NewTube

YouTube is finally available to DET NSW teachers- after years of frustration beating on doors. Access will of course allow teachers to plan, research, display and embed YT videos in their resources, within their working context . One giant step…for liberal access and OER . Now state teachers can enjoy the same access entitled to many private school colleagues. The interesting aspect will be to see what impacts it has on:

• DET produced resources

• Teaching practice in respect to utilising video clips as a valid resource and involving group participation esp. with IWBs

• Use of video as a legitimate presentation form and for student self expression

• Student engagement.

For many students (my kids included) the preferred source of information is through YT and not text based sources, or even Google. They are also furiously loading up clips to YT for personal use and school assignments. Look at the collections building up under any school banner- its becoming a contest between schools and a personal badge of honour for students in building their own portfolios.

 

Sustaining narratives for the news age

The planets seemed to align lately with a few converging themes in relation to boredom thresholds and the atomisation of information. Harry Lewis voice at Googalization of Everything- ‘The factoids are not just instant; they are atomic. We keep e-mails short because people have to process so many of them. Instant messages and “tweets” are rarely more than a few words. They arrive without provenance, historical context or the other side of the story. When we pass them on to our friends, they explode into a cloud of information particles, as identical as hydrogen atoms and as pervasive as nuclear fallout’. And Google is deeply researching and cutting direction to accommodate for this trend. Lisa Pryor’s article also gives an interesting insight as to why the climate change debate is a hard message to sell (in an age where every message needs an instant hook). ‘It is a test god has sent to remind us we’re idiots- because its a problem of modern society which is uniquely unsuited to fixing : the worst consequences are a long way off and we don’t care about a long way off, and the solutions are dull and we don’t care about dull.’

 

Need for an LMS?

Darcy More’s post  on 10 things schools can do to facilitate  implementation of L4L, makes the comment that Moodle for schools is a key strategy. The DET  learning tools applications admittedly have been a little slow to emerge (blog only now in Beta), Wiki due trial for Term 3 and eBackpack to be announced shortly. However I’m confident they will provide the basis for a true eLearning platform-one that will challenge the need (for schools at least) in using LMS solutions.  Yes the use of Moodle has recieved significant interest in schools however the question we need to ask is how are they using Moodle?  I suspect that most NSW schools are using Moodle simjply as a web publishing tool- to publish and store & retrieve resources. Only the  DE/CAP  schools, I’d argue are in anyway significantly utilising Moodle as a LMS- ie tracking student learning experiences, monitoring assessment work, creating collaborative and  shared resources and integrating  all facets of  online learning. LAMS on the other hand- has the potential to offer something different- based on learning design principles. Again its uptake seems restricted to the DE schools in this State.

 

Week one…

Following our launch of the DET blog trial last week, time to take a moment to reflect on a number of break throughs which have occurred in achieving this.
For some it might be a ‘so what’ just another blogging tool but this one consists of three applications: the blog itself, a media library (for private and sharing across DET) and the group builder which facilitates the grouping of blog participants.
A couple of firsts for DET in implementing a new application:
Listening to the field- blog workshops were held last year resulting in a matrix of recommendations for the applications

 

NSW DET Netbooks

Lenovo is certainly getting its expected deal of press on the laptops for schools program. The S10e is an impressive device; for NSW DET- 8-9 hrs battery life, intelligent cycling, RFD/ RFI antitheft tagging-  certainly the company has risen to our spec challenge to produce 250 000 units in a very aggressive time frame. Lenevo is a new company in this space (taking over the IBM part of this market in 2005). So  its interesting to contemplate the commercial advantages of such a deal- triple bottom line- will they get brand loyalty, is it a community service & to what extent can they trade on being the supplier of arguably the single largest educational jurisdiction in the world.?

Watching Gruen transfer tonight –  these questions came to mind- as they showed  how the NY public system met the challenge of increasing attendance rates of its 1.1 million students. Its Million campaign is based the mobile phone. It began with a pilot program of 2800 students in seven schools. Students were each given a mobile phone, which switched between School’s In and School’s Out mode. When the kids were in school, the calling and text functions were deactivated. But that didn’t mean the phone was out of action. Educational software loaded onto the phone meant students could use it for research. It was also a platform for tests. Must check on how this is playing out – and how the students differentiate  between ‘school and personal’ use? Is it possible to achieve this in the one device? Or does that status symbol the mobile phone lose its edge once it is ‘institutionalised’? Maybe some pointers here as we go into the digital revolution.

 

 

Social Media Classroom

Colleague Garth Newton alerted me to this, started by Howard Rheingold late 2008- The Social Media Classroom is a free, open source online teaching tool that incorporates blogs, a wiki, forums, microblogging, social bookmarking, video-sharing, chat, RSS,  within a simple, shared interface.

Based on Drupal, I haven’t downloaded yet but its  the innevitable attempt to integrate these social technologies into a ’single dashboard’ concept. From a distance it seems a rather orthodox (but clumsy) way of doing this (referred to as a ’tool’)- the social media are glued together into one environment.  It is meant to ’supplement’ LMS systems. On the community pages and elsewhere there is little evidence of this having taken hold, and would be interested in any feedback. Brian Christiansens video adds a little more insight.

 

MySpace cadets sliding into addiction

Miranda Devine’s reminder of the perils of technology (SMH April 4) are  timely, given the announcement this week of the $150 million schools laptop rollout. Just as TV did to a generation of children (myself included), we need to ward off the addictive influences of the net. Perhaps too late, as a generation of digital natives are  already walking the earth; collaborating in both formal and informal spaces, jointly constructing new meanings and learning in powerful social networks. They are fast emerging with new literacies and skills, beyond the comprehension of most of us, and laying bare our previous methods of knowledge construction. As a movement in history it has no parallel and threatens our cherished institutions of schooling and domestic life. Beware the Jabberwock and shun the frumious Internet!

 

Blogs in the institution

On the eve of trialling blogs in NSW DET, I’m wondering after many years of using traditional communications tools (forums, emails, listservs) , what the uptake will be. The use of traditional CMCs has been largely confined to teachers administrative and PD activities. Use of the tools in teaching and learning in the school sector has been probably undertaken as an adjunct to the use of an LMS such as Moodle, and only of any significance in the Distance Ed arena.

 

Real voices for cybersafety

After skimming another task force report (Harvard Law school) on cybersafety - I’m reminded how fresh and insightful Tom Woods comments are on the issue. Tom caused a stir two years ago when he was all of 16, and ‘hacked’ into the Fed Govs porn filters. His Blog represents one of the best threads on cybersafety- take these gems:

“I’ve just realized way too much of cyber-safety’s attention has been on minimizing negativity – whilst not enough has been given to harnessing positivity”.

 

Debunking Digital natives

Christopher Scanlons piece in the Australian thows more cold water on the anthropological ‘natives’ theory (ref  earlier comments). Scanlon’s observations as a lecturer in journalism at Charles Sturt Uni give us more cause to dispute the assertion that the natives have any natural ability in the use of online technologies. Scanlon notes with his own students that few have blogs, use Flickr or create their own websites. Their use of search engines for research is also unsophisticated. 

 

New Years predictions

That time of year again when everyone is crystal balling- worth a quick flick around the pundits  and Learning Circuits.  The recurring theme amongst all is the impact of the global recession. This is predicted to increase the use of:

• flexible delivery
• social software
• more demand for courses
• Open Education Resources
• user developed resources

- and I’d add- greater accountablity.

Downes review of 2008 is also worth a look.

 From my POV in NSW DET this year the main areas of interest associated with our ‘revolution’ (learning tools, Interactive classrooms, notebook devices etc) will be:

• greater engagement with the middle adopters of online technologies in the classroom
• blurring of formal and informal learning
• more profiled filtering
• begining of ubiquitous computing
• greater focus on pedagogical use of ICT & policy areas
• implementing strategies for instilling cyber safety
• use of cloud computing
• systemic acceptance of user created resources
• emergence of more formal communities of practise
• better integration of search environments (both technically and semantically)

Finally I particularly like Brent Schlenker’s comment- ”My advice to the e-learning community this year is to pay very close attention to the culture in which you are implementing. Ignoring the impact on culture will be the Achilles’ heel of e-learning implementations in 2009“.

 

1:1 laptops- research dilemma

Sifting through some current research papers on the value of 1:1 laptops, took me back to Tom Reeves coments some years ago regarding the paucity of good educational research. And the difficulty of any ed research are the variables to account for- in the case of 1:1 these include: student age/ ability, type of device, use in and out of class, teachers capacity, subject area, length of study, IT infastructure and support, and access to learning tools and resources.

 

Loos or Laptops

The announcement from last weekends COAG meeting on the roll out of laptops for NSW public schools, has produced a frenzy of comments in the media. While most letters to the ditor raised the inevitable- ‘why can’t the money be spent on toilets’ & ‘ I could get a cheaper deal through Harvey Norman’ I particularly liked the banner- ‘Laptops in schools will be antisocial’- A zippy internet connection? sure. A social network no way? The article goes on to decry the fact that students won’t be a ble to access MySpace or Facebook. Apart from the obvious policy/duty of care headaches in allowing free access- I’d argue that with 1.4 million students in the system, this constitutes a significant social network.

 

Open wide come inside

The Open movement is undoubtedly one of the most significant-yet misrepresented philosophies to underpin C21 education. Promises abound in terms of the open revolution, but is it just another education experiment? The 2008 publication Open Content, and Open Knowledge (MIT press), is one of the few attempts I know of to bring together any coherent understanding on the topic. Edited by Toru Liyoshi, the publication represents a diverse collection of practitioners on apects of ‘Openness’, including Diana Laurrillard, David Wiley,Chris Mackie, James Dalziel and John Seeley Brown. In his introduction Liyoshi states that the “history of education is a narrative of an opening of education”- if so then we have been stalled since industrial times. Everyone has an interpretation of ‘openness’- but most would think only of technical openness associated with the open source movement.

 

Cyberbullying

After witnessing an incident with my daughter recently, and a mounting interest in this at work-the paper (thanks Jane) was timely.  ‘Confronting the Pedagogical Challenge of Cyber Safety’  highlights the paucity of empirical studies in educational contexts (’pedagogical’ bit strong here). The increasing incidence of cyberbullying and what constitutes cyberbullying are covered, and Hanewall presents an interesting  taxonomy of Cyberbullying. All the more reason to encourage programs such as the kids Superclubs (UK) and being trialled in many Australian States. This initiative helps apprentice young children into good online habits when social.

 

Knowledge Naztis

In a weak moment almost found myself agreeing with Miranda Devine’s piece SMH. Her article starts off well enough talking about how we crowd our day with processing data streams, and how Barack  Obama and Paul Keating have implored us to have ‘ real thinking time’  during each day.-fine long been acknowledged (secular sebatical). But then she goes on to discuss ‘new brain theories’ (always a worry in the popular press).

 

IWBs on a budget

Johny Lee blows away some  overheads in these two IWB demos, lets never assume we need to rely on the big end players to play…or learn

 

 

Assumptions we make

Ian McKee reminded me of a recent report in the Australian about apparent student dissatisfaction over University of Western Sydneys use of Podcasts in substituting f2f teaching. I wonder how many other assumptions we make about students ‘apparent’ preference for online learning. Students are perceptive when they feel they are not being exposed to a satisfactory learning situation. Perhaps we are seeing the beginning of a counter movement back to quality interactive learning- whether its f2f or online.

 

Boomer exposed

Picked up on Rebecca’s blog, a swipe at my ‘old ways’…

a href=”http://beckysextrablog.blogspot.com/2008/08/oh-nooooo-web-20.html”>Oh NOOOOO… Web 2.0!</
While surfing through the internet, I tripped over this. Tim, the Boomer-age author, is commenting on the Net Gen use of YouTube and suggests that Net Gens prefer a 2-D version of live music over an actual live performance. He goes on to mention the observations of a show MC, who expressed surprise over the number of people in the audience of a live Jake Shimabukuro concert.

 

You’ve got mail

On the eve of relaunching email services for teachers and students in DET, its interesting to reflect on email. My daughter came home with her computer skills test last week, and going through the paper (like a IT concerned Dad), she had answered everything well except – no idea on the email questions. ‘why bother no one uses it’ (she is prolific with chat). For those of us in office jobs though, its our lifeline. 

 

Mind over matter

Todays Edu.au seminar with Professor Martin Westwell Martin (Director Flinders Centre for Science Education in the 21st Century ). Below I’ve taken some of the main points of interest -

Teachers are asked to be experts in everything. Whereas in other sectors, people can specialise.

• People now say intelligence 20% nature, 80% nurture — used to be other way around
• There is very little doubt that violence in an environment causes violent attitudes and behaviour – your brain re-wires.
• An interesting trend — young people are better than ever at distinguishing between authentic and synthetic environments/environments
• So socialistion the primary use of Internet – not finding info
• Our brains are constantly wiring and re-wiring
• But the emotional context has a large effect on the learning and thinking

 

The problem with sharing

One of the biggest issues we face in collaborative learning is the problem of sharing. Jerry Leeson recently put me onto Julita Vassileva’s work in relation to communities of sharing. Her work in relation to the development of a social bookmarking system gives some good insights into how to encourage sharing. As she states, “The biggest problem faced by developers of small-scale online commities is to ensure user participation. Comtella (system) applies techniques based on social psychology and visualization to motivate users to participate and to regulate the amount and quality of contributions”.