From today’s New York Times:

“The scale of N.C.L.B. testing requirements, competitive pressures in the testing industry, a shortage of testing experts, insufficient state resources, tight regulatory deadlines and a lack of meaningful oversight of the sprawling N.C.L.B. testing enterprise are undermining N.C.L.B.’s pursuit of higher academic standards,” he writes. And that is from a man who supports the federal law.

Sounds encouraging, huh?

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So it just so happens that right up the road from me at Rutgers University is a professor looking to do some research into the effects of blogs, wikis, et. al. Here’s the class description Dr. Erica Bohling is offering this summer:

What literacy skills do teachers and students need in order to succeed in today�s information-rich, digital society? What are some effective instructional tools and models for integrating technology into the middle school and high school curriculum? How can teachers in all content areas support students� information literacy and research skills? The purpose of this course is to explore the kinds of literacies that are needed to succeed in today�s Digital Age society and to investigate the ways in which such literacies can enhance teaching and learning. This 3-credit, graduate level course emphasizes strategies and skills that support an inquiry-based approach to learning where students are able to identify, locate, evaluate, and effectively use information across a range of media. Participants will be introduced to technologies such as Blogs, Wikis, and RSS feeds and will explore the role of new technologies in education.

Sounds like we could all have fun in that class. Well, me at least.

(Full disclosure: Dr. Bohling was involved in the feedback stages of my book.)

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So if this isn’t a perfect example of why teachers need to explore these technologies, I don’t know what is. Chris Kenniburg and Jamie Soltis at Long Elementary in Dearborn, MI have combined text, art and audio to create an “ongoing digital storytelling podcast.”

The idea behind the project is to get every grade level at an elementary school to add a new episode (Chapter in the Story) to the podcast by expanding on the previous story submission. The students write and illustrate the next chapter. They then turn to the technology to digitally express themselves creating voiceovers, titles, and animations. These elements are then exported as a �podcast ready� video file to be added to the story. This new �digital book� concept is catching on and the next grade level has begun creating the next chapter in the story. At the end of the year we plan on combining all the video files to create a completed story.

You have got to look at these. Learn from these. Amazingly good work from the kids and the teachers. (Check out the way the pages look…awesome!) They’re just starting, but you can just already tell the type of work these kids are doing. They are writing, planning, collaborating, creating, publishing…all for a real, valuable purpose. To teach what they know and share it with an interested audience. I think if this community started giving out “Best Practice Awards” (hey…there’s an idea…) this would definitely get one.

This is another example of why it’s feeling like momentum is building here. I can only imagine what teachers and kids will do, given the chance…
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