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From Overwhelmed to Networked
by Elizabeth Helfant

Preparing to launch a 1-to-1 tablet program that will impact 450 students and 85 teachers in 3 grades is daunting and at times overwhelming. There are so many things to do in preparation for 1-to-1 tablet program and just when you think you have it figured out, you discover something that would make the plan even better or something that calls into question the things you think you have figured out. Our plan has five intertwined strands-curriculum revision, student training, faculty training, program assessment and program sustainability and this past week, there were challenges to each strand. I’m calling them challenges as they were things that made me revisit and rethink each strand and how it needed yet more revision to create something really good. Bear with me as I give you an overview of the strands and the challenges before I reveal the real lessons in this overwhelming week.

The first strand encompasses redesigning significant pieces of curriculum in preparation for a 1-to-1 tablet program. We are embracing the NET-s and the Framework for 21^st Century Skills and using them to create talking points that make sense for our institution. We are also looking at national departmental standards like NCTE ‘s Towards a Definition of 21st Century Literacies and the National Mathematics Advisory Panel’s latest report. Using standards, research, learning theories and best practices, we are creating curricular goals and training plans for each department. Our goal is to take the good in the existing curriculum, throw out the unnecessary and outdated, add topics of relevancy for today’s students, and embed teaching the skills that today’s students need. We were making good progress and then I read Andrew Churches’ April 1 blog post on the techLearning blog. This blog post entitled Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy meant I needed to take each department plan and add appropriate links to some of the terrific rubrics that the post provides.

The second strand involves planning for student training. We realize that when students first get their tablet, they will need instruction on how to use it as an educational tool. This means that they need to know things about the operating system, the tablet hardware, and the software tools they have at their disposal. We are creating a 20 hour interdisciplinary unit based on an essential question. In grade 10 students will read The World Without Us for summer reading and return in August to a unit that will put them in the DyKnow lecture environment, ask them to research using library databases, social bookmarks, and OneNote, and require them to collaborate on creating a presentation. We envision a wide variety of tools being used to create a number of different types of presentations - google earth tours, adobe Premier short movies, Photoshop posters, MediaWiki articles, and Google Sites. Within the unit, we hope to teach creative commons and copyright principles. I thought I had a framework in place but my personal learning network (PLN) exposed two areas that need further evaluation. Joyce Valenza’s latest piece on copyright has me rethinking the copyright guidelines in light of her comments on fair use and the transformative use interpretation. I thought I was set to teach students del.icio.us bookmarks but my PLN began exploring advantages to using diigo.

The third strand in our plan is faculty training. Basic training sessions on DyKnow software and OneNote are being held during the school year. We are also trying to offer a summer speaker series that we hope faculty will find somewhat inspiring. Let’s face it, they have heard me for years now and a fresh voice is much needed. We’ve identified several educational leaders, all well known bloggers, and are making plans to bring them to campus to speak and lead workshops for us. In my mind, I was pretty clear on the content for each of 5 speakers and had largely aligned them with our institutional talking points. I keep reading these future speakers' blogs and came across this slideshare from Alec Couros' blog.

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This both challenged and validated the speaker series concept. I need my teachers to create a learning network, and while I have created an online network that is incredibly valuable, most of the faculty has not done so. I am in essence bringing my network to them. That is the validation. The challenge has become ensuring that the training plan is a start towards the creation of a learning network for each faculty member. As an aside, pay attention to the question on slide 15 from the slideshare. It validates the need for change.

The fourth strand is program assessment. To assess the program, we are exploring ways to get baseline data. LOTI and some teaching survey’s made with Composica will be key components. We aren’t going to a 1-to-1 program to increase technology skills or use but because we think it’s a central ingredient in a 21^st century learning environment and a necessary tool for the type of curriculum today’s students need.  The goal for us will be to transform the way we do things on a day to day basis in hope of creating self-directed, lifelong learners. As I worked to determine what to assess this week, I realized that I need to measure gains in love of learning to call the program a success. Love of learning implies a certain degree of intrinsic motivation and self direction. It occurred to me that one indicator of my love of learning is found in the nature and depth of the personal learning network that I create and maintain. The quality and quantity of the bookmarks I share, the blogs I read, the people I correspond with are indicative of my learning. My network serves as a type of learning process portfolio. Perhaps the learning networks our students graduate with and take with them are the best benchmark of the type of program we create.

The final, least-developed strand of the program is sustainability. The hope is that we will be part of a learning network called Powerful Learning Practice (PLP). The PLP site states:

Powerful Learning Practice offers a unique opportunity for educators to participate in a long-term, job-embedded professional development program that immerses them in 21st Century learning environments.

As I investigate PLP further, the concept of networked learning began to emerge as a central theme for me. As you’ve read about the strands, I hope you’ve seen the concept emerge within each of them.

In summary, the lessons I learned or had reiterated for me as I worked on the 1-to-1 plan are these:

A personal learning network should be a requirement for all teachers. I’m increasingly drawn to the idea that it should be a requirement for our students as well. The training plan must be revised to ensure that faculty learn to create and maintain a network.

Learning is non-linear. The more networked I become, the less linear things get. Ideas and plans exist in a state of constant revision.

The rate at which ideas and information are generated is astounding. It requires a network to help filter and distill the information.

Curriculum and Learning no longer have an endpoint, in part because of mass collaboration made possible by technology.

The need to change is urgent. Our students' learning and futures depend on it.

Because of those lessons, I need to teach my students to be inquisitive, innovative, flexible, and adaptable and I need to help them be networked and participatory so they can be part of this:

Let me leave you with a slideshare from David Truss, another member of my network. It is called Brave New World and it is definitely worth a look. I challenge you to watch it and to begin to establish your own PLN if you don’t have one. If you do have one, think about what your network says about the nature and depth of your learning.

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Am I wrong to think that one of the greatest gifts we can give out students is the ability to create and maintain a Personal Learning Network in a world where ideas and information can be overwhelming?

About Elizabeth

Elizabeth Helfant is the Upper School Coordinator of Instructional Technology at Mary Institute Country Day School, a JK-12 institution embarking on a 1:1 adventure. using Tablet PCs and DyKnow.