Programming a computer means nothing more or less than communicating to it in a language that it and the human user can both “understand”.  And learning languages is one of the things that children do best. Every normal child learns to talk.
Why then should a child not learn to “talk” to a computer?

 

Seymour Papert, Mindstorms (Papert, 1980)

I love technology. I love how it can provide access, make tasks simpler (most of the time!), and provides us new ways to connect, engage, collaborate, and learn.

I have been tinkering with technology since my childhood Commodore 64. My interest in coding, along with technology, grew when I became aware of how technology can help people access information. In a previous career, I strung together some basic lines of code in dBase iii to develop an automated database. It removed the barrier of needing to know how to operate the complicated menu system, making it easier for users to search the database contents. Information was being made accessible through coding and computers. While I was not a programmer, I had opportunity to play with ideas and realise the benefits that technology affords.

When I heard of coding in education gaining momentum around the world, I took notice. I looked at how this was being introduced and, more importantly, why it was being introduced.

In recent months all New Zealand schools have been reviewing and developing their charter document for 2016– 2019. The charter is the Board of Trustees’ number one policy document, and sets the future direction of the school by outlining the school’s vision, values, and strategic goals. This process creates a wonderful opportunity for community engagement to discuss and explore the way education is changing, and the aspirations and needs of the community. It promotes clarity, fostering shared understanding of what the school is trying to achieve.

Stoll, Fink and Earl (2003) talk about schools having three types of future — a possible future, a probable future, and a preferable future. In terms of possible future, anything is possible. A probable future is best described as, if you keep doing what you've always done, your future will probably be one that is comfortable and one that you know.  In contrast, a preferable future is when you take charge of the type of future you want; review where you are currently at; explore possible options for development; select the preferred path, and strategically plan to achieve your desired future. The charter review and development process provides schools with the opportunity to identify their preferable future.

This process can, at times, appear to be a daunting task, with school leaders unsure of where to begin. Reviewing what is currently in place provides a framework for the initial discussion. The following questions provide examples of how to facilitate this dialogue with community, Board of Trustees, staff, and possibly students.

• Is the current vision relevant and meaningful to our students, staff and community?
• Does it clearly outline what we are trying to achieve?
• Does it guide and determine our decision-making?
• Is it explicit and evident in what we say and do?
• Does this signal that we are preparing students for their future?

For example, if we say that our vision is to develop confident connected lifelong learners, we need to consider what this would look like, sound like, and feel like in our school. What does this look like for students, for teachers, for the community, and the board? Is this integral to our everydayness — at board level, leadership, teaching, and learning programmes? How does this vision guide decision-making? What are the implications in regard to strategic goals, resourcing, and the design of learning spaces?

Simon Sinek uses what he calls the Golden Circle (illustrated below) to highlight the importance of placing our vision and values at the centre of our planning, building outwards to the principles, and then practices from there. He refers to the centre of the circle as the ‘WHY’, suggesting this should always determine what we do as we build towards our preferred future. Dr Julia Atkin explores this in depth in her paper From Values and Beliefs about Learning to Principles and Practice.

Image: Derek Wenmoth

Taking time to unpack the principles and practices associated with the school vision and values promotes clarity through shared understanding of expectations. For example, if the school values collaboration, and believes that this is integral to enacting the vision, then time needs to be spent to clearly identify the associated principles and practices. The following questions provide suggestions for facilitating this dialogue:

1. What are the deliberate acts of teaching that support collaboration?
2. What are the deliberate acts of leadership to support collaboration?
3. What resources can we draw on to foster collaboration?
4. How can we design our learning spaces to promote collaboration?

The process of reviewing the school vision, values and strategic goals sets the future direction for the school. It breathes life into the identified preferable future, taking it from words to actions by providing opportunities to explore meaning and clarify expectations. Investing time in this process, involving all stakeholders, promotes ownership of and commitment to enactment of the vision and values. This ensures that schools will indeed walk the talk of their school charter.

References
Atkin, J. (1996) From values and beliefs about learning to principles and practice. Available online

Sinek, S. (2014) Start with the why. Available online

Stoll, L., Fink, D., & Earl, L. (2003). It’s about learning. London: Routledge Falmer.

You might have seen the study last year that claimed our attention span was now less than that of a goldfish. You may have also watched a movie for over an hour. How does that work?

We all know, generally, what it means to pay attention. But hold on, what is attention? How do we pay it?

In some of my research I was faced with the same question. What is attention? One way of thinking about attention that I liked was written by Daniel Kahneman in his book, Attention and Effort (1973). He talks about attention as a limited resource. It is the amount of effort, or cognitive capacity, someone allocates to a task. It has focus and intensity.

The focus part, is the focus (haha) of this post.

If we think of attention as a limited resource, perhaps that explains why we talk about paying attention. We talk about it like other things some people see as limited, like money, and time.

Rightly or wrongly, phrases such as, pay attention, conjure up images of exchange. Usually, when we pay for something, we’re expecting to get something in return. Think about it in a teaching context. If you are expecting people to pay you their attention, what are you giving them that is worth spending their attention on?

Because attention is limited, we can’t pay the same amount of attention to everything at the same time. Sometimes we have to choose the focus of our attention. Some researchers describe this choice about what we pay attention to as a gateway. If something gets through the gate, we pay attention to it. (How much attention we pay is the intensity part, by the way).

Now, you might be thinking about how you get through the gate? Well, give yourself some credit, you probably know most of that already. People have been paying attention to you for years. But here is a recap:

• Relevance is near the top of the list for opening the gate. Would you pay for something you don’t care about?
• So is novelty. How many times have you paid for something just to try it out?
• Estimated effort and estimated enjoyment are also up there. Would you (willingly) pay for something you thought wasn’t going to be enjoyable, or that you thought would be too difficult to even use?

So, the next time you find yourself talking about people not paying attention, have a think. Their attention is probably doing just fine; you just have to figure out how to get that gate open.

References:

Kahneman, D. (1973). Attention and effort. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Images sourced using PhotosForClass.com
Goldfish: Gullfiskur by úlfhams_víkingur (2009) under CC
Gate: Gate To Beach by Tracy Hunter (2008) under CC