May/Nov 2011, May 2012: Cluster Programme Goal A
Outcome A:
Students who are confident, connected, actively involved lifelong learners.
They will have:
- raised student achievement outcomes in literacy
- opportunities to develop personal voice
- an authentic audience
- a digital age learning environment
- become engaged in their learning
- become creators of content, not just consumers of content
The provision of 1:1 digital devices has already made a significant impact on our ability to deliver these goals. With each student having their own online learning environment (through their personal Google Apps account), their own online space to publish outcomes (through their individual blog) and their own device with free wireless to access this, they are truly connected, actively involved, lifelong learners. And now they have more opportunity to develop confidence as well.
Teachers constantly remark on the high level of student engagement observed in their classes and put it down to a variety of factors including; differentiation, self-paced learning, the 'cool' environment, the direct feedback/feed forward they receive, the opportunities for collaboration, and even the barrier of untidy or slow handwriting being removed.
Our research noted gains in student achievement outcomes in literacy last year, and we have begun the data gathering process for 2011 with testing having occurred and the data collected and moderated for the beginning of the year.
NB: Context for this resource is providing through this reflective summary here....
Evidence to support this can be found
- in our research published online
- in the student published work - all our student blog posts feed through this one twitter account @clusternz
- Student engagement comments in the teacher feedback here
*Update: November 2011*
The most recent report was tabled recently, Term 3 2011 Classroom Observations.
The information was collected through video of a 45 – 60 minute session and thick descriptions taken during the session by the evaluator. The evaluator spoke to students during the session about their work and was able to clarify her thinking with the teacher after the session where necessary.
*Update: May 2012*
In 2012 all our classes from Years 5-13 are digital, with every student owning their own device. In our six primary schools all Yrs 5-8 classes are completely 1:1 The Yr 1-4 classes are still using paper based learning, supported by varying ratios of school-owned desktop, laptop and tablet devices. Tamaki College is the first state college to become a 1:1 school. The Tamaki College story is being told here.
The research Evaluation Report has been published in Term One and continues to show evidence of significant student engagement.
The introduction of 1:1 devices was associated with marked changes in the engagement of students. For example, by the end of the year in 15 classrooms the majority of students were on task from between 80-100% of the time. Teachers all commented that the quantity of work had increased since the introduction of the devices
Student achievement outcomes gave also shown a positive response to the digital learning environment...
The evidence from e asTTle reading in Y4-Y8 (n=409) indicates accelerated gains (rates of gain higher than nationally expected rates) occurred in 4 out of 5 year levels (up to three times expected rates).
The evidence from e asTTle writing from 4 schools in Y4-Y8 (n= 409) indicates at all year levels there was marked acceleration in rates of progress (up to six time expected rates) but no cohorts reached nationally expected levels.
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| From May 19, 2012 Milestone |
The key lessons for the cluster
This half of the year as our students have quickly developed skill and independence online we have emphasized the importance of having robust processes in place to account for our students online. Fortunately the Teacher Dashboard has taken care of the learning environment for us, but the sharing (blogging) environment has highlighted the need for each school to have systems in place to account for the students content. The Teacher Dashboard is trailing the addition of Blogger this month which will enhance accountability and ease of monitoring work shared publicly.
*Update: November 2011*
The Teacher Dashboard updates in the second half year have greatly enhanced monitoring and accountability. With Blogger and Picasa added to the TD teachers have easy access to the content students are publishing.
TD now enables the students to safely use GMail, as their entire account is accessible to the teacher. Through the GMail tab the teacher can not only access sent and received emails, but they can also see what has been trashed.
In the socially networked world our students live in an important feature of TD is being able to keep a friendly eye on the social interaction and collaboration patterns emerging in the class - which otherwise can go unnoticed and escalate.
Our Film Festival has taken another step forward in enhancing cluster ties and collaboration. Now that our students have access to the internet through their own devices it has been interesting to observe the huge increase in 'collegial' support and interaction between the students across schools. This is noticeable through the comments they are leaving on each others movies (they are all posted online) and the feedback survey they are currently completing.
*Update: May 2012*
On March 4th 2012 we published the results of the Student '11 netbook reflections. The post can be read here and the entire collection of responses can be read here.
This comment sums them up:
Without A Netbook I Am Nothing! Do you know how much my Netbook has changed my learning?
Well last year (2010) I had to write in a book with a pencil and there was no point, because nobody could see it. Now that I have a Netbook I am able to write faster and my writing is much neater, but most importantly, I have an audience that can see my writing on my blog....
There were some repetitive themes coming through these reflections:
- A huge positive was around the mechanics of writing. They seem to dislike the physical act of writing (with a pen/cil)
- Concepts around self-directed learning.
- Audience appreciation. How having their own netbook enabled them to post on their blog more frequently.
Similar reflections also emerged in the research evaluation report.
This feedback has significantly impacted our professional development model and our pedagogical framework delivery for 2012, and we have emphasised those three points made by the students.
Next steps include
- Overcoming technology barriers to using e-asTTle so our next round of data gathering is all digital
- Working with the college students to develop the most appropriate sharing space for them online
- Increasing opportunities for all students to 'create' more as part of their learning
*Update: November 2011*
Most of the schools are using easTTle for our November round of assessments. We are concerned that the MoE has not optimised this environment for smaller screens, particularly as there is a rapidly increasing movement in NZ schools to mobile devices (iPads, netbooks, Touches etc) which all have smaller screens.
We need to continue urging NZQA to accept our netbooks as tools for sitting NCEA or it makes a mockery of working 24/7 in one environment and then for 3 hours once a year being tested on that work in another. Rather like a Rally driver being expected to sit his license on a horse.
We are exploring having our secondary students using Google Siites to share their outcomes as a portfolio, with it being their choice whether it is a private or public space.
Our students have become much more adept in the second half of the year at using their netbooks to create outcomes, an issue mentioned above in the May report. They have overcome the technical challenges of 'survival' on a digital device and are enjoying exploring their creativity using Web 2 apps and the tools the hard ware offers.
*Update: May 2012*
Before our testing round began a meeting was held with a large attendance of several members from each Manaiakalani School to establish agreed protocols around testing. The link to our agreed procedures can be found here. It was felt that we had achieved a much greater degree of uniformity across our testing process when the data was gathered at the end of March.
This means we have a great wealth of testing data from Yrs 4-10. However, we have not had success with external exams for our Level 1-3 NCEA students.
Blogging as a sharing space for Yrs 5-8 has gained traction much more quickly this year. An analysis of blogging in term 1 show students had almost doubled their posting when compared with the same period last year.
The introduction of our cluster CyberSmart curriculum has been a priority for our netbook classes and students are becoming familiar with the language of "Am I being CyberSmart?" when facing issues pertaining to the digital world. The older the students, the more complex this is as they have not grown up in a school environment where this discussion is the norm AND they have to learn a whole lot at once.
Emerging issues
With highly skilled staff in our pilot classes we need to be consistently looking ahead to developing more teachers who are able to function in these digital environments and to have strategies in place for replacements as some move on in their careers.
*Update: November 2011*
Some issues have been noted by our evaluator:
- It is necessary for Principals to ensure that infrastructure is stable and all aspects of connectivity are available before classes are provided with netbooks. There will always be some aspects (eg wireless in classrooms) that don’t occur until the netbooks are used, these have been addressed quickly once they were identified.
- There seems to be a long delay for technical support. This may be because the issues are not reported immediately or technical support is slow. Either way 2 weeks for students to be without their main learning tool is an issue that will need to be addressed.
- Some teachers are handling the student learning without netbooks well. All teachers need to have an alternative option for students when their netbook is not in use.
- Extra power cords may need to be purchased by schools and used when students need power. Future building plans need to be aware of the need for power plugs in the floor and around the classrooms, rather than just on side walls.
- Teachers need to be prepared for a time when power goes off, or internet fails. Plan B should be discussed in each school.
*Update: May 2012*
Principals across the cluster responded to the evaluation report recommendations and ensured that 2012 began with a far stronger infrastructure foundation; from increasing wireless access and data to the schools to dealing with issues like missing data projectors. Teachers and students were far happier with the start-up to the year.
Technical support has been addressed with lead teachers and principals agreeing this month that their schools are in a stronger and more stable condition than they were BEFORE the introduction of 1:1. Thanks to the support of the Manaiakalani Education Trust we have been able to afford the support of one company, Fusion networks, across all our schools. Fusion deal with Desktop, servers, netbooks, wireless and data. Having the one company means that there is very little downtime as they are able to troubleshoot far more efficiently.
The recomendation by the researcher last year that "all teachers need to have a Plan B" was discussed at our most recent principals' meeting with all agreeing that we have moved well past that. No-one is experiencing that kind of down-time any more.
An issue identified last year around getting capable relievers has spurred us to begin a training programme for relievers. to of our schools have paid for relievers to have a whole day PD with the facilitators on use of netbooks and implementing our 1:1 programmes. This has had a noticeable effect on those who attended and now those schools have a pool of confident relievers.
Annecdotal Evidence
As our students become confident, connected, actively involved lifelong learners, some of them are being offered opportunities to develop this futher.
On May 19th 2011 a group of 8 Year 6 students from Pt England School were flown to Wellington by TUANZ to be one of the Keynote speakers at their annual conference. This video was taken by one of the students...
*Update: November 2011*
Tamaki College Manaiakalani Year 10 students were featured in the July edition of Kuranga magazine. These students can be seen using the Dreamcatcher programme and working in their classes.
On June 21st 2011 this group of Year 6 students from Pt England School were invited to address Ko Awatea at Middlemore Hospital alongside Pat Snedden, the outgoing chair of the Auckland District Health Board. Their address can be viewed below:
Pt England School - changing pedagogy and using technology
The Manaiakalani Film Festival, held on November 9th 2011 at Hoyts Extreme Screen theatre has actively embraced this Cluster goal as the theme for the Film Festival:
"Confident, connected, actively involved, lifelong learners"
This link leads to a blog post which gives greater detail about the event.
Watch the student movies by clicking this link
Tatiana from Tamaki Intermediate fronted this movie.
Mr Rob Munnik filmed and edited it
This video was made by one of the schools after the event to show their students arriving at, presenting at and leaving Session Two of the Film festival during the day..
Te Puni Kokiri Partnership being signed in the presence of children on September 30th 2011
*Update: May 2012*
"What Now" produced this Documentary piece about Manaiaklani
"Tagata Pasifika"produced this documentary
