Greetings Educators,

In this column I would like to share some thoughts regarding cooking and working with technology in teaching.

Elizabeth Helfant over at Digital Learning Environments Blog has an interesting posting titled The Pancake principle. She makes a connection between technology integration and making pancakes, and offers three tenets of the Pancake principle. Her note inspired me to  take this analogy between teaching and cooking a but further.

The first tenet that Elizabeth puts forth is, and I quote:

Risk-taking and doing things for the first time are like making pancakes. You have to remember that the first one is never going to turn out right but the ones after that are usually awesome. The fact that the first one fails does not deter us from making pancakes.

The second is (and this is where the TPACK framework comes in):

The basic batter is the same, but you can always tweak it.

I loved this tenet because it has been on my mind quite a bit recently while working on a paper that we recently submitted to Tech Trends (the flagship journal of AECT). This piece, co-authored with Matt Koehler and Kristin Kereluik is titled (connecting really well with Elizabeth’s second tenet) is The song remains the same: Looking back to the future of Educational Technology.

The third tenet that Elizabeth presents is

Pancakes come in a wide variety.

This is actually something we wrote about quite recently in our piece published in Learning & Leading with technology (Too cool for school: Using the TPACK framework).

As you can see, I loved the analogy being made between cooking pancakes and technology integration. In fact I have been guilty of making a similar analogy as well – not necessarily to the specific task of cooking pancakes and technology integration but rather to the more general task of cooking as being analogous to teaching.

Of course the three tenets Elizabeth points to are there but there is one more I would like to point to. And this has to do with the difference between good cooks and those that can just make do (I am more of the latter than the former). The way I usually speak of this is by distinguishing between algorithms and heuristics. So a bit of a digression may be in order.

An algorithm is defined as a step-by-step procedure that has well-defined starting and ending points and is guaranteed to find a solution. A classic example (in the realm of cooking) is a recipe. Start with a set of ingredients, follow the steps blindly, and at the end of it you will have a dish ready to eat.

In contrast, heuristics are less stringent. They are like thumb rules or guidelines, which if followed, should result in a good solution. In the domain of cooking this means a more creative approach based on guidelines and broad rules of thumb. So good cooks are not slaves to the recipe. If they don’t have a certain ingredient that the recipe requires they don’t give up (which is my typical response, which explains why I am not a good cook). Good cooks improvise and through that they push the boundaries of what the dish can be. So in some sense what they come up with more than what they started to create.

So this understanding of heuristics is at the heart of good cooking (and good teaching – to bring the analogy full circle). Good cooks, and teachers, understand that there is no one perfect solution, but rather lots of good ones. There are no best practices, just lots of pretty good practices (I had written earlier about this idea of Best practice vs. Pretty Good Practice).

Good cooks and teachers understand that failure IS an option, and that’s ok. It is only through failure that we learn.

Clearly these same ideas apply to technology integration as well. What this analogy between cooking and teaching does is emphasize the value of creativity and risk-taking even while under-emphasizing following rules or recipes blindly. There is an art to cooking and teaching – and it is time we gave some value to that. It is only in this manner that we can truly take advantage of the potentials of these new technologies.

Dr. Punya Mishra
Director MAET Program
College of Education
Michigan State University
Web: http://punyamishra.com
Blog: http://punya.educ.msu.edu/blog/

Greetings!

As the academic and school years are both in full swing – this fall is full of lots of exciting opportunities for our students and alumni to connect to professional learning networks! Recently, MAET Alumnus Paula Burrough tweeted for us from the 21st Century Learning Conference (http://21c-learning.hk/) in Hong Kong! She even had the chance to meet up with fellow MAET Alumni and students!  You can find all of Paula’s tweets from the conference at http://twitter.com/paulawalla72

For those close to campus, registration is now available for the 26th annual MSU College of Education Technology Conference on November 14, 2009. This is an opportunity to learn and share ideas about using technology in the classroom with educators from across Michigan and to see several MAET alumni presenting! We will have our first ever MAET Tweet-up during lunch from 12-1. Come join in the fun and meet with your fellow MAET students, alumni and faculty!  Follow the conference on Twitter with @COETechConf09 and use the tag #coetc09.

(MAET students and alumni, email edutech@msu.edu for the secret code, and we’ll take care of your registration!) Click here to register: http://bit.ly/7sgTY

You can also catch up with us at the following conferences (if you can’t make we’ll be tweeting at http://twitter.com/maet):

K-12 Open Minds 2009, Michigan City, Indiana http://www.k12openminds.org/

October 6-7, 2009

Kappa Delta Pi – International Honor Society in Education Orlando, Florida http://www.kdp.org/

October 29-31, 2009

54th Annual MCSS Conference, Mt. Pleasant, MI http://www.mcssmi.org/

November 1-3, 2009

Educational Computing Organization of Ontario ECOO, Toronto, Ontario http://www.ecoo.org/

November 11-13

Current students: be sure to have your enrollment requests for spring 2010 into Emily by October 10, 2009 to avoid late fees! If you haven’t had a chance to fill out Emily’s enrollment survey please do so by visiting:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dFpCMi1JTEVzbk1JQUpMY29TR2xWanc6MA

We are working hard this fall to reconnect with all of our Master of Arts in Educational Technology Alumni around the globe! We have heard from many of you and are working on new and exciting ways for you to keep up with educational technology and extending the “shelf life” of your tech skills. If you can take a moment to fill out this brief survey we would greatly appreciate hearing from you:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dHZiUDdDejFOWElUejdBNFZBdEdpa0E6MA

For all of our current students and alumni we have created a MAET badge that you can embed into your Facebook page, web page, blog, etc.  Email us at edutech@msu.edu to get the embed code and begin showcasing that you are a member of the MAET program.

Take care!

Leigh Graves Wolf, Program Coordinator

Masters of Arts in Educational Technology

Collaborative Tools for Learning Conference
Friday, November 13
Macomb ISD, Clinton Township, MI

The 3rd annual Collaborative Tools for Learning Conference, sponsored by the Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning (MACUL) and hosted by the Macomb ISD, will show educators how to make use of the next generation of technologies to support student learning and achievement. A host of new tools and practices of Web 2.0 and beyond are focusing on how learners of all ages and abilities can collaborate to explore new ideas and understandings.

This one-day conference will include both hour-long demonstration sessions and 90 minute hands-on sessions to develop skills and provide ideas of how these new tools address student understanding. Proposals are welcomed from all educators who can show how these tools support and enhance student collaboration and learning.

Two full-day preconference workshops will be offered on Thursday, November 12 by SIGPL on:

1. iTeach: Using iPods and iPhones for Teaching and Learning
2. How to Survive (and Thrive) as a Technology Integration Specialist

Online registration will be available at a later date.  Visit http://macul.org/otherevents/collaborativetoolsconference/ for more information.

Summer 2009 classes have come to a close! We had a great summer online, on campus and in Plymouth, England.  One very exciting thing that happened this summer was our Jing-Off. Ken Dirkin and I challenged the MAET Year 3 students to create 9 screencasts in 10 minutes using Jing! You can read more about the challenge and see the results on the Jing Education Blog!

TechSmith also featured our “Jing-off” on their product blog.

To top it all off, all of our students won a free copy of Jing-Pro to take back to their classrooms! Keep your eye on the Jing Education Blog, they always run contests and highlight educators using their software!

We are looking forward to seeing those of you who have signed up for courses this fall.  Very shortly you will be hearing from your fall instructors with instructions on accessing course materials.  If you have any questions about your schedule, make sure to check http://stuinfo.msu.edu — if you see errors, please contact Emily Fink at finkemil@msu.edu.

Here are some important dates for Master of Arts in Educational Technology students from the Registrar’s Office August, 13, 2009 – Initial minimum tuition & fee payment due for Fall 2009 September 2, 2009 – Classes Begin September 7, 2009 – University Closed, Labor Day September 28, 2009 – End of Tuition Refund

Make sure to follow us on twitter @maet. We will post important dates for students and links to great resources!

Additionally, if you search twitter for #maet you may run across lots of great resources posted by other MAET tweeters.  Don’t know what the # mark means? Check out this easy to follow explanation – http://kristinewirth.com/that-mysterious-sign-in-twitterwhat-does-it-mean/

Here is to a great fall semester!

Leigh Graves Wolf, Program Director
Masters of Arts in Educational Technology

DIGITAL CONTENT MANAGER

-Exempt position

Background

The Center for Civic Education is re-imagining its online presence in an effort to provide the best possible educational tools and materials for students and teachers in classrooms around the world. The goal of this initiative is to provide an online destination that will establish the Center for Civic Education as a 21st-century leader in its field. This will both extend the current work of the Center into a rapidly emerging world of virtual learning, as well as connect the work of the Center, its students, and teachers with an online global community.

The Position

The Digital Content Manager will be tasked with making this goal a reality. Working closely with key staff, the Digital Content Manager will conceptualize, produce, and manage content for the Center’s website, www.civiced.org, on a daily basis.

The Digital Content Manager is responsible for the evolution of the Center’s digital strategy, collaborating with many individuals on a regular basis to upgrade the Center’s online presence, including:

improvements to website architecture, navigation, and content as well as the development of new features and applications that advance the Center’s mission. Responsibilities also include the development of educational materials designed to enhance the Center’s curricular programs, as well as streamlining the content development process from concept to implementation.

The Digital Content Manager will also help to plan, develop, and manage the Center’s use of online courses, seminars, social networking tools, webcasts, podcasts, user-generated content, and other means of interactive online communication.

The Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate will be a proven team player, able to balance competing needs and interests with diplomacy and tact. Excellent interpersonal and communication skills are extremely important.

Candidates must possess strong research and organizational skills and a demonstrated excellence in writing and editing.

The ideal candidate needn’t have backend experience. However, the ideal candidate will be well versed in the use of current digital technology and content management systems and will have experience creating or managing the creation of multimedia web content. Of equal importance to technical proficiency, is an understanding of how to make such content relevant and reachable to the Center’s audiences and website users.

The ideal candidate will be a flexible, agile, and independent problem-solver with a background in utilizing a wide variety of digital tools to promote social goals, and a broad grasp of the opportunities for educational technology.  All applicants must be able to work quickly and attentively on a wide variety of projects, possess strong project management skills, and have an ability to think strategically about furthering the Center’s goals.

The ideal candidate must have a clear understanding of the Center’s mission, and a sincere commitment for improving the education of students.  Candidates should have a background in education and educational technology. A familiarity with Web tools and philosophies, including agile programming, open-source software, and Web 2.0 applications, will be a plus.

A bachelor’s degree in English, journalism, communications, education, or related field is required, and a graduate degree is preferred – as is two years or more in digital content development and management.

Job Duties

The responsibilities of the Digital Content Manager will include the following:

• Developing and implementing, with others, the Center’s information technology strategy

• Managing the overall design and structure of the website, including usability and information architecture

• Developing a master plan and schedule for website content updates and procedures; an overall content governance plan

• Advising content providers of procedures for developing and submitting content
• Initiating, organizing, reviewing, writing, editing, and maintaining content for the Center’s website

• Collaborating with departments and partners to develop online content and templates; recruiting personnel, when necessary, to create content and oversee the creation of that content

• Moderating online communication tools provided in connection with the Center’s online presence

• Keeping current on content development trends within the industry
• Performing additional duties, as required

For more information on the Center for Civic Education, please visit our website at: civiced.org.

The Center for Civic Education is a non-profit organization and an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Please send a cover letter and resume in Word format to both Greg Bernstein, Director of Administration (bernstein@civiced.org) and Tyler Shores, Digital Content Manager (shores@civiced.org).

Salary will be commensurate with experience and training.

To learn more visit:
http://www.civiced.org/index.php?page=digital_content_manager

——————————————————————————————–
Instructional Technologist

Job Description:
Fairmont has an immediate need for an Instructional Technologist to lead the design and production of tools and experiences in our online course development.

Qualifications:

The qualified candidate will have a bachelor’s degree in instructional design or related field; a minimum of 5 years of instructional development experience; knowledge of applications and technologies used in K-12 and/or higher education instruction including learning management systems and e-Learning development authoring tools. The candidate must have access to a vehicle during working hours and be able to drive locally.

To learn more visit: http://www.fairmontschools.com/employment.html

——————————————————————————————

SALT (Society for Applied Learning Technology ) JOBS UPDATE

Listed below are the most recent Job Postings that have been added to the SALT Web Site (http://www.salt.org/).

1. e-Learning Specialist

Alexandria, Virginia

Maintain SHRM’s e-Learning online educational community and continually develop and enhance the SHRM e-Learning web platform by using the most up-to-date internet technology available.  Develop web-based course materials and convert existing content into a web format.  Manage customer relations for all e-Learning users. Bachelors Degree or equivalent required, proficiency in PowerPoint & Excel, knowledge of HTML coding, 1 to 3 years experience in course development and online training.

2. Instructional Systems Designer

Pensacola, Florida

Technical Software Services, Inc. in Pensacola FL is seeking an Instructional Systems Designer for design and development of e-learning courseware (primarily WBT).  Minimum Bachelor degree in ISD, instructional technology, education or related field with 2 years experience in design/development of e-learning.  Masters degree preferred.  Requires excellent research, writing, and critical thinking skills.  Active TS/SCI security clearance significant plus.

3. Learning Technology Specialist

Omaha, Nebraska

Position manages on-line learning systems for global customer service locations. Requires experience with LMS, on-line learning, and web-based applications. Responsible for planning and deployment of user acceptance and system testing, on-going improvements, day-to-day logistical activities, user training and support on tools and systems, and database management. The individual is expected to exercise considerable independence and judgment in this position. Competent in Captivate or Camtasia, SharePoint, Dreamweaver, and Flash.

To read the full job descriptions on the web site paste the following link into your browser.

http://www.salt.org/index.htm?salt.asp?pn=joblistall

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Alternative High School Business/Computer Applications Teacher

JobID: 4475

District: Clarkston Community School District - website

Position Type: Instructional – High School/Business Education

Date Posted:   4/30/2009

Closing Date: Until Filled

Location: Renaissance High School

Date Available:  08/2009

Description: Business/Computer Applications Teacher
Renaissance High – Grades 9-12,  Full Time Position

Qualifications:

• Valid Michigan Teacher Certification (6-12) required; Vocational Certification preferred.
• Must meet anddemonstrate Michigan Highly Qualified requirements in all subjectareas
• Business Education (GX)Computer Science (NR) major and minorpreferred.
• VocationalCertification or eligible to become Vocationally certified highly preferred.
• Knowledge in Fortran, C++, and basic computer programming preferred.
• Experience with Business/Marketing, DECA and other academic business organizations.
• Willingness and ability to work cooperatively on a teaching team.
• Credential file documentation ofexcellent student teacher and/or teaching experiences.
• Willingness to work cooperatively on assessments/teaching methods.
• Candidates interested in sponsoring extra-curricular activities preferred.
• Computer/Technology knowledge such as Microsoft Office, Internet, E-Mail, creation of web pages, on line grading etc. required.
• Such alternatives to the above qualifications as the Board of Education may find appropriate and acceptable.

Application Procedure:
Apply online at www.clarkston.k12.mi.us or send to Linda K. Nester, Executive Director of Human Resources, 6389 Clarkston Road, Clarkston, Michigan 48346.

Salary:
Appropriate placement on the 2009-10 pay scale

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New York Institute of Technology is seeking to contract with a number of experienced instructional designers as part of its NYIT Online initiative.  Instructional designers will be part of course design teams along with NYIT faculty members and rich media and graphic design experts.  The designer’s role is to support faculty in the development and conversion of courses and programs to innovative online and other technology-assisted educational venues utilizing cutting-edge and creative design and course delivery options.

Responsibilities include the analysis, design, development and implementation of online courses; proactive consultation with faculty subject matter experts to identify and obtain learning objectives and content; draft storyboards and mock-ups, and write and develop content as needed.

These positions are part-time; actual amount of time will vary depending on the project. Projects begin in early July 2009 and are expected to continue throughout the next 1.5 years.

For more information or to apply for the positions, please contact Dr.

Harriet Arnone, VP Planning and Assessment, New York Institute of Technology, at harnone@nyit.edu

Greetings Educators,

A few weeks ago my colleague and partner in crime, Matt Koehler and I, published an article in the journal Learning and Leading with Technology, the membership magazine of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).  In this article titled, “Too Cool for School, No Way” (http://tinyurl.com/c6p5ta/), we tried to make the argument that new technologies (such as Facebook, iPhone, Flickr, WordPress, Google Earth, GPS devices, YouTube so on) have the potential to fundamentally change the way we think about teaching and learning.

However, realizing this potential is not an easy task. Merely bringing these tools into the classroom will not lead to change and in fact may be a dangerous distraction. As educators we need to think through how these tools can function with specific pedagogical contexts for teaching specific subject matter. For instance even the same technology needs to be understood and used differently if teaching different subject matter or in a different grade level. For instance, using Google Earth to teach geography (http://www.google.com/educators/p_earth_discovery.html) at the high school level is very different from using it at the elementary level. Moreover, Google Earth does not constrain us to using it just to teach geography.  It can be used fruitfully for teaching mathematics (for instance check out http://www.realworldmath.org), something the original designers of Google Earth clearly did not consider when designing the software program. In the L&L article we have a bunch of other interesting examples that I won’t repeat here. But I do want to make two key points.

First, it is hard to predict what these new tools can do for us. Just as Google Earth could be used to teach mathematics, the educational possibilities of many of these tools is yet to be recognized or identified. A great example I recently came across was a classroom in Italy who used mp3 recordings of the moon landing and an open source audio-editing software program called Audacity to compute the distance to the moon! Who would have thought that Audacity, an audio editing program, could be used as a data analysis tool? You can read more about this fascinating project  at http://tinyurl.com/mqedva/.

Second, the fact that we don’t know which tools could be used for educational purposes makes it really hard to predict what we should teach in our teacher education and professional development programs. Clearly teaching specific technologies is doomed to fail. For those of us who remember the hype about Hypercard or the dreams about Dreamweaver, I wonder what we will think about the twitter about Web 2.0, blogs and wikis a decade from now.

What this means is that our emphasis should be more on developing flexible frameworks that support recognizing the potentials of new technologies and their integration into the teaching of subject matter. This is not a passive approach towards technology integration but rather one that sees teachers as creators of new ways of engaging students with powerful ideas. These are teachers who are designers of learning environments, fluent in their knowledge not just of subject matter, pedagogy and technology but in the way these three things are to work together.

In our master’s program we try to push for such flexible approaches towards educational technology. Through our on-campus, off-campus and online courses we attempt to create a way of thinking, a way of looking at the world that emphasizes these values of life-long learning and creativity, of engagement and play.

As our program is continually evolving and growing, the EduTech Today newsletter is undergoing a few exciting changes. First off, the Director’s column will now be shared between the Director of the Certificate program, Dr. Joseph Codde, and me (the Director of the Master’s program, Dr. Punya Mishra.) Another change to the newsletter is the addition of a few new column categories. We are adding three new categories: MAET News, Job Postings and Grants and other Funding as well as making changes to the Instructor Spotlight. The Alumni Spotlight has been merged with the Instructor Spotlight so we can highlight both our terrific alumni and program faculty.

We are transitioning to a new email service and therefore you may receive two newsletter emails this month. One from our old service and one from our new service, MailChimp. If you do not receive two emails of the same newsletter this month you may want to visit http://newsletter.edutech.msu.edu/subscribe to be sure that you are part of the new email list.

Lastly the number of issues that we will be distributing has changed. With our new format you will be receiving the newsletter bi-monthly (6 issues/year) instead of quarterly (4 issues/year). Many of the new columns that we have added are time-sensitive information that the quarterly format did not accommodate. The bi-monthly format will help you keep up to date with the latest information for job postings, grants and other funding, as well as other great tips and ideas for using technology in the classroom and ways to connect with the MAET program.

So once again thank you for being part of the MAET family. From all of us here at MAET central, all the best as you transition into summer.

Dr. Punya Mishra
Director MAET Program
College of Education
Michigan State University
Web: http://punyamishra.com
Blog: http://punya.educ.msu.edu/blog/

Online CEP 810 Course Wins AT&T Award in Instructional Technology

Responding to the growing use of online technologies for instruction at Michigan State University, Libraries, Computing and Technology held its third annual awards program, generously funded by AT&T, to both recognize and encourage best practices in the use of technology to enhance teaching and learning.

Our CEP 810: Teaching for Understanding with Computers course, the first course in the Certificate and Master’s program, tied for first place for the best fully online course.  The team that worked on the course was recognized for their hard work in developing the online course at the awards ceremony on April 20, 2009.

A courses that is considered for the award must demonstrate the learning and interaction goals of the course, points of interest and innovation, ways in which the course meets accessibility guidelines, evidence of effectiveness with students and plans for sustainability.

You can read more about the award and why CEP 810 was selected at http://att-awards.msu.edu/index.php/winners/2009/cep_810_isb_202.

The following people were a part of the team that helped develop the CEP 810 online course.

Carrie Albin, Outreach Manager, Educational Technology Certificate Program, Curriculum/Designer
John Bell, Associate Professor, Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education, Curriculum/Technology
Brandon Blinkenberg, vuDAT, eProducer
Joe Codde, Director, Educational Technology Certificate Program
Kathryn Dirkin, Graduate Student, Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education, Curriculum/Designer
Carolyn McCarthy, Adjunct Faculty, Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education, Instructor
Tae Seob Shin, Graduate Student, Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education, Curriculum
Brook Thompson, Assistant to Director, Educational Technology Certificate Program, Transcriber/Accessibility
Sue Way, Former Master’s Coor., Educational Technology Certificate Program, Curriculum

CURRENT STUDENT NEWS
MAET Student Dana Dziedzic who as awarded a $2500 grant for classroom clickers based upon her Dream IT assignment she created for her East Lansing summer cohort class last summer!  Dana says “I was turned down the first time, but resubmitted it in January.  So, if students complain about the assignment, tell them that I will have $2,500 in new teaching tools come next fall.”

MAET REQUIRED SOFTWARE LIST
We have provided a list of commercial software along with free/open source alternatives.  In order to support your individual needs and to make the summer most beneficial to your school/work environment you must have the software in each category, though you are are not required to buy the commercial versions.  All projects can be completed successfully with either commercial or open source alternatives.

An updated list of required software and hardware can be found by visiting:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ah93×5pp2qng_5t4dxbzg3

NP ENDORSEMENT
Upon completion of the 21 Educational Technology endorsement credits (CEP 810, 811, 812, 800, 815 (formerly 801), 820, 822) you will need to apply for the NP endorsement using the following form:

http://www.educ.msu.edu/programs/forms/endform.pdf

FALL 2009 APPLICATION DEADLINE
The fall MAET application deadline of July 1st is quickly approaching!

Thanks to all who have recommended family, friends and colleagues to our program! Application materials can be found by visiting – http://edutech.msu.edu/apply_masters.html

JOIN OUR SOCIAL NETWORKS!
Our Facebook fan page is at 115 fans and growing! Make sure to join us

at: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=49440874208

In addition to our Facebook group, check our our presence on

MACUL Space:
http://maculspace.ning.com/group/msuedutech

or

LinkedIn:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=1865810&trk=anet_ug_hm

Visit Us at Two Upcoming Conferences

The Educational Technology Programs will be represented at two upcoming conferences in Michigan in March.  The first conference is the 2009 Michigan Science Teachers Association Conference which is being held at the Detroit Marriott Renaissance Center from March 5-7.  Come visit us at booth H.

The MACUL Conference 2009 is being held at Cobo Hall from March 18-20. This is a great conference for educators to learn more about technology and how it can be applied in the classroom. They have hands on workshops as well as presentations conducted by other educators and educational vendors. Several of our instructors (Carolyn McCarthy-Research Based Classroom Formative Assessments; Michael Partridge-Joomia! Free Content Management for Schools) will be presenting in pre-conference workshops on Wednesday March 18^th, as well as doing information sessions on Thursday and Friday (Tammy Maginity -We’re Just Moodlin’ Along; Michael Partridge- Bringing Technology to Your Theater Arts Program; Eric Spicer- Explore, Engage, Empower: Using Interactive Tools in Your Classroom) Additionally, a number of teachers that graduated from our program will also be presenting in different sessions.

The Educational Technology Certificate Program, the Master’s in Educational Technology and the Confucius Institute will all be represented at booth #423 in the exhibitor hall. Come visit us and learn more about the certificate, endorsement and Master’s programs in Educational Technology. We’d be happy to provide a demonstration of our Certificate program classes.

Representatives from the Confucius Institute at MSU will also talk about their online materials developed with up-to-date technologies, such as podcasts; 3-D language learning environments (”Second Life”); and other multimedia learning materials that teach adult and K-12 students about Chinese language and culture.

We look forward to seeing you at either of these conferences!

-Carrie Albin, Outreach Coordinator and Co-Editor

I am Dr. Punya Mishra, Director of the MAET program at Michigan State University. As we all know, technology is changing at an amazing pace. These changes offer great possibilities but also challenges to us as educators.

Our MAET program, housed in one of the highest ranked colleges of Education, offers teachers a conceptually grounded, hands-on experience with teaching and learning with technology. The emphasis is not just on learning “cool tools” (though that does happen) but rather on developing transformational and creative approaches to teaching subject matter in real contexts. All this is done in an intense but engaging series of experiences led by a select team of instructors who seek to model and scaffold similar approaches in the summer cohort.

I am particularly proud of the East Lansing summer program where you will take classes that will apply towards your master’s degree in Educational Technology.  After completing the Educational Technology Certificate Program, students apply to the Master’s program to join the East Lansing summer cohort.

This hybrid version of the program combines the power of working together in a summer cohort with the flexibility of completing courses during the academic year. Participants come together for two weeks of face-to-face on-campus in East Lansing from June 17 – July 1, 2009 and then meet online from July 2 – July 29. On July 30, 2009 students will reconvene on campus. This makes for a unique and intense experience to work, learn and collaborate with each other and the instructors in a face-to-face setting that is hard to duplicate. Our graduates speak highly of this experience.

We know you have many choices available to you today. Our goal, here at the MAET program, is to offer you a master’s program that help develop ways of thinking and doing that will stand you in good stead as a professional in the years to come.

You can find application materials at

http://edutech.msu.edu/apply_masters.html.

For more information, feel free to contact me or Leigh Graves Wolf at gravesle@msu.edu and check out our social networks where you can interact with current students and alumni:

MACUL Space –
http://maculspace.ning.com/group/msuedutech

Facebook –
http://msu.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7822384107

Applications are due soon and we would be very honored to have you as a member of the 2009 summer cohort.

Do let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely

~ punya mishra

Is there a place for Social Networking in the classroom?

Although there is so much happening in the world of technology and education I sometimes find myself challenged on what to write about. Recently I’ve become somewhat addicted to Facebook and, as I was thinking about what to write for this edition of the newsletter, I was also clicking back and forth between my Facebook page, viewing Facebook emails, and then handling a Facebook chat with a student in Algeria. I was also noting that I had “98″ friends and had not yet reached “100.” So I obsessed about how to get two more friends. As this was happening, Leigh Wolf, our MAET program coordinator, came by my office and we chatted about Facebook, my writer’s block, and the idea that this article could focus on the educational applications of Facebook.

I did a quick online search through ISTE for articles on the educational uses of social networks and found resources on Web 2.0 technologies including blogs, wikis, etc. But I found little on the uses of Facebook, MySpace, or the other mainstream social networking programs. Then the thought crossed my mind, “hey, aren’t we using a blog for this newsletter??” Can’t we then ask our readers for their input on the use of programs such as Facebook and MySpace? The answer is “of course we can!”

As my conversation continued here in the College of Education on this topic I learned that Punya Mishra, associate professor and director of the Master’s in Educational Technology program, used Facebook during the summer MAET program. His graduate assistant, Michael Deschryver, said the following about the experience,

This was a hybrid sequence of courses, with two weeks of face-to-face classes, and then a month online. Students started using Facebook on their own during the face-to-face classes for social purposes, and we then decided to use it for all of the course interactions during the month online. This was very successful, and the students provided us with positive feedback about using Facebook for the course purposes. In addition, since we were “friended” by all of these students, we continue to see social, academic, and professional interactions among them after the completion of the summer courses, evidencing the potential for Facebook not only to extend learning beyond the classroom, but the semester constraints, as well.

In addition, Leigh pointed out that MAET students in the recent Plymouth, England graduating cohort did a video on the “Ten Educational Applications on Facebook.” The students, Fatina Al-Ahmad, Scott Christian and Suhasini Iyengar talk about using applications in Facebook for language, math, the environment, vocabulary, etc. You can see the great job they did by watching the video below.

Lastly, I use Facebook to talk with colleagues and connect with past students globally. This provides me with opportunities for conversations and perspectives I might not otherwise have. But can this be used effectively in the K-12 classroom? My Facebook probably looks quite different than a 14 or 15 year olds Facebook. How do we know they’ve accessed appropriate and approved content? What effect does the advertising have?

Many, many questions with very few answers. Your task is now to educate, inform, and enlighten our readers with your comments, your points and counterpoints, and examples of how you may be using social networks in your classrooms or in an educational environment.

Please take a few minutes to participate in the following poll on whether you agree with the use of social networking applications in the K-12 classroom. Then be sure to add your comments to this article by clicking on the Comment link at the bottom of this posting. Please feel free to speak your mind and/or share your examples. In the next issue I’ll provide you with the results of this survey and we can continue our conversation on this important topic.

PS: Feel free to add me to your Facebook ;-)

Best Regards,

Joe Codde
Professor and Director
Educational Technology Certificate Program

Locations for the Summer

We want to hear from you!  We are getting ready to set our schedule for our Summer ‘09 Certificate classes and would love your input on where we should offer our classes.  Our summer classes can be offered in the 5 week accelerated format or our traditional weekend format.  To learn more about these different formats please visit http://edutech.msu.edu/delivery.html. Currently we have classes scheduled in Birmingham on a weekend basis but are looking for sites in the Lansing, Grand Rapids and Flint areas.

If you are interested in the program and would like to see it offered this summer in your own school district please use the form below to let us know where and in what format you would like to see the program offered.  Don’t forget that if you bring the program to your district and sign up a minimum of 15 teachers to take the course, you may be eligible to receive a stipend that will help cover the tuition costs of one of your courses.

Please review the guidelines for bringing the program to your district to be sure your district meets the lab requirements.  You can read the guidelines at http://edutech.msu.edu/bringingtodistrict.html.

MAET STUDENT NEWS AND SUMMER 2009 DATES HAVE BEEN SET

MAET Student News

MAET student Michael Hughes (Plymouth, England Class of 2009) was appointed to the Apple Distinguished Educator Class of 2008. Michael is an English and Social Studies teacher at Jakarta International School in Jakarta, Indonesia. The Apple Distinguished Educator (ADE) program is a relationship program focused on educational excellence and leadership. ADEs are members of a select group of K-12 and Higher Education professionals possessing an identified expertise in educational technology leadership. This group of over 1200 educators spans the globe with membership in the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Latin America, and Asia. Congrats Michael!

MAET student Stephanie Peterson applied for and received a grant this fall from the MEEMIC Foundation for the Future of Education. In January, she’ll be receiving $1300 to buy a class set of headsets with microphones. The goal of her project is to increase oral proficiency and listening and speaking skills through the use of innovative and modern technologies. Using the headsets, her students will be experimenting with podcasting, digital storytelling, and will create a digital audio portfolio to showcase their work.  Congratulations Stephanie!

Summer 2009 Dates

Plymouth, England
In Plymouth, England you will earn the master’s degree in Educational Technology from Michigan State University while staying in-residence at the University of Plymouth in southwest England. Studying in Plymouth provides an opportunity for International Baccalaureate (IB), Department of Defense Dependent Schools (DoDDS) and other domestic and international school educators a chance to work, learn and collaborate in a face-to-face setting. The program will run from Sunday, June 28 – Friday, July 24, 2009

East Lansing Summer Cohort – CEP800, CEP815 & CEP822
After completing the Educational Technology Certificate Program, students may apply to the Master’s program to join the East Lansing summer cohort. This hybrid version of the program combines the power of working together in a summer cohort with the flexibility of completing courses during the academic year. Participants come together for two weeks of face-to-face on-campus in East Lansing from June 17 – July 1, 2009 and then meet online from July 2 – July 29. On July 30, 2009 students will reconvene on campus to share final course projects.