Blurts

You may or may not follow Leo Laporte. Whether you do or not, if you are interested in sharing content you will enjoy his keynote at the New Media Expo.

A new Speak Up Report (Project Tomorrow / Blackboard) is out.

School principals have high expectations for the pre-service technology experiences of their future teachers. The specific technology tools and techniques that the aspiring teachers are learning to use in their methods courses however do not match the expectations of those school principals.

What learned / What missed (according to principals responding to this survey):

Learned – office tools, multimedia tools, white boards

Needed – create video/podcast, prep for online instruction, social media within instruction

Anyone remember the PT3 program (Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to Use Technology)? That was a great time to be in the ed tech field. Schools were less concerned about AYP and standardized testing and there was money for technology that allowed a broader focus. I keep wondering if something similar may come again.

The tech organizations (e.g., ISTE) are attempting to promote “Transforming Education through Technology“. As I understand the priorities, this program focuses more on K12 institutions and less on work with preservice teachers. Hard to know how this will be received in a time when new proposals must compete with a heavy emphasis on cutting existing programs. The proposal has been around a while so the backing of traditional supporters should not be confused with a new enlightenment that this is the way education needs to move.

I was into LOGO programming when it was in vogue as an educational activity. Aside from learning the basics of programming, I became disillusioned when the research demonstrated little in the way of transfer.

The idea keeps resurfacing. Mitch Resnick recently made coding the focus of a TED talk. My personal career has benefited from learning to program, but I am still not convinced that there are general benefits. I am waiting for those who back this perspective to offer more than their own presentations.