I'll be sharing some of my student's work at the Hong Kong Learning & Teaching Expo on December 14th. The title of the presentation is "Content Creation & ePortfolios", and the following resources support the presentation:
Copy of slides: http://goo.gl/5ccVzK
ePortfolio Template: https://sites.google.com/site/cwbshkportfolio/home
ePortfolio Movie: http://youtu.be/qcqOPoArw5E
Friday, 13 December 2013
Friday, 4 October 2013
Creativity is still the future of eLearning
Earlier this week I had the privilege of listening to a couple of keynotes from Lee Crockett @leecrockett of the 21st Century Fluency Project http://fluency21.com/.
The five fluencies; information fluency, solution fluency, media fluency, collaboration fluency and creativity fluency are the skills that members of the 21st Century digital world need to possess in order to be successful digital citizens.
Listening to Lee wasn't so much of a revelation, but rather a realization that someone, somewhere might just be on my wavelength. More importantly, he might just be saying it better than me. "He reminds me of you a bit", said a colleague during the break between keynotes. And I take that as a compliment. You see, when some guy called Prensky (Mark, I think it was) started talking about "Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants", not only did he get my goat, but he also built up a little hostility and a bit of self-fulfilling prophecy... pretty much everywhere. I just about scrape into the age range of digital natives (maybe), but the colleague who compared me to Lee was firmly of the digital immigrant variety. As she's pulling out her iWhatever, tweeting, taking notes and making sure her teenage son is doing his homework, it's pretty clear that our world is a 'digital' world. I caught a quote from the keynotes about kids not "going online" because they are online, and that is perfect. My colleague was using the technology to create things - a connection with her son, collaboration with colleagues through Twitter, knowledge through notes. Technology was able to facilitate these, but the skills came from elsewhere.
Children might be in the driving seat when it comes to picking up a new device and making it work, but the real skills that need to be taught with technology have nothing to do with the actual device. Showing children the possibilities of using technology to create, communicate and collaborate are absolutely fundamental, as well as appropriate behaviour and potential dangers. Lee Crockett describes the 21st Century Fluencies as being about "headware rather than hardware" and schools already have amazing hardware - internet connected devices. We've just got to start working on the headware!
5 years ago, when I wrote my Masters dissertation, I argued of the importance of creativity and digital constructionism in the use of technology? As technological development continues to gather pace, it is even more important that we understand that I keeping up with technology is not about what is used, but rather how it is used...
Matt
The five fluencies; information fluency, solution fluency, media fluency, collaboration fluency and creativity fluency are the skills that members of the 21st Century digital world need to possess in order to be successful digital citizens.
Listening to Lee wasn't so much of a revelation, but rather a realization that someone, somewhere might just be on my wavelength. More importantly, he might just be saying it better than me. "He reminds me of you a bit", said a colleague during the break between keynotes. And I take that as a compliment. You see, when some guy called Prensky (Mark, I think it was) started talking about "Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants", not only did he get my goat, but he also built up a little hostility and a bit of self-fulfilling prophecy... pretty much everywhere. I just about scrape into the age range of digital natives (maybe), but the colleague who compared me to Lee was firmly of the digital immigrant variety. As she's pulling out her iWhatever, tweeting, taking notes and making sure her teenage son is doing his homework, it's pretty clear that our world is a 'digital' world. I caught a quote from the keynotes about kids not "going online" because they are online, and that is perfect. My colleague was using the technology to create things - a connection with her son, collaboration with colleagues through Twitter, knowledge through notes. Technology was able to facilitate these, but the skills came from elsewhere.
Children might be in the driving seat when it comes to picking up a new device and making it work, but the real skills that need to be taught with technology have nothing to do with the actual device. Showing children the possibilities of using technology to create, communicate and collaborate are absolutely fundamental, as well as appropriate behaviour and potential dangers. Lee Crockett describes the 21st Century Fluencies as being about "headware rather than hardware" and schools already have amazing hardware - internet connected devices. We've just got to start working on the headware!
5 years ago, when I wrote my Masters dissertation, I argued of the importance of creativity and digital constructionism in the use of technology? As technological development continues to gather pace, it is even more important that we understand that I keeping up with technology is not about what is used, but rather how it is used...
Matt
Thursday, 26 September 2013
Another blog...
I've always wanted to be a 'blogger' but never really found a time to commit myself to regularly writing one. As a classroom teacher, and an inquiry maths specialist I've been able to write the occasional blog post, but never been able to find time to consistently write updates.
Blogging is the ultimate in narcissism. Not only beleiving you have something worth saying, but taking steps to say it, and encourage people to listen. It's a big leap of faith...
So, now, I believe I have something worth saying... Taking on the new role of eLearning coach seems a perfect opportunity to share the issues, challenges and successes of the role. I'm making a commitment to my professional development and I've copied across some previous blog posts from my days as a classroom teacher to get me going... Let's hope I keep it up!
Tuesday, 18 June 2013
Student Feedback: Reporting on the teacher using Google Forms...
I'm watching the results of my annual teacher report flow into the Google Form.
My appraisal is being conducted by the 30 Year 3 students I have spent the year with... Of course, they are eager to tell me that they like me (most of the time), and that I am good at teaching them ICT. But they are brutally honest too.
This is my second year of asking the students to report on me... last year I completed the exercise with my Y2 students. I created a simple Google Form with the following multiple choice & written questions:
Do you think Mr Hayes is a good teacher?
What do you think Mr Hayes is best at teaching?
Do you think Mr Hayes is a friendly teacher?
Do you like coming to school?
Do you like being in Mr Hayes's class?
Do you think Mr Hayes gives you enough help to do your work?
Do you think Mr Hayes says nice things to you when you do a good job?
Do you think Mr Hayes is scary?
Do you think Mr Hayes is friendly?
Do you think Mr Hayes is funny?
Does being in 3H make you happy?
What could Mr Hayes do to become a better teacher?
What did you enjoy most about Year 3?
Of course, looking at the results I am pleased to pick out the nice bits. But, I'm also pleased to find those little informative bits. It seems, to become a better teacher, a few children think I should be meaner and shout at people more!
I'm taking a lot away from this quick little exercise... I asked the children for their feedback on the process and they'd like to do it more often. Next year, I think I will...
Let's just hope I get a nice class!
This is my second year of asking the students to report on me... last year I completed the exercise with my Y2 students. I created a simple Google Form with the following multiple choice & written questions:
Do you think Mr Hayes is a good teacher?
What do you think Mr Hayes is best at teaching?
Do you think Mr Hayes is a friendly teacher?
Do you like coming to school?
Do you like being in Mr Hayes's class?
Do you think Mr Hayes gives you enough help to do your work?
Do you think Mr Hayes says nice things to you when you do a good job?
Do you think Mr Hayes is scary?
Do you think Mr Hayes is friendly?
Do you think Mr Hayes is funny?
Does being in 3H make you happy?
What could Mr Hayes do to become a better teacher?
What did you enjoy most about Year 3?
Of course, looking at the results I am pleased to pick out the nice bits. But, I'm also pleased to find those little informative bits. It seems, to become a better teacher, a few children think I should be meaner and shout at people more!
I'm taking a lot away from this quick little exercise... I asked the children for their feedback on the process and they'd like to do it more often. Next year, I think I will...
Let's just hope I get a nice class!
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