Facilitators: Yancy Unger, Tammy Payton
Recorder: Deb Storey

Solutions & Actions - download in print-friendly format

Based on what is currently happening with the use of technology in writing…

• What should we be doing?
• Who should be doing this?
• How should this be accomplished?

 Discussion notes

Significant Issues From Morning Discussions

• How do we structure a technological model of teaching and learning?
• How to we bring strong collaboration with these technologies?
• How do we empower students to learn with technology while maintaining a safe environment?
• How do we instruct and address writing curriculum and standards with the assistance of technology tools?

Transcript

• What are we doing now?
  • Digital divide between teachers and students
  • Student have better tools at home to do their work
  • Textbook companies are beginning to work with online learning sites
  • In Plymouth: Blog for school corporation
    • Both Supt and Asst Supt try to write on it twice a week.
    • Media has picked up on this. Great PR. People reading it from all over.
    • They teach a class in blogging. Taken something that teachers were scared of and have helped them embrace it. Showed them how to use it in a positive way.
  • Hagerstown: heavily enforces strict plagiarism policy
  • Looking into using Writely – can assign 5 students to work on a document collaboratively
  • Using Criterion
    • They have been really happy with Criterion. Much better than when they started.
    • Students are writing more and better. Each English class is a lab and all 4 HS grades are using Criterion – part of the pilot group.
    • Not all teachers embrace technology.
    • High school teachers in Plymouth use Criterion.
      • Middle school teachers shy away from it.
    • Try doing this yourself – see what score and feedback is for you
    • Best thing about Criterion is that students are writing more and writing better – students are doing true revision, not just editing.
  • With Instant Messaging, students revise, when someone asks questions ”what do you mean?” They really have to be more descriptive and concise.
  • Wikipedia
    • Wikipedia validity?
      • Supposedly more accurate than Encyclopedia Britannica
    • Quick way to make a web page,
    • Not just a blog – collectively
  • The first of its kind
    • Things are edited and changed all the time, this is collaborative writing in its truest form
    • You get multiple points of view
    • Collective wisdom at work
    • Accountability because authors names printed
    • Students could even add local information about their city or community to be published
      • Students begin to care more because they are being published.
    • It does scare teachers because what if Johnny makes up something and it isn’t true?
  • Discourse by ETS–
    • Great for differentiated instruction – for student who don’t respond in class –
    • New level of accountability – IVY Tech – Online course – tracks how much time students have done, no more excuses of students why they didn’t get another grade
• How do we take fear out of technology?
• Instead of being scare about it, we need to educate the teachers
• At Plymouth they held a Technology Summit
• Should have mini classes – buffet of technology class and get college credit
• Blog class is one night long, 12 classes = 1 college credit – open to other schools, too
• Classes offered: INSPIRE, Peripherals, Inspiration/Kidspiration, Excel
• Local teachers teach and they have partnership with local college
• Teachers teaching business applications, now model for classroom teachers – work with K-6 classrooms – teaching how to integrate
• This is not the norm
• In business - for $1 spend on equipment, $1is spent on professional development
• In education - for every $10 spent on technology, $1 spent on professional development
• Tech tools can help the time problem
• Need to teach writing allowing students to use tech tools that they are comfortable with regardless if their teacher is comfortable with this tool
• Technology PD models
• Show case best practices among classroom teachers
• Create a web presence of best practices
• Plymouth’s Technology Summit
• What should we be thinking of for the future?
• Building a learning community – collaboration, sharing, online interaction among students
• Students are already doing it
• Ethical and social issues
• Students are considering this but it needs to be taught in classroom
• We need to teach more about plagiarism
• As educators, we need to be part of this dialog, we aren’t part of this community
• We have been outside of this community too long
• When the Internet started, the businesses became more transparent
• Educators/education need to become more transparent
• There are sites now where you can rate professors/teachers – accountability
• We are not ready to change
• In a world that is changing, students will continue to work around us – if we don’t change
• For years we have discussed the structure of schools, block scheduling, etc.,
• We know for a fact that our environment is letting some of these kids down
• It will change our model
• Change how we think of education
• Only about 10% don’t have computers or cell phone.
• What can we do for those kids?
• How do we address those cultural differences?
• By not teaching these technologies we will continue to be incompetent schools.
• Repair men come and use handheld digital technology in their daily work
• Students must be prepared for this kind of work
• Still the fear from teachers that it is a bad thing to get on the Internet with kids
• I think we are on the LAST textbook adoption.
• Will the idea of the textbook change?
• Instead of technology manuals today, we get on forums instead of buying expensive books
• Commentary
  • Great to have this opportunity to have a discussion like this.
  • I wish we’d had 4 or 5 kids in here to get their perspective of some of our conversation.
  • Allow students to create digitally and then use it as a vehicle to share.
    • Publish online – paperless publishing.
    • You will see more and more course management systems. Business has been doing this – collaboration daily – using technology for being business.
    • Chat programs all day to collaborate and share files.
• Challenges:
  • Schools are islands, teachers are islands – no time to get together and talk professionally – need online collaboration opportunities
    • Don’t need to be in the same room to collaborate
    • This type of collaboration is easy
    • Wikis are easy – download software
  • We need to plug into the students’ learning styles
    • E-learning style

SOLUTIONS AND ACTIONS - PRESENTED

• Invoke job-embedded professional to use collaborative online technologies (e.g. wikis, conferencing tools such as chat and file sharing) to create writing learning communities.
• Individual plans for action

• Use Exchange
• Use Writely with students
• Offer a Wiki class at School (Professional Development)
• Use a collaborative service in work environment
• Join role-playing online community
• Research collaborative tools

Indiana Writing Summit was sponsored by:
Purdue University and the Corporation for Educational Technology