Category: Education

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Is this Science because I’m failing this in school

This year I got a great opportunity to work with a unique group of students in an after school program at St. Bonaventure University. I am fortunate to work with Dr. Anne Foerst, a computer science professor at St. Bonaventure. Together we applied for and received a grant from National Grid to teach STEM to a group of middle school girls who applied to our program from area school districts. Inspired by my mother’s struggles to break the glass ceiling and reach out to girls who are an underrepresented group in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

My Mom graduated from D’Youville College in Buffalo magna cum laude in 1947 majoring in science and mathematics. She returned to her native New York City and applied for teaching jobs but was told she couldn’t get one because she was a woman. Then Mom went on to get her Masters in Mathematics and Science at Fordham University. Mom worked her way through Fordham as a graduate assistant. She eventually returned to Buffalo and got a teaching job at D’Youville College. I told Mom recently that she was part of my inspiration for getting involved with our efforts to promote STEM skills to these girls at St. Bonaventure.

I spent the summer learning how to work with and program Lego Mindstorms EV3 robots. Our grant enabled us to purchase seven complete kits and to invite fourteen girls to the St. Bonaventure campus for a two-hour class that meets once every three weeks.  We’ve been meeting since late August with these girls and they are making great progress. I’ve seen them blossom as learners and leaders and they come to our sessions with a great enthusiasm for learning. At this week’s class we taught the girls how to program the color sensor. One the girls solved a problem I hadn’t assigned but by doing so showed great insight and application. She was clearly operating at the higher levels of Blooms Taxonomy. I asked her about her thinking and application and how she arrived at this unique solution to the problem. She replied, “I figured it out last time by just tinkering.” Then she said, “Is this science, because i’m failing science in school.” Dr. Foerst said, “This isn’t science, this is FUN.”  It was a poignant moment and it really warmed my heart because this girl now knows she is a scientist and a successful one too.

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The lighting of a fire #IMMOOC

One of my favorite quotes is,”education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” by William Butler Yeates. Yet, most of the emphasis in education today is on how much is in each pail. We continue to weigh the pail as though with each measurement we are increasing the mass of learning. Measurement is important to be sure, but today’s over emphasis on standardized testing of students has done more to derail real learning that it has done to help students become productive in today’s world. It’s been almost 40 years since the advent of the personal computer and over over 75 years since the advent of television yet most of today’s classrooms do not reflect those realities. Tonight as I listened to George Couros (@gcouros) and Katie Martin () lead off the “Innovator’s Mindset” MOOC I thought of how much our educational system needs to change. Today’s children are surrounded with learning opportunities but it’s the educational gatekeepers who have until now stifled much of the necessary innovation needed to transform education. I’m hoping that this MOOC and the blogs, tweets and other sharing will help change that. Today’s students deserve better than they are getting and it’s not the fault of the teachers, nor the students and even administrators. It is time however for radical change. Radical in the sense that we need to give our students the tools to succeed and the broaden the scope of what is deemed academic. We don’t live in a college entrance world of the “baby boomers.” We need an educational paradigm change that celebrates diversity in learning styles and outcomes. That does not mean jumping on the newest “fad-wagon” either. It’s possible to be innovative without being a 1:1 school.One of the points that was made in their podcast was that some of the 1:1 schools still prohibit children from using cell phones and other BYO devices on their campuses. We need help our students to use these devices responsibly to be sure in the same way that we teach “driver education.” Not every student needs to learn how to code nor would our society or future world be better if they did code. Some will be coders, others will be writers, some will be builders, others will be painters and musicians. Everyone has gifts that can be developed. We need to develop communities of practice and learning where failure accepted as a necessary part of learning.

I’ve been co-teaching a STEM outreach program with Lego Mindstorms robots and one of the things I’ve noticed is the reticence of the students to answer questions because they have a fear of being wrong. I also have participated in four Ed Camps in the past year and this fear of being wrong is so in-grained in teachers that it takes a bit of cajoling to get them involved in discussions and sharing that are part of the dynamic of an EdCamp. Tonight’s podcast was exciting and I’m looking forward to more. You can follow along here.

 

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EdCamp is a learning opportunity you cannot afford to miss

Saturday I attended my second EdCamp in the last two months. I learned some new things as a result. Furthermore I’m inspired by the teachers and administrators whom I met there. There was an eagerness to learn and share that’s frequently missing at formal conferences. In fact at most educational conferences that I’ve either attended or presented at, the flow of information is typically one way. It’s presenter to attendee. But at EdCamps the flow of information and expertise for that matter comes from all the participants. There is a sense of excitement that’s palpable, enthusiastic and authentic. The people who are drawn to EdCamps come from near and far. They come on their own time because they sincerely want to learn and grow professionally.

I’m energized by the grass roots nature of EdCamp. I spoke with Katie McFarland the organizer of EdCampFLX which I attended on Saturday and she said they had received a mini-grant from the EdCamp Foundation to assist with the program. The rest of the snacks, refreshments and prizes were donated. I’m encouraging other retired educators to get involved with EdCamp because you might be surprised by what you learn and maybe even what you can share. Saturday I came to share on open source and open educational resources and while those sessions were productive I learned about Smore.com which I’m going to use myself and I’ve already shared it with my learning networks. I also taught a group of teachers how to create and use Twitter lists. I’m indebted to Christina Luce who first shared about EdCamp and whose enthusiasm for the movement invited my involvement. I’m looking forward to attending more EdCamps in the future and especially the one at Maine-Endwell in the April 9, 2016.

 

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If you’re in EdTech You Need to Come to All Things Open Next Year

Today while I was at the All Things Open Conference I thought,  “we need more educational technology people here.” There is a wealth of information shared about open source projects and technologies and most of them should be on the radar of anyone that’s teaching today’s students. This morning I listened to an excellent presentation by Mark Russinovitch who is the CTO of Microsoft Azure. Mark spent about thirty minutes explaining the what and why of Microsoft’s involvement with Linux kernel development and it s presence in other open source software projects including Python.

In 2015 it is irresponsible not to expose students to Linux and open source and most of today’s internet of things and cloud applications run on open source platforms.  In fact in one of the sessions I attended at this year’s conference there was a seventh grade boy from a Raleigh, NC area school district. He was so engaged in the presentation that he asked the presenter a very good question at the end of her presentation.

Throughout the conference I heard great presentations from the National Center for Women in Information Technology, Girl DevelopIT, GitHub 101, and Openstack 101. My personal favorite among all those sessions which were most appropriate to educational technology was Charlie Reisinger’s lightning talk about his one-to-one Linux laptop program at Penn Manor High School in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Charlie said that today’s students who are often called digital natives risk their futures by failing to learn skills that are highlighted in the program at Penn Manor which emphasizes hands on work with assembling and supporting Linux laptops. Many well meaning school districts undercut their students learning by forcing them to use tablets and other closed systems which don’t allow students to learn by tinkering and coding.

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BarCampRoc

What is a Bar Camp? That’s what I wanted to know a week ago. Lots of reading about them but no experience. That changed about 11:00 am yesterday morning as I sat in Room 1400 at The Golisano Computer Center at Rochester Institute of Technology. I saw first hand why this is an unconference because prior to 11:10 am there was no schedule for the day. Instead on a wall in a hallway was a list of rooms and time slots from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm with an hour for lunch. I came expecting to be surrounded by geeks and I was. But, I was also surrounded by a lot of other free thinkers who came to present on a myriad of topics including “How not to talk to an atheist.” That was the last talk I attended. The first talk I listened to was a guy who talked about how to live with perfectionism and how to recover from it. Along the way there was a presentation on Open Maps and my own presentation about my experience writing for Opensource.com and how I found a way to give back to the open source community. I want to thank the organizers of BarCampRoc. I know I’ll be back and encourage others to consider BarCamps and EdCamps. There is an EdCamp coming to Central New York this summer. Follow this link to more information about EdCampCNY.

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The First Step in Entrepreneurship

That’s part of the title for a course of study I signed up for today. It’s being offered through the University of Maryland. This is my first course with Coursera. I’m an entrepreneur and the owner of my own business and I’m looking for opportunities to grow professionally. The course is being taught by Dr. James Green. I’ve taken graduate courses on line before so this is not an entirely new experience. However, this is the first time I’ve taken any courses at the University of Maryland. I’ve been following Coursera on Twitter for over a year and reading about them on educational technology blogs. Coursera is a Massive Online Open Course or MOOC and I’ve been interested in how MOOCs could shape our educational future.

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Men’s Overnight at Mt. Irenaeus

Tonight I am a guest at Mt. Irenaeus along with about fifteen St. Bonaventure University men, four friars and a couple other men my age. Men’s overnights at the Mountain are times for sharing, forming and bonding with other men. I’ve been on several of these overnight retreats in the past ten years. Each time I’ve found peace, friendship and insight. I volunteered to drive three young men from campus to The Mountain. As we began our journey it began to snow quite hard and I worried about getting us there safely. My prayers were answered as we soon left the snow squall and had a leisurely drive. Tonight my life is richer because I accepted the invitation to be part of this gathering. I’m grateful to be a part of university life. Activities like this keep me young. I’m grateful too for the opportunity to spend a quiet night at one of my favorite places. Whenever I come to Mt. Irenaeus I feel as though I’m back home. Thanks be to God!

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Does cost really matter?

Earlier today I read a tweet from Phil Shapiro that suggested that the massive iPad initiative in Los Angeles Schools was in trouble. I did some “googling” and it does seem that the project is over budget. According to what I read the original estimates of cost per iPad were actually one-hundred dollars less than what the school district actually paid for the iPads.  How long will these iPads last and what is the replacement cost? Along with those thoughts are some of my own. I’ve been volunteering in the local library and there they have ten Dell computers which are now five years old.  I spoke with the librarian about upgrading them which would cost about $629 each on New York State Contract. Can the Blount Library afford that? Perhaps, but what will become of the units that are being replaced. Can they be refurbished and used elsewhere in the library? Yes, they could be and they might even serve as part of a “maker space.”  In one of Phil Shapiro’s tweets yesterday he stated that libraries could become local centers for the “Maker Movement.” This do-it-yourself revolutions which is sweeping across the country is gathering momentum and it’s one more purpose for today’s libraries.

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Compassion is the fuel for a new economy

Chade-Meng Tan’s talk gave renewed hope to an idea I had for a model economic development and empowerment for youth that promotes the greater good. Last summer I  participated in a course at St. Bonaventure University’s Franciscan Institute. It was called, “Retrieving a Franciscan Philosophy for Social Engagement.” As part of the course I was required to come up with a timely application of the principles which we were studying. The following is taken from a paper I wrote this summer.

“Life reduced to its simplest equation is about relationships. Implicit in these relationships is contract. Most of the time the contracts are implied and at other times in the are complex legal agreements governing business transactions. We live at a time and in a culture that is desperately looking for  a response to life that is grounded in principles that respect both the buyer and the seller. Principles that invite not only common property but value for what we can call the common good? Some might argue that such ideas are too idealistic and that nowhere is there any evidence that anyone has successfully applied such an approach.”

Chade-Meng Tan’s talk provides evidence that such principles are used very successfully at Google. Glad to have found this talk and thank you to TED for publishing it.

[ted id=1113]

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Teaching the Senior Class

Last night I taught a small group of seniors. They were an attentive lot and they were my first students this fall. The topic was “Beginner Computer Basics.” You may have guessed by now that these seniors were not seventeen and eighteen years olds. A couple were octogenarians. Nonetheless, the oldest student already had a Gmail account which was part of my lesson. We covered the basics and I opened up a Dell Optiplex desktop so that the class could get a good look at the insides of a typical computer. I had some short videos that I put together for them along with a Wikispace that I created especially for our class.

I arrived about fifteen minutes early to ensure that all was set for our class. The oldest student was already there and eager to begin. We began promptly at 6:00 pm and ended ninety minutes later. In the process my students learned some basic terms, got an inside view of a typical desktop computer and learned how to create a Gmail account. We even got started on how to create a document in Google Drive. Thank you to Jessica Frank, Director of Blount Library who asked me to put together some introductory computer classes and to my students. You made my day!