Google+ Communities Live Brainstorm - January 9th

Join me Wednesday, January 9th, for a live Futureof Education.com community conversation and brainstorm to talk about the use of Google+ Communities, and specifically for learning and education. To experiment with Google+ communities, I started a group called "Education Revolution," which is now one of the larger education communities and which has proven to be surprisingly engaging for me personally.

However, as is often the case with Google social initiatives, it feels like some really critical components to the experience are missing. This 90-minute session will be an opportunity to discuss: how G+ communities are being used by teachers, students, administrators, and others; tips and ideas from those of you having success; community management techniques and the increasing value of community organizing skills in education; what we would tell Google to improve if they were listening; how grass-roots and peer-learning communities impact long-term education conversations; and anything else you want to discuss (feel free to leave notes in the comments here).

I'm also particularly interested in the difference between G+ Communities and curation-style services like Mightybell, Learnist, Pinterest, and the like, especially since I do consulting work for Mightybell and personally prefer the organization and ease of finding content and discussions in a Mightybell "space"--which are very difficult right now in G+ Communities.

I know it seems weird not to use a Google Hangout for this conversation, but Blackboard Collaborate allows for more participation and flexibility for a larger audience, but I do hope we will explore in the brainstorm ways in which Hangouts are or can be a part of a learning community.

Date: Wednesday, January 9th, 2012
Time: 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern (international times here)
Duration: 90 minutes
Location: In Blackboard Collaborate (formerly Elluminate). Log in at http://www.futureofed.info. The Blackboard Collaborate room will be open up to 30 minutes before the event if you want to come in early. To make sure that your computer is configured for Blackboard Collaborate, please visit the support and configuration page.
Recording:  A full Blackboard Collaborate recording is at https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2013-01-09.1721.M.9E9FE58134BE68C3B413F24B3586CF.vcr&sid=2008350.

Hacking at the Roots of the Learning Revolution - Live Broadcast Tomorrow

I'll be a guest again on the Connected Learning weekly webinar series tomorrow, with esteemed host Howard Rheingold, and getting provocative. Read the following at your own risk.

Date:  Thursday, Dec 20

Time:  10-11am US Pacific Time (international times)

Event page and participation instructions: http://bit.ly/UM1s4Z

Hacking at the Roots:

I see two larger education reform movements.  This is an over-generalization, of course, but maybe not by much.  

The first ed reform movement is the high-stakes, NCLB, foundation/corporation/lobby-driven movement that is couched in the language of business: achievement, accountability, job skills, efficiency, etc. The second ed reform movement is the passionate, largely-educator-driven and pedagogically-progressive movement.  

While both groups would likely disagree with me, I propose that they are actually different versions of the same story. While there are individuals in both movements that are well-meaning (arguably more by my own definitions in the latter), both movements take as core premises that change comes from the top, that there is a "better solution" to education, and--while not overtly stated--that education is something we impose on others.

As well, my take is that because both are institutionally-directed, and the "institutionalization" of values (see Illich) is itself a part of the problem, their ultimate outcome will not be individual independence, but rather continued dependence on our educational and economic "systems"--systems which are driven by the needs of those running them rather than by any desire for individual independence.  

I believe we are in this mess (which is certainly not new), where both of the larger reform movements are actually more similar than we want to admit, because we are focused on outcome rather than process. Laws, for example, are outcomes, while the democratic activities that produce them are processes. The progressive ed reform movement often commits this outcome-over-process error when committees or research or prominent voices are taken as "what we should be doing," when really we need to encouraging participation in the processes of determining for ourselves and our communities that which we care about and how we can work together to accomplish our goals. A list of "21st century skills" might be really fun to create as part of some meeting of prestigious educators, but please don't think that pushing that outcome or list down to schools, teachers and students is what would really benefit them. Instead, we should be pushing down or encouraging the process of creating such a conversation to local levels, where all involved might participate in the discussions that attend the process.

Implementing one group's particular outcomes is fundamentally disrespectful to the agency of others.  Process demands and allows that we respect the inherent rights of individuals to be self-directing agents of their own lives. However, we must recognize that there are few if any lobbies or businesses that will see financial or institutional benefit from self-direction and independence as the outcome of education, so they are not likely going to promote or support this. Intriguingly, we must also recognize that parents, administrators, teachers, and students have often been so inculcated into the co-dependence model of schooling that they not only willingly build prisons for themselves and for others, but often demand agreement with this perspective in an emotional way that suggests schooling as a cultural ritual requiring (and therefore publicly manifesting) our conformity. Perhaps we also fear the mental and moral requirements of independent thought, finding it easier to follow the norm; and (going out on a another limb) perhaps our participation in a known power structure, while demanding we follow others in authority, gives us at least some power of our own as we exert control over others (students/children) below us.

So that leaves me trying to figure out how you generate the kind of public mobilizations that have characterized important civil and social rights movements--ergo, my HackYourEducation.com tour (now being re-branded for the new year as the "Learning Revolution Tour"). What are the models for scaling independent thinking without simplifying it beyond value in order to gain traction? How do you talk about and encourage agency while also respecting it? How do you help the 30% who drop out, and the even greater number of students and families who don't thrive in school and therefore see themselves as failing, to realize that they are in a perverse game of intellectual inadequacy that someone else has set up and rigged against them? How do you help those who benefit from the current system to see the moral failure of perpetuated financial inequity through a college-track system that they believe it is rewarding their own excellence, but is often just confirming the power of better expectations and individual student care?

This is certainly not anti-intellectual; it is, rather, the only moral course of questioning that I can see an intellectual taking.

Currently, my answer is to hold, and hopefully therefore to model, conversations on learning that provide a positive path for helping students, families, teachers, and administrators to recognize that they know a lot more about when and how good learning takes place than they and the establishment have given themselves credit for. And that identifying the positive conditions of learning from their own experiences trumps the proclaimed expertise of others who would impose mindsets and expectations on them--expectations that most never feel they have fully achieved. There is a pervasive and sad fear of straying in any authentic way from the path that others proclaim leads to educational (but not learning) success. 

I suggest we need to hold these conversations one-to-one, starting with the choir then moving to those the system has failed and to those willing to see the unfairness of their own advantage. Then, perhaps, we have the opportunity for real change, the kind of change that comes from inside each of us, and not from the outside or movements that would merely replace one form of schooling with another. We must ourselves be the learning revolution.

For more conversation, join the Education Revolution Google+ Community at https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/104214480154015052148.

Photo: Roots of big old tree by Paolo Neo

Tuesday Interview - Adam Frey on Ed Tech Success

Join me Tuesday, December 18th, for a live conversation with good friend Adam Frey, co-founder of Wikispaces, and co-author (with his Wikispaces co-founder James Byers) of the recent primer "How to Succeed in Ed-Tech."

In "How to Succeed in Ed-Tech," Adam and James look at the current boom in ed tech ventures, and try to distinguish hype from reality while acknowledging their own serendipitous route to the lessons they have learned. It's a must-read. I've long pointed to Adam and Wikispaces as great examples of how an ed tech / Web 2.0 business builds both authentic value for education as well as a profit. Early on as I helped create the "fringe" events around the ISTE conference now known collectively as ISTEunplugged, Adam approached me to ask what would be appropriate behavior for him at the these peer-organized events--events like like EduBloggerCon and the Bloggers' Cafe--which are intended to be "non-vendor" space for conversation.

Adam felt that he would better be able to listen to educators not from behind a booth on the exhibit hall, but in one-on-one conversations, and he wasn't sure of the etiquette. We determined that the kind of thoughtful participation he wanted would actually be the kind of vendor participation that we should encourage, and his quiet and thoughtful engagement is often in real contrast to vendors who attempt to invade our spaces with self-aggrandizing activities.

For a broader perspective, we'll also be joined by my brother, Andrew Hargadon, who is Professor of Technology Management at the Graduate School of Management at University of California, Davis, a Senior Fellow at the Kauffman Foundation and Faculty Director of the Child Family Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Date: Tuesday, December 18th, 2012
Time: 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern (international times here)
Duration: 1 hour
Location: In Blackboard Collaborate (formerly Elluminate). Log in at http://www.futureofed.info. The Blackboard Collaborate room will be open up to 30 minutes before the event if you want to come in early. To make sure that your computer is configured for Blackboard Collaborate, please visit the support and configuration page.
Recording:  A full Blackboard Collaborate recording is at https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2012-12-18.1647.M.9E9FE58134BE68C3B413F24B3586CF.vcr&sid=2008350 and an audio mp3 recording is at http://audio.edtechlive.com/foe/adamfreyedtechsuccess.mp3. As well other interview recordings are all available at http://www.futureofeducation.com.
Mightybell:  A Mightybell space with interview resources and conversation is at https://mightybell.com/spaces/17451.

Thursday Interview - Cal Newport on Why Skills Trump Passion

Join me Thursday, December 13th, for a live conversation with returning guest Cal Newport, to talk about his new book, So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for the Work Your Love. While not a book about education, it is a attempt to debunk the "long-held belief that 'follow your passions' is good advice," which is increasingly a narrative we hear in education conversations.

I'm interested in comparing this thesis with the experiences of my own children, who have benefited from following their passions, and to see if his advice to "put in the hard work to become excellent at something valuable" is actually the opposite of passion-following, or if the two might not actually drive each other. (Another obvious connection is with marriage, as some argue that arranged marriages are happier than those begat by passion--let's see what he has to say about that!)

My interview with Cal about one of his previous books, How to Be a High School Superstar, has informed my thinking in so many ways--and leads me to recommending the book on a regular basis. Let's see if he can convince me once again!

Date: Thursday, December 13th, 2012
Time: 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern (international times here)
Duration: 1 hour
Location: In Blackboard Collaborate (formerly Elluminate). Log in at http://www.futureofed.info. The Blackboard Collaborate room will be open up to 30 minutes before the event if you want to come in early. To make sure that your computer is configured for Blackboard Collaborate, please visit the support and configuration page.
Recording:  A full Blackboard Collaborate recording is at https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2012-12-13.1452.M.9E9FE58134BE68C3B413F24B3586CF.vcr&sid=2008350 and an audio mp3 recording is at http://audio.edtechlive.com/foe/calnewportsogood.mp3. Other interview recordings are all available at http://www.futureofeducation.com.
Mightybell:  A Mightybell space with interview resources and conversation is at https://mightybell.com/spaces/17277.

Cal Newport is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Georgetown University. He previously earned his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT in 2009, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Dartmouth College in 2004.

Newport is the author of three books of unconventional advice for students, which have sold a combined total of more than 100,000 copies: How to Be a High School Superstar (Random House, 2010), How to Become a Straight-A Student (Random House, 2006), and How to Win at College (Random House, 2005).

In his role as an author, Newport has appeared on ABC, NBC, and CBS and on over 50 radio networks. His writing and ideas have been featured in major publications including the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and FastCompany.com. His Study Hacks blog, which chronicles his attempts to decode "patterns of success," attracts over 100,000 unique visitors a month.

Thursday - Ray McNulty on the Courage to Change Education

Join me today, Thursday, December 6th, for a live discussion with Ray McNulty, Chief Learning Officer at Penn Foster College and a Senior Fellow to the International Center for Leadership in Education, having previously served as President. Prior to joining the International Center, he was a senior fellow at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where he worked with leading educators on improving our nation's high schools. Ray is a past president of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) and author of It’s Not Us Against Them — Creating the Schools We Need, published in 2009.

Ray believes we need to change our mindset when thinking about transforming our schools, and we need to be willing to "thrive on the unknown, appreciate ambiguity, and relish being different," to be willing to implement "yet-to-be-proven ideas," and to "focus on being different first and then on being better"--all of which take courage and an ability to learn as you move forward. Given that some of these traits lie at the heart of criticisms I'm inclined to make about the non-connectivist MOOC movement and many of the VC-funded ed tech ventures, I can't wait to discuss this with Ray!

On the other hand, Ray (through Penn Foster), made a contribution to my HackYourEducation.com tour, and has written in his book:  "I believe you absolutely cannot even hope to succeed in transforming education if you do not embrace the idea that, at its core, education is about people and how they relate to one another" (p. 20). So I'm expecting a nuanced, thoughtful, and rewarding discussion with someone who cares deeply about education and has thought a lot about it.

Date: Thursday, December 6th, 2012
Time: 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern (international times here)
Duration: 1 hour
Location: In Blackboard Collaborate (formerly Elluminate). Log in at http://www.futureofed.info. The Blackboard Collaborate room will be open up to 30 minutes before the event if you want to come in early. To make sure that your computer is configured for Blackboard Collaborate, please visit the support and configuration page.
Recording:  A full Blackboard Collaborate recording is at https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2012-12-06.1621.M.9E9FE58134BE68C3B413F24B3586CF.vcr&sid=2008350 and an audio mp3 recording is at http://audio.edtechlive.com/foe/mcnulty.mp3.

Raymond J. McNulty.  An educator since 1973, Ray has been a teacher, vice principal, principal, and superintendent. From 2001-03, he served as Vermont's education commissioner. During his tenure, Ray focused on aligning the Department of Education's work on three key issues: early education, educator quality, and secondary school reform.

Ray is a presenter at the state, national, and international levels on the need for school systems to accept the challenges that lie ahead. He is committed to raising performance standards for both teachers and students and to building solid connections between schools and their communities. Ray believes strongly that education systems cannot wait for the children and challenges to arrive at school; rather, schools need to reach out and help forge solutions.

Penn Foster College was founded in 1890 with a distance-learning method to help working adults "with ambition" to learn advanced skills, initially coal miners who wanted to be come superintendents and foremen. Having served 13 million students since then, the college currently enrolls 150,000 students a year with undergraduate degrees in business, technology, health, education, and social services.

Tuesday Show - Teachers Becoming Their Own Khan Academy

Join me on Tuesday, December 4th, for a live discussion with Stacey Roshan, a high school math teacher at Bullis School in Potomac, Maryland. We're going to talk about the "flipped classroom," and drill down on one of my concerns about this model: the regular use in public discussion of phrases like "finding the best lecture on..." or "be taught from the best teachers." While I appreciate the incredible opportunities to learn from the amazing diversity of video recordings from teachers (and students!) all over the world, the idea of "the best" seems to diminish the significant importance of the relationships a teacher builds with his or her students, and also the understanding that comes to both the teacher and the student through the act of teaching.

Stacey will be joined by Shane Lovellette, a product manager at Techsmith. Together they will talk about the use of video and screen-capture to empower teachers and support students. This is not a paid or promotional event for Techsmith.

Date: Tuesday, December 4th, 2012
Time: 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern (international times here)
Duration: 1 hour
Location: In Blackboard Collaborate (formerly Elluminate). Log in at http://www.futureofed.info. The Blackboard Collaborate room will be open up to 30 minutes before the event if you want to come in early. To make sure that your computer is configured for Blackboard Collaborate, please visit the support and configuration page.
Recording:  A full Blackboard Collaborate recording is at https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2012-12-04.1213.M.9E9FE58134BE68C3B413F24B3586CF.vcr&sid=2008350 and an audio recording is at http://audio.edtechlive.com/foe/staceyroshan.mp3.

Having noticed the high levels of anxiety in her AP Calculus classroom, Stacey Roshan realized that the traditional teaching model does not provide the right tools for students to stay caught up and engaged with course materials. In 2010, after attending the Building Learning Communities conference, Stacey saw a demonstration of Camtasia Studio and immediately knew that she was looking at her answer – a way to reduce anxiety in her AP Calculus classroom by eliminating the traditional lecture on the board. She went home from the conference inspired and with a mission: to create a video for each of the lessons that she would have stood at the board teaching. That year, she didn't do a single traditional lecture. The results of the new classroom model were astounding: Stacey was able to dramatically decrease anxiety among her students, while increasing grades and AP test scores. In short, the flipped classroom has allowed Stacey to create a supportive, calm, inspiring classroom – a learning space where students can truly thrive. Stacey received her bachelor’s degree from NYU, where she studied economics, and her master’s degree from UVA, where she also studied economics. Prior to becoming a teacher, Stacey was an economic consultant.

Shane Lovellette is the product manager for Camtasia Studio and Camtasia for Mac. Shane joined TechSmith in 2003 with over eight years of management and production experience in video and television. Shane holds a bachelor's degree in television, radio, and film production from Syracuse University and an MBA from Michigan State University. As the product manager for TechSmith’s Camtasia Studio and Camtasia for Mac, which allow teachers to record their lesson and deliver them to students outside of standard classroom walls, Shane works to tailor TechSmith offerings to best serve educators and students.  As a strong advocate of the flipped classroom model, Shane assists educators in implementing the use of technology in simple and practical ways both in and out of the classroom.  Shane believes that technology has the ability to empower teachers to be more effective at facilitating the learning process and support students through differentiated instruction.

Wednesday - Talk Live with Gina Bianchini About New Mightybell Features and Education

Join me on Wednesday, December 5th, for a special live chat with Gina Bianchini, co-founder of Ning and the creator of the new Mightybell online program. We'll show you the newest features of Mightybell, allow those of you who are existing users to do a little show and tell of your own spaces, and give you a chance to ask Gina any questions that you might have.

I'll be hosting the event, as I've done before, as part of a consulting relationship to help bring the community's voice and ideas to Mightybell. Gina has a huge personal commitment to bringing the benefits of her social projects for free to teachers and learners.

Gina describes Mightybell as a service to help individuals and groups gather around a passion. For teachers, librarians, and learners, it also holds some special opportunities for "content curation and conversation." You have the ability in one place to chat, to post content, and to comment in individual threads on the content (which can be photos, videos, links, files, questions, and events)--and to allow others to do so as well. I now create a Mightybell space for each of my FutureofEducation.com interviews to collect a "living" set of the resources for the attendees.

With Mightybell you can:

• create a living syllabus 
• gather class or topic resources
• supplement a presentation
• run a live back-channel for a meeting or professional development
• allow students to post and comment on their own or each other's work
• host a scheduled live and automatically-archived "Mighty Chat" on a topic with your larger community
• or collaborate in a myriad number of other ways

As one teacher said, Mightybell can bring "learning to life." And the new visual and structural overhaul of the site gives you some great new features:  post/reply by email, adding a space image and/or cover photos, color-matching or customized themes and fonts, a new WYSIWYG editor, and "followers" as well as contributors.

To practice or sign up and create your own spaces, start at the new Mightybell for Hosts space at https://mightybell.com/spaces/1ec75482801b8481. Then join us Wednesday using the link below to the event's Blackboard Collaborate room.

Date: Wednesday, December 5th, 2012
Time: 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern (international times here)
Duration: 1 hour
Location: In Blackboard Collaborate (formerly Elluminate). Log in at https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2008350&password=M.C4415D8049A57DF74A3B77771411A0. The Blackboard Collaborate room will be open up to 30 minutes before the event if you want to come in early. To make sure that your computer is configured for Blackboard Collaborate, please visit the support and configuration page.
Recording:  A full Blackboard Collaborate recording is here:  https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2012-12-05.1703.M.86035557D2F8C8CA05E067C29AD0A7.vcr&sid=2008350

Gina Bianchini