We Can All Do Better

Do you have a blog? a wiki? a social media site? In posting to your online space, how good are you at modelling the appropriate use of content? Do you take advantage of Creative Commons resources? Do you attribute your sources?

Just as it's important to hold students accountable in the appropriate use of previously published materials, educators have a have a moral obligation to the model the ethical use of online content. While 'fair use' policies may give educators permission to use a wide range of materials, this doesn't negate our responsibility to recognize the creators of such works. In failing to acknowledge our sources, we miss out on opportunity to lead by example.

We All Fall Down
I acknowledge that I have at times used the work of others in inappropriate ways. I've used original pieces of music without permission; I've downloaded YouTube clips in violation of the terms of service; I've grabbed screen captures of images otherwise protected by copyright. But over the past few years I've been really conscious about acting justly with regard to rights of content creators, and have worked to inform others about their obligations with respect to copyright. For the past four years, I've also chosen to freely share my creative work with through the Creative Commons. Others are free to use and remix my photos, writing, presentations, publications so long as they attribute my contribution.

What Got Me onto this Topic?
If you've visited this blog in recent years, you'll know that a few of the highlights in my career as a learner have taken place at Educon, a conference of conversations, held annually at the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia. As a model learning event for teachers, administrators and librarians, Educon hits the mark in a great number of ways.

Upon visiting the Educon 2.4 website two weeks ago. I couldn't help but grin to see highlighted on the banner, a photo I took at last year's event. It's a group photo from a conversation I hosted with Zoe Branigan-Pipe called "Classrooms of Tomorrow". I clicked on the Creative Commons licensed image expecting it to port to the original shot, but instead, it led to the registration page. Without the intent to do so, the Educon 2.4 website was claiming ownership of my work.

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While I await an update to the Educon banner, it leads me to reflect:
How good a job do I do in providing attribution to the work of others?
Do my public websites (blogs, wikis, social media pages) use content without consent?
Can I be more effective in acknowledging the contributions of others in my work?
Am I doing everything I can to model the appropriate and fair use of media?

Whether hosting a large conference website, or an obscure resource wiki, our public faces to the world must demonstrate appropriate attribution when we choose to use Creative Commons licensed content. At the very least, an incidental lesson will be taught to anyone who takes notice. In the best of circumstances, visitors will be inspired to follow a hyperlink to the creator's work. Uncountable ripples will follow as acknowledged creators will be more and more likely to share future works.

Can You Do Better?
The idea behind attribution is simple: If you use the work of another creator, give the person credit. In doing so, you'll be modelling for learners the appropriate way to recognize the contributions of others. In a world where creating and remixing is open to anyone, it's time to hold ourselves accountable and to model the ethical use of online content.

Photo credit: London Bridge is Falling Down by Forty two. Creative Commons icon by jorgeandresam

'Learning Spaces' of Tomorrow

This past Sunday, Zoe Branigan-Pipe and I had an opportunity to work with teachers at the Science Leadership Academy. Titling our workshop, 'Classrooms of Tomorrow', our intent was to lead teachers to design solutions based on what they'd learned at Educon. Ideally, groups were to develop ideas into plans that could be implemented as soon as... tomorrow.

Zoe and I had spoken many times about how we might capture the conversational spirit of Educon, and in the end, we decided to leverage LiveScribe smartpen technology to archive the conversations of on-site participants. We were also purposeful in engaging our online audience, who also collaborated in the design of a learning space using Scribblar.

A Few EduConversations
The pencasts below are interactive. If you click on a button that says 'plan' or 'conversation', you'll be able to hear the discussion that led up to each group's design solution. Otherwise, you can click on any element in a groups design, to hear their thinking about that particular element. Each group was asked to design a space in consideration of 3 big ideas; so click on any keyword if you'd like to hear the group's rationale or design focus.

Design Team 1
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Design Team 2
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Design Team 3
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Design Team 4
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Although we couldn't capture the audio, our remote group had a conversation that resulted in the design of this space:


In the end, the word 'classroom' proved to limit the thinking of some participants who struggled to think outside of that box. As a result, our conversation is now called 'Learning Spaces of Tomorrow'. Consider this post as the public presentation of the ideas of our participants. What jumps out at you?

Photo Credit: Andy Forgrave

My EduContext

I arrived home from Philadelphia just before 1:00 a.m., and rested well. When I awoke, I found myself in a downright giddy mood as images kept floating into my minds-eye. These are some of the things I'll most remember about Educon 2.3.

Community
Snow, What snow? With schools officially closed in the region due to poor weather, you'd think there would be cause for concern. In the end, it wasn't nearly enough to impede the staff, students or parents of Science Leadership Academy. For details on how Educon came together, check out Chris Lehmann's post that highlights how the community rallied.

Student Engagement
Emblematic of the fullness of student participation in Educon, was the first and final person we saw at SLA. Jeff Kessler, also known as EduConcierge, demonstrated a true passion for addressing the travel needs of attendees. His efforts exceeded all expectations. Don't be surprised if Jeff reaches his goal of becoming Secretary of Transportation. In the words of Michael Wacker: "I heart Educoncierge".



Collaboration
Working under the direction of Darren Kuropatwa and Dean Shareski, our group was in stitches throughout the recording of our trick-the-senses video: "A Nice Light Snack - with Added Crunch". A big thanks to Andy Forgrave for leading Kim McGill, Colin Jagoe, Zoe Branigan-Pipe, Alec Couros, Brian C. Smith, and myself through the project. Be sure to check out the other completed works.

Transparency
As you likely know, conversations from SLA were streamed to the World Wide Web, allowing a distant audience to participate by auditing the sessions. In a number of sessions, remote participants were invited to actively engage in the co-creation of products and resources. Although most small group conversations were only heard by the participants, you're invited to eavesdrop on this 6 minute conversation from Brian C. Smith's session Share the Joy. The voices you'll hear are Michael Wacker, Alec Couros, and Rodd Lucier.

Celebration
The song "Bad Romance" keeps running through my head. It was one of many rocking good time songs performed by LiQuid A at Field House Philly. The Saturday evening social turned into a great way to celebrate the birthday of Science Leadership Academy principal, Chris Lehmann.

Authenticity
Powerful stories were the order of the day. Perhaps the most compelling, was shared during Alec Couros and Dean Shareski's session: 'The Obligation to Share...'. Consider the story shared by Sarah Edson: an account of an English teacher who long ago, had fostered the speaker's passion for writing. After the teacher-mentor suffered a catastrophic loss of memory, it was the very student that he had enabled, now a teacher, who was able rekindle the former teacher's memory, through a descriptive thank you letter.


If you attended in person or online, I can't help but wonder: What were your take-aways?


Media Credits: EduConcierge video and Snickers photo, captured by Andrew Forgrave; other images by Rodd Lucier.

So, What Did You Learn?

Thanks for visiting the blog today, I'm not here. I'm in Philadelphia attending Educon 2.3 where Zoe Branigan-Pipe and I are facilitating "Classrooms of Tomorrow" as a culminating task for attendees.

Our session takes place today at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time and even if you can't be with us in person, you can participate virtually. Attendees on site will be creating learning spaces with LiveScribe technology, while remote participants will design collaboratively using Scribblar Rooms (links are included in the slidedeck).

Classrooms of Educon

View more presentations from Rodd Lucier.

Classroom Sample
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Do You Have Time for a "31 Day Game"?

When I returned from Educon in 2010, I had an idea that has now had a chance to percolate for a full year. It's an idea that attempts to focus the thinking of a networked educators, providing us with common reference points for personal and professional learning. With the goal of further enhancing the toolkit for tweeting teachers, I have a proposal for the first ever professional learning game or PLG.

"What if..."
In introducing Twitter to colleagues, would it be useful to have access to a wide range of articles, videos and presentations that had been considered by the network to be worthy of deeper reflection? Might a month-long debate regarding the potential of educational resources allow educators to demonstrate critical thinking, inventiveness and openness? What will happen if teachers around the world are invited to participate in a common asynchronous conversation? Wouldn't it be great for teachers to be able to point to a specific body of knowledge and resources that were known to just about every teacher on Twitter?

Each day during the month of March, I propose that we consider two competing resources before ultimately voting for one of these tools to advance in a head-to-head playoff format. The 31 Day Game would culminate with a head-to-head competition among the top resources... on the 31st day of the month.

The game can be played at any hour of the day, but would only take place during a month that has 31 days. Each game would have room for the collaborative consideration of 32 topics. Future events might include:
1] a critical review of Web 2.0 tools;
2] a contest to select an 'Educator's Choice' book for a PLN book club; or
3] a fun head-to-head tweeting competition.

It all begins March 1st, but not until we narrow down the field to 32 Compelling Messages for Teacher-Learners. Nominate your favourite video, news story, or blog post by competing this short survey.

Over the past few years, we've seen educators make outstanding use of Twitter for personal and professional learning. Maybe you were around when we organized the first synchronous chats for education? Whether or not you've participated in time-specific chats, what do you say to taking it up a notch with the 31 Day Game!

Photo Credit: Leo Reynolds; ex_libris

Educon: Multi-Touch with Jeff Han

Four years ago, Jeff Han's TED talk started us thinking about how we might use simple, intuitive gestures to interact with technology; this past week, Educon attendees had the chance to experience a full scale multi-touch wall.

When Jeff brought his multi-touch wall to the Science Leadership Academy, it couldn't help but create a buzz among both students and educators. You likely know this technology as CNN's election coverage tool, but what stunned me, is that this is about the most intuitive piece of technology I've ever used.

In the first half of this two-minute video, you can see my reactions as a novice user, moments after being introduced the large scale multi-touch screen. In the latter half, you'll see Jeff Han, Founder and Chief Scientist of Perceptive Pixel, who is almost cavalier in using the wall to teach us about how broadcasters have engaged this technology.



It was a special treat to be able to speak with Jeff about how Bill Buxton, inspired his scientific mind back when Bits 'n Bytes was our window to the future of technology. And it was refreshing to know that in sharing with an audience of learners, Jeff was also interested to hear our ideas about how such technology might be leveraged in the classrooms of tomorrow.

Where this technology go next? Multi-touch is already influencing the development of new technologies like the recently announced iPad. If the next generation of devices is as intuitive as the multi-touch wall, we may be headed towards a future where even teachers will adopt new tools.

Educon: Field Guide for Change Agents

A few months ago, I had a discussion with Ben Hazzard about how we might engage educators in producing an e-book to assist and encourage change agents. The result of our efforts was a workshop that took place this afternoon at Educon 2.2.

Instead of providing a 'presentation-style' workshop, our goal was to leverage easy-to-use collaborative web tools and to lead interested co-learners in the creation of practical, shareable content. Teaching by doing, we did our best to model:

1] how to build relationships among project participants;
2] how to contribute to shared documents simultaneously;
3] how to attribute Creative Commons licensed content;
4] how to offer 'choice' to participants;
5] how to take shared responsibility in creating a product;
6] how to engage remote participants in a meaningful way;
7] how to create and distribute a product for a real world audience.

Field Guide For Change Agents

View more presentations from Rodd Lucier.

"This Field Guide for Change Agents was developed during a workshop at Educon 2.2 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in January 30, 2009. As workshop leaders, we were honoured to have participation by educators from around the world, including remote participants who joined us via Elluminate."

The creators have agreed to license their work with an Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Creative Commons license. You are free to share or adapt the work, on the condition that the author page and photo attributions are included.

Late addition: One of our online participants, Lorna Costantini, has written a blog post about the experience that really affirms the value of the processes we adopted.

Educon: Harnessing Chaos

When students are actively engaged in their learning, they aren't necessarily sitting in desks and working with pens and paper.

Our first day at the Science Leadership Academy gave us opportunities to see a variety of learning environments in action, including what on the surface may have seemed to the uninitiated, to be a chaotic learning environment.

Click image for large version.

Today's podcast summarizes what happened when senior student tour guides led a group of visiting educators through Stephanie Dunda's grade 10 bio-chemistry class.

Wish You Were Here

It's my first trip to Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, and I have to say, I'm impressed. The hotel district is right in the heart of the city, meaning many interesting sites are within walking distance. The neighbourhood is populated with museums, towering buildings, and public art installations.



The highlight of Day 1 had to be meeting and dining with staff members and other co-learners at Fogo de Chao, where flipping your serving card to green, invited 'gauchos' to blade hot servings onto our plates. The conversation was intimate, familiar, and open; more evidence that the relationships we build online, are much more than virtual.

Today, over 500 attendees, including many from southern Ontario, will be networking at the Science Leadership Academy. It's Educon 2.2, and another day of learning; wish you were here!

A New Axiom for Educ(ati)on

One of the events taking place at this week's Educon 2.2, is Encienda Educon, an hour of 'lightning seminars' scheduled to take place during lunch on Saturday. Though I may be crazy enough to attempt an 'Ignite' presentation, I'm also smart enough to know that it's a highly challenging format; one worthy of rehearsal.

For those unable to join us at Educon, my 5 minute talk runs a bit longer when an introduction and closing comments are added:

A New Axiom for Educ(ati)on

View more documents from Rodd Lucier.

Tweeting with Change Agents

Admittedly, not much changed in schools in 2009. We still have classrooms that look and function very much like they have for the past 100 or more years. But 2009, did in fact seem to me to be a year where more educators participated in discussions about the need for change.

I suspect that many edubloggers can relate to Will Richardson's admission in What's Changed?, that he's done less blogging and more tweeting in the past 12 months. Though microblogging may be shallow, it has proven to be very accessible to educators, with Twitter being leveraged on both mobile devices, and school computers.

As a tool, Twitter is a double-edged sword: The depth of thought I used to see in the rich blog posts of change agents, has instead become a sequence of tweets, each distilled to no more than 140 characters; but many more educators have joined in the conversation.

In the first half of 2009, Twitter for Teachers was introduced as a resource wiki for educators. With over 500 registered users, it's still a great place to introduce others to microblogging. We also succeeded in bringing synchronous discussion to educators on Twitter via 'Educhat'. We've since passed the torch to 'edchat' which has proven to be a collegial way to welcome new teachers to Twitter.

In the coming year, I'll be looking for more opportunities to meet face to face with fellow Twitterers. If you have any doubt that the relationships we're building are authentic, join in a conference experience like Educon 2.2, or arrange a tweet-up of regional peers. Even if you can't be there in person, participation at such events can be transformative.

As a vehicle for change agents, Twitter offers a great way to connect many disparate voices. In 2010, here's hoping we can engage many more teacher-learners in the conversation.

Image Credit: left-hand

Square Pegs and Soapboxes

Clarence Fisher in an open letter to Gary Stager writes:

"We are a new type of teacher working in new and changing learning environments. We are willing to experiment and drive towards new forms of learning. We fit into the education system like square pegs in round holes."

Bang on!

One of the main reasons that the pace of change in education is soooo frustratingly slow, is that as square pegs, we remain the minority.   It is only recently, thanks to a variety of Web 2.0 tools, that we've been able to find one another, and to positively reinforce our collective works to engage learners.  Events such as Educon 2.0 result in positive energy simply because so many are gathered with the same motivation.   The square pegs come to realize that they are on the right path in spite of the opposition they sometimes face in their local communities. Too bad for all of us, that so few round pegs even know that such events are taking place.

On our own, each of us may have to teach with doors closed so as not to offend the rest of the herd; it is only when clever sheep like Clarence Fisher find one another, that they can institute change that is noticeable on a grand scale.  By being on top of our virtual soapboxes, we are able to publish ideas that may just lead a few roundish pegs to gain sharp corners, and, over time, may result in large scale educational reform.
 
Courtesy of Ewan McIntosh comes this BBC news item: What Makes a Good Teacher?

"The big question now is whether - after 20 years of being told exactly what and how to teach - there are enough teachers ready to be "creatively subversive"?

If we were the majority, then Gary would notice changes in classroom environments... In order to get there, our voices, our ideas, our words have to be from high enough to be heard by as many teachers as possible.  Please don't come down off of your box yet Clarence, the movement towards Classroom 2.0 needs you!

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