January, 2012

#Success / Behaviour / Challenge / Teaching — No Comments
31
Jan 12

ipadio: Hexagonal Learning

I am not going to write a SOLO taxonomy thinking post, I do not know it well enough, I haven’t I explored it far enough nor taught with it in mind. But I will. However the hexagonal tessalating idea, now I am up for that. I may even combine it to shoeless teaching. There’s lots of other excellent uses for hexagonal learning. Tait Coles, Chris Harte and David Didau are already ahead of the game. These guys have put together a useful Prezi, share Teachmeet videos and shared class footage. The practitioners have already provide some very compelling evidence so perhaps I can help in a different way?

Here is a hexagonal learning template and four reflections from today’s lesson and a few more images.

  1. Group’s of 2 were productive, 3 seemed to be engage and discussing the hexagons, 4 seemed a little strained.
  2. The students wanted to ‘finish’ the task and they wanted to know if they had got it right. In the second lesson, I really emphasised that first they needed to decided on the hexagon associations. That there was no ‘right’ answer and that they would need to be able defend their solutions.
  3. The students did not see discussion and justifying the hexagon placement as learning.
  4. The best thinking came about when I challenged their hexagon placements.

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You heard the student feedback, here is their work. I did keep the cut-out hexagons for next time. I think I will soon have a draw full of hex learning activities. Bring on the novels!

 

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Digital Learning — No Comments
30
Jan 12

Can technology change teacher practice?

I could not hold back. I just let it all out…

Tom Whitby offers educators really great discussion. This afternoon I got caught up in ‘Can technology change teacher practice. When it comes to technology enhanced learning, I love the gadgets but I am only interested in the learning. Do we really need to force feed it upon the profession? Here is my comment to Tom Connell’s guest post. If I was a little heavy handed, I apologise.

Learning. Passionate about my profession, I am focused on challenging and inspiring young people. With or without technology, though I am not one to ignore technology. If technology accelerates learning, count me in. If tech gets in the way, I am as happy to ignore it. And of course, there is still plenty of room and opportunity to improvement good old fashioned ‘regular’ teaching.

Let me share a few teaching and learning experiences from an exciting week to colour in or enhance that statement.

On Tuesday I watched a live theatre performance brought to our school by a local drama company. Simply amazing, I mo-blogged as I watched and tweeted to other teacher colleagues. Back in class ‘we’ ipadio’d the students opinions and published straight to blog via a phone. The students loved that to.

Wednesday I presented and shared IF (interactive fiction) for creative writing and coding. Almost all ‘old’ technology, well retro, as a motivation to stimulate students writing.

On Friday I explored shoeless teaching with three very different groups (11-16, low ability, mixed ability and middle set) and today I explored how hexagons are better than squares (http://chrisharte.typepad.com/learner_evolution_chris_h/2011/04/solo-im-ridin-solo.html) for consolidating learning / thinking. Neither are technology enhanced, both were accessed through online professional platforms and RSS.

It is short sighted to assume that technology enhanced teaching makes for better learning. That this mode is somehow preferential because learners are digital immersed. Yes learning is opening up, yes, students are creating or finding their own learning pathways. Yes, we should celebrate it. As we should celebrate those wonderful relationships created and forged between student and teacher. Let’s not down play the flexibility of regular teaching, many of my most effective teaching memories have been as of a result of student curiousity and questioning leading us astray. Where the value of abondoning the lesson plan has been greater than the value of sticking to it. Show me AI that can make that distinction.

“You don’t learn because your engaged. You’re engaged because you’re learning.” With or without tech. I have little preference.Thank you for the opportunity to comment, John Connell’s thought really got me thinking.

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Digital Learning / Games Based Learning / IF — No Comments
30
Jan 12

Programming the Wolfram Way

“Programming is to mathematics what composition is to English.” he said. “It’s how you express your creativity. Conrad Wolfram

There is a strong validation for taking that programming and creativity and combining it with interactive fiction? No?

Reflection on #lwf12 from the NY post here.

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Games Based Learning / Teaching — No Comments
29
Jan 12

Whilst we are on the topic of Gaming…

“You don’t learn because your engaged. You’re engaged because you’re learning.” – Nick deKanter (Muzzy Lane Software)

 

catsMuzzy Lane mane serious education titles. I think I am planning to recommend Making-history to our history department. Surely playing one or all of the game demo’s would make for a fantastic extended learning task? Wouldn’t it? And considering that Making History: The Calm & The Storm is just £3.28 I am hoping some students might fully immerse themselves in their learning.

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Digital Learning — No Comments
28
Jan 12

I Still Believe in 121

I have been suggesting that 2012 would be being the year of ‘digital text’ in whatever format or guise it might be. I did not, and could not, have known about Apple’s pending iBook revolution?! Possibly but only where there is isaturation. I honestly thought it would be a combination of other devices and formats. Regardless, it has once again heightened my interest in 121 learning and 2012 is even more likely to be the year of digital text now.

Second time around I am far more interested in whole school cultural change and how to bring about that change, than I am about the tech. Even imaxing 3D, video enabled interactive iBooks, on super fast shiny new IPad3. In either form factor, if the rumours are in fact true and we could see a new mid size product.

This post is the result of wider reading and these simple words.

It doesn’t happen when society adopts new technologies – it happens when society adopts new behaviors.
- Clay Shirky, Here Comes Everybody, p. 160

It’s certainly easy to spend money of new technologies, if hard to sometimes justify. It’s never easy to spend money on developing new behaviours and even more difficult to justify.

That leaves me thinking about how to most effectively bring about change.

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Mo-post. These are always a bit random as editing is tough and mainly Siri generated.

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