 Uncertain of where I’d like to go with this blog post, I sit here on Monday afternoon combing through all of the bookmarks & resources that I’ve gathered over the past week with hopes of discovering an interesting topic.  To be honest, my head is spinning a bit.  I’ve recently focused on design thinking, project based learning, the flipped classroom, flipped pro-d, social media in the classroom, emerging technology and more.  While I love delivering this content via the Daytime blog because it not only allows me share great resources, it forces me to learn what I’m suggesting that I actually understand, ha! However, I’ve run into a problem that requires some answering.  Recently I’ve preached how important student engagement is via several of my posts, yet what I’ve failed to do is promote increased involvment within the comments section of the blog.  Although I regularly receive direct emails from those who have enjoyed a particular post, have a few Daytime conversations in the hallway regarding topics such as William Wallace vs. Maximus Decimus Meridius, or get a few comments on my weekly sports reports or humorous videos, I need more engagement!  One thing I have noticed is that “commenting” on the blog is not a particularly intuitive process.  Rest assured that we will be making this process much easier with our soon to come SCHift blog update.  In the meantime, here’s a quick “how-to” leave a comment, until we release the added functionalityÂ
If I were a teacher lacking student attention, how would I captivate my audience?  My first step would be to liven up the lessons and promote collaboration!  If talks of William Wallace, Philadelphia sporting teams, and funny Youtube clips don’t enthrall you, what am I to do?  Ultimately, I’d love some feedback on various topics related to ed-tech that you would be more interesting in reading about, while also becoming more likely to engage in conversations.  Or do I just listen to the community and start a Stallone vs. Schwarzaneger debate?  If all else fails, perhaps I’ll begin handing out prizes for the most interesting responses.  I hear Lionel is quite the carpenter, Tom has always been my go to guy when I get a flat tire, and Pete can cook a homemade pizza like it’s nobody’s business.  These are just a few possibilities for prize give aways.  Ultimately, what I’d love to do with this blog (Faculty Creative, if you’re reading this…please take note!), other than find a new logo (I know, its lame and it needs to be updated) is “gamify” this blog to start up some SCH competition, think Foursquare.  Take a look at the following article for more info. on gamification –  Bunchball-gamification101.
Sow now I’m a few paragraphs in to this post and it’s begining to take shape, albeit not the best shape… Many of you writers out there will be pleased to see that I’ve learned that simply sitting down to starting the writing process is the best way to reach your inner creativity.  Years ago, an English professor of mine said that I was over-thinking everything and that I would be best served to sit down and just start writing.  This is proof that I do in fact remember something from college!  While I loved the daily three hour lectures, I’ll admit that much of my early college years were spend looking out windows and drawing in the back of my books. Given the amount of hours I spent on my “craft,” who knows where I’d be if only I had taken a couple of art courses…This creative writing anecdote has reminded me of the following article that I read this past weekend, Toward Pedagogy written by Howard Rheingold of DMLCentral.  In the article, the author reflects on his ongoing experiment in high-end, peer-to-peer, global learning via the Internet and social networks.  Similarly, last week’s Daytime post discusses Dr. Eric Mazur’s methodology to help get away from the traditional lecture-discussion-test approach to instruction.  I’m starting to feel a certain “Seinfeld” cohesiveness to this blog post, things are starting to connect!
On to the fun portion of this week’s post, the videos!  First, the funny.  Given the recent focus on traditional approaches to education, check this video out where Father Guido Sarducci discusses his “Five Minute University”Â
Next, the cool. Â How do you think technology will affect our lives in the next 10-20 years? Â Maybe even the next 5 – 10? Â While you ponder, take a look at this Microsoft video. Â Think they’re getting back in the game? Â I certainly hope so, because the competition is great for us as well as our students. Â This is an inspiring video!!Â
Digital Tools:
click.to -Â Click To is a small piece of software for Mac or PC that allows users to essentially turn everything on the computer into a hyperlink. Text, images, videos, and other documents which are selected can be sent to other applications with a single click. Â Here’s a quick demo -Â
Did I mention that I’d love for you comment on the blog????
Daytime 
This is where you leave comments!
Hi Vince, I enjoyed the videos. Still unclear regarding click to
Have been trying to flip the classroom. I believe that the students need more instruction from me before they will comfortable with learning on their on initially and then getting additional small group/individual instruction in the classroom.
Thanks for the information.
Paui
Hi Vince, I enjoyed the videos. Still unclear regarding click to
Have been trying to flip the classroom. I believe that the students need more instruction from me before they will comfortable with learning on their on initially and then getting additional small group/individual instruction in the classroom.
Thanks for the information.
Paul
Great post, Vince! Can’t wait to unveil SCHift.org v 2.0 in the coming months with some beautiful conversational tools built in!
PS-Vince can give you a workout routine as a prize (-:
Hi Vince, The video was a big help. The only tip I have – and it’s advice I have a hard time taking myself regarding email – maybe try to keep the posts fairly short? I get interrupted often and don’t have time to finish reading a longer post or watch more than one video. Thank you for sharing all the great ideas and videos.
Nina
Hey Paul,
I received your email, looks like you figure it out 🙂 Here’s another video that may explain how click.to can be used a little bit better – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av7Rvt9dSbs
I think the Flipped classroom certainly varies from one discipline to another. I also think slowly integrating as an additional method of instruction is the way to go, rather that simply flipping the switch (no pun intended) completely….which it sounds like your doing.
Giants…..ugh
Hey Nina,
Glad the video helped. As for shortening, I actually had a draft of this blog post where I mentioned that as one of the reasons some may not be participating. But truthfully, I think it may take up to 10 minutes to read the entire post, including videos. It’s a great outlet and means of communication for me, shortening it would only ruin it in my eyes. If I took the videos out, it would probably be a 90 second read…..but who wants that?? I use Twitter for the short and sweet posts 🙂 Thanks for joining in the conversation!
Hey Vince,
Suggestion to increase engagement: if some how you could try and relate the tools/concepts in your posts to specific curriculum/projects or work that teachers are doing in the classroom…this MAY make your posts more applicable, transferable, relatable? Not sure but… I wonder if it’s possible for you to visit some classrooms, find out what themes or units the teachers are presenting, share your ideas with them on tech tools they could use to enhance their unit, maybe lend support in the classroom while they’re trying it out (you’re probably doing a lot of this already!) and then report out these experiences on your blog posts — your successes/experiments around this. Maybe try to do one for each division – to start. I’m thinking something similar to what Lionel did for my CEC class — he spent the time in my classroom roving from one student to the next, helping them out with different aspects of iMovie. I was more willing to have the kids use/learn that tool since I knew I wasn’t out there on my own -and could get in-class support from tech. It was great!
Just a thought…
Rene
P.S. I DO thoroughly enjoy your blog posts and thank you for the many LOL moments (and pedagogical insights!) you’ve shared!!
Hi Vince!
I’ve been meaning to mention that one of my teachers at UArts uses a blended online/in class learning experience which is also employing the flipped classroom model. Her classes are the best I have ever had! Students are given assignments to research information based on readings or videos and present the findings during the next class. We also post responses and replies to other posts on a LMS called Nicenet (Haiku is better but Nicenet is free). I must say that this flipped classroom model is much better than listening to a lecture! I’ve had both kinds of courses over the past 2 years and honestly, a lecture between the hours of 7:00 and 10:00 after a long day of work spells disaster! This week’s assignment is to share something interesting from the news that relates to art education, post insights gained from watching Sir Ken Robinson’s (RSA animates) “Changing Educational Paradigms” and thoughts on STEM vs. STEAM … What’s it all about? I look forward to reading the written responses and the always amazing in class discussions that will revolve around what we shared.
Karen
P.S. Ditto Rene’s P.S.!
Hi Vince,
Another lovely post. While I would love to sit here and debate William Wallace vs. Maximus, I think that there are many other interesting topics to discuss. I now know that: Lionel can help me with the renovations in my house, should I get a flat tire I will call your brother, and Pete might be able to bring me back to my days in Rome. Here’s the question for you…enough of foursquare, livingsocial, etc. My prize will go to any of the tech guys who can not only TELL me what LEVELUP is…but also prove to me that they have the app. Let the games begin!
Definitely a good funny and a good inspiration video as always. The donation poster waving thank you had me thinking of Harry Potter paintings and newspapers though and creeps me out a bit. lol. I love those desk/table concepts that links everything. I think I have whined to Karen K several times about this but, I wish that we could have some kind of bump app that would link to our computers in the V2 so I could get all the work from my kids off the computers quick and at least onto my phone or a drive so I could upload it to their blogs later. Oh, that would be amazing, just move my phone next to the computer and bam, done. Or bump an ipad file right to my laptop. I am so behind on that this year with so many kids. Any suggestions that are not fantasy?
As far as the blogging and the commenting, I totally get the frustration having had my classroom blog/website for 5 years. People are always asking me, “Well, do people read it?” “How do you know it is worth the time?” and such. I feel like over time I can tell who is reading by our interactions and comments, even if the parents hardly EVER comment on the teacher posts. Some are getting good at commenting on their child’s post. It is still a goal of mine to increase engagement on my blog though. Ironically, look what popped up on my twitter feed this evening: http://www.margieclayman.com/myth-blogging-will-work-as-long-as-youre-awesome
Is there anyway to get notifications when someone posts to the blog? That would help with the conversation. Now, I need to remember to check back to see if anyone responds to my response. Or if someone finds this post later down the line, we won’t know if someone adds to it, though I am sure you will be notified. Perhaps it is a posting option that can be opened up?
Oh, and Saburah….you are too funny.
Hi Vince,
Thanks for Daytime and thanks for asking about increasing engagement. I have to say that I only check in from time to time and skim through, and I appreciate being made aware of all the options and resources “out there” through your posts. However, if the children are digital natives, I guess I’m a digital tourist here. I love that it’s here but it’s not a regular part of life yet (maybe when I retire!) All this to say, please know that I appreciate your offerings, even if on a lesser level of engagement, but am happy about the availability of it.
Thanks again,
g.
Hey Rene, regarding curriculum/projects that teachers are doing in the classroom, I think this is a great idea. I’ve been focusing on many of the initiatives I see the school and the world of ed-tech moving towards e.g PBL, SN, Design Thinking, Flipped models etc. It may be a good idea to work with faculty to let them know I’m here to help with what they’re doing to get to a place where we want to be. Not to suggest that anybody is doing anything wrong, but perhaps how some of the tools/resources that I’ve been researching can help. I’ll certainly consider ways to relay this to the school moving forward. Maybe as a design thinking project???
Your ideas are always awesome, Rene!
Hey Karen, happy bday BTW!
Great stuff, glad to hear your involved in some flipped instruction. I’m currently in a class where I guess you consider it somewhat “flipped” as it’s an online class so we do all of the work on our own time, but to be perfectly honest, the teacher is old school. I haven’t opened the book once and I breeze through the weekly powerpoints on Blackboard very quickly (ugh, powerpoint, ugh Blackboard). I use the discussion boards to keep engaged with the class and I allocate most of my time to the group assignments (which can at times be tricky in an online environment). It’s strage because the only role the instructor plays for me personally is that of a person who grades my papers. He’s not involved in the discussions and simply gives us assignments. Ultimately, I love the “peer instruction” model that is being utilized, although I don’t think that was the professor’s intention. Nevertheless, sharing with and learning from the other students has been great for me. I think a bit more engagement on the part of the instructor and this course would qualify as a working “flipped classroom,” albeit utilizing some antiquated tools.
Thanks for sharing, Karen. Good stuff!
Saburah,
I def do not have the app, I did a quick search and found a few flavors. Is this what you’re talking about? http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_162-57367004-501465/levelup-app-makes-payment-a-game-with-iphone-android/
If so, can you get rewards other than “badges” when the gamification kicks in? If so, that would be taking it to another level. Similar to “points” consumers get from using credit cards.
Hi Vince – this is my first comment on one of your blogs (though I read them all) and so it seems only appropriate to thank you for demonstrating how exactly to leave one! I enjoy your blogs, even if I don’t always see the immediate relevance to my world (and that’s ok), so thanks for sharing.
Hi Vince –
A couple of thoughts:
1) Those who aren’t already engaged to some level won’t have read this far and won’t be making any suggests in the comments for how to engage them, so I think you may need to seek them out in person. To be honest there aren’t that many places “where the teachers are” because most of them are flying around the building all day – but maybe you could sit in on faculty or department meetings. Or maybe reach out to a focus group of people that are not ever responding to the blog posts and have some focus group lunches with them.
2) If I wanted to engage my class more, livening it up actually wouldn’t be my first go to move. Finding out what the connection is between my material and what matters to the individuals in my class would be more of my priority – because only then would I know what they would truly find lively versus what I think is lively (shockingly what I think is awesome super cool is somehow not what 17 year olds think is awesome super cool. Go figure.) I humbly suggest you consider shadowing one or two teachers – for 3 weeks or even a month. It may seem a very micro approach to take when you are looking to service a five-division crowd – but it could give you a much deeper vision into the day-to-day world of the classroom, what teachers need, and the logistics of taking a great idea in theory into a concrete three day project at the end of a concrete two week unit. You may also end up seeing things in the classroom with your tech eyes that a teacher might not see through their pedagogy eyes, and in doing so you may be able to make suggestions a teacher wouldn’t think to ask for. Likewise you might come away with some more knowledge about how students are interacting with the technology day to day in their classes – and this might significantly differ from how we as teachers think (and then report back to you and Jenn) students are interacting with it.
So – just two cents from someone that does really appreciate all the work you put into collecting and getting the resources out there for teachers (even though I don’t always have the time to read each blog post).
Hey Stephanie – regarding the “bump” app question. My first reaction is that iCloud in a 1:1 program would solve your problems, or at least has the potential to. Several members of the tech team have updated to Lion to begin testing out iCloud and iBooks 2, in addition to other enhanced functionality. What are your thoughts on joining the pilot? You wouldn’t lose any data and the upgrade process would only take an hour or so.
As for notifications for post responses, we’re not there yet but have had conversations with our design team to integrate a “discussion” platform into the blog with the other updates coming to SCHift 2.0. I think we really need it because I’m pretty certain that many of the responses on this post alone will never be read….ugh.
Great article, and thanks for being a consummate Daytime collaborator!
Hey Gerri & Abbie,
Thanks for jumping in, love hearing that you’ve been following. Before you know it, I’ll have you writing guest Daytime blog posts! Stay tuned 🙂
Hi Margaret,
I can always depend on you for a thought provoking response. Between the responses from you and Rene, I have a ton of ideas to consider. I will certainly be in touch with the both of you to further explore some of your thoughts. It’s been a hectic year and hard to get into the classroom, but my goal is absolutely to work more one on one with teachers to do exactly what you have described. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!!!
Hi Vince,
My initial response got bounced back with a server down for maintenance. I want to echo what Margaret and Rene are saying. I read the posts all the way through, but I’m reading pretty fast. I often don’t know the point of the post and I almost never click on the humorous videos. They are just not my thing (and they often reference the kinds of stereotypical guy things where I don’t have a point of reference – Gladiator, sports, etc.). I know you’re trying to be conversational, but between fb, twitter, the 5 blogs I read regularly (plus external links – that is pln – I want to know what the meat and potatoes of the post is.
I’m also realizing that history classrooms I am familiar with are basically flipped. Kids read the textbook at home and then we try to have them apply the knowledge in the classroom. It’s not as flipped as if we had them write the textbook, but as students get more experienced we move to more student generated work. I think a lot of English works this way to. The response to the physics prof who flipped his classroom in the history blogosphere was a big *yawn* this was old hat for them.
re: notifications…hopefully the design team will get on that soon. re: pilot…..Sure thing. I am in. re: collaboration…of course
Margaret, you are always full of ideas. I think it would certainly be powerful for Vince, not to mention, department chairs, Pete and other people who are making decisions that effect all divisions to know what is happening in all divisions and that would be able to happen with more cross-divisional observation. I believe you and I have eve spoke about it in the past. There are some very cool things happening in LS Cherokee that could inform practice at all levels and I am sure the same is true across divisions.
Perhaps some of the responsibility rests on us to inform Vince of what we have applied to our teaching from his sharing so he can circle back around and highlight for other teachers ways to make connections to their own practice. Time in faculty meeting to perhaps share these ideas would be great as well until more people get connected to the social media strategy of learning and sharing. Just a quick and dirty…I tried this, maybe you would like it, feel free to ask me about it.
OH, and please keep the funny videos. There are days when I barely get to speak to an adult all day and I need to laugh or I will cry!! lol. I have found with my communication with families you will never please everyone: too long, too short, too personal, too dry, too casual, too technical. I have landed on writing them how I feel I can best communicate the big ideas and nuts and bolts info I need to share.