Jenni Hammonds
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What interests me (digital technology in education) . . .
may interest you.

Educational trends

3/10/2017

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Schools in the footsteps of the future workplace

Political, economic and social global trends stretching into the 21st century are complex, harrowing, and noticeably underway. Population pressures, shifting economies, disruptions from technological advancement, populism and exclusion, the nature of conflict, and attention demanded by environmental issues all predict of significantly harder times to come (NIC, 2017). These trends are not only inextricably linked but they are converging at a pace never experienced in human history (Pearson, 2103).  ​

​These major global trends serve as umbrellas to a web of more focused trends, specific to contexts and/or societies. Although negating the connections and focusing on one does a disservice to the complexity of the trend, it allows some clarity and, it appears, a tad more hope.

The NMC/CoSN Horizon Report reported on the need for workforce trends to be reflected in schooling (2016). Workforce trends are influenced by many, if not most, of the aforementioned social, political and economic trends. In particular are the rise in technology and a shifting global economy. Automation and technological innovation are “poised to transform a widening array of work practices and the way people live and communicate” (NIC, 2017, p. 15). Global markets pit national economies against each other, but are at the mercy of migration.  Workforce trends themselves are not easy to predict, but throughout the literature, media and hype flexibility, socially intelligent, technologically savvy, and creative are all buzzwords for the future worker/creator. It makes you reflect how committed schools are to preparing their students to be part of a future workforce.  ​
The wave of modern learning environments is a start, but it’s a narrow aspect often bound to the physical realm. The schooling environment is far greater than new furniture, knocking out a wall and investing in one-to-one devices and a handful of robotics kits. As a whole, the existing environment promotes rigidity with bells, timetables, set learning hours, separation by subject, and age-based cohorts. ​

Sir Ken Robinson has promoted a change in the education paradigm for nearly a decade, one that reflects the needs of the 21st century, rather than accommodate those of the industrial age (2010). Also a decade ago, the New Zealand Curriculum promoted Key Competencies for students to develop capabilities to contribute as active members of their community, having the foresight to realise this extended far beyond ‘good grades’ (2007). But there has a been a push in our schools for just that, students making grades. Standardised testing hasn’t truly beached itself at New Zealand’s shores but initiatives such as national standards set the net.  Standardisation and conformity are what Robinson (2010) advocates against. He promotes creativity, divergent thinking, multiple possibilities. These seem to be more inline with future workforce buzzwords.

​One of the overarching themes the NMC/CoSN Horizon Report delivers, bolstering the idea of moulding schools in the shape of the future economy, is reimagining the environment. Leading companies are recognising the benefits of having comfortable, flexible workplaces that suit the purpose of the task. Flexible hours, working from home, collaborating or going solo, integration of technology for communication - these are all aspects that could be reflected in schools.  The wave of modern learning environments is a start, but it’s a narrow aspect often bound to the physical realm. The schooling environment is far greater than new furniture, knocking out a wall and investing in one-to-one devices and a handful of robotics kits. As a whole, the existing environment promotes rigidity with bells, timetables, set learning hours, separation by subject, and age-based cohorts. A focus on academic results pushes aside the emotional and social needs of students, as well as making problem-solving, divergent thinking, creativity and critical thinking second tier. These structures need to be questioned, both in terms of purpose and the types of learners produced. Technology will inevitably become more and more integral to education, but I believe the support, systems and structures around it will be equally as important.
References:
National Intelligence Council. (2017). Global trends: The Paradox of Progress. National Intelligence Council: US. Retrieved from https://www.dni.gov/files/images/globalTrends/documents/GT-Main-Report.pdf

New Media Consortium.(2016, September, 12).NMC/CoSN Horizon Report: 2016 K-12 Edition.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=55&v=wmiLrK-nF7k
​

Pearson. (2013, April 26). Global trends: The world is changing faster than at any time in human history.[video file].Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdZiTQy3g1g

Robinson, K (2010) Changing education paradigms. [video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_changing_education_paradigms 

Sturt, D. & Nordstrom, T. (2016) 3 Secrets of a best company to work for. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidsturt/2016/03/04/3-secrets-of-a-best-company-to-work-for/2/#642807763874
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21st Century - much better for a girl like me?

4/4/2017

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This week in MindLab we have discussed, among other things, what our group of educators consider to be the skills necessary to equip ourselves and our students for the future.  We drew on a number of compilations, including the NZC Key Competencies and the ITL 21st Century Skills. There are a number of comparisons that can be drawn, but I believe you can boil them down to self; yourself with others; and knowledge construction. Thoughts?


​

ITL 21st Century Skills
  • Collaboration
  • Knowledge construction
  • Self-regulation
  • Real-world problems / innovations
  • ICT for learning
  • Skilled Communication
Key Competencies:
  • Thinking
  • Using language, symbols & texts
  • Managing self
  • Relating to others
  • Participating and contributing

21st Century skills in my practice

We're asked to reflect on which 21st Century skills related area of our practice would we like to focus on for our first assignment? And why? This year I am teaching a MindPlus class of students who show enough characteristics of giftedness to be classified by the NZCGE (New Zealand Centre for Gifted Education) as 'gifted'. There is much debate from my students around the legitimacy of this term, hence why I use it carefully. In terms of the 21C skill that I would like to develop, either thinking and knowledge construction or relating to others would be the areas where I feel like I could make the most progress. Particularly with my MindPlus students. I'll explain.

As a teacher I have always pushed the importance of being students who self-manage their learning. This year has been no different. We have set SMART goals for different areas of development, and reflect on them regularly against a number of student led criteria. In terms of communication, collaboration, and using language, symbols and texts (as well as ICT for learning), our progress with online collaborative tools using (to begin with) Google Drive and SeeSaw has really pushed these skills. I feel like this area will naturally develop with student clubs (which include coding and Minecraft). 

Relating to others, I believe, is somewhat neglected at school - we have the first few weeks developing our 'class culture' and then tend to set the skill aside (other than showing respect to our peers and elders). I've always prided myself on the relationship I have with my students, but on reflection I can tend to gravitate and form stronger bonds with particular types of kid. My MindPlus students aren't necessarily these types of students, so I'm working towards how to form those strong bonds with more introverted learners.

In my situation, where students have a higher percentage of excitabilities and/or introvert characteristics, I believe explicitly teaching how to relate to a variety of people is highly important. The MindPlus programme has a third of the day dedicated to Personal Development - where we learn about ourselves, our gifted characteristics, and how to strengthen the positives and mitigate possible negatives. This is backed up with group/team work skills - where working alone doesn't necessarily mean you're not collaborating. 

The other area I think could be developed in my practice is building the thinking skills and knowledge creation capabilities of my students. In a regular class I believe I push my students thinking, and help them to create knowledge - but with my MindPlus students, I think I can push further. I find the biggest challenge is juggling their developed thinking skills with less developed social skills. Part of this is being addressed when working on self-management, but maybe it goes deeper. 

A questions posed is, would your students agree on this area for development? I guess the best way for me to know this is to ask them. We'll soon see.
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