The Neutrality of Technology

When things go wrong we naturally try to find the cause. When people do bad things we often look for somewhere to lay the blame. The advances in technology over the past 5-10 years and the worldwide phenomenon of social networking have certainly received their share of blame for the roles they have played in cyber-bullying incidents.

I have always subscribed to the notion that technology is neutral - it is neither good or bad. How people 'choose' to use the available technologies is a different story. Parents and schools are very deliberate in their efforts to teach right from wrong and both are well aware that at some stage you have to let children exercise what they have been taught in real-life contexts.

I was delighted to read the following article and hear how some students in South Korea have been using their technology to enact positive change:

A Sunshine Policy to Combat Cyberbullies

I have seen far more positive uses of technology than I have negative - it is a shame that our natural instinct seems to be to focus on the negative.

One Size PD Does Not Fit All!

Recently I prepared a resource for an international online conference run by the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust in the UK.  The Prezi focused on individualising professional learning and offered some tools that teachers can utilise to take charge of their professional learning.

Digital Literacy - How to build it in teachers through professional development

After viewing this Prezi you can imagine my surprise today when I was involved in a 3 hour PD session that consisted of roughly 50 teachers meeting in a room to learn about the changes that have occurred from Microsoft Office 2007 to 2010.  We also did some work on integrating ICT into the classroom that consisted of the presenter showcasing a unit she had planned.  It was a very good unit and it would have been wonderful if we were in a small group so we could spend some time discussing and deconstructing the unit and exploring how we could apply the same principles to our own units.  I have no doubt that in that room every single teacher was at a different level in terms of their knowledge and skills relating to the office suite of programs and how to utilise ICT in the classroom.  Therefore the only conclusion I can come to is that these 3 hours were a complete waste of time for all involved.

When are we going to accept that if we aspire to true differentiation and personalisation of learning for our students then we must model these same principles in our PD sessions.  PD like this really fits the mould of 'one size fits none'!

Give it a Real-life Context

Recently my family and I moved back to Australia and one of our first tasks was to buy a car, a process that made me realise the usefulness of mobile technology and the importance of having well honed research and critical literacy skills.

I was amazed at how car sellers, private, dealers, and auctions, have embraced technology and enabled prospective buyers to do most of the leg work from the comfort of their home - I could even register for the auctions online and do the bidding from my computer or phone.  Doing the research enabled me to walk into buying situations armed with knowledge and information (and confidence) that leveled the playing field.

Over a 10 day period I was amazed by how much my knowledge of the car market grew.  I was also amazed by how refined my research skills became and by how much more proficient I became at using the available technologies to meet my needs.  Throughout this process it became very apparent that real-life problems (tasks) generate authentic and real-life learning.  I kept thinking what a great project this would be for grade 11 or 12 students; give them a virtual budget and have them do the research to virtually buy a car, something that would be relevant and meaningful to them. This could then be accompanied by a justification for their choice that highlights the reasons for their decision based on their research along with a reflection of what worked and what they would do differently next time.

Tools that I used:

• A number of different sites to find cars for sale and view images
• Forums and review sites to gain information on particular vehicles
• Google maps to locate auction sites and addresses for private sellers
• Email to communicate with sellers

Tools that I would use when doing this again:

• A smart phone would be invaluable for accessing information when at the auction site or at a private sellers home
• Twitter would be valuable for gaining feedback on particular models and makes of cars
• Google docs to collate and share information on vehicles of interest
• Diigo to share links to vehicles with my wife

Providing students with real-life problems that require real-life skills generates authentic interest and engagement in the learning.  Assessment tasks placed in a real-life context provide opportunities for a wide range of knowledge and skill application and the utilization of technology to consolidate and transfer understanding.

Everything Old is New Again

Over the course of my blogging years I have created a number of blogs, however each time I have set up a new one it has been done so using a different account.  Recently I have consolidated these accounts into one so I can easily manage my personal and professional blogs from the one account - now I know that most of you are thinking, "why didn't you just do that from the beginning?"  This is a good question, the answer to which is "I don't know!"  I am just glad that I have finally pulled things together.

This particular blog is a rehash of one that I was writing when I working at an international school in South Korea.  I have removed the school specific posts, however there are still some references to activities and people at that school in some of the archived posts.  The blog has a new name, a new look, and a new location - I am now living in Australia and will be posting about issues, initiatives, and tech integration here in the southern hemisphere.  I look forward to reading your comments and thoughts through this blog.

How do you communicate?

As an educational administrator I spend a lot of time developing ways that we can strengthen the partnership between the parents and the school. Reflecting on some of the initiatives that we have introduced this year to achieve this strengthening I have realized that it really comes down to one major component - communication. Not simply communication in the form of parents receiving information from the school (although this is part of it) but genuine 2-way communication that involves sharing, brainstorming, discussing, and problem solving collaboratively.

This year we have increased the number of opportunities for parents to come to school and meet face to face with the Teachers, the Counselors, the MYP Coordinator, the Tech Coordinator, and the Administrators. I was very pleased at our last meeting when the number of parents in attendance was almost triple that of our last meeting. One of the contributing factors to this improved attendance was the use of SMS texting to inform the MS parent of the event. This reminder text was sent by our PTA VP in the MS and we are very thankful for her willingness to do this.

Seeing the success of this has prompted us to set up an SMS account that enables the MS secretary to send a bulk message to all the MS parents at once. We plan to use the texting service to remind parents of school events including meetings and sporting jamborees, as well as SCA and PTA events being hosted at GSIS. We also envision this being a great way to communicate reminders and notes to our students as well.

We hope that this form of communication, combined with our MS Blog, emails, phone calls, and face to face meetings, will help in our efforts to continue the strengthening of our parent/school partnership through efficient and regular communication.

Differentiating and Collaborating

This afternoon during our PD time I had the opportunity to continue the great work that has been done by our MYP Coordinator and resident UbD guru, MrFambro, by working with the faculty who are nearing the end of their stage 2 UbD unit. At the same time Mr Fambro was continuing Ms Leigh's wonderful work with the stage 1 group.

The goals for this afternoon were:

1. Determine the relationship between the "6 Facets of Understanding" and Bloom's Taxonomy
2. To individually and then collaboratively review a unit of work and offer feedback and guidance on how the unit could be improved to become exemplary

As we worked through our discussions and activities it became very evident just how powerful differentiating professional development can be. All the faculty involved in the stage 2 session had very similar levels of understanding and therefore everybody was able to contribute confidently and knowledgebly. This enabled the discussion to become richer and the level of understanding to go deeper.

When we shared our feedback and guidance at the end of the unit review I was truly inspired by the comments and suggestions that the faculty made. Through collaborating and sharing our expertise and ideas we were able to take a good unit of work and turn it into something that is now exemplary. It was a wonderful process of collaboration yeilding positive results that will ultimately benefit student learning and outcomes. I am really looking to continuing this work next Monday during our Teacher workday.

That's why differentiated PD and collaboration are so important - because they are good for student (and teacher) learning.

Are you a Blogger?

Blogging is a very popular web tool for educators, particularly for international educators. It enables people to write about their overseas travels so their family and friends back home can keep up to date with their adventures. It also enables people to write and share about their teaching and resources they have found useful.

Patrick Larkin, Principal at Burlington HS and guest Blogger on Free Technology for Teachers this week, writes a very interesting post that points out why every Principal needs a blog. I would take this one step further by saying that every Principal (and educator) needs to read blogs. Why? By engaging in the blogosphere you become part of a professional learning network where many talented and dedicated professional educators around the world share best practice and resources through their blogs.

Last night as I scrolled through my Google Reader I felt like I was engaged in a professional development workshop - there were so many links to valuable educational resources and rich discussions related to blog posts! This type of professional networking really is inspiring and can only help to improve educational practice as educators engage with colleagues from around the world through the sharing of thoughts, opinions, articles, resources, links, and ideas.