Dummy Gen.?!, ASCD High School Reform Proposal, and Coloodle using Moodle 1.9+ PDF Print E-mail
Written by Ken Task   
Tuesday, 20 May 2008 05:27
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After listening Tim Holt's podcast/interview of the author of "The Dumbest Generation", I thought the author did have some valid points.
Ref: http://snipurl.com/1zhj3

In reading the comments left, I saw some familiar names and some familiar themes related to those comments ... ".... going to blog about it ...", "... I'd like to see ...", etc.
so the discussion will go on.  One did, however, provide some links to an effort related where they were actually doing something!  Now it's one thing to discuss/cuss further and it's another to actually do!
(more on proposed "doing" below)

Not long after listening, received the daily ASCD via EMail.
Here's the link: http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/lfzQgOdQhUyfgBCibvfHIduR
Just reading the summaries of the special report is an eye-opener and if one considered connections with "Dumbest Generation" ...? hmmmmm

Towards the bottom of the above link there is a section on ASCD's legislative priorities and a link to  "ASCD High School Reform Proposal". 
A few clips from that ...

"... curriculum that is more educationally meaningful for students."

" ... develop a more sophisticated assessment system that incorporates more meaningful assessment data at the school level, such as portfolio assessments, demonstrations, oral presentations, and applied projects."

"... a system will ensure not only that important accountability decisions are based on the best possible data, but also that educators can use the data to determine which students are struggling, what strategies are working, and how teachers should adjust their instruction ..."

Could it be that a tenured research professor just didn't engage the two students using laptops in his lecture room?

PDF summary of proposal:
http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/newsandissues/High%20School%20Reform%20One%20Page%20Summary.pdf

URL:
http://www.ascd.org/portal/site/ascd/menuitem.6f662ce249e8980edeb3ffdb62108a0c/template.article?articleMgmtId=092f84cd6d92e010VgnVCM1000003d01a8c0RCRD

ASCD has a link on their home page for Online Learning: Pure Potential.
http://www.ascd.org/

It's all about virtual schools ... here's a clip of advice from the article ...

"Educators: Consider Your Needs First

High schools and districts that are considering offering their students supplemental or full-time online learning options should do their homework. Clark and Berge (2005b) suggest that before making "build or buy" decisions, each local school should form a planning group. This group should identify school improvement needs, desired student outcomes, student groups most in need of help, and courses or curriculums that would most benefit from an online component.

In determining whether a prospective online course provider is reliable and effective, you might use the National Standards of Quality for Online Learning issued by the North American Council for Online Learning in 2007. Contact other school districts the provider is already serving and ask about its performance. In addition, ask questions such as these:

    * Does the course provider hold regional accreditation status? Remember that accreditation is not a complete measure of quality, however, and some well-regarded virtual schools don't pursue it.
    * How does the provider align curriculum? Most will have at least a general alignment available. If any concerns arise, ask to review a course or two.
    * How does the provider recruit qualified teachers and train them to teach effectively online? What are this provider's quality standards for online teaching, and how does the program monitor and support teachers?
    * How does the provider support students and participating schools? Look at the registration and course management systems: Could your school easily monitor enrollees' progress and interact with the provider and its teachers?"

While all the items above are significant, this particular item is of interest:

"This group should identify school improvement needs, desired student outcomes, student groups most in need of help, and courses or curriculums that would most benefit from an online component."

Not all curriculum "fits" in an online environment (even though technology might be used).  Some curriculum in deed might best be taught with less technology than more ... cases in point might be writing and reading as compared to math and science (leave it up to the reader to decide which is which here).

The ASCD clip above is sound advice, but notice ... it started out suggesting that before a school decides to "build or buy" it research the provider and provides questions to ask.  What about the "build"?  It's all about "buy".

If one thinks about it, there is much more "buy" rather than "build" in using technology based systems. If it  holds true that teachers know their students best, then why shouldn't teachers "build" what they can and "buy" what they can't supply?

Why should each ISD "build" by themselves?  Are there not some things that could be built for all?  Could that building be done in a collaborative online environment from which all could benefit? Could a Coloodle (a Collaborative Moodle) be part of the answer?

Moodle requires building.  When first installed it is a blank slate upon which to build and there are so many things one could build!

Thus, and this is where SOS and collaborative efforts could be of benefit and the entire point of this posting ...  a Coloodle - Collaborative Moodle of the 1.9 version where SOSIG, CampSIG, ANYSIG members could build glossaries as well as outcomes based upon Nets-T, Nets-S, SERB Standards, NACOL Standards, PDAS Domains, etc. etc.

Those glossaries, outcomes, quizzes (test banks), could be then exported and made available via an Ed Tech Exchange (such as http://www.sosoftexas.org/etexchange/)  or right inside the Coloodle itself (a downloads section) for ALL to import into their local installations of Moodle. Once imported, the local ISD Moodle Administrator and Staff could edit  to suit their needs.

Short information on Moodle Outcomes for version 1.9 and higher.

"Support for Outcomes (also known as Competencies, Goals, Standards or Criteria) means that we can grade things using one or more scales that are tied to outcome statements. Enabling outcomes makes such special grading possible throughout the site."

Docs on:
http://docs.moodle.org/en/Outcomes

Video (YouTube):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmkEGfvjj9U

Forum Discussions:
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=78074

The proposed Coloodle could have Exabis E-Portfolio for collaborators to evaluate as well as use themselves ... build your own E-Portfolio!  It could also have F-2-F ... an add-on to schedule face-2-face sessions for collaborators. It could also have Covcell add-ons ... desktop audio/video [conferencing] (would require the installation of a Red5 server for that to function ... but even that is  open source AND free).

So who is game?  Want to start?  Contact me and lemmie  know !
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