Wesley Fryer: Teaching and Learning

Presentations | University Classes | Workshops

All referenced resources from my presentations (including many podcast recordings from some sessions) are available on teachdigital.pbwiki.com. I am available to present keynote addresses, conference spotlight sessions, service club luncheon programs, and educator workshops on the following topics or others you can suggest. Most of my work is in the southwestern United States, but I am available to present in other areas on a case-by-case basis. I am also available for presentations via videoconferencing. Please contact me to inquire about availability!

Reinventing Education for the 21st Century (Designing School 2.0):

As Thomas Friedman persuasively argued in this book "The World is Flat," we live in a very different and rapidly changing economic and cultural environment. Schools need to change to prepare students for the dynamic opportunities of the 21st century workforce. Collaboration in most of our schools today is still called "cheating." Our factory model of transmission-based education must be transformed into one where learners regularly collaborate, access and "remix" digital information, and extend their learning beyond the traditional bell schedule. One to one laptop initiatives (where every student and teacher have wireless computing devices,) schools and libraries becoming community learning hubs offering public wireless and wired connectivity to the Internet, and the deregulation of education which frees learners to spend time in real-world, problem-based and project-based learning need to become hallmarks of education in the 21st century.This presentation shares this vision for reinventing education: Designing School 2.0, and offers suggestions for how civic leaders can move toward this vision at local levels.

Safe Digital Social Networking:

Generally adults help young people learn to drive safely before giving them car keys and turning them loose on the streets of the world. Young people also need guidance and adult assistance to learn how to safely navigate the virtual environments of the 21st Century. Schools must be proactive, rather than merely defensive, in helping students acquire the skills of digital citizenship needed today and in the future. Simply banning read/write web tools on school networks is an inadequate response: Educators must strive to learn alongside students and parents how these technologies can be safely and powerfully used to communicate and collaborate.

What are you doing with your bandwidth?

Schools across the United States and in many parts of the developed world are now "wired" to the information superhighway, but what are students and teachers doing with all this robust bandwidth? Students and teachers have unprecedented opportunities to safely embark on virtual field trips, use engaging digital manipulatives in the classroom, create compelling digital stories using audio, digital photo and video technologies, and experience high levels of motivation to write and communicate via blogs, podcasts, wikis, and other innovations. This session provides an overview of ways learners of all ages can engage with digital curriculum that permits hands-on learning, encourages active knowledge construction, and supports both collaboration and problem solving. The workforce skills needed in the 21st century extend far beyond the "three R's" -- Come explore many of the tools that can support the development of those skills!

Creativity and Updating Mindware: Hardware and software are not holding us back!

Most teachers, especially at secondary and higher education levels, are mired in a transmission-model of education that focuses more on content than student learning. Dan Pink is right: The right brained, creative thinkers are going to rule the future. We need to find ways to promote creativity and the creation of authentic digital knowledge products in our schools today, and update the "mindware" of our teachers who still cling to the myth of quality education beginning with a texbook and ending with a standardized test. This session explores both the reasons and the strategies for embracing more creative instructional methods in school and updating the "mindware" of teachers, administrators, parents, and other educational stakeholders.

An Open Invitation to the Global Education Conversation:

Enabled by more ubiquitous Internet access and the proliferating tools of the read/write web, educators around the globe are engaging in diverse, in-depth conversations about engaging digital natives in the classroom of the 21st century, ways to use new digital tools to foster collaboration and sharing, and stories of success as well as failure teaching students at different.

Learning as Conversation and Messy Assessment:

Truly educative experiences are often in short supply in schools today. Interactive experiences become engaging when they are meaningful for the learner.To help students authentically learn both the content and the process skills of the curriculum, educators should strive to engage students in meaningful conversations and activities. Technology tools can be invaluable aides in this process. Assessment should not be only multiple choice: To truly assess the understanding and present abilities of students, teachers need to embrace and utilize a variety of "messy assessment" strategies that can powerfully leverage technology for engagement and evaluation.

Safe Classroom Blogging to Improve Student Writing:

Blogs are being SAFELY used by classroom teachers around the world to help students develop and refine their abilities to write and communicate effectively. Learn about a variety of classroom blog examples, and how you can get started using blogs in your classroom with free, safe digital tools.

Digital Curriculum for Digital Natives:

We live in a mediacentric world, and most of the students in our classrooms are "digital natives." A wide variety of free and commercial digital curriculum resources are available that can engage students individually and collaboratively in the learning process. This session explores many of the best digital curriculum examples available for students of different ages.

Cultivating Digital Literacy with Classroom Podcasting:

Podcasting can be used in powerful ways to motivate students to develop their traditional as well as digital literacy skills. It can be done safely, is relatively inexpensive, and fairly easy to learn with any Internet-connected computer and a basic microphone. This session explores examples of successful classroom podcasts and demonstrates how teachers can start their own classroom podcast.

The Case for 1:1 Computing in Schools:

The future of education is 1:1. Every school should be proactively moving toward our 1:1 digital future, helping teachers develop capacities for engaging students in the learning process through technology. This session provides an overview of research on 1:1 computing projects around the world, as well as tips for how educators are making 1:1 immersion projects most effective for students, teachers, and the community.

Digital Storytelling in the Classroom:

As human beings, we are hardwired for storytelling. The motto of the Center for Digital Storytelling (www.storycenter.org) is "Listen deeply. Tell stories." Unfortunately, students and teachers in schools today often feel too time-stressed to engage in digital storytelling. Yet these projects can provide ideal opportunities for students to acquire and demonstrate the literacy skills required to thrive in the 21st Century. This workshop provides participants with opportunities to experience both listening and telling digital stories using free software tools. The slogan of Microsoft's PhotoStory 3 software program is "Make show and tell cool again." That is one of our goals today too. (curriculum)

Engaging Digital Natives with Web 2.0 Tools:

An new age of publication and collaboration has started. Referred to as Web 2.0 and the Read/Write Web, WikiPedia defines this new environment as " a perceived transition of the World Wide Web from a collection of websites to a full-fledged computing platform serving web applications to end users. The proponents of this thinking expect that ultimately Web 2.0 services will replace desktop computing applications for many purposes." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0) This workshop introduces participants to Web 2.0 and many of its available tools. These include WikiPedia, RSS, social bookmarks, feed aggregators, validation of online content, blogs, and creative commons. (curriculum)

Virtual Field Trips and Videoconferencing in the Classroom:

Interactive videoconferencing provides out outstanding modality for engaging students in the learning process and permitting them to experience new learning opportunities that might otherwise be impossible. In this session, we will explore different options for K-12 virtual field trips using videoconferencing and discuss the requirements for setting up the videoconference and actually connecting. We'll discuss ways to activate student schema with pre-conference activities, and also explore possibilities for safely using videoconferencing for class to class exchanges across the nation or the globe.

Digital Music Creation: Engage, Inspire, Have Fun!

Digital natives typically love music, and once they have learned how many LOVE to create their own music. In this session, we'll explore tools like Garageband (and others for Windows and Linux systems) which permit student authoring of original music compositions: No prior musical background required! We'll explore how students can legally obtain Creative Commons (CCMixter) shared music created by others, which can be remixed and mashed into new creations. Join the digital music revolution, and invite your students to do the same! It's legal, it's fun, it's engaging, and the process helps cultivate development of a wide host of 21st century literacy skills that students need for success in the future!

Legal issues relating to technology are not strictly the domain of lawyers: Educational administrators, practicioners, and students need to be aware of copyright issues including fair use and Creative Commons use/licensing of derivative works. Students want to remix and mashup digital content, and there are legal media sources and methods for them to do this! Schools are very concerned with liability issues relating to student use of social networking websites at school and from other locations: This session will address tools and strategies to address these issues, as well as cyberbullying. Educators, parents and students need to communicate and collaborate to insure Internet use is not only legal, but also safe and effective for all concerned.

A printable flyer about my professional development services as the Oklahoma AT&T Education Advocate is available. (PDF) Workshop and presentation resources/links are available on teachdigital.pbwiki.com. Information about the university classes I have previously taught (including online syllabi) is also available.

I have maintained the Tools for the TEKS: Integrating Technology into the Classroom website since 1997 for K-16 educators worldwide. In addition to maintaining my personal blog ("Moving at the Speed of Creativity") I am a frequent contributor to Technology and Learning's Blog and Google's Education blog, "The Infinite Thinking Machine."

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.