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Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category

My One Word for 2025 – Thrive

Posted in Change, Personalized Learning, SD45, Technology, tagged , , on January 7, 2025| 4 Comments »

As change accelerates at an unprecedented pace, particularly with AI, 2025 calls for something deeper than speed—it calls for thriving. After a year devoted to acceleration in 2024, I find myself drawn to a word that represents not just progress, but flourishing in every aspect of leadership and life. Whether it’s coaching youth sports, lacing up my shoes for morning running, or leading groundbreaking AI initiatives in our district, “thrive” captures the essence of what I aim to achieve in 2025. Thrive also more broadly speaks to me as not just a professional goal, but one that hits my personal goals as well.

This marks the 10th year of my “One Word” tradition. Looking back at 2024 and “accelerate,” it was a year of urgency and innovation. We embraced the challenge of supporting AI across our district and networking with jurisdictions around BC, Canada and the world. We advanced literacy and numeracy initiatives and focused on mental and physical health. The pace was intense but rewarding. While acceleration was about building momentum, thriving is about sustaining and flourishing with that momentum.

Why Thrive for 2025?

Sustainable Innovation

Thriving means not just keeping pace with change, but shaping it thoughtfully. In the fast-evolving AI landscape, it’s about balancing innovation with educational fundamentals. We’ll approach AI integration like I approach basketball coaching – start with the fundamentals (critical thinking, collaboration, creativity) and then layer in innovative tools that enhance these core skills. Just as a strong defensive foundation enables more dynamic offensive plays, strong teaching fundamentals will ensure our AI efforts enhance learning rather than overshadow it.

Collective Growth

True thriving isn’t just about individual success; it’s about collective achievement. Watching young athletes develop skills, seeing educators embrace new technologies, and spending meaningful time with family all contribute to a sense of shared growth. Thriving lifts us all.

Depth and Breadth

Like training for a marathon, thriving requires both speed work and endurance. It’s about growing deeper in our initiatives while broadening their reach. Whether it’s making new learning approaches and tools accessible for all educators or deepening relationships within my community, thriving ensures our progress is impactful and lasting. For example, this year, I am focusing on spending more time in classrooms learning with and from teachers using AI in their classes.

Balance

Thriving captures the delicate harmony between pushing boundaries and maintaining well-being. Balancing district leadership, being involved in youth sports, running, blogging, and family time demands intentionality. For me, this means protecting my early morning runs as devotedly as I guard time for family dinners and summer basketball trips, and approaching my district leadership with equal enthusiasm and presence.

Resilience

To thrive means to grow stronger through challenges. Whether it’s navigating the complexities of educational transformation or powering through the final stretch of a long run, thriving requires adaptability and the ability to turn obstacles into opportunities. My run streak is never boring – I plan to run at least 5 km everyday this year, just like I have for almost 4 years.

Impact

At its core, thriving is about making a meaningful difference. In our district, it’s about fostering environments where students flourish. In sports, it’s about shaping not just skilled players but well-rounded individuals. At home, it’s about nurturing relationships that energize and sustain us.

Moving Forward

As I look ahead to 2025, I’m excited to transform the momentum of acceleration into a year of thriving. Whether it’s crafting my next blog post, leading an AI initiative, coaching a game, or stepping out for an early morning run, my goal isn’t just to participate or succeed—it’s to embrace every opportunity fully and flourish in all I do.

I’m curious – what word will guide your journey in 2025? How does it reflect your hopes and aspirations for the year ahead? Share your word, and together, let’s inspire each other to thrive.

Previous One Word Posts:

2016 – Hungry

2017 – Hope

2018 – Relevance

2019 – Delight

2020 – Hustle

2021 – Optimism

2022 – Focus

2023- Coached

2024 – Accelerate

I used Chat GPT to create the image at the top of the post.  I also used both Chat GPT and Claude in the brainstorming phase of my word selection.  I described what I was hoping to accomplish in 2025 and used AI to help generate potential words from which to choose.

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When AI Meets Education: The Power of Diffusion Over Replication

Posted in Change, SD45, Technology, tagged , on November 4, 2024| 4 Comments »

A decade ago, while contemplating innovation I wrote (HERE) about how meaningful change in education spreads through diffusion rather than replication. This is an idea that David Albury has written and spoken about regularly and been very influential in my thinking.

As we navigate the integration of generative AI in our schools today, this principle resonates more strongly than ever.

The early waves of AI adoption in education brought familiar pressures – the rush to replicate successful models, the search for universal “best practices,” and the desire for quick implementation.  If we only purchase the “right tool” amazing experiences will be happening similarly in all classrooms. But just as we learned with previous innovations, the most impactful changes come when we allow ideas to diffuse naturally, adapting to each teacher’s unique talents and each school’s and district’s unique context.  And then those of us in district positions try to network this work together.

Every School Tells Its Own AI Story

Walk into any school in our district, and you’ll see how AI tools are being embraced in distinctly different ways. In one class, teachers are exploring AI as a tool for differentiated instruction, helping students who need additional support while challenging those ready to dive deeper. In another, AI is supporting timely feedback as the teacher looks to see how it can help students in their writing process. And in many schools, AI is being used to support the completion of the administrative tasks of teaching.

This organic adoption isn’t chaos – it’s exactly how innovation should spread in education. When we trust educators to experiment and adapt AI tools to their specific needs, we see more authentic and sustainable integration.

The Heart of Diffusion is Trust

The key to successful diffusion lies in trusting our educators’ professional judgment.  I was speaking about this last week, and got the good question, “OK, so if this happens how do you respond to the parent of a child in one grade 3 class where no AI is being used when it is being richly used in the grade 3 class next door.”  This of course is not an AI issue, teachers have always found their own ways to adapt new tools in their classroom.  And what I have seen over 30 years is that when teacher A sees teacher B using something that is creating efficiencies and improving engagement and learning, they will want to be on the journey as well.

Rather than mandating specific AI applications or setting rigid implementation timelines, we’re creating spaces for teachers to explore, question, innovate and network together. We provide district-supported AI tools not to enforce uniform classroom usage but to support teachers and assure them that the tools they are exploring are safe to use with students. This approach acknowledges that our educators know their students best and are uniquely positioned to determine how AI can enhance their teaching practice.

Some teachers find AI to be a powerful tool for providing immediate feedback on student writing. Others are using it to generate personalized practice problems in mathematics. The common thread isn’t the specific application – it’s the thoughtful consideration of how these tools can serve their students’ needs.

Growing Together, Learning Together

As we continue this journey, we are seeing the power of organic networks forming among educators. Teachers are sharing their discoveries, challenges, and successes with AI integration, not as a blueprint to be copied, but as inspiration for others to adapt and build upon. This professional dialogue enriches our collective understanding and helps us navigate the ethical considerations that come with AI in education.

The future of AI in our schools won’t be determined by a single master plan or universal implementation strategy. Instead, it will emerge from thousands of small experiments, adjustments, and innovations happening in classrooms across our district and beyond. This is diffusion at its finest – messy, organic, and ultimately more transformative than any top-down initiative could be.

As we move forward, let’s remember that the goal isn’t to replicate success stories but to create the conditions where each teacher, school and district can write its own story of AI integration – one that reflects its unique community, challenges, and aspirations.

Interested in hearing 4 of these teacher stories?  Here is a video from a project we are doing with Dell and C21 Canada, supported in our district by Advanced Learning Partnerships and Dean Shareski. Such exciting times!

 

The image at the top of this post was created in Chat GPT.  Before publishing I used Claude as a grammar / spell check and to identify any statements that needed additional clarification or examples.

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Leading the AI Charge: Strategies for Forward-Thinking School Districts

Posted in Change, SD45, Technology, tagged , , , , , on October 10, 2024| 2 Comments »

Is anyone else feeling overwhelmed by how fast AI is evolving?

It is a sentiment I hear from a lot of school superintendents. The conversation about how fast things are moving and a resignation that it is impossible to keep up are commonplace.

We definitely have some of those same feelings in West Vancouver—whether it’s choosing the right tools or simply keeping up with the pace of change. We are trying to do some specific things to stay in the game, be AI relevant and not be so anxious.  What we have done and continue to do include:

Make leading AI part of people’s jobs – While declaring anyone ‘AI experts’ is silly, assigning someone AI leadership signals its importance and provides a go-to person for questions and coordination.

Build a cross-functional team – And the team looks different than with a curriculum implementation for example.  We have school and district administrators as well as IT personnel part of our core team around AI integration.

Creating and Revising Documentation – Setting clear guidelines and documentation ensures that everyone is on the same page as AI becomes more integrated into our work.  We started with our Core Values and Guiding Principles (HERE), Guidelines for the Use of AI (HERE) and When Do I Use AI visual (HERE). We also revised existing technology policies to ensure they were inclusive of AI.  

Focus on a few key AI apps – There are thousands of AI tools out there.  And it is easy to just talk about and debate which tools to use rather that just identifying a small number, supporting their use and getting on with better conversations around how AI can positively impact teaching and learning.  For us, Magic School has become a go-to tool for its ease of use and versatility in the classroom, helping both teachers and students adapt to AI technology

Engage the entire community – Often with new ideas or initiatives they apply unevenly to a school district.  One of the best things about AI is that it has uses throughout the system.  As I wrote recently there are great ways for trustees or senior leaders (HERE), or sports coaches (HERE), or parents (HERE), to use the tools to support their work and the work with students.  We have also leaned in to district-wide and school specific sessions specifically for parents.

Model AI in Action – Have you noticed this is the 5th AI related blog I have written in the last 2 months?  That is not coincidence.  My colleague Cari Wilson is also regularly blogging about it. And I have committed myself to spending a couple minutes at all meetings this year showing my learning with AI.  Over the last two weeks this has included meetings with Trustees, parents, principals, office staff and others.  

Leverage external experts – We have engaged with Alec Couros who worked with all district staff and then smaller groups in our district, and will be back this month to work with parents.  We have also spent five days with Dean Shareski and Adam Garry and are planning three more for the new year.  It is always a balance of using internal champions and outside experts. 

Join local and global AI networks – Locally we are working to network teachers inside our district and then network our schools around their AI work.  And then we have built a network of about 12 districts in Metro Vancouver that are working and sharing resources around AI. This is work that Shareski, Garry and ALP Learning are supporting.  We are also part of a network with Michael and Bailey Fullan and districts from across Canada and a network in partnership with C21 Canada, Mindshare Learning and Dell that is looking at AI practices across the country.

It is not fluke when you see things are moving fast, and you want to get out front what you need to do.  And it is never just one thing.  I am definitely bullish around the impact AI is going to have on schooling and want us to lead and guide what happens.  So we need to be doing things to look around the corner to what is coming next.

The speed of AI is exhilarating, and with so much possibility ahead, I’m excited to see where we can take it together.

The original blog post was posted into Chat GPT with the following prompt “Be a critic of this blog, what could be improved or clarified to make it more readable for the audience.” Feedback was incorporated into the final copy.  The image at the top was generated through the enterprise version of Magic School.  

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The Stages of GenAI Adoption in Schools

Posted in Technology, tagged , , , on October 2, 2024| 2 Comments »

How do you get everyone on board? It’s a universal question for so many initiatives. I remember when email was first introduced in schools about 30 years ago—there was skepticism, uncertainty, and hesitation. But just like email, generative AI is here, and the process of getting everyone on board feels familiar.

There’s often a desire for consistent training and understanding, so everyone feels equally equipped and confident in their use of the new tools.

I see generative AI use as a continuum for people.  Think of the continuum like learning to swim: First, you test the water with your toes (personal use), then you float (professional tasks), and finally, you dive in (working with students). Each step builds foundational confidence for the next.  We have been working through these stages as we work with colleagues.

  1. Staff  feel comfortable using it for personal use.

The first way to build comfort in generative AI tools is often in ways not directly connected to their work.  I find helping people use Chat GPT to help plan a trip, or make a recipe is a good opener. Many are nervous to use technology for something as important as work or as public as in the classroom until they feel comfortable with the tools in a more low stakes environment.  I do like some of the fun tools within Magic School (Magic School is the district wide AI tool we support in West Vancouver) like Song Creator or Teacher Jokes – which feel like ways to make AI accessible in an easy way.  For those of my generation this reminds me of how people would push email adoption by creating spaces for “Swap and Shop” or “Pet Talk” on the email platform.

For personal use, start with something fun. I’ve seen teachers use AI to generate jokes for their morning announcements or plan out their next family vacation. The low-stakes environment makes it less intimidating.

2.  Staff explore the benefits for using it for themselves professionally

Once people get comfortable within the tools personally, they can begin to use them to become more efficient professionally.  Some easy ways are creating lesson or unit plans, helping with report card comments or generating worksheets or assignments.  The value of the technology is when people to witness the efficiencies. They can then identify opportunities to reallocate time from previous tasks to focus on areas they find more valuable, such as direct engagement with students.

One teacher I spoke with recently started by using Magic School to help with lesson plans and emails. That saved her hours, and soon she was using it to generate adapted texts, which gave her more time to focus on her students.

3. Staff use the tools with students

Once adults are comfortable using it in their own practice, it is easier to use it with students.  Some of the first ways I am finding people using it with students includes adapting lessons to better allow students to move at different speeds.  Related, they are also using AI to adopt reading passages for different levels.  Teachers are also using it to create assignments that engage students with AI.  Here is a draft of a graphic that some of our staff are beginning to use around AI use with students:

In a classroom, students used generative AI to simulate historical debates, creating a dynamic learning experience that challenged them to think critically and defend their arguments using AI-generated counterpoints.

Beyond assignments and debates, students are using AI to explore different perspectives, co-create projects, and develop independent research skills. By encouraging students to build and use AI independently, we are helping them develop the critical thinking and digital literacy skills they’ll need in the future.

Ultimately, we want to ensure that the AI tools students use are not solely for passive consumption, but rather empower them to create their own AI projects and leverage AI for independent learning, without relying entirely on adult guidance.

One thing that is particularly helpful about generative AI is there is  opportunities for use across grades and subject areas and there are so many entry points whether you are just exploring or are fully integrating generative AI with your students.

The next step is simple: pick one AI tool this week and explore how it can save you time or engage your students in a new way. For me this past week, it has been Google – NotebookLM.  It is an easy (and feels a bit like it is out of a futuristic movie)  way to quickly convert documents into podcasts.  I could see some uses around uploading complicated texts in a class to share with students who may struggle with understanding the text.

Let’s continue the conversation—what are your recent experiences with AI in the classroom?

As per usual I want to be transparent with my AI use in my posts.  For this one I did post a complete draft to Chat GPT and ask for it to identify flaws in my logic.  I used this feedback in making revisions to my writing.

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Still Writing

Posted in Change, SD45, Technology, tagged , , , on February 29, 2024| 3 Comments »

I have been thinking about writing this week. The generative AI discussion is really making people think about what writing might look like in the future. It was less this though, and actually a quote from one of my favourite local writers in the media, that struck a chord with me. Howard Tsumura, who I have written about here before, and I have known and read for more than 30 years had this interesting quote when writing about the challenge of finding new writers to fill his shoes, “there is no issue finding young people who can take photos, shoot video or help broadcast . . .but finding writers even close to the standard of deadline writing with flair is nearly impossible.”

And I will put my biases out there, as someone who still subscribes to several hard copy newspapers, and finds joy in this act of blogging, I am on “team writing.”

In our digital age, where visual content reigns supreme, it’s no surprise that we find an abundance of talented young individuals adept at photography, videography, and broadcasting.  I am so impressed by them in our schools. Their ability to freeze time in a photo or bring an event to life on screen is nothing short of remarkable. These skills are invaluable, and the ease with which students pick up cameras or manage live streams is a testament to their adaptability and tech-savviness.  I have great admiration for them.  I wish I could do more of what they do.  I wish that the posts you read here had more photos and videos to help tell stories and bring my words to life.

However, there’s a different kind of magic in written words – a magic that seems to be fading in the backdrop of high-definition images and live-action videos. The art of writing, especially under the pressure of deadlines and with a flair that captures the reader’s imagination, is a rare find among young individuals today.  This is not to say we don’t have good writers, but sometimes I feel like we have fewer writing storytellers with our young people.  And yes, I know this is all in a world of murkiness now with the ever growing power of generative AI.  Can’t Chat GPT just do this, why do we need to do it?

Writing is not just about stringing words together; it’s about storytelling. It’s about painting a picture so vivid that readers can feel the adrenaline of the moment and it is about conveying the emotions, the passion, and the spirit of the situation in a way that resonates with those who were there and informs those who weren’t.  It is something I have tried to get better at – and I have found that my most read posts here have not been my technical pieces of writing or my opinion pieces, but those times I have been able to tell a story and make you feel like you were actually in our schools or with me on a particular journey.

The challenge lies not in the lack of talent but in nurturing the interest and honing the skills required for this kind of writing. Just as we encourage young photographers to look beyond the lens and videographers to see the story in every frame, we need to inspire young writers to find their voice and use it powerfully.  We can’t say we are producing good writers if we are just producing good technical writers.

In our schools  we must continue to create spaces where writing is celebrated and where young writers feel empowered to explore their creativity. And even at a time when we see traditional print media being some of the worst job security out there, we need to be encouraging students to contribute to school newspapers, blogs, or social media channels.  These can give them a platform to showcase their work and build their confidence.  And while there may not be as many jobs in the future for using words to tell stories as there have been in the past, I am not ready to abandon its importance.

The quest for young writers who can craft stories with style and meet deadlines is not an impossible one. It’s a journey that requires patience, encouragement, and a collective effort to ignite a passion for writing in young people – in schools and our community. As we continue to marvel at the stunning photos and videos that capture the essence of our school events, let’s also strive to find and nurture the writers who can bring those moments to life in words. 

Thanks Howard for the prompt this week.

On the topic of generative AI – I am going to start playing around with using AI generated imaged to accompany my posts.  In the past I have largely used stock photos with some personal photos.  The photo at the top of today’s post was generated by me pasting this blog post into Chat GPT 4.0 and asking it to generate some options of images that could accompany the post.  

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Better Prompting and Other AI Stuff I Have Learned

Posted in Change, Technology, tagged , , on September 18, 2023| 1 Comment »

I first wrote about Chat GPT in January.  I asked the question, Could AI Replace School Superintendents?  At the time, I was just beginning to use Chat GPT, and treated it like I would Google. I would make a query and get a response.  So, what is something I have gotten better at over the last 8 months?  Prompting. 

As I started playing in Chat GPT at the end of last year, I would ask it a question and get an answer.  I am used to 20 years of internet searches where each question gets an answer and there is no follow-up.  So, I would ask Chat GPT questions like, “Why is it important for elementary students to know how to read,” or “What are the best ideas for an office staff party” or “Can you share a simple chocolate chip cookie recipe.”  All were fine, but these responses were just stuff I could easily get on Google. Even my blog post on AI replacing superintendents was really just a modified Google search.

Some simple advice that I found helpful are the 6 tips that Anna Bernstein shared in her YouTube video:

  1. Take advantage of synonyms
  2. Be consistent with labeling
  3. Link everything together
  4. No negativity allowed
  5. Use powerful verbs
  6. Context is your best friend

I have come to understand that my frustrations with the poor outputs wasn’t as simple as “AI just isn’t that good” but it is often that I simply need to do a better job of asking, re-asking and clarifying what it is I am looking for.  Just as we got better at searching the internet, there are definitely ways to improve getting better at using AI.  Now, my Chat GPT interactions are more conversational as I’m working on an idea or problem.  I often read that Chat GPT is like teaching something to a child  and that is a useful mindset and good reminder that AI does not come with human wisdom.

The other shift in how I have used Chat GPT over the last eight months is using it for idea generation.  Almost daily, I am asking it to give answer prompts like, “As a school superintendent what are five things I could observe when visiting a grade 3 class for 10 minutes that would be helpful to my work.”  And then, I often take one of those ideas and explore it further to help me pinpoint my purpose.   I am saving time and gaining clarity in my work.  

And back to Anna Bernstein.  It is commonly heard that new technologies, while make some jobs obsolete, they will also create new jobs that we had never heard of before.  One of those is prompt engineer.  And Bernstein is one of the trailblazers – a good reminder that we need to look beyond what is lost in these changes, to see what is also gained.

When I spoke with all our staff a couple weeks ago I used some basic prompts to expose people to Chat GPT.  When we surveyed the group, about 60% had used the tool in their personal / professional life including about 10% who had used it with students.  This digital disruption feels different that other technological tools of the last decade.

What are you doing with students and AI?  How are you using it in your professional lives?  Has your thinking changed on it over the last few months?

I will regularly check back in and share what is shifting for me – I am definitely in the joy of learning stage as I try to figure out how tools like Chat GPT will help me while also trying to be sure it is not the case of the technology being the driver of thinking and the work.

 

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Can We Please Not Jump to Banning Stuff!

Posted in Change, Technology, tagged , , , , , on January 17, 2023| 8 Comments »

I think I am sounding like the old guy telling you I have seen this all before.

Last week, I wrote about Chat GPT, which is getting a lot of interest in education.  I ended that post saying, “What a great opportunity to not make the mistakes of the past and see technology as a threat, but rather an opportunity for us to rethink how it could add value to our work.”

To go back a few years, I was there for the great calculator debates.  I had classes that banned the use of calculators, or restricted the use of calculators, or allowed calculators for certain parts of classes or exams but not others.  

And with the growth of technologies this century the immediate impulse to ban technologies has been a common one from school jurisdictions.  Hardware like laptops and cell phones have been banned in some areas.  And while there are examples of a small number of schools banning wi-fi or the internet completely, there are a number of examples  of websites like YouTube being blocked in schools.  As new technologies are introduced, for many, the impulse is to do whatever possible to preserve the status quo.  As if, we only have to wait out this “iPad trend” and they will disappear, and we will not have to rethink how we engage with the new technologies in a thoughtful way.

This isn’t to say there should never be any limitations on technology in the classroom.  There are great reasons why you might want to not have any technology in a particular class or on a particular day, but it is the immediate reaction to ban a tool instead of understanding it, that is troubling.  For a profession built on growth and creating new understandings, as the world changes around us, we should always be seeing how these changes could be leveraged in our schools to ensure our classrooms are relevant, connected, and engaging.

So, here we are with ChatGPT.  

Quickly, for some the discussions shifted from the emerging power of AI to the need to ban it in schools.  One of the first places that came out loudly was New York Public Schools.  As Maya Yang writes in the Guardian: 

According to the city’s education department, the tool will be forbidden across all devices and networks in New York’s public schools. Jenna Lyle, a department spokesperson, said the decision stems from “concerns about negative impacts on student learning, and concerns regarding the safety and accuracy of contents”.

Now, not to sound cynical, but if we started banning everything where there was a concern over the “accuracy of contents” that might be a bit of an overwhelming proposition.  

Rather than trying make technology a forbidden fruit in our schools, we should teach about it.  If young people don’t learn about technology at school – where will they learn?  Some will learn at home.  Most will learn from their friends or explore on their own.  Schools have and should continue to step into this space of guiding students with technology use that is age and developmentally appropriate.  Just this week, former BC School Superintendent, Geoff Johnson, made an excellent argument (HERE) for increasing media literacy in schools.

I get the natural reaction to ban things we don’t completely understand.  We should be careful and thoughtful with technology.  And if you think ChatGPT is the last time we are going to have this conversation you are very naïve.  There will be another gizmo next year, and one the year after that.  

Let’s continue to model for our students the excellent conversations we can have about technology and look for ways that the exciting shifts around us can improve the quality of the experience for everyone in our schools.

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Library Reinvention

Posted in Change, Social Media, Technology, tagged , on November 9, 2022| 5 Comments »

Regular readers will know that libraries and librarians, both in the school and community are a semi-regular topic here. I am quite fascinated by the transformation I have seen in my lifetime in the spaces and the work. More than a decade ago I wrote My Take on Librarians, a post that still largely holds up today.

I had the chance to speak to teacher-librarians from across the country recently (here is slide deck), and shared, what I see, as having been a remarkable reinvention over the last 40 years.  I really think if in 1982, you explained to people the way information access would be transformed over the next 40 years, many would have thought libraries in schools and the community would disappear.  Like Blockbuster Video, they would have served a useful purpose for a period in time and people would have moved on.  But actually, the opposite has happened.  Libraries have become more central to the work in schools and the community.  They have defined themselves not by the books they move in and out, but by their role as a gathering place. As David Lankes argues, “Bad libraries build collections, good libraries build services, great libraries build communities.”

And we know the stereotypes of teacher-librarians in popular media – conservative and traditional (probably almost as bad as the stereotypes about school superintendents). I now stand in the room with teacher-librarians and their reinvention is so deep, they talk about “library-learning commons” with ease.  Virtually nobody called what I knew to be the library, “the library”, I felt so dated with some of my references.

From what I have seen from our schools and district and from the other schools and districts I have worked in, the powerful reinvention has had many drivers, but for me the key ones have been:

  • Space
  • Technology
  • Equity, Diversity, Inclusivity and Reconciliation

These have been the areas that have ensured library-learning commons, and the people who lead these spaces, are more relevant than ever.  And the three areas are all connected, with one following the next and building on it.

With space, many will remember the push early this century to make schools more like Starbucks.   This is a bit simplistic, but the idea is that schools should be places that are comfortable, where kids want to hang-out, and informal learning spaces are embraced to compliment the more formal ones.  Libraries helped lead this.  Dated books were often removed, and couches replaced tall shelving.  The spaces were opened up.  More than ever they were places that students wanted to gather.

Then came the technology.  Libraries still embraced the physical space, but they also often supplemented this with digital spaces.  Blockbuster Video doubled-down on being the video people and Netflix crushed them.  Libraries embraced being the connection places for information for everyone and the repository for all to access.  

And now, I see library-learning commons being the hub of what has become our crucial work at this time around equity, diversity, inclusivity, and Reconciliation.  No place connects to all classrooms like library-learning commons, no people connect to more people like teacher-librarians.  There is discomfort with some of this work.  More than anything people don’t want to make a mistake, and having expertise in teacher-librarians (and community librarians) helps to move this work quickly and thoughtfully.

So, here we are.  Companies like Blockbuster Video, Polaroid, Tower Records and Kodak have all gone.  Caught up in our shifting world.  And yet the school and community library stand more important than ever.

And so what is next?  If I was giving advice I would tell libraries to keep looking ahead – tell the stories of the next 20 years.  They should never forget their core purpose of literacy – but continually define this broadly. And they should be the gathering place for people and ideas.  As so much of our world seems to have siloed, we need these common spaces to connect school and community.

 

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Robotics and the C of Collaboration

Posted in Change, Technology, tagged , , on May 16, 2022| 2 Comments »

There is a lot made about the “C”s in education. Whether it is the three of them or maybe the four of them, or sometimes the seven of them.  Competencies like communication, creativity, and critical thinking are top of mind for all designing modern education programs.  Always on this list is also collaboration.  While everyone agrees in their importance, finding ways to see students demonstrate them can be challenging. 

This leads me to a story of robotics.  

I had the chance to join our elementary school robotics teams at the VEX World Championships last week.  In just a few years West Vancouver has built one of the top school robotics programs in the country (there will be another blog post on that soon). I have watched several competitions, but this was my first chance to be fully immersed in the world of robotics. 

And, one of the five elementary teams we had at the Championships was crowned World Champions in a field of over 500 teams from around the world (and the competition was truly global).  Now different divisions work differently, but this is how the elementary division worked at the World Championships.

In the qualification round, teams are randomly assigned to one of nine sections. In each of these sections are about 60 teams.  You play 11 qualification matches.  How these matches work is that two teams work together to try to score as many points as possible in 60 seconds.  I will link HERE to this year’s game.  I won’t do it justice, but the simple explanation is that you need your robot and your partner team’s robot to pick up small balls and shoot them into a basket (there is a lot more to it than that with multiple other ways to score).  And you are randomly assigned a partner for each match – so you might be with a strong team and then a weaker team.  The premise is that over 11 matches this evens out and the strongest teams emerge as having the most points.  

Then, in the playoff round the top twenty teams advance in each of the nine sections.  And in each section the first place team is partnered with the second place team, and then the third place team is partnered with the fourth place team, and so on all the way to the 19th and 20th placed teams partnering.  And you have one match with this partner team to score as many points as possible.  So, it should be the first / second partnership that is favoured.  

Then, in the final, the nine winners of each section advance to the championship and play one more time – the team with the most points wins and is crowned World Champion.  West Vancouver had four teams make the playoff round and two teams advance to the Championship – an amazing accomplishment.  And then had one of its teams win the World Championship (and got a perfect score!).  They won the World Championship with the Kermit Crafters from the Gateway Science Academy in St. Louis, Missouri.  

Now, West Vancouver’s Team and the team from St. Louis, Missouri were 3rd and 4th in their division.  Here is the moment after the 1st and 2nd team finished and scored were posted that they knew they made the finals.

I find this wild.  It is one of the ultimate tests of collaboration.  In the qualification round you have to quickly make plans with 11 different teams to try to score as many points as possible and then you advance to the playoffs and you partner with a team and you are completely reliant on each other.  Those who can collaborate will succeed.  So like all competitions, there is a heck of a lot of skill, and a little bit of luck and amazing teamwork.   But this is so different than anything else I have seen as you have to build this rapport in minutes not over months like you would in volleyball or soccer.   And for the finals, you compete on stage in front of several thousand spectators.  

In the older divisions top teams get to choose their partners for playoffs and so that adds another element.

We often try to find ways to see collaboration in action.  My three days at the World Championships for Robotics was some of the best I have seen.  Watching teams, people who have just met, plan strategy, talk through strengths and weaknesses and make plans to execute them was awesome (and remember these students are all in elementary school).

It was surreal afterwards as we were walking out of the arena, posing for one last picture with the teammates from St. Louis, and heading off in different directions. Our students and theirs had just shared a moment that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.  I would say never to see each other again, but they were all connected by social media.  

Championship Teams

It was one of the most powerful learning experiences I have seen on display and these young students did it in front of thousands of people who were cheering each of their moves.

I have always been a fan, but I am fully converted to the power of robotics – yes the technical skills are important, but the human skills it teachers are all those we need for our world.

For more on robotics, my colleague Cari Wilson, who is one of the lead teachers in the program, wrote a great post on the Worlds experience HERE. And congratulations to the full team of teachers including Cari, Todd Ablett, Braydan Pastucha, Mahesh Chugani , and Jeff Huang. And to the administrator team of Diane Nelson and Paul Eberhardt.  

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Technology is Not Done

Posted in Change, Technology, tagged , , , , on March 3, 2022| 10 Comments »

From about 2002-2014 I was regularly on the rubber chicken dinner circuit speaking about technology.  From blogs, and wikis, to personal devices in classrooms, to the use of social media in schools  – technology discussions were front and centre everywhere. You couldn’t go to an education conference without someone talking about innovation and technology – like they were one thing. All eyes were on how the emerging web tools were forever changing teaching and learning.

And like with most trends in education, our hyper attention moved on. Look today and you can’t find a conference that is not about equity and diversity. This is not a criticism of this previous time or today. Our schools and our system both lead and reflect our world around us, and topics of social justice are front and centre right now in our world.

Now part of the reason for this shift in attention is that technology was no longer seen as something separate from learning.  Just looking at the last two years, we see how Zoom, Google Workspace, Teams and a suite of digital tools have become common for everyone.  It was a novelty three years ago for students to have a video conversation with other students, and now it is just another day. 

There is a bit of a sense that we have now embraced technology in schools so we are “done”.  This is a huge misread on the world around us.

To think because technology is no longer at the front of as many discussions as it was earlier this century that somehow technology has stopped changing, morphing and evolving would be a major mistake.  The speed of the digital changes in our world around us are, if anything, accelerating.  

I wrote recently about NFTs and crypto currencies and their potential impact on our schools.  And this is just a small example of how the digital landscape around us will likely have a major impact on not just the “what” of school, but also the “when”,  “where” and “how” of school.   It is hard to imagine the increasing use of wearable technologies, the coming normalcy of driverless cars, higher quality virtual reality experiences, and a boom in 3D printing around us will not impact how we operate schools and structure learning for students.  My West Vancouver colleague Sean Nosek gave a primer of what this might be in his recent post on school in the metaverse.  

We have a habit to get narrowly focused in education, and lose the interconnections. We need to think about the important equity and diversity work, the still foundational skills of literacy and numeracy, the ever changing digital landscape and many other big rocks in education as one conversation and not siloed discussions that can only be focused on one at a time.

For the person that told me “educational technology is so 2010”, I think you are missing the plot.   I appreciate the challenge, in a world when we just wish some things would stay the same for a bit and we could catch up, technology is not a willing partner.  

We might not be debating if Facebook has a role in our schools, or if iPads are appropriate for primary aged students, but the amazing shifts in the tools that will impact our lives and our work continue.

Our schools have always reflected the world around them and as educators we have helped make sense of that world for students.  No matter what we wish, we will continue to help bring our teacher values to the ever changing digital landscape.  

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