Leave your hat on!

Wearing too many hats is often cited as problematic when you are trying to grow your business. Sometimes businesses endure unnecessary strain simply because the right people aren’t responsible for the right jobs.

In some cases, it can impede growth or even result in a net loss for the business.The solution recommended by most business advisors is to re-structure the workplace. Restructuring roles and responsibilities in the business and assess your company’s activities in the marketplace.

The Extra-Extra-Curricula Hat

Schools however do not operate in the same flexible way. Most teachers do take on extra-curricula activities such as organising fund raisers, taking to soccer team, coaching the debating class or going to camp – these are our market places. We attract students to them through our marketing. Students join the ‘team’.

Successful training requires not only the acquisition of new skills, but also the maintenance of them. As staff refocus, and learn these, there is a performance dip, as everyone tries to come to terms with new work practices. The innovation generally has to come from within.

The Trainer Hat

A school that has embraced Web2.0 and Open Learning approaches – requires even more maintenance.

Right now I think that there are very few lucky enough to have the title, Educational Technologist, or ICT Integrator. Some schools do not have an IT Manager let alone some specialist ’support’ staff in the classroom.

The Joiner Hat

The too many hat syndrome is a by product of becoming an advocate for change from 20th Century to 21st Century Learning.

I think that schools need to CLEARLY define what they mean by ‘professional development’ and ‘extra-curricula’ – as traditional notions of these ‘extras’ are no longer true of many teachers.

I have a form to fill in right now about ‘PD’ this year – how do I explain it? – 140 characters or less maybe.

The IT guy Hat

Technology is in itself not an automatic provider of 21C learning. In fact, in a recent Elluminate session with Will Richardson and Sheryl Nusbaum-Beach, the 40 or so Australian teachers, when asked to define ‘what 21C learning is’, put ‘technology’ very low on the list.

The all weather Hat

We gladly pull on the new hat without really thinking it through. Our enthusiasm to refocus our learning and restructure pedagogy is extra-curricula professional development and invisible/misunderstood to many administrators and executives – who don’t read blogs or write them.

The blogger Hat

Why bother edu-blogging at all? At some point you need your new hat collection to be recognised as important – both to you and your school community. Job change, career move, success, parent communication, peer engagement … there are lots of personal reasons that make it important to have a blog – and relatively few not to. Having a blog also encourages you to read blogs and makes you much more likely to go read a book. The more you read, the more you write – the more you THINK about learning.

The Butterfly Hat

I take input from a range of blogs. Sometimes I like the content, sometimes the passion and sometimes just the style of the writer. More often it is a combination. One non educational blog I read is Seth Godin – which is a marketing and design sort of thing.

I see a lot of similarities between marketing and schooling right now, maybe that’s just me, but some of the statements that Seth Godin makes influence my thinking.

Trying to convince a CEO of anything is a little like trying to convince a cop not to give you a ticket. It’s possible, but rarely worth the effort, given the odds. Seth Godin

I saw that as significant when thinking about trying to build capacity and change schools.

In another post, he talks about ‘critical mass’ and ‘short cuts’ – something a lot of us are trying for in our schools to kick start change. When I look at the vast range of ‘tools’ that edu-bloggers can throw at teachers it made me think about how I was going about it.

Every day at Squidoo, thousands of people build pages. And most of them lose interest and fade away. But a few stick it out and many earn $2,000 or more a month in their spare time (for themselves or for charity). The difference is clear but sad. The shortcut didn’t work right away, so they’re off to the next thing.

If you have a presence on twitter, squidoo, blogs, facebook, myspace, linkedin and 20 other sites, the chances of finding critical mass at any of them is close to zero. But if you dominate, if you’re the goto person, the king of your hill, magical things happen. One follower in each of twenty places is worthless. Twenty connected followers in one place is a tribe. It’s the foundation for building something that matter.

I thought this was more applicable to school, not so much the ‘blogosphere’. The ‘goto’ hat is probably the hardest to wear. In the metaverse you can be a very small fish, but in your school, you can be a tribal leader. To a small group, you are the ‘goto’ person for a while, but at the same time, you are also seen by other tribes (and schools are tribal) – as a serious concern.

In order to balance out your extra-extra-curricula life with your real job, blogging allows you to create a record of showing that your are working towards better professional practice, connecting with others and demonstrating changes in your practice in a neutral zone.

When reading a blog, I hope to find ideas, stories and things that challenge my own.

What do all these hats say about you?

I think that the 21C Teacher has certain characteristics – and a blog is the evidence of that.

• Uses technology to support learning in and out of the classroom
• Undertakes self-directed professional development in learning communities
• Provides peer coaching and support – to teachers outside of their school and within
• Is a teacher
• Is a learner
• Engages in student centered learning activities, using freely available Web2.0 tools
• Is an integrator
• Shares experiences with others online

In doing this, they will talk about the following things

• The shift from prescribed passive to authentic read/write activities
• Collaborative Learning
• Inquiry based Learning
• Connected Learning
• Media Literacy (not information literacy)
• Creating ‘content’ not ‘copying’ content
• Develops a sense of mystery and wonder in learning
• Explores online communities and rethinking how to use technology in multi-modal ways

How does this change the HR process?

As schools, systems and governments all seek to define and build frameworks around ‘21C Learning’ – the need to build capacity is critical. Putting the 21C teachers, or the tech savvy ones in postions to under-pin the less conversant is a terrible strategy. If a teacher is wearing the ‘new hat’ and demonstrating vision, leadership and understanding of the characteristics, then surely they are better employed as Peer Coaches not ‘under pinning’ roles. Time served to me, is no indicator of a teachers passion, innovation and engagement with students, just as people agree that exams are not the best indicator of student ability.

Blogging to me, is the resume of the 21C teacher.

• Personal reflection on specific achievements and frustrations
• Evidence of leadership in the wider learning communities online
• Ability to refocus ’skills’ and ‘tool’ to provide ‘deeper’ learning opportunities
• A range of visible profiles in Social Networkss.

I think that ‘blogging’ your story, your extra-extra-curricula work and sharing that is probably the most important record of professional development right now – and the most effective way of getting you/me/us to challenge each other and make change in schools not only sustainable, but enjoyable and exciting.

If we’re not excited about the potential of learning, we can hardly ‘demand’ it from our students.

I have had three hats at my school – IT Manager, Integrator and Teaching and Learning Designer. The first one is what I did officially, the last one is what I really love to do.

As of the 10th of November, I’ll be moving my hat to Head of Teaching and Learning Design at Macquarie University in Sydney, which is exciting. So I really hope that someone at my school will take up the blogging of what is happening, but if they don’t then I am sure that student’s like Tanuj will do it.

Digital Reputation – Look back in anger.

This is a very interesting story in regard to digital reputation.

Gary Rego, 16, told students and parents at the Sunday night ceremony  that it was “really sad” — following a crash that killed three students in August — that Principal Vaughan Sadler was not at the graduation dinner, but was “holidaying and watching cricket in a far away land”.

The article has a video, which was posted from the audio from a mobile phone to YouTube.

To me the video demonstrates just how important Digital Repulation is in our schools. Rather than making a ’statement’ – which is the tragedy of youth that at some point many teens do – this one, poorly articulated and bumbling, demonstrates to me not how easy it is for some kids to give his teacher a serve via the internet, but more that the student is obvioulsly unaware of the the long term impact of it. He will move on in life, however, will be a marker in the metaverse as how to make a complete ass of yourself. I have no view on what he says, and not aware of the validity of his comments but I would think impact on the entire college negatively.

Everyone is damaged, there is nothing positive here. Sending him to sit his exams somewhere else is the physical consequence – the digital one, is that he is now part of history – judged by all of us. No matter how annoyed, ego-centric this young man is, it seems a graphic demonstration – that if he understood the potential implications as he moves from school to ‘real life’ he may have made a better choice – his statements will fade, yet the folly of posting this on the internet will be the memory. The video to me, would make a great resource for class discussion – but then perhaps that means I would be sustaining the poor kids suffering. Maybe the media story here is the fact it’s on YouTube – the issue is the critical nature of teaching students ‘media literacy’ and ‘digital repulation’ – and developing personal repulation through poisitive digital porfolios – All we see here is a kid with 20,000 Google Hits – all bad. It does not however excuse his actions – Welcome to the metaverse Gary.

Graphic-A-Day#9

Oi Rudd! Keep your filters off our internet

In response to the Amnesia’s call this week in Twitter to protest the Australian’s governments plan to filter at source. Keep your filter off our internet – Digital Education Revolution my backside. Make some noise!

Graphic-A-Day#8 – What I hope I do.

My job says I have to ‘teach’ students skills and information to pass exams. The result of my efforts has a determination on the immediate steps that students can take, and things they can do.

If they choose to go to University,  I hope that the way in which they learned gave them ideas and skills to be creative and enter further study with that mindset rather than some form of human photocopier.

Heppell from the 90s

Its amazing how my interests change. From what can I do now to what should I be thinking of next. What happens after we get critical mass to allow students to participate in connected digital conversations. If the goal is simply to share an electronic exercise book – is that indeed a worthy goal at all or short of the mark.

I’ve come to accept that social constructivism theory, when played out in online discourse communities, does unify, encourage and improve student engagement, perhaps not at the top end of the class, or the bottom – but certainly, those in the middle appear to engage in deeper learning. I have little doubt, that when students are given projects that intrigue them, that are in someway worthy of exploration, then they are much more engaged than learning in passive environments.

This needs enthusiastic teachers, armed with online access to engage students in personalized, reflective learning – and Web2.0 tools are very good at achieving that.

I’ve been following the connectivism and connective knowledge ‘open online course’. George Siemens and Stephen Downes co-facilitate the course and the daily email they send out is so packed with ideas and suggestions, that its hard not to engage in it.

Aside from the content that they are putting online, the very idea of running such a powerful course online and for free makes me rethink about how and when learning can take place.

Chris, sent me a link to the UNSW’s YouTube space – a respose to an article I read about students at UWS being unhappy with ‘podcast’ only lectures.  Two more ’spaces’, neither physical or time critical.

When I think about ICT integrators, integrating learning technologies into classroom – I wonder if this is what High School should be doing? and if so -  for how long? When will we be pre-packing, opt in and on-demand learning as normal activities (and what age is that appropriate). We might think never, but I imagine we could have said the same about Universities not too long ago. Ewan McIntosh is another example with his 4iP project – where the boundaries and definitions of learning, play and content become fluid, collaborative and networked. What kind of people will work at 4iP? what do our kids need to learn to work at a place like that.

If University and academic study is moving to ‘open classrooms’ and ‘breakout areas’, then are we in fact saying that small groups can work more effectively when connected to everyone else by technology than physical space.

How much of our lesson structures accommodate the notion that learning only occurs between set times, lead by set individuals within set boundaries (something I’ve been challenging in in the design of the 9th grade Animal Farm project).

Will our desire to rethink and build new physical classrooms – be pointless, as much of our learning will be in virtual communities via mobile phones or point of view cameras by the time they are built. I learn so much from so many from the comfort of my lounge … physical interaction is now socially driven, not ‘content’ driven.

I love this video from Stephen Heppell in the 90s and find it quite amazing. Even his latest presentation from K12 Online, gently asks questions about if we are even thinking about what is next, let alone what that will look like. Are the futurists right? If so, what happens to all those guiding education right now – how many of them are ‘futurists’.  I wonder if we are focusing too much on what we want to see in the classroom today and not thinking enough about what all this connected ‘usness’ means in the future.

I worry far less about teachers learning about tools, or kids using them – as I do about where we go after they become as Chris Lehmann recently said – like Oxygen, and Chris is citing a student who asks

“we need to have the ability to choose our own education and not have our hands held all the way to adulthood for we will be a child trapped in a human’s body mentally and won’t flourish like we were supposed to. In short the concept of school is horrible but the concept of learning things you like is what matter most.”

Spaces, realities, conversations and language become increasingly fluid which has to be problematic for educators who like: classrooms; doors; timetables; bells and defined terms of reference. If anything the industrial age model that was never really quashed (in education) by the information age in ways we saw in the workplace or our personal lives. Now we are faced with the ‘conceptual’ or ‘media age’ … we are reflecting and perhaps predicting the future, based on the last decades massive shift in ‘connectedness’ and ideas of time and space.

The question asked today was ‘what to you think 21C learning is’ … perhaps the answer is … another tidemark on the ebb of learning to a much more distributed and networked model.

Where will learning go? …. mmm, more questions than answers. Damn you RSS reader, I’m still at the beginning.

Animal Farm 2.0 – Reading won’t hurt

 We are almost the end of the first week of the two week Animal Farm 2.0 project. Our goals have been clear. We want the students to get back into reading books, talking about books and thinking the language of books. We also want them to use what they are reading to help them learn about basic creative writing techniques, start to repack ‘language’ in a formal context and then to produce a series of books containing short stories.

It’s fast and furious. I am not the ‘classroom’ teacher – in fact there are 8 of them. I think that the design of this project has created for the teachers a real feeling of ‘unity’. Casual conversations with the teachers suggests that they feel enthusiastic, becuase of the way the students have taken to reading and asking questions. It has not been perhaps the ‘battle’ to get 15 year old boys to get engaged with reading that it might have been in the past, but that is just a feeling I get from talking to them.

The students have shared a simple GoogleDoc with their teachers online, and have been actively responding to questions. These questions are individual to each student, so the teachers have mapped the ‘key learning’ and been able to explore the student’s ideas as well as meet the objectives of the unit. The classroom lessons are given to explore the text in groups, take part in writing exercises to support it. The deconstruction and reflection of that classroom activity – is done in GoogleDocs, and it may well be that the students are talking to a different teacher.

In effect they are talking to an advisor and mentor. When they return to class – its clear that the students are bring a number of persectives to the class.

They can say to the teacher ‘That is what I thought, but then Snowball said ….”. It gives the student some ‘expert’ feeling, that they are bringing information and new ideas to the teacher – creating a greater democracy in learning.

Around the campus, students can be seen reading. They have also formed discussion groups with teachers at lunch time – because they want to know more and get more from the text. In the 3 years I’ve been at the school, I have never seen this in 9th Grade. The actual manditory tasks this week are actually quite low, yet the effort and enthusiasm is remarkable. We have a new teacher in the mix, Brad. Lucy has taken on the project in her usual creative and enthusiastic manner and Brad has falled right into line. Her understanding of how technology can be used strategically to create a sense of drama and mystery in learning is fantastic.

The students know that there is something about to happen in the project, and not sure what, but it has something to do with the meaning that they need to get from Animal Farm. (I’d say more, but they might read this). What is important is that when I ask the students about ‘how’s the project going’ … they talk about the meaning of the book, and how it might apply to all manner of things, no least the way the school operates. They are not retelling the story. At the end of almost a year, these kids are now looking well beyond the immediate ‘task’.

In this project, I think we’ve got a strong ‘content’ and ‘learning’ balance. One of the critisisms of PBL is how kids stack up against kids learning the same content in more traditional ways. I guess that really depends on how you define the summative assessment – but I do think that there is a danger to skip content milestones in favour of other goals – which are valid – but make it hard to draw direct comparisons.

This project, so far, has created unity in the teachers – each has a part to play, and has been able to teach in their own style. The enthusiasm that the teacher brings to class is picked up by students. At times I think teachers can be lost in the fog of technology, or the process of project based learning – and students know it. When putting this task together – a major goal Lucy and I had – was for the teachers. To create a project that let them do what they do best, to learn a new tool (GoogleDocs) and create unity and engagement as a teaching team – that has the ability to focus on individual students. I am learning just how critical that is – and unity is as much of a key word as collaborative to me right now.

The next phase of creative writing starts tommorrow – so I really want to try and capture that – with the end ‘book’ writing the week after.

ACDC in Excel

This clip is just too clever. AC/DC’s new single – and the video is made with an Excel Spreadsheet. Thanks to Alec Couros for the Twitter link.

“And I can’t understand a word you say”

I read Jabiz Raisdana’s post about Recruitment2.0 which has a great description of the characteristics of what I’d call a 21C teacher. In fact I think that the word ‘teacher’ is now a little mis-leading, as the 21C teacher is also an information architect. But I wonder if out ‘leaders’ have any capacity to understand the diagram posted.

I also read Beth Holmes talking about her experiences in watching and listening to K12Online this week in which she says

The timing for reading Stephanie’s post could not have been better. Last night I was completely “taken” with Alec Couros’ K12 Online Conference presentation “Open, Connected, Social: Reflections of an Open Graduate Course Experience.” The viewing experience is a total package – a real “trip!” The viewer is entertained, taught, challenged and extended.

This is a very important passage. Firstly, Beth is talking about learning outside school and outside school hours. She is also connecting with Alec (who is influences everyone) and about a conference that is online. She is then talking about the learning – and that statement to me is exactly what teachers should be doing in class.

If I compare the two posts, it illustrates one of the major problems that ‘leaders’ talk about when they publish comments such as “We have such a diverse pool of talent in our schools.  It is important that we tap into, challenge and engage our talented teachers if we are to continuously improve the learning and teaching”.

I am not sure that they are any good at measuring this. I think that it is something that executives believe that they can buy in, and indeed any teacher who is not ‘tech savvy’ is going to increasingly struggle to be employed. At the same time there seems to be a mentality that all this read/write, gaming, virtual world, collaborative classroom stuff, is not something that executives themselves need to buy into. I am sure that they have a list of ‘yeah buts’ for that, but that is of no consequence.

Leadership is not about authority and it is as much about listening as it is talking in my view. Someone has to create opportunities for this leadership to be effective, but I think that at time’s our battle plan is almost 17th Century.

Leaders on the hill who’s point of reference is a classic view of engagement, based on a set of established protocols and procedures.

Unfortunately Beth’s passage does not fit that notion of leadership. Beth leads herself. Jabiz is talking about moving forward as a teacher and learner.

He’s answering the ‘executives’ call to ‘tap into talent’ loud and clear – but the criteria that he suggests is needed for 21C teaching – the very things that we have to embed into practice in order to be a relevant professional in the classroom – are not the criteria for pay and promotion, leadership or professional development in schools.

While teachers are being flexible in the way they learn – and deliver new ideas (for free) into the classroom, the systems are not.

For example, schools do not fund home internet connectivity or flexible work place practice. They are yet to recognize that the hundreds of free hours 21C teacher spend learning at home is directly related to classroom – and therefore school performance and the future of our students.

I really believe that the nature of the school workplace, the terms in which teachers are engaged needs to be reformed. I just don’t think that our most senior leaders are quite ready for just how much.

It is simply unacceptable to drop laptops into classrooms and expect teachers to suddenly become effective media age developers of 21C pedagogy.

It is also morally bankrupt of executives to issue this a significant criteria for employment without recognizing that these people are ‘leaders’ – in ways beyond a ‘pat on the back’. 21C teachers are not foot soldiers, don’t make that mistake.

If you do, then there is no avoiding your own Executive Waterloo.

The coalition is all of us. Despite decades of Empire building, you are at risk of loosing it all as the control mechanisms used to define ‘career paths’ are less and less relevant to the ‘connected teacher’. You have to understand that, not ignore it. If not, then you are left to argue ‘morality and loyalty’ to retain teachers, nothing more – which I think is patronizing, given the effort that most 21C teachers have made to get where they are.

In response to the idea of the Intrepid Teacher – 21C teachers – connected to the metaverse – are on one hand welcomed as agents for change, but at the same time are not invited into the officer’s mess. This is a remnant of the industrial age. If you work hard over a long period of time, then you may be selected over someone else from the shop floor. But the new shop floor is the metaverse, where teachers are connected to media bloggers, teaching bloggers, futurists, gamers, technocrats and all those people thinking very seriously about change – who are not ‘just out’ of Uni.

Just as in the art of war, technology changes everything that went before. Clay Shirky talks about how … the German Panzer commanders defeated the French with lower numbers, because they understood the power of communication using radio to co-ordinate and react to ever changing circumstances … They were connected. He also talks about how a group can be it’s own worst enemy.

My constant concern about education (and don’t get me wrong, I want all teachers to succeed for the sake of themselves and students) – is the lack of executive ability to acknowledge the need to build CAPACITY – and to be brave enough to appoint innovators and student-leader teachers to positions where that capacity becomes SUSTAINABLE.

That to me is impossible if no one in the officer’s mess has any understanding or what Jabiz and Beth are representing. We are frantically reporting what is happening, but the message is not heard.

Maybe executives and administrators are hoping they can hold back the lines until help comes. But no one is. Each day they leave it or employ policies of the past to control the organization, it gets that much harder not to become a landmark in history.

My final salvo is aimed at pre-teachers and those at University. You really have to decide which army you are going to join right now. You have the opportunity to base your teaching on the theory of the past, but with the tools of the future – and make sure that when you arrive in the classroom, that you are a leader. You lead your students – and really, you don’t need anything more than an internet connection to do that. On the other hand, you could wait to be invited into the mess – eventually. Don’t do that – learn from your collegues experience, and apply it to conversations in the metaverse.

Telstra – Unlock this.

Dear Mr Groom,

Thank you for your email dated 10 October 2008 to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) regarding Telstra.

The role of the ACCC is to ensure compliance with the Trade Practices Act 1974 (TPA), which is designed to encourage fair trading and discourage anti-competitive conduct through a specific set of competition and consumer protection rules.

I note from your email that you purchased an iPhone from a Telstra store for $850 and you were informed that you needed to call Telstra to arrange for them to unlock the phone to enable you to use it on the Three Network. You indicated that you asked Telstra staff if there was any applicable fees for unlocking the phone and they advised you that there was no fee. You also stated that you perused Apple and Telstra’s websites and did not see any reference to a fee for unlocking the iPhone. However you subsequently found that there was in a fact a ‘hidden fee’ for unlocking your phone. The conduct you have described could potentially breach sections 52 and 53(e) of the TPA.

Section 52 of the TPA is a broad provision which prohibits a corporation, in trade or commerce, engaging in conduct which is misleading or deceptive, or which is likely to mislead or deceive. Whether particular conduct is misleading or deceptive is a question of fact to be determined in the context of the evidence as to the alleged conduct and to the relevant surrounding facts and circumstances. If you think you have entered the contract under misleading circumstances, you should first attempt to pursue a remedy with Telstra. Section 53(e) prohibits corporations from making misrepresentations about the price of goods and services. The conduct that you describe may be at risk of breaching these provisions of the TPA. For this reason I have lodged details of your complaint in our national database.

In assessing any complaint, staff of the ACCC would generally determine whether or not the matter falls within the jurisdiction of the TPA, whether or not there appears to have been a breach of the TPA, and if so, whether the impact of the conduct is so serious and widespread that it is appropriate that the ACCC should take some action. The ACCC generally takes enforcement action in circumstances where there are broad flow on benefits for industry and consumers alike. While there may be some instances were a breach of the TPA has occurred, it may be more appropriate for consumers to pursue these matters individually as a private matter and in many instances their local Office of Fair Trading will be able to assist with advice on how to proceed in such matters.

The conduct about which you complain may also contravene the Fair Trading Act in New South Wales. For conduct occurring within New South Wales, the ACCC would generally refer consumers to the New South Wales Office of Fair Trading (Tel: 13 32 20; website: www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au). If you have suffered any loss as a result of relying on any misrepresentation, you may be able to recover that loss in a Small Claims Tribunal. The New South Wales Office of Fair Trading can also provide details about this procedure.

Your matter is important to the ACCC as it assists us in determining issues with national or wider public interest implications. We closely study the patterns of complaints that we receive to ensure that our enforcement and education actions are focused on the areas of greatest concern to Australian consumers. Consequently, the details of your matter have been recorded and will be used to determine whether there is a pattern of behaviour by a particular trader or in a particular industry that raise broader concerns.

Thank you for contacting the ACCC with your concerns. I trust this information is of assistance.

Yours sincerely

Monica

ACCC Infocentre

Ph: 1300 302 502