I have just finished reading this post over at the Cool Cat Teacher Blog.  The opportunity to collect such reflections from both students and teachers after such a major project is invaluable - and absolutely imperative.  This year I will be involved in a Year 9 experiential learning program for most of my teaching load.  4 classes, 5 teachers, one learning space (well… after it’s built, for now it will be 4 classrooms with open doors…) and cross curricular content. It’s a new program, and will no doubt have both successes and ideas that will need reworking - and serious, constructive reflection and critique will be imperative to that process.  I think it would be great to have the classes blogging through this whole process, and I hope my new colleagues will be open to that possibility.

Well, after 3 years, my time as a full-time Educational Technologist has come to an end. The school year is over, and after a wonderful 5 weeks to rest, recharge and recuperate, I will be moving on to new challenges. Of course I will still be focusing on technology in education, as the eLearning and Innovation Coordinator at a new school, but I will also be returning to the classroom for the first time in 3 years and moving into a leadership role in the school.  So, as I have mentioned before, no doubt the focus and tone of this blog will change, as may the frequency of my posts.  I intend to use this blog to be more self reflective about my teaching experiences, especially with technology in the classroom.  But, for the next 5 weeks, things might be a little quiet around here.  I intend to take full advantage of this Christmas break, so I may not post for awhile. I’d like to say I will be enjoying the sunshine of a Melbourne summer, but it’s actually been pouring for almost a week….

I have worked with a fantastic team of people for the last three years - I wish them all the best of luck and a very Merry Christmas to everyone!

I just read an inspiring blog post by Vicki Davis over at her CoolCat Teacher Blog, ‘What happens when students take the reins’. It is wonderful to read about the amazing things can happen, when students are encouraged to think independently and take the lead, and when schools have the confidence to support them. One of the things about this story that I found especially interesting was that the students saw the value of a Ning Community as a social network for the extended school community.  Ning has interested me mainly due to its inherent similarities to the structure of sites such as Myspace and Facebook, as I thought that may appeal to students and encourage participation.  I knew that the Flat Classroom Project had successfully used a Ning Community, but this was the first time that I heard a story of students choosing to use Ning, and foreseeing its advantages.

I will look forward to hearing more about this end of term project with Vicki’s class, and seeing where it leads.  And hopefully, I will be able to inorporate that approach, even if in a small way, in my classroom work next year.

Do you know of any other great examples of student led curriculum?  Please share!

Something exciting is happening tomorrow. A group of special students from around the world are collaborating to share their voice with the edublogosphere, through Student 2.0. And we should all be listening. It is a great opportunity to discuss education from the student’s perspective, and gain some valuable insight.  As Arthus, one of the student contributors, says: “It is time: time for authentic student voices in the edublogosphere; time to hear from those who are affected by education the most; time to regard students as more than just blank floppy disks to be written upon.”

I will be following this blog with interest. I’m sure it will be an engaging read and will have much to offer to educators everywhere. Welcome to the era of Student 2.0.

It’s been a busy few weeks at work lately. I have presented at 2 conferences in less than 2 weeks, helped organise a 2 day PD and worked closely with several teachers on curriculum design and some software training. So finding time to blog has been hard, although I have been trying to keep up with reading edublogs, and have bookmarked several issues to come back to later.

I suspect that the direction of my blog might change a bit next year, when I return to the classroom for the first time in 3 years. I imagine my focus will be more on what works (or doesn’t) in the classroom and less on the issues of technology in education in general.

Yesterday at the PD day I was introducing a new project to our staff. I have recently worked on a successful grant application to create a unit of work revolving around GPS and Geoaching. The substantial funding will principally be used to purchase handheld GPS devices and provide time for staff to receive training and undertake collaborative curriculum planning. So, in the introductory session, we discussed the variety of ways in which geocaching could be used to enrich the curriculum, and for teachers to have that discussion, they had to first understand what it was all about.

So, we set off to a local park to try and find a Geocache, and although we were disappointed to discover that the cache had bee removed, it was great to see the enthusiasm and excitement our little ‘field trip’ generated. I think it gave the staff a taste of the excitement it might generate in their own classes…

Our friendly chauffer

Loading the troops

Safety first

In search of treasure

Following the GPS

Searching high and low

A likely spot?

Leaving empty handed… but smiling.

We discussed how the students might design their own caches, and the clues to find them, using skills and information from various subjects.  We talked about multi-caches, virtual caches, travel bugs, muggles and triangulation.  All in all it was a great discussion, and I’m quite sure an inspiring unit of work will come from this project. It’s a shame I wont be around to see its fulfillment in this cluster of schools, but I hope to develop something similar at my new school.

I might be preaching to the converted here on edublogs, but I wanted to write a brief post about the Edublog Awards (or the ‘eddies’, as they seem to be affectionately known).  Nominations for the edublog awards are up now, and checking the nominated sites in each category is a great way to find new, quality blogs to add to your reading list.  I was pleased to see many of the blogs I’m already following nominated (congratulations to all!) but also some sites I was not familiar with.  I am looking forward to having some reading time and adding some new material to my RSS feed.

 Check it out - and don’t forget to vote!

I just read an interesting blog post.  Tom March just posted ‘Tom’s new WebQuest article’ on his site, and it is worth a read. Well, more importantly, the article it refers to

It was interesting to discover in my VITTA session yesterday ‘Harnessing the Power of the Internet’, that even the higher end users have an interest in a fairly fundamental introduction to Internet tools. One of the interesting aspects of my current role, is that I am not so much a technology expert, as someone who will experiment, find a new tool/site at short notice etc.  I rarely get time to really look at new tools and software in depth, unless I am using them for something specific (like using Joomla to run our project website). What I do get to do is explore what’s out there, dabble in something new that may be useful for a specific teacher or project, and then move on. I get a broad overview, but not always detailed knowledge.  My Internet session is a bit like that.  I jump around the net, showcasing useful tools and resources for teachers, and it always gets a good reception. But my audience is generally teachers starting out with technology, rather than experienced users.

I usually start this session with a brief online survey just to get a feel for the experience of the participants, and to demonstrate an online survey.  At VITTA, for the first time, the mix was 50/50, with some more experienced Web 2.0 users in the mix. That was to be expected, as VITTA is an organisation for IT teachers. But the organisers felt that teachers would still benefit from a hands on session about Internet tools, and the fact that the session booked out early confirmed that. It was still pleasing to note that although the teachers had more knowledge than some of my audiences, their experiences were only in some of the areas I covered.  Everyone seemed to learn something new, and the feedback was very positive.

When I return to the classroom next year, it will be an interesting change to make choices of what tools I think will work most effectively in my curriculum, and then explore them in depth with my class.  I expect the broad overview I currently have will definitely help me in selecting those tools, as will the network I am developing of Education Technologists around the world.

I just watched the ‘Final final version’ of Pay Attention by Darren Draper today. I think it is a very powerful video, and I have shown it to many colleagues.  The latest version (which if all is working as it should, will be embedded below) has a few changes - some images added, some spelling corrected and some extra content.  Upon viewing it again, however, I realised it raises some concerns for me.

I think we walk a very thin line when we promote technology in education.  There is always the danger that we will be perceived to be pushing technology for its own sake, rather than for the richer learning experience that it can support. And it can be very hard to change those perceptions.

It is easy to assume that because the ‘digital generation’ appear to be so proficient with using technology for communication, that they are experts in its use. In reality, many young people have a very shallow understanding of the power of technology, the internet and web 2.0. We also sometimes assume because they seem engaged when using the technology, that they are having a rich experience.

The section of the video that particularly concerned me was relating to iPods and podcasting. “If you can’t reach your students by speaking directly to them…Teach them via Podcast.”  I think it is extremely dangerous to suggest that if you cannot engage your class in person; with the full force of your personality, all your classroom resources, visual materials, student interaction etc; that you can engage the students simply by presenting the same information via their earbuds. It is very simplistic to say, “Perhaps they wouldn’t hate school if they could use their iPods in class”. 

I think that podcasts have huge potential in our schools. They can be an excellent revision tool, allow access to material for students with different learning styles etc.  But I think their most powerful application for students is as a means of  publication, rather than in a purely passive environment. The current generation seem to be more about ‘pushing up’ to the net than ‘pulling down’, and that can be a very rich experience.

I am running another Intel Essentials course starting on Monday, and the quote from the Intel CEO in the training manual springs to mind…

“Computers aren’t magic, teachers are.” I think this is a thought that we need to keep firmly in mind as we develop curriculum for the 21st Century learner.

Download Video: Posted by jsdt4 at TeacherTube.com.

I have been dabbling my toes in the twitter pond this week. I had signed up a few months ago, and then really couldn’t see a lot of value educationally in it, so hadn’t been back.  But I had read so many edublogs about it recently, I thought I should give it a another go. Seems like with most of these technologies, your network is paramount. And building that network will take time - but even though I am only following a very small number of people, I have found some great links already, and watched an interesting online presentation I would have otherwise missed.

I discovered a few new blogs to read through twitter, and last week Sue Waters was discussing successful PowerPoint presentations - Engaged or Enraged? 

I found this post particularly relevant to my circumstances, as I have had the opportunity to present fairly extensively in the last couple of years.  And while I understand all the issues that are being raised, I sometimes get confused about exactly what will work for me, in the context of my own topics and audience.  I’ll just quote my comment on Sue’s blog…

I will continue to watch this post with interest, and will probably blog about this topic myself this week, when I’ve had a chance to follow all the suggested links. I am somewhat confused by this whole topic. I have presented extensively over the last couple of years, and I always seem to get good feedback after my sessions. But I struggle to follow several of these new ‘PowerPoint rules’. I never read my slides, and I always feel I am comfortable just discussing the topic, adding anecdotes etc. I do however, find myself having bullet points in my slides. And, as much as I have reworked and reworked my presentations with the idea of replacing majority of text with images, in most cases I cannot think of an appropriate image to insert. (Its funny - I remember a couple of years ago reading research that said the only images in presentations should be specifically relevant to the topic…). So, I find myself in a quandary - I feel like I present well, but that my PowerPoint’s would not come up to scratch under scrutiny. Maybe they work because I generally run hands on workshops, and give the participants a copy of the presentation on CD or online, so they can follow all the links and engage with the activities. When I use bullets its just a brief word, to jog a readers memory when they are looking back on the resource, trying to remember what I said.

And I feel concerned at the moment - I have one or two of those inspirational videos in a presentation I am preparing for next week… and while I agree you could watch it in your own time…many teachers who attend my sessions would say they would not have time.

I was quite reassured to read in Miles Burke’s blog post ‘19 tips for public speaking’ - “use images only to make a point, don’t just add images for fun “, as that is one of the areas I struggle with.  I’m a photographer, and an Art teacher - I am a very visual person.  But I also a very logical thinker, and sometimes I struggle to see how to connect an image with the sometimes abstract concepts I might be discussing - or in fact with the cold hard facts of ICT implementation, or utilising a specific software. I was also pleased to be reassured in a private comment that there was no need to remove the inspirational videos from my workshops sessions, that comment was perhaps more applicable to keynotes.

So, I guess I will continue to re-evaluate my presentations critically, keep text to a bare minimum, add images where appropriate and never read my slides. And continue the model of practical, hands on presentations, where the content, resources and activities are far more important than what is on my slides.

And hopefully I can continue to present useful materials to participants without sending them to sleep or killing them with PowerPointlessness!