TEDx Burnsville Video Released - Real World Ready

The long-awaited TEDx Burnsville videos have been released and I'm excited to share mine below.

Please watch why I believe we need to start recognizing that our students learn differently than most of their teachers did and that traditional classrooms must change in order to retain our students' interest and develop their academic skills.

The amount of screen time that our students devote to their interests and hobbies online could impact their academic learning if schools tapped into using more digital resources and online delivery formats that could extend the school day beyond the classroom walls and typical school day bells.

The amount of technology from previous generations still being used in our schools today seemed to hit home with the audience as a humorous walk down the path of instructional technology used during my K-12 educational years. If you missed an earlier blog post I wrote about some of the inspirations for my TEDx Talk, it's worth noting that the idea for sharing the timeline of educational technology was spurred by this 2011 Edudemic article by Jeff Dunn on the "Evolution of Classroom Technology" and has been a topic that I have poked fun at in some of my previous ISTE presentations over the years.

A popular flat icon graphic from my presentation was the depiction below created by my amazing colleague David Freeburg based on an Apple presentation showing the timeline of our current students' lives and the immersive availability of technology that has developed throughout their short lifetimes.

Image Credit: David Freeburg

I would be remiss if I also did not give credit to another of my talented colleagues, Lee Vang, whose images below not only demonstrate her eye for layout and skill with Photoshop, but also represent visuals for two of the primary initiatives in my school district that the department I am working in supports.

Image Credit: Lee Vang

I hope that watching my TEDx video inspires other educators to see the need for change in the classroom to better engage our students today.

Teach100 Blog

Today I received the Twitter notification that my blog is now a Teach100 Blog.

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I'm hoping that this will not only help me to build my network connections with other educators but that it will also help motivate me to build in time on a regular weekly basis to keep up with reflections and sharing information on my blog. My efforts to keep up a daily blog entry as part of #BlogJune were challenging and my goal of blogging once a week since then has also been a goal that has been difficult to meet on a regular basis.

I think that being a connected educator prompts us all to push ourselves to find time to share resources, ideas, and questions and to be more reflective ourselves, which results in self-improvement.

In honor of Connected Educator month, I'm renewing my goal to blog on a weekly basis every weekend. Let's see how I do in terms of keeping up!

K12 Online Conference Session Video Released - How Schools Are Preparing Students To Be Real World Ready

The K12 Online Conference is taking place over the next two weeks. The conference theme this year is "Igniting Innovation."

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My K12 Online Conference session this morning was about "How Schools Are Preparing Students To Be Real World Ready."










My session video is embedded below:

K12 Online Conference - How Schools Are Preparing Students To Be Real World Ready

Learning Spaces Redesign Completed

Today Galtier Community School opened its doors to the community and Target to unveil the newly transformed Exploratorium space and the dramatically different classroom learning spaces, which are composed of shared spaces, interactive projectors, new seating and working arrangements, and glass walls.

It will be interesting to follow-up with the staff this year to see how not only the learning spaces but the instruction changes due to the open, shared classroom concept.

TEDxBurnsvilleED Only One Week Away

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With only a little over a week to go until my TED Talk, I'm rehearsing constantly in preparation for my time on the stage at the Minnesota History Center.

I'm looking forward to hearing the other speakers and am humbled to have been chosen for such an honor. I'm also excited to share some of the same concepts that have been driving the work in my district to empower students and to ensure that we are providing the access to devices and other technology that they need in order to be well-prepared for life and studies after leaving my school district.

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In my opinion, it's imperative that we as educators are providing the access to devices and support needed for how to use them for educational purposes in order to ensure that all of our students are real world ready and can navigate through life after high school and be successful, no matter where that path may lead them.

The Evolution of Technology & Visionary Thinkers

I'm wondering if science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke would ever have dreamt of the evolution of computers from giant room-engulfing, punch card monsters to the elegant wrist watch-sized model just released by Apple when he was interviewed by ABC News for the One Day A Computer Will Fit On A Desk video in 1974.

The video below may be restricted from playing here in the blog due to ABC News. If the video does not play, you can click on the link in the player below to watch the video on YouTube's website.

It's funny how most things that are technology-related have consistently shrunk over the years both in terms of expense to manufacture as well as the physical size of the device. On the other hand, automobiles range from the tiny, ultra compact Smart Cars to gargantuan SUVs, with relative size indicating prestige and quality for the larger size vehicles.

It's interesting how mankind has evolved technologically buy yet still equates luxury and status with excessively large vehicles which are not overly friendly for the environment. Maybe Apple should be working on a driverless car instead of Google. Combining Apple's classic sense of style with their advanced technological engineering could only result in an amazing set of electric-powered vehicles differentiated to meet both the performance and economic needs of consumers. Of course, it would probably be highly likely that each car model would require a different cable to charge, thus requiring multi-vehicle families to purchase additional Apple cables.