IWBNet Pty Ltd

supporting digital classrooms, digital schools

Learning: Blended? Online? Face to Face? – The importance of pedagogy before technology in a digital landscape

By Leave a Comment

Many schools are introducing or improving their online offerings in the K-12 education space.  Whilst online and blended programs have been the norm for a significant amount of time in the tertiary sector we are playing catch up in terms of supporting our students to access learning anywhere anytime in the K-12 school environment.

Technology, like educational theories, continually evolve with time. This evolution creates opportunities for improvement in classroom practice for the betterment of the students in our care.

One such opportunity is online learning. An online learning approach allows students to access learning resources in an online environment and while this approach has some benefits for Haileybury students, it lacks one key feature; regular face to face interactions with an experienced teacher.

A blended learning approach combines tradition face to face teaching and learning with the directed use of online resources. Blended learning describes a learning environment that uses a range of learning activities and resources to enable the students to achieve their academic potential.[i]

Features of a blended learning environment include, but are not limited to, face to face teaching, pencil and paper, hands on materials, individual activities, group work and online resources and activities and resources. When a teacher combines these approaches, they are utilising blended learning with their students. It does not mean that effective teaching practice should be ignored in favour of moving students to an online environment if it is not appropriate.

As a blended learning approach can be make use of a variety approaches it is important to note that it is not a one size fits all model. An institution will need to decide what features they wish to incorporate into their approach.

So where do you start defining what blended learning means for your institution?

The golden rule with this is to start with the user not with the technology! Far too often when looking at technology we start with the tool instead of the user and the intended outcome.  If we start with the technology what we end up with is digitising education and learning instead of what we want to achieve which is the digitalisation of education and learning with view to a digital transformation of education and learning.

However what is the difference between digitisation, digitalisation and digital transformation?

In moving between these areas there are many models we can use to frame this up such as SAMR Model, Florida Technology Integration Matrix, and the TPACK model however it is imperative that we work with the students/users to ensure that we get honest feedback as to where we currently are along our digital pathway as a school.

I suggest the best place to start along this pathway is to shadow your students for a week.  During that week write down every time they interact with traditional and digital learning materials and note down how they interact with these.  This will begin to give a strong picture as to where your currently are and what the opportunities are at the different levels of digitisation, digitalisation and digital transformation.  I have included below and example of a shadowing exercise I did a few years ago.

Once we shadowed and interviewed our users we found that there was quite a lot of digitisation and not a large amount of digitalisation or digital transformation.  What was plainly obvious was the opportunity to link many of the digitised processes that we in place into one platform that enabled productivity and the user experience for students to be a lot cleaner and simplified.

This led us down the path of setting goals for our learning management system in conjunction with our users.  The biggest aspiration was that the platform was much more than a dropbox of files where students could access digitised handouts in one place.  We wanted the platform to a place where students could engage with learning whilst collaborating and communicating with each other and their teachers in a safe environment.

So once we had a vision we needed to build it… However we knew that whilst Kevin Costner truly believed that

“if you build it they will come”

this is not always the case with technology adoption.

We needed to ensure we designed with our students and teachers not for our students and teachers.

Design sessions were held with students and teachers and templates were made for each department based on their student and teacher needs.  What was clear from these design sessions was that students like a cohesive clear user experience.  Students wanted to know where to get resources easily and they wanted to see their teachers in educational resources.

What became very apparent was that students and teachers wanted their online space to be a social utility.  Our students knew that the internet is full of great “stuff” but they wanted resources to be curated to them.

In relatable terms this meant that we had to create the Michelin Guide for learning to our students.  In 1920 Michelin offered a guide that gave users the best restaurants and hotels on a given pathway.  In 2019 we had to do the same for learning with our students.

So we began the journey of working in teams to design this.  This meant mapping out what the learning experience looked like for each learning objective not just in a face to face model but in a blended model as well.  It involved the digital transformation of mindset to define learning as something that happens beyond face to face four walls model and into a anywhere anytime model.

In my next blog post I will write further about what we created and collated and the importance of clever curation and strong creation of resources by all users, students and teachers.

Please join me at the Leading a Digital School Conference where I will present a Keynote on this subject.

[i] https://www.education.vic.gov.au/documents/about/research/blendedlearning.pdf

Can I hack it? A reflection on designing digital solutions to authentic problems

By Leave a Comment

Written by my colleague, Megan Tubb

I didn’t realise I’d been hacked! After 12 years of teaching highly structured units of work, I found myself teaching in a way that forced me to loosen my grip on the reins of the curriculum. What started as a small discussion with my grade 6 students about the problem of litter in our playground had grown into something so much richer.

My 11 and 12 year old students were: 

  • driving the direction of our learning.
  • thinking of digital solutions to address a real problem in their environment
  • making strong connections to the adults in our local and wider community

The kids were empowered and full of pride! Meanwhile, I was struggling with self-doubt and fear. I had been pushed right out of my comfort zone to face each day with a level of uncertainty. It was innovative. It was challenging. It was exciting.

Could I hack this new way of teaching?

As the world continues to evolve, our education system is lagging behind. We know it is our imperative to develop our students to become active adults, well-equipped to fulfil their potential and find meaningful pathways for their future. Yet for so many teachers it is too threatening to step away from complete control of the direction of learning.

There are educators who are pushing back against old paradigms. Teachers who acknowledge that the old way just isn’t good enough. These teachers know the value of 21st century learning skills. They recognise that in order to equip students with these skills, they need to take a different approach that shifts away from teacher-centred learning. It requires educators to be innovative, creative and brave enough to value students as capable and contributing citizens – key players in the act of learning.

How can we utilise these pockets of innovation within schools to generate cultures of innovation across a whole school? One possible avenue is to draw on the Stanford d School’s principles of “hacking for school improvement”.  ‘Hacking’ has the following characteristics:

  • quick and fast with a bias to act
  • a culture of prototyping (just try)
  • using what we have
  • low risk

This model acknowledges that some teachers can be reluctant to try new ways of doing things because of a need to ‘get it right’. It aims to remove this pressure by grounding innovation in low-risk experiments that value and encourage a bias towards action. According to the Stanford d School:

“Since doing beats talking about doing, we embrace jumping into new, invigorating experiences. Sure, there’s some initial discomfort, but the reward becomes clear as educators stretch beyond their comfort zone to pick up new skills and mindsets.”

By taking a leap of faith and trying something new, rather than waiting for it to be perfect or right, teachers speed up their own learning process. In adopting a fail forward approach, they use their own valuable experiences and reflections to improve the practices they have experimented with.

Leadership at Taroona Primary School saw the initial litter work I was doing with my students. They applied ‘d School’ school improvement hacks to enable, encourage and support me. My experience not only built my personal capacity in the area of authentic learning, but it also served as a model for my colleagues.

Pushed by my principal, pulled by my students’ passion, I very quickly came to realise some of the benefits of bravely working in this new space.

Buy in

Students identified litter in the playground washing into the River Derwent as a problem.  The first thing that excited me was that the students were passionately connected to their learning. This created

Students installing the bird feeder they designed to keep currawongs away from rubbish bins

motivation, as they were invested in their efforts and outcomes. I realised that authentic learning is not only ideal for extending highly able students but also for students who are disengaged and difficult to motivate. There was buy in from my whole class!

Students are likely to think laterally, go left of field and dream big, rather than think something isn’t possible.

I had many projects on the go with students. Some worked, some didn’t. But what each project showed me was that with the naturally inquisitive, creative and uninhibited character of children, creatively solving real problems is a gift for teachers. Students are likely to think laterally, go left of field and dream big, rather than think something isn’t possible. And throughout all this, the significant community connections and learning that took place as a result of the journey, cemented my conviction that this was worthwhile, despite the uncertainties and challenges of working in this new way.

Digital Technologies

What also became obvious was the natural fit for digital technologies. Students intuitively considered digital solutions as part of their design-thinking approaches to problems. Our school had recently taken up the challenge of being early adopters of this curriculum area within the primary sector. It was so exciting to see digital technologies being organically applied within the authentic learning process. It brought alive our vision of ‘aligning and enhancing our current work with the digital technologies curriculum’.

My experience therefore served to build personal capacity in the area of authentic learning, as well as serving as a model for my colleagues.

We know from our own experiences that teachers are dedicated and want the best for their students. It’s what drives them to turn up every day. So why then is there a reluctance to adopt a culture of innovation that welcomes authentic learning? Why aren’t all teachers using the genuine and novel problems that exist within schools and communities to provide an opportunity for students to actively contribute as citizens in their own right?

Authentic Learning is Messy

Innovative, authentic learning can be a bit like what it feels like letting your toddler have a playdate with some friends. Even though as a parent you know the benefits of free unstructured child-led play, adults can be reluctant to just let kids go. As an adult, structured activities are easier. The adult knows that the fall-out following child-led play can be messy! And the mess can be both literal and figurative. For those who like to be prepared, organised and in control, this style of learning can be challenging. While pre-teaching and scaffolds are a critical part of the journey and are a requirement for student success, the open-ended nature of authentic learning means that it is not always predictable, the progress can be slow and the outcomes are often unknown.

Like a child-led playdate, authentic learning in a school setting provides genuine opportunities for creativity, collaboration, communication and innovation in a way that could never be achieved in a highly structured, adult-centred environment.

Many teachers like the comfort of having content areas mapped out for the year in neatly-defined lessons.  They may justify their reluctance to relinquish control by claiming loss of curriculum coverage. Yet the curriculum is firmly at the centre, incorporated in every aspect of the authentic learning journey. Will everything you try work? No. Will the failures be frustrating? Absolutely. The difference is, authentic learning allows the curriculum to come to life through the actions of engaged, contributing citizens who are making their mark within their school, community or beyond.

It is no longer an option to see schools as places that prepare students for “the real world”.  We ARE the real world!

Hilary Purdie and I are presenting two sessions together at the Leading a Digital School Conference being held in Melbourne at the Crown Promenade Hotel on 8, 9 and 10 August 2019. Our sessions are Bias to action – using hacks to create a culture of innovation and Pump your PL – why mindset alone is not enough for teacher transformation, please come and join us.

Teaching skills for an unpredictable future

By Leave a Comment

written by Adrian Camm

Globalisation and the accelerating rate of technological development provide new and unparalleled opportunities for the evolution of our species. Children entering primary school in 2019 will be young adults in 2030. What will the world look like? What career pathways will be available to them?

Experts argue that the world of 2030 will be shaped by advancements in Artificial Intelligence, Quantum Computing, Synthetic Biology, Biotechnology and the field of Big Data, particularly as the appliances and accessories that we wear and have in our homes gain greater tracking, storage and analytical power through the ubiquity and accessibility of next generation internet services. Automation is already forcing many industries to rethink traditional blue collar professions. The jobs that were once human endeavours are quickly changing as some jobs become obsolete and new jobs are invented.

As Artificial Intelligence applications become increasingly sophisticated, we are seeing glimpses of the inevitability that one day in the not too distant future, machines will exceed our abilities in many, many areas. Intelligent algorithms have even started to exhibit traits like creativity, traits that we once thought would solely exist in the human domain. Even the way we interact with others has changed dramatically. Everything and everyone has at once become more connected through social media and yet more isolated, as “screen time” takes away from much of our face to face communications.

The young people graduating from schools in 2030 will face some of the world’s most pressing and intractable problems: The political, environmental, economic and societal implications of global warming and climate change, the ethics and morality of our ability to genetically modify our unborn children, an increasing and ageing population that has come about through advances in medicine and increased life expectancy, dwindling natural resources and the merging and augmentation of human intelligence through the use of technology and pharmaceuticals. The call for schools to adequately prepare students for an uncertain future can be seen throughout the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s under the guise of school reform and the risk of irrelevance. Whilst the argument today largely remains the same, we have never before been in the grips of such rapid technological development. Change is now the one known against the multitude of unknowns.

Schools play a critical role in shaping the competencies and capabilities of young people in their care. There has always been debate about the kind of skills people will need to thrive in the future. An in-depth knowledge, skillset and expertise of a particular specialization is still absolutely important, but increasingly major discoveries are happening at the interstices between disciplines and this requires depth in a specific field but also an ability and the capability to see and make connections more broadly.

Schools need to create the conditions for students to develop a disposition toward learning. These conditions must not stymie or stifle curiosity, should free children’s imaginations and enable them to be resilient in the face of adversity. The role of the teacher will still be to teach, but also to model, mentor, facilitate and assist in the development of character and emotional intelligence. Students will need help in developing a certain comfort with being uncomfortable. They will need to be put into situations where they have to make decisions in order to become skilled at making good decisions. They will need to learn how to navigate the multitude of new technologies at their disposal in safe, effective and ethical ways. If schools tailor their approach to develop students who have a sense of agency, then a variety of teaching and learning approaches must be used that are experiential, project-based and interspersed with purposeful periods of direct instruction. By creating these conditions, students will be equipped with the dispositions, tools and networks to embrace any possible future.

So, is it possible to teach skills for an unpredictable future? Yes. A breadth and depth of knowledge can be gained through a combination of explicit and implicit teaching and via opportunities for students to grapple with complex problems through inquiry. Through community service programs and local and overseas expeditions, students develop an understanding of their place in the world and how they can be leaders, giving back to others and contributing as active, productive and informed citizens. Through a focus on emotional intelligence, students learn how to recognize and regulate their emotions and how to see situations from the perspective of others. Skills like creativity, communication and critical thinking are developed in a number of ways through the experiences teachers develop for young people.

What does this look like in schools? How can this be operationalized? What are some specific examples?

Come and meet me at the Leading a Digital School Conference where I will present a Keynote and two Workshops.

See you at the conference on Thursday 8th August, 2019!

Adrian Camm.

Tinkering and Music

By Leave a Comment

‘I would teach children music, physics and philosophy; but most importantly music, for the patterns in music and all the arts are the keys to learning’ (Plato). It is an important message that continues to resonate with me as I watch my 3-year-old daughter bang away at various objects making vastly different sounds. She is completely immersed in the sounds each object makes, thinking about how they connect to each other. The look on her face is wonderment and awe, intense. What is she thinking about?

Music and movement is innate in all of us in some way shape or form. Whether it be playing a musical instrument, singing or connecting with the sound by dancing, tapping or moving. Music is the language we all share. How do we know what music we like? What drives people to be musicians or take up an instrument and learn to play it? Exposing children to music and learning through music improves memory and develops language and reasoning skills. Where does this connect to the modern classroom and student?

We know children learn best through play and experimentation. They like to build things and pull them apart. Their curiosity drives their intensity for learning. However in this day and age, students are expected to learn many concepts and skills, focussing on results and standards otherwise imposed on them. Where is the time to look closely, experiment and build something? At what point does the fun go out of learning?

I feel I am very lucky and privileged to be part of the amazing Upper Primary staff at The Geelong College. I work closely with other passionate educators committed to providing our students with a vast array of experiences to challenge their thinking and capabilities. More particularly in Year 5, I work in a maker-centred classroom that promotes curiosity, creativity and collaboration through making things and tinkering with stuff.

It was over 12 months ago and I was working with a group of students completing a small tinkering activity. We focussed on the Parts, Purposes and Complexities of broken technology. We asked the students to pull things apart, check out the parts, how it worked and how these parts combined to make the machine work. After which I gave them the task of can you use the parts you now have to up-cycle and make something. I had a tub of Makey-Makeys sitting on a table and a student asked what they were and could they use one. I said ‘sure but I’m not telling you what it does or how to use it.’ So off they went to find out.

The students came back to me and asked if they could make a musical instrument as a YouTube clip demonstrated the Makey-Makey turning bananas into piano keys. I said ‘sure, go for it!’ This lit a fire under them. They designed and built their instrument feverously. What was interesting to note was that no one directed them, no one gave them parameters or outcomes, and they followed their idea and passion.

When it came to coding the instrument sounds, again they followed their nose. They investigated ideas on YouTube, learnt new blocks on Scratch and learnt about the way electrical currents and circuits worked. I observed them working. They were in flow, in control and motivated. Other students fed off this enthusiasm and soon others wanted to have a go. Soon the sound in room changed and it became one of sounds, notes and music. The students joined groups and created little bands, recorded their sound and played it for others. Did I teach them anything? I have to be honest and say no. All we did was create the right conditions and it was simply amazing to see 10-year-old children come together through music.

This experience taught me:

  • Children have innate learning skills that are untapped
  • We need to create the right conditions for learning to happen
  • The teacher doesn’t need to be in control
  • Technology is a great tool to bring things to life
  • A set of outcomes and standards doesn’t drive student motivation to learn, it comes from them

Piaget once said ‘knowledge is the consequence of experience’ and this is no truer than what we try to provide for our students in Year 5 at The Geelong College. Making music through tinkering and coding has opened up another avenue for our students to communicate and express themselves creatively. We hope they continue to connect this way as they navigate through the formative stages of their lives. I hope my daughter continues to find joy and happiness in the music she creates.

I will be presenting; STEAM into the Humanities and Tinkering with Music at this year’s Leading a Digital School Conference, in Melbourne in August. I hope to see you there.

James Colbert

Promoting engagement and more importantly retention of girls in STEM

By Leave a Comment

To reshape and better up skill the future workforce, the focus must begin with education, as “STEM education underpins innovation and plays a critical role in economic and business growth” (PwC, 2015). Further, education in STEM is recommended as being the key to broadening community understandings of what STEM is saying and doing about the complex problems facing society, now and in the future (Office of the Chief Scientist, 2013).

Young people need to be digitally competent, adaptable and adopt core competencies that will enable them to respond to the ever-changing workforce (CEDA, 2015). STEM is a key driver of innovation and entrepreneurship that can significantly impact on the economy (PwC, 2015) and 21st century skills are recognised as a key component within a STEM skills set that enable young people to achieve success in our evolving workforce (World Economic Forum, 2016).

Increasing the engagement of young people in STEM will enable the building of aspirations for a lifelong journey in STEM. There are currently inequities that exist in STEM in Australia. Girls, students from low socio-economic status backgrounds, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and students from non-metropolitan areas are currently less likely to engage in STEM education and are at higher risk of not developing high capabilities in STEM-related skills (Education Council, 2015). As a result, these groups are more likely to miss out on the opportunities STEM-related occupations can offer.

To increase our STEM workforce, a priority needs to be made to harness the STEM talents within these groups. Currently, only 16% of STEM qualified people in Australia are female (Office of the Chief Scientist, 2016). Besides there being the requirement for equity in the workforce in terms of pay and career progression for women (Prinsley, et.al., 2016), a significant priority needs to made to promote the engagement and retention of underrepresented groups in STEM.

Practical insights for implementing STEM programs: targeting girls

There are a diverse range of barriers and drivers that inhibit or enhance the engagement and retainment of girls in STEM-related pathways. The drivers often vary depending on the barriers that arise. The diversity of these barriers vary from country to country and for girls of different backgrounds. This issue deserves dedicated research to be completed within the Australian context to best identify the specific barriers that exist for girls in this country, and the key drivers for engaging Australian girls. Through the Fellowship research, observations were made around the key challenges and strategies required to engage girls from the perspective of the organisations visited in different countries.

Challenges/Barriers observed for girls engaging with STEM

  • The fear of failure and lack of confidence of young girls in STEM
  • The lack of relevance to everyday life, STEM being an abstract construct
  • Lack of links to the ‘humanness’ around STEM
  • Parents/Caregivers lack of understanding and therefore lack of support towards STEM pathways
  • Misconceptions and stereotypes perceptions around STEM industries and professions
  • Lack of funds to access opportunities for disadvantaged girls
  • Lack of role models in STEM industries and post-secondary education, particularly in leadership positions
  • Challenges around the culture of STEM industries and support for women to thrive
  • Lack of clarity on STEM careers (including job titles) and professional activities.

Messaging: Effective messaging can attract girls to consider STEM and help girls to envision themselves as STEM professionals, as well as help to support their key influencers. This includes the consideration of effective messaging strategies from marketing to role model interactions.

Key tips for effective messaging:

  • Use adjectives to describe and characterise STEM professional roles and activities.
  • Have role models and volunteers share their interests and activities outside of their STEM-related activities.
  • Develop resources for individual STEM fields for targeted messaging and information.
  • Evaluate STEM program and organisation media for unconscious bias, and ensure diverse representation in media.

Girls-only opportunities: Offering girls-only experiences and learning spaces provides the opportunity for girls to be empowered and feel comfortable to question, experiment and lead in STEM. By structuring these safe environments girls are more willing to try and experiment with STEM.

Key tips to design positive girls-only opportunities and spaces:

  • Provide a comfortable and safe learning environment.
  • Create a gender-neutral environment, free of “STEM stereotypes”.
  • Provide opportunities for girls to connect with female mentors in STEM.
  • Ensure the environment supports girls to try, play and fail without judgement.

Family involvement: The involvement of family, especially parents, in STEM learning experiences is invaluable in providing support for girls engaging in STEM experiences. Parents are role models and key influencers of a girl’s career pathway considerations. Involving family in STEM, not only enriches a girl’s experiences, it also connects STEM into the home.

Key tips to promote family involvement:

  • Host orientation and family evenings that family members can be involved in.
  • Provide updates for family members on achievements and opportunities Authentic connections: Connecting with real world experiences that make an impact and diverse female experts for support and inspiration, can provide girls with authentic STEM connections and opportunities that promote sustained engagement.

Authentic Connections: Connecting young people with real world experiences that make an impact and diverse female experts for support and inspiration, can provide girls with authentic STEM connections and opportunities that promote sustained engagement.

Key tips to enable girls to build authentic connections:

  • Industry visits and experiences.
  • STEM projects that solve compelling problems, with real life contexts for ‘social good’.
  • Mentorship programs where girls link with diverse female STEM experts.

This blog includes excerpts from Engaging the Future of STEM. Authors: Ms Sarah Chapman & Dr Rebecca Vivian. A study of international best practice for promoting the participation of young people, particularly girls, in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). This research was conducted as part of the 2016 Barbara Cail STEM Fellowship and funded by the Australian Government (Office for Women, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet), in partnership with the Chief Executive Women (CEW) Ltd.

Come and meet me at the Leading a Digital School Conference where I will be providing authentic international and national examples that exemplify the promotion of engagement and retention of girls in STEM.

For reference list please refer to: Engaging the Future of STEM