On blurry lines and shoes that fit...

Right.

So back to that ginormous DoE guide. A.K.A.: The Internship Continues!

Okay. How do I sum up 6 months' work in one blog post?

As I said, I began with the page of the DoE guide that got the most hits. And it did end up being the page that consumed the most of my time. But I worked my way through that page -- it turned into pageS -- and then moved from there to other pages, based on the analytics that the DoE staff were able to give me about number of page hits, referrals, etc.

There was a lot to be changed. Links didn't work. Sites -- or entire organizations -- had dissipated. For every existing resource, project, or contact person, I had to contact the person in charge and find out if it was still current, or if changes were to be made. This meant many hours of e-mailing and following bread-crumb trails through WHOIS searches, filling out forms on contact boxes, and tweets to the tune of, "Does anyone know anything about… ?" (SPECIAL SIDE NOTE: if you have a blog or a website, please consider putting your e-mail address on there somewhere! A contact form is not enough as it does not give the user an option of having "proof" of contact -- i.e., a copy of the communication -- which is often necessary for work, accountability, follow-up, etc.)

And so... we made changes!

We removed one entire section of the guide due to lack of relevant resources: Vocational and Life Training.

We combined the Languages section of the guide to streamline projects and to not make it seem like any languages were given preference or higher status. World languages are languages of the world, after all.

We added a page on Web 2.0 resources and tutorials -- and discovered a host of controversies surrounding how to classify tools in a digital age.

"Twitter is not a collaboration tool." "Yes, it is." "Well then what about Facebook?" "There are no document-sharing tools other than GoogleDocs. Why is that?" "They are too expensive." "How can teachers use Prezi for collaboration?" "Is Prezi a collaboration tool? Maybe we should call it a presentation tool." "But it does so much more than presentation tools like PowerPoint, and we're not even putting PowerPoint in here." "Is Skype really a Web 2.0 tool? It doesn't live on the Web -- it's downloadable software. And there are other web-based video tools." "I know everyone is using Skype but do we have a guide for newbies?" "What about wikis? Are they the same as CMS tools like Blackboard and Weebly?" "Wait, Weebly is for creating a website -- is that the same as CMS?" "Do we even have a CMS section?"

… and so on. So, please note that when you access the Tutorials and Guides section of the DoE guide, the categories are more like suggestions than they are labels. What I learned in working on that particular section is that most Web 2.0 tools (I hesitate to even use that nomenclature) are not easily classifiable -- they do many different things, and teachers use them in many different ways. There is no single way to use any tool, I guess. I mean, I knew this before, but trying to nail down what any tool does or does not do was tremendously difficult. My goal was to put it in the framework of "How will this help teachers and their students collaborate internationally on project-based learning?" Once I remembered that question (thanks to Diane for always reminding me of the purpose), then I found it much easier to write about how to use the tool and suggested implementation strategies.*

The tool should support the goals of the project.

We ended up discovering and therefore highlighting some VERY cool projects on various subject area pages -- many of which I had never heard of before but look so exciting. Global Dreamers, anyone? Rock Our World? Global Art? Those are just a few of the examples of projects that had a big "Wow!" factor for me -- and I've seen a lot of projects over my 12-year teaching career.

And then, with all the content more-or-less complete (and having made contact with some 100+ educators), it was time for the next phase: HTML.

*Note: I have to sheepishly admit here that I also discovered (and included) some tools that previously I had not considered as being instruments for student or teacher collaboration. Twitter, Glogster, and Prezi are all good examples of this. Twitter I saw primarily as a networking tool, not a collaborative one. Glogster I saw as a presentation tool, also not collaborative. In both instances, my quick tweets to my PLN definitively changed my mind, as colleagues directed me to resources, projects, and communities where these tools were being used collaboratively in ways that were A) not difficult, and B) truly transformative. I duly noted these and changed both my tune and the appropriate DoE documents. But perhaps the biggest turnaround for me was regarding Prezi. Having been introduced to Prezi back when it was still in private beta, I was not all that impressed with its clunkiness. (Such is one disadvantage of being an early adopter, and as a result I'm rarely an early adopter of anything these days; I've learned my lesson!) I saw Prezi as a "sparkle 'n' dazzle 'em" presentation tool that teachers just thought looked "cool." I did not see it as a collaborative tool whatsoever -- until Rob Newberry introduced me to Prezi meeting. I knew Rob was the go-to Prezi-for-edu evangelist in my PLN, and so sent a few tweets his way, much as I had when I was exploring Twitter and Glogster as collaborative tools. However, rather than point me in the direction of an example of how to use Prezi with students, Rob invited me right then and there to a Prezi meeting… and really, that's all it took: this skeptical mind was changed. I was pleasantly surprised to see how much Prezi had changed since 2008. Within less than 5 minutes I was suddenly saying, "Ohhhhhh-kay. Now I get it. Now I see how this could be collaborative." So, the lesson here, folks: don't knock it till you try it! There are some very creative things happening in technology for learning, and we shouldn't discount it just because it "looks" like the shoe won't fit. Even Cinderella knows to try it on first. ;)




Top Image by EvelynGiggles under this license.
Lower Image by Shopping Diva under this license. 

May I?

When I last left you, I was basically lamenting (okay, making excuses) about why I've been so delayed in creating this blog. I'm done with that now; I've settled into the fact that I'm behind and I just need to get a move on.

So, let's start with May.

I began my internship at iEARN on May 24 -- near the end of the month. Actually, my internship beginning was not so "simple" as this. I should give a bit of the backstory so you know where I'm coming from. First of all, I had been warned in advance that finding an internship in the summer could be painfully competitive. I'm generally not a competitive person at all, so I'll admit this made me wince. I mean, I'm not competitive, but while I bemoaned the possibility of it being competitive, there was another part of me -- that part of me that remembers that I'm 35 -- that said, "Wait a sec. Competition? You've got it nailed. You're a teacher. You can do anything." It's true, folks. If you are (or have been) a teacher, you know exactly what I'm talking about. After accompanying 70 sixth-graders on jungle hikes in the Vietnamese rain forest for a week, someone's gonna tell me I'll have a hard time getting an internship?! Eff that! (Apologies for the language -- but I'm trying to recreate the scene here, and that is exactly what went through my head.) So I didn't pay much heed to that warning, needless to say.

And it's a good thing I didn't.

Choices by garlandcannon
Attribution-ShareAlike License

Not only did I get an internship, I had plenty to choose from. I interviewed at some fantastic places and left all of them with the sense that there is really some amazing, inspirational, GOOD work happening in NYC with media and learning. GlobalKids, Urban Arts Partnership, Mouse, TaskStream, and Vision Education and Media all gave me interviews and plenty to think about. Really, there is truly some excellent stuff happening with these organizations; if you're in technology, media, and learning, I urge you to check them out. At one point I even considered merging internships with two different organizations just to get some exposure to different kinds of things. This still sounds like a great idea to me, but my reality is that life is too busy.

So, I interviewed with all of these organizations and met some fabulous people, and was offered something within each of them. I eventually settled on iEARN for several reasons:

1. I had known about the organization before, having seen them at conferences and/or heard about them through colleagues.
2. They are involved with international education, something near and dear to my heart.
3. One of the women to interview me, Tina Habib, knows and has worked with another friend of mine in Qatar -- we didn't discover this until the interview, and it was a lovely surprise, as the mutual friend is someone I love very much (kaif halak, habibi? if you're reading this, Anwar!)
4. I love that iEARN's backbone is built on project-based learning collaborations across continents. This is something that excites me very much and is something I know about, so the idea of working more within this context but not as a teacher was greatly exciting to me.

While the opportunities at other organizations were equally as exciting, a handful would have taken me a bit too far out of my comfort zone, and a couple involved doing things that, while fascinating, would have taken me down a career path I'm not sure I'd be interested in. They were definitely interesting, but not all were where my passions are.

iEARN graciously and excitedly made space for me, and starting on May 24th I began working each Monday and Wednesday.

A brief background on iEARN. iEARN is an acronym which stands for International Educator and Resource Network. It's been around since 1988, so it has an established history, community, and directive. There are actually many iEARNs. What I mean by that is that there is iEARN international -- an international network of teachers and students -- and then there is an iEARN-USA. And an iEARN Pakistan. And an iEARN Canada. You get the picture. In some countries there is lots of representation and some of those countries have iEARN coordinators and more. In other countries, there might just be one or two teachers in different schools who want to participate. And of course there is everything in between. iEARN international is not centralized; each country finds its own funding, and runs itself. Having said that, iEARN-USA is one of the best-funded of all the iEARNs, so things like the iEARN international website and their collaboration centre are run here in the USA offices. iEARN-USA is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization that runs many different projects and programs. As I mentioned earlier, the backbone of iEARN is their project-based learning collaborations. Basically, iEARN facilitates international collaboration through project-based learning, allowing teachers and their students in one country to connect and work with teachers and students in another country on a common project. All of this is done via different kinds of technology and media. It's really the "meat and potatoes" of what iEARN is all about, and why their current motto is "Learn WITH the world, not just about it." However, iEARN also facilitates and runs other programs such as international exchange programs, such as NSLI and YES. They even do teacher exchanges such as the Fulbright Teacher Exchange. An additional arm of iEARN is their involvement with other partners such as Adobe Youth Voices and PEARL World Youth News. Lastly, iEARN does tons of professional development for teachers interested in any aspect of international learning, collaborative project-based learning, cultural exchange, technology and digital media in learning, and more. Professional development is offered in face-to-face at workshops and conferences around the world, and in online virtual environments as well. As you can see, this small non-profit delivers on many different fronts!

From the beginning, Lisa Jobson, the Assistant Director of iEARN-USA, had arranged three projects that I would be working on for the duration of the summer. I'm copying and pasting their descriptions here:

1) Update the Teachers Guide to Global Collaboration on the Internet with current tools and resources. (The Teachers Guide was originally developed by iEARN for U.S. Department of Education)
Research tools and resources for integrating online international exchange into the classroom

2) Produce 2010-2011 iEARN Project Book
Outreach to iEARN educators worldwide to get new projects and project updates for the 2010-2011 iEARN Project Book, and edit book in Adobe InDesign. (See the 2009-10 Project Book.) 

3) Create an iEARN Starter Kit/Handbook as a companion to the iEARN Project Book.  Drawing from DOE Teacher’s Guide research, and earlier issues of the iEARN Project Book, develop a short online guide with tips, tools, resources, and case studies of successful classrooms internationally that help to answer the question often asked by teachers when they join iEARN – “How do I get started?”

And a general description of the mentoring I'd receive:

Adrienne will work closely with a number of staff, including Lisa Jobson, Diane Midness, and Ed Gragert.  All three projects that Adrienne will be involved in have built-in opportunities to exchange drafts and get peer feedback.  iEARN-USA is a small office (roughly 14 full time staff) that places a high emphasis on collaboration , so while Adrienne will be serving in a lead role in all 3 projects, we’ll meet regularly to exchange ideas and drafts, and distribute work.

wetfeet by intheozone
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I remember being extremely excited when I was handed these projects -- all three involved areas I wanted to know more about or be more involved in. I was looking forward to getting my feet wet!

I didn't realize at the time just how ginormous these projects would become. Ah, the 20/20 vision of hindsight, huh? :)

At any rate, the end of May was a busy time for me because I was just beginning these new roles at iEARN and I was also finishing up a summer course back on campus (Leadership for School Improvement). I barely had time to figure out what I was doing next, but eventually I settled into the swing of things at iEARN, and figured out who to talk to about which project, and where to begin on each of them (spoiler alert: some didn't need beginning just yet).