I just started a new online MOOC, 'E-learning and Digital Cultures' offered through the University of Edinburgh and Coursera. I tried to say no, I really did. I 'pinned' the tab on Chrome and opened a new section in Netvibes for it, but had no time to look over the material other than the introduction in the first week. I decided therefore, that with my Flat Classroom Teacher Training starting this week, it would be better for me to accept that I cannot do the two courses plus my heavy work load at the moment. So I was a good girl and I 'unpinned' my tab.
But I gravitated back to it this morning because it interests me so. I accept that my engagement can only be limited but I also accept that I do need to engage with it, as it will inform my thinking not only as a educator operating in ever-increasing digital culture, but will also provide some great insight and resources for my actual teaching of this topic.
The first block of the course asks us to look at 'Utopian and Dystopian Views of Technology', which reminds me of one unit I have taught in the past that I wish to resurrect in the near future. It asks learners to explore the question, 'Can we handle our technology?' and asks them to think deeply about whether humanity is really ready for the technology it is creating in an attempt to get them to view technology as more than something that makes our lives 'better' or 'easier'.
Throughout the course of the unit, we examine texts such as 'iRobot', 'When the Wind Blows', 'Frankenstein', 'There Will Come Soft Rains', 'The Matrix: Reanimated' and 'Minority Report'; exploring how advances in technology may not always offer the fruitful future we aspire to. It explores the darker side of technological advances and makes learners consider the impact such advances may have on our futures as human beings. The short films offered up for consideration for the E-learning and Digital Cultures course will make a welcome addition to this unit and in particular, I really enjoyed 'Bendito Machine III'.
I particularly like the contrasts portrayed in the film; the simplicity of the animation and colours contrasting with the technology and concepts it explores; the ritualistic nature of human response to technology that conjured up thoughts of advertising that evokes strong brand loyalty that has some of us devout Apple tarts whilst others holistically Android. I liked the primitive nature of the people and their surroundings over the technology that they worship and the exploration of how our need to believe has evolved. Science replaces faith and yet we still blindly follow; the yellow light of 'god' that presents each new 'icon' from its tumultuous storm cloud becomes later a 'searchlight', scouring the earth for some remnants of hope, with the klaxon warning reminding us to look for a truth rather than accept and follow what is offered up. It is about choice and about our desire to believe but also about our throwaway culture that sees us flit superficially about without substance.
In this film, technology is offered up at the behest of the people who always want more but who are never satisfied with the answer in front of them; they discard the old and replace with the new but never really search deeply. The pit of broken machinery is beneath our feet and suggests there are ecological and social implications from an obsession and fixation on technology; it is not buried but picked over like bones in a graveyard; forgotten but not gone; replaceable but not replaced.
In a world where technology advances steadily and massively it is hard to keep up and there is little time to truly get to grips with each new tool offered up to us. The shining beacon of each advance and each new exciting app is hard to resist but we must remember that we have choice and we have the ability to evaluate. We cannot use everything; we cannot possibly even try everything but we must accept with thought, shine the light over the bones of what we use and evaluate the remains or else it will all be thrown over the cliff and no one will have learned a thing.
We had our kick-off meeting last week on Tuesday 5 February 2013. I was able to connect using Blackboard Collaborate , something I had not used before, but unfortunately had to leave as I was at school. However, with it being Chinese New Year I have had an extended weekend, so was able to catch up and watch the full recorded version. I have also had a cold so have not felt up to tackling the mountain of marking, but have caught up on my reading for the next meeting, namely Chapters 1-3 of the book, ' Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds '; my Tweets about the most interesting salient points for me personally, can be found under @MrsHollyEnglish under #flatclass. Having reached the end of Chapter 3, I have come across my first 3 of the 15 Flat Classroom Challenges. Having taken part in the survey assessing my current connectivity, I feel confident that I am currently in a good position - I already have established a sound PLN that I build on when I can and have added s...
“There’s probably no better example of the throttling of creativity than the difference between what we observe in a kindergarten classroom and what we observe in a high school classroom.” (Levine) Wherever in the world I have been teaching, one of the most common observations of my classroom by other teachers is that it is "like a primary classroom". This is, more often that not, said in a derogatory and dismissive way, as if the colourful and expressive landscape of learning created through explorations of language and literature is a negative thing. That I cannot possibly be teaching a secondary curriculum if they seem to be creating so much..."mess" (as it has also been called). I have never paid much attention to this; I believe that my IB Diploma English Literature class learnt a great deal about the symbols, motifs, characters, language, themes and setting through the mural we painted all over the classroom. They learnt to problem solve and collaborate...
Reflections on the First Week of Classroom Observations This year, classroom visits are framed by a Looking for Learning approach. The premise is simple: rather than focusing on what the teacher is doing, a small set of questions is used to gain a deeper understanding of the students' learning experience. Over the course of the year, the lens is through these four guiding questions: What are you learning today? Why do you think you are learning this, and how does it connect to what you have done before? How is your thinking shifting? How will you know you have been successful in your learning? These questions are deceptively simple, but they open windows into clarity, purpose, metacognition , and self-assessment. For this first phase, however, I deliberately chose to begin with just one: What are you learning today? At the start of a new academic year, it did not feel appropriate to press students yet about how their thinking was shifting or how they would evalua...
This week marked my second cycle of Looking for Learning visits. One of the greatest joys of this process has been the conversations that follow. Teachers have welcomed me into their classrooms with openness and trust, and our discussions afterwards have been equally generous and insightful. This culture of dialogue, where wonderings are met with reflection and opportunity, is a bright spot in itself. It reflects our shared belief that we are already strong educators and that we can continue to grow together. Across classrooms, several patterns of strength emerged: Clarity of learning: Many students were able to explain what they were learning and how it built on what had come before. They were not only describing the task but also connecting it to prior knowledge, showing they were constructing new understanding. Intentional design for collaboration and concept formation: I saw varied and purposeful groupings, where students were supporting one another’s learning....
Habits of Learning: Responsible, Reliable Management of Online Activity For Module 3: Citizenship, of the Flat Classroom Teacher Course, we have been assigned 'Quadblog' groups; this gives us a taste of what it is like to try to work asynchronously towards a common goal with people we don't know and who are in different time zones. My group has been assigned the topic of Individual Awareness , which is one of the areas of awareness that permeate every area of digital citizenship. Within each of the five areas of awareness - technical, individual, social, cultural and global - there are four "rays of understanding": Safety, Privacy, Copyright, Fair Use, and Legal Compliance; Etiquette and Respect; Habits of Learning: Responsible, Reliable Management of Online Activity, and Literacy and Fluency. For the Quadblog group, I am tackling the understanding of Habits of Learning: Responsible, Reliable Management of Online Activity within the concept of individu...
Dipping my toes... For the first three months of 2013, I took part in my first MOOC, 'Designing a New Learning Environment' offered by Stanford University via an initiative called Venture Lab . I signed up because it ties in with my Octopus's Garden Project and also because I wanted to experience this Flat Classroom-global-type of learning for myself. The course required us to watch weekly lectures and complete readings; for assessment we had to submit five individual assignments, one final team assignment and five peer assessments of other final projects. We signed up for teams of our choice and developed an area within new learning environments; developing our final project design based on our findings, readings and experience. Leading & Contributing I became team leader late on in the project as the original one, the one who set up the actual topic, went quiet and dropped off the radar. Having 40000 people taking part in a course makes it hard to communicate wi...
Collaborative Planning in PBL In Phase 3 of The Octopus's Garden Project, Grade 7 and Grade 8 have been working on the importance of visuals in getting their message across clearly and effectively to their audience. They recently collaborated to decide how to proceed with their final design presentations. Using the feedback and reflections from their Phase 2 presentations, along with some lesson on slide design and visual story-telling, they created a list of guidelines to guide their final designs. Introduction to Slide Design: 7 Rules for Creating Effective Slides from Alex Rister Lots of critical thinking happened as learners made important decisions about how teams would be formed, how the presentation would work, what would be included and the order each section would occur in. Learners took part in a poll to decide on team formation for this Phase and then, using the guidelines and learning from the slides above, worked on planning out...
Feedback has long been recognised as one of the most significant factors influencing student achievement. Quantitative evidence, particularly from large-scale meta-analyses, consistently demonstrates that feedback interventions produce some of the highest effect sizes of any educational practice (Hattie & Timperley, 2007; Wisniewski, Zierer, & Hattie, 2020). Yet, these same studies reveal a wide variation in outcomes, with some forms of feedback accelerating learning substantially, while others appear ineffective, or even detrimental. This paradox highlights a crucial challenge for educators: the mere presence of feedback is insufficient. Its impact depends on how clearly it communicates goals, how effectively it guides students’ next steps, and whether learners possess the capacity to interpret and apply it. This capacity is increasingly described as feedback literacy; the skills and dispositions students require to make sense of, use, and seek feedback to improve their learni...
I was amazed today at how much a simple rearrangement of the learning has rearranged the thinking space. Immediately today, my Grade 8s utilised all the different possibilites - the make-shift Chrome Books (though we have some issues there regarding speed and applications), the Macs, the floor, the paper and paint and crayons - they were painting, sculpting with paper, making collages, Prezis and Pixton cartoons; they shared work and gave feedback and collaborated more than they ever had - it was awesome and made me even more exciting to roll out the project. Look what has happened with a shift of furniture. Imagine the possibilities when we rethink and customise the whole space... :)
In the latest module of my Masters in Education and Instructional Technology, we studied "Administration of Technology Initiatives: Planning, Budgeting, and Evaluation". This involved us exploring how to research and write for grants, as well as design and plan at both classroom and school initiative level. As many schools are implementing technology into their curriculum, it is important that we think about the role that educators and technology integrators can play in successful technology use in the classroom. This following is my research into technology professionals conducted during the summer of 2016. I have since gained employment elsewhere and am no longer working at the school mentioned in this paper. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --> Technology Professionals: The ‘Interview’ With the advent of technology becoming more prevalent in schools, many establishments...
I'm also in the course - I really liked your analysis of the youtube film -Bendito machine.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your feedback Sara
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