wikis and currikis - online community used to develop and share open source knowledge and curriculum
Wikispaces -- http://www.wikispaces.com
PB Wiki -- http://www.pbwiki.com/education.wiki
Curriki -- http://www.curriki.or
blogs - web journals for teachers and students
Education Blogs -- http://oedb.org/library/features/top-100-education-blog
Blogmeister -- http://classblogmeister.com/
Google's Blogger (blogspot) -- http://www.blogger.com/
ipod extras - using portable players for quizzes, notes, references, news feeds
ipod in education -- http://www.ipodined.org
iPrep Press -- http://www.ipreppress.com
podcasting - audio (and visual) storytelling for learning, review, expression
Zencast -- http://www.zencast.com
Variety of podcasts -- http://www.podcast.net
Variety of podcasts -- http://www.apple.com/itunes/store/podcasts.html
tags and social bookmarking - labels on web entries and web-published bookmarks for easy access and sharing
Delicious -- http://www.del.icio.us
Digg -- http://www.digg.com
Technorati -- http://www.technorati.com
online communities (com/unities) and forums - many kinds, some to join, others to watch, others to mine for curriculum and inspiration -- add community to your google search
Technology, Entertainment, Design -- http://www.ted.com
Amateur musicians sharing work -- http://www.macidol.com
Historical Recreation --
http://www.ancientworlds.net
Teacher's forum --
http://www.educationforum.ipbhost.com
Matching goals with others -- http://www.43things.com/
online conferencing and collaboration - shared documents, video/online classroom tools, communities focussed on contribution (other than wikis)
Virtual Conferencing --
http://www.elluminate.com
Collaborative Editing -- http://docs.google.com
Amateur writing community -- http://www.fanfiction.net
youtube on education
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnh9q_cQcUE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4CV05HyAbM
DOCUMENTS
Session Handout
Great Primer on Web 2.0
TechLearning New Literacy
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
Swaraj
I've been reading The Essential Gandhi (edited by Louis Fischer), and have emerged with both guilt and hope. Guilt because I recognize the truth about my complicity with consumer culture, but hope because of the strength a non-violent, self-sufficient, and power-resistant mindset affords.
I've been trying to think about how the concept of Swaraj (independence, beginning with self) applies to some of the power-structures I interact with: family/social, classroom/school/district, community/society. Also the identities of self, space, and landscapes (natural, human, and imagined). For example. what my classroom look like if I refused to exercise coercion in any form? What would our school's interaction with the district be like if we engaged in passive resistance to the policies and language which are ill-conceived for our context and collective goals? I often think that there are many fights which deserve my involvement, mostly educational crusades of one kind or another, but I'll admit that my motive is often not peace , love, and understanding so much as exposing bizarre thinking and thoughtless action in others with the hope that they'll leave me/us/them alone. Hmm... I'll read some more Gandhi before I pick this up again... the sleeping anarchist in me needs more time.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Saturday, October 20, 2007
panic and mirth
So... our server crashed at school on Thursday and the staff and students went without internet, email, home folders, everything on the computers, in fact (couldn't even log in as this requires a server connection). Thus, midst the frustration and despair, there was lots of storytelling, chalk & talk, bookwork, conversation, and face-to-face interaction. Let's not have too much of that or the system will collapse!
An outcome... I've put a backup website on my home computer which will only work if the computer is on at home!
An outcome... I've put a backup website on my home computer which will only work if the computer is on at home!
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Finn
Finn, our son,
born 4:55 am, Tuesday, April 17th
weighed 8 lbs 7 oz (3.83 kg)
length 20.7" (52.5 cm)
head circumference 13.8" (35 cm)
Of our daughter Luthien I said she came from one place of wonder to another, slowly, with great pain, and many scientific interventions. With Finn, the story is quicker and more connected with the elements. Following building contractions for days, Kate entered active labour at about 1:00 a.m. on the 17th. After a check-in at the hospital at 3:30 a.m., a rushed ride home brought Kate (with the midwife and the doula) in at 4:30 a.m. to make noise and bear down, waiting for the big black watering trough to fill. Someone cranked the heat and I dimmed the lights (pleasant to some, but I found it rather spectral). At about 4:50 Kate slid into the tub and pushed a few times as the baby and her body led themselves to "outness" and Finn came rushing out. The midwife Ruth (not my mom) caught him in the water and placed him on Kate's breast, where, after some gurgles and squawks, he fed and we all started to breathe deeper.
Finn's eyes dark blue-grey, some dark hair, red skin and white wrinkled hands and feet. Digits long and ears close to his round head. Cry is soft, but his neck is strong. He has slept well, some 4+ hour stretches, and is latching with relish. Peeling now less red, no white, skin and hair becoming fair.
The name Finn comes from Gaelic or Old German meaning fair. In Scandinavian languages, it would refer to Laplander. The story of Finn and Hengest (a version of which has been written by Tolkien) in Beowulf and the FIght at Finnsburg has Finn as a Frisian king. Now there is also Twain's Huck Finn and the Irish hero Finn and the giant Finn who built the cathedral in Lund.
Fin is also a root word in Tolkien's mythology meaning skill in Quenyan. It is found in Finwë, his sons Curufinwë, Fingolfin, and Finarfin, and many others. They were a powerful family of Noldorin elves, and none were more skilled and beautiful than Finwe's eldest son who was named Fëanor by his mother (Sindarin for spirit of fire). Fëanor wrote alphabets, crafted three powerful gems called Silmarils, led a rebellion against the gods, and was exiled with many of the Noldor to Middle Earth, thus setting up much of the history that Tolkien described in his books.
Some of these strands have resonated with us, and may make more sense as our children grow. Perhaps our Luthien has more of the charactersitcs of a Fëanor, and maybe Finn will have more of the grace and calm of a Luthien Tinuviel than his Noldor namesake. The name Finn appeals to us for many of the same reasons that Lu does, something easy shout as you watch your child run towards the edge of ravine or what not, but their longer names speak of our hopes for our children in some ways, which are probably our dreams for ourselves. Like many of Tolkien's characters, there is much grief to balance joy, but hope also comes from strange places. For our fiery and talkative daughter, we bless her with peace and patience, and for our (so far) gentle son, we bless him with bold words and deeds.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Help me pick our baby's name
MALE (pretty sure it's a boy): Alec, Aragorn, Avi, Bëor, Fëanor, Fin/Finn, Hemlock, Lewis, Lief/Liev, Mac, Max, Oromë, Ossë, Owen, Pierre, Rowan, Thor, Viggo
FEMALE (just in case): Arwen, Claire, Freya, Galadriel, Hilary, Lauren, Olivia, Rose, Yavanna, Zoë
be kind!
FEMALE (just in case): Arwen, Claire, Freya, Galadriel, Hilary, Lauren, Olivia, Rose, Yavanna, Zoë
be kind!
Friday, March 16, 2007
Monday, March 12, 2007
response to technology issue
A response to a developing technology issue in my district... the plan to make elementary schools go to a single platform ("minutes" related to this decision are in the previous post). I publish my thoughts here as a personal record and in case it serves to inform others.
Who am I and where am I coming from on this issue?
I’ve taught in SD57 for 11 years and have been an active user and teacher of technology and advocate for choice & experimentation. I have sat on and chaired school tech committees, acted as a teacher rep on the District Tech Team (DTT), served as a tech trainer for 4 years, serve as a Key Tech Contact (KTC) and hold the “POSR” position at my school (D.P. Todd) which provides technology leadership and facilitates school planning. The 40+ workshops I have conducted in the last 7 years on technology for transformative learning have included topics like blogs & podcasts, audio and video editing, web design, and the connection between student identity and the new digital world. This was also a key focus during my last university degree, and has guided the use of technology by students in my classes. My school (D.P. Todd) and district 57 (central administration and the DTT in particular) have been very supportive of my work, in terms of professional development, grant money, release time, hardware & software, and opportunities to lead, share, and learn.
I understand the rationale behind the funding and evergreening plans, but the single-platform issue warrants my feedback. It has already been the subject of 62 posts to the teacher’s union folder, and 22 posts to the district-wide Technology folder. Within the context of mass-delivered tech services, some decisions based on efficiency are necessary, but I believe the nature and costs of efficiency are often overlooked. I also understand that there must be a compromise between maximum efficiency and maximum choice; also a compromise between the ability of techies to administer a system and the ability of teachers to direct their own use of educational technology.
Nonetheless, I have concerns about the district’s past commitments and the current lack of inclusion on an educational decision.
A long-term commitment to being a dual-platform district was publicly made by senior admin this year and last at Key Technology Committee meetings and the previous year at an open Tech Conversation meeting. This commitment is also described in our published District Technology Standards and has been one of the diversity themes which has distinguished our district and helped make it a technology leader in the province. This commitment was also reiterated when the Debian server was introduced in the district. The DTT was told that the choice of servers was not a judgement on platforms and was specifically chosen for its purported ability to work with both macs and pcs.
The decision appears to have been imposed without adequate consultation or respect for existing processes and users; only an incomplete and group of elementary principals were involved to some (unknown) extent. The teachers on the DTT, the KTC, and the tech committees at elementary schools were avoided for decision and/or input. This issue of consultation without actively considering other frameworks (i.e. one represented by teacher/user-input) is problematic and does not lend itself to “buy-in.” Teachers, not tech support or principals, are the ones most closely tied to daily implementation of classroom curriculum and adaptation of technology.
It is not too late to consult on this issue, consider impacts, allow flexibility or room for variance. Perhaps some of this is already in the works, but just needs to be communicated to affected educators? In addition to the commitment and lack of consultation mentioned above there are other reasons why this decision warrants a second look.
Was efficiency the criteria for making the decision? It may be simpler for system technologists to conceive of a single-platform management environment, but this will not guarantee that tech problems will go away or that their jobs will be easier. The migration to a new platform and software set will require a vast amount of time and help, and will not shorten the workloads. Teachers have developed curriculum based on software which is platform-specific and is not available on pc without considerable expense or support which is not currently provided. Finding, installing, licensing, debugging, training, supporting replacements for mac's iLife suite alone would overwhelm our tech support, unless there are no plans to match level of "service" provided by existing computers. A plan to lower level of service will result in teacher frustration and cynicism as a trade off for efficiency and centrally administered delivery.
Was this decision made for financial reasons? When some of our techies studied costs this last year, they found (and published) that similarly stacked & equipped macs and pcs cost about the same; this initiative won’t save much money, but it will create work for those who are already well-served by their platforms; to start with it would fall on teachers to find replacements for software currently used and convert their files and projects. Many teachers have purchased their own computers and peripherals to match what they use at school with the belief that the district had a long-term commitment to supporting dual platforms.
One only has to see the teaching & learning projects resulting from the numerous TLITE (SFU’s tech ed diploma program) alumni in our district to see an explosion of innovative work in the last four years. A significant portion of this innovation relates to media-rich, platform-specific software beyond the cross-platform “Office”-type programs and internet browsers. What is said about this work when the tools are taken away? Teachers have been very busy spending school time and free time developing curriculum based on software which is not available on pc without considerable expense or support which is not currently provided. Finding, installing, licensing, debugging, training, and supporting replacements for mac's iLife suite alone would overwhelm our tech support. A recent case involved a teacher at Heather Park looking for a pc alternative to Mac’s iMovie which is commonly used by teachers and students for video editing. Tech Support here was limited to suggesting names of other software; the work of getting an alternative will fall on the teacher. How much extra work will teachers need to do to in order to archive and reformat years of teaching material? What will the district offer in the way of re-training, assistance with file-migration, and purchase of new software to allow new pcs to measure up to the educational uses provided by macs in the past? WIll they allow schools to purchase intel-based macs which can handle both platforms? Limiting the kinds of work teachers and students can do with technology is not a progressive move, even though I’m sure it will be marketed as “moving forward.”
Standardization and reducing the variety of configurations available to students might make tech planning easier and tech support conceptually simpler, but it does not necessarily help us teach and learn. In my school, we have a variety of tech needs: teachers with media-rich tech demands, teachers with basic computing needs, physically and mentally disabled students, film students with huge storage requirements, mini-labs with recycled computers and scaled-down configurations, "locked down" labs, wide-open workstations, office staff and admin with particular needs, and so on. Our “techie” works skilfully to accommodate these different platforms, software-sets, configurations, and generations of computers. He shares the vision of the transformative use of technology and knows how unwanted and unstudied standardization will kill programs and projects in our school.
Who am I and where am I coming from on this issue?
I’ve taught in SD57 for 11 years and have been an active user and teacher of technology and advocate for choice & experimentation. I have sat on and chaired school tech committees, acted as a teacher rep on the District Tech Team (DTT), served as a tech trainer for 4 years, serve as a Key Tech Contact (KTC) and hold the “POSR” position at my school (D.P. Todd) which provides technology leadership and facilitates school planning. The 40+ workshops I have conducted in the last 7 years on technology for transformative learning have included topics like blogs & podcasts, audio and video editing, web design, and the connection between student identity and the new digital world. This was also a key focus during my last university degree, and has guided the use of technology by students in my classes. My school (D.P. Todd) and district 57 (central administration and the DTT in particular) have been very supportive of my work, in terms of professional development, grant money, release time, hardware & software, and opportunities to lead, share, and learn.
I understand the rationale behind the funding and evergreening plans, but the single-platform issue warrants my feedback. It has already been the subject of 62 posts to the teacher’s union folder, and 22 posts to the district-wide Technology folder. Within the context of mass-delivered tech services, some decisions based on efficiency are necessary, but I believe the nature and costs of efficiency are often overlooked. I also understand that there must be a compromise between maximum efficiency and maximum choice; also a compromise between the ability of techies to administer a system and the ability of teachers to direct their own use of educational technology.
Nonetheless, I have concerns about the district’s past commitments and the current lack of inclusion on an educational decision.
A long-term commitment to being a dual-platform district was publicly made by senior admin this year and last at Key Technology Committee meetings and the previous year at an open Tech Conversation meeting. This commitment is also described in our published District Technology Standards and has been one of the diversity themes which has distinguished our district and helped make it a technology leader in the province. This commitment was also reiterated when the Debian server was introduced in the district. The DTT was told that the choice of servers was not a judgement on platforms and was specifically chosen for its purported ability to work with both macs and pcs.
The decision appears to have been imposed without adequate consultation or respect for existing processes and users; only an incomplete and group of elementary principals were involved to some (unknown) extent. The teachers on the DTT, the KTC, and the tech committees at elementary schools were avoided for decision and/or input. This issue of consultation without actively considering other frameworks (i.e. one represented by teacher/user-input) is problematic and does not lend itself to “buy-in.” Teachers, not tech support or principals, are the ones most closely tied to daily implementation of classroom curriculum and adaptation of technology.
It is not too late to consult on this issue, consider impacts, allow flexibility or room for variance. Perhaps some of this is already in the works, but just needs to be communicated to affected educators? In addition to the commitment and lack of consultation mentioned above there are other reasons why this decision warrants a second look.
Was efficiency the criteria for making the decision? It may be simpler for system technologists to conceive of a single-platform management environment, but this will not guarantee that tech problems will go away or that their jobs will be easier. The migration to a new platform and software set will require a vast amount of time and help, and will not shorten the workloads. Teachers have developed curriculum based on software which is platform-specific and is not available on pc without considerable expense or support which is not currently provided. Finding, installing, licensing, debugging, training, supporting replacements for mac's iLife suite alone would overwhelm our tech support, unless there are no plans to match level of "service" provided by existing computers. A plan to lower level of service will result in teacher frustration and cynicism as a trade off for efficiency and centrally administered delivery.
Was this decision made for financial reasons? When some of our techies studied costs this last year, they found (and published) that similarly stacked & equipped macs and pcs cost about the same; this initiative won’t save much money, but it will create work for those who are already well-served by their platforms; to start with it would fall on teachers to find replacements for software currently used and convert their files and projects. Many teachers have purchased their own computers and peripherals to match what they use at school with the belief that the district had a long-term commitment to supporting dual platforms.
One only has to see the teaching & learning projects resulting from the numerous TLITE (SFU’s tech ed diploma program) alumni in our district to see an explosion of innovative work in the last four years. A significant portion of this innovation relates to media-rich, platform-specific software beyond the cross-platform “Office”-type programs and internet browsers. What is said about this work when the tools are taken away? Teachers have been very busy spending school time and free time developing curriculum based on software which is not available on pc without considerable expense or support which is not currently provided. Finding, installing, licensing, debugging, training, and supporting replacements for mac's iLife suite alone would overwhelm our tech support. A recent case involved a teacher at Heather Park looking for a pc alternative to Mac’s iMovie which is commonly used by teachers and students for video editing. Tech Support here was limited to suggesting names of other software; the work of getting an alternative will fall on the teacher. How much extra work will teachers need to do to in order to archive and reformat years of teaching material? What will the district offer in the way of re-training, assistance with file-migration, and purchase of new software to allow new pcs to measure up to the educational uses provided by macs in the past? WIll they allow schools to purchase intel-based macs which can handle both platforms? Limiting the kinds of work teachers and students can do with technology is not a progressive move, even though I’m sure it will be marketed as “moving forward.”
Standardization and reducing the variety of configurations available to students might make tech planning easier and tech support conceptually simpler, but it does not necessarily help us teach and learn. In my school, we have a variety of tech needs: teachers with media-rich tech demands, teachers with basic computing needs, physically and mentally disabled students, film students with huge storage requirements, mini-labs with recycled computers and scaled-down configurations, "locked down" labs, wide-open workstations, office staff and admin with particular needs, and so on. Our “techie” works skilfully to accommodate these different platforms, software-sets, configurations, and generations of computers. He shares the vision of the transformative use of technology and knows how unwanted and unstudied standardization will kill programs and projects in our school.
from the District Technology Team Minutes 07.02.27
[Here lies an issue which deserves a response...]
"Funding for technology at the elementary level
Given the challenges elementary schools face from year to year, a system is required to provide predictable and increased funding for technology. There are 2 objectives:
-Redistribute the funding among large and small schools to support differences of scale that these different sites.
-Raise the overall funding level in all schools.
Elementary school principals were consulted regarding a plan to give them “targeted” funding on an annual basis to green technology over the course of five years.
Feedback from schools was positive for the plan, many of whom suggested that if funds were to be targeted, it would be easier to have it handled centrally.
[HERE IS THE CONTROVERSIAL PART]
If systems are going to be deployed centrally, principals suggested the efficiency of using a single operating system platform. With this feedback, Tony went to Senior Administration and has been given a mandate to begin to develop a process for moving the systems to centrally administered single platform system across the elementary schools.
This process will begin in 2007/08 and will employ a five year greening cycle for all elementary schools."
"Funding for technology at the elementary level
Given the challenges elementary schools face from year to year, a system is required to provide predictable and increased funding for technology. There are 2 objectives:
-Redistribute the funding among large and small schools to support differences of scale that these different sites.
-Raise the overall funding level in all schools.
Elementary school principals were consulted regarding a plan to give them “targeted” funding on an annual basis to green technology over the course of five years.
Feedback from schools was positive for the plan, many of whom suggested that if funds were to be targeted, it would be easier to have it handled centrally.
[HERE IS THE CONTROVERSIAL PART]
If systems are going to be deployed centrally, principals suggested the efficiency of using a single operating system platform. With this feedback, Tony went to Senior Administration and has been given a mandate to begin to develop a process for moving the systems to centrally administered single platform system across the elementary schools.
This process will begin in 2007/08 and will employ a five year greening cycle for all elementary schools."
Monday, January 29, 2007
Frankenfoods... my kids will not be lab rats!
After watching "The Truth About Genetically Modified Food," I’m more convinced than ever that Canada needs mandatory labelling of GMOs. Here are some reasons why:
(Problems with GMOs)
-testing is limited, left to others, or done by gmo company funded reseach
-use of invasive bacterial/viral technlogy to mutate food
-concerns over toxiicity/ effect on immunity
-poses threat of new allergens and tampering with antibiotic
-cell-invasion process affects nutrition
-patenting of life and native plant species by gmo companies
-ecological/soil cutrient cycling impact of gmo plants
-use of gmo-associated pesticides and herbicides
-gene-patenting & threats to individual privacy and freedom
-malicious lawsuits by gmo ccompanies to protect patents
-conflict of interests - gmo execs become government officials (EPA/FDA)
-impact of monoculture on genetic/bio divesity
-lobbying/campaign contributions to ensure deregulation
-unfair/subsidized competition with traditional plant varieties
-demands for payment when gmo plants contaminate adjacent fields
-threat to food secuirty/genetic heritage through gmo hybridization
-consolidation of food supply/mulitnational character of gmo companies
-use of suicide genes to prevent re-use
-creation of green deserts of genetically locked species
(Problems with GMOs)
-testing is limited, left to others, or done by gmo company funded reseach
-use of invasive bacterial/viral technlogy to mutate food
-concerns over toxiicity/ effect on immunity
-poses threat of new allergens and tampering with antibiotic
-cell-invasion process affects nutrition
-patenting of life and native plant species by gmo companies
-ecological/soil cutrient cycling impact of gmo plants
-use of gmo-associated pesticides and herbicides
-gene-patenting & threats to individual privacy and freedom
-malicious lawsuits by gmo ccompanies to protect patents
-conflict of interests - gmo execs become government officials (EPA/FDA)
-impact of monoculture on genetic/bio divesity
-lobbying/campaign contributions to ensure deregulation
-unfair/subsidized competition with traditional plant varieties
-demands for payment when gmo plants contaminate adjacent fields
-threat to food secuirty/genetic heritage through gmo hybridization
-consolidation of food supply/mulitnational character of gmo companies
-use of suicide genes to prevent re-use
-creation of green deserts of genetically locked species
Monday, January 08, 2007
Diamond's top 12
From "Collapse," here is Jared Diamond's most serious environmental problems facing past and present societies: 1. Destruction of natural habitats
2. Loss of wild food sources (especially fish)
3. Loss of wild species and biodiversity
4. Soil loss and damage
5. Reliance on non-renewable energy sources
6. Threats to freshwater
7. Abuse of the photosynthetic ceiling (reducing growing capacity)
8. Chemical pollution and toxic overload
9. Introduction of alien species
10. Greenhouse gas emissions (global warming) & ozone depletion
11. Unchecked population growth
12. Resource consumption & per-capita impact
What would you add to the list?
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Christmas reading
I'm not sure why, but against the advice of almost everyone I respect, I never bothereed to pick up and read A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold. Well, I finally did, and I think it was worth the wait as the ecological wisdom might have been lost on me 16 years ago when my brother-in-law John first recommended it. John got me a book for Christmas (Dillard's For the Time Being)... hopefully this one will take me less time to read!
Monday, December 25, 2006
2 weeks of playdough
Christmas break is here and I'm looking forward to doing not much and puttering around the house. My daughter has discovered televsion (she resisted all previous attempts at "couch=training") and thus (finally!) gives Kate and I breaks to cook, clean, read, whatever. Lu's favourite is Little Bear, and then Franklin (probably the Cockburn intro). Three years ago, Little Bear, Franklin, and Cockburn were not names I associated with kid's shows (constellation, Arctic explorer, folk icon)... how far I have fallen. Well, Christmas day, the gifts are long unwrapped, and I've got 2 weeks of playdough, snowshoes, blocks, books, puzzles, and kid's shows to look forward to. Playdough video here, btw.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
blog cabin fever
Like I said in this year's Christmas letter... I have written many things this year, dispatched many trees in the service of this writing, but, alas, very little of it was good writing.
Friday, November 24, 2006
GarageBand workshop
GarageBand has many purposes among educators. Some are using it to create student or teacher podcasts, others are using it more musical composition or to aid in creating media-rich presentations. There are a number of communities sharing GarageBand-made music, many by and for children & students. Here are some useful links:Tutorials & Guides
Apple's intro to GarageBand capabiliites & possibilities
Apple's guide to GarageBand includes tips & video tutorials
NewMediaGuides on Audio thorough guide to audio editing, hardware choices...
MediaBlab how to build your own microphone popscreen
Shared GarageBand songs & ideas:
Macband.com very cool, GB songs and loops
Macidol.com wicked cool, amazing repository of sound
Garageband sample songs Apple's rss feed of student GB projects
Other related links:
Macjams.com all about audio, includes GB resources
Audacity free cross-platform audio editor & recorder
Apple project gallery student video uses GB
Teaching with GarageBand creating recorder accompaniments
Any other feedback or suggestions?
Thursday, November 23, 2006
campus 2020 thoughts
I recently spoke at a "Campus 2020" forum where participants were asked to respond to some questions about the future of post-secondary education in BC... here were my responses:
1. Understanding the future: How will the BC of 2020 be different than today? How will these differences affect the way people live and the way people learn? What will this mean for our post-secondary education system?
Threats to the environment will create & deepen issues which are not present priorities; mostly related to habitat loss, agriculture & forest land alienation, and loss of biodiversity
Electronic learning & the interactive web will challenge & replace much of what occupies present pedagogical space. By this I mean that new media and new ways of connecting people & ideas don’t necessarily fit well with how education is done in most schools
The connection/disconnection of people from sense & place will become a major theme for both of these trends, and post-secondary education will increase the time, effort, and money it applies to this theme.
2. Creating opportunity: In 2020, what are the barriers people face in getting the education or training they want or need? Are those barriers geographic? Financial? Technological? Other?
Yes, yes, and yes. Besides these ones, I think one could find lots of evidence for age, gender, and race barriers in BC.
Probably the best thing we could do to address barriers is to deconstruct colonialism in the system and make it easier for people to take post-secondary education at any age or situation.
Another barrier will be overcoming the socially isolating tendencies of technology and environmental disconnect.
3. Understanding the purpose: As we move toward 2020, what are we educating people for – jobs? intellectual achievement? informed citizenship? personal interest? all of these and others? Can our institutions, programs and services be better designed and governed to support these goals?
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. and Yes. Like the caption on the 2020 Think Pieces page states: “be intrigued, be enlightened, be outraged, be an explorer.” Whatever the purpose or designation of an education program (trades & training, arts, sciences, continuing studies), allowing the experience to be open to experimentation and dissent will help guarantee that it stays intriguing and enlightening. Practically, this could mean developing and funding programs enhance quality of life and aren’t tied to research dollars.
As a secondary teacher I’ve seen what often happens to elementary students when they come to high school. We beat the “play” out of them and then wonder why they lack creativity and original thought. Society can do the same things to college & university grads, so I think it is really important that young people squeeze all the revolutionary juice from their post-secondary experience -- deep questioning, energy, passion, originality; the man will try to beat it out of you, so get your kicks in while you can.
4. Defining quality and measuring success: How we will define terms like “student”, “teacher”, “program”, “institution” in 2020? How will we measure their success? Do we have the appropriate mechanisms to measure our progress?
Too little emphasis on accountability and things don’t change, teachers and students get lost in the system or stuck in a rut.
Too much emphasis on accountability and individual experimentation gets stifled, teachers and students have to follow the program and don’t have the free space to innovate. Collaboration is forced from aboev, and not allowed to develope as an deeply felt need withing a community of educators. It is tough to create mechanisms which support the right kind of accountability without prescribing behaviours for teachers and students.
Concepts like life-long learning will become more relevant as people see education as something they return to over and over again and as education becomes deschooled. Campuses will still be important places, but they have to offer something special to compete or coexist with virtual schools and independent learning
5. Supporting innovation: As we move toward the future, how should our post-secondary system define BC’s position on the national and world stage? How should we support individuals and institutions to be innovative and responsive to change and opportunity?
Take some cues from the environment: we have an incredible biophysical heritage in BC which has sustained people for thousands of years and must continue to do so.
Take some cues from the interactive web: innovative work which honours student identity and pushes teaching and learning is taking place in elementary and secondary schools all over the province. This work experiments in multi-modal literacy and both reflects and develops a new kind of learner. I’m talking about podcasts, blogging, wikiwork, videojournals, web portfolios, gaming, and forums. Post-secondary universities need to pick up where this leaves off and really provoke society with high-quality, thoughtful, poetic forays into new media and critical response to relevant issues.
I think the most innovative work will focus on the issue I’ve raised, that of connecting people with their senses, with others, and with the earth in a future that faces environmental crises and pervasive technology. With our cultural and ecological diversity, high-tech & media industries, and the need to move beyond resource extraction in BC, I think we could be a real leader on this issue. I know many post-secondary institutions have already started to make this shift, but it is by no means mainstream.
1. Understanding the future: How will the BC of 2020 be different than today? How will these differences affect the way people live and the way people learn? What will this mean for our post-secondary education system?
Threats to the environment will create & deepen issues which are not present priorities; mostly related to habitat loss, agriculture & forest land alienation, and loss of biodiversity
Electronic learning & the interactive web will challenge & replace much of what occupies present pedagogical space. By this I mean that new media and new ways of connecting people & ideas don’t necessarily fit well with how education is done in most schools
The connection/disconnection of people from sense & place will become a major theme for both of these trends, and post-secondary education will increase the time, effort, and money it applies to this theme.
2. Creating opportunity: In 2020, what are the barriers people face in getting the education or training they want or need? Are those barriers geographic? Financial? Technological? Other?
Yes, yes, and yes. Besides these ones, I think one could find lots of evidence for age, gender, and race barriers in BC.
Probably the best thing we could do to address barriers is to deconstruct colonialism in the system and make it easier for people to take post-secondary education at any age or situation.
Another barrier will be overcoming the socially isolating tendencies of technology and environmental disconnect.
3. Understanding the purpose: As we move toward 2020, what are we educating people for – jobs? intellectual achievement? informed citizenship? personal interest? all of these and others? Can our institutions, programs and services be better designed and governed to support these goals?
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. and Yes. Like the caption on the 2020 Think Pieces page states: “be intrigued, be enlightened, be outraged, be an explorer.” Whatever the purpose or designation of an education program (trades & training, arts, sciences, continuing studies), allowing the experience to be open to experimentation and dissent will help guarantee that it stays intriguing and enlightening. Practically, this could mean developing and funding programs enhance quality of life and aren’t tied to research dollars.
As a secondary teacher I’ve seen what often happens to elementary students when they come to high school. We beat the “play” out of them and then wonder why they lack creativity and original thought. Society can do the same things to college & university grads, so I think it is really important that young people squeeze all the revolutionary juice from their post-secondary experience -- deep questioning, energy, passion, originality; the man will try to beat it out of you, so get your kicks in while you can.
4. Defining quality and measuring success: How we will define terms like “student”, “teacher”, “program”, “institution” in 2020? How will we measure their success? Do we have the appropriate mechanisms to measure our progress?
Too little emphasis on accountability and things don’t change, teachers and students get lost in the system or stuck in a rut.
Too much emphasis on accountability and individual experimentation gets stifled, teachers and students have to follow the program and don’t have the free space to innovate. Collaboration is forced from aboev, and not allowed to develope as an deeply felt need withing a community of educators. It is tough to create mechanisms which support the right kind of accountability without prescribing behaviours for teachers and students.
Concepts like life-long learning will become more relevant as people see education as something they return to over and over again and as education becomes deschooled. Campuses will still be important places, but they have to offer something special to compete or coexist with virtual schools and independent learning
5. Supporting innovation: As we move toward the future, how should our post-secondary system define BC’s position on the national and world stage? How should we support individuals and institutions to be innovative and responsive to change and opportunity?
Take some cues from the environment: we have an incredible biophysical heritage in BC which has sustained people for thousands of years and must continue to do so.
Take some cues from the interactive web: innovative work which honours student identity and pushes teaching and learning is taking place in elementary and secondary schools all over the province. This work experiments in multi-modal literacy and both reflects and develops a new kind of learner. I’m talking about podcasts, blogging, wikiwork, videojournals, web portfolios, gaming, and forums. Post-secondary universities need to pick up where this leaves off and really provoke society with high-quality, thoughtful, poetic forays into new media and critical response to relevant issues.
I think the most innovative work will focus on the issue I’ve raised, that of connecting people with their senses, with others, and with the earth in a future that faces environmental crises and pervasive technology. With our cultural and ecological diversity, high-tech & media industries, and the need to move beyond resource extraction in BC, I think we could be a real leader on this issue. I know many post-secondary institutions have already started to make this shift, but it is by no means mainstream.
Friday, September 22, 2006
Finding Enkidu
I've been meaning to put a bit of this online for a while (I haven't tried to embed video before). It is a scene from a video project I completed to accompany a writing project on the ecology of identity.
Saturday, August 05, 2006
summer before you know it
To beat the clock, I've continued my school year ritual of rising early to get stuff done before anyone awakes. Now I've banished school worries for the summer time, and have used this time rather selfishly to watch movies and tv shows. Movies so far: bronx tale, capote, casanova, fargo, godfather series, green mile, junebug, match point, prime, red eye, and syriana. For tv: Carnivale season 1 and 2, Deadwood season 3, next will be Lost and Entourage. I'll put these shows on half the screen and flip through related websites, email, or read ezines on the other half of the screen. Headphones in, everyone else sleeping, cat on a cushion and the first cup off the coffee pot beside me, maybe yoghurt with saskatoons; I'd say this is a pretty good if self indulgent way to start a summer day. It's either that or go swimming.
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Now that was a nice river
The Stellako flows out of Francois Lake and drops 45 metres over 11 km down to Fraser Lake. With a shaky knee and gimpy foot I didn't go more than a few hundred metres down the river and I caught a total of 0 fish in the river. The lake was easier and the whole place was quite idyllic. I was there with a bunch of yahoos but that was by choice!
Monday, May 08, 2006
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Spring Break in Victoria
Magnolia trees blooming, cherry trees spent... wow - a nice change from snowbanks and the "dog days" in PG when the melting uncovers successive layers of canine droppings. neways...
I attended an interesting discussion at Royal Roads University last week. It was a meeting of people interested in the role of Arts in Health Care with the aim of forming a basis for national dialogue and organization. An amazing assemblage of people: artists who did paint therapy with cancer aptients, hospital admin looking for info on how aesthetics and wholistic architecture affects healing, a plant therapist (who uses gardens and person-plant connectons to aid in rehab), an interfaith chaplain looking at the role of meditation in healing, an aboriginal artist/filmaker who developed a shield-making workshop to uncover and discuss personal symbols, an educator who focused on healing the mind/body split through ecotherapy, directors, artisans, health care workers... very enlightening discussion. I was a guest of one of the organizers, and tried just to listen, but was pulled in a few times when the talk came around to ecology, identity and technology.
Friday, March 03, 2006
March 3 workshop links
Blogging and Beyond... Educational Technology to bridge the gap between curriculum and identity. Here are the workshop links:
Formal Webquest search site
Tree octopus... the result of an informal webquest
Free & easy blog service (Blogger)
Geography 12 course blog
An English teacher's blog
Committed Sardine blog (education)
Wikipedia... the big wiki
Amazing collection of fiction
Example of a forum (Bigfoot)
Example of a Web Portal
Example of a community (msn)
Example of a community (Bjork)
Example of a cybrary (Holocaust info)
Instant Messaging service
Peer 2 Peer information
Class project involving realtime/RSS
Podcast.net (free) directory
Zencast - free podcasts
For public_html (web share folder) try http://www.dpts.sd57.bc.ca/~gthielmann/education/docs/ as an example. The idea is that anything you put in your public_html folder (which most of our district techies can "enable" for you) will appear at the addres http://(your school address)/~(your username) --if you have trouble with this, email Jason Mager (techie) at the board office for help. He has done some workshops on this.
Try itunes music store to see their free podcasts and video podcasts. My Geography 12 webpage should have podcasts up as soon as I have permission forms in.
Try any of the above tools with a Google search in your currciuluar area (e.g. blog, wiki, portal, rss, podcast with science, math, elementary, language arts) -- it won't take long to find something you can use.
Thanks for attending and good luck experimenting!
Formal Webquest search site
Tree octopus... the result of an informal webquest
Free & easy blog service (Blogger)
Geography 12 course blog
An English teacher's blog
Committed Sardine blog (education)
Wikipedia... the big wiki
Amazing collection of fiction
Example of a forum (Bigfoot)
Example of a Web Portal
Example of a community (msn)
Example of a community (Bjork)
Example of a cybrary (Holocaust info)
Instant Messaging service
Peer 2 Peer information
Class project involving realtime/RSS
Podcast.net (free) directory
Zencast - free podcasts
For public_html (web share folder) try http://www.dpts.sd57.bc.ca/~gthielmann/education/docs/ as an example. The idea is that anything you put in your public_html folder (which most of our district techies can "enable" for you) will appear at the addres http://(your school address)/~(your username) --if you have trouble with this, email Jason Mager (techie) at the board office for help. He has done some workshops on this.
Try itunes music store to see their free podcasts and video podcasts. My Geography 12 webpage should have podcasts up as soon as I have permission forms in.
Try any of the above tools with a Google search in your currciuluar area (e.g. blog, wiki, portal, rss, podcast with science, math, elementary, language arts) -- it won't take long to find something you can use.
Thanks for attending and good luck experimenting!
Friday, January 13, 2006
Yurting
Watch a 15-yr-old in a school computer lab and you'll see something new to a generation: yurting. Like Mongol nomads, the students pack their familiar things, move to a new pasture on an established route, and set up a temporary home. The goods, however, are virtual, and the landscape is digital. A yurt (actually a stretch of grazing land, but often used for the circular Mongol tent or gher) is an encampment built by students where they store and display photos, songs, movies, software, sites, and text -- a changing scene which reflects (and alters) individual and group identities. This is something different than putting family photos up in the office cubicle, or wearing something that reflects personality -- it is an external, dynamic, and portable "unpacking" that changes with the context. Students are erecting yurts which articulate their values, goals, tastes, and trends -- at arms length (literally) from their own words and actions.
Stewing, like yurting, is a new phenomenon in our age of technology-inflenced learning. A stew, for the purpose of this discussion, is the product of research, exploration, synthesis, and identification that learners experience when working on tasks in an online envrironment. Often taking the form of a video or multimedia preentation, the stew is a place to stick all the "stuff" a student finds relevant to a topic under investigation. Initially, the stew is often a computer desktop full of video clips, text files, url links, mp3s, jpegs, and gifs. In the past, the project-junk which was hunted and gathered in magazines, libraries, and textbooks, was then copied or redrawn and pasted onto a poster. Now, it is archived and retrieved in a system designed by the learner. The pathways to the information (and thus, I suppose, the learning process) has the potential to be much more synced to a learner's own style than the pre-planned research in the past. The stew can still taste pretty bad, but there is (maybe) a greater sense of ownership. Mongol nomads called there stews "sulen" if someone would like to play with this idea in the yurting metaphor.
Stewing, like yurting, is a new phenomenon in our age of technology-inflenced learning. A stew, for the purpose of this discussion, is the product of research, exploration, synthesis, and identification that learners experience when working on tasks in an online envrironment. Often taking the form of a video or multimedia preentation, the stew is a place to stick all the "stuff" a student finds relevant to a topic under investigation. Initially, the stew is often a computer desktop full of video clips, text files, url links, mp3s, jpegs, and gifs. In the past, the project-junk which was hunted and gathered in magazines, libraries, and textbooks, was then copied or redrawn and pasted onto a poster. Now, it is archived and retrieved in a system designed by the learner. The pathways to the information (and thus, I suppose, the learning process) has the potential to be much more synced to a learner's own style than the pre-planned research in the past. The stew can still taste pretty bad, but there is (maybe) a greater sense of ownership. Mongol nomads called there stews "sulen" if someone would like to play with this idea in the yurting metaphor.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Data & Education
pet peeve... when people analyze ordinal data as if it were interval data...
I wasn't even aware of what this meant until a couple of years ago -- see the difference among types of data
I wasn't even aware of what this meant until a couple of years ago -- see the difference among types of data
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
What I'm watching
I've been getting up at weird hourse lately and have ended up watching a bunch of movies lately...
1. Apocalypse Now... I hadn't seen this one in 15 years and I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed the storyline, the descent into madness and the mythical elements of Willard's journey. It reminded me of some work I did in the McGregor Mtns and again in Northern Alberta, walking into a sort of jungle or sorts and feeling crazy from the dense brush and mosquitoes and my own thoughts. If I've ever wanted to copy a narrative technique, this has to be it -- the descent into chaos/intimacy/self represented by a physical journey.
2. The Corporation... very insightful and depressing look at corporate culture and globalization. I found it gave me new purpose as a Social Studies teacher but I also lost some hope that the future will learn from the past. We live in a world of greedy people with ugly Walmart tattoos on their souls, people who would sell their own children. The ugliest part of humanity is that we reward these greedy maggots by electing them to power and allowing them to convince us to buy their crap.
3. Hotel Rwanda... this ended up being the motivation behind some research into Rwanda's problems in the 1990s. A very powerful story although one is left with desperate thoughts. I am curious to know what Jared Diamond's Collapse has to say about Rwanda (I take it he fits the racial strife into a resource/environmental context).
4. Amelie... this to counter the depression from #2 & 3. Really really really good.
1. Apocalypse Now... I hadn't seen this one in 15 years and I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed the storyline, the descent into madness and the mythical elements of Willard's journey. It reminded me of some work I did in the McGregor Mtns and again in Northern Alberta, walking into a sort of jungle or sorts and feeling crazy from the dense brush and mosquitoes and my own thoughts. If I've ever wanted to copy a narrative technique, this has to be it -- the descent into chaos/intimacy/self represented by a physical journey.
2. The Corporation... very insightful and depressing look at corporate culture and globalization. I found it gave me new purpose as a Social Studies teacher but I also lost some hope that the future will learn from the past. We live in a world of greedy people with ugly Walmart tattoos on their souls, people who would sell their own children. The ugliest part of humanity is that we reward these greedy maggots by electing them to power and allowing them to convince us to buy their crap.
3. Hotel Rwanda... this ended up being the motivation behind some research into Rwanda's problems in the 1990s. A very powerful story although one is left with desperate thoughts. I am curious to know what Jared Diamond's Collapse has to say about Rwanda (I take it he fits the racial strife into a resource/environmental context).
4. Amelie... this to counter the depression from #2 & 3. Really really really good.
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
What I'm reading
Short History of Progress... finished this one in summer. The book laid out a timeline of human evolution as it relates to environmental impact. I was thoroughly depressed by the end, wondering why I would bring a child into a world so filled with greed and destructive potential. On the other hand, the book gave me some perspective and greater sense of calling with which to start the school year anew as a Social Studies teacher.
Miracle Beach .. just started this one but it looks like a winner. Follows the strands of a narrator's memories growing up in Haisla village on the West Coast (near Kitimat).
Miracle Beach .. just started this one but it looks like a winner. Follows the strands of a narrator's memories growing up in Haisla village on the West Coast (near Kitimat).
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Back to Jack's room
This year I find myself teaching all Socials again (finally) after the bumping and reassignments of the last few years in our school district. I've even inherited a classroom from Don Jack (retired Socials teacher) complete with a Geographic library and the ghosts of earlier Socials teachers. This is my 3rd year at DPTodd and I still feel lucky to work here... very supportive staff and admin, great students, positive experiences, etc. My last school was a study in disfunction from the office down to the foundation... low morale, bizarre policies, ineffective leadership structures, brutal communication, staff animosity, even low-level corruption! Anyways, I make the comparison becaue I don't want to forget how a school/teaching/learning environment can go from good to bad in a hurry, but takes a lot of work to go from bad to good. My present school has worked hard to cultivate a great learning school culture!
Friday, September 16, 2005
reflections on a meeting
I met yesterday with a group of educators to review concepts of leadership, teaching, learning, and collaboaration (among other things). Here are some preliminary thoughts to provoke some thought and encourage discussion:
What I liked:
-emphasis on reflective practice and improvement
-modelling a review of relevant literature
-welcoming space for the practive of educational theory
What I'm not so sure about:
-that money in the system (as in reduced class size) is not important
-that everyone needs to be "on the same page" for progress to be made
-that students, parents, government, media, etc. don't share a large responsibility for educating kids
1. Money... I would agree that there are many other factors which can improve student learning besides reasonable class sizes, but over-stuffing a class is not working. I have a Socials 11 class with 34 kids in a small classroom. I would like to design activities which generate movement (stations, flexible groups, etc.) but there is not enough room; as it is the kids have to slide sideways to get across the room. When I have a screen projector rolled out on a cart, the one functional isle is blocked. Our school has limited facilities -- I can't always book the library when I want the students to do something other than sit in their desks and not move. I also have reduced the scope and number of assignments I will give because I'm not willing to commit extra hours to marking. I suppose I could design more peer marking activities, or get rid of the desks or the table with 2 computers for student-use, or a hundred other adaptations, but what I'd really like is to move ahead with ideas I'd love to try out but which require class sizes which fit my classroom.
2. "Same page"...I always get worried when I hear that everyone should be working in concert... groupthink comes to mind. Diverse goals (sometimes incongruent), multiple perspectives, a spirit of debate, a sense that rich uniqueness trumps tacit consensus -- these are values I honour in the classroom and work for in my professional relationships. If everyone in a room agrees on something, I tend to be frightened.
3. One the hardest and most important things I try to do as an educator is teach responsibility. Students who learn responsibility will unlock talents, build confidence, become effective citizens, and pursue healthy relationships. I realize there are many things I can do to improve my practice (and the learning that takes place on my watch), but I am only a piece in the learner's puzzle, a puzzle which is ultimately the property of students, a function of their identity. To claim that I am the problem if a student in my class does not learn is to take something away from the identity of my students; it usurps control and assumes that learning = higher marks. I will do my best, but sometimes my best is to allow students to make up their own minds about what/how/when to learn. I don't know whether teacher, school, or district, or public education can be individually responsible for student learning -- none of them are on their own -- teachers have departments and schools to influence practice, schools can't create solutions without conforming to district rules, districts can't work in isolation of the government, etc. I think the "whole vilage" it takes to raise/educate a child can claim responsibility (including parents, media, corporations and the learners themselves), but this does not seem to be the message I am getting. Yes, I want to get better at the things under my control, at facilitating learning, but I want to do so without robbing students of responsibility.
What I liked:
-emphasis on reflective practice and improvement
-modelling a review of relevant literature
-welcoming space for the practive of educational theory
What I'm not so sure about:
-that money in the system (as in reduced class size) is not important
-that everyone needs to be "on the same page" for progress to be made
-that students, parents, government, media, etc. don't share a large responsibility for educating kids
1. Money... I would agree that there are many other factors which can improve student learning besides reasonable class sizes, but over-stuffing a class is not working. I have a Socials 11 class with 34 kids in a small classroom. I would like to design activities which generate movement (stations, flexible groups, etc.) but there is not enough room; as it is the kids have to slide sideways to get across the room. When I have a screen projector rolled out on a cart, the one functional isle is blocked. Our school has limited facilities -- I can't always book the library when I want the students to do something other than sit in their desks and not move. I also have reduced the scope and number of assignments I will give because I'm not willing to commit extra hours to marking. I suppose I could design more peer marking activities, or get rid of the desks or the table with 2 computers for student-use, or a hundred other adaptations, but what I'd really like is to move ahead with ideas I'd love to try out but which require class sizes which fit my classroom.
2. "Same page"...I always get worried when I hear that everyone should be working in concert... groupthink comes to mind. Diverse goals (sometimes incongruent), multiple perspectives, a spirit of debate, a sense that rich uniqueness trumps tacit consensus -- these are values I honour in the classroom and work for in my professional relationships. If everyone in a room agrees on something, I tend to be frightened.
3. One the hardest and most important things I try to do as an educator is teach responsibility. Students who learn responsibility will unlock talents, build confidence, become effective citizens, and pursue healthy relationships. I realize there are many things I can do to improve my practice (and the learning that takes place on my watch), but I am only a piece in the learner's puzzle, a puzzle which is ultimately the property of students, a function of their identity. To claim that I am the problem if a student in my class does not learn is to take something away from the identity of my students; it usurps control and assumes that learning = higher marks. I will do my best, but sometimes my best is to allow students to make up their own minds about what/how/when to learn. I don't know whether teacher, school, or district, or public education can be individually responsible for student learning -- none of them are on their own -- teachers have departments and schools to influence practice, schools can't create solutions without conforming to district rules, districts can't work in isolation of the government, etc. I think the "whole vilage" it takes to raise/educate a child can claim responsibility (including parents, media, corporations and the learners themselves), but this does not seem to be the message I am getting. Yes, I want to get better at the things under my control, at facilitating learning, but I want to do so without robbing students of responsibility.
Saturday, June 25, 2005
Quality Learning Globally
Over the last year or so, I've been involved with a "Quality Learning Globally" consortium organized by our school district's technology resource teacher Rob Lewis. The group assembled teachers and admin/district staff, most of which were tech leaders, to inquire into some key problems emerging with tech-based learning. We met about 8 times, studied, and experimented with distance/blended/synchronous/asynchronous environments. The QLG research concluded with a number of observations aimed directly at three connected questions faced by (and encouraged by) the district:
- What should distributed learning look like... should it occur at many schools and be integrated into the options faced by students (course selection) and teachers (course design, career specialization), or should distributed learning be the purview of our distance ed school?
- What technology should we use, and why... virtual classrooms, CMS, platforms, peripherals, access issues, budget & greening issues, what works in various contexts?
- What pedagogy emerges from, or shapes, the technology and the choice of delivery models... synchronous vs asynchronous, what degree of "blending," how is the vision, coordination, and support sustained in schools and in the district?
The research looked at teacher and student experiences in contexts that explored as many of the possibilities brought up by these questions as possible. The QLG group asked these questions from the perspective of teachers and students, and in the end we recommended:
- Distributed Learning should happen at every school, at any time in which teachers in these schools were willing to experiment in such a way that could be supported by administration. Teachers excited to try teaching an online course or increase the amount of interactive technology they use with regular classes are the best bet for success. Dumping online course work and new tech on unwilling teachers will not work and will halt any momentum built elsewhere. While the integration of distributed learning has a logical place at the secondary level, it should be placed within the continuum of integrating all forms of teaching and learning strategies that make use of rich media and interactive technology, not just the ones that lead to more independent (distant) student learning. This has implications for the continued promotion of technology skills and digital literacy among staff and students, and commitments to support, training, and leadership.
- Online and distance learning works best when the students are also connected to a learning community and teachers -- real people (with bodies and nuanced expression) and real social environments that are essential for human development, so some face-to-face is a must except for special cases and for most should be the the primary experience, even at higher grades. The group spent a lot of time on the creative/collaborative/critical process involved in building and analyzing content (distributed "learning objects," resources , courses). Some felt there should be an attempt to build original, professional resources specific to BC curriculum contexts, while others were confident that existing online (free/external) resources would increasingly meet learning needs. This has implications for inter-school communication/collaboration and the coordination of some aspects of course programming across the district.
- Technology and distributed learning should not remove and try to replicate the best of the classroom experience, but should seek to revolutionize the worst and most problematic aspects of the classroom experience. Thus virtual classrooms that imitate real discussions are often a step backward unless no alternatives exist. Just as the powerpoint can take a meaningful presentation and turn it into something segmented, trite, or didactic, interactive technology can create addictive, self-absorbed recluses where once were curious, social kids. The group was confident that the interactive web could extend and enrich but not replace the social fabric of schools. This has implications for school and district tech direction, planning and licensing.
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