Peter Singer argued that we need to do much more to teach students to think for themselves (The Age, 27/7/09). Certainly if the purpose of education is to produce thinkers rather than memorisers, then superficial coverage of many topics must be replaced with in-depth coverage of fewer topics. Will the process of compromise involved in piecing together a National Curriculum be capable of delivering a product that is based on the simple premise that coverage of content is the enemy of understanding?

The Daily Telegraph (29/7/09) reported that teachers seeking student feedback on their teaching is one of the most powerful ways in which teachers can increase the quality of their teaching. John Hattie’s work makes it clear that the simplest prescription for improving teaching is using feedback to inform teaching. An added benefit of seeking student feedback is the open acknowledgement that students’ are responsible enough for their own learning to provide constructive feedback to teachers.

And finally we all know that in the knowledge era brains are more important than brawn. As the saying goes, ‘the more you learn, the more you earn’. So research by the US National Institutes of Health is raising a red flag. Reliable data about cognitive decline among US National Football League players suggests that the link between on-field concussion and long-term brain damage can no longer be ignored (SMH, 3/10/09). Will there be duty of care ramifications in schools where rugby is the prestige sport?

From time to time, someone invents a product with an unforeseen and massive impact on society. The Chinese discovered paper, a Benedictine monk created the clock to regulate prayer, and a German goldsmith used the design of wine-making presses to invent moveable type. When the printing press was introduced more than 500 years ago it brought about a social revolution in the Western world. So ingrained is this print worldview that we are often unaware of the hold it has on our minds. For example, print helped to construct our notions of individuality and the community (notions not always shared by Asian cultures). Our mindsets have been shaped by progress, the linearity of print text, and the Eurocentric prejudice, shaped by centuries of economic and cultural dominance, that truth or best practice lies within our own cultural tradition. This paradigm is now being challenged.

The huge difference between what happened in Gutenberg’s time and what’s happening today is that today it is happening in fast-forward. Expectations are that over the next 20 years bandwidth speed will increase by in excess of one billion times and Wi-Max is on the way – close to fibre speed wireless through the air continuously. The technological transformations of the past 10,000 years will be dwarfed by the transformations we will experience in the next three years and Google is in the midst of constructing a personalised information system which will provide access to an unimaginable breadth and depth of information.

The transformation of education from a book-based system to an internet-based system holds profound implications for classroom pedagogy, but the power of technology is being constrained to work alongside curriculum firmly fixed in the working practices of an earlier age – high levels of memory skills, instruction and pen and paper dexterity. Confining these technologies to the teacher-centred model of education is akin to putting a rocket engine on the back of a horse.

Effectively integrating new technology into educational practice is a process of reflecting on how technology-enhanced practices challenge assumptions about what we teach, how we teach, why we teach, and who we teach. Our job is not to be experts in technology, our job is to be experts in learning. There is no evidence to suggest that technology improves learning, but we know that technology does improve learning when it is utilised by good teachers.

We are the compliant offspring of the Industrial Age, when predictability and standardisation were valued. But how worthwhile is teaching and testing for knowledge that can often be obtained from a five minute Google search? While few teachers would argue that education is about accumulating large repertoires of facts, this is overwhelmingly what happens in classrooms. Today’s adventurous, independent learners are a very different breed from the children who sat quietly in their ordered rows, worked from their books and relied upon their teachers for information. As Will Richardson at Connective Learning cites:

 “…while N-Gens interact with the world through multimedia, online social networking, and routine multitasking, their professors tend to approach learning linearly, one task at a time, and as an individual activity that is centered largely around printed text…Not having been raised in the world of the N-Gen student, then, presents some significant challenges for faculty members who must attempt to address the needs of a learning style they have never experienced, may know little about, and may be unable to comprehend fully because of their different skills in processing information…a collection of images on Flickr with authorial comments and tags certainly does not resemble the traditional essay, but the time spent on such a project, the motivation for undertaking it, and its ability to communicate meaning can certainly be equal to the investment and motivation required by the traditional essay—and the photos may actually provide more meaningful communication for their intended audience.”

While equating essay writing with a collection of photos makes the blood boil, the point is that we can teach differently now and the biggest shift is the move away from individual knowledge to distributed knowledge built on collaboration. Schools cannot remain the cloistered little empires that they have become. With the growing availability of tools to connect learners and teachers, teaching is transcending borders. We can easily invite the world’s greatest teachers into our classrooms and there is now no excuse for not bringing expert voices into our classrooms via technology. My Year 9 class recently held a Skype link-up with a Turkish school to discuss perspectives of the Gallipoli campaign. The students were struck by the conditions on the Turkish homefront during the war and the impact of the war of women and children. It is just a matter of time until Australian students are producing a shared Web 2.0 history of World War II with Japanese students.

Check out the blog of TeachPaperless. His Latin students take tests online via their blogs, using online dictionaries, and using Twitter as a place to help one another through the test. Each student translates a different section of the text and there is a requirement for students to participate in the Tweets. Students receive two grades: one for their individual work and one for their helping other students and taking an engaged and active role in the Tweets.

A Personal Learning Network of RSS feeds, social networking sites, and blogs is becoming essential for educators as an intergral part of daily learning and thinking. Google Reader keeps track of all my favourite education blogs and Twitter is a learning tool that allows frequent updates of only 140 characters each to be broadcast. It is not as intrusive as e-mail and it is quick to scan. I can get answers to almost any question in seconds and tweets are usually made up of useful links and great articles. If I am passed a great resource, I look at it and immediately store it for later reference and use. Look me up on Twitter (cpaterso) and join the conversations.

Teaching revolves around community building and we now have the means to collaborate and share responsibility more than ever before. The unicorn is in the balloon factory.

1.       Schools risk irrelevancy. Kids now simply expect to operate in a connected environment and there is little sense in schools banning mobile phones, which are often more powerful than the technology available in schools.

2.       Beware of conformity. One size never fits all.

3.       Learning is optional in schools, whereas attendance is compulsory. Could it be reversed so that learning is compulsory and attendance optional?

4.       A major shift is occurring from having the focus on the teacher to having the focus on the learner. We need to start where the students are, with what they can do. He described this as ‘the dying end of slavery’.

5.       The teacher in the classroom is critical and we need to continually improve our practice.

6.       We lack innovation and creativity, and we will only get this by allowing teachers to take more responsibility.

7.       We are co-constructors of knowledge with our students and we need to begin viewing our schools less as classrooms and more as performance spaces.

The reaction from the staff was mixed. Some found the presentation inspiring (typically ELC-6 staff and newer senior school staff?) and others found it confronting. Staff from the ELC commented, “Truly inspiring. The whole ELC team has spoken positively of their experiences and discussions they had. It has left us wanting more. I feel its a very exciting time in education. We certainly will be talking, questioning and reflecting on our practices and viewing our ELC through a different lense.”

Students who achieve well on narrow tests might not be our most resilient learners. By this time next year, Year 12 will have forgotten most of the content they are being taught this year. This should lead us to ask questions about what knowledge and skills we should be teaching and how we should test them (Daily Telegraph 17/12/08).

Gordon Stanley has warned against following the British and US examples of overtesting students and setting performance benchmarks that narrow the curriculum. “Testing is really only valuable in so far as it provides timely feedback that will help the teachers working with their students…Increasingly the research evidence suggests that the delay between testing and the feedback is critical in terms of developing student skills” (SMH, 26/3/09).

In the meantime, Second Life and podcasts are changing the way education is delivered. Students now regularly access materials online and interact with other students in discussion boards. Virtual worlds, mobile phones, wikis and blogs are creating dynamic learning environments. “People teaching language do really good things where they send students to another part of the campus and they have to dial their partner and describe where they are in English” (SMH, 2/3/09).

However members of the Net Generation often do not know how to utilise technology to optimise their learning and ICT can be counter-productive if it takes the place of complex thinking. Dr Mubarak Ali from Flinders University has found that internet addiction is a real consequence of too many hours online and it will soon be classified as a mental disorder. Oxford University neuroscientist Susan Greenfield warns that social networking sites can “effectively rewire children’s synapses, ‘infantilising’ the brain and eroding attention-span and empathy.” The consequence is that “the mid-21^st century mind might almost be infantilised, characterised by short attention spans, sensationalism, inability to empathise and a shaky sense of identity.” (SMH, 4/4/09) 

Crazy Ones

Power or Office?

He writes about rock climber Chris Sharma.

“Chris changed the rules of an entire sport and, along the way, influenced the way tens of thousands of people think about personal achievement. For hundred of years, rock climbers followed a simple principle: one foot and one hand on the wall at all times.  If you’re anchored with two out of your limbs, you can do a pretty good Spiderman imitation without risking your life.  Right left right left, up you go, little risk, plenty of progress.

Instead of staying glued to the wall, Chris jumps. It’s called a dyno.  Chris didn’t invent the dyno, but he certainly pushed it further than anyone ever expected it could go.  Chris can climb routes that were previously deemed impossible.  When he gets to a dead end, he looks up and jumps.  No legs, no arms.  Just air.  Straight up, two or three or four feet, grabbing a small clump of rock with two fingers, and continuing his climb.

For a while, this was controversial.  It wasn’t right.  It was risky.  And then, bit by bit, the guys in the factory came around.  They discovered that it was a reasonable (but surprising) solution to a large number of rock-climbing problems.  Suddenly, impossible routes weren’t impossible any longer…The lesson isn’t that you need to risk your fingers (not to mention your life) on a rock.  The lesson is that one person with a persistent vision can make change happen, whether climbing rocks or delivery services.” (pp65-7)