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15 June 2007
June Mirandanet Newsletter
Why did you call your professional experience of Visual Learning an Inspirational Journey, Michael? Michael Smith, who is in charge of the ICT CPD programmes at his school, gave an inspiring talk about his professional journey in Visual Learning at the Naace conference in February 2007.
Michael has been developing these ideas over time as the chair of our multimodal mapping workshops which have been funded by Inspiration. We have been grateful to Inspiration for providing this space for group reflection face to face about issues in learning which are becoming more pressing in the classroom.
We are now using the forum format to develop his ideas in an interview. Readers’ comments will be very welcome at any point as this discussion unfolds over the next month.
So my first question is,
Why did you call your professional experience of Visual Learning an Inspirational Journey, Michael?
You can find the beginning of the interview here as well as a preview of other questions that Michael is going to answer.
You can follow the interview as it unfolds and comment as well here. Do not forget to log in if you want to comment. If you tick the box you will be informed when other people post in that forum thread.
Visual Literacy forum
The interview with Michael Smith is one of the activities in the Visual Learning web forum which we hope MirandaNetters will talk about their work and ask questions. In this way we are trying to build an interactive and current knowledge base in which practitioners’ views are recorded as they develop.
These are the strands in the forum that we have started:
Display technologies: John Cuthell
Creating resources designed for visual learning: Jane Finch
The interactive web in Visual Learning: Theo Keuchel
Images in Visual Learning: Theo Keuchel
Communicating visually through animation: John Cuthell
Visualising Data: Christina Preston
Creating Maps of ideas: Michael Smith and Nigel Riley
Games in Visual Learning: John Cuthell
Visual Narratives: Christina Preston
- but we are not sure that we have the right strands or the right number of strands in this very new field. We welcome the comments of members who have anything to contribute even if it is just questions - if you have not entered a forum before this might be the time to try one out.
See you in there…..
MirandaNet seminar on mapping on July 2nd, London
The third in the series
'Fascinating cultural objects':
multimodal concept mapping in teaching and learning
Seminar: The challenges for teachers and teacher educators
In breaking new ground in Visual Learning
July 2nd 16:00 - 18:00
Seminar Chair: Christina Howell Richardson, Plymouth University
The three practitioners talking about mapping for teachers and children will conclude with a discussion about the challenges of writing up practice based research.
16:00 Multimodal mapping: innovation in the assessment of teachers’ learning about ICT: Christina Preston, MirandaNet Fellowship and WLE Centre, Institute of Education, University of London.
16:30 Collaboration, ICT and mind-mapping
John Ralston and Deidre Cook, Open University
17:00 Investigating the impact of concept mapping in developing effective learning dialogues: Nigel Riley, Knowle Primary School Plymouth and Associate Lecturer at Plymouth University
17:30 Discussion: Challenges for teachers writing up practice based studies for academic publication
Do join us for an early supper in a local restaurant after the workshop at 18:30
Cost about £15:00
WLE centre
Institute of Education, University of London
20 Bedford Way, WC1H 2AL
Nearest tube: Russell Square
See local area map
Let me know if you can come.
Full Seminar details here.
MirandaNet in the Guardian Links supplement
Research round up
From the Guardian Link supplement which will be published on Tuesday June 19th.
“It has been a busy time at MirandaNet. They have produced another report,funded by the Institute of Education's Centre for Excellence in Work-based Learning (WLE), investigating teachers', advisers' and teacher educators' professional development needs in ICT with 250 members of the IT specialist groups Naace and ITTE and MirandaNet.It found that around a third of the respondents had received no ICT training for three years and some ten per cent had never had any form of formal instruction. Practice-based training, rather than skills-based or academic courses, were deemed most useful by 41%. In terms of motives for using ICT, equipping learners to be independent featured prominently (48%) as did international collaborations (19%). Very few respondents made any link to supporting vocational learning – a key strand of the new 14-19 curriculum.
In terms of ICT CPD needed for the future, there was a split in opinion with Naace members identifying learning platforms as the priority while ITTE and MirandaNet members pinpointed a need for practice-based courses and applied Research”.
Julie Nightingale
You can download a summary: Expert ICT advisers considering their own ICT CPD experiences (Word) or download the full draft report: Education Professionals' perspectives on ICT CPD: Past, Present and Future (PDF 803KB) here.
(Final versions from Tuesday)
What's On:
National Conference: Children Making Meaning through Talk and Mark Making
Please find below information about a forth-coming conference.
Two of the speakers (Maulfry and Elizabeth) are MirandaNet Members.
Redcliffe Children’s Centre invites you to:
Children Making Meaning through Talk and Mark Making
Children birth to 8 years
Tuesday 3rd July 2007 9.30am-3.00pm
Venue: The Ramada Plaza Hotel, Redcliffe Way, Bristol
Essential for all Early Years Practitioners, Key workers, Teachers, Advisory Teachers, Advisors, Children’s Centre Professionals, Nursery Teachers, Foundation and Key Stage One Teachers, and Speech Therapists.
Key speaker: Nigel Hall, Manchester Metropolitan University
Celebrated Education Author and Lead Project Director of the ‘Communicating Matters’ publications.
Speakers: Maulfry Worthington, Free University Amsterdam - (exploring ‘Meanings, Multi-modality and Mathematics’) & Elizabeth Carruthers, Head, Redcliffe Children’s Centre, authors of the acclaimed book, ‘Children’s Mathematics, Making Marks, Making Meaning’.
Presentations from: Redcliffe Multi-disciplinary team.
This conference will explore the range of marks young children make as they make sense of their world. Children’s drawings are not a static representation of a given reality but are ‘Thinking in Action’ (Cox, 2005). Children’s talk, discussions and reflections are also vital to their thinking processes. This conference will highlight the key principles of the ‘Communicating Matters’ publications focussing on children’s conversations.
Conference cost £100 (£60, Bristol C. C, group discounts available) Includes: Lunch, Refreshments, and entrance to exhibition. Download a conference flier and application form from here.
Biodiversity and Climate Change
MirandaNet Scholar Shahjahan Siraj from Bangladesh sends us news of a Seminar which Climate Change Cell Bangladesh is organising for the International Day for Biological Diversity, 2007.
Follow this link for an interesting Flash Multimedia Presentation.
Challenging Every Child - 3rd, 4th July 2007
5th E2BN Two Day Conference
"Challenging Every Child", is a two day conference for heads, teachers and others concerned with the potential impact of ICT in education. It offers a chance to listen to world class speakers, engage in hands on workshops and see how innovation and best practice is offering new challenges to children across the region. The conference will also look at how ICT can be used across the curriculum to offer new challenges to pupils of all abilities, both in school and at home.
Delegates will have a chance to:
Sample the latest technology through hands-on workshops
Have access to a range of practical advice and assistance
See examples of how innovation and best practice is transforming education in schools across the region
Discuss and debate topical issues
The conference will be held at: The Robinson Centre, Wyboston, Bedfordshire, MK44 3AR.
Bebo at In the Wild conference
From Leon Cych http://www.L4L.co.uk
At the recent 'In the Wild conference' about informal learning at Channel 4 - Rachel O'Connell, Chief Safety Officer, Beebo gave a talk about Beebo's policies and their links with government in new initiatives- this is excellently blogged by Ewan McIntosh who shared the stage with her.
http://edu.blogs.com/edublogs/2007/05/41_minutes_per_.html
I would also like to draw people's attention to this video made at congress recently about exactly what is happening on social networking sites or as much data as has been draw together from the world's experts on online crime against children so far - this is quantative and qualitative data that show certain trends and it might be surprising to some to see what actually does appear to be happening on these sites.
Watch the video and follow the links to the academic papers. Now contrast that with a report like this
and then stand back and reflect. Our young people aren't stupid - in fact they are probably more savvy than their mentors in these areas despite having less 'life skills'.
To be able to unpick these issues we need to be able to get away from the "perceived" risks and concentrate on what is "actually" happening and work from there.
To be honest I'm more concerned with the recent Unicef report that purports to show how badly we are doing in terms of serving our children.
Resources : Know IT All
Schools can order bulk copies of a new resource from Childnet International to help parents promote positive and safe Internet use.
'Know IT All', an interactive CD-Rom commissioned by the DfES, will be available to all maintained schools in England to order in bulk quantity for parents free of charge.
A key aim of the CD-Rom is to encourage parents to have a dialogue with their children about the internet and there is special material produced by and for young people, and a special Activity Centre with quizzes and games that parents and children can play together. A summary of the advice on the CD-Rom has been translated into Arabic, Bengali, Gujarati, Polish, Mandarin, Punjabi, Urdu and British Sign Language and is presented in the latest multi-media video.
http://tinyurl.com/28fdfd
or
http://publications.teachernet.gov.uk/default.aspx?PageFunction=productdetai ls&PageMode=spectrum&ProductId=DFES-00308-2007&
A related CD ROM - Know IT All for Schools, was published in 2005, and is still available from:
http://tinyurl.com/24dr9b
or
http://publications.teachernet.gov.uk/default.aspx?PageFunction=productdetails&PageMode=spectrum&ProductId=KIA-SCHOOLS&
Resources: Sharing Success - Issues 9 and 10
Issue 9 of the Primary Working Group publication, Sharing Success, focuses on Adventure Games.
Issue 10 of the Primary Working Group publication, Sharing Success, this time with a focus on the ICT Co-ordinator.
You can download these issues, along with any previous issues you may have missed, from the Sharing Success archive on the Naace website:
http://www.naace.org/resourceView.asp?menuItemId=2&resourceId=1594
http://www.naace.org/resourceView.asp?menuItemId=2&resourceId=1594
We regret that users of non-Microsoft web browsers may be having problems accessing the files for Sharing Success. This is a problem with the Naace website not your browsers and we hope that it will be addressed in the near future. In the mean time you may need to save the PDF file to disc before you can view it.
Panorama programme on wi-fi
Naace have reported on recent concerns expressed in the press culminated in a Panorama programme focussed upon the safety issues associated with wi-fi networks, particularly in schools. The programme was broadcast on Monday 21st May, and a subsequent discussion on the Naace AC mailing list proved most informative. As one might expect, the weight of opinion expressed in the mailings came down on the 'no danger' side of the debate, and several members provided the type of information and guidance which they were offering to their schools.
Read the official guidance from Richard Stiff, Chair of The Association of Directors of Children's Services Information Systems and Technology Policy Committee, which includes a press release from Becta.
freetheteacher.blogspot
Dughall McCormick
Dughall sends us his newly created blog. The theme is on the same lines as his presentation in Prague. Dughall would like to see technology used to assist early years practitioners in the gathering of evidence and reporting to parents and in the creation of an eportfolio/record of a learning journey.
New Scholars
>Nigel Beacham
Dr Nigel Beacham B.Sc, M.Sc, PhD, CEng, MBCS, CITP,CSci., Mathematics Education Centre, Loughborough University, UK. Dr Beacham is a Research Fellow within the Mathematics Education Centre at Loughborough University and has over 10 years experience carrying out research into the design and implementation of user interfaces of educational technologies. He is particularly interested in Human-Computer Interaction issues in Educational Technology and the relationship between the usability of user interfaces and the use of computer technology in education. His research is currently focusing on user interfaces within educational technology for people with Specific Learning Disabilities such as dyslexia and dyscalculia. He has a BSc in Computer Science, an MSc in Human Computer Interaction, and has completed a PhD on the subject of Distributed Performance Support Systems. He has published numerous papers about his research within international peer-reviewed journals and at conferences, and is a member of the British Computer Society.
Michael Beckett
I graduated in 2006 from Brighton University. I started my teaching career in East Sussex as a teacher of ICT in a secondary school. Whilst working in the school it became apparent that ICTs were not being used throughout the school due to a lack of teacher knowledge/understanding.
I have a great interest in education and the way in which ICTs can make an impact on education across the curriculum. With this interest in mind I have run several core professional development courses promoting the use of ICT in several curriculum areas.
Richard Elliott
I have worked in education for 27 years, mainly in the FE sector. Beginning in an Agricultural College in the early Eighties I quickly realised that I needed to be adaptable in order to maintain a career in this rapidly changing sector. Adaptability and the desire to keep ahead have served me well in my personal development as an educator, skilled in the use of ICT. More recently I became heavily involved with the roll out of an e-learning system at my college. This was (and remains) a significant transformation for staff, but one which I was well prepared for. As a Senior Lecturer with mentoring responsibilities I supported staff through the passage from traditional teacher to facilitator of learning using ICT.
I am not particularly interested in infrastructure and networks - they should just work shouldn't they? I prefer to focus more on the application of ICT solutions and on the breaking down of traditional barriers by the provision of support and the active sharing of good practice. The ultimate aim of any innovation in education must be to enhance learning in some way. This applies just as much for ICT as to other developments. My current role as a council officer allows me to support staff in local authority schools as they develop their ICT strategies and begin their journey with e-learning. Scotland is poised at the beginning of a major ICT project - Glow. This presents so many new possibilities for teachers, pupils and parents that it is difficult to imagine. But by the time you read this it will be a reality and we will be learning with it.
Jonathan Moss
I have been involved in ICT and Education since I qualified as a Teacher in 1990. I have worked in Science and ICT, and I was initially interested in the integration of ICT into the curriculum. I have been Head of ICT, an IT Manager in a school in Madrid and an ICT Consultant with the British Council. I am currently a Global Product Development Consultant with the British Council. My interest is Mobile Learning and evolving learner autonomy and student driven individualisation of learning through the use of e-learning and e-materials. I am currently studying for an Ed. Doc in Education and my focus for my research will be related to my topics of interest.
Kenneth Msiska
I am a young Malawian who is fascinated by ICT developments. I am leading the Director of the Young Advocates for the Advancement of ICT-related Development (Y.A.A.ICT-D), a youth-led organization based in Malawi.
Alan Perkins
Originally a trained architect who fell into the world of teaching as a Design and Technology teacher. I returned to an early passion for computers and technology after a 15 year gap. Computer technology had moved on from the era of the ZX81 and the Spectrum (no more rubbery keys and 1K of memory) so far that after initially teaching mostly within the Design area I chose to specialise in ICT teaching and helping to integrate Technology use across all schools I have worked within.
I am at the moment participating in a distance learning Masters Degree course in the use of ICT in Education at Sunderland University specialising in the use of a myriad of web-tools to enhance and bring teaching and learning in line with students ideals and expectations. I firmly believe that the facilitation of blended environments in which the internet and technology becomes a tool to enhance and motivate teaching and learning, is important is a changing world of communication and work. Recent projects and research has included:
CICT Moodle into Web 2.0 - Using a VLE in a way which extends the environment into a more flexible and read/write space.
CICT TikiWiki - Gnomes, Champions and Trolls - Using a wiki in a very traditional school to enhance students understanding of how to remix and research areas of technology and its effect on our lives, while not plagiarising or blindly copying. The use of roles and existing examples helped to illustrate how personalities work within such collaborative communities.
CreativICTism - Weblogs and their wide variety of practical and empowering uses they can have within schools. The French Connection - Using Social Networks to learn French within a school (in process.)
After six years of International teaching in Egypt and Mexico, I am specifically interested in my return to the UK and how to continue to develop these technologies and collaboration across schools internationally to help students understand the effects of working in a global community in which problems can only be solved in a collaborative environment.
Graham Stanley
I am particularly interested in emerging technologies (blogs, wikis, podcasts, etc) and their use for language learning and teaching, and am currently project manager for the British Council project in Second Life (we are building a 3D self-access centre for teenagers there).
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