Good Google? Good design?

[I did this over the summer holidays and was going to edit it and make it better.  I haven't  edited it, but I thought I would publish it anyway...]

So, I thought it would be a good idea to see if there were examples of good practice with Google sites, or at least some cool ones I could look at so that I could see how to do the Google Site thing better, cooler, more effectively, more efficiently.

This has proven somewhat difficult.

I also want to find out more about good instructional design and that stuff follows after the Google stuff. It kinda all goes together.

Note: this is really just the beginning of my journey to find more of an understanding of how to create a learning environment, hopefully well.

Google

Via Google's own Google Sites help pages and forums I found some examples of school, class, community and commercial sites.  But to tell you the truth I didn't find any that were better than the one I created for Classics at High, Classical High.

Perhaps it is because the others didn't fit the mould I want for Classical High, perhaps I had too high expectations, perhaps I didn't serach very well and perhaps I gave up too soon. I don't know.

Some places I looked:

Here

Here

and I did other Google searches

It is very difficult for me to say that my site is the best one I have seen, because I am positive it is not the best and I want to learn how to do it better.  I don't think I did it well because I did it on the run, without any overall design or scheme, and most of it was last minute.  I didn't put practices in place for students to contribute to the site easily and regularly, which was the point.  Nor did I encourage the social aspect enough.

Instructional Design

I went to this site (http://www.instructionaldesign.org/) and watched the YouTube clip of the interview with Richard Culatta, which was interesting.

He says in it that:

• to be careful with the kinds of interactions we design
• Avoid dumping content
• we learn not from engaging with the content alone, but through social interactions based on the content
• referenced Michael Moore - educational researcher.  he said effective online learning happens with three basic interactions - learner/content, learner/expert, learner/learner.  Consider how much to use of each and why?  To what effect?
• Interactions not determined by the tools we use, but the quality of how the tool is set up and used

I don't think any of what he said was new, but it is good to be reminded of it.

He did also suggest using FaceBook, Twitter, wikis, blogs, etc.  I'm in two minds here.  While I really see the value of using these tools and networks, I want to keep it fairly simple.  I think too many things for the students to use makes learning harder, not more difficult, just overloaded.

My possibly unrealistic idea is to have all of that incorporated into our subject site, in one form or another.

There is obviously heaps more out there on Instructional Design, Google, etc,  but I haven't yet devoted much time to it and so it is all confusing to me at this stage, so...

I've decided to use my existing understanding and try to define all this for myself.

Good websites for learning and education:

• Look attractive, are interesting and engaging, and aesthetically support learning (colours, layout, etc)
• Are easy to navigate
• Meet the purposes and needs to the creators and users
• Are not too text heavy
• Are interactive
• Have a strong social element
• Are co-authored by educators and students
• Should form part of a shared community - i.e. not class sites, but subject sites
• Allow users to create, collaborate and critique
• Be organic - constant state of growth, change, review, refinement...
• Protect the learning of the learner = if the learner is expressing ideas, etc in order to progress through their learning then they should not feel restricted by outside criticism.  Learners should feel safe to learn through success and failure (for want of a better word)

For today's learners, I think the social part is most important for learning to be most valuable and lasting.  So what do I mean by "Social"?

Social is everything.  Pictures, videos, discussions, chats, commenting, text, networking, sharing, collaborating, creating...

But none of these things on its own.  Combination (logical and purposeful combination, that is) is one key.  Interactivity is the other key. 

Instructional Design... hmmm

This, I don't know much about, other than the little I have read, what I've tried and what I do in my own teaching and learning design.

I think this is where teaching processes and environments are designed, usually using research on learning and learning theory, to maximise learning potential and effect.

To do this, I think the following needs to be considered:

• The learners - specific details like age, gender, personalities, learning styles, skill levels, existing knowledge...
• the content needing to be learnt for curriculum and/or assessment purposes
• The skills needed - existing and yet to be acquired
• Tools available to facilitate the learning
• Learner construction of learning - how do you want to learn this? etc
• Inquiry element
• Social element
• Evaluation
• Allows teacher to facilitate learning through discovery and dialogue, rather than instruction and content - hence I have issues with this idea being called "instructional design"

Classical High

I know the 2010 version of CH is clunky and has heaps of pages and could be overwhelming for the students.

I find it difficult to find the time and mind-space to make it all the things I want it to be and find all the things I want it to have.

Some of those things are:

• A social feel, but with a focused learning vibe
• A place where students can explore their learning, together and feel OK about sharing their learning experiences.  For this to happen it cannot be public.
• Engaging content, design and interactivity
• The site to be organic in design, content and structure
• Co-created by me and students
• Defined by students' learning needs
• A place for all Classics students, not just one class and not just seniors.
• Class notes, etc - of course.  Though I would like to make sure the notes are easy and attractive for students to access in terms of their learning.
• Embedded resources, rather than linked wherever possible. (according to a survey I was quoted at some point 80% of users who link outside of the original page get distracted and don't return in that session.  I want to avoid this.)
• Libraries of Google Books and Wikisource texts for each topic and for general knowledge, also YouTube clips, though I'm not sure whether to embedd all of those or just the ones I want them to focus on and put the extras in a library (using the list page function)
• Games and quizzes
• Discussion forums - general ones and topic and subtopic ones
• Picture galleries
• Skills information - essay writing, exam technique, bibliography and avoiding plagiarism, research skills, reading techniques, note-taking, etc

I want to avoid:

• Dumping learning content
• Having a boring site
• Overloading
• Doing too much of it myself and making it too time consuming for me (because that could become impossible)

My next step will be to come up with some learning and design principles for my site and then put them into practice.

ICTPD: Web 2.0 group plan

Our plan is to have supported and shared play time with Web 2.0 tools, specifically:

• Google tools
• Blogging
• Photo sharing tools like Picasa

We are learning through sharing ideas, asking each other for ideas and support, and talking about how we use different tools with our students.

Watch this space!!

L@S Breakout: Brett Lee

Cyber safety on social networks

most issues happen outside of school

It's not the phone or the internet or any other device.  It's the behaviour, values, morals and teachings.  Cyber world and non-cyber world are not separate.  You can't leave one behind when you log off/on and go to the other.  Same world.

Life experience is a changing factor.

Our students will always be part of online environments.  Embrace it, but set morals and values just like off line environments. 

miRc - hundreds of servers with hundreds of chat rooms. old program, but still in use.

Facebook

is a business.  They work within the law, but sometimes unethical.

They don't want to invite the law in because then they get a bad rep with clients.

L@S: Be a guitar hero...

To game or not to game: real learning in an unreal world

Judy Lymbery

School of Psychology and Pedagogy, Victoria University

... involve me and I will understand

Jane McGonigal - TED talks

Michael Gladwell - Outliers - 10,000 hours theory.
"What are the 'gamers' getting good at?"

New pedagogical approaches for new media

The case for using video games as pedagogical tools:

• Expands their engagement with written and visual texts, images and sounds
• Leads to new forms of literacy
• Precursor to facilitate learning of other technology

James Gee

(click to view on YouTube to also check out other videos on the right)

Make learning more engaging, meaningful and relevant
Allow to buil upon technological skills
Can games met curricula requirements

Games can bridge the gap


Do games breed violence?
A person in the session just objected to Judy's statement that their is no research to suggest that violent games are a cause of violent behaviour.
I think this is more of a question about the environment in which the games are being played and the general experiences a person is exposed to, at the same time that gamers are not being talked about and given a context. Also, critical thinking skills needed to evaluate and make good decisions about gaming.
I think it is really easy to blame games because it takes the responsibility off parents and teachers - those same people who are the real and fundamental role models for young people.

Skills:

• Socialising
• life skills
• Strategy
• Collaboration
• problem-solving
• decision-making

Types of learning:

• Role-playing
• Learning from mistakes
• Experimental learning
• Self-directed learning
• Problem-based learning

Guitar Hero
on mobile devices
How can anything you teach be linked to Guitar Hero?


Marc Prensky - Don't bother me mum, I'm learning
Ewan McIntosh



Random stuff:
Tagxedo, like wordle, but better - tags, etc

Brain Based Learning

Karen Boyes 

www.spectrumeducation.com

Really engaging, well presented, discussion, questioning, humour, very little action on "PowerPoint"

Big gap between teaching and learning

If they can't remember what they have learned, what was the point of them being there?

Seven ways we can understand the brain and learning

1. Primacy 

The first things that happen.  Your brain will automatically remember your firsts. 

Students will remember the first things a teacher says, the first look, the first thing that happens in the day, the first interction with others...

Creating a good "first" interaction - use music, friendly greeting,

Using music

60s music works with every age group...?

Use it to start lesson, positive atmosphere

Students have music in their heads all the time.  

(apparently, people who commit suicide have been listening to dark music.  Doesn't mean people who listen to dark music will commit suicide)

Have routine to start the lesson so no precious time lost.  Routine to revise last lesson, prepare their books... Students don't know what to do so allows distraction

2. Recency

The thing that happens last.

Easier to recall most recent - revising of learning needs to happen at the end of each lesson

Brain can take in info for 50mins. (older research)

Learn for 50min, then 10min break.  one first, one last

Learn for 20min, break for 5, learn for 20, break for 5.  two firsts, two lasts.

Brain needs to have breaks to process learning.  

When you can't get to sleep becasue your brain is working, it is becasue you have not had processing time during the day.  On average it should only take 7 minutes to fall asleep.

Provide downtime in the classroom.  Allow them time to process. 

Your brain at deep focus can only do one thing at a time.
At a brain level, none of us can multitask.  We can serial task - flick between.  Serial tasking is slower, harder to focus.

Goldie Hawn schools - 3 times a day kids lie on the floor and be calm and quiet - process.

iStudy alarm - awesome!

3. Repetition

Tony Robbins - "the mother of skill"

Perfect practice makes perfect.  Practice makes permanent.

Good spellers look up.  Poor spellers look sideways or down.

Fast recall looks up.  Accesses different parts of your brain. 

1 day: within 24 hours.  info goes into short term memory and stays for 24 hours.  If nothing is done with it in that 24 hours it gets lost - cannot be accessed.

Ensure students do something with info with 24.  Read about it, talk about it, write about it, draw it, think about it...

By the time they get home, it's too late.

After 3 days, you will only be able to remember 30%.  We need to try to hold on to the other 70%.

Blind summarise onto note cards after school.  Read summarised notes the next day.

Permanent recall - 1 week, 1 month, 6 months.

4. Stands Out

People love stories, make them entertaining and they will remember.

First impressions count. 

5. Association

Linking of info.

Link what they are learning to real life.

How do we know that what we say in classroom is what they understand we mean?  If I say love, what do they understand?  How might that be different to what I said?

6. Visual

80% of what your brain takes in it accesses visually.

We, older generation, read in Z pattern.  New generation reads in an F pattern.  Header, menu.

Best colour for memory - red.  Fire engines, McDs, Stop signs, marking! Also, green, blue

Winners in Olympic games... red...???

How should students visually take notes?

Most people  transform info in the brain into visuals. 

7. Chunking

Breaking info into small pieces

Students can handle 7 pieces of info at a time. 

10 Top Brain Foods

Water is one of two substances that crosses the blood-brain barrier.  If there is anything in the water it is treated as food and goes to gut.

Breakfast - brain function depends on breakfast.  Junk is better than nothing, but...

Blueberries

Nuts

Fish

Broccoli

Bananas

Yoghurt

Olive oil

Wholegrain bread

Spinach

Tomatoes

Random:

Vowels and consonants are stored in different places in brain.  Placing of vowel stored different place to the actual vowel.

Parents opposed to pointless homework

Fat is good for your brain.  Myelination - highways in the brain.

Sources:

John Medina - 12 brain principles - book

Dr. David Sousa - How the brain learns

Eric Jenson

Goldie Hawn (!) need to look up schools being set up - still three times a day, prime the brain and revise information,

L@S Random / Other Stuff

http://fastforwardlife.wordpress.com/2011/02/23/learningschools-inquiry-presentation/

http://centre4.core-ed.net/viewfile.php/27720/kb/91/85313/26/InquiryICTLSNotes.ppsx   

http://fastforwardlife.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/1-teacher-overview-big-5.doc 

http://fastforwardlife.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/conference.ppsx  

http://centre4.core-ed.net/viewfile.php/27720/kb/91/85313/56/Presentation1.pptx 

If gaming is the answer... What's the question?

Sylvia Martinez

genyes.org/freeresources/    - Great stuff here

Been looking forward to this.   Hoping it meets expectations.

Games a metaphor for learning and education

Games are not new, but they have a very limited world

Are kids learning from games and what are they learning?

There is a lot of research about games in classroom.  Only a little bit of that is about video games.

Chess - valuable learning.  How is it connected to Maths?  It's not, but it is connected to logical thinking which helps with Maths.

Teens encounter both pro-social adn anti-social behaviours when playing games.

Pew research.

Myth - kids who play games are isolated zombies.

Chris Crawford, the Art of Computer Game Design

"It is not games bu schools that are newfangled notion..."

Are games useful for learning?

Are games useful in schools?

What do you believe?

learning is making?  or meaning?

learning is natural or forced

faster answers are better answers?

history is memorising facts or understanding concepts and relationships?

Is "time on task" a good mesure of learning?

Game Genres

Adventure

Music

Educ

Fighting

MMOG/MMORPG

Fixed shooeter

interactive movies

Retro

Role-playing

Simulation

Strategy

Sports

Stealth

Survival horror

Third person shooter

Puzzle

Racing

First-person shooter

Types of games

Edutainment

Serious games

Virtual worlds

Alternate reality

Commercial off the shelf games (COTS)

Edutainment:

focus on the right answer, speed, memory

created for parents and teachers to reinforce the learning that happens in the classroom

Is dragging something to the right place a game?

NO

Is it learning?  or is it just reaffirming knowledge?

Tabula Digita-  new game

Dimension M

The Logical Journey of the Zoombinis

Software game

Ayiti, the Cost of Life

Students helped in the making of this game.

Survival of your family in a very realistic setting

Based on poverty and life in Haiti

Has a very specific outcome- goal is to live

Arden (Shakespeare)

This game was abandoned because it wasn't fun!

It is critical for teachers to rethink their assessments if they are going to use any sort of game.

Studnets can't play a game where they create the narrative if that conflicts with the knowledge and/understanding you are assessing.

A game where students can play as Germans in WWII cannot win, if you are assessing who won WWII.

Alternate reality games - hot new thing, especially mobile

Mash-up of real and virtual

Ikea augmented reality

COTS Games

SimCity

Planning

Troubleshooting

Learning from mistakes

Playing games does not appeal to everyone and no one game appeals to all gamers

Hence, in Y9 Classics students don't play but create concepts and they can choose what sort of game, literally any sort of game.

Sylvia referred to:

James Paul Gee itemizes “game-like” attributes in his publication Good Video Games and Good Learning:

• identity
• interaction
• production
• risk-taking
• customization
• agency
• well-ordered problems
• challenge and consolidation
• situated meanings
• pleasantly frustrating
• just in time and on demand
• system thinking
• explore, think laterally, rethink goals
• smart tools and distributed knowledge
• cross-functional teams

Look for...

game play you can plan and discuss

Programmable

Support big ideas

Offers multiple ways to "win"

Taking Gaming to the next level

Students designing and programming games

Students learn how and why behind the simulation

Scaffolded learning, mediated by the computer

Student programs computer, not computer programs student

Games in Education
Joy in learning
Need adequate time
Crucial teacher role
Authentic assessment
Reflective activities
Kick it up a notch - let the students design their own games

Links:

http://techknowtools.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/gaming-in-education/

https://k12online08presenters.wikispaces.com/Sylvia+Martinez - this wiki basically has this whole session on it:)  
http://library.vancouver.wsu.edu/sites/library.vancouver.wsu.edu/files/ACGD.pdf 

Books:

How computer games help children learn, by James Paul Gee

Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter, by Steven Berlin Johnson

I liked this breakout.  Well delivered.  She knew what she was talking about from such a varied experience.

Humour is good.  She did this well.

L@S Breakout 1: 3 tools mashed with Google...

...3 tools mashed with Google for History, Geography and Social Studies Teachers: Google Earth, Google Maps and Google Street view.  David Kinane

Very hands on practical approach

Add primary source material to map pins = images, text... using the rich text editor
Though can't upload from computer.

Can't add a Picasa slideshow.  Tried.  It would be really cool, though.

Can embed YouTube in pins if you use the old embed code from YouTube (go below the usual embed code and check the Use old embed code box to get it.

Dipity
Timeline creator
Can't go further back than 1000AD!  Dumb.

Historypin
Can load images directly upload images to Google Streetview via histroypin to compare sites, etc.

Googel Earth
So cool.  Need time to play with it.
Create tours
Upload images
USE IN CLASS...

L@S Keynote: Scott McLeod

Two big shifts and one big problem: The growing disconnects between schools and our digital, global society

Blurb

scottmcleod.net

"Leadership shifts need to happen...  if I could have just an hour with those people"

Another keynote about how technology has changed.  I tuned out, but have tuned back in to hear Scott talk about the printing press!!!

Publishing costs.

We all have a voice.

For free.

...

I think he has been talking about the faster cheaper deficit.  With products and services being provided faster, cheaper, with the tech interface rather than the human jobs and careers need to change.  Therefore, education needs to change so we can prepare our students for THE REAL WORLD.

I think we do this better at High than most other schools, but how can we still do this better?

Ok so this guy is saying some good stuff, but he has started telling us that we need to do stuff like teaching kids how to adjust their privacy settings on Facebook rather than ban it.  This sort of stuff has been told to us before, but no-one yet has suggested solutions, practical actions for educators.

He is asking "big questions"  with no discussion of answers.

Battery low..

out

Session 1: Blogger

First learning group session and other teachers wanted to check out blogger - how, why, internals, etc.

This is all good with me as I am setting up blogs with my classes, so it is good to see how others want to use it and what to pros and cons are.

 These are the instructions I used with my Y13 Classics class.
I can email this as a word doc, let me know if you would like it.

How to set up your Blog

1.      You need to create a blog

a.      Go to https://www.blogger.com/

b.      Use your school email address to set this up

2.      Set up a blog for your Classics Blog

a.      Give your blog a name that somehow relates to Classics

b.      In the description, state your name so we can recognise who you are

c.       Set your privacy settings carefully

d.      Choose a basic template, but do not spend too long personalising this now.  You can do this for homework.

3.      To customise your blog for Classics, you need to:

a.      Go to the layout tab

b.      Add the following gadgets from the Add Gadget menu

                                                  i.      Labels

                                                ii.      About me

                                              iii.      Followers

                                               iv.      Blog archive

c.       You can add other gadgets later, but make sure they are appropriate for this task.

4.      Write your first blog post – do some quick research on Socrates on the internet and blog about what you find. Before you publish, label your blog post so that it can be sorted and found easily.  You need to use labels as we will be using Blogger for a lot of different topics and standards this year and you will need to see these separated.

5.      Go back to your blog and check to see how your labels look on your blog

6.      Now you need to follow another student’s blog and you need to follow me at http://whsclassicalteacher.blogspot.com/ so that I can follow you.

Open publication - Free publishing - More ict

WeCreate

Royal Society

"A chance for Wellington region school leaders and Boards of Trustees to discuss copyright solutions for more innovative sharing, and better reuse of educational resources in New Zealand schools."

So I went along because I am interested in ways we can share our resources and therefore be able to use resources shared by others.  I also wanted to know more about using resources "within the law" and also to try to find out how I can have my students do this also. 

A guy from the Ministry spoke first, but I didn't catch his name.  He talked briefly about the investment the Ministry has made in working with other agencies and creating policy, etc about the sharing and ownership of schools' resources.

Wayne MacIntosh
OER Foundation
"Sharing to learn" to "Learning to share"

WikiEducator - largest and most production resource sharing in the world of education
Share, Remix, Reuse - "Legitimate plagiarism?"

Shoulders of giants - education, by nature, steals from others, especially the past.
Embrace your repsonsibility to lead

Collaboration lowers cost of creating resources
OER and Creative Commons can overcome the forced cost of copyright materials, which are restricted by copyright for the purpose of gaining revenue.

Format, location and CC licence need to be decided before authoring begins, so that hands are not tied later, i.e. if you author a piece based on existing resources but you don't know where you got original ideas from, then you may not be able to share it. 

Profiles of schools on WikiEducator, shared resources on Moodle in shared repository.
= Should teachers in schools share on behalf of school, or as individuals??
Can do both, perhaps up to BOT to decide as owners of materials.

In NZ, our collective agreements are silent on intellectual property, unlike most other similar sort of contracts in developed world.
Though it is included in tertiary contracts.  Why is there a difference?

Ownership of resources created by teachers??
Legal ownership lies with BOT, in all cases unless otherwise agreed.  Info on TKI
What needs to happens so can teachers share their resources?  And so we can take our resources with us when we transfer to a different school?

Teachers might argue that resources made in their own time on their own laptops are their won property. This is incorrect.  If you create something for the purpose of the position you are currently employed in, that creation is the property of your BOT.
And this resource will carry the default licence "All rights reserved"

However, the copyright act, within which the above falls, was written for print based resources. What about our growing collections of digital and online resources?

Jane Hornibrook
Creative Commons NZ
jane.hornibrook@royalsociety.org.nz

Policy = NZ Government Open Access Licensing Framework = NZGOAL
School BOTs are included in the scope of NZGOAL and are invited to apply it.

Schools should make it policy to use default licence CC BY (Creative Commons Attribution = meaning others can use it if they attribute the owner correctly) then add other conditions.  It is too restrictive to start with closed copyright and then open.  Start open and then think of conditions.

Team apporach needed within institutions in order for policy to be applied, maintained and kept live.
Who knows the policy?  If it is being used properly?  Who is applying it?
Who is in charge? Who is igoring it?
Kiwi-can-do attitude has lead NZ to have the first govt to adopt an open policy.

WikiEducator has online courses on how to use WEd, inlcuding seminars.

Be aware of use of published resources within our own resources.

CC is not an alternative to C (copyright) it builds on it and works with it.
Licensing is proactive - you must apply a new set of rules and conditions.
Make sure you publish under NZ CC licences - as different regions.countries have different rules and responsibilities.

Philosophical differences
Freedoms given to group of users V. Freedom of the content

Currently all resources created in schools, according to NZ copyright act, default to "All rights reserved"

CC does not take away rights of owner/creator/C holder - it just gives permissions.
Licences are irrevocable.  Licences cannot be taken off once applied.  Specific licence permissions need to be carefully considered before licences are applied.

Originals will always be available under original licence.
CC doesn't restrict commercial value under copyright.


What do we do now???
BOT needs an IP policy that allows freedoms but keeps properties.

Albany Senior High School
on OER/WikiEd
= win/win for BOT and creative staff
Recognises staff, see policy here

Also asserts BOT has no legal right over student work.

A minor can apply a licence and release under copyright, however, this cannot be defended in a court in their own right.

Moodle 2.0 Training

Julian Ridden

http://training.moodle.com.au/20/

Demo Tour

Profile page has:

• Calendar so students can see all due dates

the little three bar grey symbol on top right of each gadget will "move this to the dock"... very cool

Survey tool
Collates feedback and creates graphs

Questions:

Can students be automatically enrolled in course, or do teachers have to enrol individual students??
Can I embed a google map?
Can I embed other web apps?

Things I don't like:

• page editors default to double spacing... very annoying
• "Moodle" has decided that I must have certain features, like page descritpions, but then it gives the option to not display the description... 
• When adding and removing content files, I have to save the whole page in order for that to take effect!
• When I'm in my course, why can't I click on the "bread crumb" to go back to my list of courses?
• When trying to add a gadget, the search box doesn't stay at the top and you can't modify your search without starting the search again
• Takes about 3 times as long to embed a YouTube vid.  
• I can't seem to format the layout of my text on a page.  It centers stuff when I think it looks dumb to be centered.
• I really really hate the double spacing!!!
• I would really like to be able to move my navigation blocks around, but no
• It is really not easy to see how to add stuff and edit it.  E.g. how do you add a page in the "Wiki" function????
• there seems to be strange places for things
• Wiki pages don't connect!!  Therefore, it's not a wiki
• And pages in wikis can't be deleted
• I don't like having to scroll back up to the top of the page to turn on editing.  The top menu stuff should freeze in place so it can be used further down without scrolling.
• All menus and set up pages seem overly confusing - too many boxes that aren't necessarily labeled logically
• It seems to be a kingdom of control, rather than allowing students to gain knowledge and understanding logically and in a modern context (We must put a time frame on quizzes so students don't go out to net to find answers) If it is formal assessment where it is not open book, is it good practice for them to be completing it online?  How can we maintain good assessment practices?  Surely formative assessment or general classroom learning can be flexible enough to allow open book use of net.
• This isn't built for efficient use of teacher preparation time.

I feel like I need to acknowledge some positives.

Some cool tools, like wikis (although these don't work), surveys could be really cool - esp. as data gathering, quizzes/

However, these seem like they would take ages to set up. 

Big Brother functionality seems good - seeing who is doing what, how long it is taking them, how many times they are adapting their answers...  However, how much of my time will be taken up with taking advantage of these tools?  Do I have time to read and check all this analysis???
Or- is it just "Big Brother" for the sake of it?

Undecided.

julian@moodle.com.au

Netsafe

Notes from Netsafe seminar at Wellington East and some of my thoughts...

Netsafe and Netsafe schools kit - part of the ministry, but not.

For young people, ICT is the norm.  They mainly use it for communication and sharing media.

Mobiles and consoles are net capable so most traditional net safety ideas no longer apply.  No longer family PC in shared space where net usage can be open and, if need be, monitored.

With 5 million (?) net connected gaming consoles in NZ, we need to rethink our net safety strategies.

Peer and self action is very important for cybersafety.

When something goes wrong, young people go to their peers, rather than going to adults.  Adults who will probably need an explanation of what Bebo/Facebook/YouTube etc is before they can even comprehend the problem or have a realistic solution.

Shotgun v. Facebook

Basically, if you were to allow your child to use a shotgun, you would give them rules and skills so they could deal with any situation that may arise.

Apparently (hopefully getting this story correct), a young person said something like, "My parents don't mind me using a shotgun, but they won't let me use the internet."  

Obviously, this seems absurd, but there is some reality there.

Last year I had the pleasure of attending the Media Studies conference and one of the speakers there, Julian McDougall, talked about this exact thing.
When planning a field trip to a farm (my example, not Julian's), there might be the slight possibility that students are charged by an angry bull. As teachers, we plan for this, we write it into our risk management documentation, and we take our cell phones and a first aid kit. But we still go on the trip.

Isn't it the same with the internet? There are risks, sure, but if we are aware of the risks and make sure our students and supervisors are aware of how to deal with the risks, we can still go on that field trip (i.e. use the web).

What we need is to create an educated environment around young people about being safe.

Safe from what?

Cybersafety used to be all about avoiding porn.  Let's face it, it was the big scary thing on the net, and still is.  There are other things just as big and scary, but what are they? 

I think we need something of a list of actual risks, so that we can plan for ways of dealing with them.  My fear is that we will end up restricting our net usage so much, that our freedoms might become overly protected unnecessarily. 

How do we model good ways of avoiding the risks?

First we need to know how to protect ourselves and help our students to protect themselves. Check this out - just a few ideas about how to control the tools you use. There will always be settings for privacy and access.

If our students are using web apps, we need to make sure they are setting appropriate privacy controls.

What else?

• good searching skills
• online profiles
• providing banks of good sites 
• guiding their net use in class
• creating communities online where students access content in "controlled" environments (I'm thinking of class/subject sites or Moodle environments)

But what else do we need to do?

Apparently NAG 5 has something to do with all of this, so I looked it up and you can too:

Each board of trustees is also required to:

(a) provide a safe physical and emotional environment for students;

(b) promote healthy food and nutrition for all students; and

(c) comply in full with any legislation currently in force or that may be developed to ensure the safety of students and employees.

Schools are very good at setting up a cybersafety policy, but then they assume averything is covered and there will be no problems.  This needs to be more active and pro-active.

Cybersafety policies used to base risk definitions around traditional media (magazines, newspapers, TV, film, porn).  This needs to make a more definitive shift to the digital world where content is differnet and largely user created.  What happens now?

Schools are also very good at preventing students from getting in harms way, but not very good at providing students, and teachers, with the skills to get back out.

Oraganisational Risk Reduction

Usually, schools' risk management policies centred around keeping the school out of the media/news.  

Instead, we should be focused on protecting young people.  

Student centred.

Model safety.

Digital citizenship

Activity engaged in by young people on the net:

• research 
• communication
• games
• media consumption
• publishing content
• banking and trading

...all of these have benefits and challenges

NZC - all this links to the KCs

Digital literacy

Digital citizenship links NZC KCs and values to digital literacy and cybersafety skills.

Critical thinking skills

Challenges

Meaningful

Honesty and integrity

Rights - privacy, freedom of speech, etc

Participate

Contribute

Modelling - use the skills you wnat them to use

Not just for safety, but for ethical reasons too. (e.g. pirated music, films, etc)

Protecting studnets from copyright infringement just as important.

Netsafe's structure for safety

Learn - focused on students

Guide - for schools and parents

Protect - policy, infrastructure, support

Top 500 passwords

How to create a password

and make sure it is unique

and remember it

and not share it

MyLGP - community of teachers on NetSafe.  some really good stuff

The Scam Machine

Some EDtalks videos to watch

I haven't watched all of these, but they look good:)

Online dangers and responsibilities - not so virtual

Brett Lee

The key to supporting young people’s experiences of challenge in cyberspace

John Fenaughty is the Research Manager at Netsafe NZ

From e-safety to digital citizenship

Martin Cocker is the Executive Director of Netsafe NZ

Through the eyes of a child - the dark face of the Internet

Brett Lee

There's heaps more on the EDtalks site

Be safe

Web 2.0 Tools Sharing

Smart FM - not just language learning.  Can be for definition and concept learning.

Cmap - mindmapping tool

xtranormal  animating small scenes like this

issuu

StumbleUpon

Voki

ULearn 2010: Animate Senior Students

Creating supportive learning environments

Really cool

many uses

Create short animations on anything

xtranormal

ULearn 2010: Mimio

So, I was booked to go to the Processes for Learning breakout that is on right now.  But I got to the room and saw it was the same woman from yesterday's keynote and from the instructional design session.  I turned around and found a session on Mimio across the corridor so here I am.

Mimio

I really want one of these!


Magnetically connects to the board

ULearn 2010: What every instructional designer needs to know

Lane Clark

Human cognitive architecture (HCA)
Cognitive load theory (CLT)

She started with rules for us to use/not use the pens.  Don't colour with the pens.  Put the pens back in the case...

What happens in the brain in order for learning to occur?
If you forget it after several months, did you actually learn anything?  Yes
Apparently, if nothing has changed in your long term memory, then nothing has been learned.
How do you know?  We only teach our studnets for a set amount of time.  Is that amount of time within the realms of long term memory?
If I only needed to know my learned stuff for a short, specific term, then does it matter that it does not exist in my long term memory?  Didn't I still learn it?  Does she mean that I didn't learn anything for my life long learning bank?


John Hattie

Now we are listening to Lane and recording our notes on a template she has given us.  We must use different colours and we can't write in sentences.  We need to use pictures.

Working memory v. long term memory
How long is long term?  What is the span of working memory?


Working Memory:
All conscious processing occur in your working memory
3-4 items dealt with at once
30sec limit if not rehearsed
only applies to new, yet to be learned information

Long term memory:
Store schema (mental representations of information)
if working memory can draw on schema in long term memory, then limitations of working memory don't exist
Huge stores allow easy recognition of characteristics

What is learning?
Novel information processed in working memory... stored in long term memory in REM sleep (best time for review is just before sleep. Concept mapping, etc)
Problem solving places a huge burden on working memory
Learning is inhibited if working memory is overloaded

Cognitive Load Theory (CLT)
the ease with which information is process in working memory

Intrinsic cognitive load = intellectual complexity of material

• inherent intellectual complexity of material.  
• cannot be controlled.
• elements cannot be understood in isolation
• understanding information imposes heavy WM load = simultaneous 
• can artificially separate whole into simpler bits but could compromise integrity of material and learning

Extraneous Cognitive load = way information presented
instructional techniques require learners to use working resources on activities that do not contribute to schema development

• searching information
• writing when writing outcomes are irrelevant to the learning
• trying to record and listen and watch simultaneously

Known as ineffective cognitive load
Instructional designers have complete control over this.


Germane cognitive load = learner investment

• known as effective cognitive load
• when intrinsic adn extraneous cognitive load leave sufficient wm resources, learners may invest extra effort in schema construction
• motivation results in an increase in cognitive resources devoted to a task and therefore contributes to germane cognitive load

Implications:
Extraneous

• know the schema associated with the learning
• teachers need to unpack curriculum so that instruction can be strategically designed
• 
  

Intrinsic

• recognise level of complexity inherent in material
• collect baseline data
• Provide strategically designed immersion opportunities that focus on prerequisite schema development
• if learning must be broken down ensure learners see the big picture at the beginning and end

Germane

• ensure wm not overloaded capacity not overloaded due to Ext and Int
• only then will learner invest
• still no guarantee they will invest
• recognise the power of a learner's level of personal motivation
• learning must be relevant and purposeful tot he learner today - before you start the learning, it's too late at the end
• cater to MIs - this promotes success
• provide criteria for content, process, skills
• success = positive emotions = success = increases germane cognitive load
• success is the only option
• ensure there is no danger, stress or threat = limits learning = decreases success = decreases motivation = decreases germane load

Differentiate through tools, not activities
References I found:
http://www.simongrant.org/pubs/val/text.html 
Wikipedia - good overview