Follow-up to Alan November's Presentation at the IASA Conference
April 30, 2008 Update to New Superintendents
I hope you had an opportunity to listen to Alan November’s General Session presentation at the IASA Conference titled Transforming the Culture of Teaching and Learning. If you attended that session, you may have left with the feeling that many of our schools and may I add, superintendents and other educators, are far behind, in this global world where our students will need to competitive. Alan talked about:
- How superintendents or teachers can start their own search engines.
- How one needs to learn Internet
grammar and punctuation to get around on the Internet, including
the following three “must knows” for teachers and
educators:
- link: (follow with your webpage address to find out who is linked to your school district’s webpage)
- host: (to find all extension limits on a subject such as American Revolution.edu)
- url: (limit to the address that follows the colon, i.e. “American Revolution” url ac uk
- How the Internet search can be limited to information from just certain countries as each country has its own “code.”
- How one can make a movie of the screen for instructional purposes using free software, such as “screencast.”
- How to make telephone calls anywhere in
the world for free using Skype.
- On a personal note, we use Skype to call our grandchildren several times a week. If your computer and the computer of the individual you are calling are equipped with video cameras, you can view the person you are talking to as well as hear the audio.
- How administrators should be consulting with your students to improve the use of technology for instructional purposes.
- How you can do Podcasts for instructional purposes.
- How different interpretations of the same event can be researched. For example, Alan described how the British have a different view of the American Revolution than citizens in the United States. By learning how to use Internet Grammar, you may access British sources of information and view their perspective. If only Google is used to access information, then you will only get the United States version. In the search engine Alta Vista, if you type “American Revolution” Host: ac.uk (ac is the England abbreviation instead of edu and uk is the country code for England), you will find sites in England concerning the American Revolution. The teacher can then give an assignment to compare and contrast the British point of view on the American Revolution to the American point of view. This will allow students to use critical thinking skills to be engaged in completing this assignment.
- How you can get your website rated high on Google by using RSS feeds.
- How free college courses are on-line from some of the best colleges and universities in the United States.
- How you can use an on-line word processor to put student notes on-line for all to access and edit together. Administrators could use this function to float ideas to their staff, teachers could post comments to the site and make changes to the document and then you can have a meeting to discuss the final version. One administrator talked about how he wanted to change the high school master schedule. He used Google Docs to start a position statement then teachers could post to the document and make suggested changes. If the principal had used a typical avenue of communications, he would have had many faculty meetings with possibly negative forceful teachers framing the issue. However, by using the on-line method, everybody had a chance to provide input and the final document was the work of all. The actual meeting to form the final recommendation took less than 30 minutes instead of the 3 months it might have taken under the meeting format.
- How your school librarians should lead the charge for information literacy in your school districts.
- and much more.
Many superintendents at the conference asked me if we had recorded Alan November’s presentation. We did not, but I have found the following link on the web and you can view and hear a similar presentation made by Alan November in Texas. The website address is http://ali.apple.com/presentation/novemberpreso.html. There is a podcast presentation by Alan and he also refers to hyperlink websites that he has listed on the page that you can click on and interact with the Internet while you are listening to his recorded presentation.
Follow these instructions for more information on how to actually perform some of the tasks mentioned above.
- You can go to the November Learning webpage at http://novemberlearning.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
- Select the second tab from the right that reads Resources
- SelectCommunity Building How-To’s
- You will find information sheets that are helpful to anyone who wants to learn more about a variety of online tools. Topics include:
i. Directing Learning with Google Custom Search
ii. Leveraging the Power of RSS Using Bloglines
iii. Podcasting
iv. Recording Mobile Podcasts with GCast
v. Recording Skype Interviews
vi. Screencasting
vii. Social Bookmarking with Del.icio.us
viii. Submitting a Podcast to iTunes
ix. Using Skype
- Also under Resources you will find the tab
Information Literacy
Resources. Titles include:
- Information Literacy Quiz
- Information Literacy Quiz Answer Key with Follow-up Activities
- Websites to Validate
- How to Read a Web Address
- Find the Publisher of a Website
- What is the History of a Website
- Check the External Links
- Also under Resources you will find the tab
Workshop Materials.
Titles include:
- Educator’s Guide to NL Communities
- November Learning Workshop Handbook
In the introduction to the November Learning Workshop Handbook the author states, “We live in exciting times and have access to powerful new tools that can potentially develop critical thinking skills and personal connections around the world. As educators, the challenge we face is to design more rigorous and motivating assignments that take advantage of this potential to enhance the way we teach and students learn.
At November Learning, we believe that new roads in education need to be explored, and your journey begins by addressing four essential areas.
• Creating students who are information literate
• Creating students who are motivated to learn 24/7
• Providing students with reasons and opportunities to connect globally
• Encouraging students to work with creativity and passion by utilizing their strengths and interests.
The purpose of this workbook is to supplement sessions provided by November Learning. It has been designed to give you ideas, resources and examples that you and other educators within your school can take with you as you move forward with your school’s goals.”
Tip of the Week:
I wrote to you earlier in the school year about keeping yourself physically fit and taking care of yourself as you embark on this career as a school superintendent. As one who likes to “walk the talk,” I had informed you that my daughter, Jennifer, and I were training for a half marathon. Actually, we have run two half marathons and Jennifer’s boyfriend joined us as well. I have attached a picture of the three of us after running the Louisville Half Marathon last Saturday. We all did well.
Remember to set your own goals for your physical fitness, your family, your friends, your spirit and for things you want to do for yourself.
