Below is a comment I left on Sam Sotiropoulos‘ blog. As a trustee running in Ward 20 for the TDSB, he expresses opposition to BYOT (Bring Your Own Technology, sometimes known as BYOD)  as a system initiative. I’m still waiting for him to approve my comment, so I decided to post it here in the meantime. Click here for the original post/podcast. My name is Royan Lee. I am a teacher in the YRDSB who uses technology in hopes of fostering a more creative, collaborative, critical thinking environment. I have some questions about your post and podcast on BYOD. First of all, I notice you don’t mention whether you have either seen BYOD in action or have talked to anyone who has. Should you be so adamant about your stance considering this? I have been ‘doing’ BYOD in my classrom for three years. Please read about my experiences on my blog. I would love to talk to you about this some time. Secondly, are you sure you’re not confusing equality with equity? As I see it, equality with technology exists when students do everything using the same tools at the same time. We’ve been doing that for a long time. Equity, on the other hand, is evident when students have voice, take increasing charge of their own learning, make meaningful mistakes, and are able to reflect on the right tools for their own learning. Third, is your argument based on the assumption that students are not to be trusted with personal technology? I find it strange that you simultaneously position yourself as a ‘technology trustee’ who seeks to get more tech into their hands. I’m very confused by this paradox. Please remember that BYOD cannot exist without a strong pedagogical and practical plan to ensure its success. BYOD is not about having 3 students tapping away on a MacBook Pro while 2 others sit without access. It is not a laissez faire approach. Fourth, it would be great if you mentioned the other forms of inequity that are currently embedded into our system, rather than citing BYOD as a main target. Is this topic really one that you should base a significant portion of your platform on? Remember, please, that BYOD is far from being widely adopted. What about homework or parent engagement as an equity issue? Many of the arguments you put forth certainly are not uncommon to anyone who has ever had a conversation about BYOD. In fact, most of them need to be considered very deeply before launching such an initiative. The discussion, however, is much more nuanced than you’ve posited. I urge you to please avoid fanning the flames of fear around such paradigm shifts (remember, all shifts in thinking that are positive usually start with great opposition inspired by fear and myth). Instead, perhaps you can start by at least speaking to individuals experienced with it in practice. No one should be arguing that this new way of looking at technology in schools is a panacea. Imagine if school reform was that easy? But should the challenges and barriers to its success stop us from at least trying it out? Is equity really the issue when we have students bringing these devices to our buildings whether we are ‘permitting’ them in class or not? Or is it that, similar to most hegemonic forms of inequity in society, we would rather pretend it doesn’t exist? Because, I assure you, we do not have the power as a system to ban technology from students’ backpacks, pockets, or homes. Ask the people who’ve already tried (of which there are many). I wish you the best of luck on your campaign, and give you props for opening up your thinking on a blog. I eagerly await your response.

CC licensed photo shared by Flickr user Austin Kleon One of my main goals as a teacher this school year has been to simplifiy everything I do in the classroom. To turn what is sometimes a turbulent sea into a calmer ocean. This isn’t one of those ‘you should too’ educational blogposts. In fact, you’ll probably disagree with a lot of my sentiments. I’ve been working on doing less of some things. Less me talking. More students talking. Less huge projects. More smaller ones. Less crappy apps. More good apps. Less web tools. More web environments. Less presenting. More storytelling. Less ‘move on’. More ‘try again’. Less unpredictability. More structure. Less blogging. More talking in class. Less loud. More quiet.

We are delighted to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year! To have a look at some more images, please navigate to the photo albums section at the bottom of the left hand sidebar.

TIS recently provided Dr. Madhuri Kulkarni of  Sion Hospital with 800 copies of a specially created book titled, "Brain Teasers". As part of the team that worked on this book, it was a very satisfying moment indeed. We created this book ("Brain Teasers"), with inputs from Sion Hospital, to meet the special educational needs of children with learning disabilities. It provides practice in reading, writing and mathematics, and is intended to help children with learning disabilities rediscover the joy of learning. It also helps parents understand learning disabilities and find ways to address them. The book is aimed at students in the age group of 11 years to 13 years and covers all the learning disabilities; Dyslexia, Dysgraphia and Dyscalculia. The book is a collection of interesting activities intended to engage children with learning disabilities. The activities have been designed keeping in mind the special educational needs of such children. They provide practice in reading, writing and mathematics. The book is divided into two parts: Information on learning disability for parents and activities for children. Our main objective while designing the book was to keep the activities simple and colourful so as to help children rediscover the joy of learning.  We have purposefully incorporate examples from day-to-day activities to aid better recall. We have used simplified illustrations, to help children identify the images. We have used bright colours to provide a fresh look to the entire book. The activities have been graded with three levels of difficulty. The page numbers have been colour coded to depict the levels of difficulty.  Please click here and here for a look inside this book. (Manisha Mohan is Head - Innovation & Design with Tata Interactive Systems)

Scott McLeod, of the Univ of Minnesota, recently reworrked and posted a version of a presentation that Karl Fisch created called "Did You Know?".  It's really quite good on several different levels (globalization, learning, change, the future) and is worth a view (~6 mins).  Several of the themes resonated especially loudly for me, being an eLearning specialist working for an Indian firm, as well as being the (proud) father of a six year old boy.  The world we are living within TODAY is amazing and changing incredibly fast, but it all (may) look like "the good old days" to my son in the same way that today's workforce reflects upon how things were, not in the 1930's, but in the 1830's (or maybe the 1730's!). The current day statistics and facts he cites are pretty amazing (or scary, depending on your risk profile and comfort with change).  And although it's always dangerous business predicting the future (as witnessed by Charles Duell's prediction, as Commissioner of US Patent Office in 1899, that "Everything that can be invented has been invented."), even if only a portion of the forecasts in the latter portion of the presentation are just partially true, we STILL will be in for a wild ride... (It seems like some of those predictions may have been based on Ray Kurzweil's research on "The Singularity", and how exponential change is powerful but subtle before you hit the "knee of the curve", where change becomes noticable (which is where he claims we all sit currently).  He says that we'll experience a century's worth of progress in the next 25 calendar years, and 20,000 years of progress(!) in the next 100 calendar years.  Hold on tight...) So what's the relation to Learning and Development?  The scent of it abounds, even if it's not explicitly stated.  We must prepare to live/survive/excel in a world that will be changing more rapidly than ever.  And in a world of change, it is the person who has learned how to learn who will have the advantage.  We need to stop focusing on teaching fact/figures/answers, and begin to embrace the ability to analyze/sythesize/adapt.  Good teaching and learning strategies will be at the core of success tomorrow, regardless of the details of what that vista ends up looking like. In a time of drastic change, it is the learners who inherit the future.  The learned find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.-- Eric Hoffer (UPDATE: June 25, 2007) Since Karl and Scott originally published this thought-provoking stack, a fair amount of momentum and interest has developed.  While some focused on reworking the orginal material with new graphics and slightly updated content (one was quite succesful, having won in two categories of Slideshow's 'World's Best Presentation Contest"),  the original authors (with some help from Xplane) have been busy themselves...  They just released an updated version: Did You Know 2.0.  Check it out...(Jon Revelos is Director - Story Based Learning at TATA Interactive Systems)

I have not been able to wholly embrace the age of the social networking Web sites; however, I do enjoy being a part of LinkedIn, a professional networking site, because it allows me to learn about professional developments in my field. I enjoy going through the discussion forums on weekends to see what the e-learning world is chattering about. Just the other day, I was following a discussion thread on someone seeking recommendations for e-learning and serious game development vendors. I was quite delighted to read a comment from Claudia Musekamp, one of our international clients. Her comment reads, "I worked with TATA Interactive Systems on the scoyo/Bertelsmann project. Great company." Some of my friends have been part of this project and it was just as thrilling for me to read this feedback as it was for them. We often receive praise or positive feedback from clients via e-mail or on a conference call, but it feels real or more special when you stumble upon it so unexpectedly on a public forum.(Rukmini Chaudhury - Lead Content Developer)

The Cybertest app, approved for iOS platform, will enable a rapidly mobile workforce to complete assessments on all the topics that are relevant to their role while on the move. Prior to its mobile avatar, Cybertest existed as an application that could be accessed from PC browsers. Now that it has been approved for the iOS platform, users on the move can complete the entire learning cycle from consuming course content to undergoing assessment on their iPhones, iPads or iPod touch devices.Extremely easy to use, the Cybertest app makes it possible to have knowledge checks possible throughout the organisation, even if people are on the move. On this mobile enterprise assessment platform, as a training professional, you can create exciting exercises and in-depth assessments to measure the impact of learning provided. With more than 20 different question types at your disposal - ranging from drag and drop and hotspots to tables and a lot, lot more - you’ll be spoilt for choice.  The assessments can be attempted online via PC browser or via the Cybertest app on iOS mobile devices.Cybertest has an integrated certification module as well which renders certification for courses or assessments an easy task.  It’s as simple as setting a certification criteria for the user and if the criteria is met, the user’s certification is auto-generated and a personalized copy for printing is sent to the user as well. The app is available for free download from Apple App Store via the following Links:Click here for iPhone/iPod Touch Click here for iPad