To YouTube or not?

In my role as Instructional Technology Director for Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, I end up in a regular conversation/debate about why we block YouTube in our schools. My usual argument involves the following points:

• YouTube was not designed for education and therefore has very little regulation
• Although there are some fantastic videos available, the bad outweigh the good.
• Most educational videos are being offered on both YouTube and Teacher Tube (which we do not block).
• Although we keep it blocked in the buildings, we teach those interested how to download videos from YouTube at home in order to bring them in for lessons.

I must admit that I am a YouTube junkie. In fact, I have my own channel where videos of my son are posted (he will be a rock star...mark my words). This debate is something I struggle each time I am involved.

It does make me curious though...If you read my blog, what does your system do? How do you think this should be handled in order to keep children safe and be compliant with CIPA?

Why change? Why now?

**This is also being posted on http://wsfcsintouch.blogspot.com

For the past several months, I have been preaching to district and school level technology staff that we must spend a MINIMUM of 15 minutes a day learning new information. This will not keep us ahead of technology and learning but it will help us keep the pace. Each day, I find myself spending more and more time (mostly at home much to my husband's chagrin) and it does get my head "spinning" to quote Carol Grandy.

During my time last night catching up on my Google Reader and my Twitter feeds, I came across the video above on YouTube. Although I have used other videos to discuss change and the 21st century skills, this may be my new favorite. I have now watched it several times, stopped and started it, and written down a few notes...

"Every device turned off is potentially a turned off child."

By school board policies, we ask our children to check their devices at the door. We worry about the cheating and the lack of attention paid to school work. As I read David Warlick's post on AUP dated today May 8, 2008, I found myself cheering for a school who is thinking outside of the box and connecting kids rather than disconnecting kids. Here is what he said...

Then, taking a minute to thumb through the April issue of Technology & Learning Magazine (Welcome Kevin Hogan), I ran across six schools in Brooklyn who have given cell phones to their students — a total of about 2,500. Each phone is preloaded with with 130 minutes of talk time. Students can be rewarded with additional minutes for good behavior, attendance, homework, and test scores.

Kids are living in the "NEARLY NOW" It is not quite synchronous. It is a place to reflect, research, and repeat. It is a great world for learning.

Don't we want this for our students? Don't we want this for us? As educators, we need the time to process the information coming at us and then reflect on what it means to us. If that becomes part of our daily practice, we can model it for our students.

"We have a classroom system when we could have a community system."

No matter what your politics are, we ALL know "it takes a village." Our system is trying to focus on developing Professional Learning Communities. 21st Century Skills call for global awareness. We need to think big not small.

"If I want the students to make global connections, give the tools to the teachers first. Provide them with opportunities [for global connections]."

Our kids are starting to understand global connections. It is time to get our teachers to rethink the possibilities. As I moved from my classroom to a school-level position to a district-level position, my eyes were opened to my community and that allowed me to have a better understanding of my roles and responsibilities. Students and teachers will benefit from connecting with others. It can be the most powerful staff development/learning environment. A great example of this is Twitter. As I began to use Twitter, I quickly was in touch with educators from around the world. Suddenly, I heard about projects and resources being shared by classrooms from different countries, states, and systems.

21st Century Learning is not about memorizing facts. Do you know how to find information, validate it, synthesize it, leverage it, communicate it, collaborate with it, and problem solve it?

This became clear to me a little over a year ago when, at NCaect, Will Richardson spoke and posed the question, "Is it important to memorize the state capitals or know how to find the answer?" Karl Fisch states in his "Did You Know 2.0" video that by 2010 information will be doubling every 72 hours. How can kids memorize information (all new information) every 72 hours? Isn't it more important to teach students how to harness the power of information, evaluate it, and communicate it?

"Teach a man to fish..."

"This is the DEATH OF EDUCATION BUT THE DAWN OF LEARNING."

How exciting! I want to be part of a community that is focused on learning for all. Why change? Why now? Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach says, "Teachers who don't use technology will be replaced by teachers who do." I plan on working for schools for a long time. Hope you'll join me!