Source: http://www.guesspapers.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/School-report.jpg We know from the research done by John Hattie, in his book Visible learning, that timely and appropriate feedback has one of the largest if not the largest effect on students learning. However, once a term reporting is hardly timely ,  no matter how detailed and accurate or appropriate the feedback is.  Reporting isn’t enough Its great to see schools adopting online reporting to parents of their son or daughters achievement. The ability for parents to see quickly and easily through an online tool the success or lack of success of their children is a good first step and an improvement over once a semester or once a term report. While this is a start there is an inherent limitation in online grades. Dr Jody Nyquist has a great model that describes the five levels of feedback. Level Description Weak feedback only Knowledge of results - (KOR) Feedback only KOR + Knowledge of Correct results (KCR) Weak formative assessment KCR + explanation (e) Moderate Formative assessment KCR + e + Specific action for gap reduction Strong Formative assessment KCR + e + activity Source: http://www.slideshare.net/harvey_mellar/dylan-wiliam-1374277 Its obvious that while this is a great start, this is only weak feedback. When we provide the parents with a grade we are only weak feedback. So while useful this is again not the complete solution. So what can we do? I think that one potential solution that provides information to student and parent alike and can provide Activity, explanation, correct results and action for gap reduction is the use of eportfolios. Further it can also timely as well as appropriate. Consider this. source; http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2081/3526550809_7777314a1a.jpg The student uses the eportfolio tool to update and develop their product (be it a report, essay, assignment or lab write up). As the student adds and develops using the online tools, the teacher is able to provide constructive and timely feedback that is detailed and contains comments, critique and activities that close the gap between the students potential and the material they are producing. The comments are shared with the parent who is able to support the student in their learning. This is for me the potential in eportfolio tools, while the narrative of learning is valuable the ability to deliver timely and appropriate feedback is more important. If the student can harness the narrative component to see the change in their learning this will add to and enhance the learning journey the student is undertaking.  

Around the outside of my classroom are whiteboards that the students use for their work. There are four of them and I seldom write on them but the students make quit extencive use of these. The students today were looking at the London Riots and examining the social and ethical issues (for IB ITGS Teachers  - paper 2). They were starting to analyse the underlying ICT’s (information and communication technologies) particularly twitter, social media and short messaging services. I set them a 10 minute task to report back to the class on the technical elements of the three diffrerent tools (Twitter, Social media & texting) as it related to the london riots. The students quickly scratched out their area of investigation and presented it back to the class with explanations. Since the information was vital for all of the students, they grabbed their cellphones and took pictures of the whiteboards and then emailed these to the other students. In the space of 1 minute every student had a copy of all three technical breakdowns as they related to their current topic of discussion. Technology is a wonderful thing. The students are now incorperating these notes into their own work.

For the last year, Harry and I have been working on the ipad applications book for high schools. The Book is called Apps for learning, and is published as part of the 21st Century Fluency series with my Colleagues Harry Dickens, Lee Crockett and  Ian Jukes. This book has been a huge amount of fun to write. I had a great excuse to by numerous applications and try these out. The book details what we consider to be the best applications for high school at the moment. Some people have criticised the ipad, and the same criticism could be leveled at any of the new genre of touch screen devices, that these are consumption devices. I disagree emphatically. I put my money where my mouth is and wrote ALL of my contributions to the book on the iPad using pages. I editted ALL of my pictures using Adobe Photoshop Express. I planned and brainstormed for the book using iThoughts HD. You only need to look at the increasing list of schools adopting the ipad or its kin as their primary mobile learning device to see the huge potential for this tool when used properly. It is the use of the tool that is critical, deliberate and considered, meaningful and purposeful use to enhance teaching and learning. Here is the link to the book - http://www.amazon.com/Apps-Learning-iPhone-School-Classrooms/dp/1463612850/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1314830290&sr=1-1. Also worth checking out is book number three - literacy is not enough which is available on line from Corwin Press.

We currently have a lovely exchange student staying with us from Japan. She has a good but basic english vocabulary but often struggles composing sentences etc. This is not at all unexpected and she is doing a brilliant job. While communication can sometimes be difficult, some things she has completely mastered, the iPad for example. It occurred to me that some of the tools on the iPad that we use for Mr 5 to work on his development of English as a subject would also be help for for her to reinforce her english. However, I can really say to her, this is good for a 5 year old so it will help you. Instead I got her to help Mr 5 using the tools. Outcome… beneficial for all. source: http://a1.mzstatic.com/us/r1000/058/Purple/e3/d8/36/mzl.cqtmlowe.320x480-75.jpg The first tool we used was Sentence builder - http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sentence-builder/id344378741?mt=8 This tool allows the user to construct sentences about a picture and then encourages them with spoken comments and reading back the completed sentence - useful spoken and written english in one go The company that produces this tool produces a couple of others to including Language Builder - http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/languagebuilder-for-iphone/id405802167?mt=8 and Question builder - http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/question-builder/id360577727?mt=8 . I haven’t tried these but I will soon. Next on the list is play2learn. This is a vocabulary tool which allows the user to learn vocabulary by clicking on the image and listening to the spoken words and seeing the written form and then text themselves by listening to the word spoken and clicking on the appropriate image. Interestingly this is available in a variety of languages including english (though this is represented by an american flag). http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/play2learn-english-hd/id378746394?mt=8 The last in my little bag of tricks is iTranslate http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/itranslate-free-translator/id288113403?mt=8 The basic version is free, but I think the speech component does come at a cost. This is another useful tool. Not a bad set really.      

The last month has been a very busy time for me. I have been in Australia twice, accepted a new role as Head of faculty for next year and had my students examinations sessions for our prelim exams. I have in my hands my first copies of our two new books: Literacy is not enough, By Ian Jukes, Lee Crockett and Myself Apps for Learning High school edition By Harry Dickens and I Plus I am preparing for 3 1/2 days of workshops and presentations with the University of the Sunshine coast and Education Queensland. Busy, very busy but very good.Times like this when there is so much going on lead me to reflect on what the students, without out the experience of my increasing years often face. I have prioritised everything and I accept that I can only work on one thing at a time. So thats what I do. piecemeal, I work through each different part, doing what is important and critical and avoiding the parts that are not as important, blogging has come quite far down the list. I tend to backwards plan what is the final, critical date for each elements and then work backwards. With students they are placed under similar workloads, often larger when you consider the clustering of assessments into short spaces of time.  They lack the life experiences of getting things right and also, more importnatly, getting things wrong that shape our decision making. I know that my students are given some support in planning, but this is a critical skill that while it falls into every subject area is never well addressed. Part of the senior course I teach for both NCEA and IB IT is basic project management. This is something that I find helps the students in preparing, organising and meeting deadlines. One of the best tools we use is the Gantt chart, which visualises the process, it allows the students to estimate their timeframes and measure progress. The two pins in the chart represent where they should be and where they currectly are. We update this everyday. This is a great tool and is actually a powerful learning experience.   Is this something we do enough of?  

This is an interesting article from the US about the effects of social networking on learning. The paper finds that social networking helps the students. Here is one quote from the article "When kids feel connected and have a strong sense of belonging to the school community, they do better in school," said Greenhow, an education professor. "They persist in school at higher rates and achieve at higher rates. … It’s pretty promising that engaging in social networking sites could help them to develop and deepen their bonds over time." Essentially it relates to student engagement. A student who is engaged is a student who is learning. I have seen numerous examples of students using Social Networking for positively in the classroom. My own students have set up facebook groups for specific subject areas to discuss and support each other in their learning. These are powerful tools. Obviously spocial networking is not without its pit falls - distraction and alike, but the paper also recognises this too. "There is still considerable debate over whether teachers should use social-networking sites in the classroom. The dangers and abuses of social media - sexual predators, cyberbullying and harassment, and the posting of inappropriate photos and other material - have made some educators skittish. Many are not convinced that the sites improve communication, and some fear students simply use the sites to procrastinate and catch up with friends." http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/social-networking-helps-students-perform-better-professor-says-12292#.ToASq-_flvc.email Worth reading. Source: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2336/2197859476_eebb9aa79f_o.png

A colleague recently said to me, quite proudly "We are a moodle school" and another school recently announced that they were now a Google school. In both case I felt that they had let down their students. They forgotten what was important, they had forgotten about the learning of the students and focused on the technology. I am always disappointed when teachers focus to the exclusion of all others on one technology, be it an online environment or solution; or a platform or operating system. As soon as this happens its the tail wagging the dog, technology is driving educational decisions. I am not trying to detract from either Moodle or Goodle Applications, in fact I believe that they are each excellent tools within the framework of their features, but to focus on them to the exclusion of others is limiting the opportunities that education requires. All products have strengths and weaknesses, they all present opportunities that can with the creative mind of a teacher be utilised to improve the learning outcomes of our students. While Google documents allows for synchronous editing of documents, mail and some web publishings (as well as other bits and pieces) it doesn’t allow structured testing, linier progression through tasks which Moodle does. While Moodle does provide some walled garden features of social networking, it doesn’t do it as well as Ning does. And Ning does, in the fuller subscription models, allow some hosting of media, its no where near as good as flickr or youtube. None of the previous product host wikis as well as wikispaces or wet paint wikis but these two do not do the features of the social media tools or the synchronous editing. There are always strengths and weaknesses, the best policy (IMHO) is to be agile and responcive. Not to lock yourself into one product but consider a range of products that will fill a number of needs. Be agile enough to pick up new tools as they become available and similarly to be able to let them go when they reach their used by date. Organisations struggle with this, technical departments struggles with this too. Teachers invest time and energy and then do not want to see it changed, to see the materials lost. Organisations develop inertia. They see the investment they have made and don’t want to change. Once the object is rolling its hard to change its course. Then more you invest in an system, the bigger its mass and the more it takes to change, to deviate the mass from its course. When you say you are a Moodle, Google or insert product name here school you are creating a Mass with HUGE INERTIA. You are no longer agile, you are no longer flexible and it is unlikely that you are going to be able to change to met the needs of the students. A better approach is to use each tool on its merits, be open to new material, able to change, to accept common standards to allow interoperability between platforms and applications. IMHO, that is………………..

I have just read a very interesting article from the BBC called "Ready for the robot revolution?" The article itself is very interesting and a great starting point for discussion in class but two aspects were worth discussion. The first involves Azimov’s 3 Laws of Robotics - this is a standard and one I make use of in class Isaac Asimov, outlined ‘Three Laws of Robotics’ in a novel featuring human-like robots. The rules were designed to protect people from harm. 1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 2. A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws. It is idealistic and interesting and has been the cause of many heated discussions in class. However, the article also present this ethical code as well "The UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, together with the Arts and Humanities Research Council, has drafted a set of ethical principles for robot design - which can be summarised as follows: 1. Robots should not be designed solely or primarily to kill or harm humans. 2. Humans, not robots, are responsible agents. Robots are tools designed to achieve human goals. 3. Robots should be designed in ways that assure their safety and security. 4. Robots are artefacts; they should not be designed to exploit vulnerable users by evoking an emotional response or dependency. It should always be possible to tell a robot from a human. 5. It should always be possible to find out who is legally responsible for a robot." source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15146053 Here is the website - http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/ourportfolio/themes/engineering/activities/Pages/principlesofrobotics.aspx The second aspect of interest for me is the potential conflicts we see. Robots have long been used in manufactoring. While initially this caused much concern, who now hears about this? Are we going to see the same concerns expressed for domestic and commercial robots and will this to fade?

This is a little unexpected, I was on the BBC website and I found this link to "Global Best School Buildings" Its a slide show of a number of schools showing interesting architecture and design. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14975270 The images show external and internal images of some schools around the world, including Finland, India, Japan, Australia and Spain. There are some interesting and stimulating designs, some showing agility, but many are nicely presented versions of the traditional classroom. The Lilley center, at Brisbane Grammar school, is interesting but in the case of the lecture theatre is a well presented traditional space. I wonder how appropriate a lecture theatre is in a school? Some of the indoor/outdoor flows are very nice - the Kindergaden exaple from Japan is very good as is the other Australian Example from Dandenong Senior high School. Food for thought. What is missing, and I guess the article is focused on the macro elements is the furnishing and workspaces, the details that enable teaching and learning. In my Classroom, all the furnishings are mobile, designed to quickly move from one mode (the rooms is in board room mode at the moment) to the next

I am working on Junior School version of the digital citizenship materials. I would love comments and suggestions on this rework of some earlier stuff I put together. Junior School Computer use Guidelines as a PDF JS internet-computer use guide (PDF) Computers at school We come to school to learn. Here at school, we have computers and the internet for our learning. We only use computers, ipads, ipod, the internet, printers or cell phones for our learning. Using our Computers We do not play games without our teachers permission. Sometimes we see stuff that is rude, nasty, mean, dangerous or inappropriate, we must click on the HOME button immediately and tell their teacher. We will not download movies, music, videos or games. This is stealing. We will look after ourselves online. We will not put any personal information about ourselves on the internet. We won’t post photos or videos about ourselves. We will not share information like their address, phone numbers, hobbies or daily activities. We will look after other people. We will not share any personal information about other people over the internet. We won’t post other peoples photos, videos or share information. When we write anything about a person we will asks "how would I feel if somebody said that about me?". If it is mean or nasty don’t say it. We will look after ourselves and other people by telling their teachers or parents about people who are being mean or bullying. Using other people’s stuff We will acknowledge all stuff we use in doing our research from websites and include web addresses in our work.