Learning Aloud

The May 29 issue of Nature contains an article claiming that playing video games (shooters) can improve certain cognitive skills. We are talking “the brain changes as the result of experience” type claims. The position that such experiences have some very real redeeming qualities (beyond being fun) is in stark contrast to those who see the dark side of such games (see CNN news article). While I am not ready to assign Doom as homework quite yet, the development of these contrasting claims will be interesting to follow.

Those of us in higher ed typically bristle at claims that we work in an ivory tower. The implication is that we are unaware of how things work in the “real world.” I prefer to understand such complaints as the lack of an understanding that people often function in “parallel universes” – this view encourages the perspective that groups share the blame for any lack of understanding or common interest rather than assuming the problem is owned by one group.

I learned at the conference I attended this week that North Dakota has a State Technology Plan. This plan outlines expectations for schools, teachers, and students. I was vaguely aware of such documents because of the recent Ed Week special report that indicated states have technology plan and even the awareness the U.S. is working on a technology plan (see blog of 6/6 – you can participate). Such plans are significant. States are strongly encouraged to develop plans by linking the presence of such plans to federal dollars. States “encourage” individual schools through the same mechanism.

I am surprised that there are not more discussions among those of us involved in the preparation of teachers and those working to assure the competence of practicing teachers. I am not certain that “just in time learning” is always the most efficient approach or is always possible. I understand that universities value their independence and do not assume the teachers they prepare will all work within the state. I also understand that we explore ideas that may prove impractical. These are just different perspectives on the same goals. There must be more opportunities to develop a shared vision (or at least overlapping visions) and responsibility.

Check out your state technology plan. You should be able to locate it online.

The North Dakota K-12 technology conference (Teaching and Technology) is this week. The keynote presentation was given by Susan Patrick U.S. Education Department Office of Educational Technology (sorry about the image – I wanted to emphasize the message on the screen). The message — there is a major role for technology in NLCB. Integrating technology to improve student and school performance is the key. Access to technology is no longer sufficient to generate federal support for school proposals.

I enjoy attending sessions and I try to pick out things I need to learn about. I can take pictures of Cindy without permission.

More tomorrow on some of the sessions (even on Windows products).

One observation – after listening to the keynote (technology integration as viewed from the federal level) and also attending a session on the state technology plan (pretty much the same message) – I started paying attention to the attendance in other sessions. Those who attended sessions seemed to prefer “how to do it sessions” over sessions emphasizing curriculum examples. I wonder why? Perhaps many feel they have yet to get to the point at which they feel integrating technology is possible. Perhaps classroom integration is very teacher, school, and content area specific so that there is less interest in how someone else does it. Perhaps people who pay to attend technology conferences really enjoy learning about the technology and will worry about the planning stuff when they get back home.

This question is often a good way to generate some discussion (or a minor riot). Search Engine Watch is an online source for lots of information about search engines. Recently, Associte Editor Chris Sherman attempted to generate an answer to this question by asking the search engines. The answer – “Even the search engines themselves can’t agree.

Jamie McKenzie’s online journal – From Now On – has an interesting article entitled Writing the Right Way. The article addresses the false assumption that writing with a computer will automatically create better writers and suggests that teachers revisit the idea of process writing.

The No Child Left Behind Act charges the Secretary of Education with developing the nation??s third National Education Technology Plan. If you have comment or are interested in this process, you might explore the official web site for this process.

When you write about technology in schools, you constantly search for current statistics. Things change fast and it is difficult to provide a description of what is typical. Some commonly cited statistical sources are fee based — these sources appear to be oriented toward those making business decisions. Education Week offers an annual review of educational issues and trends under the title of Technology Counts. The 2003 issue is now available. If you visit this site or read the paper version (I think I paid $6), you still need to watch the dates for the data Tech Counts 2003 provides. You will see that some of it was gathered in 2000.

On more thing about this publication. Each year, in addition to giving updated state by state data on technology use, the publication has a topical focus. This year’s focus addresses the role of technology in assessment (online testing, online test preparation, computer essay grading).