…I want to engage with other educators – not just teachers, but administrators, psychologists, LDTCs, and others in the education field – as to uses for much of the technology that is available to us.

[...]

I’ve titled my blog “Apace of Change” because it so precisely sums up my life situation: trying to keep abreast of ever-changing technology while also dealing with significant changes in my personal and professional lives.

[...]

I’m really doing this for the collaborative aspect – I need to talk about these issues with people, and where else other than Edublogs am I likely to find such folks?

So what’s changed?  I’m clearly no longer hosting with Edublogs, and I’ve since expanded the scope of my writing.  At first, I wrote a wanna-be ed-tech blog.  Now, I write a wanna-be blog about the broader landscape of education.  This shift has mirrored the changes in my professional life, from classroom teacher to school psychologist and professional development facilitator to aspiring administrator.  As my professional perspective and concerns have changed, so has the focus of my writing.

I’m also more comfortable in my own digital skin.  I think at the beginning I was modeling my writing very much on the other blogs I was reading, education and otherwise.  It took me a little while to find my own voice, but having done so – along with purchasing my own domain and hosting space – gives me an even greater sense of ownership over this digital space of mine.

Speaking of which, there’s also this statement from my portfolio website:

Since 2007, I have blogged at Apace of Change about the challenges, successes, and failures I experienced in attempting to infuse technology into my instruction and assessment as a high school English teacher.  From 2009 on, I shift focus to broader issues in education, with some focus on special education and school psychology related issues, including the use of read/write Web tools as assistive technology.

Blogging has great potential as a tool of reflection, and I have found that frequent and thorough reflection has helped me to become a better educator, psychologist, husband, and father.  Whereas some may prefer to write in a journal or simply reflect in thought, blogging allows for interaction with an audience.  In some cases, this interaction provides me with affirmation; in others, my thoughts are challenged.  Either way, as long as the discourse remains constructive, growth occurs.

There’s no two ways about it – I love getting comments on my blog, and do my best to respond to each one as best I can.  I’ve found, however, that as the years have passed, I’ve been more focused on the personal reflective aspect than the conversational aspect.  I don’t comment on other blogs as much as I used to, and I’ve noticed that comments on my blog have fallen off proportionately.  I’m OK with that, though, since a) as I write I’m reflecting and refining my thoughts as well as my words, and b) I get most of my discourse via Facebook and Twitter these days – another big change from the summer of 2007.

I know, I know – it’s 2012, and blogging is dead (or is it?), but as long as I still have ideas, problems, questions, or concerns about education, this blog is staying alive.

So anyway, here goes: in “The End of Isolation”, my co-authors (Eric Brunsell and Elizabeth Alderton, both of the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh) and I explore how K-12 classroom teachers use Twitter as a means of professional networking (the research behind the article was the basis of Eric’s and my conversation at Educon 2.3 this past January).  More from the abstract:

The researchers surveyed and analyzed the public Twitter feeds of classroom teachers to determine the specific purposes for which teachers use Twitter. Study participants also completed surveys dealing with social networking. The K-12 educators in this study engaged in true dialogue, where evidence of actual conversation occurred in Twitter over 61% of the time. Additionally, over 82% of the time, the educators in this study chose to follow other educators or content experts related to their field of teaching so they were able to create a personal learning network meaningful to their professional needs. Analysis of data shows that a majority of tweets were educationally focused and were primarily in the categories of practice/philosophy, questions, and sharing of resources. Additional studies looking at how other online learning communities may be used as professional development venues would be beneficial and add to the knowledge base of online learning, professional development, and learning networks.

The article appeared in this past September’s issue of MERLOT’s Journal of Online Learning and Teaching; the full text of the article is available here for your review.  Finally, a huge THANK YOU to the participants in our survey; we truly could not have done this without you.

Reference

Alderton, E., Brunsell, E., & Bariexca, D.  (2011).  The end of isolation.  MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 7(3), 354-365.

Beyond the immediate benefits, however, I thought it would be a good “dry run” of online learning for me, as my upcoming doctoral program is a hybrid online/F2F format.  Having been through graduate school once before, I’m familiar with the F2F part, but I’m curious as to what the online part will look like.  With my first online learning experience now behind me, I thought I’d write down some of my initial reflections on the process.  Please note that what follows is not a critique or endorsement of the content of this program, but rather the online format.

Benefits

My biggest takeaway from this experience was how much I liked setting my own pace and focus.  This course covered a broad array of topics under the “ethics” umbrella, and as I expected, I was more knowledgeable in some areas than others.  The fact that this course was available online meant that I didn’t have to sit in a lecture hall or hotel conference room and be spoken to (or worse, read a PowerPoint).  I was able to wear what was comfortable and sit where I wanted (I completed most of this course horizontal on my living room sofa).  I was able to skim over some parts, and spend more time focusing on others, both in reading more closely and in utilizing external resources to learn more.  While the course provides the same content for anyone who takes it, the asynchronous nature of the delivery allows for greater differentiation than the standard lecture hall setting.

Limitations

That said, I acknowledge that reading text is far and away my preferred method of receiving information.  I’d sooner sit and read than watch a video or listen to a recording, at least for academic purposes.  As such, this particular course was right up my alley (about 200 pages or so of reading), but I can see how folks with preferences for audio or video might find this format limiting or off-putting.  Also, while the course did allow for self-reflection with some case study-style exercises, the drawback to self-study is that you’ve only got yourself to work with.  Here is where having someone else in the room to bounce ideas off of or discuss options with would come in handy.

Final Thoughts

As part of the course evaluation, I left this comment for the folks at MSPA:

I would be very likely to take another online-only course for NASP-approved hours.  I am not always able to attend NASP-approved events in my area due to my own professional and personal scheduling constraints, and I applaud the MSPA and NASP for promoting online learning opportunities for their members.  I wish more state associations would follow suit.

My own state school psychologists association usually has two conferences a year, but I have only been able to attend one or two in the last six due to demands at work.  The national association convention is in a different city every year, and long-distance travel hasn’t been in my budget for some time (although I do hope to attend the 2012 NASP Convention right here in Philadelphia!).  That leaves me very few options for obtaining those necessary NASP-approved hours, but this course really fit the bill.

Although doctoral study will obviously be much more in-depth than a single PD course, I thought the experience would be a nice teaser of what’s to come.  I’m happy to say that I enjoyed my first major formal online learning experience, and I’m looking forward even more to starting the hybrid online/F2F format in a few weeks.

I read an article not too long ago (which, to my chagrin, I am unable to locate at the moment) that stated that while teachers are using online resources such as Twitter and blogs for professional networking purposes, school principals (and, presumably, other administrators) are not.  From my admittedly small sphere of reference, I find this hard to believe because I’ve been following the blogs and Tweets of principals and superintendents like Eric Sheninger, Michael Smith, Pam Moran, Patrick Larkin, Dave Sherman, Scott Elias, Melinda Miller, and many others for what feels like ages.  Beyond the text-based world, Scott and Melinda also host the excellent (but far-too-infrequently updated) Practical Principals podcast.  I assume, however, that the article author knows better than I (because otherwise I’d be writing for major blogs and magazines, right?), and that the vast majority of US school administrators are not connecting with each other online.

The summer I started Tweeting, blogging, and generally involving myself in this world of online networking with other educators (four years ago already, sheesh), I was asked in a Skype call what I felt was a barrier for other teachers to get started in these activities.  My answer then (a lack of a real clear “point of entry”) informs my contribution to Leadership Day 2011: I have created a Google Doc to which I invite you, blogging and Tweeting and Skypeing principals and administrators, to add your online info.  Feel free to add as much or as little info as you desire.  I’ve left columns for Twitter & Skype usernames, blog URLs, and specific areas of interest, among others, but please add new fields if I’ve left something important out.

My goal here is to create a document that you can hand to non-connected administrators (physically or digitally) and say, “Here’s where to start” when it comes to reading administrator-specific blogs or Twitter feeds, or who they can contact if they are interested in making connections for x or y purposes.

My thinking, of course, is that in addition to the general benefits networking affords, when more administrators understand and use these tools, there will be more support for teachers who wish to do the same, especially with their students.

Will you help build this “point of entry” directory for our yet-to-be connected colleagues?  If so, here it is.

In January, I challenged you to get out of your classroom and observe your colleagues at least once a month from January to May.  I even said I would try to do it twice a month.

I did not meet my goal.

In fact, I fell way short.  This is not to say I didn’t conduct general observations as part of my job; rather, I didn’t get to conduct many additional ones as outlined in that blog post from January.

Ordinarily, this is the part where I would analyze my own actions or inaction, and determine what I could do differently to improve this for next time.  I started off well enough, sitting in on a basic skills Algebra class, but if I’m honest, it came down to there not being enough hours in the day.  I pride myself on always being able to find or make time for these things, but in a rare occurence, I just wasn’t going to be able to do it without neglecting other, more time-sensitive or higher-priority items.

So maybe this is a Seinfeldesque blog post about nothing, but I thought it important to at least come correct and own up to my inability to meet the challenge I set for myself and others.  If nothing else, it’s what I would expect of my students.

I am very excited about this new opportunity for many reasons, not the least of which is the move from the secondary to intermediate level.  While I liked working in high schools over the last eleven years, working with younger students has been on my mind for a few years now, and I’m thrilled to be able to realize that goal this coming September.

I’m very much looking forward to a new set of professional challenges and rewards.  Between starting two new jobs (I’m also teaching my first graduate class this summer, in a teacher certification program) and a doctoral program, the next few months are going to be ones of great change and, as far as my growth and efficacy as an educator is concerned, great opportunities for learning and reflection.

Why I Did It

First, why I DIDN’T do it: I DIDN’T do it because I feel I’d be depriving the world of some educational holy grail if I didn’t.  In fact, most of what’s in there was developed prior to the major change in thinking I had toward my practice in 2006-2007.  What is in there, however, I think are good jumping off points for development.  I may have had stale writing assigments from my first few years, but I think the core questions and ideas they address are still good – my challenge to you is, can you take those good ideas and come up with a better way to have kids address them than I did?

I did this in the spirit of open education and sharing.  I was fortunate enough to work in an English department with teachers who were only too happy to share their wealth of materials with me as I was starting out; I’d like to think that in some way, this move honors their generosity of time and resources (especially since some of their stuff is probably in these files, in one form or another).

I also think back to one of the reasons I liked having students post their research online: what good does all that hard work do if it’s just sitting on your hard drive somewhere collecting proverbial dust?  While my students may have had a few weeks of research to share, I have eight years worth of research, thinking, missteps, and refinement that I hope will benefit some pre-service or early career teacher sitting in his living room, staring at a copy of Hamlet, and thinking not so much, “What the hell am I supposed to do with this?”, but rather, “Where the hell am I supposed to start with this?”  Sometimes the seeming enormity of the task overwhelms; that’s where (hopefully) my stuff can help focus and provide ideas.

How I Did It

I’ve toyed with the idea of doing this ever since I stopped teaching at the end of the 2007-2008 school year, but could never find the right combination of price (for file hosting) and convenience to make it a worthwhile project to pursue.  The closest I came was using DivShare to upload my stuff because they had a drag & drop uploader, but folders still had to be individually created via the website, documents re-arranged manually (again, via the website), and let’s face it – we’re talking about 3.5 gigs of files, mostly text documents.  That was just too much.

The service I ended up using for this project was one I’ve used and loved for years now – Dropbox.  Dropbox is a service that provides 2GB of free online storage and file syncing between computers (if you use the link above to sign up for the service and install it on your computer, you and I both get an additional 250MB of space on top of the 2GB; further space can be obtained through their referral program).  The watershed moment came a few months ago when Dropbox announced that their next software upgrade would include a folder sharing function (previously, only individual files could be shared publicly).  Here’s how you do it:

1. Right-click on the folder you want to share.
2. Select “Dropbox” > “Get shareable link”.
3. You’ll be re-directed to Dropbox’s website, where you’ll get a short link you can tweet, share on Facebook, or embed in a webpage, wiki, blog, etc.
4. Anyone who can access the link can now access the contents of that folder.
5. That’s it.
6. No, really; that’s all there is to it.

Since I kept all my stuff in Dropbox anyway, this meant that all I needed to do was activate the shareable link for each course’s folder, put the link on my website along with a brief description of each course, and remove any pictures or videos of students (all of whom have long since graduated from high school and are adults, but it’s the right thing to do).  Once that was done, I did another cursory sweep of the files just to tighten up organization a bit, and that was that.  Unlike other services, I could do this all from my desktop, and any changes made there were instantaneously reflected on the Dropbox servers – far less time consuming than doing it all manually through a web app.

If you’d like to have a look, head over to my portfolio website and feel free to have a poke around.  Also, if you know an English teacher or department who may want to dig around, please feel free to distribute the link far and wide.  Much like my blog, my lessons and materials are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License (of course, this license does not abridge your Fair Use rights as an educator).

Finally, I’d like to toss this out there – if setting up the file sharing was as simple as dragging some folders into Dropbox, getting the shareable link, then posting the link on a website (or wiki, or blog, or whatever you like)…

…would you share your work too?

What steps / structures can be taken / created to foster improved classroom practice through PLN interactions?

I didn’t see any common themes emerge from these answers (but see below and judge for yourself), but one attendee raised the question (and I’m paraphrasing here), “Why must there be structured steps toward tangible goals?  Can talking/thinking about issues be enough?”  I was sympathetic to this view – I have been influenced in my thinking by several folks in my PLN, but not every philosophical POV translates into specific classroom action.  I would argue, however, that these shifts in mindset will eventually manifest themselves somehow – in the quantity and quality of work assigned, in the decision whether or not to assign homework regularly, and even in how you interact with your students.

I think the SciDo/EngDo collaboratives discussed in my last post are probably the best examples of improved classroom practice as a result of PLN interactions.  It seems that having a more “permanent” (for lack of a better word) structure than the admittedly ephemeral conversations that take place on Twitter is necessary – a wiki to which people can contribute, a Ning such as Classroom 2.0, just something more established than a hashtag chat or random discussion.

See anything in the responses that I’m missing?  Agree/disagree with the need for an established structure like a wiki?  Leave a comment!

Our attendee’s verbatim responses:

* feels natural to translate it
* allowing yourself to fail miserably in front of V-PLN
* challenge yourself
* provide support to teachers who are ‘new’ to social networking.  Make time during school day for this type of engagement.
* Learn to work asynchronously.  Catch kids when they are ready to learn, not when they are scheduled.
* “@ – as much as possible”
* “tweacher”
* how do I find people I want to follow?
* contribute constructively and positively to edu-trends
* triggers from other social interactions – timely
* what is the real value of discussion?
* low opportunity cost!
* if expected value is high, then I will follow up on it
* get to 80%, go, figure out 20% (or more) w/kids
* allowing yourself to fail miserably in front of your v-pln
* challenge yourself
* ask questions and find people (like- and not like-minded) to help you answer them
* get many opinions & views on issues & problems
* my paper.li as home page
* “needs to be in front of me or I’ll forget about it”
* greater sharing can lead to greater opportunities for learning “give to get”
* demonstrate the value in connecting
* sharing is caring
* speak up but speak well
* see it -> self-evaluate -> do it
* is just talking about it enough to make you think in new ways?
* start a blog where you reflect & ask questions.  Use it to link up to other educator blogs and start conversations
* vlogging as often as possible
* follow a Twitter chat
* share lessons & resources – request great lessons from other
* join a professional online community
* co-develop methods with your PLN; all implement – focused crowdsourcing
* create an online portal to share resources among staff.  Have a place where colleagues can ask questions and receive feedback.

One group in our Educon conversation managed to group all the responses to this focus question into four main categories:

Conversations

The proliferation of Twitter-based hashtag chats was mentioned in our presentation, and that resonated with our attendees.  #Spedchat and #BlackEdu were mentioned specifically as far as influencing “how we speak about students” and “finding edunerds of color on social media”, respectively (side note: if you’d like to join the fun on Twitter, see Ben Wilkoff’s excellent resource for keeping track of all edu-related Twitter chats).  The National Writing Project and their Digital_Is offshoot were also recognized as being highly valuable resources that have had significant presences on Twitter and Facebook.

Events

With one of the EdCamp founders in our session, it came as no surprise to me that this grass-roots event – one that started in Philly and has gone nationwide in less than a year – was one of the top examples of a social media-driven face-to-face event for resource sharing, discussion, and professional growth (similar in many ways to Educon itself).  Folks also spoke about learning about existing events such as TEDxNYED through their social media connections, or by attending conferences and extending the conversations that started face-t0-face into the online space, well past the chronological end of the event.

Resource Sharing

The SciDo and EngDo collaboratives were both borne of teachers discussing sharing lesson plans and activities over Twitter.  Given the limitations of the medium, it made sense to move the discussion into action in a different forum altogether, and thus were born SciDo and EngDo.  These wikis, aimed at science and English educators, allow folks to browse, take, and also contribute their best/most fun/most exciting lessons.  Many of the folks involved in EngDo and SciDo also share documents via Google Docs, thereby opening the door to fellow educators to browse, pick, and choose resources at their leisure (and to return the favor to the community as well).

Beyond these two examples, participants talked about resource gained via the aforementioned hashtag chats on Twitter, reading blogs of fellow educators, and participating in Nings such as Classroom 2.0 for resource sharing and discussion.

Collaborative Problem Solving

There was some overlap between this group and the others; again, we see the conceps of soliciting feedback via participation in hashtag chats, Nings, and blogging.  One attendee said that “‘arguments’ or discussions between other people in my PLN help me to clarify my own position on things like “homework”, etc.”, and that’s probably one of the biggest reasons I stick with this.  Even in the “echo chamber”, there is still a multiplicity of attitudes and perspectives, and I rely on them to continually push my thinking and help me to grow and hopefully become a better educator.

Once again, the full list of responses:

Conversations
* Digital_Is (see NWP)
* Teacher networks #NWP
* #spedchat – how we speak about students
* #blackedu – finding edunerds of color on social media

Events
* Edcamp – ultimate in just-in-time learning
* Found out about TEDxNYED on Twitter & speakers there helped me to clarify positions on:
**attending conferences (eg AASL/NJASL & continuing conversations on Twitter afterward)
**#TEDxNYED Finding ppl who aren’t educators but are allies in innovative educational ideas

Resource Sharing
* #mathchat – pooling best & biggest resources for classroom math
* Ning for asynchronous portion of yearlong PD – classroom practices where ?? skills can flourish
* Dan Meyer’s blog helped 5 students to pass a state exam they had previously failed
* Requests for activities & labs on subjects where my stuff was lacking
* Youthvoices.net w/Paul Allison & Chris Sloan #NWP
* Ning – exchange lesson ideas and receive feedback
* collaboration from #engchat & #engdo
* #scido collaborative – scido.wikispaces.com – resource sharing and collaborative hub
* #hcrhs chat – develop lessons for integrating web 2.0 tools, made interdisciplinary connections that resulted in collaborative units

Collaborative Problem Solving
* #ARCSFloatOn – book reviewers pass on adv. reading copies to teachers
* blogging w/students and gathering feeds on netvibes helped me formatively assess
* #sbg and #sbar
* switched to SBG based mostly on connections/examples thru blogs/Twitter
* Classroom 2.0 – getting assistance w/ed questions re best practices; implementing in classroom
* student 1:1 pilot group
* reworked lessons/units to incorporate web tools and develop inquiry-based lessons/projects
* “arguments” or discussions b/w other people in PLN help me to clarify my own position on things like “homework”, etc

What are the major barriers (beyond technical fluency) for social-network based PLN’s to become vehicles for transformative professional development?

Lots of great thoughts on this, and of the three focus questions, probably the easiest to answer.  After all, if there weren’t so many barriers, everyone would be learning via PLNs, right?  Let’s kick it off with the big one (literally and figuratively):

Photo by Ben Wildeboer

It’s not everyday you see a Post-It note re-tweeted, but surely fear of the Internet, fear of the unknown, fear of transparency, fear of accessibility, fear of sharing information, and all other manner of fears act as barriers to PLN involvement.  I certainly struggled with it to a degree when I first became involved in my online professional community, and I have had much prior experience online – I imagine it must be an even more significant barrier to overcome when “all this Internet stuff” is completely foreign to a person.

The “fear” theme was pervasive throughout the responses, but other interesting points were made as well:

• The term “Personal” may be a barrier – can PD be too individualized, and therefore isolating?
• PLN-style learning is not always valued by administrators or by the system that requires educators to quantify their learning (e.g., PD hours) – how do we put a number on the discussions we have or the resources we share?
• Often, schools dictate what is acceptable professional development and what is not – if even structured, “official” PD can be discounted as “acceptable”, what chance does social, informal learning have?
• PLNs are not PD unto themselves – they can be part of an overall PD plan, but this in & of itself is not enough

I would love to hear your thoughts on these.  If you’re interested (or you attended the session and are curious what everyone said), here’s the complete list of what the crew came up with:

* FEAR (RT @thejlv)
* maintaining status quo
* school policy
* don’t want to “put themselves out there”
* fear of sharing information
* policies dictating what counts as PD
* systems, i/e/ organizational issues
* convince admins of the value of social PD
* overgeneralization
* accessibility, liability, etc
* state/govt mandates
* lack/absence of methods, strategies proposed
* like students, teachers need to be taught (or re-taught) to think
* don’t know where to start
* getting knowledge out of boxes & into classrooms
* communicating ideas effectively for educators AND non-educators!
* Term “Personal” in PLN – is this a barrier?
* misperception
* if it’s not structured by an ‘expert’, it’s not ‘real’ PD
* PLNs are by definition small, focused, & scattered.  They are part of a comprehensive PD plan, but not plan themselves.
* unwillingness to be online
* people being comfortable taking risks and being vulnerable