Predictions for 2012

January 31st, 2012 by Butch Owens

Yogi Berra once said, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.”


That’s especially true in the world of technology today, but I think we can, at least, predict what the hot topics will be as we head into 2012.  Most important is how we respond to these issues.  Let’s take a look at some of my top picks which should be on every administrator’s radar.






BYOD – Bring your own device:  We have been talking about  1:1 computing for a number of years with very little progress other than a few pilot projects.  With the current budget situation I don’t foresee any changes in funding coming forward to make this a reality.  If we truly embrace getting devices into student’s hands we must look past the restraints of budget.  By embracing a “Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD) model we will succeed in getting devices into a lot more student hands in the classroom this year rather than have the devices sitting at home because of current school policy that forbids their use on campus.  I spoke of this earlier this year in a TBLOGICAL post calledDigital Deprivation.  All students having access to digital devices capable of enhancing their educational experience is becoming even more realistic when you consider cheaper and cheaper devices such as the Kindle Fire, inexpensive netbooks, tablets, and Smart Phones on the market today.


Key topics to address:  BYOD Policies, Wireless Access, Bandwidth, Devices supported

24/7 Access to Information: Just a couple of years ago sites like Khan Academy were seen as a novelty.  A few tech savvy teachers might download a video to help explain a topic or give students a link to follow if they needed extra help with a concept.  Today it is no longer a novelty to see a short video clip on a subject.  Just go to YouTube and type in a topic you would like to know from replacing a valve cover gasket on your car to DNA replication.   These sites and videos are growing at a phenomenal rate, both proprietary and open source.

Key Topics to Address:  Teaching students to discriminate the good from the bad,  Providing Open Access at School,

24/7 Delivery of Course Content:  Yes, this does relate to 24/7 access, but takes it a step further.  Not only can students find information anytime and from any place, they can also elect to take all of their courses this way.  What that says to me is that if we don’t have it, they will go somewhere else to get it.

I recently had an opportunity to hear Dr. David Hagland, Director of Educational Options with the Riverside Unified School District, speak.  He has found that students don’t necessarily want to take a course completely online, but rather like to expand the classroom and teacher’s influence to an online blended format that includes lectures, class notes, videos, et cetera posted for student access before and after the traditional classroom lesson, and to have 21st Century technology tools available in the classroom.  For example, as I sit here typing this post in Google Docs, I know that I can access it on my computer at home, my iPad on the road or even share it with colleagues to get input and advice.  I’ve also clipped a few articles from the web into my Evernote account to reference as I write.  All of these tools and resources need to be incorporated into the teaching and learning environments of our students.

Key topics to address:  Learning platforms/management systems, online storage capabilities, teacher training for blended instruction, access to information.

School Libraries:  I know this prediction will not be a popular one, but the changing purpose and function of the school library needs to be addressed.  Schools are no longer getting the best bang for their buck when it comes to building and sustaining the traditional school library.  In a recent conversation with Dr. Devin Vodicka, Assistant Superintendent of Business for the Carlsbad Unified School District, we were discussing the new high school they were in the process of building. He stated that after much discussion on whether or not to build a traditional library it came down to the following question, “If we are really having such a difficult time deciding whether or not to build and stock a new library with books in the traditional way, we already know the answer, which is no. It’s just that it’s uncomfortable for our generation to picture a library without rows and rows of books.”

Are we still making decisions on what is comfortable for us or best for today and tomorrow’s students.  I’m not saying we need to do away with the library, just look at its role and function in our schools.  It will always be needed as a place to meet for that first date using the excuse as getting together to work on a school project.

Key Topics to address:  Digital books/textbooks and a system to checkout them out, installation of access points for students to connect at school, mobile devices,  workstations

Digital Deprivation

President Truman

Today’s problem is not the digital divide, it’sdigital deprivation.  It’s difficult to find a student today who does not have access to the Internet, own a smartphone, communicate with friends all over the world and collaborate online with others to plan events—except, of course, when they enter the schoolhouse walls.  Instead of embracing and encouraging the use of the technology students bring with them each day, we forbid its use or even presence on campus.
Last month a colleague and I were asked to do a board workshop highlighting the use of mobile technologies and their value in the classroom.  To demonstrate the power of this technology we designed an activity around the iPad.  We divided the board members and senior staff into two groups.  One group was given the approved district textbook for world history, which was a rather new edition.  The other group was given iPads.  The assignment was to take 15 minutes and come up with a presentation on The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan.  (I know many of you are probably scratching your heads right now, knowing you’ve heard the terms but perhaps don’t recall the details?  California’s content standards expect 10th graders to know!)

What we observed

Textbook group:   The group had a very nice looking book with 328 pages of which three quarters of one page was devoted to the Truman Doctrine/Marshall Plan.  Their report consisted of one page of bulleted points on chart paper which highlighted the year it was introduced by guess who, Truman, and who was sent to Europe to help design and carryout the plan, George C. Marshall.


What did it look like for the Textbook Group? Five people sitting around a table with one making the notes on chart paper, one talking and one sitting away from the group not engaged.
iPad Group:  The group with iPads quickly went to work and found thousands of resources including a video of Truman giving the speech outlining his reasons for sending aid and helping to rebuild the countries recently defeated by the Allies.  Another found a UK site that helped give a European perspective of the plan.  The group’s presentation consisted of Truman’s speech, video and pictures of Europe after the war and included a video of George C. Marshall touring war torn areas.


What did it look like with the iPad Group?  All participants actively engaged accessing different information, all related to the topic. Sharing their findings with each other.


I forgot to mention that the textbook group was forward thinking and pulled out their smart phones and began quickly looking for additional information.  We just as quickly had them place them in a box on the front desk per our school policy on cell phones on campus.

Think of your own life

So it’s no longer a digital divide, but digital deprivation.  Even one smartphone, laptop or tablet with access to the Internet would have provided an abundance of additional information above and beyond the limited information in the textbook.


Think of your own life.  When you get lost, do you pull out your old Thomas Brothers guide?  When you need a phone number, do you grab the phone book or the yellow pages?  When you want to know what’s playing at the movie theatre, do you reach for the entertainment section of the newspaper (do you still subscribe to a newspaper)?  My hunch is you use technology to find answers like these.


The next time you become involved in a discussion about whether students need regular access to technology at school, stop and try an activity like the one we did with our board members.  See if anyone really wants to be in the textbook group!

Module 6 - Assessments

Reflection Prompt:  This module has explored the use of technology tools for both formative and summative assessment. As you think about how you will implement formative and summative assessments in the online and blended environments, what are some of the factors you need to consider?

There are three primary factors that I will consider when implementing formative and summative assessments in the online and blended environment.  Students familiarity with the technology, feedback to the students in a timely manner and the power of the group.  

The first factor to take into consideration is students must have the skills and knowledge to use the technology tools prior to being asked to use them to demonstrate their knowledge.  It has been helpful as a student in this class to have examples and models to refer to when completing assignments.  In Murrieta we have a number of teachers either teaching an online class or in the process of developing an online class to teach next year.  We definitely should consider agreeing on what Web 2.0 tools should be first used in all classes, especially for courses which students may be taking as their first class online.  They would include a common templates for Blogs, Wikis, Google Docs etc.  in addition to a common rubric for student posts and responses in discussion groups.

The next consideration is for me to develop a schedule and system for me to give timely feedback to students.  This especially important to keep online discussions groups relevant and active.  This is an area that I could definitely benefit from other online instructors experiences and systems for providing feedback to students.  

Finally the true power comes in the synergy of the group.  A discussion thread with just the student and the teacher would end very quickly.  When you add other students opinions and ideas it expands the learning for both the person making the original post and the person responding to it.  When students have the opportunity to see and review the work of other students it gives them new ideas and challenges them to rethink and expand their own ability to demonstrate their learning and understanding.  

Module 4 - Social Networks

The Internet has had a major impact on my own personal learning in both my professional and personal life.  It has become the first place I go to find information on almost any topic from photography, to repairing something around the house to finding answers and guidance on issues of education code and student discipline.  The screen shot at the end of this post is from SportsShooter.com which I subscribe to.  I was to shoot a local team competing in the National Finals at the Velodrome Home Depot Center and I had never shot indoor cycling.  Within two hours of posting the question I had responses including a link to an academy video.  In my role as Director of Student Support I belong to two professional organizations which frequently send group emails to each other seeking advice on a wide range of legal questions. 

The biggest distraction is the amount of information available and being able to focus on the question at hand.  It is very easy for me to begin following interesting links not really related to the current topic or issue.  

I believe students would have the same answer for how the internet may distract their learning, maybe to an even greater degree.  Most students would have to answer that the internet does not help their learning at school due to it's lack of access during the school day but is a major resource when working outside of school.   

The first step in supporting students in using the internet as their own personal learning space is to work with our schools and districts on providing access.  Expanding wireless capabilities, implementing BYOD policies, designing blended learning opportunities for students and providing resources for teachers.  Which in turn will be able to support students through the teaching and use of Web 2.0 tools such as Evernote, Wikis, Threaded Discussions, Google Docs, and others. 

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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board Velodrome Cycling Photography  Butch Owens, Photographer, Photo Editor Murrieta | CA | US | Posted: 9:36 PM on 09.28.10 ->> I will be shooting at the Home Depot Center Velodrome Indoor cycling. I've shot football, basketball, baseball, soccer etc. but this is the first time for indoor cycling. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,  This post is:  Informative (0) | Funny (0) | Huh? (0) | Off Topic (0) | Inappropriate (0) |   Definitions Jack Megaw, Photographer, Assistant Philadelphia | PA | America | Posted: 9:47 PM on 09.28.10 ->> Check out the "Two Students" video feature - lots of great stuff from there. http://sportsshooteracademy.com/videos/ Also lots of great images from there are in the video couldn't hurt! (shooting cycling on a velodrome is great - you can be very creative with it!) Hope it helps.  -Jack  This post is:  Informative (0) | Funny (0) | Huh? (0) | Off Topic (0) | Inappropriate (0) |   Definitions Juliann Tallino, Photographer Seattle | WA | USA | Posted: 11:48 PM on 09.28.10 ->> I shot there once, light absolutely sucks but you can use flash, most everyone did, but that was pre-D3/MarkIV. Not sure what type of event you're shooting, I shot the UCI world championships and they gave out vests (I think it was vests, it was a while ago), some shooters could get out on the track and the rest of us had to shoot from a more restricted area, but we could shoot down from the top, in the stands and from inside the track. We had access to the inside area where the cyclists were before races, pretty much free reign of the velodrome. Bring parking money, Home Depot does not do media parking, everyone pays.  This post is:  Informative (0) | Funny (0) | Huh? (0) | Off Topic (0) | Inappropriate (0) |   Definitions Butch Owens, Photographer, Photo Editor Murrieta | CA | US | Posted: 12:21 AM on 09.29.10 ->> Thanks Jack and Juliann. I'll be going later this week so will let you know how it goes.  This post is:  Informative (0) | Funny (0) | Huh? (0) | Off Topic (0) | Inappropriate (0) |   Definitions Nigel Farrow, Photographer Suffolk | UK | United Kingdom | Posted: 6:08 AM on 09.29.10 ->> I'd do a search for images from events like the Olympics and Commonwealth Games, 7 day racing (Munich and Ghent are the two that spring to mind) plus, the event Juliann mentions, the UCI Worlds. OK the lighting may not be as good as for these but hopefully how other people have covered the sport will give you some ideas.  Depending on the event and who you are shooting for you may have pretty good access anyhow but I would still get there as early as possible and recce the venue so you can plan on being in the right place for any specific competitors you have to cover. Good luck. Have fun.  This post is:  Informative (0) | Funny (0) | Huh? (0) | Off Topic (0) | Inappropriate (0) |   Definitions Add your comments... If you'd like to add your comments to this thread, use this form. You need to be an active (paying) member of SportsShooter.com in order to post messages to the system.  NOTE: If you would like to report a problem you've found within the SportsShooter.com website, please let us know via the 'Contact Us' form, which alerts us immediately. It is not guaranteed that a member of the staff will see your message board post. Thread Title: Velodrome Cycling Photography Thread Started By: Butch Owens Message: Member Login: Password: || Sponsor Special Deals Redrock Mircro DSLR Cinema Bundle   Available from: Samy's Camera | Price: $2443.95 Notes: SAMY'S CARRIES THE FULL LINE OF REDROCK MICRO PRODUCTS!! The Redrock DSLR Cinema Bundle is a comprehensive package for converting video DSLRs to useful cinema production tools. This bundle is compatible with most video DSLRs including the Nikon D90 and Canon 5D Mark II. -- More Info -- Return to --> Message Board Main Index

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Module 3 - Web 2.0 Tool

In my position of Director of Student Support/Alternative Ed, at the District Office I have seen the need for updated Staff Development for administrators in the area of Student Discipline.  With everyone's busy schedule there is never enough time at district level meetings to cover the required annual staff development updates.  Development of on-line classes/modules would be a way to meet this need.  This assignment/reflection for module three will focus on an activity directed towards site administrators.  

There are a number of pending bills being considered, this year, at the state level dealing with the abundance of student suspensions, especially for violation of Ed Code 48900 K, defiance and disruption.  All of the pending bills remove defiance and disruption of school activities as a suspendable offense and would require administrators to find alternatives to suspension.   The activity I would create would be targeted to site level administrators and designed to have them review the number of suspensions at their site and get them reflecting on possible alternatives.  The first activity would be a thread discussion responding to a blog post on student suspensions?  

The first post would require them to reflect on the suspensions for defiance and disruption at their site and what they would do if suspension was not an option.  This would require them to analyze the the current suspensions for violation of 48900 (k) and explore other means to address the behavior.  The power of them posting and responding to each other would also lead to them compiling different information and ideas which could lead to alternative solutions to suspension.  

To minimize the challenges to administrators I would set up the Blog using Posterous as a private group.  I would first explain and demonstrate how to sign up and post to the discussion at a face to face administrative meeting.  Each administrator would then be  invited to join and post to the discussion.  The value of Posterous is the ability to post from a variety of devices including their computer at work or home, smart phone, ipad, or even as an email.  

This initial activity would serve as an introduction to online staff development and reflection which would then be extended through the use of other Web 2.0 tools such as Google Docs and Google Sites to aggregate and review data.  

These individual modules could also be incorporated and combined into a course for new and aspiring administrators.  

Lesson 2 - Methodology

The most significant changes for me in an online environment will be creating and maintaining the teacher student relationship. One of my strengths in the face to face environment has always been in establishing meaningful relationships where students want to be successful. It’s those little things such as noticing when a student is absent and letting them know you missed them that creates the trust and respect for students to want to give their best effort. With the majority of interaction and communication being online I will have to make a concerted effort to make written responses, which is much more challenging to me, in lieu of the more natural daily interactions with students. Enve in my current role as a student in this course I see the importance of meaningful feedback as I find myself checking a couple of times a day to see if there have been any additional comments, posts or discussions that I have been participating in.

I see myself improving in this area by making a commitment to review and reflect on my current practice and feedback, to students, on a consistent basis. I also see the importance of collaborating with other educators working on building their skills as educators in a blended/online environment.

Additionally I need to develop a strategy to focus on the specific task and move forward with the project. It is both a strength and weakness for me to try and explore all the options prior to selecting a course of action. Just in selecting the Web 2.0 tool for the Module 3 Group project I have spent over three hours just reviewing new tools and programs. This is an area that I hope to take advantage of the group wisdom to help with recommendations rather than exploring all of them on my own.

Lesson 1 - Personal Learning Goal

Lesson 1 Prompt

Considering the online learning self-assessment you took this week, and thinking about your reasons for taking this course, what is your highest priority learning goal for this course? What are some specific skills, strategies or tools you are hoping to learn more about?

One of my highest priorities or goals for this course is to develop a system or process to organize the abundance of resources, in a meaningful way, and to use this knowledge to help others design and develop online learning opportunities for students.

I recently wrote a Blog post for TBLOGICAL titled “Digital Deprivation” . In it my goal was to contrast the real “digital” world students live in outside of school vs the very confined and limited access to information students experience while at school. In the post I described an activity that a colleague and I did with our Board of Education Members and Senior Cabinet. We broke them into two groups and gave them twenty minutes to prepare a ten minute presentation on the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan. One group had access to the state approved textbook (which is most likely the same resource as 90% of the 9th grade students in the state) and the second group were provided with iPads to use in their research. While the textbook had less than a page of information (facts) the group with the iPads were discovering actual video footage of Truman’s speech and George C. Marshall touring war torn Europe. One member of the group found an article from the Europeans point of view on the Marshall Plan. And these were adults who had never used an iPad prior to the activity. You can read the complete post here: Digital Deprivation

One of the items discussed in the Online learning readiness survey dealt with the issue of organization. With the wealth of information and resources readily available this is one area that I find overwhelming at times and I believe is one of the main deterrents for teachers to embrace the change. This, coupled with lack of knowledge, skills and strategies to take advantage of these resources is what keeps many teachers from incorporating blended learning opportunities into their classroom.

By completing the Leading Edge Certification I hope to reflect, further develop, organize, and define my own knowledge of online/blended learning and in turn help others to do the same. The final result being schools providing students with a much broader experience than the very defined textbook driven experience currently in place today.