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Significant Challenges Impeding Technology Adoption in K-12 Education See Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 , of this series on the Horizon Report 2015 Difficult Challenges: Those that we understand but for which solutions are elusive  Personalizing Learning: The move toward personalised learning has been discussed for many years. Previously termed Student Centred Learning, there is much research discussing this concept for many years.  1990 , 1997 , 2000 . Another term that impacts on personalised learning is differentiation , where we make adjustments to cater for the needs of all abilities in the classroom. The evolution of personalised learning has been made more possible by technology.  Personalised learning challenges the traditional educational paradigm. For this model to progress we need to modify teaching pedagogies from traditional methods of imparting knowledge to teachers facilitating learning. This will require cultural and attitudinal change from teachers, students and pare

Important Developments in Educational Technology for K-12 Education See  Part 1 ,  Part 2  of this series on the Horizon Report  2015. Time-to-Adoption Horizon: One Year or Less Bring Your Own Device (BYOD): BYOD empowers students to work with their own devices to produce content any time. The most important element of this development is the provision of stable, fast school wide wi-fi. The internet needs to be as open as possible. Blocking Youtube and similar sites with educational content makes the use of tools very difficult for teachers and students. Educators should have more input into what is blocked on school sites to ensure they can utilise BYOD to is full potential.  The common argument against this approach is inequality. To overcome inequality schools can: allows students to use mobile phones and iPods using a school based wifi - while not ideal this gives access to technology to more students and reduces some inequality.  make banks of of devices available in sch

Significant Challenges Impeding Technology Adoption in K-12 Education See  Part 1  of this series on the Horizon Report 2015 Solvable Challenges: Those that we understand and know how to solve  Creating Authentic Learning Opportunities Schools are now beginning to investigate learning opportunities with in the local and global community. What can be done to solve local problems and what community groups can we connect with to solve them. This builds relationships for students and enables real life learning experiences.  An example  is where Hospitality students catered for a morning tea for local seniors while students from year 6-10 assist the seniors with IT skills they needed to work with their iPads and laptops. There has been  Australian Research  on school and community partnerships. Integrating Technology in Teacher Education Integrating technology skills into teacher education yet each I am continually disappointed with the lack of technology schools by pre service

Current Trends in Education. Each year the Horizon Report  releases a summary of current and future trends in education. Many of the topics that feature in the report are discussed frequently by educators on Twitter and Google Plus. Key Trends Accelerating Technology Adoption in K-12 Education  Long-Term Impact Trends: Driving Ed Tech adoption in K-12 education for five or more years Rethinking How Schools Work: How do we reinvent the traditional classroom and the school experience? Pedagogy such as project based learning are already implemented in many schools. How do we take these pedagogies and remove restrictions such as timetables and bells. Schools like Delaney College in Granville, NSW, Australia have begun to implement a new approach to school using project based learning across year 7. Shift to Deeper Learning Approaches: The report includes examples of how schools are implementing different methods to achieve deep learning. A practical approach would be for studen

Lego Friends Are they stereotyping girls play? This is a tough one and as usual this is not a black and white answer.  I have a daughter who refuses to play with the traditional Lego. In our house, it is called "Boys Lego". When I asked her why, she told me "They (traditional lego people) have angry faces" and "they have yellow faces". I decided to have a close look at the Lego aisle. It consists of Star Wars, space ships, pirates, cars and trucks. Accessories include racing cars, weapons and space craft. I would like to argue Lego has been stereotyping play long before the introduction of Lego Friends. In Lego's defence we live in a regional area and do not have the range of choice, that city dwellers have, in our stores. Please comment below on your experience particularly if you live in the city. Since the introduction of Lego Friends my daughter is more interested in playing with Lego. She loves the encyclopaedia and keeping

21 st Century Learning Projects for a new paradigm Innovation Integrator at St Columba Anglican School (SCAS), Meridith Ebbs, shares some of the ground-breaking ways technology has been incorporated into the curriculum at the school. St Columba Anglican School is in it’s 14 th year and is located in Port Macquarie on the mid north coast of NSW. Four years ago the decision was made to migrate the school to the cloud and implement a voluntary bring your own device program. In the past 4 years there has been significant investment in technology and staff training. Many staff now use technology on a daily basis. Implementing technology also requires a commitment to evolving pedagogy. To assist all staff to continue to evolve their teaching methods requires continued support for staff financially and physically with training and flexible resources. Being a regional school attending professional development in the city can be costly so the school committed to employing ski

In 2015 SCAS launched student courses that use a blended format. A combination of face to face and online delivery. Year 8 have been offered the elective Computational Thinking. The course is being facilitated online over a semester and currently has five students enrolled. Students are timetabled to attend classes and all content is delivered via a Google Classroom and a Google Site. This class is still in it’s early days however the participating students are very enthusiastic about the course, it’s content and it’s delivery. This article will define computational thinking, outline the purpose of the course and offer reasons for the online format. The course being offered is cross curricular and offers the opportunity for students to develop skills in computational thinking, writing and reflection, covering outcomes from the English and Computer Syllabi. What is computational thinking? Computational Thinking is the process of finding a solution to open ended problems. Computation