Sim City EDU (Youth Community Design 101 - Outside)

With only a few weeks away to go until the beta launch of SimCityEDU, we invite you to begin thinking about creating and sharing your own SimCity-based learning tools.

 

For the past couple of months, former social studies teachers Rick Brennan and Jason Darnell (founders of the Histrionix Learning Company and makers of the civilization game Historia) have been helping us kick start the community learning by designing a slew of exciting new lesson plans. We had the chance to speak with Brennan and Darnell about their experience writing SimCityEDU curriculum. We're thrilled to share that conversation with you below. 

 

Keep your eyes peeled for our newsletter next week: We're unveiling a prototype lesson plan from the SimCityEDU database, and we want your feedback!
 

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What makes the SimCityEDU community a valuable resource for teachers? 
Jason Darnell: SimCityEDU offers a support platform for teachers to share specific successes from their classrooms. More than that, the community itself is a curriculum collaboration tool for twenty-first century teaching. Bringing a game like SimCity into the classroom requires both teachers and students to step outside of their traditional roles in the classroom and to collaborate and create through game play.

Can you walk us through a lesson plan you’ve created for the database?  
Rick Brennan: One of our lesson plans is called ‘Power to the People.’ Students role-play the job of SimCity mayor, prioritizing public works projects they might want to build. Should they build a hospital or school first?  A police station or a public park? And why? And what if their SimCity citizens disagree with their decisions? What then? Once students finalize their list of priorities, they must defend their decisions by writing a persuasive essay. So, the lesson helps teach popular government, public works, and how to write an original essay—all at once!

How easy or difficult is it for teachers to create curriculum around the SimCity game?
RB: I think SimCity is inherently a learning-rich environment, so teachers should find it rather easy to make connections to their curriculum, no matter the class they teach. After playing the game, so many classroom connections came to mind that I had to stop writing them down!

What feature of the game do you think will inspire teachers the most? 
JD: I’m looking forward to seeing how teachers incorporate SimCity’s new multi-player component into their lesson plans. The fact that students will be able to work collaboratively to solve real-world problems really opens up the possibilities of lesson planning and classroom implementation.

Any advice for users as they begin submitting their own lesson plans?
RB: I’d recommend designing the lesson plans with different teacher types in mind. And also, remember to walk your readers through the lesson plan step by step.

Have you developed any type of approach while writing curriculum for SimCityEDU that teachers might find helpful when creating/submitting their own lesson plans? 
RB: I’d suggest that teachers set aside a few hours to get lost in SimCity’s stunning, real to life game play – and be sure to take notes, because this game is a twenty first century teaching tool.


What aspect of the SimCityEDU community excites you most? 
JD: Well, the community itself! Very soon we’ll have an online platform filled with the stories, experiences and works of teachers across the country and beyond. Also, bringing SimCity into the classroom will hopefully prompt teachers to adjust or adapt their classroom roles, since the game aids in their instruction. We see SimCityEDU as a major step in the right direction for public education.

Afterschool Alliance - STEM and Meaningful Partnership/Funding Opportunities - (Submitted by Jim Ross to Boy Scouts of America/D-BAR-A initiative)

Empowering Youth Civic Engagement in 21st Century (Webinar 7PM Thursday (previously wrong day, sorry!): MacArthur Digital Media & Learning Initiative

This Week on ConnectedLearning.tv

How To Participate 1. Join the Hangout with Nicole & Charlene 2. Watch, submit questions, and connect with others on Livestream 3. Watch live on ConnectedLearning.tv 4. Watch live on Google Plus 5. #connectedlearning on Twitter Watch and Share the Previous Session Kris Gutierrez & Bill Penuel - Assessing Connected Learning Outcomes Connected Learning Report Comprehensive report full of useful case studies on connected learning. [PDF] Join the Google Plus 'Community' Connect with others, share examples of connected learning experiences, and collaborate on a new "Connected Learning FAQ". Next Webinar: Thursday, Feb 21, 4-5pm PT Nicole Mirra & Charlene Ortuno - Empowering Youth Civic Engagement in the 21st Century How can parents, teachers, and mentors support innovative youth civic endeavors, both in- and out-of-school? NOTE: This webinar starts at 4:00pm PT (7:00pm ET) Nicole Mirra is a high school English teacher at Animo Watts College Preparatory Academy in Los Angeles, CA, and the coordinator of the UCLA Council of Youth Research. She is also Chair of the "Envisioning 21st Century Education" track at DML2013. Charlene Ortuno is an English teacher at iPrep Academy, a magnet high school in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. She also serves as a curriculum consultant for "Teen Thoughts on Democracy," a project at Florida International University's museum, library, and research center called "The Wolfsonian."

STEM deficient U.S. Educational system - (On need to Build Bridges to Outside World, where STEM projects are) (submitted by Jim Ross)

Guest commentary

STEM-deficient education holds back U.S. economy

By William J. Bennett

   America’s K-12 and post-secondary education systems are failing in their mission to prepare our nation’s children and young adults in science, technology, engineering and math — the STEM fields. And it is a national disaster in the making.

   During my tenure as U.S. Secretary of Education, I had significant concerns about the academic rigor and relevance being delivered to America’s students in these fields. Today, American students score 23rd in math and 31st in science when compared with 65 other top industrial countries.

   And yet a recent study by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology found: “Economic forecasts point to a need for producing, over the next decade, approximately 1 million more college graduates in STEM fields than expected under current assumptions.”

   We are nowhere near meeting that goal.

   Our middling performance today stunts our nation’s economic growth and drastically undermines the ability of the next generation to support itself and its country with well-paying, growth-producing and satisfying jobs.

   Stanford University economist Eric Hanushek has estimated conservatively that the U.S. could add about $1 trillion a year to gross domestic product if we could just raise our 15-year-olds’ mathematics achievement to the level of Canada’s.

   As we continue to think through and debate our GDP, budget deficits and national debt problems, we should be discussing how to improve our students’ academic achievement, and in STEM education no less than anything else. To help solve our nation’s fiscal crisis, we must once and for all take seriously the idea that we need to solve our nation’s education crisis.

   As educator William Arrowsmith put it: “If you want to restore a Druid priesthood, you cannot do it by offering prizes for Druid-of-the-year. If you want Druids, you must grow forests.”

   Our schools must become forests of and for science and math education.

   The good news is that there are some very successful organizations and programs rolling up their sleeves and directly addressing our STEM deficiency problems — growing forests at both the instructional and student ground levels. Every leader in education, from governors to CEOs, from school superintendents to the U.S. secretary of Education, needs to get behind what works and support these efforts in our schools.

   One organization I’ve been proud to be affiliated with as a senior advisor is Project Lead the Way (PLTW), a nonprofit that has been providing high-quality, rigorous STEM education to middle schools and high schools since 1997.

   Today, PLTW serves more than 4,700 schools, including 110 in Michigan. PLTW’s core mission is to prepare students for the global economy while closing the gap between the skills that employers need and the jobs that PLTW students are prepared to fill. And, according to a recent study at the University of Virginia, the evidence is compelling that PLTW contributes to raising student achievement and motivation in science and engineering while showing strong positive impact on mathematics and science achievement.

   As a nation, we simply must get this message to schools, businesses, corporations, state departments of education, governors and beyond. This is an urgent need for our nation. We cannot continue to graduate students ill-prepared for our nation’s economic necessities — or their own.

   • WILLIAM J. BENNETT SERVED AS U.S. SECRETARY OF EDUCATION UNDER PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN FROM 1985 TO1988.

William Bennett

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan speaking @ UT - April 3 - 1PM

Secretary of Education to speak at Baker Center

• By Georgiana Vines
• Posted February 17, 2013 at 4 a.m.

Arne Duncan

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will speak at the University of Tennessee at 1 p.m. April 3 in the Student Center auditorium as part of a distinguished lecture series honoring former U.S. Sen. Howard H. Baker Jr.

Matt Murray, director of the Baker Center for Public Policy at UT, said Duncan was suggested by Baker's wife, Nancy Kassebaum Baker, a former U.S. senator from Kansas.

Duncan has been education secretary since 2009 at the beginning of President Barack Obama's first term. He has been responsible for working with Congress on educational reform, including funding on "Race to the Top" funds, for which Tennessee qualified three years ago.

"With Tennessee becoming one of first 'Race to the Top' states, I think it's a pretty attractive place for him to consider visiting," Murray said.

At present, Duncan will come to Knoxville just for his talk although Murray said a reception might be arranged while he is here.

Duncan is a former chief executive officer of Chicago Public Schools. He also ran the nonprofit education foundation Ariel Education Initiative, which helped fund a college education for a class of inner-city children under the I Have A Dream program.

His visit is sponsored by SunTrust Bank, although he will not be paid an honorarium because he is a federal government employee, Murray said.

SunTrust also sponsored the inaugural Baker lecture series in November when former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell of Maine spoke.

The Baker Center also is hosting two programs at the Center, 1640 Cumberland Ave., on Thursday:

George Crabtree, senior scientist, Distinguished Fellow and associate division director in the Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago, will speak on the next 50 years in energy and the environment, 3:30-5 p.m.

Three Tennessee governors will discuss civility and free expression at 5:30 p.m. (This was originally announced for 7 p.m.) Those expected to participate are Gov. Bill Haslam and former Govs. Phil Bredesen and Don Sundquist. The panel will be moderated by Memphis attorney Bill Haltom. The Tennessee Bar Association has partnered with the ABA Division for Public Education as part of Civility and Free Expression in a Constitutional Democracy — A National Dialogue. This program is made possible through the National Endowment for the Humanities Bridging Cultures initiative. Also sponsored by the First Amendment Center and UT College of Law.

Out of School Time/Learning - recognized! (Badges, Digital Learning & Competency-Based Models - gaining traction)

Published in Print: February 6, 2013, as R.I. Students Gaining 'Badges' and Credits Outside of School

R.I. Students Gaining 'Badges,' Credits Outside School

Juan Batista, 16, a student at William B. Cooley Sr. High School, practices using a steadying device to shoot video on the streets of Providence, R.I. He is participating in the city school district's expanded-learning program.

—Gretchen Ertl for Education Week

By Nora Fleming

Many schools encourage students to get real-world experience outside school walls. But very few offer course credit and digital "badges"—virtual records of skills and achievements—for those experiences.

Now, the Providence, R.I., school district is in the middle of an initiative that appears to be breaking new ground in giving academic credit and recognizing skills and achievements out of school.

A collaborative project between a nonprofit organization, theProvidence After School Alliance, or PASA, and the 23,500-student Providence district is allowing students to engage in for-credit, badge-earning learning experiences outside school. Examples range from developing and pitching business plans to local venture capital firms to learning how to make Android phone applications at Brown University.

While Providence's approach—to encourage connections between in- and out-of-school learning and get students more engaged in school—is gaining steam both at the state and district levels throughout the country. The district stands out as one of the first to bridge the two goals by having students receive badges and academic credit for out-of-school experiences.

"Districts are challenged in balancing the need to meet fiscal realities and policy regulations, while addressing the academic needs of students and making certain they have access to the types of courses they need to be prepared for college and a career," said Paula Shannon, the district's chief academic officer.

"But good learning is learning that is relevant and rigorous that takes place in and outside of school," she said. "Expanded learning opportunities provide real potential to move the needle forward in education by blending the line between the two worlds."

TESTING THE MODEL

Last school year, 30 students from one Providence high school, Juanita Sanchez High School, participated in a pilot project to test the model. Independent evaluations found promising results, and student and teacher responses were favorable, encouraging the district to expand the program.

Providence Programs

A Providence, R.I., school district initiative offers students the opportunity to gain credits and digital badges for activities outside school in the following programs:

ART AND DESIGN LAB
Students create, collaborate, present, and study works of art at the Rhode Island Museum of Art.

CVS BIOTECHNOLOGY CERTIFICATION PROGRAM
Students participate in science internships in the community to enrich the study of biotechnology, supported by CVS Pharmacy.

ECO YOUTH-GREEN DRIVE
Students learn about environmental issues, challenges, and policies with the Environmental Justice League of Rhode Island.

ENGLISH-LANGUAGE LEARNERS
Students improve English skills participating in hands-on language-skill exercises with a local organization, Inspiring Minds.

JSEC DEBATE TEAM
Students work on public speaking and debate skills in a debate league, assisted by college mentors from Brown University.

JUSTICE TALKS
Students participate in a discussion group on civic engagement and service with Serve Rhode Island, a community-service organization.

MULTIMEDIA
Students create articles, photos, and videos about their community and schools, while working with Inspiring Minds.

PHOTOGRAPHY, VISUALS, PERFORMANCE, COMMUNICATIONS 
Students learn video-editing, photography, and Google-sketch skills in an arts education program called AS220.

PRINCIPALS’ LEADERSHIP PROGRAM 
Students receive training from Young Voices, a youth-advocacy organization, on leadership and communication skills.

PROGRAMMING FOR ANDROID PHONES
Students learn how to create Android phone applications in a computer science program at Brown University.

ProviDance
Students participate in a dance-technique class with a local dance company, Fusionworks, including potential rehearsals with local dance companies.

ROCK & REEL 
Students learn video production and editing skills at the Rhode Island Film Collaborative.

YOUNG SOCIAL INNOVATORS
Students work with Social Venture Partners of Rhode Island to develop business plans and pitch ideas to investors for seed funding.

WING IT: EVERYTHING CAN FLY ONCE
Students learn engineering skills while designing projects related to flight, at Brown University.

SOURCE: Providence After School Alliance

Fifty-five students enrolled this past fall, and about 55 more are expected this spring, now from two high schools.

Next school year, the program will expand to four high schools and serve 150 students. The goal is to eventually expand the program to all eight high schools in the district, said Ms. Shannon, though the district will need to find additional community partners and work out a number of technical and logistical details.

PASA, an organization that also supports after-school programming for middle school students, among other expanded-learning work, collaborated with community partners to create out-of-school courses for students. The organization worked with district teachers to ensure the classes had academic relevance and were aligned with the Common Core State Standards.

While the courses have differing schedules, students attend their out-of-school courses a minimum of once a week for two hours, over a span of 10 weeks, and all student learning is assessed through collaboration by the community partners, PASA staff members, and district teachers.

Students are also required to participate in an online forum, located at www.hubprov.com, where they discuss what they are learning, bolstered through blogging and multimedia projects, such as the production of online photos or videos.

The new use of digital badges, recognized both in and out of school, really sets Providence apart from other efforts undertaken by schools and organizations to recognize out-of-school learning, said Damian Ewens, the director of high school initiatives at PASA.

To launch the badging project, PASA won $75,000 in funding through a digital-badging grant competition sponsored by the Mozilla Foundation, a nonprofit based in Mountain View, Calif., that supports open-source Web content and the Firefox Web browser, and the Chicago-based John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, which has spent more than $80 million so far to support innovative digital-learning initiatives.

COMPETENCY VS. 'SEAT TIME'

In addition to having their badges displayed on the PASA website and recognized by the school system, students are able to post them on social-media sites such as Facebook, and use them wherever else they see fit, such as with college applications.

Rhode Island College, in Providence, has agreed to accept badges on college applications as a testament to the value of learning experiences and skill acquisition.

"Digital badges are designed to recognize learning that happens anytime, anywhere," said Mr. Ewens, adding that badges can have a powerful impact on students themselves, helping them take greater "ownership" of their learning.

"Academic credits sit on a transcript with an abbreviated title and a letter grade," he said. "Whoever sees a digital badge can also learn [through a full description] what a student did to get that badge; it supplies a tremendous amount of information that adds more value to the student."

The district hopes eventually to use the badges to help students gain credit within classes for relevant work outside the classroom that reflects mastery of academic content.

For example, a student could take part in a robotics club on weekends and gain a badge that he or she could use to show mastery of an algebra concept that would fulfill the requirements for a traditional assignment or test on a unit, according to Ms. Shannon.

The Providence district's work on the digital-badge program would not have been possible without changes in state education policies, which have made it easier for districts to recognize out-of-school learning and link it to classroom instruction.

Rhode Island, like some other states, has high school students gain credits for showing proficiency in academic courses needed for graduation, rather than by the amount of time they take to complete a course, known as "seat time." Increasing numbers of states are moving to such "competency-based education" models, in which schools want students to demonstrate knowledge of subject material in new ways to show they have mastered it to move forward, according to Jennifer Dounay Zinth, a senior policy analyst at the Denver-based Education Commission of the States.

RELATED BLOG

Visit this blog.

About 40 states now have policies that allow high school students to gain academic credit through competency-based assessment systems that run the gamut state to state. Some of the most progressive credit-gaining opportunities are found in states such as New Hampshire and New Jersey.

The motivation behind the efforts comes from the acknowledgment that today's students learn in many new and different ways that aren't connected to how much time they spend in a classroom, said Betsy Brand, the director of the American Youth Policy Forum, a Washington-based advocacy organization that supports college and career readiness and expanded learning.

"The competency-based education model can be for anyone that feels hampered by the time- and seat-based system we have," Ms. Brand said.

"But everything you learn outside of high school is not going to get you credit," she said. "Schools have to determine what is rigorous enough and what meets the requirements they deem important."

Coverage of leadership, expanded learning time, and arts learning is supported in part by a grant from The Wallace Foundation, at www.wallacefoundation.org.

Youth Civic Engagement for 21st Century - (MacArthur, Digital Media & Learning - Google + talk - February 19th, 1:00 PM)

LIVE

FEB

19

1:00 PM EST

Nicole Mirra & Charlene Ortuno: Empowering Youth Civic Engagement in the 21st Century

How can parents, teachers, and mentors support innovative youth civic endeavors, both in- and out-of-school?

About This Speaker

Nicole Mirra is a high school English teacher at Animo Watts College Preparatory Academy in Los Angeles, CA, and the coordinator of the UCLA Council of Youth Research: a university-school partnership program that engages students and teachers from five Los Angeles public schools in research aimed at challenging educational inequalities and fostering transformative civic engagement. She is also Chair of the "Envisioning 21st Century Education" track at DML2013.

Charlene Ortuno is an English teacher at iPrep Academy, a magnet high school school in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. She also serves as a curriculum consultant for "Teen Thoughts on Democracy," a project at Florida International University's museum, library, and research center called "The Wolfsonian."

Resources

How to Participate

• Join the Google+ Hangout with Charlene and Nicole
• Watch, submit questions, and connect with others live on Livestream
• Watch live on the ConnectedLearning.tv home page
• Watch live on the Connected Learning Google+ Page
• Contribute to the #connectedlearning Twitter hashtag chat

Add to my calendar

Community/Business Partnerships - Youth Community Design 101

Build After-School Partnerships

By Anthony Jackson on January 30, 2013 4:27 AM

Last week we looked at how to build partnerships with business. Today I want to focus on creating stronger partnerships for after-school programs. In order to achieve global competence, young people need access to a variety of global learning experiences. No single school or after-school program can do it alone. Partnerships between after-school programs, schools, and communities are essential to preparing youth for future success.

Mapping the Community
Within every community, no matter its size or location, there are connections to other parts of the world. These connections can create starting points for exploring the world, as well as resources that can support global learning after school.

One way to get started is to create a mapping project for youth to survey their community. Support your students as they identify key cultural and international assets in your community that can help them relate to the wider world. Help them see connections between local and global realities, and learn about the many nuances of identity and culture. Youth can organize the information they collect by mapping these assets geographically and listing the specific resources that are available.

Engaging Youth in Developing Partnerships
Young people can play a critical role in interacting with partners around global learning. Involving youth in conversations with current and potential partners can make relationships with stakeholders more successful. It builds young people's sense of ownership in their program while helping them develop global competence by building their skills in communication and collaboration, among others.

Once the relationship is established, there are many ways for youth to take the lead in learning from—and with—your partners. In Milledgeville, Georgia, the High Achievers Program has incorporated a global learning focus by creating a unique structure for partnerships, programming, and staffing that engages youth as global learners and global educators year round. During the afterschool program, high-school aged youth learn about different countries and cultures linked to current events in the U.S. and their community. Through a partnership with the Peace Corps, these students participate in the Peace Corps World Wise Schools curriculum and Skype with Peace Corps volunteers living abroad. Students compare what they are learning about global issues with issues that affect them in their community. Then, the high school youth are hired to serve as camp counselors for younger students, ages 6-12, who attend globally themed camps held over spring break and during the summer. During the Global Spring Break Camp, high school youth help their younger peers explore a different country each day, while during the Global Summer Camps, students explore a different country each week.

The High Achievers program relies on strong community partnerships for its success. In addition to the partnership with the national Peace Corps, the program works closely with the Georgia College and State University at Milledgeville. College interns gain required experiential learning hours by working with the high school students throughout the year to identify global topics, issues, and examples that the students then research and convert into activities for the spring break and summer camps for younger children. International faculty and students from the college visit the program throughout the year to talk about their native cultures as well.

Building Stronger Business Ties
Rethink existing business partnerships for opportunities to support global learning. For example, you may work with a local business that provides a small amount in funding to your program each year. While a financial contribution is welcome, the relationship could provide an opportunity to involve businesspeople from the company. They could act as guest speakers who lead workshops about their experiences visiting and/or working in other countries, or mentors who can help youth understand how their local business is connected to the global economy.

In addition to providing opportunities for your business partner to become more closely connected to youth in your program and the community, their involvement helps educate a future local workforce familiar with the company and the countries where the company works.

What is good for youth is also good for their community. Community partnerships that help students become globally competent can also help them become highly skilled workers, active citizens, and well-informed participants in your community—and in today's globalized world.

Digital Learning Day, LIVE! (Alliance for Excellence in Education)

Happy Digital Learning Day! Here’s Your Schedule for the Day Try a Lesson Now! We encourage you try one of these lessons and share your experiences about it through social media on Digital Learning Day. Join the tens of thousands of educators who will tailor these lessons for use in their classrooms on Digital Learning Day and beyond. Participate in Live Morning Chats on Digital Learning with Education Experts As part of the Digital Learning Day celebration, the Alliance brought together education experts for a series of live chats on the best practices in digital learning and how to improve the educational experience and outcomes for all students. 9:00 – 11:30 a.m. (ET) Live Chat: Focus on Instruction, Lesson Plans, and Innovative Strategies and Tools (Scroll down for directions on how to access the chat.) Join the experts below and educators from around the world to talk about the lesson plans, including the live, interactive plans shared for Digital Learning Day, implementing technology in instruction, and tips and tools that can help meet the needs of students. Participants are encouraged to ask questions, talk with colleagues, and brainstorm new ideas. Peg Cagle, Educator, Lawrence Gifted/Highly Gifted Magnet, Los Angeles Unified School District (CA) Erin Frew, Principal, New Tech West High School, Cleveland Metropolitan School District (OH) Jill Griebe, Educational Recovery Specialist (Literacy), Eminence Independent Schools (KY) Hope Johnston, Distance Learning Advisor, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (NC) Gail Pletnick, Superintendent, Dysart Unified School District (AZ) Ben Smith, Teacher, Red Lion Area High School, York County School Division (PA) Robyn Young, Librarian, Avon High School, Avon Community School Corporation (IN) 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (ET) Live Chat Special Edition: Rock Stars on Education Policy, Practice, and Media (Scroll down for directions on how to access the chat.) John Merrow, Education Correspondent, PBS Kim Sharp, Instructional Media Coordinator, Vistas High School Program, Klein Independent School District (TX) Greg Toppo, Education Reporter, USA Today Bob Wise, President, Alliance for Excellent Education Jill Barshay, Contributing Editor, Hechinger Report (chat moderator) Watch the Digital Town Hall Live Simulcast Digital Learning Day’s Digital Town Hall will be simulcast live on Wednesday, February 6, from 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. (ET). This high-profile broadcast will feature and celebrate dignitaries, policymakers, and education leaders. Educators who tune in will see promising practices in digital learning from across the country and be provided with an energetic program to help make the case for effective use of technology in education. Polling with mobile devices will be used to capture live impressions from viewers. Watch it here. Participate in the Live Afternoon Chat with Education Experts 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. (ET) Live Chat: Project 24—A Focus on the Digital Learning Transition (Scroll down for directions on how to access the chat.) Today, the Alliance will officially launch an exciting initiative focused on encouraging and supporting districts through the digital transition. Join the educators and administrators below who will be providing their experience and knowledge to this effort over the next twenty-four months. Ask questions, share ideas, and suggest areas of focus for the events related to this initiative. Monica Beglau, Director, eMINTS National Center, University of Missouri–Columbia (MO) Patrick Larkin, Assistant Superintendent, Burlington Public Schools (MA) Ben Smith, Teacher, Red Lion Area High School, York County School Division (PA) Barbara Treacy, Managing Project Director of the Learning and Teaching Division, EDC Robyn Young, Librarian, Avon High School, Avon Community School Corporation (IN) Participate in the Facebook “Takeover” with U.S. Representative George Miller (D-CA).  We yield the floor to the Honorable George Miller, U.S. Representative from California … on the Digital Learning Day Facebook page, that is! Immediately following the Digital Town Hall on February 6, U.S. Representative George Miller is taking over the Digital Learning Day Facebook page from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. (ET). He’ll be posting about digital learning, education, and answering questions from our Facebook friends. (Scroll down for directions on how to access the “Facebook Takeover” chat.) THANK YOU! The Alliance would like to say again, THANK YOU to all of its wonderful partners. Their input/collaboration and willingness to work together have contributed to the great success of this year’s Digital Learning Day. Without them, Digital Learning Day would not reach the tens of thousands of teachers and millions of students around the world. Visit the Digital Learning Day partners page to see this awesome group of organizations. Follow the action on Twitter (#DLDay) and on Facebook. And don’t forget to use social media to share your experiences! Enjoy Your Celebration! How to Access the “Cover It Live” Chats  1.  Go to http://www.all4ed.org/chat, where you will see three Cover It Live chat windows. 2.  Click the play button on the Cover It Live chat window for the discussion in which you want to participate. How to Access the “Facebook Takeover” Chat with U.S. Rep. George Miller 1.  Log into your Facebook account. 2.  Visit the official Digital Learning Day Facebook page athttp://www.facebook.com/nationaldigitallearningday.

For More Information, visit our website at digitallearningday.org or our social media sites               ©Copyright 2012. Alliance for Excellent Education

"State of the Schools" Dr. Jim McIntyre, Superintendent of Knox County Schools - Tonight, 6pm

Randy Boyd Founder, CEO of Radio Systems

Karen  Carson Board of Education Chair

Tim Burchett Knox County Mayor

Dr. Jim McIntyre, Superintendent of the Knox County Schools, will deliver his second annual “State of the Schools Address” on Tuesday, February 5 at 6 p.m. at Powell High School (2136 West Emory Road). The event is open to the public.

School Board Chair Karen Carson, Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett, and Randy Boyd, Founder and CEO of Radio Systems, will join Dr. McIntyre in sharing their perspectives on public education in our community.

The State of the Schools Address will provide an overview of academic progress in the Knox County Schools, give an update on implementation of the five-year strategic plan entitled Excellence for All Children, and outline the educational goals and aspirations for the coming year. 

The event is co-hosted by the Knox County Council PTA, the Knoxville Chamber, and the Knox County Education Association.

The State of the Schools Address will be broadcast live on WBIR's 10News2 on Comcast Cable Channel 21 and Charter Cable Channel 10 as well as KCS-TV on Comcast Cable Channel 10 and AT&T U-Verse Channel 99. It will also be streamed live at http://www.knoxschools.org and www.wbir.com. The public can also listen live on WKCS-Radio 91.1 FM.

Related links:
State of the Schools Address and Report, January 19, 2012

Primer on Digital Media & Learning with Youth Civic Participation (MacArthur Foundation - theme for the year)

Examining Technology Use, Diversity & Equity at the Digital Edge

A Few Moments with S. Craig Watkins

As a leading ethnographer, lecturer, and author, S. Craig Watkins is working at the forefront of the digital media and learning initiative. At the core of his studies is an interest in how young people navigate social change around them, particularly the innovative ways youth are adapting to new media and mobile media platforms. For more than a year, Craig and his connected learning research team have been working with Texas City High School (TCHS), a public school with an enrollment of 1,650 students, the majority of whom are minorities, in an effort to implement several ‘connected learning’ design pilot projects. He also serves as conference chair for the 2013 Digital Media and Learning Conference, which is themed “Democratic Futures” and will take place March 14-16 in Chicago. Craig spent a few moments with us talking about how his perspectives on civic education and issues of digital equity have evolved as a result of working at the majority-minority school.

How has being in the trenches shaped the work you do?

The principal hat I wear, in all of the work I do, is that of a learner. The opportunity to meet young people has certainly been a part of my own lifelong learning. Over the years, I have met a number of young people who have exuded a creative energy and ambition, which has been really inspirational for me. I’m in a unique position because my job allows me the opportunity to meet young people both as a researcher and also as a speaker, as I travel across the country to talk with school districts, youth organizations, and after-school programs. A lot of the students we have met this past year come from homes and attend schools where the resources aren’t substantial. Yet they develop this sense of optimism and this sense that their voices matter. The ways they struggle to achieve that voice is what I find really fascinating.

One young student I have had the chance to befriend is someone who comes from an immigrant household. His mom works at a cafeteria and doesn't speak English well. His dad has a similar background. There are all kinds of reasons why this young student shouldn't be very optimistic. He has had some ups and downs in school, and when talking to him, I learned about how that history had framed who he was as a learner. Yet he was able to demonstrate a kind of integrity and intelligence that eventually forced his parents and teachers to realize he was capable of so much more than people expected. I was really struck by the fact that even in a space that would otherwise be devastating odds, he’s optimistic about his future. There are definitely some challenges he will face, but seeing the ways he leverages his interest in games and technology to become both a star pupil in his classes and also a star citizen in the after school space is inspiring to me. It’s nothing I could have pictured or put together if I hadn’t had an opportunity to meet someone like him.

After working at Texas City High School for the past year and a half, do you have a better understanding of the challenges students attending majority-minority schools face?

Part of the reason we wanted to roll up our sleeves and get into this classroom setting was to build a sense of trust and build a connection with these students. That allowed us to explore their life history both in school and outside of school. One of the things you learn is that over the course of their lives as students, the expectations have been consistently low for them. The achievement environment and the standards are so low for these students, and increasingly, these are the students who are beginning to represent the majority of students in our public schools. It really does create some serious challenges in terms of how we begin to create curriculum that demands more in terms of innovation, creativity and autonomy. As learners, these students have never been expected to do that, so how do we begin to create an environment, or opportunities, or classrooms that enable them to start doing that type of work?

What I found really interesting was that we didn't meet a single student who had an oppositional culture to learning. We never saw any evidence of that at TCHS. What we saw were many instances of kids trying to do well in school or attempting to take on a leadership role in the projects we were working on. It’s not that these students do not want to achieve, but the low set of expectations that have been cultivated over a set of years have established a set of norms and behaviors that makes success and achievement at a high level very difficult for them.

Is this a major cause for concern considering recent demographic shifts in the US?

As we look at an increasing number of metropolitan areas that are becoming majority-minority--where the majority of the population is Latino, Asian American, African American, and multi-racial--this has severe implications for not only the future of learning, but also for the future of who our young learners are. One of the things I find most striking about the demographic trend–-more than 50% percent of our nation's population younger than age 1 are now minorities--is that if you look at the public school districts in the major metropolitan areas, those are now above the participant threshold in terms of minorities of the population. Much of our future will in many respects be defined by the kind of education these students receive and the kind of skills and knowledge and competencies they develop. The implications are enormous. The very students we are largely failing are the students that we need to be supporting by creating pathways for them to succeed. But this is not about merely preparing young people for good jobs but rather equipping them with the knowledge and skills to thrive in future classrooms, workplaces, and civic spheres. Their success will be our success. This is something we think about constantly in our work.

The struggles that students, teachers, and families face every day at TCHS are always on our minds. If we look at the demographic trends in this country, we will realize we are at a critical juncture. Someone on our research team made a powerful observation about TCHS and that is the persistent anxiety among students and their families associated with living on the edge--the social, economic, and political edge. That's why we call our project the Digital Edge. It's in the context of urgency and uncertainty that we wanted to not only understand their adoption of social, digital, and mobile media but how these practices relate to larger issues of social, academic, and economic inequality.

How can we get it right and start to construct innovative curricula if the almost universal decision to block digital media, such as social media platforms, continues to be upheld in schools?

The blocking of social media was something we saw from the very beginning of our time in TCHS, and the most frustrating part about it all is that, in addition to the students not liking it, the teachers don't like it, and even the administration doesn’t like it. But the fact of the matter is that it is a district mandate. I have become more and more aware of how important a platform like YouTube is for young students as a result of my time spent at TCHS. From the perspective of the school district, YouTube is seen as a waste of time and having no educational value at all. But when you observe kids using YouTube you get a completely different perspective. For them, it's a node in their learning ecology, an example of how "connected learning" happens in a very real way. When kids want to learn how to do something today, they are just as likely to go to YouTube as they are to Google or Wikipedia, especially kids intrigued by designing and making things. Doing so allows them to expand their learning network and tap the rich stream of distributed expertise made possible by networked media. Google learned this about young people a few years ago and, consequently, began to redesign how they do search by making video more prominent.

In five or ten years, I believe this will be something we will look back on and think, how did we ever reach the conclusion that it’s appropriate and an intelligent decision to block kids’ access to the networked world? Rather than teaching them how to navigate that world and teaching them how to be citizens in that world, we instead just pretended it didn't exist. We couldn't imagine doing our TCHS summer project without students having access to online information and having the ability to communicate with each other via social networks. It was absolutely crucial to the program. We lobbied the school district to open up the network. The school listened.

Our hope now is for the district to begin to see how youth use social media in very productive ways and how social media can expand their learning. A lot of kids are participating in these networked publics as learners, storytellers, and information seekers. As researchers, we can begin to document and demonstrate how learning can and does happen as a result of engaging with these platforms. If we can make compelling cases, it really does force schools to rethink some of these broader policies.

The digital media and learning field is at defining moment because we are in a position to not only be thought leaders in terms of this work, but we can also help with intervention, policy, and curriculum design as more schools begin to rethink the role of technology in the learning environment.

What impact has your experience at TCHS had on your agenda for DML2013?

In my own experience growing up, there were internship opportunities and classes that provided pathways to bridge learning both in and out of classroom, which allowed me to see myself as part of the greater community. For me, it was always important and certainly was part of my own trajectory towards college and beyond in terms of the disposition one develops and how one begins to see himself/herself in the world.

I did have those opportunities in middle school and high school, and my time spent at TCHS has left me wondering, to what extent can we create those experiences for all students? What we know now is that there is what Joseph Kahne and others call the civic opportunity gap, which is this notion that not all students have access to opportunities where schools can support students in understanding the importance of civics. TCHS is so focused on meeting the bare minimum--getting bodies in the seats, keeping attendance up, and performing well on tests--that the school does not have a chance to expand the curriculum and create these opportunities for students, which are so powerful and so important to their civic identity. These opportunities are beginning to fade away entirely from schools like TCHS. 

Our work at TCHS has largely focused on bridging those pathways between the classroom and the community. It’s a much more robust way of thinking about civic education and learning in general. Part of my vision for DML2013 is to find teachers, students and schools who are already doing this type of work. They are out there, and if we can bring their personal experiences to the conference, they can serve as models for others who are attending. It provides for a really fascinating set of conversations around what it means to think about democratic futures and what role teachers and students will play in making those futures more compelling.

In the video interview above, Craig explains the conference's thematic focus on civic participation - "Democratic Futures: Mobilizing Voices, and Remixing Youth Participation."