Classroom 2.0 @ PMHS for 2008

I’ve decided in 2008 to focus my ‘blog’ by reporting on how our school is re-thinking digital classrooms. This has begun with the first installation, which is designed to provide teachers and students with not just quick hardware, but puts the emphasis on student centered learning, using Web2.0.

We talk about Classroom 2.0, but I hope that the journey in 2008 will show how I am facilitating teaching and learning by facilitating and encouraging Web2.0 tools are the classroom standard.

Background

Some 165 Year 9 students are about to start Project Based Learning. Information Software Technology is now a compulsory subject choice. Subjects are twinned and taught at the same time. For example IST and RE. Two facilitators (teachers) and 50 students per room. PBL is based on social contructivism. We are adopting the structures of Napa’s New Technology High School – which is a showcase for Bill Gate’s theories about 21st Century Learning. There is so much written about PBL, that I make no attempt to judge it. My role is to facilitate it.

Essentially students are given a ‘driving question’ and work for 5 weeks in teams to give a ‘presentation’. They are marked on content, skill, communication, work efforts etc., so there is an ongoing need for each student to productive.

PMHS is unique in adopting and extending this in Australia.

Current use of digital classrooms

I have several PC labs with some 400 or so PCs in a school population of just under 1000. So generally speaking, students have excellent access to the internet and PC/Macs. I also connect student laptops to the WiFi network (if they have them).

I looked at the assessment tasks given in year 7 & 8 closely in designing the Class 2.0 network. Like most schools we offer XP and Office as the primary production tools. It is no suprise then, that the majority of tasks require students to produce work using these tools – Powerpoints, Leaflets, Brochures and Word Docs. We have specialist software applications – but the over arching use of our labs is to work in MS Office.

Students hit Wikipedia and Google, chop and paste, throw in a few images and Bobs your uncle. I know this for a fact, as I spend a lot of time watching their use of the technology.

In year 7/8 students have about 1 in 5 lessons in a PC lab. In addition to this Design and Technology, Music and Creative Arts have their own labs, as do Science – so students I would say spend about a third of their time using computers.

Classroom 2.0

Following my Learnscope work this year, I have been working with my classes to use Web2.0 tools to demonstrate learning and facilitate it. (Check the link My Web2.0 World) – that has a link to my resources and my students’ blogs/shares.

The new rooms take into account the limitations offered in the existing classrooms on teaching and learning. I am attempting to encourage students and staff NOT to default to activities that revolve around MS Office. The challenge was to deliver a network and environment that: Supports the PBL model; assumes users are ‘digital natives’; requires low – proxy policy; encourages student/staff social networking and publishing; and gives high speed access to Web2.0 solutions.

I am not anti MS Office. I am anti-status quo. Given that this is a huge shift for our school from teacher centric to student centric, I am concious that staff are by and large Teacher 1.0, and the safe, comfortable option is to stick with what you know. MS Office type activities.

We are using Moodle as our courseware. However, I want the students to learn to find, evaluate, select and use a range of solutions to solve the project problems. Of course Wikis, Blogs are on the agenda … but I want to encourage students and staff to try a range of them or indeed challenge the use of them for their solution.

My concern is that we default to our old ways. So at launch, there is no MS Office in the new labs. The browser is loaded with a range of Web2.0 tools … Zoho for example does the same thing, Google Docs does the same thing. By encouraging the use of these … and limiting the temptation to ‘default’ … I hope that part of the IST learning outcomes ’select appropriate software’ will mean much more. It will encourage exploration, professional developement and creative thinking.

Use Management

The new labs are running Mircrosoft Server 2003, and not Novell. Auditing and getting meaningful data from Novell is impossible in our environment. Students simply hit ‘workstation only’ and do what they like. I have no idea who they are, so lost the proxy-war early on in 2007. In PBL the solution is to put students into groups, based on their use of the technology. If students want to cruise YouTube to pass their time, then they will find they do it at dial-up speed. Students who want to create VoiceThreads will have access to WiFi laptops and given bandwidth priority.

This I hope will encourage students to do the right thing – as we are preparing them for life – I still believe the internet is good for 2 things – save time or waste time – so I am encouraging positive behaviour through bandwidth and access to hardware and technology. I have found that attempting to do this using a proxy ban list is not effective. Since dropping the proxy to all but obviously in-appropriate content – but allowing YouTube and Social Networking – has seen far less ‘behaviour’ management needed. Initially, kids went nuts, but it settles down … trust me.

The best firewall a school has is organic … its called a teacher. If teachers are delivering interesting activities and pro-active (movement and position) in the room – then it delivers a much better result for all.

Brave new network

So my new network is geared to Web2.0. It will challenge staff and students. I am expecting ‘pitch forks and burning lanterns’ from the staff – taking away Word is just stupid! – and some confusion from students who have been conditioned to MS Office – select template, search Google, paste. Paul Curtis (Napa) said “ask them questions they can’t Google”, in relation to PBL methods. I have taken this out of context and have delivered a solution that allows students to explore and use the tools that they choose as part of their lives outside school – in school.

Use the Force Luke … time for us to let go and believe in students abilities

I’ve seen how students evolve in my own classes this year, and after a year … they no longer expect or default to MS Office. They do use it when they need to, for example write a script. But they then select other tools to deliver their ‘product’. And that to me is the key … to encourage them to select tools to support creativity, and so let them learn in way that they like to learn. Be that Second Life, Wikis, Blogs, Google Docs, Flakes, Slideshare, VoiceThread etc.,

I believe then, that this is the first High School Network that is designed as Web2.0 as it’s default operation. What I am going to blog about in 2008 is how I’ve built it, the technology, processes and mechanisms used and most of all the experience of the staff and students in working in a High School Classroom 2.0 environment.

The second theme I will blog about is integrating Skoolaborate (Second Life) into VET and IST, from a very hands on perspective … so others might use the same resources and ideas.

Let me know what you think!