I recently came across this post from David Pogue. His Twittering Tips for Beginners is very helpful in seeing what is possible using this very ubiquitous tool.
How and Why to Twitter
From the Desk of David Pogue
Twittering Tips for Beginners
By DAVID POGUE
Published: January 15, 2009
As a tech columnist, I'm supposed to be on top of what's new in tech, but there's just too much, too fast; it's like drinking from a fire hose. I can only imagine how hopeless a task it must be for everyone else.
Which brings us to Twitter.
Twitter.com is all the rage among geeks, although it has more hype than users at this point. (When I speak at tech and education conferences, I routinely ask my audience how many are on Twitter. Usually, it's 1 in 500.)
Basically, you sign up for a free account at Twitter.com. Then you're supposed to return to that site periodically and type short messages that announce what you're doing. (Very short — 140 characters max.)
Then, you're supposed to persuade your friends and admirers to become your audience by subscribing to your utterances (called tweets).
Big-name tech pundits amass tens of thousands of followers. Normal people may have five or six.
I'll admit that, for the longest time, I was exasperated by the Twitter hype. Like the world needs ANOTHER ego-massaging, social-networking time drain? Between e-mail and blogs and Web sites and Facebook and chat and text messages, who on earth has the bandwidth to keep interrupting the day to visit a Web site and type in, "I'm now having lunch"? And to read the same stuff being broadcast by a hundred other people?
Then my eyes were opened.
A few months ago, I was one of 12 judges for a MacArthur grant program in Chicago. As we looked over one particular application, someone asked, "Hasn't this project been tried before?"
Everyone looked blankly at each other.
Then the guy sitting next to me typed into the Twitter box. He posed the question to his followers. Within 30 seconds, two people replied, via Twitter, that it had been done before. And they provided links.
The fellow judge had just harnessed the wisdom of his followers in real time. No e-mail, chat, Web page, phone call or FedEx package could have achieved the same thing.
I was impressed.
So I've been Twittering for a couple of months, and I've learned a lot. I'm still dubious about Twitter's prospects for becoming a tool for ordinary people (rather than early-adopter techie types).
But one thing's for sure: The whole thing would be a lot more palatable if somebody would explain the basics.
Something like this:
* You don't have to open your Web browser and go to Twitter.com to send and receive tweets. In fact, that's just silly. Instead, people download little programs like Twitterific, Feedalizr or Twinkle, they get the updates on their cellphones as text messages, or they use something like PocketTweets, Tweetie or iTweet for the iPhone. I've been using Twitterific for the Mac, which is a tall, narrow window at the side of the screen. Incoming tweets scroll up without distracting you. Much.
* Your followers can respond to your tweets, either publicly or privately.
Suppose someone named Casey responds to one of your tweets. You can reply to Casey in one of two ways. First, you can send a Direct Message, which only Casey sees. Second, you can respond with another public tweet—but as you can imagine, everyone but Casey will be completely baffled. It's obvious from the number of completely incomprehensible tweets ("No, only in Lichtenstein!") that not all Twitter fans have yet grasped the difference between these reply types.
On the other hand, if you reply with a private Direct Message, Casey can't reply to IT—unless you've also subscribed to *Casey's* Twitter feeds. Seems like a pretty dumb design decision. Either you have to follow the whole world, or every conversation fizzles into silence after one exchange.
* It seems clear that you, as a tweet-sender, are not actually expected to respond to every reply. At least I sure HOPE that's the expectation. I mean, some popular Twitterers have 15,000 followers; you'd spend all day doing nothing but answering them all.
* The Web is full of "rules" about the proper way to Twitter, and a lot of them are just knowier-than-thou garbage: How many tweets a day to send out. How many people you should follow. What you should say. And so on. The first adopters are milking their early advantage for all it's worth.
I found one rule, though, that answered a long-standing question I had about Twitter: "Don't tweet about what you're doing right now." Which is weird, since that's precisely how the typing box at Twitter.com is labeled: "What are you doing?"
I've always wondered who the heck would be interested in the mundane details of your life. As it turns out, though, most people broadcast other stuff in their tweets. They pose questions. They send links to interesting stuff they've found online. They pass along breaking news (Barack Obama announced his running mate on Twitter).
* People can be just as snotty on Twitter as they are everywhere else on the Internet. At first, my own followers on Twitter were friendly and helpful. But I was having a bear of a time. For example, every time I tried to add a photo to appear by my name, it showed up fine on Twitter.com, but refused to appear in Twitterific. Also, if you searched for "Pogue" at Twitter.com, you would find my old, defunct account ("pogue"), but not my current, active one ("DavidPogue"), even though the search box says specifically that it will find people by their real names. (It's working now, but it was broken a couple weeks ago.)
So I posted these two problems to my 1,900 followers. Most tried to help troubleshoot, but there was the predictable backlash: "Stop asking these newbie questions," wrote one guy. "Makes you look like a moron."
* Another person criticized me for not following enough other Twitterers. The implication was that if you send out tweets but don't subscribe to a lot of other people, you're an egotist.
So I signed up to follow prominent tech gurus like Guy Kawasaki, Tim O'Reilly and CrunchGear. But then I was astonished to see Guy send out tweets literally *every three minutes.*
"Holy cow," I thought. "Does this guy do anything all day but sit in front of Twitter?"
I posed this question to my followers, too. They promptly informed me that some people, like Guy, use automated software robots to churn out tweets, largely to promote their own blogs, sites or other products. (That doesn't seem quite right to me.)
In the end, my impression of Twitter was right and wrong. Twitter IS a massive time drain. It IS yet another way to procrastinate, to make the hours fly by without getting work done, to battle for online status and massage your own ego.
But it's also a brilliant channel for breaking news, asking questions, and attaining one step of separation from public figures you admire. No other communications channel can match its capacity for real-time, person-to-person broadcasting.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Social Media Guidelines for Student Journalists
The Cronkite School encourages participants in its professional programs to make use of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, which are valuable reporting tools and promotional and distribution channels for our content. To ensure the highest journalistic standards in these programs, participants must abide by the following standards for social media use drawn from The Poynter Institute for Media Studies and the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics.
Ethical Principle: Act Independently
As stated in the SPJ Code of Ethics, journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public's right to know. Actions that call into question a journalist’s ability to report fairly on an issue harm not only that journalist but his or her news organization and fellow journalists. Participants in the Cronkite School’s professional programs are bound by these standards in their use of social media regardless of whether they are at work:
• Recognize that your actions involving social networking sites, including those taken when you aren’t working, affect the credibility of yourself, the Cronkite School’s professional programs and other journalists participating in those programs.
• Avoid posting information to social networking sites or blogs that could embarrass you or your news organization or call into question your ability to act independently as a journalist. This includes expressing political views or opinions about newsmakers or sharing internal communications, even if you are participating in what is supposed to be a private group.
• In profiles and in use of privacy settings, restrict access to your most private information, including removing any mention of political leanings and information that could be misinterpreted as conveying a bias.
• Aggressively manage “friends” and followers and their comments. Delete comments that call into question your ability to act independently as a journalist and, if necessary, remove “friends” or followers who make such comments.
• Recognize that actions taken for journalistic reasons can be misinterpreted, such as signing on as a “fan” of a political campaign or interest group in order to follow updates. When appropriate, tell that group that you have signed on to look for story ideas. If identifying yourself as a follower of a campaign, interest group or political party, seek to follow sites of the other candidate/s, the other political party or groups on the other side of the issue.
Ethical Principle: Seek and Report the Truth
As stated in the SPJ Code of Ethics, journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information. The Cronkite School’s professional programs recognize that using social networking sites helps journalists find sources and develop story ideas as well as making personal and professional connections. Participants in these programs are bound by these standards when using social networking sites as a reporting tool:
• Recognize that use of social networking sites is just one way of gathering information. It is no substitute for face-to-face interviews and digging for information.
• Work offline to confirm information gathered via social networking sites. Seek through every means possible to interview sources in person or by phone to verify identities, claims and statements.
• Be transparent with your instructors, supervisors, editors and audience when using information drawn exclusively from a social networking site or messaging through a social networking site. Let them know how and in what context you contacted sources and gathered information and how you verified that information or sought to verify it.
• Compensate for the younger, whiter and more affluent skew of users of social networking sites. Seeking diversity is an ethical principle as well as a journalistic goal, and social networking sites used exclusively or predominately as a way to report news can limit the inclusion of diverse views.
Ethical Principle: Minimize Harm
As stated in the SPJ Code of Ethics, journalists should treat sources, subjects and colleagues as human beings deserving of respect. Participants in the Cronkite School’s professional programs are bound by these standards intended to minimize harm from the use of social networking sites as a reporting tool:
• Obtain informed consent from sources, disclosing who you are, what you are seeking and where your story will and/or could run. The informality of social networking sites makes it easier for potential sources to misunderstand your intentions and the impact of cooperating.
• Take care when dealing with minors and other vulnerable people who might not fully understand the consequences of cooperating with a journalist. If contacting a child through a social networking site, make sure he or she connects you with a responsible adult.
Written by Steve Elliott, director of digital news for Cronkite News Service, with acknowledgment to "A newsroom guideline for using social networks" by Kelly McBride, The Poynter Institute for Media Studies
Ethical Principle: Act Independently
As stated in the SPJ Code of Ethics, journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public's right to know. Actions that call into question a journalist’s ability to report fairly on an issue harm not only that journalist but his or her news organization and fellow journalists. Participants in the Cronkite School’s professional programs are bound by these standards in their use of social media regardless of whether they are at work:
• Recognize that your actions involving social networking sites, including those taken when you aren’t working, affect the credibility of yourself, the Cronkite School’s professional programs and other journalists participating in those programs.
• Avoid posting information to social networking sites or blogs that could embarrass you or your news organization or call into question your ability to act independently as a journalist. This includes expressing political views or opinions about newsmakers or sharing internal communications, even if you are participating in what is supposed to be a private group.
• In profiles and in use of privacy settings, restrict access to your most private information, including removing any mention of political leanings and information that could be misinterpreted as conveying a bias.
• Aggressively manage “friends” and followers and their comments. Delete comments that call into question your ability to act independently as a journalist and, if necessary, remove “friends” or followers who make such comments.
• Recognize that actions taken for journalistic reasons can be misinterpreted, such as signing on as a “fan” of a political campaign or interest group in order to follow updates. When appropriate, tell that group that you have signed on to look for story ideas. If identifying yourself as a follower of a campaign, interest group or political party, seek to follow sites of the other candidate/s, the other political party or groups on the other side of the issue.
Ethical Principle: Seek and Report the Truth
As stated in the SPJ Code of Ethics, journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information. The Cronkite School’s professional programs recognize that using social networking sites helps journalists find sources and develop story ideas as well as making personal and professional connections. Participants in these programs are bound by these standards when using social networking sites as a reporting tool:
• Recognize that use of social networking sites is just one way of gathering information. It is no substitute for face-to-face interviews and digging for information.
• Work offline to confirm information gathered via social networking sites. Seek through every means possible to interview sources in person or by phone to verify identities, claims and statements.
• Be transparent with your instructors, supervisors, editors and audience when using information drawn exclusively from a social networking site or messaging through a social networking site. Let them know how and in what context you contacted sources and gathered information and how you verified that information or sought to verify it.
• Compensate for the younger, whiter and more affluent skew of users of social networking sites. Seeking diversity is an ethical principle as well as a journalistic goal, and social networking sites used exclusively or predominately as a way to report news can limit the inclusion of diverse views.
Ethical Principle: Minimize Harm
As stated in the SPJ Code of Ethics, journalists should treat sources, subjects and colleagues as human beings deserving of respect. Participants in the Cronkite School’s professional programs are bound by these standards intended to minimize harm from the use of social networking sites as a reporting tool:
• Obtain informed consent from sources, disclosing who you are, what you are seeking and where your story will and/or could run. The informality of social networking sites makes it easier for potential sources to misunderstand your intentions and the impact of cooperating.
• Take care when dealing with minors and other vulnerable people who might not fully understand the consequences of cooperating with a journalist. If contacting a child through a social networking site, make sure he or she connects you with a responsible adult.
Written by Steve Elliott, director of digital news for Cronkite News Service, with acknowledgment to "A newsroom guideline for using social networks" by Kelly McBride, The Poynter Institute for Media Studies
Monday, April 11, 2011
Multimedia...the new literacy
STEMM: Science, Technology, Engineering, Math….. and Multimedia?
Need a quick explanation of ohms, watts, sound pressure levels and dynamic range? Who would you call? What if you want an explanation of lighting heat signatures and their importance?
Could you plot the area of a sphere covered by an electronic signal beamed from a distant moving source? Do you need to determine the amount of lumber required to construct a 30-foot cyclorama and cove curved horizontally and vertically so that light refracts rather than reflects?
Who can demonstrate the use of active voice, pacing, pathos or ethos? Who might be able to demonstrate use of light, composition, tempo, timbre, frequency or color correction?
Then of course there are pixel widths of pages, compression codices, baud rates, download speeds, bandwidths and mobile devices.
You might contact a physicist, an engineer, a mathematician, a computer technologist, a writer, an artist or a musician.
However, if you prefer one stop shopping you might visit any number of high school multimedia classrooms across the country and ask a media student. Better still ask them to show you.
Multimedia communications is the 21st Century Literacy.
If you think that is a bold statement, search O*net online. More than 230 careers require multimedia skills. Nearly one third of them have higher than average growth expectations.
Dr. Nicole Pinkard founder of Chicago’s Digital Youth Network suggests that those unable to create, critique, filter, search, research and navigate in a digital world may soon be considered illiterate. http://video.pbs.org/video/1767540185/
Multimedia tools build on and improve basic literacy by fostering engagement, application and creativity. Contrary to popular belief digital tools do not destroy reading and writing. They do change the ecology of reading and writing.
Kids today are reading and writing more than ever. They just aren’t doing it sitting in their bedrooms with a novel. They constantly collaborate, communicate, listen, watch, create and generally consume things they believe valuable and relevant.
Refusing to accept the fact that today’s students do not function as we did is at best tragic. Students today are wired differently. Their world has changed dramatically. Educational systems and pedagogy have not.
Institutional fear of embracing and managing change has alienated an entire generation of learners. They no longer believe what is being pushed to them in school has relevance to their future.
And they may be right.
The resulting disconnection caused by our reliance on yesterday’s inflexible failing systems and pedagogy is effectively robbing our students of their future by continuing to prepare them for a world and careers that no longer exist.
Our “always on” technology-driven society has evolved from a linear industrial manufacturing model with everything in its prescribed place. Now everything everywhere connects, impacts and intertwines with everything else and each added nuance influences everything once again.
The swirling vortex of readily accessible information has spawned a lack of certainty and conformity that is impossible to manage with linear systems. Rote memorization has become irrelevant in a world where information is universally available in seconds. Learning is no longer time and place dependent.
The teacher and textbook aren’t always right. There is no longer just one right answer. The answer is no longer at the end of the book and collaboration is now the normal means of arriving at a solution.
The overriding question becomes what will help students succeed at all levels and in all pursuits. According to Dr. John Seely Brown, senior fellow of the Design Futures Council: “The most important thing for kids growing up today is the love of embracing change.”
He further suggests, “The ability to navigate in a buzz of confusion and to figure out how to trust the information that you find and feel confident about it” makes the world yours. Embracing change and using ubiquitous information navigation and creation tools radically alter the learning landscape.
So how do multimedia tools impact student lives and achievement?
Quite simply, they add relevance. Relevance leads to engagement that fosters practice. Practice encourages mastery, innovation and collaboration. Implementation and publication invite reflection and comment.
Essentially students become part scientist, technologist, engineer, mathematician, researcher, communicator, creator and artist utilizing tools that are part of their sociological and technological DNA.
Today’s multimedia students:
• Create advanced scenarios and solve complex problems,
• Use advanced computational skills,
• Communicate across a wide variety of platforms,
• Create a variety of content deliverable on a rapidly changing medium that reaches incredibly diverse consumers,
• Creatively and efficiently use a multitude of technological tools,
• Tell stories and create messages that are clear, concise and compelling,
• Manage a variety of collaborative resources and interpersonal networks and
• Access, aggregate, assimilate, filter, distribute and respond to more information than has ever been accessible. They must also do it faster, more efficiently and more accurately than their predecessors.
Impact “by the numbers”
While study and application of multimedia technologies is no silver bullet, it has significant impact. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE3y9enUxEQ
Student grammar scores in the Cronkite School’s 10 Stardust multimedia journalism programs annually increase by 7-15% across the board. Historically, 100% of the students in the programs graduate from high school and more than 95% of them go on to post-secondary studies.
These numbers are much higher than either the state or individual school averages. It is important to note that there are no individual student pre-requisites for inclusion in any of the programs. In addition, the schools are all rural or urban and represent significant diverse underserved populations. http://stardust.jmc.asu.edu/Stardust/Stardust_Program.html
Two years ago Cartwright Elementary School District began a multimedia journalism program for its middle schools. The very first semester language usage scores in all areas improved by 30% for students in the program.
During the last year of my tenure at Arcadia High School in Scottsdale, Ariz., my students won more than 50 state or regional awards and 16 national awards. In addition, the seniors in the media communications program earned more than $1.25 million in merit scholarships.
Today those students are flourishing at their schools of choice studying medicine, engineering, law, business, media and journalism. Many of the selection committees at prestigious universities indicated that their media technology skill sets influenced the selection decisions.
It is also interesting to note that my 6-year tenure at Arcadia has already produced 77 multimedia industry professionals. In addition, more than 100 students are still preparing for multimedia-related careers at post-secondary institutions across the country.
While many students in multimedia programs pursue media related professions it is important to note that an even larger number are thriving in careers that traditionally were not media oriented. Those careers and businesses have changed to incorporate and encourage if not require the ability to write, manage information electronically, create, collaborate and produce in imaginative ways using multimedia tools.
In fact the most commonly listed across the board international 21st Century survival skills appear remarkably similar to the skills developed in the multimedia classroom.
Dr. Tony Wagner co-director of the Change Leadership Group at Harvard Graduate School of Education defines those core 21st century survival skills as:
1. Critical thinking and problem solving
2. The ability to create, collaborate and communicate across media-rich networks and systems
3. Agility and adaptability
4. Initiative and entrepreneurship
5. Effective oral and written communication
6. Accessing and analyzing information and
7. Curiosity and imagination.
Need a quick explanation of ohms, watts, sound pressure levels and dynamic range? Who would you call? What if you want an explanation of lighting heat signatures and their importance?
Could you plot the area of a sphere covered by an electronic signal beamed from a distant moving source? Do you need to determine the amount of lumber required to construct a 30-foot cyclorama and cove curved horizontally and vertically so that light refracts rather than reflects?
Who can demonstrate the use of active voice, pacing, pathos or ethos? Who might be able to demonstrate use of light, composition, tempo, timbre, frequency or color correction?
Then of course there are pixel widths of pages, compression codices, baud rates, download speeds, bandwidths and mobile devices.
You might contact a physicist, an engineer, a mathematician, a computer technologist, a writer, an artist or a musician.
However, if you prefer one stop shopping you might visit any number of high school multimedia classrooms across the country and ask a media student. Better still ask them to show you.
Multimedia communications is the 21st Century Literacy.
If you think that is a bold statement, search O*net online. More than 230 careers require multimedia skills. Nearly one third of them have higher than average growth expectations.
Dr. Nicole Pinkard founder of Chicago’s Digital Youth Network suggests that those unable to create, critique, filter, search, research and navigate in a digital world may soon be considered illiterate. http://video.pbs.org/video/1767540185/
Multimedia tools build on and improve basic literacy by fostering engagement, application and creativity. Contrary to popular belief digital tools do not destroy reading and writing. They do change the ecology of reading and writing.
Kids today are reading and writing more than ever. They just aren’t doing it sitting in their bedrooms with a novel. They constantly collaborate, communicate, listen, watch, create and generally consume things they believe valuable and relevant.
Refusing to accept the fact that today’s students do not function as we did is at best tragic. Students today are wired differently. Their world has changed dramatically. Educational systems and pedagogy have not.
Institutional fear of embracing and managing change has alienated an entire generation of learners. They no longer believe what is being pushed to them in school has relevance to their future.
And they may be right.
The resulting disconnection caused by our reliance on yesterday’s inflexible failing systems and pedagogy is effectively robbing our students of their future by continuing to prepare them for a world and careers that no longer exist.
Our “always on” technology-driven society has evolved from a linear industrial manufacturing model with everything in its prescribed place. Now everything everywhere connects, impacts and intertwines with everything else and each added nuance influences everything once again.
The swirling vortex of readily accessible information has spawned a lack of certainty and conformity that is impossible to manage with linear systems. Rote memorization has become irrelevant in a world where information is universally available in seconds. Learning is no longer time and place dependent.
The teacher and textbook aren’t always right. There is no longer just one right answer. The answer is no longer at the end of the book and collaboration is now the normal means of arriving at a solution.
The overriding question becomes what will help students succeed at all levels and in all pursuits. According to Dr. John Seely Brown, senior fellow of the Design Futures Council: “The most important thing for kids growing up today is the love of embracing change.”
He further suggests, “The ability to navigate in a buzz of confusion and to figure out how to trust the information that you find and feel confident about it” makes the world yours. Embracing change and using ubiquitous information navigation and creation tools radically alter the learning landscape.
So how do multimedia tools impact student lives and achievement?
Quite simply, they add relevance. Relevance leads to engagement that fosters practice. Practice encourages mastery, innovation and collaboration. Implementation and publication invite reflection and comment.
Essentially students become part scientist, technologist, engineer, mathematician, researcher, communicator, creator and artist utilizing tools that are part of their sociological and technological DNA.
Today’s multimedia students:
• Create advanced scenarios and solve complex problems,
• Use advanced computational skills,
• Communicate across a wide variety of platforms,
• Create a variety of content deliverable on a rapidly changing medium that reaches incredibly diverse consumers,
• Creatively and efficiently use a multitude of technological tools,
• Tell stories and create messages that are clear, concise and compelling,
• Manage a variety of collaborative resources and interpersonal networks and
• Access, aggregate, assimilate, filter, distribute and respond to more information than has ever been accessible. They must also do it faster, more efficiently and more accurately than their predecessors.
Impact “by the numbers”
While study and application of multimedia technologies is no silver bullet, it has significant impact. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE3y9enUxEQ
Student grammar scores in the Cronkite School’s 10 Stardust multimedia journalism programs annually increase by 7-15% across the board. Historically, 100% of the students in the programs graduate from high school and more than 95% of them go on to post-secondary studies.
These numbers are much higher than either the state or individual school averages. It is important to note that there are no individual student pre-requisites for inclusion in any of the programs. In addition, the schools are all rural or urban and represent significant diverse underserved populations. http://stardust.jmc.asu.edu/Stardust/Stardust_Program.html
Two years ago Cartwright Elementary School District began a multimedia journalism program for its middle schools. The very first semester language usage scores in all areas improved by 30% for students in the program.
During the last year of my tenure at Arcadia High School in Scottsdale, Ariz., my students won more than 50 state or regional awards and 16 national awards. In addition, the seniors in the media communications program earned more than $1.25 million in merit scholarships.
Today those students are flourishing at their schools of choice studying medicine, engineering, law, business, media and journalism. Many of the selection committees at prestigious universities indicated that their media technology skill sets influenced the selection decisions.
It is also interesting to note that my 6-year tenure at Arcadia has already produced 77 multimedia industry professionals. In addition, more than 100 students are still preparing for multimedia-related careers at post-secondary institutions across the country.
While many students in multimedia programs pursue media related professions it is important to note that an even larger number are thriving in careers that traditionally were not media oriented. Those careers and businesses have changed to incorporate and encourage if not require the ability to write, manage information electronically, create, collaborate and produce in imaginative ways using multimedia tools.
In fact the most commonly listed across the board international 21st Century survival skills appear remarkably similar to the skills developed in the multimedia classroom.
Dr. Tony Wagner co-director of the Change Leadership Group at Harvard Graduate School of Education defines those core 21st century survival skills as:
1. Critical thinking and problem solving
2. The ability to create, collaborate and communicate across media-rich networks and systems
3. Agility and adaptability
4. Initiative and entrepreneurship
5. Effective oral and written communication
6. Accessing and analyzing information and
7. Curiosity and imagination.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Role of the Community College and Nature of it's Students
Perhaps it is most appropriate to comment on the nature of the community college student before discussing the role of the community college. My comments are based purely on observation and not on any scientific research. I would also suggest some may not necessarily be valid when comparing residence and non-residence campuses.
My observations suggest a few broad generalities. It would seem that community college students seek:
• Occupational education,
• Affordable options,
• Program flexibility,
• Fundamental workforce entry skills,
• Pre-university readiness preparation/remediation,
• Self directed/selected personal improvement study and/or
• Opportunity for seamless transition to a 4-year college or university.
Increasingly students appear to be multi-ethnic products of single-parent households. They are often first generation higher education attendees. It appears they are also increasingly female. Many are single parents themselves.
They appear to be more sophisticated and technologically adept than their predecessors. I would characterize them as being more special interest oriented individuals who not only want to make a living but also make a difference. They tend to arrive on campus, take courses then leave. They tend to rely more on personal technology resources for study and homework. They function in a multi-tasking, always on, connected society that isn’t dependent on the college. Their learning tends to be less time and location dependent.
They are more likely to use guidance and personal support services including financial aid, day care, health services, job placement and career counseling.
It also appears they are less likely to:
• attend athletic events,
• eat at on campus food service,
• use campus resources for rest or relaxation,
• use campus athletic resources,
• participate in campus social groups or
• attend cultural events.
With these observations in mind they will most likely choose an educational institution based on convenience, location, cost, flexible scheduling, career goals and portability of credentials to four-year institutions.
So what should be the role of the community college?
• Meet the needs of the students and community.
• Provide high quality flexible options that are cost efficient.
• Serve as a conduit of connectivity to community, industry and academia.
• Facilitate seamless transition between secondary, post secondary, workplace and lifelong learning opportunities.
• Remain flexible, agile, and aware of changes in our world then respond to them.
• Be forward looking and pre-active rather than re-active.
• Do not prepare students for careers that do not or soon will not exist.
My observations suggest a few broad generalities. It would seem that community college students seek:
• Occupational education,
• Affordable options,
• Program flexibility,
• Fundamental workforce entry skills,
• Pre-university readiness preparation/remediation,
• Self directed/selected personal improvement study and/or
• Opportunity for seamless transition to a 4-year college or university.
Increasingly students appear to be multi-ethnic products of single-parent households. They are often first generation higher education attendees. It appears they are also increasingly female. Many are single parents themselves.
They appear to be more sophisticated and technologically adept than their predecessors. I would characterize them as being more special interest oriented individuals who not only want to make a living but also make a difference. They tend to arrive on campus, take courses then leave. They tend to rely more on personal technology resources for study and homework. They function in a multi-tasking, always on, connected society that isn’t dependent on the college. Their learning tends to be less time and location dependent.
They are more likely to use guidance and personal support services including financial aid, day care, health services, job placement and career counseling.
It also appears they are less likely to:
• attend athletic events,
• eat at on campus food service,
• use campus resources for rest or relaxation,
• use campus athletic resources,
• participate in campus social groups or
• attend cultural events.
With these observations in mind they will most likely choose an educational institution based on convenience, location, cost, flexible scheduling, career goals and portability of credentials to four-year institutions.
So what should be the role of the community college?
• Meet the needs of the students and community.
• Provide high quality flexible options that are cost efficient.
• Serve as a conduit of connectivity to community, industry and academia.
• Facilitate seamless transition between secondary, post secondary, workplace and lifelong learning opportunities.
• Remain flexible, agile, and aware of changes in our world then respond to them.
• Be forward looking and pre-active rather than re-active.
• Do not prepare students for careers that do not or soon will not exist.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
ACTE 2010
The 2010 ACTE national conference is winding down. It seems everyone is talking Web 2.0 and 21st Century skills. There appear to be a few disconnects in my opinion.
1. We want our students to collaborate via web tools but restrict access to the Web.
2. Web policy is often dictated by limited web users.
3. Teachers often are trying to apply hi-tech tools to 19th Century pedagogy.
4. Teachers find it difficult to embrace tools they neither use nor understand.
We have a long way to go but at least we are talking. To be fair there are many who are doing admirable things. The challenge is to move things out of episodic isolation, systemically to scale.
1. We want our students to collaborate via web tools but restrict access to the Web.
2. Web policy is often dictated by limited web users.
3. Teachers often are trying to apply hi-tech tools to 19th Century pedagogy.
4. Teachers find it difficult to embrace tools they neither use nor understand.
We have a long way to go but at least we are talking. To be fair there are many who are doing admirable things. The challenge is to move things out of episodic isolation, systemically to scale.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Global Achievement Gap-Call to Action
Minister of Education for the Kingdom of Bahrain, HE Dr. Majid bin Ali Al Nuaimi outlines what must change.
• We must move from a system that is rigid to one that is flexible.
• We must reject a system of homogeneity in favor of one that provides for diversity.
• We must move from a system that fosters a culture of narrow theoretical knowledge to one that requires mastery, quality and professionalism at all levels and in all subjects.
• We must move from the old industrial model of rote learning and begin to foster innovation, creativity and collaboration across disciplines.
• We must stop taking things for granted and insist on self-evaluation and accountability.
• We must reject a culture of responsive behavior in favor active behavior.
• We must reduce dependence on delivery by teachers in favor of self- dependence and responsibility.
• We must reject short-term learning in favor of life long learning.
• We must eliminate the culture of easygoing education in favor of one of reflective teaching and learning.
• We must cease teaching and learning focused on exams and encourage learning for being, knowing, working and living.
• We must move from a system that is rigid to one that is flexible.
• We must reject a system of homogeneity in favor of one that provides for diversity.
• We must move from a system that fosters a culture of narrow theoretical knowledge to one that requires mastery, quality and professionalism at all levels and in all subjects.
• We must move from the old industrial model of rote learning and begin to foster innovation, creativity and collaboration across disciplines.
• We must stop taking things for granted and insist on self-evaluation and accountability.
• We must reject a culture of responsive behavior in favor active behavior.
• We must reduce dependence on delivery by teachers in favor of self- dependence and responsibility.
• We must reject short-term learning in favor of life long learning.
• We must eliminate the culture of easygoing education in favor of one of reflective teaching and learning.
• We must cease teaching and learning focused on exams and encourage learning for being, knowing, working and living.
Global Achievement Gap-Seismic Shift
The current educational buzz surrounds the success in Finland. Jaana Palojarvi, Director for International Relations of the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture credits a “culture of trust in education professionals” as being a key component.
In this environment schools are autonomous. Community stakeholders are involved in collaboration. Assessment is school based. There are no school districts.
The government’s responsibility is to insure that schools and teachers have enough resources and technical skill to complete their mission and to insure a balance between diversity and public standard.
In this model, schools and teachers have enough skills and freedom to innovate. The focus is on teaching and learning not testing.
Dr. David Hogan, of Singapore’s National Institute of Education concurs suggesting that any improvement model must be “neither too tight or too loose.” That of course is a challenge but the basic design principles are quite similar.
A systemic improvement plan needs to:
1. Balance strategic top down movement with bottom up flexibility that provides room for innovation,
2. Reconcile relevance and rigor within the context of stakeholder partnerships,
3. Provide a consistent, sustained, task oriented focus on improving instruction,
4. Focus on capacity building, distributed leadership and high quality professional development,
5. Have a tolerance for failure as a matter of principle and
6. Tolerate downstream implementation.
In order to implement whatever model is designed, Dr. Kevin Knight, Director of School Improvement Services for the New Zealand Graduate School of Education insists that teacher preparation is key.
It must begin with defining of the job. It is difficult to focus on outcomes when there are constantly changing and conflicting expectations.
Second, identify what a teacher should be doing. That includes timing of minute skills including management, workflow, collaboration, classroom management, presentation techniques, facilitation of collaboration, structuring inquiry, and developing relationships with students.
Less time needs to be devoted to lesson plans and more to the art and skill of delivering those plans. This is best provided in a non-judgmental system of teachers helping teachers.
Finally, recognize that teacher training is a specialty best practiced and learned in the practical classroom and not in the university laboratory.
According to Andrew Blair, President of the International Confederation of Principals our current crisis of confidence is exacerbated by the fact that schools are given additional responsibilities of dealing with parenting, family dysfunction, basic care, health and student well-being.
Furthermore the process of teaching and learning is eroded by the proliferation of high stakes testing and “perverse incentives” that serve to narrow curriculum.
The general consensus is that “teachers have lost their long term vision and lost touch with their goals.” Mr. Blair reiterates that educators have forgotten how to deal with the “What could be in education because they are mired in the “What is.”
In this environment schools are autonomous. Community stakeholders are involved in collaboration. Assessment is school based. There are no school districts.
The government’s responsibility is to insure that schools and teachers have enough resources and technical skill to complete their mission and to insure a balance between diversity and public standard.
In this model, schools and teachers have enough skills and freedom to innovate. The focus is on teaching and learning not testing.
Dr. David Hogan, of Singapore’s National Institute of Education concurs suggesting that any improvement model must be “neither too tight or too loose.” That of course is a challenge but the basic design principles are quite similar.
A systemic improvement plan needs to:
1. Balance strategic top down movement with bottom up flexibility that provides room for innovation,
2. Reconcile relevance and rigor within the context of stakeholder partnerships,
3. Provide a consistent, sustained, task oriented focus on improving instruction,
4. Focus on capacity building, distributed leadership and high quality professional development,
5. Have a tolerance for failure as a matter of principle and
6. Tolerate downstream implementation.
In order to implement whatever model is designed, Dr. Kevin Knight, Director of School Improvement Services for the New Zealand Graduate School of Education insists that teacher preparation is key.
It must begin with defining of the job. It is difficult to focus on outcomes when there are constantly changing and conflicting expectations.
Second, identify what a teacher should be doing. That includes timing of minute skills including management, workflow, collaboration, classroom management, presentation techniques, facilitation of collaboration, structuring inquiry, and developing relationships with students.
Less time needs to be devoted to lesson plans and more to the art and skill of delivering those plans. This is best provided in a non-judgmental system of teachers helping teachers.
Finally, recognize that teacher training is a specialty best practiced and learned in the practical classroom and not in the university laboratory.
According to Andrew Blair, President of the International Confederation of Principals our current crisis of confidence is exacerbated by the fact that schools are given additional responsibilities of dealing with parenting, family dysfunction, basic care, health and student well-being.
Furthermore the process of teaching and learning is eroded by the proliferation of high stakes testing and “perverse incentives” that serve to narrow curriculum.
The general consensus is that “teachers have lost their long term vision and lost touch with their goals.” Mr. Blair reiterates that educators have forgotten how to deal with the “What could be in education because they are mired in the “What is.”
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