Inter-connectivity - not just a problem in NZ

The MLE group have spent many hours and dollars on ensuring that SMS's and LMS's can talk to each other and allow content to be easily transferred between the various LMS's. On top of this has been added the desire for student and parent access to LMS and SMS data from home which has spawned the development of the parent portal. This is all new territory for NZ schools, teachers, students and parents, and many of us feel quite overwhelmed by the pressure to embark on a complete overhaul of our school systems to accommodate and implement these new technologies. Well, we are not alone. Have a read of this blog post by Christopher Dawson as he battles to implement inter-connectivity and parent portals in his school district

Predictions about 2010

Just catching up on some blogs and felt that this posting by David Warlick on predictions about 2010 was particularly compelling. While we never really know what is around the corner, it's always exciting to think about the possibilities. Also interesting is Derek Wenmoth's posting on the recent Becta report and the impact of digital technologies on learning. What Derek draws to our attention to is that the advent of ICT is not just a new communication tool but is part of the 21st century cultural revolution. We as teachers need to recognise this fact and understand that the integration of ICT into our teaching lives, for both educational and administrative purposes, is no longer an option and no longer dependent upon buy-in - either buy-in or get out, it's that simple.

Welcome to two new schools

As this blog is about the Volcanics eLearning Community, it seems a good idea to welcome two new members to our community in 2010. They are Melville High School (principal: Clive Hamill) and Rangitahi College (principal: Dawn Mitai-Pehi). I look forward to working with the two new schools and hope they benefit from, and enjoy being part of our community.

2010 - What to expect

Well, 2009 was an incredibly quiet year from a blogging perspective, but a very active year in terms of eLearning. The focus has definitely moved from technology to learning and how to design courses which work well in on line environments - easier said than done. What has not changed is the need to have good technology, and access to it, to ensure that good learning happens through ICT. Therefore the rural broadband investment initiative is an exciting opportunity for schools, which, supported by stage 3 of the schools network upgrade (snup), should see access to ICT and the internet improving. What still needs to happen is for schools to see ICT as a strategic asset and not just a cost centre or hole for money. This is not only because of how it can impact on all aspects of education, but also because of the large investment in the asset and the need to sustain the asset. ICT needs to be considered in the same light as property, and funding accordingly set aside. This means schools integrating ICT into all elements of the strategic plan, which will allow them to set targets against which they can report and measure progress.

With regard to Volcanics, what will we be focussing on in 2010?

1. Continual drive to fully integrate ICT into schools' strategic plans, which flows through to an annual action plan and on to individual teaching plans and goals.
2. How ICT can be used to support differentiated teaching and inquiry learning, which will hopefully personlise learning for individual students. Teachers will need support to draw up unit plans and identify useful eLearning tools. They will also need practical ideas and examples on how to implement new approaches and how to measure their effectiveness.
   
3. Learning design - developing on-line learning which will meet the needs and expectations of 21st century students. This is especially important for our eTeachers. We will be looking at planning, methodology, practice and tools. This links up with 2 above.
4. The development of a true community of practice for eTeachers.
   
5. Educating and informing students and parents about eLearning and the opportunities that exist for students through the Volcanics eLearning Community and the Virtual Learning Network. This means having information on school websites and regular articles in newsletters.
   
6. Continual focus on the development of a learning community within Volcanics which brings together teachers along lines of interest and along curriculum lines. Areas of interest will include inquiry learning, differentiated teaching, behaviour management and classroom management, literacy across the curriculum, learning design and on-line learning environments, cyber-citizenship and formative assessment.
7. Keeping on top of of the RBI roll-out to ensure that Volcanics schools are represented and given the best opportunity to take up fibre as soon as possible.
8. Continual membership and development of the Virtual Learning Network (VLN) so that it has a strong national voice which will represent the interests of the Volcanics Community.

So, roll-on 2010 - Heaps to do, but an exciting time for learning

Now That's what I'm talking about

I have recently linked to "Langwitches - The Magic of Learning Through Technology". Great site. The most recent post It's about reflecting and analysing our teaching practice, really hits the nail on the head when it comes to integrating ICT into our teaching practice. The fact that we use technology is not the issue. The fact that we are able to create engaging and rich learning opportunities which lead to meaningful learning using technology is the issue. Regardless of the tool, or the method, without reflection and analysis of our practice we may as well be using sticks and stones as teaching tools as opposed to ICT. A very clear idea of the learning outcomes is so important as this will impact on unit/lesson construction. The post shows the use of technology in 3 different ways but one way is clearly more engaging, personal and rich compared to the other two. The (now) old phrase "poor teaching + technology = expensive poor teaching" will always hold true. The New Zealand curriculum includes teaching as inquiry as a key component of effective pedagogy. It also includes eLearning as a key component of effective pedagogy. Teaching as inquiry is independent of the tool, while eLearning without reflective practice is a dead duck.

The Volcanics Community, as an eLearning community, I think, is only just realising this fact. It therefore begs the question why we should not just call ourselves a Learning Community, as teaching is not about technology, but about teaching and Learning.

A Learning Theory for 21st Century Students

The latest Innovate magazine has an article on a learning theory for the 21st century. Interesting reading and very relevant to my own journey of wanting to know what will work in an online environment to ensure quality teaching and learning happens. The difficult part is bridging the gap between theory and practice (praxis), and this is what I, and a group of colleagues, are wanting to do. Hopefully the outcome will be a set of guidelines which teachers can use to help them provide quality on-line learning experiences for their students.

ePedagogy or simply a 21st century pedagogy

Well, haven't blogged for ages, but things have been so hectic - no excuse I suppose.
ePedagogy or simply 21st century pedagogy. Well it's a no brainer as far as I am concerned - it's 21st century pedagogy, because it's not about the technology, it's about learning. We coined the idea of an "e" in front of anything to do with computing and learning, as if it was something separate to "normal" learning. For us digital immigrants, I suppose it was, but for digital natives, using technology to learn is normal. Not using technology, or using technology in a way that is "so yesterday", is what students see as not normal. Don't get me wrong, students do not expect to have technology as part of every learning experience, but they do expect it to form part of how they go about learning. My question is how do teachers use technology to construct learning experiences that are engaging, challenging, collaborative, flexible and anytime, anywhere? How do teachers link formal and informal learning experiences to provide truly context driven learning? How do we connect with and co-construct our learning while at the same time meeting the rigours of national assessment? How do we educate our parents that learning is not about getting credits, but that getting credits is a result of learning?

So many questions.

So now what do we Do

Just read the most recent blog post by David Warlick regarding the use of web2.0 tools and other emerging learning tools, all of which are technology based. He talks about a "significant knowing-doing gap", i.e. the gap between knowing about the tool, and actually using it in education. His post goes on to list the main contributors to this "knowing-doing gap". These include time, money, age of hardware, ignorance of technology, etc. The same old same old. This of course made me think about the challenges we face here in "God's Own". The reality is, these are issues for education institutions all over the world, not just NZ. The challenge is, if NZ schools want to be a leading light in education, world wide, then we seriously need to consider what we are doing about these challenges. Too many teachers are using the excuses I read in David's blog. How many of these are valid, and how many are just a cop out. What are we doing to address and remove the barriers for teachers and what are we doing to address the issue of teachers who refuse to change, and use ignorance as an excuse. Name another profession where ignorance is an excuse?

Finding the solutions will not be easy, but the reality is, WE HAVE TO FIND A SOLUTION, for the sake of our children and education in New Zealand.

eTeacher Training

We have recently had our eTeacher training , which was held from 3 December to 5 December at Tauhara College in Taupo, NZ. The first day was for eTeachers from the Volcanics cluster where we focussed on developing our online spaces, uploading content, etc. This was a time to spend simply thinking about our teaching, and having time to work on our lesson content. The afternoon session began with a presentation by Trevor Storr (ePrincipal - AorakiNet) on what content or activities in an online environment would really engage our students. Trevor did his presentation via VC from Waimate High School. The presentation was thought provoking and really got us all thinking about what a good online course looks like, and what we needed to do to ensure that our students were engage in the learning.

On the Thursday and Friday, we were lucky to have Chris Allott McPhee from the VLN with us to run the video conferencing training and we were also joined by our colleagues from TaraNet and CoroNet. The CoroNet contingent included one of my fellow ePrincipals, Jan Collier. Sue Winters, an ePrincipal mentor, was among the participants as she will be trying her hand at eTeaching in 2009, team teaching L3 Calculus with Jane Liu from Tokoroa High School.

Well, I have to admit, that this was the best eTeacher training I have been on. The presentor was great, but this was comlplemented by input from the teachers. The enthusiasm and willingness to share experiences and knowledge was brilliant. There was a real focus on student learning, with working out how to use the VC gear secondary. I remember my first VC training. We were all so concerned about the technology and getting this part right, that there was not a lot of time to focus on the teaching and learning aspects. I think we benefitted from the fact that there were experienced eTeachers within the group who could share their experiences. There were also teachers who had never received any formal training on VC, but who had been teaching via VC during the year. This was an opportunity for them to learn and to reflect on how they would do things differently in 2009.

We were also able to VC with eTeachers in the Taranaki and in Hawks Bay. Rachel Roberts (ePrincipal - TaraNet) demonstrated, via VC, the use of Adobe Connect and how it could be used as an alternative tool to VC for synchronous interaction. We also saw how the technology could go wrong as Lynda Walsh-Pascoe's group in the Hawks Bay could see us, but could not hear us. After a bit of help from Asnet, we managed to get the sound sorted and the three way VC continued. Just being able to "hook up" with other eTeachers, doing their training was awsome and strengthened that feeling of community that was developing within our group.




Next year I think the eTeacher training will be in the Taranaki. I am looking forward to that, and meeting up with more like minded teachers.

Web 2.0 is everywhere

I know up to now I have been pretty quiet on web 2.0. This is not because I did not think it was worth commenting on, but because I am actually still trying to get my head around it. It is vast, it is changing and it is out there - in more ways than one.

Check out this slide on web 2.0, and tell me what you think.

Classroom 2.0 Update 2apr08

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: web2.0 learning2.0)

An eLearning vision

This is my attempt at linking pedagogy and ICT in an endeavour to provide an eLearning Vision for the Volcanics cluster.

eLearning Vision for the Volcanics Cluster

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: ict elearning)

What became clear to me as I put this powerpoint together was the non-sequential nature of learning, and the non-sequential nature of ICT integration and development. I have asked the question whether the ICT comes first, or the PD comes first. Michael Fullan suggests that they need to happen together, which makes sense - learning by doing. However this does not follow the business model of getting bang for buck or a return on ICT investment, where we first analyse the need, then purchase the asset based on the benefits (returns) of purchase. This begs the question - "How do we measure the return on investment in education, and therefore how do we measure the return on our investment in ICT?". The whole reason for the powerpoint is my perceived need for a cohesive approach to ICT integration across the cluster. Imagine my shock and horror, when I opened a random file on my computer this morning to find the Goals set for the old VolcanicsNet in March 2005. There are a huge number of similarities between what I am advocating now, and what was put forward in 2005. So my question is WHAT THE HELL HAVE WE BEEN DOING FOR THE LAST 3 YEARS?

Collaboratively create a unit of work using Wikis

During this term, I have been working with Tony Jones, the head of Science at Tokoroa High School, at creating a wiki so that him and the science teachers in his department can co-create a unit of work. Neither Tony nor his colleagues had worked with wikis previously. They had flirted with using a Learning Management System, and Tony has created a whole L2 physics course using eXe, but they have found using a wiki the easiest way to put something on line and actually do it together. You can have a look at their work by going to http://nature-of-science.wikispaces.com/.

Designing Learning Spaces

One of the things that I am trying to do with the schools that I work with is to include the use of ICT for learning as part of the schools overall learning vision with the idea that it is the learning needs of our students and the teaching needs of our teachers that drives the purchase and implementation of hardware and software. This then leads to focussed PD based on need, which in turn leads to the old idea of reflective teaching where the teacher assesses the impact of their teaching and teaching approach on their students' learning. This is included in the NZC under "Teaching as Inquiry".

While I have advocated this approach, I have paid little attention to the design of learning spaces. Instead, I have continued to follow the old model of computer labs and computers in the back of classrooms. Derek Wenmoth's recent blog post "Designing Learning Spaces", has just turned my world on its head, because it means more change and more learning. It also means that I need to make sure that I am up to speed with all the recent developments around technology, LMS/SMS integration, pedagogy and now property management so that I can provide the best advice to the schools and staff I work with. My list of books and articles to read grows on a daily basis.

Michael Fullan - The Change Maker

One of my colleagues at Raupehu College, Jane Voon, pointed this article out to me. It is called in the "Change Maker" and is published in the most recent edition of the Education Gazette. This follows up a powerpoint and podcast sent to me by two other colleagues regarding the work of Guy Claxton. My focus for the last two years has been on ICT, and the technology, with the understanding that the technology is really secondary to the pedagogy. However, my knowledge of the pedagogy has been scant at best, and so this year has been a real challenge for me as I climb the steep learning curve of truly understanding the pedagogy behind eLearning. This has widened my exposure to not just educators who have an ICT focus, but educators who truly have the learning and the teaching of young people at the centre of all they do. A very humbling experience to say the least.

Michael Fullan points out the importance of teacher capability and motivation, and the need for strong educational leadership. Not administorial leadership, but educational leadership. This has to come from principals and teachers in our schools. I realise that in my role as an ePrincipal, I am well positioned to provide educational leadership, not just technological leadership, which brings me back to the point of pedagogy, and the long hill still in front of me as I come to grips with the theories and the methods that will really make a difference to a child's learning.

Now that's what I call blogging

I have often been asked the question "how does technology benefit the learners? Where is the evidence?" Well here it is. This year, four students from Reporoa College did a computing course, through video conferencing with a teacher at Mercury Bay Area School, Max Ross. The first part of the course was dedicated to creating a web page in PHP, with a link to a data base which was created and queried using mysql. The second part of the course was all about building a robot using Lego, and programming it to carry out a set of given tasks. This culminated in all the students congregating at Te Aroha College to engage in the "Robot Wars" to see whose Robot would be able to tip over the other robots and hence claim the "Title".

In order to track their work and to document the project development, the students were asked to set up a blog. Which they duly did. When I read a few of the blogs, what I saw is what we have been talking about as educators. Here I saw responsible and independent learning, collaboration, creativity and problem solving. Check out these two blogs (whose permission I have obtained from the owners to share).

12VC-nxt.blogspot.com
robot-abattoir.blogspot.com

These students would not normally have access to blogs because it comes under personal networking and is filtered by our network filtering system. So we had to unblock the filters for them. Makes you think - responsible use of blogs is so beneficial, but how many students would simply spend their time on bebo (Blog Everywhere Blog Often) and do nothing? Something we need to look at closely.

AND-BOTH

I know I make reference to the work of Jan Gilbert ("Catching the Knowledge Wave") and Dan Pink ("A Whole New Mind"), and I think so often that teachers look at me and go "who"??? Well not so much with Jan Gilbert, but definitely with Dan Pink. Now here is a NZ blog, about educational leadership that makes reference to Dan Pink and puts his thinking into an education perspective. Thanks to Cheryl Doig and her blog "Think Beyond". for putting the education slant on a book which could be mistaken for a book only for business, but which in reality has so much for education too.

Social Networking - Is it that bad???

This is something I recently found on Chris Dawson's blog regarding social networking. I think he's spot on regarding education, and it shows where business is headed in the near future. The future is definitely coming very fast. I recently read that Japan is working on building a "space elevator", which they hope to have up and running by 2018. This is something from a science fiction novel, which we now have the technology to build; anyhow, back to education. The challenge is how do we get our students to use their social networking for the purposes of learning. How do we know that our students have something they want to learn about? What about students who don't know what they don't know, and come from backgrounds that do not value learning? It really is a paradigm shift from the way we view teaching and learning now, to what teaching and learning could look like in the future.

.... Read the blog post below, and see what you think!!!!

Chris Dawson -

Go ahead…Hang out on

MySpace. Wait, what?

The MacArthur Foundation just released a study suggesting that, not surprisingly, given the integration of social media into business and modern culture, the time kids spend with so-called new media, is generally neither wasted nor particularly harmful. In fact, as one of the lead researchers points out in the New York Times,

“It may look as though kids are wasting a lot of time hanging out with new media, whether it’s on MySpace or sending instant messages,” said Mizuko Ito, lead researcher on the study, “Living and Learning With New Media.” “But their participation is giving them the technological skills and literacy they need to succeed in the contemporary world. They’re learning how to get along with others, how to manage a public identity, how to create a home page.”

During a chat with a student she commented that often young people don’t respond to emails anymore; send them a message through Facebook and they respond immediately. What does this mean for business? It means that Intel is on the right track with its business-oriented social media development efforts.

In terms of the study, the Times again pointed out an important piece of the research that is worth the attention of classroom teachers:

“New media allow for a degree of freedom and autonomy for youth that is less apparent in a classroom setting,” the study said. “Youth respect one another’s authority online, and they are often more motivated to learn from peers than from adults.”

The executive summary of the Foundation’s whitepaper sums up the perspective nicely:

Social network sites, online games, video-sharing sites, and gadgets such as iPods and mobile phones are now fixtures of youth culture. They have so permeated young lives that it is hard to believe that less than a decade ago these technologies barely existed. Today’s youth may be coming of age and struggling for autonomy and identity as did their predecessors, but they are doing so amid new worlds for communication, friendship, play, and self-expression.

Many of these technologies that are “fixtures of youth culture” are permeating business as well. Been on Twitter lately? Sure, there’s plenty of garbage, but there are also important communities sharing ideas, business contacts, and developing their own brands (of course, there’s another one of those new media buzz words, but it certainly fits). How about that election we just had? Barack Obama has almost 135,000 followers on Twitter.

Again, a message from the study to administrators and teachers looking to integrate technology into the classroom:

In the process, young people acquire various forms of technical and media literacy by exploring new interests, tinkering, and “messing around” with new forms of media. They may start with a Google search or “lurk” in chat rooms
to learn more about their burgeoning interest. Through trial and error, youth add new media skills to their repertoire, such as how to create a video or customize games or their MySpace page. Teens then share their creations and receive feedback from others online. By its immediacy and breadth of information, the digital world lowers barriers to self-directed learning.

Exemplary Online Educators: Creating a Community of Inquiry

This is an article which was published in the Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education-TOJDE. While it was published in 2005, I think it still has relevance for today. This article was found by going to a link provided by a fellow eTeacher, Lynda Walsh-Pascoe.

In the introduction it says;

Within most disciplines there are those who are recognized as being exceptionally competent practitioners. These people are sometimes called exceptional or exemplary. In the educational realm, students remember these individuals as the teachers who most positively influenced their learning. The commonality of these exemplary practitioners is that they do their work in a remarkable way and their teaching strategies and interpersonal interactions are regarded by their students as highly successful.

It is easy for online educators to just transfer huge amounts of text, or files, online and call it online learning. This article highlights the importance of good practitioners who know how to inspire and lead through online learning. Click on the post heading, which links to the article

The New Zealand Curriculum and Assessment

This is the second really good post that I have read this week (Following on from Chris Dawson). This one is by my fellow ePrincipal Darren Sudlow, from Cantatech. His blog makes reference to the workshop he attended at ULearn 08 given by Rosemary Hipkins of the NZCER on the New Zealand Curriculum and Assessment. He has uploaded Rose's powerpoint from the conference, so it is well worth the visit. Click on this post title to link to Darren's blog

Enough Already with Luddite Schools

Hey, call me a poacher, but I have recently read two good blog postings. This one is by Christopher Dawson, see previous posts. His post lays out the vision we should have for our students regarding their adoption of technology for learning. It also therefore poses a challenge for our teachers to enable this sort of adoption to occur - not an easy task, which will take some time, but we have to start somewhere.

go to http://education.zdnet.com/?p=1931&tag=nl.e623 or click the title of this post to be linked to the words of Chris Dawson.