Need to re-assess: The DPD of Education.

With the fast changing world of technology the way we approach our teaching changes. It also causes a change in emphasis. I remember a time teachers thought they needed to show children how to use a mouse or how to type (unfortunately there are still some of these teachers around). Today - it is a different world. I have already done a posting about how the iPhone changed our view of computing. I think the big change there was it de-mystified computing, made it personal, easy, task centered. The ongoing effort was what caused a change in the Educational approach. Cloud based, touch based and personal devices made teachers re-assess what they were teaching and how they were using technology. Suddenly you didn't have to worry about teaching HOW to use the technology ( the kids have always been ahead of you on this game), but how to utilize it for effective pedagogy. It became an exciting time for both teachers and students ( including their parents - because they could related to this technology). Sure- early adapters have made some mistakes, but they have paved an incredible path in a very short time. All of this has happened in less than 5 years ! This is incredible speed in education. 

 It is probably time for us to regroup. I think the next wave of innovation will be a littler slower to impact on Education. Google glass comes to mind. Radical innovation - but a few issues to work around before it will be adapted for wide education use, mainly around privacy. I can see this one needed a little working around before it becomes widely used in education.

Now we have time to “breath” - we need to re-assess what is around us. We have a myriad  of tables/touch devices being released trying to break into the market that the iPad created. Sometimes with misleading information.
 I recently sat through a talk by a Microsoft educator who certainly presented misguiding information to a room full of educators and education leaders. While trying to convince the room of the educational benefits of his product, he displayed some very inaccurate knowledge around ipads. Most of the room who were new to the educational uses of touch devices certainly lapped it up.  The static design of ibooks , can flip a page - not interactive. He obviously hasn’t seen the interactive books that a lot of teachers (and companies) have made. Or used iBook Author to construct his own. The aspect of iTunes U to set courses. He thought it served best as a personal device (true) that was passive (not creative) and could not be utilized in education. I think he must have been asleep in the Microsoft office for the past 3 years ! He totally missed the video, audio, music, creative aspect that could be shared by Apple TV or  cloud hosting services. His main thrust was the ability to run MS Office. Sorry to inform you -we have already worked around that one and MS Office is not the giant it once was. Even the NSW Department of Education is dumping MS Office and going to Google Docs. He  went into a session on “Project Based Learning”. Good - but many others (including Apple) have been doing this for more than 7 years now. I think it is a fabulous method of learning - but be aware when people are passing it off as something original or new. There has been a lot of research and information regarding this approach under a variety of names (Challenge Based Learning, Community Learning, Project Based Learning, Life Centered Learning and so on).

So with the scramble by other companies to “get a slice of the pie” we have to be a little careful of what information we are being given and by whom. Many “theorists” and “product leaders” are simply trying to cram, what we did on a computer 6 years ago, onto a touch device - without any change in educational thinking or pedagogy.  

For the innovators : 

Technology has reached a temporary plateau  , we got memorized by the shiny ( when the iPad & iPhone came out - saw the potential but didn't quite have it figured out. We are now finally talking pedagogy. 

 A side affect of the “personal devices” boom is the aspect of wifi and the need to be always connected. In our homes, businesses and schools -this is becoming the norm. Computer banks in our Libraries are being re-thought. Everything is now cloud based. The internet is bigger than ever. For some, the internet is the “only” thing. Personally I feel this is the reason that Google have grown so massively in the last 3 years.  

Regardless of what technology we are using there are three main aspects that are raising their head and need to be incorporated into our teaching approach. I call them the DPD of education.

The first one is Discrimination :- discrimination of information. Our students live in a world where anyone can post information (and do)- regardless of how accurate it is. For many this is the only  information they go to. Our students use of social media has empowered them to post their own information on the net but they often don’t make the connection between their own postings and the possibly totally inaccurate postings of others. Wikipedia has become the default (often only) encyclopedia. We must educate our students to save them from the “I read it in the paper so it must be true” type thinking that our parents grew up with. Paper books at least had a process before being finally released. Not necessary always accurate but a number of people read and checked them before release. Not so with the internet. Therefore one of the 21st century learning skills we have to instill in our students is one of critical analysis. Being able to evaluate and discriminate between information. 

The second one is fairly straight forward but essential with younger students especially. That of Plagiarism: we have to teach the aspect of creating your own points of view - not cut and paste. I know that this is a major issue with University students - but most Uni’s have checks on this. But it now becoming a major issue with our younger students. It is so easy to cut and paste. Often in language that the average 10 year old couldn’t possibly understand. I’m not only referring to words here - but images and sound as well. Younger students feel that there is so much information,photos, sounds out there that they are up for grabs - they can use it as they wish. 

The third one is Digital Noise. There are so many distractions from the task we need to focus on , it never gets accomplished. This is a problem for all of us, regardless of age. But one we have to assist our students with. One thing about always being connected is the fact we are distracted by - “I’ll just check my email, what is the weather tomorrow ?, I looked at that website for information - oh I saw a news bulletin about the death of Chrissy Amphlett-  I’ll just YouTube a few of the old Divinyls songs “. Before we know it 2 hours have gone by and I have done nothing on my original task. Many claim that younger students can multi-task and keep focussed. I disagree with this. I think they are affected by Digital Noise just like the rest of us. We need to assist them with the skills to cut through all this to be able to accomplish what they set out to do. I try to encourage my own students to use the “reader” function in Safari - which just brings up the web article (minus all the adds, connections etc). 

These three skills I see as essential for helping our students make productive sense of 21st century learning. 

Discrimination: critical analysis of information.

Plagiarism: using original wording, media and therefore thought.

Digital Noise: cut through the distractions- staying focussed on the important tasks. 

USING MS OFFICE ON THE IPAD ?

One of the major complaints about the ipad is "What about running office ?" Or the question "When is Microsoft going to release an Office app for the ipad?  After all you can get the OneNote app ! “ With the release of it's own tablet - "The  Surface"- I can't see Microsoft being in any hurry to do so. 

So - what are the alternatives if you live in a Microsoft environment but want to use an ipad  ? Well - there are more alternatives than most people realise. There are many apps that will now do the job if you really need it. The satisfaction of using them is highly varied and I will start by saying they are not as smooth or satisfactory as using iWorks (Pages,Keynote, Excel), which  are specifically made for the ipad. 

I am not going to do a review of all apps - but simply mention a few that I have personally used and the one I feel is best.

The first is an app called Cloud On. Like most of the apps of this type they are based around Cloud based storage. CloudOn can connect to your dropbox, SkyDrive, Google Drive for any cloud storage you have. You can edit any Word, PowerPoint and Excel document saved in your linked storage. You can also make new documents in the Office format. 

When you open, or start a Word document you are presented with a full blown version of Word. 
I haven't really found much that isn't there. Anyone needing Office on the move -this will do the trick. The interface is rather "grainy" and jagged but the functions are there. You cannot print but can email documents. It has a clip art function but you don't have access to your ipad photo app ( which is generally a default with most ipad apps - if you are editing work documents this may not be an issue.) Can be a bit laggy , especially on larger documents. Seeing the app is free - a fairly good app.

The next one is  SmartOffice 2 . It can make Word Excel PowerPoint documents in the doc or docx  form. It even has some built in templates. Again - this one links to your cloud based storage. But I was only able to find links to DropBox, Google Drive and Box. If you use any other you may be out of luck.

The interface I found rather limited. Although you can edit and create Office documents the  interface wasn't anything familiar to Office. It certainly didn't have the features of CloudOn.  May suit many - as you are probably not going to try complex formatting on the ipad , leaving that for the computer. I also found formatting rather tricky and annoying. If you want to highlight a word or phrase for formatting, you needed to tap a number of times. It always seemed hit and miss. It costs $9.99.

QuickOffice Pro HD is another app that will handle Office files. It links to most cloud based storage. It is now owned by Google but I don't know what that will mean in the future. It handles all doc and docx formats. Costs $20.99 and seems to work effectively although a number of people have reported bugs - especially in Excel. 

The last one I only became aware of recently. Although I am sure a lot of people have been aware of it for ages. It comes from Microsoft themselves ( so one expects it to be the best at handling Office files). This one is Office Web Apps. This one is a bit tricky in a way. It is web based (it is not Office 365) and links to your Skydrive. It is not the Skydrive app but accessed through a web interface. Once you have logged in, you have your total Skydrive ( Mail,People, Calendar and Skydrive ). In Skydrive you have access to any document you have saved there ( I use it for saving other documents besides Office files). 

You can edit and create new documents - Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote and Excel Survey. It has an interface like Office 2010 with the ribbon. It isn't the full program but they have done a dam good job of including the common features that you are going to use most (it's a fact that 90% of Office users use only 10% of its functions). It includes a connection to your photo app as well as clip art. 

You can create hyperlinks. It saves back to Skydrive. You can share your file with someone else for joint editing.  You can only edit a document in your Skydrive folder - therefore any existing files would need to be saved to it. You can only upload from your camera roll. A work around would be to open where the file is - say DropBox, select "Open in ... ", select "Skydrive App".  Save in Skydrive app. Then open the Web interface and your file will be there. Convoluted I know - but a way around it if you have files stored all over the place. A very good way of working with Office docs if you really must use Microsoft. Best of all - it's free.

Pros

Links directly to SkyDrive. All your files are accessible.

Has most of the main features of a basic office suite

Will save back directly to SkyDrive. Good for people who are worried about getting documents off the iPad to use on a windows computer.

If you are using this web based app ( can't think of an appropriate word - because it's not really an app) - on a win machine with office installed it will edit in the full ( computer ) version of Office but save back to SkyDrive.

Cons:

Can't copy and paste to another document or app.

Selection of text not as smooth as Pages.

Being Web based - not as fast or as smooth as Pages

The Office 2010 type ribbon interface gets in the way, You lose some screen space. You can minimise it - but most people operating in Office with it showing.Also operating in a browser you have browser tool bar in the way.

Being web based - may have some difficulties with some school servers (maybe proxy settings ? - not sure).

The bottom line ? Quite frankly iWorks still remains the smoothest and most satisfying experience of the lot. Also you can save each to the corresponding MS Office format ( Pages to Word, KeyNote to PowerPoint, Numbers to Excel). Probably for most - this is sufficient.

   But, if you really need to use the Microsoft format - it is really hard to go past MS own Web Based Apps.    Chances are you are already using Skydrive and it integrates nicely with it. More accurately it is part of the web based Skydrive. My second choice (although it looks horrible - was probably designed for the iphone) would go to CloudOn. Again - free. I haven’t taken cost into it - I just feel these two would suit my personal needs best.

This is only a look at 4 (5 if you include iWorks -which can save in the format) apps capable of editing and saving in MS - be aware there are many others I haven’t looked at. I have tried to limit it to programs I have personally used.

New Years Resolutions. Will we keep them ?

With the ending of the old (2012) and the start of the new (2013) , everybody discusses what they are going to attempt to do in “education”. The reason I put it in quotation marks is because - although we are talking education - for the purpose of this blog - I am referring to education with a technology bent or using technology to achieve my aims in education.

I want to be better organised this year ( don't we all ! ) and use technology more efficiently. 

I have mentioned a few program's that I tend to favour but this year I want to take this even further. 

So what am I planning ? 

This year I hope to utilise Evernote a lot more productively. I already use this for my private use and have it installed on all my devices. I use the web clipping function for clipping articles I read, putting them into related Notebooks ( mac shortcuts, educational theory, ipad use etc). The email function to send things directly to Evernote and so on. 

Inside my Evernote  - for classroom use, I have set up a Notebook for each student labelling them with the students name. I have one large Notebook called "Year 5 2013". Inside this one I have a Notebook for each student labelled with their name ( Fred Smith etc). This is where I will keep records on my students. One note will be for monitoring ( any observed behaviours, meeting with parents, health issues). Other notes will be per subject, where I will have work samples and observations.  Therefore an English note will contain an example of their book work, photographed using my phone or ipad - whether it be handwriting or grammar (because the program is on all devices it will go directly to that students folder. You don't have to save it elsewhere and move it).  They can email work samples from the computer and I can attach them. Over the semester I will build up enough samples and observations to make report writing easier. The killer feature - all in the one place.  

The other aspect I have done is to set up each student with their own account. Because cloud based solutions are a legal nightmare for students under 13 ( in other words - all Primary School students) I sent a note home to parents explaining what I hoped to achieve and asking permission to set up accounts for the students. This will be followed up by a parent information evening in the first weeks of term. I contacted Evernote and teachers are able to set up accounts ( with parent permission). I chose the free accounts for this as I am not totally sure how this aspect will pan out over the year. I asked permission from parents before the holidays (and all agreed) and will have them set up before he new school year starts. Probably the biggest educational push here is going to be “organisation” . Teaching the students have to organise Notebooks and keep subjects in order. 

I have used Edmodo for the past 2 years and it has replaced my class website/blog. For those who don’t know it - it is a virtual classroom facebook type program (available on all platforms). My aim is to use this more efficiently. I hope to be better organised on assignments and quizzes. The beauty of Edmodo is that it keeps tack on students scores -so you can build up a record for report time. If a student submits an assignment, you can mark and comment on it within Edmodo. Last year I found the students submittted their assignments in different forms. Word (can comment in Edmodo)  Pages, (cant ) and PDF (can). My aim this year is that all students will submit their assignments in PDF form. Therefore they can use any platform and Edmodo can read it. I am also going to set up a sub class for an extension group (something I didn’t have before). Students enjoy the facebook/blog aspect of Edmodo (it is totally closed by the way - no one can see in - therefore safe and don’t need parent permission. Although you can give parents a code to view what their children are doing). Although I won’t limit their posts - I will clean them out one a month - just so it doesn’t get too cluttered. 

I run an “iPad User Group” for educators in my district. We have a wiki for information and resources - but it tended to get cluttered, disorganised and a general “dogs breakfast”. I will examine the possibility of setting up an Edmodo classroom for our group. Some groups use it for teacher PD but I’m not 100% sure I will carry this through.

On a more creative note (so it doesn’t appear it’s all about grades, scores and assessments) - I plan to set up an “Internet TV channel”. Sounds grand - doesn’t it ? Last year we purchased a green screen and lights. The two mac classes have flip videos and tripods. The idea is that the students will be able to give news reports, show projects being worked on etc. The editing will be done in iMovie (both macs and ipads). A channel will be set up on YouTube and linked to the school website. This will be totally students work. To make it “doable” I am only think of maybe three postings a term. Otherwise it becomes a headache and doesn’t get done at all. 

We have already started using Apple TV’s (ATV) in some classes. It appears to be ok but with a few minor hitches. The advantage of the ATV is that you can show anything on ipads or macs. I need to follow through with this to ensure that every student can immediately show their work from their laptop. I will post more about this at a later stage.

iBooks Author and iTunes U. This year I need to get serious regarding iBook author. This is  such a fantastic program that I really haven’t fully explored and followed through with (laziness , time - I can give a thousand excuses). It is a fantastic way of presenting a unit of work combining reading, pictures, quizzes - I do really need to follow through. I also want the students to have a go at iBook Author to construct their own texts. My class have produced ebooks for the younger classes through Pages. The younger students view them  on the ipads. iBook Author (which I have installed on all their macs) can take this to a much more interesting level. I want to experiment with iTunes U as well. Maybe a unit of work that can be repeated in following years or shared with others. 

I am basically setting up my delivery to be usable on both computer and ipad. The reason is that we are finishing our 3 year cycle with the mac laptops. Do we replace them for the senior class or go with ipads ? I am hoping to trial a class of one on one ipads later this year. In the meantime we have 15 ipads which I can borrow from the Infant classes so I can experiment. 

I continue to do most of my planning and day book through Growly Notes  .I still wish they would make an ipad version - I really love this program and use it a lot !  I may introduce this to the students for their macs. 

These are just a few of my New Year Resolutions regarding Technology in Education. I have only mentioned a few, with the aim of, hopefully, carrying them out. One of the bug bears we all have as teachers - is over planning ! Or not carrying through with ideas. I am hoping that these will all come to fruition.

What are your New Year resolutions ? 

Work Flow - or something useful !

People are always curious about other people's workflow - what apps , programs , and add ins they find useful. I 'm also of this ilk. On computers - what programs do they use? iPads - what apps do they find useful ? Photography - what camera, lenses, aperture do they use. I think it is an aspect of a certain persons curiosity - and I must admit I am one of them. I’m not sure what it says of our personality - but, hey- I’m being truthful. 

One conclusion I have come to over the last few years is the old “KISS” theory ! Keep it Simple Stupid ! If it is too complex 

• you won’t spend the time getting to know it.
• you won’t use it.
• it doesn’t matter “how powerful” the program is - you will never use three quarters of it. 
• you will move on to another program (therefore wasted and unproductive time).

So - What apps or programs do I use ? I suppose for background I had better explain what devices I use. I have an iMac for school administration, and MBP laptop which is my classroom machine (which also goes back & forth from home), an iPad and iPhone. Like everybody else now (regardless whether it is business or connected with Education) my “productivity “ time doesn’t operate just in work hours. The pros and cons of this is a debate for another time - but the reality is a lot of us are “producing “ at odd hours and across multiple devices. 

OK - to start. Probably the hinge for all my devices is Pages. It sounds cliche but I must admit it has become my favored  word processor. I do have Office for Mac as well as having to use Word in a Win environment but Pages is my firm favorite and I do 90% of my word processing in it. I use to be a Word and Publisher user but find Pages does nearly everything I want to do - quickly and simply. There are a number of “powerful” word processors out there - but whats the use of having a Ferrari to drive in School zones. Pages also goes across the apple platform - laptop, ipad, iphone. Calendar (or ical) I also prefer and use across the platforms. I tried Google cal, Outlook cal and a few others but came back to Apple Calendar. I just prefer it’s layout and what I can put in it. 

Another firm favorite for the Mac is Growly Notes. I have mentioned this one before. Unfortunately it is for Mac only (not ipad, iphone or PC). It’s a fantastic program (and free) that is probably closest to OneNote on a PC. You can include audio notes, pdf’s, lists, charts - the works. I use it a lot for planning, using as a day book, lessons etc.You can create tabbed books for topics or sections. I wish Growly Notes could carry across all platforms - but hey,  it’s free, so I can’t complain.

Next is Evernote. I use this extensively for web clipping, emailing web pages, articles etc to my Evernote account. I use it both for work and personal use. I am presently looking into how to effectively use it with a class. Evernote works on all platforms and devices. You can create notebooks that you can share or search. My main use - web clipping (without leaving the webpage), emailing an article (it has a built in email address that will save items directly to your notebooks). 

On my iPad I use many of the same programs ( for obvious reasons  - they sync). Pages, Keynote, Calendar, Evernote. Another one that I now find indispensable is Goodreader. I had thIs app for about 6 months before I saw the value in it. At first I just couldn't see what the fuss was. Now I use it for any document or PDF I need. I make folders for the different subjects or topics - save any related pdf’s, documents etc. It’s my first search for any “documents” I want on the ipad. 

Daily Notes is one I use for day to day brief notes of importance. I have set up a batch of tabs labeled “Week 1; Week 2” etc. I make notes about parent meetings, student behavior etc. Because it is related to a calendar - “week 1” can be used for Term 1; 2 ; 3 etc -. This way I have a record of brief important school related notes etc that can be accurate to dates etc. 

The trouble (advantage !) of ipads is the uses they have - school administration; record keeping; apps for students direct use; apps for making material for students; Professional reading; goofing off with a book or game. So when we start this debate - what exactly are the boundaries ? So the next few are for classroom use but not subject apps. More - what I  utilize in the classroom. The first one is Showme. If you like the Khan Academy approach - you will love this one. You can make little blackboard videos, with voice on how to do something (say like - how do I divide by tens ?). The little video can be replayed by the student on the ipad as many times as they like (until they get it). You can also embed these in a website or blog. The next Smart Notebook. Exactly like the Notebook software on the interactive whiteboards. Because the ipad doesn’t do flash - not everything will display exactly the same. But considering most teachers use the IWB as a whiteboard/overhead projector - this app has the advantage of you taking the board to the student. A similar one to this is Educreations.

Another handy one is Splashtop2  This one will mirror your computer (regardless which operating system is open). You can walk around the room with the ipad controlling what is appearing on your computer/smartboard etc. Works well - very handy. Edmodo is of course a firm favourite for my virtual classroom. Available on all formats but I tend to use the ipad app. The students of course use the computer based web interface.

When it comes to personal use the list becomes endless. But a few I will mention are; 

Zite: great for organizing your professional/ personal  reading. Make your own magazine type internet reading. I use it all the time.

iTunes U: It really is a great learning tool. 

National Geographic Today: Great if you like photography or a NG reader. Can be used with the students as well. 

There are heaps more I use and a lot more I experiment with (and don’t go back to - although they might be perfectly fine), but these basically constitute my daily list of useable apps and my workflow. Not very exotic - but I have found after experimenting with a lot - these are the ones I come back to.

One - I forgot to mention - which is a God send for printing from the iPad - HandyPrint (use to be called "AirPrint Activator"). You load this program on your computer - which allows your iPad to print to any printer associated to that computer (wireless or plugged in). I have used this for printers both at home and at work (same laptop). Works everytime - especially for those of us that don't have new airprint  printers.

"The Bold and the Beautiful" - Inspiring Youth

Sometimes us “older or more experienced ” people can get a little cynical about up and coming younger expertise. We can yawn widely and say “ yeah  - seen that” or “not fully thought out - so won’t really last”. 

I must admit I get excited and stimulated  by younger people who either appear to have their @#$ together or come up with some enthusiastic and original idea. I had the privilege  of working with two young teachers who had their craft together so well, and displayed such enthusiasm for the job that they were granted  with awards for excellence in teaching within the first 5 years of teaching. They certainly deserved it.

When we look at what is thrown at us in the media - I often wonder what sort of society we are striving for. There is a strong desire to become famous - for “being famous” - and someone has to be “voted out” to make your achievement worthwhile. Sounds like I need a Bex and a good lay down ! But - thankfully not all youth see the world that way. I would like to share some of the youth I have come across (not personally) who I find quite stimulating.

The first one is a young man who I have followed since he was 15. Joey Lawrence is a young Canadian who has a keen eye for the visual. I first came across him on a photographic site -  dpchallenge. Young Joey was competing with the grown ups (and winning ) with a reasonably cheap camera. He was a master of both photoshop and photography at quite an early age. The thing I loved about this kid was he wasn’t afraid to experiment. He also made little videos with his friends and posted them for people to look at. I tipped at the time (and I still feel this will happen) that this guy will someday be a very well renowned film maker. One day (as a 16 yr old - I think ) his camera got broken/lost/stolen - can’t remember which, but he decided to make a DVD of his photoshop techniques and sell it (for $25) to people on dpchallenge to raise money for a new camera.  It , of course was an instant hit - and gave him money for a new camera. The rest is history  (which I will fill you in on in a moment). As an educationalist - this boy intrigued me. Although I think he thought his formal education was rather immaterial to where he was going in life , I couldn’t help feeling - if I taught this boy - I would be extremely proud of where he was going - he had the concept of “life long learning”. Isn’t this what we are trying to achieve ? It isn’t about what academic qualification - it’s about a curiosity to life - a desire to learn new things. This is the real world ! Not the one judged on whether you have your Masters in Educational theory or macramé !

Joey started to get a reputation for himself and picked up work in the US as a professional photographer. A lot of the younger people would be aware of his work as he did the promotional posters for the “Twilight” movies. He started to travel a lot - visiting far off and remote locations. He developed a “National Geographical “ type interest in portraiture but unlike the approach of someone like Steve McCurry (remember the Afghan Girl - National Geographic) who took everything in natural light - Joey thought - “if I was to do a portrait of someone in the west , I would use studio lights to achieve the best outcome for myself and the subject. Why not do the same for the back woods warrior in the outback of Somalia ?” He went to very out of the way places carrying battery powered lighting to produce stunning images of people who would not be normally photographed in this manner. His work is certainly breath taking and inspirational. This young man seems to be living life to the fullest, following his dreams and continually evolving and learning. As an educator - these are the aspects I would love to instill in students. Unfortunately, we often fall short of the mark. 

See Joey's work here: http://www.joeyl.com/

The second young person to inspire me is a young lady from India. Shilo Shiv Suleman is an illustrator, storyteller and iPad book creator from Bangalore in Southern India.This young lady combines “conventional” art with technology in an interesting and beautiful way. This lady used the technology of the ipad to create a beautiful piece of art - combining  story telling, art, interactivity and technology. Her app ”Khoya " is a fantastic combination of all these aspects. Armed with pencils, paper and an ipad she has travelled India collecting and making art and story. As she says herself "I'm allowed to be a digital gypsy of sorts. My office can become a small little grove under a giant banyan tree." Shilo seems to have gained her resilience, enthusiasm and love of learning from her mother rather than any school situation. But then again, as educators we should be endeavoring to enhance, foster and encourage this style of learning. Have a look at her TED talk and play with her app “Khoya” and you will understand what I mean. A combination of the traditional, spiritual, artistic and digital - the new India.

The third young person I will mention is a young fellow from Newcastle (Australia) who has travelled the world (mainly in troubled spots) photographing the people affected by local events. Connor Ashleigh developed a strong sense of social justice when he went on a school excursion to Cambodia helping with house building. Maybe here we have a direct link to an effect generated by his formal education. I would like to think so, but with education we can never know for certain. Connor has combined digital storytelling with travel and a strong sense of social justice. He developed a love of photography on a visit to India. He has reported stories from the birth of a nation (Southern Sudan) to the suffering in Palestine and a slice of life from his own home town. 

http://conorashleigh.com

You may notice a personal theme here. These three people combine the visual, travel and a love of learning. They also combine these with a sense of sharing. They are educators in their own right. Joey L has made teaching DVD’s to help people master Photoshop as well as sharing techniques on his blog. Shilo has taught children art, shared her knowledge at TED talks as well as designing a fabulous teaching aid in the app “Khoya”. Connor has conducted classes sharing his stories as well as his images. He has presented classes to young High School students to help inspire and share techniques.

None of this really has any connection to the traditional classroom - but despite the shortcomings that we have to work with in education, at the end of the day we hope to give  our students a few basic skills (more attitudes than skills). To develop resilience, a love of learning, an ability to share a story  and a sense of connection with real people. These are the things I hope for my students. It has no connection what-so-ever to their NAPLAN results or academic qualifications. 

Can you imagine the classroom with these three ! “Joey - stop fiddling with the blind to see where the shadow falls ! Shilo - stop scribbling on the cover of your exercise book and Connor be quiet and stop chatting to Mary about her having no friends !”    Interesting ! 

Inspire, Innovate, Gary Stager

Last week I attended the 2012 ICT Inspire Innovate : Think Digit@lly,Teach Cre@tively & Transform Ped@gogy Conference (boy what a mouthful). This was run by the Department of Education -South Western Sydney Region. A huge range of workshops and provocative keynote speakers. It was a credit to the organisers. 

The aspect that really got my attention was the keynote speaker - Gary Stager. I hadn’t come across Gary before but had vaguely heard of some of his work. An American, who worked with a number of educational bodies worldwide. He had initial helped set up Australia’s first one on one laptop program in Melbourne in the early nineties. From the opening comments - this guy had me hooked. 

How - why did this guy appeal to me ? 
First of all he had a rounded view of education. Quite often technology driven educators start with the technology and the technology is the main aspect of their theory. Gary had a more rounded and inclusive view of education. The computer was just a tool (an essential  and powerful tool - yes - but just a tool) to bring about meaningful learning. He started from a platform of what he called “The Best Ideas in the World”. This combined a number of theories (some of them - nothing to do with technology) - such as Reggio Emilia , El Sistema, One Laptop, Big Picture, 826 Valenca etc. He came across as - what I call a “Humanist” educator. By this I mean an educator driven by the thought process. Generally emphasising  literature, poetry, arts, maths and Science. Generally considered old fashion education that has nothing to do with the “job” or “business” or short non-thinking type courses that education seems to heading towards. “If we teach them to think - how is that going to get them a job or give them a specific skill ?” As far as I can see - we can NEVER teach them what they need for a job. The present generation will have have 15 different jobs and will work at jobs that haven’t been invented. 
So what can we give them ? The ability to think, organise, adapt, resilience, create and a love of learning. 

I recently read the Steve Jobs biography and one of the things that hit me about him was that he was this sort of thinker. He wanted his objects to be as beautiful on the inside as out. He wasn’t just a computer geek (in fact he wasn’t one at all really) but had an interest in the artistic side of life as well. 

Gary Stager was quite a provocative speaker. A lot of what he said would challenge a lot of people. But he also made no apologies regarding his views. To give him credit - I think he has seen enough different educational settings, over a range of years to be able to make some conclusions about certain pushes in education. He was an advocate of “project based learning” - but projects had to be meaningful. He meant to the students. He was critical of the Apple approach to Challenge Based Learning. How many 10 year olds would really be interested in,  or relate to  “How can we make our city water supply better ?” The project had to be student based - not something grand and airy-fairy.

The best example I can think of is, recently my wife was in charge of her school’s Harmony Day activities (Harmony Day is a national push each year in Australia - to try and highlight inclusiveness and celebration of our cultural diversity). For weeks leading up to it the Stage 3 (10-12 yr olds) students and her ESL students  planned, organised and prepared for the day. They wrote and presented speeches, made posters, collected and practised games, organised the school in multi-aged groups. When the day arrived - it was totally student run. Students gave speeches, ran games and activities for the younger students, supervised and organised. The sense of achievement and pride of what they had done would last with them for life. It did involve some technology - but was a natural aspect - which required a purpose. Project based learning that was relative to them. This was the main point Gary Stager was making. Projects make memories. 

Gary was also against National Curriculum’s. It narrowed education. A National Curriculum  has been advocated for a number of years in Australia and will come to fruition in the next couple. 

He had many interesting comments to make regarding the one on one laptop program 20 years on. A few findings I found surprising.

* He emphasised that the creativity was in the software. The computers had to contain multimedia software that would enable the students to create - not an emphasis on network and wifi. He wasn’t a fan of ipads. To him - they were more a  consumer device than a creative device. 

* Laptops had to be given to all cohorts at once. Not a half grade here and half a grade there. One grade all got them - the other grade waited.

* Laptops had to be personal - therefore go home with students. He claimed that costs actually go down - because there is less  maintenance when the students control them.

* He found that a lot of IT departments and Educational bodies based their approach on control. How could they control the students and their equipment. This approach really had nothing to do with education.

* There is zero benefit in giving laptops to teachers first. This one surprised me - as I have been pushing to have laptops issued to the teachers. I thought if they had ownership it may encourage them to do more. Not according to Gary. His research found that they made a good teacher better, a great teacher greater and a bad teacher worse.

At the end of Gary’s presentation I was hungry for more. I noticed he was presenting a workshop just after the keynote - so instead of going off to my alloted workshop I stayed to hear more. 

You can read about more of his work at 

http://stager.org/

iBooks, Textbooks, iBooks Author and Education.

Apple have come along and changed the game again. I must admit I was quite excited about the announcement today regarding the education aspect of what they are doing - for a number of reasons.

Firstly - I was pleased to see a commitment to Education by Apple. For many years Apple seemed to be embedded in Education and the creative side of computing (with Windows taking care of corporate and personal). That seemed to all change with the introduction of the iPod, iPhone and iPad. Suddenly their focus was personal items. Your iPhone, your iPad - if you can use it in the corporate or educational world - fantastic - let us know how you are doing it ? From day one, educators saw the potential of the iPad in education - but were more or less left to their own devices on how to utilise, deploy and administer them. Australia, for example is still waiting to obtain educational licensing for apps. I thought that todays announcement singled a return to at least some interest in education.

Secondly. To me the real power of the iPad was not going to be fully realised until teachers were able to construct their own apps or have a direct say in the materials that they wanted their students to use. Yes, you could construct your own apps but the skill needed was beyond most peoples ability and patience. Plus the waiting to see if it would be approved by apple.
Enter "iBook Author". This little gem will allow anybody to construct their own course material, with a minimum of fuss and deliver it directly to their students. My understanding at this stage is that you can construct your own ibook and put it through the ibook store (with apple's approval) or simply deploy it directly to any iPad under your administration. This has to be the biggest break through for educators since the iPad was introduced. iBook Author i is a "Pages" type program that allows you to construct your own ibooks including video, audio, interactive media, keynotes etc. It has the same layout as Pages - therefore is very easy for anyone familiar with iWorks to operate. Just what we have been waiting for. I also wonder if it is going to be the introduction of a new iWorks (iWorks 2012 ) ? It even has a preview - which allows you to link to your iPad or iPhone to see what the end product will look like. After trying to construct ePubs through Pages 09 - this is a very welcome feature. You need to use iBooks Author on a mac running Lion. There has been some early criticism over having to run it on a mac and the end result being only usable on the iPad (not Android) - but hey - what do you expect Apple to do !

Thirdly, related to number two, having actual book companies coming on board to construct actual text books that will be usable in the education environment. Most companies see this as a good thing and are willing to invest the time and resources into producing quality, usable texts. This was something I expected when the iPad was first released , but never really happened. It does seem that now this will finally get under way. Quite a number of publishing houses have come on board and hopefully the number will grow.

The next aspect that excited me - was that of iTunes U . I had been an extensive user of iTunes U but it always seemed like it was buried away and not often updated. I was pleased to see it now has it's own app for the iPad. It stores any podcasts you have downloaded. This elevates it's profile - therefore I will assume a lot more material will start to appear - and relative to other countries outside of the United States.

All in all an exciting day for educators. While the bulk of the population will wonder "where is the new iPad?' or "what are the new specs of the new mac pro?" - educators will be excited about todays releases (at least I am). New iBook app ; iTunes U app ; publishers on board for text book publication and iBook Author program for mac - to construct your own interactive ibook material.

Let's now see how the year pans out.