Via my IWB team's blog ActivBoarding, two of my recent posts citing local research into the successful use of interactive whiteboards in South Australian schools.
The second post links to research conducted in the Far North of our state in the Anangu Aboriginal Homelands. For anyone reading outside of Oz, do yourself a favour and at least check the link to the amazing digital story.
A great quote in the centre of a lengthy post from Christian Long at think:lab that felt like my conscience speaking:
But remember, it's easy to criticize. And frankly, the 'experiment' of public education continues to still amaze after more than 200 years...even if we have a long, long way still to go.
He was responding to "Rotten Apples awards 2005" found on the "Teach and Learn" blog but it was a timely reminder for me that my posts recently have been a bit negative/overcritical and that it would do me good to reflect positively or criticise constructively in future and try not to be a typical Aussie indulging in a bit of "tall poppy" lopping.
As I read though some of the posts that have built up over the New Year, I've been wondering about some of the awards that have going around lately and whether they are a productive thing or not. I worry that perhaps we are starting to create Edublogger Celebrities where some bloggers are getting excessive peer acclaim that could be counter productive to an equal connective conversation. When an Award winner starts to question this focus, I know it's not just sour grapes on my part for not being a nominee. Anne Davis writes:
Then what about our educational blog awards? I want blogs to be recognized, but I've had mixed feelings about educator blogging rewards. It is truly nice to be recognized and it feels good but at the same time there are so many worthy blogs that this type of comparison is so very difficult, really almost impossible. How in the world do you choose from a list of four when you value each one in different but such worthwhile aspects ? They all add so much to the conversations and learning. It seems to bring out a lot of feelings that are counter productive to what I believe we are all trying to accomplish. Yet at the same time this type of recognition does bring some validation to educational blogs which usually are not even valued enough to be acknowledged as a category in the various blog mentions, awards, etc. It also seems to be a topic that we shy away from as an item for discussion. So how do we resolve it? Do we even need to? Probably not.
Anne's probably right. But being aware that there are so many blogs that can't be acknowledged by these formats for awards should put them in some sort of perspective. It's all about what speaks to you as a reader. Which means if you think I'm talking out of my hat, you wouldn't have made it this far through my post.
Lurked in the chatroom briefly during EdTech Talk Brainstorm 17A and caught part of the conversation relating to an ultimate multimedia classroom and Dave was pondering what he would do with his class if and when he got an opportunity. There were a few suggestions from the skyped in panel of brainstorms that might cover some of the wide array of tech tools but to me, the answer was immediately obvious. I typed in - "Get them to solve a problem."
Dave typed back, "What do you mean, Graham?"
I then in my best typing skills briefly outlined a Problem Based Learning scenario. Pose the issue/problem and then the students use the various tools to come up with their own solutions. I'm no expert but running a school wide PBL program has been part of my job role over the past three years. Jeff Flynn picked up on my chatroom jottings and brought them back to Dave's attention and it seemed to hit the mark.
So, I thought it would be appropriate to provide some links to the methodology of PBL, especially as practised when I work with teachers and classes at my school. Firstly, when I wanted to get a definite process, I found this outline on the TSOF website. Quotation Slab:-
Problem based learning recognises that students are more likely to be engaged:
This is the basic model, our teacher-librarian and I have used to implement our program. I've also poked around a little bit at Temasek Polytechnic's Problem Based Learning site where there are other great links to more reading. I'll round off with a few links to my own unit plans for PBL over the past few years - 2003 Animal Real Estate and 2005 Natural Disasters.
Basically, Problem Based Learning can be applied to any area of the curriculum and in any educational setting. I have read about it being used in medical school as well as in junior primary classrooms when deciding on a class pet. I'll have to dig some more samples off the school server to load onto my RWLO account and anyone who is interested (anyone?) can check them out.
Reading another exceptionally thought provoking post from Borderland, Deschooling Revolution and the section The Power of Dialog. This post started as a draft comment for Doug, but the more the thoughts unfolded, I find it hard to be concise and frankly, to stay on track. So, I'll stick my thoughts here and throw a trackback Borderland's way.
Doug, your post resonates with me on a few levels. But it was when I got to this section, my own thoughts started racing off to their own conclusions.
The best I can do to work for change on my own is to question the moral righteousness of activist pedagogy, and concentrate on simply cultivating human connections with students and their parents through dialog. The time for sweeping changes may be overdue, but I don’t see how educators are going to initiate that process. The problems we confront are not merely institutional, they are embedded in the relationship between schools and society. Sincere dialog may be the most practical revolutionary stance a teacher can assume at this time.
While we approach the delivery process of education down under differently to the States, there are many parallels to be made. I think that as educators, we have dodged meaningful dialogue and exchange of perceptions with parents for a long time now hiding behind jargon, government mandates and vague philosophies in a bid to keep them at arm's length. We're never going to get away with the "I'm an expert in a unique profession" line that say a geophysicist or structural engineer can, because as a teacher, I'm in no position to challenge his or her methods or knowledge.
One of the unique aspects of teaching is that everyone we come into contact with has at one time been a student themselves which then gives them an opinion (in their mind) on how classrooms should be run and what content should be taught. But their opinions are more often than not coloured by their own educational experiences. If everyone stood and recited their times tables when the parent was at school, then why isn't my child doing the same? Standards must be slipping is the inferred notion. It's a bit of a cruel paradox, parents know deep down that things have changed and their kids need new skills to survive in and beyond school......but.......what are those teachers doing with my child's education? Isn't anything we learnt relevant any more?
So we, the teachers, have to let them know that the curriculum we teach does cover essential time honoured skills but the future is approaching very fast, if it isn't here already. So if we don't want politicians dictating educational policy, we want parents on our side. And we need to make sure that they know what we do and why we do it in our classrooms, what our expectations for their children are - basically become more transparent as professionals. So, a small goal for myself in my classroom duties this year is use technology to keep parents in the loop, explain the curriculum as it goes and while probably not approaching the transparency that will be needed, hopefully I can at least work towards becoming opaque. I know that a couple of weeks into the start of the 2006 year will be the annual Acquaintance Night at my school. What will I say on that evening that will open me up to a more meaningful dialogue with the parents of my students for the coming year? An opportunity will go begging if I hide behind the razzle-dazzle of promised new technology (another IWB) or the platitudes of local middle school structures. I've got to say here's what I have to teach (curriculum) and here's some of the ways I'm going to help the kids with their learning (methodology). Usually teachers on this particular night lock down their presentations so tight as to avoid unwelcome or awkward questions from their caregiver audience. How refreshing it would be from their perspective to have their child's teacher allowing the parents to set the agenda and share the direction of the conversation. It's risky because it leaves the teacher (in their mind) open for criticism, a sitting target for parents keen to score credibility points with their peers. But that's assuming that freedom will bring out the worst traits in people who just want to be assured that you have their child's best interests in mind.
Maybe if these technologies achieve nothing else, using them to keep parents informed and with the flow of learning may help to get them onside and be willing to give me, the teacher, the trust and scope to operate freely interpret the curriculum and skills continuums in ways that my experiences tell me will engage my students.
I have to admit it ~ I'm addicted to my Pocket PC as an offline blog reader. With a young family, I couldn't possibly spend the time required to get through all the stuff I want to read whilst based at a desktop PC. So I've been trialling two websites that reformat regular web pages into mobile device size. Both are pretty good with the one negative that I have to use Microsoft Explorer to sync Explorer favourites, instead of Firefox. The first tool I used was Skweezer and viewing my newest favourite blog, Artichoke, it looks like this on my Pocket PC.
However, when I use the second, MobileLeap it sometimes reformats in a non-friendly to small screens way. It is not fun to try and read by using my stylus to drag the rest of the text across the screen.
What I really need is a Pocket PC rss reader - anyone know of a good program?
A fellow South Aussie teacher, Plunkers, whose path I have crossed twice in my teaching career is blazing his way into educational blogging and has been extremely active of late. I first became aware that he was blogging (not that I was surprised) via Bill Kerr, and I think via Bill, he found out about my foray as well. Well, he tried to post a comment to my recent post Flattening The Pyramid Of Influence but the edublogs plumber must have been in because he ended up e-mailing to me instead. So, I'll post it here and add a few comments.
An interesting read.
Yes I have a similar view on the expenditure on the learning objects.
Last year Penola High School joined the e-learning trial so that we could have access to the objects... all this expenditure and schools can not even access these resources yet.
I think the idea of a learning object (whatever that might be) is a good idea. Rather than spending this money to get people who probably do not even teach to design these objects we should be getting teachers to design their own and share them centrally. This would be a much cheaper solution that hopefully would meet our needs better.
Last year I began a project in which I had my year 11 students produce learning objects for the local primary school. The students went to the school and surveyed the students to gain useful information. They survey the teacher to see what she would be teaching (or have just finished) in four weeks time and the produced learning objects to suit the class.
I have a long way to go; I couldn't convince the students to leave the relative safety of quizzes. I did find their work most rewarding however and having an audience meant the quality of the final work was exceptional.
I believe these learning objects have a place I simply think that the best introduction of these would include the sharing of resources produced by fellow teachers. Teachers should be encouraged to produce more objects and a flow on effect of using these in the classroom I believe would follow.
Thanks also to Artichoke who posted a thought provoking comment using ammo from my own department's Learning To Learn program. Now, after reading Leigh's latest post about an educator who was fired for her blog, I'm feeling cautious and will offer these meek observations. Any re-usable digital content is potentially valuable to someone and there are plenty of ways to make it available. For example, I blogged earlier about the RWLO website where I or any registered educator can host up to 100 MB of files. I can make any or all of it public so others can access my resources. If someone went to my public page, they could open my Problem Based Learning folder on the left, then click on Natural Disasters and access one of two files (a simple problem and a unit plan). Now I don't have much there yet and maybe they don't fit the true definiton of a Learning Object but they are real, used and tested in the classroom, and potentially reuseable or customisable for another teacher. I'm more likely to want to use that system to download what another teacher has created than try to access a federated repository. Maybe what we really need are more localised versions of the RWLO idea - to me, it has potential. The final key bit of info came via an e-mail from Geoff Andrews who was the speaker that day when Steve Dembo blogged the link. He noted in his e-mail that the source code for the RWLO site is open source and that potentially anyone could grab it (not me, not tech savvy enough by a long way!) and create a new localised version with their own server. He offered to have a Skype chat later in the month and I would be keen to do that. Not sure why I'd be worth talking to apart from maybe I am the lone Aussie using the service. Anyway, I don't think it is an accident that RWLO stands for Real World Learning Objects (my emphasis added). I'm still to be convinced that the Learning Federation experience will be good value for money spent. However, perhaps someone could explain where I am misinformed. I just worry that at the rate of change in the online world, that this initiative may have had its day before it even gets off the ground.
Now even though I'm officially on holidays and enjoying the time with my wife and kids, I still find a chunk of time in the day to check on the edublogosphere and participate in the conversations. Yesterday, I checked out some parts of the World Bridges New Year's webcast marathon. It was a bit like running into someone you know at the supermarket when Jo McLeay surfaced in the chatroom as we have followed each other's blogs for a while now. Typical Australians - our first greetings involved the weather (scorchers two days leading into New Year) and she asked me if I was doing any IWB training at conferences interstate for 2006. I read this and thought, "Is she serious? I haven't even be out of the state to attend a conference. What would make her think I had any credentials in the IWB field?" Then I thought about all of the posts over the past six months re: our IWB implementation here at my school and maybe the way I've presented things via this blog and the team blog Activboarding makes me sound more expert than what reality says. I can't even recall my typed response to Jo. I don't know, maybe that little voice at the back of my head saying, "You don't know that much. Leave it to people further up the Pyramid Of Influence," that is the problem.
So, it was really interesting to read John Pederson's post today with his newly announced plunge away from conventional educational employment. It's got me thinking about the coming year and where it might be going. And you know what? What I do at my school is pretty good and I shouldn't undersell its importance in the least. I still have heaps to learn and could always improve but who is totally on top of things. I certainly don't want a Seachange in the same vein as John. So with a few weeks of leisure still ahead of me and when I still have time to pontificate, here are a few things I'm looking forward to as part of my job. (Caution: Half baked ideas may look good on the outside but may need to chucked in the bin if they are inedible.)
Who knows what else will crop up? John knows for sure that in today's world, nothing is certain.