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The Pew Internet & American Life Project released a report last week which documents their findings on teens’ writing and technology habits.

The report explores writing skills, frequency, and attitude as they relate to student’s access to technology, including cell phones, the internet, and computer availability.

There were many findings that will not surprise most readers, particularly when considering the impact of gender and socio-economic factors, but some helpful factors to include when developing instructional activities for these age groups.

“Teens said they are motivated to write when the can select topics that are relevant to their lives and interests, and report greater enjoyment of school writing when they have the opportunity to write creatively. Having teachers or other adults who challenge them, present then with interesting curricula, and give them detailed feedback also serves as a motivator for teens. Teens also report writing for an audience motivates them to write and write well.” (emphasis mine)

Also from the report, “Summary of Findings at a Glance”

“Even though teens are heavily embedded in a tech-rich world, they do not believe that
communication over the internet or text messaging is writing. [The report later suggests that students hold writing in higher regard than typical communication.]

“The impact of technology on writing is hardly a frivolous issue because most believe that good writing is important to teens’ future success.

“Teens are motivated to write by relevant topics, high expectations, an interested audience and opportunities to write creatively.

“Writing for school is a nearly every-day activity for teens, but most assignments are short.

“Teens believe that the writing instruction they receive in school could be improved.

“Non-school writing, while less common than school writing, is still widespread among teens.

“Multi-channel teens and gadget owners do not write any more — or less — than their counterparts, but bloggers are more prolific.

“Teens more often write by hand for both out-of-school writing and school work.

“As tech-savvy as they are, teens do not believe that writing with computers makes a big difference in the quality of their writing.

“Parents are generally more positive than their teen children about the effect of computers and text-based communication tools on their child’s writing.

“Teens enjoy non-school writing, and to a lesser extent, the writing they do for school.”
Source: Lenhart, Amanda; Arafeh, Sousan; Smith, Aaron and Rankin Macgill, Alexandra. Writing, Technology and Teens, Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project, April 24, 2008.

Although the report weighs in at about 83 pages, the Summary of Findings captures the essence of their findings in about 7 quick pages.

And speaking of writing, I want to point you to this innovative use of volunteers in teaching student writing skills. The video is part of a series known as the TED Talks (Technology, Education, and Design), which have featured some of the most remarkable contemporary speakers around. [Thanks, Chris, for passing on the link.]

[Video missing? Visit the link above to go to a more filter-friendly option.]

National Public Radio aired a pair of very balanced stories on middle and high school students’ expectations of online privacy and attitudes toward safety this week. It’s helpful as educators to understand the changing expectations of privacy of our students. These clips provide some insight.

Digital Culture: Teens Take Advantage of Online Privacy Tools (6:37)

Digital Culture: Teens’ Online “Friends” Often Number in the Hundreds (6:13)

Referenced parent resources from the “Online Friends” piece (some of which have educator information as well):

• GetNetWise (getnetwise.org)
• NetSmart (netsmartz.org)
• ConnectSafely.org (connectsafely.org)

Image citation: ::: Billie / PartsNPieces :::, “Privacy Fence Smashed” ::: Billie / PartsNPieces :::’s Photostream. 29 Dec 2005. 4 Apr 2008 <http://flickr.com/photos/partsnpieces/79097894/>.

One of the weaknesses of educational technology conferences, structured professional development offerings, and other traditional means of delivering educational tech training is that they often find one of two audiences: the group of people who are eager for this type of learning but need and want more, and the group of people who are sitting there thinking this couldn’t be less relevant. For the trainer, it’s difficult to adequately address either.

21st Century learning skills present a similar range of issues. Even if I were to discount the reluctant adopters, the amount of training that it takes to meet the needs of the eager learners group doesn’t fit in these neat time slots.

As a result, conference attendees return excited about the possibilities, but are not equipped to move forward - professional development sessions have either the time to outline the educational benefit of an approach to learning or the time to teach how, but often not both.

Imagine trying to teach your students all they need to know about a subject in one class period. No follow-up. No extension.

This is a similar situation.

Blogger and Educational Technology Consultant David Warlick outlines a dozen steps on a path to becoming a 21st Century literate educator. There are a couple steps that resonate more with me than others, but this list is very good.

A Path to Becoming a 21st Century Literate Educator — Self Development

1. Find two or more other educators in your school who are interested in learning and using emerging information and communication technologies (ICTs). It would be of enormous advantage if you can include your schools library media specialist.
2. Identify the appropriate person in your school or district who can provide technical support and configuration for your increasingly utilized computers and network. Bake them some chocolate chip cookies.
3. Identify some edu-bloggers who are talking about the emerging ICTs you are considering. See the Bloggers to Learn From wiki, contributed to by a world community of educators.
4. Delegate! Assign each member of your team some of the selected blogs to follow, and share specific posts with each other.
5. Read, study, and discuss books about teaching and learning and the world we’re doing it in. See the Books to Learn From . wiki, contributed to by a world community of educators.
6. Schedule regular meetings (once or twice a month) at a local restaurant, coffee shop, or pizzeria (preferably with WiFi). Meet and discuss what you’ve learned and what you want to learn.
7. Start a group del.icio.us (A social bookmarks service) account for organizing and sharing web resources.
8. Start a wiki for posting notes, links, and step-by-step instructions.
9. Join one or more of the Ning social networks, such as: School 2.0, Library 2.0, Classroom 2.0.
10. Start your own blogs for sharing your reflections on what you are learning and how you are learning it.
11. Start experimenting in your class and share the results.
12. Share your results with other teachers in your school and Invite them into your conversation.

You’ll notice that these step are self-guided. The pacing is your own. The ownership is your own. The rewards are your own to be shared with your students.

As Warlick concludes, “Start to model, in your job as a teacher, the practice of being a master learner.”

Image citation: DarkFram, “pausa caffè” DarkFrame’s Photostream. 5 May 2007. 14 Feb 2008 <http://flickr.com/photos/darkframe/486264072/>.

I was impressed by an NPR story featuring Secretary Mike Leavitt of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

In the very hostile climate of government agencies where it seems that even the smallest offensive statement can spark an uprising and firing overnight, Leavitt is seeking a communication venue outside the norm for Washington. Leavitt authors a blog, found online at secretary.hhs.gov.

“I hope people have more access to me and what I’m thinking,” says Leavitt in his interview with NPR, “I can point to two or three occasions now where ideas I’ve picked up reading in a blog have led to, at least, conversations in my office and in one case a change in direction.”

When so much of what we read and hear from our leaders is delivered through carefully tailored press releases and public relations personnel, it is a notable change to read directly from the Secretary’s own writing. Leavitt notes that he writes the postings himself. “I want to maintain my postings as a personal writing”

“I don’t know that there’s ever been a cabinet secretary that’s blogged before. Maybe I can be the pioneer.”

What audiences would enjoy hearing more directly from your own writing?

Hear the rest of the interview online at NRP.org.

In case I haven’t mentioned before, I am a big fan of the folks at Common Craft. I think that somewhere deep down inside, these folks missed their calling into teaching. They’re very good at simple explanations of otherwise complex topics.

Common Craft has produced “Blogs in Plain English,” the latest installment in their “Plain English” series. You may recall the “RSS in Plain English” video I referenced back in September.

This is the clearest explanation of blogging, what it is, who does it, how, and why that I’ve heard or read - and all in under 3 minutes. Take three minutes and watch the clip below (email readers of this blog, click here). You’ll be glad you did.

The video can also be viewed on TeacherTube and YouTube .

The best thing about this generation of web tools is the potential for dialogue. More importantly, it’s the ability to put an idea out there, get criticized, rebut that criticism, and still get feedback from the critic. It’s not always that rosy, but when it is, it’s very good.

I want to point you first to a post in which Michael Wesch, the coordinating professor of the “A Vision of Students Today” project noted earlier this week, has highlighted a reply from a reader flipping the perspective of the video back to eyes of a professor. I think the reader’s point will resonate well with many educators.

Equally striking is Wesch’s reply, (Clarifications on “A Vision…”) to a post by District Administrator columnist, Gary Stager. Stager takes Wesch to task and Wesch steps up to the challenge. This is a very well stated reply and represents a top-notch example of such an online exchange.

His most notable statement, in my opinion, without regard to this particular context is this:

The great myth is that these “digital natives” know more about this new information environment than we do. But here’s the reality: they may be experts in entertaining themselves online, but they know almost nothing about educating themselves online.

Again, I’m always interested in your reactions. See the comments link just below this post on the tech blog site and add your reply.

Something to chew on. Take a look at this short film (If the clips are missing in your email or RSS reader, go direct to the tech blog and view it there).

More clips are available at mediacultures.net at Kansas State University. A transcript is available on the class blog.

So… what do you think? I realize there are an abundance of ‘ya, buts,” but I’m interested in your thoughts on what this means for us today. What reasonable steps could be taken in the direction needed? Be careful not to dismiss that content as irrelevant just because these are older students. Add your comments/responses on the Instructional Tech blog site.

Two other sidenotes:

1.) The collaborative editing tool noted in the video is Google Docs. It is free, accessible anywhere online (It remains blocked in some districts. Ask.), and includes essential word processing, spreadsheet and presentation tools. This is a great tool for collaborative student projects, especially in that it tracks user edits making it possible to see who’s actively participating.

2.) Some people have raised the points the students make about using Facebook and working on other things during class as just cause to ban the use of laptops and other devices from the classroom, most commonly in college settings. The real question this raises is whether the laptops are the cause or the effect of the distraction.

RSS is a term probably unfamiliar to most, both in and out the education field. You may have noticed a “subscribe by RSS” option in the lefthand column of the blog’s main page. Same idea.

The folks at Common Craft have a series of “In Plain English” videos where they describe some recent web tools and trends in, as the series title suggests, plain English. They do a pretty good job which is why I am going to let the video clip (3:43) explain the fundamentals of RSS.

RSS In Plain EnglishVideo clip missing above? View the full post at tech.tricountyesc.org to see the clip or go directly to TeacherTube. TeacherTube loading too slow (it has been lately)? See the clip on YouTube .

This is a great means to have the information from several worthwhile sites brought together for you in a friendly format on a regular basis.

Start with one or two feeds that you know or just look interesting (may I recommend this tech blog as a great starter?). Over time, particularly in the case of blogs, you may begin to note other authors that your author references who also seem worthwhile. This is a great way to connect with information about your teaching specialization or even hobbies written by others with similar interests.

This certainly isn’t a complete explanation of the topic. I’ll stick to the vocab lesson and cover some of the other nuances in future posts.

Sidenote: The video clip embedded in this post is hosted at TeacherTube.com which is kind of like YouTube , but for educators, and - at least for the moment - is filter friendly.

Sitting in a chair earlier today with my son and daughter looking over my shoulder watching a video on YouTube of the late greats, James Brown and Luciano Pavarotti, in a concert setting with full orchestra and a packed house….

And my daughter asks, “Can they hear us?”

“No,” I reply, not for once having imagined otherwise.

“Why not?,” she inquires.

This is my children’s world. A world where people - grandma, grandpa, and even great-grandma - appear on the screen and she talks back. And, yes, they can hear her. This is the world for which she must be prepared. This is not the world of her father’s education.