classroom 2.0

I subscribe to the ZDNET education updates which is a blog maintained by a fellow educator (in the US) called Christopher Dawson. His most recent post was regarding social networking and other web 2.0 tools (go to http://education.zdnet.com/?p=1928&tag=nl.e623 or click on the title to view Chris' post). The tool he was referring to was Ning, but this was NOT what got my attention. What did get my attention was the example he gave of schools using web 2.0 tools. He was blogging about how a group (cluster) of state schools in New York city are using social networking sites and cell phones to support their students' learning. His post has an excert from that article but you can go to this link, Village Voice to view the complete article. What was interesting about the article was how the schools were collecting data on how the use of the technology was improving outcomes for their students. The US may be transfixed with testing and collecting data on student performance, while we in NZ believe that education is so much more than that just test scores. However, in this case it is showing us teachers in NZ that technology can make a difference, and that the difference (value added) can be measured. The article also makes reference to a website called classroom 2.0. This is a space dedicated to those interested in Web 2.0 and collaborative or transformative technologies. Isn't this what we are about in our eLearning clusters, whether they are ICT PD, EHSAS or simply VC.

Our NZ curriculum provides us with the opportunity to transform education in New Zealand. We have the technology, we have the tools, we now need to transform.

Time For Reflection and Review

This is a website for reflection and review for ICT PD clusters, but the reality is that the nature of the ICT PD contract has changed, so that there are now many similarities between an ICT PD cluster of schools, and an EHSAS cluster of schools. We are both looking at teacher collaboration and we are both looking at pedagogies which improve student engagement and achievement.

The link is below, or can be accessed by simply clicking on the title of this post.

http://centre4.core-ed.net/spaces/space.php?space_key=15273

Professional Communities of Practice

During our EHSAS workshop on 17 October, Brian Annan talked about the importance of a community of practice. He defined a cluster as a form of learning network......a connected group of reformers working together, non-hierarchically to solve common problems. He then asked the question "why are we involved in learning networks?". His response to this question is that we are moving from self managing schools to connected schools. We are self managing administratively, but we need to be connected pedagogically. Why? Basically, because learning together is better than learning alone to solve complex problems. New Zealand Schools (which obviously includes our schools) have a complex underachievement problem to solve; or to put it another way, improving student achievement is a complex problem.

This brings us to the idea of our cluster schools, and the teachers in these schools, being a community of practice (COP). One of the leading authorities on communities of practice is Etienne Wenger (see his website at http://www.ewenger.com). He notes that communities of practice are well established in business, but that schools are only now latching on to them. I would recommend that you visit his website. I had the opportunity in term 2 to attend a workshop on COPS given by Etienne Wenger, and it was well worth it. I am only now coming to appreciate the need to establish such a cop within our cluster. The ePrincipals, nationally, have established a cop which influences our thinking, our theories and how we operate individually, and as a group.

Jean Annan in her research noted the following characteristics associated with the organisation of a community of practice:

• It is Loosely structured and largely self managing
• Structures are typically flat, collaborative and professional
• Leadership is assigned by the members
• Tasks are distributed among members
• Membership is voluntary
• Relationships exist at a formal and informal level.

Which elements above are evident in the Volcanics Cluster? Obviously, a greater review of Etienne Wenger's work would be advised, before answering this question.

EHSAS conference - Rotorua 17 October

I and other members of the Volcanics Cluster attended the round 3 EHSAS workshop in Rotorua last week. Our cluster schools were well presented at the meeting which was wonderful to see.
There were three presenters, Murray Gadd, Dr Judy Parr and Dr Brian Annan.

Murray spoke to us about "Working Together Effectively: A collaborative Approach to Achieving Higher Standards". This was interesting and relevant, but I assumed that at the time, a lot of this had been done during the proposal process. In Hind site, I think we need to revisit some of these issues.

Judy Parr spoke to us about goal setting. After listening to her and actually paying attention to her powerpoint, I realised that this would definitely be something we will need to revisit at our EHSAS cluster meeting on 1 December. It also became clear that perhaps we were too ambitious with our project outcomes, spreading ourselves too thin, and thereby not getting any depth. It seems that we will have to re-assess our project objectives and perhaps cull a few of them.

Finally, Brian Annan spoke to us about challenges within our cluster. We only looked at the challenges. At no stage did we discuss solutions. This was based on the thinking that, unless we truly know what the problem is, we will not be able to find an effective solution for it. The process was interesting, and challenging. The outcome for us at the end was that one of the priority problems facing the cluster is that the only real value cluster schools see in being part of the EHSAS project is access to extra funding. While I was disappointed by this, I realise that I also have to be a realist - schools want to do more than they are funded for. If they can access extra funding by being part of a cluster, then why not. Having given it more thought, and remembering what Richard Crawford commented on during our discussions, is that the problem is perhaps not as cynical as just doing the project for the money. If one considers the option of getting money and spending it where you can, in areas that will help your school, or the option of getting your staff to buy into truly changing their pedagogy, committing to change, working at the change, and then being acountable for it at the end of the day. Which option would you take? I'm no masochist, so the first option would be my choice. Therefore, I believe that the real problem facing our cluster is lack of true teacher buy in to the ideals of Extending High Standards across Schools. We know our teachers are under pressure, and some days we all work in survival mode. However, the idealist in me wants to believe that education is bigger than just money, that schools can work together collaboratively for the betterment of all their students, and that the improvement in student achievement at the end of the day, through a truly professional community of practice has got to be valuable. So our Challenge is how do we create a professional community of practice that exhibits true collaboration across cluster schools.

ULearn presentation number 2

Not wanting to get left behind by my other fellow ePrincipals, I also did a second combined workshop on what factors are necessary to ensure that an education cluster of schools is sustainable into the future. Each of the ePrincipals involved, namely Carolyn Bennett, Janet Ackhurst and Jan Collier, ably lead by one of the principal mentors, Sue Winters, put together a slide show which outlined what had happened in their cluster and what this meant for them as regards how they saw sustainability in their cluster. Below is my contribution to that presentation.

Volcanics Sustainability

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

Picot Now - Comments on EHSAS

Keith McKenzie (Principal Tongariro School), directed me towards this website come Blog by an educationalist called Kelvin Smythe. Not being in NZ that long, I am unaware of the work of this person, but having read what he has to say about EHSAS and the use of ICT in education, I can definitely say that he challenges the popular trends in the name of education. Therefore he is a MUST read, even if it is simply to balance the unending barrage of need to's and have to's, surrounding ICT use and improving student achievement. One word of caution - he does go on a bit, so be prepared to give each article at least 20 minutes to read and digest

Check out his site, www.networkonnet.co.nz and this article called "Picot Now".
There is another good article called computers:battle lines which looks at computers in education