Thursday 31 March 2016

What will become reality?

Tonight at the Mind Lab we looked at Virtual reality and Augmented Reality. I had a turn using goggles that were similar to the Oculus Rift and after a few seconds I felt nauseous. The concept of being able to look around in a 360 view was really interesting.  A fellow colleague looked at a 3D Skateboarding video link on You Tube.

Here is an explanation of what augmented reality and virtual reality is:

Augmented reality is the blending of virtual reality and real life, as developers can create images within applications that blend in with contents in the real world. With AR, users are able to interact with virtual contents in the real world, and are able to distinguish between the two.
Virtual reality is all about the creation of a virtual world that users can interact with. This virtual world should be designed in such a way that users would find it difficult to tell the difference from what is real and what is not. Furthermore, VR is usually achieved by the wearing of a VR helmet or goggles similar to the Oculus Rift.
Difference and similarities
Both virtual reality and augmented reality are similar in the goal of immersing the user, though both systems to this in different ways. With AR, users continue to be in touch with the real world while interacting with virtual objects around them. With VR, the user is isolated from the real world while immersed in a world that is completely fabricated. As it stands, VR might work better for video games and social networking in a virtual environment, such as Second Life, or even PlayStation Home.
Google Glass is an interesting concept for me.  It hasn't taken off yet as the idea that you can video is definitely a problem in education and in the real world for privacy reasons. With technology being made more accessible the future using both Virtual and Augmented reality will definitely make things interesting. Finding a balance for living in the real world or a created world will definitely be a challenge.

Thursday 24 March 2016

I was a 21st Century Learner

Last night I had a light bulb moment while I was at The Mind Lab in Christchurch. As a group we made a collaborative video about Self Managed learners. It was one of the six rubrics of 21st century. The six learning rubrics are:

  • collaboration
  • knowledge construction
  • self regulation
  • real world problem solving and innovation
  • the use of ICT and learning
  • skilled communication
I had read the  recommended reading 21cld learning activity rubrics 2012 but after reading the 44 pages online then in downloaded PDF format I hadn't quite processed all of the information and more importantly I couldn't understand just how to use it with my learners.

In a traditional classroom the teacher would set work and direct them what to do. As a group we reenacted a scenario doing a project about the flag debate. By actually going through the learning rubric on self regulation I  finally understood how the rubrics work.

It was not an easy journey making the video for upload. First of all I didn't have my lightening cord and other members of the group had a smashed phone, a loaner phone and a device that they hadn't used before. 

 As a team we delegated roles. I took charge and we created a script. The process evolved really naturally. We used the Self regulation coding rubric and decision steps as  a guide and we based our clips around it.  When we went to upload the footage we spent 10 minutes problem solving how to get the photos of the device that hadn't been connected to a computer before. We had to wait for the 601 photos to download. At this point I reminded myself to bring my lightening cord. I make iMovies all of the time so it was actually a good learning curve for the group to see what could go wrong. We problem solved ideas on how to get our footage and eventually after many different options we succeeded. 



I really enjoyed the process using the ITL learning rubrics. By dong the work I could see how it could work for the students. Check out our finished video below.










Friday 18 March 2016

Leadership what does it look like?

I hadn't really thought about thought leadership in the concept of followers until I watched the Leaders  and  Followship: What teaches us about these roles in life by Ira Chaleff.


If we aren't engaged then how can our students? This is actually
just the angle and timing of the photo. This teacher was actually 
enjoying himself at a science in a van demonstration.
It really struck a cord for me as over the years I have often wondered as a follower where the breakdown has been. The metaphor that the Follower can bring out the creativity of the partner in the leader role. This reminded me that I am accountable also. When the follower didn't work collaboratively with the leader it undid the partnership. Where has leadership gone wrong for me? The people in the leadership roles are not leading by example. They are not in the classroom or working with students daily to promote learner. Often they are bogged down with paperwork or National Standard reports. When working together I am being told what to do without taking my opinions/skills into consideration What am I going to do? As a leader supporting someone else in ICT I am going to
  • give regular training opportunities
  • teach the skills of an effective follower
  • evalauate performance regular meetings to see how ICT problems are being solved
  • upskill others for support
  • share knowledge and purpose so everyone is aware why we are doing this
  • help out with ICT issues-leading by example
One of the most important messages i am going to take away from the readings is extracted from "I've Never Thought of Myself as a Leader But" The leaders are in a position of influence they have and it is this influence that is crucial to becoming a change agent and leading practice (Whalley et al. 2005). Change comes about through the recognition of new possibilites rather than being enforced from above.

References:
Leadership and Followership: What Tango Teaches Us About These Roles in Life Ira Chaleff
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cswrnc1dggg


Clark, Rory McDowall. (2012). "I've Never Thought of Myself as a Leader But": The Early Years Professional and Catalytic Leadership. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal,20(3), 391-401.


Crowther, F., Kagan, S., Fergusson, M. & Hann, L. (2002). Developing teacher leaders: How teacher leadership

enhances school success . California: Corwin Press.



Education within my classroom

When I walk into any classroom I like to take a moment to get a sense about the learning that may be taking place at that given time. I am not worried about another teachers tidy desk(if they have one) but I do wonder how can they possibly find things when they need them in a rush.

I look around at the resources on the walls and I think would l like to be a student in this classroom? In my room which is about 1/3 the size of a typical classroom I have to think why is that resource taking up learning space. Is there room for children's work to be displayed? Are there relevant scaffolds to help with learning in place. Education within the classroom is not just the internal environment. I have a huge amount of varied technology and reference resources in my room.








For me an educator is not the person standing at the front spouting knowledge.  It is someone that guides the learning and supports the children of varying needs to succeed.

Thursday 17 March 2016

What is knowledge?

Tonight was my first session at The Mind Lab Christchurch.

During the session there was an interesting discussion about knowledge. In groups we discussed what we perceived knowledge to be.

Wikipedia defines knowledge as:
knowledge
  1. 1.
    facts, information, and skills acquired through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.

  2. 2.
    awareness or familiarity gained by experience of a fact or situation.


Knowledge needs to be validated and in a digital world can Wikipedia be used in the classroom as a reliable resource. It creates a great question how is knowledge validated? One possible explanation in order for your work to receive validation, it must be checked by several different people.