Why Educators Must Teach Discussion

Hi, y'all,

Much better now. I slept upstairs last night for the first time since my bicycle accident. My sleep app, Sleep App, tells me that last night was the first really good night's sleep I've had in over a week, since I installed the pesky (but useful) thing. On the mend.

I actually "slept in" until nearly 7 a.m. this morning, a rarity for me. Once I carefully negotiated the stairs to the living room, I logged into my computer and of course went straight to Facebook, where I visited the ISTE Virtual Environments Network page (subscribe for updates on all things 3D and VR). That led me to our diva Mary Howard's post on medium.com, here:


which I find absolutely fascinating and motivating. Good job, Mary Mary! Somehow, and I am unable to retrace my steps, though I believe it was a recommendation on a sidebar at medium.com, I hit upon Howard Rheingold's fantastic article about student discussion, explicitly hosting them on discussion forums (remember them?) rather than on social media platforms, aka Facebook. Fascinating. Read it. Let it guide you to move into this arena for building students' thinking and communication skills.

Do you find yourself motivated to move toward this in your classrooms? Then go all the way with your time right now. Set aside a half hour or so to read the whole 21 page Edward Gallagher article Rheingold references at the end of his short piece, Teaching Students to Talk to Each Other: Improving the Discussion Board. I PROMISE your time will be well spent. Gallagher's metaphors and instructional design are completely, ineluctably, inspirational and practical! Do it. Do it now!

Watch PBS TV TONIGHT for "Digital Nation"--check local listings

I had the opportunity today to preview the show online. This one will be controversial, ya'll, and I'd love to start a discussion here. Watch it, because you will most certainly be called upon for an opinion by parents and administrators...

From PBS email:

Last March, we launched a Web site to start a conversation about how
digital technology is changing almost every aspect of modern culture -
from how we think and learn to how we build relationships and even
conduct warfare. We asked for your feedback, and you shared your
stories that helped to shape our 90-minute documentary which airs
Tuesday, February 2, at 9pm ET on PBS (check local listings).

This program is guaranteed to make you think, to question your understanding of and use of technology, and to cause a big stir in educational technology. Very well done, I initially report. Controversial? You bet.

I had seen some of it early on, and we hosted a presentation by the producers--thanks to ISTE member and colleague Malinda McCormick--at the Second Life Playground at NECC09 in Washington, DC last summer. But watching the show in its finished format is even more powerful, incredibly so. What is your response? What does this mean to our work? I'll ask you the same thing I would ask any of my students: What are the creators of this media intending to communicate? Share here.

The Big "T" for Teachers

Did you know the big "T" in Teachers really stands for "TIME?"

I just popped into my FriendFeed to check out my Professional tab and there was Will Richardson sharing out Rich Lambert's insightful post at his blog, Removing the ‘e’ from ‘e-learning:Integrating important new technologies more seamlessly into our teaching.

That's the way all this works, pilgrim: Because I'm connected to willrich45 in twitter, and because I pull that into FriendFeed, I get to read an inspiring post I may have missed in my overstuffed Google Reader, not to mention my bloated Netvibes! I really must get to some RSS housekeeping over the summer!

Rich's blog is a staple of mine, and this post shows why: I highly recommend you take the few minutes of time (sort of a meta-exercise) it takes to read "How do I make the time?," which has some spot-on points about how to move our students into the 21st century by exchanging blocks of classroom time doing antiquated instructional activities for new ones that are relevant, timely, and forward-thinking. READ MORE...