Teaching, Learning & Technology

[#1]

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There’s nothing like stepping outside one’s national “box” to learn and be inspired – especially when it comes to learning from innovative teachers. Let me share some highlights from the opening day of the Learning without Frontiers conference in London…

Learning without Frontiers 2011 is an intimate opportunity to mix and mingle with some amazing educators (mostly primary/secondary) whose students are using technology in very interesting ways. As with most edtech conferences, I come away inspired by educators who are dedicated to using technology in student-focused, innovative ways. I always find myself meeting amazing people and learning something new.

Let me share some of the highlights from Day 1, where presentations and discussions featured the next wave of handheld apps, and game-based learning seems to be on everyone’s minds.

MobiMaths – Brendan Tangney from Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, shared a host of apps they’ve created to support math learning on Android smartphones. IMPORTANT FEATURE: the apps focus on enabling CONVERSATIONS about mathematics, not just computational drill. If you’re interested, they’re looking for other secondary ed sites that would like to try out their apps (for free!).

MP for a Week  - Peter Stidwill from Parliament’s Education Services described a role play game. IMPORTANT IDEA: When Peter mentioned how students who try to subvert the purpose of the game, he pointed out that even subversion is a learning experience. A game designer in the audience went even further by declaring, “Subversion is important for learning with games”.

Tips from Normanby Primary School (UK) - Carl Faulkner shared many important thoughts from their experience implementing 1:1 handheld learning at their school (paraphrased):

• Avoid being seduced by Shiny New Tools. “I bought the tools that I thought would be useful, but I didn’t talk to the kids.” The students themselves will give teachers and IT directors important insight as to what is important. For example, at their school, MANY students don’t go home to the same home every night because of complex family arrangements (e.g. shared custody…). So counting on “computers at home” or even simply “charging your mobile device over night” is not so simple.
• Before you choose a new technology to try, go see it in practice (if at all possible). Make sure it is really having an impact on learning.
• Google is not the first place students go to learn something. Youtube is a far more popular first stop. BEST PRACTICE: Unfiltered Youtube and Google images are only available to teacher accounts, so an adult needs to help students in many cases. Also, teachers have adopted the practice of never doing “live searches” (first screenings of new weblinks) in front of an audience of students, as unfiltered searching can result in too many “surprises”.

Working with Students with Special Needs – Jonathan Nalder, who works with students with special needs (“learning disabilities”) in Queensland, Australia, shared some excellent approaches, guided by the idea that, “The job of a teacher is not to know what to teach students, but to know how to model learning for them.”

• Help your students become self-directed learners. So when it comes to handheld apps, let them search for available apps, research their feasibility and reviews, build a convincing case for the school to purchase it, use it, then write your own review about the experience.
• Students who are having difficulty reading can really benefit from reflecting on their out-loud reading AFTER they’ve attempted to read out loud (instead of trying to self-monitor at the same time). By recording their own voices reading, then listening/critiquing their own recordings, they learn how to hear themselves read.

Augmented Reality with PlayStation handhelds – Mark Sutton from Soar Valley College, Leicester, UK, is experimenting with using QR Codes and SEMA codes (square shaped “bar codes”) placed on objects to enhance place-based explorations. The PSP handhelds are equipped with a camera and software that can interpret a printed QR code. So when a student points the camera at an object of interest, the image is overlaid with graphics, text, or animations that enhance the actual visual. Think of it as having super powers to see additional information about something you’re looking at. Student engagement goes through the roof, especially for autistic students and those who normally “don’t care”.

Mingoville for English Language Learners -  Stephan Stephensen, who leads the Dansk e-Learning Center, where they are addressing the vast interest around the world for English language learning for primary and secondary level students. Mingoville has personal online learning experiences, and then once you’re ready to practice, there is a virtual world where you can interact (live) with other students (each of you as “avatars”). FYI, next up in Denmark: Mobile math apps for all students for students’ ubiquitous phones (mostly NOT smartphones!).

If you’re interested in learning more from this conference, videos from sessions will be posted on the LWFwebsite soon! In the meantime, for the remaining two days (10-11th January) you can follow live tweets from the conference by going to Twitter and searching for #lwf11. You can also follow me @jgvanides.

Enjoy!

Jim Vanides, B.S.M.E, M.Ed.
Education Program Manager
HP Office of Global Social Innovation
Hewlett-Packard

www.hp.com/go/socialinnovation
Follow me on Twitter @jgvanides

[#2]

Hi Jim

I guess you didn't have to wait outside in the cold whilst the organisers figured out how to tell the timeand how to run a registration desk. That leads to a completely different attitude and different view of the event once you finally get inside. http://www.dontreadmyblog.com/?p=3175

Is that called "conditioning"?

Paul