No Posts for 3 months

It's nice to have a break, and get some real life in between posts. Not that I've been having much of a break. The NSW DET blogging tool, of which my classes and I were beta testers is a real winner. Safe, simple blogging for students, classes staff, public or private or groups.

The trick now, once they gloss has faded from the "shiny new toy" is to get some procedures and policies as to what constitutes effective pedagogical use.

So what on the horizon for this edublogger?

• I launched into twitter with gusto. Fun, and very useful, just like "they" say. Has helped me numerous times.
• Google docs has finally (yay) been unblocked for staff use at least. Next to push for the unblock for students.
• I'm running another Intel TEO (Teaching Essentials Online) course beginning the end of this month.
• More "play" with the blogging tool. Let's see if we can get our scratch creations published and shared huh?
• All this as well as an active "real life".

Speaking of real life......do you all have multiple twitter accounts (and other social network tools) which separate proffessional from home life, or do you (as does gen y) just mix it all in together.

I'm inclined to mix it all up so far. Maybe its just the old boomers who see the need to separate life into work/play/home. The kids dont seem to care.

All for now. Be back later with more thought, tools, tips, and trick.

Scratch - Visual Programming Environment - Australian Lesson Exchange

The Australian Lesson Exchange (ALE) is a relatively new wiki for all Australian Educators from all states and territories. Its a place to share your stuff! Fellow Aussie edubloggers may like to check it out!

Richard Wiktorowicz from Moorefield Girls High has kindly shared, via ALE, a fantastic set of activity cards in PDF that he has developed for scratch. Thanks Richard.
Scratch - Visual Programming Environment - Australian Lesson Exchange

Scratch is a new programming language that makes it easy to create
your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art -- and
share your creations on the web.

Scratch is designed to help young people (ages 8 and up)
develop 21st century learning skills. As they create Scratch projects,
young people learn important mathematical and computational ideas,
while also gaining a deeper understanding of the process of design.

For those who are yet to discover the joys of scratch take a look at one of my year 5 student's movies here. Cody did the storyboard, the sprites and backgrounds himself, (as well as the scripting of course).

Blogged with Flock

Briefing the Principals

I've been asked to present to a group of local small school principals regarding computers in schools and staff training.

I've put together a package that I feel provides a framework for understanding the issues surrounding "21st century skills".

To get things started I though I'd shake it up first. Four months old but good, and only 2 minutes. That ought to turn the discussion to getting these skills out to our kids.


So how do we get there?
Nets: the next generation: This is an excellent refinement of digital world skills including the important realm of citizenship skills (which is often overlooked in the discussion). Nets the next generation is presented in an easy to read, checklist style.

Leadership in an Online World: This document from the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth affairs, (MCEETYA) provides a framework which will enable leaders to plan for and support change. Australia and New Zealand are committed to this. Greg Whitby referenced a similar document in his recent post at blueyonder

School 2.0 map: get a free one here. School 2.0 is a brainstorming tool designed to help schools, districts and communities develop a common education vision for the future and to explore how that vision can be supported by technology.












This inevitably leads to the question: "This is all well and good, but how do I prepare my staff?"
That's easy... The Intel Teach program is excellent here, though some might say that excellent is understating things a bit.

"It is an exemplary professional development opportunity for educators committed to creating learner-centered, technology-enabled curriculum and instruction for the 21st century."

- ISTE* Seal of Alignment Report on
Intel® Teach Essentials Course, Version 10

Intel teach is a global program, and is being implemented in over 50 countries, but for examples of how it's working here in NSW (Australia) check out some examples of intel teach in NSW

Hopefully my presentation will encourage some schools (just one would be enough) to make a change.

So that's it. What have I left out? What do I need to leave out? As always, comments and tips are most welcome.

Live from NSWCEG

Well I made it. I'm sitting in a presentation at the moment by Bryn Jones from Atomic Learning.

It was a seven hour drive from my place to Newcastle. All of the roads are blocked and there are police all over the streets trying to keep the crowds under control with regards to the grounding of the Pasha Bulker.

Dan Morris gave the Keynote this morning on 21st century skills. He was fresh from NECC and spoke on problems of promoting change. Also had fun with these lettle clicker things, where he asked a question of the audience and we got to click the response. Fun yes, but interesting then to compare our reponses with other groups accross the USA.

Why Don't School Directors Blog? part 2

A response by the School Director (superintendent) to Kim Moritz's challenge.
Quite sensible and eloquent really.

Superintendent Rinaldi gives many reasons for not entering the blogosphere. But what of the principals that wont (refuse to) even use email?

Aquisition of mechanistic skills does not mean IT literate.

21st Century Skills

Readers of c21skills will know by now that I'm searching for a suitable ICT skills framework that can be adapted to work within my own State Dept of Education.

The best I have come accross so far are the ISTE Nets and the enGauge Framework.

Nets has become the defacto set of skills used in the USA, and even here in Australia we have very similar checklists for what we expect our children to know.

This is all well and good, but a checklist of skills does little to develop the critical thinking and collaborative work habits required of Australias 21st century citizen.

The kindergarten class of 2007 will graduate from high school in 2020! they are going to need alot more than an ability to "use" technology in a mechanistic way.

As good as the skillset in the NETS framework is, the enGauge model has a greater focus on 21st century skills.

Here is a comparison of the NETS skills and the enGauge model.

Note: the NETS standards do not specifically address Visual Literacy, Global
Awareness, Adaptability/Managing Complexity, Curiosity, or Risk-Taking, which are addressed by enGauge.

My thoughts? I'm looking at the enGauge model carefully. It doesnt have an easy checklist format that 20th century teachers seem to love so much, but it has a powerful set of skills that we ignore at our peril.

Impressive Membership

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has an impressive framework for 21st century literacy.
The diagram at the bottom of this post shows that so called "ICT Skills" are only a subset of other elements such as content (global awareness, civic literacy, health and awareness), thinking skills (critical thought, problem solving, collaboration, creativity).

If you download the pdf from this site (see link at bottom of this post), you'll see a very impressive list of members. Intel, Verizon, Cisco, Adobe, Apple, Microsoft, Oracle, to name but a few. It would appear that some of the best a brightest have contributed to this document/site.

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills - Framework for 21st Century Learning

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has developed a unified, collective vision for 21st century learning that can be used to strengthen American Global education.

Download this page as a PDF.

Standards

The first stage in project based learning is identifying standards.



In the absence of readily available sets of ICT standards, I'm setting out to gather together sets of standards from around the world, that may provide interesting insights into how other countries are approaching the task. The following standards from New Hampshire DoE interest me because they contain an emphasis upon 21st Century Skills. Feel free to peruse and critique them. I'd appreciate a variety of thoughts on the matter.



Office of Ed Tech

The ideal ICT Literacy Program in grades K-8 weaves technology experiences into all content areas and all grade levels, so that a student can demonstrate ICT competency at the end of 8th grade. The ideal ICT Literacy Program in high school provides courses which allow students to focus on technology experiences that match their career aspirations. Digital portfolios at the K-8 and 9-12 levels are ideal demonstrations of competence, as they can show how students competently use technology tools and resources within the context of core content areas.

Profiles for Tech Literate Students

NETS for Students

This page emphasises the technology standards that ought to be achieved so that learning is supported, personal productivity increased and decision making ability is enhanced. Well at least thats the claim.

In reality the Indicators are very heavy on tech skills, not so much emphasis on thinking skills. Don't get me wrong, there's absolutely nothing wrong with the development of technical skills...(this is a mouse, this is how we log in). Its just that students today need more than a knowledge of how to use the tools, they need to use the tools thoughtfully and productively.

A set of 21st century Thinking tools is probably the main resource for ICT (21st century) educators that is lacking today. We all have long lists of skills that we try to develop and foster in our students, but most of these are tech skills. We need to be fostering thought processes as well. In the words of Kim Flintoff,

We all understand that digital natives are avid users - but are not necessarily critical users - so it seems a better argument to highlight the role of schools and universities in equipping the students with the requisite skills and knowledge to not only consume, but consume critically, manage the technologies, control the technology (in terms of soft-, firm- and hard- ware). GRIP-FIX-TURN as well as RIP-MIX-BURN.

Putting it all Together with Intel Teach.

This is a fantastic resource. It brings together current thinking and research on thinking skills,and strategies teachers might use to develop those skills in their classrooms.



From project design, to thinking, to planning, stategies and assessment. Lots here.



Intel Education: Designing Effective Projects

This program emphasises curriculum development that aligns to Australian state standards and syllabus outcomes. It promotes higher-order thinking using Curriculum-Framing Questions, authentic project tasks, effective instructional strategies, and performance assessment. Designing Effective Projects provides a foundation for good planning and supports you in adapting these project-based units – or developing your own from scratch.

Great set of skills to work through

Describes the skills, as well as indicators so that a teacher can see what those skills would look like in their students. Downloadable PDF as well as online viewing.



21st Century Skills

21st Century Skills What are they and why do we need them?

What are they?



The Partnership for 21st Century Skills - Our Mission

There is a profound gap between the knowledge and skills most students learn in school and the knowledge and skills they need in typical 21st century communities and workplaces.



To successfully face rigorous higher education coursework, career challenges and a globally competitive workforce, U.S. schools must align classroom environments with real world environments by infusing 21st century skills.





This skills set includes:





* Information and communication skills (information and media literacy skills; communication skills)



* Thinking and problem-solving (critical thinking and systems thinking; problem identification, formulation and solution; creativity and intellectual curiosity)



* Interpersonal and self-direction skills (interpersonal and collaborative skills; self-direction; accountability and adaptability; social responsibility)



* Global awareness



* Financial, economic and business literacy, and developing entrepreneurial skills to enhance workplace productivity and career options



* Civic literacy

Why Do we need them?



Perhaps the most comprehensive and readable treatise on why we need them is Thomas Friedmans's book The World is Flat. There is a wikipedia summary here