Third South African GAFE Summit 2016...things I will take with me

I recently attended the summit, hosted by Parklands College in Cape Town (Thank you +Parklands College Secondary Faculty for the excellent conference) and have, as I often do, decided to write about the top things I took away from the event.

1) +Jennie Magiera's keynote on allowing student to progress through failure really resonated. I have, over the past few years tried to incorporate an aspect of deliberate 'failure' into my lessons. The point being that failure leads to the gaining of knowledge on a far broader spectrum than simply the ability to answer a test question.

What worries and astounds me is that often parents are not willing to allow their children to experience failure of any sort. We need to step back and allow the child to develop the resilience needed to cope with life.

Teachers also need to allow failure in their lessons, however we cannot and should not accept mediocrity. The story of 'Austin's Butterfly' reinforces what is possible when we expect more from children.

2) Screencastify: Just...WOW! Thank you +Holly Clark for this one.

3) The teachers: and their sheer enthusiasm and excitement for learning. The 'jazz hands', the applause for new things, the fact they stayed until the last keynote, all of it!

4) WikiTube: this was one of the extensions I presented. The ability to see YouTube above a Wikipedia search is like tech magic!

5) The rebirth of Google Drawings: As a few of the presenters mentioned Drawings is the lost cousin of the GAFE toolset. What we forget is that many students find drawing easier than writing. +Jennie Magiera used the revision history to illuminate a students thought process and provide insight into their choices and changes. Check out her site for more.

6) Sharing: Everyone who presented at the conference was more than willing to put resources, ideas and links on the conference site for everyone to access and use. Thank you all for this valuable resource.

7) The Omnibox: So much more than just search box. A calculator, currency converter, specialist research tool, event creator and more. Use the omnibox tips and hints.

8) Google Classroom: This is by far my favourite tool in the GAFE toolbox. One thing that I try to emphasize is that Classroom is NOT a LMS, it is a workflow management tool or a document management tool and as such it is peerless. The continued updates and upgrades, based on teacher input are making it indispensable in my classroom.

Here is and excellent post on the strengths of classroom by +Tom Mullaney : Google Classroom is not an LMS. It's better!

All in all the conference, once again, passed expectations. Thank you to everyone who taught, shared, talked and attended.

Thank you for reading this.

Book Creator: the Panacea App?

Over the past few years I have had the privilege of being a beta-tester for the Book Creator App.

It all started with a reach-out via twitter to Dan Amos who created the app. Soon after I was invited to join the book creator basecamp. A place where teachers and users could contribute idea's and solutions in order to improve the overall experience of book creator.

The app has come a long way!

Initially an iOS only ePub app the team at Book Creator have continued to push the boundaries of the app. Nowadays it is a cross platform publisher that is easily used by students across the ages.

In fact at my school I have seen it used by 5 -16 year olds, each in their own unique way. The ease of use and familiar controls make using the app a breeze.

Some examples I have seen done at my school or used by myself are:

1. 13 year old students creating 2nd language readers for 7 year old students. Using a little trick that allows the younger student to have the book read to them by touching the writing. (PS thanks @Joe_Moretti for that one)
2. Project progress reports at age 12/13 level. The reports include research interviews, photos and video's of progress, reflection, feedback and self-assessment.
3. Instruction booklets for Lego Robotics. The students were required to design a complex machine and then create an instruction booklet for younger students. The feedback loop for this project was extraordinary as students got to see whether the instruction they created made sense and, often, they had to go back and add steps or explanations.
4. Age 7 research projects. A book created on a specific topic presented by Grade 2 students.
5. Age 5 my holiday projects (This one is by my own daughter #proudfather).

However, more important than the uses the app has is the ease of sharing. Book creator allows a student of teacher to share book in 3 ways:

1. As an editable ePub (and therefor into the ibooks store)
2. as a PDF
3. and, amazingly, as a video

Once an option is chosen the student is able to share into any app that allows 'open in...', including Showbie, Google Drive, Dropbox, mail, messages, Evernote, Box and dozens of others. This makes book creator extremely versatile.

Once the book is shared, teachers and other students can download them to read or to add to their own book by combining existing books. 

One thing is for sure, if it's not the actual panacea the book creator app is as close as it comes currently.

Version 4.0 gets even better with comics!! Red Jumper Studios haven't yet sat on their laurels. Don't expect them to do that soon either.

GEG South Africa...and all it's branches

Whoop, Whoop! GEG Dainfern launched today.

GEG Dainfern founder members

'Google Educator Groups. Learn. Share. Inspire. Empower.' is the calling cry of GEG's all over the world.

Recently the GEG program was launched in South Africa. With local partners SchoolNetSA and a group of enthusiastic and dedicated leaders and trainers Google hopes to establish and maintain a training and development program that could change the way teachers and schools approach technology.

According to Google:

'Google believes that the best inspiration to educators are other educators. It is for this reason that Google helped start a community of passionate educators, who bring the benefits of technology to schools, classrooms, and communities across the world.

GEGs provide a platform for educators to collaborate with one another, allowing them to pick up new creative ideas from one another, and to help each other best meet the needs of their students with Google solutions. GEG activities take place both online and offline. Online GEGs provide a space for educators to discuss together and learn about one another through Google+; offline, locally run events and workshops are a way to learn and share face to face.

Anyone is very welcome to join GEG. You may be a principal, a school administrator, a professor, a student, or just someone interested in using Google products to help people learn. Each group is organised by a local volunteer (GEG leader) and is entirely independent from Google, the corporation.'

This means that although Google provides resources, in terms of tools and training, it has no influence on the direction and thoughts of the GEG participants.

But what does this all mean? Does a GEG just talk Google, are they limited to what Google provides. In short, no, I do not believe this.

GEG's are device and platform agnostic (although GAFE helps), they admit anyone who is interested and do not look at background, means or even connectivity. The idea is to embrace #edtech and run with it.

What Google have foreseen is a rapidly changing world in which teachers and schools need to adapt to changes on an ongoing basis. The GEG is designed to be a place where teachers receive training and advice that provides the tools they need to cope in a modern classroom. One where knowledge is empowered by the use of research, analysis and critical thinking around any given topic. A place to share ideas on teaching philosophy, on networking (both physical and social) and on being in the classroom.

The best thing so far about the process of establishing a GEG is the training I have had the opportunity to receive. A mad weekend of getting to know 25-30 passionate teachers and administrators from around South Africa (Abrie Pepler,  Nomusa Keninda, Anthony Peters and so many others), a Google+ community that is growing fast and provides solid advice and discussion on a variety of topics and a local group of teachers from Crawford's Fourways, Lonehill and Italia, St Peters School,  Dainfern College, Cedarwood School and Rivonia Primary.

What I look forward to is getting more schools involved. The more the merrier. No-one 'owns' a GEG and they can evolve, split and reconvene, as long as the needs of the teachers are met.

Over the next few months a network of GEG's should be established around South Africa, take the opportunity and join one. It might change the way you teach!

Thanks to all the teachers who were present. If you are interested please contact me to join. We are especially keen for government schools to join us. So far there is only one.

A screaming need...

Over the past 2 months I have had the privilege to attend two separate and distinct events.

The first was organised by SchoolNetSA and was the initial training for Google Educator group Leaders and Trainers. About 30 people spent a weekend learning everything there was to know about Google in the classroom and how to enable teachers and allow them to use GAFE (Google Apps for Education) effectively in their classrooms.

The teachers and officials who attended the course were all highly knowledgable and had a need to spread the use of tech in the classroom beyond their own schools and into the wider community.

This event was held at a upmarket private school in Johannesburg, South Africa and the facilities available were top notch. We were able to explore all the tools that Google has made available to educators, all free of charge.

At one stage a few of us estimated that the combined technology in the room we were using was in excess of R500000 ($45000), macs, PC's, iPAds, Tablets, phones, Smartboards and all...

The second event was organised by the Corona Schools Trust in Lagos, Nigeria. I was invited to help introduce Google to the invited teachers. The trust had organisied a conference to introduce their teachers to the use of ICT's in the classroom, to show them the possibilities that tech offers them as teachers and to open their eyes to the possibilities of international cooperation. My role was to show the teachers the tools that Google offers a teacher.

This event hosted 1000 teachers over 5 days, 75 in a group and little or no access to computers and the internet.

The room I presented in was barely 6m by 6m and had no air-conditioner.

Two very different experiences, but similar in topic...

What was emphasised was the gulf in technology across the continent of Africa and the desperate need that teachers feel when they cannot access the amazing resources that the internet offers to them and to their students.

For those who are interested I am posting my report on the training:

_________________________________________________________________________________

Over the course of the 1,5 hour workshops I introduced the teachers to 6 tools that Google offers them. All the tools are made more effective using a Google account (accounts.google.com).

The first tool looked at was Gmail. Gmail offers a free mail service to any person on the planet, and although there are many such services, Gmail is the most common starting point on Google products. In most classes we looked at how to set up labels and filters and then talked about using them to manage email.

The workshop then moved on to looking at Gcal, the calendar functionality of gmail. Gcal is very effective for department meeting planning, parent teacher interview appointments and everyday planning. The workshop looked at how to use Gcal to send and accept meeting invitations.

Tool three was Google Drive, a free, online service offered by Google that allows a user to create documents, spreadsheets, presentations and more. The power of Drive is in the collaborative aspect of each document. They can be shared with as many users and necessary and only one copy of the document will exist. In the workshop teachers were shown how this might increase learning opportunities, even from a mobile device.

Each of the first three tools require the teachers to have a Google Account, the second group are available without an account, but can be used more effectively with and account. These tools are Google maps, Youtube.com/edu and Google search.

In Maps we looked at virtual field trips using street view, in Youtube we looked at how to find subject specific videos that are relevant and how to download them for offline viewing using savefrom.net and finally in search the teachers were introduced to Google search operators and shown how to use them to make search results more relevant to their topic.

The idea of each workshop was to give an idea of the possibilities that Google offers teachers and students, to open their eyes to the range of free services that are available online and to start them thinking of ways to use these tools in an offline environment.

Reflection

During each workshop I tried to gauge the ability and interest of the teachers, in terms of both teaching and learning with ICT. In this respect the teachers, in general, and the 150 or so who emailed me afterwards in particular seemed to recognise the importance of getting their students online. In fact, getting students online could boost the economy of the whole country and continent according to “Lions go digital: The Internet’s transformative potential in Africa” by McKinsey & Company (2013) in which they note that “Internet could contribute up to US$300 billion to African gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025 if internet penetration becomes as widespread as that of mobile phones”.

I truly believe that by empowering our students we empower the country and continent and therefore my reflections and recommendations are based on the belief that the more students we have interacting with the different ICT’s and, more importantly, doing so online the better it is for all.

 

Recommendations

The first set of recommendations I make are ‘big vision’ goals that might not be immediately possible. The start of which is to continue the sort of training that was done over the course of the week. It is vital that the teachers in the city continue to experience the power and purpose that the various departments have provided them. Even more helpful would be to have smaller groups that are intensively trained and encouraged to implement the training, or even better, to train other teachers. The ‘ICT champion’ is a well used method of introducing ICT to a school or district.

Secondly, I would ask you to consider ways of getting the schools connected reliably. This can be done through IT labs, or in a more radical way, by looking at the impact of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) programs at schools around the world. The impact of accessible knowledge on the teaching and learning environment is huge and it allows the teacher to focus on skills development rather than content delivery.

On a more day to day level I would recommend getting Google Nigeria, who have a good education division, involved in your schools. By ‘Going Google’ schools get access to all of Google’s tools for all their staff and students. This allows the school to administer the email accounts and decide which tools the students can access through their email account (http://www.google.co.za/edu/apps/ and http://www.google.co.za/edu/solutions.html). Once the school is registered and online the tools are free and the process is quite simple. Even if the connectivity is not available immediately I would recommend you register the schools domains and Google Apps for Education licence for future rollout.

Secondly I would pilot a BYOD solution in one or more schools and, from there, consider the impact BYOD has on teaching. Starting small would allow schools and districts to have the correct disciplinary and school processes in place before a larger rollout. BYOD also allows the schools to avoid the costs of assigning devices to students and the maintenance of said devices.

Finally I would suggest that a group of teachers who are really interested and able are trained to be trainers in Lagos. Local knowledge is always more powerful. There will always be a need for ‘outside’ trainers and the knowledge they have but they could train this smaller group and therefore have more impact on a larger number of teachers.

Conclusion

There is a high demand for access to ICT’s and the impact they could have on the teaching and learning environment of a school. By allowing teachers to see the possibilities doors are opened to future opportunities and growth.

Thank you for the opportunity to visit Nigeria, Lagos and CTC and I look forward to meeting more teacher sas this project moves forward

_________________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for taking the time to read this! Please feel free to add suggestions and if you have the inclination and time to connect with the teachers in Nigeria please join our Google Group at https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/google-in-nigeria

GAFESummit 2014

WOW!

What a busy 2 days of learning and networking (Both physically and in a 'internet' sense). It was brilliant to see what was happening all over the school.

Thank you to all the delegates who attended and a special thanks to all the presenters, both featured and local!

So, in keeping with my '10 things' vibe, here is what I will take from the Summit 2014:

1) YouTube is huge and getting bigger!

Starting with youtube.com/edu which collates education videos on the regular youtube.com, to the personal youtube channels and then the video editor Youtube continues to redefine itself as an educational smorgasbord!

2) IFTTT

One presentation and a demo slam confirmed that the time of IFTTT has arrived. If you haven't explored it now is the time!

This brilliant tool allows a user to create 'receipes' (or just use the ones other people have shared) to manage and maintain the internet of things.

3) Chrome Extensions

Little tools that make life simpler, look around to find the ones you like and make chrome work for you!

My favourites are CheckerPlus for Google Calendar, Docs Quickly, TabCloud (My personal best extension!) and OneTab which come a close second.

Just remember that with the pace of internet development these do change often.

For more extensions for education check out this doc: 50+ Chrome Extensions for Educators
with permission from Jake Duncan

4) Google+

Dee Lanier did a workshop on Google+, and this platform is growing fast. Time to get involved:

Check out Dee's resources on his doc or get involved in the new Google Educators Group South Africa

5) It not about the app!

Many sessions talked to the idea that we need to concentrate on ensuring that our teaching is solid and not based on teaching the app but rather the Child (Adult?). There seems to be a move towards ensuring that the pedagogy is correct before we concentrate on the technology. This will ensure that lessons are designed to stimulate and grow the knowledge and enthusiasm of both teachers and students!

6) Paperless

Not only is the conference paperless (although some felt uncomfortable with this) but Glenn Jones of Western Province Prep School presented a session on using scripts to enhance the paperless classroom. This is definitely a growing trend and it will be interesting to see how teachers adapt to a paperless classroom.

7) Personalisation

The growing trend for people to choose different devices for different uses makes it vital that the 'internet' works for the individual and for each student and teacher. The trend is to customise the experience for each individual and allow them to decide how to make things work for them.

8) Gamification

With badges, both electronic and stickers, handed out throughout the conference, the trend towards gaming the classroom has grown over the past year. Helen Robertson the Content Coordinator at Mindset Network did a great presentation on planning and preparation for the gamified classroom.

9) Custom Searching

One tip I picked up was on how to create a custom search engine for use on a blog or in class. Sean Hampton-Cole, who is Edtech Integrator / Senior Teacher at Crawford College Lonehill, shared a whole bunch of resources for his talk and among them are the instructions to set up a custom search engine

10) The people

Once again, the greatest buzz from #gafesummit was the time I spent talking to and networking with teachers from all over South Africa and the world. Thank you all for coming to Dainfern College and see you next year!

For the lowdown check out https://storify.com/ajegbers/gfesummit-za

Getting Students going on a Tablet

Wow! it has been a while since I blogged.

At my school we have been running a BYOT (tablet) programme for two years. This involves both the Grade 6 (11-12 year old) and Grade 7 (12-13 year old) students.

I our first year we struggled to get the grade 6 students up to par with using the Tablets in class and so in January 2014 we implemented a Tablet licence for these students. The idea was to use Edmodo to introduce the students to the schools workflow solution, to introduce them to working on a tablet and to make sure they all had the required apps in order to use a tablet effectively at school.

To start the process we used a Google Doc to get input from all the Grade 6 teachers and create an outline to follow in order to ensure that we covered all our bases. At the end of this process we had 30 major items that every student needed to be aware of in order to use their tablet properly. These were then grouped into Modules or learning tasks.

1. Create an outline document for your schools work flow

Once we had the modules we needed to find a way for students to access them, without having tablets at school.

For this part I decided to run the licence via Edmodo, firstly because we use Edmodo at school and secondly because the students need to be comfortable using Edmodo to both receive tasks and to hand in completed work. The first step was to create a group that the students could join:

Create a group

After that I created modules for each student to complete. The licence is self-paced and open to all Grade 6 students. I started by loading to Assignments (Modules) each week. The module below used commonsense Media's Digital Passport to introduce the students to sensible online behavior.

3. Set assignments that cover your content

Once a student finishes a module to my satisfaction they receive a badge to show that they have completed the specified task.

4. Award your badges as work is completed

In this case once a student had earned the first 9 badges they were allowed to bring a tablet to school. This signals the start of part 2 of the licence which will show students how to use their Tablet in class. The 'Whoo Hoo' badge signaled the specific students permission to bring a Tablet to school, get the key to their Tablet Locker and start using the Tablet in classes.

5. Hand out the licence

Part 1 on the licence covered the following 'modules':

1. The schools Acceptable Use Policy.
2. Digital Citizenship.
3. Password Management (Security of and remembering their passwords)
4. Email etiquette
5. Email Setup (Labels and filters)
6. Edmodo assignment turn in.
7. Google Calendar.
8. App/Play/Windows store account setup
9. Social Media safety
10. App readiness (in terms of getting all the recommenced apps for school)

Over the course of administering this process the main problems I had were:

1. with keeping up with the administration of the modules (96 kids and 11 assignments so far, with 12 to go) 
2. keeping all the students on track on a self-paced project. The issueing of  the first few 'licences' did help though.
3. handing out the badges. As of now Edmodo has no way of automatically awarding a badge with a pass mark (Would love it if more people suggested this as a future feature for the Edmodo developers)

At the end of it all this licence has empowered the students in terms of knowing what is expected of them once they have a tablet at school. The teachers are more comfortable with the fact that students have tablets because they know that they are able to assign tasks and use the tablets in class knowing that the students are prepared for this sort of teaching.

Phase two of the licence start in May and I will do another post on how that goes. This part will cover:

1. Setting up the tablet
2. It's crashed, now what?
3. Backing up and restoring the tablet and work on the tablet.
4. Reading on the tablet (Kindle, iBooks and others. Also looking at the differences of the various formats, PDF, ePub etc)
5. It’s safe! Safety and security of the Tablet. Including having a cover, using the school lockers and tracking the device.
6. General classroom rules an the Tablet AUP.

A year in review or 10 Things I learned this year

As usual, when a year draws to a close, people look back over the previous 12 or so months and reflect on opportunities or misses. I am looking back to record what I learned this year in terms of training, BYOD and staff and pupil development. I am starting to enjoy these '10...' posts so you can expect more:

1). Everyone learns at their own pace...

...and sometimes, as a trainer, we need to accept that. Along with this goes the provision that some people will not want to learn what we prescribe. This goes for adults and children. As teachers and trainers we need to 'hook' a person by showing the possibilities of a technology and not necessarily the end point. At school we call it a 'technological journey' that every staff member is on and we try to help them along their own path rather than a path we have chosen. As a teacher I believe that we need to do the same for our children. In my view this is the only way to create a lifelong learner, a child or adult who studies for the love of learning and not just for tests and exams.

2.) Technology can help us do this.

It allows a teacher the space to differentiate, set multiple projects on the same theme, or just give the children time to learn their own thing or in their own way. To this end I tried a very short version of 20% time after reading 10 Reasons To Try 20% Time In The Classroom and gave the students a project that was self directed and self paced but had the underlying premise of looking at the technology behind their favourite hobby, sport or passion.

3). Google knows everything but can't teach it!

It is up to the teacher to teach children how to research, analyse and interpret the things Google can tell them.

4).Google is awesome

After attending the GAFESummit in Cape Town (Here is my post on that: 10 things I will be taking from the za.gafesummit.com) I decided Google was awesome. Not for the content but for the technologies it drives or associates itself with, either through the 20% time they give their staff or from a passionate group of educators and developers around the world. There is a passion for education that is at the core of Google and that it shares with a large group of educators around the world.

Oh! and the Loon project, Google is awesome because of the Loon project!! (Project Loon)

5).Apple is awesome...

...and especially the South African Apple team at ThinkAhead who constantly strive to show the power of technology in the classroom. As a BYOTablet school we have had to lean on their knowledge all through the year. Best of all we have been able to teach them too, with neither side worried about ego's or point scoring.

6). Put them together and a classroom is awesome!

IMHO, my situation would not work without the combined resources of Google and Apple, both in terms of technology and cloud computing. With a growing Google Apps ecosystem on all tablets and the ease of use of the Apple devices our school has been able to push the limits of what students are capable of in terms of technology and learning. I no longer have to draw information from unwilling minds, the student is able to show their ideas and knowledge in so many forms that it is possible for every student to show their knowledge.

7). Creative Commons Search

I have written about this before but it is just so useful I put it in again!

8). Content Creation Apps

Along with many others I have moved away from content delivery apps and towards the apps that allow a student to create something of their own abd share it with someone else. Especially useful for this type of teaching and learning is the Book Creator App and I would like to thank +Dan Amos for the opportunity to be a part of the development and testing of the latest version of this app (and good luck with the Android launch!), it just gets better and better. Other useful apps include ExplainEverything, iFiles, Edmodo and Dropbox. Each of these have helped with our schools workflow solution. Speaking of which...

9). Workflow Solutions

every school must have one, especially in terms of effective assessment and learning. Also, every school needs to find on that suits their style and philosophy. Very often 'pre-packaged' solutions just don't cut it!
So...find a way that suits your school and don't delay because you are unsure. Rather be flexible, apologise for mistakes and accept feedback and criticism then act on it.

10). 10 things posts

I have really enjoyed this type of post, both as a writing style and for reading. I find the idea of a list to work through or a list to create allows me to pick and choose what I find valuable. Edudemic.com uses this style of blogging often and very effectively.

Lastly, Thank you to everyone who read my posts this year. Next year is a year of comments, so feel free to leave yours!

10 things I will be taking from the za.gafesummit.com

On the 26th and 27th of September I was privileged enough to attend the first South African/African Gafesummit in Cape Town. Held at Parklands College (Thanks Guys, awesome conference) the conference was Google exemplified!

Parklands and Schoolnetsa invited the http://www.edtechteam.com/ to present the conference and the team blew us away with their knowledge and energy, considering many of them flew in from all over the world I am sure that energy was hard to find.

The sheer amount of learning made this conference, in my opinion, the best conference I have been to this year.

So what did I take away form the conference besides some new people to follow on twitter (@followmolly, @scubagirl812, @rushtonh and @markwagner among many others) and Google+?

Well, lets try narrow it down to 10, starting with some observations and then some cool tech:


1) Amazing Video's

In every presentation there was a video to make you think! What it brought home was the power of a video used in the right place at the right time. As teacher we tend to see you tube as a time waster (and it can be, I just spent 10 minutes following recommended links) but to our students it allows entry to a world of knowledge.

2) Sheer Enthusiasm!

Over the 2 days of the conference there wasn't a moment where the teachers were not talking, connecting, sharing ideas or just plain whooping at new ideas and technology that just blew us away.

3) Boomerang

...and it's pal The Email Game, both brilliant and both so simple. If you haven't already you really need to check them out! The goal is inbox zero (9000 odd to go, wish me luck). (boomeranggmail.com)

4) 45 tips for Google Apps for Education

A short presentation by mark Garrison that gave so many new ideas that I had to read it over and over.

5) Flubaroo

Self marking Google forms, what could be better. Well, emailing the results automatically at the same time!!

6) Maps Engine Lite

Customised maps of anything on earth. @scubagirl812 showed us how to bring Google Maps to life. Although I had heard and seen this before it was brilliant to see how much could be done. This session was so inspiring that you could nearly hear the new teaching idea's popping into people's heads.

7) Productivity

Dozens of tips and tricks provided by @markwagner to make Google Apps work faster for you (and other program's as well). I especially liked my introduction to AlternativeTo.net which gives, you won't believe it, alternatives to favourite pieces of software for various platforms.

8) http://search.creativecommons.org/

Thanks to @rushtonH for this, all creative commons resources all the time! This search engine along with the Google reference tool that can be switched on in Google Doc (Tools --> Research) are very powerful for everyone who is concerned about plagiarism, did anyone say Matric?

9) Customisation

What I was most reminded of during the conference is just how flexible Google is. It is, at heart, designed to try and make every individuals life easier. Tell it how you like to do things and it just does them. Even better, Google is starting to figure out things for you. The seamless integration across technologies and platforms is just brilliant.

10) The Demo Slam

Great staff development tool, each teacher presents an idea for 3 minutes. Best is it can even be used outside of 'tech' and just to blast several idea's at one sitting. I loved it and well done to @KShermanTweets for the outstanding win. Big applause by the partisan local crowd.

All in all this was a brilliant experience. What struck me most (even above the 10 things I took from the conference) was just how easy it is to customise Google for each user's needs. Every teacher, IT guy and 'other' at the conference could probably write a completely different but just as relevant and exciting '10 things' list. If you do please let me know about it, i would love to read it!

SchoolNet Blending the flipping classroom presentation

Blending the flipping classroom presentation for SchoolNetSA presentation 2013

SchoolNet BYOT presentation 2013

Bring your own device presentation for SchoolNet conference 2013

Future technology and the IT industry

On the first day of term the school’s teaching staff was privileged to have Fred Baumhardt, the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Microsoft South Africa, as a guest speaker. In a speech entitled “2016 and beyond”, Fred took the time to show our staff the amazing technology that already exists and will soon become affordable (Every year the price of a new technology decreases by approximately 10 times!). Many of the amazing technologies we were introduced to will be available within the next few years.

Fred showed us a world where connectivity was an everyday occurrence and a person’s ability to access information was unlimited. More importantly, he explained how this connectivity was already available, although the costs associated with staying connected were still, at times, exorbitant. He pointed out that as time passes this cost is decreasing worldwide and we, as teachers, parents and students need to take advantage of the abundance of information available to us. We need to train students to understand this abundance of information, to be able to use it effectively through research, to acknowledge the strengths and weaknesses of the information we find and, finally, to be able to analyse the content objectively.

This Utopian view of technology has to be balanced by an acknowledgement of the weaknesses of the hardware and software available to us, the need to have an ecosystem that supports its use and a confession by Fred that the IT industry as a whole have not come to the party in regards to education and its very specific needs.

Until now the IT industry has sold solutions that they have developed to support the software they have developed to be used by people who understand how to use the hardware and software as a unit. The attitude was, and in many times still is, one of ‘fire and forget’. Each user was expected to adapt their systems to fit the hardware and software that was already available. This was especially apparent in the Education field. Schools built networks to support the needs of the organisation without much input from the providers of the hardware and software. There was no concerted effort to develop solutions for education. In general, the money was not made in the education field.

This lack of partnership between providers and users has led to a vast variety of ‘solutions’ for educational institutions and each school has had to choose their own path. At this point we need to acknowledge the efforts any school network 'guy' who manged, in spite of the providers, the development of a stable, sustainable and, maybe most vitally, upgrade-able network for their school. As Fred mentioned this has been done, in many cases, despite the IT industry rather than because of it.

Things are changing!

More and more both hardware and software providers are looking at delivering a unified system to Education institutions. These technological ‘Ecosystems’ are been designed to facilitate the process of skills acquisition rather that the sales of software or hardware. Each school will have an ‘App’ that will govern hardware policy, software deployment and who can access which part of the network. This ecosystem will adapt to the varying needs of each school and, therefore, no solution will be the same.

More importantly, each individual will have their own ‘ecosystem’ which may not be the same as the school they attend. The schools system will then have to adapt to and incorporate the individuals’ choices and also support those choices.  The next big step for both education and IT will be to allow open access to the systems that allow for effective and open communication in the hope that teaching and learning will grow from this openness.

In the hour that we spent with Fred we heard and saw things that both shocked and amazed us. If you are interested in seeing some of what we saw have a look at the following videos.  All the technology in them already exists and will be available commercially in the very near future!

Blending or Flipping?

The rise of technology in the classroom has given impetus to two major trends in the average or above average (depending on your point of view) classroom or lesson.

The question is how to make this change effective?

At a recent conference I (briefly) presented a talk on flipping and blending the classroom, during the preparation for that talk I did a bit of research on the exact definitions of the two models. The conclusion of most of the sites that I visited was that the change must happen and is happening in many schools and tertiary institutions but that there is not really a common consensus on what both models are or how best to use them.

Picture from Wikipedia

Lets start by looking at the blended classroom:

This type of classroom combines 3 types of learning to try and achieve a model of learning that allows different types of learners to access information in a way that they are comfortable with. In other words, "The goal of a blended approach is to join the best aspects of both face to face and online instruction. Classroom time can be used to engage students in advanced interactive experiences."(http://weblearning.psu.edu). It further allows students to access information at their own convenience and at their own pace.

To help explain I found a great little video.

I, personally, love the idea of a blended learning model and see many benefits for students in an institution that has the scope to provide the material in various ways. The video describes it as a cheaper way to educate people but that, i would guess, depends on the quantity of people who access the material (UNISA are you reading this!)

And then the Flipped classroom:

I love this explanation! Watch it and you will understand why I am not going to say any more. PS I don't just use video's to explain things in my classroom.

The flipped classroom lets the students gain 'content' at home and then arrive at school to develop that knowledge through teacher facilitation.

In other words we take the cognitive development aspect of learning out of the parents hands and put it back in the hands of the people who are trained to do it. This might also, hopefully, lead to a recognition of the true skill of an educator. Their ability to engage a disparate group of kids and make them want to learn.

Finally the question must be: How do we use these models to enhance learning in our own classrooms?

Some teachers who have been doing this longer than me gave the following tips (Commentary by me):

(http://campustechnology.com/articles/2013/01/23/6-expert-tips-for-flipping-the-classroom.aspx)

1) Use existing technology to ease faculty and students into a flipped mindset.

Don't expect every teacher to be immediately comfortable with using either of the models. Encourage then to try it in a controlled way. Baby steps...

2) Be up front with your expectations.

The more honest you are  the more successful the change will be. Use examples to show how it works and, maybe most importantly, let them know that it won't work properly every time!

3) Step aside and allow students to learn from each other.

Probably the toughest part of the process for the 'traditional' teacher. We need to step back and allow the learners develop their own knowledge through debate, discussion and reflection with their peers. There are great examples of teachers who have managed this and seen incredible success in transforming the way the kids approach their lessons. We, as teachers, need to step aside and allow the students to make the decision on how to approach the application parts of learning.

4) Assess students' understanding of pre-class assignments to make the best use of class time.

Use quizzes that are completed at home (we use Edmodo at our school) to lead you in how to approach the content in the classroom. There is still space for a lecture now and again, especially for more complicated idea's, however don't expect the parents to have to develop the understanding of a topic. That is the teachers job.

5) Set a specific target for the flip.

Make sure the pedagogy is in place to enhance the learning experience, use the correct technology to support that pedagogy and finally, let the student decide which part of that technology suits them best.

Use critical thinking along with Blooms taxonomy to help plan a 'flipping' route for your own classroom.

6) Build assessments that complement the flipped model. 

The traditional assessments have their place but it is important to allow other, more cooperative ways of assessing the development of knowledge. Use sets of questions that can be answered in pairs or groups. Use   online quizzes and allow Google (research skills are vital). Use a debate. Make something up that suits you.

The most important thing is to use the technology available to enhance and drive your teaching. Do not use the technology for technologies sake but rather use it to transform the way you teach!

Good luck.

Discipline in the Tablet classroom.

Over the past few days teachers at my school have been debating the methods of maintaining discipline in a classroom where every pupil has access to a device and/or the internet and/or a whole variety of brilliant distractions!

One of the most popular suggestions was the removal of the device from the student and, while that is effective, I am not sure if it the way to go if, as a school, we are promoting of these devices as an alternative to a workbook or textbook. Would we confiscate a textbook as punishment?

If this is not the way, what can we do to promote a respectful and disciplined atmosphere while using these devices?

To answer this I went online and found the blog http://educationelements.com/tag/blended-classrooms. In this blog the following advice was given as a starting point for discipline in the blended classroom:

'1. Students need to be taught how to become online learners.

We often assume that since many students are “digital natives,” they will naturally know how to learn online. This is an incorrect assumption. We need to spend time at the beginning of the school year modeling online learning for students and developing accountability tools and procedures to help students take responsibility for, and ownership of, their own learning.'

(Posted by Abbey Goldstein on February 14, 2013)

Although this blog refers to the blended classroom too often teachers and parents 'assume' that the children know more about the technology than they do and in cases of the use of and ability to manipulate the hardware and software this could be true, however I believe it is vital to teach them how to use the tools in a responsible way. 

In order for this to be successful a school has to have a consistent way of dealing with inappropriate on-line and on-device behaviour that does not involve confiscating the device. This has to start with a policy that lets the pupils know what is expected of them and describes the consequences of not following the rules.

So:

1) Make the pupil aware of the responsibility they have to operate the device in a proper manner.

2) Make the teacher aware that it is still a classroom and that they need to be active and aware teachers. Things will go wrong if you sit behind a desk and allow access.

3) Have an active parent awareness campaign. The parents are your partners in this and need to be active users of the device.

4) When there are consequences for misuse in place they must be acted on at the correct time and by all the teachers consistently.

5) Recognise that things will go wrong and be adaptable, teaching a pupil that things change fast on the net is part of the process.

That's it for now!

An afternoon with @abdulchohan

Hello all,

Sorry about the lag between posts but school tours hit the itinerary recently and I was pretty disconnected.

On my return I was invited to a talk by Abdul Chohan (@Abdulchohan) from the ESSA Academy in Bradford, England. Thank you Apple and Core for the invite.

Abdul was in SA to share his experiences of a one to one roll-out with us and to talk about the ecosystem his school has built to support both staff and students academically and technologically.

A few things he shared really stuck out:

1). The roll-out was not about having the device but rather about connecting student and teachers! He wanted both to be able to answer questions immediately  the device was and is regarded as a tool that the students have access to and not as a reason for the lesson.

2). The schools pedagogy (The method and practice of teaching, esp. as an academic subject or theoretical concept) needs to support the use of a device but should NOT be based on the use of that device. His teachers are encouraged to make materials available as homework and use the time in class to concentrate on cognition and not information delivery. The idea is to allow proper understanding of new material, in any way, before putting pen to paper in a 'test'.

3).As a school ESSA are 'are asking teachers to have faith, to embrace change and therefore transform their teaching'. Abdul made the point that teachers are good at doing the same thing in new ways, ie chalkboard - whiteboard - interactive whiteboard, but not really transforming the way we teach. He defines transformation as technology allowing you to do something you could not do before.

4). And probably most vitally in my opinion he described how the schools technology ecosystem needs to support the device use. His school chose Apple products but that isn't the point, whatever you choose you need to make sure that the systems work to support the devices.

ESSA use iTunesU to make material available as courses, they use Google Apps for mail, they use Edmodo for communication and they use email for submission of work and, thankfully, so does my school (Except for iTunesU, not available in SA yet).

The amazing thing to me is that they decided to start this program and were able to run it fully within 6 months. Teachers were brought on board by allowing them to use the technology and not with hours and hours of professional development. In fact, the ESSA Academy doesn't run professional development days but has rather built them into the school timetable (every week on a Friday).

It was an amazing insight on how to progress with a BYOD/T roll-out.

The issue now is how do South African schools adopt/adapt this model to work for us?

1). INTERNET: When I asked about internet speed issues Abdul pointed out that his school, rather than connecting to the internet, built a robust and functioning intranet that allowed the devices to connect through wireless. The first step was to allow the students access to the schools servers to download worksheets  videos and any other 'storable' material.

Maybe in SA we should rather focus on upgrading school networks? Once the savings on textbooks, paper, printing etc. start to feed through we can use those funds to upgrade or connect to the internet.

2). DEVICES: These are expensive but they could provide savings in other area's.

Maybe the school/district/government/country needs to look at available funds and how they could be re-used to provide this sort of program.

3). THE ECOSYSTEM: Computer software is expensive and short-lived. The ongoing running costs add to the burden a school has to carry.

Not true according to Abdul. Apps are once of payments and never need to be purchased again and, more importantly, there are thousands of free applications that do as good a job as a paid one.

4). WILLPOWER: Probably the most important part of the equation. Without acceptance and investment in a program it will never work. To many have failed due to a lack of foresight or investment.

In my opinion the decision to run a program like this is up to the willpower of the relevant stakeholders in education. Parents, children  teachers and officials need to see this as a powerful and exciting way forward and not as a scary and uncharted territory.


There are so many questions to ask around a program like this however we need to start asking and answering them in order to provide an education that is relevant and future-proof, can we afford to wait?

Conference season...and completely off the topic!

This week I received invitations to attend or present at 3 separate conferences in the next two months or so. All of them asked me to submit an outline of what I would like to present on and how i would like to present it.

Don't get me wrong, I love presenting to teachers. The ones that attend conferences like those being organised by Brescia House (http://www.brescia.co.za/ict-conference), The Ridge (http://www.khululafoundation.org/innovative-teachers-institute) or FutureEd(http://www.future-ed.co.za) are open minded and looking for new ways to make the process of education better.

The question that pops up in my mind is what are teachers looking for in these conferences?

Should we be networking or learning from experience  Should we be trying to find content or creation? Should we be just taking in the atmosphere?

For me conferences have always been about getting in touch with like-minded people. I love to be able to bounce ideas off teachers (not educators!) who have different or opposing philosophies on the process of education, +Sean Hampton-Cole springs to mind. I have had the privilege of helping my school hold their own conference over the past few years and love the energy that a good session or idea can create. I have been to Google, Apple, Microsoft and all sorts of other bodies meetings and enjoyed many of the experiences they offer, particularly when local teachers share what they are doing!

So...what do you look for in a 'conference' and how do you decide whether it was successful or not?

PS, I intend to apply for all three of the above-mentioned and if I don't present I will attend.

Questions from Maggie!

Just a few questions.....

Was there a great uptake by parents to come to the training session? 

We planned for around 40 families from the beginning, the sessions ended being around 20 families. This isn't too disappointing because this was for the very basics of iPad use and many people already use an iPhone or iPad device. Future sessions will include discussions on the 'Flipped or blended' classroom models, How creation apps work and the move away from content, a discussion on Blooms and how the Tablet allows teachers to work with higher order thinking, and how the parent can use the tablet to promote reading and analyses skills.

You say that you will do the same for other devices.....which forces me to ask the question of what is the breakdown of BYOD in the school?

We have a BYOT strategy, T being for tablet, and we allowed the use of any tablet the family chose. Generally about 95% have chosen the iPad and the rest have an android Tab (we only have 2 Slates in the school). 

We did recommend the iPad to parents due to it's 'safer' (or 'closed', depending on your point of view!) app environment, however as a group we decided that to make a choice for a family would be against our IT committee's open platform policy. This did mean a long discussion and some hard debate!


Strategies for getting the teachers on board of coping with different devices in the classroom?

Simply...I have been given the time to spend with teachers, we ask them to plan lessons that require the student to create content on the Tablet and not specifically use an App to deliver content. Occasionally they might need a specific App, in which case the students without the specific app share an iPad or Tablet with another student. We have found that most Apps are available on both platforms (and many have websites that can be accessed and used on-line).

In order to help the teacher we have made the scheme voluntary for the first term of 2013 (until May) after which every child is required to have a Tablet of some sort. All we require of the teachers is to use the tablet occasionally in class, even if it's just a textbook or novel to read. At the same time we are training the teachers how to use the tablet and getting them to understand that how content is delivered by the student is not important but rather what is in the content should be judged. We have some teachers who's adage is 'I just let the kids teach me!' and that is possibly the best strategy we could hope for!

Hope this helps Maggie!