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…

Cloud Computing

If schools are going to use technology to improve organizational processes, it’s important their leaders consider moving many of the school’s daily operations onto a cloud-based network. This enables the sort of communication that can only be accomplished by utilizing the  networking and information sharing power of a cloud system. I enjoyed a post on this topic from a few months ago, entitled “Heads in the Cloud.” The author discusses a few ways his school uses Google to communicate more effectively. Here are a few ideas I really liked:

1. Noticeboards– “[the author's school] no longer use a noticeboard in the staffroom as all staff log into our Google site from anywhere in the world and the first thing they see is our ‘virtual’ noticeboard and a staff calendar, which outlines what’s going on over the next few days.
   All staff can add events to the staff calendar or add announcements on the Virtual Noticeboard.  Although we are a small school, there are, on average, 4-5 announcements made each week.  These range from reminders about meetings to announcements about new resources.  Teachers often post up announcements that they have uploaded new resources to our resource sharing section.  The calendar also gets used for smaller events that don’t generally make it on to traditional staffroom noticeboards.  For example, people can see who’s gone on EPV days, if the principal (me) is at a meeting or if a psychologist is in.  Another cool feature of the “Announcements” section is the ability for staff to comment.  For example, last week I made an announcement on the site asking staff which week they would prefer parent-teacher meetings and gave a date to answer by.  50% of the staff left a comment on the site and the dates were chosen.”
2. Staff Meetings– “ ‘Will you stick x on the agenda please?’ is an often forgotten job, which can lead to disgruntled staff members.  In my school, if a staff member wants to add something to the staff meeting, we have a “live” agenda document which can be added to by anyone.  A few days before the meeting, the document is “closed” and the agenda is set.”
3. Learning Support– “I have found the “cloud” one of the best things for Learning Support.  One of my aims of Learning Support was to have weekly booster sessions for children who might not have grasped a concept during class, for whatever reason.  I wanted to free up a 15 minute session for 5 days so the support staff could teach that concept to get them back in the fold.  Sometimes a child doesn’t need a long period of Learning Support so this was ideal.  However, it would be almost impossible to manage without my cloud.If a teacher feels that a child (or small group of children) require a boost in a certain area of the curriculum, they can book a “catch-up session”.  This involves them filling out a simple form.  The Learning Support team then “grab” and book a particular session for a particular week.  The teacher can then, at a glance, see when their child will be given this session.  It works on a first come first served basis.  It’s working really really well in my school.
   Another cool thing for our Learning Support team is to have access to any of our assessment results.  Our Micra-T and Sigma-T results can be seen in a table so that we can pinpoint and prioritise who will be allocated Learning Support.”

If you are using cloud computing at your school, please share your ideas!

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In the “good old days,” dealing with cheating seemed much easier, didn’t it? Instill the fear of God in your students (This is the where we gave the big pep talk about honesty!); implement effective classroom management procedures (especially during exams); keep your eyes peeled, and for the most part student cheating seemed to be minimized to the usual suspects, right? Unfortunately, due to new technology circumstances have changed.

In recent years, it seems the minds of our students have changed in a significant way. Today’s students spend dozens of hours a week on the Internet– playing video games, constantly chatting with friends, and religiously cultivating their Facebook accounts. It appears as students spend more time communicating with their peers using mobile and social media technologies, their minds are being wired differently. I suppose this is why we, the digital immigrants, refer to our students as being digital natives. But, it’s not only their minds that are changing. Their perspectives are changing, too.

Today’s students have developed different learning needs based on the way they process information, particularly the digital kind. As they spend much of their crazy adolescent years navigating through the Wild, Wild West we call Web 2.0, these kids are developing different ethical perspectives, new perspectives formed by their youthful experiences with this new technology. I suppose what is most concerning is this new perspective is much different than that of the educators who are entrusted with the duty of teaching them every day. One particular area where the difference is startling is in how today’s students view cheating.

Perhaps this is why a recent poll conducted by Common Sense Media suggests that students are using mobile technology at an alarming rate to cheat in school. I suppose this isn’t terribly shocking for those of us who are still in the classroom. But what is disturbing is another aspect of what the poll found: The number of students who think it’s okay to cheat. It’s not that students cheat using technology that bothers me. It’s that they don’t think it’s a big deal.

Here’s a few results of the polling:

1. A little more than a third of students with cell phones admit to cheating at least once with their cell phones.
2. Twenty-six percent of the students who admit to using their cell phones to cheat also admit to storing information on their phones to use during tests.
3. Twenty-five percent text friends during test to get answers.
4. Seventeen percent take pictures of tests to cheat.
5. Twenty percent search the Internet during tests for answers.
6. Nearly fifty percent of students call or text their friends to warn them about pop quizzes.
7. A little over half of students surveyed admit to using the Internet in some way to cheat.
8. Twenty-one percent say they’ve downloaded a paper to submit for an assignment.

I could keep going with the statistics, but I think you get the point. Things aren’t looking good for our kids. I think what is most disturbing about the survey, aside from the extent of cheating in school, is the following statistic: Only half of students polled think using their cell phones during tests is a serious cheating offense! Only thirty-six percent of students who have downloaded a paper from the Internet to submit for an assignment think their behavior represents a serious form of cheating.

I can hear the student now. “What’s the big deal?”

After reading the report, I was left wondering why so many kids think it’s okay to use technology to cheat. Perhaps part of the reason has to do with the fact that kids have spontaneous access to all sorts of mobile technology while at school. This makes monitoring students terribly difficult. In other words, cheating is so darn easy! But, why do kids think it’s okay to cheat?

This is where the student “wiring” comes in. After talking to dozens of kids about cheating, whether texting during tests, getting answers from the Internet, or illegally downloading music, etc., I think I might know the reason. Today students think very differently about information (i.e., the stuff they’re putting together to form knowledge and understanding during class.) because of how they interact with it on a day-to-day basis. Unlike the educators who teach them, students see the Internet as a seamless part of their youthful reality. It’s not simply a tool or a form of communication. It’s a social experience based on digital democratization– i.e., total openness, few rules, and little personal accountability. While on the Internet, many students feel it’s okay to do whatever they want, say whatever they want, and there really shouldn’t be accountability for them or their peers.

I think there’s another reason, too. Unlike the “brick and mortar” communication where students have been taught the various protocols of appropriate communication, this hasn’t happened yet for the digital natives. Very few schools implement coordinated efforts with parents and teachers to inform students about the ethical parameters of not only online communication but using technology in general. Just as in any other area of their lives, kids need to learn the rules of the game.