Perhaps a great segue to highlight some recent notable events such as the ECOO Google Summit hosted in Waterloo. The event attracted more than 500 education leaders, showing the momentum that Google has in education. It was very cool to see that Wendy Gorton, a fellow Pepperdine U EdTech Masters alum and a Google educator guru, presented at the summit. Kudos to ECOO prez Bill McKenzem, ECOO board member and Waterloo DSB CIO Mark Carbone, and the rest of the team for a successful event! See you at Connect 2013.

C21 Canada board member, Sandi Urban-Hall, president of the Canadian School Board Association was honoured at the recent C21 Board meeting with C21 Medallion as she completes her term as president of the CSBA. You will be missed Sandi! Thanks for your valued contributions to the C21 Board.

MSL recently hosted a small gathering of education associates to celebrate Marty Keast’s retirement as president of Pearson Canada School Division recently. A memorable evening for Marty, who will remain as a valued MLS Report advisory board member. I know Marty is looking forward to reactivating his consulting practice, Forever Learning. Pictured (L-R): Back row: Bill Hogarth, president, ERDI Canada, Tim Gard, TDSB; Robert Martellacci, MSL; Front Row: Dr. Ron Owston, Dean, York University Faculty of Education; Marty Keast.

As vice-chair of CeLEA, I’m excited about our upcoming AGM. CeLEA Chair, Claude Martel will be presenting: Catching Up With Estonia: CeLEA AGM Highlights Lag in Canadian interactive education. Interactive education CeLEA AGM adds digital learning power to “Seven Habits of Highly Intelligent Communities” SUMMIT, Toronto, June 3-4. Thanks to Gary Stairs, CeLEA board member for his leadership in coordinating our efforts!

This just in…. Dino Miele, CIO, DSBN shared a new DSBN student created song, “Sky’s the Limit” which is most inspiring!

Until next time, walk the digital talk!

RM.

A MindShare Learning Moment with Devon Caldwell, Kindergarten Teacher at Oak Lake Community School, Manitoba. We’re catching up with Mrs. Caldwell, the 2010-11 Central Region Video Contest winner!

As I mentioned in my previous blog post , I had the privilege of presenting at the On the Rise K-12 Digital Learning Conference last week. I focused on the following points in my presentation:

A vision of our Students
The culture in classrooms, schools, and Boards
Understanding learning differently
Grappling with 21st century skills and implementation issues
Innovation, Improvement and Creativity

In this post I would like to discuss learning and 21st century skills. I will leave my reflections on innovation, improvement and creativity to my next post.

If I ask most people to think about their experience of learning in schools, they tell me about sitting in rows, working quietly at their desks while the teacher was directing things from the front of the room. When I probe further, and ask them about what they remember from school, they will often speak about friends they made or activities they engaged in more then their learning experiences. When I ask them what they created in school, or what they invented many will offer me a strange look or even start to laugh. The learning these former students remember should be very different compared to what our present students would say….but would our present students be able to share different reflections?

I notice how angry or frustrated some parents will sometimes become if their child does not have a textbook. Even if we provide the student access to technology and digital resources, some parents do not believe it is really school unless their child, our student, has a textbook, reads the chapters and answers the questions. Though there is nothing inherently wrong with a textbook, I am using this example to indicate how resources should not be the focus in the classroom; rather, learning is the focus and the tools and resources we use must intentionally support student learning. ….which is driven by the student!

We speak often about differentiated instruction and personalized learning. In fact, I believe that most educators could explain what these concepts are, and yet, we do not always see evidence of this type of instruction and learning in action. There are many reasons for this, and I would suggest that a primary reason is that differentiated instruction and personalized learning are hard to implement. The good news is that educators are usually willing to accept challenges!

The Calgary Board of Education has been focusing on personalized learning over the last number of years. They define this concept as “a highly intentional and responsive learning experience that attends to each student’s learning so that all students can participate, progress, and achieve.” If students are listening to the same lecture, reading the same chapter from the text, engaging in the same learning task or participating in the same discussion, how can we be sure that we are providing a “highly intentional and responsive learning experience”? How are our student’s taking the lead in their learning? Where is their voice in terms of making choices about their learning, exploring problems they wish to solve, and creating new concepts and ideas individually and collaboratively ?

Personalized learning lends itself to our students’ achievement in what we have been calling 21st century skills. ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) defines these skills as creativity and innovation, communication and collaboration, research and information, critical thinking, digital citizenship and technology operations.

Students need resources and tools to engage in personalized learning, supporting achievement in the skills outlined above. Further, achievement in these skills will look different then the type of achievement that we can measure through most tests and exams! In HWDSB we are exploring digital conversion, bring your own device, and 1 to 1 technology programs. We are also in the process of making all of our learning spaces wireless. Though digital resources and technological tools are important, we know that teaching and learning are the focus. Dr. Mark Edwards, Superintendent from Mooresville NC taught me this most recently at a conference when he said “we believe that relevant, personalized, collaborative and connected learning experiences drive effective teaching and student engagement, which in turn drives student achievement. Our digital conversion has taken this to an entirely new level”. If we wish to move to a new level, we will need to let go of some of the things that are familiar to adults in order to embrace those tools and resources that are more familiar to our students.

Our learning environments will need to change, and our students will take the lead. Digital resources will open up our students’ world beyond any one author’s reflections and our students will be taught how to meet their own learning needs in the context of clearly defined parameters. The teacher’s role remains exceptionally important. The teacher provides direct instruction at times, facilitates learning at other times, offers insight and advice but most importantly, the teacher provides the parameters in which students will work and as Michael Fullan states in his book “Stratosphere” teachers are “activators” of learning. And within these parameters which are wide enough for student exploration but still defined enough so that students consolidate their learning, great things can happen.

Read more of the Director’s Blog

What to expect at Connect 2013! A video chat with Dino Miele, Chief Information Officer for District School Board of Niagara

Dear Thought Leader,

We’re thrilled to share this month’s Top 10 news stories!  With less than three weeks until Connect 2013, I encourage you check out my video chat with Dino Miele, CIO, District School Board of Niagara, to gain insight into what the Connect 2013 experience holds for you.  As a proud founding partner of Canada’s first ever Learning & Technology K20 conference, May 6-7, Niagara Falls Canada, we hope you take advantage of this amazing professional learning opportunity! Don’t delay as the early bird registration ends today!

One of the highlights of Connect 2013 will be a live webinar — “K12 CIO Webinar: How New Technology Choices are Impacting BYOD and 1:1 Deployments.” Click here to register for the online webinar.

As always, we appreciate receiving your news tips and insights on the latest happenings in the Canadian EdTech space. See you in Niagara!

Until next time, keep the learning curve steep!

Robert Martellacci, M.A. EdTech
President & Publisher
MindShare Learning

1. Feature Interview with Susanne Lajoie, Professor at McGill University

MindShare Learning gets a first-hand look at the $2.5 million grant received by Susanne Lajoie for developing and assessing teaching tools for the techie generation! Click here to listen.

2. A review for ‘The Leader’s Guide to 21st Century Education’

Take a look here  for a review by Tim Gard on ’The Leader’s Guide to 21st Century Education’ – 7 Steps for Schools and Districts by Ken Kay & Valerie Greenhill.

3. Hillsborough County Public Schools Selects Edsby Gradebook for District-Wide Deployment

Hillsborough County Public Schools select the Edsby gradebook and social learning platform to provide a district-wide modernization of tools used by teachers to track and share grades, assignments, and class-related information with students and parents. Read more here!

4. Connect 2013

Join us at CONNECT 2013 - Canada’s First National Learning & Technology Conference in iconic Niagara Falls. MindShare Learning is proud to partner with DSBN and Brock University’s Faculty of Education to host this unique event geared to K12 and post-secondary educators. Register today!

5. MindShare Musings – The Connectors, Leaders, and People on the Move

Take a look at notable innovators and educators transcending and changing the directions in their career and life paths in our MindShare Musings.

 6. Big Ideas at SXSWEdu with Joseph Wilson- MaRs

Joseph Wilson speaks with big ideas at SXSWEdu (http://sxswedu.com/), one of the largest education conferences in the world. Read more here.

7. Device Conundrum

A look at the further developing concept of schools and districts beginning to re-think pedagogy and learning environments by instituting either 1:1 device programs or Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) initiatives.

8. C21- ‘Shifting Minds: A Vision and Framework for 21st Century Learning in Canada’

Shifting Minds is a national vision and framework for 21st century models of learning in Canada. Global leaders in education and other sectors of society have identified a number of competencies and skills that are now critical for personal and societal success in the knowledge and digital era.

9. Bringing Space into the Classroom

To celebrate Chris Hadfield’s mission to the International Space Station (ISS) and to interest youth in relevant topics related to his mission, Let’s Talk Science has launched a unique collaboration with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) entitled Project Sky Science.

10. Introducing the SMART Room System™ for Microsoft® Lync®

SMART worked directly with Microsoft to develop the turnkey solution for meeting rooms that simplifies the collaboration experience for both virtual and face-to-face participants and provides seamless online collaboration through sharing of real- time video, voice and data.

Register at www.connect2013.ca

Over the past decade we have witnessed various incarnations of what 21^st century education should like in practice, or at least what various organizations and theorists think it should look like. The evolution of thought over the decade has now produced some more mature, and I believe more cogent thought about what should be happening with regards to this topic, and perhaps more importantly, how leaders can move their districts and schools into this new age of teaching and learning. You cannot dismiss Ken Kay and Valerie Greenhill for their insights on this topic because they’ve lived it. Ken is a co-founder of Partnerships for 21^st Century Skills (P21) and Valerie a former Director of Strategic Initiatives for the same organization, an organization that is now a decade old.  They are well versed in the attempts, failures and successes of the 21^st century movement and the requisite attempts at transforming our misaligned education systems into new, contemporary ones that create citizens ready to engage the brave new world that continues to change at break-neck speeds.

The book is an excellent resource in many different ways. Not only does the reader get a bird’s eye view of what has come before through the eyes of experience practitioners of 21^st Century  leadership but also numerous pragmatic documents, rubrics and insights on what needs to be done in order to move your school or district forward in the herculean task of transforming public education from the inside out. It’s not overstated if one referred to this kind of task as ‘the grand synergy’; a synergy guided by leaders with vision, character and passion for all that needs to take place to ensure that education systems of today are rightly empowered and focused on what needs to happen. It’s no easy task. Thankfully, the authors don’t suppose that it is and write accordingly.

This book is relatively short and so should be read by everyone and anyone even thinking about taking this grand adventure. There you have it. I said it before I even finished writing this review. Go and read it. No, you won’t agree with every little nuance of this overview, but you’ll come away better prepared to lead your school or district forward into the great change – the great transformation. In fact, as noted by the authors in a number of places, not every situation or context is the same and so not every piece of this work is necessarily applicable as they’ve related it.

The sub-title of this book talks about 7 steps. That’s not completely accurate because these 7 steps must be filtered through another ‘organizing principle’ called the 4Cs. Before I give a brief overview of the 7 steps let me talk about these 4Cs. The 4Cs are the 4 essential skills that will help drive a system-wide transformation. Interestingly, they are very much like the 6Cs that Michael Fullan outlined in his recent publication, Great to Excellent: Launching the Next Stage of Ontario’s Education Agenda. The exception obviously is that in Fullan’s overview he adds 2 other skills that, in my view, are necessary and would make a great addition to this work. These 4Cs are not surprising. They are re-counted and covered just about everywhere today in modern theories of education, sometimes clearly and other times not so clearly. The 4Cs are the most essential skills. There are of course other ones, and Kay even mentions that at one point in their Framework for 21^st Century Learning work they identified 18 different skills. How does one even begin to implement 18 different skills? Well, you can’t, or at least you can’t with any modicum of success.

The 4Cs are critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. Compare them with Fullan’s wheel of 6Cs where he lists them this way under the heading, Student, Society Well-Being (in order from 1 to 6): character education, citizenship, communication, critical thinking & problem solving, collaboration and creativity & imagination. The 4Cs are the sine qua non of all skills. They are the skills that are the key filters, if you like, for moving forward because without them and without a clear way to evaluate them – something that they hope to do over time – then the system gets entangled in the less important and the trees of this forest are missed. Educators around the world would agree that these skills are the essential ones. I would however agree that Fullan’s 6Cs are fuller and perhaps more mature. That could be argued of course but as I continue to move in the circles of this society I am convinced that character education and citizenship are also definite building blocks. But are they skills? Something to write about another time.

The 7 steps that Kay and Greenhill delineate are from beginning to end: Adopt Your Vision; Create a Community Consensus; Align Your System; Build Professional Capacity; Focus Your Curriculum and Assessment; Support Your Teachers; and Improve and Innovate.  As I read through the various chapters on each of the above steps I was in agreement many times with what the authors referenced and the way they presented the material. The steps are not new; you can find these steps in various incarnations in systems of change and in the business world as well. The authors however give the steps context in education. You can read about various districts in the US where they have attempted to work out and work through these steps and you can gather the wisdom from education leaders who have made every attempt to implement these steps.

The first 2 steps are meant as contextual. By this I mean that each district or school will create their own vision and develop their own community consensus because their own context is unique to them. Your own adoption of this model for creating a 21^st Century model of education will be unique because no two contexts are the same. Goodness knows that the time is ripe for developing a fresh vision in education. If you’re currently working in a school or district you know how difficult it is to move forward without developing a vision and to build consensus around that vision. And I think that for districts implementing these steps they’re going to have to de-centralize the way this vision is worked out so that individual schools can take ownership and create consensus in a way that makes sense for them. The old winds of change in education belie the old adage – there’s nothing new in this movement or change, or why should I change something when it’s coming from the top down? Teachers are tired of being told how to be visionaries because they need to be empowered by a different kind of leadership; a leadership that is often spoken about but rarely practiced, at least in real terms and in real ways. It’s called servant leadership. If you want to create a vision, be a visionary who lives with your feet on the ground, and perhaps more succinctly, with your feet on the ground next to the practitioners.

The authors believe that to create vision we must be aware of the change going on around us. Ipso facto, the world is changing and changing quickly. How do we develop a vision that embraces a 21^st Century education for a 21^st century world? How do you want to work out the necessary imperative – change or become irrelevant? I like that the authors also believe that the 4Cs should also be worked out at the leadership level and by the implementers of said change. How true! How often do we live what we teach, and preach? Your vision should also include ways in which your leadership team and teachers practice critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity at the highest levels.

Building and creating community consensus is a difficult task. It builds on the first step – which I’ve already touched on – in that if you want to take your vision to the next step you need to ensure that your team is stepping with you. This doesn’t mean that you coerce your team to follow your vision. Community by definition means that there is common ownership. It doesn’t mean you always agree on everything but it does mean that  you work together to work out the vision for the greater community, and in this case it means the students who are dependent on a powerful and relevant 21^st century education. Again, the authors do not simply talk about this step. They provide you with examples and even resources to help your build consensus right across the broader community – students, business leaders, and community groups included.

The 3^rd step is something that Ontario has been working on for a great long while, or so it seems. Kay and Greenhill believe that aligning your system is a necessary corollary from the first 2 steps. In fact, they argue that if you get the first 2 steps right you may very well realize that your system is terribly misaligned. And in order to find out how misaligned – or aligned, to be more positive – your system is you should take stock, so to speak. They reference a tool that called the MILE Guide which is freely available for download. They spend some time talking about how to use this tool to help schools and districts assess where their system is and how to develop an alignment strategy in order to move forward. The tool in itself is a powerful resource and well worth reading through and gathering the wisdom from work that has and is going on even now in various districts and schools around the US. Moreover, the MILE resource includes links to other resources that are worth perusing as well.

Fullan would argue that professional capacity is the capstone of Ontario’s renewed vision over the last 8 years. And further Ontario is now ready to incorporate new and innovative ways to further enhance our educational system so that it matures into excellence. One could argue with some of this hubris. I’m not sure that it’s as deep as he would suppose. Again, another piece of writing for another time. The 4^th step talks about developing professional capacity around the 4Cs. As mentioned, we cannot even begin to talk about the 4Cs if our teachers are not modeling them all of the time. And how do we build this capacity? The authors believe that all of our professional development must be developed using the 4Cs as a filter for the ‘what’ and ‘how’ we present to our educators.

It still amazes me that we still offer PD that is delivered through a lecture format that does not engage the audience in any sort of critical thinking, does not include a collaborative component that ensures educators create (creativity) something that they can take back to their classrooms that is useable and practical to their particular context, and that the communication is simply one way. I refuse to attend these kinds of PD sessions and I know how ineffective they are because I used to deliver them that way! We know that professional learning communities are perhaps the most powerful way to build professional capacity and if you build a PLC around the 4Cs then you can well imagine how much more cogently professional capacity will develop. Gone are the days where we use program leaders to direct schools in which there is no connection, or at least, very little buy-in because collaboration and communication is shallow at best.

The 5^th step of Kay and Greenhill’s plan centres on curriculum and assessment. And this is no easy task for a number of reasons. Moving into a new way of teaching and learning means we need to re-focus our curriculum and assessment. It’s time for an innovative approach the author’s argue and this supports Fullan’s view as well. If you’ve developed professional capacity then logically I think we can assume that there will be a new way of looking at the material we are presenting and the way we assess the understanding of this material. How do we assess the 4Cs that makes sense to both teacher and learner, and to the other stakeholders in education? Does our current curriculum support the 4Cs in clear ways? Are we able to re-think and re-design our current curriculum so that we can easily – or more easily – see the outcomes in student performance tasks?

Of the 4Cs Kay and Greenhill maintain that critical thinking is the most vital. And through their work with various districts this has been supported and justified by educators. Therefore, since this particular skill is vital we must focus our efforts on developing curriculum and assessment that teaches and measures this skill with accuracy. Kay and Greenhill state that to integrate the 4Cs in curricula means that they are present in ‘intended and written curricula’, in taught curricula and in assessed curricula. They mention Wiggins and McTighe’s Understanding by Design as a model approach to this kind of curricula design. There is a great bit of detail in this chapter on curriculum and assessment and it is very much worth a thorough read; I cannot do justice to the content in this short review.

Kay and Greenhill focus on supporting teachers in the 6^th step of the 7 step process for creating a new model of education. No researcher or theorist of any merit would downplay the importance of teachers for making this whole process work. They are the ‘lynchpin’ so to speak; without their commitment to this process and the support of teachers by system leaders then it is all for naught. It’s also important that leaders are clear about what kind of support teachers are going to need. Does the learning community embrace effective professional learning communities? Are educators able to meet and deconstruct the work that’s being done in this new way of doing education? What are the barriers for making this happen? Do teachers feel that they can innovate and experiment with freedom? Are teachers being able to collaborate with their colleagues in a safe environment where failure is treated as it should be – a step forward, not a step backward? I do believe that if you can motivate your teachers to take risks with a fully supportive environment both at the peer and administrative levels you will create a powerful framework of trust and cooperation. The authors also provide some great overviews with further reading suggestions on student work in the 4Cs and also different pedagogies for supporting the development of the 4Cs. Again, this is a pragmatic work and their efforts to provide a number of usable resources supports their approach.

In any sort of change environment, regardless of context, you must reflect back over where you’ve been and what you’ve accomplished, and where you’ve stumbled. Improving and innovating are necessary if you’re going to create lasting, impactful change over time. As a district or school can you reflect over the work you’ve done with a look to going back and improving and tweaking your work to make it even better? You cannot ever rest on your laurels, if that’s even possible given the nature of this kind of work. There must be a culture of continuous improvement so that the 4Cs are ‘embedded into teaching, learning, and the operation of your school or district’. The authors give examples of how you might create this culture of continuous improvement and they reference resources and other literature that help to clarify this philosophy as well as support in practical ways how a school or district can develop and refine this mindset.

The appendices of this work are valuable. They’re valuable because the authors have compiled definitions, skill maps, and various resource documents to support the journey of working through the 7 steps with the 4Cs in mind. And there are many examples of districts using these steps and a quick ‘look in’ on how they’re doing with this transformational design.

I’ve only scratched the surface of what this book has to offer. In my opinion, as stated early on in this review,  it’s a work that must be read by all leaders in today’s education communities. It’s realistic and yet open enough for districts and schools to experiment with their own flavours of how 21^st century will be rolled out in their unique contexts. Moreover, as mentioned, it offers tried and true examples of how to go about creating a system of education that prepares our students for a world that will be ever more fluid, challenging and exciting. This will not happen without clear guidelines. I think this work is worth using to stimulate further thought, if not a tried and true guide to begin the journey forward.

Lajoie, of McGill University, is the Director of the newly funded Learning Environments across Disciplines (LEADS) project. With close to $2.5 million over the next eight years from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), LEADS brings together an international group of experts ranging from educators, psychologists and computer scientists to engineers, physicians and an historian to explore how to best use digital technology to enhance learning not only across disciplines but also across age groups, from kindergarten kids to university students.

John Taylor, long time Ontario Ministry of Education OSAPAC Representative & Education Officer retired recently. I had the good fortune of collaborating with John for a dozen years. He was a pioneer of sorts, bringing a wide range of software to schools across Ontario. We wish John the very best as he turns to a new chapter in his career. Rumour has it that Urs Bill will be taking on John’s role with OSAPAC.

The highly talented Sandi Urban-Hall, President of the Canadian School Boards Association, shared that her term will be coming to a close this June. It’s been great collaborating with Sandi through her board involvement with C21 Canada.

It was great catching up with Saar Pikar, CEO of CDI Computers, over lunch recently.  CDI is a company on the move as it evolves its digital strategy and solution offerings.

Special thanks to Central Peel high school Principal, Lawrence Demeres for inviting me and my C21 Canada colleague, John Kershaw, to visit his school and learn about their 21st Century initiatives. The community of practice emerging clearly reflects the sound leadership qualities that Mr. Demeres has instilled amongst his team. Central Peel is a school on the move!

Checkout this video on Multimodal Authorship and the Importance of  Video Play by Mary Pat O’Meara, who is a member of our team and soon-to-be graduate with her Masters in Education from York U. She is a rising star on our team!

In the sad to see her go department, Natalie Gilbert, our EdTech Consultant, has decided to pursue her passion for teaching, going abroad to hone her skills. We wish her the best success! We’re pleased to welcome intern Momita Ahmed to our team, who is a York U alum and soon-to-be graduate of Seneca College’s corporate communications program.

On the twitter beat…checkout this cool infographic on the history of educational technology via @pinterest http://pinterest.com/pin/159737118005173249/ …

In case you missed it, here’s an Excellent Report! Bring Your Own Device: A Guide for Schools Commissioned by #ABEd  #BYOD #EdTech  http://education.alberta.ca/media/6749210/byod%20guide%20revised%202012-09-05.pdf …

On the international front…Learning Without Borders: How Intel is Helping Khan Academy Educate 10 Million Students.http://iq.intel.com/iq/28428576/khan-academy-virtual-learning-without-borders

In the sorry I cannot be there department, I wish my friend, Karen Billings, vp education division SIIA and her team the best of success in hosting the SIIA EdTech Industry Summit, May 5-7 in San Francisco.

As always I enjoy hearing from you. Keep the news coming!  Until next time walk the digital talk!

Cheers,

RM

An interview with Evelyn Jacks, Founder and President of Knowledge Bureau, a virtual campus focused on professional development of tax and financial advisors. Evelyn’s latest book, Jacks on Tax, was recently published and can be found in bookstores across Canada.