Week 3 - DCL Virtual/AR & Implementing Technology Innovation in the Classroom

Week 3 - DCL - Virtual and Augmented Reality and Innovations

Starting to feel frustrated as the demands of classroom teaching is not allowing me the time I want to really get 'stuck' into all this new learning. However I am telling myself that one thing at a time to try out. This week was the exciting discovery of Augmented Reality. This really feels like I'm discovering new frontiers that are quite mind boggling but definitely feel right in terms of my teaching. So a quick summary of my learning thus far for week 3.

Augmented Reality: Simply explained for myself is the enhancement to a flat experience e.g. reading a book or viewing a painting using interactive content.  Kicked started by image recognition by a mobile device the digital content provide a layer of new information.


Once I navigated the always frustrating experience of new technology I tried out AR using simple classroom context - sight words. I drew the word 'can' in a colourful and patterned way, videoed an overlay of me saying can, spelling can and using it in a sentence. Was thrilled when it worked and immediately could see the potential engagement and enhanced learning for my students.

Now I'm playing around with the idea of creating an interactive wall display using my students recent butterfly drawings using Austin's Butterfly as our example. I'm thinking I will get each student talk to their first and final draft using a series of prompts. Then I will create an aura for each picture. Potentially these will go into their final publishing books with parents able to use Aurasma to view their child talking about their work.

The other key learning was more a revisiting/reminder of the Pedagogical Models used to assist our understanding when we design, develop or infuse digital learning experiences for our students. I have looked at the two models we were shown. SAMR and TPACK. I find I can better understand the SAMR model with it's four levels: Substitution, Augmentation, Modification and Redefintion.

My starting point with this model is always to ask myself "Can I substitute this with pen and paper?  If the answer is yes then I need to do more thinking around the benefit of trying to move up the levels in terms of time, effort, purposeful learning for the student.

I found I was easily able to give feedback to the group activity using Google Earth. I rated their task at the Augmentation level as the use of Google Earth provided some functional improvement. It was quicker to find the information that was asked of us. However it was still a question and answer task.

So my goals for this week are.

1. Created my Interactive Wall Display using Aurasma. I will spend this week questioning and filming my students with some prompts and key questions about their learning and mindset growth. 
2. Introduce my students to creating a word cloud as they give me their key vocab around the Perseverance Mindset task of Austin's Butterfly.

I wish myself luck!!

Our group challenge for week 2 was to work collaboratively to using the ITL rubrics. These represent an important skill for students to develop. Ours was Skilled communication which consisted of an overview of key concepts and related examples; a rubric to level the development of a given skill gained from a learning activity and finally a flowchart to determine the best level of that development.

Here I was introduced to the concept of Extended Communication versus Multi-Modal.

Extended communication requires the student to produce communication that represents a set of connected ideas e.g. a piece of writing with complete paragraphs or a sequence of of video/podcast.

Multi-Modal is the inclusion of more than one type of communication mode or toll to communicate a coherent message e.g. a photo embedded into a blog post. I've used Multi-Modal communication to myself within this reflective blog.

So to our challenge. Once we came up with a contexual problem that we could all relate to - bullying in the playground we struggled to gain a flow to our communication using multiple tools. In hindsight and further reading I think I've realised that Multi Modal can mean using for instance a blog with other modes to add depth to the presentation. We  thought that using a series of technological devices - iPads, then google docs was Multi Modal but no. Their use within a presentation makes it Multi Modal.

Ironically once we used the rubric flow chart we began to get a flow going with our planning, script and filming.How very disappointing when our clip came to play. We had made the classic error of not recording close enough to the microphone so when it came time to present to the rest of the class.
I'm predicting that no one in our group will make that mistake again and I'm sure we will explicitly teach this important lesson about volume to our future students. YIKES!!!!!!

So what have I taken on from week 2's readings, clips and collaborative task. The skills needed for Future Teaching and Learning in the Present are transferable inside the classroom and outside - in fact across most aspects of our lives - personal & professional.

Week 3 - LDC - Implementing Technology Innovation in the Class

This week we will look at what should the overall goal of education be, with a focus on building Adaptive Competence. In simple terms, it may be defined as the “capacity to respond” within “bounded parameters”. The ability to apply meaningfully learned knowledge and skills flexibly and creatively in different situations as opposed to routine expertise: being able to complete typical school tasks quickly and accurately but without understanding.

I had a chance to teach a skill that builds on this Adaptive Competence when we looked at 'Austin's Butterfly' and how student's can learn the core belief that with perseverance learning can happen for every student. The process of learning took up to 2 weeks for all the class to finish. However I found I could apply the language and lesson to so many other areas of learning e.g. writing or Tball. More importantly the students were going home and talking about it to their parents as well as thinking about Perseverance in the class. 

Class Notes:

How do we create an education system where learning is no longer the variable that is framed by the constant of a dated delivery model and restrictive learning times. Knowledge is now available everywhere, 24 hours a day so new models of education must recognise learning as a constant with delivery modes and learning times as the variables.

While I can see the Flipped classroom or more flexible times working for older students I struggle with my mindset since I teach new entrants/year 1s. I find they need structure and routines and of course I equate that with a more rigid, industrial model of teaching.

Bringing education into the modern world will require increasing deconstruction of known models and the breaking down traditional silos. It is only when we turn the traditional model inside out that we will really be able to offer true education advancement.

I also wonder if the mindset of parents as well as my own needs to be deconstructed from our own school day learning models. For example parents often request traditional spelling homework even though we teachers know who effective digital devices can be for practise and maintenance. (Hattie).

Technology Changing How Students Learn, Teachers Say

New York Times Article

• There is a widespread belief among teachers that students’ constant use of digital technology is hampering their attention spans and ability to persevere in the face of challenging tasks, according to two surveys of teachers being released on Thursday. 
• “Are we contributing to this?” Ms. Molina-Porter said. “What’s going to happen when they don’t have constant entertainment?”
• Other teachers said technology was as much a solution as a problem. Dave Mendell, 44, a fourth-grade teacher in Wallingford, Pa., said that educational video games and digital presentations were excellent ways to engage students on their terms. Teachers also said they were using more dynamic and flexible teaching styles.

Some of these beliefs could be challenged by asking is it entertainment or engagement? Is it lack of attention or do digital devices provide visual, auditory and tactile in a quick efficient way that requires less time to take on board the information or learning? As this course progresses I realise more and more the educational value in well researched educational data. There can be a widespread belief amongst teachers but what evidence or data gathering is it based on. We know that teachers have opinions often based on there very very small world within one classroom - theirs.

White Paper from Stanford University Students (recommended reading)http://edf.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/Living_digitally_EDF_White_Papers_Fall2012.pdf

“The digital revolution in education is only one part of the larger digital transformation of modern life. Every contemporary institution—the family and intimacy, the workplace, the global financial system, politics, religion, and the organizational web of civil society—is being remade through digital media. So too is the character of the modern self.” 1 Prof. Roy Pea presented the recurrent themes that categorize the digital transformation of modern life. 

• Fact is that we are currently moving towards a world of increased overlap between these two spheres despite everyone's reservations regarding this convergence. It seems the question needs to shift from is it good or bad? to 
• How do we ensure it is good?

The theme Shifting Epistemology encompasses the ways in which the digital age will change the way knowledge is conceived and sourced.

• In the digital age, it is key for teachers “to teach their students that all that glitters is not gold, and all that is on Wiki is not truth(Albert Lim). We have the opportunity to “encourage and develop students as critical consumers of Knowledge.” And students who are “willing and able to take the time to sort through different versions of ‘truth’ may be more involved and active participants in the process (of learning) rather than passive recipients of knowledge” (Hallie Fox).

The above statements resonate with me because I have a pragmatic approach to our digital world. It is here, it is here to stay and we need to look at ways to 'ensure it is good.' Railing against all that is supposedly lost such as face to face interactions  because of technology is not going to 'fix' or improve the problems or challenges. As an educator I have the ideal opportunity to ensure it is good and teach them to become critical consumers of Knowledge.

Adaptive Competence

https://app.themindlab.com/course/release/229-week-3-ldc-implementing-technology-innovation-in-the-classroom

The dominant space for human action in the age of knowledge – work

In simple terms, it may be defined as the “capacity to respond” within “bounded parameters”.

• Generative Competence is the capacity of an individual to respond freely and creatively to a challenge
• Delivered Competence, on the other hand, is the capacity to deliver a certain set of predictable results using skills and processes in predefined and specific ways
• Adaptive Competence is the space in-between. It represents the continuum between these two extremes of pure creativity and pure process. In the space called Adaptive Competence, responses are creative but within boundaries, results are predictable but with space for interpretation – people are capable of executing, yet are given the space to innovate. This space called Adaptive Competence may become the dominant space for human action in the age of knowledge-work and sustained innovation

Weekly Task - Design a learning activity using either Google Earth or Google Maps informed by SAMR or TPACK.

Cross Country Training Course

Introduction

Whaea Deb

Mr May wants to redesign the practice course for the Year 5 and 6 classes. He wants the course to be 2 kilometres or less. Use Google Maps to plot out a course that leaves St Columba’s Catholic Primary School, Hamilton and then returns back to school.

Criteria:

1. identify 2 safety considerations you made  
2. identify spots where adults will be positioned AND explain your reasoning
3. Justify why this should be the course the Year 5 and 6 classes use

Week 2 - 21st Century Skills and Key Competencies/Reflective Practise and Key Competencies in Leadership

Week 2 - DCL - 21st Century Skills

Considering my reflection "I've fallen into the teaching trap of doing what has always been done by teaching with the industrial model as my guide." this week's quote was timely and succinct. 

Some of the you tube clips for class preparation were interesting and thought provoking. 

Innovative Teaching and Learning Research - Having never heard of this resource I am keen to further explore the possibilities for our school as we continued with the ICT journey. I was struck by this quote from 

”It’s time to act, to put these things into play and really take advantage of the potential for technology and what we’ve learned to really transform and renew education ecosystems around the world.”

                                                                      Maria Langworthy, Global Director, ITL, Microsoft Partners in Learning

Teaching in the 21^st Century

·         Challenging questions – if Teachers are simply providers or transmitters of Knowledge then are we obsolete since students can find information  whatever/whenever/wherever?

·         Teachers are NO longer the main source of information so how do we teach students to handle these resources?

Have they been shown how to:

o   Validate information.

o   Synthesize information

o   Leverage information

o   Communicate information

o   Collaborate with information

o   Problem solve with information

Week 2 - LDC - Reflective practice and Key Competencies in Leader

The value of these weekly reflections are they do have me question my doing and therefore my thinking. I realised that I automatically go the the DCL before I do the Leadership readings and tasks. I'm beginning to understand that is because I do not see myself as a leader especially given I've only been teaching for 2 years. So my thinking about the readings for this week.

Looking at the Key Competencies especially resonates with me. I can remember my first week of my teaching degree and the NZC was the first official document I was introduced to. I can remember leaving after the week feeling overwhelmed and not at all sure I would be able to do this study. I had to strip back to my purpose of why I wanted to teach. I then wrote out the NZC vision and had to pinned to my study wall for the 3 years. "Young people who will be confident, connected, actively involved, lifelong learners"

I was also very fortunate that my study with the University of Canterbury placed such an emphasis on the importance of the Key Competencies in our personal teaching philosophy and our planning. It seems to me that this forward thinking document that is the NZC was well ahead in terms of thinking about 21st Century teaching and learning.

So my thinking and reflections on this week's notes:
Class Notes:

• Learners are most likely to develop and strengthen their capabilities for living and learning when they learn with teachers in a school whose leadership creates conditions that stimulate key competencies. - " so far in my two years we have included the KCs in our staff discussions during PD but I would challenge whether we have had the opportunity to look at any/all in any details especially pertaining to our teaching."
• Giving effect to key competencies in ways that address their complexity will entail significant challenge and change.Effective leaders create the conditions required for key competencies in teaching and learning. They need to ensure that the culture, pedagogy, systems, partnerships, and networks in their school support key competency development.

Key Competencies in Leadership – Mary Anne Murphy

• Mary Anne Murphy links the key competencies with the skills and qualities of leadership. She challenges leaders to embody the key competencies with the same expectations we have for our students.
• While Mary Anne was thinking within a rural school context her challenge could more more widespread -" We are asking students to show the KC but how many of our leaders are displaying these ourselves."

Thinking:

• Strategically
• Outside the box
• Collectively
• Collaboratively

Relating to Others:

• Open to learning conversations (Vivian Robinson)
• Relational Trust (Stephen Covey Jnr)
• Make links and form relationships with other schools

Using language symbols and texts

• ·         Using MOE sites.
• ·         Don’t be afraid to ask

Managing Self:

• ·         The theory of the flow – lack of stimulation vs too much
• ·         Maintain our balance and keep flow
• ·         Need to be aware when we move out onto the fringes of that flow
• ·         Having communication thru virtual networks
• “KC are vital for us as leaders and think about how we are showing those.”   

"The thinking about the flow in relation to work/life balance stood out for obvious reasons. However it also had me thinking about my flow and energy within the classroom and my use of my school time for planning, assessment and thinking. Upon reflection I realised that I have not had a clear understanding of where my students were with their learning, what were their next steps, did they understand them too? I now can see that I had regular and robust communication with other beginning teachers but not so much with more experienced or those teachers who were constantly reflecting or forward thinking. Even my mentor teacher while she was willing as much as she could within her limited time available I was not so willing as I didn't want to come across as a beginning teacher, I've actually made the unrealistic statement that I wish I could be a teacher now with 10 years knowledge and experience. I'm starting to understand that the learning is as much in that cliched saying about the journey versus the destination."

Hattie's 8 Mindframes

JH’s golden rule for teachers – Know thy impact

1. My fundamental task is to evaluate the effect of my teaching on my students’ learning and achievement.

2. The success and failure of my student’s learning is about what I do or don’t I am change agent.

3. I want to talk more about learning than teaching.

4. Assessment is about my impact.

5. I teach through dialogue not monologue.

6. I enjoy challenge and never retreat into ‘doing my best.’

7. It’s my role to develop positive relationships in class and staffrooms.

8. I inform all about the language of learning

While all of value the two standouts for where I currently am are numbers 1 & 5. The first I can look back and realise that I put more thought into my planning and virtually none into regular, robust reflection and evaluation of each lesson or strategies applied. I don't do enough tracking, monitoring and assessing of my student's learning. This includes those feedback/feedfoward conversations with them so that they are also informed and empowered to drive their own learning.

The second is the amount of teacher talk - monologue versus dialogue I do in class. The very thing I vowed I would now do - easy to commit to during study and in theory while you have no 'real' children. When I did attempt to increase the dialogue between the students especially I look back on the energy, animation and engagement of the students as some of the stand out moments of my two years. Think, Pair, Share took a lot of set up, perseverance BUT it worked. It was worth the time. Again more reflection and evaluation needs to be done after the event."

Towards Reconceptualising Leadership: The Implications of the Revised New Zealand Curriculum for School Leaders

Towards Reconceptualsisng Leaderships: The Implications of the Revised NZC for school leaders/Wayne Freeth University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand with Vanessa de Oliveira Andreotti University of Oulu, Finland

• Knowledge conceptualised as a noun tends to enable autocratic and bureaucratic styles of leadership, while knowledge conceptualised as a verb may enable democratic, distributed and transformational styles of leadership.
• However, teacher leadership is different from leadership associated with administrative or managerial roles, as it moves away from top-down, hierarchical reward/punish (transactional) practices towards practices of shared decision making, teamwork and community building.
• Gilbert challenges long-held views about education and knowledge, In her outline of the differences, knowledge conceptualised as a verb is something we do something with, rather than something we have; it is linked with performativity rather than truth, and it is more like an ‘energy’ than building blocks that can be accumulated.

"Having come off 3 years of experiencing Knowledge as a noun and then 2 years teaching and experiencing Knowledge as a verb I am interested in exploring this concept of Knowledge as energy that can be part of a community built rather than planned for."

Week 1 - Why this step in my teaching journey?

Tonight's thinking and discussion was around The Purpose of Education. The synchronicity of this discussion and question aligns at this time with my own place in my teaching journey. As I reach the end of my two years as a beginner teacher I am convinced that my instincts are right and many aspects of my teaching are wrong. I've fallen into the teaching trap of doing what has always been done by teaching with the industrial model as my guide. I've been trying to control my students to 'take' in knowledge passively. Sure the lessons have been disguised with some 21st Century language but it has been tokenism.

On reflection the times within my classroom that have been dynamic, engaging and inquiring are the times when I've dabbled with some of those 21st century notions of creativity, problem solving, collaboration. However because these times were also messy, noisy, seemingly directionless I deemed them to be a failure on my part.

Thankfully my school has been on a Professional journey of discovery with Student Agency at the heart of our inquiry. The workshops, discussions, subsequent research have reconfirmed my conviction and belief that is the vision for our learners within the New Zealand Curriculum.

• Confident
• Connected
• Actively Involved
• Life Long Learners

My contribution to our group collaboration on our take on 'What is the Purpose of Education?" was

                                                                     FREEDOM

Leadership in Digital And Collaborative Learning

Epistemology - What??? 

Having this word presented to us tonight along with Ontology, Axiology was overwhelming to say the least. Initially it confirmed my internal thinking and feeling that I'm not ready for this step in my teaching. It is too soon, I'm only 2 years into my teaching and feel I'm just coming to grips with the most basic aspects of effective teaching. However I took a deep breath and slowly worked through the classroom notes and videos.

As with all aspects of learning I find for myself that breaking it down one step at a time works. Therefore Professor Ken Lofgren's you tube presentation was of value to me. He broke down the word"

• Episteme = knowledge, understanding
• Logia = science, study

So Epistemology is the study of knowledge and Epistemologists try to identify the essential, defining components of knowledge. 

What stood out for me were these two form of espistemology:

Genetic epistemology is used to study the cognitive development among children and how children understand, learn, and acquire new knowledge and Social epistemology is about the social context for creating new knowledge.Social epistemology is studied in academic fields such as sociology, psychology and education.

Teaching years 0,1 and 2 students I've come to the realisation the the age of my students and their ability to interact with their peers plays a vital role in their ability to learn from the curriculum.

We were also asked the question around Thought Leadership Are you ready to be the “go to” leader in your school or community? Do you want to have influence for positive change, have an impact in arenas that matter to you, and leave a legacy of consequence? Then you’re probably eager to get started on your journey towards thought leadership. 

If I'm being reflective and honest signing up for this paper I was more focused on the digital and collaboration skills I could gain to take back to my students. I certainly don't think of myself as a leader especially after 2 years of teaching. Of course we were asked to think of ourselves as leaders in the classroom to our students which of course means I want to say "Yes, of course I want to influence positive change or have an impact in areas that matter to me and my students.

I certainly think I will need to have a shift in my mindset around seeing myself as an educational leader in order to work towards the first assessment of the Leadership paper.