{ SPRING 2012 }
PERSPECTIVES
Massachusetts ASCD
Learn, Teach, Lead
Re-Envisioning Education
for Purposeful Learning
how they learn. By helping them to connect what
they learn today with their
expectations and hopes
for the future, we enhance
By Cindy Crimmin, MASCD President
their ability to contribute
mplicit in the theme of this issue, Remeaningfully to local and
Envisioning Education for Purposeful global communities and to make good
Learning, are several questions about decisions about their futures.
how students and educators at every
level will redefine their roles and responsibilities in a rapidly changing, highly
technological world. The theme invites
authors to address the challenges of the
shift from traditional educational models
to environments where student-directed
learning impacts nearly everything: curriculum, instruction, assessment, facilities, educator preparation, professional
development, evaluation, and district acHow do you envision my educational future?
countability.
I
By definition, purposeful learning focuses
educators and students on the “why” behind learning goals and ensures that students understand how class activities,
assignments, and lessons relate to those
goals. We already know that learners of
all ages are most inspired by and willing
to work toward mastery when learning
goals directly correlate with essential,
real-world knowledge and skills.
touches upon educational
changes and initiatives over
the course of many years. “Listening to Student Voices” presents
short, theme-related articles authored
by students. Six young authors from an
all-boys high school in Boston describe
how they find purpose in what they study
in school and how they take ownership
of their learning.
We hope these combined viewpoints
and voices, both seasoned and youthful,
will inspire our readers to join us in the
dynamic process of re-envisioning education for purposeful learning beyond the
traditional models.
{ CONTENTS }
President’s Message
(Cindy Crimmin, MASCD President) ......1
In this issue, authors write about several
elements critical to a re-envisioned perspective of education: moving toward
student-directed learning and the era of
purposeful learning; implementing new
teacher evaluation tools; and linking contemporary education reforms with technology. With an eye toward facilities and
student learning, authors offer distinct
approaches: integrating student-driven
academic experiences with
real-time facility design and construction; introducing the conBy definition, purposeful learning cept of the Learning Commons
focuses educators and students on to re-envision learning spaces;
navigating the challenges of
the “why” behind learning goals and and
virtual collaboration.
Carpe Diem: Implementing Our New
Teacher Evaluation Regulations
(Jon Saphier) ....................................... 2
Massachusetts ASCD welcomes several authors whose
articles introduce two new Perspectives features. “In My Opinion” invites members to share personal
reflections about theme-related educational issues; the first article in this series
“In My Opinion”
(Isa Kaftal Zimmerman) ......................... 24
ensures that students understand
how class activities, assignments,
and lessons relate to those goals.
We are beginning to appreciate the full
value of allowing students to decide
and assume responsibility for what and
Toward the Era of Purposeful Learning
(Paul Reville) ........................................ 6
Live From Yemen: Navigating the
Challenges of Virtual Collaboration
(Chris Baer) ............................................. 8
“Listening to Student Voices” .............. 12
(Michael Brown, Ronald Claude,
Gustav Erikson, Brandon Hamel,
Gerard Lawler, Jhovani Vonleh)
Green U: Student-Driven Learning
Inspired by Sustainable Design
(Vince Pan and David Silverman) ......... 18
Learning Commons:
Re-Envisioned Spaces for Learning
(Tina Stanislaski) .................................. 21
Food For Thought
(Barbara C. Goodman) .......................... 25
Learning Management System (LMS):
The Missing Link and Great Enabler
(John Phillipo and Sarah Krongard) ......26
{ MASCD }
Carpe Diem:
2
Implementing Our New
Teacher Evaluation Regulations
ment, new teacher induction, and the feedback of instructional
coaches to teachers. Thus, getting the foundation in place for
meaningful and productive evaluation will profoundly influence
all future improvement efforts. Fortunately, we do have a solid,
research-validated knowledge base to rely on for accomplishing that work.
By Jon Saphier
What is Good About the New Regulations?
Introduction
The new Massachusetts educator evaluation regulations
have inevitably triggered questions about what is expected
and what is needed for compliance. There are also legitimate
questions about the impact of new requirements on time, paperwork, and relationships. Many are wondering how it will be
possible to gather data in required areas not included before:
teacher impact on student growth; relations with families and
community; and contribution to professional culture. Every
state is facing similar issues since upgrading teacher evaluation has landed on the national landscape following a torrent
of articles and reports such as “The Widget Effect” (Weisberg
et. al., 2009).
Teacher evaluation is only one of many levers we have for improving teaching and learning, and by itself it is not the most
powerful one. However, the evaluation regulations contain opportunities not to be missed. Our main focal points need to
be improving teaching and learning in every classroom and
We will all now be required to pay attention to certain kinds
of expertise that really are legitimate parts of the skill set of a
high-functioning teacher, but which were not included before
in many evaluation systems.
First, the regulations add several new categories that represent a positive change. They recognize the importance of a
teacher’s ability to work towards establishing healthy relations
with parents and community, to contribute to a professional
culture, to develop cultural proficiency, and to understand and
implement the use of data to reach students who are struggling. These important areas of performance now become
part of our common definition of what a professional teacher
does.
Second, in the Massachusetts system, student results are included in a responsible way; teacher ratings are not arbitrarily
pegged to student test scores. With no weighted percentage
attached, we can use multiple measures to show the teacher
effect.
Studies indicate that teachers, especially those of
the younger generation, are looking for more and
better feedback (Coggshall et al., 2011). In order
to generate frequent high-quality feedback, schools
and districts need more evaluators visiting classes.
strengthening the adult professional culture in the workplace.
New state regulations open a number of doors to better
supervision and evaluation, eliminate some significant
obstacles, and avoid the mistake of playing numbers games
with student achievement in the rating of teachers. Most helpful
(and also most challenging), the Massachusetts Department
of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has avoided
unreasonable and unjustifiable use of ratings, and it has given
us a quality foundation rubric to do the real work ahead.
The act of coming up with a comprehensive, clear, and common set of images of good teaching in all its complexity can be
a more decisive vehicle for improving practice than the evaluation and rating of teachers. Once we have those definitions,
images, and exemplars, they will guide professional develop-
Third, obstacles to unannounced observations
have been removed, making it possible for evaluators to get a more genuine look at teachers in
action and over time. Dismissal for teaching that
is unsatisfactory for a person who has received
intensive assistance is expedited to one year.
Finally, teachers are now more actively involved
in the evaluation process. Self-evaluation is a
substantive part of the process. Every teacher
has to make a growth plan that makes him or
her accountable for one goal related to improving a specific
professional practice and one goal related to student learning. Teacher teams gather and submit their own evidence of
student growth. Individual teachers are encouraged to set
team goals for which they are jointly accountable with other
team members, leading to increased collaboration. All of these
features in the new system create an opportunity, if properly
handled at the local level, to make teacher evaluation a true
growth-oriented process and not a judging and ranking operation. Nonetheless, unless these newly identified procedures
are implemented well, teachers may feel loaded up with new
and meaningless paperwork and procedures.
Although the new regulations, rubrics, and support materials aim to make teacher evaluation a better process with a
3
positive impact on teaching expertise and on the experience
of children, expecting regulations and structures alone to improve teaching is like expecting the Civil Rights Laws of the
1960s to eliminate racism. Our new regulations are a big push
in the right direction, but the work of making evaluation more
valuable and of improving teaching practice across the board
is up to us in the districts—teachers, teacher leaders, building
administrators, and central office leaders.
Pitfalls and Compensations
One pitfall is that rubrics can lead to superficial evaluation, especially if they are tied to hand-held data devices and used
as a portable checklist. Conversely, the DESE rubrics are not
intended to be used as an observation instrument and could
not be used as such with any validity. Rather, by providing a
uniform foundation for defining good teaching and learning,
the DESE rubric is intended as a guide for teachers in their
self-evaluation. It should also help to remind evaluators about
the range of things to look for, thereby enhancing reliability
across evaluators. Further, it can serve as a potential map for
choosing professional development topics.
A few nitty-gritty points to remember: For summary evaluation at the end of an evaluation cycle, we are only required
to fill out five lines, one for each standard and one as a final
summary. Teachers do not have to be rated on each of the 16
“indicators” or on each of the 33 “elements,” only on the four
standards and the overall summary rating. This gives us quite
a bit of flexibility in designing local systems.
MA Teacher Evaluation Rubric
-- Simplified - 5 Items --
Unsatisfactory Needs Improvement
Proficient
Exemplary
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Since state requirements do not mandate narrative write-ups
for every observation, that could save some time, but evaluators do need to be able to produce convincing, evidencebased write-ups, especially if the rating is unsatisfactory. The
supervisor must be able to show clear connections between
the claims, the evidence gathered to support those claims,
and the impact of the teacher’s performance on students. To
back up the ratings, evaluators must master the skill of gathering evidence that is accurate, credible, and convincing.
This emphasis on evidence can actually reduce paperwork
and increase the quality and frequency of conversations with
teachers. However, in order to be effective, evaluators will need
four essential skills: a clear understanding of the standards
and indicators, the ability to recognize what they look like and
sound like in action, techniques for gathering and recording
evidence about these indicators, and time management strategies to allow for adequate time in classes with teachers.
Staffing and budget limitations make it difficult to provide the
personnel necessary to ensure frequent evaluation of teachers. Yet, schools can use the new state guidelines to design
a system that maximizes feedback to teachers and minimizes
paperwork and formal procedures. One option is to increase
the frequency of informal fifteen-minute observations. In addition, long-term investment in professional development for
evaluators and support for them to be in classes daily will help
to ensure quality teacher feedback.
Of course, teachers will have concerns about time as well.
Teachers will now be asked to do self-evaluation; set a goal
for improving some aspect of practice and some aspect of
student results; assemble data on student gains; and make
a plan of action to accomplish these goals. If administrators
cannot honestly justify the time spent and unless they avoid
creating meaningless procedures and unnecessary meetings,
the promise offered by the new regulations will be wasted.
Rubrics: From Abstract to
Common, Concrete Images
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{ SPRING 2012 }
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However, if a district decides to rate teachers at the next level
of detail—the “indicators” level in the state rubric—we do have
to use those 16 indicators and use their language. We cannot
make up different indicators. If, in addition, we want to have
rubrics and ratings at the “element” level, we do NOT have to
use the state’s elements, but we have to put whatever elements
we create under the appropriate indicator of the state’s 16.
A closer look at one item will demonstrate the process of
drawing a concrete image from the rubric’s abstractions. Massachusetts Teacher Evaluation Rubric, II D 2 reads: “Effectively
models and reinforces ways that students can master challenging material through effective effort, rather than having to
depend on innate ability.” How do we interpret this rubric, and
what teacher behaviors exemplify its meaning? The rubric requires that teachers assure students that effective effort is more
important than innate ability in determining academic growth.
Skilled teachers might spend class time explicitly teaching
students strategies for studying more effectively and create
interactions of pairs and small groups in class to practice strategies. For further reinforcement, teachers could give frequent
self-corrected quizzes, ask students to reflect on desired out-
{ MASCD }
comes for themselves and for one another, and, finally, have
them set goals about what study strategies they will use to
continue to improve. Teaching students directly about Carol
Dweck’s (2007) concept of “malleable ability” can help them
truly believe in their ability to achieve.
Language can also subtly encourage effective effort: “Well, you
got the first three right, and this one is like them, but with one
additional step.” Using such language gradually imbues students with confidence and belief in their own capability, even if
they are not yet fully proficient in content knowledge or skills.
Effective teachers also offer re-teaching loops where events
are created for small groups of students who did not “get it”
the first time around, and where the material is taught in a
different way. Such teachers always frame the re-teaching
positively. Finally, they are persistent, without impatience or
blame, in following up with students who do not do their work
or who perform below standards. Teachers who are successful at building confidence in low-performing students may not
use all of these practices, but they certainly will try as many of
them as necessary.
Developing skill at recognizing effective and
appropriate use of these strategies will require
extensive study and long-term commitment by
evaluators. Teaching is unquestionably among
the most complicated human endeavors imaginable. Unless evaluators earnestly invest in
developing the capacity to analyze teaching
deeply, they will have failed to provide useful
and productive feedback for teachers.
4
Achieving this goal will require professional development for
evaluators, evaluation of the evaluators by their central office,
and eventually, performance-based certification of evaluators
statewide to ensure uniform high standards.
Massachusetts has made major progress toward defining
good teaching and good leadership. The department has published rubrics which are realistic and reasonable, and in so doing, has provided a useful map to the big-picture categories of
teaching expertise. It is important to remember that the Massachusetts rubric and the levels described in the boxes are
not designed to record scores for teachers. The “elements”
are pointing us in the direction of teaching skills known to be
important, but we have to do our own elaboration on what
they mean, creating common, concrete images and examples
of what constitutes evidence that such skills are being implemented in the classroom. And so, the point is, the “elements”
are pointing us in the direction of teaching skills known to be
important, but the challenging and worthwhile task of giving
those elements meaning is the work of districts and schools.
When a random sample of evaluators rate the same
video or the same observed class, they generate quite
different ratings and often ratings that go from the top
to the bottom of the spectrum. Lack of confidence in
evaluator ability to be consistent and competent has,
with frequent justification, made teacher evaluation
ineffective. The heart of the work is developing common, concrete images that illustrate proficiency.
What Training and Development
Do Evaluators Need?
Studies indicate that teachers, especially those
of the younger generation, are looking for more and better
feedback (Coggshall et al., 2011). In order to generate frequent high-quality feedback, schools and districts need more
evaluators visiting classes. In addition, focused professional
development should begin with a thorough understanding
of the knowledge base of teaching and then focus on an array of specific skills. These skills include evidence-collecting
and reporting, classroom observation techniques, analyzing
the quality of student tasks, and conducting useful, positive
teacher conferences.
Heart of the Work
Because this systematic training is absent in most districts,
when a random sample of evaluators rate the same video or
the same observed class, they generate quite different ratings
and often ratings that go from the top to the bottom of the
spectrum. Lack of confidence in evaluator ability to be consistent and competent has, with frequent justification, made
teacher evaluation ineffective. The heart of the work is developing common, concrete images that illustrate proficiency.
Improving Teaching and Learning in the Classroom
Finally, teacher evaluation must become just one part of something much bigger—the improvement of teaching across the
board for everyone, even for the most experienced teachers.
Our new regulations and rubric give us the impetus and the
charge to do that with care and focus over the next few years.
As we develop clarity, we will use our common understanding
of high-expertise teaching in all the arenas where leaders have
the potential to influence the quality of teaching and learning.
These contacts may occur in the classroom, but also during
meetings, observations, conversations, short visits, walkthroughs, and more, such as those in the following diagram,
and not just in the area of teacher evaluation.
Jonathon Saphier is the Founder and President of Research
for Better Teaching, Inc., an organization dedicated to the professionalization of teaching. Dr. Saphier is a recognized consultant on supervision, evaluation, staff development, and professional culture and has authored eight books and numerous
articles on those topics, including The Skillful Teacher: Building
5
Conducting Planning
Conferences
Leadership Team Meeting
Operating Agreements
Student by Student
Accountability Talks
Building Professional
Development Planning
and Implementation
Facilitating the Work
of Coaches/Instructional
Specialists
How Leaders
Influence Teachers’
Teaching
Frequent Short Visits and
Conversations with Claims,
Evidence, and Impact
{ SPRING 2012 }
Formal Observations
and Write-Ups as in
Teacher Evaluation
Planning and Leading
Faculty Meetings
Ensuring High-Functioning
Meetings of Teams that
Share Content (PLCs) (CPT)
Arranging Public Teaching
and Peer Observation
Walkthroughs and
Learning Walks
Your Teaching Skills (with MaryAnn Haley and Robert Gower)
which has sold over 300,000 copies. He can be reached at
[email protected].
References
Coggshall, J. G., Behrstock-Sherratt, E., & Drill, K. (2011).
Workplaces that support high-performing teaching and
Supporting
Study Groups
learning. New York: American Federation of Teachers and
American Institutes for Research.
Dweck, C. S. (2007). Mindsets: The new psychology of
success. New York: Ballantine Books.
Weisberg, D., Sexton, S., Mulhern, J., & Keeling, D. (2009).
The widget effect. New York: The New Teacher Project.
Announcing MASCD Institute
The Common Core, Common Assessment, and What Is Common Across the Curriculum
Session I, October 18, 2012 and Session II, November 15, 2012
In this institute, educators will increase their understanding of the guiding principles and progression of the Common Core Standards. Participants will unpack the new frameworks, identify how
standards are aligned across grade levels and across disciplines, and consider the implications of
Common Core frameworks for instruction and assessment. Participants will build capacity to use
common assessments and to collaboratively examine student work in order to identify what students
understand and are able to do in their study of standards essential to the Common Core frameworks.
Participants will:
Develop a framework for looking at the Common Core across disciplines;
Identify what to assess and how to assess it;
Align assessment foci with the standards;
Look at student work with colleagues;
Understand what student work reveals about student thinking;
Return to the standards to determine the degree of alignment with assessments.
Between sessions, participants will create at least one real assessment to pilot in their classroom and will bring the
resulting samples of student work to the second session of the institute. Participants will leave this workshop with
next steps for their district, school, department, or team to transition to and align with the Common Core frameworks.
It is recommended that participants attend in school or district teams.
Registration for the Common Core Institute will open in August.
{ MASCD }
Toward the Era of
Purposeful
Learning
By Paul Reville
P
olicy makers are fond of discussing the intricacies of
policy strategies designed to enhance student learning, but seldom do they discuss the absolutely critical topic of student motivation. The concept of “purposeful learning” embodies the idea that students choose to
pursue a course of study because they find it of interest
and because the course goals and objectives have meaning and purpose for them and for their role as learners. Interested students are typically motivated students, which
means they are willing to supply effort—the critical and most
elusive element in the learning equation. Although policy
makers cannot craft legislative mandates to generate motivation and effort, a sense of purpose can generate both.
6
dents; broader and more inclusive definitions of teaching
and teachers; and more time in and beyond the classroom.
Challenging Standards, Rigorous Assessments and
Real Accountability for both Educators and Students
If we encourage students to pursue multiple and various pathways to learning, they will need an identifiable set of standards
against which to measure their success. Fortunately, we have
strong standards in place and have recently upgraded them.
The next step will be to upgrade assessments.
While the Commonwealth is appropriately engaged in major
national efforts, like the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers consortium (PARCC), aimed at
producing next-generation, large-scale assessments, we also
need teachers and school leaders to think about revising their
own assessment practices to capture the breadth and depth
of student mastery. Individual and group projects, mastery
demonstrations, experiments (scientific and other), real-time
problem-solving exercises, art work, talent reviews, community service and civic engagement initiatives—all of these and
more should not only be part of regular practice but also be
subject to high standards and rigorous evaluation. Local and
state graduation requirements should include recognition of
the growing role of these kinds of hands-on, student-directed
learning experiences.
Broader, More Inclusive Definitions
of Teaching and Teachers
In education, we gravitate toward bi-polar debates such as the clichéd juxtaposition of the
“sage on the stage” versus “the guide on the
side” models of instruction. It is not that simple.
Both approaches have value. We will need more
time and more teachers to achieve the ambitious
goals we have for all of our children—that much
is clear. In utilizing the community, through internships, resident experts, visiting role models,
and service activities, we need not abandon our
belief in the expertise and wisdom of teachers
who impart their knowledge and skills to their
students. At the same time, we need teachers who can serve
as skillful advisors to students and who want to take the lead
in planning and executing a set of educational strategies to
achieve the goals of a high quality learning plan.
Student-directed learning will require more time than
allotted in the typical school day. Distinctions between school and after-school should begin to fade,
as will distinctions between schoolwork and homework. The 20th century one-size-fits-all, factory approach to school time is no longer sufficient to meet
students’ educational needs in the 21st century.
A cultural, practical and policy-based shift to student-directed learning will be a long time in coming, but changes
in technology and the accessibility of information will likely
accelerate the already apparent trend. In order to be ready
to place students in the driver’s seat of their own education, we will need a strong foundation of supports, practices, and policies to enable students to maximize both
the efficiency and effectiveness of their learning efforts.
Although I do not have a fully realized vision of every element that may constitute the foundation of student-directed learning, some features seem fairly obvious to me.
These include challenging standards, rigorous assessments, and real accountability for both educators and stu-
More Time
Student-directed learning will require more time than allotted
in the typical school day. Distinctions between school and after-school should begin to fade, as will distinctions between
schoolwork and homework. The 20th century one-size-fitsall, factory approach to school time is no longer sufficient to
meet students’ educational needs in the 21st century. As we
expand the scope of schooling to include an infinite vista of
open-ended educational opportunities, we will have to think
7
long and hard about who is responsible for which
elements of the learning equation, and we will also
have to figure out how to assess the contribution
of each component of a learning experience within
an integrated whole.
{ SPRING 2012 }
Preparing our young people well will determine
the future of our economy and our democracy. As
educators and policy leaders, we will have to find
a way to close achievement gaps and simultaneously grow students’ motivation, effort, and capacity to direct their own learning experiences.
Of course, this is much easier said than done. I
would not assume that all the necessary educational changes of the future are going to be a
function of technology. In general, our experience
with educational technology has been one of overpromising and under-delivering. There are myriad
other opportunities to grow student-directed learning; these
opportunities rely on community experience and innovation
and must be keyed to the development and demonstration of
mastery. Many effective schools are already accomplished at
using that experience and new forms of teaching, and not just
technology, to benefit students.
We live in tight budgetary times and will likely continue to
do so for decades to come. We should not fall victim to the
false, but very common, educational change equation that all
change costs more money. Indeed, sometimes, we have to do
more with the same or even fewer resources. Although educating all of our students is undoubtedly the most vital chal-
lenge now facing this country, we simply cannot count on a
dramatic increase in resources with which to accomplish our
goals. Yet, preparing our young people well will determine the
future of our economy and our democracy. As educators and
policy leaders, we will have to find a way to close achievement gaps and simultaneously grow students’ motivation,
effort, and capacity to direct their own learning experiences.
Paul Reville, Secretary of Education, directs the Executive
Office of Education and works closely with the Commonwealth’s education agencies—Department of Early Education and Care, Department of Elementary and Secondary
Education, Department of Higher Education and the University of Massachusetts system. He is the Governor’s top advisor on education and helps shape the Commonwealth’s
education reform agenda including the recent Achievement Gap Act of 2010—the most sweeping education legislation since the landmark Education Reform Act of 1993. He has been a teacher and an administrator, led business efforts to advance education and, as co-founder of
the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education, was
deeply involved in the design and implementation of the Education Reform Act of 1993, and is the founder and president of the Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy. Reville, a former VISTA volunteer, teacher, and principal of two
alternative schools, is also a public school parent who lives in
Worcester. He has four children. Paul can be reached at Paul.
[email protected].
Maintain Your MASCD Membership
Member benefits include weekly newsletter with helpful resources and job postings, reduced
registration fees for MASCD programs, advocacy for educator excellence, whole child education and teacher leadership, and networking opportunities.
MASCD . . . WHERE LEADERS MEET
www.mascd.org
{ MASCD }
8
Live from Yemen:
Navigating the Challenges of Virtual Collaboration
By Chris Baer
Modern Magic
Several guests arrived in our virtual conference room hours before our session was
scheduled to begin. When I beamed in from my own classroom, “Petty,” an English
teacher from Taiwan, and Mansoor, a principal from Karachi, were struggling to converse. Accents were thick and the audio murky. Petty was telling Mansoor to move
a lamp so that his face would be lit, as it was strongly silhouetted against a bright
wall. Mansoor, repeatedly mistaking her pleas for questions about his computer lab,
delved deeper into descriptions of his facilities. Meanwhile, Shukufa flitted in and out
from Azerbaijan, posting missives to an empty chat room. With nearly an hour’s wait
before our online professional development workshop was to begin, it was already
approaching midnight in Pakistan and nearly 3:00 a.m. in Taiwan. Petty and Mansoor
were clearly fatigued, but they were also unmistakably excited.
Ehsan Saeed of Mukalla, Yemen leads her
English class. Ehsan prepared a video for
MVRHS teachers, in which she demonstrates Yemeni teaching practices. Photo
courtesy of Chris Baer.
For several days, I had fielded technical problems and time zone questions raised by
members of the class from all over the world. Some participants could not log on; a
principal in Finland gave up trying to solve a conflict with her browser; an 80 m.p.h.
blizzard caused a power outage in Nunavut; heavy rains in Zambia created insurmountable connectivity problems; and the teacher from Sierra Leone could not attain
the minimum 28.8 kbps she needed to participate. When we finally began, I struggled with the interface and repeatedly turned
off my microphone just as I began to speak. Together, we were discovering just how many new skills are needed to effectively
manage conversation and technology simultaneously in a virtual classroom.
Despite the obstacles and complications, my first experience organizing a live multinational teaching workshop was magical.
Two dozen teachers from eleven different countries across four continents shared educational practices and pedagogy. Their
enthusiasm was infectious, as teachers willingly stayed up well past midnight in Russia, Azerbaijan, Pakistan—and even
overnight in Taiwan and Shanghai—to talk about challenging issues that every teacher faces: discipline, motivation, testing,
facilities, and a hundred other things.
Collaborative, unbound, socially-based, online
education is here to stay. Using technology to
create real-world, real-time, participatory virtual learning environments—whereby teachers
consult with their international colleagues and
Using technology to create real-world, real-time, parstudents use Skype to videoconference with
ticipatory virtual learning environments—whereby
experts, collaborate with peers overseas, and
teachers consult with their international colleagues
take virtual field trips—is inspiring, real, and
and students, and use Skype to videoconference
reaches to the heart of 21st century education.
with experts, collaborate with peers overseas, and
take virtual field trips—is inspiring, real, and reaches
to the heart of 21st century education.
DIY Synchronous Networking
Despite my enthusiasm about online professional development, a series of recent reports
and news stories have cast doubt on the effectiveness of online K-12 education (Davis, 2012;
Saul, 2011). Only 27.4 percent of completely virtual schools met Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) last year, compared to about 52
percent of brick-and-mortar schools (Miron, 2012; Anderson, 2012). A meta-study by the U.S. Department of Education concluded that few rigorous research studies have been conducted regarding the effectiveness of online learning at the K-12 level
(USDE, 2010). Left unsupervised, many students taking virtual classes show a tendency to skip material and jump ahead to the
test (Saul, 2011). Of course, many of us who took the Commonwealth’s mandated ethics test—or who took the online eyesight
9
{ SPRING 2012 }
test given by the Massachusetts RMV—understand the temptation. The push to decentralize and digitize is permeating many
aspects of our society, but user convenience and cost savings sometimes take precedence over the intended outcomes.
Nevertheless, there is real value to be found in moving toward a decentralized, networked, collaborative classroom, even if
virtual schooling and commercial virtual curricula turn out to have major flaws. Forty-seven percent of high school students surveyed last year expressed the desire for an online environment to collaborate with classmates and teachers on projects (Speak
Up, 2011a) and 44 percent of principals chose “collaboration tools” in their ultimate school vision (Speak Up, 2011b).
The results of the 2009 Program for International
Student Assessment (PISA) tests, which compare
15-year-olds in more than sixty countries in math,
reading, and science, place U.S. teens right in the
middle, where we have been mired for at least
the past decade (Paine, 2011; Cavanagh, 2012).
South Korea, Finland, Canada, Netherlands,
and Japan continue to lead the pack, although
Shanghai, China recently surged to first place in
all three subject areas (Paine, 2011). It is no secret that educational leaders are looking abroad
for solutions.
The technology already exists to break down walls
between students’ schools and their homes, between one school and another school, and across
international borders. We just need to sort out
what works from what does not, and as educators
committed to preparing students for the future, we
should welcome that challenge.
iEARN (International Education and Research Network):
Integrating Global Exchange Projects into Classrooms
For the past year, a colleague at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) and I have been facilitating an iEARN program sponsored jointly by the National Education Association (NEA) Foundation and MVRHS in which overseas classroom
teachers speak live with MVRHS teachers about classroom teaching. Admittedly, we cannot always rely on Skype because it
is blocked by the government in Oman and Yemen, for instance, and the connection in Uganda is not always robust enough
to support video. Still, we have successfully established a live audio and text chat link with teachers in South Korea, Yemen,
Uganda, Oman, Russia, Brazil, and numerous other countries.
Although most virtual schools and blended learning labs rely on prerecorded, “asynchronous” programming (Watson, 2011;
USDE, 2010) and canned curricula, my own experience with iEARN and in teaching other virtual classes leads me to believe that
much of the learning magic happens with synchronous contact—live, real-time collaboration and conversation—and programming that teachers create themselves with partners they have personally chosen and contacted. This is especially true when
we reach outside our national borders. To appropriate iEARN’s motto for a moment, teachers and students should be “learning
with the world, not just about it.”
In fact, the most interesting and thought-provoking exchanges with overseas colleagues
were those that illuminated the “unknown unknowns”—the things we do not even know
we do not know—and presented serendipitous discoveries for which we have little context
in U.S. schools: such as the way the Omani government finances student entrepreneurs,
the gift-wrapping clubs in Taiwan, the cell phone policies in Russian schools, the dentistry
programs in Yemen, or the unique testing procedures in South Korea or Russia. As one
Taiwanese teacher reminded me, “All teachers around the world have the same problems,
maybe different in scale.” I reminded myself: “Yet our solutions can be quite dissimilar.”
Challenges
MVRHS technology teachers, Al Mahoney and Chris Baer, use Skype to
videoconference with English teacher Rimma Zhukova in Miass, Russia.
Photo courtesy of Chris Baer.
Over the years, I have tried a wide range of international student and staff collaboration
projects—virtual roundtables, email pen pals, online forums, photo exchanges, Skype
sessions, social networking, video postcards, etc.—and they all yield their share of magic.
Nevertheless, there are significant challenges to using technology to break down the classroom walls with international learning projects; fortunately, most of these can be overcome
with a little foresight and elbow grease. Figure 1 provides a compendium of challenges
and possible solutions when integrating global exchange projects in the classroom.
{ MASCD }
Training: For a virtual presenter, a significant learning
curve exists, not only to learn a software platform, but also
to become skilled at managing presentations and content
in a new medium. Do not underestimate the significant differences between classroom presentation and virtual presentation.
Trust: Ask yourself if you trust contacts you have never
met to follow through. Will your partners remember to be
online at the right time? What will you do if they oversleep
or make a time zone error? Trust in the professionalism of
your partners, but be aware that Murphy’s Law may yet
prevail. Remember that part of the fun of live collaboration
is spontaneity.
Control: Decentralizing learning means giving up a level of
control. Out of fear of inappropriate or embarrassing dialogue, teachers often feel obligated to monitor all electronic
communication among students, for instance, especially
with partners abroad. When I learned that an 18-year-old
Yemeni boy from a partner class had “friended” nearly every
student in my freshman class on Facebook, I was alarmed.
As it turned out, they went on to have some of the most
genuine and meaningful conversations of the semester on
their own time—and, to my relief, they were completely innocuous.
Pay: Teachers in every country will happily collaborate with
your students or staff freely and without expectation of
compensation—especially if you are willing to reciprocate.
However, if you are asking a teacher to prepare a lengthy
presentation, it is only fair to try to provide compensation,
especially when there is a significant income inequity between countries. It can become complicated for a public
school to pay a teacher overseas, so consider contracting
a third party to wire such payments instead.
Finding Partners: At first, you may find it surprisingly dif-
ficult to find teachers overseas who will agree to participate
in an American school project. When I first started, I tried
cold-emailing hundreds of schools looking for a partner,
and I did not get a single response. The easy solution is
to join a professional organization that specializes in international cooperative projects and then start networking. I
have found iEARN to be a deeply rich source of reliable
partners for teachers and schools.
Limited Technology: Some parts of the world (sub-Saharan Africa, for instance) have limited bandwidth, making
videoconferencing calls or even audio webinars difficult or
impossible. Live text chats can be an extremely powerful
alternative.
Incompatible Curricula: Many willing partners may be
found in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) classes.
Although their curricular goals may be different, teachFigure 1. CHALLENGES TO VIRTUAL PARTNERSHIPS
10
ers from different countries or continents are likely to find
many shared interests and opportunities for meaningful exchange. Figure out what challenges, methods, goals and
aspirations teachers universally share.
Bureaucracy: Some countries block Skype (Yemen,
Oman, and others), while others block Facebook (China).
Many countries also have heavy-handed school or governmental bureaucracy, which may require navigating forests
of red tape on the part of all parties in order to secure permission to work together.
Time Zones: Very few schools outside the Americas are in
session at the exact same time. Teachers are often willing
to participate in off-hour sessions, but having students use
Skype to videoconference from home or to conference at
3:00 a.m. clearly may not be feasible. Solutions include prerecorded, personalized videos (my students have recently
enjoyed making short video “postcards” with PhotoBooth
to send to their Taiwanese partners) or piggybacking on
evening events at school. (We held a nighttime Skype session with a partner class in Taiwan in which they performed
a song during our school’s “Evening of the Arts” event. We
have also held class-time chats with Moroccan students
who were willing to videoconference from home.)
Clashing Calendars: In much of the Middle East, the
school week begins on Saturday and ends on Wednesday,
leaving only three days of overlap with our Monday to Friday
schedule. In the Southern Hemisphere, summer vacation
falls right in the middle of the typical American school year,
and exam schedules and vacations seldom match up with
those of the Northern Hemisphere calendar. Plan ahead!
Access: One Bangladeshi school we partnered with had
class sizes of about eighty students but access to only a
dozen or so computers once a week. They solved this by
forming an after-school club for the most eager students.
Public Speaking Skills: Students everywhere often
become shy, awkward, and stilted when conversing with
strangers in public. Public speaking shortcomings multiply
when the webcam turns on. Some will freeze up; others will
want to hide. It may be wise to incorporate public speaking exercises and videoconferencing skills into classroom
lessons.
Insularity: Even though certain students are highly wired,
most are actually far more insular. While some may have
more than 500 Facebook “friends,” fewer than ten percent
of the students I polled have even one “friend” outside the
Western World. Indeed, the idea of highly-connected students with a diverse network of international online contacts is a myth. “Friends” tend to be highly homogeneous
(Goodman, 2011).
11
{ SPRING 2012 }
Conclusion
In 2008, I took a five-week leave of absence to travel to Vietnam to adopt our new son,
Jack. It required entrusting hastily-written lesson plans to a long-term substitute and
crossing twelve time zones. At night in our hotel outside Danang, after putting Jack to bed
at the end of a long day of navigating unfamiliar Vietnamese customs and my new role
as a parent, I would sometimes slip into a foyer, connect my laptop to the hotel’s shaky
wireless network, and videoconference my classroom. Just before I left I had discovered
a setting which allowed me to auto-answer my own calls, so that I was able to pop in,
sometimes rather unexpectedly, to my classroom 8,500 miles away and twelve hours earlier. Often they would not notice, so it took some waving and hallooing until I could catch
the attention of a passing student or my sub. I would ask about their projects, share some
of my street videos, and chat about what I had learned of life in Quang Nam. It was fun
and novel.
Although I cannot be certain that my students learned anything measurable from this
experience, I had a gut feeling that I was getting a little glimpse into the classroom of the
future, one in which a faraway teacher can drop in freely to chat with students. The technology already exists to break down walls between students’ schools and their homes,
between one school and another, and across international borders. We just need to sort
out what works from what does not and as educators committed to preparing students
for the future, we should welcome that challenge.
MVRHS special education teacher,
Kansas Brew, talks with a colleague
in Azerbaijan using Blackboard Collaborate. Photo courtesy of Chris
Baer.
Chris Baer has been teaching art, design and technology at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School since 1995. He is cofacilitator of iEARN’s One Day in the Life project and has been involved in international collaborative projects since 2004. Chris
can be reached at [email protected].
References
Anderson, J. (2012, Jan. 6). Students of online schools are lagging. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com
Cavanagh, S. (2012). U.S. education pressured by international comparisons. Education Week. Retrieved from http://www.
edweek.org
Davis, M. (2012). Virtual education seen as understudied. Digital Directions. Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org
Goodman, A., Hurcombe, R. et al. (2011). Teenage drinking and interethnic friendships. York, U.K.: Joseph Rowntree
Foundation.
Miron, G., Urschel, J., & Aguilar, M. (2012). Profiles of for-profit and nonprofit education management organizations. Boulder,
CO: National Education Policy Center.
Paine, S. & Schleicher, A. (2011). Lessons from PISA: What the U.S. can learn from the world’s most successful education
reform efforts. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Research Foundation.
Saul, S. (2011, Dec. 13). Profits and questions at online charter schools. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.
com
Speak Up (2011a). The new e’s of education: Enabled, engaged, empowered - How today’s educators are advancing a new
vision for teaching and learning. Irvine, CA: Project Tomorrow.
Speak Up (2011b). The new e’s of education: Enabled, engaged, empowered – How today’s students are leveraging
emerging technologies for learning. Irvine, CA: Project Tomorrow.
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development. (2010). Evaluation of evidence-based
practices in online learning: A meta-analysis and review of online learning studies. Washington, D.C.: Center for Technology
in Learning.
Watson, J., Murin, A. et al. (2011). Keeping pace with k-12 online learning: An annual review of policy and practice. Durango,
CO: Evergreen Education Group.
WHAT IS YOUR TAKE?
Write to Perspectives editor, [email protected] to comment on a story
or to share your suggestions for future topics.
{ MASCD }
12
Listening to Student Voices
Educators could learn a great deal from listening to students describe their experiences in schools and their hopes for
learning in and beyond the classroom. In Listening to Student Voices, students share visions of how technology is changing the way they learn. They explain how they access information, use tools to create and share original work, communicate anywhere and anytime, express themselves to a wide audience, and take control of their own education.
The six young authors represented in this issue—all students at Catholic Memorial School, an all-boys college preparatory
school in West Roxbury—are part of the generation that has grown up with this technology. As students who have already
begun to take an active role in shaping their own learning, they bring an important voice to the conversation. In these
articles, each student author draws on his own experience to envision technology transforming schools of the future.
Notable in their visions are a strong sense of idealism, a spirit of cooperation, and a love of learning. They offer insights on
ways to learn with technology; to connect with resources, institutions, and individuals outside the school; to initiate and
share their own projects; and to reach out to the rest of the world.
Perspectives welcomes student voices and invites schools across the Commonwealth to contact Ginny
Caruso, Director of Publications, at [email protected], about submitting student-authored, theme-based
articles for “Listening to Student Voices.” T
Our Classrooms
he iPod, iPad,
and laptop have
emerged as vital components of
our lives; the time has
come to accept them
By Michael Brown
as standard and indispensable tools for
education. The iPad, in particular, presents itself as the typical learning accessory for a high school student’s school day:
books, homework, and writing assignments are portable, easily accessible, and stored in one place; calendars and scheduling information are readily available; and students are always
connected to learning tools such as textbooks, graphing calculators, dictionaries, thesauruses, and multiple sources for
research and information. In my school, students who currently use iPads in English classes comment that the iPad notetaking and highlighting capabilities make studying easier and
more effective.
The iPad in
The iPod, iPad, and laptop have emerged
as vital components of our lives; the time
has come to accept them as standard and
indispensable tools for education.
Science teachers are also enthusiastic about the class benefits
of iPad applications (apps). For example, Columbia University’s
“EarthObserver” offers the ability to look at and create maps
showing geologic, atmospheric, and human impact data. By
taking advantage of characteristics unique to the iPad, the EarthObserver app enables hands-on
learning in the field of earth sciences. For chemistry, two apps, “The
Elements” and “Gems and Jewels,” feature outstanding photography and 3-D images, which can
be manipulated, rotated, or examined closely. The iPad facilitates inBrown
class or at-home interaction with Michael
Photo by Benjamin Boyd
unlimited science resources, and,
at the same time, enables students to examine topics of interest in greater depth.
Of course, schoolwide use of iPads presents certain drawbacks: not all textbooks are currently available; iPads are expensive; and schools must monitor student activity and protect
the devices from damage and theft. On the other hand, the
potential benefits are many: cost savings on textbooks; lighter
backpacks; and access to software for graphing, note-taking,
and referencing. Additionally, the availability of commercial and
teacher-created apps can accommodate students’ individual
learning styles. Furthermore, iPad’s multi-formatted presentation of information and its unique features, including its long
battery life and easy navigation tools, are advantageous to
both students and teachers. For all these reasons, introducing
the iPad in schools as a single, all-purpose device is a wise
investment with long-term benefits.
Michael Brown is a member of the Catholic Memorial class
of 2013. He is interested in pursuing a career in business.
13
{ SPRING 2012 }
The Promise of Online Learning:
A Conversation with Stephen Carson
By Ronald Claude
A
classmate taking an online course comments that without a teacher’s “friendly reminder” about deadlines, he is learning
self-motivation and responsibility along with class material. His comment illustrates the important dynamics of an online
course. With no face-to-face interaction, students have time to frame their responses to questions; review material at their
own pace, even listening to the same lecture several times if necessary; and enjoy a degree of anonymity, leading to a feeling
of safety. What is lost, however, is experience in public speaking, interpersonal relations, and the active give-and-take of a live
class discussion. Still, online education increases the options for many highly motivated students, and, it turns out, for those
who otherwise would not be students at all.
A conversation I had recently with Stephen Carson, the External Relations Director for OpenCourseWare (OCW) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) provided several insights about online learning. For the past ten years, MIT has posted course
materials online, expanding educational opportunities by making them freely accessible to anyone in the world. Approximately
125 million people are known to have used MIT OCW. Carson points out that although OCW was originally created as an added
component in the classroom, surveys indicate that 43 percent of the participants now use it for independent study. This spring,
MIT launched MITx, an experiment in providing free,
online education that incorporates interactive feaThe time has come when people with motivatures. Stanford University has begun offering a limtion and ability— whether they are rich or poor,
ited number of free online courses, and after the iniyoung or old, or whether they live in an earthtial success of MITx, MIT is teaming up with Harvard
University to create edX, expanding on the concept
quake-ravaged area of Haiti, a small Texas town,
and offering more online learning opportunities.
or a remote location around the world—will take
advantage of the resources of great universities.
Online options can make education possible for
people who might otherwise be left out. Carson tells
the story of a high school student in Texas who had
never heard of MIT. He stumbled upon OpenCourseWare and used it to expand on a school physics project. When his project won a national award, he applied to MIT and was
accepted. This student’s experience demonstrates that independent study through an online course can heighten a student’s
interest and motivation and enable him to delve deeply into a topic and commit to the development of an ambitious project.
Online study gives students more control of their own learning and the opportunity to select courses related to potential careers
or personal interests. Working on their own, they can develop the habits of lifelong learners—the motivation to pursue topics of
interest, the ability to budget their time and focus on areas where they need
the most work, and the confidence to work independently. A member of my
own family explains that classmates in Haiti who could not attend school
after the earthquake keep up with their studies by taking courses online.
The time has come when people with motivation and ability—whether they
are rich or poor, young or old, or whether they live in an earthquake-ravaged
area of Haiti, a small Texas town, or a remote location around the world—
will take advantage of the resources of great universities. As more institutions follow the lead of MIT, Harvard, and Stanford, education in the future
will never again be accessible only to the privileged few, but will be the right
of all.
Ronald Claude is a member of the Catholic Memorial class of 2012. He
hopes to pursue a career as a pediatrician. He will attend Boston College.
Ronald Claude
Photo by Benjamin Boyd
Reference
Carson, Stephen (March 7, 2012). Personal interview with the author.
{ MASCD }
Video Games:
to those made during
WWII. Thus, implicit in
the game’s strategy is
a player’s knowledge
and understanding of
how real-life decisions
played out in history. Indeed, the application of
such knowledge is also
the best way to gain a strong advantage
for winning the game.
A Student’s Perspective
By Gustav Erikson
E
ducators often view video games
in a negative light. Yet, the potential
to learn from games is incredible.
Video games could easily be used
to help students improve their logic,
thinking, problem-solving techniques,
and analysis skills, as well as to promote
valuable attitudes for learners.
For instance, one popular video game
genre is the strategy game. These games
involve using one’s wits and intelligence
to battle against an opposing team. Additionally, strategy games promote logic
and quick thinking, requiring a player to
problem-solve, to compare game scenarios with real-life situations, to analyze
information, and to employ the kind of
critical and creative thinking used by artists, scientists, and economists.
The well-known strategy game Hearts of
Iron III, a World War II simulation game,
provides a good example. Each player
takes control of a nation’s military, economic, and political systems in the years
1936 to 1948. This grand strategy game
encourages logical thinking and at the
same time allows players to apply their
knowledge of the history of the era. The
artificial intelligence of Hearts of Iron III
is complex enough to recognize decisions that compare with or are similar
Gus Erikson
Photo by Joe McGonegal
Smartphone users know that games can
also be used to improve vocabulary. The
wildly popular smartphone game Words
With Friends is a Scrabble-like game
that can easily be played with multiple
participants. Involving numerous players makes the game more engaging and
even addictive.
14
scoring mechanisms based on game
point systems, and if students study
details, facts, and information with the
same unrelenting practice as is required
in “grinder” games, we would likely find
students attaining a stronger grasp of
content knowledge and greater motivation to learn and retain information.
Replicating this addictive aspect of video games could radically change the
way schools are conducted and greatly
improve learning. To accomplish this
change, grading must employ two key
factors: the instantaneous return of a
score—perhaps through computerized
testing—and a tangible rewards system
that allows students to move immediately to the next level as soon as they
achieve a goal. Such direct and immediate satisfaction would serve as a stron-
The commonly-used systems of points and achievements in games are powerful motivators that could be
adopted by schools. Although the grading system currently used in schools has similarities with a game point
system, it does not generate the same addictive quality,
and therefore does not elicit the same levels of personal
satisfaction or devotion.
In fact, the addictive quality of video
games may be a key component of their
educational value. The commonly used
systems of points and achievements
in games are powerful motivators that
could be adopted by schools. Although
the grading system currently used
in schools has similarities with a
game point system, it does not
generate the same addictive quality, and therefore does not elicit
the same levels of personal satisfaction or devotion. This addictive phenomenon is evident even
in games known as “grinders” in
which a player, motivated by the
possibility of earning points, performs a single, monotonous task
repeatedly with little variation in action or strategy. If schools develop
ger incentive than the summary report of
grades earned weeks or months ago, as
happens with report cards or the distant
prospect of college admissions.
Finally, as the education system continues to develop and evolve in accordance
with the changing technology of our era,
the underlying systems by which the
video games operate will fuel social interaction among students. At the same
time, using game-based interactive
media, students will develop skills that
enable them to solve problems, make
decisions, think critically and creatively,
self-assess, collaborate, and compete.
Gustav Erikson is a member the Catholic
Memorial class of 2013. He hopes to pursue a career in business or engineering.
15
“
Lights. Camera. Action. And we’re live.” The school day
begins with a fifteen-minute segment of announcements,
music, and video produced by students in the broadcast
journalism class. Students who aspire to careers as news
anchors, movie producers, or videographers learn the
basics: operating video cameras; editing video; and using
microphones, soundboards, and many other pieces of
equipment.
The process of creating a video piece, although unique in its
own right, parallels the lessons learned in an English class.
Writers and videographers learn to recognize their audience,
tailor their piece to meet the needs and interests of their readers or viewers, and develop a tone intended to convey how
the author or videographer feels about the topic or work.
{ SPRING 2012 }
Video:
Creativity,
Communication,
Collaboration, and
Community
When compiling video, students must employ creativity in the By Brandon Hamel
form of camera angles, mood-fitting music, and a variety of
other effects in order to make the production aesthetically pleasing and thought-provoking for viewers. By using video segments, students can catch the audience’s eye, not with fluent word choice, but with harmonious music or beautiful settings;
instead of incorporating exciting dialogue, they might use sharp cuts and varied lighting to set a mood and communicate an
idea.
Video communication is no longer the exclusive domain of
professionals. The skills learned in high school broadcast
journalism and videography classes have wide application
for learners and their communities. By producing special
segments for broadcast, members of the studio become
immersed in their community. Last year, a fellow student
traveled to a local hospital for veterans to interview a U.S.
Army ranger who had lost his leg while he was fighting
in Iraq. Another student created a video montage to raise
awareness for the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer
Walk, which was later posted on www.boston.com. Its
widespread viewing is evidence of the far-reaching impact of
one student’s creativity, communication, and collaboration
with the larger community.
Video communication is no longer the exclusive domain of professionals. The skills
learned in high school broadcast journalism
and videography classes have wide application for learners and their communities. By
producing special segments for broadcast,
members of the studio become immersed
in their community.
As video technology becomes more accessible to students, their ability to create and share video increases the potential for
learning in almost any discipline. For instance, in a collaborative national history project, teachers might assign the task of
learning about the daily lives of soldiers and the larger impact of war on a society. Students could interview soldiers, officers,
or victims of war in their home towns, at hospitals, or online. Interested
students could then produce and broadcast the interviews. Such a video
could communicate a wide range of perspectives and draw attention to the
human experience of war. These visual narratives generate shared experiences between veterans and videographers, who together, bring history to
life in video form. No longer merely words on a page, the new interpretation of a shared experience demonstrates the power of creativity, concrete
communication, collaboration, and community.
Brandon Hamel
Photo by Joe McGonegal
Brandon Hamel is a member the Catholic Memorial class of 2012. He will
attend the University of Virginia to study biology and economics. He hopes
to become a cardiovascular surgeon.
{ MASCD }
FIRST: Opportunities in
Science and Technology
to an end, the collaborative
spirit and competition of FIRST
encourages the sheer enjoyment
of analytical thinking for its own
sake, a process valuable in its
own right. FIRST was founded
as a sort of “varsity sport for
the mind”—that is, to engage
learners in a shift from the
cultural norm of mere recreation
to a model wherein intellect
and intelligence become the
pathways to enjoyable learning.
By Gerard Lawler
E
ntrepreneur and inventor Dean Kamen formed For
Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology
(FIRST) to encourage interest in science and technology
through participation in science-based real-life projects. Each
year, teams of high school students across the world work
with college mentors to build robots and then compete in an
international tournament—FIRST Robotics Competition. The
purpose of these events is not solely competition. In fact,
the goals of the competition, as stated in the FIRST mission
statement, include expanding the application of science,
technology, mathematics, and engineering beyond the
boundaries of the classroom and helping students develop lifelong skills of self-confidence, communication, and leadership.
FIRST programs may even foreshadow schools of the future,
whereby students are inspired to seek careers in science,
engineering, and technology and to take advantage of a
network of resources, such as college-age and professional
mentors.
16
Adapting to the mentor model,
we also seek to share our newly
developed skills and resources
by means of an initiative known as “Ask an Engineer,” a special
program run by both students and mentors to help newer
groups who lack the resources or technical support to build a
competition-worthy robot. We invite teams to our lab, provide
building space, offer advice, and share our tools. Throughout
the year, we answer email questions, meet with new teams,
and hold a day of student- and mentor-led workshops about
countless topics, ranging from programming to mechanical
techniques.
Gerry Lawler
Photo by Benjamin Boyd
Even when members of the FIRST team are not
preparing for competition, we take advantage of
Hoping to inspire younger students by showing them
our free time to experiment and reach out to the
the merits of scientific innovations and the value of hard
community. Hoping to inspire younger students by
work, we present demonstrations at schools, summer
showing them the merits of scientific innovations and
camps, and even Fenway Park.
the value of hard work, we present demonstrations
at schools, summer camps, and even Fenway Park.
No matter where we take our robots, people are
No matter where we take our robots, people are alalways inquisitive and engaged. Our ongoing work
ways inquisitive and engaged. Our ongoing work enensures that we, as a team, are always growing, not
sures that we, as a team, are always growing, not only
only in our knowledge of computer-aided design,
in our knowledge of computer-aided design, prototypprototyping, and programming, but also in our ability
ing, and programming, but also in our ability to produce
to produce high-level work, to communicate with
one another, and to understand the importance of
high-level work, to communicate with one another, and
scientific innovation. I have personally developed
to understand the importance of scientific innovation.
a dedication to pursuing mathematics in college
and beyond, as a result of my participation in and
In Massachusetts, students from four local high schools, in a leadership of the robotics team.
cooperative program with Northeastern University, have come
together to form a FIRST team in the Boston area. For us, For us, competition is not merely a struggle to prove who is the
working alongside college-aged mentors creates a deeply best, but a movement toward innovation. The FIRST program
enriching team dynamic that gives us a firsthand look at the encapsulates the pursuit of knowledge and the importance
applications of what we learn in school. We can see that what of technology and science in the world today. It also offers
we learn in class can, indeed, be applied to reality. The most a glimpse of the future of education—a time when innovation,
enriching factor in our team dynamic, though, remains the sharing, and the quest for deeper understanding are the norm.
enjoyment of science.
Gerard Lawler is a member the Catholic Memorial class of
Contrary to the conventional delivery of science and technology 2012. He is very interested in math and science. He will attend
instruction in many schools where science is taught as a means Boston University, where he plans to major in math.
17
Social Networking
and Social Change
By Jhovani Vonleh
{ SPRING 2012 }
T
he world is changing rapidly and high school students
are changing with it. Technologies such as Facebook,
with more than 800 million users, and Twitter, in its sixth
year and boasting more than 500 million tweets, allow us to
maintain relationships, express ourselves creatively, dive into a
world of different cultures, and even start global movements.
Social networking, when used correctly, spreads information
quickly and strengthens community.
Schools may not yet take advantage of the many capabilities of social networks that encourage interaction and creativity—such
as following news and current events, posting original editorials and reviews, communicating internationally, and enlisting the
help of our peers for independent projects or community service. Still, many teachers already recognize the potential of social
networking and are trying to capitalize on it. My English teacher now posts all of his assignments for the week on Facebook. Students who spend several hours on the site each night appreciate the gesture, but this level of usage is just the beginning. Through
networks and connections,
Facebook and other social media offer us opportunities for
Facebook is, in fact, a powerful tool for young people seeking
learning that take us beyond
social change. For example, I set up a nonprofit organization
the classroom.
to promote community involvement and multicultural understanding. A diverse group of students from several area schools
meet weekly to discuss local and world issues. Through the
power of Facebook and Skype, we invited students from a
high school in Haiti to join our conversations. As a result, we
are gaining a better perspective about the devastation in Haiti.
Now, instead of getting news secondhand though news outlets, we listen to the people making news in Haiti.
Facebook is, in fact, a powerful
tool for young people seeking
social change. For example, I
set up a nonprofit organization
to promote community involvement and multicultural understanding. A diverse group of
students from several area
schools meet weekly to discuss local and world issues.
Through the power of Facebook and Skype, we invited
students from a high school in Haiti to join our conversations. As a result, we are gaining a better perspective about the devastation in Haiti. Now, instead of getting news secondhand though news outlets, we listen to the people making news in Haiti. The
devastating turmoil these students faced during and after the 2010 earthquake has become real and personal. “My world was
literally crumbling around me, physically and emotionally,” one student commented; his words continue to stick in my mind.
Fortunately, the technology that connects us also enables us to take action. As we became
aware of a need, we organized a drive to collect shoes to send to Haiti. Using Facebook, we
can spread the word quickly, and we have been able to involve a network of friends to maximize
our impact. We post our progress and let people know how to help, taking our cause to their
newsfeeds and making it a part of their daily landscape. When we blog, “like” or share a page,
we are tapping into a power that was unknown in the past.
For my generation, Facebook is a way of life and a way of learning. Our peers become our
teachers and the world transforms into our classroom. Soon textbooks may be only a small part
of our education, but the vast expanse of our environment is the true teacher. From my classroom or from my living room, I log on, “like” a page, and view a host of problems waiting to be
solved. Technology enables individuals, classrooms, and schools to globalize and to reach out
to their fellow human beings. In today’s technological age there is no excuse not to do so.
Jhovani Vonleh
Photo by Benjamin Boyd
Jhovani Vonleh is a member of the Catholic Memorial class of 2012 and the founder of International Youth Partnerships (www.iyponline.org), a nonprofit organization dedicated to global
citizenship and community service. He will attend Pennsylvania State University.
{ MASCD }
Green U:
Student-Driven Learning
18
A
s existing educational facilities fall into decline
and require renovation, there is great potential to
deliver a student-driven learning experience by
integrating the design and construction process with
the academic curriculum.
The majority of Massachusetts school buildings are
over 30 years old, and roughly half of the public school
construction activity from 2000-2009 was dedicated to
renovations (Massachusetts School Building AuthorBy Vince Pan and David Silverman
ity, 2011). In the coming decades, these renovations
have the potential to convert existing buildings from resource-wasting liabilities into community-enhancing assets through sustainable design. To maximize the impact of sustainable
design, each school must make thoughtful decisions about upgrading its infrastructure. Over the course of a semester, high
school students can be directly engaged in the development of a research-based proposal for strategic sustainable upgrades
that are tailored to their school’s needs. Such an experience offers students the opportunity to learn cutting-edge skills that may
help them succeed in the next economy.
Inspired by Sustainable Design
There are many precedents for introducing students to design and construction that have inspired students to pursue careers
in these fields. The Urban Neighborhood Design Alliance (UNDA) runs City/Build for high school students and Just Around the
Corner for middle school students, in which UNDA teachers and design and construction professionals work side by side with
students in the classroom and on the construction site. Design and construction processes and methods are presented in a
way that has a direct correlation to what the student is learning in the classroom. For instance, the importance of fractions
when laying out building walls is one of many
concrete examples of how learning in the classroom is directly applied in the real world. LearnThere are many precedents for introducing stuing By Design: Massachusetts (LBD:MA) also
dents to design and construction that have inoffers K-12 students project-based immersion
spired students to pursue careers in these fields.
into design based on state learning standards
The Urban Neighborhood Design Alliance (UNDA)
in the visual arts, science and technology, mathematics, social sciences, and language arts. In
runs City/Build for high school students and Just
the past 12 years LBD:MA has involved 20,000
Around the Corner for middle school students, in
children, teachers, and architects in architecture
which UNDA teachers and design and construcand design workshops. While these and similar
programs often look outside for their source mation professionals work side by side with students
terial, Green UTM (a mobile application or ‘app’)
in the classroom and on the construction site.
leverages the facility renovation process as inspiration for a student-driven learning and design
process.
Guided by teachers and volunteer design, engineering, and construction professionals, students can be in charge of assessing
and evaluating existing building performance, maximizing potential performance in concert with real-world costs and savings,
and evaluating the results of their design work. This project leadership will provide them with the opportunity to experience
the design and construction process while learning about research methods, the engineering and science of sustainability, the
economics of green building, and the public process of school renovation. Whether schools choose to create an elective or to
integrate this content into their existing course schedules, a sustainable design curriculum can deliver an integrated learning
experience that spans all subjects. For example, a rotation focusing on lighting could touch on the early development of the light
bulb in history. The engineering behind LED lighting could be explored in science. Writing for advocacy of sustainable design and
alternative energy could be assigned in English. Lighting power and related cost calculations would provide great opportunities
to work on math skills. And, lighting design skills could be developed in fine arts courses.
In addition to engaging the entire school day, there is also the chance to bring together the entire school community. Operations
staff will share their knowledge of the school with students evaluating the existing infrastructure; administration will work with
students to identify objectives, define the budget, and evaluate solutions; teachers across many subjects will help guide the
students’ learning; and the students will present their work to the entire school community for their feedback and support. With
guidance and insight from both the private and public sectors, students will be empowered to define their learning experience
19
{ SPRING 2012 }
Green U | Creating a Student-Directed Movement Through Sustainable Design
Aim | Introduction + Learning Objectives
In order to assist with lesson planning and focused learning
at the beginning of the process, teachers and students can
see the various topics that the sustainable design course
will touch upon.
Access | Data Gathering + Review
Together with volunteer design and engineering professionals and operations staff, students will:
- review existing building documentation to gather data on
mechanical, electrical, plumbing, finishes, landscape and
building envelope systems as well as operations and maintenance practices.
- catalog the installed light fixtures, light bulbs, plumbing
fixtures, mechanical systems, window and wall systems,
and landscape elements, and evaluate their current state
and performance.
Learn | Reading + Presentations
Interactive course material in the Green U app is supplemented by presentations from volunteer design and engineering professionals on the most current sustainable
design technologies and strategies such as:
- solar energy technology
- low-use plumbing fixtures
- low water consumption landscape practices
- healthy flooring and wall materials and volatile organic
compounds
- heat loss and the building envelope, window technology
- alternative mechanical systems
- sustainable operations (natural cleaning supplies, composting, recycling)
{ MASCD }
20
and to utilize cutting-edge skills to author a project that transforms the environment of their school and the community at large.
The culmination of the semester’s work will be a formal presentation of their proposal to the Massachusetts School Building
Authority, advocating for funds to be dedicated to their school’s project.
This new learning experience calls for an equally innovative means of delivery. While laptops have begun to be integrated into
school life, much of the education process is still based around traditional methods of interaction between teacher, student, and
material. The Green UTM mobile app is downloaded to tablets, smartphones, or accessed online; engages students through a
medium that is relevant to their increasingly digital lives; and provides a dynamic interface for the student-directed learning process. Potential sustainable design course material currently exists in disparate resources that might not be tailored for a younger
audience. The Green UTM app creates a digital “home” for interactive course materials, data gathered by students, learning exercises, and evaluation tools while building a framework that supports teachers’ guidance and instruction. The Green UTM app is
currently in development and is seeking public and private school partners for development and implementation, and sponsors
to help support this vision for the next generation of learning experience.
In Massachusetts especially, “green” jobs
related to sustainability and alternative and
Empowering students to apply their newfound knowlrenewable energy are the fastest growing
edge to directly impact the building they occupy and
occupations and have the highest average salaries; the “green” sector is poised
the world they inhabit will secure a sustainable future for
to power the economy of tomorrow (Exthese newly skilled stewards of the built environment.
ecutive Office of the President, Council of
Economic Advisers, 2009). Although architecture, engineering, and construction are not traditionally integrated into an academic curriculum, programs such as City/Build
and Just Around the Corner have proven their value by inspiring and preparing students to pursue careers in design and construction. Green UTM builds upon these forebears by re-envisioning the facilities renovation process as a resource for studentdirected learning. Empowering students to apply their newfound knowledge to directly impact the building they occupy and the
world they inhabit will secure a sustainable future for these newly skilled stewards of the built environment.
Vince Pan is the founding principal of Analogue Studio—an interdisciplinary design studio practicing architectural, interior,
graphic, industrial, and interactive design. Analogue Studio examines the ecosystem of each project and crafts integrated solutions that operate on many levels. Prior to founding Analogue Studio, Vince designed award-winning performing arts, research,
academic, healthcare, residential, commercial, and exhibit projects at Constellation Center, Payette, Signer Harris Architects,
and The Moderns. Vince has also taught graduate-level design studios and served as a thesis advisor for the Boston Architectural College and as a design critic at the Boston Architectural College, SUNY Buffalo, and University of Florida. Vince can be
reached at [email protected].
David Silverman is the President of the Urban Neighborhood Design Alliance (UNDA). UNDA aims to provide educational,
community, and research initiatives that allow people of all ages to actively engage and participate in the design of their neighborhoods. By offering programs such as City/Build, Just Around the Corner, and Architecture by YOUth, UNDA seeks to engage
students through hands-on learning and provide them with knowledge about possible design, engineering, and constructionrelated career paths. David serves on the board of Learning By Design: Massachusetts.
David is also the President of map-lab, an architecture practice serving institutional clients in the higher education and nonprofit
sectors. He is active in the design community as an educator and chairs the Thesis Committee at the Boston Architectural College, where he has also served on the Board of Trustees and as President of the Alumni Association. In addition, David has been
a design critic at Roger Williams University, the New England School of Art and Design, and Wentworth Institute of Technology.
David can be reached at [email protected].
References
Executive Office of the President, Council of Economic Advisers. (July 2009) Preparing the workers of today for the jobs of
tomorrow. Retrieved from http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/cea/Jobs-of-the-Future.
Massachusetts School Building Authority. (2011). 2010 needs survey report. Retrieved from http://archives.lib.state.ma.us/
bitstream/handle/2452/112239/ocn725871650.pdf?sequence=1.
21
Learning Commons:
Re-Envisioned Spaces
for Learning
By Tina Stanislaski
T
wenty-first century collaborative learning and Internet-based
technology have driven a vision of
school architecture that is changing the
form and function of the traditional school
library. With the dawn of the Internet
and the age of 24/7 digital information,
the “learning commons” is beginning
to replace a more static, stand-alone library in schools. The learning commons
is made up of “user-defined spaces”
which allow students and educators to
work collaboratively and interactively; to
read, research, plan, and produce presentations, all in the same place; and
to maximize technologies and activities
that promote learning in every educational domain.
Technology in the learning commons
is purposefully more pervasive than in
most traditional libraries and supports
individual and small or large group use
of wireless networks, laptops, tablet
computers, interactive white boards,
and multi-media. In a K-12 school environment, the learning commons is
intertwined with traditional classrooms
by both proximity and computer networks, and it optimizes every square
foot of space in support of learning. At
every level of academia—on college
campuses, and at private and public
schools across the nation—conversations around learning, not only for students, but also for librarians and faculty,
have begun to generate a new vision for
the traditional academic library. For example, in the three elementary schools
described below, the commons is linked
to the rest of the school and to the world
by way of the Internet, engaging even
the youngest learners in a community of
learning.
In Concord, New Hampshire, where the
concept of learning commons is becoming a reality, Superintendent Christine
Rath saw an opportunity in the simultaneous replacement of three city schools
for rethinking the approach to educational space. Collaborating with the architects, the superintendent embraced
the possibilities for transforming the educational environment. This cooperative
venture between user and designer was
guided by Dr. Rath’s vision.
First, learning is a collaborative process
among students and between students
and educators, and spaces should be
{ SPRING 2012 }
that they are always readily accessible to
students in the classroom and not merely available during weekly visitations to
the library.
Third, learning is dynamic and fluid;
therefore, educators and students need
a variety of spaces to support the range
of learning activities. These spaces will
most likely need to change over time,
so they should be designed with builtin flexibility. Students need small group
meeting areas with Internet and multimedia access. They need project spaces where hands-on activities might be
ongoing over the course of days or even
weeks. They need storytelling corners,
presentation and performance spaces,
as well as research areas. Access to
technology must be seamless and universally available.
In other words, the most valuable components of any library should be shared
throughout the building. Networks should
be wireless, and the schools should seek
to purchase the best laptops, notebooks,
or iPads. Each classroom should be
The learning commons is made up of “user-defined
spaces” which allow students and educators to work
collaboratively and interactively; to read, research, plan,
and produce presentations, all in the same place; and to
maximize technologies and activities that promote learning in every educational domain.
designed to support collaborative learning. This means the building must include
ample small group learning spaces to
support informal gathering of groups of
students or students and a teacher.
Second, these collaborative learning
spaces and their materials should be
immediately accessible to the educator,
both for ease of access and for ease of
supervision. Literacy is and will continue
to be a fully integrated component of all
learning. Reading is a daily activity, and
books that have traditionally been located in the library need to be dispersed so
built with casework to charge and store
one of these computer devices for every
child. Library book collections should be
weeded through and reduced before the
move. Students should have access to
personal computers connected to the
Internet so that they may access online
books and other reading materials.
With these elements at the heart of the
project, the architects initially looked at
having two libraries: one adjacent to the
upper grades and one adjacent to the
lower grades. But, that was not quite
{ MASCD }
22
AMPHITHEATERS
satisfactory. There was no logical or equitable way to split the traditional library
in half without disadvantaging children
who read outside their grade level. As
the design evolved, and with the superintendent’s words shaping it, the solution
became inevitable. This library would not
have four walls; instead, the library would
become a learning commons with spaces dispersed throughout the academic
areas. It would be a nearly seamless
extension of the classroom and would
form the spine of the classroom wing.
Stepping from the classroom directly
into the learning commons, the student
would see on-going student projects,
readily-available books and technology,
and ample physical space for exploring
and learning.
Each of the schools has a two-story academic wing, which houses a 30-footwide, two-story-high learning commons
running right down the middle. This is il-
lustrated in the floor plans, section, and
axonometric drawing (figure 1.). This
flexible spine is comprised of multiple
open project spaces, each large enough
to hold a class of students and outfitted
with desks and chairs, marker boards,
sinks, and large storage cabinets. These
project areas can be used for everything
from science or art projects to independent research. The media spaces
can seat two classrooms of students
and have ENO boards (interactive white
23
boards) for multi-media presentations.
Amphitheaters and storytelling areas
create space for interactive performances, group reading, and dramatic play.
The design keeps sight of the traditional
purpose of the library, but it balances
its roles by providing a bridge between
the old, stand-alone model and the 21st
century communal concept. Thus, traditional book collections with quiet spaces
for reading or research now mesh with
open areas, equipped with the latest
technology and emphasizing social interaction and unobstructed dialogue
between students and educators. In this
way, the learning commons becomes
the very heart of the school.
Because every classroom in the academic wing also has a window looking
out onto the learning commons, teachers are no longer constrained by the four
walls of their classrooms. Supervision
and observation of students as they migrate from their desks to the commons
is possible. The central location of the
commons enables unobstructed movement and clear visualization of ongoing
projects, artwork, and performances.
All of these purposeful learning spaces
were incorporated into the Concord, NH
schools for well within the prescribed
limits of public construction budgets. In
fact, these were some of the least expen-
sive schools HMFH Architects, Inc. has
designed in the last decade—a demonstration of economical outcomes when
21st century learning tools and global
connectivity are incorporated directly
into the architecture of the building.
{ SPRING 2012 }
The shared and ultimate goal is to provide today’s students and tomorrow’s
workforce with the skills they will need
to become vital members of global 21st
century communities.
Educators working with students of all ages must be openminded in their approach to technology and its impact on
education. In any environment, whether an academic library or a nonprofit tutoring facility, a portion of the space
should be dedicated to embracing the technological tools
young learners are already accustomed to using.
Educators working with students of all
ages must be open-minded in their approach to technology and its impact on
education. In any environment, whether
an academic library or a nonprofit tutoring facility, a portion of the space
should be dedicated to embracing the
technological tools young learners are
already accustomed to using. With an
integrated design process that embraces feedback from students, educators,
community members, and legislators,
cities and towns can plan future projects or re-envision their current facilities
to accommodate project-based collaborative learning infused with technology.
Tina Stanislaski, Project Architect for
the Concord, NH three-school replacement project, worked closely with the
district superintendent and other educators to create an innovative and equitable
series of new elementary schools. Her
experience also includes programming
and schematic design for the unique East
Bay Met School in Newport, RI, and in
Massachusetts, the construction of the
new Everett High School, the expansion
of Foxboro Regional Charter School’s
50-year-old campus, and the new Brooks
School, part of Medford’s comprehensive
replacement of its K-8 schools. She can
be reached at [email protected].
S A V E T H E D AT E
NEASCD Sixteenth Annual Affiliate Conference in Boston
Leading and Learning: When Transformation Counts
November 29, 30 and December 1, 2012
Speakers include Chris Lehman, Rick Wormeli, Carol Ann Tomlinson, Tom Daccord,
Kim Marshall, Jonathan Costa, and Bea McGarvey.
{ MASCD }
24
“In My Opinion”
“In My Opinion” is a new feature of Perspectives that invites personal reflections
about education from MASCD members.
Recognizing and Accessing our Past
By Isa Kaftal Zimmerman
Renovating and Repurposing
Past Practices
Renovating or repurposing prior practices and
theories is an inevitable and useful way in which
education has evolved through the years. And yet,
despite the claims of some, renovations are not
necessarily revolutionary. In fact, educators and
others sometimes assume they are inventing new
instructional approaches when they are actually
reinventing old ones.
Reinventing pedagogy is not a bad development.
In fact, some reinventions are so powerful, they
appear to be at odds with the original prototypes.
An example I often cite is the following: In the
high school of which I was a principal in the late
1970s, the English Department was enticed to
use word processing to teach composition. The
ease of revising written work on a computer was
an instant hit with students and, therefore, with
teachers.
Certainly, teachers from the 19th century could
no more easily slip into a bona fide 21st century
classroom than could 19th century medical
professionals leap into action in today’s medical
environments!
Presenting “New” Pedagogical Ideas
Each year at educational forums and institutes,
presenters showcase “new” ideas, programs and
initiatives. For me, there are echoes in the room.
The enthusiasm and astonishment in their voices
make it sound as though the presenters believe
they have discovered these practices and ideas
de novo. As I listen, I wonder why we, in education, reinvent so often.
Rather than reinvent, we might adopt and acknowledge the “habit of mind” described by Art
Costa and Bena Kallick (1991): Use prior knowledge in new situations. Applying past knowledge
to new circumstances prompts educators to build
upon proven practices and to adapt them to new
realities, resulting in a sense of accomplishment
and yielding usable and useful outcomes. It also
gives credit where it is due.
A friend, an engineer in a global technology
company, laughed at the expenditure, calling it “a
$3000 typewriter”—a tool that would not change
education any more than typewriters
had. Around that time, another person
in the same company shared his oftenstated observation that a doctor from
the 19th century could not practice
In fact, our willingness to acknowledge the
in what was then considered a world
th
true origins of new ideas, to allude to what
of modern medicine, while a 19
century teacher could easily slide into
we have learned from past trials, and to
a 1970s classroom and teach without
give proper credit to those who have gena moment’s hesitation.
erated “old” ideas is commensurate with
our ability to remain consistently receptive
and responsive to novel approaches.
As it turned out, they were both wrong.
Using a computer to teach writing was
a revolutionary breakthrough, causing
an evolutionary trend. The successful
application of word processing in English classes
brought other departments into the technology
age, an advancement which has continued to
revolutionize schools. Those early adopters of
technology in the 1970s set in motion a slow
and steady course of change that eventually
developed into a sweeping and innovative shift
in both pedagogy and learning environments.
Consider these examples. How would you assess
the comparison? To what degree have these
practices evolved into new ones? To what degree
have they revolutionized teaching and learning?
George Santayana, American philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist whose life spanned the 19th
and 20th centuries, wrote: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
25
{ SPRING 2012 }
New practices based on old structures or simply new names?
NOW
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team planning
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
small student group or
committee
learning by doing
critical thinking
houses
tests
independent study
individualized instruction
•
•
•
educational change
learning contracts
discussion groups
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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a community of practice and/or a
professional learning community (PLC)
collaboration/cooperative learning
project-based learning
21st century skills
advisories
assessment/accountability
student-centered learning
personalized learning, differentiated
instruction
education reform
individualized education plan (IEP)
networking, blogging, online discussions
Have these established practices and learning strategies/resources been enhanced by new approaches?
•
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slides and film strips
lectures, presentations,
manila folders in the drawer
field trips
work-study
correspondence course
library research
tutoring
cutting with scissors/ pasting
with glue
web-based video/video on-demand
webinars, wikis, podcasts
digital/web-based portfolios
virtual travel
internships/externships
virtual learning
online database, virtual reference tools
online help, peer tutoring
digital cut and paste
Isa Kaftal Zimmerman held leadership positions in K-12 and higher education. She served
on Governor Patrick’s Readiness Project and the
Secretary’s and Commissioner of Education’s 21st
Century Task Force and is now on the Governor’s
STEM Advisory Council in MA and IA. She runs a
STEM consulting company. Isa can be reached at
[email protected].
References
Costa, A. (1991). The search for intelligent life,
in A. Costa, (Ed.). Developing minds: A resource book for teaching thinking, (pp. 100106). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
“In My Opinion”
In repurposing, reinventing, and redesigning the
long-standing pedagogical practices, we do not
condemn ourselves to repeat the past. Rather we
build upon it and move forward. In fact, our willingness to acknowledge the true origins of new
ideas, to allude to what we have learned from
past trials, and to give proper credit to those who
have generated “old” ideas is commensurate with
our ability to remain consistently receptive and
responsive to novel approaches. As our schools
and our lives are affected by an unremitting flow
of changes, we honor the past by consciously,
courageously, and creatively building upon it. Perhaps Shakespeare put it best in Act II, Scene I,
of The Tempest: “The past is prologue to the future.”
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If you would like to share your reflections, please contact Perspectives Director
of Publications, [email protected].
THEN
{ MASCD }
Food for Thought
By Barbara C. Goodman
D
inner with a group of twenty-yearolds made me reevaluate my life’s
work. I had been invited to join
these young men and women in celebration of their successful farm. With the table
set, the candles lit, and the wine poured,
Meg, our host, lifted her glass and toasted
the success of their now profitable, threeyear-old farm. Their efforts were evident in
the bountiful meal before us: pork chops
and ribs from their own pig, Dan’s salad
of fresh garden vegetables, and Les’s
scrumptious strawberry pie.
As I listened to these bright young adults
talk about business, politics, and their
work, I was impressed by the depth and
breadth of their knowledge. Still, as a high
school teacher, I was compelled to ask,
“Where did you go to school? How did
you learn to run a farm?”
When I pressed them to
explain why they became
disillusioned with education, they responded by recounting their
various experiences in high school. Meg,
the first violinist in her school’s orchestra, had also served as captain of the
girls’ soccer team. She mentioned turning down a scholarship from Cornell and
confessed: “For me, high school was formulaic—a game I knew how to win, so I
played it. Yes, I had fun and liked most of
my teachers. School engaged my brain,
but I wanted something more.”
Dan had been an “okay student,” maintaining his grades to stay on the swim
team. Despite enjoying science, he felt
bored and considered the frequent testing a hindrance to any in-depth coverage
of a topic. In the end, he believed he was
merely allowed to “tread water” when he
“really wanted to dive deeper.”
As young students, Meg, Dan, and
Les had equated learning with striving
for good grades and meeting the expectations of parents, teachers, and
college admissions officers. Following
high school, they sought meaningful
experiences and solutions to realworld problems, finally finding fulfillment as they mastered farm living.
Meg, the outgoing and exuberant visionary of the group, had raised the funds
and bought the land for the farm. She
explained, “I’ve known since I was nine
years old that I wanted to be a farmer, so
why go to college?”
After graduating from high school, Dan
created his own program of studies. He
became a traveling apprentice, first working on hydroponics in Arizona and then
studying permaculture in Vermont and
North Carolina. Les unabashedly admit-
ted, “I hated school, failed
to do any work, and frequently cut classes.”
Les was utterly candid: “I
dropped out in my junior
year and left home.” He
had hitchhiked aimlessly
for three months before
getting a ride from Meg
and then offering to work
on the farm in exchange
for a place to sleep and
shower. Now he delights
in researching the best organic method of preventing thistle from overtaking
the lettuce patch.
These three young adults
are a teacher’s dream: intelligent, hardworking and eager to learn.
Yet, at best, high school had been merely
a stage on which to act, and, at worst, a
jail from which to escape. Why?
As young students, Meg, Dan, and Les
had equated learning with striving for good
grades and meeting the expectations of
parents, teachers, and college admissions officers. Following high school, they
sought meaningful experiences and solutions to real-world problems, finally finding
fulfillment as they mastered farm living.
26
Meg and Dan survived high school because they knew they would soon be able
to follow their own passions. Moreover,
while the academic work did not inspire
either of them, they were enthusiastic
about and immersed in other important
activities. Successfully forming connections with peers, teachers, and coaches,
they had discovered the joys of collaboration and shared goals. Most importantly,
they had learned how to exert effort, hone
new skills, and find meaning and purpose
in their work.
At the beginning of the evening, Les’s
endless talk about his long hours and
hard work had been particularly irritating,
but as our conversation continued, he
earnestly reflected on his transformation
from an unfocused adolescent to a dedicated farmer who now shares responsibility for something much larger than
himself.
Although I regret their decision to forgo
the college experience, I have genuine admiration for the resilience of these
young people and for their courageous
ability to navigate their own pathways to
adulthood.
Now, as I approach my retirement from
teaching, I think about these iconoclastic
individuals and reflect on my own career.
I wonder: Did I inadvertently stifle my students’ desires to learn by emphasizing
grades over the sheer joy of learning? Did
I focus on covering the curriculum rather
than encouraging students to dive deeply
into content that held personal meaning
for their futures? Did I misjudge or mislabel students who had not yet found
their passions? Had I turned away when I
could have provided a lifeline—the means
by which high school might have clarified,
widened, and enhanced the journey and
options before them? Food for thought at
this memorable meal.
Barbara C. Goodman is currently the Out
of District Coordinator for Concord Carlisle Regional High School. After 40 years
as a special educator, she will retire in the
fall. Barbara plans to spend part of her
retirement writing about her experiences
in schools. She can be reached at [email protected].
27
{ SPRING 2012 }
Learning Management System (LMS):
The Missing Link and Great Enabler
By John Phillipo and Sarah Krongard
D
uring the 2011 Northeast ASCD Affiliates conference
in Boston, MA, Will Richardson stated in his keynote
presentation that we are now living in an “era of abundance,” where new technologies present unprecedented access to information, content, and data. Knowledge is more
readily available than ever before, not only for students but
also for educators.
After 30+ years of technology use in education, a comprehensive and systemic integration of a multi-dimensional Learning
Management System (LMS), a web-enabled relational data-
base that links curriculum/instruction, instructional resources,
assessment strategies, student data, and staff proficiencies
as illustrated in Figure 1, is now available. A LMS can serve as
the “missing link” that will tie together contemporary education
reforms with effective and creative uses of technology.
Moreover, a LMS is the “great enabler” of many current and future education initiatives, such as personalized learning, learner-centered decision making, and curriculum development
in support of Common Core State Standards. It is also the
tool that will empower teachers to guide and manage student
Technology in Support of Curriculum
Development and Learning Management
Assessment and Growth
(How well?)
Standards and Curriculum
(What?)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Common core standards
State frameworks
Curriculum guides
Courses of study
Content objectives
Process skills
Technology competencies
Learning maps
Instructional Practices
(How?)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Learner Portfolio
(Who?)
•
•
Students
- learning profiles
- growth pattern
- academic progress
Community Members
- teachers
- parents
- senior citizens
- business/industry leaders
Software
Internet web resources
Manipulatives
Multi-media resources
Textbooks
Lesson plans
Field trips
Guest speakers
Virtual learning programs
© Center for Educational Leadership and Technology 2012
State - high stakes
District - benchmark
School - interim
Classroom - performances
- tests
- homework
- quizzes - projects
Home/Student - self-assessment
Correlation to other assessments
(such as SAT, ACT, etc.)
Facilitator Profiles
(By whom?)
•
•
•
•
•
•
Staff proficiencies
- skills
- knowledge
- behavioral attributes
Staff profiles
Staff development programs
Job portfolios
Individual staff development plans
Supervision and evaluation strategies
{ MASCD }
28
achievement more effectively by contextualizing the learning
experience. As we have all known for many years, technology
alone will not transform schools. Rather, technology must be
comprehensively and systemically integrated in order to transform student learning.
About 20 years ago, our colleagues at the Center for Educational Leadership and Technology (CELT) set out to explore
how non-educational organizations approached the missioncritical use of technology. We asked executives from nearly
every unique industry in our country two very simple questions. First, we asked: “Do you have limited technology dollars?” As you can imagine, everyone said “YES.” The second
question was: “How do you prioritize which technology initiatives to fund and support?” Once again, the answer was
simple and straightforward: Determine what business you are
in, and apply your limited technology resources to your core
mission.
• empowering students with the resources necessary to
assume an active role in and accept responsibility for their
educational experiences;
Educational organizations have not yet successfully and comprehensively capitalized upon the unique opportunities afforded by technology and utilized these new tools to transform
teaching, learning, and management. Instead, we, as educators, have continuously used technology to tweak and make
small improvements to our current, old, and outdated system
of teaching and learning. For example, for many years, the
aviation industry tried to improve the operations, efficiency,
and output of the piston-driven engine. They tried using more
cylinders, lengthening the propeller, changing the angles of the
blades, increasing the number of blades, and altering the fuel/
oxygen mixture with only marginal results. It was not until they
conceived of a new approach, known as the jet propulsion/
turbine engine, that they revolutionized the aviation industry.
The same is true about our current system of education in
America. Educators have extracted as much efficiency and
productivity from our current model of education as possible.
A Learning Management System is the “jet engine,” a missioncritical technology application that will revolutionize education/
learning, just as the Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval
System (MEDLAR) has the healthcare industry; Sabre, the database backbone for all reservation systems, has the travel
industry; and Automated Teller Machine (ATM) kiosks have the
banking industry.
Learning organizations need a Learning Management System
that is accessible, easy-to-use, and supports their core mission by:
• enabling community members of all ages to participate
more fully in the learning process through the use of online
tools.
• generating accurate, reliable, and timely information
about student performance to make the education process
visible and personalize learning;
• increasing parental involvement by improving access to
relevant and current information about the student’s educational experience;
• providing staff with the opportunities to work collaboratively and interdependently to bolster cross-curricular communication, enhance productivity, and improve accountability;
• linking staff development programs and supervision/
evaluation activities with student learning and achievement
in a comprehensive, nuanced manner;
• correlating standards to instructional programs and assessment strategies through virtual alignment tools;
• identifying gaps and misalignment in learning programs,
such as adequacy of instructional resources, assessment
items, and/or staff proficiencies, by examining programs;
In recent years, a variety of fragmented systems have been
developed to support various aspects of instruction using student assessment data aligned to performance standards.
These systems are variably referred to as:
Instructional Improvement Systems (IIS)
Learning Management Systems (LMS)
Curriculum Development Systems (CDS)
Content Management Systems (CMS)
Instructional Management Systems (IMS)
Integrated Learning Systems (ILS)
…and many others - a veritable alphabet soup!
The challenge that educators face today is to determine where
and how these systems converge and diverge and therefore
which ones make sense for them to use. Although recent federal legislation (Race to the Top) refers to a LMS as an Instructional Improvement System (IIS), most educators agree
“instruction” is not what we should manage through a technology solution. Rather, educators must focus more systemically
on the main goal: LEARNING and the management thereof.
Adaptive, exploratory, independent, experiential, and many
other forms of effective learning do not require an “instruc-
29
tional” managed approach but rather a comprehensive LMS
framework.
Learners today are immersed in a variety of educational experiences, both formal and informal, that extend beyond the
school day. These experiences are global, collaborative, networked, and dynamic and require facilitators to guide students in navigating an increasingly connected world. A LMS
framework can empower educators, parents, and students by
means of access to information that can alter and shape a student’s learning path. Will Richardson (2011) quoted American
social writer and philosopher, Eric Hoffer, to further illuminate
the importance of cultivating lifelong learners in a time of constant technological innovation: “In times of change, learners
inherit the earth; while the learned find themselves beautifully
equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” We, as
educators, should aim to consistently use technology to inform, support, and propel this learner-centered approach to
education.
Through a LMS, teachers, learning facilitators, instructional
specialists, and aides are able to articulate learning goals,
align content and assessments, and adhere to standards as
they relate to selected curricula and instructional programs.
Instructional resources, such as textbooks, podcasts, webbased apps, videos, e-books, manipulatives, and other instructional resources, can be correlated to specific learning
activities with a description as to the use of such materials.
The learning process is connected and contextual. Teachers
can document, record, and electronically share classroom lessons that have been successful in achieving specific student
outcomes with unique and diverse student needs. The correlation of measurable results to instructional resources shifts
the emphasis away from a curriculum dictated and limited by
the textbook to one encouraging inquiry and the development
of lifelong learning skills.
A LMS provides all members of the learning community with
a comprehensive and secure management system that allows
the bi-directional flow of information on demand. Providing access to data and learning information from the home enhances communications between teachers and parents, thereby
increasing parental involvement. The exchange of data in real
time among the home, classroom, school, state, and federal
government will also dramatically improve the reliability and
validity of data. This widespread use of a LMS can make parents and community members aware of the value of the technology investments that their school board and administrators
are making. It can encourage them to support future initiatives
to implement technology in support of education reform, enhanced learning, and increased student achievement.
The LMS enables educators to create, access, tag, and manage banks of test items, as well as catalog and use other evaluation methodologies (e.g., holistic scoring, teacher observable
{ SPRING 2012 }
assessment, portfolio/authentic assessment, etc.) to assess
and manage desired student competencies. It provides comprehensive profiles of learner performance and growth and
empowers leaders with the resources necessary to manage
their most important and expensive resource—staff. The alignment of staff proficiencies (skills, knowledge, and behavioral
attributes) with learner needs and school improvement plans,
correlated with individualized staff development programs are
essential to high-performing and results-oriented learning organizations.
Without a doubt, a Learning Management System must be the
electronic/bionic heart of any learner-centered decision support system as depicted in Figure 2. A LMS is the “jet engine”
that should drive learning.
Based on feedback from well over 200 focus groups conducted by CELT throughout the country and across all constituent
groups (students, teachers, parents, administrators, school
board members, and community leaders), the five interactive
and interconnected boxes shown in Figures 1 and 2 must be
part of a comprehensive Learning Management System. As
educators, we must refrain from buying what vendors want
to sell and rather define exactly what we need and procure
accordingly. However, implementing a LMS may also require
significant “process” improvements and IT infrastructure upgrades.
In summary, there are hundreds of competing education reforms and thousands of different technology solutions available to us in education. As is the case with service providers
in both healthcare and education, these competing options
are based on limited fiscal resources, such as: (1) longer time
spent with patients/students; (2) number of patients/students
supported, guided, and advised; (3) accurate, easy-to-access,
real-time, and mission-critical information about patients/students; and, (4) greater standardization for diagnostic and prescriptive information. However, when asked if you could only
select one, educators and healthcare providers consistently
chose option 3!
Lastly, most data systems in the U.S. are focused on pulling
data from the home to the classroom, to the school, to the
school district, and then on to the federal government. CELT’s
extensive field work in this area shows that for every $20 we
spend pulling and reporting data, educators spend less than
$1 providing meaningful data to students, teachers, and parents. A comprehensive and systemic LMS will greatly reverse
this trend. Interestingly, for the past 25 to 30 years, learning
organizations have spent millions of dollars buying business
management systems. Now, we need to make a similar, if not
an even greater, investment in a Learning Management System. A Learning Management System, when properly defined,
properly procured, and successfully implemented, will enable
us to use meaningful, real-time data as a flashlight rather than
{ MASCD }
30
A Framework for Transporting Learning Into the 21st Century
INFORMATION SYSTEM
COMPONENTS
MISSION-CRITICAL
DECISION-SUPPORT ENGINE
DIGITAL DASHBOARD
Wireless and Internet Network Communication Infrastructure
Gradebook, Planbook, & Portfolios
Student
Information
System
Financial
Management
System
Learner and Teacher Desktop Tools
Instructional Support Services
(Tutoring, Homework Hotline, etc.)
Facilitator
Profiles
(By whom?)
Document
Storage and
Retrieval
Online Training and Support Services
Education
Portals
Instructional
Practices
(How?)
- Students
- Teachers
- Parents
Learner
Portfolio
(Who?)
Transportation
System
Human
Resource
Management
Assessment
and Growth
(How well?)
Standards/
Curriculum
(What?)
Communication/Collaboration
(School, Home, Community)
Standards/Lesson Plans
$
E-Commerce
Figure 2. LMS Integration Strategy
as a hammer, an approach that has been advocated by the
Data Quality Campaign and others for many years. CELT is
currently a supporting organization of the Shared Learning Collaborative (SLC), an alliance of states, foundations, educators,
content providers, developers, and vendors who are committed to improving and personalizing education through technology in support of the Common Core State Standards. The
SLC is building an integrated and scalable technology solution
that will serve as an “ecosystem” for creating and extending
the usefulness of a Learning Management System. The SLC
will help states, learning organizations, and educators to best
leverage this infrastructure in support of student learning.
Within his book, Education Nation, Milton Chen shares an anecdote about an interaction between an educator from India
and an educator from the United States. The Indian educator
asks, “In America, you test your students a lot, don’t you?”
The America educator states that indeed, the United States
has a national policy that requires testing of all students in certain grades. The Indian educator replies, “Here, when we want
an elephant to grow, we feed the elephant. We don’t weigh the
elephant.” (Chen, 2010). A Learning Management System can
contextualize the educational experience and provide educators with a vehicle to achieve this necessary balance amongst
teaching, learning, and growth. Now is the time for real and
meaningful change in education through this mission-critical
technology application.
For additional information on Learning Management Systems
or for specific use of case studies regarding the ways in which
this conceptual framework supports learning, please contact
the Center for Educational Leadership and Technology at www.
celtcorp.com.
John R. Phillipo is Founder and Executive Director of the
Center for Educational Leadership and Technology (CELT). 31
He is nationally and internationally recognized as a resource
consultant for learning organizations on issues related to architecting and implementing a “digital” infrastructure in support of
contemporary teaching, learning, and management. Dr. Phillipo is a former science/math teacher and school administrator.
He completed his doctoral degree in the area of administration, planning, and social policy at Harvard Graduate School of
Education. John can be reached at [email protected].
Sarah L. Krongard is an Education Program Manager at the
Center for Educational Leadership and Technology (CELT).
Prior to CELT, Sarah was a Teaching Fellow and Research Assistant at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE),
exploring the power of networked learning. She is a graduate
of Wellesley College and received her Master’s degree in Technology, Innovation, and Education from HGSE. Sarah served
{ SPRING 2012 }
on the Community Service Learning Advisory Council to the MA
Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and has
been a member of the MASCD Board of Directors since 2009.
References:
Chen, M. (2010). Education nation: Six leading edges of
innovation in our schools. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Goldberg, M., Jay, M., and Wujcik, A. (2011). State of the
k12 market 2010: Educational technologies. Shelton, CT:
Market Data Retrieval.
Richardson, W. (2011). Learning in a networked world: For
our students and for ourselves. Presented at the Northeast
Affiliates ASCD Conference. Boston, MA.
Write for Perspectives
Fall 2012: Redefining Literacy in the 21st Century: Books, Bytes, and Brainpower
Today’s students must be skilled in reading, writing, mathematics, the sciences, technology, global cultures, and the arts.
As tomorrow’s adults, they will be expected to develop skills and habits of mind that enable them to proficiently access
and evaluate information across all media, and to generate creative ideas, plan, collaborate, and produce quality work.
Share your knowledge, research, or experience in developing or implementing any of the 21st century literacies.
Your personal, practical, and pedagogical understanding of these topics can inspire our readers
to think reflectively about how to improve student learning and educational outcomes.
To submit proposals or learn more, contact MASCD Director of Publications,
[email protected], or view Publications at www.mascd.org.
This issue of Massachusetts ASCD Perspectives was co-edited by Ginny Caruso, Director of Publications, and Isa Zimmerman. Special thanks to Ann Magyar for coordinating
“Listening to Student Voices” and to David Ng for his assistance with graphic illustrations.
Massachusetts ASCD thanks the members of its Editorial Board for their leadership and
ongoing contributions to the quality of our publications.
MASCD Editorial Board:
Ginny Caruso,
Director of Publications
Julie Elkan
Lyn LeGendre
Ann Magyar
David Ng
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Board of Directors [ 2011 - 2012 ]
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Andre Ravenelle
Recording
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