Talkin' 'bout my cerebration.

Teacher toolkit

Now that I have my staff selected, I believe my time is best spent exposing them to the software that will enable transformative learning.  My first focus will be on software that enables sharing of information.  In this initial phase I will install software that utilises data stored on the local hard drive.  This is purposeful so that I can facilitate use of the team site for the project to share files.

The software I will install tomorrow is;

1. Mozilla Firefox
2. Zotero add-on for Firefox
3. X-mind
4. FoxIt PDF Reader (including FoxIt toolbar)

FireFox is essential for the functionality of the add-ons, particularly on the Windows powered laptops provided to teachers in our organisation.  Zotero is a notebook and research tool.  We will build notebooks and share them out to the learners.  FoxIt toolbar allows the markup and annotation of PDF files.  Simply choose “Save As” when finished and all markups and annotations are saved as part of the file.  X-mind is a concept mapping program, within which we will build learning maps for the units we implement.  Each of these programs are cross platform.  I’m aware there are platform specific programs that may perform these functions more effectively however I want a solution that can be modelled in class and implemented on any platform.

Tomorrow I will install these items on my staff’s laptops.  I will then provide them with the Smart Classrooms Professional Development Framework file (PDF).  They will be tasked with opening it within FireFox and using the markup tools to identify the indicators they believe they are currently demonstrating.  As well as providing them exposure to PDF markup and file sharing via One Portal, this will also provide base data to map performance improvement upon.

Its been reassuring that both staff have been showing real interest in this and a desire to learn.

Yesterday I invited two staff members to be the teachers in this project.  Both seemed excited by the invite which is a good thing.  I have purposely picked them for a number of reasons.

Staff member A sits in the main HPE staffroom and I believe has the potential to be an excellent teacher.  2010 will be their 3rd year at our school.  They are well organised and always working within timelines from myself or administration.  They have spent large amounts of time preparing resources for their classes, and although this will change tact with this project the time commitment is important.  Their learning management needs refinement, and I believe this process will allow them to critically reflect on their influence on the learning environment and improve their practice acordingly.

Staff member B is my most energetic and motivated staff member.  They are constantly seeking advice and feedback on performance and show an ability to critically reflect and adapt their practice.  They sit in a staffroom across the other side of the school, which should result in a spreading of the influence of the project.  The fact that they like to talk about their teaching will aid this process.  This will also encourage me to leave the main HPE staffroom more often to interact with my other staff.  This staff member is well organised and always works within timelines.  They seem to thrive in team situations, although I see the potential for leadership within them.

So now I am getting excited.  At this point there are three priorities that need to be addressed.  First and foremost I need to formalise the plan for the project.  As it is an action learning project I need to frame it as such.  This includes the recruitment of critical friends.  I’d like to have critical friends for each of the following aspects;

• syllabus implementation
• staff development
• student achievement and satisfaction data
• pedagogical practices
• digital pedagogy (incl. use of specific tools and processes)

There may be other areas I incorporate critical friends and no doubt they will become evident in the plan formalisation process.  I have not yet identified the requirements or commitment of critical friends, but if you are interested in being one for this project then I encourage you to let me know.  If you can’t dedicate the time (I know we are all busy) there will be opportunity to read our progress and comment as such.

Secondly I need to provide a range of readings to my staff to increase their understanding of transformative theory.  I will do this through the creation and transfer of a Zotero notebook, demonstrating to them the use of such technologies that I want incorporated into the project.  Thirdly, we need to meet to refine the work program so that it enables the success of the project.  Aspects like the use of physical activities that allow the teachers to be “close” in the early stages.  Our classroom is next to our hall, so if the first unit of work has an activity in the hall the teachers will be relatively close.  This will enable student choice and teacher support of each other.

I can feel the momentum building.  I am excited, I am heartened by my staff’s excitement.  And I am strong due to your support.  Those that are reading this and sending comments via the blog, twitter, email or facebook are keeping me strong.  Thanks to those who have already volunteered to be a critical friend.

My two previous posts have referred to a professional development session which I was fortunate enough to be invited to, discussing a framework for eLearning.  At this professional development conference I had the opportunity to experience productive and collaborative collation of notes and resources with @jnxyz, @gayleenjackson, @checkingboxes, @hoyshane and a number of other conference participants, and demonstrate the power of this to other conference attendees.  For me it was exciting to participate, and ultimately rewarding when I reflect back on the portfolio of information, links and resources we have developed.

Initially a conference tag needed to be set, and this can be seen in my previous posts.   I have invested more of my time into consistently tagging my information across various platforms recently, and realise the convenience of setting and using such a tag.  When we explained the tag to the group, my perception was that many did not understand what I was talking about.  If you do not,search in google for #WTDW and you will see the benefits of a common tag for an event. @gayleenjackson set the tag, and we were away.

The collaboration consisted of tagged tweets in Twitter, public notes in Evernote, bookmarks in Delicious, a conference Ning and an etherpad.  These allowed us to post links to resources, import RSS feeds and sort information for our liking.  Through this whole process I see two significant benefits;

1. All the information is stored in the cloud, and is therefore accessible to anyone.
2. Collaborative memory is more extensive than individual memory.

My brain has been running since thinking how can I incorporate this in my teaching.  Currently I use tags, and searches of tags, to provide feeds of information from my work to students.  I could definitely use public evernotes to proide links to my notes.  Currently I export Zotero notebooks to students who use Zotero.  The same could be done for students using evernote.  We do collaboratively research and store this in a wiki within BlackBoard, but this is generally typed, copied or links.  I could expand this by educating students on RSS feeds and tags.  However one main difference remains.  In this collaborative experience, we each contributed how we were comfortable and then shared with each other.  Some conference members were only comfortable sharing within the Ning blogs.  What is important is the sharing, the collaboration.  The location is simply a function of familiarity and choice.  The colleagues I worked with on this day are more comfortable with the tools mentioned, and this is where I regularly interact with them.  My students however collaborate in entirely different forums and environments.  It is unreasonable for me to expect them to move to my way of thinking (as I have with Zotero) without similar adaptation in reversed roles.  I should be learning about their environments more concentratedly, and exploring options to utilise that for productive communication, collaboration and learning.

The power of networked learning outperforms that of any individual.  It was great to experience real collaboration (common goal and unrestricted sharing) and I’ve no doubtmy learning has benefitted.

The TPACK framework has inspired me to work within my own school to build and implement an eLearning framework – something which has been sadly lacking.  I’m excited to work with @skhill_03, a senior English teacher who is our nominated Digital Pedagogy Leader (a regional program conducted by @djone91) and the Deputy Principals responsible for IT and Pedagogy.  We will base the framework on Bloom’s Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain as it is already instilled as a framework for our academic excellence program.  We intend to develop a community approach to sharing productive digital pedagogy which ties in with the staff review and performance plans that will be implemented later this semester.  As this project progresses I will undoubtedly report on it here.

All this talk on regular blogs about preparing for school (still 12 days away in my part of the world) has resulted in me feeling less than fully prepared.  I have been pushed into some resource research and collection as my initial preparation.  In performing this, I realised how efficient certain tools have made this.  This should be something I pass on to my learners to aid them in their studies.

First, some context.  Within my organisation students are restricted to the standardised computer image, where only IE is installed.  Within IE, students cannot bookmark a favourite (who made that decision!).  However, portable applications can be run.  I will use this functionality to have students set up a browsing system that will enable their research instead of hinder it.

Barrier #1 – students will need to provide a USB.  Won’t need to be big, but still a purchase if they don’t have one already.

The personal research assistant looks like this:

1. Portable Mozilla Firefox – Firefox allows extensions to be installed, and the extensions provide the assistance I am blogging about.
2. Zotero – this add on is an essential for me.  It allows the user to create collections of resources, and then tag any number of sites within.  You can store additional notes, pics, text.  Where available, Zotero will automatically read and store bibliographical information.
3. Google notebook – there are other more effective note taking options out there, but Google Notebook add on within FireFox is more than satisfactory for my learners.  They can always research others and include them later if they so desire.
4. Diigo Toolbar – As I’ve posted previously, Diigo is awesome for research, and the sharing of research.  The toolbar allows it to be done easily from withi the browser.
5. Essential bookmark #1 Bib Me – build a bibliography, formatted and ready to go.
6. Essential bookmark #2 Class Portal – this is essentially the public netvibes space I’ve set up for the class.  This is the starting point / launch pad for all our internet activity.

Barrier #2 – Browsing the add-ons section of the mozilla firefox site is filtered at the school level, therefore relying on students following instructions at home or on an unfiltered machine. Zotero and Diigo can be installed from the linked sites, external to the FireFox add on centre.

I believe this will establish an enabled research experience for my learners, with the added bonus of portability.