Hey Look ... there's another bus coming ....

Just when you thought that you had a handle on ultra-portables someone opened the box and all of these fell out ...

Does institutional education serious damage minds?

The question was just meant to be an eye-catcher rather than a serious question but I note from my readings over the past few days that the US 'No Child Left Behind' which comes with the strap-line - promoting educational excellence for all Americans - may not be so good at doing just that as it thinks it is. The Boston Globe gives an indication of the problem and it is picked up by the Open Education blog which comments: Hidden beneath the surface was yet another subtle demonstration as to why the No Child Left Behind Act may actually be acting as a deterrent to improved educational outcomes.

This is quite a worry as the English version - 'Every Child Matters' has certain synergies with its American 'name sake'.

I think that the gist might well be that massive, institutional systems have a unique way of levelling down rather than, as the rhetoric hopefully suggests, levelling up. I have no answers to this, but intend to keep my eye on this ball to see whether the move from 'Department for Education and Science' to 'Department for Children, Schools and Families' has the effect of achieving the aim ...to make England the best place in the world for children and young people to grow up ...and to give them a top class education .

capitalisation without the capital

When the group who formed ictopus were deciding on the name, the subject of whether or not it should begin with a capital letter came up ... in the ensuing discussion it was decided that 'no' ... ictopus would be ictopus. Which caused some confusion when writers began to use it at the beginning of a sentence. Which rule took precedence ... the non-capitalisation of a proper noun or the beginning of the sentence.

This came to mind when I was readin John Connell's blog today. This is what he said, quoting from the report indicated:

"I think in the future, capitalization will disappear,” said Professor Sterling, who teaches at the University of California, Berkeley. In fact, he said, when his teenage son asked what the presence of the capital letter added to what the period at the end of the sentence signified, he had no answer.

From a report in the New York Times called, Informal Style of Electronic Messages Is Showing Up in Schoolwork. Richard Sterling, emeritus executive director of the National Writing Project in the USA says: “I think this is not a worrying issue at all.”

As he points out, when a teacher comes across the use of SMS shorthand, for instance, in a school assignment, it creates an opportunity to discuss the contextual use of different kinds of language.

The study itself is called Writing, Technology and Teens - from Pew Internet, and is actually an encouraging read. It suggests, for instance, that young people today are writing more than their parents did when they were children. It also indicates that most young people are very well aware of the difference between formal writing, for instance for a school assignment, and informal, or ’social’ writing. (the bold bits are mine not John's)

I found it a highly readable report.

Postscript - if you don’t have time to read the whole report, I came across a reasonable summary here.

This all seems to fit in very well with the 'draft experiences and outcomes' for the Literacy and English section of Curriculum for Excellence ... doing it the Scottish way. It is a long, long way from the literacy framework in England.

Rockford's Rock Opera

Some time ago I drew attention to 'Rockford Rock Opera' an exciting and innovative idea that you can sample free of charge from the web link above. I am really interested in what teachers and educationalists make of the story and the way it is presented and the potential for educational development along this theme. There is so much here, from a superb storyline developed in an exciting way, to environmental and ecological undertones that come through quite dramatically.

"This extraordinary story spreads a most important message in a mysterious and magical way. Rockford's Rock Opera has been created and produced with love, passion and great skill and will endure as a classic to be enjoyed by the world's children and adults for generations to come." Susan Stranks



There are many more references and clips on YouTube ...

Textease in Trafford

Two super sessions today with ICT subject leaders from Trafford near Manchester. They were interested in getting the best out of Textease Studio CT and I was there to show them some of the things I was thinking of and where ideas were going next.

We spent a good deal of the time looking at how sound input has the potential to enhance teaching and learning and how it could make a significant difference to how teachers keep 'reading records'. This led to discussions and practice of ideas to support writing multi-modally and how this could have a significant input into concepts of inclusion.

Using prepared examples I broached the idea that professionals should take examples given and firstly 'adopt' them ... then, when they were ready they should change them- 'adapt' and finally when they were confident they should innovate their own ideas. this trilogy seemed to fit in well with current practice.

Small pieces of kit made big impressions from the TTS Easi-Speak to wireless keyboards.

Speaking Freely

"Sitting here on the Black Isle overlooking the waters of the Moray Firth towards Inverness. Snow on the Cairngorms shimmering in the background. We're waiting for the dolphins to come out but we haven't managed to catch the sight of one yet. Wonderful weather, sunshine and blue sky."

spoken through SpinVox

Scotland's 4 Ds

Dumfries (and Galloway), Dundee, (West)Dumbarton (well nearly) and Dingwall ... a Scottish tour !

Monday with over 100 teachers in Dumfries. Their first day back after the Easter holidays but what enthusiasm. We explored the changing definitions of text in educational contexts and looked at the wider picture illustrated by Article 13 of the UN Charter for children. This led us to look at the way Textease Studio CT handles multimodality, in particular the power of adding sound to text in a variety of ways. Keeping reading records as 'live' sound recordings was the innovation here as many teachers had not imagined that they had the technology to do this simply and quickly. Tuesday in Dundee with 60 or so enthusiasts in a fantastically impressive hall with a huge presentation screen. Again we looked at the way Curriculum for Excellence had a clear focus towards the future and how the definitions of text opened up opportunities to look at multimodality, blogging and social networking.



One of the many things that struck me in both of these sessions was the absence of men. Out of about 160 odd teachers who turned out for the sessions I think I counted 4 men. Come on guys where are you?

It hasn't all been ICT and work. Just north of Dumfries, up a narrow valley, if you know where to look, are some fabulous sculptures ... just sitting in the environment.



In West Dumbarton teachers gave up a half day of their holiday to come and work with me (WOW!) and we talked much about creativity and listened to part of Sir Ken Robinson's presentation at TED ... we talked about 'white space' in teaching and learning ... the necessary gap between doing one thing and then doing another so that each experience has time to root and grow before you dash on to another. And we spoke of the idea that boredom might well be a catalyst for creativity (interesting idea). These teachers were also taken by the idea of having a dynamic reading record which was multimodal ... containing a visual record of the book or story read, a sound file of the experience and perhaps text to review the book. We also spoke of the possibility of children listening to their own reading in this way and taking some level of responsibility for their own improvement and progress.We also experimented with making videos of signing to go along with words and picture for those who had hearing impairments.



We also took a brief look at the latest output from Curriculum for Excellence - The Technologies. An early view suggests to me that this is a sensible document which will give professionals breadth and scope for creativity as well as ongoing development. It will, however, need supported interpretation to assist teachers with the development of their curriculum and classroom context.

All set up now for the last of the '4 Ds of Scotland', two sessions tomorrow with SMTs from the Highlands and Island. The session is being held in Strathpeffer where I have learned that the Kaiser Chiefs will be performing in May !! Perhaps they could see me as a 'warm up act'!

A super session with two different groups of SMTs in the fashionable Spa town of Strathpeffer ... we were not overwhelmed by groupies rushing in to buy their tickets for the Kaiser Chief concert but I was amazed at the distances some people had travelled to get to the sessions. Two teachers had driven down from Thurso ... well over two hours away ....

Alan Stewart ( many thanks Alan) documented the sessions on the fly using a very nifty piece of Web 2.0 technology called Drop.io ... a simple private exchange which enables you to create simple private exchange points called "drops." The service has no email signup and no "accounts." Each drop is private, and only as accessible as you choose to deliberately make it. Create multiple drops, add any type of media, and share or subscribe as you want. To make a drop just click the big red button that says 'drop it'. If you haven't experimented with this yet it really is well worth the effort.

PS

Alan Stewart reports on his blog what I said and did ...

21st Century Students Deserve a 21st Century Education

Following up on my 'What do teachers want?' question how about the 'What do children/students want?' An interesting report has come to light (for me anyway) from many sources as part of Project Tomorrow . This US project has the following aims:

The vision of Project Tomorrow is insure that today’s students are well prepared to be tomorrow’s innovators, leaders and engaged citizens of the world. We believe that by supporting the innovative uses of science, math and technology resources in our K-12 schools and communities, students will develop the critical thinking, problem solving and creativity skills needed to compete and thrive in the 21st century.

The participation in the project's survey called 'Speak Up 2007 for Students, Teachers, Parents and School Leaders' was impressive:

Participation Overview: Surveys submitted from schools in all 50 states, American DOD schools, Canada, Mexico and
Australia. Top participating states in 2007: TX, CA, AZ, IL, AL, MD, NC, PA, FL, MI

319,223 K-12 students - 25,544 teachers - 19726 parents - 3,263 school leaders

3,729 schools and 867 districts

About the 2007 Speak Up schools:
o 97% public schools – 3% private schools
o 32% Urban – 40% Suburban – 29% Rural
o 43% Title I eligible; 29% majority – minority student population

The results give an interesting overview of the state of play in the US. You can access what was said here.

There are many items worthy of thought and comment:

Students are very interested in making better use of the “computers in their pocket” for learning and particularly to assist with communications, collaborations, creativity and productivity.

Students’ frustration with school filters and firewalls has grown since 2003, with 45% of middle and high school students saying now that these tools meant to protect them inhibit their learning.

When asked how their school could make it easier for them to work electronically, almost 2/3rds of middle and high school students said “let me use my own laptop, cell phone or other mobile device at school.”

What teachers really want

I haven't got the answer to what teachers really want but my questioning and the responses given over the last two weeks tell me that it is not complex ( or even simple) Learning Platforms or VLEs or portals ... it is not integrated systems that allow them to store/share/access materials, and it does not appear to be more kit or software.

Now whether this is because they want a quiet life and just to get on or whether they just don't get it. The idea that a little time an effort invested in new technology and new ideas might just make a whole lot of difference to their teaching and their children's learning is not new but the back to basics is seductive in its naivety.

Some interesting comments cam out of my questioning ... I leave them here without personal comment, hoping for yours ...

Simple to use software that meets real needs in their own particular subject area and preferably free

What teachers don't want: Student information management systems... which they can't understand and/or operate

Easy to install - no complicated systems needed to get it ready for use - last one I installed involved registering it, getting an emailed code back to activate it - too long/fussy!
Easy is the key word to start with on most of it!
Easy to use
Easy to adapt for different purposes
Easy to differentiate for different outcomes/pupils/tasks

...some programs already developed for my purpose, one which I won't need to read a 100 page manual before I can use it. I need it to be teacher and pupil friendly and have both explanations and fun applications.

... a course/inset where someone passionate about the subject exposes me to fun, exciting websites which will enthuse both staff and pupils rather than me spending hours, days, weeks finding one or two myself. Teacher enews would be good. Once a month stating cool website - something short and concise would be great. i would subscribe.

...on going training when updates are introduced
- training for class teachers outside of government initiatives e.g. look at the differences in the skills of Orchard's KS2 teachers to KS1 with whiteboards because KS2 were part of the initiative
- tips and suggestions and training as to how generic software can be used in all curriculum areas
- More training to move teachers on from the use and apply software to the create stage.

I’m not sure that teachers have a view on software priorities: most teachers only become aware of new software as it is presented to them and are not actively going round saying “I wish I could find a piece of software that did this...”

Teachers appear to want things that affect them now on a day-to-day basis ... their medium and long term view does not seem to be part of the agenda. Is this a surprise?

Next week I am in Scotland working with a wide range of teachers and senior managers ... I wonder if the answers will be the same?

Top 100 Tools for Learning

The Centre for Learning and Perfomance Technologies has produced their Top 100 Tools for Learning Spring 2008 ...Final ranking as at 31 March 2008

The list is compiled from the contributions of 155 learning professionals (from both education and workplace learning) who shared their Top 10 Tools for Learning both for their own personal learning/ productivity and for creating learning solutions for others

And here they are ...

It is interesting that only one of the top 10 costs you real, actual money out of your bank account ... all of the ones 11 - 20 are also free !!

I found that I use 9 out of the top 10 and 7 out of the next 10 ... what about you ?

"Teach Less, Learn More:Re-igniting Passion and Mission"

This is the strap line of the Ministry of Education Singapore ... exciting times ( thanks to the Kent Teachers Blog for the link)

TLLM calls on educators to go back to basics and it outlines what those should be. The three phases discussed are:

1. Remember Why We Teach
2. Reflect on What We Teach
3. Reconsider How We Teach

I won't spoil your vist to the site to find out more by revealing the meat behind the titles ...but I can't resist copying this quote ( in case you get no further)

As part of the blueprint on holistic education laid out by Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Minister for Education, in a Parliamentary speech, we “will seek to cut back on quantity… so as to provide more ‘white space’ in the curriculum, space which gives schools and teachers the room to introduce their own programmes, to inject more quality in teaching, or give students themselves the room to exercise initiative and shape more of their own learning."

The Kent Teachers Blog goes on to ask a key question about what titles say about National Strategies ... in the US - No Child Left Behind, in the UK - Every Child Matters and in Singapore - Teach Less, Learn More ... I think it is time I did some world wide research to add to this list and then give them some careful thought. I wonder what Finland says? (this after reading Ewan's post last week)

Emerging technologies for learning: volume 3 (2008)

From Becta: Emerging technologies for learning

... aims to help readers consider how emerging technologies may impact on education in the medium term. The publications are not intended to be a comprehensive review of educational technologies, but offer some highlights across the broad spectrum of developments and trends. It should open readers up to some of the possibilities that are developing and the potential for technology to transform our ways of working, learning and interacting over the next three to five years.'

Volume 3 contains some really 'up-to-the-minute' stuff so some good bedtime reading here ...

Growing up with Google - what it means to education (Diana Oblinger, EDUCAUSE)

Mobile, wireless, connected - information clouds and learning (Mark van't Hooft, Kent State University) -

Location-based and context-aware education - prospects and perils (Adam Greenfield, NYU)-

Emerging trends in serious games and virtual words (Sara de Freitas, SGI)

'If it quacks like a duck...' - developments in search technologies (Emma Tonkin, UKOLN)

Interactive displays and next generation interfaces (Michael Haller, Upper Austria University of Applied Sciences)

Tanya Byron goes world wide

I have been watching my Google Alerts over the last week since the Byron Review surfaced and have noticed that the ripples have spread wider and wider. Blogs obviously have their uses in disseminating information quickly and easily.

Today I picked up on a comment from Canada on 'globeadmail' with the heading... A British lesson that Canadians would do well to study

It highlights a quote from the Review that people are taking to heart ... 'Kids don't need protection, we need guidance.' The Government today bring out new proposals to attempt to ban sex offenders from using social networking sites by releasing their email addresses to the sites concerned. There must be something in the data protection act that prevents email addresses from being passed around from pillar to post ! And, anyway, what is to prevent anyone from just getting another and another and another email?

The issue here is another instance of social networking and the internet and websites in general all being 'mucked' in together under a 'fear' banner.

OpenEducation .net also picked up on the Review...
... this is a site dedicated to tracking the changes occurring in education today. In an era where it is possible to photoshop images, facebook people, and access an endless stream of knowledge by googling, the Internet Age offers both great promise and enormous challenges for educators. At OpenEducation.net, readers will be exposed to both an objective and subjective look at the many issues facing the profession today.

There is obviously an urgent need to educate now in a positive way. If we wait for projects and proposals and systems to be put into place it will take too long. A common-sense approach at a localised level would make sense here. The juggernaut of institutionalisation is not the only means to create change.

New wave publishing

A brilliant day today with a group of interested and enthusiastic publishers and editors from Collins Education all gathered together in Hammersmith to listen to me talk about the state of ICT in education today and where it could be going.

Ken Robinson's TED talk was a highlight with the ideas of creativity leading rather than following and this towards the new wave of Web 2.0 applications for use across the whole range of educational curriculum.

The strength of this day was that here were a group of people who wanted to know and wanted to be a part of the digital world within education for their own purposes and for their company's. It bodes well for a digital publishing future.

Dial 999 someone is watching me ( on my computer)

An article in yesterday’s Daily Telegraph states that Social Networking sites will have to advertise the 999 emergency services number according to new government guidelines. It is hoped that this will encourage children to call the police directly to report abuse.

I bet the police are really pleased about this ... I wonder if they were consulted?
The article also says:
Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, will publish the 73-page document on Friday, which also warns parents about anorexic websites which encourage teenage girls to compete to lose weight, and sites which promote self-harm and suicide.

Doesn't this make the third none/semi connected document from 'Government' sources on the subject of eSafety in a week ... no wonder parents are getting worried ... a bit of coordination would go a long way!

Watch out for Friday ...

Guardian April 1st

I read this article A Step Too Far in the Guardian and then realised what date it was. Nice one Guardian ... great scam !!

Ofcom's Research into Social Networking

Tanya Byron last week Ofcom this week. Their report (in full here) today about the proliferation of social networking sites (read the BBC's interpretation here) and widespread access stresses the safety aspects over and above the positives concerning the building of wider networks and a new digital definition of 'friend'. Interestingly, the BBC report does not make any connection between what Ofcom says and what the Byron Review suggests.

So are you an alpha socialiser, an attention seeker, a follower, a fathful, a functional or a none user? You can see which social category of 'networker' you fit into here.

Today is the last day to have your say ...

... for submissions to the DCSF consultation document 'Home Access to Technology'.

This consultation seeks views on the proposed Home Access programme that aims to ensure that every family with 5-19 year old learners in England has access to learning where and when they need it through access to ICT resources and support at home.

The executive summary is worth a read.

One of the key aims of the proposals is that:
...This will allow all learners to engage with the curriculum beyond the school day and extend their learning into areas that match their interests, abilities and aspirations. Also learners will develop the skills they will need to pursue and drive their learning and participate fully in the digital world.

The major worry comes from sustainability and support.

Becta have said:
Becta is currently undertaking its third devices mini-competition on behalf of the Access to technology at home initiative. From the information provided by LAs about their requirements and initial feedback by suppliers, particularly at BETT, Ultra Mobile PCs (UMPCs) will feature quite strongly in the mini-competition.

To assist LAs and suppliers in this process Becta has produced a brief technical overview about the suitability of UMPCs as part of proposed solutions for Access to Technology at Home. This information is provided as a generic technical overview and is as far as is practicable independent of brand, instead focusing on key features; the benefits and the challenges that present themselves when considering large scale roll outs of such technologies.

This looks like a big opening for the Asus miniBook, Elonex ONE etc but what a weight of expectation will be places on LAs to administer.

The Functional Expectations of the programme are interesting:

Learning experience

Home Access users shall:

• be able to use solutions to access information on their personal learning goals and progress against them
• have access to a wide range of online learning resources
• have access to a wide range of tools that allow the creation and manipulation of multi-media texts
• be able to access multiple applications and services simultaneously
• have access to a range of collaborative tools and opportunities to share and work with others.

Users should feel ‘ownership’ of their personal educational experiences and the home access solution.

Home access should deliver benefits, especially to families and the community, beyond involvement in the formal educational experience.

Learning environment

Home Access users shall:

• have access to the online learning platform services used by the establishment(s) the learner attends
• be able to continue learning experiences begun in-school when out of school, and vice versa
• be entitled to a solution that protects the user from inappropriate contact and content and ensures data security and integrity regardless of location
• have access to solutions to recover data in event of failure or disaster and restore their ability to engage in their learning in a reasonable time frame.

Home Access users should:

• be able to experience high quality online learning experiences both in-school or college and out-of-school or college
• experience a familiar set of learning experiences over a reasonable length of time
• have a wide choice of home access solutions.

Learning support

School, college and other educational infrastructure shall be capable of supporting a variety of services to all home access users concurrently.

Educational establishments shall be supported, motivated, and measured against changing pedagogy to take advantage of home access.

Home Access users shall have access to formal user support (educational and technical) when needed and within a locally agreed time frame.

There is this bit tucked away at the bottom of the above section:
Educational establishments shall be supported, motivated, and measured against changing pedagogy to take advantage of home access. Notice the word 'measured' in there.

It is fairly obvious to me that there is going to have to be a real shake up in how children/parents/students/teachers access what they want where they want and on what their preferred tool is. Many will have mobile kit that they simply want to use to access a variety of networks. At the moment few schools encourage students to bring in their own equipment and many positively ban usage because (and I hope that this is the reason) their systems can't cope.

I sense exciting times ahead.