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The Keynote Speech at BETT2000 by Christina Preston, Director, with MirandaNet Fellows:
- John Cuthell, Boston Spa School, Yorkshire
- Ben Franklin, Plume School, Maldon
- Sue Heightman, Tolworth School for Girls, Tolworth
- Basia Korczak, Valentines School, Ilford, Essex
- Bozena Mannova, Czech Technical University, Prague
- Peter O'Hagan, Stoke on Trent, LEA
- Sarah Quilty, School of Education, University of Ulster
- Michelle Selinger CeNTRE, University of Warwick
"Education is simply the soul of society as it passes from one generation to another".
The challenges the teaching profession faces globally is far greater than professional differences between nations. However the picture looks optimistic. Advanced technologies allow teachers to reach out across social, cultural, economic and vocational divides in the global village, breaking down ignorance and creating hope and new opportunities. Social inclusion has never looked so attainable.
In the global village, teachers who have knowledge, age and experience on their side must also be flexible and open minded learners themselves prepared to learn from their peers and their students.
In our research study, Teachers as Innovators, Professor Cox, Kate Cox and myself have focused on teachers who are already confident in the use of ICT in the expectation that their works and their opinions will encourage their colleagues to move forward We have defined confident and innovative ICT users as teachers in the who are using computers in the classroom and for administrative tasks. These teachers will meet the standards set by the Teacher Training Agency ICT syllabus which are quite tough. They have their own computer with Internet access and their own email address.
Contrary to expectations the teachers who met these criteria were not all young. The average age was 45: most were senior managers. Their first degrees were across the subject range and only one per cent had a formal degree in IT. Some had had no ICT training at all. Yet although they felt inadequately trained they were teaching their peers with some success.
These teachers who were comfortable with computers were agreed that computers increased pupils motivation and helped them to learn. Most of them thought that improved capacity and expanded resources for independent learning, offered opportunities to vary the pace of learning, improved presentation and increased concentration.
In this keynote innovative teacher professionals raise the issues that are important to them.
To start with Peter O'Hagan, Special Projects Co-ordinator from Stoke on Trent, believes that for too long there has been an emphasis on the power of technology. A concentration on the speed and power of ICT.
"A few providers and practitioners are concentrating also on the Why and How. How can the technology available to education contribute to life long learning? Why should we use the available technology? What difference can/will it make?
Today young people are on games consoles and in games arcades battling with problems beyond our comprehension, slaying mythical beasts and wrestling with the enemies of Laura Croft. They readily share solutions and fixes with friends and family. Then we bring them into school, sit them down in monastic rows and give them Caxton technology of the middle ages to work with. No wonder they are disillusioned.
To go forward the teaching profession needs to embrace the 5 Cs:
- Connectivity - Not OFTEL connectivity, ISDN, ASDL etc. But places where people of all ages can connect with learning opportunities appropriate to their individual needs.
- Content - That harnesses the power of the technology that is imaginative in its creation and delivery, (NOT books on screens).
- Culture - We need to develop a culture that accepts and embraces new ways of learning.
- Co-operation and Partnerships - We need to ensure that all those involved in the development of the learning process. Educationalists, manufacturers (hardware and software), and learners themselves all work together.
- Communities - The development of learning communities, local, regional, national and multinational will facilitate a greater mutual understanding and ensure mutual development.
We can encourage Just in Time Learning and improve social inclusion. We must reconstruct our understanding of the processes involved in teaching and learning".
Sue Heightman, Deputy Head at Tolworth Girls School, discusses the important of ICT in professional development with a group of trainee teachers. The National Grid for Leaning and the Virtual Teachers Centre offer a wealth of resources for teachers. Teachers have little time in their professional life to observe good practice in other schools as they did as trainees. But the Internet offers a window on the work of peers not just in the UK and internationally. Most important the Internet offers a means of creating self-help communities of teachers.
Basia Korczak, an ICT teacher in Ilford, tells us how the students and teachers at Valentines School get involved in the use of ICT. Basia has developed a variety of strategies for using the Internet to create resources, promote collaborative learning and develop on-line communities. She is aiming for the whole school to have Oracle email addresses. As Early Adopters of Scoop, the Oracle based learning environment, over half the sixth form have already created their first web publications, used the brainstorming facility and entered a question and answer session Valentine School's feedback will be invaluable to the Oracle Scoop team as they develop this learning environment for the use of learning communities.
John Cuthell of Boston Spa School in Yorkshire highlights teachers need for time and space to reflect, to understand their role, work beyond their initial responses and debate the ways in which teachers can shape the effects of change. One of the great strengths of an active on-line professional community such as MirandaNet, he says, is to have a forum within which questions can be asked, responses posted and suggestions made. "Members of MirandaNet come from diverse backgrounds: what we all have in common is that we're all living on the edge of chaos. We'd like to think that wešre learning, that we're thriving in chaos, managing the change: understanding the potential of Information and Communication Technologies: passing on some of the benefits to the students with whom we teach, work and learn."
MirandaNet Fellows value the opportunity to make sustained contact with colleagues internationally on the Internet. Many international Fellows are struggling with political, social and economic factors that put British professional issues in context.
Bozena Mannova , Czech Technical University, Prague, and Sarah Quilty, School of Education, University of Ulster, talk about the impact of ICT exchange projects on the teachers and the students.
"On the first day of our joint project," Bozena said, "there was not so much interest in communication, but by the second and third days, teachers and students were just sitting by the computers and they were really very happy. For them, it was new to make friends by computer. From that time on, they were on the Netd@ys pages often and electronic communication for them took on an entirely new dimension."
Sarah agreed, "I think the Irish experience was similar - ours was the last day, Friday. When the students discovered they could E-chat electronically with new friends in other parts of Europe they really came alive. It was a matter of teachers begging them to leave the computer rooms for their other classes - that was a new pedagogical experience for some staff. The students and teachers gained new experience and new confidence from working on their own web sites and in future they will not be so hesitant about trying out new experiences in ICTs. In fact, when we had our debriefing session via video-conference (the schools are about 70 miles apart) the teachers discussed how they would collaborate more frequently and plan opportunities for the pupils to do likewise."
Building communities on-line is greatly influenced by the software that is available. Ben Franklin, Plume school, Maldon Essex, describes some of the learning environments MirandaNet Fellows have used.
"The MirandaNet Fellowship publish our articles and case studies as well as useful resources for other teachers on our website, (www.mirandanet.org.uk). However, for our community to be effective we must be able to communicate effectively with each other, to debate and to reflect. Our Internet communication has been a major element in MirandaNet's development as a functioning virtual community.
We have found that the features of the Internet software we use are a major factor in the effectiveness of our communication. When MirandaNet Fellows first began to experiment with on-line conferencing we used a Unix based system. This was a bit of a nightmare! Luckily as our knowledge and sophistication have increased, so has Internet technology improved.
We use Mirandalink as a communications tool. It is not perfect - it is not graphical for instance but you can download messages and read them off-line. Because you cannot see threads it can be confusing at times and we have found that reply buttons are a problem for some people! It is a little like being dependent on a hearing aid - you pick up all the sound and have to then filter it yourself. The important thing about Mirandalink however is that it allows passive involvement. For many people it is enough to listen in on the sometimes arcane conversations.
We are particularly lucky to be involved now in a software pilot with Oracle. This involvement is giving us a chance to design the software environment we really need for communication. OMP, or Scoop as it is more widely known, is deceptively powerful. Although it is still in a developmental phase it does a number of very sophisticated things very easily which make it a powerful community tool. For instance, it allows the creation of web pages which are interactive as well as allowing easy on-line messaging and e-mail. For anyone not familiar with WWW protocols it makes these processes very simple. It also allows community members to share ideas and information in a straightforward way.
You can register for an Early Adopters pilot of this software on the MirandaNet website if you are interested.
We are also piloting our own expert advice service for teachers sponsored by Compaq and Oracle where we plan to mentor other teachers who want to know more about ICT.
Michelle Selinger the director of CeNTRE at Warwick University has some advice for teachers who want to set up their own on-line communities:
- View the appropriate software
- Design your learning environment carefully
- Decide whether forums should be open or closed
- If closed, consider whether latecomers can be allowed in
- Decide on the content balance between resources, publication and discussion
- Consider the optimum size of the community
Michelle stresses the human factor in creating a sustainable community. Strategies she recommends to leaders are:
- Establish good initial relationships: face to face if possible
- Ensure familiarity with the on-line communication system
- Get to know the participants well
- Sell on-line discussions to them
- Ensure all participants know the purpose of each forum
- Make sure there is something to read and there is a real reason to use it
- Encourage introductory messages especially if there has been no prior face-to-face meeting
- Establish clear guidelines and parameters within which to work
- Encourage reluctant members to contribute by
- sending email messages
- inviting joint contributions
- commenting on contributions before they are posted
Michelle's suggestions will help teachers who are training their peers in ICT. There is not enough helpful advice about teachers training needs and suggestions for course content.
Conversely, teachers are not asked frequently enough what kind of training they really want. In our study, Teachers as Innovators, confident and innovative teachers explained what kind of training they had found most effective. They recommended a variety of approaches: initial awareness courses to start ideas flowing, short courses with manageable time-spans and sustainable long term curriculum integration, courses with on-line links. They thought that courses worked better if the levels and ability of the teacher/learners were matched and the content had direct relevance to the classroom and staff room. School-based practical training was popular using familiar equipment.
These innovative teachers were also articulate about their own training needs. There are not enough professional development opportunities for the leaders and the Early Adopters at the right level. These wanted long term ICT support, mentoring and teaching that challenged them to change their own practice and develop changes in learning in their institution. They had found that mentoring other colleagues helped them to learn and they were willing to put time aside to be involved in an active professional development community, on-line and face to face.
The evidence from this study indicates that if we as a society want to more teachers to be confident and innovative users of ICT we must give teachers the time and the facilities they need. We have made a good start in the UK. We must continue to build on the funding for the National Grid for Learning and the grants for on-line computers for teachers. What teachers need now are effective peer training communities on-line and face to face so that the profession can learn together. Pooling their talents and expertise and agreeing to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty. Learning can be painful. The profession has to triumph over the pain barrier if teachers are to make a real contribution to this centuries achievements in universal education.
"Education is simply the soul of society as it passes from one generation to another".
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