tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-106132912024-03-13T15:47:03.446-07:00At the chalkfaceAllan Quartlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00934540738316834489noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10613291.post-91136847932218125262012-05-24T07:04:00.001-07:002012-05-24T07:04:46.755-07:00#fslt12 Reflective WritingI feel that it is important that a number of points are understood before the following response is read:<br />
<ol>
<li>As my <a href="http://allanquartz.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/introduction-of-self.html" target="_blank">Introduction of Self</a> indicates I come from a strong English heritage, yet my genealogy goes back almost 200 years in Australia. </li>
<li>Since visiting Lajamanu in 2009 I have found myself questioning many assumptions underlying my undestanding of Indigenous cultures and my own English culture. A lot of what I write now looks at that space that I find myself in, between the two cultures in Australia.</li>
<li>I see a strong correlation between MOOCs and Indigenous Ways of Learning.</li>
</ol>
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<b>Metaphors of two cultures of learning</b><br />
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<b></b>
Below are two different metaphorical views of knowledge and learning that will inform my response to the <a href="http://vle.openbrookes.net/mod/page/view.php?id=25" target="_blank">Reflective Writing activity</a> in the <a href="http://jennymackness.wordpress.com/2012/04/24/fslt12-mooc-registration/" target="_blank">First Steps into Teaching and Learning 2012</a> MOOC. The pyramid symbolises the Western view of knowledge, where knowledge is an edifice which is built brick by brick and stored as a separate place. Once built it becomes difficult to traverse. The aim of Western education is to collect building blocks with the goal of building a personal pyramid. The <a href="http://8ways.wikispaces.com/" target="_blank">8 Aboriginal Ways Ways of Learning</a> diagram represents Aboriginal ways of learning where knowledge is continuously built and reshaped through interaction with others. These types of designs can be drawn in the dirt with fingers or a stick. It also views<a href="http://allanquartz.blogspot.com/2012/01/knowledge-as-landscape.html" target="_blank"> knowledge as a landscape</a> that can be traversed and where context is important to understanding.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-W0_bSzj7U4o/T7WE6xzLxHI/AAAAAAAAARU/65IJvetSKrI/s1600/pyramid+image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="175" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-W0_bSzj7U4o/T7WE6xzLxHI/AAAAAAAAARU/65IJvetSKrI/s200/pyramid+image.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kRI9l1g05jc/T7WE7wg9ZeI/AAAAAAAAARY/NIThogVcRh8/s1600/the_eight_ways.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="134" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kRI9l1g05jc/T7WE7wg9ZeI/AAAAAAAAARY/NIThogVcRh8/s200/the_eight_ways.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">8 Aboriginal Ways of Learning - Yunkaporta 2009</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Like much of Western educational symbols the<a href="http://vle.openbrookes.net/mod/resource/view.php?id=48" target="_blank"> UK Professional Standards Framework 2011</a> uses a triangle to symbolise a solid edifice that is meant to be long lasting. There are arrows symbolising links between the three dimensions but it seems to indicate that it is from a base of Core Knowledge and Professional Values that Area of Activities is built. Although it would be possible to analyse all three dimensions using the 8 Ways model, this reflection will focus on the dimension of Professional Values.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<b>V1 Respect individual learners and diverse learning communities</b><br />
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Overall, respect for learners and their communities starts with a belief that there are many valid ways to view and interpret the world around us, that no single worldview is superior or inferior to other worldviews. The 8 Ways element of Story Sharing is the place for building respect for learners and their communities by building understanding of the different worldviews present in the place of learning. One way of achieving this is through introduction:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>The protocol for introducing one's self to other Indigenous people is to provide information about one's cultural location, so that connection can be made on political, cultural and social grounds and relations established (Moreton-Robinson, 2000. Quoted in Martin, 2008.)</i></b></blockquote>
The above protocol for introducing one's self is much easier to achieve in an online environment than in a lecture hall. An online forum can allow space to be given for students and teachers alike to share stories to attain an understanding of each other's background. The lecture hall only gives this opportunity to the lecturer, creating a distance between the learner and the lecturer's knowledge from the outset. The opportunity to share stories online can spread beyond the forum to blogs and their ensuing comments, and social media tools.<br />
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Respecting diverse learning communities has the problem of either inviting the learner into the pyramid or of imposing the culture of the pyramid onto another culture. Traditional learning involves being indoctrinated into the ways of the dominant culture (Gramsci, 1971). The learning is a one-way transmission from expert to novice and the learning involves more than the transfer of ways of doing things, it also involves a change in the ways of being. This method of teaching poses problems for communities that are trying to preserve their culture. A way to overcome this problem involves the teacher taking a different stance in relation to the learning. By making links with the community on a basis of equality, the teacher can explain how they do things, leaving the community to integrate the new knowledge into their ways of doing things. The teacher also takes away what the community has taught them to integrate back into the pyramid.<br />
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<i><br /></i><br />
<b>V2 Promote participation in higher education and equality of opportunity of learners</b><br />
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This point seems to imply that higher education is something that someone enters, much like entering a pyramid and that the doors to the pyramid should be open for all to enter and be transformed. There does not seem to be a recognition of the part that the communities mentioned in V1 have to play in the development of human knowledge. It is almost like the point is saying, "Promote the imposition of higher education on communities equally." The point would be better worded to fit in with Indigenous Ways by saying, "Promote links between communities and higher education to better foster the development of human knowledge."<br />
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<b>V3 Use evidence-informed approaches and the outcomes from research, scholarship and continuing professional development</b><br />
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My teaching has always been informed from these three areas but it also involves my own experience. I come to education with a range of experiences, both as a teacher and before teaching, which are my own. Although these experiences fall outside the purview of research and scholarship, they are informed by research and act as a lens through which I view any research I come across, and they form a large part of my continuing professional development.<br />
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MOOCs are a good example of learning practice that can take place outside of the pyramid. By accessing open resources and interacting with a range of teachers and researchers from around the world, I am able to use the outcomes from research and scholarship without having to subscribe to a certain way of seeing the world in order to attain recognition for my learning.<br />
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<b>V4 Acknowledge the wider context in which higher education operates recognising the implications for professional practice</b><br />
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Living in Australia involves coming to terms with its Indigenous history. The biggest difficulty in doing this is the concept of progress and where this places Indigenous culture in the mind of teachers (Langton, 1993). The idea of progress presupposes the leaving behind a way of doing things because these ways are primitive or backward. This presupposition leads to a disrespect and dismissal of Indigenous culture, leaving the culture out of the conversation about human knowledge. Dismissing the culture of a student means dismissing the student, leaving them isolated from the learning. I believe there is a need for a deeper understanding and respect for Indigenous cultures in Australian higher education and professional practice.<br />
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<h3>
References</h3>
<div>
Gramsci, Antonio. (1971). <i>Selections from the Prison Notebooks.</i> Edited and translated by Quintin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell Smith.<i> </i>International Publishers New York.<br />
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<div class="MsoBibliography">
Langton, M. (1993). Well I heard it on the Radio and I saw it on the
Television ...". Woolloomooloo, NSW, Australia: Australian Film
Commission. <o:p></o:p><a href="http://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/documents/SA_publications/WellIHeard.pdf">http://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/documents/SA_publications/WellIHeard.pdf</a> Accessed 23/5/2012.</div>
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Martin, Karen L. (2008). <i>Please knock before you enter: Aboriginal regulation of Outsiders and the implications for researchers. </i>Post Pressed. Teneriffe, Qld.</div>
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<div>
Yunkaporta, Tyson. (2009). <i>Aboriginal pedagogies at the cultural interface.</i> PhD thesis, James Cook University. <a href="http://eprints.jcu.edu.au/10974/">http://eprints.jcu.edu.au/10974/</a> Accessed 19/5/2012. </div>
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</div>Allan Quartlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00934540738316834489noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10613291.post-88175483532218231832012-05-19T17:38:00.001-07:002013-02-24T21:38:11.754-08:00Introduction of Self<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">My name is Allan Quartly. I am the second (and last) child of Ronald and Beryl Quartly (nee Gibbens). I was born and raised in Balmain, a suburb of the city of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. I am a Balmain boy. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">My parents were both born in Sydney, my father in Bondi, my mother in Balmain. My mother’s mother was born in England and migrated to Australia in the early decades of the 20th century, where she married my grandfather. My father’s parents were both born in Australia, but my great-grandfather Quartly migrated to Australia from England. And so it goes, all the way back to early colonial times, every second generation at least, an Australian born ancestor marries a British born ancestor from England or Northern Ireland. My own children are the first in my line that do not have at least one parent or grandparent born in England. It is for this reason that, although I feel a great love for this country Australia, my ancestral home is both England and Australia.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">In 2009 I was fortunate enough to attend Milpirri Festival in Lajamanu with a fellow teacher, Lance (Jangala) Box. This trip transformed my understanding of Indigenous Ways and started me on a complex journey of discovery about Indigenous/non-Indigenous relations. It is also where I was given the Warlpiri skin name, Jampijinpa. I now live and work in Katherine and surrounding communities in the Northern Territory as the ICT Support Teacher. </span>Allan Quartlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00934540738316834489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10613291.post-39532559403267840982012-05-13T05:57:00.001-07:002012-05-13T05:57:57.979-07:00Initial thoughts on #fslt12The<a href="http://jennymackness.wordpress.com/2012/04/24/fslt12-mooc-registration/" target="_blank"> <i style="text-decoration: none;">First Steps into Learning and Teaching in Higher Education</i></a> (#fslt12) MOOC asks us participants to reflect on our overall experience to date as a teacher; what kinds of students we have taught, what we have discovered from the experience, and what we have most enjoyed in our teaching? A fairly taunting task.<br />
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For me, teaching has been a journey, both physically, socially and intellectually. I have taught in a number of schools in Australia and the UK. The schools I have worked in cover a wide spectrum of socio-economic and cultural settings - Independent, Catholic and Public systems; low socio-economic, urban, regional and rural; high socio-economic, inner-city; remote Indigenous communities. My roles have been classroom teacher, teacher trainer and computer network administrator.<br />
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What I've learnt most from the experience is that teaching is a social endeavour and the role is determined by the community the teacher works in. The learning activity is a negotiation between the subject, teacher and student. Relationships are formed, positive and negative, between the three which enhance or inhibit the learning. Getting students to see the intrinsic value of a subject, getting them to learn for learning sake, is half (if not all of) the battle. Getting teachers to see the intrinsic value of IT in the classroom is a different battle.<br />
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What I enjoy most about teaching are the thank you at the end of a lesson from students who tell me how much they dislike school when they first meet me. Its that excitement in their eyes when they get that concept that puts everything together in their mind. I also enjoy watching students and teachers working together excitedly as they learn new technology together. When teacher and student connect in a way that rarely happens when a teacher is up the front commanding the learning.Allan Quartlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00934540738316834489noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10613291.post-13724708312113589672012-05-12T22:57:00.000-07:002012-05-13T05:59:46.014-07:00<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<b>The being-with</b> role in learning</h2>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: orange;"> <i>Being-with is the relationship between entities.</i></span></h3>
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<span style="color: orange;"><i>The Self is a being-with creature. </i></span></h3>
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<span style="color: orange;"><i>We are how we be-with the world. </i></span></h3>
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<span style="color: orange;"><i>Our identities are bound up with the way we be-with the world, how we interact with Others. </i></span></h3>
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<span style="color: orange;"><i>Our interchanging identities are our Selves changing between relationships. </i></span></h3>
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<span style="color: orange;"><i>We are not atomised Beings that form and aggregate separate from the world, we reflect our relationship to the world. </i></span></h3>
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<span style="color: orange;"><i>Every millisecond of experience reforms and reshapes our neural pathways to form a shape of the world around us. Our identity is this continuously reformed understanding of the world. </i></span></h3>
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<span style="color: orange;"><i>Without this reformed view we would trip over as we walk upon uneven ground, we would be unable to catch sight of falling leaves. </i></span></h3>
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<span style="color: orange; font-style: italic;">We are </span><span style="color: red;">where</span><span style="color: orange; font-style: italic;"> we are. We are the relationships we have with things, both living and non-living, around us. </span></h3>
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</h4>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: left;">
In the free-flowing world of the internet it is hard to fully grasp our own identity because of the fast changing relationships. The picture in our minds of the world change so fast on the internet that we become disjointed. We find it hard to pin down a recurring image of the place that we sit in in the online world. We sit in multiple places at once. Each tab on the browser represents a different aspect of oneself interacting with others. In any one day we sit as broadcasters, friends, intimates, eavesdroppers and audience, oftentimes switching between modes of being-with within seconds.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
In the past the roles in education were fairly distinct between learner
and the learning - the student was the audience, the teacher was the
broadcaster. But these roles aren't as clear cut any more. The learning process is a lot more fluid on the Internet with learner(s) and teacher(s) (inter)acting as broadcasters, audience, eavesdroppers and even friends simultaneously. Everyone is privy to the discussions and sense-making taking place both inside and outside the learning space, with participants never fully aware of their audience. Without knowing who is in the room it is hard to know which stance to take.</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
Traditionally, educators set a path to knowledge where we would say, "Here is a body of knowledge. Memorise it, analyse it and then build upon it."
Now we have bodies of knowledges and we place the student in the middle of it all and expect them to create their own pathways. We are in danger of abandoning our children in a forest of knowledge and expecting them to find their way home. Part of the reason for the abandonment is because the elders aren't in the forest, they're afraid of it because they don't understand it. Another reason is because pathways haven't been properly developed yet, significant landmarks are yet to be built, creation stories are yet to be told. Relationships with the knowledge and between the knowledge-holders are yet to be established.</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
As being-with creatures learners build relationships with the subject and the learning process. How often do we hear students say, "I hate Maths" or "I love group work"? It often took an inspirational teacher to turn the negative learning relationship around to a positive one.<a href="http://tangentratio.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/algebra-8ways-literacy-and-unmasking.html" target="_blank"> (Example)</a> These relationships inform students about their identity: "I'm not a Maths person", "I'm more right brained", "I'm good at essays". At the moment it is unclear what relationships are to be formed with this new learning and hence what identities are to be taken up by learners in the process. "I'm a good blogger", "I'm a good commenter", "I like to lurk" and many more identities and roles are yet to be formalised amongst online learners. And amongst all this we are yet to place relative values on these roles in learning.<br />
<br />
Big thanks to Bonnie Stewart and her<i> Six Online Identities</i> sessions during the #change11 MOOC this week. Check out her <a href="http://tangentratio.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/algebra-8ways-literacy-and-unmasking.html" target="_blank">blog</a> for more background.</div>
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Allan Quartlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00934540738316834489noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10613291.post-55724818231221244652012-03-19T15:46:00.014-07:002012-03-20T06:14:19.178-07:00Integrating the classroom into ICT and the rise of the virtual pedagogue - #change11For years now we have been talking about integrating ICT into the classroom. At first this meant using applications like word processing, spreadsheets and databases to do traditional classroom tasks. This was quickly followed by the use of the Internet to do traditional research tasks. Then along came YouTube to replace the VCR. And lately we have social media and the like to replace the traditional classroom discussion.<div><br /></div><div>None of this transforms education. It merely automates and digitises it. We are trying to put a round peg into a square hole.</div><div><br /></div><div>Thinking outside the box which is the classroom, we can see a plethora of learning opportunities. But what we fail to see is the teacher outside this box. The moment a new tool becomes available teachers quickly build fences and walls around the tool to create learning spaces and then place themselves firmly in the middle, demanding attention and control. </div><div><br /></div><div>What if we truly flipped the classroom and put it out into the real world? What if teachers acted more like celebrities and less like prison guards, gathering followers instead of corralling charges? They could become teachers to a thousand Emiles, taking them on virtual journeys through the<a href="http://allanquartz.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/knowledge-as-landscape.html"> landscape of knowledge</a>. Parents could assign their children to virtual pedagogues that escort them between virtual and physical learning spaces.</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: 100%; ">The traditional classroom reflects the industrial society of the 19th and 20th centuries. There would be a place of work for them to attend each day as adults, so there was a place of work for them to attend each day as children. They would be told which tasks to perform and how to do it at work, so they were told the same at school. The work would be procedural, so the learning was procedural. </span></div><div><br /></div><div>For the modern "classroom" to reflect society today it must be accessible anywhere, exist in the cloud, be able to be navigated and allow for both impromptu and planned gatherings. Learning must happen as it is needed. In this learning space the teacher looks at scenarios, both real and predicted, and creates assessments that capture learning gaps and directs students to learning resources. These learning resources would be created specifically for the situation or linked to by the teacher. Further assessment refines the learning as needed.</div><div><br /></div><div>Just as the bells, classroom layout and lesson structure of the traditional classroom taught the processes of work, the modern classroom must reflect the ad hoc nature of today's society. At the very least this means that timetables for learning cannot be set at the beginning of the year. They will probably need to be set, at a minimum, daily, and reflect the learning needs of the child at that point in time. The learning spaces the child attends will vary according to their learning needs at the time, with various adults in attendance (ie. parents, teachers, non-teaching supervisors), in various locations (home, school, library), and with various learning tools (teachers, experts, devices, simulations). </div><div><br /></div><div>Movement between these spaces will need to be coordinated, which is where the true transformation of education can take place. This coordination role can be in the hands of either a central education authority (as it is now) or it can be returned to the parent (as it was in pre-industrial times). If it is returned to the parent then we will most likely see the return of the Athenian pedagogue, the person who escorts the child from teacher to teacher. Except this time, the escorting can be done online, or at least the organisation of the mode of escort (taxi, buses, website, Google Hangout) can be done online. </div><div><span style="font-size: 100%; "><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 100%; ">And it can all be automated. A virtual pedagogue could emerge.</span></div>Allan Quartlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00934540738316834489noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10613291.post-23374011809051904632012-01-17T20:40:00.000-08:002012-01-17T21:11:00.606-08:00Where will learners gather to learn?<div><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: -webkit-auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Today we had a <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/100382758901355515850/posts/1yK9NaQSeh7">discussion</a> about the effectiveness of lecturing over at G+. Below is one of my responses. Meg Tufano originally suggested that online learning was the way forward.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: -webkit-auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: -webkit-auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "> </span><span class="zj" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: -webkit-auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span class="proflinkWrapper"><span class="proflinkPrefix" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); ">+</span><a href="https://plus.google.com/105989807116077671770" class="proflink" oid="105989807116077671770" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204); cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; ">Meg Tufano</a></span> I agree that online looks like the way to go but I'm not sure on the approach yet. As a learner I find online a smorgasbord of things to learn but, like <span class="proflinkWrapper"><span class="proflinkPrefix" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); ">+</span><a href="https://plus.google.com/104868345057283335401" class="proflink" oid="104868345057283335401" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204); cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; ">Michael Franzwa</a></span> I'm a very independent learner, I can learn with or without others. But I think we are a rare breed. Most people need some sort of community to follow in order to learn and that takes a lot of interaction. Being forced to sit in a lecture hall or study group ensures group connections, not necessarily good ones but connections nonetheless. Even the discussions about how boring the lecture was is a time of reflection. Knowing that others feel the same way about the terrible lecture gives a learner confidence because they know they are not alone. How do we emulate that community online? Remembering, of course, that most learners do not understand their own needs for community while learning.<br /><br />The elder Indigenous people of Australia used to sit and sing songs about the environment around them. They would layer knowledge onto the land, sky, animals and waterways, knowing that at some point in the future the child who could hear them, but was not listening, would remember the knowledge when the time came. As the child grew and walked the land they deepened their knowledge. As they strengthened their bonds with the people and land, they strengthened their understanding of the interconnections of the knowledge. When the child showed the beginning of understanding they were initiated into and given access to the next level of knowledge. These initiations continued through life until they too become an elder.<br /><br />In our cultures we build the knowledge as libraries and edifices. A lot of the knowledge is gathered and stored, a thing to be dug up. This is why we have lectures. The learner sits in the spray of knowledge, collects the droplets and then goes away to imagine how these things interconnect. Sometimes these interconnections are written down and then added to the library. The Dewey system and other ways of organising knowledge are like the pathways of old. The professors the elders.You could happen upon knowledge while wandering the corridors of the library. Happen upon a book in a section while looking for a different book. It is a solitary endeavour unless you imagine the books as friends which a lot of good learners do. Having access to professors and the vaults of deeper learning depends on the learner proving their worth via exams and papers. Graduation is the initiation ceremony, except only a few are actually allowed through. Most leave the edifice with the label "educated".<br /><br />Where are the pathways through online learning? Where are the elders sitting? Where are the gathering places? Where are the ceremonies that celebrate initiation? Who are the people that the learner needs to connect with to gain deeper understanding?<br /><br />I've yet to see a truly online learning environment that answers these questions. It all just seems like a clumsy attempt to digitise the lecture hall, classroom, study group and associated materials. We have the new social environment online and we have the new data stores but <b>where</b> do the people gather to learn?</span> </div>Allan Quartlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00934540738316834489noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10613291.post-84138754557313868052012-01-09T23:03:00.000-08:002012-01-11T01:13:42.140-08:00Knowledge as landscape.<br />
Looking around at a landscape one experiences the shapes and context of the physical environment. As we sweep our vision across the vista we take in the different views and develop a picture in our mind of what it is that we are seeing. We never see the whole vista at once, yet in our mind we can piece it all together. We move our vision across, imagining the parts now out of sight as we see the parts that are coming into view, piecing it all together by blending memories and vision into a cohesive whole. It is this built vision of the landscape that we know, not the actual landscape itself.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vx8CsEfEKpI/TwvgUudpo3I/AAAAAAAAAOc/Do2IRbi8jso/s1600/1149rbg4h65e13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vx8CsEfEKpI/TwvgUudpo3I/AAAAAAAAAOc/Do2IRbi8jso/s400/1149rbg4h65e13.jpg" width="300" /></a>Knowledge of a landscape can act as a metaphor for knowledge itself. It can be something outside of ourselves that we can traverse and experience. It doesn't have to be something we own, it can be something we interact with. And like the physical landscape, we can build pictures of different detail and perspectives <i>of</i> that knowledge. The knowledge we build in our minds is not the things we know, it is our interpretation, or vision, of that knowledge. The more we traverse the landscape of knowledge the richer the experience becomes.<br />
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When knowledge is viewed this way the debate on the importance of content in education become superfluous. The content is the landscape. Do we shackle learners to stand facing a certain direction so that they learn only that content? Or do we point out the importance of the different aspects as they themselves scan and move about within the landscape?<br />
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<a href="http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=27">Image: EA / FreeDigitalPhotos.net</a>Allan Quartlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00934540738316834489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10613291.post-59912716443269483752011-12-26T03:34:00.001-08:002011-12-26T03:37:31.246-08:00Badges for teachers: scenarios (#change11)<div>In my previous <a href="http://allanquartz.blogspot.com/2011/12/badges-for-teachers-change11.html">post</a> I outlined an idea I have to make badges work. Here are a few scenarios that might better illustrate what it is I am proposing.</div><div><br /></div><div>A programmer has been asked by their employer to learn about machine learning. Employee does the course via Stanford's open learning. There is no need for there to be any certification from Stanford because the employer will be able to see if the necessary learning was done. If it was, then the employer gives the employee a badge and Stanford gets a badge as well for that course. By linking the two badges, the credential is transferable.</div><div><br /></div><div>A employer notices that their new emplyee, fresh out of high school, is very proficient with basic maths and english, as well as being able to learn quickly and think for herself. The employer finds all these traits admirable and decides to award a badge to the student's "overall education" attribute. This badge is automatically linked to all of the employee's past schools and teachers. The employee, realising that there were four teachers that have had a huge impact on her employability, so she awards a badge to each of these teachers.</div><div><br /></div><div>A parent is looking for a school for her child. She looks at the data for a number of schools, looking at the range of source that the badges have come from. She is able to drill down into the data to see the type employers (industry) have given badges, as well as the number of parents who have given badges, and the number of ex-students who have given badges. </div>Allan Quartlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00934540738316834489noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10613291.post-68833507708016561852011-12-23T18:35:00.000-08:002011-12-23T21:56:49.015-08:00Badges for teachers (#change11)<div>It seems to me that there is something vitally important missing from this whole badges concept - the reputation of the teacher. The reputation of the software or human teacher which awards the badge is paramount in determining the value of the badge as a means of showing skills acquired. And the best assessors of the quality of the teacher is the employer, parent and student. There needs to be a badges system for teachers if a badges system is to work at all.</div><div><br /></div><div>Below is a concept diagram of the inter-relationship between teacher, student and employer in the current credentializing system.</div><div><br /></div><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YxABn822l0k/TvU6s-GnYII/AAAAAAAAAN4/RXoPkTPLXpg/s1600/credentials%2Bimage.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 301px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YxABn822l0k/TvU6s-GnYII/AAAAAAAAAN4/RXoPkTPLXpg/s320/credentials%2Bimage.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5689518248511889538" /></a><div><span>If</span></div><div><span>The student is happy with how they have been able to apply their learning to their employment and employment prospects</span></div><div><span> and</span></div><div><span><span>The employer is happy with skills and knowledge of stud</span>ent</span></div><div><span> and</span></div><div>The student is assessed to have aquired skills and knowledge from a teacher</div><div> then </div><div>A credential has been given and the teacher's reputation has been enhanced.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>I am proposing here a system like the one below:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2T6UlQ-H75A/TvVVM2i2muI/AAAAAAAAAOQ/mYDqHDgYP3E/s1600/badges%2Bsystem.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 255px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2T6UlQ-H75A/TvVVM2i2muI/AAAAAAAAAOQ/mYDqHDgYP3E/s320/badges%2Bsystem.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5689547383540980450" /></a><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>A "badges for teachers" system would track a person's teachers and then having employers assess the skill set of the employee and then award a badge to that set of teachers and, over time, the teachers of higher quality would acquire more badges and hence a greater reputation amongst employers. Employers would be able to give subject specific badges (eg: math) to indicate that the employee has a good overall knowledge of maths. All of the employee's teachers would receive the collective badge. If an employer sends an employee off to learn something specific then they can award a badge for that skill directly to that teacher. By awarding the badge to the teachers the employer is also reinforcing the credential of the employee.</div><div><br /></div><div>For school teachers these badges could be awarded by parents up to a certain age, say 16, and then awarded by the students themselves. Parents and students would be able to award badges to individual teachers or to a school of teachers in a given year. For tertiary teachers these badges would be awarded by students only.</div><div><br /></div><div>The value of the badges awarded by the teacher is related to the number of badges the teacher has received. Earning badges from good teachers becomes more valuable over time as the teacher receives more badges. This would allow for parents to 'invest' in their child's education by selecting teachers they feel would be better for their child in the long run.</div><div><br /></div><div>Running parallel to this system could be one for teachers awarding badges to teachers to indicate collegiality and professionalism to further enhance the reputation of the teacher.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm not sure whether this is a new idea but I am sure there is more work to be done on this idea, so I would appreciate any feedback at all, constructive or otherwise.</div>Allan Quartlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00934540738316834489noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10613291.post-57713672473026351722011-12-14T00:51:00.000-08:002011-12-14T01:03:25.105-08:00Where do the facts belong - In the head or in the clouds? (#change11)<div><a href="http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com/2011/12/content-as-curriculum.html">This debate</a> between content and learning seems, to me, to be a little superfluous. Does anyone really think one can happen without the other?</div><div><br /></div><div>The content of our education systems have come about via the learning of others before us. And even the highest of higher order thinking requires the collection, ordering and synthesis of basic empirical facts.</div><div><br /></div><div>Having said that, the reality is the human brain as a repository of facts is losing its value. The ability to remember and recall facts is not as valuable in our society any more. It is far cheaper, in both money and time, to Google it than it is to sit through a lecture.</div><div><br /></div><div>An analogy ..... If two people want to have an argument about appeasement prior to the second world war, while they are sitting at a bar, then a ready made store of facts in the brain will be of great use. Now give those two people smartphones and internet connection, suddenly they are able to use facts beyond their own memory to argue their respective positions. Their repertoire of facts has exploded but has their ability to synthesise the knowledge improved? Probably not. What would improve the intellectual outcome of the debate? Further lessons on the facts of appeasement? Probably the least likely. Lessons on how best to find facts on the internet? Lessons on higher order thinking? Rhetoric?</div><div><br /></div><div>From the analogy above I hope it shows that the value of the facts themselves is not as great as the value of collection, ordering and synthesis of those said facts. And I also hope it shows that it is not a question of the necessity of facts, its a question of where they need to be - in the head or in the clouds.</div>Allan Quartlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00934540738316834489noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10613291.post-62886342417976325662011-11-19T02:42:00.000-08:002011-11-19T05:38:12.615-08:00How do you know when you've learnt something? - #change11<div>A question has been rattling around inside my head lately, and given that I am a teacher and a person who has always loved learning, it's a little embarrassing to think I haven't thought about it before: </div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i>How do you know when you've learnt something?</i></b></div><div><br /></div><div>I asked a secondary student this question and he said, "I dunno. When I remember something." Hmmm, can't really argue with that. I remember that Descartes said, "I think, therefore I am." But there's more to it than this, isn't there? I can remember 2 + 2 = 4 but does that mean I know 2 + 2 = 4? Does the idea of grabbing two of these objects and these other two objects, and putting them together to make four objects make sense to me? Can I use that knowledge regardless of the objects used? Can the objects I use be as abstract as squiggles on a piece of paper?</div><div><br /></div><div>So I thought, "yes, there is more to learning than just remembering something," gave it a bit more thought and came up with the following:</div><div><br /></div><div><ul><li> When we see/hear/etc something that we haven't seen before, then we have learnt that this thing exists. </li><li>When we see multiple actions or things simultaneously then we have learnt of a relationship. </li><li>When we are able to perform an action then we have learnt a skill.</li></ul><div>But how does one hang on to something that was learnt? Memory? Repeated practice? If its not in your memory have you learnt it? If I see something I haven't seen before and say to myself, "Wow, I haven't seen that before." but never think of it again, have I learnt something? How long does the learning have to be present in memory for it to be considered learnt?</div><div><br /></div><div>After a little bit of research I came across the following <a href="http://www.infed.org/biblio/b-learn.htm">article by Mark K. Smith</a> where quotes a 1979 piece of research by Saljo, who saw:</div></div><div><ol style="font-family: Georgia, 'Book Antiqua', serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><li style="line-height: 1.5; ">Learning as a quantitative increase in knowledge. Learning is acquiring information or ‘knowing a lot’.</li><li style="line-height: 1.5; ">Learning as memorising. Learning is storing information that can be reproduced.</li><li style="line-height: 1.5; ">Learning as acquiring facts, skills, and methods that can be retained and used as necessary.</li><li style="line-height: 1.5; ">Learning as making sense or abstracting meaning. Learning involves relating parts of the subject matter to each other and to the real world.</li><li style="line-height: 1.5; ">Learning as interpreting and understanding reality in a different way. Learning involves comprehending the world by reinterpreting knowledge. (quoted in Ramsden 1992: 26)</li></ol><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">The first three of the above seemed to fit in with my ideas of learning above - acquiring and storing facts and skills, and then being able to use those facts and skills as needed. The last two seem to be that elusive quality of learning that leads to that magical moment where you go, "Ah-ha!" Its that magical moment t</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Book Antiqua', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; ">eachers talk of when a student's eyes light up when they <i>get</i> something. Its that moment that we experience as learners, that sends a thrill through your being.</span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Book Antiqua', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; "><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Book Antiqua', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; ">So, have I answered my original question? In some way I have. It seems to be that we have learnt something when how we see the world has changed, be it our knowledge of it or how we think it all fits together. But in other ways I haven't, there are more questions raised above that seem to require more thought, particularly in regards to assessing learning.</span></div></div>Allan Quartlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00934540738316834489noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10613291.post-46156006204300460532011-10-03T01:06:00.000-07:002011-10-15T23:39:42.803-07:00Are we preparing them for what's coming? Do we know what's coming?<div>Its not about the Interactive Whiteboard in the classroom, although it is part of it. Its not about smart phones, tablets or the internet, although they, too, are part of it. Its about the technologically rich environment that is building up around us and whether or not we learn and teach this environment or we continue to teach the environment that is disappearing. </div><div><br /></div><div>And as Ben Jones says, <a href="http://benpaddlejones.edublogs.org/2011/10/04/enough-with-the-false-prophets-of-change/">classrooms are not broken</a>, they are just not reflective of the outside world. The video below, although an advertisement, can give an idea of the environment that is building around us:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><iframe width="480" height="270" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6Cf7IL_eZ38?fs=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br /><!-- ***** --><br /><br /><div>Are we (parents, teachers, community members alike) properly preparing our children for this new environment? How much of this new environment already exists?</div><div><br /></div><div>Non-agricultural communities knew the workings of their environment intimately and taught their children accordingly (See Levi-Strauss, 1962). Farmers gave their children chores so they learnt how to look after animals. Parents used to give their babies plastic hammers to play with and the toy only made the squeaking noise when the right hammer action was used. This was how we taught industrial children about the environment they were growing up in. How are we teaching our children the new environment?</div><div><br /></div><div><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.onlineschools.com/in-focus/educational-technology?WT.qs_osrc=gensynd-edtech"><img src="http://www.onlineschools.com/imagesvr_ce/6909/ed-tech.gif" alt="History of ed tech" width="605" height="1580" border="0" /></a></div><div>Courtesy of: <a href="http://www.onlineschools.com/?WT.qs_osrc=gensynd-edtech">OnlineSchools.com</a><br /><!-- ********* --><br />All this, of course, is about the physical environment that is changing. There is the social environment that needs to be looked at as well but I don't know where to begin on that side. Mostly because I don't fully understand it yet.<br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>Allan Quartlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00934540738316834489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10613291.post-227403535386597392011-09-20T18:18:00.000-07:002011-09-24T18:00:48.289-07:00Why schools seem unwilling to adopt new technologies (#change11)<div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><p>Oftentimes people point to research conducted in a university context to ask why teachers aren't implementing social media services into their teaching practice. The simple answer is schools are different to universities, our clientele is different. The clientele of a university is it's students - the clientele of a school is society in general and parents in particular. Before we try and convince teachers to grasp change in education, it is always necessary to convince parents that it is safe to do so.</p><div>I wonder what parents' first reaction would be if they knew that their <a href="http://plpnetwork.com/2011/04/13/we-must-help-students-connect-and-collect">child had 2000 people reading their child's blog</a>. From my experience as a teacher there could well be a reaction of fear. The idea that 2000 strangers were watching their child would frighten some parents, especially parents who are unaware of blogs and their uses. I think this is part of the reason why we are slow to adopt new technologies in schools. <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/verbal-sewer-facebook-harming-children-principal-20110922-1kmd3.html">Here </a> is one principal's recent reaction to Facebook. The comments about the article speaks loudest of all about why social media is not being used in schools.</div><div><br />Ten years ago I was teaching students how to use email using Hotmail. Within a very short time Hotmail and other web based email was blocked by the school system I work in, and it took a number of years before an email service was provided to each student. Why was email blocked and then released under strict control? Because of the fear of students sending inappropriate messages to each other. YouTube is blocked. Why? Same reason, only its video not messages.</div><p>No doubt, in a few years time all manner of social media services will be available to students under strict, filtered conditions. In the meantime teachers will be unable to fully implement Personal Learning Networks for their students.</p><p><br /></p></span></i></div>Allan Quartlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00934540738316834489noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10613291.post-6590462018588615722011-09-15T17:48:00.000-07:002011-09-17T07:10:18.462-07:00Connectivism or not? Its not either/or.There seems to be a false divide between a fully open, connected teaching style and the more traditional content focussed teaching style. <a href="http://mrbrenlea.wordpress.com/2011/09/11/connectivism/">Mrbrenlea</a> expressed this divide with his concern with giving students freedom to build connections:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">"But, do I believe it should be up to each individual to follow only what interests them: hardly. Reflecting on my own interests as a child, if I had only followed the nodes that allowed me further to develop my knowledge of areas of interest, then I would have wound up learning nothing except how to put on a show, “Who Shot Mr. Burns?,” and perhaps the 100 reasons why cats are better then dogs."</div><br /><br /><br /><br />In the above statement, Mrbrenlea has taken a general principle and applied it to a specific group - children. But would he apply the same principle say, to a 35 year old grad student? Probably not. Each person has different learning needs at different stages of thier lives.<br /><br /><br />I don't think teaching is a profession that can use conclusions from ideas across the whole profession. Mostly because, as a profession, we deal with all ages. And teaching is a bit like parenting - at first the baby is given very little freedom but they are allowed to experiment with the environment under very controlled circumstances. Over time the child is given more freedom to explore, until finally adulthood arrives and the child is making decisions for him or her self. But parenting is more than controlling the immediate environment (content) of the child, it is also about preparing them for what lays ahead (connectivism). We teach them skills like resilience, even though we would never let them come to fatal harm. We teach them about sex, but we would never want them to act on that knowledge immediately.<br /><br /><br />But we also teach them how to talk, read, jump, run, swim, all sorts of things that they may not be interested in. And they learn it. Not necessarily because they want to but because small children will learn what they are taught. But as they get older we use more sophisticated methods to teach them what they don't want to know and we also stop trying to control everything they learn.<br /><br /><br />So to with Connectivism. We can teach children how it is done within a controlled environment when young and slowly loosen the contol as they get older.<span class="Apple-style-span"> Where are the key points along the way for increasing Connectivism?</span> This is where the debate should be happening. Not on whether one or the other method should be used.<br /><br />#change11Allan Quartlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00934540738316834489noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10613291.post-26133514218496259202011-09-13T16:35:00.001-07:002011-09-13T17:32:20.092-07:00MOOCing!! (Said in your best Jim Carey voice)This week I started the <a href="http://change.mooc.ca/index.html"><em>Change: Education, Learning and Technology</em> </a>MOOC. For those unfamiliar with the acronym, a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW3gMGqcZQc">MOOC</a> is a Massive Open Online Course.<br /><br />Feeling excited about it at this stage but already starting to feel a little apprehensive about it all as well because there is already so much to take in - particularly how I'm going to go about creating and using a cohesive set of tools to collate and organise the information(learning).<br /><br />Last night I went off, as I usually do, following links as I pleased and ended up where I usually do, in a headspace that was struggling to make sense of what I'd seen and read. So now I am going to try and document my cyber travels.<br /><br />At this stage of the course we are in Orientation, which means we are finding our way around the <em>idea </em>of a MOOC. As a first step I bookmarked an article using <a href="http://diigo.com/">Diigo</a>. I am not the most reliable bookmarker, I never have been, so it will be interesting to see how long I keep that up!<br /><br />The article, <a href="http://gsiemens.tumblr.com/post/10153633521/how-to-participate-in-an-open-online-course">How to participate in an open online course</a>, did just that, with an outline of what not to expect and some tips for getting started. Here are a couple of responses:<br /><br /><strong>Step 1. <em>Somewhat define your goals. </em>What is success for you?</strong> - In this course I will be happy if have put together a modest portfolio of resources and contacts that are organised in a way that is easily retrievable.<br /><br /><strong>Step 2. Declare/define yourself. <em>Where can people find you? Twitter? Your blog? Give enough information so people can connect with you. An image never hurts.</em></strong> - Obviously, I will use this blog. But I will also use Twitter and probably Google+.<br /><br /><br /><br />#change11Allan Quartlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00934540738316834489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10613291.post-13958372067302929572011-08-14T06:30:00.000-07:002011-08-14T06:32:34.380-07:00Modelling learning: Do as you say.<div>While teaching a "hard to teach" Year 7 class recently I was struck by an event that started me wondering about the learning that we teachers model. </div><div>
<br /></div><div>I had an assistant in the class with me who was working with a particularly troublesome group of students and she was doing a spectactular job keeping them on task. She wasn't supplying the students with answers to copy, she was leading them towards finding their own answers. An excellent assistant.</div><div>
<br /></div><div>And then she came and asked for the answer to a question. I thought nothing of it at first, as I gave her the answer. She went back to her underlings, where she continued asking questions and encouraged them. It was the change in the students that I noticed. They were no longer as enthusiastic about the task as they had been and one of the students began wandering around the classroom disturbing others. What had gone wrong? What was it that changed the dynamics of the group the assistant was working with? </div><div>
<br /></div><div>Then it occurred to me - she had modelled a learning behaviour that we teachers actively discourage in our students. Instead of trying to work out the answer with the group, when she didn't know the answer, the assistant went and asked the teacher. Then she returned to the group, and kept the secret to herself.</div><div>
<br /></div><div>Now the added layer to this story is the fact that I was teaching outside of my subject area and the only reason I knew the answer was because I had asked a knowledgeable teacher earlier.</div><div>
<br /></div><div>How often do we do this as teachers? We go into the classroom as experts, ready to distribute our knowledge to others like Moses descending from the Mount? Almost challenging our students to catch us out. "Come on, ask me a question I can't answer." When they do catch us out, we hurry back to the staffroom and ask our colleagues or research the answer; all of it away from students' prying eyes.</div><div>
<br /></div><div>What about Professional Development? A lot of this is focussed on technology at the moment. Why are we learning this away from students, after school or during Pupil Free Days? Why don't we invite the knowledgeable person into our classroom and learn the technology alongside our students? We all know the technology gurus in our schools, why don't we attend their classes along with the students? This way we do three things: 1) learn, 2) model learning, and 3) publicly state that we value the teacher.</div><div>
<br /></div><div>This shouldn't be restricted to technology either. Why not attend a woodwork class and learn to make a cabinet? Imagine what you could learn as a Maths teacher in a woodwork room? Better still, imagine what you could contribute to the learning group as a Maths teacher in a woodwork class? What about a Geography teacher in a Science class? An Art teacher in an English class? An English teacher in a Year 4 class? The opportunities are limitless.</div>Allan Quartlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00934540738316834489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10613291.post-36379147062883663332011-07-23T05:25:00.000-07:002011-07-27T19:01:57.509-07:00Withitness and the packaging of knowledgeTechnology is blasting holes through the closed wall environment of the classroom and learning is gushing in from the outside. Teachers, forever the gatekeepers of knowledge, are under seige from a battallion of mobile devices.<br /><br /><br />Everywhere a teacher looks there are phones, cameras, tablets, personal listening devices and the like. What the students are saying, hearing or seeing on those devices is anyone's guess, and its frightening for a teacher to think that a student could be looking at or saying something inappropriate while under their tutelage. Worse still, they could be learning something other than what the teacher is, at that moment, teaching. The ability to control the learning process is slipping from the teacher's grasp and we're either petrified or oblivious.<br /><br /><br />But we needn't be. There is a way through this and its all to do with <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=withitness">withitness</a> and an understanding that the packaging of knowledge has changed.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><b>Withitness</b><br /><br /><br />Since the beginning of mass education teachers have needed to be alert to signs in the classroom that students were not doing as they should. An experienced teacher knows when a student is off-task. Remember the old movie scene where the teacher rips the book out of the student's hands to reveal the comic he was reading? Or the teacher seeing the note being passed around but waits till recess to ask for the note? Even if the student eats the note, consequences were applied - detention. All we need to do is learn the new signs and use our presence, as we have always done, to get the student back on task.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><b>The changing packaging of knowledge</b><br /><br /><br />The packaging of knowledge has been changing since the invention of art. It can be supposed that in the beginning, all knowledge was passed on orally, from elder to the younger. Art then gave the artist the ability to pass on knowledge through paintings, without having to be there. Then came symbols, writing, the printing press, audio and visual recording, electronic broadcasting and finally the Internet. At each step of the way the method of accessing the knowledge has needed a teacher to either unpack the knowledge or to develop the unpacking skills in the student.<br /><br /><br />In the past, teachers upacked the knowledge by, first of all, stuffing all the knowledge into their own brains and then handing it out in small, bite sized pieces. But now those bite sized peices are just a finger flick away. Students don't even have to know how to read to receive this knowledge; video and audio recordings are released in their thousands (or millions) every day about a myriad of topics.<br /><br /><br />There is no need for the teacher to store the information like before, the content is out there and its flowing in and out of the classrooms at an increasing rate. But the content still needs unpacking. In fact, it probably needs more unpacking than ever before. This is the new skill that we teachers need to teach students - how to access and make sense of the knowledge out there and how to manipulate it in a way that brings benefit to the student.Allan Quartlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00934540738316834489noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10613291.post-26022705439855251372011-07-21T01:47:00.001-07:002011-07-21T02:01:17.114-07:00Intercasting - where social networking is really impacting on the classroom<div>In order to properly embrace the social networking paradigm teachers need to be able to distinguish between the broadcasting and intercasting tasks they perform every day, and understand the impact that technology is having on these tasks.</div><div><br /></div><div>The idea of any technology is to enhance the task already being performed. The washing machine made it possible to wash clothing without having to exert as much physical energy and was soon made to do the task itself better than a human could do with some soap and a scrubbing board. The computer was able to collate and manipulate the data from a census quicker and more accurately than a room full of analysts. Its computational power was soon able to be used to enhance a multitude of tasks. This computational power is now being used to enhance communication abilities.</div><div><br /></div><div>But which communication abilities?</div><div><br /></div><div>There are two general types of communication in the classroom - broadcasting and intercasting. Broadcasting is the model used by teachers to insert the knowledge of the ages into the minds of students. Teachers have used a myriad of technologies over recent decades to enhance this process - radio, television, VCR and YouTube. This is also where the Interactive Whiteboard is used. Intercasting in the classroom has been the teacher talking one-on-one with the student or the teacher implementing some form of group work. The technology of intercasting is social networking and the tablet.</div><div><br /></div><div>The issue for teachers at this stage is one of control. Up until now teachers have been able to control the flow of communication to the student in their classroom. Teachers controlled the broadcast, by ensuring the attention of a captive audience towards a specific flow of information from the voice, chalkboard, radio, television, whiteboard or YouTube via the interactive whiteboard. Teachers controlled the intercast by limiting the off topic talking between students and by deciding on the structure of group tasks. Social networking and the tablet takes the communication of the classroom beyond the walls of the classroom. A network of knowledge holders is just a fingertip swipe away from a deeply connected student in the classroom; and the action is barely visible in a classroom where phones aren't allowed, let alone in a classroom where the tablet forms part of the desk. </div><div><br /></div><div>And that's the crux of the matter, the teacher is no longer the only knowledge holder in the classroom. There is a plethora of knowledge holders out there available to the student <i>in the classroom</i>. We have known for a while that students are able to discover their own learning while interacting with other students in the classroom but we were able to direct that learning through control of the broadcast and our physical presence. Now we have to learn how to direct the learning without being able to control who is delivering the knowledge or how it is being delivered. </div><div><br /></div><div>A difficult task indeed.</div>Allan Quartlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00934540738316834489noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10613291.post-54592211635159605372011-07-16T00:17:00.000-07:002011-07-16T05:59:56.099-07:00The hard (some say impossible) to reach kid<div>We all know the kids I'm talking about - wander in and out when they feel like it, if they turn up at all; worst of all, you dread when they do turn up because the class runs well when they aren't there. When you wander around the school in your spare time (spare time??) they are usually outside the classroom, often not their own classroom either, but outside some other classroom making silly faces through the window. They throw things around the classroom, yell out insults, swear profusely and often get into real and pretend fights. They've been on every level in the discipline system and suspended twice already, and its only term one.</div><div><br /></div><div>Where do you start with these kids?</div><div><br /></div><div>1. Before you can get them inside <i>your</i> boundaries, you have to find out where they have <i>their</i> boundaries.</div><div><br /></div><div>As every parent will tell you, its about boundaries. Children not only need boundaries, they constantly live within boundaries. If the boundaries outside of school (or in other classrooms, for that matter) are different to the boundaries you expect, then you have an immediate problem. Its no use expecting a kid to obey your classroom boundaries if the kid already lives outside them. It can be a bit like putting up a fence for your sheep when they're over the next hill enjoying their lunch. They're not going to put themselves inside your sparkly new fence, you're going to have to go and get them.</div><div><br /></div><div>So you have to find out what they see as their limit. And the only way to do this is to observe and interact with the kid. If a kid swears at you it doesn't necessarily mean that they are behaving outside the boundaries set by others in their life. When this happens, just ask the kid, "Would you speak like that to your mother?" If the kid answers yes then you know that swearing is accepted in their home. If the kids says, "My mother swears worse than me," then you know swearing is <i>definitely</i> allowed in their home. Whether or not you agree with the way a child is reared has no impact on the reality of that child's life. It is not the teacher's role to rear the child, it is their job to get them in the classroom behaving in a manner which is conducive to learning.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>You are now over the hill where the sheep are grazing.</i></div><div><br /></div><div>2. Tell them what you expect, give them respect, teach them how to learn</div><div><br /></div><div>Finding their boundaries doesn't mean you don't have your classroom rules in place while you're finding these boundaries, you should always maintain a strong set behaviour expectations for all your students. Just don't expect every child to come to your classroom with the same set of rules in their heads. You will need to explain your expectations to them, as well as the consequences should they step outside them. Try not to compare your expectations with how they behave outside your classroom. A simple, "In my classroom I expect you to talk without swearing," is enough to set the boundary.</div><div><br /></div><div>But its more than telling them, its also teaching them. Just like with the Assessment for Learning cycle, you've assessed what they know and can do (their boundaries), you know what knowledge and skills they need (your boundaries and how to function in the classroom), now you need to set activities for them that takes them from current knowledge and skills to new knowledge and skills. </div><div><br /></div><div>Most of this teaching can be informal, mostly out in the playground, during sport or other places away from the classroom. You can cajole them, argue with them, even let them get away with behaviour you wouldn't allow in your classroom. At other times it can be whole class lessons on behaviour, so long as it is about how everyone should behave, not about that student's behaviour in particular. Some of the time it will be one on one outside the classroom, inside the classroom during detention, at the student's desk or at your desk.</div><div><br /></div><div>Along the way they will keep testing your boundaries, much like sheep try to avoid being rounded up. But stay persistent, pull up their misbehaviour consistently and follow-up with consequences. Whenever they do as they're asked say thank you.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>You're rounding the sheep up, they're heading in the right direction.</i></div><div><br /></div><div>3. Expect them to do well, teach them to overcome hurdles</div><div><br /></div><div>Along the way, as you try to corral the kid through the gate, there are going to be some problems. Other kids are going to stir them up, push them out the way, brag about how better they are at doing things in the classroom. Most kids who don't want to be in your classroom have very good reasons. Usually its the feeling of failure they have built up over the years. They have gotten to the stage where it is easier to face punishment than it is to try and fit in. This means that any difficulties can seem like insurmountable hurdles to them. They will undoubtably revert to past behaviour when the going gets tough. </div><div><br /></div><div>Congratulate every achievement, no matter how small. Sometimes just a smile is enough. Encourage resilience. Teach them that to learn they must try. Remind them of the time they did try and succeeded, even if it is not class related. For instance, ask if they remember when they couldn't kick a ball properly, then remind them that after lots of practise they got there, and now they can kick a ball really well.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>You've got the sheep in the pen but they're restless and keep escaping. You have to keep going out and getting them.</i></div><div><br /></div><div>You will know that you have reached the kid when they stay behind after the bell and tell you about something they realised in your class that was beyond what you taught. When you reach these kids they usually can't wait to tell you what they've learnt and show you how smart they are. There is no greater feeling.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>You've got the sheep feeding out of your hand.</i></div>Allan Quartlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00934540738316834489noreply@blogger.com0