Selling all over the place… November 2, 2008
Posted by mrsuds in School Visits.trackback
I have been much travelled over the past two weeks, with only one full day each week spent at home working. Somewhat ironic when you consider the techonology that is available to cut down time and distance, but sometimes you need to just get into the schools and build relationships face to face.
The main purpose for most of these visits was to present to staff on eLearning and collaboration – a continuation of the “Selling an Idea” promotion to staff that I have already been blogging on.
This is the first time I have blogged for a while and there are so many things I want to reflect on, so I am going to quickly generalise on the visits – they include Amuri Area School, Cheviot Area School, Oxford Area School and Mackenzie College.
The presentation seemed to go well in each school, and provoked varied and interesting discussion. Time was an issue that came of course. While I am sympathetic to teachers with this, I think it is time to just get and do it, rather than accept barriers. The reality is it is a question of priorities for many teachers and eLearning just isn’t at the top of the list…or even half way up. It is absolutely imperative this attitude changes, otherwise schools face becoming even more out of touch with the modern world.
Another barrier that was mentioned was internet connection, which isn’t that fabulous at some schools. This is something I can’t do anything about, but it’s important that teachers persevere. If things go wrong in a session (as they are bound to on occasion) keep on trucking – don’t get put off. Hopefully fibre optic cable will start coming our way soon and that will put paid to slow connection speed!
No presentation at Cheviot and Mackenzie – just caught up with leadership and other key people.
I met with the two eTeachers at Cheviot and gave them feedback on a recent observation I had done. I’m keen to move our teachers to one VC session each week, rather than two, but I may have to wait until they get some more training on the Moodle. I can see how two contact sessions are helpful for some subjects, but overall I think we are justing cutting down on the time students have to actually complete the work.
Mackenzie College have their own Moodle site, which the principal is pushing. I am going in soon to give staff PD. Any Moodle experts out there have some ideas on what to focus on in a 1 1/2 hour session for newbies?
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