Crowdsourcing

This past April the City of Jacksonville hosted a five day event called One Spark.  It was one of the most exciting things Jacksonville has ever done.  There were hundreds of exhibitors--artists, scientists, musicians, and innovators—set up over four or five blocks of downtown Jacksonville.     One Spark organizers asked everyone to register online, and anyone who attended the event became an investor.  As we walked from one exhibit to the next, we were each given the power to vote for promising ideas.  $100,000 was awarded according to the number of votes an exhibitor received from members of the crowd.  Like Kickstarter, investors had the opportunity to donate their own money to promising projects.  I continued to pinch myself asking, “Is this really Jacksonville?”  One Spark was successful, and plans for next year have already begun.  I can’t wait.

 

 

 

Today wa a good day.

Today, the last day of my first semester at FSU, I drove to Tallahassee to see my son, ride my bike at Tom Brown Park, and meet Mary Kate McKee.  I didn’t get to see my son—long story there—my bike ride was great, and I had an uplifting conversation with Mary Kate about the Instructional Systems Master’s program.  I’m technically a non-degree student, but I hope to convert soon to graduate student.  I’m apprehensive about acceptance.  My GRE scores are 21 years old but acceptable (I still have the original score report). My undergrad transcript is, well, mediocre.  I’m banking on three good recommendations, writing a convincing Statement of Purpose, and the generosity of the Instructional Systems admissions team.  The highlight of the day was making it to the FSU Card office just in time to get my $10 FSU student ID.  My husband says he can tell I was happy because I have a great big smile!  I’m really looking forward to the future.

An Old Dog Who's Just an Old Dog

My sister is the Head of Technology at a small private school in Jacksonville Beach.  After thirteen years, the principal of her school retired.  The new principal, who had come from another local private school, asked my sister to meet with the Head of Technology at her former school to discuss the possibility of using some of the same software she had used at her former school.  I was invited to attend the meeting since I had expressed an interest in learning more about Edmodo, Dropbox, and Google Apps.  My sister has been successful in implementing an excellent program at her school, teaching herself everything she knows about the machines and software.  Her colleagues at her school believe she has hung the technology moon.  Despite her competence and everyone’s confidence in her, she is worried that the new principal wants to hire her former technology teacher to take my sister’s place.  I’m sure the principal is happy to leave behind the old technology teacher.  The first thing the other teacher said to us was that she wasn’t interested in learning anything new, an odd statement for someone in her position.  She was kind-of grumpy and ridged. 

I just need to convince my sister that she’s great at her job and nobody will want to replace her!

An ending and a new beginning

I have had a lot to learn in a short period of time. 

Some new experiences

• participating in a webinar. --  By the last webinar, I had finally figured out how to hear the conference from my computer instead of watching and calling in on my cell phone.
• watching a voice thread. --  After the 3^rd one, I figured out why random photos and avatars appeared on the right side of the screen.
• creating and maintaining a blog
• creating tags (who knew?)
• making a screen shot
• a gazillion Web 2.0 tools 

I learned

 

• the more people looking at a problem, the easier it is to solve the problem especially on the Web.
• the significance of the blog for giving voice to those too shy to speak up in the classroom.
• the heart of the volunteer and the value of the pro-am collaboration.
• a new metaphor for super glue and WD-40, bonding and bridging capital.
• the democracy of the Web in building communities of practice.
• participation in on-line surveys; rating restaurants and hotels at TripAdvisor; and  liking, commenting, or reposting a Facebook post is all produsage (which is a weird new word.)
• not finishing something or even imagining how something will end is sometimes the goal.

 

 

The learning curve has been steep the last six weeks, but it goes forward from here to my high school classroom.  I’m so energized and anxious to share what I’ve learned.

Thank you for being a great introduction into graduate school, Dr. Dennen.  It’s going to be a worthwhile adventure!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Value of Love

I had never given much thought to the existence or the benefits of the collaboration of professionals and amateurs.  Leadbeater and Miller said that "amateurs work like pros with a sense of obligation and necessity, but create intense experiences of creativity and self expression."  After reading the examples of pro-am collaborations, it occurred to me that I participate in at least one of these communities.  The Jacksonville Symphony Chorus is comprised of approximately 125 members who are active in the arts community, some paid public school choral directors and church choir directors, and some (former) paid soloists.  Participation in the chorus is voluntary but requires an audition, a commitment to many rehearsals, a rigorous concert schedule, and a love for music.  The collaboration of many paid professionals, the choral director, a chorus manager, paid orchestral musicians, and a maestro, and many, many hours of private practice and group rehearsals, the concerts come together beautifully.  Without a doubt the group having the most fun, are the volunteers, the chorus.

 

Expertise on the Web and otherwise...

How do you judge the value of expertise on the Web?  Does it differ from your notion of expertise in face-to-face settings?  Why or why not?

Sometimes it’s easier to judge expertise when researching on the Web.  For example, about a year ago two people in their early 20’s came to my door and asked me to “invest” in them by purchasing very expensive magazine subscriptions.  I’m not sure who would buy subscriptions that are ten times the cost of purchasing the magazine at the grocery store, but these young people had takers or they wouldn’t continue to walk door to door to sell subscriptions.  This young man and young woman were charismatic and a little bit anxious so I listened to their stories.  I made excuses to run back into the house to research their program on the Web.  I discovered that they worked for an organization that exploits desperate people by promising them a big income with some strings attached.  The strings are taking them out of their hometowns, “paying” their hotel and food expenses, and then putting them on the street to “sell” these subscriptions.  If they don’t get the orders then they must pay back the cost of living expenses.  It’s not a good life.  I promised them that I wasn’t going to buy any subscriptions and offered to make them lunch instead.  They took me up on my offer and left an hour or so later.

Last week at the Common Core workshop, the presenter was making erroneous statements about the standards.  Since I had my laptop and Duval County has a BYOD program, I was able to look up the research to show the presenter that she was wrong.  I wasn’t rude and typically don’t try to prove someone wrong (except my husband), but she insisted that it wasn’t possible for her to be wrong because she had had dinner with the man who wrote the original Common Core Standards and had heard him say…blah, blah, blah.  I despise name dropping so I was forced to prove her wrong, and it wasn’t difficult since the Common Core Standards are readily available on the Web and an IPhone app.  So much for paid expertise.

I rely on my intuition to make final judgments about most things.  Certainly, before I ever researched the Web, I knew the kids at my door were not offering me a good deal, but being able to do quick research helped.  But intuition doesn’t cut it when you only have the Web.  To judge the quality of a website and its information, I check the web address and look for information about the staff or whoever is posting the information.  Sometimes I cross reference information on the site by a copy and paste of pieces of the narrative in the Google bar.   Loaded language is sometimes a clue that the author has an agenda different from the stated purpose of the website.  Snopes is also a reliable place to check out stories and “speeches” that seem too good to be true.

Train the Trainers

I attended a two-day workshop last week developed by Florida DOE and held on multiple dates throughout the state.  Most of the presenters were classroom educators who were tasked and paid to pass along to representatives of K-12 schools the major points and some example lessons from the Common Core Standards.  Prior to the workshop, we received an email requesting that participants download two days of PowerPoint presentations and all of the handouts and to bring a laptop to the workshop.

Before I go on, it’s important to point out two principles of Common Core.

• According to corestandards.org, Common Core encourages inter-disciplinary collaboration and the integration of technology in a way that is “designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success.” 
• Common Core Standards dictate that by 12th grade, students will be reading 70 percent nonfiction and 30 percent fiction. The idea behind a 70-30 split is that most nonfiction will be read in science, history, and social studies classes, where students would be using primary sources and learning to decipher scientific research.  English classes will retain their focus on literature.

Despite the push for interdisciplinary collaboration, hundreds of participants were divided into small groups based on subject area and grade level.  Although a few lesson examples were presented and practiced, most of the two days was spent listening to the presenters read the PowerPoint slides.  And since we had all downloaded the PowerPoint slides, we could see presenters’ notes like the following:

Presenters should take the time to create a Norms chart.  This may seem an unnecessary step but will help provide a frame for discussions and interactions.  It is just always a good way to start and helps build a focus and the beginnings of a sense of community. 
Throughout your two days together you will be providing opportunities for your participants to work together in different group configurations.  This often is uncomfortable for many adults so we want to agree upon how we will work together.
Label a sheet of chart paper:  CCSS Institute Group Norms.  As a group agree and write three to four, “We will ___________statements that reflect how the group wants to interact.  You may want to start the chart . . . We will be open to change our minds.  We will try to keep a sense of humor.  We will bring chocolate for the presenter each day :)”
 

In addition to the lousy presentation, some of the information presented was incorrect.  Anyone who listeners or reads the news has heard at least some of the stink surrounding the implementation of Common Core and the fear that the classics will disappear from the curriculum. Some administrators might be directing English teachers to eliminate poetry and even Shakespeare so that students can read instruction manuals and other dry non-fiction.  I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise that this misconception exists in the rants of conservative talk-show hosts when my presenters incorrectly applied the 70/30 standard to the English classroom.  The literacy problem in Florida is deeper than one might think!

Common Core standards are superior to and more intuitive than the Sunshine State Standards.  There’s also the opportunity to join other states in the pursuit of these more rigorous standards so that America does not fall behind in the global economy. 

The implementation of Common Core Standards in Florida is costing the taxpayer millions of dollars.  Why is it that with all of the expense of this initiative, we educators can’t pull off a decent training seminar?

 http://www.corestandards.org/the-standards