Forbidden Facebook?

Earlier this summer, we posted about the pros and cons of using Facebook in your classroom. Since then, the debate over social media's emerging roles in education has continued.

The Dayton Daily News (LEP's local newspaper) recently published an article about the city of Dayton Public School District's decision to ban its teachers from interacting with students via unapproved media, including Facebook and text messaging. This plan applies to the popular industry go-around of professional Facebook accounts, as well.

The move is a first in the area - neighboring districts have safety policies in place, but most of these restrict the conditions or frequency of use, rather than forbidding it outright. Early reaction seems to be positive.

My reaction? Let's call it mixed.While I applaud the district's firm stance (let's not waffle on the issue, I say - pick a side rationally and plant your feet firmly), I have to wonder if it's playing things safe on a convoluted issue. As our previous post discussed, there are many reasons to be concerned about teacher-student communication through social media. But locking the door and throwing away the key seems excessive. True, leaving that door open allows the potential passage of inappropriate communication. But closing it forever stems the gathering tide of opportunity that's knocking with ever-increasing insistence on Education's door.

I do not think it wise to ignore social media's potential positive impact upon students, teachers, and the communication that tethers them. The gap between educator and educated should be bridged whenever possible, the ultimate goal being a unified classroom that thrives together. It's a difficult commitment to make, and the process must be supervised and adjusted in order to craft a properly functioning tool. But, oh, the things that tool might fix!

The Dayton Public School District has decided to ignore that tool's presence. My question? What will they do when they realize how badly they need it?

Why Interactive Whiteboards Work

While attending an informational seminar last week, I learned an interesting statistic: approximately 45% of today's classrooms are using interactive whiteboards. In some ways, this came as a shock; in other ways, it did not. For years, it seems, IWBs (interactive whiteboards), from manufacturers such as SMART and Promethean, have been touted as the next big thing in education. Despite that assertion, they haven't seemed to fully catch on. So I was a bit shocked to learn that nearly half of classrooms are sporting the technology now.

On the other hand, this development is wholly expected - overdue, even. The potential of this innovation is enormous, the possibilities unlocked by its tools and applications seemingly limitless. Why wouldn't schools pony up the cash to deck the walls with IWBs?

It's the little things that help make IWBs such valuable classroom assets. During our seminar, our presenter showed us a sample 'page' from an interactive lesson plan designed specifically for IWBs. It looked like a snapshot of one or two paragraphs from a typical supplemental workbook. But then a Flash animation kicked on, and a diagram was drawn before my eyes, adding a unique element to an otherwise stagnant stream of information. On another page, what appeared to be a photo of a cute dog positioned on a laptop computer turned into a short video of a cute dog positioned on a laptop looking even cuter because he looked at the camera and quivered oh so adorably. Numerous additional bells and whistles were added to most every page, until I was interested (and dare I say excited) to find what trick or bit of fun awaited me with each new block of information.

These details might sound like digital knick knacks, but consider this: if such trinkets can catch and maintain hold of a 27-year-old's attention, what might they do for the open mind of a 12-year-old student?

But we're only looking at the little things - what about the BIG things? Well, let me assure you, they're even better.

Imagine inviting students to the board not just to write words or solve math problems, but to manipulate shapes and objects; to sort categories of pictures or words by dragging and dropping them into boxes; to touch an instrument and immediately hear its sound. And imagine all of these actions, along with so many more, made possible by a student's finger.

Like an iPad or a Nintendo Wii, IWBs are undeniably cool. They ooze fun from each circuit. And students take notice. They are compelled to discover the uniquely interactive elements of an IWB lesson, and each new slide engages them in new and unique ways. It's truly a game-changing moment to witness children using an IWB.

While attending a presentation at a local elementary school, I was thrilled to watch students flinging their hands into the air when asked to volunteer a visit to the whiteboard, to see them bound from their seats and attack problems with wide eyes and wider smiles. Quite a switch from the chalkboard visits of my youth, to be sure. Watching their passion for learning helped remind me of why we're all in this industry, and it made me wonder: why in the world haven't the remaining 55% of classrooms joined in?

For Your Consideration: 6 Top iPad Apps

After attending the ISTE convention last month, we've been reminded time and again that this year's hot piece of educational tech is the iPad. Students want it. Parents love it. Teachers use it. I wish I had it...

Best of all, it works. The iPad offers a wealth of educational opportunities, most of them geared to be flashy, fun, and rewarding. We've compiled a short list of some of the most popular educational apps being downloaded and used right now. Each of the apps below appears on the July 27 edition of appannie's Top Charts for Educational iPad apps (check out the full chart here)

FREE APPS

1. Era of Dino HD Lite

What student - or parent for that matter, don't lie - doesn't want to learn more about dinosaurs? This free app will introduce users to over 300 different dinos. Also covered are the specific eras in which these creatures lived. Slick, colorful graphics complement a wealth of interesting material. (Average rating: 4.5 stars)

2. NASA App HD

Take a tour of the galaxy - and beyond - with this fascinating app from NASA. Official video and imagery (some of which are live) enhance in-depth explorations of planets, stars, current missions, and more. Children and adults alike will lose hours in this virtual solar system. (Average rating: 4.5 stars)

3. ScreenChomp

This versatile teaching tool is like having a digital whiteboard at your fingertips. Create your own lessons with the intuitive interface. Math problems, Venn diagrams, brainstorming webs - this app can handle them all. Even cooler is the ability to record and upload your lessons to the app's website or Facebook. (Average rating: 5 stars)

PAID APPS

1. Stack the States

Students can learn about each of the United States of America with this fun app. By the time they're finished, they'll be familiar with state capitals, shapes, and locations. Bonus games, full-color pictures, and tons of questions are included. (Average rating: 5 stars)

2. Math Bingo

This popular app will make math practice much more entertaining. A balance of fun gaming and rich educational content has landed Math Bingo on several top-app lists. It's simple - students must answer math problems correctly in order to complete rows on a Bingo chart. Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division are included. (Average rating: 4.5 stars)

3. Alphabet Fun

Invaluable for early learners, Alphabet Fun teaches and reinforces letter and number recognition and formation. It also teaches users to recognize and identify colors. Pronunciations provide clarity and speaking practice. (Average rating: not available)

What do you think of the iPad? Are you using it with your children or students? Have you tried any of the apps above? Do you know any other must-haves? Start the discussion in the comments section below!

Calling All Classrooms

I bought my first cell phone at the age of 18, a few years behind most people my age. It took me a few weeks to familiarize myself with all the bells and whistles, which, compared to the model I use today, were next to nothing and unimpressive to boot. Nearly a decade after that first egg-shaped, no-color-screen model, I use my phone for just about everything: I send and receive e-mails, network with friends and coworkers, keep track of my budget; heck, I even place the occasional call or two. I'm not alone in having my mobile device practically bolted to my hand. Students, from elementary-level to college- and university-goers, use cell phones each and every day.

Sure, students use their cell phones to text, game, and Tweet. But the usage isn't limited to frivolous social communication and idle entertainment. Students are also using these devices to help them learn. They are using built-in calculators to help solve math problems, search engines to find sources for research papers, and teacher-recommended apps to train and challenge the mind. Some school districts are even using cell phones to help students perform well on standardized tests.

Yes, there are many negative possibilities when phone usage is permitted in a classroom. Distraction is perhaps the worst. Teachers have to either patrol the aisles like a hungry hawk or trust their students to stay away from Facebook and Angry Birds. Using technology moves away from more traditional, proven methods of education and encourages a turn-to-technology-for-everything environment. These are just a couple issues in an angry sea full of potential difficulties and complications.

It is a sea upon which we must set sail. The simple fact is that cell phones (and tablets like the iPad along with them) are too prevalent and potent to ignore. Thinking back to my archaic school days (the nineties), I wish I could open a rift in time and drop my phone into the youthful me's bulky backpack. Equipped with this space-age technology, younger me would have an entire new world of possibilities before him. He could schedule testing and project due dates. He could choose a list of books to check out from the library rather than scratching his head baffling over the Dewey Decimal System. He could download games that helped him practice in an effort to correct a persistent difficulty with math skills.

Oh, what might have been!

The students of today don't have to lament a lack of possibilities, nor wait until they're 18 years old to discover them. The world little me didn't have already surrounds them. The tools for a deeper and more effective education exist. Let's put them in the hands of our students and start soaring.

4 Ways to Spin Your Students Around the Globe

Attention all teachers and parents: It's almost July. Isn't it about time you went on vacation? And shouldn't you take the kids with you? Oh, and how about doing it without leaving your house or school? New innovations and emerging technologies are making this scenario more possible by the day.

Here are a few cool ideas to take your classroom or living room global. Click on the hyperlinked section titles for access to each resource.

1. National Geographic Kids (TM) Countries

Have you ever wanted to visit South America in your pajamas? This is the place for you. This hub will grant your students access to overviews of many of the world's countries. Quick and interesting facts are accompanied by photos, videos, maps, and more.

2. Skype (TM) In the Classroom

You've probably heard of Skype - an internet phone service that allows anyone to be seen and heard by other users around the world. The resource has reached into global education, as well. Among the possibilities are guest speakers from another continent, sharing an online 'classroom' with students from the other side of the planet, and project collaboration with like-minded educators that happen to live in China.

3. Google Maps

Teaching a unit on one of the world's great cities? Google Maps allows you to literally click your way to it. Zooming in brings landscapes both urban and rural into focus. Labels identify cities, towns, bodies of water, and major landmarks. As if that isn't cool enough, you can view photos, live webcams, and even traffic updates. (I smell a problem-solving opportunity: Given current traffic conditions, what is the best route from Big Ben to Buckingham Palace?)

4. LEP's Very Own Passport Series

Don't have an internet connection? Looking to discover even more detailed information about other countries? This 8-book series is all you'll ever need to take a virtual vacation around the world. Visit more than 50 countries from all seven continents, each with in-depth studies of history, culture, language, food, and so much more. Click here for some sample pages.

Plug In! Gaming in the Classroom

...Your students are on a quest. They are deep underground, beneath a massive snow-capped mountain. They are looking for an ancient relic, a relic that will save the universe from a terrible invading evil. But this relic is hidden by clever puzzles and protected by hostile guardians. The only way your students can get their hands on it is by working together to pool their intelligence and creativity. A plan is conceived, and your students voice battle cries as they charge into the epic challenge ahead...

That scenario might sound more like a Friday or Saturday night for your students; but can you imagine it taking place in your classroom? On a Monday or Tuesday morning? As an approved part of your lesson plan? Madness, you might say. There are others - a growing number of them, in fact - that want to change your mind and make such mythical classrooms possible.

Why? Education is due for a change, say those in support of gaming in the classroom. The current model is growing staler by the day, and its results are hardly encouraging. The dramatic advances in educational technology are quickly outpacing the capabilities of the standard teaching model. What better way to take full advantage of these wonderful gadgets and tools than by fashioning a new method that embraces them wholeheartedly?

Not only is the educational landscape ripe for this tactical shift; students are also in dire need of the skills provided by technology - especially those provided through gaming! The jobs of today and tomorrow demand technological know-how, a condition that will only become more concrete as time progresses. Games help students think more like machines. That might sound a bit scary on the surface, but consider the skills emphasized: problem-solving, logic, systems, cooperation - these are the skills of today and tomorrow.

So. The timing is right. The need is obvious. What more convincing do you need? How about this - your students will love it! It's no secret that certain classic aspects of teaching are boring, at least to some students - lecture, reinforcement, homework. Imagine the rejuvenation if these were connected to gaming. Might your students be a little more attentive during a lecture if they knew reinforcement would come in the form of an interactive and challenging game? Think they would do their homework before dinner if it involved a controller or tablet or cell phone? Gaming doesn't need to replace traditional methods - nor should it. There's no denying, however, that its inclusion would light a fire in classrooms around the world.

What about you? Are you ready to include gaming in your lesson plan? Or will you stand against the tech tide? Be heard in the comments section below!

ARPA-ED: Education's Bright Future or Another Dim Bulb?

(Note: The ideas and opinions expressed below are just one stance on ARPA-ED. Please let us know your own views by commenting below the article!)

The research and development of educational technology is a tricky thing, for many reasons. In an ever-changing environment, it's difficult to commit to any given project or resource, particularly when they cost a great amount of money to explore, let alone create. Long touted as "the next big thing," interactive digital whiteboards have yet to conquer all the classrooms of planet Earth. This is due, in part, to industry hesitation when it comes to full-throttle development and implementation. It's not just whiteboards. The question looms: Why spend the money required before we're certain everyone will be using it? Ratty textbooks are still read and dusty erasers are still clapped together by naughty students, after all. Perhaps we should stick to the basics a while longer?

The federal government's 2012 federal budget proposal might change all that with something called ARPA-ED. Called an Advanced Research Projects Agency for Education by those with breath enough for its recitation, ARPA-ED is essentially a 90 million-dollar investment in educational research and development. The Department of Education states that it will "fund projects performed by industry, universities, or other innovative organizations, selected based on their potential to create a dramatic breakthrough in learning and teaching." (read the Department's full explanation of ARPA-ED here)

ARPA-ED (and the government) does so in an effort to put America's student's in a position to occupy and create the jobs of tomorrow - and to improve and advance the educational landscape, of course. The Department of Education argues that to achieve these goals, the United States must reestablish itself as the leader in the development of "game changing educational technologies."

How will ARPA-ED catapult us to the top of educational research and development? For an excellent, thorough explanation, read the Department of Education's version. Put very simply, the project will be managed by the best of the best in their respective fields. These experts will challenge all comers to apply for funding, awarding those they see as having the highest potential to bring about the most important and impacting changes in education. The winners will move forward with their projects, and, presumably, the game will proceed to change.

Turning back to our original dilemma - what does an entity like ARPA-ED do for those developers hoping to come up with "the next big thing"? How might it help propel research and development into the next, and arguably most important, gear - implementation? In a word: focus. ARPA-ED doesn't plan on funding any old ed-tech project. Instead, it purports to select technologies and ideas that possess "specific deliverables with measurable impact." In other words, something that can be introduced to the classroom immediately. Something that will have our students learning in new, exciting, and better ways by next year. Something that developers can begin working on and improving today. If carried out effectively, ARPA-ED could be the push forward that education needs.

Is this the launch pad that sends educational R&D's rocket into the great beyond? Will ARPA-ED see revolutionary changes to our teachers, students, and schools in the near future? Or is it another government dream, another education firecracker that will wind up a dud? Sound off in the comments section below.

Blended Learning: The Future?

Imagine a classroom packed full of cubicles instead of traditional desks. Imagine that each of the cubicles sports a full computer, and that a student focuses on each glowing monitor. The only sounds are the muted click-clicks of keystrokes. Finally, imagine yourself – the teacher of this unique classroom – positioned at a computer of your own, planning your next lesson from a constantly updated data stream based on the activity of your army of plugged-in learners. This isn’t your typical classroom. This is a blended learning environment, and it just might be the next big thing.

One Part Tech, One Part Talk

Blended learning is a style of teaching that combines the high-tech capabilities and potential of computers and other emerging technologies with more traditional face-to-face instruction. Essentially, the student completes online coursework, allowing the teacher to review real-time results. This detailed progress report can be used by the instructor to plan individual and group lessons, and effectively pinpoints strengths and weaknesses.

Sound far off and futuristic? It’s not. In fact, blended learning is already being used. A recent article by Jonathan Schorr and Deborah McGriff on Educationnext.org discusses how blended learning is being implemented in certain schools and institutions around the country (here is a direct link to the article).

Blending is Better

Why bother with all these bells and whistles? The reasons are many. Perhaps the greatest asset of blended learning is the data created through online instruction. A teacher can use this information in a variety of helpful ways:

• Areas of difficulty can be pinpointed and addressed from the beginning.


• Lesson plans are more dynamic when based upon current information. We all know that each and every classroom is different; blended learning allows a teacher to use these differences to better teach his or her individual students.


• Students can view their progress for an immediate sense of achievement; they can also figure out in which areas they are struggling, and use that knowledge to better focus their efforts.

It’s not all about computers, though. Blended learning has a positive impact upon face-to-face interactions as well. The idea is to use technology to make traditional teaching time more effective. Teachers can be confident that they are focusing on necessary skills. In today’s packed classrooms, blended learning also provides an excellent opportunity for small group work. Instead of teaching a room of 35, teachers might reinforce a math skill with 12 students that experienced difficulty while the rest of the class moves on to more difficult concepts. This assures that no one is caught unprepared for the next lesson.

We can’t forget that learning should be fun. Blended learning certainly has this base covered, as students make use of many unique and entertaining materials. Games, interactive lessons, and enhanced visual presentations grab a student’s interest and energy quicker than a chalkboard or textbook. It’s also an increasingly clear truth that modern students relate to the use of high-tech tools like cell phones, the Internet, e-readers, and more. The tools of blended learning will be comfortable in their hands, allowing easy and immediate access to educational content.

Are We Ready?

Not yet. Despite its early success, blended learning is still a new concept. It will take time to develop and refine for widespread use. Given the speed of change in modern education, however, the tide might roll in its favor at any time. Will you be ready? Let us know what you think of blended learning in the comments section below.