EdTech - Insights

View over the walled garden - 21st Century Universities

2012-01-12T05:55:00.002-06:00

A very informative session in yesterday's #change11 MOOC where Jillianne Code and
Valerie Irvine gave their views on the subject of the 21st Century University, using their university. They are Educational Technology professors and Co-Directors of the Technology Integration and Evaluation (TIE) Research Lab at the University of Victoria.

Clearly a time of change - issues facing brick and mortar universities

diminishing funds, cutbacks
decreasing 18-22 demographic
increase in colleges with degree-granting status
increase in online programmes
demands from learners for flexibility

They (or their university) saw as solutions two aspects:

Recruit more international students
Change registration options to allow for combined f2f and online by existing students

The second seems a natural way to go, although getting professors on board to teach online seemed to be a very big issue - comment from one that they would rather have the top professor from a particular field than have them be tech savvy. This surprised me - professors were spoken about in awe and seemed to be ivory-towerish.

The back channel mentioned the riots to enroll in South African universities, such was the pressure to do so. Putting the meaning of this incident (massive pressure from the rest of the world for university education) against the wish of well off Western universities to make money from international students, left me concerned. Should this be the approach? And the point was made that these international student places should be mainly residential and not online, so that real fees are paid. Wow! Talk about business ruling...

Had not realised that administration system changes have such huge costs, even for relatively minor changes, and so changes of the status quo is really costly and difficult.

They categorised the registration option changes as follows - Multi-Access vs COOL Courses

COOL - collaborative open online course - a Multi-Access course but open
Multi-Access - not necessarily open, LDAP connectivity

Discussion followed on the use of MOOC as a name for such courses, or perhaps COOL (or even MOOSE!).

There seemed to be some real constraints in the 21st Century University. It seemed that universities are 21st Century only on the timeline but not really changed much from the 20th Century versions. Knowledge seemed to be trapped in universities due to restricted delivery method options. Instead of ivory tower, my mental metaphor changed to be walled garden, not being able see out nor others to dare to see in.

The Patriot Act and ownership of data in Elluminate were mentioned as constraints as well as internal university rules: they can make material open but for evaluation of students they have to be enrolled in the course.

Thanks for such insights - which I think are probably too stark out of context of the discussion, but forms my list of issues.

Consequence of change in learning - teachers have to give up power

2012-01-06T17:31:00.001-06:00

Listening to Howard Rheingold at the questions session on #change11 MOOC brought home to me how reliant we are as teachers on control. Control of the learning environment, control of what is taught, control of what is assessed, control of the learner. Some of this is inevitable. But if we are to go towards open processes, then some of it we have to replace.
Rheingold had three relevant statements on the subject:
He tells his students that "absorbing all is not the goal but making sense of it together is" and that it is "scary and difficult for a teacher to give up power to the student. It is very rewarding once you do it, but you give them the responsibility to learn." Also, students "students cannot come into the classroom to be passive".
Of course, age is a factor. I agree with this approach 100% for university level students. We in schools should be weening our students towards these approaches. When? Well, I do think we have some of this in many Primary schools just by the nature of how they operate. In ours, we use the International Primary Curriculum and so the approach hands over some curriculum and learning control (although teachers work really hard in planning for such a programme).
It has caused us to re-think our 6th - 8th grade programme and to plan for more "open" approaches. To do this, teachers have to give up some power. How much? With what and where?

"Chance favours the connected mind"

2012-01-04T12:35:00.001-06:00

Looking around for resources to explain our Open Learning initiative in school, I came across Steven Johnson's video describing his book "Where Good Ideas Come From - the Natural History of Innovation".
He ended with the comment that "chance favours the connected mind" - and his presentation illustrates the way that new ideas are generated (basically mash-ups of own and other ideas put together over time, discarded and improved).
In a time of multiple (too many?) connection channels, the chances for being fertilised by good ideas improves, so connections to new knowledge and understanding are made.
The idea of Connectivist learning is not so easy to grasp but I found this presentation a reassuring explanation for the concept.
Thanks to John for the well put together set of resources on the question of assessment and learning, which connected me to Active Learning and then on to the connected mind - showing the concept in action. #change11
(version in Spanish below that in English)

Attention probes caught my attention

2012-01-03T16:28:00.000-06:00

In Howard Rheingold's #change11 session today, Attention was the first Net Smart literacy covered. And well placed at number 1 it is.
As we went through the session, some of his pointers made sense and helped me make better use of the Collaborate session. His point was about multitasking (and I suppose attention-wandering).
He described having "attention probes" in a class or lecture situation - devices to ensure that attention is where it should be - for achieving concentration, mindfulness and metacognition. This is an important point since if attention is not there, learning is not going to be there. We have tried some experiments with this (having computer stations facing back wall with swivel chairs, or "close screens: commands for laptops) but ultimately it is the learner who should be monitoring their attention. What techniques are there for use in classrooms? Any ideas?
Rheingold used the term Infotention for this type of attention to task. Here is his list of points for training yourself and others for improving this skill (his point is that though multitasking is difficult, combat pilots and others do it, so it is a matter of training and it becoming instilled):

Make better, faster microdecisions:

Ignore or attend?
Open a tab for later?
Tag or bookmark for much later?

Match attention to toolset:

Spatial arrangements
Keep goal(s) visible (piece of paper in a visible place, even)
Start small, cultivate habits

I tried this during the session, having a plan on how to deal with links that came up in the chat (going back into the Collaborate session is PAINFUL to get these on the recording) and how to keep notes on the snippets (yes, pen and paper). And then, put it all together in a blog post so that it sticks in my mind a little better and may help others by reading another version.
"Attention to intention is how the mind changes the brain" says Rheingold. It worked for me.

Net Smart for both personal empowerment AND shaping digital culture

2012-01-03T16:04:00.000-06:00

With over 50 participants, #change11 MOOC started 2012 well with an excellent session with Howard Rheingold.
His work on Net Smart is well described and his new book "Net Smart - How to Thrive Online" pulls all this work together. We were treated to an overview and some insights which convinced me that seeking only digital literacy is insufficient - we should be having our students (and teachers) be Net Smart. This would enable not just personal empowerment, an important Rheingold point, but it would enable the quality of digital cultural commons to improve. Asking questions about whether Google and Facebook are having negative effects is pointless - he maintains - rather steer the cultural commons forward in positive ways by being a shaper of the future and an inhibitor and neutraliser of poor or dangerous practices.
He uses the terms "literacies" instead of skills since he includes the social context as important.
The Net Smart Literacies are:

Attention - know where your attention is going, keep focused, by mindful (be metacognitive) of what you are attending to (talked about "attention probes" - devices to keep your attention on task - see my next post).
Critical Consumption (Crap Detection being his term - he describes crap as information tainted by ignorance, inept communication or deliberate deception) - with strategies such as "think like a detective", search to learn, look for authors and search them, triangulate.
Participation - empowerment which comes from know-how, curation for contribution ("a person who contributes thinks of themselves differently from those who only consume"), attract like-minded participants, build up your network, create a participation culture.
Collaboration - smart mobs, collective action, crowd-sourcing, cooperative and collaborative learning (see his 2005 TED talk on the New Power of Collaboration).
Network Know-how -know how to do.

Great pointers from Rheingold:

Don't just consume - create
Architectures of participation use self interest to construct public goods
Curation is lightweight collective intelligence
Learn norms & boundaries of local cultures before participating
Crap-detect thyself before broadcasting questionable info
Organisms cooperate as much as they compete
Actions climb the curve of engagement
Wide variety of ways to participate
Enable self-election
People contribute to enhance reputation, learn, meet others add to public good
Casual conversation builds trust

Ross Mayfield's diagram on the Power Law of Participation was used to illustrate the benefits of participation:

A goal should be to build your own (and your learners' own) personal trust network.

"If digital cultures are making us shallow, explore the deep end" quote from Rheingold using a photo of a swimmer peeking over the edge of the pool at the shallow end.

Setting the scene for Authentic Learning

2011-12-13T12:38:00.000-06:00

Jan Herrington's Authentic Learning is the subject of this week's #change11 MOOC.
She sets the scene really well with a set of nine videos, breaking down the process into steps:

Authentic context
Authentic activity
Expert performances
Multiple perspectives
Collaboration
Reflection
Articulation
Coaching and scaffolding
Authentic assessment

This approach is not limited to university level work so it is great for the preparation that we are doing as a school to consider "open approaches to learning" within a secondary school setting.
As an introduction, her video explaining the academic and real settings continuum, explaining this against an authentic task and decontextualised continuum, helps greatly.

Falling at the first hurdle - ubiquitous sage on the side not for me

2011-12-09T16:17:00.001-06:00

This week's topic on Slow Learning for the #change11 MOOC had me fall at the first hurdle. Clark Quinn's introductory post asked the following question: "What would my ideal learning situation be?"
He replied by saying it would be having a personal learning mentor with him, prompting support at the right moment and developing him slowly over time. He thus develops the concept of an automatic "sage on the side" to prompt, guide and thus produce learning.
Listening to the subsequent live session and participating in the final session was useful to have an understanding of this, the idea of drip irrigation as opposed to flooding and the value of formal and informal learning for novices, practitioners and experts. This slide is worth repeating:

His statement that learning gets better when we work with more people can be true and I liked the idea of the big L in Learning - learning which is more through problem solving, innovation, research and creativity.
But I would not use his learning GPS system (nor do I generally use a real GPS system - I prefer to use it only when necessary in very new and difficult circumstances).
I do not think that a personal learning mentor would be my ideal learning situation. The point of open is just that - open to wherever I want to go, not someone or something else to control.
I have just seen the following video, produced by Corning Glass and called a Day Made of Glass. It is both inspiring and worrying. Could I work with ubiquitous in-your-face technology?
The constant prodding of a sage on the side would worry me because of both this intrusion as well as manipulation - "stealth mentoring" as Carole McCulloch puts it in her post. I want to be totally in charge of my learning and I am not sure that even a human mentor is what I need.

IB Changes - notes from the IB Heads World Conference

2011-12-05T19:40:00.001-06:00

Communications is not one of the International Baccalaureate Organisation's (IBO) strong points. Surprising this, given its status in the world.**
So, in response to requests for information about where the IBO is going, I publish the notes that I made for staff at school.
It is worth reading the IBO's philosophy at the outset since this is the driving force for the changes afoot. There has been a change here, a change that has been working its way in for some time. At one time the IBO could have been regarded as a service organisation, providing an internationally recognised diploma (DP) for universal university entrance. Indeed, early pioneers of the IB diploma would describe this exactly in this way - including my father, one of the first IB diploma teachers. Over the years, and particularly since the influences of the Primary Years Programme (PYP) and the Middle Years Programme (MYP), a much more crusading approach has been taken. I recall previous IB World Heads Conferences where hugely expansionist ideas were rehearsed by the IBO and resolutely rejected by the Heads present.
So it is significant that I heard, for the first time, definite statements about the PYP and MYP influencing the DP. Some people might say "about time" but I would urge a much more cautious approach - do not affect the value of the IB diploma nor the investment that schools have in it.
The IBO have split off assessment and curriculum into two departments, and it is clear that these are early days in this split. You will notice a couple of slides on a continuum of validity and reliability and the quote from Alec Peterson which was used by Carolyn Adams to introduce the idea. She used this in answer to complaints about the reliability of internal assessment moderation and marking. I do believe that there are other ways of looking at this, but that will have to wait for another post.
Carolyn Adams explained the ideas behind e-marking, the IBO's answer to improving quality and answering the critics of expansion. This seems an excellent approach although I still worry about the quality of examiners that the IBO find.
The changes as I noted them (please beware - I might have got some things wrong!) are listed on the final slides - and the presentation finishes with me imploring my teachers to get involved. It is a sad state of affairs that such a small proportion of IB teachers around the world take part in the curriculum reviews.

IB Changes October2011

View more presentations from George Hobson.

**The IBO's HeadNet, supposedly the online area for Heads, contains ancient information - minutes from 2010 and very little else. A new IB communications person has been employed - let us hope s/he can drag this organisation into this century.

Teacher-tech use for learning - Part 2

2011-12-05T15:22:00.001-06:00

In the previous post on the Technology Integration Matrix (TIM) from the Florida Center for Instructional Technology, I asked if it could be incorporated as a model for evaluating technology use by teachers. Clearly this was the intention of the matrix and, since it had exemplar material for each of the intersections, it could also be a guide as to how to move up to higher levels of technology integration.
It has proved difficult to use the categories as they are.
Firstly, the vertical axis which describes the characteristics of the learning environment, seemed to complicate the definitions and made it more difficult to audit. Additionally, we found it difficult to separate student, teacher and environment in the horizontal axis (these are further layers in the model). And finally, the descriptors were not that helpful - particularly at the "Transformation" end.
We had asked teachers to self-report their technology use and had not wished to be prescriptive - so we decided that we should do the classifying afterwards. I am glad that we did not go for complicated categories initially because it is quite difficult to place things reliably and consistently.
The "Entry" level and perhaps some way into the "Adoption" level can be fitted to Puentedura's (SAMR Model) "Substitution" idea, whilst "Adoption" and "Adaptation" could be "Augmentation", "Infusion" mapping to "Modification" and "Transformation" to "Redefinition". Here it is in bullet points:

Entry > Substitution
Adoption > Substitution and Augmentation
Adaptation > Augmentation
Infusion > Modification
Transformation > Redefinition

Even though one can argue that the two are for different purposes, there does seem to be this match.
The descriptors for the TIM model were difficult to use. For example, in the Transformation column, "Extensive and unconventional use of tools" was the prevailing descriptor. Extensive is fine - unconventional? What does this mean?
The purpose behind the audit is to attempt to see where we are now and determine where we shall have to work to get curriculum leaders to review pedagogy. TIM has proved difficult and we have reverted to a simpler model (the SAMR one), but we have to do some work on exemplars so as to make the categorisation more reliable. #change11

Gamification - increasing fluid intelligence

2011-12-03T11:42:00.001-06:00

Thanks to @suifaijohnmak for the link to Gabe Zichermann's TEDxKids@Brussels talk on Gamification.
An absolute enthusiast for games in education (and life) - fast talking presenter with a powerful message.
"Kids are going to be alright" - in fact they are going to be "awesome" - according to Zichermann his prescription to adults is "get into the game with kids - don't fight the game trend, understand it".

Getting more out of Google

2011-12-03T10:56:00.001-06:00

Great infographic from Hack College (tag line "work smarter, not harder") on getting more out of Google, aimed at students conducting online research.
Copying it here as a personal reference since it is a great look-up for search term grammar.

Created by: HackCollege

Simulations - design features take-aways

2011-12-02T12:58:00.001-06:00

Clark Aldrich's final session on the design of simulations again provided interesting ideas which resonated. An obvious expert in the games and simulations area, Aldrich reeled off statistics, concepts and pitfalls from his area.
Again, I found good ideas and terms that I can take away from simulation design which can be applied in school learning.
One was the idea of skill cones - as a player progresses through the simulation, skill cones can be used to see how s/he is introduced into a new skill and how this gets harder. Truncated skill cones show no ease of transition into a new skill but straight into a higher level of difficulty. By graphically placing these skill cones in the simulations timeline, you can ensure that not all difficulties are met at once. Parallels with introducing skills into lessons...
The other idea was that of the toleration waves for resolution and frustration. I have to use a snip from Aldrich's presentation to explain this:

This was a great way of showing the balance between frustration and resolution, with the dips into frustration being controlled and planned in the timeline of the game. Again, parallels with lesson design and perhaps problem solving.
I wrote about conceptual learning yesterday, in relation to Conrad Wolfram's stance on mathematics. His approach is to use simulations to concentrate on the ideas, the concepts, and really get to understand them - rather than concentrating on calculations and the manipulating algebra by hand. Simulations, surely, will play a bigger part as we move towards conceptual understanding and away from factual knowledge in our learning and teaching.
(As an aside - I did wonder what I would get from this particular week in the #change11 MOOC. Again I was surprised that I really enjoyed and learned useful ideas from another area - the power of connections that a MOOC provides).

Making Mathematics Conceptual

2011-12-01T15:01:00.001-06:00

Knowledge, skills and understanding. This is the way that we educators breakdown the learning which we are to achieve in students. We work from detailed curricula, schemes of work, instructional plans, syllabi - whatever it might be called - and it is usually stated in detailed lists of things to know about and how "to do" things.
Recently, the move to more "conceptual" approaches, where content is not directly specified, has been discussed. Even assessment orientated organisations such as the International Baccalaureate have been discussing having a more conceptual curriculum for the IB diploma subjects. In order to be clearer about the teaching and learning of this curriculum, they are considering ATTL - specifying Approaches to Teaching and Learning (an extension of the ATL aspect in the lower IB programmes). This might include:

A recommended pedagogy

constructivist learning
subject specific conceptual learning
contextualised authentic learning
differentiated learning
inquiry and critical thinking
independent, lifelong learning
stimulating learning environments
study skills common to all subjects
e-learning/technology component

(from Andy Atkinson's presentation at the IB Heads World Conference - he is the new Curriculum Director for the IB)

This is quite interesting territory, needing all the usual caveats regarding the value of the IB diploma curriculum to the next stage of education and thus its currency for university entrance. However, it could herald in a new age of learning and teaching at this normally dry and traditional level.

To see how this might work in mathematics, and at an extreme of the concept, I recalled Conrad Wolfram's presentation from October 2010 at TED. Here he presents his arguments for making math more practical and more conceptual, using real world problems for the calculations ("real problems look knotty, they have hair on them"). As Conrad put it:

MATHEMATICS ≠ CALCULATIONS
MATHEMATICS > CALCULATIONS

He stated that it is not the case that computers will dumb down mathematics but that we have (choose to have) dumbed down problems in mathematics (to be able to deal with the calculations that we can handle).

Here is the original presentation:

Opening up sim creation - Clark Aldrich tells us how he does it.

2011-11-30T13:48:00.001-06:00

Today's #change11 MOOC session on building simulations was fascinating - hearing simulations designer Clark Aldrich tell us how simulations are created and designed.
I should not be suprised that the process mirrored the design of learning, but it was refreshing to see these principles being expressed in novel ways. Aldrich started by stating that the goal of education is individualistic - with the intention to build competence and build conviction, through participation and practice, emotion and interactive content.
Building conviction was explained carefully and was an interesting concept since normally we do not address it. He means doing the hard things even if you do not want to, to have your understanding (and experience?) at more than a naive level so that your competence is reinforced by your self knowledge and will (my words - please correct me!).
As a philosophy, Aldrich spoke about aligning what you are doing with what you do well with what you want to do with what you think is important to do (in a growing and sustainable way) - this sentence and emphases taken from his slide (based on his book "Unschooling Rules"?).

The road map for producing simulations is simple:

Determine the concept.
Create and Design.
Code.
Calibrate.
Deploy.

He went into detail about the various roles in the process, of aligning delivery of content with the importance of context, agreeing on the metrics for success (ahead of time) and on the programme goals:

Engagement

Fun enough (liked this - you are not designing for total stimulation)
Relevant

Convenience

Well chunked
Easy to access

Acceptable cost per student
Acceptable time to creation
Comfort level of instructors and sponsors (not sure what this meant for sponsors).

It is interesting that these could be learning design programme goals and relevant to any design of learning.

Aldrich went through the "storyboard" of several simulations to show how you can use instances to explain the simulation. These took some listening to and the chat channel was quiet during this process. I, certainly, had to concentrate and not chat!

Two rules of thumb stick in my mind from the presentation:

The cost: $100k / 6 months / for every finished hour. This seemed very reasonable for a well-planned, designed and executed simulation, and a great statistic to have from an expert in the know. There were adjustments to this for single player (-25%), adding multiplayer to a single player (+60%), light-weight mechanics (-70%) and 3D client installed (+100%).
The number of critical decision makers: this was a great way of putting it which I am sure could be applied in all sorts of situations. In symbols, where d is the number of critical decision makers:

If d < 4, costs are 25% less; if d > 10, costs are 100% more.

What a great rule of thumb, and we can all think of situations where this is so. I would add also that as d gets larger, the probability of reaching a decision approaches zero.

Attempting some structure for #change11 - some harder technology

2011-11-29T11:34:00.001-06:00

The change11 MOOC site is well designed thanks to Stephen Downes and serves as the nerve centre for this fast-paced gallop through all things change in learning.
I am trying out symbaloo as a dashboard for all things connected with this MOOC - if it works for you please feel free to add and adjust!

Introspective look at MOOCs - too soft a technology?

2011-11-25T15:06:00.001-06:00

Today's #change11 MOOC live session allowed us to hear from Jon Dron and his area of expertise - technologies. After a discussion on constraints, the conversation focused on the pedagogy of MOOCs.
Activity in this MOOC has cooled, even though the topic under discussion generates interest and is a meta-concept that allows us to consider assemblies of technology, so it is of interest to educators (pedagogy is a technology), or should be.
It seems that the drop-off is par for the course. I do not have the figures but I suppose one could question what is massive about this MOOC (now an OOC?).
Dron spoke about about the evolution of a community about a MOOC, and how we could look to evolutionary concepts to consider its likely development. Would the MOOC community parcel up into separate groups like the Galapagos finches? Would there be some partial parcelisation but maintaining loose boundaries that would enable filtration of ideas (genes)?
This perhaps is the only natural outcome that we could hope for. The massive part of the MOOC is not sustainable as it is - there are limits on time and attention that a MOOCer can give and with time this will erode.
There seems to be a philosophical reluctance on the part of the MOOC designers to provide any further structure (if I read Stephen Downes' chat posts correctly) and so it will be inevitable that we have many that will fall by the wayside in our journey. Providing structure will harden the technology/pedagogy but could a better sweet spot be found?
We did touch on having a beginner strand and I suggested intelligent tags (something that allowed a hierarchy like an account structure: #change11 for just change for truly open learners, #change11-core for those who wanted their path charted somewhat, perhaps even #change11-tech for those who wanted to follow the week's technology strand only and perhaps #change11- for those who wanted to receive all the sub divisions of the tags).
Despite my comments I am still on this learning journey - MOOC or OOC.

Dynamic Views in Blogger - giving the user the views they want?

2011-11-25T14:21:00.001-06:00

Tried the Dynamic Views template for this blog for the past few days.
It certainly is attractive and the user is able to select different views - views that allow for easy browsing, looking at the media/pictures, by timeline, etc. The viewer is in control.
However, I lost the ability to customise it. I could not change any of the features. I do not have the html programming ability to change or add features. Visitors could not sign up for posts nor customise it beyond the several views that the template provided. The viewer is not really in control.
So blogs are pretty hard tech after all....
#change11

Dron's balance between hard and soft technologies - seeking the Goldilocks moment

2011-11-23T13:38:00.001-06:00

Jon Dron presented a very informative session in Week 11's #change11 MOOC.
Titled "Soft stuff, hard stuff and invisible elephants", Dron described the following:

the meaning of technology
the inclusion of pedagogies as technologies
SOFT and HARD technologies
getting the right balance between them
how to move from soft to hard and vice versa
and the elephant in the room - "it ain't just what you do, it's the way that you do it. A bad technology, used well, can work brilliantly, while a good technology, used badly, can be useless".

He describes all this well in his post on the nature of technologies.
Dron defines technology as the "orchestration of phenomena for some use" (W. Brian Arthur) and classifies them as:

Soft tech - an active orchestration of phenomena by people
Hard tech - the orchestration is embeded into a device.

Dron spoke about refrigerating food being a hard technology (difficult to do without automation) and that soft technologies needs people - the technology does not have everything that it takes to make it happen.

He points out that all technologies are ASSEMBLIES of other technologies and tools, some soft, some hard.

Getting the right balance of this for a given time, context and learner is difficult and needs the "Goldilock moment":

Not too soft
Not too hard
Just right!

Aggregating is a way of making technologies softer and replacing with harder things making them harder. A mashup could be made harder or softer.
In discussions about the MOOC approach, Dron said that making the learner have control over the hardness or softness of the technology will allow the learner to have the right balance and find their Goldilocks moment.

Findings regarding the effect of technology on learning generally state NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE - Dron makes the point that it is not the technology but how it is used, what he calls the elephant in the room.

Teacher - Tech Use for Learning - Matrix

2011-11-20T08:32:00.001-06:00

The Technology Integration Matrix (TIM) from the Florida Center for Instructional Technology offers both a way of categorising teacher use of technology to enhance learning, and also a plan for developing teacher learning and technology for learning integration.

On the horizontal axis are the levels of technology integration in the curriculum, stated in teacher actions, with the increasing levels Entry, Adoption, Adaption, Infusion, and Transformation.

On the vertical axis are the characteristics of the learning environment, this time stated in terms of what the students do: Active, Collaborative, Constructive, Authentic, Goal Directed.
"The TIM incorporates five interdependent characteristics of meaningful learning environments: active, constructive, goal directed (i.e., reflective), authentic, and collaborative (Jonassen, Howland, Moore, & Marra, 2003)."

As an example of the matrix, the Active Infusion entry contains the following descriptor:

Students understand how to use many types of technology tools, are able to select tools for specific purposes, and use them regularly.

The teacher guides, informs, and contextualizes student choices of technology tools and is flexible and open to student ideas. Lessons are structured so that student use of technology is self-directed.

Multiple technology tools are available in quantities sufficient to meet the needs of all students.

...and at the Active Authentic intersection:

Students select appropriate technology tools to complete activities that have a meaningful context beyond the instructional setting. Students regularly use technology tools, and are comfortable in choosing and using the tools in the most meaningful way for each activity.

The teacher encourages students to use technology tools to make connections to the world outside of the instructional setting and to their lives and interests. The teacher provides a learning context in which students regularly use technology tools and have the freedom to choose the tools that, for each student, best match the task.

The setting provides a variety of technology tools and access to rich online resources, including information outside of the school and primary source materials, that are available in sufficient quantities to meet the needs of all students.

The matrix links to resources and examples in Maths, Science, Social Studies and Language Arts - with a really good and detailed range - a great resource.

This new TIM replaces the 2005-2006 version previously published, and seems a good descriptor of teacher practices in the K-12 area.

It is interesting to compare the horizontal axis labels with Puentedura's SAMR model (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition). They both attempt to describe technology integration in terms of what the technology does, although Puentedura describes it in terms of change from what was done before.

I like the possibility of the predictive nature of the TIMatrix - it can drive teacher learning and adoption of T4L to the next level.

Could this be incorporated as a model for teacher evaluation of technology use? And so drive technology for learning adoption? #change11

Erik in Abundance

2011-11-18T14:42:00.001-06:00

It has been really instructive learning about how Erik Duval teaches.
This week's MOOC #change11 subject, Learning in a Time of Abundance, has allowed us to see into a practitioner's teaching environment (classroom, lecture hall, virtual space, not sure what to call it). Duval has organised teaching (note that I am using this term even though what he has really organised is his students learning approaches) to minimize the direct teaching for memorising current knowledge and leverage the abundance of information. As stated in his presentation at the beginning of the week, Connectedness, Openness and Always-on gives us the environment for this leverage.
Yesterday's COOLCast on JeffLebow.net added another part of the story. Here we were able to learn about Duval's motivation - that his life is really a MOOC, and he said that this week has been a little bit less massive than he expected it to be.
Abundance in the title means also the abundance of content. The availability and abundance of content is such a different experience that Duval says he can concentrate more on what meaningful activities can be built around it.
What tools does Duval use to sip from the firehose of online information? Duval has simple principles, is a strict keeper of time, he has down time which he really respects (family, for example). Secondly, he books in time with his students when he does not do other things. He does a lot of Twitter to be pointed to material, following a # tag for a few days until it does not interest him anymore. He uses RSS and e-mail as good filters.

The other Duval resource was his presentation "Learning with Open Eyes - The Role of Learning Analytics" given as an opening keynote at de OnderWijsDagen in Utrecht on the 8th of November 2011. This was given in Dutch but I think that you can get a lot out of the Slideshare presentation:

Learning with Open Eyes The Role of Learning Analytics

View more presentations from Erik Duval

This is a key area and I now see why Duval answered the question on Assessment in such a way (see my post on his Monday presentation) - Learning Analytics is what he was talking about as self-tracking data.

Late into Learning in a time of abundance - Erik Duval

2011-11-17T12:50:00.001-06:00

(from archive.org Erik Duval)

#globaled11 drew me away from the MOOC #change11 this week, but I'm back! So late into making sense of this week's topic - Learning in a time of abundance by Erik Duval.
Duval said three things are different now:

Connectedness

Openness

Always on

These make it appropriate to look for a different approach to learning and teaching. Implications for learning:

There will be differences in

WHAT we learn

Things keep evolving so rapidly that memorising current knowledge (of engineering - his subject) does not make sense. We still do emphasise knowledge even if we say we do not.

HOW we learn

We should leverage the abundance of information to change how we learn, using the three differences above; "please put your mobile phone ON" is his comment at the start of his lessons.

Duval's lessons can be up to 5 hours long and the learning takes place throughout the day and night, with dips in the very early morning.

Are students strategies to learn appropriate given that factual information is so easy to find? Duval implied that the internet has changed the dynamics of communication, people are always on (that is to say, even though you are off [asleep] your digital identity and information is there for all to find).

Assessment - the inevitable question:

Paraphrasing Duval: "We should do something else but we have not figured out how to assess it so we should keep on doing what we have always done" - Duval says that this does not make sense to him.

Duval uses a lot of formative assessment and self-tracking data as feedback, not as assessment. He says that he does assessment in the same way it is done in professional life - he will have a conversation with the student and then translate this into a number between 0 and 20.

Question - how much do you tell your students?
Duval explains the following at the start of the course:

Students will publish in blogs - not write report documents

He will not just stand in front of the class

He explains why they have to tweet (mandatory)

The dangers of neglecting other classes.

Sometimes too much analysis paralysis (great term!) - talking about some issue for ever, need to just move on.

Can clear objectives be maintained but work in a much messier, fragmented way?
Duval doubts that there are such clear objectives except in an abstract way. He says that it is just how life is, messy. Answer is never 42 in engineering terms....

Permission to operate in this way?
"Don't ask anyone for permission"! Like a good lapsed Catholic he just asks for forgiveness afterwards if things go wrong. Great approach.

Comment on coherence and messiness: Duval will spend quite a bit of time with students if what they are presenting is incoherent. Incoherent - self contradicting statements - but messiness? Things connected to many different things in messy ways? Fine.

Practical guidelines for educators based upon his experience:

"Let go" is his best advice - let go of fake control, since we as teachers focus on things we can control since we often doubt our capabilities to teach.

Accept that other teachers will be just as scared.

Connect to the life of students - how do I make it authentic and valuable to them.

Erik Duval's challenge for the week:

Find examples of where this approach works really well.

What are the limitations to openness? Challenge him with situations where openness does not work.

Good practical MOOC session - thanks!

Howard Gardner at Global Ed - Keynote

2011-11-16T13:22:00.001-06:00

This was a first: Howard Gardner was interviewed by his son Andrew, for the Global Education conference keynote. There was a nice relaxed relationship between them - but son was asking the questions his dad was wanting to answer - could a more incisive moderator have got more?

Andrew started by asking dad about the distinction between Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligences (MI), an issue that was obviously a Gardner hang-up. Originally, MI was NOT an educational theory and he talked about standing back to see where the educators would take MI. He described it as the different things the brain computer did. Learning Styles, however, was a different concept and to him was a particular style, preference or tendency and may cross different Multiple Intelligences. So - LS and MI are not to be confused.

An unkind person would say that as an author-thinker, Gardner did the inevitable promotion of his books, but there were web plugs too, for Project Zero, for example.

He talked about his motivation for working in different areas, and how market forces were taking over as the raison d'etre, how owners of "for-profits cook the books" with little incentive to teach the arts or humanities and other "soft" areas.

He also talked about the Good Work project and which composed of the following

Technically excellent
Personally engaging
Carried out in an ethical way.

Digital age questions that Gardner raised:

What does identity mean online?
What about privacy?
Ownership of authorship?
How do you determine trustworthyness and credibility?
What does it mean in the digital era to participate in the community?

Common Sense Media was a curriculum based upon the five points above, and the ethical guidebook from the Good Play project called OurSpace.

Quotation: People have always been greedy but there has not been so many ways to be greedy. Alan Greenspan

And from his book Five Minds for the Future:

The Disciplinary Mind
The Synthesizing Mind
The Creating Mind
The Respectful Mind
The Ethical Mind

Spoke about the Tea Party and Occuply Wall Street groups as what happens when large group of population feel that they are not being listened to. But these two groups are not forming a conversation, just extremes.

So, although intersting, nothing particularly new.

Alan November asks "Who owns the learning?"

2011-11-15T12:22:00.001-06:00

In the opening keynote of the GlobalEd conference, Alan November looks at some fresh ideas (fresh from him). He states that there is little to indicate that there have been significant or measurable improvements, on the whole, after the spending of tens of billions in technology.

He asks that there must be no more of the following:

No more Technology Planning
No more 1:1, students should have but that is not the central issue
No more Ed Tech - no more technology directors and less talk of technology

But have more on Learning Design - define problem as improving learning for all our children, then Learning Design is what we should be aiming for.

PEDAGOGY TRUMPS TECHNOLOGY

(and November asks if anyone has changed their titles - well, we are now talking of T4L so as to emphasise that it is all about the Learning).

Critical questions to ask - do we have:

Right information about learning
Right relationships to support learning

Students - do students have the right information and the right relationships? "Our teachers know too much, but student tutorials are pitched at the right level", depending upon your friends are you probably will do better or worse at school. Build capacity of students to help students - less emphasis on teacher technology training.

So change in the relationships is vital: mentions Eric Mazur - designing an online community of his students (November says Facebook might be based upon this since Zuckerberg was in Mazur's class!), brings out an amazing treasure trove of information on how learning is happening.

(Mazur's presentation at BLC11 is a "must watch", 20% of learning achieved with the best lecture; figures out that students need immediate feedback with a lot of peer conversation, and that Sochratic approach is better; hence the flip classroom).

As far as professional development is concerned, November says that it is much more rewarding to be global, for your personal learning network to be beyond campus.

($1,000 pencils: students taking notes from teacher in class - a nice way of stating that 1 to 1 means nothing unless the pedagogy changes).

The knowledge of the teacher is in the way of the learning, says November, it is not about knowledge transfer.

November talks about the flipped classroom - here is the video from Clintondale High School which has gone through a complete transformation of pedagogy:

Learning design is the key, not the technology.

Question to ask is who owns the learning? And not how many computers do you have.

November talks about new student roles for developing empowered learners:

Tutorial designers
Official scribes
Collaboration coordinators
Researchers
Contributors to society
Curriculum reviewers
and specifically:

Videographer
Photographer
Data entry
Live blogging
Interviewers
Skype connections
Backchannel

So, November asks:

Who owns the learning?
Are your students producing a legacy?
Who works harder in the classroom?
Are students publishing to a global audience?

But he says that TEACHERS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER to emphasis the need for learning designers.

An excellent thought provoking session.

BYOD does not necessarily mean only mobile phones

2011-11-12T11:39:00.001-06:00

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is a shorthand for the idea of having each student with a computing device - their own. The assumption of many writing about this is that the device will be a mobile phone.In 7 Myths About BYOD Debunked, Lisa Nielsen gives a pretty good account of why mobile phones can be the "D" in BYOD.
She phrases the two "myths" that I question in this way, but I think misses the point:

Myth No. 2: BYOD will result in lessons geared toward the weakest device.
Myth No. 6: Cell phones are not that powerful, so we should not waste our time with them.

Firstly, mobile phones ARE the weakest device. This is not to say that they always will be, or that they are not powerful, but in comparison with other "Ds" they are the weakest device. Two factors make them difficult to work with - the size of the display and the multitasking limitations. The first will not change until we have virtual displays appearning in front of our eyes. The second may be improved but it is related to the first problem.
So, if the option is ONLY mobile phone, then they can be the device. But if it is realistic to consider other options, from netbooks through i-Pads to laptops, then these other "Ds" win hands down.
For digital scholarship, involving extensive writing, researching and reading, the mobile phone does not hack it.
(For messaging, light e-mail, Twitter, G+, FB, everyday camera, recording audio, and even reading from i-Books in the dentist's waiting room, the smart phone is great)

Models - usefulness and otherwise

2011-11-10T16:46:00.001-06:00

Well, my last piece on Rhizomatic Learning.
In today's #change11 MOOC live session a series of questions allowed Dave Cormier to expand on the ideas and again it was an interesting hour.
At one point Stephen Downes started to sketch to explain traditional learning and rhizomatic learning (it was me typing in the labels - it may not have been exactly what Stephen meant).
All of a sudden it started to make sense, the idea that nothing new is created with traditional transmition of knowledge, that rhizomatic learning created something new, and then STOP! On the wrong track, Dave dragged us back underground to draw the rhizomatic approach (top right).

For me, a model has to be simple to follow and we should not need to read French philosophy to "get it". Stephen's alternative started to make sense, Dave's rhizomes clouded it for me. So, for me (and I stress that others may well find the concept useful) it goes no-where and as a model fails.
However, let me add something more concrete to the question raised about "assessment" or at least the badging or verification of such learning.
I can see that for teacher professional development, an open non-curriculum self-directed connected learning approach works (have I just described rhizomatic learning?). In my school, those at the cutting edge of technology for learning are learning in exactly this way. The ideas that permeate from them are proof that the learning is taking place. They are badged by their subsequent actions, and this is a perfectly acceptable verification.

Rhizomes - back to basics

2011-11-09T17:43:00.002-06:00

If the metaphors don't work for me, what can I suggest?
Well, let me write it in other terms without using the rhizome, worker, soldier, nomad metaphors:
The first dichotomy is formal and informal learning.
Formal, of course, is everything conventional, perhaps existing already, based on courses, structure, teaching, VLEs, etc.
Informal is that learning which is achieved outside of the official formal learning structures but includes online, PLEs, MOOCS, in fact, anything driven by the learner and including books, experience, and other interactions which are not necessarily technological.
Another dichotomy: under informal we can include the learning which is facilitated by a person or persons bringing resources, ideas and people together (the social artist?) as well as the learning achieved by those who truly direct (or wander) through their own selected learning experiences (the nomad in rhizomatic learning?).
What is missing here that should be here - is this too simplistic? What ideas are in rhizomatic learning which can't be derived from here?

Metaphors that don't work for me - Social Artists, Rhizomes, Nomads

2011-11-09T09:29:00.000-06:00

We are categorisers. It is how our brains work. We can't help placing labels on concepts and this helps us refer to huge ideas in a simple way.
We use metaphors as particularly apt labels. The mind-ideas generated by the metaphor helps us remember and work with the concepts.
I have found both the Social Artist metaphor and now the Rhizomatic Learning (including Workers, Soldiers and Nomads) particularly difficult to work with.
Dave Cormier's facilitation on #change11 MOOC's session yesterday was excellent. A fairly large number of participants interacted on chat and on the screen. But it took me the session to understand each of the metaphors for Rhizomatic Learning and none of them, for me at least, "clicked". In fact, they seemed distracting. The "Workers", "Soldiers" and "Nomads" metaphors brought many other not entirely relevant ideas to mind. They simply did not work for me. As for Rhizomatic Learning, I was left with the feeling of "so what?".
Clearly the work on the Rhizomatic Learning concept has gone a long way. Have I been left behind in a developing thought process where the original labels worked but the ideas have matured?
The only benefit of such a loose or inappropriate coupling of metaphor to concept is that it needs such deep explanation and understanding - perhaps that is a good thing.
Oh, it did seem to me that there were too many flippant comments in the interactive session. You come to expect it on chat but I was disapointed with the negative and lightweight responses on the interactive board. Purpose of education? Why did my fellow participants have such limited and cynical views?

Time for a Learning Revolution

2011-11-05T18:50:00.000-06:00

It takes a 16 year old to say it so clearly:
Policy-wise, we need a national curriculum, based on lean standards, so that teachers have the full autonomy to shape and mold the curriculum.
Nikhil Goyal writes about project based learning in the Huffington Post under the title "It's Time for a Learning Revolution".
I propose that we institute a 21st century model of education, rooted in 21st century learning skills and creativity, imagination, discovery, and project-based learning.
He gives as an example of this idea in action, the High Tech High in San Diego, California, which has this as its descriptor for its eleven schools:
All of these schools serve a diverse, lottery-selected student population; all embody the High Tech High design principles of personalization, adult world connection, common intellectual mission, and teacher as designer.
[the example comes from his post within Andrew Revkin's article here].
What would it take to make this happen?
#change11
Learning by Breaking - a project approach:

Social Artist doubts - process and "feel-good"

2011-11-05T11:00:00.000-06:00

This week's MOOC #change11 has not held my interest.
Without doubt, Nancy White is a charismatic facilitator, using graphical tools to have participants express themselves and develop a particular view. I think this approach (using such graphical tools) is excellent for the participants.
I learned long ago that my wonderfully produced mathematical notes were excellent - for me. The iterrative process of producing these and improving them was valuable to me, the writer. My students needed to produce their own versions (yes, to construct their own knowledge), for this to be valuable for them.
So the outcome of the process did not mean much without being a participant.
Also, there seemed to be an inordinate amount of "feel-good" commentating. Why? Could there be a cultural difference?
Hence my Tweet: the Queen has got no clothes on. There, I said it.

Platform hinderance to universal OER use

2011-10-29T06:56:00.000-06:00

No Flash on the Apple i-Pad and no Java on Google's Chromebook is a problem when producing and using Open Educational Resources (OER).
I had prepared a Screencast-o-matic video for a virtual lesson to find that this did not work on my Chromebook. As part of the same course, I used some Flash-driven fractal modeling sites - this does not work on the i-Pad.
These issues are not just to do with these two machines since the same compatibility problems are faced with different mobiles, but it is serious if you adopt a free Bring Your Own Technology (BYOT) approach at school. It forces OER producers and users to restrict themselves to no Flash and no Java if we want to be universally compatible. #change11

OERu will legitimise open educational resources and practices

2011-10-28T15:53:00.000-06:00

The Friday session of the #change11 MOOC on Open Educational Resources (OER) and Practices (OEP) was useful to learn about the OERu, its logic model and its plans.

Its aims are: OERu

(Directed by the core principles of engagement the OER university collaboration:)

Will design and implement a parallel learning universe to provide free learning opportunities for all students worldwide with pathways to earn credible post-secondary credentials.
Offer courses and programs based solely on OER and open textbooks.
Design and implement scalable pedagogies appropriate for the OER university concept.
Will implement scalable systems of volunteer student support through community service learning approaches.
Coordinate assessment and credentialising services on a cost recovery basis for participating education institutions to ensure credible qualifications and corresponding course articulation among anchor partners.

Rory McGreal posed the question - which course is better? One of say, 20 students with an 80% pass-rate or one with 2 million students with a 50% pass-rate (he spoke of different figures but these came from his slide). The implication was that all the talk of completion rates was not the full picture and that such an open approach will lead to much greater educational good. In the chat the point was made that even the drop-outs were probably learning as well. So the emphasis was - let's go from elite to open.

He also spoke about someone NOT having a modern education UNLESS s/he engaged with the internet. Good point.

He asked - why OER? and went to describe some restrictions regarding DRM protected material (Digital Restriction Management, as he put it). Included in the list was really some things to make one think: DRM owners not having liability even if product does not work, users have the "privilege" of using the product and do not own it and you are prohibited to show content to others. In other words, they have sewn up intellectual rights for their total benefit.

Wayne Mackintosh gave a detailed presentation of the OERu, starting with the University of London's External System as being a pioneer of this idea. He balanced an equation which showed an increase of OER plus an increase in OEP giving better quality, better access and reduced cost.

The logic model had learners as an input through a system with OERs and then through educational institutions providing assessment, credential and community services, going from free to fee.

One sure consequence of this has to be the legitimising of OER and OEPs. This must be good so that it can counter the publisher lobby comments about theirs being the only approach.

OER week more about university structure than OERs

2011-10-27T12:16:00.000-06:00

"A key Question for the discussions will be: What is the role of OER in supporting not only informal learning but also change in educational systems?".

Rory McGreal's presentation on the #change11 MOOC session on Tuesday was more orientated towards how universities should structure themselves so as to deal with openness than Open Educational Resources in informal learning. He was describing this in terms of his work as Canadian UNESCO/Commonwealth of Learning Chair in OER and I got a couple of useful points out of the presentation and discussion.

Clearly, if universities are to accredit learning then they must ensure that the standards which are set are met. The back chat on the session revealed some disquiet about the testing focus (and the likely backwash effect on learning as well as an undue pressure to have the university support so as to improve your results).

However, it seemed inevitable that a university should ensure the "standard" of the end product by such an approach.

Of interest also was the recognition of prior learning, another essential component for open approaches at university level. This was not just at the level of doing so for granting credit but also to recognise it as part of the package of results.

McGreal used the following diagram (credited to Judith Murray) to describe the adaptation to open approaches at university level - thanks for this since it clarified it succinctly.

OER and university structure - fm Rory McGreal

View more presentations from George Hobson.

Tech Professional Development in Schools - a model

2011-10-25T11:15:00.000-06:00

(#change11)
Following on from last week's MOOC discussion on Managing Technology and my post on "Have a process/structure but don't kill the innovation", I have been talking (yes! F2F) with our team and looking at a process for technological professional development for schools. Thanks Jennifer for Diigo-ing Mark Brumley's April 2011 post on a "New Paradigm for Professional Development - Part 2", which I have mashed up into something that might work for us and our "Technology for Learning" initiative.

Have a process/structure but don't kill the innovation.

2011-10-23T11:19:00.003-06:00

(#change11)
Tony Bates facilitated a good discussion on the MOOC Change11 session: "Managing Technology to Transform Teaching" (not sure why not "...to Transform Learning"). He sought to involve the participants in his questions, so it seemed much more interactive than usual.
He asked two questions which seemed remote from the immediate discussion (do institutions need to change and should this be done from within or outside) and went on to describe the findings from the book he has written together with Albert Sangra - "Managing Technology in Higher Education: Strategies for Transforming Teaching and Learning". The link gives a good executive summary of the main findings of their book.
The research brought out some interesting and valid findings, including that more successful technological implementations occurred when the Leadership Team were speaking from the same page, all having bought in to the concept of technology being important to develop learning, had set measurable strategic goals, with academic disciplines having specific technical skills for the particular discipline, with planning at all levels (and specifically not just top-down), using F2F earlier on and later more e-learning (first year more F2F), program level innovation, planning and decision making (with an Exploration -> Resources Planning -> Pilot -> Evaluation -> Spread across school methodology). He made the point of the importance of getting away from line management and silos, and for having a strategy for supporting the initiatives in technology.
This was all related to Higher Education. I am interested in how these ideas transfer to K-12 schools.
Reflecting on how we managed the introduction of technology in my school, I notice how we have developed:

working with enthusiasts at the start and trying to appoint teachers with ICT capabilities
taking the view that, on the whole, ICT is taught through the medium of subject disciplines and not on its own
taken the approach of "sowing a thousand seeds and letting the flowers bloom"
appointing key people to ICT teaching jobs, having key supporters in leadership posts
holding enthusiast workshops, offering training in Web 2.0, using various systems for sharing technological resources
providing initially a network infrastructure with roaming desktop facilities, then various stages of wireless networks, increasing broadband access and bandwidth (now at 30Mbits)
noting the growth of many weeds amongst what we had previously sown and so standardising on Google Apps for Education, including Sites for webpages and Blogger for blogs; pulling all this in with a Communications Strategy to harmonise and centralise
use collaborative technological systems at school to both increase technological expertise and have a collegiate approach to decision making

Where do we go to from here? The financial constraints are real and inhibiting. So we have to take this into account and develop strategies to ensure that we continue to develop our technology so as to make learning and teaching effective and efficient, whilst maintaining our desire to create independent learners of our students (and teachers).

Bates' idea of through-institution development and not just top-down makes sense. However, his approach seemed too structured and inhibiting - but perhaps this was because of its Higher Education setting. I read Viplav Baxi's post on Death by Structure with great interest - and urge you to do so too. It prompted me to comment on his post as follows, and I give his reply:

Viplav – Thank you for your view on this which has made me think hard. Tony Bates has put forward a standard solution to the organisation of technology issue – use structure, committees, perhaps consultants, have clear strategic goals shared by the Leadership Team, involve people from program level through to the LT.
It is hardly surprising that the “coming of age” of technology should be institutionalised through standard organisational processes.
However (certainly at K-12 school level), this model may not work as well. Busy teachers, successful but traditional pedagogy (tweaked to include technology at the Substitution and Augmentation level of the Puentedura’s SAMR model, perhaps including some Modification but hardly ever Redefinition), will be more successful in a much messier approach. Providing the infrastructure and the encouragement to seed lots of initiatives and let the flowers bloom has been the approach the I have found successful.
At this point I think it is necessary to provide some structure, to zero in on some standard resources (say using Google Apps for Education and Sites instead of personal blogs on various blog platforms, so as to provide for institutional continuity). But the driving force is still teachers developing individual expertise in areas where they see the advantages.
It is necessary to engage teachers at all levels, from “program” or EWB-face through department and school leadership. Include enthusiasts, skeptics and wannabes. And continue developing the pedagogy and direction but always asking “where is the learning in this”.

His reply:

I completely agree. Structure is not antithetical to complex systems. In fact, there is an orderliness about them as well. However it is not ordered as in centralized direction or uni-directed cohesion. The best structures are those that provide the ability to self-organize and adapt. That is what I feel shall bring change and it is where we must focus. Thanks!

So, we have to have a structure which is not top-down, is innovation-friendly and has the ability to allow self-organisation, but allows us to plan strategically and make appropriate financial decisions. We will try a Technology for Learning Forum (T4L-Forum) to develop the pedagogy necessary, working with enthusiasts, wannabes and even perhaps skeptics, but always asking "where is the learning in this".

Whole, Deep Learning from a Hole in the Wall?

2011-10-13T07:44:00.001-06:00

(#change11, #ibheads)
Sugata Mitra is well known for placing computers in "holes in the wall", ATM style. He has given the opening inspirational speech at the International Baccalaureate Heads Conference in Singapore.
Professor of Educational Technology at Newcastle University and also at Media Lab, MIT, he certainly entertained us all with a great talk.
He asked a question which is at the heart of the Change11 MOOC - what will the world look like in 50 years time? He did this by going back 50 or so years and looking at the radiogram (then MP3 which then vanished into a mobile phone), the telephone (from operators to connect people to mobiles which then vanished - we now can't tell whether people are talking to themselves or on a phone), and now the computer (already the size of a page, will it ever disappear altogether? Will we need body scanners in schools to prevent implanted mobile phones (!)). Will arithmetic be needed at all in 50 years time? Will it be an obsolete thing when you can do it automatically and powerfully with your implanted "thing"?
Could Education be an obsolete thing?
He described his progress from the Hole in the Wall computers through to his latest work in Gateshead. His point was that small groups of children (had to be a small group, not individuals), created a Self Organised Learning Environment (SOLE) and, given a big question, could learn together. There needed to be an appointed police officer-student to keep order, no more than groups of 4 or 5, and crucially, a big question on the lines of "who was Pythagoras?" or "what happens when you die?".
He described the scores obtained in India by children themselves (30%) and how these could be augmented by the "method of the grandmother" (stand behind and admire - the score went up to 50%). And also how aspirations can be changed by giving children other models to admire (TED talks instead of just media-pushed celebrities).
Returning to his original question, he left us with our challenge - since we cannot know what the world will look like, we need to develop the skills of reading comprehension, ability to search for information, and the development of a rational system of belief. I would add (what was implicit in his talk) that by asking questions which stimulated the interest and motivation of children, they would find out about the world they live in and develop the skills to go on doing so.
I asked myself in what ways is a MOOC a self organised system - one that might change in unexpected ways as it developed - and in what ways might it change?
Here is a version of the talk from TED:

Apple predicting the future - early 1990s video

2011-10-10T19:00:00.004-06:00

Vision. What vision Apple had. This example comes not from Steve Jobs but from John Scully, Apple CEO at the time, early in the 1990s. The clip below examines Apple's future computer - the knowledge navigator. Watch from about 7:30 in for a great vision on using tablets in education. Tremendous stuff.

Thanks to Blake Patterson for uploading these dvds,

Wiley on Digital Learning Objects - the reusability paradox

2011-10-10T18:39:00.004-06:00

Back in 2009 I thought that Digital Learning Objects (DLO) would be the way forward. The idea of taking bits of excellent learning and reusing them in different learning tasks seemed attractive.
David Wiley described DLOs as:
A digital learning object is "any digital resource that can be reused to support learning......Additionally, learning objects are generally understood to be digital entities deliverable over the Internet, meaning that any number of people can access and use them simultaneously (as opposed to traditional instructional media, such as an overhead or video tape, which can only exist in one place at a time). Moreover, those who incorporate learning objects can collaborate on and benefit immediately from new versions." (Wiley, 2000)
At that time I expressed frustration at not being able to find these so as to use them - they seemed to exist behind passwords and copyrighted learning platforms.
In his introduction to the Change11 topic this week, he explains the reusability paradox that DLOs have:
The paradox claims that the more context laden a given educational resource is, the more effectively it teaches but the more difficult it is to reuse in a novel context. Conversely, the less context laden a given educational resource is, the less effectively it teaches but the easier it is to reuse in novel contexts. So with learning objects, you had a choice - a great resource that is essentially impossible to reuse, or a really poor resource that you can easily reuse.
This led Wiley to connect his work on open approaches with that of learning objects - objects which had an open license.
It is only when there was a critical mass of open approaches that mashable creative commons content became avaliable so as to be useful and to get round the reusability paradox.

Student use of a Learning Management System depends upon their ICT skills level

2011-10-08T22:01:00.000-06:00

A study, published this month by Qatar University, investigated the factors that impact student usage of the Learning Management System (LMS) in Qatari Schools. (In the latest edition of The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning).

This LMS is "a tool that organizes and regulates classroom administrative tasks, supports teachers and students in the teaching and learning process, and informs parents of their children’s progress and school activities".

The study found a link between students' ICT skills level and whether they were prone to use the LMS - the higher the skills, the LESS likely they were to use the LMS - a result which seems counter-intuitive at first. It seems that the LMS was not exciting enough for those who already had the skills to navigate and find on the internet.

Attitudinal barriers were not predictive of usage and student usage was strongly correlated to teacher and parent usage. In fact, teacher usage was key - use of the LMS tended to be limited to IT class. "However, when teachers built activities in and around the LMS with a number of benefits and rewards, the students were motivated to use the LMS".

Collective Learning Explained

2011-10-08T17:50:00.000-06:00

(#change11)
This is Allison Littlejohn's presentation on Collective Learning, described in terms of her research of the use of this in an international company (with colleagues).
This was not a topic that I initially had much interest in, but the MOOC has really thrown light on something I would not otherwise had considered.
The model that Littlejohn describes (see previous post Tools for Collective Learning) shows that this is a discipline in development and she provides a credible model of how it can be explained.
She describes "charting" as a sense-making process that allows people to make sense of the collective knowledge. [Google Swirl is one suggestion as to how to make sense of the collective knowledge - could not find this... now discontinued by Google]
Learning Goals help glue the whole thing together and give direction.

Connected Knowledge, collective learning

View another webinar from caledonianacademy

Tools for Collective Learning

2011-10-04T09:20:00.001-06:00

(#change11)

How does individual learning interact with collective learning? What tools are used by the individual to make sense of the learning, to make the learning collaborative, perhaps to make the learning collective? This interactive diagram by Samantha Penney using Bloom's Taxonomy is a great aide-memoire of the digital tools available at each part of the hierarchy.

This is another version of Bloom's Taxonomy but related to Google tools, from Kathy Schrock.

Notes from recorded conversation between Allison Littlejohn and Lou McGill.

Social objects being the glue that holds/binds the collective learning together - but what are these social objects?
Could it be the learning goal? Or the assignment or task? Case study of a patient?
But could there be many social objects in one learning experience? How do these interact? How can this become more formal learning?
(We seem to be at the beginning of trying to define this and to find examples of the social objects that enable collective learing to take place)
Good point about crowdsourcing - just because it is being picked out by the crowd, it does not mean that it is the best available.
Charting: how do you make sense of the collective knowledge - four actions

Connect to the collective
Consume the knowledge in some way
Create your mash-up of the knowledge, re-purposing (but copyright, cultural issues)
Contribute to the collective

Charting a four step process - and most people will be comfortable with the first two; what do we need to do th enable Create and Contribute to happen? Lou states that they fall into these two subsets.

Convergence of digital, networked and open - the digital scholarship of Teaching

2011-10-01T09:02:00.000-06:00

(#change11)
Notes and comments from reading Martin Weller's Chapter 8 (A Pedagogy of Abundance - The Digital Scholar: How Technology is Transforming Scholarly Practice, Bloomsbury Academic).
This is the most exciting area as far as K-12 schools are concerned. In this chapter Weller considers how the music industry is facing the transition from an economics of scarcity (talent is scarce, difficult to locate, content is a physical thing and is manufactured to demand) to an economics of abundance.
In his Flickr example he shows how embracing the abundance model can work - by say, a Freemium model where basic services are free but those that add considerable value are charged.
Anderson's "long tail" concept is also an abundance response where you may give away 99% but sell the premium 1% on - and I think that this also applies to the content since relatively scarce non-mass market content can be available to be used. Previously the scarcity model made such content unavailable (uneconomic).
Scarcity responses, writes Weller, seek to re-establish scarcity in a digital context (DRM, for example).
Moving on to education, Weller considers how this sector may change as a result of abundance. With its resources and control, he gives the modern university as a solution to the economics of scarcity. He states that while expertise is still scarce, the access to content is changing rapidly. He quotes Siemens (2008):
"...learning theories, such as constructivism, social constructivism, and more recently, connectivism, form the theoretical shift from instructor or institution controlled teaching to one of greater control by the learner".
I like the terms "supply-push" and "demand-pull" that he uses to describe the change to abundance economics in learning (I almost wrote "teaching" here, but it is telling that this is not the term to use in demand-pull).
Weller lists his "pedagogy of abundance" based of nine assumptions:

Content is free
Content is abundant
Content is varied
Sharing is easy
Social based
Connections are "light"
Organisation is cheap
Based on a generative system (many innovative developments)
User generated content.

He then lists five possible pedagogies:

Resource-based learning ("an integrated set of strategies to promote student centred learning in a mass education context, through a combination of specially designed learning resources and interactive media and technologies" - clearly an area where schools are working; Weller suggest though that this is often grounded in a scarcity approach)
Problem-based learning (encounter the problem first in the learning process, students work in small collaborative groups towards a solution, but often there is no definitive answer)
Constructivism (individual learners construct their own knowledge - strong emphasis on group, discursive and reflective components, emphasis on individuals to develop own interpretations, educator more of a facilitator)
Communities of practice (perhaps open source community approaches, peer production)
Connectivism (proposed by George Siemens [2005], and based upon eight principles; I would add at the experimental stage with this MOOC being an example of this approach).

Are existing theories sufficient in the age of abundance? Is an individual's attention NOT abundant? Is his/her time limited for these approaches?
Whatever the answer, "we are witnessing a fundamental shift in education".

Power of Video

2011-09-30T08:34:00.000-06:00

Had two "learning" tasks yesterday and it was interesting to compare them.
Firstly, I had registered on the webinar "Delivering Your Message Online with the Power of Video and the Ease of EduVision", which was due live at mid-day Central American time. I waited and waited, with the window for GoToMeeting stating "waiting for organizer". I Skyped the telephone number directly in case there were internet problems but got the recorded voice telling me that the webinar will start shortly. Eventually, half an hour later, its started.
It seemed a little disorganised and clearly they had had some "technical difficulties". It continued, with the presenters not being able to move on their slides.
Chris Bartch did a competent job on how to upload a video to EduVision and how to use its features, and Aric Harrier, a teacher showed how he uses video. I saw impressive use of student videos here. And finally, Alan November gave a good account of the power of video.
Secondly, I looked at the VIDEO of the presentation of the week for Change11 MOOC I am participating in. Martin Weller gave a very competent and understandable presentation on Digital Scholarship. This was a video of the webinar. The "Power of Video" was evident since I was able to stop, take notes, go back, etc, very easily using YouTube controls. I felt in control of my learning.
Using the webinar was slow, I did not concentrate, there were too many technical hitches to make it worthwhile.Ironically, if they had made three video presentations instead of the live webinar (bearing in mind the title of the webinar!), it would have been a much better experience. Discussions? There was nothing worthwhile on the webinar because it over-ran. But the three videos could have been on a blog and comments used to carry out the discussion.
It showed me the Power of Video as visual and audio media under your control.
Later note: have a look at a video produced involving 1st grade students on how to achieve peace (Peace One Day assembly). A good example of a teaching video.

Digital Scholarship - the coming of age of open sources and resources #change11

2011-09-29T16:28:00.000-06:00

(My notes from Week 3 of the Change11 MOOC)
Martin Weller's talk on Change11 defined the four areas of digital scholarship that he considers in his book:

Discovery
Integration
Application
Teaching

(as the Boyer view of scholarship).
He concentrates on one ( Discovery/Research ) in this Change11 presentation, very much geared to university level, of course. Nevertheless there is much that applies to all learning/teaching and to schools as well. In his book (The Digital Scholar: How Technology is Changing Academic Practice) he covers all four areas.
He makes a very strong case for digital scholarship as opposed to the traditional ways (peer reviewed research papers) and goes into the main tensions/obstacles (some of these related to university tenure and status issues).
Weller lists how to recognise and develop digital scholarship:

Finding digital equivalents
Generating guidelines that include digital scholarship
Using metrics (say, hits on Youtube)
Peer-assessment
Micro-credit
Developing alternative methods

Great quote from Heppell (2001): "we continually make the error of subjugating technology to our present practice rather than allowing it to free us from the tyranny of past mistakes".
Metaphor of network weather (from Adam Greenfield) - keep an eye on it because "it may toss you this way and that by the gusts and squalls". So not the digital native non-issue but the immediacy of what is happening in the digital world.
He jumped to learning in giving an example of the lecture that you might be giving, with a student at the back preferring to watch the definitive video instead, perhaps involving the world leader in that area, and the student then choosing to ask you a very difficult question.
Weller describes how technology is changing conferences with backchannels and audience opinion developing and perhaps hardening (have been there). Technology enables a much richer archive of the conference. However, there is a strong resistance to changing the normal conference structure and pricing.
Summary:

A failure of ownership (university presses sold off, but need to own the digital scholarship produced)
Technology engagement is the key (do not dismiss it, embrace it, do not let commercial interests take this over)
Potential to radically change practice (possibilities for collaboration enormous)
These are exciting times! (we should determine what goes, what stays and what comes)

Good presentation by Weller, which I picked up aas a Youtube video from Jeff Lebow

Update on Bandwidth - a "normal" day

2011-09-20T12:49:00.001-06:00

Since updating to a 30 Mbits connection last academic year, the user experience has been very much better. We have a 1 to 3 compression which is another way of saying that we share the service with 2 others. The image shows the usage at a peak time - notice hitting but not flatlining on the maximum.

Assessment - last but not least, Principle Five

2011-09-20T12:44:00.001-06:00

Finally, assessment. The policy was written when Assessment FOR Learning was the major issue - formative assessment being the goal. The part that assessment plays in learning and as a tool for feedback and course planning is important.

Principle Five: Effective assessment plays a significant role in the learning process and is an important tool for feedback, learning and curriculum planning.

Supporting Statements

a. The ABC Assessment Principles (see separate document) distinguishes

- assessment for learning, which is used to inform teaching and learning and

- assessment of learning, which is used to monitor achievement and development.

It is recognised that many assessments can be used and interpreted for both purposes but some assessment for learning will be a feature of all teachers’ assessments.

b. At a whole school and at Departmental level a thorough analysis of internal and external assessment results, along with all relevant feedback from examination boards takes place annually. The results of these analyses inform teaching and learning as adjustments are made to methodologies, curriculum planning and documentation, assessment and grading policies and practices.

c. All teaching staff recognise the importance of analysing assessment results and responding individually to assessments in order to improve learning and teaching in terms of adapting schemes of work, classroom activities and lesson plans.

The Assessment Principles, referred to in statement a. above, are reproduced below. These do give a very complete picture of what is important in assessment.

Key Assessment Principles:
The focus of the principles outlined below is on assessment for learning, used to inform teaching and learning, in addition to assessment of learning, used to measure achievement and development. If assessment is constructed and delivered effectively it can add tremendous value to the learning process.
Key Principles
1. Effective Assessment reflects an individual’s strengths and identifies areas for improvement.

Strengths: areas where the student is capable. Such areas need to be identified to help motivate students, to develop self-esteem and to generate a belief that they can improve.
Areas for improvement: skills, concept or knowledge gaps This must be based on well understood criteria by both teacher and student, between actual and optimal capability with clear next steps determined by clear learning objectives.

2. Effective Assessment provides ample opportunity for meaningful feedback to students with teacher, self and/or peer involvement.

Feedback: focuses on the task, is closely related to criteria and linked to next steps. Needs to be applied regularly, focusing on individual pieces of work as well as units of work. Feedback can be provided in written or oral form by the teacher, a peer or the student.
Involvement: involves sharing assessment criteria with students and showing them how to interpret the criteria to provide meaningful feedback that promotes development.

3. Effective assessment uses a range of methods, both formative and summative, to help identify success and monitor progress

Formative methods: emphasise feedback, student involvement, modeling quality, criteria, next steps, clear learning goals, self esteem, communication, ownership/responsibility of and for learning process, self-assessment/self-correcting and self-referencing. These are very valuable in that they contribute to learning itself whereas summative methods alone do not.
Summative methods: emphasise objectivity, exams, tests and group referencing. They provide a useful measure of progress and attainment in both teaching and learning, provided reliable and valid tools are used.

4. Effective assessment equips students with the skills to self-correct and self-assess and with the strategies to improve via realistic achievable goals.

Equips: involves teachers sharing criteria and clear learning objectives with students and providing well designed tasks to develop the skills indicated by the criteria.
Skills: the ability of students to understand and apply criteria, including the ability to analyse, evaluate and make informed judgements.
Self assessment/self-correction: modeling quality (ie using samples of work enabling students to explore criteria). Detailing how work meets criteria along with tasks that enable and develop students’ ability to examine their own work in a critical, meaningful way and to appreciate the importance of being open minded to constructive criticism.
Strategies/goals: includes next steps and clear targets which are attainable and understandable. These strategies and goals need to be reviewed on a regular basis to give them validity. This allows progress to be identified and for next steps and targets to be set in order to achieve further progress.
Realistic goals: needs a sensible time frame where students and teachers can monitor progress easily. Regular reviewing is an important part of the process to maintain awareness and to generate purpose and confidence in the ability to achieve goals.

5. Effective assessment creates an atmosphere which motivates all participants and provides the opportunity for self-improvement and academic progress

Atmosphere: should be set to positively reinforce students’ learning by praising, rewarding and motivating them in their work as well as ensuring that students recognize and relate to the goals of assessment for and of learning. This requires high quality classroom management, well designed working tasks and regular feedback with constructive criticism.
Motivates: students who see, understand and embrace their own intrinsic role and responsibility in the learning process enabling them to be true life long learners and therefore to always aim to improve and achieve more.
Self-improvement: is based on self referencing, not peer to peer or year based referencing and there need to be opportunities to review and determine progress through portfolios, targets, modeling of quality, to have conferences between teachers students and parents with feedback and to have opportunities to improve. All this needs to be based on a clear understanding of the criteria for progress.

6. Effective assessment educates parents, teachers and students in the principles of assessment and involves them all in the process of assessment

Educates/involves: this refers to the involvement of all relevant parties in understanding what the principles of assessment are at the ABC, why they exist, what responsibilities each party has and what is expected from the assessment process. This involves effective lines of communication in all areas and at all levels.
Principles of assessment: this document needs to be explained to all parties involved in the process
Process of assessment: this focuses on processes as well as outcomes and has a clear planned structure and purpose.

7. Effective assessment for learning needs to have its principles embedded in all areas of the school. This requires that staff and students be equally engaged in the process as part of their own individual development as teachers and students

Effective Learning in a Bilingual School - Principle Four

2011-09-20T12:35:00.001-06:00

For a bilingual school, language is an important issue both in terms of communicating learning and also in the development and promotion of fluency.
Here is Principle Four, related to this:

Principle Four: Teaching and Learning activities are planned and delivered in a way that reflects the importance of language in facilitating effective learning across and within each curriculum area.

Supporting Statements

a. In our bilingual context there is a clear understanding of the importance of developing listening, writing and speaking skills in English and Spanish and their key role in providing a framework for developing understanding and thinking skills across the curriculum in line with our Language Policies.

b. Language fluency plays a key role in providing a framework for developing understanding and thinking skills across the curriculum, and, as such, all teachers are aware of the need to provide strategies to develop students' fluency in the language of instruction.

c. Teachers understand the important of building academic vocabulary to support learning within their curriculum area and have in place effective strategies to teach this vocabulary. Students will have access to the critical vocabulary in Spanish as well as English.

See Language Policy for more details

The actual learning and teaching - Principle Three

2011-09-19T19:10:00.002-06:00

The third principle covers the planning and delivering of the curriculum. Here is the description for actual learning and teaching. What educational paradigm reigns here? There is an assumption of learning process - do you agree with it?

Principle Three: The curriculum is planned and delivered effectively through a variety of classroom activities.

Supporting Statements

a. Schemes of Work include agreed formats and are regularly updated to reflect current needs and objectives, accepted good practice and ideas from departmental reviews and discussions

b. Each teaching unit of the curriculum is clearly linked to the relevant scheme of work with clearly stated learning outcomes and associated assessments.

c. Students are aware of the learning outcomes of each teaching unit and the assessment methods to be used.

d. Students are given opportunities to demonstrate their understandings in a variety of ways in as authentic a manner as possible.

e. New information and understandings are linked to previous knowledge, within the subject and across the subject disciplines and, where appropriate, to the students’ wider world

f. Teachers create opportunities for review and reflection

g. Activities allow for timely and appropriate feedback.

h. Teachers are aware of the three part lesson which has a starter activity, a main activity and a plenary although in some 45 minute lessons these may not be distinct features of all lessons.

i. Teaching activities are sufficiently varied to enable students to learn in ways that are appropriate to their individual learning styles (VARK, gender, left/right brain, multiple intelligences, abstract/concrete, sequential/random learning preferences).

j. Students are aware of their preferred learning style(s) and intelligence(s) and encouraged to develop their weaker style(s) and intelligence(s).

k. Teachers are aware of current educational understanding on how students learn and theories of learning (including Constructivism, the Learning Pyramid and Bloom’s Taxonomy).

l. Learning activities are designed to develop the processes demonstrated in Bloom’s Taxonomy (from recall through to evaluation), according to the age, maturity and readiness of the student.

m. Teachers provide differentiated activities to support or challenge all students in their class.

n. Teachers seek to develop students' self esteem and self confidence.

Learning and Teaching Principles - developing critical thinking skills and life long learner attitudes

2011-09-15T18:07:00.001-06:00

The second of five learning and teaching principles addresses the skills for critical thinking and the development of the attitudes for global citizenship and being life-long learners.

We have tried to simplify many principles into a manageable number. Have we gone too far? Should this one have been two? Or three even?

Principle Two: Students are given the opportunity to develop critical thinking skills and the attitudes to become globally aware, life long learners.

Supporting Statements

a. Students develop confident thinking, learning and study skills as part of their progression into a modern independent self reliant learner.

b. Students understand and develop the skills and attitudes they need to be a lifelong learner and are encouraged to develop a thirst for knowledge and understanding.

c. Teachers engage in regular professional development at a whole school, department and individual level. As learners, teachers model the behaviour of a “life-long learner” and encourage a culture of learning.

d. Students are provided with opportunities to develop and understand different types of critical thinking and problem solving skills across the curriculum

e. Students and teachers recognise the connections between different types and different areas of knowledge within subjects and across subjects.

f. There are clear cross curricular policies on numeracy, literacy, thinking skills and ICT

g. Students are aware of global issues and are able to appreciate the views and cultures of others. They are developing as open minded global citizens.

h. The school actively includes parents in the education of their children with information and support on how to help.

Defining learning and teaching to promote teacher effectiveness

2011-09-11T10:36:00.000-06:00

What are the characteristics of an effective teacher in terms of student learning and teaching? In the previous post I defined the general characteristics of an effective teacher in an effort to move away from an evaluation made purely on student test results.
Teaching is the central teacher activity, so what constitutes good teaching and learning?
At this school we defined it as a set of Learning and Teaching Principles. We had help - trainer Ruth Sutton helped us think about this and eventually we came up with five principles. It is interesting to note that our starting list was very different to the one we ended up with and it is likely that another school would emphasise different ideas. Here is the first of our final version:
Principle One: The learning environment is prepared and organised so as to support effective learning and teaching and be conducive to different learning and teaching styles.
In order to be clearer about what this means, several supporting statements are added. We used the term indicators to start with but some were clearly not so we ended up with the term supporting statements. What is missing? If you were to do this exercise in your school, what would you have added, or indeed, taken out?

Supporting Statements

a. The school recognises the importance of providing classrooms with acceptable temperature, humidity and noise levels so as to allow effective teaching and learning to take place.

b. Emergency exits and evacuation details are clearly displayed and necessary safety equipment used and / or be available for use in the event of an emergency

c. The physical environment of the classroom is well organised and appropriate to the age of the students, so that students feel welcome, safe and comfortable.

d. Classroom furniture, space and resources is arranged so as to optimise learning and allow for a range of learning activities

e. Teachers use wall space creatively, inside and outside the classroom, as a learning tool to display student work and other materials so as to celebrate achievement and motivate students. (See Display Policy).

f. Expectations of behaviour, understanding of rights and responsibilities, routines and acceptable ways of working are clear and applied consistently by all throughout the school and not just in classrooms (See Behaviour Management Policy)

g. Teachers recognise the importance of having high expectations, using positive feedback to reward appropriate behaviour and establishing a classroom environment based on mutual respect.

h. Students show respect for the school environment, leaving classrooms tidy, not dropping litter, using recycling bins whenever possible, keeping their notice boards up to date and their personal spaces clean and tidy.

i. The wider school environment fosters in students the sense of self-worth and the sense of belonging to a learning community, through academic, cultural, sporting and other events.

j. Participation in Student Council, intertribal events, Team Sports and extra curricular activities are encouraged and opportunities are provided for students to participate in activities which help them develop their self esteem and their full potential in a wide range of areas.

k. Parents are well informed on ways of supporting their children’s learning through, information, newsletters, community activities, workshops, formal school reports and information on any issues relevant to their individual child.

Teacher Effectiveness is more than test results.

2011-09-07T07:43:00.000-06:00

Malcolm Bellamy defines "performance" in answering his question "What is teacher performance?".

He is right to question the use of performance as a term and the use of student test results to determine how effective that performance was.

A group of teachers tackled the question of teacher effectiveness some time ago and we came up with a different slant to the question. We asked "What are the characteristics of an effective teacher?" and listed these - for the purpose of making clear what the expectations were. Additionally, we defined a Learning and Teaching policy which should be followed as part of these characteristics.

The point is that these are behaviours, explicit behaviours, which we can identify, learn about and improve. Not global test results which can be so misleading (as Bellamy correctly points out).

Here is the list, bowdlerised:

An Effective Teacher at this school is CHARACTERISED by the following description:

Preparation, Classroom, and Teaching: the classroom space and resources are appropriately organised to facilitate learning. Work is planned which follows the established school curriculum. Lessons have structure and purpose, a variety of appropriate modes of teaching is used (in line with the school Learning and Teaching principles) showing awareness of individual student needs. The teacher is knowledgeable in the subject area. S/he understands and is responsive to the school expectations vis-a-vis student language learning and development (in line with the school Language Policy).
Pupil Assessment and Records: the teacher assesses regularly, uses results formatively and keeps an up-to-date record of achievement and progress. The teacher provides an appropriate response to all student work and completes reporting processes accurately and punctually.
Enthusiasm and Relationships: the teacher treats children with respect as individuals and conveys enthusiasm to the students. The teacher provides variety and interest in lessons and motivates and encourages the students to learn.
Class Discipline: the teacher shows control of class, knows and supports school policy and implements general school routine. The teacher gives importance to punctuality and can judge when and how to use rewards and sanctions effectively.
Pastoral Work: the teacher emits an open and caring attitude that makes him/her approachable to children. The teacher is willing to give time to listen to children’s problems and offers individual children support in dealing with them.
Communication and Working Relationships: the teacher has good communication skills and is able to maintain a good working relationship with all members of the school community, especially when giving or receiving constructive criticism. The teacher is a reliable colleague and team member who carries out section and departmental responsibilities when required. There is a tolerance towards ideas different from their own and a determination to assist in the smooth running of the whole school. The teacher communicates with parents and participates in parent conferences meeting reasonable demands for further individual parent appointments.
Change and improvement: the teacher contributes to and supports school initiatives, is receptive to new ideas and willing to provide some of their own when possible. The teacher works towards keeping up to date and participates willingly in the professional improvement management system. The teacher works towards functioning in both English and Spanish, as well as becoming IT literate.
School and Community Support: the teacher participates in the extra curricular programme, is supportive of school community events, and presents a positive image of the school.

Part 1 above refers to Learning and Teaching principles - and these are the principles (each is described much more fully by supporting statements which can be used as indicators, but not published here):

Principle One: The learning environment is prepared and organised so as to support effective learning and teaching and be conducive to different learning and teaching styles.

Principle Two: Students are given the opportunity to develop critical thinking skills and the attitudes to become globally aware, life long learners.

Principle Three: The curriculum is planned and delivered effectively through a variety of classroom activities.

Principle Four: Teaching and Learning activities are planned and delivered in a way that reflects the importance of language in facilitating effective learning across and within each curriculum area.

Principle Five: Effective assessment plays a significant role in the learning process and is an important tool for feedback, learning and curriculum planning.

An important point is that these characteristics of an effective teacher and learning and teaching principles were home-grown. Each school has to go through that process so as to represent the local situation and, even more importantly, to have credibility and currency within the institution.

Better than just test score use? I think so....

If Web 3.0 (the Semantic Web) is the destination, how are we going to get there?

2011-09-05T14:14:00.000-06:00

Google has done a great job of helping us find information. However, we have to use judgement as to what bits are useful. And as the amount of information on web pages that is indexed increases to unthinkable and unreachable proportions, we have diminishing returns.
The Semantic Web is given as the next x.0, in this case 3.0. Can it be so? What is the Semantic Web?
This is a Kate Ray documentary on the Semantic Web:

Web 3.0 from Kate Ray on Vimeo.
But how do we get there? What are the pitfalls? Are we in the midst of marketting hype which will get in the way of this utopian ideal? And how is Google+ tuned into this? How is it going to get us there?

Google conversion - where are they taking us?

2011-09-04T10:19:00.000-06:00

Google Inc is discontinuing old services.
Google Notebook was an early casualty and quite a shock to avid users - at school we used shared notebooks for minutes and other records, and we wondered, at the time, how we would do without it.
Then a much better Google Docs came along and we now use this, with features such as concurrent editing in real time, and think no more of Google Notebook.
Google Desktop is another one that now bites the dust. This may not be any great loss since cloud search devices are available and cloud storage is the way to go. But I am sure there must be those who will wonder how they will manage without it.
The Google Operating System blog lists other casualties: Aardvark, Fast Flip, Google Pack, Image Labeler, Sidewiki, and Subscribed link. This is fine, but note that they have been dropped whilst all is still in Beta. We are, by the way Google operates, considered permanent Beta-testers.
So, where is Google taking us? It all seems to be centred on Google+, an identity service. But it is hugely Beta, being developed quickly and has already soaked up Picasa. Are we sure that where Google is taking us is where we want to go?

Fairness in Assessment

2011-08-30T07:46:00.001-06:00

Steve Wheeler's slideshow on Assessment in the Digital Age questions fairness.
In my first post for Purpos/ed I ended up describing the effect of assessment on an individual student - saying that assessment is used by students to gauge their self-worth.
Steve addresses this with a powerful example on a question asked of his teacher by an eight year old boy - how many of us have been through this experience? I would judge that many have.

Assessment in the Digital Age: Fair Measures?

View more presentations from Steve Wheeler

What is the purpose of assessment in schools?

2011-08-23T14:31:00.000-06:00

This posting is for Purpos/ed - What is the purpose of assessment in 500 words....

I would like the answer to be "to improve student learning". Butthere is not one purpose of assessment but very many.

Assessment is used nationally to categorise learners so that they can haveaccess to further learning, or to ratethe quality of the learner's institution. At this level it is definitelysummative and the process is complex and not very transparent, so it isdifficult to judge whether either of these two purposes are being carried outeffectively.

Assessment is used by parents to try to judge both their child and theschool. Parents are often more interested in comparing their child with othersof the same age range than the individual progress that the child has made. Itis summative, can be formative, and should be ipsative.

Assessment is used by teachers to gauge individual and class prior learningand eventual learning. It should be diagnostic, ipsative and formative. It willalso be summative at appropriate times.

Assessment is used by schools to gauge how learners are learning andpossibly how teachers are teaching. It is summative on the whole.

Assessment is used by learners to gauge their self-worth. Therefore itmatters and will affect the learner’s attitude towards subsequent learning. Itis invariably summative even though teachers believe the assessment informationto be diagnostic, ipsative and formative.

Making learning real - extreme but effective OBLIQUITY

2011-08-23T12:37:00.000-06:00

Please bear with me - I will get to the point!

The issuing of A level results always brings with it a reflection in the media, on their value. For me, this reflection takes place a month or so earlier, when the International Baccaluareate results come out.

How well do these examinations assess (and measure) the real learning that the student has achieved?

How useful is this learning for getting the enabling qualifications in terms of prerequisite knowledge?
How useful is this learning for life?

I read Malcolm Bellamy's account (Education is not about certificates) with interest. In it he questions the value of the A level certificates in terms of learning things which will equip the holder for life in the global village.

Certainly, for traditional "professions" these certificates provide the currency for the next stage. But do they prepare these students for a lifetime of learning and provide them with the skills for life "in the global village"? And what about the many who do not want entry into traditional "professions" - what do these certificates do for them?

Bellamy quotes the seven essential skills that students will need in the 21st century, by Dr Tony Wagner, and these really got me thinking:

Problem-solving and critical thinking;
Collaboration across networks and leading by influence;
Agility and adaptability;
Initiative and entrepreneurship;
Effective written and oral communication;
Accessing and analyzing information; and
Curiosity and imagination.

How do you teach/learn these skills? Do you take a course on "Collaboration across networks and leading by influence"? Or on "Curiosity and imagination"?

Of course not.

Schools work on these seven obliquely (thanks John Kay for "Obliquity" and his book of the same name).

We provide opportunities for leadership, for projects in social service, for working together in teams, for setting up the refreshment stall for the open evening, for working at their History but actually also working on accessing and analysing information, for adapting to changes, for collaborating, and so on.

Of course , traditional lessons can be made to work on some or all of the seven points.

I came across the following video on Bellamy's site also, a very well produced account of project-based learning. Here surely is an extreme but highly effective example of obliquity - making learning real... ...and hitting all seven of Wagner's essential skills.

School websites - have they got over-complicated?

2011-06-22T06:11:00.001-06:00

The type of website that a school has can say a great deal about the school. Traditionally, schools have opted for a menu driven website which does all - it is the school's display window to the outside world, it has navigation and communications features, links to prospective parent/student and employment information, links to the various departments, entry points for students, staff and perhaps parents, newsletter or blog displays, perhaps a media gallery.
Sometimes you can see a lot of what the school is up to, other times you need to login for almost any bit of information - an open-to-closed dimension. Often information is hard to find, ending up down some one-way road into a website and no choice but to step-back to get to where you were. Nearly always, complicated.
We are splitting our website into three. The idea is to recognise three separate functions and then provide the type of website for each that meets the needs of the function.
1. Display window to the outside world - information for others, clear to find, split by type of user (prospective parent, prospective teacher, other information) and eye-catchy.
2. A navigation and communications portal - a clear method of finding where you want to go, an integrator of all things to do with navigating and communicating. Functional more than glossy.
3. A learning portal - a place where student or teacher (eventually parent) can go to find the learning/teaching specifically for them. Functional but attractive and leading you to learning.
We hope for simplicity, ease of navigation and of finding things - we have the summer break to get it done.
Later: thumbing through the illustrations in Patrick McNeil's "The Web Designer's Ideas Book" (2007, How Books, Cincinnati, Ohio), particularly the bits on structure, provides some language to describe the above. He includes the following as types of web structures:

Horizontal scrolling
Tabs
Three Buckets
One Page
Modules

and we could add

Vertical Scrolling (what most websites are)
Massive Menus

The main page therefore, is a Three Buckets Page, the display window is One Page with Tabs, the navigating and communicating page is Massive Menus and Modules, and the learning portal will likely be One Page showing all the possibilities for each type of learner (student, staff, parent).

Up in the Joli clouds!

2011-05-18T15:42:00.000-06:00

We do not need to look far for a good implementation of a "Chromebook"-like system.

Jolycloud, a France-based company founded by Tariq Krim in 2008, has what seems a great Chromium implementation. Described as a personal desktop in the cloud, the product allows netbooks and old laptops to function fast and trouble free.

I downloaded the programme to my PC, copied it over on to a memory stick, then ran that on my Acer Aspire netbook. Loaded on to this was Windows XP, which always performed sluggishly and poorly.

Joli OS ran trouble free and FAST! The desktop was simple and easy to navigate. It partitioned the netbook nicely and the on-board systems (sound, wireless, etc) worked without attention - just needed to log-on. You do need to create an account with Joli so that you are able to work from any Joli OS computer - hot desking!

Chromebooks are already in schools

2011-05-18T15:26:00.000-06:00

This video is from the "Knowledge is Power Program" school in Los Angeles where they have been using Chromebooks. From what I have read these are not the Chromebooks which will be rolled out on June 15th, however, this school has been using the concept for some time.

Chromebook leaves us Googled

2011-05-12T10:27:00.000-06:00

This has really made us think. As a school preparing its capital purchases for the next school year, where the likely cost per laptop is $1,200 plus our MS Campus agreement cost, the announcement by Google of Chromebook being available from June 15th, has caused me to take stock.

We have been a Google Apps for Ed school since 2007 and from that time our ways of working have changed significantly. We now collaborate, mail, website and store with GApps.

Conclusion - should we be more in the cloud?

Will the completely different concept (fast browser only computer allowing individual logins and up to 8 hours of battery life) be useful for our students? Will it be able to replace standard laptops?

The two Chromebooks of interest are as follows (both Wifi not 3G):

Samsung Series 5: $429 or $20 per user per month for 36 months;

Acer Chromebook: $349 or as above.

(But isn't it always the case - do we buy in NOW or wait until the bugs are ironed out?)

Broadband usage chart

2011-05-04T08:30:00.000-06:00

We have not hit our 30 Mbits max yet on our broadband usage. This is what the data says this morning:

I wonder what the user experience is like?

Upgrading to 30 Megabits/second - what should we expect?

2011-05-02T09:10:00.000-06:00

We now have a 30 Megabit/sec connection at school and are monitoring its progress. It is on a 1 to 3 compression (shared service with two others) and this is what Fernando, our Systems Manager, has to say about what to expect:

Listen!

Al Gore's "Our Choice" App - the interactive book of the future?

2011-05-01T18:51:00.001-06:00

E-readers have taken the traditional book and, well, displayed them. The computing power in the reader is used only to display, and the discussion is about how good this display is.
The new i-Pad and i-Phone/Touch App from Al Gore "Our Choice" seeks to put across the Global Warming arguments in an interesting and captivating way. Rodale, Melcher Media and Push Pop Press are credited with creating the App. It is certainly captivating and teaches powerfully.
Navigation through the book is done in the i-Pad way - sliding pages across with one finger, pinching out to expand photographs or videos, pinching in to put them away on the page, or simply touching to expand.
The photography is stunning, sharp and clear in the i-Pad display. The audio is sometimes out of sync with the video and clipped at the beginning of a piece. Is this just a problem with the original digital film editing or is it an inherent i-Pad problem?
Besides the navigation interactivity, it has a nice feature involving the built-in microphone - blowing into it generates wind power and thus electricity in one of the embedded objects.
On pages showing a photograph with an audio commentary, there is a circular audio guage which shows how much time is left - a useful feature.
Verdict? Excellent as a learning tool, captivating and engaging. This has to be the way that text books go in the future, with embedded learning objects.
Mike Matas talking about this book on TED:

Web-two-point-zeroing online learning

2011-03-28T19:40:00.000-06:00

Have been taking the Sloan-C Online Teaching Certificate - and have really enjoyed it and learned a great deal. It concerns conventional online learning, mostly at universities, using enclosed and traditional virtual learning platforms (Blackboard, Moodle, etc). Hence definitely Web 1.0 in approach.
The idea of a Web 2.0 collaborative online learning SYSTEM has to be the next thing - and a Massive Open Online Course (a MOOC) has to be it. David Cornier worked on this with colleagues June Sandy McAuley, Bonnie Stewart and George Siemens, and he explains all in the following videos:

Facebook - a source of scams

2011-03-26T09:47:00.002-06:00

Facebook is a great Web 2.0 social networking site. What better way is there than to have a group of friends and follow what each other is up to and what they are viewing/doing online?
Have noticed, however, that several of my friends have been scammed. That is, their account has been hijacked in some way.
The way this happens is that they click on an interesting Facebook entry on a friend's post - but they are opening themselves up to having information stolen, "liking" something they really don't or some other unwanted occurrence.
Thanks BlogHerald for posting this graphic of Facebook scams (and Bitdefender):
(click to view and then C+ it)

Making data available makes for more apps

2011-01-19T14:42:00.002-06:00

It is such a pleasure to leaf through a book - the one I am currently dipping in to is David McCandless' "Information is Beautiful". Data is taken and displayed delightfully, beautifully even.
Having data available makes such books possible and the skill (art?) of reproducing the data visually makes the point easily, much more easily than the raw numbers would have it.
I notice data being put to good use in London. Boris Johnson (Mayor of London) had London data put on a website - London Data Store - for free. And the result?
Smartphone apps which tell you where the nearest toilet is or where you can find the nearest docking station for your hired bicycle.
Entrepreneurs have produced the apps using the raw data now available.
What else can you do? See traffic cameras, rate hospitals by their bacterium infection rate, determine air quality, and even have an app which wakes you up early if there are delays on the underground tube system.
And the possibilities are very many - crime is easy to trace via pages of data regarding stone throwing by London borough, robberies, knifings on trains, etc.
Apps are everywhere in London - I even saw a policeman whip his i-Phone out to show an enquiring lady which way to go.

@BETT: Paul Bell's predictions

2011-01-13T09:00:00.001-06:00

At the BETT London show and heard Paul Bell (President, Public Sector, Dell) give his presentation on where we are and implications for the future.
He stated that users would want devices which were fit for purpose and aimed at them. He mentioned the Dell Latitude 2120 with its rotating screen - tablet and notebook - which had been "soldier-proofed" further. He also considered large screen Smartphones as appropriate too.
Does this mean that we should be wary of using whatever technology is at hand, where students might have a variety of types of Smartphones/pads/touches? The advice does come from a laptop manufacturer but I do think that he is right. Classroom use needs to be tech-problem free - the teacher does not need to spend time on "how do I get that on my phone?" situations.
The "Implications for IT leaders in education" were interesting:
We should be ready for radical transformations so as to get the appropriate cost structure, to keep up with the pace of innovation teachers and students are going through and so fund different architecture; storage is certainly an area which we must consider - we are weighing up whether to buy another storage server ($20K) or put that in the cloud also.
We should also consider the service that we are providing, getting a higher level of service with lower costs by redirecting our small support staff to add value - to be partners for our teachers and support them rather than be fixers of technological hitches.
Storage caps need to go away, so that we do not limit storage since this will limit usage and creativity. Again, we need to enable value being added - however, with the cloud comes the need to ensure a sufficiently fast and reliable connection - that goes hand in hand. We have problems in that regard despite a dedicated 8 megabits service.
Finally, he finished his presentation with the last point - imagine anything is possible - well yes...
...that is the problem when we are working on the architecture for the next few years. However, I take away from this the need to do just that - imagine what will come and not return to what was.

On-line tutors - could they produce a 2.0 SD swing?

2011-01-11T15:12:00.000-06:00

Following on from the last post - could experienced on-line tutors produce a 2.0 SD improvement? This is certainly something interesting to explore.
We are in our teacher recruitment round and I do come across teachers in other countries with the experience and personality to be able to do on-line tutoring.
They would have to support the subject teacher, know the approaches used by her, and, to use a variant of the Google phrase, do no harm. By that I mean that explanations and approaches should be ones that the subject teacher approves of.
How would it work? Skype is the obvious choice.
How would we keep records so as to pay the on-line tutor? Would it be done on just a retainer with a maximum number of hours "on duty"?
How do we get feedback about usage and quality?
Could this be the support that would make a difference for at least some of those struggling with some subject matter or skills?

What sort of learning benefit might we expect by using technology?

2010-12-31T16:48:00.002-06:00

In Puentedura's presentation (2006), he asks "what type of things improve performance". This was to try to obtain a 2 standard deviation (SD) improvement for EVERY student, following his presentation of the result of US students in the OECD PISA Report. These tests emphasised performance rather than what courses the students take in each country. Conclusion - Commonwealth countries (and Japan, Korea, China, Finland) do better than average, most of Europe and the USA are in the average category.
He quotes Bloom's work from 1984 into research on how to accomplish improvement - conclusion that one-to-one tutoring by experienced tutors produce a 2 standard deviation gain in learning. But other aspects give improvement too (warning - not additive):
1.20 Reinforcement
1.00 Feedback-corrective (Mastery Learning)
1.00 Cues and explanations
1.00 Student classroom participation
1.00 Student time on task
1.00 Improved reading/study skill
0.80 Cooperative learning
0.80 Homework (graded)
0.60 Classroom morale
0.60 Initial cognitive prerequisites
0.50 Home environment intervention
0.40 Peer and cross-age remedial tutoring
etc
(Bloom 1984, Walberg 1984)
All these are interesting and I will follow up this work, but, but, Puentedura maintains that Computer use will produce AT LEAST 0.4 SDs and up to 2.0 SD. This work was done in Mathematics.
You have to do things well to achieve these results, thinking in terms of the SAMR and TPCK models.
He highlights four technological avenues to transformation (here transformation being used specifically to produce these types of radical improvements in learning):
Visualisation and Simulation
Social Computing
Digital Storytelling
Educational Gaming.

Combining two models for designing learning with technology

2010-12-31T12:26:00.002-06:00

My previous post introduced the TPCK model of teacher knowledge which helps us examine the types of knowledge a teacher needs when designing learning with technology. The best explanation of this model, and how it combines with Ruben Puentedura's SAMR model of technological use, is given in his presentation available on I-Tunes ( "As We May Teach: Educational Technology, University of Maine").
He describes each intersection of the TPCK model in detail and is worth listening to. In this link he lists exemplar resources to illustrate each intersection.
Puentedura's SAMR model enables us to classify technology used in teaching depending upon whether it SUBSTITUTES, AUGMENTS, MODIFIES or REDEFINES the task. He depicts SA as Enhancing the learning and MR as Transforming the learning, where the technology allows for learning tasks which would not have been possible before.

Ruben Puentedura describes the SAMR model in this slide show from presentations given at a conference in 2006.
This model may enable us to classify the technology used in schools and to allow us to question the value of technology in a particular area.
By value I think we should mean whether learning is enhanced, made more accessible, more interesting, more motivating.
It is possible that learning could be enhanced at the pure substitution level. The model does not seem to imply that learning is improved per se - just that technology is substituting traditional tasks/methods.
By definition, the model considers improvement from A onwards.
If we start to consider each course we prepare in these terms, it will allow us to determine the value of the technology to be used - is it improving the learning?
In the conference slide show, Puentedura explains where his model originated. He developed it to describe the uptake of technology by firms in a study. Interestingly, he maintained that those where the technology Redesigned the way the tasks were carried out, had the greatest return on the technological investment. In a way this makes sense.

Searching for a model for learning with technology

2010-12-29T16:37:00.003-06:00

It is tempting but futile to try to answer questions on educational technology just by looking at the latest technology available. Equally, it is futile to keep doing the same things (buying the same things) - see my earlier post on the Capital Budget.
How should we be using technology in learning and teaching?
What models of learning with (through? assisted by?) technology exist?

In 1986 Lee Shulman introduced the idea of considering the teacher's SUBJECT knowledge (the content) and the teacher's PEDAGOGICAL tool kit (my terms) together, and not as separate entities. He illustrated it thus:

He stated that these areas were treated as mutually exclusive entities in research and in training teachers. The crucial intersection, that of Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK), is often ignored:
"This knowledge includes knowing what teaching approaches fit the content, and likewise, knowing how elements of the content can be arranged for better teaching. This knowledge is different from the knowledge of a disciplinary expert and also from the general pedagogical knowledge shared by teachers across disciplines. PCK is concerned with the representation and formulation of concepts, pedagogical techniques, knowledge of what makes concepts difficult or easy to learn, knowledge of students’ prior knowledge and theories of epistemology. It also involves knowledge of teaching strategies that incorporate appropriate conceptual representations, to address learner difficulties and misconceptions and foster meaningful understanding. It also includes knowledge of what the students bring to the learning situation, knowledge that might be either facilitative or dysfunctional for the particular learning task at hand. This knowledge of students includes their strategies, prior conceptions (both “naïve” and instructionally produced); misconceptions students are likely to have about a particular domain and potential misapplications of prior knowledge." (from pck.org, accessed 29Dec10)

This makes perfect sense and it is how we think about preparing learning in schools. As a mathematics teacher I consider the content knowledge of what I am about to teach, the pedagogical knowledge in its broader sense AND the specific teaching knowledge regarding the mathematical content. This latter, often gained by experience over time in an iterative process each time I prepare to teach it.

The same type of model exists for technology, introducing Technology as a new interacting domain.

Here is the diagram now that we include Technology: (diagram from TPCK)
The point is that each intersection deserves attention. An excellent presentation about this is done by Ruben Puentedura - it is worth listening to on I-Tunes - "As We May Teach: Educational Technology, Maine Uni". He does this as the introduction to SAMR - an item for my next post.

Adult learning vs student learning

2010-12-20T11:48:00.001-06:00

Came across a discussion regarding the difference between adult learning/teaching (andragogical learning theory) and student/child learning/teaching (pedagogical learning theory).
This was interesting - and relevant to educational technology - since it deals with who has the responsibility for learning to take place. In andragogical learning theory it is the adult learner who has the responsibility for the learning to have taken place, whilst in school based learning, the educator is assumed to have that responsibility.
Where does the pedagogical/adragogical change occur? We talk about developing study skills in students, of having less directed time for older students, but it seems that school based educators never lose that responsibility for the learning to have taken place.
Should this be so? When should young adults take over that responsibility?
And should the adult educators (lecturer is the normal title - telling indeed) not have some of that responsibility?

Gazing into a crystal ball - what is the platform for the future?

2010-12-16T18:27:00.000-06:00

Many schools must be going through the same process as we are - deciding what to include in our capital budget. Times are sufficiently tight to have us questioning every item.

We have to replace some laptops in laptop carts and others that have definitely seen their "consume before" date; we want to expand the Macs available in our Learning Resources Centre and provide some replacement PCs; we need to provide some additional computers to new staff and classrooms. All in all a fairly large bill.

But where is the technology going? Are we ready to have more students in Secondary with a laptop? But are laptops the way to go? What about platforms that handle social media well? Mobiles?

Ravit Lichtenberg has a track record of accurate predictions and her article "10 Ways Social Media will change in 2011" is particularly interesting.

Here are her predictions: (in bold what I think applies to schools)

1. Social media will be supersized - social media solutions will be everywhere.

2. Companies will integrate social feedback into their decision making processes - "Expect to see a rise in companies who, by end of year, will be recognized for socially-informed innovation, customer focus and work environment, —much like Zappos and Amazon were a few years back." Schools need to see how to encourage and manage responsible commenting to get parent, student and staff opinion.

3. Mobile will become our gateway to the world - now, this I think is happening already. Many e-mails that I get are I-Phone or Blackberry generated. I have used mine when away from the desk and found it acceptable for many things (not for inputing - I could not have done this post on my mobile without great difficulty if at all). But, given that Blackberry Messenger seems to be the communications medium of choice amongst students, couldn't internet enabled mobiles be the thing? We are using Facebook for some announcements - much easier to receive these on a social media mobile phone.

4. Video will be everywhere - well, it is already. What used to be the exclusive report back system for students - Powerpoint - is now digital video (live or animation).

5. The next big Online Social Network will not be a network at all - the rise of community platforms and applications. Diaspora is quoted as an example. I think Google Apps for Education is one already....

6. ROI will be redefined - "ROI metrics will go beyond counting Likes and Comments" - yes, but how else would you measure the impact your social media platform is having?

7. Psychology is shifting - wow! I found this interesting - new levels of cognitive flexibility - brought about by changes in social interactions brought about by social media. Clearly there are changes at the relationship psychology level - but could there be brain plasticity in action producing students whose brains are changing and adapting and being reskilled? Wow!

8. Citizen activism back brings purpose and power - (back? why back?) - should consider students activism and also such activism working against a school's direction.

9. Social business intelligence will heat up and so will privacy - the mapping of our activities, preferences and choices may not be welcome - do we all share Mark Zukerberg's naive view about Facebook profiles? Should schools run their social media behind a firewall?

10. The role of the social media strategist will be changing - and what companies want from them will be much more informed and demanding.

Distracted by Everything

2010-11-15T10:58:00.001-06:00

Configuración de seguridad de FACEBOOK - en español

2010-11-01T10:28:00.001-06:00

(Thank you Silvia S. for voicing over the video on Facebook security settings into Spanish, and thanks to Jennifer G. for the video!)

Singing Fingers, painting with sound

2010-10-17T17:10:00.000-06:00

Another gem from the World is Full of Interesting Things slide show:

Graffiti Stop Motion - Exemplars

2010-10-16T18:13:00.000-06:00

You have to admire not only the artistry and imagination, but also the patience - it must have taken ages:

(both by Blu)

Stop Motion Exemplars

2010-10-16T18:00:00.000-06:00

We are working on getting good digital film making being done by students at school.
Really good examples of stop motion film making are hard to come by - here are two from PES:

Interesting things.... from Creative Labs at Google

2010-10-16T06:28:00.000-06:00

The World is full of interesting things - so says the opening slide of 119 slides.
The slide show contains examples and links of interesting applications and websites, using Google services of one kind or another, under the headings:
Audio, Movies, Vizual (sic), Art, Physical, Light, Tech, Politics, Sports, Books, History and Advertising.

Change Happens - an update to Shift Happens more suited to 2010

2010-09-27T13:29:00.000-06:00

The Future of the Book - not just turning pages

2010-09-26T12:03:00.000-06:00

This presentation from IDEO considers three formats for e-reader type book presentation: Nelson, Coupland and Alice.
The current e-readers are fashioned on books - a take-anywhere book replacement. The formats discussed here really try to add value, much more than just swiping with your finger to turn the page.

The Future of the Book. from IDEO on Vimeo.

Moving calendars into Google Apps for Education

2010-09-25T12:43:00.001-06:00

The early adopters' curse...
We have been a Google Apps for Education school since May 2006 - but we have been using Google Calendars for our school calendars well before then.
These were on private Gmail accounts, and as such could not be used with our Apps Groups system - so we decided to import these calendars to our "dash net" system (what we call Google Apps).
We set up a new calendar using a dummy user and then each calendar (Primary, Secondary and Whole School).
Exporting from the original Gmail calendars was easy. From Calendar Settings on the drop down arrow of the calendar, you press the ICAL button on the calendar address. Pressing the OK downloads a basic.ics file. This is the one you then import into the Apps calendar that you have prepared.
It was a smooth process.
Some tips:
a) keep the basic.ics file from each calendar - you then have a back-up if things go wrong;
b) restrict the old calendars to private view so that they then do not appear - there does seem to be some time lag, however, since we had some unexplainable appearances of the old calendar;
c) name your new calendar DIFFERENTLY so that you can recognise the new one from the old one, if things do not work out well (see b);
d) share using the Groups system - first signs are that the clicking on the link added the calendar - do remember that you will probably get threaded messages from your dummy user account notifying you of the new calendar and you may have to "show text" to be able to see it;
e) Macs - there seem to be some problems here - investigating these but first comments are that it was easier to add by url.
You would have thought that it would be easy to find a group calendar. Not a bit. A plea to Google - please make it easier to find group calendars within a domain! Perhaps a tab on Browse Interesting Calendars listing all the group calendars shared within the domain?
Okay - calendars out of the way, blogs next when these become part of Google Apps....

Bill Gates on F2F or online education

2010-09-15T17:41:00.000-06:00

Bill Gates' take on where there may be change in the future, from the Technology conference in San Francisco.
He talks about K-12 (or K-9) being a different situation from college education. In the latter, the costs of place based education is unaffordably high and could come down to $2,000 using technology.
For schools, he believes that the socialising/care roles of schools (a place for the children to be whilst the parents do other things) will not change.

Sites in Google Apps - wikis with easily managed permissions

2010-09-15T17:03:00.000-06:00

Sites is the Google version of wikis within Google Apps for Education.
Being within the Apps domain, permissions are very easily managed. With groups of users previously set up, permissions can be set at three levels - we have called these "A", "N" and "P".
It is possible to share the site with everyone ("A" for all):

Clicking this makes that site visible to all.

If you want to restrict it to all your users in your apps domain, then there is a box to check to do that - and you can choose to allow edits or just viewing.
And finally, you can invite members of your domain to be "owners", "collaborators" or "viewers" ("P" for obvious reasons).
We have placed all our documentation on-line using sites, with permissions accordingly.
Embedding within sites works well. It is also possible to embed Google docs and forms within the site (but remember that the permissions have to match the site ones).

GMail Calling

2010-08-31T14:02:00.000-06:00

Google announced that calls can be made (to the US) from within GMail. They hope to emulate Skype.
Will this challenge Skype?
Not sure but I do like the idea of convergence onto one system or device. I do not normally switch my Skype on unless I need to make a call, whereas I would be available for calls anytime I was on GMail.
In the middle of a presentation perhaps?

Groups in Google Apps - allowing bulk handling of sharing

2010-08-29T10:04:00.000-06:00

Google Apps for Education is a powerful set of tools for collaboration.
Using "Groups" in Google Apps allows users to be assigned to their working or interest groups.
There are two ways to do this in Apps, and it is useful to point out the difference.
Contacts allows mailing lists to be made AT THE INDIVIDUAL'S LEVEL. Here you are able to name a list and assign people in your contacts to the list.
Groups, if properly set up, allows users to make a working or interest group at the institution level. This is really powerful because it allows permissions to be assigned for Google Docs or Google Sites by using Groups - no one-by-one individual assigning.
Additionally, changing the original Group list will change the permission for the Doc or Site - no need to go back to individual Docs or Sites to edit the permissions.
Fernando, our excellent Systems Manager, explained to me how Groups works at this school (we call our Apps system "dash net" to differentiate it from our previous mailing list system).
Listen!

Apple marketing video for the i-Pad

2010-08-23T08:46:00.001-06:00

This video provides a (hyped-up?) list of i-Pad functionality, and thus useful to try to get a measure of all that it can do.

Does it live up to this?

Generally yes. I was surprised since I did think of it as a larger i-Touch (which it is). But the larger screen and the ability to interact with it makes the experience a totally different one. Add to this apps which have been specially redesigned for it, the superb colour and definition of the lcd interactive screen, its battery power, and it really does make you say "wow".

Grumbles? Well, Flash does not work on it so some content unattainable. You cannot have that. And single-tasking is a pain...

New GApps control panel to manage domains and divisions

2010-08-09T13:18:00.001-06:00

The new version of the Google Apps administrator's control panel allows users to be organised into multiple domains and divisions.
This will allow the owner of multiple domains to use each as a separate entity but allowing users to share calendars or documents in any part of the organisation. There are some restrictions.
Education edition GApps administrators will be able to define their organisational structure and divide users into divisions, determining which services are available to users in each division.
Since schools consists of obviously different groups (students, staff, parents, alumni, etc), it may be useful to have domains with names that make more sense; also, defining structures for divisions will again enable services to be switched on or off.
We are about to implement some of this and will write about what happens...

Google Apps to add more apps

2010-08-08T08:09:00.001-06:00

Google announces that Blogger, Reader, Picasa Web Albums and other Google services will shortly be available directly from Google Apps accounts (business and education editions). It seems that it will involve "a significant overhaul to our underlying systems" and so are moving forward carefully. It is welcomed - although my Chrome browser seems to handle the new services and the old apps on different tabs, there are hiccups at times.
How will they manage transfer of existing services on other accounts? Will we be able to transfer or will it apply only to new content on applications to be offered on Google Apps?
LATER: there must be some transition work - trying to open GDocs on Apps from a link on the docs main page and getting "We are sorry but xxx does not have access to this account" on a document with only me having permission to view/edit whilst opening with no problems when opening another shared document! Very curious.

Waving no more

2010-08-05T15:34:00.000-06:00

I did wonder if Google Wave was ever going to be useful. Apart from a go when it first came out and then a little flourish just a while ago, I hardly used it. Tried. Tried to stir some interest (as much in myself as well as in others) but Gmail was not replaced.
If Wave had happened at the beginning, then perhaps it might have been different. But there was no social media concept then.
Google state that it will not continue to develop Wave but will maintain the site "at least through the end of the year" and will extend the use of the technology to other Google products. This may be interesting since the instant and continuous editing in Wave is amazing.

There one minute, gone the next.

2010-06-01T10:01:00.000-06:00

There one minute, gone the next. Or so it seems.
Ning turned out to be not just another strange internet name but a really useful method for bringing people together for a purpose.
I first used Nings to follow the Shanghai 2008 Learning conference, virtually. I was able to see those who attended, listen to podcasts and read accounts. I caught up with old friends as well as had a sense of the event.
Since that time I have used the same account to access other Ning social platforms and events.
But Nings are changing:
"New plans and pricing announced! We're focusing 100% on paying Ning Networks and will begin phasing out our free service in July". (From Ning website)
Okay, it is good to pay for things of value. But for education, Nings had turned out to be a good tool and being FREE is valuable.
Why the change? Why not have other revenue streams, or at least the free basic service and charge for the one without adverts....?
Listening to the BBC Digital Planet podcast about the IDLELO 4 conference in Ghana, brought home to me the necessity to ensure that the software one uses is UNDER YOUR CONTROL. The participants of this conference stressed the need not to rely on Western (ie US) programs which not only can be costly but are controlled by other than African interests.
The same applies to education. The danger is that what you rely on could be there one minute and gone the next.

Data made meaningful and powerful by cooperation

2010-05-21T14:27:00.003-06:00

I read about Google Chrome having 70 million users (not downloads, but users) on the Google Operating System blog. An impressive statistic.
The chart showed the increase over time:

Aside from the starting at 30 millions and thus not being able to see the full axis and thus the scale of it, I thought it showed the statistic well.
However, looking through the comments, I came across this comment from Scrvpvlvs: "Your fine article prompted me to compare the two browsers’ growth rates", dated the same day, under his blog post: "Chrome Heats Up Faster Than Firefox".
And in three charts he makes the data totally meaningful. The original poster quoted some figures from another website and stated that Firefox had five times more users than Chrome - implying that we should see the 70 million in that context.
Scrvpvlvs' charts show that these are indeed impressive figures because it shows the growth of Chrome. first by market share over time:

Then by share growth:

and then projecting one year into the future:

showing Chrome overtaking Firefox.
Thanks Scrvpvlvs for the analysis. It struck me also that it showed the power of collaboration, enriching the analysis of the original statistic.

Virtual Choir - "Lux Aurumque"

2010-04-23T07:58:00.000-06:00

Eric Whitacre's "Lux Aurumque" is a wonderful piece (thank you Catherine), composed and conducted for a VIRTUAL CHOIR - this being done from individual Youtube tracks of singers from 12 countries.

Credits:
PRODUCED AND MANAGED BY:
Scott Haines

COMPOSED AND CONDUCTED BY:
Eric Whitacre

Representing 12 Countries:
Austria
Argentina
Canada
Germany
Ireland
New Zealand
The Philippines
Singapore
Spain
Sweden
United Kingdom
United States of America

Google CEO's Fireside Chat at Google Atmosphere

2010-04-15T15:51:00.001-06:00

A good insight into Google's ways of working as well as their priorities over the next few years was given by Eric Schmidt's Fireside Chat at the CIO event held in London.
Applications are not full replacement for the incumbents - Google's goal is to get to 80% functionality. Google Apps has 2 million enterprise customers!
Schmidt says that what is important now is to get the mobile architecture right. Single most interesting development is the arrival of HTML5. Really important for browser development.
Chrome and Chrome OS with 2 second boot time. Platform at every level.

He was asked for a thumbnail SWOT on Google:
Strength (?)

We make lots of mistakes but we admit them.

Weakness

As Google becomes middle aged it is harder and harder to do completely new things.
Every government has some group busy trying to figure what we are up to - information is power - disrupting industries.
Most large companies have cooperation as well as being competitors with Google.

Schmidt ended with the following pearls:

Most important aspect of leadership in the modern age has to do with curiosity - most people "my" age don't ask the fundamental questions. Challenge every single assumption. Employees will respect you if you are on top of the details.
Treat employees as if they are intelligent - ask them a question rather than telling them what to do.
Collaboration does not mean by consensus - collaboration means that we sit in rooms until the best idea around, everyone agrees on that idea and that is what we do.
There are many smart people in your organisation - try to find them and try to encourage them.

Mobile phone size grows into i-Pad

2010-03-31T10:13:00.003-06:00

I have often wondered if the choice of SIZE of display of a digital assistant (mobile phone, netbook, laptop, desktop, etc) is determined by whether you are long or short sighted. Seeing friends struggling to read menus or hunting around for their magnifying spectacles to use a small screwdriver reminds me that we all do not see the world in the same way.

Being short sighted means that mobile phone and small screen laptops are easy. Yet, even with this facility, the amount of space, just space, for seeing the "complete picture" is missing. I need to read more than just a few characters of text.

So, this is where the i-Pad will be a hit, I think. A big enough display to see what you need. And coupled with the i-Book you have great possibilities.

Just days to go to the i-Pad launch

2010-03-30T16:00:00.000-06:00

With just days to go to the i-Pad launch (Saturday 3rd of April), the usual secrecy surrounds it. Apple Store staff, even managers and Geniuses (Apple know-all fixers), will not see the i-Pad before the public.

How are others seeing it? Interestingly, even the detractors say that they will buy one!
In the Spring edition of iPhone Life, the odds are 2 for and 1 against. Two writers support it wholeheartedly, one does not. Todd Bernhard's list of disappointments are:

No camera
No multitasking
No tethering
Limited memory

And yet, he writes, he will buy one.

I agree with the "no multitasking" disappointment - but that is core Apple (Apple core? The bits that stick in your mouth...). Consider i-Tunes, great for many things but only one-slow-task-at-a-time. What is the fundamental flaw that prevents Apple products from multitasking?

Not an i-tablet but an i-Pad

2010-02-01T05:25:00.007-06:00

"Our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price".

With these words, Steve Jobs, looking thin, grey and with a weak voice, summed-up the new Apple i-Pad.

And I don't think that he exaggerates. I have to say that after viewing the over-an-hour long presentation, Jobs and his team convinced me. Stephen Fry, much quoted for his i-Pad support since the launch, was in the audience. I can understand how he too could be convinced.

What struck me?

1. First the statistics on i-Phone Apps: both Jobs and his Senior VP for Software, stated 3 billion downloads and over 140,000 apps available. That is huge. Impressive also is the revenue (selling) system that Apple has - i-Tunes - not the most wonderful bit of kit (what is it with Apple and multiple programmes running? They do not seem to be able to get to grips with this) - but one from which you have to buy all the extra bits through. Talk about controlling your revenue stream.... oh! And Apple is a $50 BILLION mobile devices company - number one in the World.

2. Existing i-Phone Apps work on the i-Pad. So a user has 140,000 apps already available.

3. Apps can be tweaked to enhance them for the i-Pad. Impressive. The New York Times app "captured the essence of reading the newspaper, .... providing a finite snapshot in time, exquisite typography, images and content, ... providing a superior reading experience". Using your fingers to interact with the newspaper, flicking through pages, obtaining content lists, double tapping up articles, customising fonts, well, even being able to see moving images in the newspaper page (as Harry might do in the Daily Prophet).

I was impressed by Brushes, an app which has been enhanced and which produces a complete art studio weighing one and a half pounds.

4. i-Book. This is a winner. A fully adjustable Kindle, with five major publishers' content negotiated. Go to the i-Book store, select, download, click on it on your bookshelf, read. It fits nicely into your hand, is thin, clear. The possibility for textbooks is excellent.

5. i-Work. Totally revamped to take advantage of the fingers interacting with the image on the screen. Impressive auto wrap around graphics, specific screens developed so that you can work with Numbers (spreadsheet) in an intuitive way.

6. Games. Well, not so interested in this but using the i-Pad as a steering device, seeing the image right in front of you, and having the accelerometer registering the movement was excellent. I can see why people are excited about this.

7. Battery life. Wait for it. Up to 10 hours. Will it turn out to be so?

8. Price. Here was a real surprise:

16GB for $499, 32GB for $599 and 64GB for $699.

Available? Those above in 60 days. 3G models for $130 more available a month later.

WiFi packages? Up to 250MB data monthly for $14.99 per month; unlimited $29.99. All i-Pad 3G models sold unlocked using GSM micro SIMS. Available internationally June, July.

Add the dock and keyboard accessories and you have a serious work and play machine.

What wonderful opportunities for education.

What's in a definition? Making sense of one-to-one laptops....

2010-01-24T08:31:00.000-06:00

I am reading Pamela Livingston's "1-to-1 Learning, Laptop Programs that Work", published by ISTE (Second Edition).
At first I found the description of a laptop as a Digital Assistant liberating - here was a meta-name for device which could be a laptop, mobile phone, i-Touch, etc. But then, reflecting a bit and looking at the original work on this by Prakash Nair, I found much more to think about.
Nair uses the term Digital Teaching Assistants for 1-to-1 laptops and considers them as being "beyond a tool" - that is, it is not a "passive" tool like a pencil or ruler, but improves its properties as a tool the more you "programme" it.
It is the "teaching" bit that started me thinking. I think a laptop can teach, perhaps, but it probably better to say that the laptop can help students to learn (emphasis on the student learning rather than implying that the laptop, an inanimate object can "teach").
That is, Digital Learning Assistant is a better definition.
I liked Livingston's list of uses that the Digital Assistant can be put to (I have settled on using her term). I list them here, split into groups of uses, so that these can be considered and challenged, if necessary.

Writing, reading, studying, learning, researching, organising, making assumptions, solving problems, publishing, presenting, connecting ideas, and creating new understandings.
Database for work and files, a sketchpad and planner for projects, a publisher for reports and papers, and a conduit for research that provides access to online resources.
Communications facilitator for e-mail, instant messaging and blogging.
Calculator and what-if analyser of data and information.
Digital processor for photos and videos.
Facilitates children's thinking, analysing, presenting, writing, reading researching, revising, communicating, questioning, proposing, creating, surmising, and publishing.

(I paraphrase a little above - from p2)
What do you think about the list? Anything missing?