My journey as an educator over the past couple years has been the most rewarding and enjoyable of my career. Three years ago I was seconded as a Technology Mentor for the Southern Anglophone District in New Brunswick. In that role I was a part of numerous initiatives, most notable was the development and retrofit of a middle school library learning commons.
I was lucky to have spent most of my career at that school, so the design, purchasing, and planning were all things I had personally discussed with the administration for several years prior to the grant we received. Working collaboratively with the Province (who were footing the bill), the local IT department, the school administration, the teaching staff, and the district assigned carpenters was definitely a challenging endeavor. However, I would not trade what I learned from that experience.
One of the things I was most excited about was being able to implement some of what I had learned from the MET program thus far. Working with the Principal I was given carte blanche to use the Bates and Poole SECTIONS model to create a summation of the process and the vision for moving forward (I have attached it below for those that are interested).
That entirely aside, the one thing that was missing from this proposal was a comprehensive plan for the implementation of a robust LMS and analytics system. I have personally used Moodle within a school wide solution in a Canadian International School in China, and found it very useful. However, as I started to look into it more I discovered the Common Cartridge certification standards that permit the interoperability of different programs like TurnItIn. The most interesting aspect of all of this to me, is the integration of SCORM packaging and TinCan API. I would love to sink my teeth into this a little more and discover the true potential of a customizable analytics system that incorporates a Learning Record Store.
I know there are companies like Watershed LRS that use the Tin Can API system and would love to see if we could attempt as a class using one of these systems on a trial basis to get more comfortable with it. Both the SCORM and Tin Can API systems intrigue me because they are so customizable, and I would love to field test them to get a better sense of what some of the weaknesses and limitations are.
I have heard of various other analytics systems, and feel that the true power of an LMS is the teacher and student dashboards that provide both users (as well as admin) with the kind of feedback necessary to make intelligent decisions moving forward. I know of other companies that have garnered a lot of attention because of the executive teams that include the likes of Warren Buffet, and former Kaplan executive’s like Jose Fereirra.
Both Amplify and Knewton provide offerings for K-12 and post secondary institutions with learning systems that work alongside with the school IT department and technology implementation specialists to create these systems. If there was any opportunity to speak with the founders, or some of the data scientists and architects I think it would be a great learning opportunity that would be advantageous for myself, my colleagues and the companies themselves, as most of those enrolled in the MET program will have some insights to share on these systems and what makes them successful.
During my tenior in the New Brunswick Education system I have been restricted by the use of only Microsoft based products. The main platform for secure sharing as well as for our public facing school sites is sadly Microsoft Sharepoint… Working as a mentor it was my direct responsibility for the creation and maintenance of these sites and I personally have to say it is the clumsiest, most ineffective system a school system could possibly use and am unsure why it is still in place. That being said I would love to find more literature and gain experience using these more innovative solutions, so that when it comes time for the department of education to re-evaluate there current online infrastructure I will be better able to make a case for trying something different and much more effective.
As for the other technologies out there I would love to try, I feel that there is an opportunity out there to start bringing in coding programs at a younger age, so that we can steer more people into those programs (especially girls) and show them that it’s nothing to be afraid of, and that there are a number of great careers waiting for them if they have a basic understanding and proficiency at coding. Coding is somewhat of a hot topic at the moment and although, flashy multimedia projects seem to garner a lot of attention and funding in high schools, a strong and innovative computer science program is something that needs to gain more attention.
Currently in my hometown, the local IT companies (of which there are many) are looking at making partnerships with the local high schools to bring to the forefront the opportunities that are there for them right at their doorstep. If there is any opportunity to look at this in depth I would really be interested in doing so.
I am really looking forward to this class and can’t wait to dive into to it.
Phil Sweezey
FOREST HILLS LEARNING COMMONS: Assessing technology using the SECTIONS Model (Bates and Poole, 2003)
1. Define:
The objective will be to develop a deeper understanding of digital literacies for both students and teachers. With the pervasiveness of mobile computing and the ubiquity of the Internet, a greater focus must be placed upon the enhancement of digital literacies:
- Social networking skills
- Trans-literacy skills
- Maintaining privacy
- Managing identity
- Creating content
- Organizing and sharing content
- Reusing/repurposing content
- Filtering and selecting content
- Self broadcasting
A shift towards a more self regulated learning approach, or heutagogy, will help to equip digital citizens with the skills necessary to discern and decipher what material is relevant and applicable to what they are learning while manoeuvering the Internet. If students are given more choice in their learning they will become more interested in the material and engaged in their learning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xoy6lLRAnkU
http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.ca/2013/05/learning-theories-for-digital-age.html
“Are the old theories still adequate to describe the kinds of learning that we witness today in our hyper-connected world? Do Vygotsky’s ZPD theory or Bruner’s Scaffolding model still cut the mustard? Or can they work together with the new theories to provide us with a basis to understand what is happening. How can we for example describe learning activities such as blogging, social networking, crowd sourced learning, or user generated content such as Wikipedia and YouTube using older theories?”
http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.ca/2013/04/active-learning-spaces.html
“The idea that students should be able to move freely around the learning space whilst remaining connected is a powerful one. The possibilities of learning through collaboration with other students, and the potential to manage their own pace of learning are also very powerful. Students who can connect to online resources, social spaces and content also have freedom not only to search and discover, but also to create, revise, repurpose and share their own content.”
2. ASSESS:
In order to use the Bates and Poole’s SECTIONS Framework for assessing technology integration into the Forest Hills Learning commons, the following questions must be answered.
Students:
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Ease of Use:
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Costs:
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Teaching and Learning:
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With the role of the teacher being of the utmost importance, of providing the proper training and scaffolding for them is of the utmost importance.. A 1.0 FTE teacher facilitator is an integral aspect to the success of the Learning Commons’ endeavour.
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Interactivity:
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Organizational Issues:
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Novelty:
b. Will this provide a new and (novel) learning experience for students?
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– With the access to this technology the following areas should become a primary area of focus:
With access to this technology teachers should be moving more towards more of a facilitator role where a constructivist model is followed. Teachers should encourage students to take on ill-defined problems, inquire, explore, and discover new learnings. Given time and support a transition to a more connectivism model would be possible. Allowing students to create their own knowledge networks that they can reference to help them solve and discover new learning opportunities.
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Speed:
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