To me, choices in technology that enable student creativity and agency should always take precedence. Words like “deliver”, “automatic” and “efficient” always make me suspicious.

Cutting edge is not important; the tyranny of the new can be fatal to creative uses of technology that get plowed under because “we’ve done that!”

Platform would depend upon the goals of the program, but certainly exposure to all (both) would be ideal. I imagine Mac would have to be more explicit while PC would be an eventuality.

Yes. Technology is addictive, transformational and instructive.

While it’s important for students to be prepared and aware of the options, I’m not sure it’s important for schools to be cutting edge, but I would certainly be as concerned by schools whose teachers use 10th generation mimeographs lesson plans as a school where progress is not being made in tech.

Just a bit of weighing in. Thanks for provoking thought, engaging in the conversation and inviting response.

It’s interesting that many people see martial arts as fighting; I think I have come to see it more and more as a spiritual discipline. I value the reassurance of hierarchy, the joy of peer teaching, the experience of all of us as learners. I don’t feel the analogy’s a stretch. Perhaps I am showing my non-euro-western colors here. I love the parallels you have drawn. They are clear and push the reader to broaden our mind.

I was confused by this and wondered what you meant:
I’d much rather that my students see me as human, as a person who can’t do anything they’re not capable of doing if they’re willing to train long enough and hard enough to achieve it.

Persistence and mastery are not, I believe, what we currently are training for. I think we tend to teach kids to reach for the next brass ring and once there allow them (and ourselves) to disregard foundation. When you speak of memorization, I would underscore that we do not insist on retention or even help our kids to make connections. Sometimes this may be because we teach things are are irrelevant and not grounded in real life experiences. Sometimes I think it’s because it feels too overwhelming, or no one did this for us.

I have many more thoughts on this subject, but an even greater number of assignments that await grading

Thanks!

The urgency of technology in independent schools stems from the need to usher in the outside world.
Earlier this year my college alma mater hosted a reunion for teachers that included various workshops and presentations, including one that was sponsored by the founder of Learn it Live it, a Washington DC charity that partners with inner beltway schools to connect students with the many educational resources throughout the capital region. One of the expressed objectives of the program was to introduce students from disadvantaged backgrounds to successful professionals who were also raised and educated in underprivileged neighborhoods and schools. They argue that the dearth of professional role models contributes to feelings of disempowerment. The majority of students who attend the school where I teach know people who are successfully engaged in careers. The path from school to college to professional opportunity is well worn at most independent schools. In order to assure this schools invest heavily in academic preparation, study habits and college admissions counseling. This makes great sense and in many instances provides students with an education that is engaging, supportive and challenging on many levels.

If a goal of Live it Learn it is to connect young people with experiences beyond their version of the everyday, an objective of independent schools should be the same; independent schools should aspire to provide opportunities for students that broadens their understanding of the multiple ways in which their education can be used to make a positive difference in the world. Technology seems to be an obvious way to accomplish this objective.

The classic example of constructivist learning was the Samba School - written about by Seymour Papert in his book Mindstorms. He wrote about finding models of social learning that illustrated a collaborative learning environment that would support children learning programming and doing long-term projects using complex technology.

The schools are traditions in Brazil to prepare for the Carnival. He noted that in the Samba school, the same activities were shared by novices and experts in a social atmosphere. Everyone is learning, it is not a separate “activity”. There are times for serious teaching as veterans share what they know with children, but these times are short and focused on doing something. There is no syllabus or curriculum, what is taught is what is necessary for the whole group to succeed.

You might like this speech Dr. Papert gave in 1975 about this topic.

>Thank you for contacting Flickr Customer Care.
>
>Ill be glad to answer your question. You probably came to
>the same
>conclusion. I see no inconvenience as it will be used for
>eduacational
>purposes, no commercial use is involved. In other words…
>Welcome!
>Enjoy Flickr.

Go figure.

So, I guess the question returns to the logistics. Now that we know we can, does it make sense to?

Good morning. I’m the tech director at an independent school in Brooklyn, NY. It occurred to me that Flickr would be a great way for teachers to consolidate and share photos at the school. Would it be acceptable under your terms of use to pay for a Flickr Pro account that could then be shared by faculty? I’ve read your guidelines that forbid commercial use, but this would only be used for educational purposes. Thanks in advance for your assistance. Best regards, Bill Knauer

Can’t hurt to ask, right?

I looked for the personal use language to see how it was worded but could only find this under the guidelines:

Don’t use Flickr for commercial purposes.
Flickr is for personal use only. If we find you selling products, services, or yourself through your photostream, we will terminate your account. Any other commercial use of Flickr, Flickr technologies (including APIs, FlickrMail, etc), or Flickr accounts must be approved by Flickr. For more information on leveraging Flickr APIs, please see our Services page. If you have other open questions about commercial usage of Flickr, please feel free to contact us.

This seems to a personal/commercial distinction rather than a personal/communal one. Did you find more specific language somewhere that lays out more clearly the terms of use?

In any case, I think I’ll contact them to see how they respond.

Thanks!