The Learning Revolution
Weekly Update
April 15th
The very existence of libraries affords the best evidence that we may yet have hope for the future of man.
- T.S. Eliot
The technologies of the Internet and the Web are reshaping where, when, and from whom we learn--and even how we think about learning. The Learning Revolution Project highlights our own virtual and physical events and those of our more than 200 partners. We also highlight good conversations about learning taking place between educators, learners, leaders, and others from the school, library, museum, work, adult, online, non-traditional and home learning worlds. The Internet is shifting the boundaries of these worlds, and we believe that as they increasingly overlap and integrate they will be critical to framing and preparing for the learning revolution starting to take place.
- Updates
- Partner Spotlight
- Partner Announcements
- Calendar of Events
- Deadlines
- Highlighted Recordings
- NMC Navigator Top Ten
- Conversations
- Final Notes
Updates
- Learning Revolution Conference. The Learning Revolution Conference schedule is now up! It looks like we'll have an incredible event with a great set of pre-conference evening keynotes (really, wow!), then a full conference day on Thursday. Take a look at the great keynotes listed in the calendar below, and see the schedule for a list of great sessions on Thursday. This online conference will be free to attend, and you can follow the conversations by using the hashtag #learning14. The call for volunteers is now open - please join the group and sign up here.
- Be a Presenter at Reinventing the Classroom. We want YOU to present at the Reinventing the Classroom conference on May 1st - all about the impact of ed tech on the classroom experience, and kicking off our self-proclaimed May as "Ed Tech Month." Submissions are due by April 25th. See instructions and call for proposals here, and be sure to check out our (again, wow!) incredible lineup of keynotes and distinguished speakers: Travis Allen, Steven Anderson, Alan Blankstein, Vicki Davis, Julie Evans, Troy Hicks, Rushton Hurley, Bill Kist, Anne Mirtschin, Jeff Piontek, Shelly Terrell, and Nicole Tucker-Smith!
- Reform Symposium MiniCon May. The April MiniCon was a hit! If you missed out, be sure to check out the recordings. Don't miss out on MiniCon May on May 4th. We will feature guest poet Chaouki M'kaddem, keynote speaker Steve Wheeler, a technology smackdown event that anyone can sign-up for, and seven mini-presentations. Interested in presenting? See sign up information here.
- ISTE Unplugged. Please be sure to check out all of the fun events this year at ISTE Unplugged in Atlanta this year. Remember that ISTE starts a day earlier, so the Hack Education Unconference is on Friday, June 27th. (Audrey is coming this year!)
- National Library Week. National Library Week is this week, and the theme is "Lives change @ your library®." We are, of course, big fans! More information here and here.
Partner Spotlight
21st Century Schools provides professional staff development, curriculum design and consulting for the purposes of designing 21st century schools. We believe that the development of everything from policies to facilities to lesson plans should be guided by our compass roses, Critical Attributes of 21st Century Education and the Multiple Literacies for the 21st Century. (http://21stcenturyschoolsinternational.weebly.com/compass.html) More information at http://www.21stcenturyschools.com/.
Partner Announcements
- Center for Teaching Quality: Announcing #TeachingIs, an effort to challenge stereotypes & recognize teaching as the complex work it is. Join us! http://www.teachingquality.org/teachingis
Become a Learning Revolution Partner and share your Partner Announcements in our weekly newsletter!
One Week Calendar
All events are listed in US-Eastern Daylight Time. To become an event partner and have your events listed here, please email admin@web20labs.com.
- Wednesday, April 16th at 4pm Webinar: What We Know About Families’ Use of Educational Media, Ask any parent about their children’s media use, and most will tell you they’re interested in media that help their kids learn. But what are parents’ experiences with their children’s use of educational media? In our community’s next webinar, the Joan Ganz Cooney Center will share the results from Learning at Home: Families’ Educational Media Use in America, a report from a national survey of over 1500 parents of children ages 2-10. You’ll hear how children and parents use media together, overall and by platform, and also how parents’ media use with their children changes as they get older. More information here.
- Wednesday, April 16th at 4:30pm Free BrainPOP Webinar: STEAM Video Game Design - Tales From Students in the Field!, Peek into a STEAM game design lab with POPstar David Conover and some of his Pflugerville, TX students. They’ll share their unique experiences developing a “Circuit of Sustainability” and collaborating with the local PBS station (KLRU) and the Thinkery, a children's makerspace museum, on the design of innovative real-world games. David’s program is one of just three in the country to be involved with that collaboration. You’ll leave this webinar with new ideas for empowering students to communicate, collaborate, and create through game design. More information here.
- Wednesday, April 16th at 9pm Teachers Teaching Teachers, Weekly conversations hosted by EdTechTalk, a collaborative open webcasting community. For more information, click here.
- Sunday, April 20th at 8pm I Have a Question EdTechWeekly, Weekly attempt to crowdsource answers to education questions from our community of communities. Tag your questions #eduquestion or post them on our Facebook page or Google+ community.
- Monday, April 21st Learning Revolution Conference Keynote Speakers, Join us Monday night for two amazing keynote speakers - 7pm with Ian Jukes on "What 21st Century Learning Really Looks Like" and 8pm with Bron Stuckey on "Virtual Worlds and Gaming in Education." See the schedule in your local time zone and join the sessions here.
- Monday, April 21st at 3:30pm Webinar: Appy Hour - Challenge Math and Science Learners with Brilliant, Are you looking for ways to challenge high-achieving middle and high school students in math and physics? Brilliant is an online community of learners who share and solve physics and math problems. Perfect for AP students or those competing in math or science competitions, learn how Brilliant is a great website to challenge learners. View the session live on our YouTube channel, and join the Twitter conversation using the hashtag #appyhour. Regsiter here.
- Monday, April 21st at 8pm TL News Night LIVE!, This is a LIVE show presented in news show format featuring a Wrap up of “This Month in School Libraries” and deeper discussion of topical school library issues with special guest experts. Did we mention it was LIVE? More information here.
- Tuesday, April 22nd Learning Revolution Conference Keynote Speakers, Join us Tuesday night for 4 amazing keynote speakers - 7pm with Carlo Ricci on "Learning and Love," 7pm (also) with Howard Rheingold on "Co-learning, Social Media, Peeragogy, and Open/Connected Learning," 8pm with Maria Droujkova on "Natural Math," and 9pm with Mark Treadwell on "How the Brain Learns." See the schedule in your local time zone and join the sessions here.
- Tuesday, April 22nd at 1pm CoSN - Smart Education Networks by Design, New advances in technology, including mobile devices, are making it possible for students to learn anytime, anywhere and to experience personalized learning. These advances can only happen if school systems have networks in place that support the new and dynamic context of learning. CoSN’s new initiative, Smart Education Networks by Design, is designed to address the challenges facing school systems by providing school system leaders the knowledge to wisely invest in educational networks for today and tomorrow. Learn about the resources that can help district leaders develop the next generation network infrastructure necessary to support multiple mobile devices on and off campus, the delivery of digital content, and administration of online assessments. Read more and register for this event here.
- Tuesday, April 22nd at 5pm Personalize Learning Webinar: Leaving to Learn - Webinar #5 with Elliot Washor of Big Picture Learning, See why it is important to involve community to educate kids and why kids are less willing to compromise now. Elliot will share why in traditional schools kids have "no say and no way to get say" and why they are leaving to learn. He will explain how design is in the doing and how internship programs that are advisory-based support passion. Join this Blackboard Collaborate session here.
- Wednesday, April 23rd Learning Revolution Conference Keynote Speakers, Join us Wednesday night for three amazing keynote speakers - 7pm with David Loertscher on "Personal Learning Environments," 8pm with Cindy Mediavilla on "Learning by Doing: Internships and Residencies," and 9pm with Bernajean Porter on "StoryTelling That Inspires Communities, Schools and Student Lives." See the schedule in your local time zone and join the sessions here.
- Thursday, April 24th Learning Revolution Conference All Day, Join us for a full day of conference sessions, plus five (yes, five!) great keynote speakers - 7am with Pat Farenga on "What is the role of the teacher when children learn on their own?," 12 noon with Stephanie Sandifer on "Mobile Learning Among the Museums," 5pm with Steve Wheeler on "Students driving change: how learners are making the difference in the digital age," 8pm with Roger Schank on "Being an Education Revolutionary," and 9pm with Michael Strong on "Creating Great Educational Communities." See the schedule in your local time zone and join the sessions here.
For a full calendar of all upcoming events and conferences, click here.
Deadlines
- Reinventing the Classroom, May 1st, 2014
Upcoming deadlines: Presentation proposals will be accepted between now and April 25th for Reinventing the Classroom. Conference strands include Teaching with Technology, Student Devices, Online Learning, Subject Specific Ed Tech, Creative Ed Tech, Web 2.0 & Social Software, and Administrative Support. Please see the call for proposals and submission instructions here. - Reform Symposium MiniCon May, May 4th 9:30am - 1pm EDT
Upcoming deadlines: Sign up for the Tech & App Smackdown - Share your favorite web tool or app as we celebrate our amazing presenters from 2013 and look forward to #RSCON5 on July 11-13th, 2014. Your presentation will only be 2 minutes long with 2 images as your presentation. Or sign up to be an Inpire Presenter! You are invited to do a 3 to 5 minute presentation that either (1) gives us highlights of your RSCON4 presentation or (2) gives us a sneak peek at what you are thinking about presenting for RSCON5. Space is limited for these presentations, so sign up soon. - Library 2.014, October 8th + 9th, 2014
Upcoming deadlines: Presentation proposals will be accepted between now and October 1st for Library 2.014. This fully online, participatory conference presents a unique opportunity to showcase the excellent research and work that you do every day. How does your library manage digital collections? Is your library mobile friendly? Do you have a story to tell about maker spaces? Your participation as a presenter will steer the global conversation about the future of libraries. Please see the call for proposals and conference strands and consider submitting your proposal soon!
Highlighted Recordings
Dean Shareski & Vicki Davis from the Connected Cafe - on "Connected Leadership"David Loertscher from the Future of Education Interview Series - on "Physical and Virtual Learning Commons"
Eric Sheninger from the School Leadership Summit - on "Digital Leadership: Changing Paradigms for Changing Times"
NMC Navigator Top Ten
Top Learning Tech Stories of the Week from the NMC/Horizon Project Navigator.
- Researchers use Google Glass to help Parkinson’s sufferers
- "Fixing" Higher Education Requires a Diversity of Assessments and Reforms
- Librarians Go From Quiet to Crowd Pleasers
- The New Digital Learning Playbook: Understanding the Spectrum of Students’ Activities and Aspirations
- What We Really Need To Know About Ed Tech
- Schools Shift from STEM to STEAM
- Using Humor in the Classroom
- 10 Courses With a Twist
- North Arizona University Launches Online Competency-Based Degrees
- What Does Learning Look Like? A Look At Physical And Digital Spaces
Conversations
- Digital Citizenship Infographics. Two excellent resources for your classroom, library, or media center from our friends at Common Sense Media. Thanks for sharing these, Karen!
- Hot Topic: BYOD. There's a lot of talk around BYOD this week in Classroom 2.0. Morgan Thie discusses the class-bound implications of BYOD, as well as concerns about student behavior in digital spaces. Joseph Schools talks about the age old PC vs. Mac debate as it relates to BYOD, and provides some beyond-the-classroom benefits to relying on a personal device. What are your thoughts? Share them here.
- Your Curated Reading List. Volume 3 of Karen Cameron's Best of the Week is out! She's put together a list of the best artiles on Classroom Management, Reading and Language Arts, STEM, History and Social Studies, and more. Check out her list here.
Education Revolution Google+ Community
- The Data Driven Education Trend. Kirsten Winkler's latest article, The New Oil, explores the privacy concerns and market implications of student data being collected during this ed tech explosion. Read more about this issue, and Kirsten's thoughts on the potential of data in our lives.
- Game Based Learning, Dyslexia, and Reading Comprehension. Sara Biggs' article discusses new research out of Oxford University suggests that video games may be potential tools for improving concentration and reading in people with dyslexia The research suggests that there is a positive correlation between the multi-tasking skills that students develop while playing video games and their improved ability to focus on reading-based activities. This is very exciting research! Read more about this study here.
- Doubling Our Efforts to Keep Kids in School. The NEA shared this article that discusses nation-wide efforts to re-engage high school dropouts. According to the NEA, one in five students drops out of high school. The article describes some really neat outreach programs that are helping to match drop outs with mentors who help them either return to school or complete their GED certificate. Learn more here - this might be a great opportunity to create community partnerships and put your school and library volunteers to work!
- Books Gone Wild. Middle school librarian, Michelle Lowe, is looking for ways to encourage her students to help keep the collection in good shape so that other students can find the books they're looking for. Does anyone have any tips for getting students to help you keep the library in order? Share your ideas here.
- Sneak Peek at Library 2.014. The Library 2.014 Proposals are already coming in! Are you thinking about presenting at the fourth annual conference in October? Check out what your colleagues are hoping to share. This is a great opportunity to find people who might be interested in co-presenting with you on a particular topic. We're looking forward to your sessions!
Final Notes
I was invited to give a fast five-minute talk as part of Fail Fest at the 2014 CoSN conference last month. The idea was to talk about a failure and then relate the benefits of failure to education. This has become something of a buzz-word topic lately.
I decided that the word "failure" doesn't actually capture the core educational value that I think we're really talking about. For me, the word instead is "risk." Failure is a one of the natural outcomes of risk, but we're not striving for failure--instead, we are encouraging risk and acknowledging that failure will often be the result.
Without risk, there is no progress.
Babe Ruth's batting average of .342 reminds us that in many arenas of life, to be great is to only connect with the ball some portion of the times that one goes to bat. What is important is not being so afraid of failure that one doesn't ever want go to bat. A high-stakes, test-driven education environment induces the opposite of risk-taking, it creates fear, and so results in little intellectual progress.
If we consider baseball and the batting average as a simplified but reasonable analogy for life, then what conditions exist in baseball that might inform our thinking about how we structure learning opportunities? I'd suggest that first is the recognition of the role of skill, and the importance of both individual and team skill-building. Second is the critical importance of practice with good coaching. Third would be the significant number of opportunities to perform (playing many game each season, with several times at bat in every game). And finally would be measurements that mean something to both the players and the coaches, and that are recognized as not perfect but enormously helpful.
We could go even further and think about how to help learners develop the "mindsets" of those who are able to take risks and who accept that success on their part requires a certain amount of failure. Here we would think about helping them learn from others' assessments, but focus primarily on developing personal competence, confidence, and their own measures for improvement. Great players (learners) believe in themselves because they know they are prepared and ever-preparing. We would recognize that each leaner will have individual strengths, and playing to those strengths is just as important as improving in areas of weakness. We'd help them recognize the role of chance in life, that things won't be fair, and how to still move forward bravely no matter the circumstance. And we'd help them keep life in perspective and remember that after the game or school is done, who you are becoming is ultimately more important than if you won a particular game or aced a particular test.
Celebrating failure itself, of course, makes no sense; nor does never allowing for it. Education is a choice we make in how we think about learners. If we want learners who will take risk, build their skills and talents, and then learn to live their lives fully as contributors and creators, we'll recognize that they need to learn to prepare and take risks, and that failures are an inevitable part of that process.
See you online!
Steve
Steve Hargadon
www.stevehargadon.com
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