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Making the shift to Innovative Learning Environments…what’s the risk?

Posted on December 2, 2015 by Tamara Jones

cliff-edge

Photo by epSos.de under CC

Many primary schools throughout New Zealand are espousing a shift to Innovative Learning Environments (ILE). ILE refers to the multifaceted and interrelated aspects of teaching and learning in a school; the pedagogy, organisation, teachers, learners, content, resources, community…basically, the whole shebang.  An OECD (2013) report defined ILE a lot more eloquently as, “an organic, holistic concept — an ecosystem that functions over time and in context and includes the activity and outcomes of learning”.

The shift to ILE will require many primary teachers to make significant changes to their practice, and with any change, there exists risk. But what are the risks involved with a shift to ILE? And is it worth considering that teachers’ perceptions of risk may be a fundamental barrier to change? If the onus is on the classroom teacher to integrate digital technologies in learner-centric pedagogies, and collaborate with colleagues in flexible learning spaces, I would argue it just might be worth bearing in mind.

Acknowledging Risk (not resistance!)

The term risk has been used many ways and in various contexts for many years. In the corporate world the term ‘risk’ is commonplace; risk management, capital risk and systematic risk all focus on the identification, assessment and prioritisation of commercial risk. In the education sector the concept of risk is only beginning to be acknowledged when discussing innovation and change. But what does ‘risk’ really mean? Is risk real?

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“Tuútu’u le upega ile loloto – Cast the net deeper”

Posted on September 10, 2015 by Veronica Kidd and Jan Fensom

Casting the net wider

In May 2014 Nu’ualofa Playgroup, an early childhood facility for Pacific Nations families, opened in Rowley Avenue Primary School in Christchurch. This is the story of how we, as  two Palagi teachers, worked with a school and its local community to bring this collective vision to life.

Where it all began

Our journey began in 2014 when we were lucky enough to participate in a Pasifika Leadership Professional Learning programme offered by the Ministry of Education (MOE), through CORE Education and facilitated by Ruta McKenzie and Justine Mason. We went into this feeling completely out of our comfort zone yet knowing that we could be better supporting the Pasifika learners enrolled in our Home Based Childcare Service. Over eighteen months we attended a number of two-day fono and monthly network meetings with the Pasifika Leadership group. It’s been the best PLD we’ve ever experienced.

Through the Pasifika Leadership programme we also learnt of the opportunity to apply for CORE Education’s Pasifika Education Grant. We were fortunate to be awarded one of these. This provided us with funding for a supported inquiry that enabled us to tell our story through video of what we have learnt and developed as a result of our PLD.  Our advisors for this project were Ruta Mckenzie and Keryn Davis.

The support, learning, camaraderie, and connections we made during this PLD, gave us the courage to stand strong for what we believed we could offer the Rowley community. In April 2014,  after discovering the  people in the MOE who were able to see and support our vision, we secured a participation contract with the MOE to provide a supported Pasifika Playgroup. In collaboration with the Principal at Rowley Avenue Primary School, we engaged Laiga Tomuli (a Samoan parent at the school), to facilitate and supervise the playgroup and work in the community to encourage aiga (families) to participate.

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The jargon of learning environments — ‘Modern’, ‘Innovative’, ‘Flexible’?

Posted on July 23, 2015 by Christine Murphy

interactive classroom

While sat in front of my laptop at the beginning of May, slogging through a literature review, I was bemused to discover the Ministry’s MLE website renamed to ‘Innovative Learning Environments'.  Most interesting was the justification that indicated the change was ‘consistent with both international usage and growing discomfort in New Zealand with the term MLE’ (New Zealand Ministry of Education, 2015).

As part of my Master’s thesis research, ‘Making the Shift — Perceptions and Challenges of Modern Learning Practice', I have been tracking the terminology associated with modern learning environments (MLE) and modern learning practice (MLP).  Specifically, I’ve been exploring community-wide perceptions of the definition and purpose of MLP at a school knee-deep in the paradigm shift that is transforming many schools in Christchurch and throughout New Zealand.

Although I have yet to discover any sweeping empirical evidence, I am keenly aware of the perception of ‘growing discomfort’ with the term MLE.  Multiple participants have indicated that ‘modern’ seems to them a misnomer and, in fact, the school in my study ditched ‘modern’ well before the Ministry — they now call their learning spaces Flexible and Responsive Environments for Deep Learning (FREDL). Admittedly a bit of a mouthful, but it certainly provides an element of precision that both ‘modern’ and ‘innovative’ are missing.

Learning research strongly suggests that an effective learning environment is one that:

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Collaboration matters

Posted on July 1, 2014 by Cheryl Doig

Collaboration

Collaboration: a key trend and also one of the latest buzzwords. This year I set myself the target of writing a book about collaboration to separate the rhetoric from the reality and to explore how we might use our collective talents to create something better.

I have been interviewing leaders from a range of different organisations and community groups that have been collaborating in new ways since the Christchurch earthquakes. Five things stand out for me so far:

  1. Relationships matter every step of the way. Time needs to be spent at the beginning to develop shared norms, values and vision.
  2. Technology enhances. Collaboration can exist without technology but the ripple it creates will be smaller.
  3. Conflict. If there is no conflict there is no deep collaboration. Expect conflict, allow for it and deal with it openly, and respectfully. When you have a diverse group working together the richness of different perspectives will naturally create tensions.
  4. Know when to collaborate. If there are few gains to be made, if there is a hostile environment, or if there are no relationships between parties then collaboration will simply waste time. Grow relationships first.
  5. Leadership. Collaboration still requires people to lead. This is often through influence rather than position, but both are appropriate. In an increasingly complex world leaders must be able to navigate complexity, explore multiple perspectives and feel comfortable in not having all the answers.

Don Tapscott describes the need for change as follows: “This is not the information age. It’s an age of communication, of collective intelligence, of major collaboration, of major participation…driving themes are collaboration, transparency and sharing of intellectual property.” Collaboration is human by design.

In an increasingly ubiquitous world, professionals are being replaced by technology in areas that are less ‘human by design’. When we look at the teaching profession we see that technology is increasingly supplementing the work of the teacher, including the use of telepresence robots. The Teacher (deliberately with a capital T) is increasingly a person who can navigate the complexities of learning and interact with others. In this emerging environment Teachers will need to be:

Agile
Open
Deep thinking
Collaborative
Connected
Self aware

mindsets

 

In his research on disciplined collaboration, management professor Morton Hansen explores the imperative to collaborate. He describes four types of workers:
Hansen four types of workers: lone stars, butterflies, laggards, T-shaped.
The Lone Star – the person who wants to do their own thing. Teachers who are lone stars are focused on their individual goals and focus on their students but do not collaborate or work well in a team.
The Butterfly – is willing to collaborate over everything without focusing on their own work. Teachers who are butterflies will volunteer for projects and committees and as a result their own work suffers.
The Laggard – wanting to maintain status quo and block change. Teachers who block change may not be interested in trying anything new but the reasons need to be explored carefully, in my view.
The T shaped worker – can work horizontally and vertically. Teachers who are T shaped workers perform well in their own practice and also collaborate in teams.

It is the T-shaped worker that we need to foster at all levels of the organisation. In education T-shaped workers are those teachers with what Michael Fullan describes as Professional Capital – teachers with a mix of human capital, social capital, and decisional capital. Teachers who are T-shaped have a deep knowledge of their craft, can collaborate with others, and make decisions that benefit learners. These Teachers won’t be replaced by technology any time soon because they have the ability to interact in uniquely human ways.

The trend is to build schools where learning spaces are more agile and adaptive. The Teachers in these spaces will need to collaborate but they will only do so effectively when there is:

Purpose – Trust – Clarity – Commitment

Collaboration is a trend that is here to stay. The people I have interviewed to date have shared their stories and I will be collating these so we can all learn from what worked, what didn’t, and lessons learnt. It is clear that collaboration isn’t always easy, even when it does produce better results. Collaboration requires an outwards mindset.

Over the next six months I will be sharing some examples of collaboration in action. I would value your examples and ideas.

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