eLive 2006

I have spent today and yesterday at the eLive 2006 conference hosted by the City of Edinburgh and held at Murrayfield Stadium. The conference has only been running for 4 years (I think) but every year it gets bigger and attracts more guest speakers. It is a conference for local teachers and this year it was held on an inservice day, making it more accessible for staff. The conference is a combination of keynotes, seminars and exhibitors. There was a real buzz about it this year. I think this was down to the feeling that a 'change is gonna come'. The combination of new technologies such as blogging and podcasting becoming accessible tools for education, the emphasis on self-initiated learning and creativity and the educational focus shifting from content delivery to quality of experience, gave the conference a real 'can do' feel. I came away feeling inspired, if a little unsure of how to support schools to make the change. It is clear to me that technology is at the centre of this change, it is the driving force. Our pupils learn through technology and rather than fear it, we need to understand it, build valuable learning experiences to embrace it and model it's use. It is no longer about disks, cables and wires but what flows through them and that's exciting!

Alan November

I have heard a lot about Alan November over the years but this was the first time that I had the opportunity to hear him speak. He is a renowned educationalist from America and his presentations are thought-provoking and motivating.

Alan began by stating that we should stop telling children what we know and ask them what they know.

There is a huge gap between what children do with technology at home compared to what they do in school. It is very hard to find a school where children are being more creative with ICT than they are being at home. An example is the use of MSN. This is the number one application and schools ban it. Alan thinks it is fear.

Many children have their own sites and blogs. We should ask them what they do with the Internet at home and ask ourselves why we block it. We should use things like MSN creatively and give them a role model of good use. Many of us say that we need to protect children but they use it anyway - at home. Alan doesn't understand this.

The question we need to ask is 'Who owns the learning?' In Victorian times - the teacher owned the learning. If children own the learning it is a different ball game. If we persist in the Victorian culture, technology won't make a difference.

Alan showed us a school in San Diego that had made the change. Pupils had their own 'office'. Initial thoughts might be that there was little opportunity for collaboration but this is not the case. Children are territorial but they are also social. This school values collaboration and has small rooms to facilitate this. Everyday classes get together and play together. Learning is self-directed and self-motivated. The result? This school has the best grades despite being in an area with socio-economic problems.

Alan thinks making the change take about 2 decades. How do we start?

1. Teach critical thinking and grammar of the internet

Not all information on the internet is as it appears and children need to understand how it works to think critically about the information and content it contains.

2. Teaching children to connect to the world

The way information is presented, even historical 'facts' can be influenced by the author. Example: If studying World War II try searching using 'WWII.ac.jp' This will search for pages published by Japanese academic institutions. The assignment then becomes why the viewpoint from Japan is different. Use technology to communicate with a Japanese school - build relationships.

3. Expand the boundaries of learning - raise expectations

Think beyond the 4 walls of the classroom. Is this the era of 24 hours a day student publishing?

Skills teachers should be equipped with: diagnostic skills, relationship building and raised expectations.

Will Richardson

Will Richardson is an academic blogging advocate. He runs Weblogg-ed.com, an excellent blog dedicated to exploring weblogs in education.

Will began by stating that blogging has been the most powerful learning experience in his life.

It is not about technology but about what it can do ...

Imagination

He exemplifies this through One Red Paperclip The idea behind this blog was that in one year you could trade one red paperclip for something you really want - in this case - a house. Since July 2005, Kyle has managed to trade a number of items, each one increasing in value until he managed to procure a house, rent free for one year. He then traded this for an afternoon with Alice Cooper - perhaps not the best decision? However through his imagination, this blogger has become renowned in America and beyond.

Web is a conversation

The new web is a read/write web. The first 10 years we used it to consume content. In the last 2 years it has evolved into a web where we can contribute easily (web 2.0) to produce content that billions can consume. The role of the blogger is to link ideas and conversations. It is a Rip, Mix and Learn society. We can no longer be governed by existing copyright laws. Content needs to be free to share.

The Change - Teachers should move from delivering content to creating connections. They need to be the agents of change:

From an audience of one to an audience of many

From text to media

From hand it in to publish it

From experts to networks

From working alone to working together

From sometime to anytime learning

Interesting sites:

43 things - 43 things you want to learn. Links to people with similar aspirations.

wikipedia - An encyclopedia written collaboratively by contributors around the world.

MIT open courseware - includes courses and assessments for free.

Global Voices - weblog aggregator for weblogs from around the world.

Flickr - to store, share and sort photos

Pre-cal - an interactive log for pupils and parents to communicate and open dialogue about learning. Example from one school.