides more opportunities for teachers to monitor, engage, and guide students during the most critical moments of learning.

With the availability of learning management systems like Blackboard and Moodle, teachers are able to effectively transfer core learning tasks, such as watching a lecture and taking notes, away from the classroom. These learning management systems have powerful accountability tools which enable teachers to closely monitor students as they complete learning activities at home.

An inverted model, however, involves more than simply transferring learning activities to home. It requires rethinking the way teachers design curriculum, deliver instruction, and interact with students. The success of this type of learning model hinges on the teacher’s ability to customize learning experiences for each student. As certain learning activities are moved out of the classroom, valuable time is freed up to assess students, prescribe learning interventions, foster critical thinking, and focus on individual student learning needs. This approach involves utilizing a teaching cycle based on real-time data.

Because meaningful educational reform requires customizing learning, this model presents interesting opportunities for educators.

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This is the perfect time to look back at 2010. Several events stand-out in 2010. Here’s a quick walk down memory lane.

Shawn’s post Using Facebook to Improve School Communication continued to be of great interest. The great reception of this article led to several opportunities. One of the more interesting of these being chosen as guest contributors to Clara Shih’s revision of The Facebook Era (2nd Edition). Our collaborative rewrite of this article provides a streamlined guide to leveraging the communication power of Facebook for schools. The Facebook Era (2nd Edition) continues elaborating on the phenomenon of Facebook and its implication in all areas of life (business, education, and leisure) and is a great read that we recommend (Note: We have no financial interest in your purchase, we just like it!).

In March EDBuzz.org delivered a very well received conference session at the 17th annual California Charter Schools Conference Web 2.0 for Teachers. In this session we highlighted several current Web 2.0 tools and illustrated their benefits for both teachers and schools. In addition, teacher’s and administrator’s were excited by our examples of their successful implementations.

In June, teachers were urged to look at the 2009-2010 school year and reflect on their craft. The popular article End of School Reflections provided a process for teachers to assess their performance. Identify opportunities for change, and create a growth plan.

2010 has truly been a great year here at EDBuzz and we look forward to the next year. The shear amount of  innovations and entrepreneurial spirit directed at education is incredible. Implementing this knowledge and the opportunities provided will continue to be a great challenge for education as a whole.

At EDBuzz.org, we realize that our current projects have a great impact on our future direction. We would like to share the areas that have attracted our attention and energy. Both currently and moving into 2011, we are focused on a variety of projects, the largest of which include creating a new hybrid school (online and traditional classroom learning) and creating a open high school Economics course that demonstrates Layered Instruction (personalized learning path).

The hybrid school project is a joint-venture between a San Diego based education foundation and the Pollinate group. Its focus has been to deliver twice the education at half the current average price. Our focus of this project has been to identify key areas that can be transformed to achieve these goals. Among these are the teacher’s role, the way students spend their time on a topic, and Web 2.0 tools, as well as other technology tools, to better accomplish these goals. This project will provide numerous posts and opportunities for community discussion.

The Economics project focuses on three key concepts. The first is the implementation of differentiated learning and options for students. The second is to incorporate current Web 2.0 technologies to improve collaboration. The third is to provide an example of how an Open Course (available for all to be used) can be constructed and implemented. This project is ongoing and should be available to all in the second quarter of 2011.

Now it’s your turn. Where have you been? What are your reflections of 2010? In what project are you engaged? What trends do you see? Are there any goals that you would like to share? Where do you want to go in 2011? Take a minute today to join our community and share where you’ve been and where you’re  going. You can post here or reach out to us on Twitter at @darylljohnson or @sroner. We look forward to hearing from you…

Pew recently conducted a survey of 895 technology “stakeholders,” comprised of both technology experts and individuals who represent the Internet savvy public. The survey presented “potential-future scenarios to which respondents [reacted] with their expectations based on current knowledge and attitudes.”  According to Pew,

“Respondents to the Future of the Internet IV survey, fielded from Dec. 2, 2009 to Jan. 11, 2010, were asked to consider the future of the Internet-connected world between now and 2020 and the likely innovation that will occur. They were asked to assess 10 different “tension pairs” – each pair offering two different 2020 scenarios with the same overall theme and opposite outcomes – and they were asked to select the one most likely choice of two statements. The tension pairs and their alternative outcomes were constructed to reflect previous statements about the likely evolution of the Internet.”

To complete the study, Pew based their survey on the following five questions.

Pew’s first question addresses the widespread concern that the Internet is adversely impacting people’s thinking skills. In 2008 Nicholas Carr, writing for the Atlantic Monthly, wrote a provocative piece with the cover line, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Carr argues that the nature of online searching and reading are limiting people’s ability to concentrate in a way that promotes “The kind of deep reading that a sequence of printed pages promotes is valuable not just for the knowledge we acquire from the author’s words but for the intellectual vibrations those words set off within our own minds.” Carr’s argument has touched off a firestorm in academic circles. In response, Pew decided to probe Carr’s concerns as part of their study. Is the Internet making us stupid? According to the survey,

“Google won’t make us stupid: 76% of these experts agreed with the statement, “By 2020, people’s use of the Internet has enhanced human intelligence; as people are allowed unprecedented access to more information they become smarter and make better choices. Nicholas Carr was wrong: Google does not make us stupid.”

Pew’s second question focuses on the impact the Internet will have on important literacy skills. According to the report,

“Reading, writing, and the rendering of knowledge will be improved: 65% agreed with the statement by 2020 “it will be clear that the Internet has enhanced and improved reading, writing and the rendering of knowledge.” Still, 32% of the respondents expressed concerns that by 2020 “it will be clear that the Internet has diminished and endangered reading, writing and the rendering of knowledge.”

Pew’s third question is interesting: Will the technologists be able to effectively identify important trends in innovation? The survey found the following:

“Innovation will continue to catch us by surprise: 80% of the experts agreed that the “hot gadgets and applications that will capture the imaginations of users in 2020 will often come ‘out of the blue.’”

Pew’s fourth question addresses an important concern of most educators: Will information continue to flow freely and with minimal regulation of the Internet? Again, the respondents to Pew’s survey provided interesting insight.

“Respondents hope information will flow relatively freely online, though there will be flashpoints over control of the internet. Concerns over control of the Internet were expressed in answers to a question about the end-to-end principle. 61% responded that the Internet will remain as its founders envisioned, however many who agreed with the statement that “most disagreements over the way information flows online will be resolved in favor of a minimum number of restrictions” also noted that their response was a “hope” and not necessarily their true expectation. 33% chose to agree with the statement that “the Internet will mostly become a technology where intermediary institutions that control the architecture and …content will be successful in gaining the right to manage information and the method by which people access it.”

Pew’s final question addresses an important concern most technologists have with the growing threat to online anonymity. According to the 895 respondents,

“Anonymous online activity will be challenged, though a modest majority still think it will possible in 2020: There more of a split verdict among the expert respondents about the fate on online anonymity. Some 55% agreed that Internet users will still be able to communicate anonymously, while 41% agreed that by 2020 “anonymous online activity is sharply curtailed.”

What will the Internet look like in 2020? I’d like to hear your thoughts.

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According to Pink,

“What’s alarming is that our business operating system– think of the set of assumptions and protocols beneath our businesses, how we motivate people, how we apply our human resources– [is] built entirely around these extrinsic motivators… [This] is actually fine for many kinds of 20th century tasks, but for 21st century tasks, that mechanistic, reward and punishment approach often doesn’t work and often does harm.”

Because extrinsic rewards narrow human focus and concentration, they seem to work really well for tasks that involve a simple set of rules and a clearly defined result. But when the task involves utilizing creative thinking and complex problem solving skills, extrinsic motivation appears to hinder productivity. The problem, says Pink, is America’s economy requires the sort of problem solving skills that are based on creative thinking. In other words, today’s problems require the sort of conceptual, the sort of creative thinking that extrinsic rewards seem to hinder.

If we accept Pink’s argument, then what should businesses do? Pink suggests building a new management system based on intrinsic motivation rather than extrinsic motivation. Moreover, this new operating system, should be based on three important psychological principles:

1. Autonomy– The urge to direct our own lives
2. Mastery– The desire to get better and better and something that matters
3. Purpose– The yearning to do something in the service of something bigger than ourselves

I spent the past few days thinking about how Pink’s argument might be applied to education. I think most educators would agree that today’s educational model is based almost entirely on what Pink would call an extrinsic motivational model. Simply put, students are rewarded for good behavior and specific types of productive academic performance and punished for poor behavior and specific types of unproductive academic performance.

A potential problem with this model, at least in today’s context, is it tends to narrow the educational focus of schools to discrete and, often times, simplistic forms of learning outcomes. At a time when today’s global employers expect their employees to possess the types of problem solving skills that involve complex thinking, innovation, and creativity, our students are participating in a learning model that promotes 20th century thinking skills. Rather than learning how to effectively integrate complex pieces of information into meaningful arguments, quickly process information, or creatively solve real-world problems, too many public school students are stuck in 20th century classrooms surrounded by chalkboards, wooden desks, and unimaginative teaching. This classroom promotes a different set of life skills that may have been beneficial during the industrial age, but today’s economy demands something very different.

Perhaps what is most alarming about the learning model prevalent in most public schools is its reliance on extrinsic motivation to foster the development of 20th century skills. In the age of NCLB, schools are being forced to narrow their academic focus in order to meet the myriad of state and national accountability standards. As government accountability efforts pressure schools to demonstrate improvement, schools are tempted to rely on the types of extrinsic motivators outlined in Pink’s lecture.

If Pink is right, how might we apply his analysis to public education? I think the answer is our schools need a different educational model, a new type of management system based primarily on intrinsic motivation. This new teaching  and learning approach should emphasize a radical notion of self direction. In other words,the 21st century learning model should build effective learning experiences that incorporate student autonomy, learning mastery, and individual purpose. Learning experiences that incorporate these skills tend to foster a healthy sense of motivation and individual purpose for the learner. In a time when the extent of student apathy and disengagement seem to threaten the very success of many of our schools, a new model that promotes motivation, self-direction, and individual responsibility couldn’t come soon enough.

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I’ve compiled a short list of a few TED Talk favorites.

John Wooden on True Success: “With profound simplicity, Coach John Wooden redefines success and urges us all to pursue the best in ourselves. In this inspiring talk he shares the advice he gave his players at UCLA, quotes poetry and remembers his father’s wisdom.”

Bill Gates on Mosquitos, Malaria and Education: “Bill Gates hopes to solve some of the world’s biggest problems using a new kind of philanthropy. In a passionate and, yes, funny 18 minutes, he asks us to consider two big questions and how we might answer them.”

Ken Robinson Says Schools Kill Creativity: “Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.”

Jimmy Wales on The Birth of Wikipedia: “Jimmy Wales recalls how he assembled “a ragtag band of volunteers,” gave them tools for collaborating and created Wikipedia, the self-organizing, self-correcting, never-finished online encyclopedia.”

Clay Shirky, How Social Media Can Make History: “While news from Iran streams to the world, Clay Shirky shows how Facebook, Twitter and TXTs help citizens in repressive regimes to report on real news, bypassing censors (however briefly). The end of top-down control of news is changing the nature of politics.”

Pranav Mistry: The Thrilling Potential of Sixth Sense Technology: “At TEDIndia, Pranav Mistry demos several tools that help the physical world interact with the world of data — including a deep look at his SixthSense device and a new, paradigm-shifting paper “laptop.” In an onstage Q&A, Mistry says he’ll open-source the software behind SixthSense, to open its possibilities to all.”

Danial Pink on the Surprising Science of Motivation: “Career analyst Dan Pink examines the puzzle of motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most managers don’t: Traditional rewards aren’t always as effective as we think. Listen for illuminating stories — and maybe, a way forward.”

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1. Who can see the things you share (status updates, photos, videos, etc.)?

“Probably the most critical of the “privacy” changes (yes, we mean those quotes sarcastically) was the change made to status updates. Although there’s now a button beneath the status update field that lets you select who can view any particular update, the new Facebook default for this setting is “Everyone.” And by everyone, they mean everyone.”

“If you accepted the new recommended settings then you voluntarily gave Facebook the right to share the information about the items you post with any user or application on the site. Depending on your search settings, you may have also given Facebook the right to share that information with search engines, too.”

“To change this setting back to something of a more private nature, do the following:

• From your Profile page, hover your mouse over the Settings menu at the top right and click “Privacy Settings” from the list that appears.Click “Profile Information” from the list of choices on the next page.
• Scroll down to the setting “Posts by Me.” This encompasses anything you post, including status updates, links, notes, photos, and videos.
• Change this setting using the drop-down box on the right. We recommend the “Only Friends” setting to ensure that only those people you’ve specifically added as a friend on the network can see the things you post.”

2. Who can see your personal info?

“Facebook has a section of your profile called “personal info,” but it only includes your interests, activities, and favorites. Other arguably more personal information is not encompassed by the “personal info” setting on Facebook’s Privacy Settings page. That other information includes things like your birthday, your religious and political views, and your relationship status.”

“After last month’s privacy changes, Facebook set the new defaults for this other information to viewable by either “Everyone” (for family and relationships, aka relationship status) or to “Friends of Friends” (birthday, religious and political views). Depending on your own preferences, you can update each of these fields as you see fit. However, we would bet that many will want to set these to “Only Friends” as well. To do so:

• From your Profile page, hover your mouse over the Settings menu at the top right and click “Privacy Settings” from the list that appears.
• Click “Profile Information” from the list of choices on the next page.
• The third, fourth, and fifth item listed on this page are as follows: “birthday,” “religious and political views,” and “family and relationship.” Locking down birthday to “Only Friends” is wise here, especially considering information such as this is often used in identity theft.
• Depending on your own personal preferences, you may or may not feel comfortable sharing your relationship status and religious and political views with complete strangers. And keep in mind, any setting besides “Only Friends” is just that – a stranger. While “Friends of Friends” sounds innocuous enough, it refers to everyone your friends have added as friends, a large group containing hundreds if not thousands of people you don’t know. All it takes is one less-than-selective friend in your network to give an unsavory person access to this information.”

3. What Google can see– Keep your data off the search engine.

“When you visit Facebook’s Search Settings page, a warning message pops up. Apparently, Facebook wants to clear the air about what info is being indexed by Google. The message reads:

‘There have been misleading rumors recently about Facebook indexing all your information on Google. This is not true. Facebook created public search listings in 2007 to enable people to search for your name and see a link to your Facebook profile. They will still only see a basic set of information.’ ”

“While that may be true to a point, the second setting listed on this Search Settings page refers to exactly what you’re allowing Google to index. If the box next to “Allow” is checked, you’re giving search engines the ability to access and index any information you’ve marked as visible by “Everyone.” As you can see from the settings discussed above, if you had not made some changes to certain fields, you would be sharing quite a bit with the search engines…probably more information than you were comfortable with. To keep your data private and out of the search engines, do the following:

• From your Profile page, hover your mouse over the Settings menu at the top right and click “Privacy Settings” from the list that appears.
• Click “Search” from the list of choices on the next page.
• Click “Close” on the pop-up message that appears.
• On this page, uncheck the box labeled “Allow” next to the second setting “Public Search Results.” That keeps all your publicly shared information (items set to viewable by “Everyone”) out of the search engines. If you want to see what the end result looks like, click the “see preview” link in blue underneath this setting.”

Although taking these three small steps may not seem very important, they are certainly worth considering. If educators are utilizing Facebook to interact with parents and students, it’s important they fully understand how information is being disseminated by Facebook. Furthermore, as educators we have a special responsibility to to protect the privacy of our parents, students, and staff members.

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Here is a Sports Illustrated mock-up on a tablet by Time, inc. that really demonstrates the potential power. Imagine the opportunities that this device could provide for learning. What are your thoughts?

One more note, it appears Verizon has briefed its managers to expect a busy day tomorrow. Hmmm…