#InnovateEd2015: Bridging the Communication Gap Between Business and Education

By: Amanda Riley

This blog is part two in a four part mini-blog series designed to increase awareness around four issue areas that attendees will work on at the Innovate: Education Summit on February 25, 2015. Join us as we bring together key leaders in the business and education communities to work on:

• Exploring Alternative School Models
• Bridging the Communications Gap between Business and Education
• Incorporating Soft Skills into "College and Career Ready": What Do Our Students Need to Know?
• Preparing Our Students for Jobs of the Future: How Can We Prepare Them If We Don't Even Know What Those Jobs Will Be?

Today's mini-blog highlights Bridging the Communications Gap between Business and Education.

Many times, when discussing high school graduation rates and success rates of post secondary students, those in the business and education community are looking at different factors. It is well known that many students graduate high school unprepared for careers or technical fields. There has been a large push in recent history for Career and Technical Education, which is a huge win for the Education Community. However, the Business community is still saying the skills learned are not fully preparing students for the available jobs. Often times it seems, these two important communities are not communicating with each other at all. The Fund for Transforming Education in Kentucky would like to ensure the Business Community and the Education Community are communicating and understanding each other, going forward. This blog will showcase two examples of how Kentuckians are attempting to Bridge the Communications Gap between Business and Education: Eminence Independent Schools partnership with Apple Business and the Kentucky Rising initiative.

Eminence Independent Schools is a small school district located in Henry County, Kentucky that serves 600 students from Preschool through 12th grade. As the first Kentucky school to partner with Apple Business to offer a variety of benefits to students and staff, Eminence has become a prime example of how the Business Community can partner with the Education Community to ensure better student outcomes. The One to One program paired with the Next Generation skills curriculum ensure that all high school students receive a MacBook Pro, students master key Next Generation Web 2.0 tools, all classes utilize a flipped classroom model through  digital, cloud-based learning management system and both students and staff receive extensive training. Eminence partnered with Apple to understand and develop the needs of their students, offering them a world class education including the 21st century skills needed for their future careers.

The Kentucky Rising initiative is a new and exciting venture out of the Kentucky Department of Education. This initiative has multiple parts with the most important being an increased place at the table for the Business Community in Kentucky. Focusing on a global education to put Kentucky on the map with foreign education systems, Kentucky Rising will ensure that high school graduates are not only college and career ready, but are ready to be citizens of the global community. One part of the initiative is an enhanced diploma that students would earn, designed "to create a stronger work force that meets the requirements of foreign industries that are directly investing in Kentucky, and industries that are creating trade with other countries," Commissioner Terry Holliday said. This initiative comes from the Education Community, but began from a need that arose from the Business Community, another great example of communication between the two.

These are just two great examples of the Business and Education communities coming together to ensure better outcomes for students. What are other examples or new ways of communication you could bring to the table at #InnovateEd2015?

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2014/12/03/3573135_state-board-of-education-places.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

Kentucky Connected Educator Day 21

Helping us launch Digital Citizenship Week & connecting us to higher education....

Gerry Swan

Associate Professor of Instructional Systems Design

Assistant Dean of Program Assessment

Co-Director of Digital Learning Design Lab

University of Kentucky

In what way are you a connected educator?

When I think connected, my first thought is social media. While I do use Facebook (for casual relationships), twitter (for work… sort of) and have a linked in profile, I don't really consider myself a social media champion or aficionado. Given that, I felt a little disingenuous being highlighted here. I went back to Donnie Piercey's definition in the first post, "Connected Educator Month is a celebration of teachers who figured out how the Internet can be their friend in the classroom." After reading that, I thought, "I can make that work." 

 

So here goes…

I use (and build) web based tools to directly connect and impact practices with colleagues whether they be down the hall or across the state. My first job in education was at a boarding school who had recently implemented a 1:1 laptop program as part of a school redesign model they were putting in place. When I first started tinkering with technology, I used to spend a lot of time engrossed with Filemaker Pro. I built digital textbooks, self-checking workbooks, online assignment submission to my grade book and lots of other stuff. I even had an audience response system that I could "push" differentiated questions to the class when conducting guided practice. This was how I internalized and externalized my thoughts about meeting the expectations set out for teachers at the school. It was a mode of professional expression for me and what how I used technology to better "connect" to may practice (i.e. increase fidelity of implementation).

While I started this type of work as a way to manage my own classroom, other teachers started asking me to use the same tools. Soon I was building school wide systems. Now I was helping others connect to their practice and that's where things got interesting. One project I worked on was a curriculum authoring tool that started as a stand alone template used by one person to develop curriculum. One of the things I was tasked with was migrating that to a networked tool that had everyone accessing the same instance to develop together (think of it as a curriculum wiki). I remember sitting in on the history department as they were doing some summer planning using the networked version of the curriculum tool. Some one would yell out, "hey Alan, what do you think about the outcomes for group 3 in unit 2." Alan would take a look and go in and make a few edits and say how does that look?" I was fascinated at how tools could scaffold the work and practice of people while allowing them to better connect with each other.

How does being connected impact your practice & How does being connected impact you as a professional?

I'm going to answer 2 and 3 together as my service and research are both driven by trying to scratch that itch I got 15 years ago when I started teaching. Trying to port those same ideas to people outside of our school was difficult, because Filemaker was a relatively expensive infrastructure to put in place. The Internet and the rise of scripting languages (particularly PHP) really changed the tool development and distribution landscape. Through the OTIS initiative, I look at how do we support better practices through the design and study of tools. I guess I would say connecting stuff is my practice. Sometimes that connection is internal (e.g. letting someone look at data in a new way by creating new connections between data points). Sometimes the connection is external (e.g. helping them better connect with other people through the use of technology).

The expression “Old Wine in New Bottles” is often used to describe a new phenomenon that bears a resemblance to an existing condition. Often the expression is used to convey a message of being underwhelmed--sort of a “been there and done that.” However, new bottles can change the way we interact and use a product. For example, if you wanted a Guinness Draft before the late 90’s, the only way was to go to a bar or restaurant that served it. Around 1996, Guinness introduced their “Draft Can” that allowed people to have the same product experience at home. Most recently, they have created a bottle that preserves the draft condition, but doesn’t require the consumer to pour the beverage in a glass. By evolving the packaging, the company was able to take its existing product and expand the avenues through which it could be consumed. In other words, the “new bottles” quite literally added value to the experience by making the content more accessible. I like to think that I take "Old Wine" like formative assessment, portfolio assessment, organizational learning, etc. and see what happens to those ideas when we put them in new "bottles". When you look at OTIS projects like Open Portfolio, Snapshot (a.k.a. Standards Based Reporting) or the Digital Driver's License, you can see clear connections to ideas grounded in the knowledge base, but with an added wrinkle that changes how those ideas are operationalized. Even Bloom mused how the arrival of the computer would impact the ideas that he, Madaus and Hastings presented in the handbook of formative and summative assessment.

What advice or resources about being connected would you recommend to colleagues?

If you want to unleash your inner McGyver to help "connect" people with their practice and each other, I would definitely read the Cathedral and The Bazaar by Eric Raymond. 

 

As for advice, here are a few**

1. Developing and coding is a long and lonely process. You have to commit to it. You must learn it's discipline. 

 

2. Find a problem and get angry at it…. very angry. You'll need that to sustain your efforts over the long haul. 

 

3. Don't worry if you are scared. Harness it and fear will will help you move faster than you thought possible.

 

4. Don't forget to read research and scholarship. There is a wealth of knowledge out there. Use it. Stand on the shoulders of giants.

**Most of these are really excuses to include YouTube clips I like.

 

 

 

 

Dr. Gerry Swan received his Ph.D. in Instructional Technology from the University of Virginia in 2004 and joined the college in 2007. He is an associate professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and his research interests include use of interactive media with instruction and computer-managed instruction and research. Through the OTIS initiative Gerry has developed tools that translate research based ideas into practice. Each year tens of thousands of students and instructors from kindergarten to college use OTIS tools. As the Assistant Dean for Program Assessment, Gerry helps build systems and processes that manage the collection, storage and sharing of the huge amounts of data required for meeting accreditation requirements  and generating feedback to students, faculty and programs.

Kentucky Connected Educator Month Day 1

Donnie Piercey

Simmons Elementary
Woodford County

In what way(s) are you a connected educator?

Connected Educator Month is a celebration of teachers who figured out how the Internet can be their friend in the classroom.  The word “educator” jumps out at me, though.  All of us are teachers of students first-being connected just makes our lessons all the more awesome.  So, how am I connected? 

I tweet (@MrPiercey) to get and share ideas with other educators around the world (who I know are a whole lot more creative than I am!). I started the #KyEdChat hashtag for that reason. There are wonderful teachers here in Kentucky who understand the importance of being connected; solid educators who love sharing many of the creative things they are doing with their students. Check out all these Kentucky teachers on Twitter.

Three years ago, I created a classroom blog for my students and parents. My site is a collection of websites, resources, and videos that I use for instruction throughout the school year. If we play a game in class on our Chromebooks, I'll put a link to it on my blog, so my students can go home and play it. If we watch a great Youtube video in class, I'll embed it on my website so my students will watch it over and over again while they are at home. Why should the walls of my classroom be the place where learning stops?

Lastly, this past May I was given the opportunity to attend the Google Teacher Academy down in Sydney, Australia. Being a Google Certified Teacher is a great honor and (okay, I'll admit it) a whole lot of fun, too. It's given me the opportunity to meet some very prominent teachers; some at conference, and others through communities on Google+. The best part for me though: the 160 students who come into my classroom each day get to experience the Googley goodness, too! If you've never played around with the free Google Apps for Education, you're missing out. Sure, I'm a connected educator, but I'm connected to my students first.  

How does being connected impact your practice?

This year, Woodford County Schools is letting me pilot a 1:1 Chromebook classroom with my 4th and 5th grade students at Simmons Elementary. They’re very powerful tools that I believe can change the way teachers teach here in Kentucky.  My students each have their own Google Account which gives them access to all of the free Google Apps for Education. My big, long-term goal is to use my Chromebooks to run a virtual, paperless classroom.  I know this is a wild idea for an elementary classroom, but I’m all about dreaming big.  Here’s one way that I’m using my Chromebooks to make that dream happen:
Every day, my students take a “Flashback” using Google Forms.  Here’s a sample one from a few weeks back (click if you’d like to take it yourself).   All of their information is instantly recorded onto a spreadsheet, and this is where the really-cool-and-nerdy-teacher-stuff starts.  I learned from fellow Google Certified Teacher Jay Atwood (@jayatwood on Twitter, you should follow him!) about a quick little script called “Flubaroo”. Flubaroo grades my students’ work within a matter of seconds; it even emails my students their results!  Check out this video below to see how it works:

  Boom!  Instant Feedback.

Because he's a Google Certified Teacher and he's always looking to teach people new tools and content to improve their learning, Donnie asked Fund staff member, Renee Boss, to join him for a Google Hangout on Air.  In the video below you will find the answer to the last two questions Renee asked Donnie.  How does being connected impact you as an educator?  What advice or resources would you recommend to colleagues interested in becoming connected?

(Note:  In his teacher as facilitator way, Donnie kept the camera on Renee for the first two minutes of the video chat, so be sure to watch the whole thing to see Donnie and to hear his thoughtful responses to the final two questions.)

It's Time To Get Connected!

Only 4 more days!  Are you ready to be connected?

By: Karen Handlos

Digital Learning has been the biggest change to have impacted the world of education. So, throughout the month of October, Connected Educator Month (#ce 13), we are hoping to better inform educators on what being connected means and what it can do for students. We are also hoping to encourage those who are not connected to become more connected.

We have created a 31/31/31 plan that will highlight 31 days, 31 educators, and 31 connected educator stories from across the state of Kentucky. We will highlight a different Kentucky educator each day who is engaged, connected, continuously learning, giving, and receiving from others within our state and beyond our state. Each educator will reflect on the following questions to help others learn more and find ways to connect:

1.  In what way (s) are you a connected educator?
2.  How does being connected impact your practice?  Give examples.
3.  How does being connected impact you as a professional?
4.  What advice or resources would you recommend to colleagues interested in becoming connected?


For additional ways to connect we have also created other resources that will be highlighted throughout the month:

Book Mob:  Alumi book Mapping to the Core by Heidi Hayes Jacobs (in PD 360) Contact Jackie Rogers at KDE for additional information. jackie.rogers@education.ky.gov

October 17-19 Kentucky Reading Association Conference Theme:  Literacy Without Borders Link to their site http://www.kyreading.org/Conference.aspx

October 21-25 Digital Citizenship Week   

CTQ Common Core webinars

Each Thursday evening 8:04 pm-9:04 pm #KyEdChat on twitter

We hope that you will participate and invite others to do so as well!