Things for me to check out...

http://primarycomputing.co.uk/a-computing-curriculum/

Following the disapplication of the old ICT curriculum, we set about considering strands for a contemporary engaging ‘Computing’ curriculum with a view towards Government proposals for 2014. The strands of the curriculum which we settled on are: Multimedia; Programming; Online; E-Safety; Data.

http://www.sparkyteaching.com/creative/fail-safe-classroom/

When you’ve just lost the final of arguably the most prestigious tournament in your sport, a final where the vast majority of the crowd were rooting for the other guy and cheered your every error, and where, moments after losing, a microphone is shoved under your nose, you could be forgiven for providing the waiting media with a choice quote or two. Even if it is Sue Barker doing the interview.What you probably wouldn’t be expected to say, however, is “it was an absolute pleasure and an honour to be part of this match”.Novak Djokovic’s reaction on losing the Wimbledon final to Andy Murray was a sportsmanlike demonstration of how to deal with failure with immediate dignity.

http://emergingleaders.school.nz/ignite-evening/

What is ignite? Ignite is an event in over 100 cities worldwide. At the events Ignite presenters share their personal and professional passions, using 20 slides that auto-advance every 15 seconds for a total of just five minutes.

http://project-based-homeschooling.com/faq  <--- the direction our classroom programme has been leaning more and more towards.

Project-based homeschooling combines your child’s genuine interests with long-term, deep, complex learning. Rather than teaching or providing curriculum, you mentor your child to help him learn how to direct and manage his own learning. It is the essential portion of your child’s learning life when you devote time to heping him do his own self-chosen, self-motivated work.You create a space dedicated to doing meaningful work, set up to both attract your child and allow him to work independently.You offer him an interesting variety of high-quality materials and tools.Your routine gives him big chunks of time dedicated to spending time in that space learning, making, and doing — with your support and attention.You become a trusted resource who will take him where he needs to go and help him meet his own goals.

Pondering this...

"Education is a self organising system where learning is an emergent phenomenon."

Sugata Mitra 

I am down with the first part - working on my application of the second part.

Over the summer I am going to have a look at the SOLE toolkit for next year...

Do We Need A Teacher?

AKA Thomas Babington MaCaulay* vs Sugata Mitra**.

MaCaulay's approach to education in India was that Indians could/would only be able to access "proper" education and modern scientific knowledge through the medium of the English language and it would not be possible through classical Indian languages.
His role, he saw, was to establish a very westernising Anglist approach to government and education in India producing "Indian's in blood and colour but English in tastes, opinions, morals and intellect."
To him and his contempories British culture was the highest form of human civilisation

Sugata on the other hand seems to fly totally in the face of this and remove a teacher and language as a barrier and invest full confidence in the learner themselves and their own ability to seek out knowledge.



I guess we all need a teacher whether that teacher is ourselves or not. In my experience some children are so disenfranchised from a culture of learning (for whatever reason - I imagine from needs not met in earlier life or the same transferred to them from their caregivers) that they need a strong connection with someone to get them interested in being motivated to learn.
Perhaps then it is a question of what they are learning - academics is not the first priority in my experience.


 * Thomas Babington MaCauley, a Brit, who lived in the 1800s; is mentioned here in the context of his  pivotal membership of the East India Company and conveyor of British Imperialism to other parts of the world.

** Sugata Mitra - lives in Modern times, is a professor of Educational Technology and is mentioned here in the context of his 'Hole in the Wall' experiment.

Scarcity

It Captures Your Mind

Economists focus on the problem of scarcity—on how people allocate their resources (including both time and money) in the face of many competing demands. In their extraordinarily illuminating book, the behavioral economist Sendhil Mullainathan and the cognitive psychologist Eldar Shafir explore something quite different, which is the feeling of scarcity, and the psychological and behavioral consequences of that feeling. They know that the feeling of scarcity differs across various kinds of experiences and that people can feel “poor” with respect to money, time, or relationships with others.
But their striking claim, based on careful empirical research, is that across all of those categories, the feeling of scarcity has quite similar effects. It puts people in a kind of cognitive tunnel, limiting what they are able to see. It depletes their self-control. It makes them more impulsive and sometimes a bit dumb. What we often consider a part of people’s basic character—an inability to learn, a propensity to anger or impatience—may well be a product of their feeling of scarcity. If any of us were similarly situated, we might end up with a character a lot like theirs. An insidious problem is that scarcity produces more scarcity. It creates its own trap.

I experience what I attribute to this phenomena in my current teaching situation.
In these situations I have to say that meeting national standards as a first priority is not appropriate - in fact, I would go further and say that it is inappropriate in the context of the wellbeing of the ākonga.

What are 21st Century Skills?

Very powerful and 21st Century style creative motivator!
Rethinking is imperative but also misunderstood  - perhaps a lot like they did in this clip, things need to be simplified - rethought back to the initial intention  - although for our current NZ system that would take us back to the British colonial system of clones imperialist followers to rule abroad for Mother England - not what we need these days!
So rethinking and co-creating a simple intention and moving on from there.

Although this is a complex issue, and seems very scary to people -  I think it is a lot simpler to progress than it appears and requires people to do it or step out of the way (or delegate) so others can do it!

Quality Free Education for everyone...

Offering a top quality education to everyone around the world for free - this is an actuality thanks to the growing availability of internet access worldwide.
What will happen when;

• education is accepted as a fundamental human right
• life long learning for everyone at any point in their life

It is exciting to think of anyone anywhere in the world being able to make a better life for themselves, their families and their communities - at any point in their life, not just when they are at school, high school or university.

What amazing innovations will come more often from places currently deemed unlikely...


I was especially drawn to the concepts of mass peer assessment - a creative, power sharing and (thanks to the studies sited) valid way to deal with 100, 000 students all submitting paper for the same course deadline.
This also links to my love of the value of crowd sourcing (and my deeper spiritual belief in the power of the Universal Unconscious; as a group we know everything - not to mention the educational mantra T.E.A.M - Together Everyone Achieves More...)

Traditional vs Modern learning

“Human communities depend upon a diversity of talent not a singular conception of ability”. ― Ken Robinson


EDIT: links nicely with this post!

Arthur C Clarke once said...

"A teacher who can be replaced by a machine, should be."

Which you can think about in at least two different ways if you follow the work of Sugata Mitra.

As an aside - Thomas Babington MaCaulay would surely be "rolling in his grave" and "tsk tsk"ing if HE knew about the work of Sugata!