Digital Learning

e-Teaching: teamwork & the new technology

e-learning has gathered a lot of attention over the years. It’s been at the crest of the wave and in the troughs of despair. Now it’s back on the ascendancy. Graham Oakes, discusses the role of teaching in the brave new world of e-learning.

Technology expert, Graham Oakes, discusses the role of teaching in the brave new world of e-learning.

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      string(5698) "With the passage of time the world of education changes, your school changes, you and your colleagues change, and your pupils change. You cannot ever have a repertoire of teaching or leadership skills and qualities guaranteed to suit every situation you face. It makes sense to keep thinking about how your pupils might learn more effectively and how your colleagues and teams might continue to adapt and evolve. As a teacher your core task is to help your pupils learn as well as they can. As a leader, manager, mentor, teacher educator, adviser or consultant your core task is to help pupils learn by helping teachers teach as well as they can.  This HOW TO piece focuses on how a range of activities can contribute to this ongoing professional learning.Deciding how to extend and adapt your thinking and practice If your school is a training school or contributes to initial teacher education, you may be well placed to share experiences, projects, research and ideas about teaching and leading with colleagues, trainees and other professionals. Whatever opportunities you have, the crunch comes in your trialling ways of teaching and leading. Here are prompts to help you tackle your immediate concerns and pursue your medium- and long-term interests.Think about what you would like to see happening less often, and what you would like to see happening more often in your teaching or leadership.Define how you and others will judge the usefulness of your experiments; and periodically review your criteria.Gather information about and plan new ways of doing things, whether these be big or small changes or innovations.Talk to colleagues about your plans and how your efforts work out.Examine what difference changes make; be systematic about collecting and analysing positive and negative evidence.Keep track and examples of your experiments and their results. These can play a part in your conversations with mentors, performance managers, and your applications for promotion and jobs. They might also might help you lead training sessions for colleagues and communicate with wider audiences.While you may not be able wholly to determine how your performance management is organised and run, you should be able to help decide the kinds of continuing professional development activities you pursue. These are some of the options, with prompts for analysis and future planning.When this worked wellWhy it worked wellHow to develop thisWorking as pairs or small teams to plan or develop lessons, study units, projects, strategies and systemsCo-teaching and co-workingObserving lessons and activities, and being observedTaking the role of learner in colleagues’ lessons or participant in meetings and eventsLooking together at examples of pupils’ work or products and records of colleagues’ activitiesWorking with colleagues on shared problems and issuesBeing coached/mentored, and providing coaching/mentoringDiscussing alternative practices, both formally and informallySharing feelings about teaching, learning and leadership: e.g. discussing values/ aspirations/concerns … with or without outsiders’ facilitationCarrying out personal or collaborative action researchRevising policy and responding to statutory or policy changesVisiting and learning from other schoolsWorking with colleagues in networks, clusters or pyramids of schoolsEngaging with professional groups, associations, commercial agencies responsible for education, and higher education institutionsStudying for qualificationsOne approach is to have meetings of interested colleagues. You agree a focus, which may be ways of involving and motivating pupils or colleagues, team work, using new technology …. You share ideas and experiences. You may visit one another’s lessons or activities, perhaps pairing up to observe and be observed.Some people give this kind of shared action research a framework such as the one created by Patricia Ashton, Pamela Hunt, Stephanie Jones and Gillian Watson (1980). For teachers this involves  arranging to step back at least once a week from the action of what is happening in a lesson in order to notice and note:About your pupils	About yourselfWhat are my pupils actually doing?	What was I doing before I stopped to reflect?What are they learning?		What was I learning?How worthwhile is it?		What do I intend to do now?As a leader you can ask yourself equivalent questions about how things go in meetings and working groups you are responsible for. Then at convenient intervals  you and your colleagues meet to share findings and pursue implications. Those who have this kind of experience say it improves their day-to-day working and morale.An activity favoured by some schools is as follows. The purpose is to confirm good practice and indicate areas for possible research and experiment.Cyclically or periodically mentors or consultants work for half a day with individual colleagues.Once it has been agreed, the appointed person visits one of your lessons or participates in a meeting or training activity you are running. Afterwards you and the mentor or consultant meet for about an hour and a half.You express your view of how the lesson or session went, and the mentor or consultant gives you some feedback. Together you determine what questions and issues you agree it would be worthwhile discussing further.The focus is on appreciating what is going well in your work, and exploring whatever you feel it would be good to work on further. You make a plan to follow up what emerges. You may ask the mentor or consultant to recommend what she or he"
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'How to do it' Guides

How to … own your continuing professional development

19 Nov 2018

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      string(350) "  51Volume 1.1 n Creative Teaching & Learning Learning outside the classroom e-learning Home truths Children learn all the time – not just in the classroom. A new project, where children document their successes outside school, can build confidence, say Clara Lemon and Graham Hopkins. ShoutBox is a mobile phone ..."
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      string(5664) "  51Volume 1.1 n Creative Teaching & Learning Learning outside the classroom e-learning Home truths Children learn all the time – not just in the classroom. A new project, where children document their successes outside school, can build confidence, say Clara Lemon and Graham Hopkins. ShoutBox is a mobile phone app that works with the simple phones children have. It allows the children to upload photos, videos or audio clips of their adventures onto their social networking site profiles – like Facebook or Bebo. When the children open the app, they meet an animated character – who explains how leadership and teamwork skills can be picked up in fun activities. In this way, the app provokes thought and reflection on informal learning, then creates a showcase for further discussion. ‘ShoutBox’ was submitted by two developers from mobilepie.co.uk in Futurelab’s 2008 ‘Call for Ideas’ consultation. The developers knew young people could use this tool without having to set time aside – as they would always have their phone in their pocket. They wouldn’t have to fiddle with new technology – because they already use Facebook every day. The technology prompts children to reflect on what they learn from the activities they take part in. Children can be surprised to uncover the skills they already have – and can be impassioned to reach for new achievements. Futurescape put together a low-fi version of the ShoutBox idea – so that everyone can use it. Their advice to teachers who want to use the app with their class is to also use inexpensive, easy to use ‘Busbi’ video cameras and basic video editing software (Windows Movie Maker) to make bigger, better films than mobiles can manage. Futurelab has also set up a webspace – where young people can post their video clips. How to run your own ShoutBox project Who with? We’ve tried it with Year 10s, but there’s no reason why a ShoutBox project couldn’t be run at key stage three, too. E veryday outside the school gates young people are experiencing new and valuable opportunities. These can be positive or negative, structured or spontaneous – from board games to skateboarding to after-school clubs. These experiences are opportunities for learning – in fact, some young people learn more than they do in school. Futurelab – a not-for-profit IT education consultancy – wanted to show young people how to use technology to record their skills and passions. They started the project ‘ShoutBox’ – to help teachers understand who their students are outside lessons.    e-learning Learning outside the classroom 52 Creative Teaching & Learning n Volume 1.1 The Kit: You need video cameras – or just digital cameras that can shoot video. We used six ‘Busbi’ video cameras which cost about £40 each. They are easy to use ‘point and click’ video cameras that shoot basic quality. If they’re hard to get hold of, use still cameras instead. Record: Ask your students to record their lives with video cameras, audio clips, or by taking still pictures. Encourage them to visually capture what they are doing – but also to record a voiceover describing what they are doing and what they are getting out of it. Edit: Help your students edit their video clips – adding text and voiceovers. A simple video editing tool is ‘Windows Movie Maker’ (which can be downloaded for free). This allows you to import video clips, edit them and add text, voiceovers and music. If your students used still pictures, try something like ‘Microsoft Photo Story’ (this is also free) – to ‘paste’ the photos into slideshows with text, voiceovers and music. Present and share: Allow your students to show their work to the class. If you want to upload video clips to a safe space online where they can be shared with other classes, try filmsforlearning.org, or shineweek.co.uk. (‘Shine week’ is a week-long festival, supported by the DCSF, where young people are encouraged to share their talents online.) Case study: St Katherine’s school, Bristol Using ShoutBox, a group of six year 10 students at St Katherine’s school in Bristol were asked to capture their out-of-school experiences, edit and tag their stories, and post them on shineweek.org.uk. Jo Carrington, a teacher at the school, said: “I was interested in ShoutBox because my year 10 group weren’t doing any homework. It wasn’t a good group, with name- calling and bullying. In English, there’s a lot of coursework – so they had to learn to work outside school. “We chose six pupils – including three very disengaged learners. We spent a day with the pupils talking about what learning is, and how it is not limited to school hours. “The students took home digital video cameras and recorded activities in their home lives where they were learning. They came back with lots of ideas. We taught them to edit their films. “I then used the six films as lesson starters – before giving back books and homework. There was no embarrassment for the students who made the films – in fact, they got a lot of kudos. The filmmakers were excited about sharing their experiences. It helped to build better relationships in the class – as the students (and I) found out who each other really were, beyond the pressures of school conformity. I could trust all the students to include only what was appropriate. “It’s engaged the whole class, especially those who rarely put pen to paper. Everyone in that class managed to get a C in GCSE –"
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Creative Teaching & Learning

Home truths

5 Apr 2010

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      string(293) "E.M.Forster once remarked “spoon-feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon”. While ‘spoon-feeding’ remains rare, it is notable that too often lessons continue to consist of a teacher standing at the front of a classroom in a lecture format, and ..."
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      string(431) "... to enhance andpersonalise the learning experience;students can learn independentlyand think creatively and critically,are inquisitive, are able to expresstheir opinions, and can respond wellto new opportunities.By students directly contributingand working together to learnthrough the opportunities offeredby new technology, education hasthe opportunity to give studentsan engaged and active role ..."
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      string(703) "E.M.Forster once remarked “spoon-feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon”. While ‘spoon-feeding’ remains rare, it is notable that too often lessons continue to consist of a teacher standing at the front of a classroom in a lecture format, and as a result, we often fail to truly and creatively engage students in their own education. Here, Alexandra Mounier, EMEA Business Education Development Manager at eInstruction, explores how the latest classroom technology can allow students to play an active role in their learning through an ongoing process of sharing, discussing and contributing that encourages the development of successful learners."
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      string(3415) "content, and inmany cases, acting as a catalystto a more interactive learningexperience; the effective use ofthe board can facilitate studentengagement in the lesson andwith the learning material, andcan help make possible groupdiscussion.Yet, the interactive whiteboardis just the first step – teachers canstill end up standing at the front ofthe classroom and dictating if theinteractive features are ignoredor not used properly. This processcan be taken further still, bringingthe content and involvement fromthe front of the classroom, to anindividual student’s desk.Technology: putting activelearning into practiceThe latest classroom technology canallow students to play an active rolein their learning through an ongoingprocess of sharing, discussing andcontributing that can encouragethe development of successfullearners. So how can all studentsget involved?  Learning technologyhas the advantage of being ableto tap into all styles of learning,including auditory, visual to involveall students. Alongside the interactivewhiteboard, innovations such asvoting systems, mobile interactivewhiteboards, and tablets can make iteasier to facilitate group involvementand collaborative learning.Touch sensitive mobile interactivewhiteboards or tablets for example, canbe easily passed around the classroom, http://www.teachingtimes.comThis month’s Featuresmoving the focus of instruction fromboth the teacher and the front of theroom. Using this technology allowseach student to have direct input thatcan act as a spring-board to furtherdiscussion or teaching, expressing theirindividual thoughts and ideas clearly,with the added bonus of not disruptingthe lesson by having to get up anddown repeatedly.Student response systems arealso increasingly present in schools,and provide an instantaneousway of involving all students. Whynot use a short quiz to close thelesson, asking children to recallwhat has been discussed, or formore regular formative assessment?This can help to consolidate thelearning objectives, whilst providingteachers with targeted feedbackon each individual student’s stageof development, highlighting areasfor further learning that can helpstructure future lessons.Response systems can also beused for group work throughoutthe lesson, asking small groupsof students to share their thoughtsbefore coming to a joint decision.This can build teamwork skills andthe ability to listen to and respectthe thoughts of others, importantskills to develop as part of a holisticeducative process.There are a number of beneficialoutcomes that can come fromusing technology to enhance andpersonalise the learning experience;students can learn independentlyand think creatively and critically,are inquisitive, are able to expresstheir opinions, and can respond wellto new opportunities.By students directly contributingand working together to learnthrough the opportunities offeredby new technology, education hasthe opportunity to give studentsan engaged and active role intheir learning. Ultimately, this rolecan inspire and provide strongeroutcomes, and therefore, trulysuccessful learners.Alexandra Mounier,EMEA Business EducationDevelopment Managerhttp://www.teachingtimes.comButton 10: Page 1: OffPage 2: Page 3: Page 4: Button 11: Page 1: OffPage 2: Page 3: Page 4: Button 13: Page 1: OffPage 2: Page 3: Page 4:"
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Digital Learning

Observation VS participation: learning that works for students

5 Jul 2012

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      string(375) "Technology Solutions (VETS) unit. The unit, led by Paul Welshman, already created virtual worlds for training. The partnership consulted with diploma teachers to find out what kind of scenarios were needed and what skills the exam boards expected. We also consulted with professionals    e-learning reports 46 Creative Teaching & Learning ..."
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      string(5693) "Technology Solutions (VETS) unit. The unit, led by Paul Welshman, already created virtual worlds for training. The partnership consulted with diploma teachers to find out what kind of scenarios were needed and what skills the exam boards expected. We also consulted with professionals    e-learning reports 46 Creative Teaching & Learning n Volume 1.1 – to ensure the virtual worlds reflected industry. In 2007, we piloted the VIBE using the ‘construction and the built environment’ software at Wellacre technology college. The result was ‘the VIBE’ – a virtual reality software which allows ‘creative and media’, ‘construction and the built environment’, ‘society, health and development’ and ‘engineering’ diploma students to experience the workplace they want to enter. Each software comes with a set of activities to complement different curriculum units. How does it work? Practit ioners can use the VIBE ‘ c o n s t r u c t i o n a n d t h e b u i l t environment’ software to take learners on an interactive journey through the layout, management and day to day tasks of a building site. The resource focuses on the ‘creating the built environment’ unit – by requiring students to complete brickwork exercises. Other activities – like the health and safety induction or risk assessment task – encourage personal learning and thinking skills. It is aimed at learners studying at level two (advanced). It addresses units five (using tools) and seven (facilities management) of the qualification. The VIBE ‘creative and media’ software is aimed at learners studying at levels one and two. It’s a ‘creative virtual village’. Students can experiment with lighting in a theatre, designing a poster in an ad agency, mixing tracks in a recording studio and organising a gig at a concert venue. They can find out about the different jobs in the industry – learning what it’s like to be a freelance artist, a copywriter or a graphic designer. Learners gain an understanding of how integral the creative and media industries are to a thriving cultural community. The VIBE ‘engineering’ software is aimed at level two (higher) learners studying unit one – ‘the engineered world’. This unit covers topics and materials which are difficult to imagine in practice. L e a r n e r s i n v e s t i g a t e h o w technological innovations and environmental designs influence the society we live in. They can also watch video interviews with engineering professionals. The VIBE software for ‘society, health and development’ students is aimed at level two (higher) students studying unit six – ‘antisocial and offending behaviour’. This unit is particularly challenging. Confidentiality issues make it difficult to find case studies – and councils can’t let untrained work experience students handle these cases. The software takes students to the virtual town ‘Sandford’ – where they can watch court trials and social workers handling imaginary cases. How do you use the VIBE in class? The VIBE can be used in whole class teaching, group work and individual work. It does not replace real life experience – but it complements them by allowing learners to access hard-to-reach settings regularly. For example, it can be difficult to take construction students onto a building site more than once a term. However, with the VIBE they can do it every day. This creates familiarity with the environment – which can help students when they eventually get an apprenticeship When used with a class on an interactive whiteboard, the VIBE can provide an introduction to a topic, prepare learners for a workplace visit, stimulate classroom debate or facilitate revision As a tool for group work, the VIBE can be used to demonstrate different group member roles and explain teamwork. When you buy the VIBE, you get a free half day of teacher training – which covers all elements of using VIBE in the classroom. Forums on the VIBE website – ssatvibe.org.uk    e-learning reports 47Volume 1.1 n Creative Teaching & Learning Maths games A new website uses computer games to make maths fun for 11-16 year olds. Founder Toby Rowland explains. N o exercise in number crunching can alter the sobering fact that UK maths standards are at an all-time low. UK students now rank 24th in the developed world in maths proficiency, according to the PISA international league table. What’s more alarming is that they are slipping even lower in the world rankings. Preparing for the future is grim when children are unenthused, if not ill-equipped, about the kind of maths required to address digital age challenges. “To upgrade the UK, we need kids who are fired up and fluent in this mathematical code,” Dr. Marcus du Sautoy, maths professor at Oxford university, wrote in Wired magazine in November 2009. Marcus and I are among a group of mathematicians, educators and games industry veterans who have teamed up to find a solution to the maths crisis – in the unlikely arena of video games. Mangahigh – the first curriculum- compliant, games-based learning site to focus on maths for secondary school students – is our collective response. When we launched mangahigh. com in September 2009, we wanted to present students with games that teach them to grasp and practice a range of sophisticated maths concepts. We prioritised the educational component of the games – they cover everything from Pythagoras to quadratic equations. Although the games primarily help kids master the maths"
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Creative Teaching & Learning

Technology and learning

5 Apr 2010

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