TED Talks: Kim Cofino: Mobile, Connected, Collaborative

Kim Cofino: Mobile, Connected, Collaborative
TEDx Talks
March 21, 2012

In her TEDx talk, Kim Cofino discusses a 'vision' for what our schools can, and hopefully one day, will look like in the future.  She discusses her experiences living in Southeast Asia and how these experiences directly relate to a mobile, connected, and collaborative educational learning environment.

She does a nice job describing the following descriptors of life in SE Asia in the comparison to education: mobility, timing, adaptability and flexibility, customization, valuation, collaboration, and globalization.  While the the message is clear, well spoken, exciting, and I agree with it wholeheartedly, it is, much like a lot of the research and discussions we have been having in class, an idealistic vision without much practical application.


One of the big challenges that I have and continue to battle as someone who tries to effectively incorporate technology into my learning space to support student learning is answering the question, "In reality, in practicality, what does this 'look' like?" 

Here is a quick example, from my own classroom, of what I am talking about:  our sophomores read 'Like Water for Chocolate'. It is a novel full of magical realism, symbolism, great characters and food as a metaphor. Before we began using technology, we developed a student centered project to synthesize the novel. The students created (using markers and paper or word for those who had access) 'Restaurant Menus' that touched on the characters, symbolism in the novels, food as a metaphor, had the magical realism tint to them, etc. The students created restaurant names, food/menu items, graphics, etc...that all were representative (based off our work with the novel) their understanding of the themes and issues tackled in the book. They worked in groups and had to write up an essay that explained their choices and decision making. We had to give them time in class to collaborate and most all were done hard copy using colored pencils, markers, glue, etc, while a few were done in Microsoft word or Publisher then printed out. Enter the 21st Century classroom and Web 2.0 tools. The question we asked was, "how do we keep the project student centered and focused on the outcomes of the learning while not getting lost in technology?" The answer was simple, what do restaurants use now? Websites-the students used generators such as Wix.com, Weebly.com, and Google sites. We kept the core learning and outcomes of the project the same, but just changed the format, the students now created websites for the restaurants.  Some of the big bonuses were that the collaboration could happen outside of school once they started (it took less class time so we could supplement with short stories and some more writing workshop time), and the students were experimenting with a media that was more multi-layered and dynamic than a word document. They also were able to build depth into the site by linking to other authors who dealt with Magical Realism (GG Marquez and Chris Van Allsburg), to background on the Mexican Civil war, and to more current films that dealt with food as a metaphor (Simply Irresistible). The 'sharing' of these projects became less a group in front of class presenting and more them giving the overview and then the students surfing them on their own and leaving comments and feedback on a discussion board on Moodle.  What we, my colleagues and I found, as that the more we kept the use of web 2.0 tools focused on student learning outcomes, the more that we could realistically and practically incorporate some the the pieces of a 21st Century 'School' into our 'old school' classroom and school structures.

As a future school leader, I am very interested in hearing about, reading about, and seeing (as well as having the chance to apply this theory to) a 'school' that is moving towards this type of mobile, connected and collaborative environment;  I would love to discuss or experience the 'day to day reality' of this type of learning structure/space.  I get that this is where we need to go, so let's start to take real, practical steps to get to a 21st century environment like the one pictured here:

Then I think that maybe schools that are embracing one to one environments and introducing different online systems are these schools?  Maybe schools like the one in Mooresvill, NC that has embraced a one-to-one environment is exactly what this looks like at this stage of the game.  Maybe this is step 1 towards the 'future' that Cofino discusses.  One of the topics a classmate and I covered for a project was online course management systems.  We read about traditional classroom structures supported with CMS's, to blended environments to full online schools.  Looking at the school I am in, I would say we are currently the first of these, still a traditional school structure (although we are moving towards a modified block schedule in which the students won't be in the same classes everyday so it's kind of an altered time sequence, however the students are still locked into a 7:35-2:35 school day) supported by CMS's.  While we are taking steps towards new, virtual learning spaces and time structures we're still working within the old systems, which allow for many to not take steps towards change. 

I have had the opportunity to teach graduate classes that are the second of these types, a blended learning environment in which 6 out of the 10 classes were face to face, while 4 were virtual; and this Fall I will be teaching my very first full online course.  But again, these are courses, not full on public schools.  These are learning 'spaces' that we have created that still, at some levels, follow more traditional timing patterns and work load expectations (on both sides- instructor and student).  The fact that some of these are still under the 'old systems' umbrella, there can be a slow process for change.  Maybe this type of 1 step at a time into the ocean is what we need right now?

The challenge now that we have the blended or full online formats is to create not just a single course but an entire school atmosphere that caters to all those involved; one that helps support those that are not 'there' yet, while at the same time those who are already on their way to an individualized, mobile, connected, and collaborative learning environment.  Again, I am absolutely IN with moving towards making these changes, the question that remains is 'how?'