Photo by Rodion Kutsaiev on Unsplash In my previous post I shared the responses made to five questions asked by my friend and colleague, Nick Billowes, about hybrid learning as he was pondering the future for schools in 2023. I can now reveal the truth behind these responses… they were 100% generated by the AI, ChatGPT Having read much about ChatGPT over the past two months, Nick and I decided to actually give it a go and see just how easy to use ChatGPT is, and how accurate the information provided is (particularly given the many reports about the limitations of this technology). … Continue reading Hybrid Learning and ChatGPT

Photo by Rodion Kutsaiev on Unsplash My friend and colleague, Nick Billowes, recently asked five questions about hybrid learning as he was pondering the future for schools into 2023. Here are his questions and responses: What is the potential of applying practices of hybrid learning within a schooling educational context as we look to new ways of rekindling learner engagement? Hybrid learning, which combines in-person and online instruction, has the potential to rekindle learner engagement in a schooling educational context. By utilizing online resources, such as videos, interactive activities, and virtual simulations, students can have more control over their learning … Continue reading Hybrid Learning pt.1

Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash Please complete the simple survey at the bottom of this post to help me understand more about what is driving and what is getting in the way of transformational change in our educational system, at all levels from government to the local school context. Over recent months readers of this blog will have noticed that I have focused a lot on the issue of transformation and change in our education system. My last post titled ‘the time is now‘ highlights the strength of the call for some fundamental shifts towards a more radical and … Continue reading Roadblocks and Drivers

It would appear that there are many education systems around the world that are beginning to think this way – perhaps finally realising that our education systems are no longer fit for purpose, despite decades of attempts at incremental change and policy re-alignment. There appears now to be calls for a fundamental shift towards a more radical and transformational view of what education could be and can become. Continue reading The Time is Now

Image: Derek Wenmoth This week marked the conclusion of the Tai Tokerau Hybrid Learning project involving a number of schools in the Far North. I’ve had the privilege of being involved throughout the project since its initial design earlier in the year. The image above was taken yesterday as the teachers involved shared their experiences over the past months, highlighting the things they’ve learned from the experiments they have tried. The Tai Tokerau Hybrid Learning project was an initiative of the Northern Region Ministry of Education who invited two schools to explore and report on strategies that support the work … Continue reading 8 insights for achieving resilience

“We need transformation, not reform. Reform produces a better version of the current system, transformation produces a different system” (Dr Asmaa Al-FadalaDirector of Research, World Innovation Summit for Education) I’ve just been reading the latest WISE All-in Report: Number 2 – Education Reimagined: Leadership for Transformation – Leading into the Emerging Future. It contains 23 brief case studies with lessons learned, research evidence and findings. These showcase innovation in leadership, policy and practice on how emerging models teaching and learning can be developed and led from the inside-out—and demonstrate the power of distributed empowerment and transformative leadership The following notes … Continue reading Reform vs Transformation

“We owe almost all our knowledge not to those who have agreed but to those who have differed.” Charles Caleb Colton Over the past few days I’ve seen a lot of conversation generated as a result of the recently released paper from Dr Michael Johnson of the New Zealand Initiative titled No Evidence, No Evaluation, No Exit , subtitled “Lessons from the “Modern Learning Environments” Experiment.” Of course, headlines like this are always bound to attract attention – which is why they are so constructed. They’re intended to be provocative, challenging and position-taking. This, it may be argued, is what … Continue reading Acting on evidence