Blended Learning and Career and Technology Education - Part IV: Implementing Blended Learning With Resources from the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education

In this four-part series, I’ll define blended learning, discuss the models of blended learning, the implications for career and technical education, and how the Curriculum, Assessment, and Digital Delivery (CADD) areas of the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education can assist in the implementation of blended learning.

Photo courtesy of the Clayton Christensen Institute

Blended learning is a shift to an online instructional delivery for a portion of the day to make students, teachers, and schools more productive, both academically and financially.  We all know there’s no single right approach to building the “perfect” model for blended learning as communities have different resources, classrooms, computers, schedules, and many other unique needs.  A school doesn’t always have the resources or the expertise to select and purchase a learning management system (LMS), design lessons, or write assessments, but there are available resources.

Did you know that the Curriculum, Assessment, and Digital Delivery areas of the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education can assist in the implementation of blended learning?  The National Technology Plan acknowledges the challenges of raising college and career-ready standards without a significant investment of new funding so check out our online catalog and search the following links for additional information and see how we can assist you in blending digital and teacher led instruction to personalize learning for each student.

CIMC

CareerTech Testing Center

ctYouniverse

OSU - CareerTech Digital Forum: Educating for Global Coompetitiveness

Oklahoma State University and the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education invite you to watch their digital forum entitled "Educating for Global Coompetitiveness" on Friday, June 13, 2014 (Speakers are from 8:30 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. CST).

Featured speakers are OSU President Burns Hargis, CareerTech State Director Dr. Robert Sommers, Tom Vander Ark, and David Cillay.

I've had the opportunity to previously meet and discuss customized learning with Tom Vander Ark, author of Getting Smart: How Digital Learning is Changing the World and CEO of Getting Smart, a education advocacy firm, but I'm excited to hear his newest thoughts on the subject and how learning is becoming more competency-based.

Dr. Cillay, Vice President of WSU Global Campus, led the 2012 launch of the Global Campus, which includes WSU’s online degree program. His responsibilities include expanding WSU’s market share, supporting faculty in technological innovation and using e-learning tools to ensure that WSU remains open and accessible. I'm also excited to learn from this presentation as it should add great value to what we are trying to accomplish with digital delivery at the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education.

Please join the discussion on Twitter at: #DLFTalk and click here to watch this free live event!

Celebrate Creativity

I have to begin this post by apologizing for not realizing January was "International Creativity Month," but it should never be too late to celebrate creativity, should it?

The intent of International Creativity Month (founded by motivational speaker and author Randall Munson) is to remind people and organizations to capitalize on the power of creativity. My personal belief is that we are all creative in our own ways, but we might feel our creativity isn't wanted whether at school or work and we kind of "lose" our creative ability.

I believe we should encourage creativity with students, educators, and across all levels of employment. As Dictionary. com states:

Creativity is the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination: the need for creativity in modern industry; creativity in the performing arts.

So why wouldn't we want to champion the creativity within individuals? Without creativity, as individuals, we become stagnant in our thoughts and development as do our products and services within a business setting.

In a belated celebration of International Creativity Month, I wanted to offer some resources for creativity:

The Link: International Creativity Month: found on ipl2 – news and information, this resource highlights Randall Munson's newsletter and  illustrates how creativity is implemented in workplaces, in education, with food, with children, and across cultures.

The Center for Creative Learning: this site believes that people of all ages can improve their skills and ability to use creative and critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making, and that research on learning style helps us to understand how people develop and use their talents in unique and personal ways. They offer free resources, i.e newsletter, journal article reprints, sample activities, and ideas on assessing creativity (Assessing Creativity: A Guide for Educators and Assessing Creativity Index: a database of creativity tests and inventories)

Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching: Created by Iowa State University, this site includes links to online resources, techniques for creative teaching, and evaluating creativity, etc.

The Torrance Center, University of Georgia: this site provides PowerPoint presentations, podcast lectures, activities and resources on creativity.

Sir Ken Robinson: Do Schools Kill Creativity?:  This presentation is the most highly viewed TED talk of all time. Robinson argues that we've been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers. Students with restless minds and bodies -- far from being cultivated for their energy and curiosity -- are ignored or even stigmatized, with terrible consequences. "We are educating people out of their creativity," Robinson says.

Is Creativity Innate or Can it be Learned?: This post found on the CareerTech Testing Center blog highlights a study released by Adobe entitled, Creativity and Education: Why It Matters.

The Phenomenons Called Curiosity and Creativity: Another post found on the CareerTech Testing Center blog highlights the concepts of curiosity and creativity.

Happy Belated International Creativity Month!

Skills to Rebuild - An Important Resource from the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education

Immediately after the tornados of May 19-20 struck the state of Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education launched Skills to Rebuild.

The subsequent tornado on May 31st that also devastated one of our own technology centers, Canadian Vally Technology Center - El Reno campus, made me truly appreciate the people and the resources that this system offers and marvel at how quickly CareerTech can respond to the needs of our customers and stakeholders.

Today, CareerTech system employees are putting their "boots on the ground" in areas hit by tornados to not only help in the cleanup efforts, but to build a mission around training which is what CareerTech does every day.

I hope you will take a look at Skills to Rebuild and understand that these resources aren't just for those affected by tornados in Oklahoma, but these resources can be utilized by anyone in the event of any disaster.

Please read below for the outline for Skills to Rebuild and follow the links for additional resources:

Training and counseling professionals at ODCTE have developed a list of resources that include how to recognize people in distress as they cope with a disaster as well as safety, construction and training fact sheets and links that identify certain hazards and skills associated with cleanup efforts. 

Resources: After the Storm

Keeping people safe during cleanup and recovery efforts is a primary concern in addition to knowing how to recognize the signs of a person in distress and the toll of stress in the people who were directly affected by the storm.

Phase I -

Identifying CareerTech resources that could be quickly deployed to assist with immediate needs. Included are safety training brochures, on-site volunteer safety clinics and creating an official website to provide brief training material on various recovery topics such as counseling children, hiring a contractor, safety and basic repair "how-tos".

• Counseling for Students
• Hiring a Contractor

Phase II -

Putting boots on the ground in impacted areas. Deploying CareerTech System employees to work in affected areas. This effort is designed to embed volunteers to act as safety ambassadors as they work with other volunteers and homeowners in the recovery process. A continuation of safety clinics and supplying those clinics with consumable personal protective equipment and literature support the training effort.

• Safety Training
• Construction Training Handouts

Phase III -

Specific skills training to assist homeowners with training on basic home repair tasks for the longer term recovery effort. This training need will be assessed as recovery continues and resources allocated as required to support there efforts.

• Moving Forward

Robert Sommers: New State Director for the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education

Robert Sommers

This week starts a new direction for the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education as Robert Sommers of Middletown, Ohio begins his tenure as the new state director.

I have to admit that I like a recent Tweet of his, "CareerTech in Oklahoma is impressive. Great economic development tool and a relevance provider for students!" I also have to admit that I'm excited about the future of CTE in Oklahoma as a new state director typically creates change and, although uncomfortable at times for many of us, change affords us the opportunity to learn and to grow as individuals. That is really what this blog is about anyway... lifelong learning and creating new opportunities for each of you, for your students, your business and industry clients, and your stakeholders.

Please read below for more information on Robert Sommers:

Sommers recently served as chief executive officer/managing partner of Carpe Diem Learning Systems, the organization created to grow the high-performing, cost-effective Carpe Diem model nationally. This model uses digital content and teaching faculty to create a personalized blended learning education experience. Sommers was responsible for opening a Carpe Diem school in Indianapolis.

"We are extremely fortunate to have in Oklahoma's CareerTech System someone of Bob Sommers' vision and proven track record of improving student performance," said State Superintendent of Public Instruction and Career and Technology Education Board Chair Janet Barresi. "He has 15 years experience in supervision and leadership in Ohio's career-technical education and has collaborated with Ohio Gov. John Kasich on the creation and passage of major educational reforms for improved student performance and cost effectiveness. His vision for the future of the Career and Technology System in our state is forward thinking and exciting. I look forward to working with him."

For nine years Sommers was CEO/superintendent of an Ohio career-technical district, Butler Technology and Career Development Schools, in Hamilton, Ohio. Under his leadership, the district doubled in size, became the highest performing career-technical district in Ohio and became known for creative educational programs including blended learning schools. The district served more than 26,000 high school through adult students and provided customized training to companies.

From 1986 to 2001, Sommers served in several capacities with the Ohio Department of Education. He served as an agricultural supervisor, state adviser for the FFA, assistant director of program evaluation services and associate director overseeing federal career-technical funding programs and the creation of a new Ohio career-technical funding system.

Sommers’ teaching experience included agricultural education in London, Ohio.

Sommers' work as director of Ohio’s Office of 21st Century Education included passage of reforms for increased school performance transparency, teacher evaluation, school choice and failing school transformation. His experience also includes serving as CEO of Cornerstone Charter Schools, where he led two K-8th-grade schools under management and two more schools under development. He designed the Cornerstone Health High School, a blended learning school that opened in fall 2012.

He earned a doctorate in educational administration and leadership from The Ohio State University, Columbus, where he also completed his master’s degree in agricultural education. Sommers received a bachelor of science degree in education at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, and has received several education and business awards in Ohio. His service in leadership positions in numerous state and national organizations, including the chairman of the Performance Taskforce for the National Association of Career and Technical Education, is additional evidence of his commitment to his profession.

“I am excited about the opportunities before Oklahoma’s CareerTech System ,” Sommers said. “Oklahoma’s career and technology educators have led the country in creating innovative programs. I’m confident we will continue this tradition of innovation. I look forward to working with the board, the staff and the state’s career and technology educators in assuring every Oklahoman a quality career, every business a quality workforce and Oklahoma a great educational system."

Teacher of Thousands: Piyush Patel

Here is a TEDxOStateU video entitled "Teacher of Thousands: Piyush Patel."


Piyush Patel founded and runs a company that generates virtual training programs for creative professionals who produce films, video games, commercials and other projects. Located in Oklahoma City, PL Studios Inc.,  along with the Digital-Tutors division, works with clients including Disney, NASA, Nike, Dreamworks, Pixar, EA Sports and Mercedes-Benz.

Piyush Patel

In 2010, the company was recognized as an official honoree of the broadband category at the 14th annual Webby Awards and was listed as one of the 50 Most Usable Rich Internet Applications of the year by the 2009 O’Reilly’s Inside RIA.

Patel is an advisory board member for the Oklahoma Technology Council, a member of the AIGA Oklahoma board of directors, a member of the Oklahoma State Chamber board of directors and the former president for the Oklahoma Chapter of Entrepreneurs Organization. He was a tenured professor at Northern Oklahoma College before founding PL Studios, Inc.

Patel has also been instrumental in helping the CareerTech Testing Center and the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education in the development of our skills standards (knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to perform related jobs within an industry) for Motion Graphics Artist, 3D Animator, and 3D Modeler. Digital-Tutors has provided their endorsement of these standards which serve as the foundation for competency-based instruction in these areas.

Congratulations to Piyush on a great TEDx talk and for having the idea to create an instructional concept that can change the lives of thousands from across the globe!

How to Create Free Infographics

Infographics or information graphics are a great way to visualize information, data, or knowledge. They are extremely popular because they present complex information quickly and clearly and are a great way to stress your most important facts.

I've found a short video by Linda Braun that showcases different websites that can help you create free infographics and she also provides some tips on using those sites.


Creating infographics | screencast tutorial from School Library Journal on Vimeo.

The Transformative Power of Classical Music and Leadership

I have featured several TED videos on the blog, but I think this may be my personal favorite. In this video, Benjamin Zander, the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic, is funny and energetic as he discusses classical music and why everyone should love it as much as he does. As you continue watching, his message goes much deeper when he begins to discuss the qualities of a leader.

He discusses how a conductor doesn't make a sound while leading the orchestra, but it took him 20+ years of conducting to realize that the role of a conductor is to provide leadership and that "leadership is the ability to make other people powerful." Leadership is to "awaken the possibility in other people." In other words, as a leader, you must look and determine "how many shining eyes are around you?"

Zander has many quotable moments, but I hope you will take twenty minutes to watch this video and reflect on his message. It also makes me wonder why people give up on so many goals in their life, but maybe the answer lies not with them, but on the "leaders" around them. In other words, "Who am I being that my children's (or employee's) eyes aren't shining?" And what is a successful leader according to Zander? It all depends on how many shining eyes are around you.


You can also watch the video by clicking HERE.

Zander also asks you to choose your words carefully as you should never try to say anything that couldn't stand as the last thing that you would ever say to someone.

Again, I hope you will spend twenty minutes to watch this video and think about how you are a leader in your home, workplace, and/or community. As Zander demonstrates, none of us are tone deaf and all of us are leaders. Now go watch the video...

Who is Teaching Your Children? Teachers Hire Test-Takers to Take Their Certification Exams

Teaching has always been a time-honored and respected profession as a Gallup poll shows high school teachers rank as the fourth highest profession in regards to honesty and ethical standards.

Is this ranking in jeopardy given the cheating scandals in Atlanta and Houston and today's disturbing Associated Press article written by Adrian Sainz, entitled "Feds: Teachers Embroiled in Test-Taking Fraud?"

This fifteen year-long conspiracy involved aspiring public school teachers in Mississippi, Tennessee, and Arkansas who hired a proxy to cheat on the tests they must pass to prove they are qualified to lead their classrooms.

Although this has happened a few other times on teacher certification tests, most cheating involves students cheating on tests and those stories seem to be more and more common as time goes by.

Do people not think that cheating is wrong anymore?

Please read the article in its entirety by clicking HERE.

There Are No Traffic Jams on the Extra Mile

So what type of people do you admire the most?
Those people who seem to have success without really working for it or those who work their tail off to even have a modicum of success? For me, the latter group is a no brainer as I will always side with the Rocky Balboa’s and the Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger’s of the world. My respect is most earned by the road you travel to arrive at your destination (goal) and not so much by those who “inherit” their position by one means or another.

Another trait that I admire in individuals is when they focus on their dreams and they let nothing deter their efforts to achieve their goals. We have all heard the story of how Michael Jordan didn’t make his high school basketball team as a freshman and I recently heard the story of how Russell Westbrook, the All-Star point guard of the Oklahoma City Thunder, was lightly recruited out of high school and more than one college recruiter suggested that he should run track instead of playing basketball. They obviously worked through any self-doubts and went back to chasing their dreams. I also believe, besides a lot of natural talent, they simply out-worked everyone along the way. The extra mile is quite often a lonely road, but they were willing to do everything within their power to achieve success.

I’ll ask you the same questions that I ask myself when I question my own personal effort and productivity:

• Are you willing to go the extra mile when meeting the needs of your customers, students, etc.?
• How competitive are you? Can you be competitive each and every day to provide to your customers? Everyone is pretty good, but what do you need to do to be “great” at what I do?
• Do you have the creativity and freedom to be different in your job? What makes you unique and special and can you think of strategic ways to maximize your abilities? Have you done anything recently that pushes the boundaries of your job description?
• Do you have the hunger and burning desire to win and succeed while developing relationships with your stakeholders (customers/students)?

Are you willing to go the extra mile?