"21st Century Learning" Interview with Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach (School 2.0, Part 1)

Last week I interviewed Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, focusing on what Sheryl calls "21st Century Learning." Sheryl is fast-paced, energetic, and devoted--all of which really come through in this hour-long interview, and make for very interesting listening.

Show notes:

• Sheryl is a technology and education consultant and adjunct instructor in the School of Education at The College of William and Mary, and she was one of the organizers of the recent K12 Online Conference.
  
• Right now, Sheryl believes, we are in a place where computing in the classroom is really going to take off.
• She feels that it is a moral responsibility of teacher-leaders in the school to figure out how to access the tools of the web and help students to learn to use them in a safe environment. (Again, I'm fascinated with the contrast of Larry Cuban's views here, and also with the apparent difficulties that grass-roots technology efforts face in school decision-making.)
• "You can't give away what you don't own." Until school administrators are experiencing the benefits of the new technologies, there cannot be more widespread adoption of them. (This touches on the point above.)
  
• The students of today don't have a choice as to whether or not they will master the skills of the read/write web (and being collaborative and self-driven)--if they don't, they will be left behind in the work world.
• The magic of Web 2.0 in schools is individual growth toward the sense of being "self-actualized:" students can be transformed by being able to write things that others are interested in reading, and by being able to collaborate with others.
• The "Golden Question" right now is: can tie these new tools to student achievement? She believes it they can be, but it's very hard to measure because of all the other variables.
  
• Sheryl points out the need for balance: when you use any pervasive educational strategy (not just the new computer technologies), you need to make sure that there is a marriage between the passion that is generated with a rigorous education. This should be a deepening of learning, and be challenging. "Rigor and passion."
  
• Many students are going to be coming to school already well versed in the read/write or participatory web. Her experience has been that they are often motivated learners from these experiences.
  
• Sheryl talks about moving from the "Information Age" to the "Age of Conceptualization." I'm not sure I know what the "Age of Conceptualization" is...
• The most gifted students are good at the way school is played right now, and they can have the hardest time adjusting to a learning environment that is cooperative and self-directed. It is the kids who have struggled previously that really benefit the most by being able to use these technologies. (This goes along with Sheryl's desire to bring computing resources to homeless youth, and her belief in how important this will be for them. See below.)
• She sees more of the writing tools being used in the classroom--blogs and wikis--but not as much podcasting.
  
• The real skill needed by teachers and students will be the ability to be our own "digital age librarian," knowing how to access, select, and synthesize all of the available information. We need to tap into the power of "self-directed interest."
• On homeless or transient children: she is a living example of breaking the cycle of generational poverty. If we don't empower these children with the same technologies that the affluent child will get at home, then we are trapping them in their poverty. Homeless children move around a lot, and often the teachers are unaware of the true situation at home. After the interview, Sheryl and I talked at length about creating a program for teacher mentoring to homeless children, and the providing of computing resources at homeless shelters (see www.PublicWebStations.com).
  
• Her blog is 21stcenturylearning.typepad.com.

To join in a discussion of "School 2.0," please visit www.School20.net.

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"Aha!" Moment on Adoption of Web 2.0 in the Classroom?

A couple of months ago I had lunch with Bonnie Plummer, who is the chair of Education, Arts, and Humanities for the University of California Davis Extension. She'd seen some of my work on the use of Linux in the classroom, and didn't have a real agenda, but just wanted to talk about the problem of computers in schools: "everything that we have done hasn't worked." Now, she allows that's a bit of an exaggeration, but her experience as an assistant superintendent over instructional support services left her feeling that a huge amount of money was being spent on computers that were sitting in the back of most classrooms gathering dust.

We had a long discussion, much of which focused on the insights from Larry Cuban and the adoption and use patterns for technology in schools. In short: teachers are overburdened; even if they are technologically savvy, bringing the computer into the curriculum is hard when you don't have good training, lessons plans, or an assurance that all the computers will be working. Also, technology decisions are being made at higher levels than the teachers, and those decisions have more to do with security and performance than they do with promoting educational effectiveness. We came to a tentative conclusion: computers won't be integrated into the average classroom or truly be transformative until a "killer application" comes along--something that is so amazing and also so simple to use that everyone will be willing to do whatever it takes to utilize the computers. Bonnie also pointed out to me that some huge percentage of teachers in California are women, and without falling into stereotypes, the female brain is not wired in the same ways as the male brain with regard to technology. Whatever it is that the computer does, it has to be as easy to use as a "garage door opener," Bonnie insisted. We left our lunch having wondered out loud if that killer application might be distance learning (and so I went back to work and called Susan Patrick of NACOL and set up an interview).

Some weeks later I met with Bonnie again. She wanted me to meet someone who is involved in instructional technology at a regional level. Bonnie and I rehearsed our previous discussion with this good man, and he helped to bring some of his experience to the dialog. In short, he wasn't very optimistic about the ability to technology to transform education, and said that he still feels that it's only a very small percentage of teachers who see the transformative potential there--and that percentage, in his view, hasn't really changed over the last 15 years. Early adopters are using the new technologies of the web (Web 2.0) and having exciting experiences, but even if what is currently on the cutting edge has changed, that edge is still very separate from the vast majority of teachers. Are blogs and wikis and the "write" component of the web significant changes that can transform education? According to him, even if they are, they will likely not be able to jump the chasm between the early adopters and the bulk of teachers.

Why? Because ever since he was teaching and brought an early DOS computer into his classroom, control of the computers has moved from the teacher to the school to the district, and even to the county. Teachers don't have control of the technology, and the higher-level decision-making about computers means that the emphasis is on control and legal protection. They've even moved away from black-list filtering to white-list filtering, so getting to a new website for a teacher is almost impossible. His feeling was that the conversion of textbooks to electronic editions (pushed by laws about the weight of textbooks) will be the most significant force to actually put computers in the classroom to use. (That sure didn't sound transformative to me...) He also felt that recent approvals to purchase LCD projectors for classrooms would make a difference for teachers to be able to use their laptops in front of the students. (Again, a forward step, but not transformative.)

Then I had an epiphany--an "aha" moment. Knowing how transformative the read/write web had been for me, I wanted to find out if he felt that these technologies, even though they are just another wave of innovation, hold something special for education. I asked him if he had blogged. He felt badly, I could tell, but said he really had not. I asked if he listened to podcasts. No, no time.

Now, this is a guy who likes technology, and is using Breeze for lots of distance learning, and arranges technology workshops for teachers. He's no slacker. But he hasn't personally experienced the amazing things that happen when you become a producer of content.

The light bulb went off for me. There is no way that teachers are going to be able to bring this technology into the classroom without support from the administration. So, the key would be to help the administrators experience the personal educational benefits from the read/write web technologies. And how would you do that? Maybe not providing them with just more information on the benefits of the read/write web, but actually providing them with some kind of training that actually helps them use these technologies in their jobs. They then would experience what happens, and can either promote or be more supportive of these technologies.

I copied Will Richardson on this concept, and it turns out he had come to this conclusion some time ago... Both Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and Chris Lehmann feel that the new generation of teachers (anyone 32 or younger had access to email in college) are more likely to demand change from the bottom up. But that puts the burden on teachers to make changes to our schools--which Larry Cuban says does not really work... So maybe no "aha" for now.

More on Second Life: Interview with "Intellagirl"

I'm hooked. Not on Second Life. But on thinking about second life. Ever since my interview with Gavin Dudeney last week, I've been contemplating the whole idea of Second Life and other virtual worlds. I must say, I think a huge increase in usage of these worlds is coming--not just because they are another means of self-expression (the creation of avatars), or because they are another place to shop (!), but because the virtual world is a much more intuitive way to participate with technology than the standard computer interface.

Want to spend an hour in the future? Then listen to this interview with Sarah Robbins, who is known online as "Intellagirl," and who teaches an English class in Second Life at Ball State University. Her class meets twice a week--once in person, and once in Second Life. "Are they learning," she is often asked, "or just goofing off?" This is exactly the kind of question that Sarah is likely to give to her students as an assignment. And wait until you hear her describe the experience of asking her students to change the gender of their avatars for a day.

Of interest:

• Sarah has observed that some of the friendships she has seen develop between her students appear to be very influenced by their interaction in Second Life.
  
• She noted that "everyone becomes more gregarious" there. The class currently self-selects to those who may already be technology-comfortable, since you have to own a laptop or computer good enough to run Second Life (the school's lab computers are not), so she is not sure if that will still be the case when anyone can take the class.
• The experience in Second Life is much more realistic than one might think, and it's memorable and believable to hear Sarah talk about feeling uncomfortable because of a clothing choice she made for her avatar at one point.
  
• Sarah herself spends "only" two hours a day on average in Second Life (she says it has basically displaced television viewing for her); she often visits other educational campuses and art exhibits.
  
• She characterizes the early adopters who populate Second Life now as "very intellectual."
• She believes that virtual worlds will have a profound impact on how we communicate and view each other (I agree).
• Sarah has, with a grant, purchased virtual land (and "island") called "Middletown," where she and her students meet, experiment, and "build" exhibits.
  
• It was also very enlightening to hear Sarah talk about the impact of having Second Life be built primarily by the actual users, and how that differentiates it from other virtual worlds. She believes it is the key to its success.
  

Sarah's technology predictions are just as fascinating: virtual stores, automatic language translators, increased physical representations, and more. Imagine being able to build a model of your home, and to go to the virtual IKEA, pick from their furniture, and see exactly how it will look and fit in your home. That knocked my socks off. You can see more of Sarah's research on second life here. Her Wikipedia entry is here, and here are some links to media stories about her work:

• Joystiq.com: Second Life added to University's curriculum
• The Boston Phoenix: Right-click to learn Second Life offers students a virtually real education
• The Chronicle of Higher Learning: Second Life Keeps Chugging Along
• San Antonio Current: Game Theory
• Dagens Media: Bland Jan Guillous "pladdrare" kan man r'kna in namnkunniga personer
• The Christian Science Monitor: Real learning in a virtual world
• USAToday: Real learning in a virtual world

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Free Software, Web 2.0, and the Road Ahead

I've been thinking about the connection between Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and Web 2.0, and the road ahead. Web 2.0 has been built largely on the back of FOSS (think Google's Linux servers, the infrastructure of the Internet, and blog and wiki software--FOSS powers much of the Web 2.0 software). Not only has Web 2.0 inherited the technology of FOSS, but much of the collaborative philosophy as well.

In fact, one might even say that the "ideas" I put on the School 2.0 wiki are largely the ideals of FOSS:

• Participation
• Collaboration
• Openness
• Engagement
• Self Learning
• Mentoring
• Apprenticeship

What will be interesting to watch is what happens as many of the Web 2.0 technologies that we love so much get into a position where they are no longer the underdog, and don't have the same market motivation to live these ideals. For instance, Flickr's meta data--not freely available, and locks you into their technology the more you comment, tag, and add notes. Will Flickr open that up? Certainly, traditional business practice would be to hold on to that "lock-in" advantage, but the "feel-good" gets lost.

Will there be a measurable result to that? Right now we are in a market where many companies are offering Web 2.0 technologies, and the competition is supported by the low cost of entry into the marketplace. When some of these companies start winning out (and, for sure, we could put Google in that category), will the collaborative, we-can-all-win philosophies have to bow to the pressures from investors?

I think Google, for example, has taught us a lesson that I hope we don't forget: we want to like the companies we do business with, and they've been too scarce the last few years. You can be a business that combines the need for profit with a desire to do good, and while it is not always easy, you can find ways to both serve your customers and make money. It's arguably the most profitable, long-term model, but it must be pretty easy to lose sight of because it is so often
abandoned.

Moodle, Drupal, and Web 2.0 Workshops

Finally, a good excuse to put a picture of Will Richardson in my blog...

We've just finalized the details of our Moodle, Drupal, and Web 2.0 workshops that we will be holding in Philadelphia at the end of January / beginning of February. Many thanks to Chris Lehmann of Science Leadership Academy, where the workshops will take place.

• Moodle 2-day with Michelle Moore, January 29-30, 2007
  
• Drupal 2-day with Bill Fitzgerald, January 31 - February 1, 2007
  
• Web 2.0 1-day and 2-day February 2 & 3, 2007, with Will Richardson

We are also announcing Moodle workshops for the following dates and locations:

Jan. 8-9, 2007	Fishersville (VA)
Jan. 22-23, 2007	Orlando (FL) prior to FETC Conference
Feb. 5-6, 2007	Austin (TX) prior to TCEA Conference
Feb. 27-28, 2007	Palm Springs (CA) prior to CUE Conference
March 12-13, 2007	Seattle (WA)
March 29-30, 2007	Wichita (KS) prior to ESSDECK Conference
April 12-13, 2007	Chicago (IL)
April 26-27, 2007	Philadelphia (PA)

To sign up or to get more information, you can send an email to workshops@edtechlive.com, or fill out the online interest form at the bottom of the page here.

School 2.0 New Website, Wiki, and One-Day Blitz

After talking about getting a school 2.0 website going for a long time, a little impetus to finally doing so was provided by Women of the Web 2.0. Sharon Peters, Jennifer Wagner, Cheryl Oakes, and Vicki Davis will be hosting a Skypecast tonight on "The Power of Web 2 in Education" (for more details, see here), and it seemed that it would be helpful to have a list of articles and websites ready to share on the topic, since I'm not going to be able to make the Skypecast. The School 2.0 wiki is at school20.wikispaces.com and you'll see that the only content that is up currently are the links in the resource section that I'd been collecting already (worth checking out, as there is some AWESOME material). But now the wiki is available for the real content, which will come from the community, and hopefully will quickly eclipse what I've put there.

I will take credit for the "Ideas" section, which I'm hoping others will flesh out. I'm convinced that the current technologies that we call Web 2.0, Free and Open Source Software, open content, distance-learning, video-conferencing, and virtual reality are significant not because they are "technology," but because they bring new, compelling methods and ideas for learning that are transformative. I hope you will expand on these--describe them, add to them, modify them, argue with them... They are:

Participation
Collaboration
Openness
Engagement
Self Learning
Mentoring
Apprenticeship

I'm also tentatively announcing a School 2.0 one-day conference on Saturday, June 23, 2007, in Atlanta, Georgia, just prior to NECC. I anticipate it will be a blitz of teacher and student demos, panel discussions, video-feeds that will be blogged and flickred and podcast real-time--and that will take a day or two to recover from. We have some big-name folks who are promising to come, but the real key will be to network, mingle, and hear from those in the trenches using the tools of School 2.0. This means that our more relaxed EduBloggerCon "unconference" could be the day before (Friday, June 22), giving a two-day combination that would be an real treat. Or, we combine the two events into one... Let me know your feelings.

Second Life in Education Interview: Wow...

I don't know whether to be scared or excited about Second Life. This interview today with Gavin Dudeney of The Consultants-E, who run the EduNation island in Second Life, was a fascinating look at this virtual online world--a place where Gavin spends 8 - 10 hours per day!

We spent the first half of the interview just talking about how Second Life works. It is both compelling and frightening at the same time--the idea of "going" to a virtual location for a conference actually makes a lot of sense (with all of the technologies built into the venue, it will be very intuitive), but paying money for designer clothing to put on your online avatar (character)? Yikes. I have an image of pale, lifeless children sitting dark rooms in front of their computers, sucking nutrients from a tube while their heroic online avatars live their lives for them...

When I asked about the safety issues relating to the use of Second Life for youth, Gavin described a "teen grid," which even Gavin doesn't have access to because you have to apply and go through some security/background checks to be able to interact with youth there.

This interview is only about 33 minutes long, and--for those who don't know anything about Second Life--should be a real eye-opener. At the end of the interview Gavin generously gives instructions for getting a personal tour from him once you are in Second Life.

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Life-changing Technologies

I recently had an experience with my new cell phone quite similar to one that Will Richardson blogged about recently. With our oldest daughter going to college, we changed our cell phone plan and switched to Verizon (if you can believe it, this was her first cell phone--I know, we're pretty cruel parents). Normally I am too frugal to upgrade from the standard phone, but I did so in this case and purchased the computer-like LG 9800 (there was a rebate, of course).

Now, it turns out that I have loved the camera included in this phone, and I take pictures with it that I can send directly to Flickr--and when their communication with Blogger is working correctly, can even post directly to my private blog as a kind of family journal. That has been a LOT of fun.

What I didn't realize, though, was that my phone also has a built-in GPS device, and for a relatively modest fee ($9.95/month), includes a "navigation" program. While helping to coordinate our first Moodle workshop in Plano, Texas, I found out how absolutely life-changing this feature is. Because I was in an unfamiliar town, I decided to shoot for one month's fee to test it out. From the car rental parking lot, I plugged in the address of the motel: it spoke step by step directions to me during the drive. The next day, I plugged in the address for the Sockwell Center at Plano ISD, and it took me there. Then, using another feature of the phone I love (web browsing), I found the address of a local church to attend, and it took me there. I then decided to do a little sightseeing by car, and picked out a local landmark, and it took me there. Then back to the motel. The next day, I wanted to get food for the workshop before it began. I drove to the Sockwell center, then had it give me the ten closest grocery stores--a Super Walmart was close. Since it was early, and I didn't know if they would be open, I clicked "send" and it called that Walmart. Yes, they were open. Take me there, I instructed my phone. Show me on the map. Incredible.

The whole trip, whenever I would normally have pulled out a phone book to find something (shopping, food, movies), I just opened this incredible little device. I felt like, in just a few days, I had been transported to the future. All of the time normally spent in a new area getting maps, figuring out directions, and preparing in advance, were done away with. I literally saved hours, and accomplished things I might not even have considered without this technology.

Amazing.

EduBloggerCon Model: The Edinburgh Festival Fringe?

I heard about this while listening to the audio version of a new book, Mavericks at Work. Around the "fringe" of a traditional drama festival, all kinds of informal performances started to take place, which are now collectively called "The Fringe." It has become a huge event, even dwarfing the original festival.

Like an "unconference," and unlike the formal festival it surrounds, nobody decides who can or can't participate--anyone who wants to can find a venue and advertise, trying to draw a crowd. There is an coordinating/advertising organization for "The Fringe," but they are very clear about the fact that will do nothing to determine who performs.

Last year's Fringe encompassed 28,014 performances of 1867 different shows in 261 venues, with ticket sales of 1.5 million. Very famous actors and actresses participate, as well as complete unknowns.

Not trying to think to grandly about EduBloggerCon, but what an idea: an ed tech conference that is run by the participants. Wouldn't that be an interesting twist on the traditional...

Note to Stephen Downes (smile): you might really find this book interesting. Not only does it draw some great links between the Free and Open Source Software movements and good business practices, it showcases many companies that are doing good things by being purpose-driven (not profit-driven) commercial enterprises.

Like the quote from Tom Peters on the cover, I'm "devouring" it.

Describing the Use of Drupal in Education

Bill Fitzgerald, of FunnyMonkey, and I spent the better part of an hour talking about the Free and Open Source Software program Drupal. (If you feel lost during the first few minutes of the interview, don't despair--Bill and I quickly shifted gears to bring everything down to a better level for beginners.)

Some part of our time was just Bill's explanation of what Drupal is, and then our coming up with a simple definition and description of the use of Drupal in education. Drupal is less like Moodle and more like Joomla or Mambo--it's comprised of a large set of tools that can be used to build a web presence, and that flexibility is a little daunting when you are starting from scratch. But since there has been a lot of buzz about Drupal, I felt our first step was just to find a way to tell someone else about it. Here is our definition of Drupal for education:

"Drupal is a content management program that contains a set of tools for building a web-based community sites, which can include 1) a public-facing web presence, 2) the functionalities of the read/write web into a controlled school environment, or 3) Intranet/Personal Workspaces for techs and administrators."

Bill was engaging to talk to. He and I are hosting a two-day Drupal workshop in Philadelphia on January 31 - February 2. For more information or to sign up, visit EdTechLive.

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Thinking about Thinking and about Educational Commerce--Interviews with Stephen Downes and Larry Augustin

While it becomes clear that Stephen Downes and I have different experiences and different opinions, my interview with him was quite fascinating and also illustrative of a principle about blogging and podcasting that I have been thinking about quite a bit lately.

Will Richardson has written and said many times that blogging starts with reading. What that means to me is that when I read other blogs, I am exposed to someone else's ideas, and it starts a creative process where I think about what they have written and can agree, disagree, or expand on their thoughts. Like Doc Searls says, blogging can be like tossing a snowball downhill--if an idea starts to gain speed, it will grow and expand, building on the original idea kernel. The magic of blogging is that it seems to allow for diverse and multiple voices to quickly combine and create innovative, compelling, feedback-rich threads of thought. So for me, blogging is ultimately about thinking, and I love thinking.

The interview with Stephen provided me with a lot of opportunity for thinking, and largely because he and I come from fairly different perspectives. Since two of my four children have had some homeschooling, you'll hear me try to mitigate what I think are some of the common perceptions about homeschoolers/homeschooling. But the issue that really has lingered with me for some days is the discussion on commercial companies and the educational system.

Granted, folks in Canada are probably more used to government-run solutions than we in the States, but it sorrows me to think--if Stephen is representative--that we have determined that the form and function of for-profit businesses forces them to make decisions which are not in the interests of anyone but themselves. I guess it sorrows me because it has partly become true, but also because we largely don't seem to be able to see beyond some current mindsets about business. There was a time when we really admired certain companies (HP and the "HP Way," for example), and in my mind it's been a long 15 years during which individual stock-trading seems to created a mindset that values only quarterly profits--and believes that profit is the one measure that benefits everyone.

Another sad trend in the commercial marketplace over same period of time has been the use of "lock-in" as a customer strategy. Granted, as customers demand lower prices and more value, "lock-in" looks attractive to the supplier because of the costs of marketing and acquiring customers is hard to shoulder on a single low-cost transaction--but it has given the proprietary software industry a pretty bad reputation in some areas, and deservedly so. Placing an emphasis on "lock-in" seems to directly minimize the effort to create a satisfied customer who continues doing business because of their positive experiences. Is there an alternative to "lock-in" when customers want more and more, but to pay less and less?

There is a fascinating opportunity for discussion here, especially in light of the other interview I want to point out, one I recorded with Larry Augustin on the business of Open Source, who is an angel investor and is on the board of a number of companies based on Open Source software. Because Free and Open Source software is so much at the heart of both the Internet and Web 2.0, it might seem that some of the core values of the movement would make their way back into the business world. Google may, in many ways, be the great test case of this, with their "don't be evil" motto, the general trust people place in them, and their willingness to give away services. But with increasing power and information will come the temptations and pressures to create financial gain in areas where there won't be general public agreement as to how Google should act. Can they keep to a high road and satisfy all their constituencies? It will be interesting to watch.

Some questions:

• Do we believe that companies operate only on the pursuit of selfish interests? That would obviously be too broad a generalization, but Stephen gives the impression that no for-profit companies can be trusted.
  
• Do we think that a free market, even with the problems we see today, ultimately produces the best long-term result?
  
• While many talk about "selfish interest" being the driving force behind a free-market economy, might we not argue that "choice" and the freedom to make choices is just as compelling a rationale for the free market, and a better framework for providing moral guidance?
• Is a government bureaucracy, like the one Stephen describes to handle all school purchases, just as likely to produce negative results as the free market? What would be lost with centralized decision-making and what would be gained?
  
• Is there an alternative to commercial marketing to schools? Does the shilling of educational technology at trade show exhibition halls help or hurt schools and students?
• Does it ultimately come down to just being a good/informed consumer?
  
• What companies have you dealt with in the school market that have been "purpose-driven" or are ones that you trust? Are there many, or are there few?

EduBloggerCon 2007!

Calling all educational bloggers! After the EduBlog MeetUp in San Diego last year at NECC, there was some feeling that more time for interaction between the educational bloggers would be of great value... so: www.EduBloggerCon.com.

While the exact date and details of EduBloggerCon 2007 are not finalized, it will likely be for one day before NECC 2007 begins; Friday, June 22 or Saturday, June 23, being good candidates. We may wait until the NECC pre-conference materials are published so we don't conflict with something important.

We want your ideas and suggestions. Right now we are leaning toward an "unconference" format, with some number of actual pre-determined keynotes. Join the Google Group for EduBloggerCon and start giving feedback. Topics for discussion: final date(s), publicity, youth bloggers invited?, keynote speakers wanted, format for unconference, venue, activities, etc.

Moodle, Plano Style

Michelle Moore, inaugurating our EdTechLive workshop series last week by teaching a two-day session on Moodle to 24 teachers, administrators, and businesspeople (!) at Plano ISD's beautiful Sockwell Center in Texas. As usual, Michelle did a great job!

Look for Michelle at CUE, FETC, and NECC this year as a part of our Open Source presentations. We're also seeking workshop trainers in Moodle, Drupal, MySQL, PHP, and other Free and Open Source Software programs that are used in education.

Nancy E. Willard Audio Interview on Internet Safety

Over the last several months, I've watched Nancy's consistent, warning voice on the educational technology email lists. I'm sure this is not an easy role--at a time when the read-write web is exciting many educators, and they are looking to to find creative ways to take advantage in school of technologies that have become so engaging to our youth outside of school , Nancy keeps talking about the hard topics of safe internet use, filtering, online predators, disinhibition, and cyberbullying.

Arranging an interview time with Nancy was difficult--she is the parent of three children, and working on finishing two books--but we finally caught up last week. I was particularly interested in her concerns about how the dangers of online sexual predation are taught, which she says are often based on the myth that the youth who go to meet an online predator are unaware of what is actually going to take place. Nancy is also appropriately harsh on the marketing of sexuality to young women, and she agreed with my concerns (we both have thirteen-year-old daughters) about how the movies and media have really promoted aggressive sexuality by young women in the last decade. And she discusses cyber-bullying, which I hadn't really had any direct experience with, but which she describes as very real and very serious.

My wife generally has not had a great deal of interest in my interview series (c'mon, isn't everyone excited about educational technology?), but she listened to this interview from start to finish. Our thanks to Nancy for caring.

EdTechLive.com Interview Series

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SupportBlogging's New Google Custom Search Engine

Today, after some email exchanges with Chris Craft, I set up a Google "Custom Search Engine" at SupportBlogging.com. It lets you search inside the blogs, articles, and websites that are listed at the site. It also lets you refine your search just to specific blog categories (general, teacher, student, or administrator blogs), or just to articles or websites.

Not entirely certain how useful this will be, but does seem to provide an opportunity to look specifically at what the "edublogosphere" has to say on a particular topic. Now, while the new SupportBlogging! custom search engine searches 111 sites, I'll allow that this is far from exhaustive in the educational blogging sphere. But as sites are added to SuppportBlogging!, I'll add them into the search engine. Or if anyone points me to some easily imported lists of edublogger sites, I will add them as well (as long as I can keep them categorized).

I also did some long-overdue housekeeping on the site, and hope it is a little more user-friendly. I moved some of the lesser-accessed pages to being linked on a new "More" page, as well as consolidated the list of edubloggers to one page. Comments always welcome.

Interview with Martin Dougiamas, Creator of Moodle

If you look at the "stats" page for the Open Source program Moodle, you will see the incredible growth taking place in the use of this e-learning program. Martin Dougiamas, the creator of Moodle, spent an hour with me talking about Moodle, what is is, where it is being used, and how a large Open Source program like Moodle is sustained. Martin is thoroughly engaging, and the interview goes by much too fast.

Some notes:

• Martin grew up in the desert of Australia, and his own schooling as a youth was from "The School of the Air." Through CB (Ham?) Radio, he and four or five other youth talked with a teacher who was 600 miles away, and every other week an airplane would stop by with school materials. Seems quite appropriate that someone with that background would 1) of necessity become a self-learner (again, reference the Doc Searl's interview and the "self-learner" aspect of the Open Source world), 2) understand the value of e-learning, 2) understand the nature of distance learning, and 3) see the value in learner-participation that lies at the philosophical heart of Moodle.


• It was a test of Martin's patience for me to ask him to explain Moodle as though he were talking to a teacher who knew nothing about it, but he did a very good job, and I hope it makes the interview a better resource to the teacher community. There is a skill involved in not only managing a project as complex as Moodle, but also being willing and able to communicate its value in basic terms to new users. This impresses me about Martin.


• Moodle isn't just for distance-learning situations. It is also built for and used in "face-to-face" learning or "blended" learning environments, and he mentioned its value in homeschooling.


• The Moodle community that works on the actual software project is a model of the "community of practice" or "collaboration" that Moodle strives to help create for learning environments. They are their own best "customers" of the project, as they work to extend this core value of participation. For several months I have been wrestling with the two values of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) to schools. The first is "FOSS in Education," which is essentially the use of FOSS programs that, for the most part, are just replacing proprietary programs which were already in use or which weren't in use because of their financial cost. The second is "FOSS as Education," where the use of FOSS programs introduces the student to the Free and Open Source world, and allows them to participate in collaborative programming. Jeff Elkner's work teaching FOSS programs like Python to students at Yorktown High School in Arlington, Virginia, is an example of this. What makes FOSS more than just a "cheaper" replacement of proprietary programs is this second opportunity--to engage students in very real-life aspects of a world that is becoming more and more based on collaborative work. The fascinating value that Moodle seems to bring to this picture is the ability that Moodle has to bring these collaborative opportunities into the regular classroom, bridging the gap between the worlds of regular computer use and Jeff Elkner's computer lab--because if "FOSS as Education" were only to take place in the computer lab classes, it's impact would be limited only to those technically-minded students. (Coming up for air now...)


• Moodle is most definitely having a unique impact on the awareness and understanding of Open Sources software in schools. This is largely, I think, because it is viewed as "free" (as in cost) competitor to very expensive proprietary programs. Our Moodle demonstrations at the NECC and CUE shows have literally been standing-room only. But Martin is quick to point out (as was also clear about OpenOffice in my recent interview) that it is the combination of features and the benefits of the Open Source community that are driving the adoption of Moodle, and not the low cost.


• The Moodle.org project is financially self-sustaining because of the commercial partnerships that Moodle has under the Moodle.com website. There are 40 Moodle partners who provide hosting, support, consulting, training, and certification (and some 200 additional applicants) who pay royalties into a Moodle trust. Funds from that trust go to pay developers to work on Moodle.


• There are some very large deployments of Moodle, including the upcoming use of Moodle by the Open University of the UK, where they anticipate it being used by 200,000 students. Large organizations that use Moodle also help the project by devoting staff to maintain or improve Moodle, and Martin said that the Open University will be working on helping to maintain the "quiz" module, as well as funding directly some upcoming developments.


• Martin wasn't sure he wanted to get into the fray over "Free Software" and "Open Source Software," but he admitted he uses the phrase "Open Source" himself.


• Maintaining a project with some 20,000 scripts is a big job, but Martin still finds time each week to do some actual coding himself. He loves his job, and wishes that everyone would have something exciting to work on so that they want to jump out of bed each morning, like he does.

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