Connected Schools – Six mths in

We have been working as a professional learning community for six months and we can see impact in the video below.

With the project comes regional goals and as leaders what I see as crucial now is:

• Communication with other schools (newsletter coming)
• Collaboration with others like the University and Polytechnic
• Clear internal roles such as (organiser secondary voice)
• Sharing of successes and failures (learning)
• Strategic planning for sustainability and engagement
• The creation of Reuseable and AAA (anytime ,anywhere, anyhow) material

Great to watch a lot being picked up from our community development day and being used by the students,
EBooks , Voicethread, numeracy interactives. This will make for engaged learners and improved learning outcomes.

Connected Schools Six Months in from Media team on Vimeo.

Hamilton Schools working together to create a professional learning community for themselves and other educators.

Connected Kids Solve Problems

I was at my computer when the noise that Skype makes when a message has arrived did its thing ie announced a message was there. It was from a student who I had worked with using Google Sketch up the year before his computer had a virus.
What impressed me was the language punctuation and genre that went into I have included the conversation below. The student is in year 5 and quite smart. What he managed to do was outsource his issue to me and get my advice to solve his virus issue. We need students who are able to work in this way because they are independent problem solvers. Note the last line of the conversation I even got thanks when the problem was solved.

These are the key competencies in action. Isn’t the action the best evidence of learning.

 

Letting kids learn

“The longer you wait for the future, the shorter it will be”

ThinkExist.com Quotations. “Loesje quotes”. ThinkExist.com Quotations Online 1 Nov. 2009. 28 Dec. 2009 <http://einstein/quotes/loesje/>

I had the opportunity to work with some students who were taking part in end of year examinations. Those who finished early (and in this case most did) were given the opportunity to do something quietly. I watched as they involved themselves in a number independent activities. I took some photos on my mobile which are here in the slideshow. I reminded me of books we used to have like 100 things to make and do. I feel that this sort of activity, scaffolded and enhanced, has the ability to increase the potential of our student’s

literacy/numeracy/operacy .

Have a look at the slideshow (just eight pictures) and I will explain what I mean.

The only instruction given was that the activity had to be silent while others were working on their exams. We have looked at and developed a framework for learning at Southwell where I teach. I highlighted the values and key competencies personal learning time similar to this might support. This is about “learning to learn” and putting the learner at the center of the learning. Accepting where our students are at and providing them with the tools for self improvement but how ….

Quality Assurance
Such a strategy as this independent learning time is now possible to develop and support through the use of ICT tools. I believe the key characteristics of this might be. This is the big disclaimer

• Classroom Climate - Supportive classroom communities where learning modeled shared celebrated etc.
• Reflection/expression/evidence/collaboration portals ie social networks, eportfolios (for lack of better word), gallery spaces, video repositories etc
• Clear goal setting and articulation for learning perhaps SMART Students are asked to check off whether the goal is specific, measurable, action-oriented, reasonable and timely. This could be as simple as What is the purpose of this learning? What will represent success for me? What have I/we done so far? What do I/we plan to do next? with this information in a web environment peers and others can be used to motivate guide learners through this.
• Formative community assessment – embedded teacher,peer and whole class feedback/feedforward
• Time availability for learning to take place – this could be small pockets of time after say maths in an primary/elementary environment as we know that the brain need less intensive work in order for the neural pathways to become entrenched see syn-aps. It could also be represented in a more flexible programme where teachers facilitate learning with significant online support and individual access to personal learning.
• Exemplars, evidence – Examples of tall poppies – growing poppies and aspiring poppies give students a clear direction.
• 1 to 1 Access - to the connectivity, networks, creation tools and appropriate physical spaces and resources.

The place of personal learning can find its feet and show its evidence. I will finish with a building created in google sketch up by a year 7 students and a link to an online novel written by my son Jack (16) both examples of personal learning and endeavour.

Still banging on about it

 

My last post presented a little snippet from a Cellphone policy from Montgomery School District. Essentially it said no phone/mobile device should enter or be used here. The policy was written perhaps four years ago and could have been seen as a safe move given what the perceived possible contribution to learning compared to possible issues unacceptable use might raise. The balance is tipping at lightning speed (and forever) with devices such as the ipod touch, iphone,  android devices, netbooks etc. Their possible contribution is real contribution.

I have said and have to repeat that management issues aside we are forgoing an opportunity to learn to be better; to move into a new paradigm rather than just admire it from afar as the kids get on with it. The steps we need are bolder and quicker. Schools are slowly coming round to the idea of 1to1 provision and here it is in an ipod touch for $300 New Zealand Dollars. The video below looks at the experience of a school in the U.K.

A Safe Step may be to allow these touch devices which though not a phone are all but and use our schools wireless networks for connectivity. The next generation will undoubtedly have cameras and mics making them a reasonably solid platform for learning especially once a few apps come down from the appstore. What I think we need to realise fast is that we if we converge some of the functionality we have been get elsewhere into one of these devices they are not as expensive as they first seem.

This to me is one device format that we will see in almost everyone’s future and generally it will contain a phone as well.

These devices will undoubtedly enable learning, save lives and change lives.

Are we big enough to let them change our schools?

When will we let this take place?

Here are some of the things an iPhone can do today. This is a small selection There are 100,000 apps in the store many costing $0.99 making opportunities nearly endless.

Camera		$100
Torch		$20
Notebook		$5
GPS		$200
stopwatch		$20
media player		$60
Games console		$400
Mapbook		$10
Spirit level		$20
TV		$100

 

Others may not agree but a mobile device that has iPhone capability is a point that will soon be achievable for more of the population than having their own pc ever was. To me the important thing is that it will be personal and so will the learning.

Mark Prensky is debating should we give a four year old an iPhone?

Some other links

Elsewhere we can find out about 5 (Free) iPhone Apps Every Parent Should Have.

Exams  phone a friend

Googlewave don’t believe the hype?

Google have many of us waiting to find out what wave is and what it might mean for us. Having had a bit of a read around the place and not having an invite myself I became interested. Rather than add yet another review the connections I looked at showed something new and powerful The you tube example is a realtime dialogue with translation. Below this in the iframe is Daniel Tenners take on what Google wave is and isn't for the full page is found here. Personally I think this is going to be big for collaboration and that connectivity is going to be the big delivery point for personal learning in online connected real time environment like google docs etherpad and google wave.

Ride the wave if you have trouble reading the frame below Daniels website is only a click away

What Kids Are Doing - check 1 -

Kids are sophisticated media producers....

if we let them

if we let them share with each other

if we give them an audience

How do we lift their level even higher?

Google docs Ulearn

Some Ideas for Google apps integration and use of Google docs. These simple tools are so connected and so online that they are changing the way we work play and collaborate (or me any way ;—)  ).  You are able to edit and add to the slides below. There is a lot more to add to the story so please have a go and I will be able to reflect on how this can grow from a simple start. Connectivity is King, Queen, Matai and Keli’i

It's now and it's social if we let it

Missed the start of DK from mediasnackers workshop and came into with history of social interaction on the internet and then the Mobile/social learning onslaught.
Why are phones unwanted in schools? I am thinking especially camera in our school environment.
What about Kindy? See the 1 year old below

DK had an interesting digital story created by people writing on a4 and holding up their message and taking a picture
of it with the writer in the frame. .

My similar ideas for content

• What are the issues in our school?
• What helps you learn?
• I learn best when
• The book character was
• How does bullying effect people
• How does encouragement help you
• Also single frame digital story telling could come from these cameras
• sustainability messages
• Safety messages
• Poems
• Emotional responses
• Love more in comments below What do you think?

Milton Keynes youth service created the message below

This is simple but effective somehow knowing that the word was someone's makes it more powerful.

The second most popular reason youth use the web is Learning.
From the web makes me feel … This site collects and reflects on the results gathered from one ok DK's web interaction points.

I really liked this reflection on twitter

 

“Twitter not about contacting people about finding out about stuff”

DK was talking alot about the way things just are. You can use hash tags as a stream of information in twitter so why wouldn't you? it just is.
Very pragmatic I thought lets look at reality and what we can use around us. Simple tools and social networks.

As a 44 year old the infographic below made me feel so good I had won a competition that doesn't exist.
What do the baby boomers do in social media?

n 

Link to Media Snackers is found above. DK is very open and inviting
jumps straight to honorary kiwi status in my book.

Googledocs a quick learn

We are starting to use google docs for our students

Why for those who are not sure?

Once we get over the wow look at this, look at that; we need to focus on how to improve learning.

Nick Rate has a good idea for writing the pic below links to his full post with examples.

Colours could also be used to identify (multiple concurrent authors is powerful learning just ask Vygotsky)

• ownership
• parts of speech
• editing process
• thought process
• de bonos thinking hats
• perspectives
• main ideas
• disagreement
• discussion points

This Google presentation has some other good ideas

 

I am working with some teachers on this tomorrow and it needs to be about teaching and learning

the good thing with google docs is I know it can be just that.

Te Mihi

Been working on my Mihi I have recorded it on utterli as well.

It felt good to find out where I come from and to be able to acknowledge

the Maori language and its part in our identity.

Taku                      Mihi	Meaning
Ko David ahau	I am David
Ko Ngati Tahu te iwi	My tribe is Ngati Tahu from the South Island
Ko Rakeahua te awa	Rakeahua is my River
Ko Rakeahua te Maunga	Rakeahua is my Mountain
Ko Alyn taku papa	My father is Alyn
Ko Dorothy taku mama	My Mother is Dorothy
	They are both Dead now but their spirit is still with me

A good resource for this is here http://www.tki.org.nz/r/language/lls/wehi/units/unit14/index_e.php

Examples from Pt England school are here http://softwareforlearning.wikispaces.com/eStory2

The Dog Woke Me, The Blog called Me

It’s 2.59 and the dog has come around to the front of the house and woken me. There have been a lot of thoughts in my head about blogging its relationship to learning and now am in front of the computer putting them down.

 

A New Zealand teacher posted some pictures of students running a cross country. The purpose of this was for parents to be able to see their children and the children to see themselves online. What followed was a series of opinions criticising the use images and names and implying the teacher should not be blogging because of lack of understanding of net safety and protocol. What a post on whaleoil's blog shows in my mind the need to prepare for comment or controversy where we least expect it.

Can we just grow up in public?

We engage in blogging to change our personal or community worlds. A post is out in the global domain may  be seen as a statement even if we don’t intend it to be. A process is taking place where we are often adjusting our thinking, forming opinions and learning.

• What happens if we don’t follow protocol?
• We say something that our schools for example don’t believe in?
• What happens if we make a mistake?, Have a bad moment?
• What happens if someone takes issue with what we have to say?
• What are the risks if we are blogging at school as a classroom community?

Firstly I do not believe the greatest risks are from Stalkers or paedophiles as some would have us think. A photo and a student’s first name is a responsible risk. In New Zealand the ministry of education guidelines for inclusion of images is here. With parents permission there is no issue here.  The teacher posted some pictures of students running a cross country. The purpose of this was for parents to be able to see their children.The greatest risk I see with blogging are pedants and nitpickers.

To help survive this risk

• find out about blogging from an experienced leader, doer and thinker such as Dorothy Burt
• try to make sure our words make sense (not always a strong point of mine)
• read other class blogs and online material
• realise that our audience may not be who we think they are
• care mostly about our preferred audience (the one we want to engage)
• develop a thick skin i.e. accept that we may fail at first but that is not a bad thing
• moderate comments if it is a class blog or students
• think about the content of other online presences we may have and how they are linked eg facebook

Also realise the benefits of blogging

We can see blogging changing peoples personal worlds and creating

 

Blogging should be innately positive because it is based on choice

With so many people choosing to express themselves there seems a good match to

William Glassers model of Survival. Are we blogging for Survival? I have used this model

a few times and acknowledge Joan Dalton and David Anderson who introduced me to it.

So keep up the blogging or start if you wish to.

For Me I am looking to Work out what it means for our school as a community this term.

There are some more thoughts here in a guide to educational blogging from Microsoft.

And a more comprehensive reflection http://learningweb2.wikispaces.com/Important+considerations

Seeing is Believing

Sometimes somethings just are!
When we worked as a team investigating the use of games in education one of our
goals was.

To determine the best method of student involvement in the game that will maximise student learning .

We posed this question to teachers and students as well as videoing what happened when we got 100 students together for a big game day. The video is below What do you think?

Game playing changing learning

We had 100 students in the last week of term working face to face in teams with people they had never met until the day of collaboration.
They were playing a game called Viva piñata as part of a Microsoft innovative Schools Project. Below  is a wordle of what they added for plus into  a PMI (plus minus interesting) of the effect the project has had on learning. The other “etherpads” are available here. The oral communication, group work and interdependence were what impressed me most with the learning that took place. The project has exceeded our expectations in terms of engagement and the development of key competencies.

 

I was also hoping that the online publishing and purpose for writing would lead to self editing

and the audience of peers encourage a high standard of written work. I still believe this to be achievable.  Many

blog posts showed articulate well thought out ideas and adherence to language and genre conventions.

Some postings had a rushed compliance feeling. Perhaps some writers were content with their visual and oral collaborations and were reticent to put effort into constructing the web presence of blog posting.

Have a look here for the students’ writing or in the iframe below for a sample.

Tinychat is big collaboration

Came across this from an oz/nz online meeting and think it ticks the right boxes.

My real respect for this comes from the lack of barriers to entry. This is a video conferencing space

that allows people to video chat with up to 8 participants and chat with upto 100 others. I tried to join a couple of rooms that were on Iran and the election. There was no one in them and I guess that shows that purpose is required and that we need a tinychat only when we need a chat. So when do we need one.

• When the people are far away and we know them but can’t be with them.
• When we are co-constructing a topic, event or experience
• When we are wanting feedback form an unbiased and neutral
• When creating home school partnership
• If we believe there is some extra learning and competencies being created as a result

Tomorrow is a big day

Extracts from what I want to say about the need for open access fibre networks to connect learners, learning organisations the world over.

I was unable to attend the first planning meeting of the group who have organised this event but have since understood the brief given for this part of the day’s programme to be look at Wow technology .

I was somewhat uncomfortable about this at first because afterall we were to address school principals. People who have had technology pitched to them over along period of time. Often we have shown you the big picture, the future, nirvana, the promised land of technology. And the education landscape is littered with failed promises, the unused and the past its use by date. We all know there are some realities around education that have not always worked in well with life on bleeding edge of technology. 

So before we consider wow factor I think it is important to look to look at the future through rose tinted glasses, through binoculars and under the microscope. We will not be able to do this in the timeframe of one day or meeting but what we may be able to consider is relationship of network connectivity to what we are trying to achieve as learning organisations. This will add to our ability to move towards a preferred future rather than the default one.

Connectivity is at the heart of this meeting and we will briefly outline the different types of network connection people are using to be part of the internet.

In terms of wow technology we have chosen a video conference and matched its participants to further discussion the potential of learning over networks.

This we hope will give a working example of the capacity of fibre optic bandwidth unachievable without such a connection.

We will look at what one New Zealand Council believes about the need for open access fibre networks.

What is happening with infrastructure

A student starting school today if attending till year 13 will leave in 2022.

From Ian Jukes

 

In Broad Sweeping Generalisations

We are increasing the number of devices because of

• Weight
• Cost
• Battery life
• Reliability
• Connectivity
• Functionality
• Value of the network to which they connect

The implications are

• We need either greater simplicity/reliability of equipment or greater technical support
• Increased device density requires better internal networks especially wireless
• Learners create more as well as consume
• School/community partnerships and
• anytime anywhere anyhow learning grows
• Much of this relates our new curriculum whose vision is “for young people who are confident, connected, actively involved lifelong learners.”
• And this relates perfectly to networks and connections.

I hope it goes well tomorrow.

Are We connected ?

Well is being connected becoming increasingly important and contributing to learning. Here in New Zealand the vision of the new curriculum is

“for young people who are confident, connected, actively involved lifelong learners.”

What we get from connectivity is an opportunity to talk with others, participate and be heard in ways that weren’t possible. I was reading the newspaper the other day a story about a woman whose partner is working overseas. They have a Skype conversation every morning and night. They do not feel separated.

When learners connect something happens too.

We have a meeting this Thursday of local school Principals talking about the possibility of connecting up to a local fibre service. I hope this will bring about more understanding of connectivity. I would like to have some reflections from around the world about when they feel/have felt connected and whether this matters. Click on either of the pictures to add your thoughts to when and why we are connected. If you don’t feel like writing just a name and where you are from will be fine.