President Obama • May 2010 Commencement Address • Hampton University, Virginia I think it may be very hard (some say impossible) to teach ethics and values. Perhaps if we were to see more classrooms leveraging Web 2.0 and Social Networking technologies as learning tools; perhaps if more of our teachers were able to share how they themselves were networked, lifelong learners; perhaps then this issue of the distracted, networked learner would be alleviated and the double edged sword of technology would reap great benefits. Disciplined networking and informed/evaluated access to others is what will determine the character of the 24/7 media environment that our President has referred to.]]>gshupe@mac.comPolicy2010-07-08T11:28:07-04:00http://www.shupester.com/files/NASA_Directors_Goals.php#unique-entry-id-33http://www.shupester.com/files/NASA_Directors_Goals.php#unique-entry-id-33“”and third, and perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations, to help them feel good about their historic contributions to science, math and engineering.””

NASA Director Charles Bolden So that leaves me to comment on the third goal. Yes, our numaric system is Aramaic. But should our once proud Space Exploration Agency hold up it’s foremost goal to “make them (Muslims) feel good about their historic contributions to science, math and engineering”??!! ...Talk about taking your eye off the ball! The agency that was once the embodiment of the modern American pioneering spirit, the international expert of technological innovation and application, the epitome of scientific endeavor now (under President Obama’s mandate) has as it’s foremost goal to try and make Muslims feel good about their contributions... I did listen to the rest of the interview, but honestly feel a great deal of cynicsm based on the opening statements. I would probably not have been as upset if even one of the 3 goals that Director Bolden had provided had something to do with the United States showing some immediate leadership in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math (STEM) instead of just trying to make people feel good. How different this President is compared to the President that kicked off this national endeavor... “The exploration of space will go ahead, whether we join in it or not, and it is one of the great adventures of all time, and no nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in this race for space. ...Those who came before us made certain that this country rode the first waves of the industrial revolution, the first waves of modern invention, and the first wave of nuclear power, and this generation does not intend to founder in the backwash of the coming age of space. We mean to be a part of it--we mean to lead it. For the eyes of the world now look into space, to the moon and to the planets beyond, and we have vowed that we shall not see it governed by a hostile flag of conquest, but by a banner of freedom and peace. We have vowed that we shall not see space filled with weapons of mass destruction, but with instruments of knowledge and understanding. ...Yet the vows of this Nation can only be fulfilled if we in this Nation are first, and, therefore, we intend to be first. In short, our leadership in science and industry, our hopes for peace and security, our obligations to ourselves as well as others, all require us to make this effort, to solve these mysteries, to solve them for the good of all men, and to become the world's leading space-faring nation.”

“We Choose to Go to the Moon”
President John F. ...What do you think? (comment system requires the browser to have Javascript turned on).]]>gshupe@mac.comStaying Current2010-07-04T14:20:13-04:00http://www.shupester.com/files/mobile_devices_class-act.php#unique-entry-id-32http://www.shupester.com/files/mobile_devices_class-act.php#unique-entry-id-32“2. We are have some pretty big decisions looming on how we are going to handle an influx of personal mobile computing devices into our society. With the ipad, new iphone, android devices in both phone and tablet forms arriving, and the continued growth and popularity of netbooks, there are a lot more discussions of how we are going to respond to this trend as schools. These conversations center around network infrastructure, policy, instructional strategies, and preparing teachers for this change.”

credit: Henry Thiele This was also major focus of my thoughts as I had just delivered the first iPad in Education workshop for Apple Professional Development and had participated in ISTE’s Leadership Bootcamp right before the general conference. It is another question that grows out of economics and the mandate placed on adult educators to manage the student’s learning experiences. ◦ It is difficult (particularly given today’s economic conditions) to pay for every student to have their own laptop. ◦ More and more students have portable devices that have more computing power than the systems that sent men to the moon. ◦ If this is what the students already have for learning and communicating devices, doesn’t it make sense to build on existing skills? ...It is hard to argue with the above... but taking the position of the average educator in the classroom (in spite of the fact we expect them to all be extraordinary)– ◦ If we rely on student/family provided technology, educators will no longer be an agent of leveling educational advantages- we will be amplifying the technology gap. ◦ We will not have consistent, or even similar technologies to engage the students with in our activities. In a very pluralistic society, how many different types of cell phones would you expect to see in a class of 25 students? ... Different service plans, ie: how many students have limited vs. unlimited texting? Can you imagine the average teacher having to navigate these waters? ... ◦ Processor power aside, many of these devices are at their core very specialized devices- meant primarily for allowing people to remain connected and informed of and by specific types of content. Even though the iPad’s touch keyboard is very good and nearly the same size as a laptop keyboard, a touch typist like myself cannot be as efficient composing an essay and formatting a term paper. Doing this on an iPod touch is like choosing a toothpick to dig a well with–it is the antithesis of choosing the right tool for the job. ◦ If we are relying on parent purchased / student owned hardware, not only are there issues with hardware consistencies / equalities, but software required for specialized activities such as concept (mind) mapping, video editing / conversion, etc. become impossible to manage. We have had a taste of this already with the average teachers getting frustrated over versions of software and interchangeability between file formats and installed fonts. ◦ Not only are these devices owned by individuals (not enterprises), but they are designed for use and management by individuals– so even if the students/parents were to provide “administrative” access to these devices- most of them do not permit or have the tools that enterprises are used to having for management/troubleshooting, etc. ◦ Finally, there is the reality of malware, theft, and physical damage that occurs to these devices while the students are under our supervision. If they voluntarily bring them to school there is still a limited level of liability– but if they are required or compelled to bring them to school we have just increased the school’s liability considerably. One might argue that these are real world problems that students will encounter in the workplace and as adults, but even as an educational technology advocate, I think we need to be fair in our expectations of the teachers, administrators as well as what we are asking of our institutions. ]]>gshupe@mac.comBranding2010-05-14T15:23:24-04:00http://www.shupester.com/files/690e4e882194f6245e2df8d377bec70b-31.php#unique-entry-id-31http://www.shupester.com/files/690e4e882194f6245e2df8d377bec70b-31.php#unique-entry-id-31“What is the one thing that makes our school system different from every other school in the world? ”

They couldn’t come up with anything significant. Maybe it was just the fact that I was born in Melbourne Hospital, the son of a space engineer who had begun working on the SpaceCoast in the early 1950’s. The first thing that leaps to my mind was that WE WERE THE SPACECOAST! And I got to stay up late to see Neil Armstrong on the moon. or Maybe as a nation we have had so many things that our media tells us we should be ashamed of, that we have forgotten what we should be proud of. or Maybe our entertainment / virtual reality movies, games, tv shows have become so good that we have lost a sense of being amazed when solid rocket boosters hurl living beings several hundred miles above the earth. or Our sense of adventure in space was seared by the last two shuttle accidents. or The many benefits of Space Exploration and the inventions of space related-technologies (velcro, metal alloys used in sporting events, insulating blankets, etc.) have virtual no popular association with the Space Program. or Our culture’s heros have changed. We no longer honor our astronauts as explorers and hero’s, we only see them in the news when they are part of a scandalous love triangle. I don’t really know what it is... or maybe it is all of those reasons and more. All I know is that the students never identified the brand of their school with the location of being on the SpaceCoast. And now we are down to a very uncertain future as the SpaceCoast. Two more launches of the Space Shuttle are scheduled and there is no manned launch program in the plans. In fact, the once proud US of A is going to rent seats on a Russian space craft whenever have a need to get to the Space Station or the Hubble. What seemed like a futuristic, high tech name for a blog has become a historical reference of antiquity. Maybe I need to reexamine my brand... Ed Tech Thoughts from the Spacecoast]]>gshupe@mac.comPolicy2010-05-11T21:33:09-04:00http://www.shupester.com/files/26d9b4f03b785e8922c775a422a696af-30.php#unique-entry-id-30http://www.shupester.com/files/26d9b4f03b785e8922c775a422a696af-30.php#unique-entry-id-30“GREAT NEWS!!
 After years of effort the Florida Legislature has passed landmark legislation allowing traditional textbook dollars to be used for innovation and technology in the classroom!   Tremendous thanks go to the hundreds and hundreds of supporters in and beyond the Sunshine State to make this happen.   However, the legislation won't become law unless Florida Governor Charlie Crist approves it, and that remains uncertain at best. ...We have until Friday, May 14 to make the case to Gov. Crist, so act now on behalf of students everywhere who will reap the benefits of this landmark bill.”
  I am sure than many who read this blog already realize this, but for many decades, the textbook industry has fought furiously through their lobbyists to maintain their exclusive budget line in the state education budgets of the nation. Our world has changed tremendously since the internet revolution began just over 16 years ago... it it time that our classrooms changed as well. I am proud that a friend, State Senator Thad Altman from Melbourne, Florida introduced this bill. Now it is our turn to let the governor know how important this is! Please consider emailing our governor in support of this bill, we need his signature! ...The Honorable Charlie Crist Governor, State of Florida ...Here is the letter I sent: ...I am a native Floridian and a career educator (28 years) in Florida's public schools and private college system. I have been nationally recognized as an educator several times and enjoy the privilege of traveling around our nation providing professional development for educators when I am not in the classroom in Melbourne, FL. First I want to thank you for your veto of the SB6 last month. It was very gratifying see our state governor was willing to apply common sense to a very complicated issue. I was glad to hear that you recognized that there is a real problem, but the solution is not as simple as that bill made it seem. Now I would like to call on you to provide school systems with the flexibility to move on to keep up the modern world with respect to learning tools. For years, our state and others, have been held financially hostage to state textbook adoption budgets, purchasing books that were outdated the day they were printed. With changes brought on largely by computer technology, our world is changing in many respects faster than new textbooks can be authored, typeset and printed, much less adopted, purchased, shipped and distributed. I wouldn't suggest that textbooks are obsolete, or that there is no place for printed resources in our schools, but they no longer are the only way or always the best way to communicate and teach our children. eBooks can be instantly updated over the internet and they can contain multimedia such as 3D objects and movies as well as interactive exercises and self-grading quizzes and tests. The fact is our schools have often felt obligated to purchase books that were really not needed since the previous adoption was in good shape. They felt obligated to purchase books because if they didn't, they would lose that money that was solely budgeted for textbook purchases. This is poor stewardship. Please give your approval to CS/HB 5101which contains a proposal that will allow districts the flexibility to spend a portion of their educational materials budget to purchase technology for delivering digital content for classroom instruction. This legislation will help establish Florida as a progressive, forward-thinking, fiscally responsible state that recognizes that the world is changing–  and the way that we prepare our students for their future is changing as well. ]]>gshupe@mac.comPersonal Reflections2010-05-09T13:28:21-04:00http://www.shupester.com/files/ipadbummer.php#unique-entry-id-29http://www.shupester.com/files/ipadbummer.php#unique-entry-id-29gshupe@mac.comTechnology IntegrationComputer Skills2010-03-21T10:05:19-04:00http://www.shupester.com/files/7e3564418ed6c519dbb32e240e7dbe84-28.php#unique-entry-id-28http://www.shupester.com/files/7e3564418ed6c519dbb32e240e7dbe84-28.php#unique-entry-id-28gshupe@mac.comComputer SkillsTechnology Integration2010-02-01T20:22:31-05:00http://www.shupester.com/files/tech_integration_survey.php#unique-entry-id-27http://www.shupester.com/files/tech_integration_survey.php#unique-entry-id-27Web 2.0 defined as participating in social networks like Facebook, Twitter, etc. commenting, rating, tagging, shared collections of bookmarks, photos, videos, or blogs. 21st Century Skills would include such things as online text, audio and video conferencing and collaboration, a use and ability to edit digtital files such as video, photo or audio files. Standard computer skills include page layout, presentation design, use of spreadsheets and databases. ✓ The number of respondents over the 10 day period was only 124.

✓ The data collected reflects an opinion of an individual, as opposed to an objective measure of each school. So I really feel this type of survey might be useful to think about our teacher and student’s experience in terms of a generalized trend. almost 20% of the respondents were from schools where each student was issued a computer ...This survey was promoted primarily through Twitter followers many of whom were at the higher end of tech savvy educators. This was a mixed blessing– these survey respondents were probably better suited to answer these questions from an educated view point than (for example) a random parent who has limited direct experience with all the teachers at a given institution.
However, it also meant that almost 20% of the respondents were from schools where each student was issued a computer- a much higher ratio of technology per student than the national or international average. One would expect that teachers were teaching at a much higher level of technology integration in such a setting! ✓ It was pointed out to me (by a parent) that I had not included 0% in my scale for a possible answer. (What can I say?– I am an optimist and generally try and promote my profession:-)) ... 21 respondents were from countries other than the United States (leading the pack were 4 from both Canada and the United Kingdom and 3 from Australia) ...Almost exactly 1/4 of the school respondents were from private schools. ...I suspected that more teachers are personally using technology, and was pleased to see that 35% of the schools felt that at least half of the teachers were personally using technology extensively. On the other hand, one wonders how schools that have only 10% of their teachers personally using technology are going lead their student population into the new decade. ...The Real Question- How much of this Technology is Reaching the Students?!! Next we have something of an answer to the real important question, because it is the students that matter. Is the opportunity to learn with technology reaching the students? When you look at this as a chance that one child will receive technology infused instruction, it is much better than I thought– but there is still a long way to go. Almost a third of the schools provide only one chance out of 10 to receive this experience. My next step is to isolate the responses from the Standard schools, I predict that the 1:1 schools have pushed the integration numbers up considerably. I think looking at the Standard schools will betray much lower technology integration in the average classroom. ]]>gshupe@mac.comBranding2010-01-17T15:20:06-05:00http://www.shupester.com/files/amplifier.php#unique-entry-id-26http://www.shupester.com/files/amplifier.php#unique-entry-id-26At the Apple Distinguished Educator Summer Institute last summer, we were challenged to “Create Your Own Brand - the Brand of You”. Now in some ways this may sound egotistical and self-indulgent, but it certainly can be a useful exercise to consider who we are, what are our talents, our experiences and what we have to offer others. It helps us grow to think about what we are good at and what we can get better at, what brings us job satisfaction, what we can be passionate about. “For I say, through the grace that was given me, to every man who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think reasonably, as God has apportioned to each person a measure of faith.”