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Keep the flame alive

Clearing the clutter and igniting innovation through collaborative inquiry

Posted on April 8, 2016 by Suzi Gould

Keep the flame alive

“How’s school this year, Son?”

“Mum, they just rush you. They rush you all day, and they are just trying to fit more work in”, declared my six year old.

This conversation startled me — more so when I shared it with groups of teachers, and they agreed and expressed a similar feeling of ‘rush’, but lacked a sense of priority to explore and challenge the status quo.

So, how do we step out of the rush? Do you feel ignited or burnt out as a teacher? Is the energy your students bring to the classroom being doused by a sense of rush to cover all of the curriculum areas and the piling of facts, figures, and assessment tasks? How do learners — teachers, students, and their whānau — work collaboratively to consciously choose what logs to place on the fire of innovation and improvement? What must be removed to allow space for change and equity? How do we pay special attention to the spaces that invite reflection and warmth for all learners?

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big-data-landscape

Big Data and analytics can change education in three positive ways

Posted on April 7, 2016 by Carolyn English

big data

Big Data is described as the huge sets of electronic data that is available for analysing, whereas Analytics, according to Wikipedia, is "the discovery and communication of meaningful patterns in data."  New technologies make it all possible, as they provide massive storage for any kind of data, enormous processing power, and the ability to handle virtually limitless concurrent tasks or jobs.

What does this mean for education?

Analytics profoundly shape the educational reality that they measure. What is measured and reported through the use of infographics or dashboards becomes more important than what is not reported. All levels of education are becoming data-driven organisations. ‘Big Data’ and the use of analytics can provide insights into some of the gnarly challenges associated with improving equity and excellence.

The key thing is human assumptions underpin data collecting, analysing, interpreting, and reporting, and these assumptions are then applied to the tools and analytics. For example, in the national and international analytics it is assumed that literacy, mathematics, and science achievement are essential life skills and signal that a country is preparing young people for the future. One problem with this is that readers of the reports may ‘forget’ things such as literacy is of service to the curriculum (and is not the curriculum). For example, in New Zealand, student success is about students being “confident, connected, actively involved, lifelong learner” (and achievement both leads to and is because of student success) (NZC and expanded in ERO indicators).

For learning organisations to be data-driven organisations, all assumptions should be transparent and checked to ensure that they align with the purpose of education and the outcomes we want for our young people:

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Posted in
change agents

Can we create conditions for transformation?

Posted on April 6, 2016 by Karen Spencer

change agents

Apparently, I once taught a ‘Grade A’ lesson. I know this because it said so on a slip of paper in the small, brown envelope that appeared in my staffroom pigeonhole following a UK school inspection (because that is how we received feedback in those days). I therefore assumed that my careful grouping of students by ability to explore poems of varying difficulty reflected best practice. I patted myself, perhaps rather smugly, on the back.

Ten years later, a chance conversation with a colleague about inclusive learning design sent me back to that lesson. As I reflected on my actions from that day with new thinking about building in support for those least well served, I began to see that my lesson (in which I made all the choices, making assumptions about students as I went) had not lined up as well with my beliefs around inclusive learning as I (smugly) thought it had.

That moment of seeing alternative ways to design more equitable learning environments was one that triggered a deep shift for me as an educator that is still colouring my work today.

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working environment

Space invaders is not a video game

Posted on April 4, 2016 by Stephen Lowe

working environment

A simple fundamental shift in approach can have a huge impact on the accessibility, inclusiveness, and efficacy of e-learning. That’s my opinion, born of personal experience, and the premise of this article.

The shift that I am proposing is from page (or screen) to space (or environment). If the e-learning designer will stop thinking in terms of a page, and start thinking in terms of a virtual space, then many beneficial things will start to fall into place automagically.

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Posted in
starfish

Every starfish story1 matters

Posted on April 1, 2016 by Liz Stevenson

starfish

Where would we be without other people’s ideas and perspectives? Without being able to see through another person’s eyes and re-see ourselves through their stories? You’re wearing Lululemon! Is it the best place to get running gear? And why (!!) are you are moving to China? Our lives are totally infused with the perspectives and patterns of others — families, friends, colleagues, and advisors. With people we value, every comment offered is a potential waypoint nudging our thinking and refreshing the way we see the world.

But, as dispensers of words, we’re often unaware of the influence they have on the receiver. Significant chains of events can stem from a passing conversation — or sometimes even from things we don’t remember we said. Pro-Vice Chancellor Māori at the University of Waikato, Professor Linda Tuhiwai Smith tells a wonderful story about the importance of kind words, as she recalls a student who unexpectedly came to visit her after an absence of nearly twenty years. It seems that the professor’s words of encouragement and vision to the then struggling student so long ago had sustained this young woman through an epic journey of academic and personal success. When the student returned to thank her, Professor Tuhiwai Smith thought back to her own wish to improve “the life chances, opportunities, and frameworks for Māori”. She was surprised to find herself achieving this with a few wise words whose particular weave had lasted through time; inspiring and protecting a learner.

Listening to stories from the heart such as this can be magic — stories speak to a very smart place in us where we tend to remember what we heard. Sometimes, as a result, we change the way we operate — not because someone told us to — but, because we ‘saw’ and discovered for ourselves something shiny and valuable in there, and we decided to have it too. In this purposeful listening, we give ourselves the space and the key to unlock our own door to empathy, intuition, and new possibilities for understanding. This is powerful learning, and very different from being in the “They’re-telling-me-what-to-do’’ space.

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