TOOLS FOR SCHOOLS

• NING
An online service to create, customize, and share a social network.
http://www.ning.com/

• GOOGLE APPS
Imagine how valuable it would be if your entire campus community – students, faculty, and staff – could share information and ideas more easily. With Google Apps Education Edition, you can start bringing that vision to life. Google Apps Education Edition is a free suite of hosted communication & collaboration applications designed for schools and universities. See the top 10 reasons to switch your school to Google Apps.

http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/edu/

Google Docs: Create and edit web-based documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Store documents online and access them from any computer.

Google Reader: Read them in one place with Google Reader, where keeping up with your favorite websites is as easy as checking your email. Google Reader constantly checks your favorite news sites and blogs for new content. You can also share with your friends Use Google Reader’s built-in public page to easily share interesting items with your friends and family.

Google Groups: Google Groups is all about helping users connect with people, access information, and communicate effectively over email and on the web. Google Groups is a free service from Google where groups of people have discussions about common interests.

• DIIGO
Diigo is a powerful research tool and a knowledge-sharing community.
http://www.diigo.com/
Research Annotate, Archive, Organize
Online bookmark: Organize by tags or lists; Access from anywhere, anytime!
Archive: Do not just bookmark! Archive pages forever! Make them searchable too!
Annotate: Do not just archive! Highlight! Add sticky notes too!

Share, Build Personal Learning Network
Share your annotated pages with your followers on Diigo or elsewhere.
Get a stream of interesting content by following others you like.
Interact with others on content of interest.
Collaborate Create a Group Knowledge Repository
Create a private or public group for your company, class, and teams.
Share findings to the group — make it the second brain for your team!
Interact on the web pages in-situ or in the group.

• TODAYS MEET
Talk. Listen. TodaysMeet helps you embrace the backchannel and connect with your audience in realtime. Encourage the room to use the live stream to make comments, ask questions, and use that feedback to tailor your presentation, sharpen your points, and address audience needs.
http://todaysmeet.com/

• VIMEO
Vimeo is a respectful community of creative people who are passionate about sharing the videos they make. We provide the best tools and highest quality video in the universe.
http://www.vimeo.com/

• JING
Use Jing to capture anything you see on your computer screen and share it instantly…as an image or short movie.
http://www.jingproject.com/

• FLICKR
Flickr is almost certainly the best online photo management and sharing application in the world. Show off your favorite photos and videos to the world.
http://www.flickr.com/

• PREZI
Prezi is zooming sketches on a digital napkin. It’s visualization and storytelling without slides. Your ideas live on stage and on the web.
Have you ever wondered about presenting your thoughts as free as they come? Ever got tired of creating a slideshow? It’s been said, that the best innovations come from people who are unhappy with the tools they use. We realized that our ideas won’t fit into slides anymore. Putting together creative thinking and technology expertise, we have created Prezi, a living presentation tool.
http://prezi.com/

• BITSTRIPS
Bitstrips is your new online funny pages! Got a funny joke or a story to tell? Get ready to share it in a whole new way. FREE online toys make it FAST, FUN and EASY to create awesome comics. Create any character, including YOU and your friends!
http://www.bitstrips.com/

• KERPOOF
The Kerpoof website is owned and operated by the Walt Disney Company. What is Kerpoof? The answer to that is not so simple. Kerpoof is all about having fun, discovering things, and being creative. Here are just a few ways that you can use Kerpoof:
Make artwork (even if you aren’t good at drawing!
Make an animated movie (really! it’s easy!)
Make a printed card, t-shirt, or mug
Tell a story
Make a drawing
Vote on the movies, stories, and drawings that other people have made
http://www.kerpoof.com/

• FLEXBOOKS
CK-12 Foundation is a non-profit organization with a mission to reduce the cost of textbook materials for the K-12 market both in the U.S. and worldwide. Using an open-content, web-based collaborative model termed the “FlexBook,” CK-12 intends to pioneer the generation and distribution of high quality educational content that will serve both as core text as well as provide an adaptive environment for learning.
http://ck12.org/flexr/

• PROGRAMMING
NEW PROGRAMS AIM TO LURE YOUNG INTO DIGITAL JOBS – 12/21/09

• PYTHON PROGRAMMING Python is a programming language that lets you work more quickly and integrate your systems more effectively. You can learn to use Python and see almost immediate gains in productivity and lower maintenance costs. http://www.python.org/

• RUR-PLE
http://rur-ple.sourceforge.net/en/rur.htm
Learning to program computers should be fun, for adults and children alike. RUR-PLE is an environment designed to help you learn computer programming using the language Python. Within an artificial world in which a robot can be programmed to perform various tasks, you will learn what it means to write a computer program, using Python’s syntax. You will also be able to apply your programming skills in a more traditional environment using the built-in interpreter. If these words don’t mean much to you for now, don’t worry.

• SCRATCH
http://scratch.mit.edu/
Scratch is a new programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art — and share your creations on the web. Scratch is designed to help young people (ages 8 and up) develop 21st century learning skills. As they create and share Scratch projects, young people learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also learning to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively.

• PANDORA
Pandora radio is the personalized internet radio service that helps you find new music based on your old and current favorites. Create custom web radio …
http://www.pandora.com/

• HULU
Hulu.com is a free online video service that offers hit TV shows including Family Guy, 30 Rock, and the Daily Show with Jon Stewart
http://www.hulu.com

• TEEN SECOND LIFE
Teen Second Life is a version of Second Life reserved for teenagers, running on the so-called “Teen Grid.” It was officially opened to the public on February 14, 2005 for people aged 13-17 to play Second Life, without entering false information to participate in Second Life (reserved for people aged 18 and over).
http://teen.secondlife.com/

• DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP AND ETHICS
MacArthur Foundation Spotlight on Digital Media and Learning
http://spotlight.macfound.org/blog/entry/new_report_adults_involved_teens_online_activities/#When:22:20:06Z

• COMMON SENSE MEDIA
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators
Common Sense Media is dedicated to improving the media and entertainment lives of kids and families. We exist because media and entertainment profoundly impact the social, emotional, and physical development of our nation’s children. As a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization, we provide trustworthy information and tools, as well as an I ndependent forum, so that families can have a choice and a voice about the media they consume.

• FACEBOOK FOR PARENTS
http://www.facebookforparents.org/
To help kids reach their potential, parents today must know about Facebook. That’s the purpose of this website and related materials.
Earlier this year, a series of classes at Stanford helped parents learn more about Facebook. The instructors were psychologist Dr. BJ Fogg of Stanford’s Persuasive Technology Lab and BJ’s sister, Linda Phillips, a mom with 8 kids ranging from 5th grade to college age (now that’s experience!). We measured the impact of our curriculum, and we found clear benefits in all areas we measured.

To Deal With Obsession, Some Defriend Facebook

• NEW MEDIA LITERACIES
New Media Literacies (NML), a research initiative based within USC’s Annenberg School for Communication, explores how we might best equip young people with the social skills and cultural competencies required to become full participants in an emergent media landscape and raise public understanding about what it means to be literate in a globally interconnected, multicultural world.
http://newmedialiteracies.org/

• HIGH TECH HIGH
High Tech High now operates nine schools in San Diego County: one elementary school, three middle schools, and five high schools. All of these schools serve a diverse, lottery-selected student population; all embody the High Tech High design principles of personalization, adult world connection, common intellectual mission, and teacher as designer.
http://www.hightechhigh.org/

The Digital Commons at High Tech High
The HTH Digital Commons is a virtual gathering area where online developments are collected for dissemination. Featured HTH Videos, Projects, and Student & Staff portfolios represent the type of the work we do on our campuses.

• YOUTUBE EDU
http://www.youtube.com/education?b=400
YouTube EDU is an educational hub “volunteer project sparked by a group of employees who wanted to find a better way to collect and highlight all the great educational content being uploaded to YouTube by colleges and universities.”

• ITUNES U
iTunes U, part of the iTunes Store, is possibly the world’s greatest collection of free educational media available to students, teachers, and lifelong learners. With over 200,000 educational audio and video files available, iTunes U* has quickly become the engine for the mobile learning movement. It puts the power of the iTunes Store in the hands of qualifying universities so they can distribute their educational media to their students or to the world.
http://www.apple.com/education/mobile-learning/

• EDUTOPIA
Kids today — no previous generation has experienced anything like the current pace of transformational societal change. Yet, in light of extraordinary advancements in how we interact with each other and the world, our system of education has been frustratingly slow to adapt.

The George Lucas Educational Foundation was created to address this issue. Our vision is of a new world of learning. A place where kids and parents, teachers and administrators, policy makers and the people they serve, all are empowered to change education for the better. A place where schools have access to the same invaluable technology as businesses and universities — where innovation is the rule, not the exception. A place where children become lifelong learners and develop the technical, cultural, and interpersonal skills to succeed in the twenty- first century. A place of inspiration, aspiration, and an urgent belief that improving education improves the world we live in.

We call this place Edutopia. And we provide not just the vision for this new world of learning but also the leading-edge interactive tools and resources to help make it a reality. http://www.edutopia.org/#

Race to the Top Funding ties monies to teacher performance based on student achievement.  It’s a good idea to have some benchmark for allocating federal dollars, but this one misses the mark of assessing teacher efficacy.  The better, more effective, and authentic metric is to try to gauge engagement, for that is the true measure of a a great teacher.  This can be tricky to quantify, but with tools like Google searches, blogs, wikis, Twitter feeds, etc, there may just be a way to “count” how much engagement is going on in schools.  What if, instead of tying teacher performance to student achievement, teacher performance was assessed based on the number of hits generated on a teacher’s blog, wiki, Twitter feed, or how high on a Google search their posted curriculum lands?

A few years ago, I heard of a college professor, who doled out grades based on the design of web sites by students in his class.  To earn an A, the site had to generate 10,000 hits, to earn a B, the site needed 7,500 hits, a C was worth 5,000 hits.  The key challenge he pushed on students was to generate engagement, and he graded students on the level of engagement they could cook.  Teachers need to be encouraged to do the same, and given the rapidity of the spread of free web-based digital tools, schools and policymakers should be laying down the gauntlet for federal monies based on how effectively and widely teachers can engage student audiences.  The classroom is no longer bound by 4 walls.  It’s limitless in scope and breadth, and learning needs to march into the 21st century.  The Obama administration prizes innovation.  Look at how Chris Hughes recalibrated presidential politics with a comprehensive web strategy that left the McCain folks scratching their heads.  There is an opportunity to accelerate change in schools, but it won’t happen with the tired, worn approaches that the Race to the Top is intent on recycling. Instead, Mr. Duncan and company need to step outside of conventional approaches to measure teacher effectiveness and energize our schools.

There is more and more discussion and examination of high school students’ Facebook profiles during the torturous college admissions process. An errant Facebook post can fast derail a student’s hopes for admission.

Instead, colleges should be asking students to submit their Facebook profiles as part of the admissions process.  The Facebook profile should be a portfolio of student work, with careful, deliberate choices made on what to share with the colleges.  The time honored essay that asks students to write about or reflect upon a major change or challenge they overcame needs to go into the dustbin.  Those “old” and “worn” approaches to the application process are no longer relevant and do little to allow students to express themselves originally and authentically.

Having students submit their Facebook profiles also serves the twin purpose of helping high schools and parents see how students use social networking.  As part of the admissions process, colleges can see what posts students put up on their wall, what photos they select, and which Facebook applications they use. These “choices” can illuminate who a student is, and give a deeper window into their interests, creativity, and ability to harness technology for learning.  And, Facebook accounts are FREE.

Colleges charge an arm and a leg to apply.  With the economy still in a tailspin, colleges could help many families by moving their applications onto Facebook. Prospective students could build networks and groups, and the colleges could see what types of groups they form.  This could also get in front of the roommate dilemma and help colleges group and organize Freshmen housing, based on student interest and connectivity, well ahead of time.

And, on the off chance prospective students post inappropriately the colleges gain deeper insight into an applicant and can make an easy decision about admission.  It can be hard to dispute the evidence from a Facebook post, but it at least gives students a chance to play fairly in the game of the admissions process.

Student interests can shine on Facebook – art, music, community service (how quickly a student can organize fundraising for Haiti, for example) – and colleges get information in real time. No Fed Ex packages needed.

Or, to snap up another social networking tool, colleges could ask students to set up a Twitter feed for a week, and students would have to tweet for a week, and then submit their tweets as part of the application.  Again, another FREE web-based application could yield valuable insights into a student’s approach to social networking and learning with digital tools.

Let the games begin, colleges. Open up FREE web-based applications, like Facebook and Twitter, to propel college admissions into the 21st century.

One of the challenges of parenting and being an educator is how to
redirect a child’s energy away from the “wrong” thing to do.  Just
saying no does not cut the mustard with kids.  It builds up resistance
and creates an us vs. them wall.

The recently released report by the Federal Trade Commission on
mapping virtual worlds sounds the alarm system for parents and
educators and does very little to mitigate fear.  The FTC press
release about the report, “urges operators of virtual worlds to take a
number of steps to keep explicit content away from children and teens,
and recommends that parents familiarize themselves with the virtual
worlds their kids visit.”  Yes, parents need to know and be vigilant
about the sites their kids visit.  However, the FTC report findings
are a classic case of the outsiders looking in.  Instead, policy
makers, educators, and parents need to take the time to talk with
kids, listen to their voices, and develop appropriate vehicles for
education to happen.

One savvy technology educator has done just this.  In a podcasting
class, he asked students to create podcast reviews of some area of
interest.  Topics ranged from restaurant and movie reviews to reviews
of violent video games.  His initial response to one student who
really wanted to review violent video games was to say no.  The
student resisted, pushed back, and challenged the teacher, who grew
defensive at first.  However, upon further consideration and
reflection, the teacher shifted the focus of the exercise and asked
the student to analyze and compare multiple violent video games and
explain to the viewer why these games are appealing to teens.  This
particular student had gotten into trouble with the school many times
for playing video games on his laptop in classes. However, this
project, once the terms of the assignment were agreed upon, galvanized
this student to spend hours researching and preparing his podcast, and
to successfully redirect his prolific energy about gaming into a
productive learning endeavor.

The final product was astounding in its depth of understanding and
analysis. The student situates the viewer into the eyes of a player of
a First Person Shooter virtual video game, and narrates the journey
through the experience.  Careful not to espouse violence in real life,
the student smartly explains the allure of playing a video game, while
at the same time, he underscores the distinction between the virtual
and the real. Instead of shutting this student down, the teacher found a way to engage in a dialogue with the student to turn what could have been a fruitless learning exercise into one that met the student’s interest level and challenged the student to be thoughtful and analytical about FPS games.

A 5th grade student proudly announced the other day, “I got a Gmail.” She had an ear to ear smile and walked with a certain swagger that bespoke confidence and excitement at a world of possibility. “My mom has the password in a sealed envelope, so she can get into my Gmail if she needs to.” I asked her if she was okay with that agreement, and she responded, “It seems fair to me and I get a Gmail.”

Here’s a perfect instance of good parenting in action. A parent and child come to a “fair” agreement at home, with the understanding that the parent reserves the right to oversee the mail account, if there is a reason to intervene.

Another student, standing close by, explained that she has 4 different mail accounts for 4 different purposes. She described: “I have a Yahoo account for any online purchases, like iTunes, so all of my receipts go into that mail account and I can keep track of them. I have a school email account for all of my homework and school stuff.
I have one Gmail account for my school friends, and I have another Gmail account for my out of school friends.”

I had a look of complete awe on my face, as she recited her approach to digital life. She looked at me and said, “What?” I replied that I had never thought of having different mail accounts for different parts of my life, as a way to stay organized. “That’s a brilliant idea,” I shared. My mail account is a blizzard of inchoate information, ranging from school business, to ads for car rentals, non-profits, and books. “I need to start doing what you’re doing,” I told her.

The time-honored children’s game, Follow the Leader, is an apt way to
think about what’s going on here. Instead of kids, though, we adults need to start mimicking some of the behaviors of the kids regarding digital life. Imagine how much we can all learn from kids and in turn how much we can engage with them to guide their behaviors.

There are also times when we as adults stand as the leader and kids follow. An 8th grade student realized that he could not be at school for his student council speech and he sent me a panicked email the night before the speech. I suggested as an alternative that he make a video speech and we could show his speech to his peers. He took the offer, made the video, and won the election. He saw me a few days later, thanked me for the idea, and commented, “I never would have thought of that approach.”

One parent shared a healthy leadership approach to take with kids online:
“Consider engaging with them. Email and ask them things, which require a reply to you. If they are IM’ing, consider having an account and being one of their friends. Consider sending them text messages, if they are messaging with others. You will see how they engage. You are showing them by example, and they are probably going to respond to you as they do to others.”

The social networking site Facebook has taken the important first step of engagement, forming an advisory board with Internet groups, which includes Common Sense Media, a national, non-profit group helping kids and parents with safe navigation of digital media. Facebook Vice-President Elliot Schrage, quoted by CNN, stated: “We believe that the only way to keep kids safe online is for everyone who wants to protect them to work together.”

The game of Follow the Leader can flip easily between student as leader, educator as leader, parent as leader, and social networking site as leader.

One educator asks the key question about digital life: “When does the responsibility of a school end and the parents begin?” Another educator frames the dilemma of digital life for schools and parents: “Parents have no idea what rules to apply — and how to apply them — at home when their child is doing homework and multitasking with technology. Schools are part of the problem because they assign so much that is driven by technology. So they have to be part of the solution to help parents deal with their kids and the distractions caused by technology.”

However, the linchpin for success rests with kids, and communities need to engage with kids online to foster digital citizenship. Of course, kids know the answer to the tough questions about digital life. We need to follow their lead. For solutions to happen, schools, parents, and advisory boards, like the one Facebook has put together, need to follow the lead of the “digital natives.”

Acceptable Use Policies:  Extreme Makeover

It is never easy to figure out a way to go over the rules for proper computer use with middle school students. There is a fine line to straddle between paternal guidance and student voice to arrive at a workable plan to live cooperatively with technology in a school community.

Fortunately, the news of the last few weeks presents a golden opportunity for educators across the country to frame the conversation around acceptable use with real world problems that grown ups are wrestling with. One formidable institution, the U.S. Military, finds itself trapped in the cross hairs of trying to leverage technology for advancement and progress, while at the same time trying to figure out ways to shield and safeguard the precious vault of information that undergirds its organization.

Another organization, the National Football League, combats the use of Twitter during training camp, for fear of players leaking team secrets and playbooks. Notorious hothead Chad Ochocinco Johnson responds: “Damn NFL and these rules, I am going by my own set of rules,” the Bengals’ receiver said on his Twitter page (@OGOchoCinco).

Of course, NFL coaches are living in a bygone age. Miami Dolphins coach Tony Sparano admits: “I’m naïve to the whole thing, I don’t really know what this is,” Sparano said, after warning his players about Twitter. “I just learned how to text a couple months ago.”  The younger Denver Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels, in his early 30s, even acknowledges: “I don’t really have a Twitter policy. I don’t know what it means. I don’t know what it is. I don’t know that ‘MyFace,’ ‘Spacebook’ or ‘Facebook.’”

It appears that the NFL won round one in the Twitter battle.  Ochocinco gave up his Twitter account, claiming that the NFL had too many rules and restrictions on use.  The NFL ended up banning players from using Twitter and other social media during games.

And, lawyers are even being hushed, as bar associations put the clamps on blogs by lawyers, who air courtroom happenings.  The New York Times reported the fining of Florida lawyer Sean Conway, who blogged about a judge, calling the judge an “Evil, Unfair Witch.”  With more and more twenty-somethings entering the legal profession, the problem of inappropriate postings will only worsen, according to Stephen Gillers of New York University Law School.  In the same article, he is quoted:  “Twenty-somethings have a much-reduced sense of personal privacy.”

The military is toying with an extreme technology makeover, harnessing the tools of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr to overhaul their image to bring in recruits, and influence public opinion. However, the military is expected to unfurl a new policy to limit the uses of social networking, over increased worries about cyber security. This may thwart whatever progress has been made in recent months and sink such popular blogs, like Embrace the Suck, which chronicles life at the front in Afghanistan. The debate, The New York Times writes, “reflects a broader clash of cultures; between the anarchic, unfiltered, bottom-up nature of the Web and the hierarchical, tightly controlled top-down tradition of the military.”

Funny, that is just what students say about school authorities trying to implement an acceptable use policy for school computers.

Students want to have control over their computers at school. They want to download and personalize their music libraries, chat with their peers using iChat, clog school bandwith with YouTube videos, and bypass any effort to regulate network security, all in the name of technology independence. Schools have the obligation to provide safe learning environments, but they also are charged with fostering innovation and creativity.

The question is how wide to open the window of use to enhance teaching and learning. There is simply no way to stop the flow of information, as Noah Shachtman, editor of Wired.com’s national security blog, Danger Room, commented in the New York Times article about the military. Schools are in the same pickle. Schools must help students to makes sense of information, to synthesize, analyze, and judge the credibility of material.

But, schools also need to draw boundaries for students around issues like chatting, texting, downloading, and gaming, much to the chagrin of freewheeling students, many of whom are accustomed to more lax rules at home surrounding technology.

Is there a way to find a win-win solution? One way is to invite students into the conversation about setting boundaries for proper use in school. This is a tricky process, and one that can fast spin into open revolt.

Schools can devise laptop boot-up days to introduce students to both the perils and possibilities of technology. These boot-ups can include workshops on care, ethics, and appropriate use guidelines, but they should also give time and attention to authentic media creation projects and experiences so that students, with the guidance of teachers, can experiment with the tools, make mistakes and missteps, and learn. Also, schools can invite guest speakers in the field of technology to share success stories of innovation and risk-taking. Technology educators can also be brought in to run aspects of the boot-up camp, to bring an outside voice into the community dialogue.

An additional, critical component of the rollout of computer use in schools is to engage the parent community. Parents are spokes on the wheel of the school community and for the ride to go smoothly, schools need to educate parents around appropriate use at home, on tools like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and Flickr. If students come to school, after a night of unfettered computer use at home, they get mixed messages and this is where conflict arises. Organizations like Common Sense Media, a national non-profit organization based in San Francisco, have created a family media use agreement for schools and families to use together to arrive at agreements for appropriate use. Bringing families to school to talk with administrators and teachers helps to bridge the gap that can exist between children and adults around technology.

In terms of the actual policies that schools implement, schools need to provide wiggle room to allow for the policies to be modified and adapted according to circumstances that arise during the school day.  Having an acceptable use policy in a Question and Answer format leaves room for new questions to be added, as issues unfold.  Not every situation can be addressed in an acceptable use policy and it is critical that the document convey a spirit of encouraging students to do the right thing. The last thing schools should do is box themselves into a corner with a document that interferes with the ability of teachers to help students act appropriately with technology.

This can be a challenge for teachers, not to become so wedded to the “letter of the law” that they lose the ability to act in the moment an educate students.  One teacher, running a study hall, grew worried that students were playing games and not doing homework on their laptops.  He sent me an email during the study hall, and asked me to contact the tech office to use Apple Remote Desktop to survey student activity in the study hall.  The result:  students were actually doing their homework and not playing games, as he suspected.  He felt paralyzed to deal with the students in the study hall, because the acceptable use policy did not mention study hall use of computers.  Schools cannot reach the point where teachers need to walk around with the AUP in their pocket, pull it out, and then point to code, paragraph, line to call students on their behavior.  Instead, schools need to foster a spirit of discussion and reflection, and impose appropriate consequences when there are clear transgressions.

But one thing is clear:  it is high time to break down the hierarchy. The U.S. military, lawyers, and the NFL are all learning this lesson the hard way.  Bottom up is the way to go with acceptable use with technology.  The days of giving out fines, as the NFL and bar associations are doing, are numbered.

Students are just a few steps away from entering the workforce, and organizations need to listen to the drumbeat of where technology is headed. It is not The Call of the Wild, but it is feeling more and more like The Old Man and the Sea, or The Old Man at Sea.

I remember the first year I taught high school history. I fast learned how creative high school students could be when attempting to cheat on a test. One month into my tenure, I gave my first major unit test to a group of 10th grade history students. The test consisted of some essay questions, short answer responses, and multiple choice questions. There was a fair amount of material that students had to study and learn in preparation for the test. I gave the test, the room was quiet, and the students seemed to take the test without any major complaints. Toward the end of the day, my junior year students, who did not have a test that day, came into class, and just as we were beginning, asked if I had given a test in the room that day. I answered yes and then asked how they knew that. They looked up at the ceiling and several note cards, with block print writing, plastered the ceiling. I could not believe it. My 10th graders had taken me to the cleaners.

Naturally, I was both horrified and mortified, and felt betrayed by the breach of trust. I went to the dean of students to report the infraction. He took a close look at the handwriting and could not identify the author. He suggested I put it back on the class and see if anyone would step forward. No one did. I was left feeling pretty defeated. As I reflected on what happened, I realized
that I needed to design tests differently.

Cheating is not a new phenomenon. It’s been going on for decades. Ted Kennedy had a proxy take a Spanish exam for him at Harvard and he was booted for the transgression. That gaffe chased him for years. The game has just changed a bit, with the advent of cell phones and texting. Tech commentator Marc Prensky loves to share the story of a talk he was having with high school students in which he suggested that schools should have open phone tests, as a measure to combat cell phone cheating. One of the students responded, “Dude, we already have open phone tests. The teachers just don’t know it.” I asked my 16-year old nephew how often high school students text in class and his response was “all the time. The teachers have no clue. The kids text right under the desk.”

A recent cartoon in The New York Times Week in Review captures the change in classrooms. The time-honored assignment for English classes is to have students write an essay or share a story about their summer vacation. In the cartoon, the teacher stands in front of the classroom, and presents the weather beaten assignment for yet another year. One bold student pipes up with, “What, didn’t you follow me on Twitter this summer?” The cartoon lands perfectly with its message that students are using different tools to learn, and classrooms need to change to catch up with the times.

For teachers, it’s a matter of a drastic overhaul in mindset. In The Art of Possibility, Boston Philharmonic conductor Benjamin Zander shares a wonderful parable to illustrate how to shift one’s mindset to see opportunity, instead of a defeated outlook. Two shoe salesmen head to a part of rural Africa to explore the viability of establishing a new market for their shoes. One salesman writes back to the company, “Situation hopeless. No one wears shoes. Abandon project.” The other salesman sees the flip side and writes, “No one is wearing shoes. Opportunity abounds. Huge market awaits. Send resources immediately.” This is the situation teachers and schools face with mobile technologies. Schools can continue to fight a losing battle, and draw harsh lines and confiscate cell phones or ban them during school hours. Or, they can seize the teaching moment, and shift approaches to embrace and engage students with mobile devices. One thing is very clear. Schools cannot continue to operate as if nothing is changing with students and technology.

For one, test design has to change, as I learned, from the old school form of cheating. The incident I shared at the beginning of this article occurred ten years ago. Today, it might look very different. Students would have been texting each other answers. I’d like to think I would have patrolled the room and caught them in the act. But, I might also have ended up looking like the clueless teacher if I did not detect the cheating.

Believe it or not, teachers can actually be creative with how to use multiple choice questions as a teaching tool. I started to play around with different configurations of the questions. I would give students the question stem, and they would have to come up with the five possible answers, looking at how the Advanced Placement exam writers constructed their question and response sections. Students were forced to think like an exam writer. Or, I would give them the five answers and they would have to write the question. Another approach was to give them all of the content terms in the question in a scramble and they would have to figure out the question and the possible responses. Sometimes, I would allow them to work in groups, and other times, I had them work independently. These exercises increased and heightened their critical thinking skills, and had them think carefully about audience – the exam writers. One student commented: “I used to think the answers were so random, but now I actually can see how wrong answers are compiled and I can follow the line of thinking. It helps me with my essay writing to think about how to logically construct ideas.”

The most fun activity we used was the Who Wants to be a Millionaire model with multiple choice training. I would put questions up on the screen in the classroom. Students would take turns in the “hot” seat, trying to answer questions. They could use Call a Friend (and today, I would have them call a friend with a cell phone), if they were stuck, or they could knock the answers down to a 50/50, with just two answers left to look at. Or, and this was the class favorite, they had one minute to comb through any classroom books to help them figure out the answer. Today, I would have them post a question on Twitter, text a friend, or search the web on their phone or laptop in 60 seconds or less. We would play in teams, and they loved the opportunity to tackle what can be complex, subtle questions that require analytical thinking and deep knowledge of course content. Over the year, we would keep team scores tallied and students looked forward to playing the multiple-choice challenge.

Beyond transforming test design, teachers need to think about ways to incorporate mobile technologies into their teaching. One creative foreign language teacher sees the possibilities. She designs scavenger hunts. She writes: “Students need to call a number and get instructions on where to go. Once there, they have to complete a task or buy something and call the next number to get further instructions. Each student has slightly different instructions to complete the task – to differentiate the assignment. Ideally, this all happens in a Spanish-speaking environment such as the Mission or Redwood City.” She also has students interview Spanish-speaking people in different countries.

This summer, I discovered the joy of Geocaching, largely through the motivation of my son to figure this game out. For those unfamiliar with Geocaching, the idea is to look up cache sites on a mobile device, like an iPhone and use a GPS system to find the cache, which often consists of a plastic Tupperware box with items enclosed. There are often clues included and it is a bit of a treasure hunt to find the caches. My son had a friend over one weekend and they wanted to build and hide a cache. We had to figure out how to determine the coordinates of where to put the cache. I had no idea how to figure this out. My son and his friend immediately solved the problem and they looked at me as if I was a certifiable idiot, as they stated simultaneously, “Google Earth.” Sure enough, with the help of Google Earth on my iPhone they were able to figure out the coordinates, post the cache on the Geocaching web site, and then hide it.

How easy would it be for teachers to utilize this approach in the classroom to use mobile devices for learning. We need to ask the kids, or at least create environments where kids can lead the way with us to guide them. We don’t know the ins and outs of the technology, but we can lead kids in the right direction. For example, with my son and his friend, we had to spend some time thinking thorugh where to put the cache, and thinking about places where it might not be appropriate to hide the cache. That’s where my role as a parent/educator came in, but I was following their lead.

The cell phone industry is banking on this potential trend and they see the floodgates of an enormous new market about to open. Digital Millenial conducted a study of four schools in North Carolina, where students received cell phones with Microsoft’s Windows Moblie Software. The New York Times reported: “The students used the phones for a variety of tasks, including recording themselves solving problems and posting the videos to a private social networking site, where classmates could watch. The study found that students with the phones performed 25 percent better on the end-of-the-year algebra exam than did students without the devices in similar classes.” This is exciting news for educators and for the cell phone industry, which stands to sell 10-15 million phones if school districts in major urban areas adopt cell phones in the classroom. It is not a panacea, but this type of project begins to herald a shift in direction for schools and more importantly, for students.

School culture is shifting and students are dictating the terms of this new culture. Schools need to meet students halfway and acknowledge the use of mobile technologies. Otherwise, students will find every which way to skirt school rules, sneak texts under a desk during a test, and continue to bypass the trust of their teachers and schools. Teachers can alter the terms of learning with creative use of mobile devices and through careful design of testing situations, especially in those classes, like AP courses, that warrant the use of multiple choice exams. The last thing we want is a room plastered with notecards on the ceiling (or a room filled with surreptitiously texting students).

I was talking with a mother of an 8th grade student the other day and she proudly shared that she had reached an agreement with her son regarding computer use at home. For every hour he was on the screen, he needed to read for an hour. “That’s pretty good, don’t you think?” she said. I asked her if he had responded with, “But, mom, I am reading when I’m on the computer.” He had not said that to her, but he easily could have, and he would have had a valid point. The amount of reading kids do on the computer is staggering, but it’s not the kind my parents used to make me do during the summer months. Instead, kids are fast mastering the skills of skimming, sorting, judging, synthesizing, and manipulating while they jump through screens, clicking at images and icons. They are reading junkies.

Just yesterday, I combed the App store with my son and marveled at the speed with which he analyzed the promise of various apps. He quickly read the app summaries provided, played with the demos, and made decisions on which free apps to download. He could cut to the quick much better than I can, and he enjoyed the “silly” mirror app as much as he grew animated at the Scrabble app, though he also realized that you have to pay $4.99 for Scrabble, so that was abandoned. The same approach is used when we look for a movie on Comcast for family movie night. He zips through the program guide, reads the short film summaries, and then narrows our choices down to 3 and we then vote as a family. My wife, on the other hand, still struggles to scroll through the screen headings and she is the one who has the head nod of a 7-year old novice piano player when she is pressing the buttons on the remote. She readily hands the reins to our son.

Our six-year old daughter is getting in on the game also. She picked up our flip video camera the other day and started experimenting with it. She pressed buttons until she figured out how to record. She is just starting to read and she recorded herself reading a book. She then listened to herself reading and caught awkward pronunciations and modified her reading and re-recorded herself. She did five takes before she was satisfied that she had gotten it right. Her brother then uploaded her recording onto our laptop and edited the movie with iMovie. They added a soundtrack and we sent the video to my parents.

We even convinced my mother to buy an iPhone. She is of the generation that does not use an ATM machine, so she was terrified. But we reassured her that she would have 24/7 online support from our son, who has already been on Skype to walk her through the Contacts page of the iPhone. She can’t stop giggling at the realization that she is so dependent on her 10-year old grandson. She already tossed the print manual that she bought at the Apple Store. She said, “the manual is a complete waste. I much prefer the Face to Face guidance I get on Skype.” Even she is thinking about knowledge acquisition in a different way!

I’m not saying we should have kids abandon books and traditional reading, but we do need to recalibrate our expectations and see how kids are reading every day in non-traditional, non-linear ways. When we make “rules” for the house about reading, we need to include the different paths that kids are creating with new technologies. Everything is connected in the world of our children and we can’t separate reading from learning. We still ask our children to read in the traditional way each day and thankfully they do. We read them stories before bed-time, but we also let them read during the day with new technologies. We also get to see how they are using new technologies so we can supervise and catch them when they start doing something they should not be doing.

“The grown-ups just don’t get it,” my nephew explained, as he lay in a hospital bed in Estes Park, Colorado, after he fell victim to a crippling viral infection that left him stuck in a hospital bed for 3 days and nights with a bout of fever, chills, and aches. “None of my teachers know how to use computers and we’re stuck with these old PCs at school. We should be using Macs – they’re much cooler and easier to use.” He continues: “My dad just got the new iPhone and he doesn’t know how to do anything with it, other than to check sports scores on ESPN. He should be downloading all of the apps and checking out new things. I try to get him to do that, but he won’t listen to me.”

Such is the plight of many young people stuck in schools where the “grown-ups don’t get it.” As I sat with my nephew in the hospital room, I could not help but be frustrated to hear of his disillusionment and honesty about the lack of opportunity with technology in his school and in his home. He’s a good kid, lives in a comfortable upper middle class neighborhood in Connecticut, has access to an affluent public school district, and has loving, caring parents who value his education. He’s also incredibly sharp and perceptive and has aspirations to become an engineer. He shared his excitement about the engineering course offerings at his high school and talked about which courses he plans to take, on his way to becoming an aerospace engineer.

As I listened to him, I realized that schools and education leaders and policy-makers need to start interviewing students across the country about the future direction of education in this country. My 14 year-old nephew has crystal clear ideas about the type of education he wants and needs to succeed and to get where he wants to go. Educators are writing books about 21st century skills, and schools are putting together committees to cobble together new programs for 21st century learning, but I wonder how many schools include students on these committees.

There is hope and it could be just around the corner. In a recent article in the New York Times, we learn of a summer program where individualization and customization are the order of the day. Setting up flight boards on screens in the classroom, students find out what their daily departure and itinerary looks like. Instead of herding the giant elephant of the whole class, the teacher moves each student along at their own pace, with different online activities and assessments. Some students work in small groups and collaborate.

However, after I shared my excitement about this more personalized approach to learning with one long-time math educator, he worried that the students were essentially just doing glorified worksheets on the computers. And, my wife, a first grade teacher, commented, “You see what’s wrong with this, don’t you – where’s the face to face, human contact?” Both have valid points. One to one laptop learning still needs interpersonal connections to forge strong relationships among students, and between students and teachers. The recent passing of Frank McCourt, and the flood of notes from his students, who shared tales of their deep, lasting relationship with the legendary Stuyvesant educator only underscore the impact a great teacher can have on students. And, it has nothing to do with technology; instead, it’s about being what psychologist Robert Brooks terms the “charismatic adult” for students. No matter how many bells and whistles schools come up with to engage students, so that they will not be “bored” anymore, at the end of the day, learning will happen when there are dynamic adults, open to listening to students and their ideas about their own learning.

Beyond sitting behind a computer screen, working at one’s own pace, and the importance of the presence of charisma, a great opportunity exists to foster collaborative learning around real-world real-time problems. Students are not bound to a “classroom” anymore, with the ease and speed of connection to experts, mentors, and other students around the world. The recent story of the Netflix competition to improve the online movie rental service’s movie recommendation system highlights the power of engagement with a real problem that needs fixing (not in the ending global hunger kind of way, but in the make life easier for me kind of way). The contest began in October 2006 and has now ended in a dead heat between two teams. The reason the competition yielded so much success was because it brought “people with complementary skills” together to “combine different methods of problem-solving.” Also, the most successful teams were made up of individuals across the globe, illustrating how quickly, efficiently, and collaboratively problems can be attacked and solved.

What if companies like Netflix, Google, Amazon, iTunes, Twitter, etc., pooled their problems, not the top-secret, ready to bend the market secrets, but the daily puzzles that their software engineers, marketing and communication departments wrestle with every day and made them available to schools and students to solve? Schools across the globe could engage in the great race to solve real problems that real companies are pouring their resources into figuring out. The Netflix contest fast became “a race to agglomerate as many teams as possible,” said David Weiss, a Ph.D. candidate in computer science at the University of Pennsylvania, quoted in the New York Times. Students could reach out through Twitter and Facebook to collaborate across skill sets and interest level to attack with lightning speed and full engagement the problems of the 21st century. How exciting would this be! The question is, would these giant companies open themselves up and allow students access to their problems? We hear all the time the power of “free” with the Internet, and open source software; now, let’s see these companies live up to their word. All of Google’s tools are free; shouldn’t their problems also be free?

Now, let’s return to the School of One model with the flight departures and itineraries and we can begin to see where personalized, paced, and peer to peer learning can lead. Schools should replicate the online marketplace and prepare students for their futures. There is a golden opportunity right now and Google/Twitter/iTunes can break open the 21st century for students. My nephew can’t wait to start solving some real problems.