EduTech 2017 Day 2

Catherine Mission - Equipping students for the digital age


  • A great overview of what MGGS is doing to personalise learning and provide opportunities for students to have more control over their schedules. I think the ideas she shared are a breathe of fresh air.
  • Our current paradigm is teacher centred, many people agree we need a more student centred environment


  • How can we reorganise time so it is a shared experience between teachers and needs of students?


  • No normal PE classes but each girl has choice about her physical activities
  • Frustration is the path back to what you know and back to safety … we need a great reliable network so teachers have confidence to use technology
  • Technology tools are the backbone of their program, including Outlook to manage time, Schoolbox as their LMS, Visual Coaching Pro and Links Modular for wellness and PE

 

  • Mastery model through the LMS and diagnostics


  • Best of breed 3rd party services are utilised






  • Summary:


Dr John Collick - Cyberstudents, neuroscience and the revolution in education technology

  • John spoke about teachers "following" students onto different social media platforms, only to have students flee to something new. I am not sure the rise of Instagram etc is due to teachers giving homework on Facebook!

  • Students can use technology uncritically - just asking them to "do some research" results in a lot of copy/paste. Critical thinking online is an important skill
  • Serotonin levels increase more when we fail compared to when we succeed. When others fail our levels also rise.



  • We need to make learning play - humans naturally learn through play so how can we make learning more like play? Gamification ideas?

  • Spatial imagination drives creativity… we usually have students sit down, facing one way looking at a flat surface - VR has a future!!
  • The brain continues to develop and learn - it does not stop!


  • Humans are hard-wired under stressful situations or threats to decrease brain activity (ie run away from the tiger and 500m away start to think!). The amigdalla makes no distinction between the tiger and other stresses. So stress for students actually physically less able to learn 



  • The coming revolution - students in charge of their own learning



Patrick Howlett - A whole school approach to PBL

  • Bro Patrick is Headmaster at Paramatta Marist that have engaged students in Project Based Learning as a whole school approach
  • Speaking to the students later I was so impressed with their understanding and passion for their learning - even Maths!
  • A model for school success starts with culture

  • The decline in enjoyment of school 






  • A changing paradigm for a modern classroom. Established models of education have to change and adapt to the new environment



  • PD for staff was critical 100 hours in the year timetabled
  • What would we do if we went to a doctor who last upskilled in 1960?



Lee Crockett - Future focused learning workshop

  • Lee is one of the most engaging, relevant, thought-provoking speakers I have heard. His ideas resonate with all who listen.
  • Technology should not reinforce old ways of teaching. It should be there for students to be able to express themselves.
  • If students are off task it is a reflection of the task and the engagement, not the technology. When we passed notes in class we didn't ban paper and pens.
  • "What is the most urgent problem in the world today we need to solve" - a great question for junior school students. Lee's approach is to ask that question which then defines what they will study.
  • He spoke of examples of students who had solved some of the problems - Orangutan preservation, litter in the community etc - non-trivial problems!
Future focused teaching
  1. Give them problems that matter to them
  2. Give them access to the tools… the tech does not do the thinking!
  3. Find the courage to stand aside
  • To develop resilience we need to give them permission to fail
  • Start with curriculum… ask who would encounter this in the world beyond school? What would be relevant in context to your students?


  • His approach involves finding the problem that matters to them and then ask what curriculum we could bring to the topic. The student defines the project, not the teacher. Part of this is post-planning where we look back at what we have covered.
  • Do you have meals planned for the next three months? Similar approach to planning for student learning


Tina Russell & Sharon Armitage - Penrhos College - Igniting Whole-School Pedagogical Shift Towards Future Focused Learning

  • Tina and Sharon described in detail their approach to developing staff using professional learning communities
  • They chose the 21CLD framework and Office365
  • Based on data from BrightBites, they set clear goals and targets
  • They asked for staff to volunteer to be part of a PLC that met twice per term over the course of 18 months
  • Staff enjoyed the experience - they were walking the talk and doing what we expect students to do - collaborate, be creative and solve problems
  • Staff presented on their learning at staff-only days

Louise Stoll - Middle leaders and PLC

Some slides from Louise's talk






Lee Crockett - Future Focused Learning II

  • Again, Lee's keynote was outstanding and everyone I spoke to agreed.
  • He spoke of the different "brands" out there today - PBL, STEM, Design thinking, Inquiry learning, Maker movement, STEAM - all are really the same!
  • To come up with some great questions 2 ideas:
    • Move it up Blooms
    • Remove specificity

  • An example of using solution fluency, the model Lee uses in this process



  •  Before we can move up the levels in Bloom's we need awareness and connection to the problem


  • Lee went into detail on 10 steps to shift our practice to future-focused learning:


“The Essential Fluencies have nothing to do with hardware—they are about headware, and heartware!”