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 20th 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 (egPY10, 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...
During 2004/5 a new Curriculum Framework was developed for years 11/12 and in 2006/7 courses were written and new initiatives were trialled based on this Framework. Parallel with this process Post Year 10 education is being restructured with an integration of Senior Secondary Colleges and TAFE to give a multi-campus Polytechnic, a multi-campus Academy and a Training Enterprise as part of the Tasmania Tomorrow strategy by 2009.
In 2008 we will implement Computing courses re-developed based on the new Framework as well as the new course Student Directed Inquiry. In our case Student Directed Inquiry (SDI) will be offered in the broad area of Interactive Media and will allow students to conduct transdisciplinary inquiry in areas of personal interest. The aim of the SDI course is to "promote learning skills and ways of thinking essential for the development of self-directed, self-managing, lifelong learners in the 21st century."
Teachers and students will work closely with a programmer with extensive experience in the games industry who visited the college during 2007. Although this course does not begin until February 2008 six students have already formed a production team and have had long planning meetings!
A key feature of our curriculum implementation in 2008 will be that learning will be personalised and will not be rigidly bound by syllabuses, timetables, assessment or classrooms. These structures will be interpreted as frameworks only - students and teachers will be able to determine the exact nature of their own learning, teaching and assessment.
The focus will be on student learning that creates:
Insightful learners who can access, apply, transfer and create knowledge;
Individuals who are self-directed and ethical;
Citizens who are engaged, active and responsible in their community; and
Forward thinkers who can apply their skills and understanding to successfully participate in work, society and future learning.
Over the last couple of years a few colleagues have been doing some team teaching. This has involved teaming classes that are timetabled at the same time. In some cases classes were combined for tasks or presentations and at other times teachers have swapped to bring specialist knowledge or processes to a class. We have learned a little about what to do - and when...
In 2008all Computing students will experience team teaching. We have deliberately 'lined' classes for more efficient pairing and we will use some 'off-line' time to enable even larger groups to meet occasionally from across the 'lines'. (We have a 5 'line' timetable with some 'off-line' times where no formal classes are lined.)
Some team teaching in Computing has become a necessity in recent years because no individual teacher can expect keep up with all aspects of many courses. We will now formalise and extend our team teaching.
Each computing teacher will be able to:
meet a single class as usual in the classroom
meet a combined class in a lecture theatre or a new 'double-classroom' - with both teachers present or just one thus freeing up the other teacher
offer short 15 min presentations (teacher or student) which are recorded and made available via web or mp3/4 player - giving students the choice to attend in person
meet students online - synchronously or asynchronously - giving the option of reducing face-to-face 'contact time' for the whole class
offer tutorials or workshops to small numbers of students when required
In addition, some selected English classes will also be involved in team teaching - as they have in the recent past - but this time these classes will be located near the computing classes and Computing and English teachers will team teach across subject areas. eg Computing teachers will meet with English students to look at some online tools and English teachers will meet with computing students to look at digital story telling...
As part of the team teaching process we intend to advertise teacher expertise online so that advanced students requiring specialist assistance can contact the relevant teacher directly - either online or face-to-face. We hope to also include some student experts in this service - see Social Learning.
Team teaching arrangements will not affect other classes operating across the campus that are using the timetable as 'normal'.
THE TIME HAS COME... to KNOW a new education system... to DO new things in education... to BE different in education...
Heard it all before? Well yes... these things were said in 1998 with the 21st century looming... and the recognition that education needed to change.
After a decade of talking and projects and reforms - and learning - it now might be time for actual transformation to occur... or at least the next stage of our (my) transformation where we (I) actually KNOW how we (I) want ACT and BE in education.
How different? My sense of difference comes as I reflect on my personal and systemic journey of the last decade - and in particular the last 2 years - and then attempt to project myself into 2008/9.
Over the next few posts I intend to reflect on the key initiatives and understandings of the last two years that I think will shape my - and my students' and colleagues - experience of education in 2008 and beyond in our State system.
Gee - did I just write that - this should be interesting... :-)
Many - but not all - of my students are living part of their lives in or through digital environments - engaging and often exciting digital environments! Most do not see it that way however - but then I would probably not say that I live in or through print media. It's just everyday living - integrated living perhaps...
I'm continuing my exploration of the educational potential of online immersive worlds - summarised in the above presentation which perhaps simplistically refers to how some people have changed the way they engage with the internet from the information Web 1.0 to the participatory Web 2.0 to the immersive Web 3.0 (or Web 3.D).
This year I've noticed more students plunging into virtual worlds at every opportunity. Many of these worlds are now available through internet browsers. Angela Thomas from the University of Sydney has a brilliant presentation (with audio) on the role of play in immersive worlds and talks about their transformative potential on students and pedagogy. Well worth a look.
I've allowed students to play in these worlds in my multimedia class. Partly to see why they are so engaged, partly to see if I can compete with tasks I set, partly to see if I can use these worlds as a learning environment...
A few weeks ago I purchased several copies of Neverwinter Nights - it has a Toolset for game design - and students have really enjoyed it. After a short time playing it they moved on to designing their own landscapes dotted with characters and buildings and portals... They are now constructing stories with conversations to engage the player.
Neverwinter is not an online persistent virtual world like World of Warcraft or Second Life and that has some advantages for the classroom - although it is not without technical difficulties to get it to work in a school environment.
I'm still thinking about using Teen Second Life but there are security and safety issues to address - worth the challenge I think.
My wife has just put her recently completed thesis online!
To quote from her abstract:
"This is an auto-ethnographic study into the lived experience of a science teacher as she attempts to transform her science teaching practice and the practice of other science teachers over a period of 15 years. In exploring what it means to be a holistic educator she is faced with disorienting dilemmas which cause her to question underpinning assumptions, values and curriculum frameworks which inform traditional science teaching practice and culture. In trying to reconcile science and soul in the pedagogical space of a physics classroom her journey requires a deep investigation of self in various cultures – science culture, educational culture, modernist and postmodernist cultures."
Knowledge workers need to know how to use tools and frameworks to do their jobs according to Charles Jennings, Global Head of Learning at Reuters UK. Jennings painted a clear picture of the way workplaces have changed over the last 20 years on day 2 of the Global Summit 2006 in Sydney:
70% of jobs created in the USA since 1998 have been for "knowledge workers"
"knowledge worker"jobs now make up 41% of all jobs in the USA (2005)
only 20-30% of workplace performance is knowledge/skills related (2005)
people learn 80% of what they need to know informally on-the-job
He cited Kelley's longitudinal study showing how the amount of knowledge that we need to know in our own minds to do our jobs has changed: 1986 - 75% ... 1997 - 15-20% ... 2006 - 8-10%
Jennings spoke of the need to shift from training to learning; of the need to know less and learn more; of the need for workers to have tools and frameworks to locate and process what they need to know when they need to know it.
And now for something completely different...
Geetha Narayanan from the School of Art Design and Technology, India presented two concepts. The first was the importance of digital story telling - showing how young disadvantaged people can be empowered to use cameras and recorders to tell their own powerful stories. And to tell them so well that they win international competitions.
The second was the notion of "slow schools". Narayanan spoke of the importance of health and well-being among today's technology rich, fast-paced and consumer oriented middle-class learners. The slow school idea was spawned by the slow food campaign which began as a protest against fast-food outlets but is rapidly becoming a global movement and has recently been popularised by TV chef Jamie Oliver as slow food moves into schools and begins to transform education...
Slow schools look for opportunities to slow the pace of thinking and move to being in the moment. Narayanan gave examples of moving students from thinking about the sun to embodying and being the sun as they sit in circles with feet touching, or slowly draw 10 suns rather than one, or as they dance watching sunrise...
Slow schools allow time for discussion and reflection - and focus on how students form concepts and make meaning.
Co-incidentally my blog reading recently introduced me to "slow design" and "slow cities" - the latter is already a network of 100 towns in 10 countries embodying the 'slow' metaphor.
Perhaps this brings new meaning to the concept of the slow learner :-)
If politicians are talking about global warming it must be VERY serious according to Robert Cailliau, a co-inventor of the world-wide-web, who spoke at the Global Summit 2006 yesterday. Cailliau suggests that educators need to consider the role of education in addressing some of the most challenging issues that face the planet today. But how? What knowledge, skills, understanding, apptitudes... will help learners to help the planet?
Einstein reminded us that you can't solve problems with the same kind of thinking that created them. What kind of thinking do we need in educational institutions and how will it be different?
We can talk about engaging and empowering students to be active learners and global citizens in a technology connected world but what about different ways of thinking?
Is it about looking at principles of sustainability and social justice such as those expressed in The Earth Charter ?
Is it about the knowledge and skills and understanding of futures thinking and social foresight?
If we don't "think differently" how as James Boscoe asked delegated do we know we won't be sitting at conferences in 20 years time asking ourselves the same questions? Or perhaps we won't have the luxury of being able to sit in conference buildings... at least where they are built now anyway...
Five Conceptual Frameworks for transformational leadership focussing on "generating the breakthrough insights needed to generate new commitments, behaviour, and results for individuals, institutions and societies."
I've just read Monica Sharma's article in the latest issue (No.12) of shift from IONS. She describes an integrated "transformative leadership" methodology she helped develop for the United Nations Development Program in 2001. Her Transformative Leadership Development Program (2005) has now reached 4.5 million people across 40 countries with a particular focus on creating leadership capacity to help countries respond to HIV/AIDS.
According to a report on the UNDP European website the Five Conceptual Frameworks provide easily transferrable tools for transformation that have been effective at all levels of society and across diverse cultures.
What would happen if we used these tools for educational change? And also for empowering students as we promote global citizenship?
Sharma's five frameworks for transformative leadership (Annexes 3) are:
Leadership Competencies and Distinctions
Emotional Intelligence Framework - based on the work of Daniel Goleman
Four-Quadrant Framework - based on the work of Ken Wilber
Levels of Organisational Development - based on the work of Rensis Likert
These frameworks are used within a systems thinking approach based on the work of Peter Senge.
According to Sharma the frameworks provide conceptual maps that "suggest ways of perceiving, understanding, and interpreting the world that may be different from our usual conditioning."
She says the Transformative Leadership Development Program (TLDP)
"emphasizes that the level of learning necessary to develop transformational leaders goes beyond sharing theories, learning new techniques, or gathering information. It is a process that actually works at a level deep enough to discover and shift who people are being, not what they know; it is for individuals who are ready and willing to be learners and to engage in a process of profound personal growth."
Sounds like something we need in our education systems... :-)
I like the way the TLDP not only uses coherent conceptual frameworks as a kind of holistic lens that highlights multiple aspects of an issue, but also the way several frameworks are integrated to provide a multidimensional picture of a system... hopefully giving a better chance for sustainable systemic change.
Which frameworks/tools would best facilitate educational transformation? Would the same set also be appropriate for students involved in leadership?
The new Tasmanian Post Year 10 Curriculum Framework has just been released on CD. According to the overview document the Framework
"reflects an ‘holistic’ view of learners and learning with the experience of learning needing to extend beyond the informational to the transformational."
Our school curriculum team is now 6 months into planning for implementation. I thought I'd see if some of the current projects do indeed reflect an 'holistic' view and extend to the 'transformational'.
Project 1: New ICT Tools
This project is introducing a number of social software and presentation tools to students and teachers including blogs, podcasting, personal learning environments and digital story telling.
Do these tools enable holistic approaches to learners and learning? I think they could do... at least in the sense of students being able to express themselves through different media and teachers being able to have a fuller more inclusive view of the whole student. Jack Miller defines holistic curriculum in terms of inclusiveness, connection and balance. Social software certainly provides connections from local to global levels and I think it can also give a better balance between Miller's tensions of individual/group, content/process and assessment/learning.
Do these tools enable transformation? Some describe these tools as "disruptive technologies" - I prefer the term 'transformational technologies' but I strongly agree. I think these tools can transform the relationship between learner and teacher, can transform how students access and undertake their own learning, and can transform a student's understanding of their place in the world.
Is it working? Still too early to tell... about 15% of teachers are now using at least one tool in their classes and feedback has been very positive but we have a long way to go. 10 copies of Will Richardson's book (pictured) have been placed across the campus for teachers.
Project 2: Academic Achievement and Personal Enrichment
This project is providing support to a group of 60 students who are on traditional highly academic pathways. It aims to provide a learning space where students can learn together while at the same time challenging their assumptions and extending their involvement in 'non-academic' activities.
Holistic approach? Yes - this is an explicitly stated aim - to get these students to experience and express a more holistic sense of self including the physical, mental, social and spiritual.
Transformational? One part of the project that is well attended are sessions looking at enigma and anomalies (such as the evidence for advanced pre-historical civilizations) which attempts to question fundamental assumptions and worldviews based on transformative learning theory.
Is it working? Early feedback from students would indicate that it is achieving these intended outcomes. One student wrote
"The Tuesday afternoons sessions have helped me to learn a lot about myself and others. I love learning about how people think, interact and learn. Knowing these things has changed the way I perceive myself, my education and others. I always leave the sessions deep in thought with the inspiration for further investigation."
Project 3: Lo-Tech Metal Fabrication
This project is providing safe and easy access to metal work equipment for students across the college. The aim is to enable visual and performing arts students to integrate metal work into their projects without the need for training in welding and drilling.
Holistic approach? Not really... this is more about integrating skills from different subject areas.
Transformational? One aim is to encourage more females to consider metal work so in this sense there may be an element of transformation of the perception of metal as a male only domain.
Is it working? This project is still being set up with the equipment that has just been purchased.
Project 4: Human Powered Vehicle
This project aims to design, build and race a three wheeled human-powered vehicle. Students from Material, Design and Technology will work with students from Physical Education to measure the vehicles performance and race it in local and inter-state competitions.
Holistic approach? Yes in the sense that students will consider all aspects of this project and it will involve their physical, mental, emotional and social skills.
Transformational? This project aims to transform student attitudes to learning, empowerment and collaborative designing, making and appraising.
Is it working? Too early to tell - just in design stage...
Project 5: Integral Worldviews
This project introduces students to aspects of Integral Theory in an attempt to help them develop coherent conceptual frameworks that help them understand how values, assumptions and worldviews colour our perceptions.
Holistic Approach? Integral Theory by its very nature takes an holistic approach to human nature and knowledge.
Transformational? Students have reported that an integral approach does help them see things in new ways. Two students reported
"Openly challenged my way of thinking and what I personally believed in and accepted. Over-all very interesting and informative."
"Really insightful. Made me think life was more interesting… more to it."
Is it working? This project has been running for over a year and student feedback has been very positive.
"There's nothing new" and "Stop using jargon" are two messages I get from some teachers. They are two of the many commonly used catch cries that make up the old story of educational change. These are the stories told by experienced teachers about the nature of educational change - or at least the kind of change that they have repeatedly experienced in their careers... and now the only kind of change that some of them can see...
Other teachers however are beginning to tell a new story. A story of "working together" and "doing things differently." While all teachers have been participating in the same educational change processes over the last two years the stories being told are not the same.
While the majority of teachers are beginning to use phrases from the new story I still hear some of the old story... It takes time to let go of the past... a process described in Senge's U-Process as 'letting go'.
One interesting aspect of this transformation from a past to a future view is that those teachers with the most clearly articulated stories of the process are those who have not let go of the past. They tell the old story with clarity and certainty while those learning the new story are exploratory and tentative. The result is that outside listeners can get the erroneous impression that the majority of teachers are disempowered and against change.
This then has a detrimental feedback effect on those who are starting to embrace the new story... causing them to second guess their emerging understanding and empowerment. That's one of the reasons I have found Senge's U-Process model so useful - it helps us understand the nature of the transformation process - and to see where we all are on the curve...
Of course out of this comes the opportunity to discuss, clarify and reafirm the new story. And hopefully the opportunity to move on with confidence into an emerging future.
David Warlick has posted on the Types of New Stories we need to be telling as we implement 21st century curriculum. He has set up a wiki and invited educators to begin "hacking" some new stories.
I've already taken the liberty of hacking David's graphic to include 'shared vision' - a suggestion from a comment on his post - as well as changing 'reform stories' to 'curriculum stories' because I think we are involved in more than re-forming curriculum - there is a necessary degree of trans-formation going on as we move beyond traditional structures and processes. I've also tweeked some of the words to suit a local audience.
Perhaps a more extreme version of telling a new story is 'branding'. I've been trawling so-called "21 st century educational institutions" on the web to find some examples. I've mashed a few to get the following brands, slogans or banners:
Bringing knowledge to life
Learning for life
Community of inquiry
The world has changed. So have we.
School X: A learning community
School X: Wired for learning (perhaps that should be "Wireless for learning" :-)
From the expressions on their faces - they didn't say much so that's all I had to go on - my presentation left some students thinking that either I was slightly mad, mildly gullible or needed to go on extended holiday... Most however were in very deep thought... not quite sure what to make of it all... or me. And that's exactly what I intended.
I did a 15 min presentation of an enigma - although not everyone thought it was an enigma... but then that was partly my point :-)
The presentation is part of a series planned for 50 students who have opted for some extension work to help them with their academic program and today centred on the Great Pyramid at Giza.
Why the Great Pyramid? Most believed that we have a good understanding of Egyptian History - and we do. BUT there are some things that don't fit the generally accepted view - and one of them is the Great Pyramid at Giza.
What's interesting is to see how different people react to this contradictory evidence. Some get quite emotional and become defensive or aggressively offensive. Others rationalise the whole thing away saying that it "doesn't really matter" or "who knows" or "you're probably wrong"... Others have a blind faith in the authority of recognised science, textbooks or experts. One student said: "If there was really a problem we would know about it."
Behind all of this is Transformational Learning Theory and the idea that you can expand a person's worldview or perspective through the use of enigma or paradox. This is what I tried to do in this short presentation. There was no time for a rigorous look at the evidence just a peek through a small window into an alternate worldview.
A smaller group attended a follow-up lunch-time session and while the majority appear to look at the world through the eyes of scientific empirical rationalism it was very clear that some had very different worldviews...
Students have the opportunity to continue the Great Pyramid discussion in an online forum. In a couple of weeks I intend to present some coherent theoretical frameworks based on 4 Quadrant Integral Theory to help students make sense of how worldviews (lower left quadrant) might affect inquiry in the remaining three.
But perhaps before I do that there is time to stir the pot and stretch my credibility a little more with some further enigma and paradox... :-)
Photo sourced from Flickr - Creative Commons License
It's official - we've turned Senge's corner! I've just returned from the first State PY10 Curriculum Implementation meeting for 2006. The review process has moved into a new phase with new structures and processes to facilitate the emergence (letting come) of learning, teaching and assessment practices to meet the needs of today's year 11/12 students.
Key changes from the 2004/5 structure include new Regional Learning Teams supported by Regional Project Officers that sit between school/college curriculum teams and the Statewide Curriculum Coordinators Team. There is a new Principal's Reference Group representing both government and non-government schools/colleges with formalised links to their respective Principal bodies, the new Tasmanian Qualifications Authority and the State OPCET Steering Committe.
Much of the meeting was used to look at possible support and coordination processes at classroom, school/college, Regional and State levels for the many project ideas that have been put forward by teachers, and curriculum teams over the last year.
Some of the many ideas from teachers of one college incuded:
Global Learning and Leadership - International Student Program; Studies of Society and Environment teachers
Human Powered Vehicle - Materials Design and Technology; Sport and Recreation teachers
Science for the 21st Century - Science teachers
Personal and Social Learning Environments - cross-college
Integral Conceptual Frameworks - English teachers across 3 colleges
Jumpstart to Visual Literacy - Visual Arts teachers
All projects address the Values, Purposes and Outcomes of the new year 11/12 Curriculum Framework and will be supported by resources allocated at school/college and State levels.
And that's just one school. With so much happening I suggested that we might use blogging and aggregators to help communication across the State and across government and non-goverment sectors. I received quite a few looks ranging from the enthusiastic to the mostly quizzical or incredulous. Blogs are not really a teacher thing - YET :-)
“Benny was a woolly mammoth who was found frozen solid in Siberia. Benny died thousands of years ago in July. This year Benny appeared in the movie 'The Day After Tomorrow' - although his acting was a little stiff. Benny had a smashed hip, a broken leg and still had buttercups and flowering beans in his mouth that he was dining on for lunch when he was killed. Thousands of mammoths and other animals died with Benny. Who or what killed Benny and his friends? ”
This year saw record participation in our school’s online ‘Mystery Forums’ designed to promote transformative learning experiences for adolescents.
Why transformative learning? Until recently transformative learning has been the province of adult learning theory but there are several reasons to consider its inclusion for senior-secondary students transitioning into early adulthood.
Firstly, the transition to adult life often involves personal transformation as students move from a safe school environment to take on complex work, study and social responsibilities. Transformative learning equips students with the concepts and understanding necessary to make a success of this transition.
Secondly, when students are led to a deeper understanding of concepts and issues their fundamental beliefs and assumptions may be challenged leading to a transformation of perspective or worldview. Students who understand the nature of transformative learning may be better prepared for this process.
Thirdly, as we ask students to develop critical and reflective thinking skills and encourage them to care about the world around them they may decide that some degree of personal or social transformation is required. Students will need the tools of transformative learning in order to be effective change agents. Otherwise students may feel disempowered, become pessimistic about the future, fear change, or develop a degree of cynicism towards those who promote change.
Finally, we are living through a period of transformational change in society and culture. Students will be better able to deal with such change in their lives if they understand the nature of transformational change and the impact it has on individuals, groups, organizations and nations.
One of the many triggers for transformative learning experiences is a disorientating dilemma – a paradox, enigma or anomaly.
The popular ‘mystery forums’ allowed students to playfully question assumptions and worldviews through 10 dilemmas in an online forum. For example “Who Killed Benny?” is about the demise of mammoths in Siberia, Alaska and S. America thousands of years ago.
Students spent several weeks considering a wide range of possible scenarios from over-hunting to snap freezing to tsunamis to climate change to pole-shifts to disease and more… During that time they realised that there were many unquestioned assumptions and unchallenged worldviews underpinning the science and critical inquiry surrounding this issue.
“Ancient Maps of the World?” – a look at the Piri Re'is and other maps.
In a chapter titled Learning to Think Like an Adult in Learning as Transformation Mezirow claims that transformative learning leads to greater competence in:
mindful learning autonomous learning self-directed learning critical reflection self-knowledge reflective discourse dealing with change, transformation and uncertainty dealing with "meaning perspectives" and worldviews social responsibility decision-making and problem solving
Most, if not all, of these are highly valued in emerging “21st century” curriculum for adolescent learners. I believe that online "mystery forums" can provide a useful, playful and safe learning environment for some aspects of transformative learning for adolescents.
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).
