Edina Digital Age Learning

This fall, Stanford University hosted a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) called, " Designing a New Learning Environment. " Lead by Dr. Paul Kim, the course invited participants to interact globally to design learning environments  of the future. I saw a post from, Brendan Murphy , a former grad school colleague, and thought that it might be a good learning opportunity paired with the Secondary Academic program study that Edina Schools has been working on. I forwarded this on to our Teaching and Learning Coordinator, Randy Smasal, who then contacted Stanford. Smasal wondered if Dr. Kim would like to use our district as a case study for groups to consider as a design project. Ultimately a couple of groups developed projects based around Edina , and we are working to incorporate some of their ideas.  Additional projects from the course can be found  here . When Smasal shared this with building leaders, our high school principal, Bruce Locklear , and assistant principa...

Edina Public Schools Mission Statement states: The mission of Edina Public Schools is to educate all individuals to be responsible, lifelong learners who possess the skills, knowledge, creativity, self-worth, and ethical values necessary to thrive in a rapidly   changing, culturally diverse, global society. Today, French Teacher, Kim Caster helped her students meet the last part of that mission through a video chat Skype session with students in Montpelier, France .  Caster spent a year teaching in France a few years ago, as part of a Fullbright grant. Two-thirds of the students in Caster's class were students in the Edina French Immersion program. Caster's students spoke in French in their questions and responses to their pen pals, and in turn, the French Students spoke English.  Here are some of the questions that the French students were curious about: Which part of American History do you prefer? Why? Do you think the Amendment which allows peopl...

The following article was recently sent out to parents to share some of the ways teaching in Edina has "shifted" as a way to introduce our eLearning 2 Initiative. The Shift A recent post on the educational blog Mind/Shift captures a discussion educators around the world are having today. In the article, How Should Teaching Change In the Age of Siri? , the author points out that students can ask Siri (the iPhone/iPad voice recognition system) almost any “knowledge based question” and instantly get an answer. In order to stay relevant and provide students with the real world skills they need, teachers shift their instruction from asking students questions for the purposes of getting answers, to asking students to analyze, synthesize and create new meaning based on the answers they find. Fortunately, many Edina Public Schools educators are already making that shift in their instructional practice, modeling innovative and creative teaching that is not only fulfill...

Great Learning For the past 12 years, 9th grade Government students at South View Middle School have been involved in some type of Service Learning project. As you will see in the video below, the project, the product produced by students and the depth of learning that happens has evolved significantly. This year's iteration kicked off last fall in October, with a fair organized by Edina Service Learning Coordinator, Julie Rodgers Bascom, and media specialist, Cathy Heller. The students had a chance to meet with partner organizations that they might consider volunteering at, and to learn more about those institutions.  Once students were paired up with organizations, they spent the next 7 months volunteering time and talent, and documenting their learning on Websites and blogs. What was truly remarkable about this experience was to hear how it transformed students, and how most said that they would like to continue with some type of service into the future. ...

On Monday, the Edina Education Fund held their annual fundraiser luncheon. It's an opportunity to showcase how past grants have been used by staff, and encourage donors to contribute to future endeavors. At the event, the video below was shown.  Edina Education Fund - 2012 from John Hoel on Vimeo . Videographer, John Hoel did an amazing job telling the story. The video showcases "Innovation Grants," and it is good to remember that being innovative does not always mean you have to include technology! I am proud to have been a part of the Edina Teaching and Technology Cohort group, whose efforts are showcased at the start of the video. It has truly been a pleasure to see the staff from that group grow in their craft, and provide amazing learning opportunities for their students. Kany Seck, a 4th grade teacher at our French Immersion School  shared at the luncheon how she helps her students connect with French speakers in other countries. This week in 9th Grade Gove...

Today I was invited to speak to a group of parents about "Parenting in the Digital Age." Principal, Dr. Beth Russell and I had a great conversation about Online Safety, Cyberbullying, and developing a positive digital footprint. The parents asked some great questions, and Dr. Russell provided examples of cases of cyber bullying at South View, and how the administration has handled them.

Today I received this e-mail from Peter Grimm , one of our Project Lead the Way teachers at South View Middle School : Mike, Wanted to share a cool “cloud computing” moment from class.  My students are writing scripts for a video they are shooting in my class.  A young lady was sick today, and she had all of the work saved in her google docs.  Before the cloud, the girls in class would have been sunk, as the sick girl had their rough draft as well.  Anyway,  From home, she and the other girls in her group who were in class did a conference session on google docs, while using their cell phones on speaker phone.  It was kind of cool to watch –  they were very productive, and they didn’t lose a work day.  They had the google doc on 1 computer and their video footage on another, and they were editing and re-writing, and working virtually.  It’s fun when it all works! Peter It was a great example of: a) Teacher Reflection b) Anytime/Anywhere...

Last summer in Philadelphia I had the opportunity to attend Edubloggercon 2011 , an "un-conference" where participants can suggest topics for discussion, and then anyone interested can attend and participate in the sharing/learning. That's me in the middle! After the lunch break, the following session, proposed by Scott Meech, caught my eye: Why isn't education on the front page of the news? Posted By smeech With as much discussion taking place online about education, why isn't it on the front page? Let's talk about strategies to push this important discussion to the forefront in a positive and meaningful way. Just like Scott, I too had been frustrated by the education bashing that seemed to permeate the media landscape. I was glad to hear that I wasn't alone! During the session, he shared some of the work that he and other educators have been doing at EdReach.us , a site devoted to sharing what is working in education. As we were talking, Meech brought...