In my last post, I wrote about the International Society for Technology Education's standards for student learning. These standards were centered on the central fact that in the 21st century, a new set of learning tools is available to students. These digital tools, be they hardware or software, need to be part of student learning because they have quickly become critical components of economic and social life for so many people.
When learning standards are accepted, it is teachers who are tasked with implementation. But with the new ISTE learning standards, a dilemma presents itself. What if the teachers are not adequately conversant and comfortable with the student learning standards? In other words, with these ISTE student standards, what if teachers don't reasonably understand the digital world they are now guiding students through? Given the rapid ascent of digital tools coupled with a teaching workforce that largely came of age before the onset of the 21st century, this gap between student learning standards and teacher digital knowledge is not theoretical. It can be very real.
To that end, the ISTE has also crafted a set of teacher learning standards for the digital age. These five standards say to teachers, "If you are to be an effective teacher in an era of digital tools, you need to be familiar with the tools and be willing to incorporate them appropriately into classroom instruction." There is an understanding that these digital tools are rapidly evolving, so an important facet of the ISTE learning standards for teachers hinges on professional development. Teachers must be explicit, conscious learners as part of their job.
There are five major categories of teacher performance in the ISTE standards:
1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
2. Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
3. Model Digital Age Work and Learning
4. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility
5. Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership
The first category asks teachers to inspire students to learn. This, of course, is what teachers have tried to do since the ancient Greeks began to give shape to formal learning institutions. In fact, in reading through the subtext of this major category, "technological" words like virtual or digital barely appear. What is emphasized, however, is the teacher should model learning. In other words, if teachers are to help students towards optimal learning and creativity, teachers need to be creative learners themselves.
The second category encourages teachers to incorporate technology into classroom learning. Implicit in this category is a re-definition of classroom to include virtual components. For instance, at GSB, each teacher has a class site in KnightSite. The ISTE would see the class site as part of classroom learning. The classroom is no longer defined and confined by the four walls of the room. Now, it moves across space and time by utilizing digital tools. Aside from KnightSite, I see technology as part of classroom learning environments daily. An example from today: I was talking with Brett Mershon about her use of a Google Form to help students assess their understanding of figures of speech. When I asked why she was using a Google Form for a task that could have been accomplished in other ways, she said that students get a little more interested when the instructional tools are varied. I have no doubt she's correct.
The third teacher standard is the most problematic for a number of teachers. It asks teachers to model appropriate uses of digital tools. The explanatory language of #3 above says that "Teachers exhibit knowledge, skills and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society." There's an assumption here that teachers will be better able to effectively use digital tools in the classroom if they embrace digital tools in their lives. This standard suggest teachers can be most effective if they do such things as blog, work with digital audio and visual files, and utilize the internet as their go-to resource for information. I regularly encounter teachers who would challenge this assumption. I even wrote about such teachers in an article that appeared in T.H.E. Journal called "The Digital Resistors" because I think helping these teachers feel more comfortable with technology is important. In my experience, it is true that teachers who avoid digital tools in their personal lives often feel overwhelmed with the technology changes they see in school.
The fourth standard, by contrast, seems like a comfortable fit for virtually all teachers. Here, teachers are urged to keep digital citizenship front and center as new technologies are blended into learning environments. In a way, not much changes here from teacher modeling that dates back many generations. Teachers generally are seen as key adults to help our children learn how to become responsible citizens. Lying, cheating, harassing and bullying have always been anathema to teachers who seek to help young people mature. Yes, the tools to misbehave have changed, but the core issues are essentially the same.
The final standard would also be at home in a listing of teacher standards from a generation past. Teachers must also be learners, and they must develop their professional skills in an ongoing fashion through their careers. But two things do change in the digital age. Because the tools, both hardware and software, evolve rapidly, more frequent professional development is necessary. An older model of a workshop or two a year simply won't be enough. The good news is that the ways in which professional development can occur have expanded as well. Online webinars and MOOCs, for instance, offer free, convenient professional development tools to any teacher. Online information is not only usually very cost effective; it is also not limited by geography. For instance, this spring, I'm taking a course from the University of Texas on how social media is being used by various professions. It's a MOOC. So I'm learning more about an area that will develop my professional knowledge from a professor in Austin, but the whole process will be free and relatively painless.
Want to see the ISTE standards for teachers? Just click on ISTE Standards.
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Monday, January 20, 2014
ISTE Standards
ISTE is The International Society for Technology Education. It's one of the several very large, influential professional organizations that promote and influence technology education. It's reach is global. Like other educational professional organizations, it supports research, hosts workshops and conferences and maintains publications.
The ISTE has also taken a lead in bringing technology professionals together to ask an important question: What are the goals of technology learning for students, teachers and administrators? Significant time has been spent in creating answers to this question, and the result is a set of ISTE Standards that have been published for students, teachers and administrators. These standards get at what are often called 21st century skills. This post will examine the student standards, and in a following post, I'll review the teacher standards.
The student standards are categorized with six separate goal areas.
1. Creativity and Innovation
2. Communication and Collaboration
3. Research and Information Fluency
4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and Decision Making
5. Digital Citizenship
6. Technology Operations and Concepts
A closer examination of first goal, "Creativity and Innovation," shows an emphasis on putting technology within the context of creative thinking. The goal is further explained by saying that "Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes through technology." This broad idea is further defined through four specific tasks students should master. Students should be able to apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas. Students should create original work. Students should use models and simulations to explore systems. And students should be able to identify trends and forecast possibilities. In short, one goal of technology learning should be to foster and deepen creativity.
The second goal, "Communication and Collaboration," partners easily and obviously with emerging technologies. In an explanatory sentence, the standards emphasize that "Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others." This second goal strongly suggests we find ways to use social media appropriately rather than dismiss it out of hand. It also suggests that learning need not be geographically confined.
The third goal gets at the processes by which "students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information." This standard, among all the six student standards, is most difficult for many veteran educators to accept. The key roadblock to acceptance, I believe, is the phrase "digital tools." Research and information literacy has evolved very slowly and carefully over centuries of scholarship. Up until quite recently, the accepted means of acquiring knowledge followed prescribed protocols that were highly articulated. The idea of peer review, for example, is a perfect example of traditionally accepted scholarship. Digital tools opened the door for a sea change in how knowledge could be acquired, shared and deemed acceptable. Wikipedia provides a perfect example of this new model. The ISTE firmly believes that students must be conversant with digital research tools but at the same time, the ISTE also emphasizes the need for students to be able to analyze and evaluate the information these tools yield.
"Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and Decision Making" are listed as the fourth goal. It seems me the key term here is problem solving because critical thinking with resultant decisions have long been articulated as a student learning goal. In the bullet points that follow the fourth goal, it is expected that students will work on "authentic problems." Again, this suggests a departure from past practice. Schools are now explicitly being asked to bring real-world problems into the classroom and teach students how to work on these problems through data collection. There is also an explicit recommendation that digital tools be used in the solving of problems. Considering the worlds of work and academia, it's hard not to include digital tools as a key resource in solving problems.
The fifth goal centers on digital citizenship. It asks that "Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior." For a couple of reasons, this goal will be difficult to achieve. I believe the definition of "legal and ethical behavior" is and will remain a moving target. It easy to forget how new our digital world is. Particularly in the legal realm, issues connected to digital privacy and copyright, for example, are far from resolved. Additionally, the oft-noted gulf between the acceptable practices of younger users vs. older users makes the teaching of citizenship an ongoing challenge. None of this is to say that we do not try to educate students about the importance of legal and ethical digital practices; it simply means we should understand we're working towards a goal that will likely never be met to full satisfaction.
The sixth and final goal, "Technology Operations and Concepts," asks that "Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations." This goal provides a unique challenge to schools because it assumes this learning will occur throughout the school, regardless of grade or discipline. In the explanatory bullet points, it is stated that students should be able to "Understand and use technology systems" and "Troubleshoot systems and applications." There is an implicit assumption here that teachers will be conversant with technology systems and be able to troubleshoot systems. We're not just talking about technology teachers or the technology support staff; we're talking about all faculty. In other words, teachers and administrators need to be reasonably adept at using technology for this goal to be realized. It will simply not be acceptable for educators to declare that "I don't do technology" or "I'm just not interested in learning anything about computers" if this goal is to be realized.
The ISTE standards for students define goals for students that put learning at the center. But they also make a 21st century assumption: that the key toolkit for learning will be digital. Want to know more? Check out the ISTE web site. On the Home page, click on the "Standards" tab to see the complete set of student standards.
The ISTE has also taken a lead in bringing technology professionals together to ask an important question: What are the goals of technology learning for students, teachers and administrators? Significant time has been spent in creating answers to this question, and the result is a set of ISTE Standards that have been published for students, teachers and administrators. These standards get at what are often called 21st century skills. This post will examine the student standards, and in a following post, I'll review the teacher standards.
The student standards are categorized with six separate goal areas.
1. Creativity and Innovation
2. Communication and Collaboration
3. Research and Information Fluency
4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and Decision Making
5. Digital Citizenship
6. Technology Operations and Concepts
A closer examination of first goal, "Creativity and Innovation," shows an emphasis on putting technology within the context of creative thinking. The goal is further explained by saying that "Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes through technology." This broad idea is further defined through four specific tasks students should master. Students should be able to apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas. Students should create original work. Students should use models and simulations to explore systems. And students should be able to identify trends and forecast possibilities. In short, one goal of technology learning should be to foster and deepen creativity.
The second goal, "Communication and Collaboration," partners easily and obviously with emerging technologies. In an explanatory sentence, the standards emphasize that "Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others." This second goal strongly suggests we find ways to use social media appropriately rather than dismiss it out of hand. It also suggests that learning need not be geographically confined.
The third goal gets at the processes by which "students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information." This standard, among all the six student standards, is most difficult for many veteran educators to accept. The key roadblock to acceptance, I believe, is the phrase "digital tools." Research and information literacy has evolved very slowly and carefully over centuries of scholarship. Up until quite recently, the accepted means of acquiring knowledge followed prescribed protocols that were highly articulated. The idea of peer review, for example, is a perfect example of traditionally accepted scholarship. Digital tools opened the door for a sea change in how knowledge could be acquired, shared and deemed acceptable. Wikipedia provides a perfect example of this new model. The ISTE firmly believes that students must be conversant with digital research tools but at the same time, the ISTE also emphasizes the need for students to be able to analyze and evaluate the information these tools yield.
"Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and Decision Making" are listed as the fourth goal. It seems me the key term here is problem solving because critical thinking with resultant decisions have long been articulated as a student learning goal. In the bullet points that follow the fourth goal, it is expected that students will work on "authentic problems." Again, this suggests a departure from past practice. Schools are now explicitly being asked to bring real-world problems into the classroom and teach students how to work on these problems through data collection. There is also an explicit recommendation that digital tools be used in the solving of problems. Considering the worlds of work and academia, it's hard not to include digital tools as a key resource in solving problems.
The fifth goal centers on digital citizenship. It asks that "Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior." For a couple of reasons, this goal will be difficult to achieve. I believe the definition of "legal and ethical behavior" is and will remain a moving target. It easy to forget how new our digital world is. Particularly in the legal realm, issues connected to digital privacy and copyright, for example, are far from resolved. Additionally, the oft-noted gulf between the acceptable practices of younger users vs. older users makes the teaching of citizenship an ongoing challenge. None of this is to say that we do not try to educate students about the importance of legal and ethical digital practices; it simply means we should understand we're working towards a goal that will likely never be met to full satisfaction.
The sixth and final goal, "Technology Operations and Concepts," asks that "Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations." This goal provides a unique challenge to schools because it assumes this learning will occur throughout the school, regardless of grade or discipline. In the explanatory bullet points, it is stated that students should be able to "Understand and use technology systems" and "Troubleshoot systems and applications." There is an implicit assumption here that teachers will be conversant with technology systems and be able to troubleshoot systems. We're not just talking about technology teachers or the technology support staff; we're talking about all faculty. In other words, teachers and administrators need to be reasonably adept at using technology for this goal to be realized. It will simply not be acceptable for educators to declare that "I don't do technology" or "I'm just not interested in learning anything about computers" if this goal is to be realized.
The ISTE standards for students define goals for students that put learning at the center. But they also make a 21st century assumption: that the key toolkit for learning will be digital. Want to know more? Check out the ISTE web site. On the Home page, click on the "Standards" tab to see the complete set of student standards.
Monday, January 6, 2014
Filmmaking
Last year, following a semester of teaching Filmmaking, I posted a few of the films students created. I received plenty of positive feedback; readers enjoyed seeing what Upper School students could create when given some time, direction and encouragement.
This year's class is different from last year in two specific ways. The group, at least during the first semester, is smaller. Only three students are enrolled. And importantly, all three were completely novice filmmakers. They needed to learn everything from script writing to story boarding to camera work to editing. These very substantial challenges were met with the enthusiasm and persistence of students who really wanted to learn how to create a film.Individual and group projects were completed through the semester. Below, a sampling of some of the work completed by Marisa, Stephen and Alex.
Stephen created a promotional piece for a Film Appreciation Club
Marisa's short film highlights the benefits of mechanical pencils
A promotional short by Marisa encourages participation in the Model U.N Club
Alex's short film about Habitat for Humanity utilizes stop action
A group effort, this film's recounts GSB's Halloween 2013 celebration and was co-created by all three students
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Happy Holidays
I saw this video in a NPR blog site (the two-way) and liked the way it combines history with state-of-the-art technology. I also liked the reminder that we all live on one world....earth.
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Hour of Code III
I'm writing as we're concluding our Hour of Code week at GSB. This is a program organized through the efforts of a variety of prominent technology people and companies. Supportive partners include Amazon, Dropbox, Facebook, Google, Khan Academy and YouTube, to name a few. Many prominent technologists (e.g.: Bill Gates, Hardi Partovi, Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg) have lent their support as well.
What's the Hour of Code about? It's been a national effort to introduce students, grades K - 12, to computer coding. The rationale is simple, though not one-dimensional. One reason why it's important to introduce students to coding is that an increasing amount of job opportunities will depend on coding skills and knowledge. We simply do not graduate enough students with adequate computer science literacy, and the shortfall will grow in the coming years.
 |
| From the 2010 - 2012 report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, http://www.bls.gov/ |
One more educational reason why the Hour of Code makes sense. It provides an introduction to an academic discipline that many students otherwise might not encounter. It's impossible to get through twelve years of schooling with no English or history or science or math. Virtually all students have exposure to other languages, music, the arts and physical education. But a surprisingly small group of students have had a academic exposure to computer science. This is a gap in our system and needs to be addressed. This program provides a step in the right direction.
Not sure that learning computer coding will change how you think? You might want to read an article that appeared very recently in the December 15th edition of the NY Times. It's titled "The Code of Life," by Juliet Waters, and it presents a very personal and compelling case.
The Hour of Code program provided coding tutorials that were categorized by coding language and grade appropriateness. Our Lower School students spent time with several coding languages, but especially with Scratch, and object-oriented language that is highly visual and easy for kids to learn.
When I asked Carrie Petkiewich, our Middle School computer instructor, about her experience with the Hour of Code, this is what she said: “The Hour of Code was a fantastic opportunity to introduce something new to my middle school students. The programs we tried were fun, but also challenging. I enjoyed seeing the students thinking, strategizing, and troubleshooting to fix a step they got wrong. They were excited when they got the code right. This was problem solving in programming and all the students who were able to do it really enjoyed it. Coding is something I hope to continue to incorporate.”
Below, a few pictures of the Middle School students at work on coding projects.
In the Upper School, computer science classes participated in the Hour of Code, as did the physics classes and some math and chemistry classes. Older students were introduced to somewhat more complicated coding projects using languages like JavaScript, Python and M.I.T.-designed code to allow students to write apps for mobile devices. I personally worked with two classes as they coded. One was a statistics class, the other a filmmaking class. In both, students were engaged and productive. Feedback was positive along the lines of "It's pretty cool learning how computers are instructed to operate" and "I thought this would be dull but it's actually pretty interesting." Below, a few pictures of Upper School students at work.
Many, many projects were completed, but most were not saved. I did manage to grab one saved file from Marisa, an Upper School student. She was working in JavaScript, a language that utilizes a combination of text and symbol instructions with numbers. If you wanted a prompt for a web site page to be printed, for instance, the JavaScript instruction would look like this:
<p>"Print" dialog with printer icon:</p>
<p><a href="JavaScript:window.print();">Print this page</a></p>
<div class="more-info">
<p>More info: <a href="/javascript/javascript_print.cfm">JavaScript Print</a></p>
</div>
<p><a href="JavaScript:window.print();">Print this page</a></p>
<div class="more-info">
<p>More info: <a href="/javascript/javascript_print.cfm">JavaScript Print</a></p>
</div>
Marisa created a greeting card through JavaScript. Here's the finished product, done in an hour of coding:
In the Lower School, Lynn Prosen and Jill Fedon used class time to introduce all of our LS students to coding. Some of the work was done off-line using basic coding instructions (forward, back, left, right) to direct Bee-Bot robots through a maze. Because the coding instructions had a direct relationship to the physical movements of the robots, the students were able to see for themselves the cause and effect of computer coding.
Jill Fedon did a great job of filming students at work and creating a short video. You can see for yourself that students were engaged, motivated and active as they participated in the Hour of Code.
Probably best to end this post with a short video describing an actual coding story. It involves a man with a laptop and an offer to a homeless man. The story, as it unfolds, is one version of a modern day fairy tale.
Jill Fedon did a great job of filming students at work and creating a short video. You can see for yourself that students were engaged, motivated and active as they participated in the Hour of Code.
Probably best to end this post with a short video describing an actual coding story. It involves a man with a laptop and an offer to a homeless man. The story, as it unfolds, is one version of a modern day fairy tale.
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Paperless Grading
Recently, I was reading a review of
iAnnotate. It’s an app that has been
designed to allow users to annotate documents.
The review (in the ProfHacker blog, The
Chronicle of Higher Education, 12/3/13) promoted the use of the app as a
grading tool.
The premise for the utility of the app is simple. In the traditional model, students submit assignments on paper. Faculty mark up the assignment with comments and grade it. The paper is then handed back to the student. Students may or may not read the often barely legible comments, and then they typically toss the assignment. The cycle begins again with the next assignment. iAnnotate takes the paper out of the equation and as a bonus, offers legible comments to students and makes more permanent assignment storage easier.
The premise for the utility of the app is simple. In the traditional model, students submit assignments on paper. Faculty mark up the assignment with comments and grade it. The paper is then handed back to the student. Students may or may not read the often barely legible comments, and then they typically toss the assignment. The cycle begins again with the next assignment. iAnnotate takes the paper out of the equation and as a bonus, offers legible comments to students and makes more permanent assignment storage easier.
The app, available for iPad and Android
users, offers a full array of comment features for any imported document. So if a student writes a paper, it could be
emailed to the teacher and then opened in iAnnotate. From that screen, an array of tools is
available. Graders can highlight,
underline, add text boxes or simply type text directly on to the document. Annotators have control over color and font
choices. There’s also a stamp feature which is useful to offer final grades or
"stamp" symbols suggesting a comment (e.g.: check marks, stars, questions marks, etc.)
After grading is complete, the assigned work could be emailed back or synced to
a cloud-based storage account (e.g.: DropBox, Google Drive or Box) with shared
permission to the student.
 |
| In the app, you can read or annotate an assignment. |
iAnnotate costs a bit, as far as the pricing
of apps go. It’s $9.99 for iPad users in the iTunes store. Android users get a
scaled back version but right now it appears to be free.
Just to be clear, there are apps that offer
similar features to iAnnotate. In fact, there’s an excellent web site that will
summarize strengths and weaknesses of similarly featured apps: appcrawlr.com By all means, take some time to find the app
that works best for you.
Not everyone is a tablet user. For computer
users, whether desktop or laptop, another tool is available that offers the
similar promise of paperless grading. It’s Microsoft Word. Current versions make it quite easy to
comment on student work using the Comment feature in the Review tab.
Additionally, add a text box, available in the Insert tab, and a comment can be offered anywhere in the document. That comment can be sized, and there are options to control font and color.
After fully grading an assignment, the work could be emailed back to the student. It might look something like this:
What’s the advantage of using available technologies to move towards paperless grading? There are two big advantages. First, there’s a paper savings. For any one teacher giving an assignment, paper savings would not amount to much. But in the aggregate, a real environmental difference can be made. No less important is the very real possibility that more students will be paying attention to the comments teachers offer about assigned work. A great deal of time and labor goes into grading papers. Shouldn’t we want students to pay attention to what we have to offer in the way of constructive criticism? But it’s hard for students to pay much attention to your comments if they are difficult to read. Fortunately, solutions are available.
Additionally, add a text box, available in the Insert tab, and a comment can be offered anywhere in the document. That comment can be sized, and there are options to control font and color.
After fully grading an assignment, the work could be emailed back to the student. It might look something like this:
What’s the advantage of using available technologies to move towards paperless grading? There are two big advantages. First, there’s a paper savings. For any one teacher giving an assignment, paper savings would not amount to much. But in the aggregate, a real environmental difference can be made. No less important is the very real possibility that more students will be paying attention to the comments teachers offer about assigned work. A great deal of time and labor goes into grading papers. Shouldn’t we want students to pay attention to what we have to offer in the way of constructive criticism? But it’s hard for students to pay much attention to your comments if they are difficult to read. Fortunately, solutions are available.
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Lego Robots
What's going on in Honors Physics class these days? I found out by wandering into Larry Bostian's class to check up on some recently installed laptops. Not surprisingly, the laptops are being put to good use; they are being used to program the robots students are building with Legos.
After spending fifteen minutes in the class observing and talking to students, I now have a deeper appreciation of the range of uses for Legos. In this class, students were given kits that include a wide variety of Lego pieces as well as some other components of motorized robots: wheels, gears, motors, sensors, wiring, etc.
Teams of students had two tasks. They needed to construct a robot using the pieces in the kit and they had to program the robot to accomplish some set tasks. I wandered into a busy and engaged classroom, with small groups of students gathered around kits of pieces and open laptops. Conversations were quiet but animated as these students worked through the challenges of construction and coding.
Two other groups working through the activity:
 | ||
| Prepping the laptop for coding work. |
 |
| Students begin robot assembly using pieces from the Lego kit. |
 |
| A perfect example of STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) education. |
Two other groups working through the activity:
A terrific addition to this lesson plan was a writing component. Students established blogs and were able to write about the project, including reflections on their approaches to problem solving. These blogs are posted online so students can read each others' blogs and thereby deepen their understanding of robot building and coding. If you're interested in reading the students' blogs, links are below.
The
words Lego and Legos are used above to indicate a specific trademarked
brand: The LEGO® Brand. You know it as well by it's graphic logo.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Hour of Code II
I saw this infographic on the Classroom Aid: Connecting Dots of Digital Learning web site. It seemed like a nice follow up to the previous post about the Hour of Code program.
That said, I don't want to leave readers with the view that the Hour of Code program, or computer science instruction in general, is about career planning. Learning computer science is about learning, and in that respect, it fits comfortably with disciplines like science, literature, history, mathematics, world language study, etc. When students are intellectually challenged to develop new skills, acquire a broader base of factual information and be encouraged to learn more about a given subject, sound education is an inevitable outcome. As with older, more traditional academic disciplines, computer science can facilitate genuine, long-lasting learning. That, in my mind, is the main reason to promote the Hour of Code. It will help students to see yet another learning possibility.
That said, I don't want to leave readers with the view that the Hour of Code program, or computer science instruction in general, is about career planning. Learning computer science is about learning, and in that respect, it fits comfortably with disciplines like science, literature, history, mathematics, world language study, etc. When students are intellectually challenged to develop new skills, acquire a broader base of factual information and be encouraged to learn more about a given subject, sound education is an inevitable outcome. As with older, more traditional academic disciplines, computer science can facilitate genuine, long-lasting learning. That, in my mind, is the main reason to promote the Hour of Code. It will help students to see yet another learning possibility.
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Hour of Code
There's a nationwide movement underfoot and it's been titled "Hour of Code." The idea behind it is simple: our nation is not educating enough students in computer science fields, and the shortfall will limit our nation's economic growth. The video below, just a few minutes in length, offers a clear explanation of the Hour of Code.
The Hour of Code program is seeking 10,000,000 students, K-12, to participate in a coding activity that would last about one hour. The hope is that during the week of December 9, 2013, schools across the country will introduce students to the power of computing and create an interest in computer science. The long range goal is to inspire greater numbers of students to consider computer science as a field of study as they move forward in their educational careers and begin to think about professional career goals.
It's interesting to note the absence of computer science as a required field of study in most school systems, public or private. There are, of course, historic reasons for this omission. Our current requirement framework dates back about 100 years when the credit system built around studies in English, math, science, social science, world language, art and physical education was formulated. Computers were the stuff of science fiction. And over the last couple of decades, as computer science has comfortably become part of the academic world, it's been difficult to create space in secondary curricula for additional required subjects. In schools lucky enough to have the resources to support computer labs for younger children, the GSB model has been popular. Students, in a weekly schedule, spend time in the lab learning age-appropriate computing skills. But when these same students get to high school, their curricula is largely built around requirements, and elective choices compete for students' attention in a free market. This happens at GSB and at most schools. The result is that a great many students study very little computer science during their high school years and not surprisingly gravitate towards other academic majors in college. As the video above reminds us, the result of this system will be 1,000,000 unfilled jobs in a few short years.
The Hour of Code program is the first concerted effort to address this challenge, and a great many luminaries from business, government, etc. are interested in promoting the program. They know the issue is important. But exactly how, in one hour, do you get students interested in computer science? The answer this program provides is that you show students the power of their computer through computer coding tutorials.
All tutorials are age appropriate, K-12. Coding tutorials are also offered in what's called object-oriented language. Basically, this means students will move objects on a screen to create coding instructions, as opposed to typing characters. It's easier to learn and far more intuitive to first-time coders.
At GSB, we're in the middle of planning Hour of Coding sessions. Lower and Middle School students will do activities during their weekly lab visits during the week of December 9. In the Upper School, all students in computer science classes will use class time for the activity. In addition, our ninth graders will utilize Physics class time to work through the tutorials. And I would invite any other teacher of students 10 - 12 to contact me for more information if you'd like to make the activity part of your class during the Hour of Code week.
Two web sites have been developed with information about the program. The Hour of Code web site has information designed to offer background information as well as publicity-oriented materials. The Computer Science Education Week site has more specific information about signing up a class to participate. Tutorials are also housed on this site and can be reviewed by teachers now.
As always with a program like this, it's hard to predict long-range effects. Will greater interest in computer science develop because students spend an hour in December learning about coding? It's iimpossible to know as of this writing. What's clear, however, is that this program draws attention to a serious educational challenge facing our country, and that continued emphasis on the importance of computer science is critical.
It's worth noting that as a nation, we're not alone in recognizing the challenge of improved computer literacy. In England, for example, requirements are changing. There, computer science is joining more traditional disciplines in the academic core making England the first country to require computer science of all primary and secondary students. This Telegraph article explains the changes: Teaching Our Children to Code: A Quiet Revolution.
It's interesting to note the absence of computer science as a required field of study in most school systems, public or private. There are, of course, historic reasons for this omission. Our current requirement framework dates back about 100 years when the credit system built around studies in English, math, science, social science, world language, art and physical education was formulated. Computers were the stuff of science fiction. And over the last couple of decades, as computer science has comfortably become part of the academic world, it's been difficult to create space in secondary curricula for additional required subjects. In schools lucky enough to have the resources to support computer labs for younger children, the GSB model has been popular. Students, in a weekly schedule, spend time in the lab learning age-appropriate computing skills. But when these same students get to high school, their curricula is largely built around requirements, and elective choices compete for students' attention in a free market. This happens at GSB and at most schools. The result is that a great many students study very little computer science during their high school years and not surprisingly gravitate towards other academic majors in college. As the video above reminds us, the result of this system will be 1,000,000 unfilled jobs in a few short years.
The Hour of Code program is the first concerted effort to address this challenge, and a great many luminaries from business, government, etc. are interested in promoting the program. They know the issue is important. But exactly how, in one hour, do you get students interested in computer science? The answer this program provides is that you show students the power of their computer through computer coding tutorials.
All tutorials are age appropriate, K-12. Coding tutorials are also offered in what's called object-oriented language. Basically, this means students will move objects on a screen to create coding instructions, as opposed to typing characters. It's easier to learn and far more intuitive to first-time coders.
At GSB, we're in the middle of planning Hour of Coding sessions. Lower and Middle School students will do activities during their weekly lab visits during the week of December 9. In the Upper School, all students in computer science classes will use class time for the activity. In addition, our ninth graders will utilize Physics class time to work through the tutorials. And I would invite any other teacher of students 10 - 12 to contact me for more information if you'd like to make the activity part of your class during the Hour of Code week.
Two web sites have been developed with information about the program. The Hour of Code web site has information designed to offer background information as well as publicity-oriented materials. The Computer Science Education Week site has more specific information about signing up a class to participate. Tutorials are also housed on this site and can be reviewed by teachers now.
As always with a program like this, it's hard to predict long-range effects. Will greater interest in computer science develop because students spend an hour in December learning about coding? It's iimpossible to know as of this writing. What's clear, however, is that this program draws attention to a serious educational challenge facing our country, and that continued emphasis on the importance of computer science is critical.
It's worth noting that as a nation, we're not alone in recognizing the challenge of improved computer literacy. In England, for example, requirements are changing. There, computer science is joining more traditional disciplines in the academic core making England the first country to require computer science of all primary and secondary students. This Telegraph article explains the changes: Teaching Our Children to Code: A Quiet Revolution.
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