My students are working on a unit standard that requires them to examine two past IT trends and analyse these and then to examine two current trends and predict how they will influence the future. One of the key trends that is impacting on Information technology and pretty much everything else is Moore’s law. Gordon Moore stated his law 1965. He revised it in 1975 essentially he said that "the number of transistors will double every two years"  and this law has stayed true, except that the time period has shorted. I have just updated my version of comic life, so quid pro quo - IT Trends -Moore’s law Gsource: http://www.ieee.org/portal/cms_docs_sscs/sscs/06Sept/halfhillChrt.jpg

I am preparing for a keynote in 6 weeks time, on teaching and learning in a digital world and it occurs to me that technology can be the death of lower order thinking. As a teacher, I strive to have my students working in the upper reaches of  thinking skills; to be analytical, evaluative and creative. As a learning technologist what is becoming obvious is that lower order thinking skills like remembering and understanding are easily replaced by technological intervention. Someone said at a conference I attended (and I would love to give them credit for this) that a poor question is one you can google. Its so true. Google’s search engine accepts phrases like "what is…<insert term>? " and will retrieve suitable hits for it. Search engines allow unprecedented access to information and far more quickly that you could normally access reference material. Accessing resources like wikipedia is simple and straight forward from your smart phone. source: http://studymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/technology-in-class.jpeg What about remembering? Digital bookmarking using social bookmarking tools like delicious or diigo allow students to capture, annotate, tag and describe useful information and then distribute it as required to their peers etc. Given the phenomenal rate of growth of information, as Ian Juke and Lee Crockett say, we are living in exponential times this is a suitable tool for remembering too. But are the students actually learning? This is the 6 million dollar question. The answer is yes, but it is dependent on the process. Faced with an almost infinite depth of information, with material being added at a rate beyond our comprehension, students must develop skills to manage information digitally and to utilise the tools available to us. Using tools like google to provide definitions and explanations and book marking tools like diigo and delicious to record key information requires more than just clicking a button to save or search. The student must develop and actively apply analytical and evaluative skills. They can never be satisfied with the first answer of the block. They must be curious and questioning, and by doing this they are considering, judging and analysing. Not all information available to them (in any media) is correct. Whether it is in printed media that is out of date, sites that are inaccurate or opinions that have bias, all information sources can be invalid. Students must develop the skills of evaluation. By developing suitable processes in our students, where they question, check, critique and validate we can challenge the requirement for them to rote learn facts and  figures that are out of date and inaccurate almost as soon as pen hits paper, if not before. We can teach them skills that will aid them in a world beyond the classroom where they will not be paid on the basis of remembering facts or figures, but asked to be analytical, creative and evaluative. In a world where they will be expected to check that the information they have is accurate and valid. Where they would be required to gather and analyse a range of sources and evaluate each on its merits. I think technology can be and should be the death of lower order thinking. source: http://www.unfspinnaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/iphoto-tear.jpg

A friend of mine in the UK just email me an interesting article on iPads in schools - http://www.metro.co.uk/news/869340-kent-school-gives-an-ipad-to-each-of-its-1-400-pupils This isn’t the first school I have heard of that has moved to using iPads. I have heard of schools who are replacing their textbooks with iPads for a similar cost. It makes sense when you see some of the applications like Al Gore’s Our Choice. I like my iPad and I find it a stunning tool for many things, I have even written a book using it (and about the ipad too), but its not yet a full replacement for the desktop or laptop computer. I have heard a number of people comment that it is a "consumption device" and as a family room table computer which you use to check the email and look up the TV guide, or to play games or surf the net I would agree. But put it into a classroom and its so much more. As a classroom tool it for fills many of the standard needs that I have. For example: word processing - pages data processing - numbers presentation tool - keynote mind map - iThoughts HD Web surfing  - Safari (or Puffin with flash support) Clickers or personal responce tools  - eclicker and eclicker host Comic Development tool - Comic Life Video editor - iMovie, splice and itimelapse pro Music creation - garageband translation - iTranslate Simple image editing - Adobe Photoshop express I have over 280 apps on my iPad and only 6 of which are games. There are so many uses and tools that are available for the iPad, its not at all surprising its making it into the classroom in increasing numbers. And like so many tools, its not the tools that is limited its the operator who limits the tool. Our use of a tool is limited by our imagination, the restrictions we set in place and the freedom we allow our students to have. Consider this list of schools - using ipads or launching programs

This update is a mixed bag with some interesting stuff for the iPad, video resources (ideal for media studies and English teachers) and some good stuff for IT students (and teachers) for developing web pages. 1. Best ads http://www.bestadsontv.com/ This website hosts examples of the best advertisements from a variety of medias. The advertisements range from Television, to radio and print to outdoors. A good resource for teachers of English and Media studies. 2. Idea Wallet Apps - http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ideawallets-remember-every/id364240349?mt=8# iPad applications This is a series of applications that are essentially thinking tools. The reviews are mixed as they are apparently buggy, but the developers are working on this. However they are free, clean and quite simple to use. Here are the three I am playing with: SWOT - http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/swot-by-ideawallets/id390703853?mt=8 Brainstorming - http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/brainstorming-by-ideawallets/id385752154?mt=8 Free thinking - http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/free-thinking-by-ideawallets/id385747141?mt=8 3. Veritasium http://www.veritasium.com/ (thanks @Simoncrook) Veritasium is a science blog that hosts some neat little science videos. This is a useful resource to troll through and find the videos for science classes. This is what they say about themselves : "Veritasium is a science video blog which aims to present topics in all areas of science from the simplest to the most complex. The goal is to make scientific ideas clear, accessible, and interesting. Veritas is Latin for truth, and the ending ‘ium’ makes it into an element - the element of truth." Source: http://www.veritasium.com/p/about-veritasium.html They have their own YouTube channel as well - http://www.youtube.com/user/1veritasium source: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HanXVwUBzxM/TV043W3AshI/AAAAAAAAACE/OKeOiw4KoU4/s1600/Veritasium2.jpg 4. Web Development resources - http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/07/massive-compilation-of-designer-tools/ - these are some of the sites that I have cherry picked from the web designer depot post: CSS property index - http://www.blooberry.com/indexdot/css/propindex/all.htm CSS Shorthand guide - http://www.dustindiaz.com/css-shorthand/ Colour scheme - http://www.dhtmlgoodies.com/scripts/color-schemer/color-schemer.html Adobe Kuler - http://kuler.adobe.com/#themes/rating?time=30 Source: http://www.spiderscribe.net/img/site/logo.png Next an online mindmapping tool - http://www.spiderscribe.net/ I like mind mapping tools they are a great way to visualize the relationships within information. Here is another useful one that is worth examining and considering. The last word goes to this twitter info graphic - http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/twitter_history_0410.jpg?w=640

I was recently asked, via twitter, what sort of environment we would need to foster creativity in the classrooms. This is an interesting question. Creativity in our current teaching paradigm is sadly often an extension. The current assessment and curriculum driven and limited approach, does restrict the opportunities for creativity. I believe that creativity can be and should be part of all learning. No matter which discipline, curriculum model or syllabus. So what environment do think we need to foster creativity? Source: http://www.kidtrek-sundayplus.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/classroom-view-32.jpg It would be an environment focused on formative rather than summative assessment - examining the developmental needs of the student rather than taking an end point snap shot. Providing feedback that is honest, learning & learner focused, timely and appropriate. The curriculum would be delivered using a project/problem based approach. You need a syllabus to provide structure, but it must be flexible enough to cater for the "teachable moment" and the question and investigation out of left field. Such a curriculum requires planning and reflection, student input and direction. Teaching and learning would be based around real world problems which have relevance and significance to the students. These processes would require students to be engaged in collaborative and individual learning experiences. It would be an environment that celebrates not only success but failure, an environment that encourages exploration and experimentation. An environment that is reflective; critical, honest, analytical and evaluative. It is a place where students are exposed to creativity in its many forms, where they see, engage with and question exemplars of creativity across the disciplines and arts. They engage with creators from the various fields be it science or sculpting, design or dance, theatre or technology. It is not a world of "free for all", there are structures and frameworks, there are curricula and syllabi. But it is a world that appreciates and balances the need to be flexible and agile, as well as structured and compliant. In this environment technology is like oxygen. It is essential, ubiquitous and invisible. (thanks Chris Lehman for the inspiration for that). For this world to work their must be buy in and ownership from all parties - teachers, students, parents and administration. This isn’t something you can institute at the drop of a hat. The inertia of the education system is such that changes on this scale applied immediately would never be widely accepted. So this is a gradual change process, change, adjust, revise and apply. source: http://bigvanillaathleticclub.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/fitness-poster-lady-stretching.jpg The creative classroom and school does not separate the disciplines, rather each adds to the other - it is cross curricula. The creative classroom or school understands the needs of the person are not just academic, but encompass sports, the arts and academic endeavors. It is environment that is healthy, where daily exercise (which is different from sport or thematic physical education) is valued for its worth to academic pursuits including improvements to executive function, creativity and attention. What would you change or challenge? What do you disagree with?

It has been quite interesting sitting on the sidelines watching the media publish apparent howls of rage over Orewa College’s announcement that iPads are required for 2012 - Letter_to_Year_8_parents_24_June Even our fridges are internet enabled. Source: http://media.firebox.com/pic/p411_big.jpg I say apparent howl’s as I have spoken to staff at Orewa and there was an extensive discussion process in place. The Media has reported that the stationary list is now topping $1500, the implication being that they will have to buy the iPad immediately, however, this too is incorrect as the supplier has provided a range of plans for purchase with the cheapest costing under $10 per week - Purchase_Options_July_2011 http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/5304916/Schools-iPad-requirement-divisive http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/capital-debate/5307048/Capital-Debate-iPads-at-schools http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10739410 I am not surprised to hear the usual round of comments about the introduction of technology into the school. These are tired and lame excuses. To the commentators who say that they didn’t need computers when they were at school, we now live in a different world where computers are integral and ubiquitous. To those who are concerned about the impact on hand writing, what was the last meaningful thing that you hand wrote? What documents are hand written today? How would you feel if your lawyer or accountant sent you a hand written statement, invoice, notice or update? Would you question their professional approach? Yes examinations are hand written, this is sad and archaic and if we look at the global trends this too is changing. To those who say well they will still need books - this too is changing consider this article about Korea and their move to have all textbooks digital by 2015 - http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/07/01/all-korean-textbooks-to-go-digital-by-2015/ What is sadly missing in the reporting I have thus far seen is the huge education benefits that can be derived from these stunning tools. The opportunities for anywhere anytime learning, collaboration, immediate and timely research, continuity of education between school and home, operating in a medium the students are not only comfortable in but prefer, the diverse range of excellent resources, media and tools available to the students through these tools. These tools are suitable and appropriate, engaging and motivating, flexible and agile. Yet these points seem to be ignored. The purpose of school is to prepare students for the future by appropriately educating them. We know that the future is under certain, Sir Ken Robinson stated in his famous TED talk http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html that our kids will be doing jobs that are not even invented yet. There are some things that we do know - that the use of computers is going to grow and grow. That they are going to ubiquitous and invisible in our lives and that our students and children must be fluent in their use. source: http://lornapblog.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/big-tick.jpg Orewa college has taken a step that is appropriate and necessary. My only criticism of them is that why did it take so long? Well done, Orewa College. Kia Kaha. Am I going to sit an mourn the passing of the pen? No more than I wept for the departure of the fountain pen.

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of catching up with Judy O’Connell @heyjudeonline, @Seanfish and a non twittering colleague. Judy was one of the keynote speakers at the recent SLANZA conference held in Auckland. The topic of libraries and the 21st century came up and it has left me wondering, what and where are libraries going. In our world where we have been experiencing for the last 10 or more years a shift from information scarcity to information abundance how does a library fit in? When I was a child and a student at university, the library was the key resource for information. To research, write papers and clarify material, to gain access to the latest journals and papers, I went to the library. This is no longer the case…. Again if I look back to my education the medium was text. I could not go to my library (local, school or university) and access videos, DVD and non text based media. All that was available to me was text. Again this is no longer the case. The medium of text was also limited to paper. It could have been then in a number of variations, shiny, glossy matt etc, but it was still paper based. eBooks? William Gibson had not even coined the term "cyberspace" until I was in my last year of school. (1984 Neuromancer) I remember at school when we got our first computer (it was a compu-colour computer) and then our first suite of computers (which were used for applied maths) Commodore 64′s . These were not networked, the internet as we know it (Tim Berners-Lee World Wide Web was available in 1990) was unavailable. Again this is not the case…. source: http://www.old-computers.com/MUSEUM/photos/Compucolor_1_System_1.jpg. If I wander down to my local library, have things changed substancially? Well, they no longer stamp the card in the book and shift it to box on the librarian’s desk, they have a computer that does that…. electronically. The medium is predominantly text based, but I can withdraw AV materials and access the internet. The surroundings are nicer and the emphasis on absolute silence is removed. In fact, my local library even has a small performance area that is used predominantly for the younger children to have the book readings. But fundamentally have things changed? No They are more fun, but they are still paper based. The stock in trade - books - are out of date before they hit the shelves as the rate at which information grows exceeds the speed at which publishing houses can edit, update and print books. You can withdraw AV materials, but would struggle to be able to play them in the facility, and if you can pay them the access to these playback resources is limited. The internet is available but are ebooks? Can you access and download digital media from the library at home, at work or on the move? (I know in some cases you can but is it universal? could you connect to YOUR local library and do this?) eSchoolnews reported on the 1st of July this year that all Korean textbooks will be digital by 2015 - http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/07/01/all-korean-textbooks-to-go-digital-by-2015/ - could libraries cope with this? Could our ownership and lending model that libraries are based around manage this concept? How do you return an ebook? How do you issue it at the counter? Who owns an ebook issued from the library? Information is multi modal, it can be text, audio, video, or mixed. It can be synchronous or asynchronous, static or dynamic. How does a library handle this? I don’t mean in the traditional mode of issuing. I refer to access in an instant, to all users, within and outside of the physical space to approipriate secondary information sources. To be able to call upon the video materials and watch them in a manner that is timely and appropriate, and to have these available ; to be able to audio, text or video conference with primary information  sources; to access in the prefered digital or traditional medium the wealth of material available and to then be able to take it with you. There is much that will have to change, if the institution of the library is to survive much longer. Not the least being the paradigm we have of ownership.

How do we find a balance between safety and risk? Between exploration and curiosity and danger? It doesn’t really matter what aspect of education we look at there is SHOULD always be this discussion. Curiosity Curiosity is a critical human trait, it is a core part of creativity and has led us to explore the highs and lows of the planet and into space, to invent, investigate and experiment. It has , if we use the famous adage "killed the cat". Curiosity is often linked with risk, and this is something that as a society we avoid. We are risk adverse. So how do we find an acceptable level of balance between risk, challenge, adventure, curiosity and exploration on one hand and safety, liability and risk avoidance on the other? Vzygotsky's Zones of Proximal development Source: http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/graphics/zpd.GIF Risk and the classroom In the classroom we want our children to succeed. We also are now wanting our children to develop higher order thinking skills. But we have a caveat of needing success. There is a difference between succeeding and success. Success is getting it right, in many eyes its the high score in the test, the A on the report. Succeeding is the process they go through to achieve success. In this process they need to ACHIEVE and they need to FAIL and STUMBLE, for this will allow them to be critical, evaluative, and analytical. In failing they do something that is unique to themselves. The had part for us as educators is to balance these two critical elements of succeeding in such a way that they show their potential and reach it. In the classroom their must be risk, but this must be balanced. We must set tasks that challenge the student, that force them out of their comfort zone, take them out of the area of knowledge and in to an area of challenge - In Vygotsky’s terms the Zone of Proximal Development. Risk and Technology A second challenge we face and it to  is related to exploration and curiosity is technology. The internet is a huge resource that we barely touch. Often regarded with suspicion, because anyone can publish anything. Internet resources always seem to carry a faint stigma of unreliability, take the ongoing educational; debate over wikipedia. Is it a suitable source? Is it reliable? The internet contains materials that are unacceptable, materials that are degrading and inappropriate. Material that has no place being available let alone seen by young people. Technology has allowed us to completely block access to these sites and in fact restrict access to just websites that we have approved. Some schools in an attempt to keep their students safe have done this. They have produced a "white list" of approved sites and blocked the rest. This is a flawed model.  Its flawed because the student leaves the school and if they want to surfs these sites. The school may be safe, but the school has fundamentally failed in its purpose of education. The purpose of education is in my opinion to prepare the student for tomorrow, for the world beyond the school yard gates, to help develop the productive contributing member of society. The students need to challenge information that is inaccurate and to question its validity - this is higher order thinking. The students need to make moral decisions about which sites are appropriate to visit and understand that such decisions carry consequences. Schools are equipped to monitor and deal with inappropriate behavior in reasoned and measured approach. Where the consequences of the students curiosity, exploration and choices match the developmental stage of the students development and the nature of the action. As schools we must impart on our students the moral and ethical code that is the norm of our society and community. This must be more than just a set of rules. The rationale and reasoning must be clearly articulated. Then the student are able to make their own choices and corresponding consequences. I am I advocating COMPLETELY OPEN INTERNET? Actually no. I am advocating appropriate filtering and monitoring. Morally and ethically, what is the difference between the students attempting to reach an inappropriate site and being blocked and the student who succeeds. Very little. Both students have made a decision. However, one is exposed to material that can be damaging, this should not happen. But for both students there MUST be consequences for their decision.  We must allow the students to make their mistakes and learn from these. Priest's Adventure Experience Paradigm balances risk and success, failure and achievement. Source: http://wilderdom.com/images/PriestAdventureExperienceParadigm.gif Risk and the outdoors - Valuing risk The final balancing act is outdoor education. A core element of outdoor education is challenge. Outdoor educators model the balancing act brilliantly. Outdoor Education instructors understand the need for challenge, they understand what is perceived risk and actual risk and how to set the level for each student. They are unconscious masters of differentiated education. Curiosity and exploration are the cornerstones of challenge. The student is expected to fail, to get it wrong and through a learning process to eventually succeed. The students ideally should be in adventure and peak adventure, where their skills and competence are well matched to risk and they are able to grow and develop. In this zone failure carries consequences but the level of these is managed and suitable. This is the ideal zone from Vygotsky for learning. I love the definition of adventure that OPC uses "Any undertaking where the outcome is uncertain" The outcome relates to the participant participation, not the instructors perspective. Consider the adventure of a rock climb. For the participant the outcome is uncertain, there is perceived risk and there fore challenge to overcome this. For the operator, the risk is calculated and small. Actual risk is minimal. For the participant, the experience is challenging, exciting and within their zones of proximal development and peak adventure. As educators we need to balance risk with the opportunities for learning and growth. It isn’t an easy task. The easy route is teaching to the test, white lists and risk adverse education. The easy route is success at the expense of the opportunity of failure & choice. By doing this we remove the opportunity for personal growth and development, higher order thinking, and moral and ethical development. A final thought…. The world we have created is a product of our thinking; it cannot be changed without changing our thinking. Albert Einstein Source: http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5147/5831196506_d8074179c8.jpg

It was reported by the Australian news agency ABC that 80 students at a high school - Prairiewood High School in Sydney’s south-west. The students were suspended for accessing and using teacher computers to access blocked online materials - namely facebook and twitter. This raises several questions for me regarding the teaching and modeling of Digital Citizenship within the school. The Core three aspects of digital citizenship are: Looking after yourself (respecting and protecting yourself), which includes personal safety  - passwords Looking after others (respecting and protecting other), Which includes social responcibility Looking after property (respecting and protecting Intellectual property) Digital Citizenship resources: - http://edorigami.wikispaces.com http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/The+Digital+Citizen http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/Digital+Citizen+AUA http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/Digital+citizen+Analysis+Tool To teach digital citizenship you must also model it. The staff needed to protect their passwords and access to their computers. Did they have a policy that saw the passwords changed regularly? Was anyone monitoring the use of accounts to check use or abuse? Being a digital citizen means the students are expected to behave in a suitable ethical and moral manner, but its not realistic to let them have unfettered access, there MUST BE MONITORING AND SUPERVISION. How do EIGHTY students gain access to and use passwords  - How was this not noticed before it reached this critical point? source: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/197/517966692_d5e100b039.jpg available for reuse The students did not access illegal material like pornography or change school records, rather they communicated and collaborated using social media. Interesting huh. Not porn, just talk. Why are sites like twitter and facebook blocked when many students will have access through their smart devices (iphones etc) to them. In many ways this, blocking social media on the school network, is trying to patch holes in the dam when its collapsing. Controlling access to social media by use of smart rules like time based filtering is a better solution and allows you to monitor who is accessing social media, where and when. This brings this activity into the open, rather than being clandestine and allows monitoring. While suspending the students is sending a strong message, the number of students involved is indicative of a systemic failure, who owns this problem? The students who took inappropriate advantage or the school that by their action or inaction allowed them to reach this point Here is the article "Eighty students at Prairiewood High School in Sydney’s south-west have been suspended for illegally accessing a teacher’s internet account. A statement from the New South Wales Education Minister says the students logged into the teacher’s departmental computer account to access sites like Facebook and Twitter, which students are not allowed to view from their own accounts. The statement says no illegal, pornographic or student record material was accessed, but police were called. The 80 students have been suspended for four days. They will have to attend a meeting where they will be warned by police about the criminality of accessing computer material without authorisation. All Prairiewood High School teachers have now changed their computer passwords and have been reminded about following appropriate IT security measures." Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-07-25/high-school-students-suspended-over-internet-security-breach/2809744

Curiousity has led me to compare prices between the New Zealand Apple Store and the US Store. The price difference is interesting. Conversion rates as per westpac bank at 15.20 28/7/11 These are the prices taken from mthe front page of both stores for the basic model computers. http://store.apple.com/nz http://store.apple.com/us Product NZ store (NZ$) US Store (US$) Conversion In (NZ$) ipad 2 basic model 799 499 583.08 Macbook Air basic model 1549 999 1167.30 MacBook Pro basic model 1999 1199 1401.03 Mac Mini Basic Model 949 599 699.93 imac basic model 21inch 1999 1199 1401.03 Come on Apple update the prices to reflect the exchange rate and stop over charging US!!! This is disappointing, I Love my apple products they are brilliant but the price difference is HUGE.

This is an interesting report from the independent think tank - the New Zealand Institute - http://www.nzinstitute.org/ The report is focused on two proposals to reduce youth disadvantage. Reading through it a couple of things leap out  for me. Here is one that is critical "Successful education requires more than just turning up at school. If students are engaged they will make the effort to learn but too few students remain engaged at school. By age 16, 36% are reported to be usually or always bored and one quarter want to leave as soon as they can, or already have (Wylie, 2009, p.2). " - Executive summary This is scary. over 1/3 of our students in year 11-13 are disengaged to the point of reporting boredom. The report goes on to talk about eLearning as a potential tool for engagement, but states that elearning alone is not enough. I have to agree, there has to be a radical shift in pedagogy to accompany the implementation of elearning. There needs to be a focus on collaboration and communication, on higher order thinking. We need to consider to the assessment tasks we are setting, again I harp back to the comment I made a while ago… … any question we ask that can be answered with google is a poor question. The questions we ask, and in turn the learning experiences the students undertake must be higher order - creative, evaluative or analytical not Recall and simple understanding. Engagement is not just academically focused - we know that students who exercise regularly, who have a balanced and appropriate diet will out perform those who come to school hungry, who are unfit, overweight or inactive. We must exercise on a daily basis, we know that academically and health wise this is vital. Engagement means to that the students have ownership of their learning, they have tasks that are contextual for them, that they can see purpose and value in. The tasks must be relevant and have a degree of buy in on a personal, community or global perspective. Essentially there must be transparency. To keep them engaged we must also make the tasks achievable and realistic, assessment focused and transparent and feedback must be learning centered, honest and timely. If we too all of this, then perhaps we can change the poor engagement rates we are seeing. Executive Summary - Executive summary Full report - Full report Perhaps those who criticize Orewa College’s decision to move their year 9 students to a one to one program with iPads should read the research.                    

I am preparing for a keynote in a couple of week and I have found a couple of great statistics sources for some of information technology. The three I have found most useful at the moment are: The CIA Factbook - https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html This is a useful source for general information and statistics about countries particularly, cellular and internet use, general demographics etc Facebook Statistics page - http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics This is a gold mine for information about Facebook and regularly updated. &50 million users, 50% active on a daily basis and 250million accessing from mobile devices Twitter http://blog.twitter.com/2011/03/numbers.html This is an update from the twitter blog on accounts and tweets. Useful The twitter blog also had this interesting video embedded on it with different celebrities, politicians  and people explaining why they use twitter http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AN4_N5N52U&feature=player_embedded&list=PL763343880E4FEDA9 The sentinel project is another of the web sites I like. This is a humanitarian site, attempting to inform us of events happening around the world. Using Satellite imagery and analysis they are highlighting areas of conflict, need, oppression and genocide around the world. http://www.satsentinel.org/ Another great source of stunning media about Humanitarian crisis’s is Media Storm - The videos they  produce will move and change you. - http://mediastorm.com And finally a great resource - EDUBUNTU - this is an education focused linux distribution. Its great. Available with a focus on different levels Primary, Secondary and Tertairy this distribution delivers not only an operating system but a suite of software.  - http://www.edubuntu.org/ Latest Distribution - Natty Narwhal - Download - http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/edubuntu/releases/11.04/release/

There is a direct relationship between the level of use a student has in their personal computing device and the level and frequency of damage, misuse or presence of the device. This a trend that I have seen in many schools. Where the laptop, tablet or ipad is a core and essential element of the students learning, the devices are kept in good condition. However, where they are not actively used or required but the school still has a laptop program the level of care for the device is reduced. This is evidenced by: Increased damage to the device by dropping etc Increased loss by laptops being left outside classes, in unlocked lockers, on buses etc Increased numbers of machines left at home, the "I forgot to bring it" excuse Increased vandalism/wanton damage to devices - missing keys, cracked screens, stickers and written damage Increased theft due to lack of security While some students will always show poor care for their devices, and this is the reason why many schools will selected ruggedised, a general trend in damage or loss is an indication of lack of engagement in the program, lack of regular and meritious (in the students eyes) use of the device . When a student is asked to bring their device to school, to carry it around and not use it, it is not surprising that they do not value it as a tool for learning. Many schools have had for a number of years mobile computing programs. They are increasingly common as state schools, who have a limited funding base adopt these technologies and the price of education technologies tumbles. Examining damage and loss statistics and the presence or absence of the technology is a good indicator of the current state of your program. Spikes in damage or consistent increases in loss, absence etc should be considers as potential symptoms of lack of engagement or use. If you are making judgements on the success of your program, include the support data and coming to class prepared.  

Next week my students and I are presenting at a conference in Sydney via video conference. They are presenting to teachers about how they use technology to enhance their learning. The presentation will invove me introducing and concluding the presentation, but the really important stuff is coming from the students. They are explaining how they use technology to enhance their learning. Its very interesting. In class I use a variety of tools, we use: Google documents for shared collaborative documents and presentations Wikispaces wiki for within school and international collaborative projects Survey Monkey for surveys and information capture The usual variety of content focused tools to provide up to date materials Blogging, messaging and resource sharing is done using our Learning management system. The students were asked to come up with their own list of key tools that they use. The list did include wikis and google documents, but there were some very interesting additions. They picked these as there best tools: Google Documents Google presentations Bibme - the bibliography tools Facebook groups - to run the leadership groups and committees - Facebook is not accessable from school. Survey Monkey  - for their personal research for extended essays and Theory of knowledge Wikis Blogspot Content sites including Youtube,  sparknotes, TED, How Stuff works, BBC Bitesize, Wolfram Alpha These were the students selections rather than mine. Its interesting to find out what they use. There were a series of other suggestions but this selection was the most commonly selected. What I find interesting is the students selections while they match some of mine are also quite different. Theya re using facebook for learning, they are using blogspot in preference to our own blogging tools. They are using survey monkey for their information gathering and personal research. I have to say I am looking forward to this presentation. Its is quite strange that students presenting at a conference is a rare thing. Its also rather sad too. As adults, we expect and demand that decisions that influence and effect us are made from a consultative basis. When they aren’t we protest and complain, whether this is on a small scale  - talking to your boss or union representative or by marching picketing or protesting on a large scale. Yet how often are students given a voice to shape, decide and direct their future? How often are they abl to tell us what works and doesn’t work for them? Are they allowed to shape and direct their learning beyond option and subject selection. Interesting huh?  

I love seeing so many school starting to adopt technology and recognising that the use of technology can be motivating and engaging, especially in light of the "More ladders,fewer  snakes" report from the independent think tank the New Zealand institute - http://www.nzinstitute.org/ What is critical is that the presence of technology by itself is not a panacea  or the ills of engagement or more accurately student disengagement. Rather the technology is a tool or perhaps a medium for motivating and focusing our students learning. Our use of technology in the classroom must be DELIBERATE and PURPOSEFUL. Then and only then will the improvement make meaningful impact on teaching and learning. If I was to recommend a list of products for use on ipads in Junior or middle school I would recommend the following: iWorks pages, numbers and keynote - while these are reduced versions of the core applications for the mac, they tools will suit the average needs of the average user for word processing and simple desktop publishing, data processing and as a presentation medium. iThoughts HD - this is a simple to use yet powerful mind mapping tool Garageband - a nice and flexible music creation tool imovie - video production tool - this is great as the back camera of the ipad 2 gives nice clean footage. Adobe Photoshop express - simple image editor and free. You already have Photo Booth as a standard tool on the ipad 2 Mathboard and Spellboard - great easy to use learning tools for mathematics and spelling Comic Life - this is the ipad version of Plasq’s winning tool. An absolute must from my perspective PuppetPals HD - this is a great animation tool, its well worth purchasing the master pack of resources which makes the product come to life. The kids love this and it will produce great videos that can be exported. eClicker Host and eclicker client - this is a student response system that will cost you a tiny amount. Also accessible from the web interface, this is great and so cost efficient. (well once you have purchased your idevices to run the clickers on) Google earth - while not as powerful as the PC or mac based Google Earth Client, this is still a useful and powerful learning tool. the students enjoy using this and can easily and intuitively manipulate the tool. Puffin web browser - this browser supports FLASH (YAY!!!), so mathletics is easily accessible from the ipad (you need to use the menu to access the keyboard to type in numeral/text answers). BrainPOP  - my kids love this, its quirky slightly off beat, but it has great resources and they enjoy it. Video and interactive media resources. Dictionary.com - this is a great dictionary tool. Useful, I wished more of my students used a dictionary. Sentence Builder - this is a useful tool for english and language arts. recommended by an amazing classroom practitioner - thanks Harry. Play2Learn - this is a language vocabulary tool. Its fun, visual and covers a range of languages. Well worth considering for schools that have a foreign language program. I have to put in my personal bias here ALL primary schools should be teaching ATLEAST 2 languages to their students and the younger the better. There are more but this is just a start. What would you add to this list and why?

Here is an interesting infographic that compare the Old favourite of facebook and the new kid on the block Google + The original site of the infographic is - http://plusweek.ly/facebook-vs-google-infographic-via-singlegrain/ source: http://plusweek.ly/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/facebook-google+-infographic.jpg

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?