In this installment of neat sites and apps we have: 1. Image grab - http://paul.glagla.free.fr/imagegrab_en.htm - This is a tool that allows you to grab images from video streams. It will do most formats except encrypted DVD’s. A useful tool for lesson preparation where the students are view video material and required to comment and evaluate. 2. Cheatsheet - http://devcheatsheet.com/ This is a useful site for those with a more technical focus. The site provides a variety of "cheatsheets" for programming languages, Software etc. Useful - particularly for ITGS projects 3. A quickstart guide to iMovie09 - http://www.scribd.com/doc/35390885/Quickstart-Guide-to-iMovie-09 This was originally posted by Wes Fryer (Great blog worth following - http://www.speedofcreativity.org/) Great resource for Mac users who of course get iMovie Free. It is fair to say that I am struggling a bit with Movie maker at the moment, but as a development alternative (it is not great at capture, but good for editing) is Avid Videospin- http://www.videospin.com/redesign/default.asp - Its free and stable 4. Sound bible - http://soundbible.com/ - is a free music source - great for teaching students about ethical use of music etc as well a good source of clips - also worth a look - http://freemusicarchive.org/ 5. Lovely Charts - http://lovelycharts.com/ This is a online tool for developing charts - a good tool for wireframing as well 6. Kerpoof - http://www.kerpoof.com/ This is a mac and Pc - Its a website owned by Disney that allows you to create artworks. Here is what they say about: Make artwork (even if you aren’t good at drawing!) Make an animated movie (really! it’s easy!) Earn Koins which you can trade for fun things in the Kerpoof Store Make a printed card, t-shirt, or mug Tell a story Make a drawing Vote on the movies, stories, and drawings that other people have made This site is suited to a younger audience but has great potential for digital storytelling

If I asked you to imagine a classroom, it probably would be desks and chairs , a whiteboard and a rectangular room. If I asked you to imagine the people in their in all probability you would envisage students of varying ages and a teacher. This is how I would image a classroom. Few of us would image a learning common, a classroom with out walls, multiple classes and teachers in a single space. Its probably fair to say that learning commons, a large learning space which is shared between several classes simultaneously, are at first glance a daunting prospect for most teachers. But increasingly we are seeing this form of school architecture being incorporated into our schools. Certainly new schools in New Zealand are containing this style of learning space. I think the idea is daunting because it would require me to change. You can not the traditional teaching paradigm, the teacher centric teaching model into these spaces, it won’t work. This is a shared space where you can not hold court without impacting on the learning of the other students, so how you teach must change. This change must shift the ownership of the learning to the students, they must take responsibility for their own learning, they must be self motivated, organized and prepared. It becomes incumbent on us as teachers to be prepared and organised, we can not use the 6 step process of lesson planning - the last 6 steps into the classroom. Instead we must have clearly structured and outlined approaches to what,where and when we are going to teach. Changing too, is how we teach, communicate and collaborate with our students. Learning commons facilitate a discover approach to learning rather than a delivery approach. The students must discover the knowledge they need as we can not stand forth and deliver - this lends itself to problem and project based learning.We must explore other avenues for communication with our students, as we don’t have the floor to deliver from, as this would impact on every one else in the space. Changing to must be the assessment model. Most teachers teach as they do because of the assessment models that are in place. So the change is the learning space brings for a number of changes to teaching practice, it becomes more student centric, its problem and project based, there is student ownership of learning, flexibility in how the students learn and how they communicate with the teachers. Shifting the students from being potentially passive learners to more active learners. Because of the change in the teaching paradigm the teachers spend more time facilitating and working with students individually or in small groups. Assessment too must change. These are, in my opinion, good things but I do have to wonder if the spaces are created and there is an expectation that by proximity or occupation teaching practice will change. Are we seeing teacher training shifting to adopt this? Are further changes in assessment in the wind? Hummm, I wonder.

Tomorrow is going to be fun - I have a Elluminate meeting to present and discuss Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy with Queensland teachers.. I have done Elluminate meetings before and its a very powerful tool for distance education. I like the fact that you can record the presenation and make it available for people who could not attend. This is one of those tools I would like to see in schools. Consider the situation in Christchurch, where the students have been advised that the schools will not be reopening until Monday, 1 week after the earthquake. This is a decision by the Ministry of Education to ensure the schools are safe  - you can’t argue with the logic. But for many of the senior students they are focused on the final stages of preparation for external examinations. Whether you like examination or not, they are a reality and we have to prepare our students for them. Most students would have been prepared for the holidays and would have materials available for study and revision. But in the reality of the disaster they have time but not access to resources. It would be brilliant to have a facility like this available so the students could connect to their teachers and continue in their preparation for examinations. Tools like these change the face of education. Students using these tools are not limited to the knowledge and experience of a single tutor in a classroom, but suddenly have a world of teachers, facilitators and experts available to them. This does not discount the importance of the relationships that the teacher and student develop, nor the importance of seeing and talking to the teacher face to face, but it is a brilliant tool in the teaching and learning arsenal.

Wednesday I visited Albany Senior High School, one of the new schools built recently by the ministry. The school is based around the concept of learning commons and infact has 10 commons each capable (in theory) of housing 5 classes. Off each common learning space is a presentation space with projector and 2-3 meeting room bubbles. Around the school are specialist facilities that are used for a specific purpose, there are science labs, art rooms, media labs and performace spaces. Its very open and free flowing. There is also the marked absence of bells to mark the beginning and end of the classes. The visit was interesting and some of the comments I heard from people I was touring with talked about students being off task and distracted and needing structure. These are probably fair comments about any school, not just one with a open plan approach to teaching and learning. From my perspective, and I have to say my visit was brief, this approach to schooling shifts much of the responcibility for learning from the teacher to the student. The teacher must structure the learning process in such a way that learning becomes student centric in all sense of the term. They must have a student focus and have approapriate relevance and context to capture the students attention. In a learning environment like this its easy for the student to be off task or distracted, so what the teacher does must be compelling and engaging. It must be student lead and promote self direction - the nature of the commons means they, the teachers, can not apply traditional teaching techniques with out impacting on the other classes sharing the space. The students must develop personal responcibility for their learning and behaviour - what they do effects them and their peers. The classroom environemnt means its not as easy for the teacher to "compell" learning. Students must have clearly focused and defined tasks - project and problem based learning. these spaces foster and encourage collaboration and break dowen the barriers between subjects and peer groups Is this a bad thing? Self responcibility, shared learning, project and problem based learning, Student centric learning? No of course not. But is this how we were taught to teach? Does the assessment paradigm we have in place support this mode of learning. If we are encouraging group based learning, collaboration, problem and projected based learning, self responcibility and easy access to technology, is the end point of the schooling experience, the goal they are striving to a fair and accurate reflection of the education and focus the students have had through their learning? While we are seeing less examinations and more criterion and performance based assess - do these accurately represent our students performance and success. http://www.21stcenturyfluency.com/

Over the weekend I had a Board Retreat for my children’s school. I am a member of the board of trustee’s. The day was divided into two parts the first a broad examination of the role of trustee ship and the afternoon a presentation by an HR specialist. The afternoon provoked a couple of thoughts from me. The first had to do with Jim Collin’s Level Five Leadership. The model works as follows Level 1 Highly capable Individual - makes a productive contribution through talent, knowledge, skills and good work habits Level 2 Contributing Team leader - Contributes individual capabilities to the achievement of the group goals, works effectively with other. level 3 Competent manager - Organizes people and resources towards effective and efficient pursuit of goals Level 4 - Effective leader - catalyze commitment to vigorous pursuit of clear and compelling vision, stimulates higher performance and standards Level 5 - Executive - builds enduring greatness though a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will What I found interesting was the implication that we should all be striving for the level 5 executive level.Whether intentional or not, this model implies that one must strive for executive status and by this undermines the value of the level 1 individual. If you have ever had the pleasure of working on a committee made up of Level 3, 4 or 5 people you will know that it is a nightmare achieving little. Also this model does not recognise the fluid nature of work. That while in one instance you may be working at level 5 in the next situation you may well be a highly capable individual contributing to a task or project. Similarly it does not recognise that some people do not want and have no desire to be working at "higher" levels. Inclusion of arrows that indicate this is a fluid process would be better. Some may ask "well when do executive and management come and work as level 1 workers" and the answer is in progressive companies like the warehouse - regularly. They are scheduled for weekly slots working on the shop floor. This provides them with grounding and perceptions that are not achieveable from behind desks. We do see this structure in play in schooling too. Perhaps there is something to be gained from staff in executive positions in schools also moving into classrooms too. The second thing that came to me was the need for an HR, human resources person, in schools. Too often the principal of the school acts as the HR person for the school and this role needs to be seperated because of the conflict of interest. You can not be the staff members employer and the HR person. We provide our students with the resources of an HR department as a matter of course. They have guidance consellors to help their future direction, counsellors and support staff to help them with concerns, problems, complaints and to act as mediators should they be required. These counsellors are bound by confidentiality too. However for staff, there isn’t this facility available in many schools. Too often this falls by default to principals, and they are our employers. There is a lack of compatibility in these two roles and potential for conflict of interest.

Wow, the last two weeks have been frantic and the first thing that suffers is blogging. Here is my collection and finds for the week (oophs 2 weeks) 1. NetNewsWire - http://netnewswireapp.com/mac/ The announcement by blog lines that they are closing down, has forced me to move from using bloglines as an aggregator. So a quick surf and comparision of reviews led me to NetNewsWire - I have to say I am impressed and the fact that it is also available for the ipad and iphone is a bonus. 2. Christchurch Quake Map - http://www.christchurchquakemap.co.nz/ - This is not only a topical site, its also a great example of a mash up combining data from GeoNet http://www.geonet.org.nz/index.html and google maps. Well worth visiting and discussing - a useful resource for ITGS, social studies and geography. 3. Visual Studio 2010 quick resource - http://vs2010quickref.codeplex.com/ if you are a programmer using the MS environments this will appeal to you. 4. Nuclear Detonations - http://images.vizworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/NuclearDetonation.jpg - this is an infographic that shows nuclear explosions since the first tests in the desert at Alamogordo in 1945. Its interesting, but quite sad reading. 5. iPad Curriculum - http://www.ipadcurriculum.com/ This is a useful blog which focuses on the use of the iPad in education. Worth subscribing to as we see this tool start to flourish into its educational potential. 6. Rock Our World - http://www.rockourworld.org/ this is a global project, with a musical theme. Great idea - here is what they say "Using Apple’s GarageBand, each country creates a 30 second drum beat.  Every Friday, that drum rotates to another country, where the bass guitar is added.  It keeps getting passed along, from country to country.  At each stop, one more instrument is added.  When it comes back to the original country, it has touched students from all over the world!" and if we are talking of Global Projects we can’t go past Julie Lindsay’s and Vicki Davis’s Flatclassroom Project - I have been involved in this for 2-3 years with my students doing the NetGenEd Project - its a stunning start for the ITGS curriculum for us. They have the flat classroom conference, a conference for teachers and students, coming up soon. This is a great opportunity to participate and be involved in a stunning global project and amazing collaboration event in Beijing http://www.flatclassroomconference.com/index.html I am privileged to be one of the presenters  - YEEHAA key Links - http://www.flatclassroomproject.net/about.html http://www.flatclassroomconference.com/index.html

…must you hear the message before you act? My good friend and colleague Lee Crockett did a stunning keynote at my school for about 300 international and national delegates at a recent conference. The keynote, Understanding the Digital Generation, compared the charactoristics of our increasingly digital students and those who have not adopted to the same extent technology. (We know from lots of current research on neuroplasticity  that exposure to technology and other stimuli will physically change the persons brain) His presentation discussed the changes we need to consider in our teaching and learning as a result of not only neuroplasticity, but also infowhelm, ubiquitous access to technology etc. As I said the presentation was very very well received and the only comment that I heard that could have been taken as negative was a person saying we have heard this before. Well this begs the question… How many times do you have too hear the message before you act? I have heard the same comment before, recently in Japan, where people said well we have heard this before. Yes you might have but you must do more than just hear the message, you must act. Its not enough to say I know about 21st Century Teaching and learning and I understand the concequences of this. We MUST act. Lee’s closing comment was "professional Development with out follow up is malpractice". It is not enough to say YES I agree and then not act. Hence my question - How many times must you hear the message before you act?

I sat down this morning and tried to put together a comparison of 20th and 21st Century educational paradigms. This is what I came up with. Comments? Suggestions: Draft as a PDF: - 20v21 school paradigms 20th Century Paradigm 21st Century Paradigm Interaction Mainly individual some collaboration Mainly collaborative some individual Assessment Mainly summative with some formative Formative with summative Centricity Teacher-centric Student-centric Learning programs Group based some extension or remedial Individual learning programs Learning program outcomes Assessment focused Process & Outcomes focused Learning focus Predominantly content with some process Predominantly process with seamlessly embedded content Teaching approach Just in case learning Just in time learning Learning relevance Low relevance to the learner Often low currency Can lack context for the learner Relevant to learner Current and topical Has high contextual value for learner (me, group, community or global significence) Daggett’s application model Low, content often relevant to only to current unit of learning or course Can be applied across several areas of learning. Applicable to real life situations Think Skills Predominantly lower order Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy Remember, understand & apply Solo Taxonomy Unistructural & Multistructural Predominantly higher order Analysis, evaluation & creativity Relational & extended abstract Technology use Literacy (learning about technology) Augmentative (learning with technology) Transformative (learning through technology) Teaching methodologies Stand and Deliver Instructional Project and problem based learning Constructivist Student involvement in learning Students given content & told processes Students construct content & develop and evaluate processes. Feedback Limited Multiple sources - self, peer & teacher/mentor Student self management Based on rules. Limited or no student input into framework Based on moral and ethical approach Students, staff & community partnership in development Student promotion Academic promotion with single level learning Social Promotion with multi-leveling & extensive learner support Gifted and talented Focus on acceleration Focus on extension and acceleration Learning styles Predominantly Read/Write & Auditory Broad use of multiple learning styles (Visual, auditory, kinesthetic & read/write) Application of multiple intelligences Physical Exercise Reduction in Physical education classes. Often supportive of single sporting code Daily exercise and frequent use of movement within classes. Supportive of individual and team sports Reporting systems Semester and Term based paper reports. A-E grade system Use of comment banks Comments often summative Limited word count available for comments Digital format with regular timely update Criterion based with clear descriptors Focused & relevant comments with formative aspect Timing of learning Traditional school timing Emphasis on 9-3 learning with homework School times flexible and based on neurological research. Anywhere anytime learning facilitated by transformative technology use School design Classrooms & laboratory Single purpose spaces Learning commons Flexible learning spaces Casual learning spaces

On of the many concepts I got out of  the Workshop on building future focus schools was sustainability. The concept is obviously not new, but its critical. Whether it is sustainability in terms of professional learning and development of pedagogy or sustainability in the use and reuse of learning spaces, its critical. Professional learning, isn’t something that should be funded for a short period of time, and by short I mean 2-3 years. The model we have seen of government cluster funding a single or cluster of schools for professional learning is laudible but short sighted. For the 2-3 years of the contract, professional learning continues apace. But the cut off of funding post contract often (but not always) see a massive drop off in professional learning. It does not take into account staff churn as new staff come in and out of schools. Nor does it account for the different learning needs and speeds of staff. In short this is not sustainable - you end up with Flashes of inspiration and stretches of dullness. The physical spaces need to be sustainable as well. I know of schools that under one leadership regime undertook redevlopment of classrooms into learning commons, removing walls and opening the structure and under the next replaced the walls and closed the structures. The changes need to be sustaibnable and this comes from clear purpose and outcomes, vision and integrity of purpose. This too relates to professional learning and the need for the vision to be articulated not only in words but in actions by training and supporting staff. So then too our purpose and outcomes must be sustainable. These must be based on research and understanding. Supported by evaluation and analysis rather than grasping at the latest trend to appear on the educational horizon. This must be articulated to the three sides of the triangle the students, staff and parents. Here is what we are doing, when we are doing it, where we are doing it and who is doing it (describing the situation) Here is why and how we are doing it (analysing) and here is why its important, the outcomes, relationships and impacts (evaluation). Sustainability is critical.

This "on the wire" update is focused on the iPad and education. Here is what I have come across as I wander about with the iPad. 1. Virtual Frog Dissection - http://kids.punflay.com/virtual-frog.html This is a useful simulation for the science and biology classes. 2. iChoose - http://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/ichoose/id285881085?mt=8 This is an iphone/touch app that runs on the ipad. This application will do random dice rolls, randon yes and no, 1 or 2 dice and card choice. Nice for random numbers etc in mathematics 3. Adobe Photoshop Express - http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/adobe-photoshop-express/id331975235?mt=8 This is a free app available for the iphone and ipad. The tools available are actualy quite extensive (for the quick tweak on the iPad anyway). They include: crop straigten rotate flip exposure saturation tint Black & white contrast sketch soften focus & sharpen focus Not bad for a free application 4. History: Maps of the world -http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/history-maps-of-world/id303282377?mt=8 Again available for ipad and iphone this is a history and social studies application. Its not small - 72Mb but is free. Lots of historical maps included - specific companion map sets available at a small charge. 5. Science Glossary http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/science-glossary/id331657060?mt=8 This is a glossary of scientific terms. Produced by Vision learning, but this is a useful stand-alone application available in English and Spanish. 6. Adobe Ideas - http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/adobe-ideas-1-0-for-iphone/id365441166?mt=8 - This is a digital sketchpad for the ipad and iphone.  Produce vector based images simple and adaptable 7. Quick Voice Recorder - http://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/quickvoice-recorder/id284675296?mt=8 Free voice recording application uses the ipad microphone - good tool for the auditory learner 8. Caster-free http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/caster-free/id354892441?mt=8 This is a free version of the podcast creation tool Caster. This version limits you to a three minute podcast. Not bad really all things considered. Nice feature set too.