First session of Thursday began at 9. I went to the one called "AV in the 21st Century." Put on by Eric Stratton from University Prep (in Seattle), there was some general discussion about multimedia in the classroom and the shift that has taken place over the recent past. The main thing Eric had to present was the changes they've made to their rooms at U Prep. Over the last two/three summers they have upgraded around 40-50 classrooms with installations that include a ceiling-mounted digital projector, a large display screen (8 ft.), DVD/VCR capability, surround sound. Cheryl Wolotira, from the Northwest School, was another presenter, and her emphasis was on the use of document cameras (although the one she had to demo was not working). This was useful and cemented my belief that we can do more at the MS to upgrade the installations there, especially with the audio & assuring the ability to show DVD/movies. I think that 8 ft screens would be great, but until we see how far and wide SmartBoards are going to spread at the MS, we might hold off on mass replacement of smaller screens.
After a break came the second session of the morning. I attended the one called "K-12 Computer Science Curriculums: Is Symbolic Reasoning Essential for All Students?" and was presented by Jim Heyndrickx from Oregon Episcopal School. Jim started with a fairly impassioned advocacy of moving beyond merely automating tasks we already do (moving from hand-writing text to typing it into Word) to info-mating material, meaning primarily that the tools afforded by technology give us an opportunity to re-think how we collect, present, and distribute information. I believe the "automate" "info-mate" distinctions come from his ready of a book by Jane Healy where she lays out these principles (I believe in her book, Failure to Connect). He went on to strongly advocate for programming to be taught starting in early elementary (with programs such as Microworld), moving on to Squeak. In middle school, he advocates for robotics to be the center of the programming effort, moving to Alice 3D programming (http://www.alice.org/) in high school. He is working right now to get a computer science graduation requirement added to his high school's curriculum.
Then it was time for lunch break and another quite enjoyable Islandwood meal.
In the afternoon, the first session was another full-group (or "mega-session") called "The Dark Side of Technology". Meant to prompt discussion of some of the things that didn't quite live to up the promise or hope, it was an interesting exchange of things people have tried and the results. I didn't take notes during this session and am looking forward to the notes being sent out soon (or on the Wiki). I believe it was in this session that John brought up a concern that I certainly share, which is "classroom management." Surprisingly -- at least to me -- there was not much follow-up on that subject. Maybe it's just an issue that we are challenged by more than other school environments. I think that one of the reasons there is some wavering of support among some Middle School teachers about the laptop program is due to the amount of time/effort/persistence necessary to maintain focus and concentration in the classroom. More time than I would think necessary seems to be devoted to policing laptops rather than making optimal use of them. Other subjects discussed during this session seemed more positive and less "dark" so, again, I'm looking forward to the notes.
The second afternoon session that I attended was "Digital Multimedia Authoring: How to Integrate Creative Digital Media Technologies in the Classroom". The areas of focus here were 1) Digital Storytelling (stories told through pictures & text; simplest in terms of technology; final product often PowerPoint or web-page); 2) Stop Motion Animation (story told with pictures & text but with motion added; can use drawings or physical media; might require special software/hardware; often results in movie); and 3) Digital Video Authoring (story told through pictures, text, sound, and video/film; can use existing or student-produced footage; also often requires special software/hardware, and end product is usually movie [video]). We were reminded that the formula for most digital (multimedia) projects is 80% planning/20% "doing" & 80% content/20% technology. Also: K.I.S.S. (aka "Keep It Simple and Straightforward") and guideline that for every minute of finished video count on 3 or more hours of post-production. All these principles are very important to bear in mind when putting a multi-media assignment together. As much as we want to challenge our students *and* get them to use technological tools to boost their creativity and learning, we also want to program into the assignment/challenge as much success for them as possible. Forgetting some of the basics of what it takes for them to put together an effective, successful digital media project is going to lessen the learning and probably hamper the creativity.
Next came a free time in the late-ish afternoon. I took this opportunity to walk as many of the paths in Islandwood as I could. I had seen in the Welcome Center a map that laid out the grounds and the landmarks....buildings, paths, and so on. I also had heard of a couple that were not on the map including a tree house that sounded quite amazing. So off I went looking for some of these things I had seen only on a map. I found the Bird Blind, the Tree House (which is truly amazing...hugging the trunk of the tree, substantially built, with a great view of the bog below), then headed the other direction and found the suspension bridge, Mac's Pond, and a fairly long walk. The scenery was great and the walk wonderful after all that sitting. Another tasty dinner followed and not long after dessert came the presentation in the Great Hall of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail". That was fun to see after having seen it way back when!
