The Computer Using Educators Conference (CUE) held March thru 6, is a gold mine of resources in educational technology and an opportunity to take a fresh look at how we are using our educational tools and why. Among the presentations attended were:

Leadership Summit: Build School 2.0, Creating Systems and Structures Around what You Believe Chris Lehman, Science Leadership Academy

Goal should be to create 21^st Century citizenry, not work force units. Public education is the foundation of democracy. Who do we want our kids to be? How will we help them become who they will be? Our goals are much higher than test-taking skills.  Test scores alone do not tell us who is proficient.

A big problem in education: a lack of humility. Education leaders think they know how to improve teaching, so it’s the teachers who won’t do wheat needs to be done. “I’ve done all I can, there’s nothing else to do” should be “I don’t know what to do.”  What are we willing to learn and unlearn? What do we do simply use we have always done it?

Education and the Cult of Efficiency, Raymond Callahan – how schools became business. Also recommended, the Coalition of Essential Schools.

We teach kids, not subjects. Schools need teachers to connect to students, to embrace and build on passion. Teachers are not content masters. Technology needs to be like oxygen – ubiquitous, necessary and invisible.

Hand’sOn STEM Education Dr. David Thornburg and Jim Brazell

Engineering requires all disciplines, while math and science can be isolated. Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education endeavors to integrate all these disciplines in an authentic manner using today’s tools.  STEM Education, from Sputnik to the 21^st Century, David Thornburg.

The three-hour session focus on education topics while demonstrating STEM technologies at a dizzying pace. The resources listed below have great potential in our classrooms. Almost all of them are free and mulit-platform.

Scratch Object Oriented Programming software with the grace of logo but updated and powerful
PhET Interactive science simulations
GeoGebra Algebra and Geometry exploration software. Mathematics can be interactive!
MathTRAX It not only graphs equations, but it explains them in words and it is accessible to the sight impaired. Must be seen to be believed
Tabula Digita The only free resource listed, this program teaches math through a rich interactive game
Celestia Real time simulation that allows students to explore the universe
The Futures Channel Never underestimate the power of video to engage learners
All Electronics Recycled, out of stock and surplus hardware at bargain basement prices

Keynote Address: Creating Artists of Learning, Mary Cullinane

We are reaching a turning point: less is not more, it is less. We exist in a world of constant crisis that schools are asked to fix. Schools should be built on hope, not a norm of crisis and deficit. We need to define a new norm built on hope that works for our students.

What should we monitor and measure? How do we adapt our schools to meet our students’ needs? What do they need and what do they want? How do we know? Learning is always first, technology second. Language is paramount.

What questions and the answers will come. Not asking the right questions is dangerous. We need a creative canvas where learning is continuous, relevant and adaptive.

Lack of process impedes success. Be comfortable not knowing. Ask the right questions and you will find the answers you need. Ask the wrong questions and you will find solutions only by accident.

Web 2.0 in Moodle: One Stop Shop Colin Matheson

The session was a general review of the tools available in Moodle. While Moodle is not the best way to do all of the components available, it makes all of the Internet tools available in one place and they work well together.

Igniting the Mathematical Mind Pablo Diaz, Jamie Sweet

Elementary and middle school activities using the Promethean board and Activexpression student response devices to engage math students.

The 21^st Century Classroom Discovery Learning Team

Animation-ish  and other products by Discovery Learning make publishing and animation accessible to elementary students. This is very similar to Flash, but without the steep learning curve.

Free & Simple Web 2.0: Hot Applications and Cool Projects Jim Holland, Susan Anderson

Their web site, Digital Goonies, is a gold mine of Web 2.0 resources. Noteworthy ones include:

Slide.com Easy way to make slides shows and movies
Wikispaces Managed Wiki access with premium option
Voki Develop a talking avatar

They also mentioned a powerful Gmail trick – teacher username + student username @gmail.com will return email to that teacher from the student without enabling broader email access.

School 2.0: Progressive Pedagogy and 21^st Century Tools Chris Lehman

His school, the Science Learning Academy in Phillapdelphia, started with a core question: What do we want for our students? They decided they wanted to support students to be:

• • Thoughtful
    Wise
    Passionate
    Kind

Children should never be the implied object of their education. We teach kids, not subjects.

That leads to many practical questions. How do we get there? Technology Overload – how do we prevent it?  Tools don’t teach, but they change the way we teach. Common language of teaching and learning so that students are not trying to figure out adults. Understanding by Design, Gant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, was the foundation for much of their school design.

See the SLA website for resources, especially the common evaluation tools they have developed and project based learning. They also sponsor an annual conference:  EduCon 2.3 http://educon22.org

Web 2.0 in the 21^st Century Classroom Susan Brooks, Dan Morris

Web 2.0 is a beta world

The workshop’s agenda and links online. Web 2.0 can support instructional strategies that have been identified by research as productive and effective. We simply need to learn to use these tools. Marzano’s effective strategies, listed in order of effectiveness, can be supported by Web 2.0 tools:

1. Identifying similarities and differences
2. Summarizing and note taking
3. Reinforcing effort and providing recognition
4. Homework and practice
5. Nonlinguistic representations
6. Cooperative learning
7. Setting objectives and providing feedback
8. Generating and testing hypotheses
9. Cues, questions, and advance organizers

Some of the well established tools are listed below. See the online agenda for a complete list.

Wallwisher Groups can post, compare and organize concepts in real time
Skrbl Real time sharing and organization that can be monitored
Wikispaces Wiki application that is free and practical
PBWorks Wiki application that is manageable
Glogster Nonlinguistic representations can be used online for storytelling
Visual ranking tool Requires Flash player, combines multiple strategies in one app. Decision making tool for adults as well as students. Would work best in groups so that there is interaction between people and well as Web 2.0.

TIPS: Technology Integration Practical Solutions Gayle Cole, Jayme Johnson
You have to give the oxygen to the teachers first.

There needs to be more for networking between teachers and building community. Technology integration requires time and experience. TIPS model used one-week seminar in the summer to brainstorm and play. This has developed is a collaboration community that continues to work together long after the seminar.

Don’t focus on the technology. Focus on a task that uses technology and allow inquiry to drive tech training. Build community while building lessons and technology competency.