Using Facebook in Education

Do we want schools where leaders ban and block or empower and prepare?  While banning and blocking certainly is more convenient and makes the jobs of adults easier, is this really best for kids?  When we complain about students using social media or technology irresponsibly can we really blame them if they've never been taught how to responsibly use these tools for learning? 

This presentation features school leaders who ban & block (Anthony Orsini) as well as those who empower and prepare (Chris Lehmann and Eric Shenninger).  It also provides examples of a teacher (Erin Schoening) and students from The Science Leadership Academy who have had success using social media in education.  

Featured links include:

• Video Rebuttal to Educational Leaders and Parents On The Social Media Ban Wagon http://t.co/NoXdlAY
• 8 Real Ways Facebook Enriched Ms. Schoening’s First Grade Class http://t.co/FrKJio1
• 10 Ways Facebook Strengthens the Student - Teacher Connection http://t.co/mtzxHSG

 Here is the presentation.  Check it out.  Share it.  Let me know what you think.

What we need is not evolution, but a revolution in education

Sir Ken Robinson followed up his 2006 TED talk with another genius speech that captures so much of my thinking and writing here on The Innovative Educator blog.  Not much has changed for the better in schools since Sir Ken Robinson convinced us that schools do indeed kill creativity.  In this speech he makes the case for a radical shift from standardized schools to personalized learning. This does not mean everyone achieves the same personal mastery for the same standard tests and outcomes. Instead it means creating conditions where kids' natural talents can flourish.

Robinson explains that education dislocates many people from their natural talents. He goes on to say, what many of us working in schools already know. Reform is of no use anymore, because that’s simply improving a broken model. What we need is not evolution, but a revolution in education. It has to be transformed into something else.

What's Popular This Week On The Innovative Educator

Here’s the roundup of what's been popular on The Innovative Educator blog this week. Below you’ll see my top weekly posts along with the number of pageviews in the past 7 days.

This week the #1 spot goes to Sites for Using iPads in Education. iPads are hot, hot, hot...so I’m not surprised this post with recommendations from Apple made it to the top. Next up is 7 Solutions for Educators Who Want 21st Century Students to Tune In which provides suggestions for teachers who want ideas to use technology to engage students.  Rounding out the top three is 11 Great Reasons to Skip College.

Google's Chromebook Plan Could Be the Answer to Updating Outdated Schools

It wasn't the device that excited me when I wrote Move Over iPad! Google Chrome Notebooks are Going to Be the Game Changer in Education. Instead it was the the way in which they were selling it to schools. The reality that I've witnessed as I've watched and supported one-to-one laptop rollouts in schools is that in many cases there are issues with internet access and device repair.  Unless devices can be counted on to work all the time and instantly replaced if they don't, hopes for such programs often dissipate quickly. 

If done right, the rumored plan could solve some major problems with how we use technology for learning in schools including:
1) Internet access at school
2) Internet access at home
3) Equipment repair and replacement
4) Imaging and reimaging
5) A way to purchase more devices with yearly school funding allocations
6) Students won't lose their work

The Intelligence We Ignore: The Work that Made America Great Is Losing Value

“The skills gap is a reflection of what we value. To close the gap, we need to change the way the country feels about work.” —Mike Rowe

The testimony Mike Rowe (the creator and host of Dirty Jobs) provided to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation brings to light one of the reasons, that College isn't the only option for all students. 

Here is an excerpt. 

Working is part of our genetic make-up in the United States. One of my personal goals producing for this program is to present the many forms of grittier intelligence that exist in the world — reminding myself and our audiences of the intellectual integrity and the nose-to-the-grindstone beauty of people in this land I call home.

The value of work and how we work and how we become civic beings is embedded in this concept of everyday living. I ask myself, “Why did so many people love the story about the oldest living man from Montana who just recently died?” I don’t think that it was just about longevity, but that he was a railroad man who had practical advice and obvious wisdom. He distilled the complexity of life into practical advice that I believe he formed by working the lines and the farms. I think all of us long to know more about people like that, the quiescent majority.

Listen to The Innovative Educator Discuss UnSchooling on The Future of Education

Today, Wednesday, June 1st, I will be joined by Kate Berring, contributor to The Innovative Educator and author of the blog Skipping School, Monika Hardy, and Clark Aldrich author of Unschooling Rules book and blog  in a panel moderated by Steve Hargadon to discuss unschooling.  

During the show we will discuss

• Why schools are resistant to change and are stuck in the outdated, industrial mode of education.
• Essential learning that most high schools forget to teach i.e. authentic evidence of learning captured in real world formats i.e. career or academic portfolios and resumes.
• Why standardized testing doesn’t work
• How the principles of unschooling can be applied in school environments.   

The live interview is occurs on Wednesday, June 1st, at 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern.  To participate visit http://tr.im/futureofed. We hope you’ll be able to join us and that you will invite others as well by tweeting: Hear how the principals of #unschooling can transform #education & #learning http://tr.im/futureofed #edreform #edchat #ptchat

If you're unable to make the live webcast, you can .listen to the recording here http://bit.ly/jyR4bQ.