5 people to follow in 2011

Note: This is the third part my series "5 things to watch in 2011" Future installments will include: 

• Five companies to watch in 2011
• Five trends to watch in 2011
• Five technologies to watch in 2011
• Five blogs to read in 2011

Here's who I'm paying attention to in 2011. 

Adrianna Stone is a High School science teacher in Houston, Texas. I attended her session on "Engaging a Gaggle of Googlers" at the Virtual School Symposium in Glendale, Arizona this past November. Her enthusiasm for teaching and innovative integration of technology in the classroom make her one to keep your eye on. You can follow her on twitter or read her blog.

Nick Provenzano is a high school English teacher in Michigan. He has been working on a really cool idea in his classroom his is calling the "blogger cafe" (check out the pictures of his classroom, you'll be jealous!). Since the inception of this idea Nick has really started networking with educators from around the globe. Nick is the organizer of #edcampdetroit which I will be attending in May.

Peter Webber is the IT director at Southfield Christian School where I teach. Peter was hired full time last year and has accomplished more since his first day than in several previous years. Not only does he have great technical knowledge, he's also easy to talk to and nice to "non-geeks." Peter is helping develop a technology initiative next year that I am really excited about (but not allowed to share!). Peter isn't afraid to try out new things and is willing to adapt on the fly, two things that I really appreciate about him! Follow him on Twitter!

Daniel Rezac is a prolific contributor to the educational community. As a tech coordinator outside of Chicago he has lots of experience and insight into the implementation of technology into classrooms. He posts his thoughts on his personal blog, on the the District30 technology blog, his Tech&Learning blog, and, his new venture, EdReach. Make sure you check out the EdReach site. I'm happy to be a contributor, helping to give education a BIG voice.

Tom Barrett is deputy head teacher at a primary school in Nottingham, England. Tom's passion for education and the integration of technology has led to some amazing accomplishments. I would highly recommend Tom's "Interesting Ways" series in which he has collected scores of ideas for integrating various technologies into the classroom. Tom frequently Tweets out great links and resources and is definitely worth the follow!

Easily follow these five individuals:

• Twitter List (follow them all in one click!)
• Google Reader Bundle (follow all of the blogs in one click!)

Who are you following in 2011?

First Look: Chrome OS Netbook

This past Monday I was surprised to find a square box on my doorstep. Inside was a gift from Google-- a brand new CR48 Netbook.

If you are unfamiliar with the CR48 I would recommend reading about the netbook and Chrome OS directly from Google.

I've been using the CR48 off and on for the past few days and am ready to put down my first impressions. First, what I like:

1. Amazingly fast boot-up time. 
This was the video that I attached to my application for the Chrome OS pilot program:



This is how fast Chrome OS boots up:



2. Chrome Sync
The first time I logged into Chrome OS with my Google account I was asked if I wished to enable Chrome sync. As soon as I clicked "yes" Chrome OS synced all of my book marks, themes, history, and web apps with my other installations of Chrome (on my laptop and my desktop).

Because Chrome OS is completely cloud based (no local storage), I can't lose any data. If my computer is lost, stolen, or destroyed, all I need to do is log into another Chrome OS computer and everything is right where I left it. Computers are now disposable. Hardware is irrelevant.

3. Track Pad Gestures
The nice, large trackpad on the CR48 netbook recognizes classic "Apple" gestures such as the pinch, two finger scroll, and two finger click (right click). I will admit that I am still getting used to the placement and sensitivity of the trackpad (I seem to regularly swipe the trackpad with my palm while typing), but I'm getting better at it.

4. 3g Integration
I haven't needed to use it yet, but each CR48 comes with integrated 3g wireless service provided by Verizon. Users receive 100mb/month free for two years. That's not much-- enough to check your email on the road a few times a month, but hey, it's free! Additional data can be purchased without a contract. I like the idea that this machine can constantly be connected to the web. Something that is essential considering without the web you can't even log into it!

5. Integrated Browser Controls
There are a few new keys on the CR48 keyboard including a "search" button that opens up a search window as well as back and forward browser controls, refresh, and window toggling.

What I don't like

1. The Chrome Apps Store
The Chrome App store is a joke. Many of the "apps" are simply book marks. Tweetdeck is the only Chrome App that I have installed that is actually an app. The app store is what made Apple's mobile devices so compelling. If Google expects Chrome OS to take off, they will need a more compelling marketplace.

2. Media Transfer
My CR48 came with one USB port and an SD card slot. I plugged a flash drive, my ipod, and my digital camera into the USB drive and nothing happened. It appears that there is currently no way to upload media onto the web via Chrome OS. This is likely a driver compatibility issue that will (hopefully) be resolved in the future.

3. Printing
Because my printer is connected to a Mac, I currently have no way of printing from my CR48. Google Cloud print looks like a great solution, but it currently only works on PC with Windows XP, Vista, or 7 installed.

4. Audio
This is probably a little picky, but the speakers on the CR48 are horrible! The audio is intermittently completely garbled and indistinguishable.  When this happens I have to reboot (fortunately that doesn't take long!) to fix it. When the audio is "working" the sound quality is poor.

Those are my initial thoughts. If you have any questions about the CR48 let me know and I'll do my best to answer them!

5 Trends to Watch in 2011

Note: This is the second of my series "5 things to watch in 2011" Future installments will include: 

• Five companies to watch in 2011
• Five people to follow in 2011
• Five technologies to watch in 2011
• Five blogs to read in 201

Reverse Instruction is an innovative instructional strategy that was originally used by chemistry teachers Aaron Sams and Jon Bergman. The basic idea involves have students watch recorded lectures at home and working on homework assignments at school. You can read my experience in "flipping" my Anatomy and Physiology class here. Sams and Bergman are in the process of writing a book on this method of instruction and are being invited to speak all around the country. Look for them at the next education conference that you attend!

Blended Learning is the combination of face to face and online instruction. With school districts facing budget cuts and the maintenance and upkeep of school buildings increasing, it only makes sense that schools leverage technology to reduce costs while improving instruction. At the 2010 Virtual School Symposium sponsored by iNACOL it was clear that blended instruction is quickly becoming a viable instructional option as many states adopt seat-waver initiatives.

Cloud computing is here to stay. Everyone seems to be jumping on board. Microsoft announced the deployment of Office Web Apps as a competitor to Google Apps. Google launched the alpha test of its Chrome OS netbook which lives in the cloud. Every day more and more services are becoming cloud based. The increasing availability of wireless connections through 3G and 4G networks make cloud computing an increasingly viable option. Look for the development of web browsers to continue while the development of operating systems to stagnate.

Media Streaming Media is one element that still has its roots based on physical discs and locally stored files. As broadband service become increasingly common there is no reason for physical media such as DVD's and CD's. Additionally, more and more electronic devices are connected to the web including TV's and DVD/Bluray players. The popularity of services such as Pandora point to the viability of media streaming. Look for services such as Netflix and iTunes to go to a 100% streaming model. Media companies are slowly realizing the demand for streaming services and are opening their vaults to services such as Netflix, but at a hefty price.

Mobile Devices and applications are quickly becoming the dominant form of connectivity in society. The Pew Internet & American Life Project reports that "the rate at which Americans went online with their handheld on a typical day increased by 73% in the sixteen months between the 2007 and 2009 surveys."Both Apple and Android report strong sales/downloads of applications to mobile devices. Look for mobile devices and applications to dominate the news and innovation cycle of 2011. I am paying close attention to the continued development and application of QR codes, Augmented Reality, and smart phone projection.

Check back next Monday for the second installment of my "5 things" series...

5 Companies to Watch in 2011

Note: This is the first of my series "5 things to watch in 2011" Future installments will include: 

• Five people to follow in 2011
• Five trends to watch in 2011
• Five technologies to watch in 2011
• Five blogs to read in 2011 

 The folks over at Prezi continue to make their presentation product more and more compelling. When I first learned about Prezi I was impressed by the fundamental change it brought to the art of presentations. No longer was I constrained to a linear, one dimensional presentation format. In September Prezi meeting was launched which enables up to 10 people to edit or view a Prezi remotely. January of 2011 saw the launch of an iPad app on which to view presentations.

I have recently been researching curriculum providers for virtual schools. After interviewing many prospective companies I became frustrated with the lack of innovation and impressiveness of their products. Then I stumbled upon FYI Learning Online. This content provider has top-notch content for virtual schools and their crown jewel, Teacher Space, which enables virtual instructors to modify course content on the fly based on the needs of their students. FYI is a recent addition to the marketplace, but I expect that they will become very popular.

Alongside my search for curriculum providers I also began researching content management system (CMS) for virtual schools. While Blackboard dominates the marketplace, BrainHoney is a very impressive CMS geared toward the K-12 market. Built upon an exhaustive open API library, BrainHoney is posed to integrate just about anything you could wish. Better yet, BrainHoney has strategically placed themselves in the online marketplace and have secured an impressive endorsement from Clayton Christenson. Look for BrainHoney to capture a significant share of the K-12 virtual school market.

As a resident of the state of Michigan, I'm proud of the innovative and rock solid products being produced by TechSmith. Their core products Camtasia Studio (screen casting) and Snagit (image capturing) are standard on all of my computers. My podcast series "Google, More than Search" [iTunes link] was created entirely using Camtasia Studio. TechSmith has embraced the educational community by giving away $2.3 million in free software to Michigan schools and sponsoring #edcampdetroit this May.

Learn Boost is a startup company that has developed a gradebook program that has great potential. Unlike many of the gradbook programs I have seen/used LearnBoost is well designed, intuitive to use, and includes some powerful reporting and data analysis features. LearnBoost is also specifically designed to integrate with Google Apps. While I think the product needs a little bit of time to mature, I would certainly keep my eye on this company!

**Disclosure: I was made aware of LearnBoost when I was invited to become a guest blogger (gratis). After researching the company and their product I felt comfortable aligning myself with them. I will be cross-posting some of my post from the Electric Educator on the LearnBoost blog in the future.**

Check back next Monday for the second installment of my "5 things" series...

Reflection: The FedEx Project

Two ideas have inspired me to try something radically different in my classroom.

The first is Google's 20% time. If you're not familiar with the idea, Google requires (they don't suggest or encourage, they require!) every employee to spend 20% of their working time doing something other than what they were hired to do. Some employees spend their 20% time aiding charitable causes, help organize internal parties and events, or join a local club or organization. A large percentage of Google employees spend their 20% time working on engineering projects that they find interesting or challenging. Since Google only hires employees who love what they do (write great code), that's what a lot of them do in their spare time as well. 

What does Google stand to gain from allowing their employees to spend the equivalent of one day a week doing something other than what they are supposed to be doing? While there is no way to quantitatively evaluate the overall benefits of the program, some pretty neat things have come out of the 20% time program: 

• Gmail
• Google News
• Moderator
• Google Talk
• Tasks

Do all 20% projects lead to profitable products? Certainly not, but they do contribute toward positive morale, a culture of innovation, and autonomy for employees. 

Autonomy, mastery, and purpose are three concepts that Dan Pink explained with great clarity in his 2009 TED talk. The essence of Pink's talk is that tangible rewards (a paycheck, a grade, a promotion) are only effective at motivating people to a certain point. Ultimately, the most effective motivators are autonomy (the ability to chart your own course), mastery (the ability to become an exert at something), and purpose (the idea that what you are doing serves a purpose larger than yourself). After watching Pink's talk I was inspired to write a blog post about these ideas and possible applications to the classroom. Over a year later, I am now prepared to reflect on my application of Google's 20% time and Pink's vision of motivation in my high school Anatomy & Physiology classroom. 

When I hatched this idea, my purpose was to provide my students with an opportunity to pursue their passions, to become independent learners, and to help others. They would choose their project, choose their medium, and share it with the world. 

I decided to call this assignment the "FedEx Project" after hearing Dan Pink share about the software company Atlassian and their "FedEx Days." The idea is pretty simple. 

• Write up a delivery slip
• Deliver your project according to the delivery schedule.

This year, students in my Anatomy and Physiology class spent the first half of the semester honing their "FedEx Proposals." Each of them chose a topic that interested them and a method of sharing and demonstrating their learning with the world. I intentionally left the project ambiguous and open-ended. Student could do pretty much anything they wanted as long as it was complex, dynamic, and could be shared with the world. Here are the projects that were created this year: 

• Adam P. (12th Grade)-- Wiki on the physiology of dreams.
• Tabitha W. (12th Grade)-- Wiki on the physiology of fear. 
• Corinne W. (10th Grade)-- 5 videos on the importance of the five senses. 
• Josh M. (10th Grade)-- Prezi on intelligence.
• Kristina W. (12th Grade)-- Brochure on becoming an OB/GYN.
• Nicole H. (12th Grade)-- Wiki on the emotions of eating. 

Overall, I was happy with the final submissions. There are a few things that I can do as a teacher to improve the quality of the projects and the learning of the students: 

• Provide more structure in the proposal phase. My intention was to leave the project open ended so that students would have freedom to pursue their passions however it has become clear that a complete lack of structure is very overwhelming for high school students. They are not independent learners yet and therefore have trouble outlining their own learning process. 
• Move up the time line to ensure timely completion of the proposal. This year we spent too much time working on the proposal. This shouldn't have been a big deal, but because of the lack of structure, the student sent nearly an entire quarter trying to wrap their heads around the project. They had never done something like this before and it was a conceptually challenging assignment. They wanted to write papers and make posters, because that's what they were used to.  
• Provide regular, dedicated "Fedex Days." While this is designed to be a self-directed project, students needed a LOT of guidance. I would recommend roughly 1 day a week dedicated to working on this project. This equals the amount of time that Google provides to their employees for their 20% initiative. 

There are also a few teachable moments that anyone trying this idea should be ready to address: 

• Idea Failure: I had one student who designed a survey that she distributed to her classmates to collect data related to her project. Unfortunately her survey did not measure what she thought it was going to measure and it was essentially useless. While the survey did not contribute to the end process, it was a valuable learning experience. Not all ideas work out and some require more planning than others. 
• Digital Natives aren't always that digital! None of my students were familiar with the plethora of web 2.0 tools available to them for use in their projects. I introduced them to Prezi, Google Scholar, and Wikis. I was surprise at the anxiety and lack of confidence that most of the students had at using these tools. This was one of the reasons the project timeline got off-track. I had to do a lot of training on the use of these various tools. 

This was my second round of FedEx projects and I still don't feel that I have mastered the project from a teaching standpoint. I've made some much needed improvements and think that a third round might prove to be the breakthrough.

Responsibilities of the Edutech Geek

If you can edit the header.php file in a wordpress template, hunt down the path of an image in html, keep track of hundreds of logins for students and staff, know the difference between between gadgets, widgets, and apps, and are the first one to discover great new web-based tools for the classroom, you are an Edutech Geek.

"With great power comes great responsibility." --Uncle Ben Parker 

As Edutech Geeks, we have the responsibility to train, share, and inspire those who are not tech geeks. Many teachers are overwhelmed with technology. Some appear to be allergic to it. Our challenge is to find a way to make the complex simple; to automate the arduous task; to empower staff and students with technology, not to overwhelm them with it. Our goal is not to turn everyone around us into Edutech Geeks.

Today I led my monthly "Tuesday Tech Training" session at Southfield Christian School where I teach. It was an open lab session and teachers wandered in to get help with various issues.

I helped a teacher set up automated comment moderation on her blog.

I solved an "unsolvable" issue related to latin placeholder text in a Wordpress template that no one could find.

I talked with a veteran teacher who is thinking about writing a book about the benefits of blogging.
I shared with great excitement the wonders of Google Body Browser.
Today, at least, I have fulfilled my duty as an Edutech Geek. Tomorrow, I'll try again...

Detroit Public Schools "Technology Infusion"

The scandal plagued Detroit Public School announced today that they are spending $49 million in Federal grants on a "Technology Infusion." The purchase list includes:

40,000 ASUS Netbook laptop computers
5,000 for teachers
35,000 for students
4,789 HP desktop computers – one for every classroom
4,291 multi-purpose printer/scanners
4,550 document cameras
533 HP desktop computers delivered for use in early childhood education programs
273 SMART Boards purchased for School Improvement Grant schools through Title I funds obtained by Wayne RESA 

A district spokeswomen told Michigan Radio that “Each school will be developing its own unique curriculum for the netbooks. And really the sky’s the limit for implementation of the new technology in the  classroom.”

I have a few concerns:

• Have/will teachers be properly trained to incorporate this technology in pedagogically sound ways?
• Have/will students be instructed on more than the simple basics of MS Office and graphic design? Will they be taught about the importance of their digital footprint, proper online behavior, and the power of virtual collaboration? 
• DPS students are already under performing. How will adding a new layer of complexity (a netbook for every student) improve teaching and learning?

Although I am a great proponent of technology, I am under no allusions that technology alone will solve any problems. People solve problems, not computers. This $49 million could be a great thing or could continue DPS's history of mismanagement, corruption, and general lameness.