So here is the money question: What two things (and only two) would you tell educational leaders are the most important steps they can take to lead change today? I got that one from a professor at Oakland University last week, and after pausing for what seemed like an excruciatingly long time, I answered “build a learning network online, and make your learning as transparent as possible for those around you.” And while I really think the first part of that answer would make sense to most leaders out there, I think the second would have them running for the hills.
It’s pretty obvious to me that my own kids are going to be living much more transparent lives than most of their teachers would be comfortable with. I’ve written and spoken ad nauseum of the need for them to be “Googled well”, and I’ve been thinking a lot lately about a parent’s responsibility to start that process for them. (That’s a post for another day.) I really do believe that in this moment, however, that schools also have a responsibility to help kids lead transparent lives online in ways that prepare them for the highly complex relationships they will be having in these virtual spaces as adults. But to do that, schools have to get more transparent themselves.
I pulled Dov Seidman’s book “How” off the shelves last week as it speaks so eloquently to this point. I blogged about it almost two years ago when it came out, but in light of how things have moved forward since then, it’s even more relevant today. While most people see it as a business book, I look at it as a parenting book, one that challenges me to think about how to best prepare my kids for the “hypertransparent and hyperconnected world” in which they are going to work and play. His point is that in that environment, “how” you do something is more important even than “what” you do. If you’re not doing it skillfully, ethically, and transparently, you’ll be ceding success to those that do.
A big part of my decision making process in terms of who to believe and who to trust stems from how willing a person is to share her ideas, what level of participation she engages in, how ethical or supportive those interactions are, and how relevant she is to my own learning needs. As I said to the many professors in that presentation last week, there is certainly much I could learn from them if they were sharing. But most of them are not.
In this same vein, I have more and more of an expectation of the teachers and especially the administrators in our schools to lead transparent lives. The fact that they are veritably “un-googleable” in terms of finding anything they have created and shared and perhaps collaborated with others on troubles me on a number of levels. First, I can’t see for myself whether or not they are learners. And, almost more importantly, I get no sense as to whether or not they are leaders of learners. Whether they are in the classroom or in the front office, I want (demand?) the adults in my schools to be effective models for living in a transparent world. I want my kids to see them navigating these spaces effectively, sharing what they know, teaching others outside of their physical space, and contributing to the conversation.
In Gary Hamel’s recent piece in the Wall Street Journal, The Facebook Generation vs. The Fortune 500, he writes
Contribution counts for more than credentials. When you post a video to YouTube, no one asks you if you went to film school. When you write a blog, no one cares whether you have a journalism degree. Position, title, and academic degrees—none of the usual status differentiators carry much weight online. On the Web, what counts is not your resume, but what you can contribute.
I totally agree. My kids need to be surrounded by contributors, people who understand the nuances of these spaces and relationships that we interact with on a daily basis. And not only do they need to see contribution, they need to see it done well, ethically, honestly, meaningfully. In other words, this is more than a twice daily update on Facebook or Twitter.
Bringing all of this together, I just started reading the updated version of Howard Gardner’s “Five Minds for the Future” and there are all sorts of connections to this conversation. Transparency can support all of the ways in which my kids must be able to acquire expertise, act ethically, display creativity, respect diversity, and synthesize and make sense of information. I look at the way my own experience over the last eight years have pushed me in all of those directions, primarily because I built a network around my passion and I shared most everything I did. I hope I’m being a good role model for my kids in that respect at least.
For most principals or superintendents, however, the idea of making their learning lives transparent is not one that sits too comfortably. It’s another one of those huge shifts that is, I think, inevitable but is going to be agonizingly slow in the making. As Seidman asks
The question before us as we consider what we need to thrive in the inter-networked world is: How do we conquer our fear of exposure and turn these new realities into new abilities and behaviors? How can we become proactive about transparency?
Proactive instead of reactive, which is what we’re all about when it comes to transparency in schools right now. What a concept.
(Photo “sunflowers” by marcomagrini.)
Although I totally agree with you that these are all important ideas that need to be acknowledged today, I don’t agree that we should have a feeling of entitlement when it comes to expecting everyone around us to be currently living transparent, googleable, and sharable lives online. What we have come to expect as convenience should not be construed as entitlement. Yes, it is convenient to find someone’s digital footprint online and be able to make some informed judgement as to whether they are, as you put it, a “learner” or “leader of learners”, but many (most?) are still demonstrating those attributes in ways that are not yet being digitized. I do agree with the inherent problem implied in this reality – that educators are slow in adapting to socio-cultural shifts, but it is too easy to make the claim that it is only educators who are slow to change/adapt to these ideas. Many professionals in many professions have no online cred. or proven track record that can be googled. This is not just about educators. I think everyone is trying to figure out what to do with this shift.
Are we and should we be moving in that direction? Yes. Do we need to move faster? I’m not sure. Should we be expecting/demanding immediate transformation and full transparency by all. I don’t think so.
As for being a great role model in all of this – you certainly have.
Thanks for stretching my brain so early on a Monday morning. I look forward to reading the thoughts of others on this.
Hey Steve,
No way suggesting that educators are alone in this, but that’s the focus of this conversation at least. And, while I’m willing to be pushed back on this, don’t we as educators have a higher responsibility to understand these shifts since we work with kids who will be living with them? I’m trying to be provocative here, obviously, but I don’t think we’re arguing any more whether or not things will change. They are. They will. We need to sooner rather than later. Thanks for chiming in.
Agreed… we are responsible to understand and respond to these shifts.
Network to find out how others are conquering their fears of being googleable. The fear of the unknown is what can prevent laggards from going online and becoming a leader or a learner. As an educator there are times when I wear the hat of the leader/facilitator and at other times I inspire my students to lead, and I become the learner. And likewise my students are consumers as well as producers. These are good times to be an educator because we pave the way to the future as far as modeling the possibilities of technology in the classroom. Aloha from Hawaii!
Great post; I vehemently agree. The great affordance for teachers, as well, is that the transparency gives us a window into the learner’s mind that we wouldn’t have otherwise. The window doesn’t just let us “catch mistakes.” In fact, I’d argue that’s its least important function. The window allows us to catch great ideas and fruitful directions in early, embryonic form, which is the time we can nudge, cajole, tease, or otherwise influence thought most effectively *while ensuring the learner’s inquiry is authentically self-motivated and self-directed*.
I tried to get at some of this in my “Cognition Prints” talk at SUNY-Oswego last fall.
Thanks for an inspiring post, Will.
this is so true. But the problem about nurturing ideas in such infant state is you get a much much higher signal to noise ration than you would from more platforms that demand users apply more development into the propositioning of their ideas.
Great write-up. This piece summarized exactly how I feel about the importance of transparency in education. You have great supporting material and very strong core ideas. I will be passing this on for sure!
Trend alert.
Watch how all of the major cable providers (Comcast, Time Warner, Charter, AT&T) do two things.
1. While your “downstream” connection is 5mb, your “upstream” connection is somewhere in the .5mb range. While you can watch YouTube videos comfortably, it’s still remarkably difficult to upload that same 5 minute video.
2. Each of these companies is testing “bandwidth caps”, i.e. putting a ceiling on the total amount of “stuff” you pull through the connection. A market that used to be “unlimited” across the board is now 250gb, 40gb, etc.
There’s your technical context. Here’s my point. Both of these strategies are attempts at keeping people happy being “consumers” of content instead of being “producers” of content. Watching a YouTube video usually takes less than 3 seconds to begin. Ever try uploading that same video to YouTube? Rethink this now in the context of YouTube’s remarkable growth in the past 3 years. Despite the media companies attempts at discouraging us from being producers, YouTube is huge. They have quickly lost the battle on point #1 above and are gearing up to defend with point #2.
Just some technical things to think about in that “being a creator” realm.
Thanks for the reminder, John. Needed it.
I’m interested in your post, especially (and this comes from an English teacher) your misspelling of the plural word schools: “I really do believe that in this moment, however, that school’s also have a responsibility to help kids lead transparent lives online. . .”
Having corrected that (my red pen is poised, always), I have to take issue with your point that teachers need to be more transparent. I’m always pushing the notion for my (inexperienced) college students that they need to understand their digital world and learn how to navigate in that. But, do I really want to know about their all-weekend video game fest, in light of the fact that they didn’t turn in their latest essay (this happened to me, but the context was the student was making “how-to” vlogs and sending me the link).
Some of what happens in the classroom must depend on a certain distance–the teacher from the student and visa versa. Who I am in the classroom, is not necessarily who I am to my family, or who am I with my friends. While you argue that all parts of a leaner-leader’s life should be transparent, it may actually diminish their effectiveness in the classroom. As it is now, I’m fully exposed to my students for the hours we are together–however, I’m not required to be fully transparent to anyone in my life, least of all my students.
Whoops-typo. Learner-leader.
I knew that.
(need the preview mode!)
Eh…you caught it before I could point it out. ;0)
Inlandia,
You missed the bad apostrophe placement in parents, too. Corrected both. ;0)
In response to the “not wanting to know” piece, I think that’s all a part of it. We have to learn to separate the streams, both as producers and consumers. And, to be honest, I’m not talking so much about my kids’ teachers’ personal lives as much as I am their professional learner lives. (Apostrophes checked and re-checked.) If you don’t share what you know, what you have learned, or what is relevant to my learning, I don’t benefit, at least potentially.
And, by the way, you misspelled learner… ;0)
Fascinating ideas… I think this points to an ever increasing responsibility for educators to ensure their students leave the system with good critical thinking skills as well as good information-filtering abilities (e.g. Clay Shirky’s model that the world is now ‘publish-then-filter’) because although credentials may not matter and contribution does, somewhere the kids have to develop a good strategy for rejecting those contributions that are not based on anything sound.
You don’t have to write your online bio, but it will be written.
In today’s transparent society we need to take proactive control of what search engines say about us. We need to do this for our own professional lives and as an example for our students. (So they understand that weekend party pics should be marked private and not shared with prospective employers)
We need to put some professional work out there its part of building a reputation. It stretches our sphere of influence.
I think your answers to the money question are great if the question is asked in the context of technology; otherwise it’s a bit of the “when you’re holding a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”
My answer would be “learn how to problem-solve on your own, making data-based decisions.” Maybe it’s too broad — it’s like I’m asking for more wishes, changing the system so that all problems are solvable….but changing the system is what’s needed.
Imagine the professor asking the money question. What if you just said “how would you answer that question?” and forced an honest attempt: Investigate the current problems. Look at the solutions that others have tried, and evaluate their appropriateness for your situation. Sure, asking experts can be part of the process, but I don’t think that’s what’s typically going on when you see questions like this. I think that most people are asking an expert as a shortcut rather than doing a little honest problem-solving on their own.
Hey Dave,
Thanks for the comment. I guess I need to be more obvious that yes, we’re talking about technology, specifically social Web tools and the ways in which they change the context of learning. In terms of the question, you’re right, if they have some sense of what’s shifted. I’m not sure they had enough of a context to do that problem solving on their own. Hopefully, it was a starting point.
I have been spending time with our oldest students (8th graders) lately talking about establishing their “professional presence” on the web, in addition to their “social presence.” They are working on a “become the expert” project now and are appreciating the transparency of many of the predominant voices in their chosen area of expertise. We have talked about how to contribute to the conversation in a productive, responsible and safe manner while developing their digital footprint. They are very comfortable with the process – actually they are pleasantly surprised that they are being encouraged to openly participate. Some of the adults at school were doing a little hyperventilating initially, but they are definitely coming along. I think they will come even further when I share this post and Dean Shareski’s response.
Thanks!
I have a technical question about this, I don’t know if anyone can help me.
There is an apparently prominent new-age self-help author with my same first and last name. If you google my name, you don’t actually see me until the 6th result. (“Kate Nowak”, try it.)
AND, this 6th result is to the contact information on my school’s website, which does not link to my blog. I asked them to put in a link; they don’t want to do it.
Any suggestions for becoming more googleable, for someone who actually wants to?
You may want to start using your whole name online (think transparency) so that people have at least as much of a chance of finding Kate Nowak the teacher as they do Kate Nowak the author. I am sure you will still be competing with your alter-ego but it is a start.
Several years ago if I Googled myself all I came up with was a scout leader in England. Today six out of the eight listings on the first page are actually about me. (And that is no mean feat when you are going through life with two animal names!)
Oh Robin that’s so true, very funny!
Yes Kate use your whole name here when you comment.(Apparently 22 Ruth Howard’s are all Optus phone users.) Use it everywhere you can especially large ‘social’ websites.These sites will carry your name high so long as you have fairly recent info I believe? Friendfeed really escalates peoples profiles online…so everyone knows everything you are doing! Greaaat transparency tool. I had to really think about Friendfeed for a few weeks but I knew that it’s what I believe in. I want polies to be transparent, I live it.I know students can find it, but they would anyway …!
One thing Will please I’ve been pondering, the whole safety in anonymity number. I’ve been observing that those with strong opinions have greater capacity to be heard online.Yet offline fitting in is still rewarded.The clustering of extreme groups rises with these tools too. You are well known so do you feel as I have thought that you are more immune to being targeted because you are well connected?
Or am I completely wrong? Transparency is the way of higher cultures, higher races, in midst of meltdown this feels like something is going in the right direction!
Postscript:
I went and read your piece again and I really like that you made me think about this. I’ll look forward to more of your posts, now that I’ve captured this blog on Google Reader.
As far as Doppelgängers, my double namesake is an educator in Australia–I get her email sometimes. I always write back in order to send it on the right place. She’s invited me over to visit, but how weird would that be?
The more I watch and work with leaders who, for the most part, perfectly fit the mold you have laid out (i.e. not much if any e-presence/transparency), the more I am convinced that the shift referred to will indeed be agonizingly slow to happen. In some institutions I am afraid that it will be many years before the folks who are creating the digital footprints that Steve alluded to in his comment are in leadership positions and those who are far less comfortable with this type of transparency and openness are happily (or perhaps not so happily) retired. I am comforted by the fact that I do see more and more classroom teachers, on the other hand, who are increasingly willing to venture down the path of transparent learning by way of example. The concern I have then is the widening gap between the teachers and leadership in this area.
Curt wrote “…the widening gap between the teachers and leadership in this area”
While I remain more impressed every day by the contributions of those finding new ways of communicating, sharing and promoting engaged learning in schools, I am also afraid the gap between those that “get it” and those that don’t is widening rapidly.
Many school leaders and decision makers – administrators, directors, board members – do not live in or anywhere close to the __2.0 world. We still have many classroom teachers that think curriculum is the table of contents of a textbook published 10 years ago.
My concern is how to narrow this gap. Visionary, enlighted leadership is critical as we move forward at this rapid pace and I don’t see a stampede of leaders coming to the fore.
Hey Will,
I have been thinking about staff development and modeling my own professional learning quite a bit lately. I blogged about it for a course I am currently taking and I blogged my reaction to your post today: http://www.wordsmith.edublogs.org. I like your comment about modeling “Transparency can support all of the ways in which my kids must be able to acquire expertise, act ethically, display creativity, respect diversity, and synthesize and make sense of information.” It reminded me of the ‘think aloud’ strategy that teachers use to model the cognitive processes they employ to make decisions and make sense of the text (and the world). Thanks for the great food for thought.
Shannon
Something about the way everything is escalating makes me think nope! The shift will be rapid!
Makes for a good student project…Find out as much as you can about your local school administrators/leaders, interview them. Make a Propellor/Xanga blogpost/video ping it and Tweet it…
Sometimes it’s remarkable the obviousness of things that don’t occur to me. Thanks for the advice, Ruth and Robin.
Hay Will,
As a school leader who does both – a web presence with my blog etc, and a visible learner in my school I would argue that for most of the school leaders I know it is the online bit that would cause the greatest issue. You can be a visible learner in many, many ways – and the best leaders have modeled learning for years. Precious few are online doing it.
My blog links from our school website and it deals with my learning and thinking (not school issues and events).
Schools are increasingly checking out the digital footprint of prospective school leaders. My blog is the best professional portfolio I can have …. why would you not?
cheers
Greg
Enjoyable theory, but have you ever noticed few people discuss the details on how we would implement this as a broad based practice?
In the K-12 world far too many teachers are stuck with “stand and deliver.” It’s what they were taught and know. Same is true for district administrators – why rock the boat because my life depends on consistency toward the pension plan. We as tax payers and “the public” are premitting this to be the norm and it isn’t going to change until “the public” is willing to force the change upon us.
Prenshy speaks of Digital Natives who have grown up with “thinking patterns” that have changed. We digitial immigrants who find ourselves on blogs like this are trying to learn the language of our children and impart ethics and morals into a media that is devoid the checks and balances in prior information delivery systems.
While I agree with our need to change, and change rapidly, I’m afraid the “Digital Primatives” who comprise well over 70% of the teachers I work with will need to retire before we can make the necessary strides to a new education system in this country.
Thanks for the comment, John. I think one underlying point here is that we don’t need to “implement” this as much as just do it. There is nothing stopping a school principal from making her learning transparent right now. Almost 100% of them have the technology personally. I would hope none of them would be intellectually unable to use most of these tools; they are simple. And I pray they are all learners and have something to contribute. If they have a clear understanding of the world as it is and how it is changing, I can’t imagine they wouldn’t have the impetus to begin. At the very least, they can “lead” this work for their recalcitrant teachers.
I do agree that the public or at least the perception of the public has a large role to play in this, however. We have to change some minds there, no doubt.
And btw, I don’t buy Prensky’s thesis on immigrants/natives. It’s cute language that too many people are using as an excuse for not shifting their thinking.
Will –
Read your post this morning and can’t stop thinking about it. I am making lots of connections between your words and to the book, “Transpararency: How Leaders Create a Culture of Candor” by Bennis, Goleman, and O’Toole. Recently a team of key leaders from our district attended a Schlechty Center for Leadership in School Reform conference where this book was the springboard for thought, discussion, and learning. Since that day I have been contemplating how I can, in my role as someone who coaches teachers in the design of engaging work for their students, continue to help this type of transparency you write about occur. We have a portal area in our district where teachers upload and share exemplar units they have designed, we provide time within the workday to collaborate around design, we design after first considering “who” are audience is and how we can best match their motives and learning styles to the content we need to teach them, and operate under a set of common beliefs within our district. This year we began to include students in the design process which has been an incredible gift of “transparency” to all involved. All of this is helping us to be more transparent as learners but we continue to look for ways to push forward.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts…they are continuing to push my thinking this morning. The hamster is running fast on the treadmill in my mind.
Elaine Smith
This is the same discussion we are having as a group of instructional design professionals here at a large K-12 educational company. The difference is that we are not giving the option of transparency. Instead, we are requiring participation under the premise that we cannot design instruction for the next decade if we are using a reality of 3 decades ago. Blog comments, while a good starting point, are not enough to truly understand the work environment in which our students will be expected to succeed.
We are expecting our instructional design professionals to develop online portfolios open to peer review. We are asking staff to self-promote and expose thinking and learning to peers, managers, and other departments. All staff is expected to use an RSS reader to keep track of project issues and department innovation. Many of our instructional designers are former classroom teachers. This is a big shift in the way they are used to working. In short, we are engaged in the same debate with the same issues posted here.
Transparency of learning does not equal transparency of self. This is a large mental hurdle to clear. We are not talking about setting up a Facebook account and sharing family vacation photos. This is professional development. This is business. Every instructional designer here is very passionate about education. In fact, they are as passionate about education as our stockholders are about the bottom line. A responsible education organization needs to be equally concerned about both. Transparency (SOX compliant of course) increases efficiency, quality and chances for seeds of innovation to grow into competitive advantage.
Those who clear the first hurdle admit it is the most difficult leap. Ego, fear, self doubt…all are obstacles to participation (as well as true collaboration). At this point I would venture to say 60-70% our instructional design staff understand the value of professional transparency. 100% understand how to use the tools and the most basic level.
It is the rising tide of collaboration…the transparency in thinking…which has raised all ships. This is the exciting part. The teams who most readily adopted our wiki/blog environment are recognized as the top performing teams. They were top performing before the tool came into play…nothing remarkable there. The remarkable outcome of product and process transparency of high performing team is the cross pollination with other teams. The result: more high producing teams. Teams that were average start becoming above average in innovation and quality. Teams who were lower producers of thought and quality have also moved up a notch. Everybody benefits from the transparency. This is a trend that is not going away. As an employer, I am looking for evidence of professional participation, leadership and self promotion. A transcript or resume just cannot tell the whole story. Self promotion, participation beyond the daily task list from the project manager…these are the traits worth rewarding. When faced with difficult choices in today’s economy, those who extend ideas which help the larger cause will always be valued more highly than those who feel entitled because of a resume, transcript, years of service. I love the quote above “You don’t have to write your online bio, but it will be written.” So, I will add: “You don’t have to prove your worth, but it will be determined”
Hey Jenine,
It is so great to have you stop by. Hope your new life is going well! And it sounds like it is by the looks of it. I wonder how far ahead of the curve you are in holding these expectations of your group. I have no doubt that we’re moving in this direction; good to hear of someone that’s actually doing it. And I LOVE that observation that transparency in learning does not necessarily equal transparency of self. Although, I do like a little of that sprinkled in. This is pd; this is business, especially when it comes to kids and education. Thanks for taking the time to push the conversation even further.
The commitment to transparency is a crucial element in communicating to the community you are serving. When I was elected to the local school board, I began a website (Mike McMahon AUSD) to communicate and capture information being presented to me as a school board member. By sharing the information I receive the community has opportunity to engage in dialogue about public education and its direction in our community. Over time the site has evolved into my learning workbook as I gather information about public policy issues and reform efforts pertaining to public education.
I agree – and it is important to emphasise that you don’t have to be totally open about you whole life to be transparent about how you set about learning.
I’ve included a bookmark to this blog post on our This Is Me project site, both because of the original content and the discussion (and commented on the importance of PLN and PLE)
Great post and a lot to think about. I agree and your words have me thinking of ways I can be more transparent. As a principal there are ways to model this with our students. Your post will stay with me. My brain keeps jumping back to it as I go about my day.
Thanks for giving me another lens through which to view my learning life.
Fascinating discussion! Personally, as a fellow English Teacher I think we have two seemingly simple choices-
1. Live in the past as we once knew it & continue to use our “Red Correction Pens” designed to correct MISTAKES on a very limited amount of communication, very often now simply utilized on a knowledge only level…
OR
2. Engage learners in a newly holistic & multi-dimensional learning environment rich in problem-solving ideas,congnitive development skills & creativity…
Which sounds like a more PRODUCTIVE route to success for all concerned? I “know” the answer, do all of you?
Oh Will, it wasn’t an excruciatingly long pause…you showed us you were thinking. Thinking is important. And the showing us you are thinking part is important- very important. Because here is the deal, Will- your presentations/writing challenge and inspire me and multitudes of others to engage our minds and broaden our thoughts. Personally, I enjoy the challenge of processing all those thoughts orbiting my brain. It inspires me to seek out others and discuss those thoughts, put them in a blog post, and bounce ideas off other people- especially those whom I perceive may think differently. It is very important for all of us to share and collaborate and seek discussion…if we are going to be the change we claim to crave I do agree that we should be transparent. Scary? You bet. I’m fretting that my use of “whom” in a previous sentence may be incorrect- there are always those with their red pens smugly poised, breathlessly waiting to mark up our transparent stumbles. In order to move forward, we need to put aside those super-ego inducing tendencies. We need to be thinking, connecting…and then transparently doing. Actually, the entire process of thinking, connecting and doing should be transparent. How else will we be able to measure our success, tweak ideas, and provide the conduit for positive change?
AND- I can tell you that your “two things” has inspired some of your listeners at Oakland University to take some small steps in being transparent…that is a great start! I know I was excited to observe the shift in paradigm.
I am looking at and thinking about your post from the point of view of a Christian educator and loving everything you have to say! It is completely in line with my belief that we need to live our lives openly, whether online or off. While I am totally down with being professionally transparent as well as a transparent learner and leader, I also feel that this type of transparency will also prove to strengthen everything we try to teach kids about living moral lives. Teaching, learning, and leading with a Biblical worldview includes expecting our kids to provide a positive witness in all that they do…whether it’s playing soccer, studying physics, blogging, contributing to Facebook pages, or applying for university. I think your post, along with the references you provided will do a lot to help me further persuade our administration why we, a small Christian school in a foreign county, not only need to be doing more to get our staff and students digital, but will also help convince them that a digital footprint is another contribution to each of our personal witnesses.
As I read your post, I appreciate your wanting to help your students and staff to witness their beliefs to others. I believe that all students need to be taught that their presence online is something that they need to cultivate, and we need to be able to step out of our “we’ve always done it this way” comfort zone to help our kids see that every little piece they place out on the web can follow them with either good or bad results. My daughters looked at me like I had an extra nose when I tried to explain to them that employers are beginning to review kids’ MySpace and Facebook accounts prior to hiring, and that they need to choose carefully what they set out into the public realm. (favorite mom quote, “what are you advertising?–what might this say about you, good or bad, to a potential employer? Is this online posting something you’d be comfortable having a future boss or even your grandmother seeing?!)
What a conversation! Thanks, Will, for starting this off with such a thoughtful and insightful post. I’m inspired by Jenine’s description of instructional designers developing online porfolios and just love Ruth’s idea to assign students the task of getting to know their school leader/administrator’s and helping them create their digital footprint with the results (a fine example of students leading the way!). Mike McMahon’s concept of a “learning workbook”, created as he navigates the perilous school board waters is a very useful way to think about making a learning journey transparent. Shannon’s analogy to the oft-cited “think-aloud” strategy reminded me (once again) that it’s helpful to draw parallels between concepts with which teachers are already familiar and the foreign-sounding new skills required in a networked world.
Let’s take a specific assignment you might give to a biology class – create a course wiki on cancer. Over the semester, the students could research and write articles to post to the wiki, comment on each others’ work, and initiate discussions on the more controversial aspects of cancer research and treatment. They could use RSS feeds to tap into articles from the New York Times and compare those to parallel stories from newspapers in other countries. They could search online for cancer experts and evaluate their respective areas of expertise. They could collect a series of annotated and tagged bookmarks, using Diigo, so that others could follow their thinking trail. Using Skype, they could interview an expert or two and perhaps broadcast those interviews using UStream or Mogulus. Some students could create content modules, using Voicethread, embed them in the course wiki and analyze feedback on their ideas from scientists or other teachers at their school. As the semester draws to an end they have a living, breathing portfolio of their work and their understanding. Online – trasparent – for all to experience, comment on, and add to.
Now, as you read the verbs in that paragraph (create, evaluate, comment, research, compare, discuss, analyze, write), it becomes apparent that these activities are vehicles for the active learning and constructivist approaches that most good teachers want to pursue. By making the parallels to educational strategies already approved and acknowledged to be effective, perhaps we can make inroads?
For what it’s worth, I agree about the digital immigrant/digital native dichotomy not being very useful. I regularly work with high school students who do not know how to edit a wiki, create a set of online bookmarks, or tap into an RSS feed. This is new to all of us. We’re all learning.
Powerful quote from Gary Hamel and fascinating conversation. I’m struck by the opportunities presented by this open, accessible way to model the learning process. When I worked with student teachers, I always stressed that teaching is a process of continuous learning, and the check lists we used bothered me because I felt like they communicated a pre-service teacher could “be done” with a certain skill as opposed to continually adapting and improving to fit the changing teaching/learning environment. For teachers, being transparent about being a learner is a powerful model for students-as-learners. The same is true for all the various leadership roles within an educational setting. The peer coaching process provides a strong model for this, especially when both teachers and administrators engage in it as coaches and those being coached—as in, we’re all working at improving something we do. The online social media world takes this concept of educator-as-learner to another level as we’re able to display what we know, what we don’t know, what we’re working on, what we want to know to a much wider range of people—many of whom are willing to take the time to make suggestions, provide resources, connect us with others challenged by the same issues. Transparent leadership online offers a powerful learning model as well as an opportunity to face challenges with others and consider different points of view more readily than before. It may be risky or feel a bit uncomfortable initially to put oneself out there, but there’s much to be gained by this unprecedented access to the expertise of fellow educators. Thanks for stimulating my thinking about this…
My Principal’s transparency is more see-through than your Principals transparency!
Is this post about leadership or technology? Because I do not think transparency and the creation of digital learning artefacts are mutually inclusive.
Technology now provides educators with the means for greater transparency, dialogue and collaboration, but it still dopes not mandate it. It might make it more apparent if it isn’t happening, but it is just another measuring stick of its absence.
Transparency is a question of taste and tolerance – no one every worries about a boss’s level of transparency if the school is happy and moving forward. In fact one of the happiest schools I knew of had the most pleasant dictator I ever met. All of us who have worked for more than one principal could say one was more transparent than the other, but did it make the other less of a leader?
Transparency is not an absolute; it is a threshold that will vary from school to school and a leader’s success is not proportional to their degree of transparency.
Like you my taste is for a transparent, collaborative and life long learning leader, who is comfortable with technology as the means to develop themselves and the whole school community.
This is a generational issue; our current leaders ascend in a system that reward what they ‘knew’ and what they ‘led’ – not what they ‘shared’ and what they ‘facilitated’.
If we are to successfully change the culture of teaching and learning we should be focusing less on the technology and what it can do, and more on the humans and why aren’t they doing it?
The majority of school leaders lack the plasticity of mind to conceptualise the future needs of our students. It is not that they do not want to, they just can not. Even if they can the inertia of the current models of schooling is simply too great. With tertiary acceptance still based on exams results; there is still too much proof that the old model works and not enough clarity on why we really need to change.
I do not think we should give up however and for the sake of our students we need to challenge our leaders; but it is vital to see the whole ugly picture. While greater (relatively) transparency and a leader’s engagement with learning technologies is a great start it is just that; a start.
Thanks for the comment, Gilbert. I agree about the “plasticity” quote. We have a very narrow vision for how to do this education thing and the leadership thing with it in most cases. How do we really shake up those folks who lack the context for seeing things differently?
I work in ed. publishing & it’s definately a challenge to find k-12 educators that are writing about their work. It’s out there, but I’d love to see more of it. Largely, manuscripts come from higher ed., where publishing is paramount.
Also, not to be all self-promo, but your guest-post for us on Getting Kids Googled-Well stirred up some discussion . . .
I would say that the two most important principles for leaders in education today are (1) encouraging and facilitating innovation at all levels of the system and (2) fomenting clear and honest communication among all stakeholders in the educational process (teachers, parents, students, administrators, support staff, et cetera).
@ Will
I’m not sure you can?
I have used in workshops an analogy (I’m sure it’s not original) of ‘driving a car’ to illustrate the situation that confronts our headteachers and administrators.
As you drive you are constantly changing your focal distance between the immediacy of the car directly in front and the formation of the traffic ahead. How you blend these two observational modes is down to personal preference, but still the majority of the time you are focused on the car in front.
As school leadership drives forward it might choose to see the traffic ahead forming around the ideas like ‘content is dead’, ‘global perspective’ and/or ‘Create. Collaborate, Compete’. However the car in front is still moving along saying ‘content driven curriculum is measurable, I have to be measurable’, ‘parents haven’t caught up either’ and/or ‘tertiary institutions on the whole still like exams’!
As advocates of curriculum changes and learning technologies all we are doing is reminding them that the traffic up ahead is uncertain, to which they reply ‘I know, but can’t you see what the guy in front is doing?’
It is not that we should stop being ‘back seat drivers’ or wait quietly till we ‘get the wheel’, but we need to be aware that we can not change the car in front and that ‘lane changing’ maybe considered reckless by the driver and other passengers.
As teachers, through our unions, professional and informal associations; in dialogues with parents, private sector, government and tertiary institutes we need to be even greater advocates of change than we are with our administrators and head teachers. This is how we influence the ‘cars’ immediately around us and subsequently make the driver reconsider the way they are traveling.
Equally to sustain our energy we all must accept the limitations of our, and even our administrators, influence on the situation. Better to be the continuous drop of water that forms the mighty stalactite than the torrent that ran hard and is then forgotten.
I’m not sure if you’re saying this or not, but I’m taking from this that the more you create and share, the more it shows you are a learner. I completely agree about traditional educational leaders not sharing. I never thought about it before, but it makes a lot of sense that we don’t know what they are doing to learn themselves. What have they written about, what reactions do they have to something they’ve read? Are they not sharing due to the fear of public backlash?
I will speak heresy, then, in stating that living a “transparent” life is not essential for being a leader in educational technology. I would argue the opposite is true. The one thing “transparency” does not bring is rigor to a learning community. Professional journals are refereed, and we choose our professional communities in some large part based on the quality of those communities. My argument is, and always has been, that applications of technology do not in themselves create either more effective learning environments.
“Transparency” seems to be a key word with no real definition, here. The old axiom “Nothing is as it seems,” is particulary applicable to a person’s web presence. Where is the vetting, the research, and the peer review one would find in journals or at respectable conferences? I can have a plethora of collaborations and blogs and articles on the web which would look quite impressive if Googled but all of which have only one credential; they show up on the results page of a search engine.
Sincere thanks for the comment Mary. So let me push back a bit. First, would you agree that your comment as well as many others in this thread add “rigor” to my learning as they make me revisit ideas, examine different perspectives, articulate responses, think critically, etc.? And second, would that conversation have occurred had I not shared it publicly, made it transparent? I’m struck by how you are engaged in the vetting process yet dismissing your efforts as in some way un-respectable or lacking in value because this is not a traditional journal. Why bother commenting? You are exhibiting the exact skills that I want my kids to exhibit, which is to be willing to engage in ideas and conversations, to push back respectfully, and to edit or “curate” their worlds. Don’t those skills deepen because of the transparency of the conversation?
I think all of those skills do deepen because of the transparency of conversation. However, this transparent vetting process becomes problematic when there is no challenge/vetting and simply affirmation/echo chamber type of commenting. I think one needs to consider this at every turn, as blogging “groupies” (I am one of them, btw) tend to follow those they admire. There seems to be somewhat of a “star” element to many blogs and I think the real vetting of ideas still has some challenges and barriers to conquer in an open, transparent virtual world. So in that sense, it is urgent that we get an “all hands on deck” response to these changes. If those who are respected or authorities in the traditional sense are not actively participating in these virtual communities and knowledge sharing/creating circles, then there is a huge potential imbalance. Until they buy in to why they should be present (or are forced due to cultural/knowledge shifts), there is little incentive to break out of the traditional mold of expert knowledge sharing.
I think many educators and leaders are busy trying to accomplish your first suggestion (building an online learning community). We are just beginning to think about having an online presence. We are trying to learn to use blackboard, moodle, promethean boards. At our school most of us discovored wikis this year, but they are still blocked in school. We have to learn to use a webcam before we can upload something to utube(That is blocked, too.). For myself, I am still learning the vocabulary and the technology. What is a pingback? I have an idea what it means, but I have never used an RSS feed. I lost track of the technologies mentioned that I have never heard of.(Diigo, Mogulus, USTream). I think this is the first time I have posted a response on a blog. Be patient. We are learning. I suppose what I am saying is that first we have to learn what the tools are. Then we learn to use them as consumers. Sometimes we have to overcome hurdles from our IT departments to be able to use some technology. Finally, we can be producers. As I listen in faculty meeting, there are teachers who aren’t interested and don’t want to learn more. There are also many who are learning as fast as they can. I can’t tell what the second priority should be. Many of us are spending all our energy on the first priorities of discovering and then developing an online learning community.
Thanks for sharing that, Cynthia. All too often we overlook or forget the numerous contexts that others have to operate under or from. My preservice teaching students remind me of this all the time as I introduce many new possibilities that for one reason or another become quite problematic back in their own classrooms. I know they are trying to get their heads around it all, but it’s hard work, for sure… but well worth it in the end. Persist and surround yourself with those who are passionate, creative, and visionary, both in this virtual world and in the physical spaces you work in.
If you are interested, I wrote a post somewhat related to this last week.
http://ransomtech.edublogs.org/2009/04/04/it/
Thanks so much for commenting, Cynthia. Really appreciate the effort. Take it slowly and build your confidence, but do keep trying to share your ideas as you have here. We all have contributions to make to this conversation. And, thanks for the reminder on that patience part. After eight years out here in the wilderness, I forget that not everyone is as geeky as I am!
I’m with Cynthia. Even though I’ve been at this a while – student blogs, wikis, rss feeds, web searches of various sorts – I feel far behind. I had a conversation today with colleagues, smart, engaged, inspiring teachers who see a really different side of the web. It began with a Time/CNN article talking about how facebook users have lower GPA’s. What most teachers see is very narrow web use on the part of their students – games and chat. Most adults believe these students tend to use technology for entertainment and simply do not care about its potential for scholarship, whatever that happens to mean. What we all agreed is that out district needs on-going media instruction that teaches the technologies and provides opportunities for those of us who are interested to model our practice. I suppose another issue is my practice. It is limited,by time, by not being sure where to go beyond following the blog trail, by not being sure how much is enough, by being a little miffed by the idea that being googleable is “the” measure of ongoing learning (I think my students would say that my ongoing learning is evident to them – I’m feeling touchy because we have been afflicted lately with a lot of administrative walk throughs that are superficial and kind of misdirected), by not knowing what methods will hook my students and keep them hooked. We have a crucial opportunity/responsibility here, and it is already so huge that I, an interested party, am overwhelmed. I work in a district whose administrators want to pretend that the web is email, wikipedia, and facebook. So I guess what I am asking is what is the essential starting point? What’s the hook? Why would my students want to go beyond games and chat? What’s in it for them? Where should I start with my students on Monday?
Transparency of leadership shows accessibility and relevance (connected applicable).Currently schools are irrelevant unless they are 1.engaging learners 2.engaging learning technology 3.engaging the world 4. engaging real world applications.
Below the University of Maine sets out academic criteria for new media stating that “promotion and tenure guidelines must be revised to encourage the creative and innovative use of technology if universities are to remain competitive in the 21st century…”
http://newmedia.umaine.edu/interarchive/new_criteria_for_new_media.html
6. Impact in the real world
While magazine columns and newspaper editorials may have little standing in traditional academic subjects, one of the strengths of new media are their relevance to a daily life that is increasingly inflected by the relentless proliferation of technologies. Even counting Google search returns on the author’s name or statistically improbable phrases can be a measure of real-world impact[16]. By privileging new media research with direct effect on local or global communities, the university can remain relevant in an age where much research takes place outside the ivory tower.
http://www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2009/04/george-siemens-social-learning-with-emerging-technologies.html
George Siemens “When we learn in a transparent way we become teachers”
David Walker it’s beautiful that you/I dont know, it’s perfect that education is (pretending its not)obsolete, its wonderful that youth are driving the change. Like in parenting I get overwhelmed too. (That’s usually a signal that I’m in my head trying too hard!) All I have to do is follow my child. He will guide me he shows me everyday what/how/which/who/where/when he prefers and what he doesn’t enjoy.
I’m not currently teaching, I’m emerging from home duties, so I sincerely dont pretend to assume your role/situation.I totally believe that it really is humungously challenging.I respect your listening to all points of view. Academics are even considering listening to amateurs!(see above link).I love your vulnerability, it exposes you to learning and exposes me too.It is haphazard this rabbit hole of endless connections but exponentially the dots will join. Pioneering is not a thankful road, a bit like parenting!
Thanks Ruth. The answer, at least in part, is to start somewhere, anywhere. I found another article I had saved several months ago that gives suggestions about how to do so. Previously I fell into a trap Will had warned against, which was to start up with students before I had a network of my own that would lead me to my answers through activity rather, as you suggest, than thought. The good news that it works best when you are doing it with others.
Transparency would be seeing the socioeconomic break down of your clientele added to the “About/Disclosures†page. Otherwise, “disclosure†in the title is code for “The tail that wags the dog.â€
I have not followed your work, so allow me to share my persona by admitting the impression of you that I formed from this one piece. Please remember that as you read this. It is a first impression…
I really think the pony tail was enough. If the prolific writing doesn’t tell everyone how vanguard you think you are, that will.
The back and forth between you and “Inlandia†was repulsive. I’m going to assume that you will completely dismiss my comments with a self righteous laugh at my abuses of grammar, spelling and sentence construction. Thanks for that inviting approach toward broad based public content production. Why would anyone want to put their heart into representing themselves on the web only to be swept off the tracks by a completely off point criticism?
Having said that, I placed you on a shelf of a pompous, self-absorbed elitists. I picture you on the speaking circuit, away from your family two or three weeks out of every month. While you tell others how they should be raising their children, you prefer going out to dinner with academia types that speak loud of how the world would benefit by being more like you.
The fact is, we are not all gifted in ways that transform into digital content worth viewing. A small percentage of people worldwide afford the technology and resources necessary to publish content. Public access resources are for “access,†not publishing. The web heaves of content that never should have seen the light of day. But at least we can be certain, it is purely the product of the worlds upper class.
I’ve only done business on the web since 1993. In that short amount of time, I’ve watched it become less a productive community and more a dark ally where stalking and abuse is a billion dollar industry. The more people expose themselves on the web, the more viable target they become to the abuses.
I’m not even assured you wrote this article. For all I know, someone that wants others to think you are an elitist published this using a rogue patch embedded on your server.
I was checking out the Facebook groups of my old high school a while back. In the description on group advised members not to friend teachers because then they would have the ability to see their wall posts.