Horizon Report Part 2

-

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 teachers and new graduates. I recently had a new graduate tell me they "don't do technology" I am astounded by this attitude. Many (not all) preservice teacher's define technology as using a smartboard. One classroom at my school has a smart TV with touch screen, apple TV and chromecast. The classroom next door it has a smartboard with apple TV, some classrooms still use projectors (at teacher request). Each room is filled with students who know how to use this technology. Learning to use a smartboard is not integrating technology. My school has a Bring Your Own Device policy from year 5-12 this means each student has the device and platform of their own choosing. As a teacher I need to develop lessons they will suit all platforms. I can not be an expert in every platform or every piece of software. So I have sourced cloud based software that will work across platforms to use as a starting point.

    For example: To make a movie I will suggest wevideo as a chrome extension through the chrome store. Students may choose to make the movie using iMovie or Windows MovieMaker or the YouTube Editor. I don't demand a software platform I ask for a product that demonstrates learning.

    We are teaching a generation of students that will work in jobs that do not exist yet. Mapping the future of educational technology is shown in Mapping the future of education technology. So we must incorporate technology into student education so they can adapt into the future as technology changes.

    65% of students will be employed in jobs that don't exist yet.

    Technology is a crucial tool for teachers. Like a hammer to a carpenter. The hammer does not do the building and it is not the only tool rather one from a range of tools in the tool box. Technology comes in a range of forms. From rulers and pencils to purpose designed software, apps and online tools, data loggers, drones and wearable technology. The technology should not be the focus of the lesson but a tool used to achieve learning outcomes.

    In December 2014 I posted about the technology skills every teacher must have these are the minimum skills I would expect from a teacher and preferably they would be free online tools to ensure student equity.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Digital Literacy and online testing: part 3

-
Image
This post considers the online NAPLAN writing test using the public demonstration test . In this example the year 5, 7 and 9 writing tests for the narrative and the persuasive are the same question for all years. The main consideration for student success for an online writing test is their typing speed. Regardless of year level students must be able to type as fast as they can write. As they get older their typing speed must increase with writing speed. This means students should be taught to type from lower primary to ensure they have an acceptable typing speed and technique. Word processing skills are mentioned in the English curriculum documents across the country from years 1 to 4. Familiarity with using punctuation is also crucial for the writing test. Students must be able to locate and use: touch typing at the speed they can write - or faster capital letters full stop (which can be activated by pressing space twice) get to a new line using the enter or return key exclamation ma...
Read more

Digital Literacy and Online Testing: part 1

-
Image
This post considers how to improve performance in NAPLAN ( National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy) by ensuring your students have the digital literacy skills to sit an online test. This post considers the year 3 reading test.  In year 3 the writing test is still paper based and the rest are online. From year 5 all tests are online including the writing test that is now typed. This introduces a standardised test that is inadvertently testing digital literacy and the question is...is your school teaching the skills your students need to answer the questions and have a fair go? For the year 3 reading test students need the following skills: navigate numbers to enter their 8 digit ID number enter numbers or text into an answer box click and drag pictures, objects and lines use a trackpad (if you don't have touch screen computers) or mouse turn the timer on and off identify radio buttons for a single choice identify check boxes for multiple choices be able to deselect an in...
Read more

Digital Literacy and online testing: part 2

-
Image
This post considers the digital literacy skills required by year 5 students to complete the Numeracy NAPLAN test. Skills for year 5 numeracy navigate numbers to enter their 8 digit ID number enter numbers or text into an answer box click and drag pictures, objects and lines use a trackpad (if you don't have touch screen computers) or mouse turn the timer on and off use the play button to narrate the question show and hide the narration tool mute the narration tool adjust the volume of the narration tool show and hide the ruler use the ruler to perform measurements tilt the ruler identify radio buttons for a single choice identify check boxes for multiple choices use a drop down box and select a response be able to deselect an incorrect choice answer questions with a table or matrix of multiple answers use a zoom tool and turn it off understand the difference between highlight and a selection understand a selected answer is indicated by a double line around a section of screen be ab...
Read more

Digital Skills for Online Testing: part 4

-
Image
This post is investigates the digital skills required for the Conventions of Language NAPLAN test. After review the Year 3, 5, 7 and 9 NAPLAN tests the skills seem similar for each test. Computer skills required include: keyboard skills trackpad or mouse skills selecting objects symbols used to indicate a selection click and drag use of highlight Symbols on the full screen understanding of symbols on the screen next and back buttons flag tool play button dictation tool volume tool magnifying glass hide and show the timer reading a count down timer understanding of the function of types of questions and tools drop down boxes radio buttons click and drag check boxes typed answers in a box use of highlight in questions Drop down list Click and drag question To complete Conventions of Language test students should be familiar with the tools and question types used in the test. At the conclusion of the test students should understand the meaning of the branching screen. Students who are not...
Read more

Schools and the oversharing of personal data

-
Image
The privacy act of 1988 prevents the sharing of personal data with a 3rd party without consent. Since then in the wake of the recent cyber incidents in well known Australian industries particularly telecommunications and health these laws have been tightened. Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is not to be shared with any 3rd party. Currently schools throughout Australia are required to complete privacy impact assessments when enroling students to a new online platform yet many schools are still publishing student full names, birthdays and the class students are in at school in newsletters and on social media. So why do some schools still share the full name of students and teachers in newsletters. In the research for this article there were schools found to still be publishing:  images of children with their full name full names of students example of sharing student full name including middle names classes of students with their full name student names and their class or y...
Read more

National Simultaneous Storytime 2024

-
Image
  This years NSS 2024 is using the book Bowerbird Blues by Aura Parker. What a lovely way to link a native Australian bird with some interesting habits and mating rituals with literacy and technology. Technology Links - Data Representation Satin Bowerbirds collect blue objects. This is a lesson that links to the book and allows you to teach about data representation and address digital technology content and link to any literacy activities you have planned for NSS 2024.  Data Representation Collect a range of blue items and sort them according a particular characteristic - colour, shape, size or material. Arrange the objects into a presentation, tally them and photograph or draw them. The lesson provides templates for students to count, draw and explain their representations. It also includes an assessment activity that can be marked and then added to a student portfolio. The lesson is available  Teachers Pay Teachers $4 US (about $6 AUD) Australian Teachers Market...
Read more

Using picture books to teach computational thinking

-
Image
Popular culture may lead you to believe we need to teach all students to code. Actually... we need to teach all students how to use computational thinking. Coding is just one application of computational thinking. Other applications include robotics and digital technologies. There are four components of computational thinking ( BBC website ) decomposition   - breaking down a complex problem or system into smaller, more manageable parts pattern recognition   – looking for similarities among and within problems abstraction   – focusing on the important information only, ignoring irrelevant detail algorithms   - developing a step-by-step solution to the problem, or the rules to follow to solve the problem Based on the definition above you do not always need technology to teach computational thinking. It is possible to teach computational thinking offline and using picture books is just one way. Teaching with picture books is one way for teachers with ...
Read more

Literacy and Digital Technology

-
Image
What does Possum Magic by Mem Fox have to do with computational thinking and digital technologies? Possum Magic by Mem Fox is a story about a magic grandma that makes her grandson Hush become invisible. To solve the problem they travel Australia looking for ways to make Hush visible again. Luckily the problem is solved for Hush as he consumes classically Australian foods. Strangely they need to travel to most of the capital cities to do it.  Getting children to visualise a journey and translate what they hear into a concrete experience requires computational thinking. 3 activities to integrate digital technologies in a literacy lesson. K-2 Beebot Activity Create algorithms to follow the trail of the food that Hush eats. Educational content Algorithms Procedural texts Recounts Integrating digital systems Recounts Resources Beebots or bluebots Clear mat  or cardboard ruled up with 15min grid. Pictures  of the foods consumed by H...
Read more

Data Representation

-
Image
Data Representation is mentioned in the primary curriciulum from Foundation to Year 6. In years F-4 it refers to how data can be represented referring to the use of symbols, images, text and numbers. In years 5-6 it is refering to the use of numbers specifically binary and computers use binary to store and transmit information. Data Representation is how data is represented and structured symbolically for storage and communcation by people and digital systems. Information can be transmitted with pictures and images, symbols, text and numbers. These images all represent stop.       National Simultaneous Storytime 2024 Bowerbird Blues by Aura Parker is about a bowerbird that collects blue things. Collect some blue things and use them to sort in different ways. This lesson includes: curriculum alignment for all states definitions lesson plan four sorting methods (3 sheets and 1 blank) assessment task The lesson is available  Teachers Pay Teachers   $4 US (abou...
Read more

Microbits and Measuring for Earthquakes

-
Image
  Sudden geological changes ... that can affect Earth's surface  (ACSSU096)  is list ed in the primary curriculum as a year 6 topic. Amongst other possible events this is an opportunity to explore earthquakes. Using the accelerometer on a Microbit you can be measure movement for an  Earthquake Experiment such as the one created by Australian Earthscience Earthquake Experiment This video below shows how simple the code is to use the Microbit. If you would be interested in a lesson on how to set up an Earthquake sensor, I would be happy to put it in my TpT store contact me . Measuring movement using the Microbit More reading https://ausearthed.blogspot.com/2021/09/earthquake-hazards.html
Read more