Derek E. Baird :: Barking Robot

Infographic: Students Want Teachers to Use Social Media

View large at mindshift.kqed.org

Minds on Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0

The world has become increasingly “flat,” as Tom Friedman has shown. Thanks to massive improvements in communications and transportation, virtually any place on earth can be connected to markets anywhere else on earth and can become globally competitive.

Compounding this challenge of demand from college-age students is the fact that the world is changing at an ever-faster pace.

Few of us today will have a fixed, single career; instead, we are likely to follow a trajectory that encompasses multiple careers.

Open Education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0

As we move from career to career, much of what we will need to know will not be what we learned in school decades earlier. We are entering a world in which we all will have to acquire new knowledge and skills on an almost continuous basis.

It is unlikely that sufficient resources will be available to build enough new campuses to meet the growing global demand for higher education—at least not the sort of campuses that we have traditionally built for colleges and universities.

Nor is it likely that the current methods of teaching and learning will suffice to prepare students for the lives that they will lead in the twenty-first century.

Creator/Author(s): 

John Seely Brown is a Visiting Scholar and Advisor to the Provost at the University of Southern California (USC) and Independent Co-Chairman of a New Deloitte Research Center.

He is the former Chief Scientist of Xerox and Director of its Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). Many of his publications and presentations are on his website (http://www.johnseelybrown.com).

Richard P. Adler is a Research Affiliate at the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto and Principal of People & Technology, a research and consulting firm in Cupertino, California.

License: 

This is protected under the following Creative Commons License.

Publication Date: 

July 27, 2011

What You Need to Know About Facebook Privacy Settings & Teens

As part of my work with Facebook on teacher, schools and educational media outreach, we've put together a series of free handouts.

In this handout, we share how privacy works for teens on Facebook. It's good information for parents, youth pastors and anybody who works with kids.

Facebook 101: Special Privacy Settings for Students and Other Minors

U.S. Department of Education Launches Digital Media 'Learning Registry'

The U.S. Departments of Education and Defense have announced the launch of “Learning Registry,” an open source community and technology designed to improve the quality and availability of educational media resources in education.

The launch is an important milestone in the effort to more effectively share information about learning resources among a broad set of stakeholders in the education community.

 PBS LearningMedia, which is home to a library of 16,000+ digital curriculum-based resources and tools for PreK-12 grade educators, will offer school initial access U.S. Department of Education's Learning Registry.

Under this relationships, a collection of resources, including photos, video, and audio files from federal organizations including NASA, the Library of Congress, and the National Archives, will now be easier to find, access and integrate into educational environments.

PBS' online media-on-demand service combines links to resources from the Learning Registry with original content from public broadcasting producers and programs like WGBH, Nova, Frontline, American Experience, Sid The Science Kid, and The Electric Company, all in one place. 

Rather than creating an alternative destination to existing websites, Learning Registry is a communication system that allows existing educational portals and online systems to publish, consume and share important information about learning resources with each other and the public

Women, Girls and STEM Education

First Lady Michelle Obama recently announced a National Science Foundation​ initiative to encourage girls to pursue careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) and provide flexibility to working parents in research fields.

 

This fact sheet takes a look at why bringing girls and women into STEM fields is so important—and what President Obama and his administration are doing to help.

Girls, Women and STEM Education

Facebook 101: Fighting Cyberbullying

Facebook 101: Fighting Cyberbullying

How To: Create a Classroom Facebook Page

How To: Create A Classroom Facebook Page

Trend Watch: Missouri Outlaws Student-Teacher Facebook & Twitter Friendships [PODCAST]

When the tornado devastated the town of Joplin Missouri, teachers turned to Facebook to help locate students. A new measure could make that a bit more complicated.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon recently signed a bill into law that would ban exclusive contact on social networking sites between teachers and students. Senate Bill 54 passed with unanimous support.

A small part of the wide-ranging SB54, makes it illegal for teachers to be "friends" with students on any social networking site that allows private communication.

That means teachers and students can't be friends on Facebook or can't follow each other on Twitter for example.

It was meant to prevent teachers from developing inappropriate relationships with their students. But to use Facebook parlance, not everyone is clicking the like button.

NPR's All Things Considered's Michele Norris spoke to an eighth grade teacher from Joplin, Mo., who opposes the new law. Randy Turner, who teaches English, said as teachers your job is to reach out to students and that means going where they are and now a days students have shunned e-mail and are using social networking sites to communicate.

But Turner argues instead of protecting children, this new law may be hurting them. "We may be preventing them from talking to the very people who may be able to help," he said.

Missouri Outlaws Student-Teacher Facebook Friendship by barkingrobot

via www.npr.org

Related Links

• Facebook for Educators Guide [EN]
• Facebook Para Educadores [ES]
• Facebook fur Padagogen [DE]
• Facebook para Educadores [PT]

Exchange 2.0: The Teacher's Guide to International Collaboration

The Teacher's Guide to International Collaboration was developed to help teachers use the Internet to "reach out" globally. 

In his address to the Council on Foreign Relations in May 2010, Secretary Arne Duncan stated:

“We must improve language learning and international education at all levels if our nation is to continue to lead in the global economy to help bring security and stability to the world and to build stronger and more productive ties with our neighbors….We have never been more aware of the value of a multiliterate, multilingual society, a society that can appreciate all that makes other cultures and nations distinctive, even as it embraces all that they have in common.”

This Guide has been prepared as part of the Department of Education's effort to expand global awareness through collaboration between students and teachers in the US with their peers around the world.  

On these pages, teachers will find many projects and suggestions to begin or expand classroom projects that reach across the globe and enable students to learn WITH the world, as well as about it.

In each section of this Guide we have also provided links to elementary, middle and high school projects and links to organizations that are involved in international education via the Internet and Web 2.0 tools.

• Learn More about Exchange 2.0 and Connect All Schools on Facebook

Facebook DC Live: Facebook for Educators

Join Linda Fogg Phillips, co-author (along with myself and BJ Fogg) of the new Facebook for Educators guide, Karen Cator, director of the Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education, and other panelists for a discussion of how teachers and administrators can connect safely and appropriately with students on Facebook and other social media sites to extend learning outside the classroom.

Facebook will also discuss some recent efforts both on and off of Facebook to thank teachers during Teacher Appreciation Week.

To watch at 1:30 p.m. ET/10:30 a.m. PT on Tuesday, click the "FB DC Live" navigation link on http://www.facebook.com/FacebookDC or go directly to: http://www.facebook.com/FacebookDC?v=app_141125442599532.

Ask questions for our guests on the wall of this event.

Trend Watch: Australian Teachers Granted Permission to Use Facebook in the Classroom

Yesterday the NSW Teachers Federation in Australia announced that public school teachers have been granted permission to use Facebook, Twitter and other social media in the classroom. Students are still blocked.

A Department of Education spokeswoman said the change would help improve communication between schools and their communities. It would also give staff a ''greater understanding of technology being used by students.'' 

The president of the NSW Teachers Federation, Bob Lipscombe, cautioned teachers to take care about who they became ''friends'' with on Facebook to ensure their professionalism was not compromised. He reminded teachers that any information they posted would be imprinted in the public domain.

But with careful use, social media should be embraced as ''part of the 21st century and something students and teachers need to be aware of.''

The Department of Education has developed a social media policy in consultation with school principals and teacher groups. The policy, which is available on the department's website, has been distributed to all public schools. The guidelines advise teachers to be honest, polite and considerate and to use common sense.

• Read more in the Sydney Morning Herald

Social Media Guidelines for Teacher

Study: One in Four Young Adults Say the Education System Has Little to No Understanding of Their Values and Goals

As part of its commitment to education, Viacom partnered with The Associated Press to conduct "Young Adults' Perspectives on American Education 2011," a groundbreaking study based on a combination of peer-to-peer interviews and a large-scale poll of more than 1,100 American 18-24 year-olds.

Viacom and The Associated Press approached the study by looking at 18-24 year-olds as "core consumers of education" and evaluating how the education system is meeting their needs.  

According to the study, young adults are optimistic that high schools and colleges can prepare them for the working world, but also feel these institutions aren't adapting quickly enough to meet students' changing needs.

As a result, more and more 18-24 year-olds are taking a less traditional approach to higher education, via self-directed curricula, internships and self-teaching.

Recognizing the important role young people can and should play in reaching their goals, Viacom launched Get Schooled, which provides the tools and guidance young adults need to succeed in today's competitive environment.

The full "Young Adults' Perspectives on American Education 2011" study is available on the Get Schooled website at www.getschooled.com or on the Get Schooled Facebook Page.

According to the study, students are increasingly creating individual, self-tailored curricula by cherry picking schools and courses. They're also taking longer to graduate because they feel that, by combining school with work and internships, they stand a greater chance of finding a desirable job.

Young adults are relying more on themselves, their families and friends and less on community or religious organizations and high school counselors when it comes to education decisions.

Detailed findings from the study include:

• Overall, 27 percent of young adults say the education system has little to no understanding of their values and goals. More than a third (36 percent) report it is ambivalent to their values and goals.

• Only 37 percent say the education system mostly or completely understands them.

• Among those surveyed with a high school diploma, but no college experience, 33 percent say the education system has little to no understanding of their values and goals.  

How College Leads to a Better Life is Unclear

The most consistent theme among those interviewed – from those with no college experience to those with bachelor degrees – is that college should prepare one to join the workforce.

But today's pragmatic, goal-oriented young adults are unsure that the education product being offered to them will deliver the job or career that they want.

• More than half of young adults say it's more worth the money to get "an education that is focused on success in the world."

• In fact, 28 percent of those who have attended college say college doesn't adequately prepare you for the workforce, while almost twice as many young adults (55 percent) say high school doesn't prepare you for the workforce.

• Thirty-one percent say college doesn't provide enough practical skills to survive as an adult and 51 percent say the same about high school.

Young Adults' Perspectives on American Education 2011

Facebook Safety Live Event: Keeping Kids Safe Online

On Tuesday, April 19 (9:30 am PST) Facebook Live will host a live discussion focused on Facebook’s latest efforts to keep people safe online. This is going to be a great event that highlights the tools that Facebook offers parents, teachers and kids to protect themselevs online.

Hear from a members of the Facebook Safety Team and safety educators Larry Magid, Co-director of ConnectSafely.com, and Linda Fogg Phillips, Co-Author of Facebook for Parents and Facebook for Educators.

The event will also highlight several new initatives (nope, I can't tell you! But they are really slick!) including the project that I've been working on Facebook for Educators.

A few months ago Facebook asked BJ Fogg, Director of the Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford University and Linda Fogg-Phillips, author of Facebook for Parents and an expert on parenting in the digital age and myself to collaborate on the Facebook for Educators project.

You'll hear more about that during the Facebook Safety event on Tuesday, but it's been a really exciting project to work on.

The team at Facebook are really committed to providing everyone, but especially teens and young adults, with a safe and secure experience when they are interacting on the world's biggest social network.

So be sure to tune in on Tuesday to get the latest news on Facebook's efforts to keep everyone safe online.

• RSVP: Facebook Safety Announcement

Related: Facebook Live: White House Conference on Bullying

North Carolina School Engages Tech Generation With Digital Learning Tools

John Tulenko of Learning Matters, which produces education stories for the NewsHour, reports on a North Carolina school district switching from textbooks to all-digital learning materials.

My favorite quote is this piece comes from Mark Edwards, Superientendent of Schools in Mooresville, North Carolina:

"For years we would tell students "We will prepare you for your future." But their experience in school didn't have much to do (with the future).

I would say it would be the same to say "We are going to prepare you for driving a car, so get on this horse." And the kids say "That doesn't make sense, i'm not going to be riding a horse."

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

 

 

Speak Up National Findings 2010: How Students Are Leveraging Technology for Learning

Earlier this month 2011 Project Tomorrow released the report “The New 3 E’s of Education: Enabled, Engaged and Empowered – How Today’s Students are Leveraging Emerging Technologies for Learning” at a Congressional Briefing held in Washington, D.C..

The Speak Up 2010 project surveyed almost 300,000 students (along with 43,000 parents, 35,000 teachers, 2000 librarians and 3500 administrators) from over 6500 private and public schools last fall about how they're using - and how they want to be using - technology for learning.

Key findings:

• 67 percent of parents said they would purchase a mobile device for their child to use for schoolwork if the school allowed it, and 61 percent said they liked the idea of students using mobile devices to access online textbooks.

• 53 percent of middle and high school students reported that the inability to use cell phones, smart phones or MP3 players was the largest obstacle when using technology in school.

• Additionally, 71 percent of high school students and 62 percent of middle school students said that the number one way schools could make it easier to use technology would be to allow greater access to the digital content and resources that Internet firewalls and school filters blocked.

• Parents are increasingly supportive of online textbooks. Two-thirds of parents view online textbooks as a good investment to enhance student achievement compared to 21 percent in 2008. However, E-textbooks are still a relatively novel concept in the classroom. Slightly over one-third of high school students report they are currently using an online textbook or other online curriculum as part of their regular schoolwork.

• Nearly 30 percent of high school students have experienced some type of online learning.

Speak Up National Findings 2010