ICT Transforming Education

Here is a great resource that is well worth reading just released:
UNESCO publication, ICT Transforming Education a regional guide. Click on the link and download a copy.

Wasted the morning trying to link in with Ewan McIntosh's workshop. Maybe it is the computer, maybe it is me, maybe it just wasn't meant to happen, or it is a sign! So went surfing instead and found this publication which I think is at last a publication that makes good sense!

Resources:
UNESCO Portal for Teachers
Gateway to 21st Century Skills

Ecological Perspective

Niki Davis is Professor of eLearning at the University of Canterbury in NZ. Niki simplifies the complexity of change within schools by taking an ecological perspective. She describes the teacher as the "keystone species" at the centre, who sets up the ecology of learning, and has the most impact on change.

In the Cloud, Innovatitive and Creative

Good reasons why technology is changing education



Living and Learning in the Cloud
Toni is a curriculum and eLearning advisor at Waikato University. In her 2010 symposium presentation Toni describes her own experiences of living and learning in the cloud as teacher and learner, providing a number of powerful examples. Toni leaves a clear message to educators; it's time to be making decisions about how we prepare students for new ways of learning.



Theo Baynton worked his way up the career ladder as a designer, art director, and director in animated television, first at Huhu Studios in Auckland, and then at Weta Workshop in Wellington. He has recently directed all 52 episodes of Weta’s latest television series, the Wotwots. In this clip from the 2010 EDTalks Symposium Theo shares his views about what is needed to be innovative and to succeed in the NZ creative industries.

Prezi Meeting

This is fab!



Prezi Meeting - Link to a step by step tutorial.

Anyone keen to have a go?

Hands Up!

A teacher sent this link through which was an interesting read..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11090044 (here)

Loved the picture of the 'old school' slates..... just as a wave of new-tech slates is hitting the market (led by the iPad)

Interesting discussion on the use of hands up in class particularly the point about which students always answer the questions. Using tech such as cell phones and the internet we have ways of allowing all students to be participants - as well as the techniques mentioned in the article.

Have a read - what is your reaction?

Sharing and Best Practice please!

Here is a reflection and just a thought.

Gaming=Learning - Theorists and philosophers date back as far as the 1700’s relate to how children best learn and that is through play and activity. Learning through games, play and activity is not a new thing it is only the ICT idea that is new. There is a development going on in UK schools using Drama in all curriculum areas that is proving to be effective helping children to engage in their learning. Ewen also referred to different schools using active play for learning. … learning through play is nothing new. I believe many teachers maybe thinking, here we go again….. same idea, different tools. What we do need to know is, what is ‘Best Practice’ when it comes to ICT and lets get on with it.

Interesting read below thanks Karla, about Ewen’s online workshop. Online learning is a thing many are doing now to increase our knowledge. We have people within our community who are doing some form of training online through the computer. In addition to this I attend a weekly live class that uses interactive audio, visual and has chat option through Adobe® Acrobat® Connect™ Pro Meeting. A university lecturer spoke at conferences and conducted research throughout UK and Europe but still at the same time continued to facilitate the course I was attending, online, while she was traveling. My colleagues are usually scattered throughout NZ but this course had participating students scattered worldwide. Seems ironic when lecturers from NZ go to the UK to talk about ‘E-learning and Change with Digital Technology’ but speakers come here from the UK to speak to us! (Not sure if this should be a question mark?)

A good read is, ‘Catching the Knowledge Wave? by Jane Gilbert, (2005), thanks Dave. Jane talks about the knowledge society and the future of education. Interestingly in her next paper, ‘Knowledge, the Disciplines, and Learning in the Digital Age’, she comments, ‘ICT use in schools is often little more than digital busy work’, (Gilbert, 2007, pp115). Here’s the reality, ICT is embedded and is not an addition to the lives of our kids. What teachers need to know is how to use it effectively in the learning environment. What is Best Practice? Why bother?

I am looking forward to learning about ideas that are ‘Best Practice’. Ideas that will help teachers to feel confident that they are spending quality time finding out how to implement effective ICT into their teaching. I ticked everything in the survey simply because I want to know as there will always be different and new ideas and ways to do things. Not information overload and ICT dazzling but ‘knowledge worth knowing’. 'Sharing' and exposure to 'Best Practice', please!

Gaming = learning?

After reading the previous post by Karla on her session with Ewan, I followed the links for a bit of professional reading. Prezi blew me away, what a cool presentation tool! While exploring some examples I came across 'Gaming to Learn', it had me intrigued as it echoed Ewan's views on gaming and provided a way of sharing these thoughts with others (looking forward to sharing it at a staff meeting).
I'm not really a public speaker/blogger but this prezi needed sharing - go on, take the time to look at it, it's worth it.

Learning in my PJs with Ewan McIntosh and THE WORLD!

Yesterday morning, at 7am, while still in my PJs, I 'attended' one of Ewan McIntosh's monthly GETinsight online 'Office Hours' sessions.

These are 'attended' by pre registering through links available on Ewan's blog (http://edu.blogs.com/), and then using the link to cisco.com to phone into the discussion or to request a callback.

The topic was 'Do schools really value pupils' views?' and around 15 people from all around the world shared their ideas, points of view and thoughts.

Why is this valuable? If we are to embrace the 'sharing' essential for the e-Central cluster to succeed beyond the 3 year project, we have to 'walk the walk' and not just 'talk the talk'. This means being open to sharing what we are doing as well as learning from others, here in NZ and beyond. We can begin to realise that there are other educators, from all over the world, dealing with the same issues, experiencing the highs and lows and who are willing to share their ideas, successes and failures generously with us, down in little old NZ.

Suddenly we begin to work with the online communities, recognising that the 40 minutes spent, eating your toast, engaging in this kind of discussion really is worthwhile.

Ewan asked the question, have we as teachers, forgotten how to learn? Are we now sitting waiting to be told what to learn, waiting for our next focus or initiative to be spoonfed? Do we believe that being a teacher no longer means also being a learner? How are we following our own learning journey or are we falling back to the 'I don't have time' excuse. If we do not have time to be learners then are we still teachers? When did the two separate? All of these questions...

So, there I was, sitting at my PC, still a little bleary eyed listening through my home phone, to Claude from the American School in Paris discussing how she is using Video to gather student feedback about their learning. She also discussed the issues with getting all of her teachers on board, their fears that this did not in fact encourage 'deep learning' and the way that students are now driving the use of video within the school.

Ben, from the UK, talked about how he is using Prezi http://prezi.com/ as an option for students to present their learning. This provides a great alternative to "powerpointless" slideshows and has a range of features that allow for students to evolve their use of the programme instead of quickly mastering the process and becoming bored with it. He also spoke about how using Games Based Learning with his students had assisted their retention of information and increased their interest and motivation in the topic (Romans).

Alannah from up in Nelson, spoke about how the 'Sharing' message has been taken on board by her ICT PD Cluster and how they are starting 'Walkarounds' where teachers are given two hours off timetable to physically visit classrooms in other schools. She also spoke about how what we can gain from others is determined by our 'mindset'. If we do not believe sharing will gain us anything, then it won't. Simple as that!

All in all, a great opportunity to consider your own beliefs, ideas and possibly misperceptions from the comfort of your own home, at no charge (no free steak knives unfortunately...)

Consider signing up for next month's discussion about Teachers as learners and share your ideas with the world!

If you are interested in my notes from the full 40 minute discussion, drop me an e-mail and I will forward them on to you.

Until next time

Karla