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Ten Trends 2012: Open-ness

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Derek Wenmoth

Annually, CORE Education explores ten emerging ICT trends that will impact upon the education landscape for New Zealand and beyond. These are known as CORE Education’s Ten Trends. Each month we will post an in-depth article about each trend by a champion from CORE staff.

How many times have you heard students express concern that they're not able to use certain content because it is 'copyright', or felt excluded from a particular course or PD opportunity because it is too expensive, or not available to teachers in your area?

The theme of ‘open-ness’ abounds in many aspects of education nowadays – largely as a reaction against the many ‘closed’ characteristics of the current system. Consider things such as enrolment schemes, copyright, student records etc. What were previously regarded as barriers to growth, access, or innovation in our system, are now being challenged or circumvented through the use of systems that are more open and participatory, allowing for greater levels of access and contribution.

The open architecture of the Web2.0 environment has been a key driver of this open-ness. Moving from a predominantly consumer-driven paradigm to one that enables a much greater degree of contribution, participation and collaboration in the learning process. Supporting this have been changes in policy and legal issues, including the alternative to traditional ‘copyright’ that is provided under the ‘creative commons’ licensing approach.

The emerging impact in education can be seen in a number of areas:

Open education resources – There are numerous examples of sites now appearing that provide resources for use in education that are not bound by traditional copyright licenses, and can be used freely for educational purposes. The adoption of the Creative Commons licensing system is an enabler of this, as discussed with Lawrence Lessig last year. Initiatives such as WikiEducator are demonstrating the power of sharing educational resources, with their aim of making lessons in all areas of the curriculum available in any part of the world.

Open source/open software – many schools are now using a variety of open-source applications as an alternative to investing in costly, licensed ones. Examples of this are ‘Open Office’, a free ‘office’ package that will import and export documents to Microsoft Word, “Moodle” which provides an open source alternative to “Blackboard”, and the Android operating system (OS) providing an open source alternative to the AppleOS or WindowsOS.

Open teaching – In an experiment that could point to a more open future for e-learning, Stephen Downes and George Siemens ran an open online course in 2011 that attracted about 1,200 noncredit participants (see Online, Bigger Classes May Be Better Classes) Allowing teachers to teach students and classes irrespective of where they are located is likely to increase, and in the future we’re likely to see more ‘itinerant’ teaching take place, teachers sharing their knowledge and skills outside of traditional institutions and structures.

Open courses – The recent announcement by M.I.T. has ben described as a game-changer in education. The objective – Free Online Education For All – “MIT will make the MITx openlearning software available free of cost, so that others — whether other universities or different educational institutions, such as K-12 school systems — can leverage the same software for their online education offerings.”

And they’re not the only organsiation doing this – a website listing 25 universities offering open courses illustrates just how pervasive this move is becoming.

Open accreditation – the concept of being able to complete classes and courses in a variety of places and through a variety of institutions, then apply to have them recognised and accredited towards a qualification is also a part of this trend. Consider these two posts: On Open Accreditation and Open Accreditation – a model.

Of course, not all are agreeing with where this trend appears to be headed. Consider this cautionary view plus a response from the US government recently that illustrates that the traditional agencies aren’t going to take this laying down. Read Why SOPA could kill the educational open resource movement.

In thinking about where this might develop into the future, and how well you and your school might be prepared for the inevitable impact of this trend, consider the following:

  • How ‘open’ are the approaches to resource development and sharing in your school?
  • What use do you make of ‘open’ content and open teaching in your school?
  • How could access to open education options benefit your students? your staff?
  • What processes would you need to put in place to ensure the appropriate licences are adhered to?
  • How will you/your staff gain the experience of open teaching? How will you ensure your students gain the skills/experience of learning this way?

To receive posts on these trends and other related education blog posts please subscribe to the blogs RSS feed or email notification.

Information about CORE’s Ten Trends

  • An introduction to CORE’s Ten Trends for 2012
  • An explanation about CORE’s Ten Trends
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Holiday reading for inspiration

Posted on January 4, 2012 by David Bailey

holiday reading

It’s been a hard and eventful year. You feel like you’ve fought the third world war single-handedly—well, if you played for the All Blacks, of course you'd say, "it was a team effort". You’ve fought dragons on the mountains, lions in the valleys, and aliens on the rooftops. You’ve put up a good fight; you’ve managed to keep your head up without it being carted off as someone else's trophy. In other words, you’ve earned your rest, and you just want the holidays to continue forever.

But you know like I do, at some stage, the exhilarating plunges into the depths, the soothing massaging of UV rays, the aroma of the sizzling sausage and sound of clinking of bottles must needs come to and end. Like Napoleon or Alexander, you’ll feel the need to face the looming challenges peeping above the horizon, or conquer new worlds.

But there’s one thing you need—the key that reignites the flame, that lifts and sets the focus, that draws you to new heights: Inspiration. That’s nothing to be ashamed of, Alexander and Napoleon and J.K. Rowling all needed that!

Well, here’s some things you can start with. I asked seasoned inspirers and campaigners from our staff for their suggestions on web sites and books that would assist educators to find inspiration for the coming year. Thanks to Glen, DK, Karen, Tara, Chrissie and Tamara for the suggestions and comments.

Here are their suggestions (not in any particular order):

Web sites:

1. EDtalks

Why not start with our own EDtalks. This site is full of video teasers from gurus from around the world involved in the education sector, sure to give you ideas and inspiration.

2. zefrank.com

Tidbits from around the web and offerings from this creative genius. You just have to just go and have a look to see what this one’s about.

3. The Minimalists

This one’s all about making more space for purpose in your life. We have too much stuff, and T.V. rots our brain! Stop consuming and start being creative producers again!

4. Gary Vaynerchuk

This guy is leading the social media space/discourse—and he’s a wine merchant! And he’s inspirational.

5. WanderMonster

A joyful, quirky celebration of parenting, and how the little things make the difference. Every day Rob Kimmel starts half a mini-comic for his eight-year-old son Ben. He then slips it into Ben’s lunchbox for Ben to finish at school. The end results are pure wonder.

6. Enabling eLearning

Here’s a hub of e-learning-related content and communities. It’s a new site. Take time to find the e-learning goodies that will help your work in the new year, and maybe join a community and follow them on Twitter and Facebook.

7. Cowbird

This site is built on participatory journalism. This new web site tells rel stories a captured by the public through photos and words.

8. ECE Online

A source of inspiration for early childhood educators. This fabulous web site covers all things ECE and invites collaboration.

9. Gapingvoid

This guy does cartoons on the back of business cards. Not only does he have great marketing and branding based blog posts, but he has fun doing it. Great for inspiration.

Books:

1. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

by Carol Dweck

Teaching a growth mindset creates motivation and productivity in the worlds of business, education, and sports. This book is eye-opening as a parent to see how praising children for their hard work rather than their talent/ability can have a huge impact on motivation and future success.

2. The Third Teacher: 79 Ways You Can Use Design to Transform Teaching & Learning (Architecture)

by OWP/P Architects, VS Funiture and Bruce Mau Design

79 ways you can use design to transform teaching and learning. Education architects, education furniture designers and education thinkers look at how we use and think about space, equity and creativity in learning. A big thick easily browsable “mook” (magazine/book).

3. Rework

by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

Rethinking how we work for the 21st century—by two gurus from 37signals. We have become lazy in our thinking of how we approach work. Here’s a cheat sheet of the book: http://justadandak.com/rework-cheat-sheet

4. Coaching Educational Leadership: Building Leadership Capacity through Partnership

by Jan Robertson (Published in association with the British Educational Leadership and Management Society)

Coaching and mentoring in easy, doable, meaningful steps. This book gets us into the mood for making big changes to what we do in 2012. How will it look different to 2011?

5. Steve Jobs

by Walter Issacson

This book is about Apple, Steve Jobs, and pursuing excellence. It’s a good read which looks at how computers have developed to how and where they are today.

6. Beware Dangerism! (Kindle Single) (TED Books)

by Gever Tulley (TED Books)

This is a Kindle Book for iPad, and supports the TED talk. Are our children missing out because we are concerned for safety? Are we cultivating fear? Take a look at risks we should be offering our children. As the book says, “…children can only learn to take responsibility when given a chance to assess and mitigate risk for themselves.”

And if you want more—Wow! Go for it tiger! Have a look at last year’s lists.

Be inspired, and let the year begin…just when you're ready!

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