“Government Wastes Money on Digital Revolution”

Mal Lee, his offsider and co-editor, goes on to say;

Only when the vast majority of Australia’s teachers are using the appropriate digital tools as a normal part of their everyday teaching, and are provided all the requisite development and support from the school and system leaders can Australian education begin to assist enhanced national productivity

Other comments on the book include

Leading a Digital School provides a wake up call that every federal and State Government Minister and every educator should read. The time to change is nearly beyond us” Daniel Petre – Executive Chairman, Netus.

I support John Travers when he says in his evaluation of the book at me.ed.au,

 ICT can help achieve more open learning but the technology itself will not make it happen. That makes me a Realistic Reformist I guess.

On Tuesday 19th August, Leading a Digital School, edited by Mal Lee and Michael Gaffney, was launched in Canberra by Cheryl O’Connor, CEO of Australian College of Educators.

Now I know the context and origins of this great video I originally found on teachertube. A thought provoker, use it in staff developments.

This public service campaign video was filmed at the CoSN (Consortium for School Networking) annual conference. The wisdom with which educational leaders like Alan November, Greg Whitby, and Stephen Heppell explicate the urgency of giving teachers the tools to connect with 21C learning and their students is poignant in this video. The massive task of making schooling relevant for today’s learners is communicated with precision. These international educators recognise the need to shift our thinking at all levels by being innovative, thinking creatively and developing 21st century pedagogies that will inspire this generation of learners.

Added to this video I reflected on Michelle Baldwin’s direct questions in ‘A Call to Act Now’.

I’m posing these questions to YOU– is it educational malpractice to exclude digital literacy as part of the curriculum? Is blocking Web 2.0 tools from kids during the school day a necessary measure to protect them? or is it actually educational malpractice? Is ignoring the wealth of information and knowledge available on the web justified because of all the garbage on the web? Or is it educational malpractice?

A very happy teacher this morning. I was sent a link to the TaLe Share site this morning. Thanks Maree.

Many excellent resources for the implementation of the CCP at DET site as well.

The DET powerpoint will be useful for staff information.

DET NSW Connected Classrooms Program – An Introduction

Most links shown on the PP will be also useful as Public Schools introduce these technologies.

I even found the brouchure for the CCP conference at Brighton on 24th June 2008. I’m hoping this conference will be repeated (or web posted) as more schools get connected. Looks to be a comprehensive and worthwhile program.

NSW DET CCP FAQ\’s If you need to know more.

Elaine sent me this draft DET policy for blog and wiki use. Blogs and wikis are allowed in DET classrooms after a filter/unblock request is sent (and all relevant policies followed of course). Laborious but I can see why it has to be this way. (band width, appropriatness, follow all web safety policies etc etc)

I found it to be enligtening as well. draft_guidelines_blog_and_wiki_sites1

Thank you to all the helpful people at DET, TaLe and North Coast Regional ICT who have responded to my requests for more information. You help is much appreciated Maree, Elaine and Phillip.

I feel my winter holidays have been well spent on something I am enthusiatic about. More questions have been answered that will now lead to the next ones. Great stuff.

(footnote: I sort of still wish DET was open apps without the need for a Portal, but at least now I can now start to see what their philospohy is, “Build it and they will come” and ”Not let the inmates run the asylum”.

Now I know what my new word of the day is, I’m not so sure I want to go that far that fast, seeing as though even blogs and wikis are still foreign words in NSW DET filter speak.

The Australian Flexible Learning Framework 2007 trial in a TAFE VET setting makes for intesting reading on trialing heutagogy.

Issues and problems are highlighted but these quotes are worth reflecting on.

The students were instructed in the use of technology, including laptops, iPods, mobile phones, webcams, video cameras and digital cameras. They were also instructed in how to create podcasts, upload digital content and use various software including Audacity, Photoshop and Windows Movie Maker.

As a lecturer, I learnt many things from the students. I now know what technologies they prefer to use and I believe that this project has given me the experience to develop more meaningful delivery alternatives for future classes. It has also provided me with an insight as to how young people learn through using technology.

Most importantly this journey has been a collaborative one with students becoming instructors and instructors becoming learners from the students. The line between teaching and learning has blurred and resulted in the most conducive, non-threatening inclusive environment for both staff and students.

As an organisation, the project has allowed us to address issues of:

• digital literacies
  • project management
  • text entry and multiple file formats etc
  • how do we ensure equity and digital literacy as an organisation?
  • how do we embed these skills in every program?
• access – what are the issues and how can we address them?
  • bandwidth
  • security
  • privacy

Tomorrow my goal is to find out more on this method of learning as it may apply in a digital classroom setting.

Learners in my classes already do these, all at different times and in their own different priorty orders. We’ve known about different learning styles for eons. I guess this site is an attempt to deliver. It also answers the question I’ve been asked, if web2.0 content is for free sharing (creative commons) how will anyone make money off what they produce?

Some will read online. Some won’t. Some want portable books. Some don’t. We’re not smart enough to figure it out. So we won’t. Now there’s a novel idea. Let instructors adopt the best book for their class. Let students adopt the best format and price for them.

Kayo doesn’t read books online. She orders the black and white softcover for about $25 bucks. It shows up in a few days. Too bland for her friend Sam – he orders the color edition. Not Sharon. She commutes everyday, so nothing but the audio book on her iPod will do. Then there’s Chaz. He’s indecisive. He decides, well, not to decide. He’ll download the ready-to-print chapters when he needs them for .99 cents each. Cool. And don’t forget Tessa. She never has enough time. She’ll cut to the chase with our podcast study guides, mobile phone flash cards, and online practice tests with feedback. That’s convenient. That’s choices. That’s Flat World Knowledge.

All these “web2.0digitalkidsCCPwirelesslaptopsIWBs” changes will converge into the most significant shift in education in my career. I want to be on board and use what is helpful for QTL and discard the rest.

I can see how my own kids are responding positively to the digital age in their own lives, so why should school education be immune?

I know stage 4/5 students ARE very different learners to those I taught just a few years ago. Their brains seem different, what motivates them is certainly different, how they use technology is becoming more foreign to me and most importantly how they best learn or get motivated in my classroom is VERY different. How influential is their digital life becoming?

Good teachers are good teachers in any era so that won’t change. Its just that good teachers may need to change more rapidly to remain the good teachers they have been for the last 20 years.

So next I ask, “What is so different now?”

• Is this NSW Connected Classroom Project REALLY going to change classrooms in the next 5 years?
• Will students be more motivated to learn in a connected classroom?
• What engages my own children’s learning at home?
• Is this digital connected age the big deal we are lead to believe?

I’m saying yes, but I don’t really know why, yet.

Having seen many “next big things” turn out to be fizzers over the last 20 years in education I must admit I remain sceptical. I’m concerned especially about real ongoing government funding, not just empty promises as political sweeteners prior to the next election. Public Education deserves more, all the time.

Is all this CCP and IWB etal just another flavour of the month ICT innovation that will not shift education or prepare kids or motivate learners or worse,  leave us where we have been with over 20 years of computer ICT already behind us?

I remember the first PC in my school, the first internet use, the first computer co-ordinator job, the first network and yet QTL didn’t change that much because ICT is still not integrated as much as it should be. Literacy is EVERY teacher’s responsibility, just as ICT should be EVERY teacher’s responsibilty.

Maybe with a fully funded fair dinkum 3 to 5 year ICT plan of having all classrooms connected in all schools we will see a more fundamental shift, and more importantly improved learning outcomes.

Sure today’s learners (thats kids and teachers) have sound “functional computer skills”, but digital web2.0 is so much different to what we have had. Web2.0 should be integrated far wider, into all aspects of learning, across all subjects, than previous ICT rollouts.

GLC has an IWB, whats wrong with it?

Lots I think. It’s hard to set up, it requires room changes to use it, the software is hidden, it’s not used very often, we have had NO staff training in its use and no TIME was given for any of this to take place, or none that I’m aware of. No wonder I see white elephant not white board.

It got me thinking then “How is the NSW CCP supposed to be a major step foward, and not just a white elephant of state wide dimensions? A few major differences I see in the early days.

The CCP uses the same uniform hardware and software in all DET schools, it is only installed into NON ICT spaces, it is “fixed permanently” in the classroom, easy to boot up and use (I hope), it connects learners directly in a collaborative learning atmosphere, NOT an individual one like PC’s, it achieves critical mass because all DET schools will be on the same page and my main HOPE is it will be properly funded, especially for teacher training.

Combine this with the 4 year DELL fleet contract, Kevin07’s laptop promise, bandwidth speed increases to 10mb, tools for use with the IWB’s and other associated state wide ICT changes (even the uniform DET Schools Homepages will help) and fundamental learning change in NSW could be an outcome. 

Notice there is NO mention made by ANYONE about ongoing staff training or time to ensure these changes are implemented as well as they should be. I’m getting the kids to learn with me, let go and have some fun learning together.

I like the fact some big picture thinking is behind this latest ICT incarnation, so maybe the adhocracy of the past 20years of ICT is behind DET.

So yes, I believe the 3 parts of the NSW DET CCP will be a major change, and yes all three sections are critical to its success.

Will it change public school education fundamentally?

I think it has to or DET schools will fall behind those school systems that do go digital and connected by 2011.

Rant over, you may now resume normal breathing patterns.

To many, the biggest surprise is that Web 2.0 isn’t based on a just-invented new technology. Rather, it’s based on a clever repackaging of older technologies, tied to an “Aha!” of attitude.

The explosion in web2.0 acronyms, tools and labels is in itself an issue for new converts to the web2.0 digital world. Long time intuitive users of web2.0 adapt easily to the plethora of new tools they choose to use, but what about me and the 80 other noobweb2.0 users I work with everyday? I am a new30day blogger who doesn’t particularly like computers for any technical reason, but I can see the educational power of web2.0. My kids get it and I want to too.

One of the most highly touted features of the Web 2.0 era is the rise of blogging. Personal home pages have been around since the early days of the web, and the personal diary and daily opinion column around much longer than that, so just what is the fuss all about?

At its most basic, a blog is just a personal home page in diary format.

Spare a thought for the many highly skilled and excellent classroom teachers who may regard themselves as digital immigrants just trying to keep up. Those who want to change their teaching practices and start integrating more ICT, and in particular collaborative web2.0 into the classroom, will need regular quality guidance that ultimately has to be paid for. Hope the boffins who decide this stuff at “offices” all around NSW are listening.

The common elements that help define a site as Web 2.0—at least superficially—include mashups, real-time data feeds, tagging, user-generated content and resource sharing.

DET at all levels, from school executive down to the premier and ministers, need to be aware that IF all this “connected classroom”, “digital revolution”, “Kevin07 laptop for every student” and “all things to make us a clever country” is going to suceed, then I hope they are planning for better than just “adequate” staff training.

With Web 2.0, a large part of the experience is sharing data (files, music, interesting articles, video), ideally in a “remixed” fashion with “rich interactivity”—terms that are intentionally vague and thus open to both cynicism and innovation

I am so over second rate, time wasting, over priced private provider inservice or TD or professional enhancement or whatever else it is called today. Dare I say it, an overpriced escape from school, aka junket.

Just in time inservice models may be fine for early adopters and I’ve been searching unsuccessfully for specific online learning for the current NSW connected classroom program, but I guess I just have to be more patient, as I have not found much, yet.

What this NON ICT classroom teacher needs is better access to the technology for my classes and I, reliability when we get there, time and no BS guidance to change what I need to change because I want to be a better teacher, mentoring by non techno babble experts and fully funded real training on an ongoing basis. Now that’s not too much to ask is It?

“Web 2.0 is ultimately a tipping point, not a starting point. And it’s about business (school) models and social adoption rates, as much as it is about technology.” Tim O’Reilly

I would hate to see teacher’s accumulated expertise feel threatened by an underfunded or illogical rapid push for integration. Yes, a “DR” is upon schools, and leaders at all levels should be acutely aware of the implications for rapid digital change, especially in the next 3 years. 

Most teachers and schools will “get it” but my fear is the pace of digital change will leave those schools that don’t “get it”, or worse, refuse to acknowledge its existence, in a place they will find it hard to recover from. Parents and kids will vote with their feet, maybe not initially, but word gets round pretty quickly and I want my school to be a leader not a follower.

Whether for trivial matters like movie reviews or for important business (educational)-changing decisions, the advantage is that people (learners) can work and play better, and collectively can make more intelligent decisions.

But most importantly, I want each of my students to have the best digital learning opportunities they can. They get it and have done for 15 years, I think I’m getting it, even though some naysayers see me as an emerging computer nerd and techno geek who is just wasting time.

My aim is to get my school to also get it and embrace this opportunity. I think they will.

“The schools that succeed in the Web 2.0 era will be those that understand the rules of that game, rather than trying to go back to the rules of the PC software era.”

Web 2.0 is about harnessing the Internet as a platform, using network effects (web2.0 tools) to make your application (learning) get better the more people (students) use it. Whatever else Web 2.0 is, however, it’s clearly the next stage in what we can do with technology.Esther Schindler is a senior online editor at CIO.com.

Some early readings I found useful about the digital fundamental shift.

PC’s and laptops have not shifed education as much as was mooted 20years ago, maybe IWB’s and connected classrooms will.

Learning to Change. Changing to Learn.

Hopefully edublogs will find a fix for video problem soon, its really frustrating.