ROUGH EDITED COPY

Classrooms as learning portals: Teachers and Students

Harold Johnson

June 27, 2005

10:00 A.M.

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This is being provided in a rough-draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings.

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>> I think the plan is to get started at 10:15.

We'll go until 11 O'Clock.

The next one will start at 11:15.

A little bit of a slide on the schedule.

Lunch may be a bit shorter but the presentations will have roughly amount of time.

>> I think it's essentially, you know, time, so let's go ahead and begin, if we could.

I'm Harold Johnson and speaking to you not so much as a representative of Kent state University but of a nationwide consortium of 74 colleges, and universities throughout the United States.

Actually four in Canada, and maybe soon four in the UK that do deaf education teacher preparation.

And where for the last four years particularly, this consortium has worked to ensure that all pre-service teachers graduating from our universities and deaf education are technologically competent and that we have established good collaboration now by using technologies among universities and even now what we're doing is we're systematically identifying who you consider to be the most innovative and effective teachers of the deaf around the nation, and through the Web-based video conferencing technology we're working to establish a virtual professional development school that links the Universities with each other, links the universities with master teachers and now we're carrying out research on what is best practices in deaf education, what do the best of our teachers do and what difference does it make in terms of math, science, literacy.

What are the best protocols used for assessments.

We're working to recruit a more diverse population of individuals to go into teaching.

All of that stuff is going on.

But that's not what I'm here to speak to you guys about.

I am here to talk to you about what I hope to be the next thing.

Now, I'm referring to this poster during the course of presentation, that is Jason project which is all about learning.

And so this is going to be what is the next big step and how can we use technology to facilitate the next big thing?

In terms of objectives for today, simply establish the topics of classrooms as learning portals, to share what we know and we know a lot about the essential characteristics of a 21st century learner, what our students must be able to do before they graduate.

What are the characteristics of effective teachers.

To demonstrate some Web-based technologies I think will surprise you.

Ones that are scalable, ones affordable and ones I think are sustainable and finally, then, you know, to also establish the process by which you can get involved in this entire project.

The handout, basically the first page of the presentation and the last page of the presentation, but the last page basically is what you can do.

You know, it's fine to come to a conference, you see good friends and have nice meals and hopefully occasionally you're inform and entertained at presentation, but if nothing happens as a result of going, then it's really kind of a waste.

So the next step as far as what to do.

That is the hope.

This is the assessment.

Please note I do value your questions.

Be it during or afterwards.

I do hope we have a number of conversations over a cup of tea or a glass of wine and particularly I'm looking for the number of you and your schools they get involved with this, now growing beyond our country effort to enhance teaching and learning for all of us.

Measures of success: You know, it doesn't do any good to talk about, you know, how good are our schools, not really talking about how well prepared are our students for life after school.

You know, as a teacher, you think that the purposes of school is to get a good grade in my class or be ready for the next class.

The purpose of school is life outside of school.

I'll let you look over it.

This is what we now know to be the requirements for a 21st century learner.

Our students, when they graduate, this is what they need to be able to do.

I would suggest to you that's not what we're preparing our students for right now in our schools.

Particularly what we're not preparing them for is how to use math and science and literacy to actually solve problem, to work collaboratively, to use communication technologies increasingly both independent and collaborative fashion.

Unless our students are prepared for this reality, regardless of our work in our classes, how much preparation, how much technology we use, the kids are not going to be successful.

So I started with what should our students be prepared to do and then work backwards because obviously what they need then should dictate what our teachers should be doing in the classrooms and then the type of technologies we would use to support those teachers.

So this is the motto of the 21st century learner and states number 3, we're not doing this now, this is not the design or the purpose of most of our teacher preparation programs and also of our K-12 programs.

Now, as we think about redesigning our teacher preparation, I think a lot of you probably know is the one who first informed me by this quote and working with KERRY, this is his life, this is what he does.

Telling someone an idea is not much.

Showing them much better but only when you actually involve people in the learning process does learning occur.

I would suggest to you that most of our teachers be it at the University like I am or be it our K-12 colleagues kind of stick at that number one level.

Tell me, they simply tell them.

Even when they show, it's not really showing thing that apply to the kids, they're very about tract, they're very -- the kids can't understand why they're learning and I would suggest to you that it's not that our students can't learn more information but they really don't see a reason to learn what we're asking them to learn, so if this is our guiding concept, then the question becomes, then, how can we create 21st century learning environments for our teachers, for our students in our classrooms in which all of us are actively involved.

And I would suggest to you that what this is going to demand is something very radical.

But also very true.

The reason I became a teach, I became teaching deaf kids back in 1971 wasn't because I liked knowing lots of stuff but because I really enjoyed learning and I wanted to turn some kids on to learning as well.

I wanted to give kids the opportunity to learn.

I think in our schools we really forget that, unless we actually are learning with our students, unless we're demonstrating how we problem solve and how we apply the information, you know, you realize that in most schools, in most classrooms working with deaf kids, you only ask the question, the rule is, if you know the answer.

The teacher asks the kid a question, it's not really to get information to evaluate, Johnny, what is your address, Johnny, what is 5 plus 5, Johnny, what is the capitol of Columbus, Ohio, actually, excuse me.

[LAUGHTER].

If your only motto of asking questions is to gain -- I'm proposing to you as a model where teachers and students are learners, where teachers search as master learners and they help teachers go from novice to mature, where teachers actually learn with their students and learning how to learn as well as learning how to apply the math and science contest, that is the goal, the focus is upon solving increasingly complex problems.

Initially problems focus on the kids.

This kid keeps beating me up on the way to school.

Maybe the family and the community and the school and as the kids become increasingly sophisticated in solving problems, then they will be increasingly prepared for the 21st century.

Because that's what we're all about.

So this is a model, if you will, that I'm basing this next big thing on, it's very simple, very straightforward, but it's not done.

Our teachers don't know that it's okay to learn with their kids.

Many of our teachers are afraid to try something because they don't know it that well, be it science, be it math.

We're saying that learning with the kids is a goal instead of something to avoid.

The terms of the knowledge we have about the 21st century teacher, we know what master teachers look like, we know they know content, we know they know the concepts behind it, we know that they address the misconceptions that students have when they bring to school. We know that they recognize what they're teaching in school doesn't relate to what goes on outside of school the kids will never learn it.

They realize that -- where is it up here? 14% of what the students say they learn in school.

Why should the kids learn this?

How will they use it this afternoon when they leave school?

That question is foreign to them, they late answering that question, but in reality most of the stuff we present to our kids at school has no relevance to them outside.

We know that the model of a 121st century teacher is, what know what to do, the question really then is all of our teacher preparation programs are they here in the U.S., or throughout the world, are they actually following this model?

This also is a model of what the classrooms in which our teachers need to be able to work in.

The one on the left is the traditional model, and I don't know about you guy, that's what I experience, with the teacher teaches and I'm supposed to figure out what they really want and you give them back to them on test, it's a linear type of approach.

Actually you guys know that the whole U.S. education system is built of a factory model, start in grade one, put this in, people are getting more and more information but really less and less knowledge, less and less prepared for the 21st century.

This is the environment T 21st century.

That we need for our teachers and our students to be successful in.

And particularly that last one.

Authentic real world context.

How in the world do you have real world context when basically bus is real school, the bus schedule is what dictates what happens in school.

It's a great field trip, great idea but you can't go because of the bus schedule. That is reality.

How do you have real world applications, real world contexts when you're limited to the schedule the buses can be there, afford the field trips or get to sign off from the parents to actually go.

The question becomes then how can we establish 21st century learning environments for our students given the realities in which our teachers and our students must learn.

This is what we will be talking about today specifically about in terms of Web-based video conferencing technologies that I think you're going to be kind of surprised at.

I hope you actually are.

This is the task, unless we give our teachers this type of environment they can't do their jobs and our students can graduate and with successful in the 21st century.

Kind of put it in perspective, you know, in deaf Ed, we have a lot of problem, we have a lot of issues.

In fact if anything we're known much more for our controversy than we are for our success.

So in thinking about it I've kind of boiled it down to three things, one, if we can reduce isolation, if our students can have a chance to see other deaf adults that are successful we can raise expectations of what deaf kid consist do.

If our professionals can have less difficulty in finding answers to the questions that they have or sharing a good ideal, and particularly if our teacher preparation programs can be bound in the Real of the K-12 school, you know, the research would say that there's only a tangential relationship between what my students do in my class and how they end up teaching out in the field.

It's 50/50 at best.

Harvard, you look at the person they did their student teaching with, there's a huge impact.

In reality the best predictor of what somebody is going to teach, not the courses they take but who they do their student teaching with.

Until we ground preparation in the reality of 0 our K-12 settings, we are going to have this theory until they start placing our teachers with the most skilled and effective teachers of the deaf we're going to be squandering our kids, we're going to essentially replicating a failed system, a system that doesn't do a very good job for most kids preparing them for the 21st century.

What I do as far as technology, does the technology serve to reduce isolation?

Does it serve to recognize things that work and does it serve to Foster collaboration.

All right?

So reducing isolation, recognizing excellence and Fostering collaboration, if we do that, a lot of the problems we face in deaf Ed I believe will be solved.

Now, enough talk, a little bit of the actual kind of practice here.

Whoops.

We were up live a moment ago.

Where is Jeremy -- it says that we are... hang on.

See if I can bring it back this way.

This [INAUDIBLE]

At University in Georgia, we were connected a moment ago and I want to show you how this technology called I-visit can be used as the way to change our classrooms from basically four walls and a door and a door that is frequently closed to one probably -- we were live just a moment ago.

And she's online right now.

Okay, I also have technology being it happens sometimes I have video clips of previous conference, previous things that I can show you as well.

This technology is one that we're using now, called I-visit, one of the four levels.

It uses this web cam, 50 buck, it's dual across platform, both MAC and PC.

It costs me basically $500 for unlimited registration and 50 simultaneous users and I do this stuff at home all the time.

I have video conferences at home with a cable modem and I can be communicating with individuals around the country, not only seeing the individuals, but also hearing them and you can share also Web page, imagine for example now that we have a collaborative tool that can be done at the hotel, it can be done in a school room or it can be done in a home where now that teacher has the opportunity to access other master teachers or other colleagues to share ideas to do problem solving.

I think that the server didn't like us being up so long, so Jeremy will do his magic and try to get us back on here again.

The question really is then how can we give our teachers more access with inside their classroom.

One of the things we're looking at is one of the problems with science.

There's 127 standards in terms of paring teachers to the deaf.

Do you know how many standards deal with general education curriculum?

One standard.

It says actually knowledge of math, science, literacy, not any kind of skill of it.

That may change because of the new laws that we have.

So the possibility for example, that all of us are going to have to become a lot more content centered in deaf Ed than we have previously.

In Ohio I think next year we start doing state tests in terms of science skills.

What I'm focusing on is can we use science, particularly the Jason project, as a way of having both content and then learning opportunities for our students.

Working with Jason for the past year actually.

They're very interested in collaborating with that, getting involved in preparation, I have some examples of curriculum material here, it was announced last week in Dublin, Ohio, at the conference.

Slow down, yes, thank you very much, absolutely L the question is can we used Web-based video conferencing technology and click aluminum resources like the Jason project -- curriculum like the Jason project.

Are we up again?

Did you say yes?

>> Yep.

>> okay.

Nancy is holding by waiting for us to hook up with her.

She's online.

A little green dot next to her name up there so she's there.

Okay.

Sorry, guys.

Should be connecting with us right now.

So the question really then is can we use Web-based video conferencing to give our teachers in the classroom more opportunities than they have otherwise.

This technology has been pretty rock solid for us.

[chuckling]

Please, yes, ask the question.

>> I'm assuming for hearing people and voice over we're fine, how does it work if the users are deaf and you don't have --

>> Nancy actually is going to show you signing so you can see how that looked.

I do have a modem and I sign to deaf colleagues and it works really quite well.

The nice thing is that you can have five, six windows open simultaneously and all the windows are live and you can share anything on your computer as far as Web pages or word documents.

This isn't working.

Let me kind of go to plan B.

>> excuse me, Harold, could you repeat the question, please.

>> yes, thank you.

>> this is a video clip that I made about three weeks ago using I visit, this is with the colleague...

>> the main way I've used the kind of technology has been the exchange that I've done with [indiscernible] graduate students at Gallaudet.

>> this is Susan LANIHAN in St. Louis, she is at home now, she was having a graduation picnic for her student, we dialed in on I visit and she's talking with a group of people who were at Kent state about how she was using technology.

Now, this is an oral setting, they didn't want to see signing at that point.

>> so each year the spring semester for the last four years we've done an exchange and it's developed in different ways each year.

This year the students first introduced themselves through a shared course site and then...

>> one of the challenges we've had in terms of video conferencing technology is the fact, you know, that you can get $15,000 for a system and it requires 14 ports to be open and kind of a technical support system.

We're finding with I visit, because it's a dual platform system, works on MACs and PC, it requires one port, and can be done with DSL or higher, it's been a very effective tool for us.

If we have a slow connection we rely on a VRS interpreter for the deaf to allow it.

Sharing Web pages and documents has proven to us to be a very effective way of communicating.

Let me try one more time to see by chance if Nancy has come up.

No.

Not going to work.

Okay.

So... one more example of this technology.

>> did pretty well.

You did pretty well in recruiting a good percentage of your program.

>> [indiscernible] pictures to talk about wedding plans and all sorts of things too.

We had a great visit with Fred...

>> one of the things we had a question on was whether or not the delay between the video and the audio was in fact a problem.

The anecdotal information is that it is of help.

Because you see it and then it's confirmed.

We don't know.

>> I'm from Atlanta, I'm the net person in Georgia and I work with Dr. [INAUDIBLE]

And the technology really is much better than it's coming across here, using it for teacher training programs and also experimenting with a program of interpreting, so the fluid nature of the signs, I've seen it with my own two eyes and it's --

>> that is what Nancy was going to be sharing with you, how they're doing remote interpreting, how they're doing teacher observation, how the teachers are beginning to collaborate with one another, we got bumped off the server is what I think.

>>[INAUDIBLE]

>> probably for the time thing.

Being able to communicate with each other is part of it.

One of the problems we're seeing in terms of education is it's not the technology it's the applications.

So what are the applications that are sufficiently strong that would encourage teachers to get out of 0 their comfort zone and actually then be communicating with other teachers or with universities?

What they were doing now actually experimenting with is actually assigning a University student as a personal researcher the to the mass of teachers I'll show you in a moment.

The University student is working in direct support of some of the master teachers.

Some of the tools have -- have heard of or used net trekker as a tool in some of the people in the room, this is one of the -- hopefully I still have internet connection.

Maybe not.

We'll see, one thing we're finding as far as application on technology is unless standard space, unless it's actually tied to what goes on -- very good -- unless it actually is tied to what the teachers have to teach the teacher won't do it, we're also then looking at net trekker as a standards based curriculum tool that basically for any state in the country it will tell you the standards for any content area, any grade level, also then will tell you the web's best resources for teaching 5th grade science under the Texas standard, for example.

This is one of the tools we're using, then, to again make them want to actually get out on the web.

Net trekker.

Another tool, this is the one mentioned up here a moment ago is in fact the Jason project.

The Jason project is a worldwide system of expeditions where teachers and students are working with each other and also in collaboration with scientists throughout the world.

All the work is standard space, national science standards and there's a portal to find the state standards specifically.

The curriculums are all set around problem solving and collaboration, they now would like to work up from the deaf education so they can get involved in teacher preparation so they can have access to kids with disabilities and very interested in our technology that mostly works but not necessarily today.

So as to a curriculum that actually -- application that may drive the teacher's use of technology net trekker we're looking at as a standards based tool and Jason as a content area and then there are a couple of more pieces I want to share with you.

Okay.

Thank you.

One of the critical factors we know is the best predictor of how someone is going to be doing in school is the teachers they have working with them.

The qualifications of the teacher.

The expertise of the teacher are the best predictors of student performance.

Research would say that a teacher with 3 plus years more experience has more impact on their students' success than someone who is brand-new for example. In the United States we really have never done a very good job of identifying who are our most innovative and effective teachers.

The join together grant, you know, has been doing that for the past several years and this is a project that we're asking your guys help on is to identify who are the most innovative and effective teachers of the deaf in your area and to nominate them, and we kind of show you where they R. as far as where they are at this point.

These are our current master teach.

That we have around the country, what we're doing is we're providing Web-based video conferencing technology to each one of these teachers, we're providing net trekker access to each one of these teacher, we're giving each one if they like access to pre-service teachers.

I tell you in terms of using technology in schools, that instead of trying to work with all the teachers in a given school, we're trying to identify those teachers in that school thought to be the innovators, the risk taker, the ones making a difference.

We're trying to document what are the best practices doing in the classrooms, what differences they make.

What makes sense to them, how they actually apply it and incorporating it into our teach preparation programs and on going development, as a strategy I would suggest to you that is one that works.

So as you are working with teachers don't try to work with them all because you won't get them all, some times the ones that are the slowest or have the most problems will drag down the whole system.

The process is whereby we're identifying the most innovative and effective teachers giving them the technology we think will be the most effective and then capturing those best practices in a multimedia presentation so now we actually have models of teachers using the concepts that the researchers say is important.

All of them connected via this Web-based video conferencing technology.

There are some other pieces here that I would like to share with you particularly this aspect in terms of our topical teams.

Right now there are 8 topical teams that the join together grant is funding in which we actually are carrying out research on what are the technologies that our faculty are using, our teachers are using, what are the assessment protocols that the research says is most effective and how they're being used in our school, how is science taught by the most innovative and effective teachers.

These are teams working now, you have information on the back of your sheet here, if you will, for getting involved with and helping us to actually document best practices.

I would tell you too something that I would be particularly interested in, we have give, you know, all the technology free to our master teachers, okay?

We actually give them ways in which they can earn additional monies, $500 basically for working with us on you our project, 25 hours worth of work, we actually have money to put Web-based video conferencing technology, the equipment, for example, into their classrooms.

Have you seen that equipment, the polyCOM and the Sony?

Do you know how that works?

This is with the Magnolia school for the deaf in...

>> I'm in Cheryl Thornton's classroom, she's one of...

>> we're in Ohio, we're calling in to [INAUDIBLE]

>> she now is a lead, she supervisors others.

>> that was done on cable modem at that school.

Pretty amazing.

That was a pretty good connection, actually T grant that we have now actually would pay for half the cost of putting that technology with owl of our master teachers.

So it costs about $6,000, that equipment, we've negotiated down to about 3200.

We pay 1600, so it could haves the school $1,600 to get a web-based video conferencing technology with the master teacher and it seems technology can be used not only for linking them with each other and with universities but for professional development, for meetings for collaborative exchanges, I'm asking for your help, kind of second part of your sheet here, in terms of helping us to identify those master teachers but particularly to encourage you guys if you are administrators to talk with me, because I have all of this money that I really need to spend, it's kind of embarrassing because I'm spending it at lower rates than I thought I was.

Particularly to get you to help you not only to recognize your teachers but to have the technologies those teachers can use, stay in the clam, be recognized for the quality they are, and they have access now to literally the world hopefully through like the Jason project as being a science based program.

I really wish we could have shown you Nancy sheets.

She's -- that's really a shame there.

Perhaps one more time.

But I don't think it's going to work, is it?

Not going to happen.

All right. Then to kind of conclude and give you a chance to ask any questions, does it really work when you say it's going to, these are the opportunities actually that are up here, in one in terms of deafed.net, which is one of the things that we developed, we have over 16,000 individuals right now on that website.

We have about 250 individuals that are serving as cyber mentors people through e-mail exchanges are mentoring our pre-service teachers about the reality and the pre-service teachers are searching for the information that their teachers want.

In terms of master teachers I've shown you that process.

And then the topical the teams in terms of teams around the country who actively were using a technology to investigate and to establish best practices and then the final one there simply is I need to talk to administrators to give away some money to put more Web-based video conferencing technology and Karen, you probably will be talking about the work you guys are doing in the video network conferencing that you and Phil have been developing over the years.

The main thing I think is giving them the tools they need to access the best content material and then to actually then carry out research on what differences they make and then finally then capturing the models and using those for the next preparation out of our pre-service teachers or on going professional developer.

We have a bit of time, yes, question?

>> when you start with the question and answer period of time, Jeremy had helped you set up a desk top computer and get you going with Nancy, if you want.

>> Jeremy, that would be good.

We have about ten minutes. I apologize for technology.

It was working until I hit the button.

Are there questions?

>> two.

The nature of your grant, federal funds so it's across state lines?

>> the grant is federal funds.

It is nationwide and we also can work with our colleagues in Canada.

>> I noticed you only had four master teachers for video conferencing in the classroom.

>> that was in terms of the poly COM level, and really because of the administrators at the other schools says, no, we can't afford it.

I'm working for superintendents at the schools for the deaf to get them aware of it.

It's a lot of the administrative understanding of the opportunities.

>> all schools are attempting to work with internet connective.

>> the question was I assume all the schools we're working with have IP's.

>> the research would indicate that internet connect -- are we -- oh?

I'm sorry.

Mouse.

Very good.

>> this isn't going to work.

It's another version and password protected.

I will be glad to show you guys later on this individually.

So yes, what we're finding is there's plenty of internet connections in the schools.

More band with is better.

The problem we have is the system administrators have it locked down so tight they won't allow the fire wall to be opened.

The I visit technology sit's one port, polyCOM is 14 points.

In reality if the superintendent tells the Tech person to do it, we have a nationwide infrastructure that will work with the local Tech person to help them kind of figure out their problem as far as opening the ports and really just a matter of doing it but not feeling comfortable about doing it.

So the schools have more technology sitting in closets, more internet access going into a school but things are so tightly tied down teachers can't really use it, we have a lot of technology not being used because of administrative lack of understanding.

One last question and then yes...

>> do you have a repository of funds that you're making --

>> components?

>> yeah, you're making instruction or pieces of collaborative information, is it in repository form.

>> our information that we're developing is under the deafed.net.

Which is on the bulletin board.

Sharing with you the document, the literature, the technologies, the examples that are out there, yes.

>> are you working at all with [INAUDIBLE]

>> yes, absolutely.

>> so you're using that --

>> really the question is -- we do work with itinerant teachers, the only criteria is if you had a deaf child who in your area would you want them with.

We have specialists, itinerant teachers, school for deaf, it doesn't matter, who are the best teachers, and we're trying to figure out, particularly with our colleagues in Ohio, preparing individuals to work with our itinerant teachers, these things I do put in my briefcase and I'm mostly successful with it when I go to schools and around and we're thinking there's an evolving array of technologies that also work with itinerant teachers.

Sometimes schools are the worst place to use technology, they don't have time, the technology is old, things are really tied down tight, so we're particularly looking at can we use broadband access at home, and now about 55% of the U.S. population have it, so even possibility of people using internet access at home is a way of connecting as opposed to relying on schools which actually takes a longer time sometimes.

>> where you had the stars of video conferencing is that where deafed.net provided the Polycom?

>> the question was where we have the stars is that where we provided?

The answer is yes.

What Karen and Phil are going to be presenting on Wednesday, a nationwide availability.

There's more technology options out there than we actually even know about, what we're trying to do and we're working in collaboration with them is simply say who has it and how can we apply it?

Those are ones that we actually provided and we'll be working with Karen and her group to broaden that much wider.

I thank you guys for your patience.

I apologize for the technical problem, I know Pat has an announcement about the evaluation.

I would again encourage you guys please to talk with me after the presentation, I have all of my laptop, and I bet you I get a live video, see my works, notice that teachers are the most important technology in the classrooms and students are the most underutalized resource.

I think this is one way to care about, I thank you, and Pat.

>> thank you, Harold, thank you to our interpreters and to our captionist too.

You will find as you go through the next couple of days that the sessions will be 40 minutes long and we're going to hold to that time frame.

Also we have -- we are very interested in your comments and your evaluation, you have paper evaluations in front of you now -- excuse me, sorry, I was blocking the interpreter, you have paper evaluations.

If you choose, you can also go into the learning center on this floor and complete your evaluations online.

It's your choice.

I will be in the back and happy to accept the paper evaluations should you choose to use those, as you know, this morning's schedule is off by about ten minutes.

So that the next sessions will start about 11:10.

This afternoon's sessions will start promptly at 1 o'clock.

Thank you and enjoy your day.

[ APPLAUSE ]

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This is being provided in a rough-draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings

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