Start with a Question

This time I'm going to give away the answer in the first line: Personal Connection We know that student-teacher relationships are important when it comes to students' academic success . But, how does this apply to professional learning for educators? Earlier this week I had the privilege of working with the teachers, therapists, and specialists at the Valley Collaborative School . They asked me to share both a high quality curated list of openly licensed digital education resources ( OER ) and an instructional design method to help their educators customize learning based on both those resources and the varied needs of the children they serve. Based on my experience yesterday, combined with the work I've done with a few other districts, I have developed a theory: When it comes to professional learning, there are 3 levels of participation. Each level serves an important purpose, but if we never dig deep enough to get to Level 3 then the learning needs of participating e...

If you're still skeptical that student data privacy issues are of the utmost importance in school communities, check out  the latest information about the massive data breach  from a prominent edtech company. Implementation of a vetting process for new apps or programs in school districts is essential to protect students' personally identifiable information (PII) and aggregated data. (If you're looking for information on setting up your own vetting policy, download this  toolkit from CoSN  and check out some  resources from Cambridge Public Schools .) The alphabet soup of regulations – like FERPA and COPPA – can be dizzying, but they need attention. But once your vetting process is in place, it isn't time to relax just yet. Rather, schools and districts should push themselves even further. As a teacher, I sometimes found it frustrating when I had to wait to get access to the digital tools I wanted my students to be able to use. (If I had decided that ...

There are these 3 particular words/phrases that are used often in my professional circles. As their use increases, so do the number of eye-rolls I've observed in reaction to their use. Disclaimer: I've noticed myself both using them and eye-rolling in reaction to them. In my recent column for EdSurge , I documented the education jargon that stops short of inspiring the educators in my PLN based on their responses to my Facebook post . By the end of the post, I suggested that we educators should think about the real intentions and actions of the person using the words instead of our own prejudices against them. It is time to challenge myself and my own thinking. So, I'm going to go through that same process. What are the education words/phrases that have lost meaning for me? How can I look past my own jaded thinking and open my mind to ideas, even when the person proposing the new ideas uses those words? Word #1: Innovate When I hear speakers say or read blog pos...

As is typical on a weeknight, I'd just tucked my children into bed and was on my laptop plugging away on a project for school when my email inbox pinged. I skimmed the incoming message from my ConnectSafely colleague and CEO Larry Magid . In the email, he asked me to co-author a new guidebook on how to address fake news. Without hesitation, I replied, "YES!" Here's why: Biased and false reports are not new in this booming era of information technology, but the 2016 election definitely created urgency around the issue for more Americans. This urgency is especially great for educators and parents. Throughout the election cycle, my colleagues and I worked hard to respond to the questions of our adolescent and teen students with the right balance of compassion and impartiality. At home, my husband and I struggled to answer our young children's questions as they heard unfamiliar and confusing statements about what the future might hold. Rather than blaming politi...