John Pallister :: Blog

 

Schools are expected to design and deliver “a dynamic, forward-looking curriculum that creates opportunities for learners to develop as self-managers, creative thinkers, reflective learners, problem-solvers, team workers, independent learners, and effective communicators.” http://curriculum.qca.org.uk/key-stages-3-and-4/skills/index.aspx  As well as equipping learners with this set of Personal, Learning and Thinking skills, schools must also deliver the subject specific curriculum; all wrapped up in a package that interests, inspires and engages the learner.

In this new learning environment, where the emphasis shifts from teaching to learning, the learner takes on new roles and responsibilities. They will be expected to reflect on their learning; identifying how they can improve and exercising choice as they develop as independent, lifelong learners.  They will need to be self motivated and self regulated making decisions about what they need to learn, how and when they learn.

It will require imagination, determination and significant curriculum planning on the part of schools, if they are to create a new learning environment; if they are to make the shift from teaching to learning happen. Traditionally, teachers would plan a curriculum and deliver it by guiding the learner; by metering out and controlling the learning diet. Controlling not only the formal learning experiences but the pace at which they are experienced.

The teacher driven curriculum will need to evolve, to be developed into a curriculum that supports the individual learner. It needs to become something that the learner can use to help them make their own decisions about what it is that they learn; when and how. To be able to make these decisions the learner would need to know what it is that they need to or are expected to know, to be able to do or learn. The tools and techniques that we currently use to ‘push’ learning towards the learner need to be either adapted, or traded-in for something that will support and service this learner ‘demand’.

 

These new demands on schools will mean that it will no longer be possible to plan individual courses in isolation. Whole school curriculum demands require whole school planning; the new Diploma courses require schools, colleges and training providers, to collaborate in the design of the course, and then to collaborate as they deliver them.

 

Increasingly, learners will work in a number of different settings; school based, college based and training provider based. All partners will need to share a common understanding of the Functional Skills, Personal Learning and Thinking skills, Diploma requirements etc. This common understanding must permeate through into the experiences and opportunities provided for the learner in each of the settings that they work in.

 

With this backdrop, I set out to explore whether existing curriculum planning processes could support personalised learning and support the collaboration required. Collaboration; that pointed me towards Web 2, that in turn refined my focus to Web based Curriculum Planning or Mapping tools.

 

Schools are very familiar with change. They frequently audit their curriculum looking at what they need to ‘include’ as a result of their revised thinking, aspirations, external demands or expectations.  The revised curriculum would be documented, stored and presented in many different formats ranging from simple text based paper documents to linked database systems. 

 

While common, agreed formats for storing information about learner’s achievements are in place, there does not appear to be any standardisation in terms of the way in which a learner’s curriculum is described or presented.  If a learner is to be involved in making choices about their learning, they should be able to ‘see’ the curriculum that they are ‘expected to’, or should follow; i.e. the planned curriculum.

 

If a learner in one school gets used to seeing and accessing a curriculum described in one format, it would help them if the curriculum plan that they access in the others schools or colleges that they work in were in the same format. If schools are to collaborate on the design and delivery of courses, it would be useful to provide all partners with access to common curriculum documents. There would be an argument for a common format for a learner’s curriculum plan and for learners and teachers to be able to share and access curriculum plans and documentation.

 

Enter stage USA; Web based curriculum mapping. Web-based curriculum mapping is a process that focuses on what is taught, how it is taught, when it is taught, how it is resources and how it will be assessed. 

 

I started out on my curriculum mapping learning journey by finding my way around the RubiconAtlas software. I translated an existing Key Stage 3 and 4 ICT course into the curriculum mapping format. A format required the curriculum to be broken down into topics or units that are then defined in terms of content, skills, assessment methods, resources required and the teaching strategies that will be used. The topics or units are allocated learning/delivery time and are organised on a timeline.  I used Janet Hale’s book, ‘A Guide to Curriculum Mapping:  Planning, Implementing, and Sustaining the Process’ (www.curriculummapping101.com) to develop my understanding of the Curriculum Mapping process. I was very fortunate in that I was able to call upon Janet, via Skype, for advice and the support.

I found the process of translating the existing course to be time consuming in that it forced me to think about what it was that I wanted students to learn, what activities and opportunities that I would need to provided them with to encourage the learning to happen and how I would assess them.  Although the process did take quite a lot of time, I think that the process was really useful and valuable in that it did promote reflection about objectives and practice that in turn influenced the planning.

Although I worked through the process as an individual, I recognised the value and potential of the process if a team of teachers were to work together, to collaborate on the planning process.  While one outcome from the mapping process would be the curriculum map itself, the actual process of constructing the map has value and has the potential to engage the teachers involved. 

Having planned the Units for years 7, 8, 9 and 10 I was running short on time. As I was defining the content and skills sections, I found that I reverted back, and rather than using the quite precise conventions of the curriculum mapping process, I tended write/define the content and skills in my own words. I convinced myself that by getting the volume of the content and structure set-up first was the best way forward, allowing me to explore the potential of the tools and process more quickly. I planned to revisit and re-word/structure the Units at a later stage. 

At this stage I was able to select, for each Unit, the ICT Functional Skills performance criteria that learners would be introduced to, or have the opportunity to develop, master or reinforce. I repeated this for the Personal Learning and Thinking Skills.

I was then able to generate reports that showed, for either particular years or for years 7 to 10, what content had been planned, what skills were scheduled to be developed, what activities and what assessments were being used.

The analysis tools enabled me to generate reports that showed what Functional ICT skills were not being developed, when and in what Units specific skills were being introduced, developed etc.

The hard work of setting up the curriculum map was starting to pay dividends.

So where next? I will need to go back and make sure that I have followed the curriculum mapping conventions, syntax and wording in all Units. I will then map the course against Functional English and Functional Maths.

I will then look at the Maps for each Unit and explore how they might be used by individual students working in their Personal Learning Environment and then how they fit in with the ePortfolio process.

If you want to find out more about web-based curriculum mapping and have some time on May 7^th, contact me. Janet Hale is talking to teachers at Teesside University I may be able to get you a seat.

 

A Busy time for curriculum thinkers and planners   “Nationally, our challenge is to create a curriculum that:·         raises achievement in all subjects, particularly in English and mathematics·         equips learners with the personal, learning and thinking skills they will need to succeed in education, life and work·         motivates and engages learners·         enables a smooth progression from primary, through secondary and beyond·         encourages more young people to go on to further and higher education·         gives schools the flexibility to tailor learning to individual and local needs·         ensures that assessment supports effective teaching and learning·         provides more opportunities for focused support and challenge where needed.”http://curriculum.qca.org.uk/key-stages-3-and-4/organising-your-curr  

The National Curriculum that has been revised to address this challenge, emphases the value of personalised learning and requires schools to re-think their curriculum and practice. Schools are expected to design “dynamic, forward-looking curriculum that creates opportunities for learners to develop as self-managers, creative thinkers, reflective learners, problem-solvers, team workers, independent learners, and effective communicators.” http://curriculum.qca.org.uk/key-stages-3-and-4/skills/index.aspx  They will need to provide learners with opportunities that engage them in their own learning and equip them with the Personal, Learning and Thinking skills (PLTs) that they will need to succeed in education, life and work. http://curriculum.qca.org.uk/key-stages-3-and-4/organising-your-curriculum/the_secondary_curriculum/index.aspx

The emphasis has shifted from teaching to learning; the learner is placed at the centre of the process and it is expected that they will be challenged to reflect on their learning and identify how they can improve and exercise choice as they develop as independent, lifelong learners.

This curriculum, reflecting the UK skills agenda, values skills and gives particular importance to Functional Skills. They are embedded in the revised programmes of study for English, mathematics and ICT and are an essential part of the new Diploma qualifications.

Functional skills are “those core elements of English, mathematics and ICT that provide individuals with the skills and abilities they need to operate confidently, effectively and independently in life, their communities and work. Individuals possessing these skills are able to progress in education, training and employment and make a positive contribution to the communities in which they live and work.”  http://curriculum.qca.org.uk/key-stages-3-and-4/skills/functionalskills/index.aspx?return=/key-stages-3-and-4/skills/index.aspx 

Schools are committing effort and resource to work out what it is that they need to do to introduce Functional Skills and Personal Learning and Thinking skills (PLTs) into their curriculum.

 

The learners currently in Year 8 will be the first cohort of learners that will need to have demonstrated mastery of Functional Skills before they can gain a GCSE in Maths, English or ICT, or any Diploma qualification.  While Functional Skills and PLTs underpin the new curriculum, their introduction is likely to create significant curriculum development challenges.

 The common message is that Functional Skills are important and should be integrated into the curriculum of all learners; that learners should be provided opportunities to develop the skills and to practise applying the skills in a range of different situations and contexts, before they are placed in an assessment situation. The situations and contexts should be real and should engage learners in problem solving, critical thinking and independent learning.  They will be expected to be able to apply their skills to solve real-life problems.   Learners will need PLTs if they are to develop Functional Skills, and will need PLTs if they are to succeed and achieve in this ‘new’ learning environment. As Reflective learners, they will be expected to "evaluate their strengths and limitations, setting themselves realistic goals with criteria for success"; they need to "monitor their own performance and progress, inviting feedback from others"; they will be expected to "organise themselves, showing personal responsibility, initiative, creativity and enterprise with a commitment to learning and self-improvement". Learners will need to operate independently and take more responsibility for planning and organising their own learning. http://www.qca.org.uk/libraryAssets/media/PLTS_framework.pdf 

The learning environment that we are beginning to explore here will require the heralded shift in emphasis from teaching to learning. To create this learning environment and design the curriculum will require imagination, determination and significant planning.

This ‘new’ environment for leaning relies on, and values collaboration. Learners are expected to "form collaborative relationships” while schools and colleges are expected to collaborate to design their Diploma courses, and then to collaborate as they deliver them. As learners work in a number of different settings; school based, college based and training provider based it will be vital that all partners have a common understanding of the Functional Skills and PLTs. This common understanding must permeate through into the experiences and opportunities provided for the learner in each of the settings that they work in.

New qualifications, learners working and being assessed in different schools and colleges, the increased emphasis on life long learning and the need support learner progression has led to the development of national frameworks and systems to record achievements in a common electronic format. The learner achievement record (LAR) aims to track all learners' achievements through the use of a unique learner number (ULN). It is also hoped that it will give the learner control of their record of lifelong learning and achievement, while streamlining the collection, handling and sharing of information.   http://www.miap.gov.uk/benefits/ 

Individual schools and providers will need to review their current curriculum provision and engage in processes that will help them to integrate opportunities that will enable their learners to develop and practise their Functional Skills and PLTs. They will also need to provide opportunities for Functional Skills assessment.

 

Schools are very familiar with change. They frequently audit their curriculum looking at what they need to ‘include’ as a result of their revised thinking, aspirations, external demands or expectations.  The revised curriculum will be documented, stored and presented in many different formats ranging from simple text based paper documents to linked database systems. 

 

While common, agreed formats for storing information about learner’s achievements are in place, there does not appear to be any standardisation in terms of the way in which a learner’s curriculum is described or presented.  If a learner is to be involved in making choices about their learning, they should be able to ‘see’ their planned curriculum. If a learner in one school gets used to using a curriculum described in one format, it would be useful for them, if the curriculum plan that they access in others schools or colleges that they work in were in the same format. If schools are to collaborate on the design and delivery of courses, it would be useful to provide all partners with access to common curriculum documents. There would be an argument for a common format for a learner’s curriculum plan and for learners and teachers to be able to share and access curriculum plans and documentation.

 

All secondary schools are re-thinking their curriculum and are working through an audit and mapping process as they attempt to introduce Functional Skills and PLTs. Tens of thousands of teacher hours are being consumed by this process.

 

A discussion with Paul Mayes at Teesside University about the UKAN project   http://lis.tees.ac.uk/ukan/, prompting me to do some thinking about Web-based curriculum mapping processes and whether they might have something to offer schools as they begin to address the challenges of  the 11 – 19 curriculum. Might the process save some teacher time and effort? Might it engage teachers or provide something that might help us to engage learners more in their own learning?

 

Web-based curriculum mapping is a process that focuses on what is taught, how it is taught, when it is taught and how it will be assessed.  Teachers start by translating an existing planned curriculum into a standardised digital format. The format requires the curriculum to be broken down into topics or units that are then defined in terms of content, skills, assessment methods, the resources required and the teaching strategies that will be used. The topics or units are allocated learning/delivery time and are organised on a timeline.

The immediately obvious outcome from the mapping process is the curriculum map itself, however the actual process of constructing the map has the potential to engage and empower the teachers involved. This would be a very valuable by-product from a curriculum development process that in turn can feed the process. Supercharged curriculum development!  It might prove useful in the current environment as teachers review what they teach and more importantly how they organise and provide learning opportunities.

Most of the demands or initiatives that present themselves to schools require a change in the way they organise their teaching, or manage and support their learning environment. The initiatives or challenges often require a shift away from traditional teaching towards independent or personalised learning.

A Web-based mapping package with search and export facilities would allow the learner to select courses, modules or activities that would help them to meet their personal learning needs. By selecting programmes and materials that are ‘visible’ and available to them in the curriculum maps, they will use the curriculum maps to support their personal learning. This would go some way to satisfy the requirement for learners to be “actively engaged with, and help to shape, the curriculum they experience.”http://curriculum.qca.org.uk/key-stages-3-and-4/organising-your-curriculum/personalisation/index.aspx?return=/search/index.aspx%3FfldSiteSearch%3Drevised+curriculum%26btnGoSearch.x%3D28%26btnGoSearch.y%3D9%26btnGoSearch%3DGo  

This process, by enabling the learner to search for and select appropriate learning activities, might also encourage them to plan their learning and provide opportunities for them to take more control over their learning. By providing learners with links to the resources that would enable them to complete the units or activities as well as to activities that would enable them to demonstrate their understanding or mastery, the Curriculum Map could support anywhere, anytime, personalised learning.

 

By being able to ‘see’ the map, learners would be better able to see the ‘big picture’ and that in turn could result in greater learner engagement. Having a map available that shows them what their available, planned learning diet is, and has the potential to support the assessment for learning process and in turn improved achievement. If we encourage learners to use maps showing their planned curriculum it might help them to understand what the Functional and Personal Learning skills are. The conscious competence model suggests that this would, in turn, help them to realise that they need to do something to develop their competence.

 http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/Conscious+Competence+model  

Accepting that things rarely go to plan, the planned learning will not always be the same as the learning that actually took place. Curriculum Mapping acknowledges the discrepancy between the plan and what has actually taken place. It recognises the need for the ‘diary’ map, a map updated by the teacher that documents what actually happened or what the learner had actually experienced or learnt.  The curriculum map is really a database that stores details of the past, present and future curriculum; what learning is planned in the near future and then a record of what actually happened. The ‘what happened’ becomes the history that informs the plans for future learning.

 

Curriculum mapping can support reflective learning.  Reflective learning can benefit the learner in two ways;   firstly, the teacher, by reflecting on the learning that they had planned and what the learner had actually learnt or experienced,  will refine and adapt their practice. This in-turn should improve the learning opportunities available to the learner.   Secondly, if the learner is encouraged to use curriculum maps to plan their own learning and if they are encouraged to reflect on what had actually happened prior to revising their learning plans, they will develop their own reflective practice. They will develop as reflective learners, selecting and using appropriate curriculum mapping tools as part of their Personal Learning Environment.

 

The natural place for the teacher to record their reflections would be their Professional Development ePortfolio; the natural place for the learner to reflect on what they had planned to learn and upon what they had actually experienced or learnt would be their learner ePortfolio. Providing learners with access to Curriculum Maps and encouraging them to use them forces them to use the plan, do and review process that underpins the Personal Learning and Thinking Skills.    Asking learners to record their experiences and reflections would help to support their Personal Development Planning and would satisfy the requirement for them to evidence their Personal Learning and Thinking skills.

 

The developing 14-19 curriculum requires teachers working in a range of different institutions to collaborate in the planning and delivery of the new 14 -19 Diploma Courses. A Web-based Curriculum Mapping tool would have a lot to offer. It could provide both teachers and students, regardless of the institution that they are currently working in, with access to a common view of the planned curriculum. This would go some way to provide the consistent approach that both the learners and teachers, working in this new environment, will need.  It could become both the catalyst that promotes the dialogue and collaboration between teachers that will be needed at the planning stage and the vehicle for communication that will be needed between the teachers in the delivery team and between teachers and learners.

 

Curriculum development is a continuous process. Web-based Curriculum Mapping tools have the potential to support the constant dialogue, evaluation, revision and communication that the process requires.

 

Getting back to Functional Skills. If we were to map the learning required by each of the Lines of Learning of the 14-19 Diplomas we should end up with a set of common or generic skills. These should be the skills that have already been defined as the Functional Skills and the Personal Learning and Thinking skills, the skills that all learners would need, to enable them to successfully complete their Diploma studies. The same set of skills would enable them to function as effective citizens and to function in their chosen vocational area.

 

The curriculum maps for the 14 – 19 Diploma courses should include both the Functional Skills and the Personal Learning and Thinking Skills. This generic skills set has already been identified and defined for us. Although there is no requirement to assess the PLTS there is a need for learners to evidence their PLTs development. Opportunities for learners to develop PLTs will need to be integrated into the curriculum maps along with opportunities for learners to generate evidence that they have developed and used their PLTs.

 

Deciding on how to start will take some thinking. As well as being included in the Curriculum Maps for the Diplomas these skills will also need to be identified in their own right as they also constitute stand-alone skills sets with Functional Skills having their own assessment requirements. The mapping would need to show the Functional Skills as integral components of the Diploma Line of Leaning and as a collection of activities/components that constitute Functional Skills.

 

One approach could be to start by mapping the principal learning and then devise and integrate activities and opportunities that would satisfy the Functional Skills and PLTs requirements. Another approach would be for a school to start with the Functional Skills Standards and to design a curriculum map that all courses could then adapt to integrate into the curriculum that they had designed to provide appropriate opportunities to satisfy the requirements of the principal learning.  The same approach could be used to integrate Functional Skills into the additional specialised learning, the work experience and project.

 

The advantage of the second approach would be that, by beginning with a common interpretation of the Functional Skills Standards, the school and collaborative consortium would be integrating something that, hopefully they all understood an had ‘bought into’. This would help standardisation across the providers and all of the courses in a centre or consortium.  It would, for schools or providers offering GCSE Maths, English and ICT, be a very useful way of promoting the integration of Functional Skills into the curriculum of other subjects. This would provide learners with more opportunities to develop and practice applying their Functional Skills in a range of different situations.

 

The first stage would be to interpret and convert the Functional Skills Standards and represent them as a curriculum map broken down into activities that would provide learners with opportunities to develop and practice their skills.

 

Would this be a sensible starting point for schools? Would it provide a better experience for learners? Would it save schools and teachers time? Would it engage and empower teachers? Would it encourage learner to get involved with their own learning? Would it help schools to integrate Functional Skills?

 

I spent some time last week planning an introduction to Functional Skills for our Year 8 students. I delivered a presentation to the Year group last Friday. http://www.slideshare.net/jpallis001/functional-skills-year-8-introduction-presentation  All went well. As I did my thinking I found myself reinforcing my  belief in the importance of  independent learning.  My thinking …

Functional Skills are being marketed as  ‘… the core elements of English, mathematics and ICT that provide an individual with the essential knowledge, skills and understanding that will enable them to operate confidently, effectively and independently in life, education and work.’. Functional Skills are required for, and should be embedded in all learning pathways (including GCSEs, Diplomas, foundation learning tier and apprenticeships). They are free standing qualification; they are part of the National Qualifications Framework and are available at Entry Level, Level 1 and Level 2. Level 3 Functional Skills are ’under consideration’.

 

There is an expectation that most ‘young people’ will achieve Level 2 Functional Skills in English and maths, and possibly ICT, by the age of 16.

 

The emphasis of Functional Skills is on the development of skills that the learner can select and apply in a range of different contexts. Having developed the skills they demonstrate mastery by being able to ‘transfer’ and apply them in a wide range of different contexts. They need to be aware of the skills, they need to practise and develop the skills and need to be able to select and apply them ‘independently’.

 

The ‘Level’ of the Skill that the learner has ‘mastered’, will be determined by the complexity of the problem that they have shown that they can solve; the technical demand of the solutions that they devise; how familiar they were with the situation/problem and how ‘independently’ they worked while tackling the problem.

 

The learner will need to be able to tackle and solve problems with different degrees of complexity.

 

The Functional Skills Standards define, for each of the Levels, what the learner must be able to do if they have ‘mastered’ each of the Skills.  

 

	Skills Standards
English	Speaking and listening	Reading	Writing
ICT	Use ICT Systems	Find and select information	Develop, present and communicate information
	Process Skills
Maths	Representing (making sense of situations and representing them)	Analysing (processing and using maths)	Interpreting (interpreting and communicating the results of analysis)

 

We do not know, at this stage, what form the assessment will take.  Developing the assessment model is part of the pilot.  We know that it will not require a portfolio; that it will be task-based, have questions based on scenarios; will be of a limited duration, and will be delivered in a controlled environment.

 

The scenarios that are presented to learners will provide them with opportunities to show that they have mastered a Functional Skill at a particular Level. They will be drawn from a wide range of ‘real life’ contexts/situations. Some situations/contexts will be familiar to learners; others will be less familiar to them. The solutions that learners develop will offer varying degrees of Technical Demand and varying degrees of complexity.  The level at which the learners operates will be determined by the familiarity, the complexity, the technical demand and the level of independence at which they operate. This will take some sorting out/getting used to!

 

It is also likely that the assessment model that does evolve will allow on-demand testing and as such is likely to be screen-based.

 

To equip/prepare our learners so that they can demonstrate that they have mastered a particular Functional Skill at a particular Level, we will need to provide them with opportunities to practise and apply their skills in a wide range of ‘real life’ contexts', before we assess them. Learners need to learn the skills, then practise applying them (in a range of different contexts/situations), before they can be assessed. That is really the challenge, to integrate these opportunities into out curriculum.

 

Functional Skills will require learners to have the opportunity to work independently in problem solving situations. As we move away from portfolio/course work as an assessment vehicle, we need to retain the best of the process if we are to provide the opportunities that learners will need to develop, practice and demonstrate mastery.

 

14 – 19 Diploma students could be expected to demonstrate their mastery of Functional Skills in a situation more familiar with Hairdressers, perhaps calculating the ratio of hair colorants/chemicals etc. They need to be able to transfer and apply their skills in a wide range of different situations, which really means that they need to practice applying their skills in a wide range of situations, out side of their principal learning

 

Starting in 2010, students will need to have achieved Functional Skills at Level 2 before they can achieve a GCSE in Maths or English. Any students who follow Diploma Pathways will need to achieve all three Functional Skills at Level 1 if they are on a Foundation Diploma and all three Functional Skills at Level 2 for Higher and Advanced Diplomas. Functional English, Mathematics and ICT will need to be embedded in the Diploma delivery programme, a programme that will be running across a number of partner providers. There will be a need for a common, and an agreed understanding of Functional Skills; and an agreement on who delivers what, when, and what opportunities are provided when and where for learners to develop, practise and apply the Functional Skills.

 

All students, teachers and parents aware of Functional Skills, what they are, why they are so important and what students will need to do. We need to integrate/embed Functional Skills into the curriculum so that it provides learners with the required opportunities to develop, practise/apply and demonstrate mastery of Functional Skills.

 

We need to somehow encourage, support and provide opportunities for our learners to operate as independent learners. We need them to take responsibility for their own learning, to manage their own time and to become reflective learners. Independent Learning, action planning, problem solving, opportunities to work with vocational professionals and common standards for communication etc have become important again.

 

We need to provide a range of real life problems and the time for our learners to try to solve them.

Independence. Functional Skills are not just a Maths/English/ICT challenge; they are  major whole school issues that will affect school performance data 5 A* -C (inc Ma/En)  2012+.

 

So, to achieve Functional Skills learners need to develop independent learning skills. Its back to Personal Learning and Thinking Skills, the Independent Enquirer skills set becomes important. Then the old chestnut, to operate independently the learner needs to be a Reflective Learner. The ePortfolio Process supports Reflective Learning. But?

I have been wandering around with a post in my head for the past few weeks. Each time I attempted to put it to text I would drift across something else that I needed to make sense of, to integrate, and to rationalise.  I gave in and looked for other distractions.

 

I developed an enthusiasm for social software and Web 2 tools through my interest in ePortfolios.  I am a bit predictable, each time I drift across a new tool I very rapidly recognise its potential to support learning. I am becoming increasingly addicted. I am using the tools; I am joining the brigade of professional talking about the tools but am becoming increasingly frustrated that I am unable to influence their adoption in main stream practice. I am talking the talk more and walking the walk less – so a bit more talk then! I began to wonder whether all of the talk had resulted in us designing a ‘concept’ learning environment; but like a lot of the clay models in the motor manufactures design offices, a concept that does not make it to the production stage?

 

I can see many good reasons why schools should not allow/encourage the young students in their care to use the emerging tools. Perhaps it might be useful if we forget these for a while; put to one side the suspicion that young learners use and enjoy using the same tools outside of school, and consider the case for promoting social software in schools.

 

The tools and technology have the potential to:

 

• Support 1:1 and 1:many and many:many multimedia communications between learners anywhere in the world, for ‘free’;
• Provide learners with access to information and to the research tracks of others who might be, or might have previously, searched for similar information;
• Provide learners with the opportunity to share their research and their research tracks with others;
• support the learner as they make connections with others,  to enable them to follow and collaborate with others who have similar interests and purposes;
• provide the learner with opportunities to publish their thinking and findings and to obtain comment and feedback from others;
• enable learners to record and share their thinking from wherever they are working;
• provide an active, interactive environment capable of engaging learners;
• capable of supporting anywhere, anytime access to learning
• support what learner do naturally, to provide the majority of the elements that learners are likely to accept as their Personal Learning Environment;

 

It is our responsibility to prepare young (and older) learners so that they can function in a world where emerging technologies are being accepted and embraced.

 

I cannot see that schools will be able to resist pressure to use these tools indefinitely. Eventually they will accept them and begin to build on them. I do not know what it will be that actually tips the balance. It might be the development of a new set of management tools or safeguards, or perhaps simply that we accept the tools as valuable and decide to educate and manage the risks?

 

OR are we approaching a Luddite swing towards traditional, proper learning with teachers straightening up the desks and requisition a new box of Interactive White Board chalk. Drawing an analogy with the credit crunch, have we built learning environments on ‘foundations of sand’? The constantly changing sand (ICT and social software etc) and prevailing currents (national expectations etc) making it impossible to construct anything on it. An acceptance that with everything constantly changing, it is not worth building anything, it will simply fall down!

 

Or do we, as builders do,   build a concrete raft that will spread the load and build on top of the raft. If the sands shift the worst that could happen would be that we ended up with ‘the leaning tower of learning’. Ahh – tower, ivory tower are we looking out from it.

 

Could the learning process act as the raft? The learning process would ‘sit’ on, be supported by, the emerging as well as traditional tools.  New tools are then unlikely to phase the learner, they will evaluate them and either adopt or dismiss them.

I feel the need, prompted by Cristina’s Post, http://tinyurl.com/5flo7d to over-cook the PLE thinking a bit more!

 

I distilled, from an earlier attempt at summarising the PLE discussions that I had followed , http://tinyurl.com/57eugd that it is what the learner ‘does’ in their Personal Learning Environment that really determines what they will learn.  What they do in the environment is more important than the environment itself. [I take the environment as meaning where they work/operate/learn, in its broadest term.]

 

Individual will learn something from any environment that they operate in. It is our job to create/contrive the physical environment and then cajole, encourage and support our learners to ensure that they encounter the experiences and stimuli that we hope will result in learning taking place. Not any old learning, but the learning that we, or ‘somebody’, thinks will be important to them.

 

While the physical environment provides learners with access to the tools and resources it will be the ‘teaching’ that will provide the experiences, activities and support that will supply the opportunities for learning. The ‘teaching’, in whatever form it takes, will: create the climate for learning; wet the learner’s appetite; create the need for learning; encourage learners to recognise when learning has taken place and encourage them to take responsibility for their own learning. It will need to create the space that will allow learning to happen and hopefully and provide learners with an experience that will enable them to be creative and that they will enjoy.

 

The bad news, or the big challenge, is that this is unlikely to be what the majority currently accepted as teaching, where large groups of students arrive every hour, expecting to be entertained, expecting to be taught a separate subject and expecting to be examined every 5 minutes. Re-stating the obvious, but creating a Personal Learning Environment for every learner, that is delivering the required shift in emphasis from teaching to learning, will need commitment, imagination and resource.

 

So leaving the hard bit, for now, and moving on! How the learner operates in this new environment, how they behave, how they use their initiative, how they interact with others, how they manage their time, how they support others, how they employ their different learning styles and how they deploy their different intelligences will affect how and what they learn.

 

To be able to survive and learn in the environment Learners will need to develop a set of skills, the Personal Learning and Thinking skills, the Functional Skills and, another skill set, yet to be defined, that will enable learners to use the tools and approaches that we are beginning to recognise as having potential to support learning.

 

Back into the loop; learners need to work in an environment that provides the appropriate opportunities for them to operate as independent learners – the environment needs to exist before they can work in it – what they do in the environment determines how and what they learn – to function in the environment they will need to develop a specific set of skills.

 

How do we break-in to the loop?

I started to think about how I will often write something up, then edit, re-edit and re-edit it until I have word processed the meaning out of the message that I set off to present. By overcooking, I often loose the message.

 

I listened to a radio programme that discussed the problem created by all of the space debris that was whizzing around, in orbit, just waiting to collide with some thing.

 

I related the space debris hazard to the distractions that surround learner and my thinking, thinking and thinking about ePortfolios, PLEs and Social Networking to the over-cooking bit. I began to think back 20 years when I watched Woodwork and Metal work [as curriculum subjects] being over-cooked to make Technology. Practical subjects that had most everything - practical problem solving opportunities where learners developed, practiced and mastered skills; where they developed the ability to select the most appropriate tools for their purpose; where they learnt to protect their own heath and safety, and that of others.  They had (often) opportunities to be creative, to work with others and to enjoy what they did. Then it got over-cooked in the name of rigour and academic acceptance.

 

So learner have access to the majority of tools that they need to manage their own Personal Learning – should we not concentrate on encouraging them to just do it?  Oh – tried to pedal that message before http://eduspaces.net/jpallister/weblog/177464.html

 

The man on the Bill says ‘someone out there holds the key for this, they just don’t know’ it yet – are you the one with the Key that will unlock this?

Learning is a personal process, personal to individual learners whatever their age or stage of development. When learners work in classrooms, in groups or on-line they will encounter and have to deal with distractions provided by others. They will need to develop strategies that will enable them to manage the distractions. They will need to be able to recognise situations when interacting with others will support their learning; they will need to be able to recognise situations when the distractions provided by others will retard or handicap their learning; they will need to find out when using their social network will help and when it will distract.

 

They will need self discipline and independent learning skills.  In PLTs terms they will be Reflective learners who will be expected to "evaluate their strengths and
limitations, setting themselves realistic goals with criteria for success”. They
have to “monitor their own performance and progress, inviting feedback from others". They will need to be Self-managers who will be expected to "organise themselves, showing personal responsibility, initiative, creativity and enterprise with a commitment to learning and self-improvement".

 

These budding Self Managers, will have to balance their desire to be recognised and accepted by others; their desire to influence the community that they operate in or that they want to belong to, with their desire and need to learn. In a traditional classroom situation, the teacher attempts to manage and moderate these distractions for their learners. In a Personalised Learning Environment the learner will need to take responsibility for moderating and managing these distractions.

 

How can we help them to develop these skills?

I have watched and contributed to, Twitter now for something like six months. I admit that I have got a bit addicted. I have developed a ‘habit’ of checking Twitter when ever I read my email. I do not use it on mobile devices; apart from my phone I have none! I only watch/follow about 50 people, to follow more would take too much of my time, I would need to scroll back through several pages. [teaching prevents the luxury of constant, real time monitoring! – constant alerts from mobile would not go down well in a classroom -   micro blogging does require discipline]

 

What have I got out Twitter? - Lots and lots - I enjoy the frequency of posts; I have learned by following the links that those that I follow have suggested/recommended; I have found others who have similar interests as my self and, quite difficult to admit, but I get a little bit of enjoyment from ‘listening-in’ on the conversation/chat that goes on as well as following the travelling/wanderings of others.

 

How are people using it?  - to chat; to ask for help: to publish and promote themselves and their work; to share links to resources and to share their thinking.

 

How am I using it? – Really only finding my way around and experimenting. I am learning by follow links. I have not got drawn into much chat but can see the potential of something that encourages you to generate and share bits of thinking; thinking that is not well formed enough to be bundled up into ‘full’ blown blog post.  

 

http://twitter.com/jpallis001

  

Will it take over from the Blog? – lots of micro blog posts = a blog?

The more I think about learning the more I get drawn to the idea that there is a need for space; space to allow the learner to focus and concentrate; space that allows them to develop their independent learning skills; space and freedom to be creative;  space and time to collaborate and work with others. Simply the space to learn.

 

When we are thinking about the  Personal Learning Environment  that we want to create, support and maintain for our learners we need to consider how we will provide the ‘space’ that will enable the learner to learn in that environment. Space in a busy curriculum; space in a busy day; space free from excessive distractions.

 

And then there is the ‘space’ to enable teachers to develop the skills that they will need to support learners as they operate in their Personal Learning Environment.

 

A quiet rainy day; no internet connectivity; no internet distractions - an opportunity for some reflection; an opportunity for some learning to take place. I sat back and waited for it to happen.

Well, I began to think about ‘busyness’ and how too many demands/activities /stimuli can affect learning.

In a classroom environment with a high degree of structure or regimentation, learning opportunities are scheduled and delivered/presented to the learners. The learners will have other learners around them.

These other learners will sometimes work with them and support their learning. On other, perhaps more frequent, occasions they will provide distractions and will interfere with the planned learning. The learner might learn something but the opportunities provided might not be strong enough to compete with the distractions.  The distractions, or ‘noise’ in information transmission terms, can present itself in many different forms ranging from excessive audible noise levels to the disruption caused by learners attempting to  seek the approval and recognition of others. Whatever form the distractions take they are likely to affect the learning that happens.

Learning in a busy environment presents challenges for everyone, digital natives, digital immigrant, digital visitors and digital residents alike. Perhaps we need some  way of equipping learners with ‘blinkers’, something that will help them to focus on their learning, something that will hide distractions from them.

A solution; move the other learners out of the room and provide the learner with a computer with internet access. With nobody in the room to distract, the learner will be able to concentrate on whatever learning experiences/opportunities that are provided by the computer and whatever it is connected to. 

Can the 1:computer/internet relationship have the potential to function as blinkers?  Will the environment that we provide learners with allow them to focus on learning or will it be even ‘busier’ than the classroom environment that we are suggesting that learners need to move away from?

In our excitement and enthusiasm for the new tools and technology, might we be introducing more ‘busyness’ and distractions for our learners? Will we be able to create the space for our learner ever to be able to fully harness the new tools and technology to support their learning in the ways that we are proposing?