Virtual Learning Network

Thanks - this looks really interesting. I couldn't see anything except an empty box though when I went to the wiki to take a look. You might also be interested to know that you can now search DigitalNZ through Digistore.

Hi Suzie, You had to enter a word in the Search input box to see the timeline. I have now changed it so that it loads a random timeline by default (I went for tui as there are many images). Let me know if you still have issues seeing it (you may have to reload the page to see the change. ).

Thanks for the tip on Digistore. I rapidly checked it up. On the simile timeline, they have the object details, including image thumbnail if available, appear in a small caption box. That would be nice to have that kind of functionality on digistore :-). It really speeds up exploration.

This is a very useful round-up here Marielle, thank you for this. Some more great ICT PD cluster wikispaces links can be found in ICT PD Cluster links as well as http://www.netvibes.com/homegroups#Classroom_Samples

Tess

Thanks for the link, Tess. Plenty more of great resources indeed.

The page is in write access for anybody registered to the group. Any wikispace user is welcome to add any other nz edu link.

Setting aside the argument as to which technology is best, this media-hyped story raises questions which face all schools: how to extend and enhance the learning that students are already doing, through innovative methods and approaches, and how to manage challenges of budget, procurement and provision.

All schools will want to give all their students access to the best. The question of how, and what this will look like, will, no doubt vary from school to school. The question of equity of provison that you raise, Marielle - who should pay? - has been around for a long time. Not every school will ask parents to provide a tool, and schools can choose to manage budgets in ways that suit their curriculum choices.  Engaging the community meaningfully in these discussions - as Orewa seems to have done -  is the best way to go.

You might be interested in the more general discussion on access to ICT has been running in the eLearning: Leadership group: /mod/threaded_forums/topicposts.php?topic=72818&group_guid=53306

"Engaging the community meaningfully in these discussions - as Orewa seems to have done - is the best way to go."

Once it is about asking parents to pay for a take home device, then the preference of pupils needs to be taken into consideration. The discussions should have included the pupils. I doubt they have done so. 

If the school decides to buy 10+ iPads to be used in the classroom, bought on the school budget, then best is to choose the device that is the easiest for them to manage and best suit their in class requirements. And the iPad certainly does tremendously well there. 

If the school decides that it is critical for 21st century teens to own their own digital devices (and kudos to the school to recognize this), then the school has to be extra careful in recommending a device for parents to buy. They first have to decide whether they have the expertise required to make such a costly recommendation. It is not only very costly for the parents but different types of devices can limit or expand the kids' horizon in different ways. A future scientist would be better off with a computer than with an iPad. A future IT professional (and there is a good employement market for this in NZ) would be better off with a computer than with an iPad. The decision will be for school new entrants. I doubt they have engaged the future school pupils in any of these discussions.

There is more discussion on "Is the iPad the best tablet for adoption in schools?" on LinkedIn 

http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Is-iPad-best-tablet-adoption-108447.S.50596808?qid=8ad957ee-2a6f-469d-8d6b-6638260b7157&trk=group_most_popular-0-b-ttl&goback=%2Egmp_108447

Marielle, thank you very much for sharing this post which I ave found very interesting.

While I was reading it, one thought came to my mind : why don;t the teachers just ask the students if they like the games played in class? It would be easy, quick and will provide with helpful feedback.

Froggieflo

Interesting! I have played Maths Blaster as a teacher and I have to say it was incredibly repetitive and exceptionally dull! I totally understand the point you are making here.

Thanks Florence and Suzie.

There may also be a bit of a novelty effect as well to accommodate for. I agree with Florence. It is important to ask students if they find it helpful... and ask it in a way where it is made clear that don't have to please the teacher. It may be a good idea to ask again after a few weeks. 

Games are great to bring diversity, to get kids practice in a different setting. But they cannot necessarily be used successfully over extended periods of time. For more extended use, the challenge is to find game mechanics that click with the right age group and mix them up with teaching work. Not an easy feat!

A fascinating topic, Marielle. There has been a significant amount of research into how to foster students' metacognitive skills. Processes, such as gathering resources for one's e-portfolio, may provide a context for reflection and metacognitive responses but probably won't, in and of itself, foster reflective skills. 

The NZ Curriculum has metacognition embedded in the Key Competency of 'Thinking' - it is a capability that is deliberately fostered by specific pedagogical approaches, task design, learning conversations. From an essay I write a wee while ago..

"The weight of current research suggests that deliberate teaching, modelling and scaffolding of metacognitive strategies is far more effective [than students' learning it by osmosis]; as Biddulph and Osborne (1984) noted, "systematic instruction and approaches" are necessary as students need to "learn how to learn". Black and Wiliam (2001, p. 7) concur, in that "learners need to be trained in self-assessment so they understand the main purposes of their learning and...can grasp what they need to do to achieve."

It is, of course, easer said than done

Agreed, scaffolding is often essential. Even for use adults, the process of engaging in public reflexions can be a bit overwhelming at first. This often requires continuous practice, over a significant period of time.

Motivation help sustain the effort. To quote your essay "this same learner must be genuinely and meaningfully engaged in their own education". If Mr Kemp's experience is anything to go by, an audience can really help with that. 

His class wiki, "we are room 1" was recently featured in the wikispaces blog. An inspiring interview. In the middle of it, he provided the following insight on the role of a global audience:. "I have used wikis for 3 years now and introduced them to my school — all classrooms now use them. The big “Aha” moment for me only came about a month ago when I realised that the children had reached a much wider audience than just mum and dad at home. I noticed that the wiki had become global and only through adding widgets did we discover just how popular it is. We have hooked up with schools all over the world via Skype and shared our learning with schools in every continent. It is SO exciting to see the children light up when they see a comment from someone in another school or country."

As you pointed out, Karen, a number of factor are involved. It is not an easy task to try and evaluate whether a global audience is merely useful or always critical for the development of metacognitive skills. I wonder. I is possible to think of examples where more authentic tasks can get in the way and encourage more shallow reflection than a carefully controlled but somewhat artificial scenario?

Another case to consider here is the findings from the Manaiakalani research, which explained further below, aims to improve literacy achievement with a huge focus on global audiences and the use of students blogs:

The Manaiakalani Project aimed to measurably raise the student achievement outcomes in Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing and to raise student engagement. The key objective was to empower the students with an evidence based belief that their personal voice is valuable, powerful and can be heard around the planet from their decile 1 community.

The aim of this research was to determine the extent of impact the professional development had on teaching and learning and to provide ideas and considerations for future development and research in this field. As many students in the area are Maori or Pasifika the results of the research will provide data for these groups.

The research focused on student achievement in Literacy, including reading, writing, speaking and presenting and also on student engagement. The project focused on the use of technology to publish and present student literacy, mainly through blogs.

What worked (a relevant sample only):

• The ‘hook’ of having an authentic audience motivated students to write and to ensure they had clarity and correctness in their work.
• Students were aware that their presentations, written, visual or oral needed to be of excellent quality for the global audience to understand and appreciate and the standard of presentation improved greatly each year.
• Students were clearly taking more ownership of their posts and beginning to direct and manage their own learning.
• Reflecting, critiquing and commenting on blogs supported students to peer and self assess independently.

This resource no longer seems to be current or is the link not correct?

Updated link shows on that page of links on Professional Development & Portfolio (search for "free tools"). The link itself is now to a google docs to a non public document. You have to request access and wait for the author to grant it. 

Do you have a link to his Twitter ID?

Hi Allanah, click on visit resources and you will be redirected to http://twitter.com/#!/ianw91. @ianw91 is the twitter ID. Really worth following. 

Wow, what a powerful mind map, thank you so much for sharing Marielle. This would also be useful when adapted for parents. They don't always understand what this looks like in terms of Digital citizenship at home.