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3 April 2011

MirandaNet Spring Newsletter

MirandaNet Spring Newsletter

Dear MirandaNetters,

Bluebells in SurreyI am appreciating the beauties of the English Spring even more this year in the knowledge that some people have had their lives washed away or destroyed in global disasters (see my picture of Wild bluebells in the local woods). So many homes destroyed and certainties shaken. MirandaNet now has members in nearly 70 countries which makes us so much more aware of the impact on peoples’ lives of these upheavals. This was brought home to me when I listed our membership and used the 'Country' sort button to see just how wide-ranging our membership is.

Since the global news is so overwhelmingly distressing at the moment, perhaps MirandaNet members should be reporting some good news? You are encouraged to send us your classroom or community projects to publish in one of our Ejournals or perhaps as a feature. Send materials to the Web Editor.

Fianlly, many of you will I hope be interested in our next MirandaMod on Social Justice, which will be held later on this month. Details and links at the end of this Newsletter.

Warm regards to you all
Dr Christina Preston
christina@mirandanet.ac.uk

Disasters around the globe

I been particularly distressed by the global disasters reported recently in quick succession, as last year I visited Fellows who are now at the centre of these tragedies: especially Professor Niki Davis at Christ Church University in New Zealand and Professor Hiro Tanaka in Japan. Both of them and their families are safe, but as we know the aftermath is still being felt in these regions.

In addition, Professor Marilyn Leask and I travelled together last year, talking about Web 2.0 methods of professional knowledge creation. As a result I also met Marilyn’s relatives in her hometown in Queensland, Australia where she has a farm. I am very glad to say that her relatives are all physically safe, although the heartache for the suffering of fellow citizens must be profound.

Revolution in the Middle East and North Africa

Christina with a friend in Saudi ArabiaThis year I am just back from Bahrain and Saudi Arabia where I had to wear an Abaya at all times – this is a black long coat that hides the shape of a woman’s body. A fact that really struck home when I was advised not to wear my bum-bag on top containing my passport and tickets.

Arriving in Bahrain, I was driven past Pearl Roundabout and gained a sense of the size of the crowds from the miles of parked cars left by protesters who were demonstrating on foot. In Saudi Arabia I worked with some amazing female teachers. I do hope I have the chance to work with these women again. We have much to learn from them about stoicism and perseverance.

Many of these women, who spend much more time in their homes than we do in the West, are using Web 2.0 tools to further the education of themselves and their students. Whereas Twitter and FaceBook are used mainly for entertainment in Western countries, one Egyptian teacher told me that social networking tools are essential in countries with state-owned news outlets for finding like-minded individuals and spreading information about alternative politics. In her view without these tools these protests in the Middle East and North Africa against despotic rulers would not have been possible – but will these services soon be closed down?

Supporting members in Zimbabwe

Meanwhile MirandaNetters continue to look for ways in which digital technologies can enhance the opportunities to learn from each other wherever we live. In this context, Ben Semwayo, a senior Fellow living in England, is leading the development of a Zimbabwean MirandaNet Chapter. Discussions are taking place amongst more than twenty Zimbabwean teachers and lecturers about how they can introduce digital technologies to their students with limited resources. When they have finished outlined their requirements we will be asking members for potential solutions and useful resources.

Working with Achievement for All in England

In England, MirandaNet Fellows are concentrating our efforts on the 20% of pupils who are not reaching their full potential in our schools. We have been debating the issues with leaders in this field both at BETT11 in January and at the Education Show, March 17th to 19th, where we attracted a large audience – about 350 teachers in all. The publicity about the Green Paper consultation on Special Needs has clearly raised this issue to the top of teachers’ agendas (www.education.gov.uk/childrenandyoungpeople/sen/a0075339/sengreenpaper)

Changing pupils’ attitude to learning
In the first session, Laura Cunningham, Assistant Director, Special Educational Needs and Disability Division, Department for Education, spoke on the research that shows how the Achievement for All pilot has succeeded in changing pupils’ and parents’ attitudes to learning. She explained that Achievement for All strategies are needed because the current system in England is failing too many children. The achievement gap between pupils with SEN and disabilities and those without is wide at each key stage and is not closing. There is a moral purpose as well because too many children are not fulfilling their potential and are unhappy at school. The Lamb Inquiry (www.dcsf.gov.uk/lambinquiry) exposed failures in the system, parents’ frustrations and too great a focus on processes rather than outcomes.

There are 3 strands in Achievement for All that work together to provide a flexible framework:

  1. Assessment; tracking and intervention
  2. Improved engagement with parents of children and young people through termly conversations
  3. Increased provision for wider outcomes such as reduction in bullying, increased attendance and improving social interaction.

These are at the core of the Achievement for All success. The hope is that the impact of Achievement for All strategies will eventually be traced in improved pupil independence. The ultimate aim of such an intervention will be to improve pupil’s prospects for a fulfilling adulthood and future jobs.

Using digital technologies in teaching and learning
In the second session Christina Preston and John Cuthell, MirandaNet, discussed the findings from MirandaNet research on the best models for Professional Development in digital technologies (www.mirandanet.ac.uk/profdev). Lawrence Williams, MirandaNet, and Leon Cych, Learn4Life (www.l4l.co.uk/) followed on with some practical examples of how young learners can be motivated and engaged in classroom activities that allow them to take ownership of the learning agenda creativeteaching.posterous.com. This resource is well worth reading in detail.

Evidence from the Achievement for All pilot
During the next two days four more key speakers developed the Achievement for All theme from different angles. On Friday, Chris Wheatley from the National College and headteacher at Candleby Lane Primary School, Cotgrave, Nottinghamshire, spoke about his experience of Achievement for All in the classroom emphasising appropriate pedagogy and the importance of leadership. Lorraine Petersen, the CEO of NASEN spoke about the future view on SEN policy including some comments on the recent Green Paper. In the evening Lorraine went on to win the Education Show award for the Achiever of the Year which was well deserved.

On Saturday Brett Wigdortz CEO and founder of Teach First talked about about training teachers to address educational disadvantage. A panel of bright, young teachers were inspirational in describing their first experiences in the classroom. Finally, on Saturday afternoon, Professor Sonia Blandford, National Director of Achievement for All, closed the debate with a roundup about the impact of the Achievement for All pilot with a particular focus on the importance of parental engagement, and the impact of good practice on children’s learning. Sonia was supported by Irene Richards from Nottingham, Garath Jackson from Oldham, Philip McElwee from Redcar and Cleveland and Susan Briggs from Coventry, who all had their own inspirational stories to tell.

As a result of this debate MirandaNet Fellows will be submitting a response to the Green Paper consultation explaining how digital technologies can be used to increase the achievements already evidenced in the Achievement for All pilot. The MirandaNet response will also include the ways in which teachers can be supported in sharing their professional knowledge in this vital area.

If you want to add any resources you can find all the interactive concept maps here:

Brave New World: Changing Times in Education

Resources from the Naace Conference March 15th - 17th, Wokefield Park, Berkshire

This year's theme was 'Brave New World: Changing Times in Education'. Bob Harrison has written a challenging summary on Merlin John’s website in which is critical of the new Government’s approach to ICT in schools. Bob Harrison asks what's brave about a new education landscape of cuts and lack of strategy. He was cynical about this “Brave New World” of no central policy or strategy, a “schools know best” ideology, a focus on “teaching” rather than "learning" and a political climate where “private” is preferred over the “public” sector. (agent4change.net/events/conferences/863)

Many MirandaNet members were at the Naace conference and Leon Cych was involved in much of the filming of the TeachMeets. The resources are available here:

You have to register to download them, but you do not have to pay.

Mobile learning: Crossing boundaries in convergent environments

The 'Mobile learning: Crossing boundaries in convergent environments' conference, took place in Bremen (Germany) from Monday to Tuesday, March 21st to 22nd, 2011. It built on a series of mobile learning research symposia hosted by the WLE Centre for Excellence at the Institute of Education, University of London between 2007 and 2009. The focus of this conference was on the challenges of developing new pedagogic approaches and on the potential of mobile devices for learning in formal and informal contexts.

The conference was organised by, among other, Judith Seipold and Norbert Pachler, both of whom are MirandaNet colleagues. Indeed, quite a few MirandaNet colleagues presented at the conference: presentations from John Potter and Judith Seipold, together with contributions from Norbert Pachler, can be viewed on the London Mobile Learning website, and there is a series of interviews with other presenters. John Cuthell chaired a MirandaMod on the first afternoon of the conference and presented a paper (Learning in Liminal Spaces) the following day reflecting on the MirandaMods we have run during the past few years, and what they have revealed about collaborative professional learning.

This was an excellent informal conference, with interaction and collaboration between all of the participants. My thanks must go to all the organisers – but especially to the student technical facilitators, without whom the MirandaMod would have been much more difficult to run, and would not have worked as it did.

John Cuthell (john.cuthell@mirandanet.ac.uk)

A more creative approach to education

On March 16th, 2011, Sir Ken Robinson gave a talk to the Learning without Frontiers community where he discussed creativity, learning and proposed reforms to the curriculum. Sir Ken Robinson was joined in debate by Mick Waters, Curriculum Foundation and Keri Facer, Professor of Education, MMU for an enlightening discussion with the audience about how to embed creativity in learning during challenging times. These compelling highlights challenge many of the current practices in education. He is particularly good on the challenges we face particularly the complexity of life these days and the need for a new renaissance where the similarities between subjects are emphasized- we should reconnect ways of knowing. He quotes HG Wells who said that civilization is a race between education and catastrophe. We need imagination and creativity to cope with this that a rigid curriculum will not foster.

How to improve schools

The new McKinsey report: How the world’s most improved school systems keep getting better

The report looks at commonalities across the globe that create genuine improvement. There are some contentious issues that are seen as raising the floor in the first instance like detailed lesson notes and frequent assessment. However, this is the first stage on the journey from good to great to excellent. Opportunities for professional intervention become more flexible and concentrate on professional sharing. Many teachers of my generation will be interested to see that Professor Michael Fullan, who is so famous for his work in change management, is on the panel.

Not only is this an interesting report in itself, but the web coverage, headed up by Professor Michael Barber, allows the viewer to ask questions in real time like a MirandaMod. However, they are probably using an expensive commercial package to do this.

A MirandaMod on Social Justice: 14th April

This MirandaMod will be a lunch time debate at CAL11, Manchester Metropolitan University, chaired by Professor Keri Facer (www.cal-conference.elsevier.com). This MirandaMod will focus on the role for technology in achieving social justice which seems to be particularly appropriate given our global reach. The debate will be led by Neil Selwyn, Knowledge Lab, Institute of Education, University of London, and Professor Charles Crook, University of Nottingham. We will soon be sending details of how to engage if you cannot attend the conference itself on Twitter, Flash Meeting and in MindMeister mapping.

Follow this link for the Wiki: mirandamod.wikispaces.com/CAL11+Open+Space+MirandaMod

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