Monthly Archives: June 2014

Horizon Report 2014 K-12 edition – an outline

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The Horizon Report 2014 K-12 edition is now available.  Developed by the New Media Consortium (NMC) and the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), this is the sixth annual K-12 edition.  It describes findings from the NMC Horizon Project,  an ongoing, collaborative research activity designed to identify trends and describe emerging technologies that are likely to have an impact on teaching, learning, and creative inquiry.

A number of editions specific to different sectors are produced.  This edition addresses primary and secondary schools.   Another is the NMC Horizon Report: Higher Ed edition which addresses higher education, whilst the NMC Technology Outlook – 2014 Australian Tertiary Education is a Horizon Project regional report related to Australian higher education.

The Horizon Report is appreciated by educational technology leaders as a tool that is used to inform teachers and school administrators in future decision making.  Follow the Horizon Discussion Wiki for links and active engagement in discussion.

You will notice that technology such as ebooks and cloud computing is not listed as forthcoming trends.  This is because they are already here.  They are not a forecast.  It is interesting this year to note a move away from the description of devices and technology infrastructure, to the discussion of outcomes and the effect of technology on schools, teachers and pedagogy.  The Horizon Report is important reading within all schools.

Access and download the full report

An overview of topics addressed in the report.

Key Trends Accelerating K-12 Ed Tech Adoption

  • Fast Trends: Driving ed tech adoption in schools over the next one to two years
    • Rethinking the Roles of Teachers
    • Shift to Deep Learning Approaches
  • Mid-Range Trends: Driving ed tech adoption in schools within three to five years
    • Increasing Focus on Open Content
    • Increasing Use of Hybrid Learning Designs
  • Long-Range Trends: Driving ed tech adoption in schools in five or more years
    • Rapid Acceleration of Intuitive Technology
    • Rethinking How Schools Work

Significant Challenges Impeding K-12 Ed Tech Adoption

  • Solvable Challenges: Those that we understand and know how to solve
    • Creating Authentic Learning Opportunities
    • Integrating Personalised Learning
  • Difficult Challenges: Those that we understand but for which solutions are elusive
    • Complex Thinking and Communication
    • Increased Privacy Concerns
  • Wicked Challenges: Those that are complex to even define, much less address
    • Competition from New Models of Education
    • Keeping Formal Education Relevant

Important Developments in Technology for K-12 Education

  •  Time-to-Adoption Horizon: One Year or Less
    • BYOD
    • Cloud Computing
  • Time-to-Adoption Horizon: Two to Three Years
    • Games and Gamification
    • Learning Analytics
  • Time-to-Adoption Horizon: Four to Five Years
    • The Internet of Things
    • Wearable Technology

Do you have any comments to make about the Horizon Report?  Is it an accurate indicator?  Does it present a global perspective?  Your opinion is invited.

Library Management Systems – online discussion

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Google-hangouts-634x240 Last Saturday the School Library Association of Victoria conducted its first member discussion via Google Hangouts.  While trialing it for some time, this was the first event involving members who had registered an expression of interest in being involved.  It was a great success and will be a valuable platform for future member discussions.

The topic on Saturday was Library Management Systems (LMS).   It was not a vendor event but rather a demonstration of the system from the user’s point of view.  Members who are actually using the systems demonstrated them to Hangout participants and discussed their use and value to them.   The discussion had the valuable support of Renate Beilhartz, Library Studies teacher from Box Hill Institute.  Renate would be familiar to many through her presentation of RDA courses on behalf of SLAV.

Library Management Systems discussed were:

  • OCLC Worldshare by Camilla Elliott (Mazenod College)
  • Destiny  by Miffy Farquarson (Mentone Grammar)
  • Infiniti by Pam Saunders (Melbourne High School)

SLAV will hold fortnightly Hangouts with more indepth discussions on a full range of  LMS options during Term 3, commencing Thursday, 24 July – 4.00 pm.  Every library has its own needs.  This is an opportunity for you to be informed by colleagues who are satisfied users of their LMS and are happy to discuss it with SLAV members.  Full details on how to register your interest in being involved will be available on the the SLAV website.

‘Synergy’ school library journal – open access

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The journal Synergy, published by the School Library Association of Victoria (SLAV) began life as a paper journal in 2003. It is a partially refereed professional journal with a focus on the wider world of education and best practice in school librarianship. Edited by Dr Susan La Marca, it is published twice a year.

In 2009 Synergy moved online, but was closed, only accessible to members of the association.  But this year brings change – as of May 27th the back issues of the journal have been made available to anyone. The current issue remains for members only (you can see the contents) and it will be moved to open access as each new edition is published.  SLAV has made the decision to open access to back issues of Synergy because it believes in a culture of collegiality and knowledge dissemination.

Synergy website is http://www.slav.vic.edu.au/synergy/

Synergy has published some wonderful articles during its 10 year history.  They largely reflect Australian school library research and practice written by experienced practitioners, but also include a global perspective.   Professor Ross Todd and Dr Carol Gordon – Rutgers University, USA have been generous contributors over the years, sharing best practice and innovative ideas.

A sample of articles now available online are:

Synergy also reviews professional publications in the field of school librarianship in a dedicated reviews section in each edition.

School Library Association of Victoria leaders hope making Synergy accessible is useful to the broader community of school librarianship. They welcome your feedback on the journal and the move to open access. Contributions of future content are always welcome.

 

Blogging in the classroom – resources by Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano

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If you have ever thought about introducing blogs into your classroom or school library, it’s well worth looking at Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano’s blog Langwitches (@langwitches on Twitter).

Recent posts look at how blogging is fundamentally different to simply writing using a computer and how visible thinking routines can get students to reflect and develop metacognitive skills.

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Here are a few posts providing strategies and resources for using blogs with students:

To read more great posts about engaging students in blogging, follow the tag ‘Blogging’ on her site.

ANZAC commemoration – family stories

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Over the past week we have witnessed news reports of Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, and war service veterans attending the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landing in Normandy.  The largest seaborne invasion in history.   Our attention has been drawn to the veterans as they relive and recount the impact of the war years on their lives.  Over the next year, as we commemorate the 100th anniversary of Anzac, we will be encouraged to reflect on the efforts of all Australians during wartime.  We are fortunate to have access to a growing range of quality online resources that document the people and events involved in defending Australia.  This commemoration is an opportunity to harness the creativity of our students and involve them in revisiting, and perhaps even discovering, their own family history.  These World War I sites are some that will adapt well to the classroom.

100 Years of Anzac is the official website of the Australian Anzac Centenary commemorations.  The Centenary is planned to be a time remember not only the original Anzacs who served at Gallipoli and the Western Front, but commemorate more than a century of service by all Australian servicemen and women.  It encompasses all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations in which Australians have been involved. This site includes links to many relevant resources.

Gallipoli and the Anzacs  Created by the Australian Government, Department of Veterans’ Affairs, this site contains a wealth of information about Gallipoli, the landing, individual accounts, photographs, diaries and the Gallipoli Peninsula today.  Ideas and resources available support the study of Gallipoli for many different approaches.

World War I Diaries – Our Stories, Your Stories is a commemorative project of State Library of NSW. Through 2014 to 2019 the Library will take its collections on site, on tour and online to tell our stories, and to listen to your stories. At the heart of the commemorations is the collection which includes some 1140 volumes of diaries written by over 500 servicemen and women, supported by newspapers, photographs, maps and ephemera.   Diaries will be completely digitised, transcribed and available on line. The library is inviting the public to contribute their own stories.  See also World War I and Australia Research Guide

Researching Australians in World War I Research Guide  developed by staff of the State Library of Victoria focuses on Australians serving in World War 1. It also includes some information relevant to Great Britain, Commonwealth nations and other combatant nations. Included is a section on nurses and women’s war occupations.  This guide is a digital roadmap for any war service researcher old or young.  It provides links into library records and collections with tips on how to construct a successful search and where to look for particular information.

Mapping our ANZACs by the National Archives of Australia has been available for a number of years and continues to grow in richness as people build their own scrapbooks and add family photographs.  It provides an accessible interface for searching veteran war records.  The interactivity of this site is an ideal teaching opportunity as students trace their own family members and then potentially, contribute to the collection.  It’s a site that can stimulate family conversations and potentially lead to the revealing of family stories.  A reminder about War & Identity- Education, a website of the Anzac Day Commemoration Committee.  This site has also been available for some time but the interactive resources are well worth a reminder as schools introduce 1:1 computing devices.  

Finally, Lives of the First World War – is a UK First World War Centenary project.   Presently in its infancy, the Imperial War Museum is creating this project to bring material from museums, libraries, archives and family collections from across the world together in one place.  They hope to inspire people of all ages to explore, reveal and share the life stories of those who served in uniform and worked on the home front.  Australians are invited to contribute their family stories to help build this Commonwealth resource.

This is not an exhaustive list of Australian World War I resources.  It is a sample of the material available for students to develop their own content, contribute their own stories and develop a greater understanding of their place in history.

Do you have a resource to recommend?  Please share your knowledge via the comments option.

 

What was there – historical photos and Google Maps

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What was there uses historical images and Google Maps to look at how places have changed overtime. You can add photos to specific locations and then using Google Street View, overlay images from the past and present.

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A particularly nice feature of the interface is the option to fade between photographs and the street view image. Anyone over 13 can register with the service and add images, tag by location and year, save locations, and position images to overlay with street view.

There are some great examples of cities that have thousands of photographs pinned to different locations, including New York which has around 2000 images. Closer to home, the Victorian regional town of Bairnsdale has around 60 historical images pinned to shops and community buildings.

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With so many cultural institutions digitising collections and making images freely available online, tools like What Was There give students and teachers the opportunity to connect to local history in new ways. The State Library of Victoria has thousands of out of copyright images of regional towns around Victoria that can be used freely for educational purposes.

Imagine students finding images of their town or suburb’s main street a hundred years ago and comparing it to today? Or even their own house or school? Try searching for your town or suburb name in the SLV catalogue and see what you can find.

Library tours on Historypin

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We recently came a across a great application of Historypin, a tool which lets you attach media to specific locations on a map.

Judith Way has created a virtual tour of Australian (and a few international) school libraries showcasing different approaches to library design and function. It’s a great example of how we can use tools like Historypin to share our learning and expertise with colleagues.

Tools like Pinterest could also be used to showcase library spaces and displays online.

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You can look at individual libraries, view by location or follow the tour.

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Unconference and Teachmeet models explained

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Participation in social media whether it be via Facebook, Twitter, sharing photos through Flickr or one of the many other forms of online collaboration, has provided new opportunities for meeting, learning and sharing professionally.  As online collaboration develops, we see it beginning to influence our learning behaviours.  A new vocabulary and model of socialised professional learning is emerging.  Words such as unconference and meetup are becoming common terms when discussing professional learning. But what do they mean?

Delegates at the recent SLAV conference had the opportunity to participate in the trial of an unconference style workshop.  An unconference can generally be described as a professional learning day (or part day) where people meet with the intention of learning together.  The content of the day is relatively unstructured but is driven by the participants who nominate what they would like to learn about, or alternatively, offer to share their own knowledge on a topic.  While there may be an overall theme, the schedule for the day is loose and is determined by those attending on the day.

Here’s how it happened at the recent SLAV conference:

  • At the conclusion of the morning session delegates were invited to write on a post-it note, a topic they would like to know more about.
  • Over lunch the notes were sorted into categories such as: ebooks, library management, team building, makerspaces and others.
  • At the time of the session, delegates moved into their interest group to discuss and share ideas.
  • Each group was chaired by an experienced librarian or teacher librarian who supported the discussion.

Informality and openness are the key features of an unconference.  While each group has a leader, everyone is encouraged to contribute to the discussion.  Ideally notes are taken and shared via social media e.g. Twitter.

One significant benefit of an unconference session or day is the opportunity to network more closely with colleagues.  The lecture model of traditional conferences is evolving into a more participatory experience.

Teachmeets are another popular form of ‘ground up’ professional learning.  They particularly relate to educators and are also supported by social media.  Many groups have adopted the meetup model as you can see by visiting the site Meetup. Celia Coffa wrote a comprehensive post What is a Teachmeet last year.  She is one of the driving forces behind Teachmeet Melbourne, a very successful local learning group.

Teachmeets differ from unconferences in that participants nominate to make a presentation of either 2 or 7 minutes.  It may be the sharing of proven classroom practice or perhaps a favourite learning and teaching tool.  Timing is precise and has the effect of building excitement and tension. Dug Hall explains all about Teachmeet.

We are seeing the sociability of human nature emerge to take advantage of social media as increasing numbers of teachers and other professionals move from the digital social media to arrange to meet in person around a common interest in education, or some other topic. The strength of the concept is that teachers learn from each other within a self organised environment.

Both the Teachmeet and Unconference model are an excellent way to build your professional learning network.  They can be successfully applied to inschool training or subject association branch meetings and have the appeal of giving people a voice and tapping into talent that often remains hidden.