I’m ready to fail … but excited by the prospect

Reflections of the Festival of Learning 2012

My brain is hurting after 2 full days of mixing it with some of the best and most innovative teaching professionals around this weekend in Sydney.

It was with enormous excitement that we all sat down to the first keynote – Adam Elliot of Harvey Krumpet fame. He definitely set the tone of the event – fun, imagination and vision. Adam and other successful animators are people I am constantly talking to my students about when they are tackling a creative task and trying something new with technology – think big and follow your passions. I always have in the back of my mind that when I’m introducing my students to techniques such as animation and film-making that I might have a budding Adam Elliot somewhere in front of me. It was amazing to hear his story of his Oscar nomination and award – so inspiring!

It was then down to business…..with so much choice over the two days – it was a difficult decision about where to head to start my 2 day learning journey. The Everest Theatre space was a-buzz and filling up so I took up a front row seat for “There’s an app for that”. We were treated to a fabulous range of speakers presenting short bites packed full of great take-aways, practical tips and advice for going mobile. I’ve now got a bunch of new apps to investigate this week including: Demibooks Composer (interactive ebook creator) Haiku Deck, Scribble Press, Video Star, Sock Puppets, Photofunia and ibuild (app making software). It was reassuring also to see teachers recommending apps that I have already considered including Skitch, Creative book builder, Popplet, Explain everything, Educreations and iMovie. Greg Alchin’s insight into the assistive capabilities really did show the versatility of mobile devices for all.

Through the day I explored the PLANE website – building relationships with teachers met during the day, investigating the different tools and looking at the possibilities for further professional development once the festival was over.

The theme of risk-taking was addressed by Dr Sarah Howard in the closing keynote for the day. This concept is one PYP educators are familiar with and one that is particularly relevant as I now contemplate the road ahead with technology back at my school. This keynote was an omen of what I was to reflect on during Day 2.

Over the last few years I have been on safe ground with a familiar with a range of tools, comfortable with desktop and laptop computers, increasingly better internet connections and wifi, web 2.0 tools and their possibilities and our easing into working in social spaces. Day 2 proved to be the ‘game-changer’, literally. Opting to head downstairs into the basement spaces for “Permission to Play”, I was ready to be impressed and a little daunted by what I saw and heard about. We’ve dabbled in Kodu and I’ve talked with students and teachers on and off about the possibilities of Minecraft and we’ve created games using 2DIY (2simple software) – however I was blown away by the work being done by Lucas Gillespie with Portal 2 and other game platforms, Bronwyn Stuckey and Quest Atlantis and Kate Booth (pre-service teacher) who presented on Sim on a Stick. This will be where my spectacular failure will begin. Not being a native gamer, its time to muscle up, have some fun, fail dismally and see the possibilities for my students in the game space and the virtual world. I knew it was coming, I’m unprepared, but I’m excited and ready to fail in order to excite.

Game on! 

Dr Jason Fox's closing comments and wrap up gave me permission to feel daunted, suggested the space to think, reflect and dream and allowed us to feel good about what's ahead - all in a set of beautifully crafted conference doodles.

I’m feeling a bit the same as when I was first introduced to Web 2.0 at a conference in Singapore in 2006 – completely energized by the possibilities. So what will be my 4 priorities over the rest of this term and into 2013?

• ·      Bed down the productivity and creative apps we want in our initial ipad roll out
• ·      Investigate the possibilities of virtual worlds and quest based learning by signing up to a Quest Atlantis teacher training session and check out Sim on a Stick as a starter to working in VW’s and approach some teachers who might be willing to take a risk
• ·      Look seriously at Minecraft and Portal 2 and get a little practice in!
• ·      Move forward with my PLANE journey
• ·      Excite my teachers to coming along for the ride

A HUGE thank you to PLANE, the generous fellow teachers who presented, my twitter network who showed friendship during the 2 days and my new network buddies, I’m looking forward to following you in the future – it was a brilliant 2 days.

My Random Top 5 iPad Apps for Learning

The exciting thing about the iPad (and indeed any tablet brand) is the proliferation of Apps that have uses in the classroom. The Apps I like the best are open ended and creative, assist critical thinking or collaboration and excite students to stretch their imagination.

This is my current Top 5. This will change as more Apps become available and are shared by educators around the world.

1) Aurasma. This App provides the potential to create and share an interactive learning environment. A little bit Harry Potter - a little bit QR code - Aurasma connects an image with a recorded video. The potential for educational applications is unlimited. Students can record their responses to books, talk about photographs or works of art, discuss historic events or describe a scientific principle. The student 'voice' is revealed via iPhone or iPad.

2) Skitch. This one's been around for a while but I like the interface Skitch offers. A nice feature is the inbuilt capture tool - take a photo in the App and immediately start annotating. All the tools are here - cropping, drawing, arrows, shapes. It all integrates with Evernote as well as sending via email or twitter. Students and teachers alike can share thinking, brainstorm ideas or just have plain fun with photos and other images.

3) Puppet Pals. This one's been a huge hit with the educational community and I can see why. Puppet Pals is a creative way to present stories - storyboard, create characters, and develop speaking and listening skills. The free version comes with several backgrounds and actors, the paid version allows for a more diverse selection of characters and backgrounds. You can even create your own. Its such fun and so engaging. Students love to see themselves as part of the action!

4) Faces iMake. This is a bit of fun and is hugely creative. It comes in a Lite version for iPhone, and a paid version for iPad. Remember Mr Potatohead? Well this App allows your imagine to run wild with vegies and other objects. Create unique faces, landscapes, objects, animals and share with the world via Facebook or email. Have students create a collage of a character in a novel or an historical figure, design their own self portrait or create a fantasy landscape in which to set their own stories.

5) Screen Chomp. Flipping your classroom? Screen chomp is an easy to use (and free!) recordable whiteboard. Show Me is a similar App. It has a multiple applications - as an assessment tool, as part of a digital portfolio, or as a record of your explanations that can be played over and over. Record on the whiteboard and narrate at the same time.

The Collaborative Zone

An ICT lab is an outdated model for learning ICT – whether it’s a Primary or High school setting. Desktop computers in rows, students working independently and barriers between students are not conducive to discussion, teamwork and creativity. Our iCentre – the learning hub of the school has multiple places for learning and incorporates a busy library, seminar rooms and an ICT space.

So what to do with such a space: to drag it into the 21^st century and use models of technology integration that enhance learning? ....... Enter “The Collaborative Zone”.

Firstly I’m working from the premise that I want students to do and feel a number of things:

•         A sense of fun and play should dominate; students should be excited about being somewhere that can operate in different ways to their classrooms.
•         There should be choice – space for small groups, big groups, individuals.
•         A range of activities can take place in the same environment
•         Students should have choice of technology throughout the room
•         Choice of learning furniture should also be available. 

I’m not keen entirely to throw out the desktop computers – they are new and do serve a purpose, however its time to cull the 1:1 desktop model. At least 2/3 can be relocated around the school. Spread the computers out around the wall desks and instantly there is space for two or three students to gather around. These small groups then can also accommodate group members on other devices – ipads, laptops etc. The space should reflect the technology use going on out in the community – a range of devices for a variety of tasks.

The rest of the space becomes more open and flexible and can include:

•        A circular desk for group work
•        A set of cube stools that can move around the space – gather at the Smartboard, congregate at the corners of the room, even head out the door to the undercover area adjacent to the Library.
•         Easy chairs around a coffee table
•         Portable white board / flip chart easels

The area also features a ‘Media Studio’ with green screen and lighting for video filming and production and sound proofing for podcasting.

The teacher’s desk makes a great ‘animation station’ or a place to build Lego robots. Relocating to share an office with the Librarian offers professional collaboration by the school's information specialists.

The iCentre as a hub and the 'Collaborative Zone' as its technology focused space will offer to students a multimodal learning environment - flexible arrangements of technology and furniture groups for creative playful multimedia learning.

The Socially Networked Classroom : Pt 1 - The Teacher

If you are reading this blog, chances are you already have made some social connections, possibly are in the process of developing a PLN and are already or are at least thinking about socially networking your students to each other and the outside world. Those of you who are at the beginning of this journey – hold on – it’s going to be an exhilarating ride. Get ready to be dazzled by the amount of opinion and content out there that’s being uploaded by educators on a daily basis. Your PLN (Professional Learning Network) is your best tool for finding out what’s new and innovative in classroom teaching and sharing your own knowledge and ideas with the world. There are educators online that are so generously sharing and its amazing the depth and breadth of the offerings, its staggering. Here are some ways to get into social networking as a teacher that I’ve tried and use regularly.
  Twitter: Make sure you sign up and start tweeting. Find some like-minded professionals and follow them. Look for people who tweet regularly, share links and stay more or less on the topics in which you are very interested in to start – you can be overwhelmed by tweeters so take it slowly to start! As you become less self conscious – you’ll really enjoy the interactions you can have online. Go to a Teachmeet: Although not strictly an ’online’ space, many educators that front up to these are also online – you will definitely find people with which to connect and these are the professionals that are really interested in what’s going on with technology, education and 21st century skills.
  Facebook: Use your Facebook as a learning space as well. Lots of education groups have a presence and if you are a regular Facebook user, it will be with very little effort you are connecting to your interest groups on a daily basis.
  Edmodo: Edmodo encourages groups of teachers (and students) to gather online in groups and discuss topics of interest. If you have something you are really keen to talk about online, think about starting your own discussion space and inviting others by email.
  Scoop.it: This is my new favourite. Create a Scoop.it account on a topic of interest – Scoop.it practically does the rest for you. It searches the Web, and as long as you have created a great set of tags, it will offer interesting posts, articles, Youtube clips – lots of different content direct to you and you can choose to ‘curate’ it onto your own site. You can add your own content too by using the bookmarklet. It works out a bit like an online newspaper, that you can update as often as the mood takes you. I highly recommend you give it a go. You could also try Tumblr.
 Blogs: There are lots of blogging platforms out there – Blogger and Edublogs are two popular sites to get started on. Weebly allows for a combined Website and Blog, which is very neat, particularly if you want to connect with other educators by offering content as well as opinion. Blogs are built for comment – don’t be shy add your two cents to someone else’s blog that you follow.
 Project 365: If you are feeling shy about writing a lot to begin with – maybe try a photo blogging site. These sites encourage you to upload a photo a day and talk about it briefly. Find some people to connect with and start conversations through the commenting facility. This is a great way to share what’s going on in your class with parents or other classes around the world.
Wikis (wikispaces): Wikis are great ways to connect with other educators on a particular topic of interest. You might like to join members of a PLN onto a wiki about something you are researching, collect web tools with others, and build a useful site cooperatively.
 Photo sharing sites like Flickr: Again educators are generously adding great content to their Flickr pages. You can share what’s going on in your classroom, create graphics and posters and add them to your Flickr stream. It’s a really good place to curate your images and they are accessible from any computer. Flickr has some great features which means you can work flexibly with your content – you can lock down a site to private, share with invited people or be public with your offerings.
Pinterest: This is pretty much the latest fad – think of a topic, scour the Internet for content. Pintrest is your personal online bulletin board to share.
Wallwisher: Post a topic, get contributors to add ideas, links, photos and videos. This is great for collaborative planning and thinking. Invite a few people to join you in a thinking session. These are great tools to use for professional development.
Many of these site (and others) have mobile Apps – so you can even connect with your PLN on the run - there's no excuse! And don’t forget to publicise your writing in a second forum. Your posts will be read if you tell your Twitter followers for example that you have just posted something for them to read.
Lots of these are not new, but are well used and worth mentioning and really work to establish you as a connected educator. The first step to a socially networked classroom is a socially networked teacher – give it a try!

A School for Watambune: a 21st century school fund raising effort

Its been a while since my last post. Long Service Leave of 18 weeks has meant that I could completely refresh my mind, indulge in a lovely long holiday and visit places and people that inspired me to think differently and be a better person.
My travels took me to Sulawesi, an Indonesian island. In 2011 I connected three schools in a fund raising project, the "Watambune School Building Project". It was obvious to me, as we were building a brand new multimillion dollar school for our students, that we could do something for another community that needed a new school of their own. Of course a more modest set up, but I was keen to engage our kids in a fund raising effort to make the joy of a new school happen for another community while we were looking forward to our own brand new facility.

My own Principal, Michael Dunn was supportive and encouraged the effort and the wonderful Chris Rawlins Principal at ACG school in Jakarta was willing to participate, leading an effort in her own school which raised several thousand dollars. We already had established connections with our online Bear Exchange project which operates annually. Our third school was Red Hill Primary School and Principal Chris Hamilton, in Canberra. All three schools are PYP and saw the benefits in the global connection, the online collaboration and action that could occur for our students.
We met (online and face to face), talked, planned and made possible a student led fund raising effort to build a new school for a very needy community in central Sulawesi which is managed by the Salvation Army Education Korps. A late participant was the ACG English school in Auckland, whose students contributed money raised in an event at the school. Four schools across three countries made it a truly international effort.

The collaborative wiki kept us in touch, celebrated our successes and documented our journey to learn about the community and raise money to make this new school building a reality. Discussions on the wiki became useful forums for ideas by the students and teachers. Our Twitter hashtag #wsbp, announced milestones in the project. The wiki site tells the story, but suffice to say the effort put in by the students of all three schools was inspirational. We raised a total of AUD$34,000, exceeding our $25,000 goal and we now have a bit of a kitty to launch the next project, a boarding facility in Palu to accommodate 25 students who wish to continue to high school education.

In November a team, which included 2 teachers from ACG Jakarta, myself and other supporters visited the region and attended the Foundation Stone ceremony. Jaka the orangutan and star of our Bear Exchange was a fellow traveller and a huge hit with all the kids. A 3 hour journey - by car and when the road petered out, by motorbike into the mountains afforded us spectacular scenery and an exhilarating ride in a 35 bike convoy! The ceremony was a joyous occasion and the visit also a great opportunity to see how the students are fairing from the first school building project in near by Bambakanini (carried out in 2010 by QHHC and a UNICEF grant). The kids are happy (and now going to school regularly) - the village has a more settled feel and has become a growing community with access to electricity for the first time. During the visit we called in on several other schools at Tomodo and Dombu as well and delivered new stationery items, books and toys. It was lovely to meet the locals, teachers and kids. We have also uploaded slideshows and video footage of our trip to share with teachers, students and other supporters.

The ultimate goal of the project is to offer a quality education to the kids in these villages around Palu so they can enjoy, and benefit from, their learning which we hope will give them greater opportunities in life. As well as the new building, the school will be equipped with furniture and resources. Uniforms have already been provided which gives the students more of a sense of community and pride in going to school.
July will see the opening of the school. Teachers from all three schools will be attending as well as key people who have administered the effort from QHHC (Qantas Helping Hands Community) and the Salvation Army Education Korps, Palu. Video and photos, regular postings and tweets will connect the schools with the trip.
In the first half of this year we will be able to follow the building process with our Palu friends taking photos of each building stage when they visit the site. These will be uploaded to our wiki and engender discussion and comment from all our participants. Being able to follow the process in this way, engages our students with the effort and makes it very real to them - they can see the fruits of their labour through to completion.
I hope this has begun a more permanent relationship. There are plans for a village soccer gala during our stay in July, upcoming teacher training workshops and ongoing support with resources, equipment and clothing are also important contributions we can make. Our connections will grow and flourish and through our online presence we can watch the school build, find out about the students' progress and understand more what its like to be a child in rural central Sulawesi.

Projects such as this are a major team effort. As well as a big thank you to the Principals of all four schools that supported the effort - I also want to thank and acknowledge Marianne Doble and David Holmsen from Cranbrook School for their support and facilitation of our big events to raise money via the Cranbrook Cares Community. Michelle Eddy and Bianca Cheshire from ACG Jakarta who did a great job both at their school and on the visit in November and all the other teachers and students who participated across the schools. Also Janneman Usmany, Grace Nelwan and the team from Salvation Army, Palu for making our November trip so wonderful. And finally Brett South, who tirelessly works to make these projects happen, and the team from QHHC.