Building Tech Integration in IB Diploma Courses

A friend in the US recently asked me for some help with how to get started with integrating technology in a school which offers the IB Diploma Program.  She observed that the faculty were very well versed in the IB Diploma and were very experienced teaching their courses, but there was a lot of reluctance with integrating technology in their classes.  She was looking for some examples, particularly in Math and Science, for how teachers are integrating technology in Diploma courses, and was also looking for some recommendations for US-based trainers who might help to move the school forward.  My response to her ended up being pretty long and detailed, and seemed worthy of posting it here for others to read and take ideas from.  So here's most of what I wrote . . .

To get to your question about integrating technology into the IB Diploma, you are correct in your observations about some teachers being very reluctant to consider technology in their classrooms, especially when it comes to teaching IB Diploma courses.  I treat all of the HS faculty as specialists in their fields because they are experts, and with a school the size of ASW (the HS is about 275 students G9-12) the faculty all teach predominantly stand-alone courses (there are very few courses in the HS let alone the DP, that are shared between 2-3 teachers).  HS faculty often cite not having the time to integrate technology, often talk about the deep and wide curriculum to get through, or intimate that they just don't see how something might be used in their course.  Seeing some piece of technology or a tool used within the context of a specific class can really tip the balance here, but finding those examples or the people who are actively "doing it" is the challenge.  Moving people along is tough when they don't want to move, so employing peer coaches/tech leaders within your school, getting faculty to expand their professional network to connect with people outside of their school, and exposing your staff to new ideas/tools/pedagogy has worked for me here (but it is a slow process).  One of the parts of all of this that we continue to struggle with is whether faculty "have to integrate technology" rather than just use it in class, as technology integration is not connected with teacher evaluation in any way.  As a result, we are a school which is technology rich and has lots of great things going on, but we still have teachers who actively resist tech in their classrooms because "they are doing just fine without it, and their IB DP scores are pretty good." 

With all of that in mind, here are some things/tools/ideas/projects/links for stuff that we are doing here at ASW in IB DP courses, which have grown out of our 1:1 Laptop Program (mostly since I changed our program to Macs three years ago).  Much of this has developed from encouraging teachers to allow students to demonstrate/show/share their understanding in more creative ways using digital tools.  Also note that I have tried to list things here which are beyond stuff which would fall within using Moodle or GAfE for communication/collaboration/organisation:

• Teachers flipping their classroom by creating their own short instructional videos (Visual Arts, Economics, Math) or by using online resources with students (Khan Academy)

• Digital audio recording and podcasting/vodcasting for Languages

• Using digital simulations for abstract concepts or experiments (Explore Learning gizmos for Math and the Sciences)

• Students creating video products which demonstrate their learning/understanding in creative ways, such as for their Group 4 Project, using green screens for making History news casts from WWI, creating short visual summaries for acts from a play or chapters from a novel, or creating short animations to demonstrate/summarise a concept or process

• Apps and other specialised features for supporting EAL and Learning Support students (i.e. OpenDyslexic font and browser plug-in, or using text to speech features)

• Providing online databases for students to access scholarly journals and other peer reviewed research

• Connecting and collaborating with experts/students/classes remotely (i.e. our G10 English classes worked with classes in Colorado - https://ahsthisibelieve.wikispaces.com, and our History classes recently participated in some online talks with historians from the UK)

• Graphing calculator simulator (Ti-Smartview) for better instruction and classroom use of the graphing calculators for Math

• Using an iPad with a fine-tip stylus as both a document camera and as an annotation device (instead of an interactive whiteboard)

• Pixton for creating graphical/cartoon summaries which demonstrate a student's understanding (this has been used with Languages and the Sciences very successfully)

• Online and free apps as resources (i.e. interactive unit circle for introductory trigonometry - http://www.touchmathematics.org/topics/trigonometry, Quia.com for online quizzes and review, Videonot.es for annotating online videos, Piktochart for creating infographics, World Newspaper Map - http://newspapermap.com/ for comparing different perspectives on world/current events)

• Using Google Sites to document their CAS projects - all G11-12 students are now doing this, as of this year

• Using Google Docs to document the research process as G11 gets started with their Extended Essay, which can be shared with the IB DP Coord, HS Librarian and their EE Supervisor

• ToK Google Site collection/aggregator using Scoop.it for current events and articles pertaining to different ways of thinking

This list has a few things which all IB DP students are doing/using, and I hope there's enough Math and Science stuff here to get you started.  In terms of an American trainer that might be good for you, we brought in Tom Daccord (http://edtechteacher.org/team/tom/) and also sent some of our new staff to his summer institutes in Boston over the years, which have been very good.  This helped to jump start some of the faculty, to get the ball rolling.

Another project that I have been working on with the IB has been the "Role of Technology in the IB".  A pre-publication version of the guide is currently available on the OCC.  In addition, some of us who were part of the small working group in the summer also presented a mock-up of the tech integration "AID lens" at the recent ECIS ICT conference in Munich.  A copy of our presentation "Thinking More Deeply about the Role of Technology Integration in the IB Programmes" is here, and the short video that has been prepared by the IB is shown below:

What is important to consider with all of this, is that some IB Diploma teachers are reluctant to engage with technology integration as they do not see how to incorporate technology into their lessons or units, and they do not have the time to devote to learning and using some new tools.  But tech integration shouldn't be focused on just tools - it should have a broader view of technology and the integration of technology.  The more I think about the "AID lens", the more I like it, as it has this broader view of tech integration leading towards tech literacy.

Remember those reluctant teachers who don't use any technology in their class, at all?  Are they really not doing anything for tech integration and building technology literacy?  Depends on how you measure or look at it.  Take for example, two History teachers who have assigned a research project focussed on different aspects of WWI.  Teacher A has made the final product a 2000 word essay, while Teacher B wants students to be creative and produce a short video using a green screen as a news cast from the trenches.  With the SAMR model, does the essay extend into the transformative levels, or does the news cast video?  Many people see the video project as incorporating more tech, so it must be higher up the SAMR scale.  Through the "AID lens", both projects come out about even as they both contain essential elements of Agency (ways of Being), Information (ways of Knowing) and Design (ways of Doing).  Both projects are building tech literacy, just with different student products.  Don't get me wrong here, I am not against the SAMR model (it certainly has its uses and it is really good for helping teachers think about tech integration).  But how do you measure if something is transformative?  Why would the video project be better for student learning?  Just because it's flashier?

I have been struggling with this for awhile now, but I am beginning to see how the "AID lens" brings a different perspective into play (which I think is worth considering).  Have a look at the "AID lens" and think about how it could be used in curriculum planning . . . what do you think?

Some after thoughts . . . here are a few more IB applicable tech tools to consider:

• Desmos online graphing calculator is wickedly good and you can get it on your iPad too
• Wolfram Alpha - online computational knowledge engine is very good at math . . . try entering an equation into it and getting it to solve it for you . . . and then walk through the steps for solving the equation one by one . . . 

Back to the Future . . . or at least the 1980's

Today (thanks to a colleague), I came across an interesting article from OpenCulture.com which included a series of short videos from the BBC Radio 4 and The Open University.  The collection featured in this article is titled "Has Technology Changed Us?" and includes 4 short animations narrated by Gillian Anderson (from cult tv show fame).  The X-Files link immediately grabbed my attention (I have two personal connections with the tv show, but those are different stories ;-), as did the title of the series.  These are well worth taking the few minutes to watch them in order, but the one that really spurred me to share is the first episode titled "Rewiring the Brain" (embedded below).

With our 1:1 Laptop Program, there is a lot of talk/discussion/inquiry/angst surrounding screen time, computer/gaming addiction, distractions, finding balance, multi-tasking and a general decline in student attention spans.  After watching this video this morning, I think it's time to revisit hosting an Unplugged Day in the HS again.  I did this two years ago (see the original blog posting here as well as the follow-up reflection posting here and a second reflection here) with mixed results, but it is time to come back to this idea of going without technology for a day to better understand its impact on our daily life, and how deep our "need to be connected" runs.  With HS students, I think discussions about total screen time in a day, and making home agreements about computer usage come into direct conflict with the realities of school life and the curricular requirements of programs like the IB DP.  My experience has been that some of our students today have little or no awareness of just how wired they really are, and unplugging them from the web/net is the only way to give them some perspective.

After my first Unplugged Day, I really thought that this is something that we all need to do as a community - both teachers and students across the board.  We all need to seek balance in our lives, especially when it comes to our technology use.  Some people are better at it than others, and some people are totally addicted to their devices and don't even know it.  One of my best friends is completely attached to his mobile (he frequently checks it while you are actively engaged in a conversation, or when eating a meal) but seemingly has no idea about how others perceive his mobile addiction.  How many others are totally addicted to their devices and don't even know it?

Last year and this year (right now during the month of March, actually), I have challenged students to participate in the UNICEF World TAP Project where people can raise clean drinking water for the needy by not using their mobile phones (click here to see my blog posting on this project too).  This project has been pretty successful within the school, but again, has been limited to those students and teachers who elect to engage with it and learn about themselves.  It needs to be pushed out to the entire community and done together, whether they think they need it or not.  So it's time to go back to 1984 but as an entire HS this time.

I just had an initial conversation  with my principal about doing a school-wide Unplugged Day either in April or May this year, and he is all for it.  After talking through the possibilities for the day, we decided that there are a number of learning outcomes associated with this project that will make it bigger and better, such as:

• Connecting the day to the IB Learner Profile, where April for us focuses on "Thinkers" (which is a perfect fit with "We use critical and creative thinking skills to analyse and take responsible action on complex problems.") 
• Digital Citizenship to generate staff/student self-awareness of their own tech usage
• Make this into a school wide Spirit Day, including an 80's dress-up, Unplugged Coffee House lunch time performances, Advisory competition, and other themed "touches" to give it life and to make it fun
• Get student leadership involved to make this into a CAS project
• Most importantly - have everyone in the school participate this time . . . we are all in this together!  Connect and reflect on the process through grade level Advisory classes.

Getting everyone on-board is the next step, so I had better get started with the planning and communication with the staff . . . I hope a month is enough advanced notice!  Or we will have to rebrand it as "1985 on 8/5" and move it to May . . . but that would leave out the seniors as they will be in the middle of exams.  Hope it doesn't come to that!  Have you ever hosted an Unplugged or Blackout Day in your school?  What made it successful?  What made it flop?  What kinds of learning and self-reflection took place as a result?

Taking the Long Way Home - Building a Google Lit Trip

When I joined the ranks of Google Certified Teachers over a year ago (GTA SWE 2013), part of my Google Project that I embarked upon was to build a Google Lit Trip . . . from scratch . . . to go with my father's award winning memoir "Things That Must Not Be Forgotten - A Childhood in Wartime China" by Michael David Kwan.  My deadline for completing this project actually passed by two months ago (as I gave myself a year to build it) but in a sense I did make my original deadline . . . kinda/sort of.   Let me explain . . . I began work on the GLT last spring and then put everything on hold until the summer so I could gather more information and old photos at home in Canada.  Then, in the fall, I came back to the project and inserted everything that my summer research had uncovered, and continued my research to try and find the locations of some important places in the book. I was able to just meet my Christmas deadline, but little did I know that I was not even close to being truly finished with the construction process.

What I had not accounted for in the entire process was the amount of work that was required to get it into a presentable state . . . I made a serious mistake here in underestimating the level of detail that was required and the amount of writing that had to be done!

I had met Jerome Burg (the father of Google Lit Trips) before at a Google Geo event, so I got in touch with him about getting my GLT published on his official Google Lit Trips website.  Jerome was very receptive to helping me develop my GLT, and was really excited about including historical non-fiction on his website, especially one set in China.  Jerome's editorial work and feedback was fantastic.  He combed through what I had produced and really pushed me to think about the overall experience of the reader and the fact that I was really telling two stories in the Lit Trip - both my father's story from the book and my own story of discovery as I researched and located different sites and information about my family.  With Jerome's extensive feedback in hand (and burning a hole in my brain with each passing day), I decided to tackle everything over the long winter holiday . . . which never happened (getting the work done, that is ;-).

Six weeks later, I have reworked most of what I had previously produced, formatting and organising everything according to Jerome's guidelines and suggestions, rewriting practically everything to tell my own story with links and ties to my father's story, and taking the time to build a supporting Google Site.  Now, I think I finally have a product that can be distributed and used by others which serves to tell my story of discovery, enhance the reading experience of "Things", and to provide the reader with visuals and background for the places in my father's book.  I really hope that Jerome likes what I have created and that it is now in a publishable state - I just sent it off to him to peruse, poke and prod . . . fingers crossed!

My father David Kwan, with my grandfather John YL Kwan (circa 1938)

Lessons learned and take-aways from building a Google Lit Trip

• Completing the research and gathering all of the extra resources is only the beginning - the creation/writing process takes even more time
• Conducting real-life, hands-on research with primary sources is tough, challenging and frustrating - trying to piece together information from old family photographs, or coming to terms with place names which have changed over time or are written differently, is very time consuming
• Patience is a virtue - you will need a lot of it and you will be tested
• You never know what surprises your research will uncover - now I know that I am 1/4 Serbian?!?, whereas before I thought I was part "white Russian" or Swiss (see my accompanying GLT website for the details of how I came to this realisation)
• Brush up on your basic HTML coding skills - these will come in handy as you build information into Google Earth
• As a teacher, I think having students build Google Lit Trips is not a simple endeavour to be undertaken lightly - perhaps teams of students could collaboratively build a GLT, or it could be undertaken as a major research project, or a tool like Google Tour Builder could be used to create a simpler Lit-Trip-like experience
• Building a GLT will take far longer than you ever thought - double or triple your original time estimate
• Think about where you will store online extras like photos and documents which will be part of your GLT - I used a Google Site to house these items
• Working with historical sites which date back to before the satellite imagery contained in Google Earth takes some imagination and serious sleuthing powers
• If you can find historical maps (which are drawn reasonably close to scale) that you can use as overlays in Google Earth, this adds a very rich and interesting dimension to the Lit Trip experience - but you will need that abundance of patience to get them to sit right, on top of the satellite imagery!
• Creating a resource like this which is close to your heart is very rewarding in the end - building and sharing this kind of resource is one of the reasons we are teachers, right?  And I think this kind of thing is seriously related to your Computing Karma . . .

Have you ever created a Google Lit Trip or tried to build one?  What was your experience like?

Author - Michael David Kwan
Photo by Russel Kwan

This is for you Dad!
And for everyone reading, studying or who has been touched by your book.