I pretty sure that this text response should go on another place, such as my mentors blog but I'll put it here for now.
The reading is in the American context so there are some considerable differences in the way both our educational systems operate.
The American Common Core Standards referred to in the reading are similar to ours but are nowhere near as rigorous as AusVELS. Take for example yr 7 English. We have standards for Reading, Writing, speaking and Listening and each descriptor is subdivided into Language Literature and Literacy, a total list of 31 standards. The American Common Core Standards for Yr 7 English cover Key Ideas and Details, Craft and Structure, Integration of Knowledge and Ideas and Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity. Their standards total 10.
Traditionally we have been a number of years behind the USA in terms of educational progress. However this paper shows we are holding our own quite well in regard to the use of digital technologies in the classroom. As this paper was written in 2012 and presented in 2013, in digital terms it is aging quickly.
The five transformative factors mentioned in the paper that are driving change can be related to Australian conditions.
- Our VELS provided good digital pathways right from the beginning when it was introduced. There was concern that teachers would have a vastly differing appreciation of the effective attainment levels in the dimensions of ICT for visualising thinking, ICT for creating and ICT for communicating. And this can be related to the standards as a whole; namely what is the qualitative expectation? The new digital technologies (yet to be released) will proved to be far more rigorous and prescriptive in terms of the type of thinking that is required for the digital age.
- Internet connectivity is a massive issue. Our school regularly overshot our Internet usage by over 100% and the Department provided connection was proven to be inadequate. Web pages froze and timed out regularly. Students and Teachers were frustrated. The only way forward was to purchase our own bandwidth which is what we did. It was a heavy ($30,000 pa) but necessary cost. Most other Secondary schools we know of did the same thing.
- Funding is also an important factor. Greater dependency on Internet technology certainly brings better parent, student, school communication paths but the cost is great. Compass is a great tool in this regard but costs us about $40,000 pa. A more refined LMS like Quanta will certainly enhance the collection of better data but come at a cost. And lets not forget the cost of upgrading infrastructure like aging servers, switches and wireless access points as well as the upgrading of CAT 6 cabling to fiber … and the list goes on.
- As mentioned above, digital solutions like Compass enhance school to home communications in ways never thought possible. Last year we made reports available as a PDF download and only printed reports if requested. It used to take us a full weekend to photocopy and collate the reports, ready for distribution. Now it takes a few hours for one person to post all reports online.
- Business will always scream out for more digitally literate workers. I think it is more important for schools to prepare students to be lifelong learners and to know how to take charge of their own learning.
In the charts 1 and 2 which describe the case for digital conversions which are happening today hardly bear comment as the findings are not surprising. Yes, as an attitude it is perceived that the use of technology is important to student success. Yes, all indicators show Principals and teachers all value digital tools as important in supporting personal professional growth.
The table 1 showing the perceived major obstacles teachers faced in using technology at school are all normal reactions. There are not enough computers for students to use, school filters and firewalls are still an issue (but less so if the school can unblock sites) there is never enough professional development available and there are external educational authorities which interfere in school needs. We in Australia can relate to most of these and will continue to do so for some time yet.
The issue of mobile devices, like the student owned smartphone, is interesting. The cost of data plans will continue to drop and the bandwidth speed will continue to increase. Students will use these if schools make the access to materials and resources (like facebook) difficult. They will take charge. But I have issue with phones as learning devices. I realise you can get phones with big screens but they are still hopeless at reading text and getting information off web sites. They will answer the need in an emergency but for regular use? I don’t think so. Tablets are OK and they can be connected to the phone’s data plan so a cheap $50 tablet may be the way to go.
The notion of the ‘flipped classroom’ is also an interesting one. Imagine if all teachers practiced flipping their classes. Student’s homework load would become unbearable. I can only see this working where there is a radical transformation in a schools use of digital technology to the point where the timetable is reduced to afternoon programs and students are completely self directed.
In my mind the biggest issue for the future is the amount of change teachers must embrace if they are to stay current. It is no quirk of data that in Chart 7 teachers reacted quite differently to parents, principals and administrators on the question of ‘Should Teachers’ Evaluations Include an Assessment of Technology Usage?’ From my experience they know that they could do more to be digitally literate. Yet their major constraint is lack of time to be trained. Our educational system has worked out perfectly how much time a teacher needs to prepare, teach and assess their students. It is designed to make sure there is very little slack time. But it is built on an old model which worked fine in days gone past. Why should a teacher burn their own time learning digital skills which they are not sure will make them any better at teaching than the traditional methods which are working just fine right now. The challenge may well be getting past the level of digital action where a teacher says “OK kids, put it in a Word document and email it to me ….“
The best PD days we have run is where we have surveyed staff in the areas they would like to learn. We then compile a list of the most popular activities and post a join up list. Staff have reacted positively to this but the trick is to get them to maintain their newly acquired skills. They may be interested in learning about Edmodo, for example, but if they don’t use it or they have a problem accessing it the learning will wash out and the training will be wasted.
Hi Phil, your detailed and considered response can go here - as this blog takes on the role of your learning journal tracking your thinking and reflections over the course. You can mirror or expand or take excerpts of your thinking and respond to your mentor group discussion and also reflect, respond and interact with your PLN there.
ReplyDeleteI wonder whether or not there needs to be a reframing of how teachers see themselves and how they understand and enact their own key pedagogical philosophies rather than their ICT skills?
I think teachers need good ICT skills to underpin a pedagogical philosophy that focuses (for example) on students metacognitive and self awareness. To illustrate this; we require students to build ePortfolios using Google sites. We do this so that students can fully own their site, add to it when they need to, share it with others and take it with them when they leave. An important part of the ePortfolio is for students to use it to reflect on their learning and think about how to improve their learning strategies in the future. The emphasis is not on the tool but on the learning that comes from it. It is my plan that teachers across the school will utilize the eportfolio and encourage students to put good examples of work there.
DeleteHi Phil, It's no problem putting your response here but as Nikki has suggested it would be great to mirror or reflect it in the group blog as this will give othwers a chance to reflect and respond to your thoughts and ideas.
ReplyDeleteYour raise some interesting and relevant points, many of which I'm sure are widely held by educators not only in our system but globally. These are real challenges!
As you suggested with the use of mobile phones, students will take charge if we don't provide the effective use of digital environments for learning and in many ways they already are, and not just with phones. Your highlighting of the challenges of preparing teachers for learning in the digital age is a critical one. The reality is, many teachers may never have the time to "learn" to use the digital technologies in an already crowded teaching landscape, so perhaps we need to start thinking of exposing teachers to the possibilities created when students are given more choice as to how they articulate their learning whilst leveraging digital tools. It does require a reimagining of the classroom, but may not require that the teacher knows all?
This certainly involves a deeper understanding and articulation of teachers own pedagogical philosophies.
This might seem like a dumb question but where is the group blog?
ReplyDelete