Principal (le?) learning

This is AWESOME!!

This video presentation from Yong Zhao from the US is well worth taking the 20min to watch.  He makes the case for being careful about the interpretation we put on PISA and other results for judging the worth and value of education systems.

The video can't be embeded but is available HERE or HERE for the site with accompanying links

Do we really want to try and clone our system to be like that of China or Finland?  What are the elements of their systems that come along with their success at tests that are not so desirable?

Take the time to watch this

This blog post got me thinking about the things that have been the top for me in 2012?  What things were the most important?  What have been the 'big things' for the year?

With a particular, but not exclusive, focus on the professional here goes…

Top three things I have written about:

• Evidence and Exemplars – here.  The ongoing challenge of showing progress and doing it efficiently and effectively.
• Tablets as Forks – here.  Choosing the best tools for the job, that if they work well you don't even notice.
• We Know What Works – here.  A lot of thinking and challenges for me out of this day!

Top three things I have learned about:

• Website design and development – leading a project digitising a self review tool …. coming soon
• Google Docs and Apps
• The complexity of good app design and development – working with the team at NHNZ and Runaway, their iOS development team.  Also how much time, skill and thought (and money!) goes into developing tv programmes.

Top three things I have done:

• Visited Rarotonga (twice really – once over the Xmas break with the family, and once just Jane and I for a friends wedding)
• Ben Harper concert in Wellington – he is astounding!  Nearly 4 hours on stage with 13 different guitars.  Been to a few concerts and this was certainly one of the very best for me!
• Changed career direction (a bit).  NHNZ was (and is) a blast, and CORE is a great place to work!

Top three things I see as growing trends:

• Obsession with accountability in education.  If it goes wrong there has to be someone to blame it would seem.  If it can't be counted it is not there (or at least not that important).
• BYOD in NZ schools – a tide that can't be stopped now.  This along with ultra-fast broadband have the potential to transform our system, or to simply be 'more-crap-faster'.  We are at a bit of a tipping point I think.
• Personalisation – smaller and more powerful devices in the hands of all in the school community mean that the dictums of the school are increasingly irrelevant (for example).  If it is filtered then turn your phone on and tether.  The push to personalise learning for all learners – students and teachers.  Social media as a way of collaborating and managing a way through the info-smog.

Top three things I have read:

Ask me tomorrow and this list will almost certainly be different!

• Andre Agassi's autobiography – interesting the tension between passion, drive and pleasing others and their expectations.
• Seth Godin's Blog – so many wee gems there.
• Nancy Wake's biography by Peter Fitzsimons – a remarkable woman!

Top three things I have laughed at/about:

• Duck Dynasty at a viewing at NHNZ – think a cross between West Coast choppers, Dukes of Hazzard and ZZ Top.  Astoundingly funny, particularly given it is quite heavily scripted 'reality' tv.  Heaps of YouTube clips.
• Much to my families disgust – Big Bang Theory.
• The crazily fun things you do with kids ….

Top three things I wish for in 2013:

• Time with family and friends …. the old work-life thing
• Jane to have a great trip to Europe on her scholarship, and to get the writing on her PhD done she is planning
• For education to sort the things with 'N's' – Novapay, National Standards, Network Reviews ….fingers crossed with the N4L too.

So …. bring on the new year.  It's going to be a blast!!

I like models.  I tend to think in diagrams and pictures, trying to link ideas together and make sense of them in some sort of structured way.  I also tend to bounce ideas around and try to make links between different ones, and visuals help with this.
I just stumbled on this:

… which is a neat way to think about the difference between just digitising the same-old-same-old and actually doing things differently and in ways that would not be possible without technology.  I see a lot of schools and classrooms where technology is simply used to digitise the same stuff.  Is that really effective use of devices costing hundreds or even thousands of dollars?  Conversely what does doing it differently look like?  In practice?  How to get people to reimagine what they are doing in their classrooms and schools is the point of much of what I am doing these days …. This diagrame will help clarify it a bit for some I think.

Particularly for assessment and those disengaged or with learning issues the redefinition of what learning is and looks like can hook them in.

What models do you use to get-your-head-around concepts and ideas?  What works for you?
 

This infographic from Edudemic explains the differences and similarities well ….

Interesting infographic about LMS ….. from Edudemic (source)

Source

Resources from Workshop:

Here is my presentation from today:

A big thanks to all those who came along!!  Do contact me if there are any things we can follow up with given we couldn't get online in the session itself.  I am happy to help in any way

Ignore the numbers, the key thing is the trend in the graph:

source:

Moores Law is alive and well

I was reading something (I now can't find again to reference…. grrrr!) the other day that was claiming that the new iPhone5 has the same computing grunt as you needed a MacPro desktop machine to achieve less than a decade ago.  And that this is the first time that this has happened …. come wihin the decade timeframe.

So the smartphone/device that kids have in their pockets in a year or so will be pretty stunning I am thinking.  BIG implications for the classroom.  Time to get with the programme or get left in the dust (or run over by the bus?)

The iPad mini that is due to drop in a couple of weeks if the rumours are true will be an interesting beast too I think.  I know our son did a lot of work at school on an iPod touch before they rolled out their BYOD programme.  Just the transactional find stuff, confirm stuff, sorts of things … but levering the connectivity.

Do you really need a 'computer' when you have all the power these devices have?  When you can now upload files from a menu structure in iOS6 (finally!!) it enables the effective use of things like learning management systems and the like from an iPad too.  What can you do on a laptop that you can't do on a tablet device?  Or should the question be what do you actually want or need to do …?  It seems like the tablet/smartphone is going to be the 'computer' of choice for an increasing number of people.

Thoughts?