C21 Teaching
  • Home
  • FTPL Videos
  • Blog
  • List of Blog Series
  • Education Resources
  • Starting with Flipped Learning
  • Friday Freebie
  • About Me
  • Contact

FutureSchools Review – Day 2 Session 1 Part 1

29/11/2016

0 Comments

 
“What is your superpower?”
– Dr Jenine Beekhuyzen, Founder and Director of the TechGirls are Super Heroes Movement
Welcome back to my review of the FutureSchools conference. Today I will begin reviewing the ClassTech Conference Stream which I attended. If you have missed the previous articles, you can find them here.

I elected to attend the ClassTech conference for FutureSchools2016, having attended the same conference in 2015 as I felt that it was still the best fit for me and where I am, currently, in my teaching career. Day One of the ClassTech conference (Day Two for FutureSchools2016 overall) began with a welcome by Dr Jenine Beekhuyzen, who is the founder and Director of the TechGirls are Super Heroes movement (@TGAsuperheroes), and her introduction of our first speaker, Anita L’Enfant who spoke, briefly, under the title of Discover Authentic Learning in the Makers Playground.

Anita’s talk was very short, approximately fifteen minutes and the two main notes that I have from that talk were that authentic learning, for her, was learning that was relevant, involved real-world problem-solving, was meaningful and was useful. Being relevant does not mean that it has to be relevant to their immediate area; just that it had to be relevant to them in some fashion. The other key point was in relation to safe internet usage. Anita related that everyone in her house uses the internet, as is the case in many households and that part of the discussion around the internet involved ensuring safe usage.  She spoke about a pair of websites (one aimed at parents and teachers and the other at students) called Think u know which has been developed by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in an effort to provide useful information about using the internet safely, particularly in regards to the various forms of social media.

#AFP officers on @ThinkUKnow_Aus stand st #futureschools last week.

A photo posted by Brendan Mitchell (@mremsclass) on Mar 8, 2016 at 12:04am PST

I did visit the AFP stand on the FutureSchools Expo floor and spoke with the Officers running it (yes, they had actual AFP Officers there) and they spoke about how the information and handouts on various forms of social media that were currently popular (such as Instagram, SnapChat, Kik and Twitter) had been developed based upon what they had learned as a result of incidents that had come to the attention of various Police Agencies. The leaflets they had on the desk were available in both adult-friendly and student-friendly form on the respective websites. I do believe that the resources put together are well worth using as a way of teaching students about cyber-safety in particular forms of social media as, despite the required age to register being thirteen years old, I know of a number of my students who have and use social media such as Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.
Picture
Retrieved from tinyurl.com/hyz3vdq on 8 March 2016
After Anita had spoken, we were introduced to our first keynote speaker, Jennie Magiera, and while a lot of what she said I had heard the previous day during the master class, there were some points of difference. Jennie opened with a quote from J.R.R. Tolkien: “I am looking for someone to share an adventure that I am arranging,” which she used to launch into a discussion around the Polynesian seafarers who left their homeland centuries ago to discover what was beyond the horizon and the fact that all they would have been able to see from their home shores, which is apparently believed to be Taiwan, was the sea, and so they were taking a big risk.

The 3 types of people in the uptake of #edtech #futureachools

A photo posted by Brendan Mitchell (@mremsclass) on Mar 8, 2016 at 12:18am PST

These seafarers were leaving behind two types of people and were themselves a third type of people, which neatly fits into the Rogers’ Curve for Early Adoption. There were the Innovators, which Jennie referred to as the hooray! group; those in the middle of the bell-curve, the large majority of people,  whom Jennie referred to as the hmmm group,  and then finally the laggards, who were dubbed the heck no! group.
Picture
The [r]Evolution of the wheel. Retrieved from tinyurl.com/j8jgrqq on 8 March 2016
We are used to thinking about early adopters of technology when we discuss the Rogers’ Curve for Early Adoption and typically the discussion is focused on the innovators or early adopters, with little thought or discussion of the remainder of Rogers’ bell curve. Jennie’s talk, however, focused on those people who are seemingly oft-forgotten in talks at conferences or are discussed in simple reference to how we, as innovators or early adopters of technology, need to drag them to where we are.
​

Jennie asked us to consider that the laggards are often saying “I cannot….” out of fear or disbelief. The point being made here was that rather than admonish the laggards for not being on board, as often happens, we should instead take a leaf from the Polynesian early explorers. It was pointed out that they had to have said something powerful to convince others to join them on their exploration voyages. What can we say to the laggards around us to convince them to start their adoption of technology, and support them along the way.

Be #edVenturous #edventure #futureschools

A photo posted by Brendan Mitchell (@mremsclass) on Mar 8, 2016 at 1:46am PST

Jennie then continued to outline some steps for ensuring a good Edventure (her use of puns was high and deliberate…and fun!) and she said that we need to find a crew; gather those around us who are on the same page, willing to learn, or who will support us, even if they do not wish to be involved actively. We need to name the ‘ship’ that we are edventuring aboard, take the obligatory pre-voyage selfie and then our briefing needs to include that we need to make sure that students fail and fail often.
Picture
Retrieved from tinyurl.com/heefn8z on 8 March 2016
Jennie elaborated on this point by reminding us that we are often told that we need to ensure our students are successful, whether it is in testing, in sports or socially; that it is our responsibility as teachers to ensure they experience success. Jennie (and I, for what it is worth) disagree. It is in the iteration and reflection upon failure that learning can occur. The acronym FAIL, meaning First Attempt in Learning should lead, with reflection and constructive feedback from the teacher to SAIL, or the Second Attempt in Learning. We need to allow our students to fail so that they learn how to fail. Failing is part of life, whether it is a test, or not getting the job or promotion you wanted. Jennie continued by asking us to let go, commenting that “like all fascist dictators, even though we think that it is for the greater good of our students, it is not.” We do not need to micromanage each stage of learning for the students.

Jennie’s next piece of advice was that we need to charm our inner student. We forget to be gleeful and to allow our lessons to be gleeful. If we are not enjoying a lesson, chances are that our students are not either.
​
Following on, Jennie reminded us, again, that innovation is an ongoing process and that we should not judge others for their starting point, which generated an interesting conversation with Rhoni McFarlane (@rhonimcfarlane) via Twitter on this subject:

I am always disappointed when there is a claim that recording a story in digital form is transformative or innovative. #futureschools

— Rhoni McFarlane (@rhonimcfarlane) March 3, 2016

@rhonimcfarlane Yes, but ur old hat is s1 else's Mt Everest achievement. We nd to enc to start and continue and support them #futureschools

— Brendan Mitchell (@C21_Teaching) March 3, 2016
I believe that although it appears we were coming from different places, that ultimately, Rhoni and I are on the same page in regards to supporting the laggards, those who are reluctant to take up technology in the classroom, we need to do so from their starting point, as Rhoni puts it, “we need to meet them where they are.” Though we are most likely technology leaders, and the laggards around us perhaps see us as some kind of mystical technology wizard, we need to remember that the basic and mundane for us is likely equivalent to Jedi mind-tricks for them.  Innovation is a never-ending continuum and we have to start somewhere.

Following this was a reminder to audit our innovations. Jennie spoke about how the recent National Education Technology Plan (#NETP16) noted that authentic learning in non-technological contexts abounds if we let go of our assumptions. Often as leaders, we operate in a bubble, an echo chamber, that is impenetrable to the heck no group. We need to emerge from that bubble and audit the answer to why are we a proponent of this piece of technology?

Jennie encouraged us to teach beyond the standards, to go above and beyond and spoke about her Year Four students, who surveyed other students about how they could give back to their community, with the typical response being “we can’t, we’re just kids.” Her students subsequently made a video with the core message “no matter how small you are, or how small the change is, yes, we can [make a change].”
Picture
Retrieved from tinyurl.com/zaczjt3 on 8 March 2016
Following this was a reminder that as the Polynesian’s reached each island on their voyage, they did not stop there and rest on their laurels, they kept going to see what impossible goal they could achieve next. Jennie spoke about introducing Google Explorations to a class for the first time and having a student exclaim that “I can’t wait to tell my parents where I’ve been today!” Not that the student said where she had been, not what she had learned. The what will be embedded, but for the student, the where is the immediate thing of importance.
​
Jennie’s final note was that we need to “share our crazy pills,” that whatever it is that excites us, our “poison of innovation. Rebecca Hepworth (@bechep2) put it succinctly via Twitter:
The vibe in the room at the end of Jennie’s keynote was energetic and invigorated. Jennie is a fantastically engaging speaker, and as you can see, despite having experienced a master class with her the previous day, I still learned a lot from this keynote.

There are still two speakers to review from session one, so I will close out this article now, and focus on the talks from Cathie Howe and Jill Margerson in tomorrow’s article. As always, thank you for reading, and I would appreciate any feedback or thoughts on this article or the ideas contained therein.

You can find the other articles in this series by clicking here.
0 Comments

    RSS Feed

    Tweets by @C21_Teaching

    Categories

    All
    21st Century Learning
    3D Printing
    Aaron Sams
    Abdul Chohan
    Aboriginal Culture
    Aboriginal Education
    Academia
    ACARA
    Accreditation
    ACER
    Action Research
    ADE
    Aimmee Shattock
    AirSquirrels
    AITSL
    Alex Smith
    Alfie Kohn
    Alfina Jackson
    Alice Keeler
    Alice Leung
    AM Hon DLitt
    And Clark
    And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda
    Anne Van Der Graaf
    Announcement
    ANZAC Day
    Apple Distinguished Educator
    App Speed Dating
    Artificial Intelligence
    Ashanti Branch
    Assessment
    Augmented Reality
    AussieEd
    Australian Curriculum
    Awards
    Awesome
    Baby
    Behaviour
    BetterU
    Blake Seufert
    Blogging
    Bloom's Taxonomy
    Books
    Book Study
    Bradley Loiselle
    Brad Loiselle
    Branching
    Break
    Brett Salakas
    Brett Wood
    Brighton Secondary School
    Bron Stuckey
    BYO
    BYOD
    BYODD
    BYOT
    Cameron Malcher
    Camtasia
    Cara Johnson
    Career Change
    Carol Dweck
    Carolina Buitrago & Martha Ramirez
    Casual Teaching
    Catherine Ford
    Cathie Howe
    Change
    Charles Fadel
    Charles Leadbeater
    Chelsea Wright
    Chris McNamara
    Christopher Pyne
    Chromakey
    Chromebooks
    Clarification
    Class Notebook
    Classroom Economy
    Classroom Management
    ClassTech
    Class Tools
    ClickView
    CLT
    Coding
    Coercion
    Cognitive Load Theory
    Collaboration
    Collegiality
    Community Engagement
    Computer Skills
    Conference Expo
    Conference Review
    Confidence
    Connected Classroom
    Consequences
    Constantin Lomaca
    Constructivism
    Contemporary Pedagogy
    Cooinda AECG
    Copyright
    Corinne Campbell
    Cornell Notetaking
    Creative Writing
    Creativity
    Critical Thinking
    Crystal Caton
    Cultures Of Thinking
    Curiosity
    Cyberbullying
    Cyber Security
    Daily Summary
    Dan Haesler
    Dan Jones
    Data
    David Jakes
    Deborah Nicholson
    Democracy
    Digital Citizenship
    Digital Curriculum
    Digital Learner
    Digital Literacies
    Digital Literacy
    Digital Natives
    Digital Pedagogy
    Digital Pedgogy
    #DigLit
    Discipline
    DocHub
    Domains Of Knowledge
    Dominic Hearne
    Drama
    Dr. Britta Jensen
    Dr Caroline West
    Dr. David Zyngier
    Dr. Jane Kise
    Dr. Janelle Wills
    Dr Janine Beekhuyzen
    Dr Jill Margerison
    Dr. Kevin Donnelly
    Dr. Milton Chen
    Dr. Nerida McCredie
    Drones
    Dr. Rachel Wilson
    Dr. Robert Talbert
    Dr. Ruben Puentedura
    Duolingo
    Dyslexia
    Dyslexie
    Early Years Learning
    Earth Engine Time-Lapse
    Easter
    Ed Cuthbertson
    EdTech
    Education
    Educational Technology
    Education Funding
    Education Nation
    Education Policy
    Education Portfolio
    Education Vendor
    Education Week
    EduChange
    EduMedia
    #EduNationAu
    EduTech
    @EduTweetOz
    Edward DeBono
    Elder Gavi
    ELearning
    Elizabeth Amvrazis
    Employment
    English
    Eric Bogle
    Eric Mazur
    Errol St Clair Smith
    Esafety
    ESafety Commissioner
    Eureka
    Evidence Based Practice
    Experienced Teachers
    Family
    Feedback
    Film
    Flexibility
    #FlipConAdl
    FlipConAus
    FlipConNZ
    FlipLearnCon
    Flipped Learning
    Football
    Foundation For Young Australians
    Friday Freebie
    Frozen
    FTPL
    Fun
    Fundamental Movement Skills
    Furniture
    FutureSchools Expo
    GAFE
    Game Based Learning
    Game-Based Learning
    Gamification
    Gaming
    Gary Stager
    Gavin Hays
    GDocs
    GDrive
    Genius Hour
    Geography
    Gert Biesta
    GForms
    Glenn Carmichael
    Glenunga International HS
    Gonski
    Google
    Google Apps For Education
    Google Classroom
    Google Docs
    Google Drive
    Google Forms
    Google Lines
    Google Maps
    Google Slides
    Google Suite
    Graduation
    Gratefulness
    Green Screen
    Greg Ashman
    Greg Whitby
    Group Work
    Growth Mindset
    GSheets
    Heather Davis
    Heath Wild
    Higher Education
    History
    Hogan Assessments
    Holidays
    Homework
    Honours
    Hopscotch
    Horizon Report
    HSC
    Ian Jukes
    Ian Thomson
    ICT
    Ideology
    Indigenous Culture
    Initial Teacher Education
    Inquiry Based Learning
    Interland
    International Baccalaureate
    Internet Skills
    Invent To Learn
    IPad
    IPads
    ITE
    Iteration
    IWBNet
    #IWishMyTeacherKnew
    Iyah Rahwan
    Jack Hyland
    Jack Hylands
    Jacqui Murray
    James Meijboom
    Jamie Dorrington
    Jane Caro
    Jan Owen
    Jared Cooney Horvath
    Jean Piaget
    Jennie Magiera
    Jenny Magiera
    Jeremy Cumming
    Jeremy LeCornu
    Jim Sill
    Joel Speranza
    John Bergmann
    John Burfoot
    John Catterson
    John Dewey
    John Goh
    John Hattie
    Jon Bergmann
    Josh Aghion
    Kahoot
    Kanga Cup
    Kate Lanier
    Katharine Birbalsingh
    Katie Jackson
    Kaye North
    Keith Crawford
    Ken Bauer
    Kid President
    Kim Maksimovic
    Kindergarten
    Kirschner
    Kirsty Tonks
    Kirsty Watts
    Language
    Leadership
    Leanne Steed
    Learning
    Learning Spaces
    Library
    Lifelong Learners
    Life Maths
    Lila Mularczyk
    Lily Young
    Linda Ray
    Lindy West
    Lip Sync Battle
    Lisa Rodgers
    Literacy
    Louann Brizendine
    MacICT
    Makerspace
    Marc Prensky
    Margaret Merga
    Marissa Peters
    Mark Gungor
    Mark Liddel
    Mary Lousie Ryan
    Masterclass
    Mastery
    Mathematics
    Mathletics
    Matt Burns
    Matt Noffs
    Matt Richards
    Matt Scadding
    Media
    Melbourne Declaration
    Melbourne Girls Grammar
    Melinda Cashen
    Mental Health
    Merrylands East PS
    Metacognition
    Michaela Community School
    Michael Aulden
    Michael Beilharz
    Michael Ha
    Michael O'Leary
    Microsoft
    Milton Chen PhD
    Minecraft
    Mistakes
    Monique Dali
    Moral Machine
    Morals And Ethics
    Motivational
    Movie Making
    Murat Dizdar
    Music
    MyEd
    NAO Robotos
    NAPLAN
    Netiquette
    New Beginnings
    Newspapers
    New Teachers
    NMC Horizon Report
    No Excuses
    Note Taking
    Numeracy
    Oakhill College
    Office365
    Offline Access
    Old School Teachers
    Olivia-oneill
    Onedrive
    Onenote
    Organisation
    Padlet
    Panel Discussion
    Parent Communication
    Paul Hamilton
    PBL
    PCPS
    PD
    PDHPE
    PDP
    Pedagogy
    Pedro Negouera
    Peer Instruction
    Peggy Sheehy
    Penny Bentley
    Personal Characteristics
    Peter Adams
    Peter Ellis
    Peter Hutton
    Peter Mader
    Peter Paccone
    Peter Whiting
    Phillip Cooke
    Phillip Heath
    Philosophy
    Phonics
    Physical Education
    PISA
    Place Based Learning
    Planning And Programming
    PLN
    Politics
    Prakash Nair
    Pranav Mistry
    Pre-Learning
    Presenting
    Primary Classroom
    Privacy
    Private Education
    Problem Solving
    Productivity
    Professional Associations
    Professional Development
    Professional Learning
    Professor Barry McGraw
    Professor Geoff Masters
    Professor Jane Burns
    Professor Ken Wiltshire
    Professor Richard Buckland
    Professor Richard Telford
    Project Based Learning
    Prue Gill
    Public Education
    Public Vs Private
    Punishment
    QR Codes
    Questioning
    Rainy Mood
    Ralph Pirozzo
    Reading
    Recycling
    Referee
    Reflection
    Reflector
    Reggio Emilia Approach
    Relationships
    Reports
    Research
    Research Skills
    Resilience
    Resources
    Respect
    Rewards
    RFF
    Richard Byrne
    Robert Livingstone
    Robotics
    Roundtables
    Rupert Denton
    Ryan Gill
    Ryan Hull
    Sally Wood
    SAMR
    Santa
    Sarah Asome
    School Culture
    School Policy
    School Tour
    Science
    ScopeIT
    Self-Branding
    Seymour Papert
    Shane Hancock
    Shireen Winrow
    Silence
    Simon Birmingham
    Simon Breakspear
    Simon Brooks
    Simon Crook
    Simone Segat
    Simon McKenzie
    Simon Sinek
    Sir Ken Robinson
    Sixth Sense Technology
    Social Media
    Socratic Seminars
    Solar System
    Special Needs
    SponeBob Squarepants
    Sport
    Spreadsheet
    Staff Development Day
    Stage One
    Stage Three
    Standardised Testing
    Star Wars
    STEM
    Stephanie Kriewaldt
    Stephen Lethbridge
    STM Bags
    Stories
    Storify
    Stress
    Student Mobility
    Student Wellbeing
    Sue Waters
    Sugata Mitra
    Sunk Cost
    Super Awesome Sylvia
    Susan Bowler
    Sweller
    Sylvia Libow Martinez
    Teacher Education
    Teacher Fever
    Teacher Life
    Teachers Talking Teaching Podcast
    Teacher Value
    Teacher Wellbeing
    #TeachforThink
    Teaching
    Teaching Boys
    Teaching Philosophy
    TeachMeet
    Team Teaching
    TED Talk
    Temporary Contract
    Teresa Deshon
    TER Podcast
    The Arts
    The Eddies
    The Four Cs
    The Hewes Family
    Thinking Skills
    Think Pair Share
    Thomas William Nielsen
    THRASS
    Times Tables
    TMCoast
    #TMSpaces
    Topic Tags
    Tour Builder
    TPCK
    TPL
    Transmedia Storytelling
    Trial And Error
    Troy Faulkner
    Trust
    Tweetdeck
    Twenty-First Century Skills
    Twitter
    University
    URL Shorteners
    Vale
    Value
    Video
    Virtual Reality
    Visual Art
    VR
    Warren McMahon
    Winning
    Word Online
    Work Life Balance
    Worklife-balance
    Writing
    Youngling
    Youtube

Support

Contact
About
Flipped Teacher Professional Learning Videos
© COPYRIGHT 2015. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Photo used under Creative Commons from brianc
  • Home
  • FTPL Videos
  • Blog
  • List of Blog Series
  • Education Resources
  • Starting with Flipped Learning
  • Friday Freebie
  • About Me
  • Contact