EduTECH Theme #1 - Changing Education Paradigms: Sugata Mitra

In this post I'd like to go back to the beginning. Sugata Mitra was the opening keynote speaker for EduTECH, and he definitely set the theme for the conference.

I've always been fascinated by Mitra's 'Hole in the Wall' project (if you're not familiar, it started in 1999 and involved installing computers into walls in remote Indian villages and observing the behaviour of the local children), so it was great to be able to hear him speak about it, and about his ideas around the 'School in the Cloud'. And he spoke so engagingly and eloquently. I loved his stories about the original project; how within 5 months of their very first use of the unfamiliar computers, the kids were using it to Google their homework and quote websites such as the 'Harvard Business Review'. I was also quite taken with his story of a further experiment (that by his admission was designed to produce a fail result) that was to investigate whether Tamil-speaking children could learn (in English) about DNA replication through these street-side computers. They didn't. In fact, they understood it quite well!

So, as a result of this research, Mitra proposed that perhaps there are some things that students can actually learn for themselves, and that 'Knowing' is obsolete. Not knowledge, but knowing. That perhaps the things that are traditionally taught (and tested) in schools are not really what we should be concentrating on. Can you see a pattern here? Like Jukes, Mitra emphasised that traditional schooling models, where students are taught skills for jobs that no longer exist, and behaviours that are no longer required, are also obsolete. That they are producing students that know a lot of useless facts, but can't think for themselves. He asked us what boss would want an employee that is constantly asking 'what should I do next'? Not many; they are after creative thinkers and problem solvers (again, can you see the pattern?).

At first glance, it would be easy to think that perhaps Mitra was saying that teachers are obsolete too. He isn't. He's saying that children can learn anyway. But seeing as how schools aren't going anywhere, he suggested that perhaps students could benefit from a different approach to learning, even if it was only for one session a week. They would do this with the assistance of an 'admiring figure' (the teacher?) that encourages students to go further, question themselves, come up with creative solutions. He used grandmothers in his first experiment. He put out a call for people that were willing to donate an hour of their time each week to talk online with students. These people (mainly retired people) would log in for an hour a week and talk to students, read to them, ask them questions, and provide encouragement and admiration for what the students were doing. Mitra called this the Granny Cloud. This approach has been very successful with Indian children, and also with children in Columbia.

The success of this approach has developed into the idea of what Mitra calls a 'SOLE': Self-Organised Learning Environment'. He suggested that learning should take place on the 'edge of chaos', and that students are pretty good at figuring things out with a bit of encouragement. He included a beautiful analogy of the surfer: who does not have someone on their shoulder saying 'tilt to the right now', they figure it out for themselves and sometimes fall off, but they have someone on the beach (or beside them on another board) shouting 'go for it!'; 'you can do it!'.

To create a SOLE, he said that the first things that are needed are a broadband connection, collaboration and encouragement/admiration. Schools can definitely provide this.

Three requirements to set up a SOLE: Broadband, collaboration, encouragement/admiration.

Interestingly, Mitra also suggested that 1:1 is maybe not the best approach for schools, as it does not allow for collaboration. While it's good for students to have their own device to use at home, Mitra suggests it's much better to use shared computers in class, so students can talk and collaborate (because this is where the big learning happens). What do you think about this?

The other things that are required are a curriculum of questions, peer assessment and certification without examination.

Certification without examination. Do we always have to test?

How do we do this? Well Mitra suggested that we (us, the students) can find the big, interesting questions in the curriculum, leave the children alone to find the answers by talking to each other, searching the web, critically analysing the sources of the information that they find. We can provide encouragement and admiration, but must try and refrain from giving them direction. We can then see if they've found the answer, or at least have gotten some way towards that. Not by testing. Just by judging for ourselves whether they've "done a good job"; whether it's "good enough".

Some interesting things to think about. And I tend to think that it's approaches like this that might get us somewhere towards the educational change that we're looking for. That Ian Jukes so passionately argued for. Changing one little thing at a time. Providing some flexibility and self-organised learning even just once a week, to give our students the opportunity to learn on their own, pursue topics of interest, and collaborate in meaningful ways. What do you think?

If you would like more information about SOLEs, you can download a free toolkit here. 

EduTECH theme #1 - Changing Education Paradigms - Ian Jukes

Most of the keynote speakers at the EduTECH conference spoke about the theme of the changing workforce and how ill-prepared schools and education systems are for it. How standardised learning; designed to fit schools full of kids that were destined for agriculture, manufacturing, repetitive/menial tasks and automated jobs; doesn't really fit the future world that requires creative thinkers and problem solvers.

The view from the back - Ian Jukes' closing keynote

Ian Jukes was the final keynote speaker, speaking about 'disruptive innovation', and its impact on education. He gave this message passionately and emphatically. Here are some key points:

Jukes spoke of disruptive innovation as the technologies that are (and have been for a long time) changing the world. This includes the massive container ships (that carry 18000 containers filled with manufactured and agricultural goods from China to almost any port in the world within one week); as well as the technologies that allow hundreds of tasks once completed by humans and animals to be performed quicker and cheaper by machines and computers. Think about how this has changed the world, and the workforce. What do all those people do now that once harvested corn, or answered/directed phone calls, or entered data into forms? While the technology is great, and keeps getting better, it is changing the world economy. Now think about the impact that this has on education. This was the big point that Jukes was going to make.

"No generation in history has even been so thoroughly prepared for the industrial age as the current generation."

- David Warlick

In the US, and increasingly in Australia, many of the 'routine cognitive' jobs that schools traditionally prepared students for (think agriculture, customer service, auditing/bookkeeping, manufacturing, data entry) are being outsourced. Because it's a better economic decision for a company to outsource this kind of work to the cheapest (and most reliable) worker. Which by the way is not usually an American or Australian. And sometimes it's not a human at all...
People in location-dependent jobs (hospitality, plumbing, construction, etc) are somewhat of an exception to this massive change in the workforce, though at the same time, they are not on the salary level of a 'white collar' worker that performs these routine cognitive tasks. 

Jukes then talked about the 'creative class' (as outlined in Richard Florida's book), and how they will come to dominate the high-income earning end of the spectrum in first-world countries in the near future. These are the people that experiment, analyse, disrupt, and well...create!

We kinda know this stuff, don't we? But here's an interesting example: Jukes spoke about the booming app economy. In 2008, the app industry didn't exist. Mainly because apps (or the devices that use them) didn't exist either. But since then, the app industry has boomed, creating/providing more than 800000 jobs across the world. Think about how many industries have shed jobs in that time. 

We are only just starting to do 'app development' in schools. But at a more basic level, it's not a priority of education systems to teach the skills that people that go into these industries might need: creativity, problem solving, coding (a controversial issue in itself), entrepreneurship, collaboration, the willingness to fail and try again, and the ability to respond to constructive feedback. 

So I wonder, what might the workforce look like in another 6 years? What jobs will disappear all together? 

"If the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, the end is near."

- Jack Welch

So Jukes asked how we are changing our schools to fit this new model of work. Are we changing it? He argued that to stay competitive in this kind of environment, different skills are predicted to be important in the coming years: skills such as creativity, critical thinking, teamwork, problem solving and interpersonal skills. He argues that "the world doesn't care what you know, only what you do with what you know", and that memorisation of facts is not important at all. I agree with this. After all, we've got Google to do that for us...

He reiterated the point that our schools were designed to educate people for a world that existed a long time ago. He says that 85% of time in schools is devoted to 'routine cognitive work' - the kind of work that will be outsourced in the future! If we keep trying to force everyone into the same 'box', and test them for the same outcomes, then we might miss the chance to nurture creativity, and we'll definitely miss the opportunity to teach those 'creative class' skills. There's something to the story of the 'school dropout' who makes it big. Jukes made a good point about that too: the rate that students drop out (10-15% in secondary school, up to 50% in universities) should be unacceptable. He said that if he ran a business with this rate of disengagement, he'd be out of business, so why is it acceptable in schools? Perhaps it's because kids don't see the point of being in schools. If they don't have plans to do routine cognitive work (and really, who does?), then how is school meaningful to them?

I think we know this. Instinctively as good teachers, I think all of us know this. But sadly, the kinds of people that makes the decisions about education don't seem to. So Ian Jukes challenges us to change this. One lesson at a time. One unit of work at a time. One school at a time. Make it something that cannot be ignored. Show them that it can work. to do things differently. 

What do you think?

You can see a similar keynote (sadly without the slides, but with all the passion) here. You can also see more of his work here: http://learningfutures21.com/. 

Personalised learning, creativity and educational change: EduTECH 2014

This year, I attended EduTECH for the third time. While there are always moments at these conferences that feel like either a hard sell or a complete waste of time, if nothing else it is a good boost of motivation, and an affirmation that this area of education that I'm so interested in really is important!

There was an amazing collection of international keynote speakers at this year's conference; from educational rock star Sir Ken Robinson, to Sugatra Mitra (he of the 'hole in the wall experiments', the always-engaging (and inspiring) Ewan McIntosh, and the very passionate Ian Jukes. All of them spoke about the importance of creativity, of the changing educational environment and of the need to change the way we approach education.

Me and the event MC, Adam Spencer. I can only wish I was that cool and clever!

There were also some fantastic locals that had a lot of great things to say. I saw Dan Haesler at EduTECH in 2012, and I love his commitment to well-being in students and teachers. I have seen first hand how much of an impact good relationships, a strong values program and an emphasis on emotional intelligence can have on a school community, so I hope that he can continue to grow his audience and share his message.

It was also the first time I've heard Judy O'Connell speak. She struck me as extraordinarily committed and knowledgeable about the field, and I am interested in finding out more about her work.

I like it when I am able to hear from local experts such as these. These conferences are often dominated by international speakers, and while they are always inspirational and engaging, I like to think that Australia has just as many clever, innovative people that are just as capable of delivering this important message.

In the coming days/weeks, I will go back over my notes and blog about my reflections to these and other conference presentations, but also try and include some interpretation: just what exactly does it mean for teachers, pre-service teachers and schools, and what the heck should we be doing?

Here's to the inconsistent blogger!

I love to blog. There's something immensely satisfying about getting your thoughts and opinions out there to the 5 people that occasionally read it big wide world.

This blog was my first. I started it way back in 2008 when things were very different, both for me and for technology in schools. In the intervening six years I've been through my own personal crisis and two job changes. For a while, I was working for the local government (technically I'm still employed by them), and always felt a little hesitant about posting. Now, I'm working for a University, and I thought if nothing else, it might be worth resurrecting my blog for my students (hello students!).

I've just been to a big education technology conference (more about this in the next post), which has provided me with some motivation to keep going. I am on the right path here, and I hope that I can bring some of you along for the ride.

Bloody Computers! Or....Digital Resilience 101

A couple of weeks ago, when I logged in to write my latest post, I discovered that the previous posts (that I'd spent a few good hours on) were gone. All I could find in my drafts was my original first sentence. Boo Hoo. Well obviously, I've gone off in a tanty and ignored my blog since then, which is not good practice! And not something I'd normally do, being that I'm a fairly stubborn person.
But I'm back now, and will hopefully be able to remember everything I had originally posted (by the way, the post was about the whole BYOD - Bring Your Own Device - issue). But it does remind me of something that a lot of people attribute the lack of take-up to: the technology itself.

It's easy to blame the technology when things go wrong, and a lot of the time it is the technology failing, and that's frustrating. But it's so important that we deal with it, so that we can continue to use it to improve what we're doing in our classrooms. This is where digital resilience comes in. And the best way to develop digital resilience is to be confident and competent.

So...here are 10 tips for working with technology:

Back Up
If you create with or use technology, the number one rule is to back up. Frequently and thoroughly. Given that storage is so cheap now, it's something that should really be A priority. I know that Apple offers Time Machine, which is a set-and-forget type service, you hook up a hard drive, and it backs up for you regularly. I'm sure that Microsoft offers a similar Windows process. Or, you can do it yourself. Once a week is best.

Back Up!
As in, have one. The thing about technology is, it doesn't always work. There could be a network problem, or someone's forgotten their password, or perhaps there's a device failure. You can't rely on it to work perfectly every time, so it's a good idea to have a backup activity up your sleeve. Then, if something fails, you can jump straight into the backup instead of wasting a lesson trying to fix it. Leave that until later.

Get Confident
I think it's pretty clear that technology's not going anywhere. And we're going to have to keep using it. So spend some time learning. Whether it's PD, research, or just playing, set aside some regular time to develop your skills and understand the types of technology that are out there. It's a good investment.

While we're talking skills...
The National Professional Standards for Teachers include many references to the use of technology, but I also think it's just as important for us to have the same skills that we expect our students to have: digital literacy, critical thinking, creativity, problem solving, collaboration and communication skills. The kinds of skills sometimes referred to as '21st Century Skills'. If these are the types of skills that kids need, then shouldn't we have them too?

Use the Experts
Our classes are full of technology experts, so it makes sense that we use them. While I wouldn't say that I completely agree with the whole 'Digital Natives' thing (more about that another time); there are always kids that know a bit about the technology. Sometimes because they have used it at home for a while, but also because they've seen teachers (and others) using it for a while too. So why not let them help?


Take care of the other stuff
I must admit, I've learned the hard way, but it's so important to look after yourself. If you're not fit and healthy; if you're working too hard; if you don't have hobbies and interests outside of school, then you're not going to be in the right frame of mind when things go wrong.The first step when developing resilience of any kind is to look after yourself.

The technology's not always going to work. Things don't always go to plan. But the benefits of using technology (I believe) far outweigh the risk of not using it at all. So developing digital resilience is our best bet.

(Social) Bookmarking

Bookmarking sites have been around for a long time now; you've probably heard of Delicious (one of the original bunch), or at least Pinterest, which is getting a lot of press at the moment.
But why bother?

Well, as you know, the internet is a BIG place. There are now more than 100 million registered domain names, 600 million people on Facebook, and the world watches more than 2 billion videos every day on YouTube. I found this information via an infographic on Mashable, a news source that brings together technology news for its 20 million+ monthly visitors.

So how do we sift through all the garbage to find the bits and pieces that inspire us, or really make a difference to what we do every day?

This is where social bookmarking comes in. Put simply, bookmarking sites allow users to bookmark something they've found and (if they want to) share it with others. Content can be tagged, so that people can search for boomarked pages based on their particular interests. Some sites also allow users to comment on bookmarks and create groups based on interests.

Again, why bother?
To me, there are a few advantages for teachers:

• You can always access your bookmarks. Put simply, if you've got an account with an online bookmarking site (and you're diligent about saving bookmarks), you'll always have that list of your favourite sites on hand.
• You can see what other teachers are using/doing: Teachers are way too busy to make everything up! If nothing else, the internet gives us a wealth of great educational content: cool display ideas, downloadable resources, inspirational videos, etc. But, finding it is a nightmare. But I know that if I'm looking for storytelling resources or classroom display ideas, someone else has already found them and bookmarked them!
• You can share specific lists of sites with people: While there are other ways to do it (I'll get to those in the coming weeks), bookmarks are a good way to share specific websites with your students (or your peers). Your bookmarking account (or a list within it) could also be your list of resources for a certain unit of work or research project. You've carefully checked the content on these pages, and know that they're just right for your students.

So, where to start?
If you want simple, Delicious is probably the best place to start. Diigo is a good one for annotating the content you find and forming groups, whereas Symbaloo and Pinterest offer graphic representations and thumbnails (good for the 'visual' folks among us!). StumbleUpon is cool too, it recommends websites based on your interests.

Wherever you end up, it's a good idea to have a bit of a play until you find one that suits your needs and your learning/organisational style.

And let me know if you find any cool ones!

The fine print...
Don't forget that when you're accessing web content, it's gotta be owned by someone and hosted somewhere. Most of the time this won't be a problem. but it never hurts to read the terms and conditions, particularly if you're using Facebook or Google to log into these sites. While it's a great way to do things (who wants to remember 47 different account logins?), it also means they've got access to lots of the things you do online.

New(ish) directions

I had a nice conversation yesterday, with a friend who liked to read my other blog (the deep, meaningful, personal one - you have been warned!). And they suggested that it's probably about time I resurrected this old fellow.

I started this blog about 4 years ago, when my interest in teaching with technology was really taking off. The blog-making task was part of a 'Masterclass' I was attending (run, funnily enough, by the team I now work for), and as you can see, the momentum didn't really last. But, it's been here waiting for an opportunity to come back to life.

I am now blessed to be working in a job that gives me the time and the opportunities to really investigate the types of technological and educational innovations that make a real impact in the classroom. Things that (I believe) will eventually change the way we teach and learn. When I was speaking with my lovely friend yesterday, he commented on the fact that I'm always brimming with ideas and enthusiasm and that, for the most part, I don't really get the opportunity to share it.

So, knowing that I was a moderately successful blogger (well, I had more than 50 followers, that's successful isn't it?) in my personal life, I thought 'why not try resurrecting my professional blog too'?

So that's what I'm going to do. The thing about technology in education is that it all just moves so quickly. It's not that teachers don't want to take these things on, it's just that they don't know how/what/when is the best. So I thought I'd use this blog to bring together the research that I come across, the great writing I find on various topics, and of course the really cool resources that are available to make learning more personal, meaningful and flexible. Things that I care very passionately about.
I will also endeavour to do it all with an ACT/Australian perspective, so that you know that it will actually make sense in your context.

So please, have a look, tell your friends, and keep coming back so that I can keep you posted.