ICT's in Education - A Student-Centric Paradigm?

What does technology offer that could change the learning design in education from a teacher-centred to student-centric paradigm? Mmmm – what a good question.

Firstly, what are the technologies or ICT’s (Information Communication Technologies) we are talking about? The list, as we have seen so far, is quite extensive and it’s only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Here are a few of the ICT’s we know are used in education today: Blogs, Wiki’s, electronic white-boards, Avatars (like this Voki), Claymation, Animations, Power Points, Digital cameras and videos, ipods, computer games, web information sources, and of course the internet.

This has really got me thinking. On the one hand I have spent countless hours feeling annoyed and frustrated learning about this new technology, like the ‘Digital Immigrant’ I am, and trying to master it all (quickly), but on the other hand I have been totally and utterly engaged and now consider myself ‘hooked’. Hopefully one day I’ll even be able to pass myself off as a ‘Digital Native!’

I have felt the thrill of publishing posts to my Blog, knowing that someone out there will read it and think or feel something, and perhaps even respond! How amazing is that?.

Blogging provides satisfaction on so many levels. This was highlighted in the course work via this You Tube video which shows how students from Korean International School created their own Wiki-based history text book and Blog. As the narrator said, “images don't animate in textbooks like they do here...Textbooks don't include videos!".

In the end, not only did the students learn all about world history, but they felt the thrill of being publishers, and of receiving feedback from the global audience that had sat up and paid attention to what these students had done. What an amazing learning experience that would be!. I guess that’s what Kearsley and Shneiderman’s (1999) ‘Engagement Theory’ is really all about.

According to Engagement Theory, Kearsley & Shneiderman (1999), students [in order to learn effectively] must be meaningfully engaged in learning activities through interaction with others and worthwhile tasks. They go on to say that in principle such engagement can occur without the use of technology, however the authors believe technology can facilitate engagement in ways which are difficult to achieve otherwise.

Kearsley and Shneiderman (1999), state that engaged learning means that all student activities involve active cognitive processes such as creating, problem-solving, reasoning, decision-making and evaluation. In addition, students are intrinsically motivated to learn due to the meaningful nature of the learning environment.

I can personally understand engagement theory in relation to creating and publishing to my Blog. I am intrinsically motivated (i.e. internally motivated) to succeed and do it well as I enjoy it, I find it a challenge and like the fact that other people may actually read and respond to my thoughts.

Engagement Theory is also based upon the idea of collaborative teams, working on ambitious projects that are meaningful to someone outside of the class (Kearsley and Shneiderman, (1999). Again I refer to the example earlier of the Korean students who created their own on-line text book using Blogs. These students worked in collaborative teams on a meaningful project (Relate), that they could all be involved in designing (Create). It was certainly ambitious but was ultimately rewarding from the point of view that the students’ could (Donate) their work back to the real world and the real world took notice and responded! These students would most certainly have been engaged and experienced the ultimate in learning (heck – life!) experiences – students creating their own text book, which is published to the web and contains moving pictures, videos and links. In my mind that is very student-centred learning.

Moving pictures in text books is all a bit ‘Harry Potter’ really! Speaking of Harry Potter and motion pictures brings me to the notion of ‘suspension of disbelief’. I remember hearing a famous film director, George Lucas I think, talking about the ‘suspension of disbelief’ in films, which is the X factor that really makes us believe what we are seeing, empathise and sympathise with the characters and be transported to another realm. Furthermore, the audiences are truly engaged with what is taking place on the screen, as evidenced by their wide eyed absorption and silence. Anyone who saw ‘Avatar’ recently at the cinema will understand this concept!

Perhaps this suspension of disbelief is quite achievable in education through the use of ICT’s and creating authentic Learning environments? In an article by Oliver and Herrington (2003), they talk about creating Authentic Learning Environments where a suspension of disbelief takes place and assessment is authentic.

Oliver and Herrington (2003) state that "there is increasing evidence that in order to fully engage with an authentic task or problem based scenario, students need to engage with a process that is familiar to moviegoers throughout the world - the suspension of disbelief. For example, consider the suspension of disbelief that audiences must undergo to enable them to become engaged with movies such as Star Wars, Mad Max, The Matrix, The Truman Show, and Back to the Future."

Anyway, in short, Blogs are fantastic!. I love writing and publishing my thoughts and it provides an immediate reward and the opportunity for instant gratification by way of a comment or response. I can see enormous potential for the use of Blogs in classrooms, both at an individual student level and a class level, where students can contribute to a class Blog that is accessible to all members of the school community or publish their own Blog as a way of recording and reflecting on their learning throughout the year. What a great way to keep parents informed of student progress!

Wiki’s, although I am yet to master mine, also have amazing potential to help students to work collaboratively on projects and to retain the information they are receiving. A classroom Wiki could be set up for any numer of projects to encourage students to work together to solve problems or find solutions or simply to share ideas, discuss topics, or create a text book as described above!

This brings me to Active Learning, the multi-directional learning experience in which learning occurs teacher-to-student, student-to-teacher and student-to-student. (ACU Adams Center for Teaching Excellence).

"Active learning is anything that happens in a class that engages students with the material being presented", Felder M., Brent, R. (2004)

Active Learning involves Activity based learning experiences which can take many shapes and include whole-class involvement, teams, small groups, trios, pairs and individuals. They also take many forms and include talking, writing, journaling, discussing, conferring, building, creating etc. In this way, students are more in control of their learning experiences and have opportunities to self-direct their learning. (ACU Adams Centre for Teaching Excellence).

Here is a web site with some ideas for activities utilising Active Learning.

Active Learning is supported by research on how students retain information. For example, Dale’s Cone and the Learning Pyramid, which both indicate that students have a higher retention rate of information if they are exposed to many different types of delivery and ultimately, direct purposeful experience (Dale’s Cone) and opportunities to practice by doing, teaching others or immediately using the information (The Learning Pyramid).

I believe activities such as creating and using Wiki’s and Blogs, creating an Avatar (such as a Voki) or using ICT's to facilitate learning, not only involves Active Learning but also leads to a more student-centred or student directed learning experience. The website of Irving Independant School in Texas shows how Primary students have used Claymation technology to learn about cycles of the earth, e.g. the water cycle. My favourite clip is called Wilson's World. Take a look here.

After some initial frustrations I am now seeing the benefits of Mahara – an e-portfolio tool – in the education environment and also as a personal tool for myself. I like the way this on-line portfolio can be your “portfolio for life”, Aldred, S. (2010), and the fact you can store any and all documents you produce including projects, blogs, powerpoints, assessments, ideas, videos, photos of art-work etc. Over time this has potential to be an amazing record of one's learning, work and life in general.

I think Mahara and other e-portfolio tools, are a wonderful way for students to record their learning and keep important files, reports, assignments, projects or artworks they have completed. An e-portfolio could be developed for class groups where each student has their own 'View' to update, or used by an entire class group collaboratively, to record what they are learning along the way. What a great way for a learning site to keep parents informed of student progress.

How can I use ICT’s to engage my learners? Here is another wonderful example of how animation technology can be used used by indigenous students to bring to life their dreamtime stories and widen the interest in the community. The clip below is courtesy of You Tube. Information about other Dreamtime Animations, can be found at this website.

By way of summary I would like to re-state some 'ICT Rules' from Aldred, S. (2010), and concur that ICT’s can make teaching more learner effective (and student-centred), widen the appeal of lessons and activities (and cater to different learning styles and personalities), provide opportunities for home/study, and enrich the learning experience. Furthermore, Aldred, S. (2010)believes the use of ICT’s can streamline teaching practices by enabling paperless management of learning resources (how eco-friendly is that?) use self-marking / objective testing tools (e.g. on-line quizzes) and promote collaborative group work and self assessment.

I can attest to all of the above as I have experienced them first hand in the 'ICT for Learning Design' courseware at CQ University.

I believe the use of ICT’s for the ‘Digital Native’ in our 21st Century classrooms just makes good sense; and utilizing a diverse range of ICT’s and other learning activities will help to engage a wider audience.

References:

Prensky, M. (2001) Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon (NBC University Press Vol. 9, No. 5, October 2001)

Herrington, J., Oliver, R. and Reeves, T. C. (2003). Patterns of engagement in authentic online learning environments. Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 19(1), 59-71.

Kearsley, G., and Shneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement Theroy: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning.(gkearsley@sprynet.com)

Felder, R.M. and Brent, R. (2004) The Abc's of Engineering Education: Abet, Bloom's Taxonomy, Cooperative Learning, and so on. North Carolina State University/Education Designs, Inc.
Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition

Aldred, S. (2010) ICT's for Learning Design courseware. CQ University, Rockhampton, QLD Australia

A cyclone is a learning experience

Cyclone Ului, my first and hopefully last experience of nature in all it's fury, has been and gone, but definately left it's mark. We spent 2 days preparing our house for the cyclone and 2 days cleaning up the mess - with more to come.

I have seen sides of myself I haven't seen before, or not often, and not sure I want to see again! For a start, 4 kids in a hot,dark,humid house, with a dog, a cat and no electricity or running water, is probably enough to try anyone, but throw in two thawing freezers, no flushing toilets or showers, a husband who is away for work (and staying in a nice hotel I might add!) and rain that just won't go away, and you have one very unhappy mum!

Last night however, as I reflected on my horrid day, my inability to study, my quick temper, my inability to have a hot shower or even lie in my bed and read a book, I told myself to 'suck it up!' and look at how lucky I am. Our house is still in one piece, we have food to eat, water to drink and no-one near or dear has been harmed or even remotely injured!

I then began to think about my own personal 'Habits of Mind', and how little voices in my head (no I'm not going crazy!) were responsible for the way I looked at my situation and the way I decided to 'be' in this post-cyclone moment. I decided there and then, with my glass of red wine by candlelight, that I was going to be more positive.




I have noticed that I have been feeling very frustrated, annoyed and even angry with the lack of power and it's ability to make my life comfortable and easy. However, then I decided to think creatively and make some other arrangments. For example, I need to wash my hair, so a friend suggested I use the shower at the gym. I was feeling stressed about not being able to study, so I decided to find an air-conditioned office with power to study, (fortunately my husband's workplace had a spare office today), I have several loads of washing to do and no power to turn on the machine, so I am taking up my friends offer to borrow her machine. My kids can't have a shower or bath, so this morning before school we all had a swim. You know what - being positive, pro-active and thinking outside the square made me feel better.

This whole cyclone experience got me thinking about Marzano & Pickering (1997) Dimensions of Learning, Dimension 5 - Habits of Mind. As I began reading, I realised that I had some very healthy Habits of Mind, for example, I was planning appropriately (fill up water buckets before it starts to rain again), monitoring my own (negative) thinking (look how lucky you are), Identifying and using available resources (a spare office at my husbands work, my gym for a shower, my friend for washing clothes) and evaluating the effectiveness of my actions (next cyclone don't buy so much fresh food because when the power goes out it won't stay fresh!).

I was also responding appropriately to feedback when my kids asked me for the hundredth time why they couldn't bake a cake or watch TV - I said, "no you can't watch TV because there is no electricity, but you can make a cubby house!"

Most importantly I have been persevering and will continue to do so.

From this experience, I can see that I have some very useful Habits of Mind, but also some unhealthy ones that are there, lurking in the background, ready to sabbotage my good intentions if I let them. I have learned through this whole cyclone experience, not only to appreciate what I have, but also to listen to those nasty habits that have a way of leading me down a pathway I just don't want to go. In this way, Cyclone Ului has helped to illuminate Marzano and Pickering's and Costa and Kallick's, 'Habits of Mind' at work in my own mind.

I can see how unhealthy habits of mind could stop or prevent students from learning from their experiences and instead lead them down a slippery slide of despair or hopelessness. I also saw, that sometimes you just need a helpful voice to guide you or suggest a different strategy, and that if you're open to hear this you can learn from it.

I hope I will be a positive guide for my students in the future and help them develop healthly and effective Habits of Mind.

Education or Edutainment - what do 21st century students really want?

I have been pondering this question for a few days and I think the answer is really quiet simple. As we have read, the old fashioned 'chalk and talk' method of teaching where the students are 'talked at' and sit through class after class of lectures, reading, lectures and more reading, is just not enough to engage the modern learner, and this is really no surprise...

The 21st Century learner has a wealth of exciting and interesting technology at home including Nintendo, Playstation, Wii, i-pods, mobile phones, digital cameras the internet and so on - the list continues to expand on a monthly basis. Why then, would students want to leave these tools at home when they come to school?

This notion has been explored in a great article by Marc Prensky (2001), Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants'. In his article Prensky (2001) states that "Today's students - K through college - represent the first generations to grow up with this new technology. They have spent their entire lives surrounded by and using computers, videogames, video cams, cell phones and all the other tools and toys of the digital age."

Prensky (2001) goes on to say that "It is now clear that as result of this ubiquitous environment and the sheer volume of their interaction with it, today's students think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors".

Traditional classrooms must seem pretty ho-hum in comparision to the exciting world of technology.

For many of us, now studying to become teachers, we can remember our childhoods and schooling as a time when there were no computers in schools, let alone at home, most of our free time was spent playing outside, and televisions and microwaves were the most modern pieces of technology in the home.

I think it's important to remember that although technology is now part of our world, for many 21st century students, technology IS their world.

Prensky (2001) has given students of today a new name. He calls them "Digital Natives". He states that "Our students of today are all 'native speakers' of the digital language of computers, video games and the Internet. That makes the rest of us, those not born into the digital world, 'Digital Immigrants'". Prensky (2001).

So - yes - I believe the 21st century student does want entertainment at school, or "Edutainment" as Prensky (2001) calls it, but not in a frivolous and directionless way, but in a way that enables them to engage with their learning, to make a connection with others in their class, their school and the wider community, in a way that lets them relate what they are learning to the real-world and in a way that prepares them for their futures.

I believe the following You Tube video is a wonderful example of how teaching is being transformed by the use of technology in the classroom and really inspires me to be creative and keep on learning.

I also love this quote,

"Who dares to teach must never cease to learn." John Cotton Dana

Priorities

Here's a little message for my fellow students to help keep up the motivation.....

"A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove...but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child". (anon).

I just want to Belong....

I have been blown away by reading Kunc, N 1992, The need to Belong: Rediscovering Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Axis Consultation and Training.

Although I have studied Maslow in the past, when presented in the context of students belonging in schools, and therefore feeling a sense of community and being ready, willing and in the right ‘head space’ for learning – it gives Maslow’s theory a whole new perspective. It also makes perfect sense!

Image from Arthur family photos

Maslow’s Theory of the hierarchy of needs states that in order for an individual to achieve self actualization (pursue inner talents, creativity and fulfilment) they first need to have the lower order needs met, such as food, water, shelter, comfort, safety, security and freedom from fear. They are then able to move on to achieve a sense of ‘Belonging and Love’ and ‘Self Esteem’ (achievement, recognition and respect) which ultimately leads to ‘Self Actualization. Maslow believes that unless lower order needs are met, higher order needs will never be achieved.

Many women can relate to this… “Most dieters engage in a form of self-talk (reinforced by weight loss commercials) that is totally consistent with the inverted hierarchy of needs in that they say, "If I lose 50 pounds and go from a size 16 to a size 10 (achievement), then I will feel better about myself (self-esteem), and perhaps then I will be able to regain the lost romance in my marriage (belonging)." Kunc, N, 1992.

Another very good illustration of the damage done by not feeling a sense of belonging is illustrated in this extract from Kunc’s article.

“When youths join gangs, their physiological needs are met: food, shelter, warmth, and their quasi-physiological needs, such as sex, heroin, and crack, also are met. Youths are provided with a sense of safety in the knowledge that if they are ever harmed by another individual or group, the other gang members will retaliate viciously against those who caused the harm. Moreover, youths are given a strong sense of belonging within the gang, and in this environment the belonging is not based on achievement but instead on simply "wearing one's colors." After passing a one-time initiation ritual, the sense of belonging provided by gangs is extremely close to unconditional. And given this almost unconditional acceptance and inclusion within a gang, the youths' feelings of self-worth naturally flourish. Anchored in this newly found sense of inclusion and self-worth, many youths begin to focus in those areas in which they excel, such as the criminal code (with all of its technicalities and loopholes), karate, stealing BMWs, extortion, and so on.”

Kunc goes on to say that “Belonging is no longer an inherent right of being human. And our schools, being a reflection of society, perpetuate this belief”.

It sounds over simplified to say, however if the youths described above had been able to feel a sense of belonging in school, they may have focussed their considerable talents on more valuable and constructive past-times.

Hence the key word for me in this article is belonging.

The lack of 'belonging' seems to be responsible for the perpetuation of any number of problems in schools and society at large, including the rise and rise of the multi-million dollar weight loss and fitness industry, problems with drugs and violence on the streets and in our communities, increases in suicide rates among young men in particular, and many other of societies ills.

This builds a strong argument for managing diversity, in all its forms, in the classroom, school and school community as a whole. We as learning managers will need to ‘walk the walk and talk the talk’ and be models of inclusive behaviour.

For example, give praise to a child in class who has come up with a quirky, unusual idea that doesn’t fit the 'normal' mould, incorporate children with disabilities and focus on their strengths and what they can do and can contribute rather than what they can’t.

Kunc, N. 1992, particularly focuses on and advocates against the self-contained classroom for children with disabilities and special needs. By reading this article and looking at Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs I can see that this makes perfect and logical sense. As Kunc states,

“The tragic irony of self-contained classrooms is that as soon as we take away students' sense of belonging, we completely undermine their capacity to learn the skills that will enable them to belong. Herein lies the most painful "Catch-22" situation that confronts students with disabilities -- they can't belong until they learn, but they can't learn because they are prevented from belonging. This injustice is compounded by the fact that the lack of progress in a segregated class is seen as further evidence to justify the need for segregation”.

Let’s value the contributions of others and foster the appreciation of diversity in the classroom as it is representative of the real world in which we all live.

Let’s embrace the beauty of our individualism as it adds colour to our world.

As my husband says to me – “it’s lucky we’re not all perfect like you or what a boring place this world would be!" (He does love me really!).

Currently there is a media focus on violence in schools, school gangs, bullying (cyber and traditional) unmanageable classroom behaviour and other ‘problems’ with the school system in general. The latest event being a 12 year old child stabbed to death at the hand of a 13 year old fellow pupil in a seemingly well off and supportive school environment. I wouldn’t mind betting that once the media hype dies down and the real truth of this tragic event unfolds, at the heart of the matter may be bullying and a feeling of not belonging.

As Kunc concludes, “It may be wise to pause, if only for a moment, to consider that our social malady may stem not from the lack of achievement, but from the lack of belonging".

So - How can I ensure all of my students are ready to learn?

Firstly, I think we as teachers and future teachers need to get to know our students on a personal level in order to understand what is going on for them. We may have eaten breakfast after a good nights sleep, however many students have not. Hence the reason some schools offer breakfast for students.

Secondly, I think we need to identify those students whose basic physiological and safety needs are not being met and do what we can to alleviate these issues. This is really an issue for teachers, schools and the school community as a whole, but we as learning managers play an important role in identifying these issues and bringing them to the fore.

Thirdly, we as teachers/learning managers need to encourage diversity, foster a sense of belonging and even go so far as to celebrate our differences and make them into a positive, learning opportunity. We also need be models of desirable behaviours that foster a sense of belonging in the classroom.

Once again it comes down to effective learning design that caters for the diverse needs of all students in the class and in this way, fosters a sense of ‘I can do it’, ‘I’m making a valuable contribution’ and ‘I belong’.

Teachers or Learning Managers? What's your fancy?

Image from Arthur family photos

As Smith and Mienczakowski (2003) state, in their paper The Bachelor of Learning Management (BLM) and Education Capability,

“Education Queensland’s vision is that teachers are no longer the gatekeepers of knowledge but managers of the learning experiences of children”.

In the design of the Bachelor of Learning Management (BLM), upon which the GDLT is based, Smith and Mienczakowski have focused more on Mode 2 knowledge as outlined by Heath, G. (2000), where teachers of today need to be flexible, futures oriented and work as part of a team across various disciplines and learning sites.

They go on to say that this will require teachers to continually renew their pedagogy and skills.

This is the continuous learning referred to in the article by Heath, G. 2001 Teacher Education and the New Knowledge Environment, Australian Association for Educational Research Conference. Fremantle December, when he states that

“teacher professionalism will increasingly be assured by the currency of life-long learning and the capacity to mediate the processes of understanding and personal development for the learner”.

That is, teachers will be learning managers.

For me, one of the most important points made by Smith and Mienczakowski’s paper is the movement toward “self-managed learning and student autonomy over what, how and why learning takes place.” (Foley, 1998)

Students of the 21st century want to be in charge of their learning and it needs to be relevant to their lives.

"The trend toward creating capability rather than competence”, as mentioned by Smith and Mienczakowski (2003), is quite interesting. No longer will teachers be completing their studies and being deemed competent to teach in a specific subject area and learning site, but instead they will have the skills and capability to work across a number of learning sites, across a variety of disciplines and be able to incorporate their intuition, share ideas, act on their initiative, be flexible, take risks and demonstrate their own values in their style of teaching.

I believe from my readings, that the BLM has taken a solid step toward improving teacher training and bringing it into alignment with the requirements of the 21st century knowledge-rich environment and knowledge economy.

Mode 1 and Mode 2 Learning. What?

Differentiate between Mode 1 and Mode 2 learning, and discuss the implications for you as a teaching professional?

Wow – sounds ho-hum – but it’s not really…. read on.

From my reading of the article by Heath, G. 2001. Teacher Education and the New Knowledge Environment, Australian Association for Educational Research Conference, Fremantle, December, I understand that Mode 1 learning is very much steeped in tradition and draws on the requirements of the Industrial Revolution and the skill set required for industrial production – chiefly the ability to read, write and understand arithmetic.

According to a book published in 1994 The New Production of Knowledge written by a team headed by Michael Gibbons (Gibbons et al, 1994), Mode 1 learning is based on knowledge produced in universities and other traditional research centres and is characterised as being discipline based, localised and subject to quality control by peer review. Mode 1 learning is based on the objectivity of knowledge.

In contrast to this, Gibbons et al, 1994, characterise Mode 2 learning as being produced in the context of application rather than in traditional research centres, trans-disciplinary rather than single disciplinary, produced in diverse (global) sites rather than localised, produced in teams rather than by individuals, subject to social accountability and reflexivity. It also involves quality control by market acceptability as well as peer review.

From the readings it appears that schools of today are basically products of the industrial revolution and that up to this point in society, teachers have been seen as possessing the knowledge that needs to be taught and passing this on to students in typical school settings.

I think Heath, G. (2000), puts it quite well when he states that "in a knowledge-scarce environment teachers were among the few people in the population who possessed knowledge and to a greater, or often lessor degree, the skills to transmit it”.

Today however, in our knowledge-rich environment, there are a multitude of knowledge producers and knowledge distributors. Schools and universities are no longer the main sites for learning and universities and research centres are no longer the sole producers of knowledge.

I believe that teachers/educators of the future will play an incredibly important role in filtering large amounts of knowledge and communicating it appropriately to students. Teachers will be learning managers and mediators. Rather than hold all the answers, teachers will facilitate learning by accessing the available information/knowledge and helping students to organise, prioritise and sift through information in order to achieve the desired outcomes.

I think teachers will act like filters of information.

I also believe that ‘life-long learning’, ‘on-the-job training’, and ‘continuous learning’ will not only be expected of individuals and firms/ organisations, but they will become an essential part of society in order to keep pace with the rapid changes taking place on a global scale. Why should the same not apply to the teaching profession?

For me one of the key concepts in my readings was from a Finnish report into teacher education, as referenced by Heath, G. (2000), which suggests that the future of the school as an institution will depend on the importance it gives to the learning of teachers and the extent to which the school acts, not as a monopoly, but as a partner in the delivery of education.

The school environment will change dramatically over the next decade or two, and I have seen evidence that this is already occurring. My son’s school requires all Grade 4, 7, 9 and Senior School students to have their own lap-tops for daily use in the classroom, and makes regular use of on-line learning tools and an electronic whiteboard in most classrooms. This type of technology in schools will require an enormous amount of investment in re-training teachers of today to be equipped to teach in the 21st century classroom.

There may also be a noticeable difference in society whereby those students who have access to technologically savvy schools and teachers, may have a significant advantage over those students who do not. But it’s not just about technology, it’s about knowledge management.

The 21st century teacher will require a whole new set of skills, and I believe schools of today need to start making the transition now so they are ready for the future.

I believe teachers will be a conduit of knowledge, both connecting the students to the multitude of knowledge producers and also to the users of the knowledge, in order to achieve their educational outcomes. As for the changing nature of educational outcomes ... that's a blog for another day.

My education and life in the 21st Century

Has my education prepared me for life in the 21st century?

In short - yes I believe it has. However, my education has been life-long and has taken place at home as a young child, then in the traditional primary school and high school settings of the 70's and 80's, university in the late 80's and early 90's and then on to real-life work place settings both in Australia and overseas.

Perhaps where I have learned the most has been in the various workplaces or real-life settings in which I have found myself; and in simply 'living life'. Education goes way beyond the formal school setting.

"Never let school interfere with your education". (Mark Twain)

On reflection my early education was very traditional and focused very much on the three R’s, however I do remember there was quite a strong Arts influence as well. My school had specialist teachers in music and visual arts and I do remember these as some of my favourite classes.

Into upper school (for me it was the early 80’s) there was some focus on emerging technologies, mainly the personal computer (PC), however we received only a very basic introduction.

As I moved on to university and work, I was immediately utilizing a PC on a daily basis and have never held a job in which there has not been a computer on my desk. In this sense I now have an intense relationship with computing technology to the point where I don’t feel I can work and be 'switched-on' or productive without one!

I believe it was my university education (from 1988 to 1993) that enabled me to become more equipped to deal with life in the 21st century with a heavy reliance on technology. Having said that, the majority of my education to get ‘up to speed’ with technological advances has been‘on-the-job’ training and has been fairly continuous throughout the course of my 16 years of employment.

This on-going, life-long approach to learning has been highlighted as an important aspect of the knowledge-based economy in which we now live.

In one of this week's readings, A Primer on the Knowledge Economy, Houghton and Sheehan, Victoria University (2000),they state that “innovation, education and learning underpin a knowledge based economy, which makes them [innovation, education and learning] and organising around them, key foci for economic development policies”.

The article goes on to say that “Learning is increasingly central for both people and organisations. Learning involves both education and learning-by-doing, learning-by-using and learning-by-interacting”. This has certainly been true of my experience in the numerous firms and companies in which I have worked, where I have learned by practicing the theoretical, i.e. bridging the 'theory-practice gap'. (The Future of Teacher Education, Asia Pacific Journal, 2000, Professor Richard Smith).

I believe that work and education in the 21st century knowledge-based economy and the ever increasing pace of technological advancement and change in this global climate, will see an increase in demand for skilled trainers, educators and learning managers who employ researched pedagogical strategies, are outcome based and flexible in their approach.

This also translates into the school environment where educators will need to evolve and equip themselves with the skills to adapt to “rapid, fundamental and extensive change”. Heath, G. 2001. Teacher Education and the New Knowledge Environment. Australian Association for Educational Research Conference. Fremantle December.

Week 1 commences

I commenced the start of this week with trepidation - unsure as to how I would fit in time to study and complete the tasks. I was worried about setting up a Blog - but here it is! - and I was worried about passing the quizzes - but did OK there too!

In short - I feel a sense of achievement having made it through week 1 and completing all requirements.

Not only that - I've really seen this week how technology can support learning in a major way and I'm now keen to get into Blogging to see what I can do...

Watch this space. ;-)