Amazon Schools?

As I recently read the news that Amazon is getting "more" into  the grocery market I started contemplating what if schools were ran with an Amazon mentality? 

Teaching economics has allowed me to constantly marvel at the Amazon business model.  As I tell my students, mom and pop stores used to be very personable.  They knew you by name, new your size, what styles you liked and when you ventured into the stores it was often like visiting with a friend.  Than the malls entered into the fray and than Wal Mart and suddenly mom and pop could not compete with the prices of the national chains.  None of those "BIG" stores could replicate the personable feel of back in the day. Wal Mart tried with the door greeter, but just not the same impact.   Roll out online purchasing and things started to change.  Amazon went from selling books to selling everything but most importantly changed the way you did it.  We may not like all the data that stores and government etc keeps on us but Amazon has taken it and turned the clock back to the 1950's.  They know your name, your size, hobbies, anniversary, they are the equivalent of an online BFF.  They notify you when there is a special, encourage you to come back and most importantly, they always welcome you back.  Now they are venturing into personalizing the grocery industry.

Let's look at applying this model to schools.  We have the technology to make the learning experience very personable.  School can incorporate strengths, likes, heritage and whatever else we choose into the experience.  Will it take more time to create this educational experience?  Maybe, maybe not.  There is lots of software available to help schools organize and personalize so why don't we do it?  If students wanted to come to school, (whatever that environment might physically be) no one would argue that their engagement and learning would improve.  Amazon helped us to re-look at an old idea, retail, now can we do the same with education?

What is holding this personal experience back?  Lots of possibilities, from funding, to teachers unions, to poor administration, to book publishers, the list can go on and on.  I have a hard time believing the funding issue is holding us back.  Any educator that has been to an educational conference and has seen all the vendors has to question how all those companies make it if education is struggling financially?   Teachers unions continue to be an easy target but teachers deserve some protection but as stated by @stumpteacher in Unpopular Thoughts, "teachers are not critical enough of each other"  We need to get out and work together. Technology integration could make the experience so much more personalized but we continue to allow teachers to make excuses about using or understanding it.  This quote sums it up well, "Technology will not replace teachers, but teachers who use technology will replace those who don't..." Ashley Sakie ‏@asakie7

I know we don't like to compares business models to schools but I bet Amazon would build a great school.

What would a kid do?

After visiting recently with my Superintendent, I stumbled upon the question that I believe is very relevant to anyone in education. Now let me start by saying I appreciate that everyone in education has studied pedagogy and has expertise in some area.  I am not taking anything away from our experiences but I am posing the question if maybe we need to pay more attention to student experiences.

 Lets start with technology.  If every piece of tech equipment was field tested by students what would schools look like.  Let them be the focus group.  How would iPads be used?  How about interactive boards?  If students proposed ideas as to what they could use all the wonderful tools we have, could those great teachers than guide the content to better use the tech?

What about schedules? Would there be more play time? More social interaction.  Amazingly enough a fair amount of students, and in particular our at-risk population, get limited to zero positive social interactions outside of school.  So these students need more social time, what would they want in that schedule.  Real life projects, learning skills what if they could build the schedule?  Could all classes be personalized?  Could they take chunks of a subject that lead them down the path of their choosing, like a choose your own ending book.

How would kids get there parents involved?  It seems as students progress through school, parent involvement on a daily basis goes down exponentially.  If students and parents wanted to learn about similar topics, are they welcome?  Could the class be taught at a better time to accommodate them both?  Do some parents have specific expertise that can add to the school adventure.  What if school was and adventure and every year was a new chapter in Indiana Jones?  Parents and students need to be engaged and maybe they can help build the new climate.

As I ponder this point I came across this YouTube video that highlights student expectations.  What if everyday ended with and honest question, How could we improve?  As the year ends lets think about asking all are students to tell us what  their dream school might look like.  I am excited to hear my students answers as well as yours...

Twitter attacking Wyoming #WYOedchat

After participating in numerous "Twitter Chats" and seeing each state taking the bull by the horns, we knew it was time.

Bring on the #WYOedchat.

Tim Foley @Tim__Foley and myself @jpk38 will be co-hosting this session every Sunday Night at 8pm.  Summer is just around the corner so we are going to wade in with some unique topics and from some random locations, ISTE 2013, National Conference on College and Career Readiness and Common Core State Standards, NAESP,   Oregon, Boise and WASSP.  We will be holding impromptu "tweetups" throughout the summer.

We will be inviting guest moderators from around the state as well as globe to join in.  So spread the word and please tweet any suggested topics.

Our 1st topic on Sunday May 5 will be discussing 1:1 in schools.

Gaming Infographic

Created by Knewton and Column Five Media

The technology revolution..

AS I sit down and try to to digest all the great presentations and discussions from the TIE Conference, I am pondering where does the revolution go from here.

Having taught my whole career with computers and some sort of technology I can't help but think back to the beginning...my first year was 1999.  Students quickly showed me their new web tool, Napster.  Being located in a small, very rural school, this opened up music from everywhere.  The computer had no filters, so students quickly leveraged the schools technology to create many a mix CD.  Than we all got wise to the ethics of the situation and moved on.  The revolution had started, students understood the technology better than teachers and for the masses teachers would never catch up again.

Fourteen years later and where is the revolution at today. Richard Byrne, of blogging fame http://www.freetech4teachers.com/ gave the closing keynote at the conference today in South Dakota.  In it, he referenced not liking the "revolution" term. As the five hour drive home meandered on, I wondered about this educational technology revolution that has been on going for at least fourteen years.  The social studies teacher in me started thinking that the technology component might be better compared to a gorilla warfare situation. Now I know that the "Educational Gorilla War" doesn't make for as nice, clean headlines but sometimes the truth is messy.

So lets think about the gorilla methodology.   Attack at random times to try to cause chaos and inflict as much damage as we can.  Computers, projectors, Laptops, Internet, Elmo, Smart/Interactive boards, Ipods, Cell Phones, Ipads, Chromebooks, Kindle, Ipad mini....and the ammunition list could be much more detailed but I think we start to see.  The next wave always put schools behind and teachers left trying to get caught up. 

Can education win the "gorilla war"? I think as long as we buy into the next great revolutionary product we may never.  If we really start to to de-gadgetize education and get technology truly blended into the fiber of the learning environment than, no matter whats next(google glass, google contacts...) schools will be in front of the curve and the random deployments will be much more beneficial for our students future.

Change, has no place in Public Education.

After teachers return from conferences I always try to pick their brain and find out what was good and what they might change.  So when our latest group returned recently I was entertained by the answers.  "Had some good sessions and some bad ones. But the last one was a downer"

Why was that I inquired.

The summary went something like this; "These two teachers were talking about how all classes need to individualized to students interest and needs.  They were college professors who had no idea what they were discussing and in the end it sounds good but has no place in public schools."

As I pondered these words, I was struggling with if it didnt belong in a public high school than where did it?

As education continues to be in the news and teachers, millionaires, TV host and everyone in between try to fix education, what is holding it back?

I walked away trying to grasp just how much teachers are holding back meaningful change in education.  Even when we know something can help students we are resistant to it.  There have been so many articles about education that I have no intent in reinventing the wheel here, but I struggle with the numerous ways teachers justify doing the same things yearly.

Lead by example and than everyone else won't be so "gung ho" to fix the system.

1 Second Everyday

Today in class I was showing a segment of a TED video, Planning for careers that don't yet exist. and I started  pondering the possibilities of using this newly released app in school. 

Lots of teachers survey their students at the end of a class, some check at the end of the week and some do some sort of daily check for understanding.  So lets look at the survey option, do we get the real feedback we want from our students? 

So the premise of this app         (.99 cents and the android app is coming) is that you get one second everyday to highlight what is important.  It than will piece them together for a compilation video of your events.  Over the course of a class. semester or full school year, students could create their video 1 second and one day at a time.   Will they remember and be more connected to what they are learning?  I asked my students if they could remember on important thing we did the first week of the semester.  A few of them had answers relating to visuals in the room but most struggled.  Are we past the,  "well if you took good notes you could just go back and look"?  Or more importantly has it evolved.  Can students show there clips at the end of  the semester and will it help you evaluate what your class is about?  I think seeing what was important to my kids daily compared to what I thought was important is a great building and learning tool for me.  Do students now have something to remind them of what was important?   Could you share your compilation with them?  One semester class = 90 seconds of video. 

I am very excited to have students start using this app and will share updates as they happen.
Any comments, brain storming  or ideas would be greatly appreciated.