This is the latest in a series of blogs by a partnering cohort teacher.
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By Dr. Miriam Roth Douglas, Director Community Education Program, and Associate Professor in Community Education at West Liberty University. 

In April 2018, Ms. Lou Karas (Director of the Center for Arts and Education), Dr. Cathy Monteroso (Interim Dean of the College of Education and Human Performance), and MaryLu Hutchins (Education Director of the Fluency Project) invited me to participate in the “Data and Technology Fluency Project.” I could have not been more excited to be part of this great project! (Note: it is called project, but it is not a project ;-) as everyone involved will stress to you!).
 
For this Data and Technology Fluency Project Blog, I would like to focus on four major aspects that stuck out to me throughout my work with leaders and educators in the “Project,” as well as my personal experiences and applications of the newly acquired knowledge in the Community Education Program:

Think, Move, Connect Framework
Fluency (Technologically and otherwise)
Top 10 Skills 2020
Practical Implications (from a professional development and student perspective)


Think, Move, Connect Framework
The College of Education and Human Performance has an overarching motto of “Think, Move, Connect” that is applicable and transferrable to all our programs in the college. I very much liked the idea of embedding The Fluency Project in the Think, Move, Connect Framework. 

But how would a framework like this really look like? How could it embrace all the different aspects of all our programs in one framework? And more specifically, in my case, how could this framework fit the CEP philosophy, mission, vision and goals of learning? 

One aspect in specific stuck out to me: Personalizing problem-based learning.

The CEP program bases most of its work, learning, and objectives on problem-based learning (besides others, e.g. experiential learning, etc.). As it was described in one of the handouts: “Fluency: Think, Move, Connect will build on The Community Robotics, Education and Technology Empowerment (CREATE) lab’s experience working with teachers and schools in creating new engagement pathways for technology and data fluency.”

But how could this goal of personalizing problem-based learning be put into practice, especially with regards to the Community Education Program? 

Thanks to Ms. Lou Karas, and her Center for Arts and Education this challenge of the engagement of pathways for technology and data fluency appeared to be a natural fit. The CEP and Ms. Lou Karas hold a close collaboration and partnership, as we are so lucky to have Ms. Lou Karas as one of our two main professors in the Bachelors,’ as well as the MAED programs in Community Education. 


Fluency (Technologically and otherwise)
Fluency from my perspective has to major aspects: technology and “otherwise.” 

Firstly, we want to raise a technologically fluent generation. As described by the CREATE Lab Satellite Network, it is not enough to be a technologically literate person, but a technologically fluent individual can use technology to meet various needs. The CREATE Lab distinguishes: Technologically fluent educators, as teachers that “use technology to grow their practices apply it in context-relevant ways, use it to identify diverse student talents and facilitate multiple learning pathways.”  Technologically fluent students that “apply technology to study, communicate about, and impact issues of direct concern.”

Secondly, we want to raise and educate a generation that is fluent “otherwise” (e.g. in equity, compassion, authenticity, and agency). From my point of view, this goals is only reached by applying the views that Michael Soskil’s is describing in his chapter “A Time of Unprecedented Change” in the collection of essays, Teaching in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, of combining the concepts of humanity and empathy with technological innovation for future prosperity (p. 20). 

Top 10 Skills 2020
Right with this combination of technology and other skills, the top 10 skills in 2020 come to mind (World Economic Forum): 

1. Complex Problem Solving, 
2. Critical Thinking
3. Creativity
4. People Management
5. Coordinating with Others
6. Emotional Intelligence
7. Judgment and Decision Making
8. Service Orientation
9. Negotiation
10. Cognitive Flexibility

This list of skills and their combination with technology provide the perfect mixture of concepts that our future student generation needs, to grow into successful individuals. One cannot, or should not, exist without the other. In the CEP we are trying to embed this in our Think, Move, Connect framework through the help of the Fluency Project.

Practical Implications 
(Professional Development, Student Perspectives, and International Work)
I believe practical implications of the latter described goal can be seen in our CEP by looking at three areas: Professional Development, Students Perspectives, and International Work.
In this section, images will provide an insight into some of the work that is taking place.

Professional Development:
Attendance of workshops organized by Ms. Lou Karas
“Unconference”: Play for change (October 30, 2018)

Thanks to Ms. Lou Karas, Dr. Cathy Monteroso, Dr. MaryLu Hutchins, and the whole team involved in the Fluency Project. You provide amazing opportunities that are very much appreciated! 

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References:
Doucet, A., Evers, J., Guerra, E., Lopez, N., Soskil, M., & Timmers, K. (2018). Teaching in the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Standing at the Precipice. New York, NY: Routledge. 
 
2019 January 30. World Economic Forum: Top 10 skills and workforce strategies in 2020. Human Resources. Retrieved  June 13, 2019 from https://www.humanresourcesonline.net/world-economic-forum-on-the-top-10-skills-and-workforce-strategies-in-2020/ 
 
A Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Community Education Program prepares future leaders in all aspects of community education through the working and teaching in non-formal and informal learning environments, and/or non-profit organizations. Furthermore a Master of Arts in Education (M.A.Ed.) in Community Education: Research and Leadership, prepares individuals as professional educators, researchers, and leaders in non-formal environments

This is the latest in a series of blogs by a partnering cohort teacher.
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By Lindsey Lamm, Northern Allegheny School District
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In my new role in my new district as an Instructional Technology Integrator, I am tasked with helping teachers purposefully integrate technology into their lessons. This role allows me to meet with teachers, help them learn new things, and, in most cases, co-teach in their classrooms while implementing the technology. I also run pieces of professional development at both the building and district level involving technology initiatives and trends. In this role, building relationships and trust with teachers is paramount to the success of the implementation on both the teacher end and my end. However, a phrase consistently comes to my mind when presenting new technology. The phrase is, “You don’t know what you don’t know.” 

When I was a classroom teacher, I was so bogged down with everything needed to make the day-to-day operations in the classroom run smoothly that the only time I was learning about new technology was through professional development outside of the classroom. Had I been unable to attend those conferences, I’m not sure I would have learned anything about the technology that is out there. “You don’t know what you don’t know. “ I view part of my new job as being that liaison between the classroom teacher and the new technology. If I can learn how to use the technology and bring that knowledge to classroom teachers and team up with them to co-teach, we will be successful. 

I’m very lucky to be in the position I currently possess. I know this. When I am with mixed company and I tell them what I do, the job description is usually met with wishes that other schools had the same position, or that schools had more of the position to help reach more teachers. Just recently, I paired with a second grade teacher to take 360 pictures of their field trip and then allow students to annotate them with what they learned on the trip to create a Google Expedition about a week later. When I shared this project with some colleagues, it was met with enthusiasm, ideas for integration across other disciplines, ideas for incorporating this technology to help some of our students with anxiety needs, and the phrase, “I didn’t even know you could do that.” 

I think the most important thing I learned this school year is the value of sharing the work we do in the classroom AT THE DISTRICT LEVEL. We are not helping ourselves if we only share what happens at the elementary school in the elementary world, middle school in the middle school world, and high school in the high school world. I think it’s important for elementary teachers to see what is happening at the high school level to help guide expectations. I think it is just as important for high school teachers to see what elementary students are doing to help with expectations. I think it’s important to go into these discussions with the expectation of learning what others are doing, not integrating every piece of technology into the classroom. OSMO products, for instance, are not a great fit for the middle/high school world. However, the coding and problem solving skills learned by kindergarten and first graders certainly can help guide block coding expectations in Scratch or even Raspberry Pie and Python. 

The idea of sharing out what we do in our classrooms helps alleviate the problem of not knowing what we don’t know. Sharing sessions allow for teachers to be invigorated when they do see something that could work. I would argue, after my time this year, that sharing sessions are as important to the work of a teacher as workshops learning how a piece of technology or new product works. You’ll always not know what you don’t know. Being exposed to the unknown, though, allows for familiarity in every sense.

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