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summer-reading-2018

Summer Holiday Reading 2018/19

Posted on December 19, 2018 by Paula Eskett

We have made it to the end of another busy year! The Kiwi summer break provides an excellent opportunity to relax, refresh and prepare for the new year ahead. If you need something to read over the break, look no further!

CORE’s Knowledge Curator Paula Eskett has once again collected book reviews from across the CORE whānau, showcasing a number of new titles to inspire your thinking and teaching practice.

summer-reading-2018

Thank you for being late, an optimistic guide to thriving in the age of accelerations.

Friedman, T.  (2016). London, United Kingdom: Penguin Random House.

21 Lessons for the 21st Century.

Harari, Y.  (2018). London, United Kingdom: Penguin Random House.

The Fourth Age: Smart Robots, Conscious Computers, and the Future of Humanity.

Reese, B. (2018). New York, United States of America: Simon and Schuster.

Reviewer: Derek Wenmoth

derek-books

Rather than focus on a single book for this review I have chosen to provide a brief overview of three books; all focusing on the theme of the future, the impact of technology on society and what it means to be ‘human’ in the midst of this change.

The three authors, a journalist, an entrepreneur and an academic bring their own unique perspectives to this challenge.

Thomas Friedman is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who writes regular columns in the New York Times and is well known for his previous best seller “The Earth is Flat”. Friedman writes with vitality, wit, and optimism, and argues that we can overcome the multiple stresses of an age of accelerations—if we slow down, if we dare to be late and use the time to reimagine work, politics, and community.

Byron Reese is the CEO and publisher of the technology research company Gigaom, and the founder of several high-tech companies. His previous book as also a best seller, titled “Infinite Progress: How Technology and the Internet Will End Ignorance, Disease, Hunger, Poverty, and War.” Reese writes from the perspective of an entrepreneur, but does more than simply explain and describe the world of AI and robotics, he focuses on how to think about these technologies, and the ways in which they will change the world forever.

Yuval Noah Harari is an Israeli academic who rose to fame with the publication of his book Sapiens, originally written in Hebrew as a history of humanity, translated into English in 2014. He followed that with Homo Deus which is a gaze into the future. 21 Lessons provides a contemporary stocktake of where we are currently, and explores the issues facing us in the present time, challenging us with the decisions we will need to make as individuals and as society as we progress into this ever changing future.

My reason for providing this collective review is that when we read a single book on a topic like this it’s easy to become caught up in the particular set of arguments or thesis of that particular author, and lose sight of the bigger picture of the issue or issues at stake. The combination of these three books provides an eclectic mix of viewpoints which, while sharing a similar focus, differ in the perspectives provided, leaving the reader to synthesise for themselves the ideas to arrive at their own point of understanding.

My reason for choosing these three in particular is that they are each extremely well informed, well researched and profoundly challenging volumes. There is a plethora of books emerging at present on the similar theme, but many of these are purely descriptive or opinions of the authors, rather than providing the meaty, ‘metacognitive’ perspectives that these three do.

At the heart of what these authors provide are fascinating insights into Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics and Bio-technologies and their extraordinary implications for our species.

In The Fourth Age, Byron Reese makes the case that technology has reshaped humanity just three times in history:

  •       100,000 years ago, we harnessed fire, which led to language.
  •       10,000 years ago, we developed agriculture, which led to cities and warfare.
  •       5,000 years ago, we invented the wheel and writing, which lead to the nation state.

Reese then explains we are now on the doorstep of a fourth change brought about by two technologies: AI and robotics.

Harari arrives at a similar place, claiming that as humans we are currently facing three big challenges that are shaping our ‘future agenda’:

  •       How to prevent nuclear war
  •       How to prevent climate change
  •       How to learn to control new technology before it controls us

Friedman describes three key areas of non-linear acceleration that are shaping our future…

  •       The Market (digital globalisation)
  •       Mother nature (climate change, biodiversity loss)
  •       Moore’s law (exponential technological development)

While it may appear from these summaries that each author has a different agenda, their perspectives merge around building a picture of the future that is significantly different to what has been experienced in the past, and one that will present us with an unprecedented level of challenge in terms of who we are as humans. The change ahead is simply not a case of finding ways to adapt, but of considering how that future is being shaped by our own behaviour and decisions now, and then facing the consequences of what may happen when we are no longer able to make those decisions or act on them because a ‘greater force’ is doing that for us.

The challenge I’ve taken from these books is to consider the question that has challenged philosophers and academics for centuries, “how should we then live?” It is patently clear, from the three perspectives here, that our current ways of thinking about how we organise our personal lives, our business models and our political systems must all be up for review if we are to adequately prepare for, and shape, this uncertain future.

Throughout each of these books there are challenges that will resonate in the minds and hearts of educators. The future we imagine and are preparing our young people for demands action now. Our current ways of thinking and organising learning are being severely challenged and will require us to ‘let go’ of some of the things we feel precious about, and to act with greater determination to understand our role as ‘future makers’, rather than those who perpetuate the status quo. Essential to this is finding ways of working together, in collaborations, in networks, in communities – and not as isolated individuals with a ‘hero-mindset’.

The challenge is well summed up in the words of Harari…

“How do you live in an age of bewilderment, when the old stories have collapsed and no new story has yet emerged to replace them?”


The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life.

manson-subtle-artManson, M. (2018). New York, United States of America: HarperCollins.

Reviewer: Alyssa McArthur

This review has been written from my own personal point of view and is my opinion on some of the key points made in the book.

What attracted me to the book was the slightly naughty title ‘The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck’. In this day and age I feel we are programmed to care about everything and anything. It affects everything we do from our mahi to our personal lives; when really we need to figure out what we truly care about and what matters to us. It’s not just handed to us, we learn through our own experiences in life. I thought that reading this book would be a step in the right direction to help me lighten up and care less about the pointless dramas life throws at us.

The world we live in today has lots of not so great factors e.g. unhappiness, unsolved problems, depression, anxiety etc.; but it also has the good factors including happiness, problem solvers, and people willing to help. We are usually quick to forget about all the good factors as we are constantly dealing with our next issue or problem. Many people just like to complain and they can’t complain about the good factors which is why we hear more about the not so great factors.

A number of not such great factors affect my life daily and I was curious. I wanted an insight into someone else’s way of thinking about life and its problems and that person ended up being author Mark Manson.

I found the book to be funny and relatable in the stories Mark Manson used as examples to explain his theory as to why the human population think and act in the way they do. I didn’t take into account every thing he said (sorry Mark!), but that’s the good thing about this book; you can take what you want from it and use the techniques which align with you. They make you think! Sometimes I found myself having to stop halfway through a chapter just to think about whether or not I agreed with what the author was saying. It was like a mini counselling session for myself.

I honestly enjoyed reading this book. I would highly recommend it to anyone who is looking into changing their mindset or re-considering their own personal values. Life can be full of surprises and this book provides some interesting insights into how we can handle them.


Why We Sleep : The New Science of Sleep and Dreams.

walker-why-we-sleepWalker, M. (2018). London, United Kingdom: Penguin.

Reviewer: Pete Sommerville

An extract:  ‘Scientists have discovered a revolutionary new treatment that makes you live longer. It enhances your memory, makes you more attractive. It keeps you slim and lowers food cravings. It protects you from cancer and dementia. It wards off colds and flu. It lowers your risk of heart attacks and stroke, not to mention diabetes. You’ll even feel happier, less depressed, and less anxious. Are you interested?’

The wonder drug can be hard to get your hands on. But it seems it’s worth the effort.

Everyone needs to know how our modern world has conspired against sleep. Matthew Walker clearly describes the damage we do by ignoring the importance and complexity of the role sleep plays in our lives.

For example, we can all be divided into two genetically determined groups: morning larks and night owls, each influenced by different circadian rhythms. There is nothing owls can do to become larks  which is tough because work and school norms overwhelmingly favour early rising larks. Owls are forced to ‘burn the proverbial candle at both ends. Greater ill health caused by a lack of sleep therefore befalls owls, including higher rates of depression, anxiety, diabetes, cancer, heart attack and stroke.’ There is evidence for viewing lack of sleep as a factor in the onset of depression and schizophrenia. Early school starting times are disastrous for the mental health of teenagers.

If you regularly clock in under seven hours a night, you’re doing yourself a disservice as grave as that of regularly smoking or drinking to excess.


Your Wellbeing Blueprint: Feeling good and doing well at work.

McQuaid, Mmcquaid-wellbeing-blueprint., & Kern, P. (2017).  Australia: Michelle McQuaid.

Reviewer: Ara Simmons

Who doesn’t want to feel good and function well? For many of us work will make up a good chunk of our lives so why wouldn’t we want to thrive.

By regularly engaging in wellbeing habits and activities we can build on our wellbeing. In this book, the authors distill research from the past three decades and serve them up as practical activities which we can try on for size in our everyday lives.

The wellbeing blueprint provides a “how to” guide from initially supporting us to measure our own wellbeing right through to supporting us to create our own wellbeing plan.

Personally, I think it’s a gem of a book and something which I come back to regularly to provide me with doses of inspiration. For those of us with an academic thirst the book comes filled with a bumper store of references for further exploration.

Contextual Wellbeing : Creating Positive Schools from the Inside Out.

Strestreet-wellbeinget, H. (2018).  Australia, Wise Solutions.

Reviewer: Ara Simmons

So when we are creating positive schools what are some of the things we consider? Does context ever come into it?

Children not only need to learn, but they need to live well too but sometimes the decisions we make as schools can get in the way. In this book Helen Street asks us to be curious about what the social side of wellbeing looks like – considering community approaches instead of competition, looking at motivation as opposed to compliance and control as just a few teasers and then serves up a contextual model for wellbeing together with next steps on how to begin.

This book is for anyone who is interested in the conversation of creating positive schools from the inside out where health, happiness and positive engagement are all considered as an integrated whole.


Remixing the Key Competencies: A curriculum design deck.

key-competenciesWellington, New Zealand: NZCER Press.

Reviewer: Jacky Young

I have been working in a secondary school recently helping them to review their Year 12 NCEA L2 course, focussing on the key competencies to enhance student learning instead of focussing on the traditional ‘credit farming’ they had been doing previously.

NZCER have produced a deck of cards called  Remixing the Key Competencies: A curriculum design deck, where each cards lists an example of a learning activity on the white side and the relevant key competency on the other coloured side. We used them in a variety of different ways:

  • Lay out all cards white side up. Teachers select 2-3 cards that relate best to something they were doing with a class in the last day or 2. Talk about what they were doing, hoping to achieve etc in that lesson. Turn cards over. Taadah – which KC were you embedding?
  • Lay out all cards white side up. Select activities that best match up to a unit of work. Turn over and look at the frequency of KCs being covered. Where are the gaps? Which ones currently dominate? What do you want to do about this?
  • Fan out all cards. Pick one from the deck (a bit like a magic trick!) Turn it over and talk about what it would look like in your classroom if you designed an activity like this.

Lots and lots of ideas. Also blank cards so you can write your own. The school liked them so much they are going to buy their own set. They think they will get lots of use out of them when they start to review other year levels to be more inclusive of the KCs. All staff were fully engaged in this ‘gamification’ of curriculum design.

We have a set in our CORE Education library, but I liked them so much I bought my own.

NZCER also do a deck on remixing NCEA across learning areas (NCEA L2) and the Science capabilities.


Meri Kirihimete me ngā mihi o te tau hou ki a koutou katoa!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the CORE Education whānau!

We trust you have a safe and happy holiday break, the CORE Blog will return in 2019.

Featured Image by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

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agile-board-feature

Supporting education transformation and innovation through Agile

Posted on June 28, 2018 by Fionna Wright and Rachel Westaway

Agile post-it-board

As an “outsider” to education, I am interested in the challenges the education sector must face when asked to respond to change, often with competing priorities, limited resources, and uncertain outcomes. Would Agile, a project management approach widely used in industry, prove useful in assisting schools and kura to navigate through ambiguous, fast-paced change? Rachel Westaway, Project lead.

As an educator, I see the positive possibilities change and innovation has for the education sector and our learners. However, I also see the challenges. As a project manager, I have a growing interest in Agile — as an approach and a mindset to manage complex projects, handle rapid change, and support innovation. This got me thinking about how Agile might address some of the challenges for innovation and transformation in our schools, kura, and Kāhui Ako. Fionna Wright, Facilitator / Project manager.

Together, we thought it could be useful to begin a conversation about Agile and start to form understandings and wonderings about the value Agile could offer to the New Zealand education sector.


Our education system has always been in a state of change. This includes changes in areas of environment, curriculum, assessment, the way we work with others, and even redefining what it means to be “educated”.

More recently, the adjectives ‘transformational’ and ‘innovative’ have been added to describe the change needed to support 21st-century learners. The 2018 ERO report, Leading Innovative Learning in New Zealand Schools, outlines why this kind of change is needed and the mindsets of both leaders and teachers to support successful innovation.

As part of this research, ERO found that successful innovative school leaders:

  • are proactive in working with the whole-school community to develop a strong, future-focused vision for their school
  • ensure the vision has learner outcomes at its centre
  • are well-informed so that decisions build on best practice for 21st-century learners
  • have a growth mindset — are supportive of experimentation
  • quickly address elements of strategy if those elements are not working
  • develop a school culture of continuous improvement to support the vision
  • maintain coherence across all domains of the school, aligning everything to the vision
  • are effective change managers able to take staff with them on the improvement journey through timely professional development and good communication.

Successful innovative teachers:

  • have a growth mindset
  • are committed to working in new ways
  • work collaboratively
  • personalise curriculum and pedagogy to individual learner needs.

This begs the question: How do schools, school leaders, and teachers initiate, cultivate, and grow these qualities? Maybe Agile could offer some answers?

What is Agile anyway?

The Agile Alliance define agile as

“The ability to create and respond to change in order to succeed in an uncertain and turbulent environment.”1

Originally designed for software development, Agile is a set of values, principles, and practices designed to break down hierarchical silos to emphasise collaboration across multidisciplinary, self-managing teams, build relationships and trust, strengthen organisational capability, and support innovation.2

Agile is a mindset

Figure 1

Agile mindset: Agile is a mindset described by 4 values defined by 12 principles, demonstrated by an unlimited number of practices.

Diagramme adapted from Dr. Ahmed Sidky. Source: The Agile Mindset.

The key values of Agile

Figure 2

1. Individuals and interactions over Processes and tools
2. Working software over Comprehensive documentation
3. Customer collaboration over Contract negotiation
4. Responding to change over Following a plan

The four key values of Agile for software development are outlined in Figure 2 above. The items on the right, should be not abandoned as there is still value in these items. However, proponents of the Agile Movement value the items on the left (green column) more.

The principles of Agile

The Agile values for software development are supported by a set of principles designed to guide and support a common way of thinking about what is important when times get tough.

  1. Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
  2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer’s competitive advantage.
  3. Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.
  4. Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
  5. Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need and trust them to get the job done.
  6. The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.
  7. Working software is the primary measure of progress.
  8. Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
  9. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
  10. Simplicity — the art of maximizing the amount of work not done–is essential.
  11. The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
  12. At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behaviour accordingly.

Once these values and principles are understood, a range of tools are available to teams to work with. Frameworks such as Scrum, Kanban and Lean provide teams with a suite of toolsets to help embed these values and principles into agreed ways of working.

Due to the success of Agile in the world of software development, it is now widely used in other domains such as product development, marketing, and even HR. So, this raises the question: How about education?

The Agile school’s manifesto

In 2011, inspired by the values and principles of the 2001 Agile Manifesto, founder of Teaching Making Sense Inc, Steve Peha, fleshed out the essential characteristics of Agile schools by proposing a translation to an Agile Schools Manifesto.

The values of the Agile Schools’ Manifesto

Figure 3

1. Individuals and interactions over Processes and tools
2. Meaningful learning over Measurement of learning
3. Stakeholder collaboration over Complex negotiation
4. Responding to change over Following a plan

Peha has also translated the Agile principles into education speak:

  1. Their highest priority is to satisfy the needs of students and their families through early and continuous delivery of meaningful learning.
  2. They welcome changing requirements, even late in a learning cycle, and harness change for the benefit of students and their families.
  3. They deliver meaningful learning frequently, from a couple of days to a couple of weeks, with a preference to the shorter timescale.
  4. School and family team members work together daily to create learning opportunities for all participants.
  5. They build projects around motivated individuals, give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.
  6. They recognise that the most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a team is face-to-face conversation.
  7. Meaningful learning is their primary measure of progress.
  8. Their processes promote sustainability. Educators, students, and families should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
  9. They believe that continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances adaptability.
  10. Simplicity–the art of maximizing the amount of work done–is essential.
  11. The best ideas and initiatives emerge from self-organizing teams.
  12. At regular intervals, teams reflect on how to become more effective, then tune and adjust their behaviour accordingly.3

At face value, we believe that it would be hard to suggest that these values and principles do not lie at the heart of many within the New Zealand education sector; so, could an Agile mindset and tools such as Scrum and Kanban offer an opportunity to work differently and more effectively both in the management of the school’s organisations and in the delivery of learning? Is there a role for Agile to assist with innovation and transformation in the education sector?

Wanted! Your feedback, please!

We welcome any feedback and questions. Please comment below or contact Rachel and/or Fionna directly. We aim to follow up on this post accordingly.

Find out more

Agile Alliance
A non-profit organisation with global membership with information about Agile, resources and a code of conduct.

 


1 Agile 101. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.agilealliance.org/agile101/

2 Rigby, D.K., Sutherland, J., & Takeuchi, H. (2016). Embracing Agile. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2016/05/embracing-agile

3 Briggs, S. (2014). Agile Based Learning: What Is It and How Can It Change Education? Retrieved from https://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/agile-based-learning-what-is-it-and-how-can-it-change-education/

Photo credits:

Feature image (post-it board) by VFS Digital Design on Flickr under CC 2.0.

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edspace community of practice

edSpace – Our networking frontier

Posted on May 1, 2018 by Tessa Gray

edspace community of practice

I recently read Anne Kenneally’s blog post There is power in being connected, and found myself nodding, agreeing, and getting more excited as I read about the power and potential for using social networks to help drive and influence professional practice.

Educators are important and have important things to say, and every day I see strong relational networks growing within and between schools and kura, so it was good timing to view Alan Daly’s talk about the potential of using social networks to leverage collective wisdom or intellectual capital. As the Online Facilitator for CORE Education’s edSpace, I also see huge potential for teachers, kaiako, leaders, and tumuaki to continue those rich connections online.

What can edSpace do for educators?

According to recent research, New Zealand teachers are using a variety of social media tools and networks to support their teaching and professional learning by:

  • collaborating with teachers beyond their school 61%
  • asking teaching-related questions online 76%
  • sharing teaching resources online 62%
  • contributing to online discussions about teaching 51%
  • taking part in online learning opportunities 50%

stats

Findings: Digital technologies for learning: Findings from the NZCER national survey of primary and intermediate schools 2016

Like social networks, communities of practice enable us to connect to other people, information, ideas, and events. edSpace is a community for those who have a strong common interest in education. We are a community of experts — some in classrooms, some who support a community of practitioners — who can connect and learn from each other in a safe and open environment. What’s the difference between a social network and an online community?

What can edSpace do for you?

edSpace enables us to access and generate intellectual capital together, beyond what and who we know. This, in turn, can generate new ideas and inspire transforming shifts in our professional practice. In the establishment phase of edSpace, we see relationships forming and interactions ignited where community members are invited to share experiences, facts, opinions, emotions, resources, ask teaching-related questions and take part in online learning opportunities. Relational trust is the foundation of this mutual engagement, where multiple interactions grow an audience into a community. Connections might look like this:

connections

Getting the most out of edSpace

Once you join edSpace you’ll find a collection of Ngā Rōpū (groups) and a mixture of communities — each dedicated to particular interests and people. Some meeting spaces are openly associated with CORE projects, products or services (events), fostering opportunities for many voices to engage, share, debate, challenge, and explore. There are like-minded people and groups of interest to connect with such as the following featured themes and events:

  •  Collaboration and professional learning
  •  Innovation and transformation
  •  Future focused education
  •  Blended and digital learning
  •  Inclusive practice
  •  Multicultural education
  •  Online Programmes: Empowering You
  •  Breakfast Kōrero
  •  uLearn discussion group
  •  Face-to-face workshops | Enabling you
  •  CENZ Connected Educator New Zealand

If your areas of interest are not represented yet, we invite you to create your own. To get started:

getting started list

Some food for thought

  • How might you connect with others in edSpace to support your own practice?
  • What are the benefits for you, your colleagues or students?
  • What concerns do you have about becoming connected?
  • What is the way forward to overcome any concerns and maximize the benefits?

For more, see About edSpace, and if you have any queries or need any further support, please feel free to contact your Online Facilitator, Tessa Gray.

 

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LMS or LRS

LMS or LRS – It takes two to tango

Posted on April 10, 2018 by Stephen Lowe

lms

What should be the vehicle for our online programmes? Do we want a Learning Management System (LMS), or a Learning Record Store (LRS), or both, or neither? Ten years ago, this would have been a simple question to answer. Today there are several layers to it.

Unpacking the LMS

Let’s unpack learning management systems and try to align the needs of the organisation with the needs of the learner.

The organisation’s needs are real:

  • authentication
  • access control, and
  • reporting.

They have to create a walled garden in which their materials are secure, and they need to record the learner’s presence and actions. In certain cases, they need to be able to levy a charge for this access.

The learner’s needs are real, too:

  • authentication
  • access, and
  • recognition of effort.

They are required to learn certain things, the materials they find in the LMS presumably help them to do that. And, they need the results of their activity, and the results of any quizzes or submitted assignments to be recorded.

Moodle, as the most common example of an LMS, meets these needs by providing a user account, enrolment in a course or courses, and a grade book. If the school or organisation doesn’t want to go so far as assigning grades to submitted work, then they can simply track progress and completion if it occurs.

What we’ve just described is the digital version of the old industrial model. It’s got wheels, and it’s got momentum.

Course design patterns

There are some definite design patterns to the courses you see inside learning management systems.

The LMS itself might be seen as a kind of zoological park. The area is ring-fenced, and people have to pay to get in. Once inside, they can go to the enclosures that interest them most and interact with the animals and habitats. This metaphor invites a question about who are the animals and who are the people, and that’s where the metaphor starts to break down.

Courses as habitats, however, is a powerful metaphor and one you may wish to explore in more depth. As an inquiry-based teacher, you may cast yourself in the role of a zoologist: observing behaviours, collecting data, forming and testing your hypotheses.

The Eco-Sanctuary course design pattern
The Eco-Sanctuary course design pattern

In the Library pattern, the course designer creates a curated collection of readings and videos that they think the learner should or may want to ingest. Ben Betts, CEO at HT2 Labs calls this “self-directed”. The LMS is just like a filing system now, but with the difference that the course facilitator can see who has read or viewed what.

An extension of the Library pattern is the Book Club. Now, the course designer adds a forum and invites students to discuss what they have seen or read, either with the author or with a recognised expert in the field. Betts calls this “expert guidance”.

Book Club course design pattern
Book Club course design pattern

Then there’s the Caves Tour pattern. A facilitator is assigned to a cohort, much in the way a guide is assigned to a group of tourists. The facilitator walks the cohort through the collection of materials and activities pointing out things of interest, answering questions, and sharing wonderment.

The Caves Tour course design pattern
The Caves Tour course design pattern

Then, again, there’s the Campus Map pattern. “You are here”, the map says. Then it provides pathways to all kinds of other places you can go from “here” to learn this or that. Another way of looking at the Campus Map pattern is as a curated collection of internal and external resources.

Pitfalls

Course designers who have not considered these and other patterns, who themselves have little experience as students using online programmes, may create very messy hybrids of these models. A great number of online courses seem to lack any coherent structure at all as they try to be all things to all people.

Often, course designers create an online resource where there is no interaction with a facilitator. They may think that there is money to be made or saved from e-learning; that e-learning can remove the cost of the teacher, instructor, or facilitator. Perhaps they dream of a kind of dollar mine that will churn away unmanned and untended providing a rich vein of income. In two decades of e-learning that has not been my experience.

You have to work at e-learning, ever watchful over your cohort, encouraging, cajoling, and generally massaging them along to completion and a successful outcome. You need to be constantly updating and improving your courses to keep them relevant and current.

Designing courses for success

For a very short course covering just one topic, the Book Club is a good model. For a course that goes into more depth, I think the Caves Tour pattern generally works best. Still, I think the tour wants to be kept short. Up to about four weeks seems to work well; much longer and students start to drop off. With highly motivated groups — say, masters students — they will possibly endure eight weeks. User data we have collected indicates that anything more is simply too long. Of course, I’m making generalisations here; there will be cases that refute my assertion.

Do not expect a good classroom teacher or instructor to necessarily be a naturally good online facilitator. School teachers like to play to a live audience on the stage their classroom presents; they can find the LMS a hard space to command. Trainers within commercial industries like to work nine-to-five, but a good online facilitator will pop into the forums for ten minutes at nine o’clock at night.

The LMS provides a rabbit-proof fence and, like Zealandia, an eco-sanctuary can exist within its boundary. You can charge people to get in if you want, you can control their movements once they are inside, and you can monitor their progress. If that’s what you want to do there is no better tool. But, do not expect everyone to want to come.

Unpacking the LRS

There is another way, so let us now unpack the alternative, the Learning Record Store.

The Learning Record Store is one component of a system that might be called a next-generation learning solution. It is a database of fine-grained actions and experiences by the learner and it is always accompanied by or partnered with an analytics engine of some sort.

Evidence-based

The LRS gathers, analyses, and presents evidence of student activity and experience. It is all about evidence-based learning. Not the self-serving manicured evidence of the type that a student collates in an e-portfolio. Rather, the hard evidence observed by the systems with which a student interacts. This is a particularly good fit with the needs of modern employers.

An LRS gathers evidence about a person’s learning journey
An LRS gathers evidence about a person’s learning journey

In the future, fine-grained data will exist that tracks the learning journey from primary school, through secondary and tertiary, into employment and promotion. Almost anything can be wired to return a record to the record store. The LRS can listen for messages from an LMS, a blog, social media, an event registration system, a just-about-anything system, or with the software interface of a mechanical device. If you think the 70-20-10 model holds some measure of truth, then you will immediately grasp the potential of the LRS when combined with analytics and visual reporting.

Simply connected

The system uses a protocol and language called xAPI to send a simple sentence back to the store.

So, lines in the store might read:

John completed Automation in fish factories 101
John read article Greenlip mussel industry
John watched video Pristine waters
John published blogpost Richmond Bay nutrient levels

And, xAPI works with the Internet of Things:

John Smith registered for symposium Aquaculture 2020
John Smith operated a Simms auto-grader at Aquaculture 2020

xAPI’s syntax is both simple and powerful:

subject — verb — object — context

The context element enables a richer picture of the development path:

John completed Automation in fish factories 101 in 8 days with an overall grade of 93%.
John published blogpost Richmond Bay nutrient levels which was upvoted 57 times.

LRS and Machine Learning

If you want to geek out for a moment, consider the power of machine learning applied to the large datasets that an LRS will accrue. These are datasets pertaining to the individual, to study groups, to cohorts, and to wider student populations. An LRS could be owned and operated by an individual teacher as a personal instrument for analysing their own performance and that of their students, by an organisation, by a nation, or by a world organsiation. Unsupervised learning algorithms can uncover hidden patterns of behaviour in populations of learners that provide actionable insights for marketing, sales, programme designers, course designers, and teachers. For example, in the school sector, the predictive abilities of machine learning could inform curriculum development and guide education policy makers.

Conclusion

So, do we want an LMS, or an LRS, or both, or neither?

The answer is probably both.

If a school was starting from scratch, I’d say:

  • set up Moodle
  • build courses using a definable pattern on which the various departments are agreed, and
  • consider the LMS’s role as an activity provider to an LRS from the very start.

Moodle supports xAPI. You don’t have to implement that straight away — walk before you try to run — but don’t omit it from the design. Moodle 3.4 has some much better built-in analytics and reporting tools than ever it did in the past; that may be a good starting place.

CORE Education’s interest in xAPI combined with analytics and visual reporting lies in the area of professional development. Where xAPI transforms the old SCORM standard from which it was spawned is in its ability to not only track learning, but to link that to job performance. That creates a closed loop that is the quest of every learning designer. Not a closure created by an assertion or a presentation, but by factual evidence.

xAPI disrupts, but not to such an extent that it challenges the very existence of the LMS. The LMS continues to serve a useful purpose, connected to the learning network in its role as a curated activity provider.

Suggested further reading

  • moodle.org Although it’s like drinking from a fire hydrant, here’s everything you need to establish a new Moodle site or improve your existing one.
  • What is the Experience API? This article and the associated diagram is from Rustici Software, the people who were commisioned by ADL to develop the xAPI protocol. So you can be sure that their explanation is correct.
  • HT2Labs This is the company that has developed the most popular and open source Learning Record Store called Learning Locker. CEO Dr Ben Betts is an important voice in the LRS/xAPI/Social Learning domain and the site has a lot of valuable and free information explaining the what, why, and how.
  • HT2Labs Resources Short courses, recorded webinars, and free guides from this award-winning company.

 


Image Credits:

  • Feature image: CORE Education
  • Zoo image: by fotogoocom on Wikimedia Commons under CC 3.0 unported (modified)
  • Bookclub image: screenshot (modified) from MOOC (CORE Education acknowledges with gratitude HT2Labs)
  • Cave image: by Daniel Schwen on Wikimedia Commons under CC 4.0 share and share alike (modified)
  • Engineers LRS composite image: includes Welding photo by Bradley Wentzel on Unsplash; Gas Blending Analyser from Wikimedia (in Public Domain); Airbase open day from Air Defense (in public domain). All images have been modified.

 

See Stephen’s follow-up posts:

  • Making a start with student data analysis
  • Towards excellent user support
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collaboration-feature

There is POWER in being CONNECTED

Posted on March 29, 2018 by admin

collaboration

Mā te tokomaha, ka kā te ahi.

By the many will the fires be kept burning.

As an educator, I was alone, isolated, insular, and needing to connect. Though well supported within my school environment, I craved more. I wanted to test my theories, share my study journey, access support for our learners. I wanted to inquire. I wanted choice. I wanted to be able to self-direct and engage how and when it suited my busy lifestyle. I wanted to connect. I needed more.

At 3.18pm on 20 February 2010, I joined Twitter, which launched me into the world of a connected educator, moving from local isolation to global connection.
anne's tweetReading through the first six months of tweets, I am in awe of the support I received personally and professionally. I moved from being an educator who was alone to one rich in a connected environment learning with a like-minded tribe. I also moved from being an educator with a class, to be an educator willing to be vulnerable, willingly share, receive and grow.

I now have the privilege of leading Connected Educator in its drive to support and promote networked approaches to educational professional learning.

“What tribes are, is a very simple concept that goes back 50 million years. It’s about leading and connecting people and ideas. And it’s something that people have wanted forever.”
— Seth Godin

Let me take you through how Connected Educator works and how it can help you….

What Connected Educator New Zealand offers YOU:

  • Do you want to connect with other like-minded educators?
  • Are you looking for choice in your professional learning?
  • Do you want to find free professional learning opportunities?
  • Are you searching for something to ignite or rekindle a passion in an area of education for you?
  • Are you after a variety of formats to engage you?
  • Do you want learning that is short because your day is time deficit? Or, are you keen to get your teeth into a meaty book to provoke your next piece of learning?

Kia ora koutou, talofa lava, malo e lelei and welcome to Connected Educator New Zealand, a global professional learning event — all online, all for free! #CENZ18

Connected Educator New Zealand (CENZ) supports and promotes networked approaches to educational professional learning. It celebrates how we can support each other’s professional learning in a connected world.

A collaborative calendar connects thousands of educators so we can engage in free (and freely given) online professional learning: workshops, keynotes, panels, discussions, webinars, educamps, edu-ignites, teach meets, field trips, and more. It can be your one-stop shop for free, online professional development.

This year we are offering a smorgasbord of opportunities for you, for your teams, for your centre, school, kura, Kahui Ako.

1. Connected Educator Calendar of Events

CENZ calendarThe Connected Educator Calendar brings you: events, forums, webinars, educamps, edu-ignites, teachmeets, field trips and more. Alongside this there is a daily smorgasbord of connected professional learning opportunities:

Media Monday: Recently released EDtalks connect you to videos of interviews, discussions, and presentations from thought leaders, innovative educators, and inspirational learners. These could support your staff meetings, inquiry group discussion, or individual professional learning journey.
Tips and Tricks Tuesday: In our busy working week, it is easy to miss new resources. We share new and recent resources here on a regular basis for you to use and share.
Wordy Wednesday: We share book reviews to support you in your professional reading. Do you have a book review to share with other Connected Educators? Please email your book review to anne.kenneally@core-ed.org or pledge directly to our calendar.
Thinking Thursday: Each Thursday we share recent blog posts, connecting you to the thoughts, ideas, and reflections of others. We welcome your blog posts — please submit an event on a Thursday to increase the readership of your blog.
Feedforward Friday: previewing upcoming events for the following week

CENZ kete

2. Starter Kete

Our Starter Kete is six ‘bite-sized chunks’ of professional development to support you as a connected educator. Maybe this is for your own professional learning, or, for you as a school leader to support staff, or even for a Kāhui Ako.

Please download and work your way through the kete and give us some feedback. (Please comment below, or email me directly at anne.kenneally@core-ed.org) What do you enjoy? What do you want to see more of, less of? What ideas do you have that we could include in our kete?

3. Digital Badging:

CENZ badgesEarn while you learn with the Connected Educator 2018 badges.

Connected Educator badges let you credential your participation. Whether you are learning to:

  • use online networks and technologies for the first time
  • champion connected professional learning in your school, kura, early childhood service or Kahui Ako
  • offer events in the CENZ calendar.

We want to recognise your contribution to Connected Educator New Zealand.

Find out more about Digital badging

What YOU can do for Connected Educator New Zealand:

Without you CENZ is nothing.

We need you to:

  • View and share the calendar of events;
  • Pledge your events — Do you have an educamp, eduignite, meetup, Twitter chat coming up? Whatever it is, please remember, ordinary to you can be amazing to others. We can then expose your event to a wider audience and benefit all.
  • Join our Connected Educator group in edspace and engage with our discussions.

Connected Educator New Zealand has grown from a month-long event in 2014, through to a year-round event, connecting educators around New Zealand and the globe. We exist because of you and together our learning grows for the benefit of all learners.

A word from a recent member:

“The opportunities provided in the CENZ calendar make you step outside what you define PD as, and gives you a chance to be led to a myriad of new learning steps and processes.”

Come step outside your current reality and join us!

Looking forward to connecting, networking, sharing with you ‘glocally’!

Finally…

I moved from isolation to connection and the same is possible for you. Come and join us, starting today by signing up and spreading the word!

The Connected Educator team will be at uLearn18, 10-12 October in Auckland. Check out one of last year’s Connected Conversations: Student learners at the centre, and register to attend before 31 May to make the most of the early-bird rate!

Register now!

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