Sunday, April 24, 2016

Global Education Highlights (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted by on No comments:

Sunday, April 17, 2016

Global Education Highlights (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted by on No comments:

Sunday, April 10, 2016

Global Education Highlights (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted by on No comments:

Sunday, April 03, 2016

Global Education Highlights (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted by on No comments:

Friday, April 01, 2016

Ban Technology? No, let's ban outdated learning and teaching instead!

This post is in response to an article in the Australian written by Natasha Bita and published March 26, 2016: 'Computers in class 'a scandalous waste': Sydney Grammar head'

 Brought to my attention via Twitter by the organisers of Education Nation (a conference being held in Sydney in June), I responded with a tweet.....
 

Let me explain my thinking further. In the spirit of mediation and trying to understand divergent thinking within the Australian education system I must say that ultra-conservative leadership within Australian education continues to be alive and kicking - both at the independent and public levels. It is almost as though our students are being held to ransom while leaders ignore much of the digital technology revolution that has taken place in the past 10 years.

To the article.....

Money....Yes! Lots of money has been wasted on technology...individually and institutionally - that is the generation we live in (like it or not). 
John Vallance (Head of Sydney Grammar) is quoted as saying, “I’ve seen so many schools with limited budgets spending a disproportionate amount of their money on technology that doesn’t really bring any measurable, or non-measurable, benefits,’’
If schools have spent money on technology that has been above what may be considered a reasonable budget then there is likely something wrong with the system - however it is the accountability part of this that aligns intention with outcomes. What are the measurement tools being used to account for this? Better performance on tests? Higher marks overall for university entrance? Is that our ultimate goal (as the article seems to indicate) for education? What about the intangible outcomes such as improved digital fluency for life's purposes, ability to connect online beyond the classroom to learn with others.... how do you measure and evaluate those?
Vallance, "“Schools have spent hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars­ on interactive whiteboards, digital projectors, and now they’re all being jettisoned.’’ 

Yes....it is true, money has been spent (and don't get me started on interactive whiteboards....ok, in a fair and just world where schools have all the money they need then a modern classroom should have these boards....but on limited budgets I would always choose technology in the hands of the student) but then effective schools (and businesses!!) plan budgets for technology replacements and updates - that is what we have to do now - it is part of the overhead of learning and of running a business.

Classroom management...... 
"But Dr Vallance regards­ laptops as a distraction in the classroom. “We see teaching as fundamentally a social activity,’’ he said. “It’s about interaction ­between people, about discussion, about conversation." 
Oh my goodness......if I hear one more time from an education leader or teacher or even a student that technology is a distraction I will throw something.....Technology is only a distraction when the associated pedagogy has not evolved to embed digital learning. In 2003 I was eLearning coordinator at the International School Dhaka in Bangladesh. Students had personally owned laptops in Grades 9-12, a wireless network, and an optimistic approach to learning how to learn while digital as a teaching faculty. Yes there were a few who considered laptops a distraction - but they were the teachers who continued to stand at the front of the class and demand 'eyes to the front' attention with a lecture-style pedagogy; they were the ones who wanted ultimate control of thought and action, and did not trust that students could not only use but benefit from online learning modes. But that was over ten years ago....surely all schools across the world have moved on? Surely we all know and understand today how to manage mobile technologies in the classroom to advantage learning outcomes??Surely we all know how to design online learning experiences both locally and globally?? (sigh...)

Teacher professional learning..... 
Vallance is quoted as saying, “If I had a choice between filling a classroom with laptops or hiring another teacher, I’d take the other teacher every day of the week.’’
 OK, this is not exactly a statement about professional learning...but let me say this, all teachers need to update their pedagogical approaches to include learning with digital and online technologies - there is no mid-point here. You are either stuck in the past (no technology in the class) with a pencil and paper approach, or you embrace and embed new modes that include designing online and interactive learning environments. The major problem I see in Australia right now (and I have worked with many schools and teachers across Australia in the past 4 years) is the very low level of digital fluency coupled with an even lower level of understanding of how to use online tools and blended learning to support K-12 levels (oh...and Higher ed as well...but let's keep focused here...). I continue to run workshops, and even in 2016, where teachers do not know how to access a Google doc and even ask me (I am not joking, this is a true story) what Web 2.0 is. So yes, hire more teachers instead of replacing laptops after 3 years...run them for 4 years and fix the budget that way - but the imperative action is teacher professional learning along with enlightened leadership attitudes and approaches to what learning really does look like in a modern classroom.....

In the words of Michael Fullan (Fullan, Langworthy and Barber, 2014),
"Pedagogical capacity, an educator's repertoire of teaching strategies and partnerships for learning, has and will continue to change as technology becomes more pervasive to include content delivery and consumption as well as collaboration and creation of new knowledge and a focus on the process of learning"

Socialisation of learning......
 “We see teaching as fundamentally a social activity,’’ he said. “It’s about interaction ­between people, about discussion, about conversation.
“We find that having laptops or iPads in the classroom inhibit conversation — it’s distracting. Dr Vallance said computers in the classroom robbed children of the chance to debate and discuss ideas with the teacher.“One of the most powerful tools in education is conversation,’’ he said.
The sociability of online learning has been researched and written about for 20 years. Yes, teaching is a social activity....and so is learning! Absolutely it is about interaction between people, discussion, sharing ideas, debate, conversation etc. But why limit this to one set of 20 students and one teacher (!!???). The use of digital technologies 'flattens' the learning so that others can be brought into these conversations and students ideas and outputs and learning can be merged, integrated, collaborated with experts and peers. In addition, digital technology allows learning to be visible - curation and sharing of resources online, blogging, collaborating via a wiki or Google doc, online discussion forums...all of these actions are valuable 'social learning' activities that can be shared beyond the immediate classroom walls as needed...and the best vehicle to do this is to use mobile technologies. Gone are the days when learners should have to walk to the computer laboratory in order to access their blog or social bookmarks or interact online! I closed the last computer lab at my school in Beijing, China when I was IT Director in 2011....good riddance we said...now the technology is in the hands of the students and can be accessed when needed (and put down when not!).

In terms of socialisation - learning is about building relationships, networks and communities of practice - and we should be encouraging students to build their own personal learning networks at a young age, and teaching them how to work in a collaborative capacity online....surely it goes without saying this is the future for them? It is the current state of how many of us work already!

Finally - Choices!......

My final words....or this will become a 2000 word paper.....learning today is global, it demands intercultural understanding and across borders interaction and collaboration, it requires new peer-to-peer learning modes and active online teacher presence, it requires an agile and flexible curriculum, and it relies on educators who understand emerging pedagogies for online collaborative learning. Current research related to educators as agents of change, qualities of and conditions for implementing online global collaborative projects using ICT, and pedagogical beliefs shows that barriers to technology integration not only include hardware and software issues but teacher beliefs and attitudes.
What is the catalyst for changing educators’ practice to more constructivist or connectivist approaches? In my view one of the catalysts is having technology in the classroom - available and working at all times. Then it becomes a matter of CHOICE - yes, at times it is best to hand write or use paper and pen, at other times it is best to use technology. It should not be an either or....it has to be both. Put the choice in the hands of the student...do not inflict one mode or the other. I know I have made mistakes in the past as a leader of new technologies when insisting on everyone conforming to digital routines.....today it has to be about choice, and adopting a variety of approaches when learning.

I will be speaking at the Education Nation Conference in June and look forward to further conversations about the role of digital technology in learning in Australia. There is much more to be said about this.

I welcome your comments and input to this discussion.

 Julie Lindsay
http://flatconnections.com



Fullan, M., Langworthy, M., & Barber, M. (2014). A Rich Seam: How new pedagogies find deep learning. London: Pearson.
Posted by on 7 comments:

Sunday, March 27, 2016

Global Education Highlights (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted by on No comments:

Sunday, March 20, 2016

Global Education Highlights (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted by on No comments:

Sunday, March 13, 2016

Global Education Highlights (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted by on No comments:

Sunday, March 06, 2016

Global Education Highlights (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted by on No comments:

Sunday, February 28, 2016

Global Education Highlights (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted by on No comments:

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Global Education Highlights (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted by on No comments:

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Global Education Highlights (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted by on No comments:

Friday, February 12, 2016

Leading from the middle - is this the direction for education?

Toady I attended a global webinar with Michael Fullan (Canada),  Steve Munby (UK), John Hattie (Australia, and Viviane Robinson (New Zealand). The focused discussion was based on the paper written by Michael and Steve, 'Inside-out and down-side up: How leading from the middle has the power to transform education systems' (You can download a copy here! Thanks to Meg)
Or read more on Steve's Education Development Trust website and download the paper from there.




The essential discussion was about leadership for change and focused on middle level development of connected, networked and collaborative leaders. The reasoning? That bottom up and top down is not working in K-12 schools, therefore we need to be supporting the leader in the middle to affect this.

 Some panel comments:

Michael Fullan:
  • Good collaboration reduces bad variation - A school would join a network with a goal of reducing your own variation
  • Leaders who do best participate as learners with others - when they do that they are learning a lot 
  • Need to develop a shared sense and depth of purpose about the work - by interacting on a regular basis 
  • Talking about FLAT organisation structures - organised collectively en mass - also connected autonomy 
  • Freedom in the middle to take initiative and work on agendas to improve the learning
  • Democratisation of leadership
Steve Munby:
  • Robust peer review - not about proving but about improving - challenges complacency - collective voluntary accountability 
  • To affect the three A's - Autonomy, Austerity, Accountability - the solution is 'collective autonomy' - neither bottom up or top down, voluntary but inevitable
 John Hattie
  • Visible learning - new #1 influence - critical factor is teachers’ collective efficacy 
  • System-wide school collaboration 
  • Impact - what do we mean by this - needs some external engagement 
  • Network is successful when it is not geographical - school network through UNiMelb - 26 schools - finally shared their data 
  • Notion of collective autonomy - easy to setup, tough to maintain, but failed. Each school wanted to claim the success and not share it, and each one wanted to have their own data. 
  • The research base shows TEACHER collective efficacy, not LEADERSHIP collective efficacy

As moderator Tony McKay suggested four areas of action: (in my shorthand)

  1. Need to go deeper and further for effective leadership
  2. Can we think more deeply about the network systems, structures and processes?
  3. Accountability is a network-based system deserves a lot more treatment
  4. Need to be more explicit about the theory of action
Make sure you follow #globaldialogue to track ongoing conversations


My brief response to the conversations and speakers:
  • Leadership can come from any level and needs to be encouraged from all levels - the role of the Teacherpreneur, Outlier and Learning concierge is important to consider here
  • Systemic change will not take place until teachers / leaders have more autonomy to do what they believe is best for learning. The discussion about collective autonomy is fascinating
  • Education leadership today is synonymous with the ability to network, form and manage communities, understand collaboration and enhanced learning outcomes for teachers and students
  • There is no point talking about leadership without assuming (do we all assume this now?) or at least referring to the need to be an online leader - digital fluency, networked learning, connectivist approach, online local and global collaboration - building online communities that function for better learning outcomes - these are all skills a 'leader' in education must have. This goes beyond knowing how to communicate online - it is deeper than developing a PLN and joining PLCs!
BTW - read this excellent post by Tessa Gray on Reimagining Professional Learning 2016
 - and this one by Derek Wenmoth, A new era of professional development.


Posted by on 2 comments:
Tags: ,

Sunday, February 07, 2016

Global Education Highlights (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted by on No comments:

Sunday, January 31, 2016

Global Education Highlights (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted by on No comments:

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Flat Connections - NEW projects and Teacher courses starting in February!

Happy New year from Flat Connections!

It is almost February and I want to remind you that Flat Connections global projects AND online teacher courses start again in the next 4 weeks. Please help us spread the word about these online collaborative (and global!) learning opportunities.

Global Projects
These projects are taking applications now from across the world. Come and join Nepal, Costa Rica, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and more!
  • K-2 Building Bridges to Tomorrow - yes! younger students can connect and collaborate as well. This global project brings teachers and students together for realtime and asynchronous exchanges and encourages collaborative learning through sharing daily life around themes and activities.
  • A Week in the Life - for students of ages 8-11 (Grades 3-6) - This project explores global issues and brings students together to share, discuss and create new meaning. The theme this year is 'Health and Well-Being'. This is an exciting global project and often the first time students independently connect with others beyond their school - great to foster online learning and digital citizenship skills!
  • Digiteen/Digitween - TWO projects - one for under 13's and the other for over 13's. Through online collaborative work students explore what it means to be a digital citizen and 21C online, connected and collaborative learner. Collaborative work leads to action projects that are shared with the world.
  • Global Youth Debates - Do you have a debate team(s) in your school? Then share this exciting project with them. Online, asynchronous, global debating! Theme this semester is 'Education' - topic coming in February!
  • Flat Connections Global Project - For students in Grades 9-12, this is a fully supported, student-driven collaboration where emerging technologies as described in the Horizon Report K-12 are explored and students collaborate to share new understandings. They also create personal multimedia to share via a final judging and awards process. This is a VERY flat project - perfect for high school students!



NEW - Connect with China Collaborative
Last semester we successfully ran a pilot of this new project and have brought it back again this semester with some updated material and approaches. The Connect with China collaborative is offered in partnership with Mandarin Pathways and provides teachers and students anywhere in the world an opportunity to connect with students, teachers and community groups within China. Global teams allow participants to not only connect but work together and build understanding and well as artefacts for sharing. Our theme this semester is 'Climate Change'.
Read the CCC blog and explore the exciting adventures from our 2015 pilot!


Teacher professional learning
TWO courses are starting in February (pending numbers). Both of these online courses are based on material found in 'Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds' (Lindsay & Davis, 2012) and now with updated material fro the new book 'The Global Educator' (Lindsay, 2016).
  • The Flat Connections Global Educator - for those teachers serious about learning how to bring global collaborative experiences to their classroom
  • Flat Connections Global Collaboration Primer - for those serious about finding out more to work out next steps for their own students and to share with their colleagues and school community


REMEMBER!
When learning is ‘flat’ then global becomes possible and collaborative legacies are created.

We hope to hear from you soon! Let me know if you have any questions at any time.

Julie Lindsay
Director, Flat Connections
julie@flatconnections.com
http://flatconnections.com 
#flatconnections 
#ChinaConnects

Posted by on No comments:
Tags: , , ,

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Global Education Highlights (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted by on No comments:

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Into the mouth of the dragon - Global collaborative learning with China

China is not a sleeping giant - these days it is a dragon that roars. Young people today need to understand more about China as a country, the Chinese culture and language, and make vital connections for future understanding. China is likely to be a part of future employment, tourism, education, and business for many.

The 'Connect with China' Collaborative successfully joined learners from Australia, the USA and China. Teachers, students and community organisations came together to learn from and with each other. Through careful selection of tools and learning design to support online collaboration participants explored the concept of 'My Community' and shared local ideas to create global outcomes. Cross-classroom teams of students researched thematic material and came together using a tool called Voicethread.



Highlights of the semester included real time linkups with China where exciting intercultural exchanges strengthened understanding between learners. One teacher in California shared at one of the regular synchronous teacher meetings that the conversation he had with his 6th grade class about the 'Great firewall of China' was illuminating and meaningful. The final online summit had classrooms from all three countries sharing their experiences in a virtual meeting room. Barriers such as language and connectivity issues melted into insignificance when participants realised they COULD in fact connect to others, and to China and communicate and share both synchronously in live sessions and asynchronously using online learning platforms.

Online global learning is imperative for all learners across the world. The Connect with China Collaborative is just one example of how meaningful exchanges lead to collaborative teamwork and ongoing construction of new knowledge. Every student at every level in every year of schooling should have a variety of online global collaborative experiences. If you are a teacher or and education leader, what are you doing to embed this into the curriculum and across the learning environment?

Explore the Connect with China 2015 pilot highlights - pictures, blog posts, co-created multimedia.

Join us in 2016 THEME - Climate Change
How is climate change impacting the world?
What is my responsibility to understand and share this impact?
How does my daily life affect climate change and how does this effect me?

All countries are invited to be part of the collaborative and make authentic connections with China.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1i9Z_5EEcw3AleSYG-Sho9XPVLOaVK2o_BZ7qoF3jteA/viewform


Follow us on Twitter #ChinaConnects

Cross-posted with Connect with China Blog
Posted by on No comments:
Tags: ,

Sunday, January 17, 2016

Global Education Highlights (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted by on No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)