Monkey scribbles …

I attended a two-day conference last year focused on interactive whiteboards (IWBs). A general plenary was held along with a variety of workshops offered by some classroom practioners, and company trainers showing delegates the general characteristics of their boards. Whilst it was all impressive, I find myself still reflecting on what I saw, and considering, where is the “WOW factor”? These reflections combine together with considering observations made during a study tour to the UK in 2009, where school’s were using IWBs extensively in delivering Mathematics lessons, and most other curriculum areas as well.

 My questions include: 

• why do I want to bring IWBs into a secondary school classroom?
• should IWBs be in every secondary classroom, or just a few key areas?
• is there one, or more, secondary subjects that allow more flexibility for using an IWB, and therefore, enabling more innovative ways of teaching to evolve? 
• how can IWBs be used to excite and ignite a passion within students for thinking, exploring and learning?
• how do you get staff to embrace the IWB technology, and to come up with stimulating lesson ideas that extend students?

… amongst a number of other things.

Bottom line, I am interested in seeing or hearing about good practice which incorporates an IWB as an effective and meaningful tool across-curriculum areas with secondary students. Do you have any innovative ideas which have engaged students, and made them excited to come to your classroom?

I am hoping that we do not move into an age where instead of ”death by powerpoint” it becomes “death by IWB” because we are not looking at rich, and exciting ways of using our tools to extend and engage our learners. What do you think?

 To provide relevant, meaningful, rich and engaging learning experiences school’s need to consider and design spaces which cater and accommodate for the needs of today’s learner. Rather than continuing to refer to classrooms with four walls, and class sizes of up to 30 students, school leaders and educators need to broaden the boundaries to increase class sizes, and to have spaces which extend beyond the normal individual room size. Some schools have already started to explore and implement such ideas with the implementation of spaces where individuals can collaborate, learn together, and work together. Such spaces are referred to as being ‘agile learning spaces’. The design of these spaces accommodates for the way students learn today, and in the future.

A number of leading educators including Stephen Heppell, have documented the importance of agile learning spaces in supporting contemporary learning. Heppell believes that such spaces allow flexibility, and provide an ability for easy and quick reconfiguration to suit any learning need.

Breaking down the barriers of four-walled classrooms, also allows for different opportunities in providing experiences with technology to learners. No longer is there a need to sit at desks, and in an organised manner. Individuals now have the ability to sit and work in furniture that is referred to as “funky”, and which could include coloured beanbags, floor pillows, and jelly-bean shaped tables. There is lots of vivid colour around and space for working in groups, and individually. There is more connectedness between learners, and teachers in a number of schools that have embraced the concept of agile learning are working enthusiastically with their students.

The day of students sitting in rows with someone out the front is changing. The idea is challenging for educators, but learning and teaching is moving forward with a world which is embracing technology, and new ideas at a fast and constant rate.

A common challenge in Australian schools is the lack of uptake by female students of elective computer or technology based courses. Craig (2012) identifies this issue in her article ‘Digital Divas Do IT Right’ when she poses several questions:  Do you have (m)any girls in your non-compulsory computing classes? and, Do you know (m)any girls who are excited about computers and confident in using them? In brief, she states that “Unfortunately a girl geek is hard to find”.

To address this gender imbalance which starts at the school level, and then translates to tertiary computing courses and consequently industry where only 18% of employees are female (Craig, 2012), a new program called ‘Digital Divas’ has been set-up and is being trialled in several schools. This program is part of a longitudinal study which concludes in 2012 after 3 years of development, implementation and assessment. The ‘Digital Divas’ program is specifically designed for girls in Years 8, 9, and 10, and is funded by an Australian Research Council (ARC) grant shared between Monash, Swinburne, and Deakin Universities all located in Melbourne, Australia.

The program has been constructed to include three layers: curriculum, informal mentoring, and guest speakers from the computer industry. The structure is based on a club environment, and allows female students to explore aspects of computing and its usage, and linking these ideas and concepts to careers. Researchers feel that the program “… will benefit girls’ educational outcomes, and have an impact on the gender divide in ICT classrooms and industry”. What do you think?

 Reference

Craig, A. ‘Digital Divas Do IT Right’. Education Technology Solutions, 45, 35-36. Dec/Jan 2012.

This year, I am looking forward to the ‘Technology in K-12 Education National Congress 2012‘ which will be held from 30th May – 1st June at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre, Australia. Key speakers will include: Sir Ken Robinson, Alan November, Stephen Heppell, and Greg Whitby.

I believe that the 2012 National Congress will offer an opportunity to meet and hear from key educators, with backgrounds that are both national and international, about pertinent issues related to technology education. Furthermore, the presentations should illuminate both current and future changes, challenges and roles that technology will and could play in developing an individual’s education, and the skills necessary for preparing them for a diverse and encompassing part in today’s society.

In short, I am looking forward to being inspired, and gathering practical advice to build a worthwhile direction, and strategy for technology to share with others.

A number of issues are at the fore of discussions, development and implementation in education at the current time. Media including newspapers, journals, and online articles are focusing on the issues of safety online for young people; challenges for learning with the rapid advances in technology; mobile devices and the appropriate, and effective integration of these into learning environments; network development, and the planning required to accommodate these changes in schools; amongst a variety of other key topics.

Reflection Questions

1. What do you see as being some of the key topics being discussed or presented currently?
2. Through the use of technology, how is learning changing, and how can we as educators support and work with our learners in today’s classroom?
3. How are these changes going to impact on your own learning today, tomorrow, and in 2012 generally?

Click is an online guide for parents with relation to the use of technology by children.

This video shows parents, students and a cyber-safety expert, Dr Martyn Wild discussing the technologies children are using and how to keep them safe online.

An informative dialogue worth viewing and considering some of the issues highlighted with your own children or colleagues.

The Digital Education Revolution in NSW (DER-NSW) is a program to provide wirelessly-enabled laptops to all Year 9 to 12 students in NSW public schools by 2012. If your child is now in Year 9 in a NSW public school they will receive a laptop before the end of the year.

Currently, NSWDET is in the process of rolling out a range of social media tools with each of the laptops provided to students. The social media tools on each of the laptops include items such as a Blog, Wiki and Media Library. These will allow students and teachers to engage with Web2.0 technologies whilst conforming to the policy requirements demanded of a public school system.

The Digital Education Revolution in NSW video link provides more details about this initiative and the governments plan for its implementation in NSW schools.

Richardson (2006) identifies that “People love Flickr so much that there have been a host of creative applications built around it …”. For learners in classrooms, Flickr provides the opportunity to create, connect and reflect through publishing in a visual way. It is a tool which can introduce today’s learner to the ideas of “digital images and publishing, but also to the diversity of social conversations and collaborative learning opportunities” (Richardson, 2006). It is an alternative way of connecting to the Internet and having the power to join the web 2.0 world of publishing.

Some interesting Flickr sites with creative applications that may have uses in the technology classroom of tomorrow include:

• The Great Flickr Tools Collection
• Geobloggers
• Flickr Color Picker
• More Flickr Color Picker Apps
• Flickr – The App Garden
• FlickrReplacr Bookmarklet
• Flicktion

The list is almost endless and the opportunities infinite.

Have you come across any worthwhile uses, applications or sites that use Flickr?

ICT educators within Sydney are currently inviting one another to join the ‘google wave’. Google Wave is an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration. I like the analogy that:

“A wave can be both a conversation and a document where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more“. Further, a “wave” is seen to be:

• equal parts – conversation and document;
• shared; and, 
• live.

This online tool can be used for:

• group projects;
• photo sharing;
• collaborative and independent notes;
• brainstorming; and, 
• interactive games.

The creators of google wave state that they “Went Walkabout. Brought Back Google Wave“. 

Reflection

1. How do you see this online tool being used in your classroom?  

2. Does ‘google wave’ have a place in learning? If yes, how and why?

I was fascinated recently to listen to the Learning Lama, as part of a Literature Circle presentation, describe and partially demonstrate  a brief overview of how to setup an IWB for around $50. Yes, that is correct $50 – a fraction of what you pay for a wall mounted/mobile IWB or mimio device … and, all that you require for the setup of this cheaper version of an IWB is a Wii controller, a self-made infra-red pen, a bluetooth device, some special software that can be downloaded and a sense of invention and creativity!!! Possibly, one could say a really good problem solving task involving ICT … For those needing some DIY assistance then using the suggested video link you will get the visual and verbal explanation of how best to got about creating your own IWB, and the IWB guide will pace you through the steps required. 

A worthwhile use of ICT to explore and consider … What do you think??