Edina Digital Age Learning

On Tuesday, April 28, Edina High School Sophomores shared their year-long passion projects with staff, fellow students and community members. This project is part of their Pre-AP English 10 course, and also involved completing a research paper, service learning , and digital age learning . This authentic learning experience has led to recognition for students beyond the school walls in the past, and I believe this year's sophomores will be continuing that tradition. Here are some highlights that were shared out during the presentations. [ View the story "2015 Passion Project Fair" on Storify ] It was great to see EHS alumni, Alec Fischer and Gabe Aderhold come back to encourage students to continue to foster their passions beyond their projects, as you never know how far it can take you! This year's "Passion Fair" was the best yet, and it was great to see school and community leaders turn out to learn from the students.  It was also rewarding...

Last Friday, March 13, was the 2015 Digital Learning Day , an effort to promote innovation and technology integration. With our eLearning2 Digital Age Learning initiative , it felt like just another day of learning! To me, every day is "Digital Learning Day!" I asked staff to Tweet out pictures of their students accessing content, collaborating and creating using both the #DLDay and #eLearning2 hashtags. The result was a great mix of activities from all grade levels, K-12.  [ View the story "Digital Learning Day 2015 in Edina" on Storify ] In addition, Jackie Roehl and Rachel Hatten had their Pre-AP English 10 students create a "Twitter Tableaux" around themes in the book, Slaughterhouse Five . Here were their instructions for students:      Twitter Tableaux A tableau (tableaux is the plural form) is a group of motionless models representing a scene from a story. As a group discuss your chapter to determine the three scenes that...

Dallas Dance, Superintendent of Baltimore County Schools shared how his district is developing Globally Competitive Students at COSN15 . Baltimore County has a 87.6% graduation rate. It's mostly urban and diverse.  2nd Highest Grad rate umong large school districts More than half of the schools are among the best in the nation  17 Blue Ribbon Schools Multiple Wards 91% of families say the school is effective or highly effective Good is not Good enough! 12% of students not graduating, 18% of African American Males not graduating ALL MEANS ALL is their Motto!  Brainpower does not discriminate How they began... Reaching out to the community stakeholders Previous Admin-Blueprint for Progress Stagnant in academic approach BluePrint 2.0 Developing their purpose Prepare students to be globally competitive and globally prepared Define what the diploma means when they leave the school system Access to an equitable digital learning environment...

Dr. Alison Powell, Vice-President for State and District Services of the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) spoke at the CoSN 15 conference on A Blended Learning Roadmap: 6 Essential Elements. iNACOL focuses on blended, online, and competency-based learning. They "ensure that every student has access to a world-class education, regardless of geography, income or background."  What comes to mind when you hear the term, "blended learning?" In the room there were many who hadn't implemented it at all. She shared some pictures and asked the participants whether they were examples of blended. Some looked like lecture, class discussion, group projects, small group instruction. iNACOL's Definition: A formal education program in which a student learns at least in part through online learning, with some element of student control over time, place, path or pace. Christensen Institute defines four models: 1. Rotation Station R...

Dr. Chris Dede from Harvard University and Julie Evans from Project Tomorrow shared information from a paper they wrote for Qualcomm on 8 Essentials for Mobile Learning Success . Part 1: Quick Overview of 4 Essentials Purposeful Planning for Mobile Device Usage 1976 the "Little Professor Calculator" was introduced. Today's mobile devices have much more power and capabilities obviously 3 Contexts for Learning 1. Classrooms      -Presentation and Discussion 2. Richly Contextualized Real World Learning      -Internships, apprenticeships      -Anyplace, Anytime 3. Learning Communities      -Interpretation and Transfer      -Tweeting, or in a game interacting with others Face to Face, Virtual and Blended conceptualizations of learning environments. Mobile devices allow us to inter-relate these concepts Community-Social Media Sharing Thinking Co-Creating Dede showed that the "Conversation ...

Mark Edwards , Superintendent from Mooresville, North Carolina spoke about Digital Conversion and how his district has transformed learning at COSN15 . They have done this and maintained a #1 ranking in academic results in the state. His book, Thank You For Your Leadership, details more. Here are my notes: Why Digital Conversion? Moral imperative No textbook in 6 years Equity-All students need access Implications Precision-Detailed Intervention Teachers and students have more information about their own learning Competency is evolutional Teachers that were star teachers 5 years ago, if they haven't grown are not as relevant. Creativity and relevance drive productivity Students are making things to demonstrate learning Mashing up Connectivity and collaboration "hum" Teachers are "Learning Conductors!"  Personalization Students understand it is about them Second Order Leadership Abundant-Custodians and bus drivers can be great le...

Michael Fullan on Rethinking Pedagogy Michael Fullan , was the kickoff speaker at the 2015 Consortium for School Networking Conference in Atlanta. His talk was on, " The Stratosphere Agenda: Rethinking Pedagogy for Deeper Learning. " Fullan believes that we need a new pedagogy to leverage the opportunities digital technologies present. Here are some of my notes from the session.  2015 will be a breakout year, and we are in a three year window where the transformational change is moving and won't go back. It is an "unplanned digital revolution!" In 2011, he wrote an article on the "wrong drivers" of policy: Right Drivers                 Wrong Drivers Internal                        External Accountability Collaboration                 Individualism Pedagogy                 ...