Horse before Cart:
Professional Development is #1
Professional development is the prime ingredient to provoke and support good change - like yeast is to flour. In this session, participants will taste adult learning designed to bring everyone on board. They will then apply what they have learned to a review and reconsideration of their own district's professional development offerings to maximize great uses of new technologies.
Proceed to the workshop introduction. 
Power Learning 1.0: Creating Student-Centered, Problems-Based Classrooms with Dynamic New Technologies
Learn how to focus classroom investigations around decisions and problems drawn from the community and the global neighborhood. Engage students in making their own meaning (constructivism) from the vast new information landscape which is made readily and rapidly available thanks to new technologies.
How does the role of classroom teacher change in such a program? How do we provide structure? How do students cope with Info-Glut, Info-Garbage and Info-Tactics? How does information differ from Truth? How do students learn to recognize the difference.
In addition to an opportunity to enjoy demonstrations and an explanation of the Research Cycle by Jamie McKenzie, participants will work in pairs sharing Internet computers (WINTEL) to investigate questions based upon the Research Cycle and three types of literacy: text, numeracy and visual literacy. Prior experience with WinTel computers as well as reasonable established skill with Internet Explorer and Office '97 is highly recommended and assumed. All participants must come with a partner identified in advance or a willingness to take the "luck of the draw."
Power Learning 2.0
Short Description:
Using problem-based learning strategies teams will seek a high level of synthesis and idea making employing Inspiration™ to support thinking, investigating and inventing.
Summary Description:
Overview & Objectives
• Experience firsthand the challenge of moving beyond interpretation and understanding to synthesis - the actual construction of new ideas.
• Learn how to focus classroom investigations around decisions and problems drawn from the community and the global neighborhood. Engage students in making their own meaning (constructivism) from the vast new information landscape that is made readily and rapidly available thanks to new technologies.
• Consider how the role of classroom teacher changes in such a program.
• Witness how we may provide structure and scaffolding to maintain quality and focus.
• Explore how students can learn to build their own new meanings and solutions upon conventional wisdom, contributing fresh thinking to important social issues or scientific challenges.
• Begin to develop a personal repertoire of synthesis skills.
• Identify opportunities to teach to curriculum standards by emphasizing decision making and problem solving.
• Taste the power of Inspiration™ to support this kind
of thinking, investigating and inventing.
• Consider the benefits of teams sharing wireless laptops
In addition to an opportunity to enjoy demonstrations and an explanation of idea building by Jamie McKenzie, participants will work in pairs sharing Internet computers (Wintel) to build a thoughtful response to social/scientific issue to be disclosed at the workshop. While such challenges normally deserve many days of careful consideration, the workshop will simulate a more prolonged research experience.
Other Worldly Research
The Net may promote "virtual truth" when learning about other worlds. Teams will assess the reliability of digital resources and test strategies for approaching verity.
Summary Description:
Overview & Objectives
• Experience firsthand the challenge of learning about other cultures, countries, cities and regions with some degree of veracity when relying upon disneyfied information sources.
• Learn how to plan classroom investigations with a blend of print, digital and human sources so as to minimize the distortions and limitations often encountered when relying solely upon digital resources - the Veracity Model
• Witness how we may provide structure and scaffolding to maintain quality and focus.
• Explore how students can learn to assess the quality, accuracy, veracity and reliability of information they encounter.
• Begin to develop a repertoire of strategies to use with students in order to build their commitment independent thought.
• Identify opportunities to teach to curriculum standards by emphasizing
discernment, analysis and evaluation.
• Taste the power of Inspiration™ to support this kind of thinking, investigating and inventing.
• Consider the benefits of teams sharing wireless laptops
In addition to an opportunity to enjoy demonstrations and an explanation of the Veracity Model by Jamie McKenzie, participants will work in pairs sharing Internet computers (Wintel) to attempt research about the character and culture of a major foreign city. While such challenges normally deserve many days of careful consideration, the workshop will simulate a more prolonged research experience.
Content: information literacy, cultural literacy, synthesis, cross cultural studies, mind-mapping, demonstration of idea-building, hands-on challenge, bias
Proceed to the workshop activities.
A River in Trouble - Engaged Learning, Writing, and Thinking: Problem-Based Learning with New Technologies
This workshop is offered in two formats: an introduction of three hours or a three day, 15 hour workshop.
Enjoy the introductory hands-on modules for a 15 hour professional development experience using the challenges facing the Snake River as the basis for developing staff technology and literacy skills. Experience the power of heavily scaffolded online, Web-based lessons to provide high quality professional development aimed at curriculum standards.
http://fnopress.com/bigsnake/index.htm
Searching and Finding the Right Stuff on the Net
In this 3-5 hour workshop, Jamie equips teachers with a basic toolkit of search strategies to help them cope with the info-glut that can be so frustrating to them and their students. In addition to good search logic, Jamie will introduce the group to the Deep Internet and resources not easily found with Google and other search engines.
