Selling in Hawarden September 15, 2008
Posted by mrsuds in Uncategorized.1 comment so far
Today I visited Hurunui College in Hawarden. For two reasons really. The first was to give some PD to two of the teachers using Moodle, and the second was to give the presentation on eLearning to the staff. The school is currently rebuilding it’s staff/admin block and it’s looking great (photo of staffroom above). They have a new VC room being developed as part of the refurbishment, so can’t wait to see it finished.
The two hours I spent with two teachers with only the most basic of ICT knowledge was interesting. We only really covered the set up of your course, using the editor and uploading files. It’s interesting, because I had a comment from a teacher using Moodle that for most teachers, it would be like climbing a ladder starting at the middle rung.
I have two responses to that. One – I don’t think Moodle is that hard to use. In fact it’s relatively easy. It’s just that it’s a totally different tool to what teachers have been using. Imagine picking up Microsoft Word for the first time again. It would take a long time to orientate yourself. That’s what teachers need – time to get familiar with the environment. Once you have that, the rest comes quite easily. Two – There is nothing wrong with learning to use something that is a bit more challenging. We seem to have this idea that we must learn the basics before we can move on, but that’s not the case. I worked with a teacher last year who really wanted to learn how to edit video so she could compile her own movies to use in class. She didn’t have many of the basic IT skills we advocate, but because she really wanted to learn this, she did. Within a couple of weeks she had made a video that consited of excerpts from three different versions of Macbeth, with questions that popped up overthe top.
I do think we tend to understimate our teachers in terms of ICT. So often we expect the least from them in terms of learning or using ICT. Now would that be acceptable with our students?
Selling ideas September 11, 2008
Posted by mrsuds in OLE, PD.3 comments
Yesterday I travelled to Twizel Area School to deliver the first of eleven presentations to Cantatech schools. What we are trying to achieve is to sell an idea – that is the educational possibilties of online technologies. Our main focus for that is the Cantatech Moodle site, but there are numerous web 2.0 technologies that are extremely useful for engaging learners. I (obviously) love the use of blogs and think they offer so much with so little effort.
As I said, the main focus is to introduce Moodle without going into the details. Anyone who is interested can get on and investigate, but we are saving the PD push for later.
Only half the staff were there, because of sporting trips, but it was well received and there was some excellent discussion. There is no doubt most staff are very keen to learn, but the perceived stumbling block is time . The very keen ones will find a way to learn and progress, but a significant block of school time should be put aside for learning these technologies and how they can be used to engage learners.
The English teacher had a chat with me for an hour after the presentation. He was very keen to try something new to freshen up his teaching and was keen on blogs. I suggested a few ways he could use a blog with his students and pointed him in the direction of edublogs. It will be interesting to see how he goes.
When I do a presentation I try to make it visual, with clear ideas and little text. I also enjoy using movies, because I think they can give the same message in a far more interesting way. The presentation was made using open office, but I decided to convert it to a quick movie as well. This was mainly because an embedded PPT is not going play the movies. Unfortunately I need the movie to get it under ten minutes so it fits on Youtube – so here is the embedded presentation instead. A few movies would play at various points and the final thought came from Ken Robinson.
Anyone got some good tutorials or links for teachers new to blogging?
21st Century Learning September 4, 2008
Posted by mrsuds in NZ Curruculum.Tags: NZ Curriculum
2 comments
Yesterday Darfield High School hosted a presentation that ran across two elearning clusters – Cantatech and AorakiNet. The presentation was delivered by Rachel Bolstad, a researcher from the NZCER. Amongst other things, Rachel has researched and published on the revised New Zealand Curriculum. Since all our schools are currently preparing for this major change, I thought it might be an opportune time to hold an ‘event’ like this. Rachel kindly agreed and away we went.
You can view the presentation below, but the general gist of it was on what a 21st century curriculum might look like. There were some excellent insights, but I think the key message was that existing curriculums, especially, in secondary schools, just don’t cut it. If schools, and learning areas, think that just tinkering with existing programmes will do the trick they really need to think again. The New Zealand Curriculum signals major change, but I can already see that many schools are struggling to deal with the practicalities of this. Some are asking for models of what it might look like, but there are no models. That is the point though - this is school based curriculum design. It is a curriculum for your school, your students, your parents and your community – not someone elses. To me it needs to be approached from the ground up with a clean slate and an open mind. Hard work – but boy it’s exciting!
Like the metaphors Rachel!
My f*#!%ing goosebump story September 4, 2008
Posted by mrsuds in Uncategorized.Tags: 21st century, curriculum, Moodle
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I recently stumbled across Tomaz’s “Human” blog. Tomaz is a passionate Moodler and teacher living and working “across the ditch” in Australia. As someone new to Moodle his blog has been another goldmine for me. But it was his most recent post that really resonated with me. It is probably the best blog post I have read this year and one where he really lays bare the environment in which he works. It is the sort of environment that I am not that familar with, but his musings on ICT and how it can act as an agent for change are close to my heart. My background is Social Science – History, Classical Studies and Social Studies my main subjects. My real passion is teaching and learning and approaches to it. I started using ICT back in 1999 (my first year of teaching) and it has grown since – but only because I see how it can change, not only pegagogy, but also the bigger picture in terms of education. It raises major questions about existing systems and strucures in secondary schools. The current rate of technological development is quickly leaving secondary education behind and if things don’t change (and lets hope the revised curriculum does facilitate this) then secondary schools could become redundant.
How do we bring about this change and how do we persuade staff who have become so institutionalised they never question the effectiveness of their teaching?
