Lots of Catching Up to Do....

It's been a while since I've posted.  The Learning Blend is essentially my collection of posts to the Murrieta Online Learning Community Facebook page in order to make the resources, ideas, and pictures posted there available in one place to those who don't actively use FB (including me...unless I'm posting, I'm rarely following).  Most of these posts are instructional technology-oriented or Thinking Maps-related, though occasionally other educational issues are explored.  Also, because of the challenges I've faced in posting Thinking Map samples on my district's website, I'm going to direct teachers from that resource to this blog for regular access to models of Thinking Maps.  My goal is to post as close to weekly as possible depending on how much content I've place on the Facebook page.

So here's the latest update:

I learned about Educreations at a recent symposium I attended.  It's a tool for creating tutorials similar to ShowMe.  Looks quite robust.  If you've tried it, please share your experiences in the comments.

---

The Double Bubble Thinking Maps below were shared by CCES SDC teacher Nick VanDeusen.  Nick had planned to use penguins (a new concept  for his students) and dogs (something they have previous knowledge for) in the compare-contrast activity. However, when he wrote "penguins," his students said "snowmen," so he went with it.  Really amazing production with young students (and SDC to boot):

---

Great article on 5 common myths about students today. My favorite is "that they're all tech-savvy." Check out the others: 

Five common misconceptions about today’s students

---

This article is a nice companion piece to the article above on myths about students. I really like her recommendation that we refer to students as Digital Citizens rather than Digital Natives as the latter promotes the myth that students already have a handle on using technology appropriately: 

Digital Native vs Digital Citizen? Examining a Dangerous Stereotype

---

Project-Based Learning (PBL) will make a big comeback with the common core.  Here are some strategies for using technology to support PBL:

Ramping Up Technology for Your Next PBL Project

---

Here's an interesting blog post on integrating technology into lesson plans--the blogger makes a great point about avoiding the trap of building the lesson around the technology rather than the technology around the learning goal:

Using technology in the classroom the right way

Weekly Blend of Inspiration

Really interesting article shared by Krista Giordano, who teaches online Expo 12 at Murrieta Mesa.  It explores the changes universities are facing as online learning takes off, as well as the trepidation this is causing with regard to what happens to the quality of learning.  In this article, he focuses on how important quality pedagogy, student-to-student and teacher-to-student learning will be to make online learning.  It affirms the three R's we are trying to infuse into our district online learning programs: rigor, relevance, and relationships.  NOT just computer assisted instruction!  As the article states, the brain is NOT a computer: The Campus Tsunami.

I recently had an opportunity to listen to Michael Horn speak at this year's Curriculum and Instruction Leadership Symposium at Asilomar.  I have since become a huge fan of his Disrupting Class blog on Forbes.  Check out his latest post: Making Education Innovation Come to Life. 

If you haven't discovered Google Books, I highly encourage you to check out the Google Books: Search and Embed from the EdTech team.  Nice way to quickly see the usefulness of this resource for teaching and learning.

Finally, as many of you continue to explore applications for the iPad in your classrooms, this is a nice roundup of resources from ZDNet: 50 Resources for iPad Use in the Classroom.

A New Mindset for Digital Immigrants

As Murrieta Valley USD launches its blended learning initiative this June, one of the challenges we will face is the mindset of many of our administrators and teacher leaders who, as digital immigrants, are often wary of instructional technology.  Many remain resistant, whether out of fear or ignorance, and continue to thwart our efforts.   This backwards mindset is pervasive.  As I discovered while watching a video during my Leading Edge Certification for Administrators program, even colleges and universities can fall victim to this:

As the video aptly demonstrates, leaders who don't "get it" not only slow down progress, they can truly threaten it.

So how do we address this?  Hopefully our keynote speaker will go a long way toward influencing this necessary shift in thinking.  John Kuglin, senior technology consultant and retired associate dean from the University of Montana, will give our staff members a first hand experience with blended learning during his presentation.  My hope is that this will be a great opening to our week of training staff members to use our LMS to support blended learning experiences for our students.