A theory of stupid
Instead of focusing on the “evil” of the messaging or the messenger, we should be addressing the “stupidity” that causes people to subscribe to these ideas in the first place. Continue reading A theory of stupid
Category: pedagogy
Know Your Students
Photo by Ben Wicks on Unsplash He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata he tangata he tangata!What is the most important thing in the world? It is people it is people it is people! The image at … Continue reading Know Your Students
Computing our future
I've been privileged to be attending the Google CS Outreach Partners Summit in Sydney over the past couple of days where the conversations have focused on how we can promote computational thinking and coding in our schools for students of all ages. It's a timely visit, particularly as the Hour of Code is gaining momentum currently around the world. Lots of reference has been made at the Summit to the Australian Federal Government's recent announcement that they will spend almost $1.1 billion in the next four years to promote business-based research, development and innovation, which includes money to be set aside to … Continue reading Computing our future
Does ICT assist learning?
The latest report from the OECD titled Students, Computers and Learning: Making the Connection has attracted lots of attention in the past week. The report’s main claim is that computers do not improve student results, and news feeds around the world have picked up on this using headlines suggesting school technology struggles to make an impact and schools are wasting money on computers for kids. Lying behind the headlines are revelations that technology in the classroom leads to poorer performance among pupils is that it can be distracting and that syllabuses have not become good enough to take make the most of the technologies available. … Continue reading Does ICT assist learning?
Makerspaces
The buzz words around many areas of education at the moment include STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) and the Maker Movement – both of which emphasise 'hands-on' learning and 'learning by doing', emphasising engagement in real world problems and the use of design principles and approaches. This interest has been building for some time now – Mark Osborne discusses the Maker Culture in CORE's Ten Trends in 2014, noting that active learning increases the rate of learning faster than passive learning. Simply watching others build or make things fire up parts of our brain that are left untouched by … Continue reading Makerspaces
Tech-enabled personalised learning
I've just been browing a new report A new report tiled "Technology-Enabled Personalized Learning: Findings and Recommendations to Accelerate Implementation," from the US. The report is based on the recommendations and observations of over 100 educators who gathered last year for the TEPL summit at North Carolina State University's Friday Institute for Educational Innovation. It summarises advice and insight on how to use technology to facilitate personalized learning, and seeks to help users work towards goals based around: data, content and curriculum, technology architecture, research and development, and human capacity. It's always interesting to read this sort of document, particularly as it has been developed … Continue reading Tech-enabled personalised learning
Thinking about engagement…
It's official… excellent teachers, supported by gifted and visionary school leaders, keep students engaged in the learning process and hopeful about their future. These are two of the crucial outcomes the recent Gallup Student Poll measures. I was speaking with a school principal yesterday who is working to develop his school's strategic focus for next year. Placing student achievement as the overarching priority for the school, his focus moved to student engagement as the critical success factor for the cohort in his school. Our discussion then moved to what the indicators of engagement might be that he and his staff could … Continue reading Thinking about engagement…
The conflict continues…
It had to happen… after decades of pursuing 'modern learning practices' in developed nations, the pendulum appears to be swinging (in the UK at least) back to adopting the age-old approach of 'chalk and talk' as the pedagogical approach of choice. And the reason – that this is the approach found in China where the students are achieving on average at a higher rate than their western counterparts. It all seems a quite straight forward argument really – particularly when eminent educational researchers are quoted thus.., Professor Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at Buckingham … Continue reading The conflict continues…
Blended learning special report
Education Week have just released their latest issue focusing on Blended Learning. With all of the initiatives being promoted in schools currently it's a very timely publication with a number of articles providing perspectives on what works, what doesn't and what to consider when thinking about introducing things like BYOD, 'flipped classrooms', pedagogical change etc. I found the article titled "Bringing Blended Learning Home No Easy Task" of particular relevance to what's happening here in NZ. The challenges associated with ensuring access to devices and the internet for all students is something that is high on the agenda of Minister … Continue reading Blended learning special report
An Introduction to Technology Integration
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d59eG1_Tt-Q?version=3&hl=en_US&w=420&h=230%5D Edutopia have just released the video above to illustrate how effective technology integration is achieved when its use supports curricular goals. I'm always on the lookout for clips like this that may be helpful in my work with teachers, and like so many I've watched, this reminds me of how difficult it is for us as educators to constructively and effectively find the words to explain and describe what's being acheived with technology for a broad audience. The video begins with Salmar Khan, founder of the Khan Academy, describing his excitement about how technology is now transforming what we … Continue reading An Introduction to Technology Integration