Transformative Journeys
Oxygen and Hydrogen combining to form water was the metaphor chosen by Minister for Education,
David Bartlett MP to convey the
transformative aspects of the government's new agenda for post-compulsory education in Tasmania.
He was referring to the integration of year 11/12 colleges and
TAFE to form the
Tasmanian Polytechnic which will open its doors to students from January 2009.
Transformation of learning and training to provide holistic education for all students was a frequently repeated theme in the 2 day conference the Minister was opening. The conference was skillfully organised to canvas the educational imperatives, to point to some new possibilities and to reflect the nature of the transformational journey required.
Presenters including
Caldwell and
Sidoti gave the
consistent message that today's educational institutions will only fall further behind if they attempt to meet 21st Century needs within even the best 20
th century learning institutions. What is required is
educational transformation not just reform. They called for
- new educational thinking and curriculum
- new educational structures
- new educational cultures
Now this might sound like a difficult task for a state system - and an impossible one by January 2009
but we are not starting from scratch... nor are we asked to complete the transformation by that time...
We already know how the transformed system should begin. We have known many of the educational imperatives and some aspects of the solution for at least a decade. In fact some conference delegates had flash-backs to 2004 and even 2000 when much of the same data and educational directions were made clear at presentations opening the Tasmanian State of Learning and Learning Together reform agendas.
But we are not going round in circles... Our current level on the educational change spiral is about systemic structural change. Previous spirals have been about curriculum (
eg PY10,
ELs, Training Reform Agenda), community (
eg partnerships), authentic learning (
eg applied, enterprise and project-based)... We are now more informed, more experienced, and perhaps more adventurous... when it comes to educational change.
The current spiral is about
personalised learning (student at the center, pathways).
To achieve this goal Caldwell believes we need to
align our intellectual, social, financial and spiritual capital.
Can we integrate our current expertise in engaging pedagogy, meaningful curriculum and working partnerships in the post-compulsory sector to create new possibilities with new cultures?
When hydrogen and oxygen combine in a test tube you can hear a loud 'pop'... Plenty of pops were also heard in chat sessions held following the presentations!
But there were also the first tentative signs of water - new possibilities - new structures, new curriculum, new partnerships, new educational cultures...
Water image: CC Solkoll and ocean.flynnCapital image: Adapted from an image by Caldwell
Labels: 21stCentury, curriculum, holistic, transformation
Virtual Classroom Challenge
Today I joined the
April Festival on Jokaydia to listen to Leigh
Blackall describe his
Virtual Classroom Project. He was challenged by Konrad
Glogowski and
Jokaydia owner Jo Kay to build an "ideal learning environment" in just one month in
Second Life.
That's me above - with Puff my purple dragon on my shoulder.
Leigh described how he used
permaculture principles to create a more
"holistic" learning environment with "efficient use of space and resources; space design that is conducive to inquiry learning and skills training; and with every single aspect serving some form of opportunity for learning." (
Leigh's Blog)
Leigh used (virtual copies) of recycled shipping containers to create a fascinating design that did indeed provide a wide range of learning opportunities. See his
second post and
project wiki for many more details.
Leigh's presentation really made me think about what we might build on the parcel of land
Hobart College has rented in Jokaydia. Access problems to Second Life from within the college IT network have delayed our building over the last few weeks but perhaps that is not all bad... time for a rethink...
Labels: holistic, learning.environment
Doing IT Differently - IT begins...
We are one week into the academic year now and much has happened... This
PowerPoint explains the purpose and thinking behind the Student-Directed Inquiry course - the new
TQA syllabus designed to stimulate learning skills and ways of thinking for work, study and life in the 21st century. (
PowerPoint with notes - click/hover top left corner icon on each page - for those with access to our
Moodle.)
Students have signed up for some of the online services that we will use to help us keep the learning personalised and flexible...
Twitter,
Google Reader and
43Things.
For those who would like to read a blow-by-blow description
I've started a new journal HC Interactive Media.
While I've used these tools and processes with classes in the past this is the first time that it's all been coherently integrated... It's early days yet but things are looking very promising.
Exciting stuff!
Labels: 21stCentury, ICT tools, personalisation
Doing IT Differently - H: What's Missing?
What will be different at
HC in 2008?
H: What's Missing?
In this series I've
focused on changes in the Computing learning area. Of course there are also new initiatives in other learning areas and I hope to write about some of those over the next few weeks.
In the last post of this series I'd like to touch on a couple of things I think are still missing if we are to engage all learners in education that leads to purposeful futures.
The first is
Social Foresight or Futures Studies. We need to empower students with the knowledge and tools to be able to predict likely futures and create preferred futures - both personal and societal. However we have done little in this area and it has not been a priority in current course development work. This must change.
In the Computing area there are several avenues for exploring possible and preferred futures:
- Robotics
- Artificial Intelligence
- Technological solutions for current local and global challenges
The emerging field of
Integral Futures might provide a way for students to use 4 Quadrant Integral Theory as a framework (see
F: Conceptual Frameworks) to map possibilities.
The second is
Spirituality. Spirituality is recognised in state and
national educational policy but progress in this area has been slow until recently. We need to look for opportunities to address:
- students' sense of deeper meaning, connectedness, purpose and place
- spiritual literacy and spiritual expression
- inspiration and wisdom
- mindfulness and stillness
Above Maslow's need for self-actualization is the need for self-transcendence - a need to be of service to humanity and the planet. Today's global challenges provide many opportunities for expression at this level.
Previous: G: Blended Learning
Labels: futures, learning, spirituality, teaching
Doing IT Differently - G: Blended Learning
What will be different at
HC in 2008?
G: Blended LearningBlended Learning involves the use of multiple learning environments - usually some
combination of physical/face-to-face and online/virtual approaches.Over the last few years we have gradually expanded our use of
online/virtual technologies for learning, teaching and assessment - both in the range of technologies and the number of students involved (see below).
Our range of
physical/face-to-face approaches has also expanded over the same period to include team teaching, coaching/mentoring, workplaces, simulated work environments, open/flexible learning, regional annexes and others.
HC students and teachers in the virtual world Skoolaborate - 2007
In 2008 we will attempt to provide more seamless physical/online blended learning environments for all computing students (and several other courses) 24/7 whether they are on campus, at home or even in some workplaces. These environments will involve the following:
- A formal online environment where the class can store and share documents, discuss topics, pose questions and collaborate. We will use Moodle and ELGG services hosted off-campus and MS SharePoint Portal hosted on-campus.
- Presence and communication where students and teachers can be seen to be online and exchange information and files 24/7 as required. MS Office Communicator will be mandatory for all computing students. Other systems commonly used by students are Live Messenger, Google Talk, Facebook/Myspace, SMS... (Email is infrequently used for communication by the majority of students.)
- Virtual worlds where students and teachers can meet, complete tasks and create through personalised avatars in persistent online environments. We will expand our use of Skoolaborate and we also want to rent some education space for teachers to meet interested parents.
- Game worlds where students can roleplay, complete tasks and create new environments. We will expand our use of Neverwinter Nights begun in 2007 - and also our use of serious games such as PeaceMaker also trialled in 2007..
- Mobile Learning where students use mobile phones, game consoles, MP3 players and laptops to engage with course materials on and off campus.
- Mobile Desktop and RSS where students can integrate their online identities and interactions - educational and social - in a one-stop-shop. We will promote Google Desktop and Facebook although students may choose another service.
- Networked Learning where students connect - and hopefully engage - with professional communities of practise in their learning area. We will promote the Bloglines and Google Reader aggregation services although students can also bring RSS feeds back to Moodle, ELGG or even Facebook.
Previous - F: Conceptual Frameworks Next - G: What's Missing?
Labels: engagement, ICT tools, learning, teaching, virtual
Doing IT Differently - F: Conceptual Frameworks
What will be different at
HC in 2008?
F: Conceptual FrameworksThe shift in focus from information to
knowledge and understanding - and even wisdom - has emphasised the need to
highlight concepts, conceptual lenses and conceptual frameworks in curriculum design - as well as learning and teaching. (
eg see
Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction by Erickson)
However, although
conceptual frameworks are used by educators in research and curriculum design they are not as often given to students to help them make their own connections.
Over the last few years a number of
colleagues have supplemented their teaching of the usual
topic or subject based concepts (
eg 'values', 'texture', 'evolution' or 'sustainability') with more
integrative frameworks such as
Senge's 'systems framework', Gardner's
'multiple intelligences framework' and
Wilber's 'four-quadrant framework'. The
response from students has been very positive.
In 2008 we plan to introduce integrative frameworks to computing students - particularly those doing interactive media involving Student Directed Inquiry (see
previous post). We will continue to use integrative
conceptual frameworks with students in English, Media and our academic achievement program.
Integrative conceptual frameworks help students to:
- move their thinking to the metacognitive level - thinking about thinking
- make sense of transdisciplinary inquiry - required in the Student Directed Inquiry course
- make connections to their existing knowledge and understanding
- know what they don't know - and know where to find out
- transfer learning to new situations - and cope with rapid change
- understand the importance of worldviews - and the need for collaborative inquiry
Exactly how we will use integrative conceptual concepts with computing students still needs to be worked out...
Previous - E: Assessment of, for and as Learning Next - F: Blended Learning
Labels: conceptual frameworks, integral, learning, metacognition, structure, teaching, transdisciplinary
Doing IT DIfferently - E: Assessment of, for and as Learning
What will be different at HC in 2008?
E: Assessment of, for and as Learning
Over the last three years we have had a close look at our assessment practices clarifying the pros and cons of
formative and summative assessment -
assessment OF learning, assessment FOR learning and assessment AS learning. (See also
Assessment is for Learning - Scotland)
Key
Assessment Principles have now been integrated into the K-10 Tasmanian Curriculum and the Post Year 10 Curriculum Framework - as well as into the learning, teaching and assessment practices of many teachers. Note that Tasmania uses
criterion-based assessment with
competency-based assessment for vocational courses.
In 2008 we will more formally implement, for a larger number of students, a range of assessment practices that we have successfully trialled over the last few years
- self and peer assessment - students will be supported to use a number of self assessment tools designed to facilitate assessment AS learning. A key part of this process will be reflective online journals (blogs and microblogs) - reading, writing and commenting.
- formal assessment - existing courses have been redeveloped and new courses written to incorporate a broader range of formal assessment processes: folios, logs, presentations... while the traditional end-of-course written exams have been shortened or even eliminated in some cases.
- course assessment options - with a focus on personalised student learning comes the need for greater flexibility in assessment options. Computing students will be able to negotiate to be assessed against the most appropriate course well into the teaching year. For some this might mean assessment in national vocational modules as well as a TCE course for the same class.
Previous - D: New Curriculum Next - F: Conceptual Frameworks
Labels: assessment, learning, teaching
Oxygen and Hydrogen combining to form water was the metaphor chosen by Minister for Education, David Bartlett MP to convey the transformative aspects of the government's new agenda for post-compulsory education in Tasmania.
The current spiral is about personalised learning (student at the center, pathways).
