Cross-posted at SmartBlog on Education.

Around this time last year I received what I thought was an odd request. Juliana Meehan, a teacher from a neighboring district, contacted me and asked if I would agree to mentor her as part of her training to become an administrator as part of the NJ EXCEL program.  Now at this time my plate was extremely full and, as a result, I was very reluctant to take on this additional responsibility.  My tune quickly changed when Julie explained that she requested me specifically because she was so inspired by the Edscape Conference as well as the transformation currently taking place at New Milford High School (NMHS).  I agreed to act as her mentor.

During our first meeting Julie explained to me what my responsibilities were as a mentor.  She then informed me that one of the primary components of the internship was to develop a project requiring leadership that would impact students at the school level.  It was at this point that the internship became an opportunity to do something that could truly transform the learning culture here at NMHS.  As we floated around some project ideas, I became fixated on ways to personalize and individualize the learning experience for my students. This is where the idea for incorporating OpenCourseWare (OCW) into Julie’s project arose, and the Independent OpenCourseWare Study (IOCS) was born.

Julie’s challenge was to develop a framework by which students could engage in the OCW of their choosing over a set time period and then apply what they had learned.  Together, we mapped out what this learning experience would look like, when it would be offered, how it would be assessed, and methods to collect data.  The most difficult decision was identifying a group of students that could help us pilot such a program.  After some thought, the perfect cohort of students materialized:  NMHS seniors enrolled in one of the “Academies @ NMHS.”  The Academies @ NMHS is a program of concentrated studies in three well-defined, career-focused areas directly connected to university majors and workforce need: the Academy of Arts & Letters, the STEM Academy, and the Academy for Global Leadership.  The program seeks to cultivate emerging professionals who exhibit the knowledge, skill, character and the work ethic necessary for success in the global marketplace. This group seemed the prime test group through which to flesh out and begin to refine the idea of IOCS.

In the early fall we had a meeting with the 50 students who were enrolled in the Academies.  We explained that their Marking Period 2 project would be an independent learning experience where they would take a course from a prestigious university such as MIT, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, or other noted university via the range OCW offerings that they would find in an online resource that we would provide.  Furthermore, they were told that, after taking the course, there would be an exposition of learning where each student would actively demonstrate new knowledge and skills that were acquired through the OCW.  They were given complete autonomy and flexibility as to how they would articulate what they learned, but they were told that there would be an emphasis on application as opposed to a standard presentation.  They would be assessed using a project-based rubric, and each student would receive one honors credit for the project.  Over the course of the marking period, students identified courses, registered through our Google form, and went to work.  An example of one standout student project can be found here.

We learned a great deal after the student presentations this past February, and were pleasantly surprised by how seriously many of the students took this learning opportunity.  

MIT OCW discovered our project through social media channels and they eventually did a case study on IOCS.  

The result of this work has been the creation of the IOCS website.  All aspects of the project—including resources and the rubric to assess student projects—can be found here.  Julie and I hope that this site will provide tools and ideas on how schools can harness the free, world-class knowledge available to individualize and personalize learning for all students.  

To learn more check out this free webinar on IOCS over at at edWeb.net.

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The following is a sponsored post by DegreeStory.com.

What degree should I get? Do I follow my passion and become a fine art major at the risk of financial stability? Do I pursue software engineering to land that great job out of college?

These are important questions.

In recent years, these questions have become more complex. Should I get an online degree or should I attend a brick and mortar school? Is a bachelor’s degree even valuable anymore or should I pursue a master’s? Are entry-level jobs available in our struggling economy? Do I even need to go to college? How much debt should I take on?

Finally, throw into the mix some personal questions. What am I best at? What can I see myself doing for the rest of my life? Do I need to move in order to pursue my career? Do I value financial rewards or work-life-balance? What if I want to start a family? Do I work to live or live to work?

These are tough questions for anybody at any age. Yet, these are the questions that we expect our college students to answer. They are bright and motivated but are not properly equipped to make a wise decision.

Ultimately, what they lack is experience. It’s almost impossible to draw on a part-time babysitting job to gain the requisite clarity to choose a professional career path. There is a world of difference between a restaurant hostess and an ‘8-5’ as a financial analyst for a REIT.

According to this article by the New York Times, students understand their dilemma and thus are postponing the decision. Unfortunately, this indecision can increase the already rising cost of higher education, further compounding the problem.

It’s a complex situation that has yet to be addressed in a meaningful way.

This is why we built DegreeStory.com.

Our mission is to connect these young adults with the experience of those who have gone before. Those with the most to contribute are not the professional journalists and writers but the people who are actually in the careers. Why have a journalist give a 3rd party analysis of software engineering when you could have a programmer just speak from experience?

DegreeStory.com gives a platform for professionals to write about their experiences. It is open format and we welcome any and all thoughts regarding careers and degrees. These students need to hear reality. They need to understand the ups and downs that are present in every profession.

While a single story is indeed helpful, the true power of degreestory.com is found when all of the stories are taken together. As a college student, imagine being able to browse through thousands of stories from real people who are actively working in the field that you might choose.

We categorize these stories and make them easy to find. Thus, a young aspiring clinical psychologist has the ability to call up stories by other clinical psychologists. Furthermore, he has the power to filter by salary, experience, school and more to find stories that perfectly match his search criteria.

This is the missing piece for these young people who are thrust into these decisions.

As somebody who is in education, your story is valuable. Thousands of potential teachers need to understand what it’s really like. Would you share your story? It’s simple. If you want to share your general experience, you can start writing here. If you want to enter one of our writing contests for teachers, you can click here.

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Its no secret that educators are always on the lookout for cool new methods to help engage their students and save time.  A new trend has emerged as teachers have discovered fun and creative ways to incorporate free online tools to accomplish both of those goals, and the value of such assignments is only becoming more apparent.  Recently, a new service has grown in popularity in schools, which gives students the ability to quickly and easily create posts very similar to blogs, but without any of the complexity or fuss of specialized training.  Its called Tackk, and both students and teachers are loving it.

With Tackk, students can produce slick, professional looking reports on any subject in literally a matter of minutes, allowing them to focus on learning the content rather than worrying about the form in which its presented.  Without having to create an account, students have access to easy, professional-quality text, image, and video integration, which makes for a much richer online experience than was previously possible with this little headache.

Teachers have used Tackk to both supplement, and in some cases replace, more traditional projects like posters and folders.  In addition to being quick, user-friendly, and elegant, it can also serve as a valuable introduction to web-based publishing for students of all ages.  Some teachers have assigned projects on musicians, others on states, and others still on career aspirations.  

How would you use Tackk in your classroom?

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The following is a guest post by New Milford High School sophomore Sarah Almeda. After learning about her Chemistry blog titled Avogadro Salad I asked her to share some insight on the importance of blogging from a students perspective. I was so blown away by what she wrote below that I went against my long standing personal policy of not following my students on Twitter. Please take a minute to read Sarahs post below, share a comment with her, and check her out on Twitter. This is one amazing student!

...Um, because Ms. Smith made me?  

Lol, jk. (That’s, “laughing out loud, just kidding” in teenspeak, that fictional language adults seem scared of...?)

I’m Sarah Almeda, a sophomore at New Milford High School. Somehow, I can have twitter conversations with my teachers and my principal. Somehow, they led to Mr. Sheninger giving me the opportunity to write a guest post on the importance of student blogging. I’m a blogger at heart, as I have been since 4th grade. That’s probably why I was actually excited when my chemistry teacher, Ms. Smith, opened the year by telling us that part of our assessment in the course  would be the regular maintenance of a blog.  This included posts twice a week that connect chemistry to our world.

Image credit: http://gregmillerprincipal.com/tag/blogging/

Now, I’ve posted almost daily to a personal blog for years and I’m grateful for the decision. I’m told I’m a very good writer. I’m not trying to boast; my writing visibly improved when I started blogging and I can tell you why.  Teens turn to the internet for validation, myself included. Why? When I post to my blog, I don’t write to impress a teacher. My audience is the World Wide Web, which is literally worldwide. I attract viewers from all around the globe. When a post gets attention, some views, likes, comments, or even subscriptions, I look at the post and think, Wow; I had some valid ideas that a complete stranger could relate with. What did they like? How do I turn these visitors into regular readers? When a post gets no attention, I then think, What would be more interesting? What will lead viewers to my blog? How do I get a response? 

Rather than having a teacher hammer the importance of good writing into my head, I get to feel it in a very real world situation with immediate feedback. I don’t just learn about writing, either. Yesterday, my friends were genuinely interested to hear me talk about how one day our phones may literally be coated with nanodiamonds. I learned that from an article I blogged about. Now I’m always learning a great deal about topics that I decide are interesting to blog about, like the chemistry behind a bad hair day. Not to mention that my chemistry blog is a blessing for someone whose homework always seems to disappear rather inopportunely. I can put an assignment on my blog in the “Homework" category, protect it from copycat classmates, and email the password to Ms. Smith so she can view it whenever she needs to.  Not convinced yet? I learned HTML coding when finding ways to better format blog posts, and it’s become a very useful skill. 

A personal blog’s also the perfect place to vent my feelings. After articulating my emotions to an Internet audience, I realize I’m better understanding myself.  In an Internet world where that wretched teenspeak is the preferred language on nearly all social media platforms (bc my insta captions/ tumblr posts r like so articulate lol jk idec) blogging is a practice that expands learning way beyond the walls of the classroom. It encourages self-improvement and dedication in a way that I don’t believe can be taught as well as it can be experienced. And its addictively fun!

So, pull a Ms. Smith move! Teach kids to blog! Start one yourself! Trust me, you’ll find the time, you’ll find the passion, you’ll find out a lot about the world, and you might even find out more about yourself.  And watch out for me! You can find my chemistry blog by clicking HERE, and I’m even building my own website with the awesome tools I learned in business class at NMHS.

Cheers!

-Sarah “Shmarah” Almeda

Please take a moment and leave a comment for Sarah. Not only is she a talented blogger, but an artist as well (see her self portrait below). She, like many of her NMHS classmates, fully take advantage of everything that NMHS has to offer to advance their learning and follow their passions.

Image credit: Sarah Almeda

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