dougmuses

Google Chrome

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 16:45:00 +0000

Well, Google have launched their search engine to rival IE and FireFox ... Google Chrome... on my machine it is quick, intuitive clean in design and does some nice things in a simple way.

The bit I like best is that you just type straight into the address line and the search is done for you. I also like the 'thumb-nails' of the most visited sites and the timed full search history.There are probably loads of things that I have not looked at yet but I will carry on using it for a while to see how it compares.

But I didn't read what I was signing up to ... did you?

It appears that you might just want to take a peek at the end user bit. Gizmodo points out item 11.1 :

You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. And it does go on !

Interesting ... does it mean what I think it means?

We are 16 going on 17 ...

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 09:21:00 +0000

Following up on the ENGLISH Governments announcements to almost everyone the BBC today reported on the fact that students starting their secondary education this week will be required to continue their compulsory education until they are 17.

In New Zealand the leaving age is 16 and if you have good reason it can be 15. Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland have not changed.

In Denmark education is compulsory for children from the 1 August of the calendar year in which the child attains the age of 7 years until the 31 July after the child has received regular education for a period of nine years. Compulsory education ends, however, at the latest on 31 July of the year of the child's seventeenth birthday...

In Norway children are required to attend school for 10 years commencing the calendar year they reach the age of 6.

Wikipedia has a section on this which appears to suggest that 15 is the earliest and 18 is the latest ... so I guess, as usual England sits in the middle.

Surely the important thing is not how long students are in compulsory ( though why it has to be compulsory I am not sure) educationbut how relevant to them and their.

In February of this year Greg Whitby wrote about 'Relevancy or retention?' with regard to students in New South Wales, Australia. This post is well worth a read in this connection.

I just wonder what the students starting school this week think (or what their parents think) of this. And ... it does occur to me that 2013 could be two elections away !

Now its writing and arithmetic ...

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 09:00:00 +0000

Today the BBC report that:

Struggling pupils are to get one-to-one help with the Three Rs under a trio of government-backed programmes beginning or being extended this term.
Two new schemes, Every Child a Writer and Every Child Counts, are being piloted in England and will be rolled out nationally by 2011.

This on the back of the: successful (?) reading scheme, Every Child a Reader, is being rolled out to 30,000 of the worst-performing pupils.

I just wonder how it feels to be a 'worst-performing pupil' and how the arbitrary set standards have become so important that they have taken over from the idea of education in childhood which embraces excitement and enthusiasm for knowledge and understanding.

I watched a video presentation of this news earlier today and was taken by a young boy writing on paper with a pencil ... this is the way that the press conceptualises writing and indicates a perceptual backwater. On the whole today when people write on paper with an instrument it is for their own purpose. When they write for others they do what I am doing now. They compose on screen and check and edit and amend as they go along. What concept of writing will our young people have if schools perpetuate the pencil and paper approach?

This is the bit I like:Typically about five or six children aged seven and eight in a school would receive intensive support of about 10 hours over 10 weeks - probably outside the school day.

I bet the children will be pleased!

It is rather like seeing families out for a ride on their bikes ... children togged up with their helmets and parents riding along without. One idea for one set and another idea for another.

Mr Balls says that by taking these steps of providing individual help for the poorest performers we will ... have a massive impact on the standard of education in this country and make us a world leader.

I think not ... it is not usually the middle to lower end performers that make a country into world class ... if this were so why are we not ploughing all of the money to be spent on 2012 into this strata ? Were we not recently told that athletes who were going to get medals were to get the money ... not the 'all-so-rans'?

It is also interesting to review these ideas against the increase in University entrance and the news that students graduating from 'lesser' universities (and having a debt of £20,000) would have been better off not going as they often end up in jobs/careers not requiring high academic qualifications. ( This does not, of course, take into account that many of them have had a superb 3 years away from home growing up.)

The greatest, and perhaps the last, experiment in particle physics

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 18:46:00 +0000

On Wednesday 10th September the Large Hadron Collider gets switched on and one of the greatest physics experiments of all time begins. What the outcome of this will be depends on where you stand (or if any of us are still around to stand).

In wonderful English 'gung-honess' the BBC will be there to see the beginning ... the end will have to wait!

You can pick up the BBC's coverage of the events here

'May the force be with them!'

Was this really necessary?

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 16:05:00 +0000

Today in England (I always knew that I wanted to be Celtic)the new welfare guidelines including 69 "learning goals" for the under-fives have come into force.

Was it really necessary?

In an educational world where leading countries begin to formalise learning at 7 years why does England feel that it is necessary to stipulate 69 things that the very young.

Reported on the BBC Education site:

In Scotland, what and how children learn in pre-school nurseries is set out in the Curriculum for Excellence which is currently being rolled out. It does not apply to childminders.

In Wales, a new Scandinavian-style Learn through Play nursery and infant curriculum is being introduced for three to seven-year-olsd, which moves away from the more formal classroom based lessons.

It is worth reading this alongside the post about the decline in the number of registered childminders and the comments of some of our leading children's authors.

TED - Can kids teach themselves?

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 15:08:00 +0000

Sugata Mitra's talk made at the Lift Conference held in Geneva in 2007 has just been posted on the TED site.

In his talk he poses the question 'Can kids teach themselves?'. He uses his 20 minutes to explain his view: In 1999, Sugata Mitra and his colleagues dug a hole in a wall bordering an urban slum in New Delhi, installed an Internet-connected PC, and left it there (with a hidden camera filming the area). What they saw was kids from the slum playing around with the computer and in the process learning how to use it and how to go online, and then teaching each other.

In the following years they replicated the experiment in other parts of India, urban and rural, with similar results, challenging some of the key assumptions of formal education. The "Hole in the Wall" project demonstrates that, even in the absence of any direct input from a teacher, an environment that stimulates curiosity can cause learning through self-instruction and peer-shared knowledge. Mitra, who's now a professor of educational technology at Newcastle University (UK), calls it "minimally invasive education."

The most interesting thing about what he reports is that children adopt peer learning styles automatically. And that the learning took place in groups ... that was an essential factor. He also comments that the children seemed to learn by watching rather than doing. I feel sure that our institutional, individualised education systems may have something to learn from this. Worth leaving it to the kids.

Have you ever had to teach a child how to use a mobile phone?

QCA Consult on GCSE ICT

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 08:08:00 +0000

The consultation by QCA on the ICT requirements for GCSE could have real implications back down through the key stages in English schools. This top down approach has the potential to change pedagogical styles and attitudes to a tool which is seen as a subject. (I actually feel the same about literacies in other curriculum areas)

The main thrust of the proposals which are up for comment is encapsulated in item 10:

GCSE specifications in ICT must require learners to demonstrate the ability to:

• think creatively, logically and critically
• independently select, use and integrate ICT tools to meet needs
• find, select and evaluate information for its relevance, value, accuracy and plausibility
• manipulate and process data and other information, model situations and explore ideas
• communicate data and information in a form fit for purpose and audience
• adopt safe, secure and responsible practice when using ICT
• develop appropriate and effective ICT-based solutions in a range of contexts
• work individually and collaboratively
• iteratively review, evaluate and, where appropriate, modify the effectiveness of their own and others' use of ICT.

This does seem good to me but I was looking for a relevance in other curriculum areas to be made more obvious. Maybe that will come. I just feel that ICT in the rest of the delivered and examined curriculum might take a back seat as teachers of other subjects don't see it as their concern. I suppose the answer is to leave it to the children/students ... they will sort it.

Web 3.0

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:13:00 +0000

'The time has come the Walrus said ....' to talk of Web 3.0 ...

Wikipedia has a page created to define what this might mean to us all ... its a chance to be in at the forefront ... the debate has already begun !

6-Year-Old Stares Down Bottomless Abyss Of Formal Schooling

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 08:24:00 +0000

John Connell's blog always provides me with amusement and insights ... now I am back (Have I been away? ... well 'Yes' ... France beckoned and the sun shone and the orienteering in the high pastures of the Aveyron was awesome).

He passes on a post he found David Gilmour's blog ... read the post from 'The Onion' here.

Of course, it doesn't have to be like this ...

Olympics 2.0

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 07:51:00 +0000

So its over ... China, hype, medals, tears, tantrums, success, failure, glory, despair ... and in 4 years it will all happen again. Some of the cast will be the same but there will be new-comers and the venue will be so, so different.

Chinese money, Government money, made the 2008 Games a success in many ways ... fabulous stadia, state organisation. London 2012 is spending our money ... it will be a Games for the World financed by the people ... the tax paying people of the UK. That is okay provided that it is enduring.

But as 'Apophenia' comments : I want my Games in 2012 to be Olympics 2.0 (or whatever we will be talking about then). If I decide to watch the games on whatever digital display I choose to view on (and I don't want, at this time to predict what that might be)... I want to make the choices about what I see and when and who gives me information about it. I am not a partisan sort of person. I can appreciate athletics prowess from people of all nations and creeds. I do not need or want a TV company to spend hours showing me only (or at least mostly) sports people from the UK performing. I want to see it all and make choices about the way I see it. I want to be in control. Will this be too much to ask in 4 years time?

'Age Banding' of children's books

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 08:33:00 +0000

I noticed yesterday that the Times ran an article in the 'Books' section called 'Many paths to the same end'. Alan Gardner postulates that' The imposition of such bands ignores how we laern to read.'

As a teacher who came through flash cards in tobacco tins, ITA, any number of reading schemes from 'Janet and John' past Ladybird, through 'Letterland' and beyond to 'Real books'. And I watched the cycle repeat with more modern books and more modern schemes.

Gardner comments on books that should just be read, not as books for children but just 'books' and he adds that 'To ghettoise books is to insult text and reader.'

This all leads to 'The Children's Writers and Illustrators Group Conference at Robinson College, Cambridge' where, on August 31st there will be a session to discus 'age banding'.

Watch this space for their view and consider whether or not it will change yours.

PS

This might help to explain it all...

TESconnect

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:47:00 +0000

Today the TES's revamped website went live and I must say that it certainly looks good. All of the things you would expect are there upfront and quick to access. Jobs, Communities and Resources feature on the clear, white front page ... a no-nonsense design style that does them credit.

Well worth making the first of many visits I think ...

Here's what they say about themselves in their press release:

Launch of TESconnect highlights how the Internet will give back
14.3 million hidden hours to UK teachers by 2012
5,000 teachers say social networking will revolutionise the teaching profession

New research, released today, proves that social networking, resource sharing and collaboration has the potential to transform the productivity and working lives of the UK teaching community and fundamentally raise the quality of lessons taught in UK classrooms. The research is released by TSL Education, publishers of the TES to launch TESconnect at www.tes.co.uk, the essential new website for teachers, by teachers, a social network that allows teachers to network and share teaching and lesson planning resources. At launch, TESconnect will be the world’s largest social network for a single profession

Results from the study entitled 'The Digital Staffroom: How social networking and resource sharing are transforming teaching’, involving 5,000 teachers across all aspects of the teaching profession, illustrate a picture of a profession committed to delivering the best quality teaching experience possible for their pupils and spending hidden time to do so. 73% of teachers use their evenings and weekends to plan for their lessons with many classroom teachers working a 50-hour week, 30% or more of that time is spent working out of school hours. However, the study reveals that teachers who currently use online resources as a starting point for their lesson planning are saving on average 31 minutes per unique lesson using shared resources. Based on this information, online collaboration is expected to save 14.3 million teaching hours per year by 2012, the equivalent of employing around 23,000 new teachers a year.

The survey of 5000 teachers finds that they are constantly seeking to raise educational standards and are on a permanent quest for new ideas, but they are often isolated by the solitary, classroom-centric nature of teaching itself. Internet technology has the power to fundamentally change this. In particular, it provides the first real opportunity for teachers to communicate with each other across geographic or disciplinary boundaries. TESconnect, www.tes.co.uk, a social network and resource sharing platform just for teachers has been created so the professional community can come together online and share their best lesson plans. The new site unlocks a vast potential for them to collaborate and distribute the highly creative classroom materials that exist within schools throughout the country..
Key takings from the study reveal that:
• 90% say that quality and creativity of lesson planning is compromised due to time pressures
• 42% of teachers are too busy to go and meet colleagues during the school day; and 27% say that they are never in the same place at the same time
• 95% of teachers are aware of the value of collaboration to the quality of their lessons, but 27% say that they are never in the same place at the same time as colleagues
• 73% of teachers use their evenings and weekends to plan for their lessons
• Nearly 50% of teachers spending an extra day a week (8 hours or more) preparing for lessons
• Sharing resources saves teachers time. Existing TES resource bank users say that they save on average 31 minutes preparation time per lesson by downloading shared resources, with significant numbers of teachers saving up to an hour
• 84% of teachers say that an online professional network would help them share their ideas, regardless of time and place
• In 2007, teachers downloaded 2.9 million resources from the TES resource bank
• Teachers saved 400,000 hours in planning and preparation time as a result - the equivalent of hiring 600 full-time teachers
• At current growth rates, teachers will be downloading over 80 million resources every year by 2012, saving 14.3 million 'hidden' teaching hours - the equivalent of hiring 21,400 fulltime teachers
• Resource sharing is already growing at 180% per annum on www.tes.co.uk and growth is expected to increase with the launch of the new website TESconnect.

Where will those hidden hours go?

The study indicates that online resource sharing is set to have a positive impact on not only the lives of teachers but also those of the pupils they teach. Using a social network will mean that teachers will be spending less time alone to plan and create resources, and instead will be online connecting with, and being inspired by, the ideas and resources of other teachers. Teachers using existing online resources such as the TES Resource Bank, part of www.tes.co.uk, felt their lessons were more creative and fun as a result of this inspiration. Asked as part of the report 'what would you use the extra time saved for?' 744 teachers said a priority would be to spend more time tracking pupil progress, 853 said they would be able to mark books more effectively and 774 said they would spend more one-to-one time with pupils. All time ultimately invested in the quality and teaching experience within the classroom.

Johanna Radcliffe, NQT maths teacher from Blackpool uses TESconnect to share resources and ideas: “My biggest challenge is inspiring a class of children that are easily distracted and lack the enthusiasm to learn. Using social networks I don’t feel that I am the only teacher in this situation and I have access to a wealth of ideas that help make my classroom a fun and vibrant place to learn. It frees up my time, so I am able give more individual attention to the children that need it.”

Edward Griffith, Head of TESconnect comments: “Our research clearly demonstrates that resource sharing can revolutionise lesson planning and the quality of lessons taught. All teachers have a passion for sharing knowledge, not just with their pupils but increasingly amongst themselves too. We are on the verge of a revolution in education; by giving teachers the tools to do this I genuinely believe teachers will achieve even more remarkable results. We now have the technology to help teachers teach not only better individual lessons but to become better, happier teachers, which ultimately has an important impact on the quality of our children’s education.”

TESconnect , for teachers, by teachers

Used by thousands of schools and colleges, with over 500,000 registered users, TESconnect, is the central focus for the UK teaching community at every level to share their ideas, thoughts and views outside the staffroom. TESconnect is a social network that allows teachers to network, share resources and search for jobs. It is the world’s largest social network for a single profession and allows teachers to connect with other professionals to find and share their best classroom resources and advice. Split into four user-friendly sections including jobs, community, resources and My TES, the site gives teachers access to tools that have the potential to transform lesson planning and the quality of lessons taught. Further details on the site:

1 Community: The world’s largest online social network for teachers where they can share their professional profile with peers, discuss a range of issues on the forums, and see what their professional colleagues have been making good use of in the classroom
2 Resources: The TESconnect Resources section is home to a vast library of teaching resources, all created and uploaded by other teachers in the TES community for everyone to share. With separate channels for every type of teacher from a nursery to a primary or secondary school, there are all kinds of classroom materials from lesson plans, videos, powerpoints and assessments; games, puzzles and quizzes to worksheets and tutorials. With over 20,000 resources already in the site, hundreds are uploaded by the community every week.
3 Jobs: www.tes.co.uk is the number one site for the best teaching jobs from all across the country, with over 500,000 registered users, it is the UK’s leading online recruitment resource for schools and colleagues looking to find new quality teaching and support staff. Now a key part of TESconnect, visitors to the jobs section can browse by position, subject, workplace and by location and build customised job alerts so when that perfect new job vacancy appears it is sent to them
4 My TES: A personalised page where teachers can save the content that is relevant to them. Users also receive updates from the local community as well as bookmarks and links to top content on the site

About TESconnect

TESconnect builds on the success of www.tes.co.uk which is already the UK's most popular site for the teaching community with over 500,000 registered users. A prototype resource sharing tool TSL’s Resource Bank was launched in 2006 as part of www.tes.co.uk. TESconnect is a professional network for teachers to search for jobs, discuss ideas and share resources from lesson plans to poster and worksheets. TESconnect can be accessed at www.tes.co.uk

About TSL Education

TSL Education Ltd is the UK’s leading educational publisher and recruitment service. Its portfolio of titles includes education websites www.tes.co.uk and www.thetimeshighereducation.co.uk, print publications The Times Educational Supplement, FE Focus and Times Higher Education, and education exhibitions and events. TSL’s recruitment service, TES Prime, is a dedicated leadership service for the education sector, working with primary, secondary and independent school governors seeking a new leader for their school.

www.tes.co.uk is the home TESconnect, the UK’s leading educational website. The number one site for education jobs, TESconnect is now also the world’s largest professional network for teachers to share ideas and the best classroom resources.

Notes of the research:

The research was commissioned by TES and conducted by L.E.K Consulting in August 2008. More than 5,000 teachers who had previously registered with TES took part in an online survey designed to gather information about a wide range of teaching issues. In addition, L.E.K. conducted two focus groups, involving 21 teachers from around the country. The participants in the study covered a range of teacher and school types, levels of experience, subject specialisation, and geographies. To request a copy of the report titled ‘The Digital Staffroom: How social networking and resource sharing are transforming teaching’ please refer to press contacts below.

About L.E.K. Consulting

L.E.K. Consulting is an international firm that specialises in strategy, transaction services and performance improvement consulting. It advises the largest private and public sector organisations, private equity companies and smaller, more entrepreneurial businesses.
With a reputation for resolving the most complex commercial issues, L.E.K. helps business leaders consistently make better decisions, deliver improved business performance and create greater shareholder returns.
The firm was founded in 1983 and employs over 850 staff in 20 offices across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. In 2007, L.E.K Consulting was awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for its achievements in international trade. Find out more at www.lek.com

-ends-
Press contacts:
For more information, please call Annie Woodhead or Jessica Helyer on tes@hotwirepr.com or on 020 7608 2500 or Ginni Arnold on 07968 730247.

iPod Blazer

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 09:14:00 +0000

Back from sunniest France now to catch a read of the M & S inspiration for their 'back-to-school' range a blazer with a special pocket for an iPod.

In typical form the NASUWT have come out in high dudgeon:

NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates dismissed the whole idea as 'an error of judgement' and entirely unnecessary.

'Teachers are already battling against the misuse of such technology in classrooms,' she said.

'Pupils nowadays come to school equipped with mobile phones, MP3 players, and portable games consoles when teachers would like them to just bring a pen.'

The gadgets not only distract the users and those around them, but thefts and breakages put extra burdens on staff, she added.

It will be interesting to see how inspirational teachers treat this ... as a threat or an opportunity. It will also be interesting to keep an eye on M & S's bottom line to see how sales go.

Lookybook

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:33:00 +0000

My trawls today directed me towards Angela Maier's Blog and her report of a web site Lookybook. This site appears to have been around for a while now and I missed it first time round!!

This is what the site says about itself:

Picture books are for looking at. Lookybook allows you to look at picture books in their entirety—from cover to cover, at your own pace. We know that nothing will replace the magic of reading a book with your child at bedtime, but we aim to replace the overwhelming and frustrating process of finding the right books for parents and their kids.

Our mission is to create a comfortable place where a curious and devoted audience can search, view, talk about, and buy from a diverse and rapidly expanding collection of picture books. We intend to create the greatest opportunity for authors, illustrators and publishers to reach interested consumers and dramatically extend the life of their books.

Lookybook currently features over 300 titles and is growing daily.

On the site you can look at the book, embed it in a blog or web page or go to a shop and buy it.

I think this is a brilliant idea.

Some common sense ... perhaps

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 06:17:00 +0000

So, it transpires, that there are more Sats papers missing and now there is a big search on to try to find out where they are and just how many.

The question still needs to be answered about the viability of continuing with a system that few will now have any confidence in.

Perhaps this company ETS, with all of its inadequacies, have done my cause a favour. Just maybe we will now see some more radical rethinking. Today, previous Education Secretary Estelle Morris says in a BBC News item:

Ed Balls should not resign over the Sats problems - but he should use them as an opportunity to overhaul the testing system.

Hope he listens ...

Rockford's Rock Opera - The Registrar commeth !!

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 13:35:00 +0000

Have a look and listen to my first attempt at a 'bubble comment' here.

If you are a Rockford's Rock Opera fan (If not I just can't imagine why not ... go on try it)then here's something that you have been waiting for ... the free video – I am the Registrar .

Fresh out of the exciting Sweetapple stable courtesy of Elaine and Matthew, this new video track will knock your socks off.

To get it to play full screen I downloaded the video with Real Payer 11 and then just opened it in Real Player ... looks awesome projected on the side of next door's house.

Also from them ...

PERFECT FOR LONG HOLIDAY JOURNEYS

We know Rockford's Rock Opera is perfect for entertaining the WHOLE FAMILY on long holiday journeys – on mp3 players or on CD.
Two and half hours of amazing entertainment you'll ALL enjoy again and again. So go on, get the CDs or download the story now!

NEW FREE TEACHERS' MATERIALS

We've completely revamped our education section with loads more lesson plans plus free downloadable characters and scenes - perfect for creating stories of your own.
Over the next month we'll be adding more and more to this section so please check back regularly.

Yo Ho Ho and a bottle of rum ... 16 men on a dead man's chest ... are you a Pirate ?

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 11:27:00 +0000

Are you a pirate? Things have to change ... watch the video and decide where you stand. But as an educator do you stand somewhere different? Is it a case of don't do as I do; do as I say? Or do you just not say? Are we educating our young people to think and act from knowledge or ignorance?

Watch the video (Thanks to the Whiteboard Blog and the original post of Lauren O'Grady for the 'heads up' on this)

PS Breaking News from the BBC 24 July 2008

PPS Now news of Textbook piracy and its implications ... here .

Oh to have been in Boston now that summer is here

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 09:19:00 +0000

The Building Learning Communities Annual Conference in Boston is a bright star in the sky of educational conferences ... very little selling ( The conference design was superb. Following on the heels of NECC, the contrast is clear. Building Learning Communities keeps the scope of corporate sponsors, vendors, and salespeople to an appropriate place. )... lots of ideas from across the world and just full of wonderful, mind opening potential.

Unfortunately I was not there last week ... but a lot of my friends were and I hope to bring you some of their 'take-aways' at a later date.

The BLC Conference Ning has given me little of the meat of the conference so I have trawled the blogs to get my 'fix'. Reflections on Building Learning Communities 2008 is the blog of Richard Kassissieh is Director of Information Services at Catlin Gabel School in Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. and his reflections are well worth a read.

I want to pick up on just a couple of things he says ... firstly:

... Ewan McIntosh and John Davitt focused too much on currently existing technology applications and their effects on social dynamics and power. The dominant educational technology discourse has been enamored with these possibilities for a few years now. We are ready for a more detailed exploration of the intersection of new technologies with specific pedagogical strategies.

This is so right ! It is time to move on .. the examples of good practice must be there and, when we think about it, we all know of some. But they are still in tiny pockets and the institutions don't run on ideas in tiny pockets. We have our 'mavens' and we are now urgent to make global changes in the way people learn and develop as they grow in to their lives.

Secondly:

Small, passionate groups make things happen. And I remember one of Ewan's nuggets from last year: forget the pilot. Come up with a great idea and launch it well.

This is so right ! As I go from school to school and LA to LA the number of 'pilot' projects that people are involved in seems to grow and have a life of its own. Remember the song ...

Hold the light sabre in your hand and the force will be with you ... courage of conviction.

PS

From my feeds today the Next Generation Learning in Kent has a neat summary of Harnessing Technology:Next Generation Learning .

The bit that really interested me, in reference to BLC Conference was what was left over from last time:

Challenges remaining from the first e-Strategy

Unreliable and unsustainable school infrastructure and technical support.

Value for money and effective technology management not being achieved.

Range of technology use in schools is fairly limited.

Teachers rarely realise the full benefits of technology.

Use of digital resources largely regarded as optional by teachers.

Technology not used effectively to engage parents.

Few schools making use of the extended learning opportunities offered by technology.

Levels of technology access high among learners when out of school, but in formal education expectations not being met.

Whizzy web 2.0 technologies common at home, but not in formal settings.

Podcasting in Surrey (without a fringe)

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:19:00 +0000

Sometimes people just make my day.

Yesterday I had wakened early (before 5.00) and had begun my drive down the M1 towards Surrey. My route was to take me on to the M25 and then around to J10 and off to Cobham. I gave myself 3 hours to do it ... it was not enough. I arrived on the M25parkway at just before 7.00 and then stopped and started my way around anti-clockwise ... even had time to count the number of jets I could see in the sky over Heathrow (7). I arrived at the 4S Training Centre in Cobham at 8.33 ... rushed in ... and was greeted by smiles and a really warm welcome. Just down the corridor, in the room we were to work in I met Tim Barette ... more smiles, warm handshake, and 'What can I get you to drink?' and 'Is there anything I can do to help?' and ' Will this be okay for you?' and 'Is there anything else you need?'

Sometimes people just make your day ... thanks Tim !!

Then the teachers came and we podcasted. We used Podium from Softease and it was easy to use and didn't get in the way of what we were trying to do and we recorded sounds and made podcasts and had fun and could see why we might want to do this with children in classrooms.

We took poems as a theme and the teachers read and developed lots of ideas and added backing tracks and 'stings' to their productions. We spoke of building a podcast as a 'design and build' exercise in D & T and commented that preparing the resources ( sound files mainly) was a pre-podcast job.

The scripting tool in the software excited interest and its potential was not lost on a group of primary teachers who could see the cross-curricula application of both the scripting and the podcasting.

The 'witches' from Shakespeare's Macbeth, concluded proceedings.

It was no big deal. Not once did any of the teachers ask how to do something. They listened, watched and then experimented ... brilliant !! I do hope that they enjoyed it as much as I did.

The podcasts they made can be listened to here (Remember it was a first try and was supposed to be fun)

A Sat too far ...

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 06:37:00 +0000

I have always had a high regard for Ken Boston, the head of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, but it appears that someone has fed him the wrong information. How can he say categorically that ... the current position is that in Key Stage 2the marking is now 100% complete ... when it so obviously isn't? Newspapers and media agencies up and down England are find this out and today the BBC report yet again on the failure to get the thing sorted.

This all indicates a mess but what worries me even more is the reaction of head teachers up and down the country who have used it as a rallying cry for something I don't understand.

The children have put their heart and soul into this. That's what hurts. I've had to speak to the children this morning to tell them nothing has come back. said one headteacher in the BBC report.

Sats are not fit for purpose and educationalists have been saying this for long enough now for someone, surely, to listen. This latest problem is just that - a problem. It has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that we should have stopped testing children in this way some time ago and simply haven't.

The fact that heads, teachers, parents and the media have used it as a rallying cry for something or other is strange. None of this is going to materially damage children, teachers, schools or education as we know it ( pity in some ways really, it could have initiated a period of great change). The educational effect will be an absolute minimum and systems that have been developed just to satisfy the beast of Sats have, at best, had there time and effort misplaces and at worst could be accused of missing the point of education itself.

As I have said before, several times, time to stop this. Let's not get sidetracked by a company that has failed to deliver on its contract ( to collect, mark and return) let's concentrate on the real issue. Sats must go !

So where do we go from here?

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:58:00 +0000

There are many people contributing to the idea of the necessity to change the game and think what education should really be like in the 21st Century for 21st century learners. With the onset of Web 2.0 has come Learning 2.0 with a, sort of, implication that the next step might be something to do with advances in technology.

I am not so sure. I think social demography has a really important part to play in educating the next generation (and those that come after). We have, for a long period of time now relied on the institutional definition of education and have allowed schooling to be the function of it. This has lead to an over-reliance on the curriculum and its measures which has, in my opinion, led learning into a dark place.

There is need to change.

Charles Leadbeater has written, under the title of 'What Next? 21 Ideas for 21st Century Learning' produced for the Innovation Unit on the future of learning in England, about such things.

The thrust of his argument seems to be about personal responsibility in a group dynamic to make education authentic for learners. This is an all-inclusive view.

One of the 21 for me is the idea of 'third spaces'. Places in space and time between home and school that provide the personal bridge to make it all work. For some this 'space' will be in sport, for others art and music; some will need to be there alone and others in groups that will dynamically change. Technology could provide that space - but should it, will it ?

The report is more than worth a read for those who see and follow the need to change.

So how might schools survive?

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 13:54:00 +0000

Yesterday Will Richardson interviewed Clay Shirky author of 'Here Comes Everybody'. You can catch the UStream of the interview here:

and

One of the clear questions for me that Will asks is about the geographical nature of education and how technology has changed all of that and at the same time speeded up the process. On top of this Clay talks about organising without organisation ... students taking control of their learning, maybe as a subset of institutionalised learning. He goes on to say that he feels that schools as physical environments in which students from a locality study simply has to change.

Clay spends some time on the idea that we use much of our time learning time collaborating with questions and answers in a variety of groups and yet our assessment systems are based on individual abilities in contrived situations.

Clay comments that we want children/students to be able to figure out which tools they need to use in which situation. And these tools are changing tools. Much of what we want schools to do for out children can't be measured in our current ways.

Will asks Clay if students are just simply going to move out and do their own thing and as I have often said he makes the point that it is already beginning to happen.

Clay redefines the concept of 'digital divide' - he feels that it is not about access but about the socio/political imperative to use the technology to do things which you have not done before. This is a 'peer'/home/institution view idea and not to do with what kit/band width etc that is available.

Interestingly, on the day Apple launched its 3G iphone, Clay doesn't see that the phone is an ' ideal educational tool'. I think he might be missing something here ! Will seems to see that the phone might be a really useful tool but there are problems of 'bad behaviour' with the devices. My view here is that the publicity of the bad behaviour might be the thing that fuels it.

Unfortunately, for me, when asked the question about institutional change, he 'rights off' the early years saying that education there is not likely to change ... I do hope he is wrong ! There is reinforcement here for the idea that we need a system to evaluate collaborative work because it is this that will be really important.

When asked what would happen if there was no institutional education Clay feels that groups would organise themselves to provide it. If this would be the case it would be interesting to see whether it would be on a pre-existing model or if something new would arise ... Phoenix perhaps.

I may well have given my spin to what was said in the interview so it would be better to listen and see what you think.

To Sat or not to Sat ... no question ...

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 05:10:00 +0000

There is no question here for me. Get rid of them and plough the money back into teaching and learning. Particularly learning. John Connell's post of yesterday and my response to it is all part of this agenda. We need to move on from this obsession with measuring what our learners do to supporting their interests and enthusiasms and, as professionals, channel their time and efforts . We are no longer 'training' pupils for jobs but should be providing them with the stepping stones towards a creative, adaptive adult life. And this does not demand to know what Sat level you are ... or for that matter what level you are in anything. Learning and understanding is surely not based on a level of anything.

Today the BBC report that Sats results expected to fall I am totally amazed that such an arbitrary scale can be deemed to rise and fall anyway. But this BBC comment is based on an organisational juggle. Am I bovvered? Not a bit.

It is all okay though because the MPs are going to 'grill' the exam chiefs. What an incredible smoke-screen. Have you heard the one about 'wood' and 'trees'?

There is a problem with the amount of money being spent on 'weighing' our children but this really is not a big issue. But the fact that it diverts attention away from looking forward to the challenges of 'learning 2.0' is a problem.

We must be planning to move the focus of education from pedagogy - in a blended way -towards andragogy and heutagogy. The ownership of the learning must be invested in the learners and it is their active participation in their own learning that education should seek. Selling them the idea that tests show what they can do and what they will be able to do is just not fair ... we need to move on.

John says that, at the moment he 'doesn't buy it', but he does comment that, the context within which education systems need to work is changed. He continues ... The key sets of stakeholders, the world over – governments, parents, business, the teaching profession, universities – remain obdurately tied to industrial-age education ... when we don't live in one any more. A read of The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century by Thomas L. Friedman will indicate why a change of perspective is important.

Things I ought to have said

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:49:00 +0000

Friends, acquaintances, colleagues and some enemies are often telling me to get real. I feel passionately that the direction of education has taken a turn for the worse and that the socio-political invective that drives what happens is not good. In fact I feel that it is inherently bad. Bad for institutions but most of all bad for a generation growing up to things that we cannot yet imagine. Their jobs for life have not yet been conceived and their patterns of life have not been identified. We perpetuate what we perpetuate, with eyes down and a belief in the present and the past. But with a look at the future through past eyes.

John Connell in his blog today has expressed what I feel much more succinctly than I can and I yearn for the coming to pass Learning 2.0 so that we can step beyond it. Change by steady drip does not work ... we have been there and know that the 'old guard' keeps the status intact.

I do hope that this time next year we won't be revisiting this but will, in fact, have moved on.

The Wordle version of 'Harnessing Technology: Next Generation Learning 2008-14'

noreply@blogger.com (Doug) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:57:00 +0000

Brilliant idea from Ian Usher ... using Wordle as a way of 'understanding' the new Technology Strategy ... thanks Ian.

Enables you to pick out the key words ... am a bit worried about the prominence of the word 'will'.