I watched with some interest this morning the interview of David Shearer on TV1′s breakfast. In the interview Shearer announced the three of the aspects of their education program. Reading recovery available for all schools School food for low decile schools Easy to read and understand reports I have to say that I applaud the first two. The reading recovery program is excellent and should be available for all. The second school meals is also laudable and in many case required. A hungry student does not learn. A hungry student is uncomfortable, unable to concentrate and focus and is disruptive and distracted. Yes this is a very good idea. I am not going to immerse myself in the ins and outs of whether or not we should provide food to these students. Whether or not the parents are failures or what ever. I think providing a good meal is a good idea, and will have benefits. Its worth the price but not the cost. I think its worth 19 million dollars which is what they estimate the price to be of the food program. But the cost that is proposed is cutting the funding to private schools. Private school funding is an easy target, but it is a flawed and inappropriate target. Contry to popular opinion not every person who sends their children to private/independent school is rich, in fact many are working two jobs so they give their children the best opportunities that they can provide. Each person who sends their children to independent schools pays taxes and they receive a very small part of their taxes back in the small subsidy provided to independent schools. This portion is far smaller than what a parent in an equivalent state school would receive. They pay the remainder of the cost themselves.I believe that independent schools should recieved the same funding as state schools and the parents pay the difference. This would be fair since they are paying the same level of taxes as everyone else, but receiving less. If the private schools closed as a result of the reduced funding the students will go to state schools and this will in turn increase the cost to the state. The cost of building new schools to cope with the increased student numbers is going to be far more than any savings made by axing funding. The average primary school is 300 students and secondary is 500. Closing one independent school could well require a new school. While the chances of schools closing are not huge, this will have an impact on viability of these schools. Where should the funding come from for these worthwhile programmes, it should come from an increase in the total spend to education, not by picking on a the easy target, the pet hobby horse, the independent schools.  Independent schools are about choice, they reduce the cost of education to the whole of the education system and consistently  produce excellent results. They offer choice.      

My students have just finished their preliminary school examinations before they do the major external final examinations. We have students do prelim exams for a number of reasons: as summative assessment that tells the student where they are in their learning at one particular time.-Assessment that summarizes the development of the student at a particular time. What the student knows or doesn’t know to prepare them for examinations and to develop appropriate examination technique to provide formative feedback that identifies areas of strength and weakness in their understanding and application of the course of learning - Assessment that is interpreted and used to give directions or make decisions about next steps in learning process For me the formative aspect of the examinations is the most important, it is assessment for learning. To make an examination useful we have to be able to give our students strong formative feedback. Hattie in his book Visible learning, identifies the importance and power of timely, effective, learning focus feedback. So what is strong feedback? Dr Jodie Nyquist has a model that I really like for this and I have blogged it before So the strongest and most effective formative feedback comes when the students have knowledge of their results, knowledge of the correct results, an explanation as to why the results are correct and an immediate activity to reinforce this. A Recent publication from DET in Australia on feedback provides a nice framework that matches with Jodie Nyquist’s model. Step 1INFORMATION about what happened or was done Nyquist - Knowledge of results and Knowledge of correct results Step 2An EVALUATION of how well or otherwise the action or task was performed Nyquist - Explanation Step 3GUIDANCE as to how the performance can be improved Nyquist - Specific actions to reduce the gap and activity Based on Modified and adapted from http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/digital_rev/assessment/prolearn/index.htm The outcome of an assessment, be it an examination, test or assignment should be an improvement in learning. To maximise the learning opportunities we need to provide them, our learners, with feedback on what they did, an evaluation of the task and feed forward what they can do in the future. Thoughts

This may sound like a strange title for a blog post, but its an interesting topic. Many of us have had the experience of walking into the local technology shop and seeing a printer on sale for a ridiculously cheap price. I know of people who when their printer runs out of ink will buy a new one rather than buying new ink. The environmental impact of this is catastrophic. We know that it is printer ink that costs a fortune and that it is through these consumable that the printer companies make their money. But have you ever wondered how much money ink costs? NineMSN in Australia has calculated that HP sells its printer ink at: Black ink AU$5544 per litre Coloured ink AU $5654 per litre There are alternatives, we don’t have to print and this is more environmentally sound and considerable cheaper. Distributing documents electronically, while not with out a cost, is much cheaper per page that printing. Many applications will allow you to export as pdf - open office, iworks etc or support plug ins like cutepdf which "print" as pdf. Google documents and obviously any adobe product will allow you to produce your document, presentation or spreadsheet as a pdf. This has to be better. Have a look at this info graphic from Australia, the numbers will shock you and for me personally, disgust me. Source; http://news.ninemsn.com.au/img/2012/world/ink_info.gif  

The BBC website hosts a series of brilliant gems that are very useful to teachers. While many of us will be familiar with the news page which is accessable via the web or using apps on our phones, there is a whole lot more that’s worth exploring and using. Here are some of my favourites… BBC Future - http://www.bbc.com/future this is a stimulating site that has some interesting and often challenging articles. The site matches well with ITGS and also TOK for the IB’s out there. BBC Science and Nature - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/ and Nature home page - http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/ some great resources here including videos BBC School - http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ this is cool, stretching across the curriculum there are over 7000 resources here. BBC Learning - http://www.bbc.co.uk/learning/ this is learning for all ages from the very young to the not so young. BBC bitesize http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ and GCSE bitesize http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/ this is learning resources grouped by year level and subject area. Awesome.

Last week, I was lucky enough to go to the Cook islands and Aitutaki to work with the Ministry of education, principals and primary and secondary teachers. While I am convinced I am the only person who ever goes to the Cook islands to work, the experience was brilliant. The ministry and the Minister of education have a vision of the Students and staff embracing ICT to improve learning. While limited by immediately available money they are making considerable in roads, deploying technology to each and every school no matter how remote or small. There is a vision that in the near future, every child will have a personal digital learning device. This is a laudable goal, and given the people I worked with an achievable one too.   level of use descriptor Literacy Learning about technology Integrating/augmentative Learning with technology Transformative Learning through technology Based on the work of Bernajean Porter While some of the teachers are still at the literacy stage and others are working at the augmentative or integrating level, the biggest barrier to success is not ministry policy, vision, teachers or equipment. It is the appalling internet connectivity, slow speed and hideous cost from the statutory monopoly that controls Cook islands internet - Cook Islands Telecom. To be transformative you need connectivity, to do the things you can’t do with out technology (a definition of transformative level of use) you usually need connection. To be collaborative and to effectively communicate you need to have the connections. We know from NZ’s key competencies and Australia’s general capacities and even the common core standards from the USA that the ability to effectively communicate and collaborate is vital to 21st Century education. Its frustrating… more to follow  

The New Zealand teachers council has developed a useful and applicable resource for social media and education. http://www.teachersandsocialmedia.co.nz/ The guidelines for teachers are well considered and developed by an informed and realistic group of people. This fits with the model of digital citizenship that we use - http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/The+Digital+Citizen: Looking after yourself - respect and protect yourself Looking after others - respect and protect others Looking after property - respect and protect intellectual property Here are the guidelines, I like the title which is professional commitment - http://www.teachersandsocialmedia.co.nz/guidelines/commitment-profession: Engaging in ongoing discussions with colleagues can help when you are unsure whether you should share, reuse or respond to content. Talking to colleagues about your activity on social media platforms means you aren’t acting in isolation and exposing yourself to a potential ethical dilemma. Check whether your learning centre has a policy on social media use and always act in accordance with that policy. If there isn’t one or the existing policy is outdated, bring it up for review at a staff meeting. Be aware that once shared, content posted on social media platforms can be re-shared by many. Consider your digital ‘footprint’ and the fact that people you don’t know may judge you based on how you are portrayed online. Think about how you want to be presented, both in your own posts/photos/videos and those you are ‘tagged’ in by other users. Be aware of how it may appear to colleagues, parents/guardians, learners and society in general and consider whether it is consistent with how you want to be viewed as a member of the teaching profession. Up-skill yourself - many social media platforms have helpful tutorials and guidelines on how to set up groups, establish privacy settings, and how ‘friends’ or other users are able to share information that you post. Check the terms of use of each social media platform that you use to make sure you know how the service provider may access, re-use or republish the information you post. When posting information created by another author or organisation, you should clearly acknowledge their ownership and the source of the information. This is advisable regardless of whether the information is clearly copyrighted in the original source or not. They also discuss the recommendations for dealing with students in social media: Before having one-on-one conversations using social media, consider ethical risks that could arise. Act the same way when using social media, as you would in a face to face setting. Carefully consider the tone and content of your posts or messages when using social media as a teaching tool - think about how it compares to how you present yourself in the physical learning environment. When using a social media platform, consider setting up separate groups for specific teaching purposes. Keep your private and professional use of social media separate. If learners contact you by social media and ask for help or advice relating to sensitive personal issues, social media isn’t the right forum for providing support. Consider redirecting them to appropriate support structures, such as the Guidance Counsellor or guidance team in their school/centre. Follow your school or centre’s policies on dealing with information divulged to you as a teacher. When using social media for teaching, think about how you will monitor content so that posts and discussions remain on-topic. You may want to de-activate the group when the project or unit ends to avoid creating a space where off-topic and un-moderated chat can continue. Remember that when you set up an online space such as a group or a blog, you remain the ‘owner’ or administrator. This means you should take care when delegating editing rights to others.

The online news site stuff recently had an interesting article detailing some of New Zealanders online actions and behaviours. It makes for interesting reading and is worthy of reflecting on. The article is at this URL - http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/7808200/2-5-million-Kiwis-using-mobile-Internet Here are the salient points: Number of mobile internet users is >2.5 million. This is linked with the increase in smart phones Average fixed line user used 16GB per month The data caps offered by ISP are increasing 50+GB data cap on fixed lines increased by 800% No data cap increased by 270% Telecom is offering 150GB per month for $99 in its make your own package site (http://www.telecom.co.nz/packages/packages/plansandpricing/createyourown/) Orcon has unlimited data ++ for the same cost (http://www.orcon.net.nz/external/genius/indexsep12.php?gbuseage=unlimited) and Telstra clear is offering 100GB naked broadband for $105 per month (http://www.telstraclear.co.nz/residential/homeplan/internet/naked-broadband.cfm) To require this much bandwidth the use of the internet is changing. Its no longer just about looking stuff up and searching. This is now about watching, listening, talking, interacting, playing, sharing, doing and possibly creating too. It more than facebook, though with over 1 billion people globally on facebook (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10838506) that is undoubtedly part of it. The main NZ broadcasters like TVNZ and TV3 and others are hosting on demand sites (http://tvnz.co.nz/video, http://ondemand.four.co.nz/tabid/57/default.aspx, http://ondemand.tv3.co.nz/) the way we access entertainment is consuming part of this increase in capacity. Access and capacity, linked with reducing prices (but we still have a long way to go on the price to be comparable with much of the world)are changing how we relax and are entertained. The questions for me are when are we going to see changes in school that will enable our students to leverage the full media capacity of the internet - bandwidth, cost and capacity are becoming less of a bottle neck and linked to this is how are we going to support our students in making the right decisions regarding when, how where and why to access materials and the ethical issues that surround the availability of media on the web. It is sad to think that a high school I worked with recently in the Pacific has a data cap of 30GB per month (smaller than Telecoms smallest offering) and this costs them over 10x’s the cost of telecoms 50GB plan ($75 per month). Resources: http://www.statistics.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/industry_sectors/information_technology_and_communications/InternetServiceProviderSurvey_MRJun12.aspx Media release: - http://www.statistics.govt.nz/~/media/Statistics/Browse%20for%20stats/ISPSurvey/MRJun12/ISPSurveyJun12MR.pdf

Thinking about assessment For us as teachers, much of our life revolves around assessment in its various forms. It can be so invasive that it seems to dominant all we do in the classroom. We have seen on a huge scale educators teaching to the assessment since there position, employment and in fact the fate of their schools rest on achieving a suitable level in assessment. No Child Left Behind is being used as a mechanism for appraisal. Assessment in some circles has a bad reputation. So why do we assess? Well, we assess for a variety of different reasons; To tell a student how well they have learnt and where they need to develop further understanding. To reinforce the learning process and measure success. To determine the performance of the teacher and the school To determine educational performance across the country and internationally To determine the level of funding/resourcing required to reach suitable educational results. To provide employers with an understanding of the students’ abilities. The three forms of assessment that are relevance to me as a classroom practitioner are: Diagnostic - Assessment that examines what the learner already knows. It helps to identify the nature of difficulties that the learner might have.  This style of assessment demonstrates the basis of the students knowledge and  this can be used build from. It helps identify elements that may be briefly recapped or need to be revisited in depth. It is used before teaching and is looking backwards, valuing prior learning. Formative - Assessment that is interpreted and used to give directions or make decisions about next steps in learning process. This assessment is looking forward, it supports future learning and reinforces current learning. Summative - Assessment that summarizes the development of the student at a particular time. What the student knows or doesn’t know. This assessment is a snap shot in time. These three types of assessment match well with the teaching process we see most often in our classes and schools. Teaching process Knowledge Acquisition Knowledge Deepening Knowledge Creation   This model matches with the model presented by Silver and Strong and Associates Preparing students for learning Presenting new learning Deepening and reinforcing learning Applying learning Reflecting on and celebrating learning Teaching process Silver & Strong Knowledge Acquisition Preparing students for learning Presenting new learning Knowledge Deepening Deepening and reinforcing learning Knowledge Creation Applying learning Reflecting on and celebrating learning We can match our three types of assessment to the learning process. Teaching process Silver & Strong Assessment Knowledge Acquisition Preparing students for learning Diagnostic assessment Presenting new learning Formative assessment Knowledge Deepening Deepening and reinforcing learning Knowledge Creation Applying learning Reflecting on and celebrating learning Summative assessment  

Thinking about assessment - Diagnostic & formative We use Diagnostic Assessment to identify existing knowledge and establish a base to develop from. Diagnostic assessment guides our planning by identifying strengths and weaknesses. What do we need to teach explicitly to achieve the end goals and outcomes and what can we briefly reinforce or accept as their knowledge base. Effective use of diagnostic assessment makes the learning we provide to the students focused and efficient. Diagnostic assessment is completed prior to teaching and learning Formative assessment provides on going feedback to the students for their development. Formative assessment require the students and teacher to work together, there has to be a partnership for learning trust and understanding. Formative assessment must be: Timely - The end of the task is too late, we must provide feedback often and in detail during process. Appropriate and reflective - The feedback must reflect the students ability, maturity and age. It must be understandable Honest & Supportive - Feedback can be devastating, our role as teachers is to nurture and shape. We must provide feedback that is honest and supportive in a manner and mode that does not ostracise the recipient, but gives encouragement to go on. Focused on learning and linked to the purpose of the task Enabling - receiving feedback without the opportunity to act upon it is frustrating, limiting and counterproductive. Students must be able to learn from and apply this feedback   In Formative assessment we are asking and answering three core/key questions: 1.    What can I do? 2.    What can’t I do? These first two questions are feedback on what the student can or cannot do in regards to a stated goal. Its learner and learning focused, appropriate, honest and supportive. It needs to be timely to have any relevance. Feedback, no matter how detailed, delivered a month after the fact is hardly relevant. 3.    How can I do better? This question is the enabling aspect what can I do to do better at this? What do I need to do to improve. Some people will also add in 4.    How does my work compare with that of others? This is a challenging question. Should I know where I am in the class? Will this help me? How will it make other feel? We know that a degree of competition is useful and important. I feel this is something that you do when you have a very good relationship with the class and is dependent on the maturity and age of the students. [Effective feedback and e-assessment School Based Assessment and Reporting Unit Curriculum K-12 Directorate] Dr Jodi Nyquist has a useable and suitable model for delivering feedback Level of feedback Descriptor WEAK Knowledge of results (KoR)   KoR + Knowledge of Correct results (KCR)   KCR + explanation (KCR + e)   KCR + e and specific actions to reduce the gap STRONG KCR + e and activity Nyquist J.D Feedback in higher education 2003 from Haynes A and MCDowell L, 2008, Balancing dilemmas in assessment and learning in contemporary education, Routledge p 275 Essentially the model the Nyquist presents conforms with the What can I do? What can’t I do? And How can I do it better? The strongest form of feedback is knowledge of the correct results (and implicit in this is therefore knowledge of their own performance), and explanation of the difference between their results and the correct one and an activity that they do immediately to support the required changes.

Thinking about Assessment  - Summative & Understanding by design. Summative assessment is a snapshot in time. It is a statement of what a student knows or does not know at one moment. We are very familiar with this style of assessment, we see it in examinations, in qualifications whether they are norm referenced or criterion referenced and in standards based assessment. Summative assessment is usually the end point of a unit of learning or a course of learning. It should represent the culmination of the students learning. However, this is often not the case. We often see Multiple Choice or "bubble test"  assessments that by their very nature only represent lower order thinking. While a student may have to remember, understand and apply, it is almost impossible to have higher order thinking skills like analysis, evaluation or creativity in examinations that are limited to the responses the student can select. The inability of this styl;e of assessment to allow the student to reach their full potential  is a serious flaw in this testing style. An appropriate assessment  will allow the students to demonstrate their full potential. Criterion based assessments, where the student is provided with open questions that allow them to be creative, analytical and evaluative are better tools that reflect more accurately the depth and breadth of the students understanding. So we can match higher and lower order thinking into our overview of the teaching process. Teaching process Silver & Strong Assessment Blooms Digital Taxonomy Knowledge Acquisition Preparing students for learning Diagnostic assessment Remember Understand Presenting new learning Formative assessment Knowledge Deepening Deepening and reinforcing learning Apply Analyse Evaluate Create Knowledge Creation Applying learning Reflecting on and celebrating learning Summative assessment   Diagnostic Assessment is often focused on asking the lower order questions: What can I remember? What do I understand? What can I do? This provides the framework for future learning and values prior learning. Formative assessment is analytical and evaluative. It breaks down learning into it component parts (analysis) examines relationships, makes judgements and critiques (evaluation) while providing a pathway forward for improvement. Good summative assessment will require the student to move beyond simple recall into applying analysing and evaluating and providing the critical opportunities for creativity. So the teaching process whether it is in a unit of learning or in a single class may well have all three main forms of assessment. In a unit of learning we should start with diagnostic assessment to ascertain where student’s learning is at, to identify areas for expanded development: have continuous formative assessment supporting the student in their progression and development and conclude with summative assessment. In a single lesson we would see similar structures and processes in place. Diagnostic assessment may be the short quiz, Q&A session or recall task that provides the instructor with a basis on whether to revisit previous learning or proceed to develop on the from last teaching experience. There is often an opportunity to provide formative feedback - here is what you did? Here is what you need to do 7 here is what you did well, here is the pathway forward. The lesson may well end with a short snapshot test that shows the students learning. Understanding by Design McTighe and Wiggins in their book understanding by design  discuss a backwards approach to curriculum design and planning. You start with the end in mind, This is starting your planning process by considering the summative assessment element that is the culmination of your leaching process. You identify the desired results from the course of learning. These are the elements of design: Goals, Knowledge and Skills, Essential Questions, Enduring Understandings Having identified and detailed these, the second stage is to determine  the acceptable evidence. How are you going to assess the students which summative assessment tool is best suited for the learning the students are undertaking? The final stage is to plan the learning activities that will lead to the assessment. This would include opportunities for formative assessment, including activities that will help the student develop better understanding.  

I am developing some resources for feedback and assessment for a couple of presentations in an doing. One of the tools that I want to use with staff for providing feedback is the review tools in MS Word. These allow the reviewer to make comments, corrections and suggestions with the learner. These are a great way to start the learning conversations and provide feedback that is: timely appropriate honest and supportive enabling I would appreciate any feedback on this starter sheets. More to follow. starter sheet - MS Word Review

This is the next starter sheet focusing on how to use comment tools for formative assessment. In this example the range of tools available in the product allow the reviewer to add audio comments, text based comment and well as a range of drawing tools. Being able to add notes to PDF is a powerful tool in the teachers tool kit. Most students can produce a PDF either natively within the application (This a standard in most Apple applications, adobe products and also some Microsoft tools as well) or using a plug in like CutePDF . The advantages for the student is they don’t have to worry about the layout of their work being changed or compatibility with the teachers software. For the teacher, they can annotate the document and share the changes with the students quickly and easily. As always feedback is welcomed. starter sheet - adobe acrobat reader Review  

The Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Project  Zero team has developed a useful tool for providing feedback. The tool is intended for a colleague or peer to provide feedback to a teaching peer about either their lesson, unit or potentially course of learning. I have been working on assessment for some presentation I have coming up and this is a potentially useful tool for providing structured and considered feedback. As teachers we know the value of providing feedback and critique to our students, but we sometimes struggle with receiving feedback ourselves. I have adapted the ladder of feedback tool to suit student feedback on a unit of learning. Ladder of feedback template The Original  Ladder of feedback has four steps or phases. They are: Clarify - are there aspects of this lesson, unit course that you don’t believe you understood? Value - what do you see in this lesson, unit or course that you find to be particularly impressive, innovative or strong? Offer Concerns - Do you detect some potential problems or challenges within this lesson, unit or course? Do you disagree with some part of the design Suggest - Do you have suggestions on how to address the concerns you identified during the last step? In some ways it resembles a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis, how ever the arrangement is more education focused and is far more usable. Resources: https://makinglearningvisibleresources.wikispaces.com/Ladder+of+Feedback https://makinglearningvisibleresources.wikispaces.com/file/view/Ladder+of+FeedbackGuide.pdf http://articlescoertvisser.blogspot.co.nz/2007/11/feedback-in-three-steps.html http://www.slideshare.net/susanlulee/teaching-for-understanding-framework-in-practice http://www.pz.harvard.edu/ http://idt744.wikispaces.com/Ladder+of+Feedback+Rubric

This is the next starter sheet in the set I am working on for providing technology tools for feedback. In this starter sheet, its looking at the tool set available in Google documents to provide feedback, critiques and correction. The tools include the revision history tool and using the comments tools to have a threaded discussion with the contributors. Google documents is a powerful and adaptable tool that is easily accessible in most parts of the world, from almost all devices. starter sheet - google documents - feedback As always I would appreciate your feedback. Check out the other starter sheets here - http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/Starter+Sheets

Diagnostic assessment is one of the three main forms of assessment we use. It is critical element of good teaching practice as it values past learning and lets us work out where our students are as we continue the learning journey. Diagnostic assessment is used at the start of a unit of learning and frequently at the start of a class, where the teacher uses it to establish what theirs students have learnt and retained from previous classes. It can be as simple as a question and answer session or more structured using tools like Google forms which will collate and record the students responses and provide the instructor with a summary of the class’s responses. This starter sheet looks at using Google forms as a tools to develop, deploy and collate diagnostic assessments. diagnostic assessment - google forms For other starter sheets check out the Educational Origami wiki - http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/Starter+Sheets URL for Educational Origami Wiki

This is the next starter sheet in the assessment series. This starter sheet looks at using the versitile and adaptable workhorse Voicethread http://voicethread.com to provide rich formative feedback to the students in text, audio or audio-visual mediums. Students are able to develop and upload presentations and then narrate these leaving voice comments as narration on each slide in their presentation. This narration plays as the slide is opened. The presentation can be automated to work through all of the slides. For the teacher, leaving a comment on students work is as simple as playing the slides and clicking on the text, voice or web camera comment button at the bottom of the page. From their the speak a comment or type a statement or both. As always, I would appreciate feedback on the starter sheets. startersheet - formative assess with voicethread For more starter sheets click here - http://edorigami.wikispaces.com

This is the next starter sheet in the assessment series. This is slightly more specialized in terms of the software being used, but the principles being applied are the same no matter what the testing tool is. Diagnostic testing is looking backwards to plan forwards. It can also include a snapshot of the understanding of the new unit of learning, in other words what to the students actually know about this topic, unit or concept. The process of developing a diagnostic test will include: Identifying the assumed knowledge that is critical to the students learning. Identifying a range of aspects of the new unit that could be examined. Ideally these should be the basic elements. Decide on a suitable assessment method - Multiple choice questions are good for lower order thinking i.e. remember and understanding Ask yourself the questions - What does this question or task show? Does this identify prior learning, or existing knowledge? How will it help me to adapt and change my program of learning? Starter Sheet - Diagnostic assess in moodle Click here for the other starter sheets in the series. http://edorigami.wikispaces.com As always feedback is appreciated. Educational Origami

This is the next in the assessment series - this use a blog as the medium for a student applying the reflective cycle to reflect on an event. The reflective cycle has 5 stages - Select an event describe the event - what, where, when and who Analyse the event - break it down into the component elements and as the How and why questions Evaluate the event - make a judgement having considered the impact, importance, effectiveness and relationships Transform - make a change based on the process This can be used in a wide range of situations whether it is a student reflecting on their learning and contribution, a students posting a comment on a peers blog and using the cycle to offer critique and comment or a student reflecting on the events of the day. Starter sheet reflection cycle in a blog post As always comments are appreciated For the complete set of starter sheets visit the education origami wiki - http://edorigami.wikispaces.com   educational origami wiki

I had to link the digital citizenship agreements I have developed to create a continuum that starts in the junior school with our younger learners and proceeds through to our more senior students. I took the three agreements or guidelines and combined them into one document that follows three strands - personal responsibility, social responsibility and material responsibility At each grouping the language is different and age appropriate but the underlying contexts of protecting and respecting are there. I do not see any value in having new entrant and very young primary/elementary students signing any document as they will not understand that expectations or in the case of the younger students even be able to read them. The originals are here at http://edorigami.wikispaces.com . Digital Citrizenship is a core element of the 21st Century Fluencies we have developed at the 21st Century fluency project As always I wold appreciate your feedback and suggestions. DC across the years

Lee sent me this article recently and I have to say I am a little shocked. http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2012/04/25/google-drive-cloud-storage-terms.html Like many in education I make use of the Google suite of tools, for a long time Google documents and more recently Google drive. I suspect that like many people when it came to agreeing with the terms and conditions I just ticked the box and got on with it. I have to be honest, I am shock at what I have agreed to, and it makes me question what I would upload to google. Here is the critical section for me: "When you upload or otherwise submit content to our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content. The rights you grant in this license are for the limited purpose of operating, promoting, and improving our Services, and to develop new ones. This license continues even if you stop using our Services (for example, for a business listing you have added to Google Maps). Some Services may offer you ways to access and remove content that has been provided to that Service. Also, in some of our Services, there are terms or settings that narrow the scope of our use of the content submitted in those Services. Make sure you have the necessary rights to grant us this license for any content that you submit to our Services." http://www.google.com/policies/terms/ Concerned? I have some reservations about this. Essentially I have given google by default permission to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works, communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute my content and the license continues even if I stop using Googles Services. As an educator trying to encourage my students to be appropriate ethical citizens in the both the real and digital world I struggle with this. I put my hand up for the primary mistake of not reading the terms and conditions, but this over the top. source: http://www.straightlinemoving.com/~straightlinemovi/tipe/pictures/Storage%20lockers.jpg If I was to try and draw a parallel to the real world I think it would be hiring a storage space and giving the owner of the facility or anyone he is associated with, his friends, business associates or anyone else he chooses - permission to ferret around in my stuff, use it when it suits them, the right to show to the public anything I have in the space (pictures, letters, drawings personal items) and distribute it as they see fit. Hum, yes I think I have some concerns here. Google, I am not impressed!

One of the very useful, but perhaps under utilised features of mountain lion is the dictation tool. Once its switched on the world of dictation is opened. Switch it on by going to system preferences > dictation and speech and switching dictation on you can also select your language type. From here it’s really easy double click on the function key FN  and speak. I found the Apple care page on this useful as well. Here is a selection that covers the basic problems you often have with dictation. cap (for example, "this is a cap Test") Capitalize next word all caps (for example, "this is a all caps TEST") Type in all caps caps on Caps lock on caps off (for example, "this is caps on A VERY IMPORTANT TEST caps off tomorrow") Caps lock off no caps(for example, "what time is my meeting in no caps boston today") All lowercase new line Insert new text line next line Go to the next text line new paragraph Begin new paragraph next paragraph Go to the next paragraph no space Do not insert a space after the next word no space on (for example, "the new car is no space on reallyreallyexpensive") Do not insert any spaces between words no space off Resume inserting spaces between words space bar (for example, "this restaurant is first space bar class") Type a space numeral (for example, "he starts from position numeral 5″) Type the numeral, such as 5 instead of "five" Roman numeral (for example, "in January it’s Roman numeral MMXIII") Type the spoken as a Roman number http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5449 Do you have an iPad 3? Try out siri for dictation. Once you have enabled it in settings by clicking on the microphone icon in the pop up keyboard  (Settings > General > Siri). Here is the help file - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5176 Source: http://km.support.apple.com/library/APPLE/APPLECARE_ALLGEOS/HT5176/HT5176_01-mike-002-en.png    

Here are a couple of educause updates. These are part of the excellent seven things you should know series, published monthly by Educause. The latest two are: 7 Things you should know about microlectures - http://www.educause.edu/library/resources/7-things-you-should-know-about-microlectures 7 Things you should know about group texting - http://www.educause.edu/library/resources/7-things-you-should-know-about-group-texting Educause has a number of interesting libraries that are worth exploring - here is one I like, the video and multimedia production library - http://www.educause.edu/library/video-and-multimedia-production. Have a look at this 7 things about the evolution of the textbook  to see the links that are coming through with video and multimedia production - http://www.educause.edu/library/resources/7-things-you-should-know-about-evolution-textbook Also have a loom at the K-12 Library - http://www.educause.edu/library/k-12

This starter sheets is looking at the online service Crocodoc which allows the users to upload, share and annotate document. The documents can then be downloaded in the mark-up format or in the original format. This service supports PDF and Microsoft office files. This is a useful way of collating student work sharing  exemplars and adding comments and drawing with out modifying the original document. starter sheet - crocodoc formative assessment Other Starter sheets are available at http://edorigami.wikispaces.com Educational origami wiki

The new facebook poke app raises a concern or two for me in regards to appropriate use. The app which is essentially facebook’s version of snapchat allows the user to do a number of interesting things. Here is what they say about it in the 12 December news release "With the Poke app, you can poke or send a message, photo, or video to Facebook friends to share what you’re up to in a lightweight way. You can poke an individual friend or several at once. Each message expires after a specific time you’ve set, either 1, 3, 5 or 10 seconds. When time runs out, the message disappears from the app. " source: http://newsroom.fb.com/News/559/Introducing-Poke-for-Mobile So you can set a message that is only visible for a short space of time and then deletes. The message could be text, image or video. but wait there is more facebook will only hold the message and the encryption keys for the message for 2 days (source: http://techcrunch.com/2012/12/22/your-facebook-pokes-are-stored-for-two-days-then-their-encryption-keys-are-deleted/) When working with students we ask them, if they are being repeatedly bullied to: Talk with a trusted adult - be it the school Councillor, teacher etc not delete the messages and hold them as evidence Now they have a message that will appear for upto 10 seconds and then disappear/deleted, even the most tech savvy user is going to struggle to take a screen grab in that time. What’s more there is a 48 hour window to get facebook to recover the the poke. If you have ever tried to get facebook to do anything it is usually more than 48 hours. Am I concerned, yes - this is a tool for the cyber bully. I know concerns have been raised to about snapchat as a tool of choice in sexting. Does facebook really need to match it? They ahve attempted to match some of the terms and conditions of snapchat "When you send or receive messages using the Snapchat services, we temporarily process and store your images and videos in order to provide our services… we attempt to delete image data as soon as possible after the message is transmitted." (Source: http://www.snapchat.com/# click on terms at the bottom of the page) Advice? Well, what would I say to my students about this application? Don’t use it - this is suspect will fall on deaf ears but, it may raise some awareness if its abusive or inappropriate, unfriend the sender or is you are struggling to see who it is uninstall the app If its serious and/or persistent, talk to a trusted adult and move with speed to report the issue to facebook - Facebook - report a violation - http://www.facebook.com/help/263149623790594/ Resources and links: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/21/tech/social-media/facebook-poke-app/index.html http://newsroom.fb.com/News/559/Introducing-Poke-for-Mobile http://www.snapchat.com/ http://techcrunch.com/2012/12/22/your-facebook-pokes-are-stored-for-two-days-then-their-encryption-keys-are-deleted/ http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2012/dec/27/facebook-poke-snapchat-app-thumbs-down http://www.netsafe.org.nz/ http://www.netsafe.org.nz/how-and-where-to-report-website-abuse/ Facebook - report a violation - http://www.facebook.com/help/263149623790594/ Digital citizenship resources - http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/Digital+Citizen+AUA Follow me on Twitter - @achurches