Archive - 2007
August 5th
NCSL: Preparing Today’s Students for Tomorrow’s Economy: State Leaders in Education Technology
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 08/05/2007 - 20:50As I waited for the late afternoon education session to start at NCSL, I had a fascinating discussion with a woman who works for Connections Academy an online school for grades K through 11 that kids attend from home. It is a pilot, mostly charter schools in 12 different states. On first glance, it appears to be an interesting nexus of public schooling, home schooling and internet based training. Checking around, it seems like some home school purists view it as an effort by public school systems to get involved with and to gain more control over home schooling. Others view it is a useful resource. I’m wondering if any of the home schoolers that read this blog have any experiences of or opinions about Connections Academy.
The session started off with Marie St. Fleur, a State Rep from Massachusetts who talked about the Wireless Learning Initiative at the Lilla G. Frederick Middle School in Dorchester.
It was a very good presentation as Rep. St. Fleur talked about many things that are important to me in education. She talked about the need to think out of the box, to use an integrated curriculum and to foster a life long love of learning. She pointed out that it isn’t about bringing new technology into the classroom, but about getting teachers to think about how this new technology can be used in new ways.
She noted that in other communities, students have been allowed to take laptops home. There was concern about this in Dorchester, and the school came up with a great solution. Parents need to come in and get trained on the computers. Parents that make the effort get a refurbished computer that they can take home for their children to ue for school work. She said that if you invite the parents in and tell them what they are there for, they will come.
Many people suggest that some of the larger issues with schools and our society as a whole stem from a lack of parental involvement. Connections Academy and most of home schooling efforts are dependent on parental involvement and that may be a key to their successes. The Wireless Learning Initiative at Lilla G. Frederick Middle School appears to likewise benefit from improving parental involvement.
Yet getting a family a laptop they can use isn’t enough, if there isn’t access to broadband and Rep. St. Fleur also spoke about efforts to make WiFi available in neighborhoods in Dorchester. She spoke about how getting parental buy-in is important, but you also need to get teacher buy-in, community buy-in and business buy-in.
After her presentation, Tom Gluck from the Pennsylvania Department of Education spoke about efforts to get a laptop on the desk of every high school student in Pennsylvania. He spoke about changing the way teaching is done through the introduction of “smart” classrooms. Like Rep. St. Fleur, he spoke about the importance of professional development so that teachers could make the best use of the new technology.
Both presentations talked about students creating blogs or podcasts. I asked to what extent the student created content was being shared on the web with the other schools and the community as a whole. Both speakers said that this was going on. I was directed to lgfnet.org for the Lilla G. Frederick school, and to www.pde.state.pa.us/edhub for the Pennsylvania system.
Neither site has any student generated content up right now, but that is understandable since it is summer vacation. The Pennsylvania initiative does has a student produced video up at http://www.nasd.k12.pa.us/media/cff.wmv
It is great to see successful projects like these talked about amongst state legislators. Hopefully the ideas can be spread and expanded upon. Yet as people noted in the student produced video, the teachers at the Pennsylvania schools feel that they are just scratching the surface of how they can teach in new ways using these tools. By getting teachers, students, parents and other interested parties sharing more ideas and experiences, we can help our education system get even better at preparing today’s students for tomorrow’s economy and I hope we see a lot more collaboration between projects like these.
Interactive Technologies
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 08/05/2007 - 15:51The National Association of Legislative Information Technology, NALIT, had a great session entitled Interactive Technologies. It was attended by around 40 people, many of which appeared to be legislative staff.
Panelists included House Majority Leader Steve Harrelson from the Arkansas House of Representatives. He spoke about his site, Under the Dome. Senator John Valentine, President of the Utah State Senate spoke about his site, The Senate Site which is the “Unofficial Voice of the Utah Senate Majority”.
They spoke about these sites being unofficial sites, financed either individually, as is Rep. Harrelson’s case, or by a PAC in Sen. Valentine’s case. In Sen. Valentine’s case, they have a staffer who works part time for the State Senate and part time for the Senate Republican PAC. The staffer clocks in and out of each job according to the task he is working on. The PAC has bought its own computer and pays $25/month for electricity, internet access and desktop space in the Utah Senate office.
One advantage of having these sites be independent is that it avoids some of the issues around freedom of speech and who can moderate what on the site. There was a lot of discussion about maintaining a level of discourse that encourages intelligent discussion and not the brow bashing so common on many blogs. Sen. Valentine noted the difference between having an opinion and being well informed.
One person, talking about the importance of strong moderation asked the question, “How many of you legislators would allow town meetings where people speak with brown bags over their heads?” It was suggested that technology rarely changes human behavior and many people suggested the people you see on the blogs are the same gadflies you see all the time. The question was posed about how to reach a broader audience.
Jeffrey Griffith, former Associate Director and Chief Legislative Information Officer for the Library of Congress’ Congressional Research Service spoke about his recent research into efforts to bring legislative information systems to various organizations in Europe. He noted independent research done on one British Member of Parliaments constituent emails which resulted in 25% of the respondents claiming they had had their opinions changed and had voted for the MP as a result of his email outreach. This study indicates that at least in some cases, internet outreach is changing opinions and reaching new audiences.
Sen. Valentine observed that his traditional mail hasn’t decreased as his email increased. Instead, older constituents continued to use traditional mail and younger constituents used email.
I asked if any one was doing anything to reach beyond the current online groups, using Facebook, MySpace or similar sites. Rep. Harrelson spoke about his Facebook and MySpace presence as well as mentioning the Democratic Party’s PartyBuilder.
I asked about people doing anything to widgetize or deportalize their websites. Rep. Harrelson spoke about his blog’s RSS feed being picked up by Arkansas based aggregators and Sen. Valentine spoke about having a large number of people subscribing to his site via email. Sen. Valentine also spoke of the importance of media crossover when information from the blog would be talked about in the newspapers or during drive time radio.
It was good to hear about various state legislative bodies here in the States, as well as people in Europe making strides to build communities that engage in intelligent discussion about the issues. We need more of that.
NCSL: Wireless Broadband: Answering the Call
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 08/05/2007 - 13:24Around 100 people are attending a luncheon. The focus is on the advantages of broadband, areas with broadband see housing values increase and improved healthcare delivery. Concerns are presented about tax issues, consistency of policy from state to state and private sector access. The speakers thank people who helped make the luncheon possible, AT&T, Cisco, Comcast, Dell, Ebay, Time Warner, Verizon and others.
The keynote speaker is Steve Largent, former NFL Football player, Republican Congressman from Oklahoma, and now head of CTIA, the Wireless Association. The board of directors of CTIA includes people from Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and so on.
During the keynote, Steve shows a video, “Wireless There’s Magic in The Air.” It traces the history of wireless in the United States, leading up to a futuristic view set in 2015.
He points out a survey by MyWireless.org. Like their website, he doesn’t mention that MyWireless.org is an offshoot of CTIA. (See this article from Common Cause about MyWireless.org).
He focuses on tax policy and regulatory policy. He encourages legislators to ask regulators if their policies “will reduce or increase the costs of companies providing wireless services.” It seems like the question is not if it will reduce or increase costs to companies, but will it increase or reduce costs and options for individuals.
One person asks what State Legislatures should do where there are rural districts that national carriers aren’t building out in. “I can tell you that we’re coming,” he answers. The 700 mhz auction will help greatly. “It is just a matter of time.”
There are subsequent questions about identity theft and the number of lives saved by e911 services, number portability, safe driving and issues about placing of cell towers,.
It is interesting that in the crowd, I am the only person with a laptop, even though there is WiFi available throughout the conference. The industry association is out in force. I speak with a representative from T-Mobile at the end of the keynote. Yet there is very little representation from those fighting for more open telecommunication policies.
NCSL, Initial Impressions
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 08/05/2007 - 12:03This morning, before heading over to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) annual conference, I read some emails, including some with State Legislators that aren’t attending. Over the next week or two, I’ll be leading sessions at various places about blogging.
One of the great half truths of blogging is that anyone can do it. On one level, this is true. Just got to Blogger, Wordpress, or many other free sites, and set up your blog. You don’t even need a computer or internet connection of your own. There are many places where you can get online for free, such as public libraries, government centers, or even convention halls.
However, there is more to blogging than just having access to a free website. You have to have something to say and have people that will read it. You can get a lot to say by visiting meetings like the NCSL annual meeting or YearlyKos. Yet these are expensive. Even if you can get press credentials and attend for free, you still have costs like travel expenses. I just couldn’t swing the expense of going to YearlyKos this year. NCSL is a bit more affordable. I took Amtrak up from Stamford which is fairly economical. I’m staying at a friend’s house in Boston, so the expenses remain small, but still signficiant.
I think of all the people that have important things to say, but can’t afford to get to important gatherings like this or YearlyKos.
At NCSL, the staff is incredibly friendly. Many people have greeted me and asked if I need help. Perhaps some of it comes from working in a profession that needs to keep constituents happy. Perhaps some of it is that my hair is a little shaggy and the ‘Blogger’ embroidered on my shirt identifies me as not your typical legislative staffer.
There are many people who are here with their families. Kids are going out for walks on the Freedom Trail. The book store has great children’s books about getting involved in Government. Many people are greeting old friends with big hugs. Is NCSL a homecoming week for State Legislators, a great time to see old friends and visit interesting cities, paid for, in part, I imagine by state taxes?
Staying with the ‘follow the money’ meme, a large exhibition hall is in the process of getting set up. Computers flank the side of the entrance hall advertising SGAC.ORG, Connecting the business community with NCSL and State Legislators for more than 30 years. I wonder where DFA, and other groups connection State Legislators with grassroots constituents for a few years now. I know that the Progressive States Network will be here on Tuesday, but I have to miss there session.
So, it is now time to check in and plan my afternoon.
August 4th
IM and Thou
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 08/04/2007 - 22:54“You have my constant partial attention”, I posted in a comment as I glanced at my buddy list to see who was IMing me. In the lower right hand corner of the screen, little boxes appeared and disappeared as friends updated their statuses on Facebook. My phone chirped with text messages sent from friends on Twitter.
Neil Diamond’s ”IM, I said, to no one there, and no one heard at all” rang through my head. Yes, it does sometimes seem like this constant partial attention is nothing but IMing to nobody. Maybe this disquieting existence somewhere between being in constant contact with more people than ever was possible before and yet not really connecting with other people is all the more poignant to me right now as I sit in a place of unknowing about where I will live, what work I will do, and how I will manage to feed my family.
Perhaps this longing for real connections is why I am seeing so many people talking about how happy they are to be at YearlyKos in their Facebook statuses and their messages on Twitter. There are people at YearlyKos that have become close friends whom I have never met and whom I would have loved to meet face to face in Chicago.
Yes, this place of unknowing is uncomfortable, both in terms of what is going on personally, as well as what is going on with our online relationships. However, this place of unknowing is also where we can learn important things about ourselves and our relationships to people around us.
Too often, I’ve only glanced at the low priority emails, the IMs, the statuses updates, the Twitter messages and the blog posts that don’t catch my attention and let them pass me by without taking time to think about the underlying message that unifies all of them. Too often I haven’t listened to the collected digital unconscious or tried to view the digital palimpsest that all these messages build up.
As I got ready to leave for Boston this afternoon, I tried to whittle down the hundreds of unread emails to a more manageable size. Some messages I just deleted after glancing at the subject lines. Others I moved to folders that I’ll check again if the need ever arises, but they will most likely remain unread. Some received a little red flag to remind me to check the message again when I have more time.
Now, I’m on the train. I sent a message on my cell to Twitter and Facebook, which will get replicated via RSS to my blog and to Jaiku letting anyone who is paying constant partial attention to me that I am on my way to Boston.
The accumulated messages fade into the distance, like the evening lit swamps by the side of the railroad tracks. The swamps are lonely, empty, forsaken places that also contain great beauty if you look closely enough. As the train passes, I see beautiful birds take flight.
The success of a child using the potty for the first time is an important milestone and the mommy who is spending all her time talking with young children needs some friendly adult ears that can share the joy. They make for important blog posts. The remembrance of a special day with a loved one who lost the battle with cancer a few years ago is sacred and needs to be revered by all that pass by online.
In college, I read Martin Buber’s “I and Thou” and often think about how we treat the people around us as things. We relate to them as ‘its’ instead of ‘thous’. In these days of IMs and constant partial attention, it seems even easier to relate to those around us as ‘its’, as objects no different than bots that have passed their Turing test.
Can we learn to listen to the collective digital unconscious? Can we learn to connect with the sacred in those around us online? I believe we can, if we work on it. In doing so, our own writing will gain new meaning, our political advocacy will gain new depth. Please join me in seeking the “IM and Thou”.
