#education #edtech Google Trends: Correlation and Causation

I read an article that referenced Google Trends showing that gamers were a fickle bunch. That particular trend showed interest in Angry Birds, Tetris, Farmville, and Candy Crush over time and compared to each other.

This got me thinking: How could we use this with students? Oh, sure, I bet lots of people have come up with lots of ways, and most likely even in the ways I am about to discuss. Well, be that as it may, my brain works a little differently than many folks, so join me on this ride, if you will.

I took the video games idea and decided to focus on one particular franchise: Duke Nukem. Why? Because I'm a guy who grew up playing the originals and waited with baited breath for "Forever," only to be sadly, sorely disappointed.

I started with Duke Nukem 3D. We see there is a spike in 2011. If I point to that in Trends, I see there is a lot of discussion in June 2011. Why?

Let's add another search term and see if we can find a possible connection:

Ah! We see a matching spike. So, what happened in June 2011 that these games would suddenly be of interest to anyone? If we jump over to Google and do a search for "june 2011 Duke Nukem," here is what we find:

Ah! Duke Nukem Forever was released in June 2011, sparking interest in that as well as mention of Duke Nukem 3d.

That's all well and good, but what about seemingly unrelated topics? Let's start with Barak Obama:

First of all, we see interest/news in 2004. What is that about? Students could research and find out. But, that's not why we're here today. Let's add another search term: XBOX. Why? Why not.

Above, we see a couple of things: 1) XBOX is sought after much more than Obama and 2) XBOX has a pattern of ups and downs. So now we ask students, "Is there a correlation between XBOX and Obama?" We follow that up with, "What is a cause for that correlation, if one exists?" But, wait! There's more. Let's add "donuts" to the mix. Again, why not?

What do we see after adding donuts? Well, not much in the way of correlation. Donuts, for whatever reason, have been steadily growing in popularity among searches. Look at that chart again. Donuts have been increasing. What is the trend for XBOX? How about Obama? Is there any correlation to why donuts would be increasing as XBOX and Obama have been decreasing and/or plateauing? Have students speculate on such things. Let them be creative! Have them make up a reason why this is happening through a creative project that involves researching the terms, keying in on certain points of the trends, and then creating a fictional news story (video, article, etc) that ties it altogether.

Now, let's look at a set of terms that could go together:

Here, I chose "baseball players," "performance-enhancing drugs," and "home runs" to see if there any correlations. Of course there are. You will notice, I included the "regional interest" section in the photo. One of the cool things about Trends is that you can show worldwide stats, stats for a particular country, or you could even choose a particular state (in this case). If you chose a state, you would see any cities that are pertinent to the searches. For example, if I choose Missouri, then I am presented with St. Louis, Springfield, and Kansas City. At any point, I can find high/low spots and then research the connections. Students could also make connections where the trends are NOT in line with each other. For example, in Dec 2012-Jan 2013, talk about baseball players falls off but PEDs discussion is high. Why is that?

It is important to point out that Trends uses an "OR" approach. That is, none of the terms are linked so far as Trends in concerned. It is up to the researcher to convert the ORs to ANDs - or at least to attempt to discover if there actually are any ANDs.

#jnuc #jamf 10/23 - Avoid Gotchas of Enterprise Cloud Dist in Education

Why I chose this:
Education-specific sessions are few and far between, so I picked this one.

What was covered:

Statewide hosted solution with every higher ed institution in the NC system under a single Casper instance.

17 schools plus UNC general admin system.

How can they leverage the system to allow common operation across all systems?

Right Time
Decreased budgets
Taste for streamlined licensing
Desire to not reinvent the wheel (shared packages, etc)
Increased demand for Mac and iOS
VPP and DEP

UNC System handles AD, LDAP, packages, etc.

Use Sites for each school so folks aren't stepping on each other's toes.

Hosted JSS and local JDS
- Best of speed and cost
- Auto sync of the JDS
- Someone else (mostly) does infrastructure
- Allows smaller groups/institutions easy scaling
- Each group maintains security via LDAPS

Admin team does very little work, then hands-off. Can be done on group-level (ex: School of Journalism) as opposed to ONLY the school at large.

The Good
- It works!!
- Shared work packaging and scripting
- Read-only policies for examples
- Communities form group help/Crowdsourcing - need a peer-review system for vetting

Challenging
- Migration from local Casper to Shared Cloud
-- Take time to clean up JSS.
-- Rebuild the JSS
- Web-only interface (takes time getting used to it)
- Casper Admin limited to read-only (take away delete permission wholesale, can change things)
- Politics of LDAP/AD access (run through governance body at university level; takes time to work through admins etc. Help them understand - https, read-only, which ports, etc)
- Technical details of secure LDAP/AD access (self-sign certs, where is root, etc)
- Packages without licenses (who is responsible for licensing? Spell it out. Make sure you have rights to share, etc)
- Change management - get into logs, check details
- Political policies to promote good neighbors (shared section, so had to set/enforce naming conventions with packages and scripts, etc.)
- Shared GSX and APN accounts (who has it? Who is logging in to check? That is global in JSS, not a site setting)
- Disk encryptions are not site specific. Make sure security folks understand it is a shared model

The Bad
- No concept of site for: Categories, packages, scripts, printers, directory bindings, dock items, configurations, and self service plugins. Must plan scope of work, naming, etc.
- Network segment collisions (NAT, subnets, etc)
- Needed prefixes to avoid confusion (naming conventions)
- SCCM Plugin not support (*multiple SCCM could be supported, but who rules the roost on that one!?)

The Cost to Join
- 10 Licenses for either OSX or iOS devices to have their own Casper Site Setup
- Secure (ldaps) access to supported directory site for group of Casper Site Admins
- Firewall changes (443, 636)
- Internal Netboot and/or SUS servers (not provided, must be local)
- Internal JDS (optional, but recommended)
- JAMF training (optional, but recommended)
- Can request packaging rights (create a Directory Service group, which would be added)
- Can request to member of UWCA (Admin) team
- Can request access to APIs

Q&A

How many sites and who are site admins? 41 sites/subsites, don't care who the local admin is so it varies. Purchasing dept adds admin(s) to directory service group.

Packages: Sites can upload packages. Cannot delete packages without requesting from the overall admin.

Security info stored in JDS. Each institution evaluates what they can/cannot store in the cloud.

How about non-Apple devices? At certain sites, use SCCM locally. Not big demand for Android support. Planning for future implementation. Right now, polices and best practices.

Created a template license and got it approved by Attorney General for use among all participating entities.

Easier for schools to come on because they are not installing all the backend.

Helpful to set up a 'kick the tires' account for schools to test the system and see if they want to join.

#edsymposium Michael Fullan Keynote Notes

California is building capacity over compliance through Fullan's program. Working with clusters of districts. "If you want to change the group, use the group to change the group."

Being famous for autonomy is a negative when talking about systemic changes, especially when building intra-regional collaboration.

"Leadership for Maximizing Impact"
The Principal - What is the role? What are problems? Advantages?

• Lead Leader
• System Leader
• Change Agent

www.michaelfullan.ca

Right Drivers - motivates

• Capacity Building
• Collaborative Work
• Pedagogy
• Systemness

Wrong Drivers (enablers) - demotivates

• Accountability (Punitive)
• Individual teacher and leadership quality
• Technology as a driver
• Fragmented strategies

You are stuck with state policies, but you are not stuck at local level. Turn punitive mindset and make it growth mindset. Find ways to exploit state policy for good within a district. Great advantages when things are in flux. Do things when state will not be good at monitoring implementation.

(3-4 minute discussion among small groups about drivers, change, etc)

The Role of Principal:

Agent of Change - Moves people and organizations forward under difficult conditions

Leading Learning - Models learning and shapes the conditions for all to learn.

System Player - Contributes to and benefits from system improvement.

These are gears that fit together and feed into and off of each other.

Principals should direct their energies to developing the group.

Impact on teachers: Teacher appraisal, Professional development, collaborative cultures. Which has greatest impact? "A fool with a tool is still a fool" - Appraisal and PD are not nearly as effective as collaboration. 

Use the small number of key ideas you need, complex part is the synergy of these key things - "Simplexity"

Professional Capital: Human Capital (people); Social Capital (quality and quantity of interactions among people); Decisional Capital (resources of knowledge, intelligence, and energy required to put the human and social capital to effective use. Capacity to choose well and make good decisions."

PC: Cultivating human and social capital over time ... for meeting the learning goals of the school.

From "Park Manor" school video - "Adding new technology to old pedagogy doesn't make things better."

Principal as System Player - must be able to TALK THE WALK! That is, you must be able to explain what you are doing.  Aware they are part of a bigger picture and contribute to the bigger picture and learn from it (districtwide, multiple districts, etc).

Talented schools will improve a weak teacher
Talented teachers will leave a weak school (and the profession!)
Good collaboration reduces bad variation

Focus is on pedagogy, not curriculum. Good pedagogy will drive good curriculum.

Asking the unGoogleable

Thanks to my ESSDACK Newsletter, I read an article that provokes some thought into teaching and testing. The overriding question is this: If students can find the direct answer on Google, then why do they need teachers?

The main point of the article is to raise students to higher level thinking. That is, ask open-ended questions that require research, development and incorporate a formulated opinion with sources to back up the responses.

Of course, it took all of 5 seconds for folks to start to Google the "UnGoogleable" questions. I loved the responses. Ultimately, a rubric for scoring and parameters regarding resources lies at the heart of the grading of such questions. For example, several Wikipedia entries can answer the questions. A well-crafted rubric might require students to seek out primary sources or at least corroborating sources.

 Now, mind you, this article is written specifically for History teachers. You can save any rhetoric on why students need to know basic math, etc, for another discussion. Or heck, start one here, why not?

Do we need to know names and places and dates in a laundry list when that laundry list is at the fingertips 24 hours a day? No. The key, though, is figuring how to incorporate that laundry list into meaningful, thought-provoking research. And, the research doesn't have to be 10 pages or even 3 pages. It can be a paragraph.

The article is worth a read, even if you aren't a History teacher:

http://historytech.wordpress.com/2013/08/09/if-they-can-google-it-why-do-they-need-you/

The "Un-Internet" and educational application

I posted this to a statewide edu-tech list to which I belong.  I thought I would post here for another avenue of discussion.  This is in response to (or rather, a sharing of) an article published yesterday (Jan 2, 2012).

This article (linked below) is mainly about business practices, but I can see some of the same discussions surfacing in education circles regarding content (bandwidth not withstanding and bandwidth quickly becoming a non-issue), blocked sites, etc.  Sure, we have CIPA and COPPA to contend with, but the days of "Network Nazism" are quickly coming to an end. As well they should be.  I enjoy seeing the emergence of actual Technology Committees at various districts: Administrators, teachers, community members all reviewing sites submitted by teachers and students to be reviewed for educational use.  This has worked very well in the district for which I am one of the "community members."  In fact, we recently blocked one site and opened another based on that group's input.  We have to protect our students, but we also have to realize that our teachers and students *ARE* the users/customers, and unless we work WITH them, they will find ways to work around or without us.

 

http://www.webmonkey.com/2012/01/the-un-internet/

What's all this talk about school librarians?

Articles (and responses to them) about school libraries and the people that run them are popping up all over the place lately.  I suppose that is one of the side effects of summer break.  Several school districts have cut back or eliminated the Librarian from their payrolls over the past few years, and evidently many of those have come just this year (in preparation for next).

I will provide links to a couple articles below, but for now, I'm taking my turn.

In one article (a response piece), the reaction says "iPads don't speak and don't teach."  To me, that statement is akin to the beginning of the robotics age in the auto industry: Robots can't weld. Um, yeah, they can. That's why they took over the job.  Well, I have to disagree with at least part of the iPad statement above.  iPads (or any latest tech) for visually impaired students have features designed to do just that: speak.  The devices can read books, tell the student where he/she is on the screen, etc. And, these programs will only improve over time.  Anyone remember the early days of JAWS?  It tried so hard to be a good screen reader.  Well, now it is up to at least version 10 with amazing results.  Not to mention the iPad's built-in VoiceOver system and there are other apps available as well. Just start searching and you'll find them.

Now, I know that wasn't the point being made, yet it was.  As for teaching?  That depends.  What skills are librarians teaching that are not available on electronic devices?  I have no idea, that's why I'm asking.  Many of today's apps are, unfortunately, "Skill and Drill."  The apps "teach" by throwing a math problem on the screen or a sentence for diagramming.  That is useless other than for review.  If apps are to TEACH, then there must be more depth, more intuitive adaptation taking place.  That is, the app (or program or web site or whatever) must be able to adapt itself to the learning.  As a student reviews a certain skill set, the program must be able to adjust difficulties, question types, etc, in order to help that student move forward.  Some apps "claim" to be adaptive, but all they really do is ask the same types of questions over and over until the child appears to get the correct answers.  That is not teaching.  That does not help the child understand WHY he/she missed the questions or how to reason in order to achieve the correct result.

So, tying this back to librarians in schools.  I believe we need librarians who are tech savvy that can teach critical thinking skills.  The Library many of us grew up with is dying for sure - Dewey Decimal, Books on shelves, Card catalogs, etc.  Those placed in charge of the resources available in the days of our schooling must now be willing to adjust their methods and resources for today's systems.  Our students are growing up in a time where "data" is everywhere.  Data is just numbers, words, figures, pictures.  What they need is someone who can help them turn that data into INFORMATION.  Information is the application of data for a meaningful purpose.  We are said to live in an "information age," but I think that is a misnomer (as it seems many things are these days, but I digress. often.).  We are in an "age of overwhelming data."  There is good data and bad data and students must be taught how to interpret the data they are bombarded with everyday.  They must be taught how to evaluate a website for FACTS vs OPINIONS, how to judge whether a particular Tweet or Facebook post is truth or fiction.  They must be taught how to recognize satire versus journalistic reporting. They must be taught how to determine whether a source is a "good" one and just what that means.  Google, Wikipedia, and other online sources *can* be great and useful.  But, they are only useful if the user knows and understands how to use them - and how NOT to use them.

I believe that in many schools, this could readily fall to the librarian on hand.  Why are librarians (which is actually not what most of them are even called anymore - they are generally "Media Specialists" now, and I will refer to them as such from here out) stuck inside the walls of the media center anyway!?  Media Specialists should be in the classrooms, helping teachers with the same types of skills mentioned above.  Our local district has "blocks" of time set aside for elementary students to go to art, to computer lab, to music, to the media center.  Are Media Specialists required to have lesson plans?  Do they have an agenda, a syllabus, etc?  If not, then they should - if they want to keep their jobs.

I have recently been put in the position of defending my job and I am a TECH person.  My job is vital to the main location where I work, but also to the schools which I serve.  I have to justify why I feel that way, and be able to explain it to others who do NOT feel the same.  Media Specialists must be willing and able to do that, too.  And, like my own position, I believe they can easily do so.  But, in order for their arguments to be effective, they must show their ability and willingness to adapt, adjust, and offer training to students in this ever-changing environment.  Districts are starting to hire (or have hired) Technology Integration Specialists.  Who better to serve in that position than the people already in charge of teaching responsible information gathering and interpretation?

The people with the money and power have to see a reason to keep any program alive - sports, arts, math, science.  Give them a reason and they will find the money. It happens all the time and we all know it (I did mention sports, right?).

External links:
NY Times "School Eliminating Librarians As Budgets Shrink"
"Invisible Professionals - Replacing Librarians with iPads?"
JAWS - Screen Reading Software

Apple talks Flash and Jersey Principal bans Facebook at home

Yesterday, Steve Jobs posted an "open" letter regarding his (er, Apple's) position on Flash.  While the article (here: Apple Article) is very thought-out and well-articulated, I think there is at least one point he tries to make that falls way short of be forthcoming: openness.  He talks about how Flash is closed but that Apple is open.  Maybe it's just me, but any system that requires an "approval process" for applications to be developed for it does *not* qualify as "open."

You may or may not have heard about various apps for the iPhone family that have been denied.  Most famously is the one showing political cartoons.  Of course, once the creator of those cartoons was given an award, Apple changed it's mind.  Still, there are apps for sexual positions that are freely available by searching for "education."  Yes, do a search for educational tools, and what do you find? Sex.  Ridiculous.  At the same time, however, hundreds (perhaps thousands?) of apps have been denied by Apple.  Do a Google search for things like "Rejected iPhone Apps" or "Apple rejected my app" and you'll find far too many examples of the Gestapo that is Apple.

Mr. Jobs, you have some very legitimate arguments for not using Flash.  But, watch the finger-pointing and quit taking lessons from the Clinton Dictionary of Common Terminology.

---

Also yesterday, I was pointed toward a  New Jersey Article which reports that a principal is telling his parents they should ban their kids from Facebook, Twitter, and all other social networking sites... AT HOME!  Are you kidding me with this!?  What I allow my child to do or not do AT HOME is not the business of anyone other than law enforcement or child protective services.  No, I do not do anything that would warrant either of those, but that's my point.  If I allow my children to communicate through Facebook, Twitter, etc, then that is my right and my choice as my child's parent. 

The main reason for this outrageous request is to "keep them safe."  Bull-ony.  This is like saying kids should stay off the playground because they might fall off the slide, or get hit with a swing, or maybe trip and fall while walking.  As parents of a student that uses Facebook, I can tell you what we do.  We watch our child's posts.  We also talk to and educate our child when he posts something he shouldn't or joins some dumb group.  The point is - we EDUCATE him. 

Do tell our children they cannot go outside and play?  No, we EDUCATE them on the dangers: passing cars, stray dogs, random strangers.  We teach them to play in the yard.  We teach them not to run into the street between two parked cars.  Do they always listen?  Of course not.  But, with each mistake, a lesson is learned.  When I was a child, I *did* run out between two parked cars.  I nearly got run over.  It scared the crud out of me and to this day, I will look both ways more than any normal human does.  Did I burn myself on the stove when I was kid? Of course.  What did I learn? The stove was HOT!  Did I cut myself with a shaving razor when I was young?  Yeap.  What did I learn? Razor blades are sharp, and I should be careful.

Watching our children online is no different.  Banning them from social media is not the answer.  The answer is to EDUCATE the students, the parents, the community.  Teach them how to use Facebook and Twitter (and whatever other social networks come down the line) responsibly and effectively.  We protect our children as best we can, and much of that comes through educating them.  Sometimes, that education comes from life's experiences.

As Dory in Finding Nemo said, "Well, you can't never let anything happen to him. Then nothing would ever happen to him."