TCEA 2007 - David Warlick and Navigating the Digital Information Age

I had the distinct pleasure of hearing David Warlick live for the first time today. I also had the opportunity to freak him out about half way through his presentation (more on this later).

David was discussing (and for me, clarifying) his belief that we need to quit discussing technology integration and begin discussing information literacy. You see, information literacy done right automatically draws in the technology based on the student need. Once again, it becomes student driven instead of teacher directed. For example:
Marco Torres is an innovative teacher. One day a student comes to him asking why her brother insists on speaking out against the global economy. She wants to know what is so important about the global economy that he is that worked up while in college. Marco says it would be a good idea for her to find out, and being a good teacher, he wants her to report her findings back to him. So she does. Boy does she ever. Watch this digital story about her findings (click on the video titled "Sweatshops"). Do you think she could have gotten her point across in an essay? Did he say go read a book and write a report?

There was enough NEW information created in 2003 to fill 37,000 Libraries of Congress buildings. Yes, we must teach our students to actively and effectively manipulate, navigate, and dissect this information.

As if our jobs are not hard enough, David points out a very interesting observation: “For the first time in history, our job as educators is to prepare our children for a future we cannot clearly describe.” Can we do that using the same methods we have been using for decades? And by "that" I mean PREPARE.

Another interesting observation David pointed out was that when the science community announced we are now one less planet, it took ONE minute for wikipedia to reflect the change. How long will it be before your textbooks reflect it? To steal a line from a chili company, "Well, that's too long."

How do the three R's fit into this information age? David suggests:
reading expands into exposing the truth
arithmetic expands into employing information
writing expands into expressing ideas compellingly

My overall views of this presentation are very high. I wish my admin had been there to hear it so they can see the dire importance of us making positive, affective changes in our ISD. I only hope they see my passion for improving the opportunities for our students through my actions.

Oh, and the freaking out David story. Well, I decided not to carry anything but my MacBook with me walking around so much. Since I was on the front row (Yes, I was a bow head) and David kept walking about ten feet in front of me, I decided I wanted a picture. Only camera I had was on the MacBook. So I loaded Photobooth and spun the laptop around and hit the mouse button. David was not quite ready for seeing himself live on a computer screen (I also read on his blog that he is not big on cameras anyway). He stopped cold mid-sentence and had to announce to the entire group that "this guy just threw me." (Sorry David. Thanks for taking it so well.) I talked to him after the presentation to say hi and thanks for the Class Blogmeister. He asked if I was going to be at the edublogger meet-up. I am not sure if it was nice small talk or he was plotting revenge for my laptop photo attempt. Either way, it will be nice to talk more with him. It was a learning experience, though. It was the first time I realized the iSight takes pics backwards. The TCEA logo was in reverse on my screen. Bummer. I am sure there is a trick to fix this somewhere.

I get to hear David again at the TEC-SIG luncheon Thursday, I think it is. Maybe I will have new batteries in my digital voice recorder by then. I saw Will Richardson sitting in on this session today. No, I didn't flip open the laptop and snag a photo. Maybe I can borrow one from one of my district buddies here. I can't wait to sit in on Will's keynote as well.

Now if I could just find Wesley Fryer around here somewhere to complete the trifecta...

I'm at TCEA 2007

Just a quick note to say I am in Austin at the 2007 TCEA Conference. If any of you are down here in Austin leave a comment and I will try to catch up with you.

I will get a chance to hear David Warlick, Wesley Fryer, Will Richardson, Miguel Guhlin, and many more great education motivators. They keep me going in this very uphill battle.

I will also get a chance to meet up with a friend I made in Austin back in October while I was presenting at the Higher Ed Conference sponsored by the Dana Center. Dr. Walter Smith from Texas Tech heads a program called IV-STEM that allows pre-service teachers to work with students at universities around the world. They monitor the moon and keep track of their observations to share with other students on both sides of the hemisphere. Awesome idea. I am lucky to be a fly on the wall with this project to watch the interactions of all involved (which includes Japan and Australia). Sitting in on video conference calls has been a neat opportunity that I wish more had. Watching leaders at the university level create and implement programs to better the education preparation system is exciting to see.