Flipping the INSET

The flipped classroom is a wonderful concept which I completely endorse (and have written about here) where modern technologies are used to engage students in content before a lesson (most typically through teacher-generated videos) freeing up classroom time for the development and application of those skills and knowledge. This is a great way of moving from didactic, content-heavy lessons which can encourage more creative and meaningful learning activities as a result. We have been aware of the spectre of poorly-conceived, PowerPoint-driven lessons for some time and this kind of thinking gives teaching staff the confidence and space to reimagine what they do in the classroom.

A recent meeting with middle leaders where we discussed the characteristics of learning at the school opened up a related issue relating to staff INSET. We frequently use INSET time to share good practice, which, in more recent months, has tended to focus on educational uses of social media tools; Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Lingt Language, Socrative, YouTube, The Virtual School, Screencast-omatic, Pearltrees, Montage ... the list is long and expanding with every session we have. This has started to become a bit of an issue. We are reaching social media saturation and with so many new ideas staff who do not have their finger on the technology pulse can be put off by the sheer volume available. This means that there are a potentially large proportion of our staff who are rather reluctant to embed these wonderful ideas which can be of significant benefit, especially with the flipped classroom concept.

Content-heavy INSET is not everyone's cup of tea

Our problem, and I suspect we are not alone, is that we spend a significant proportion of our INSET time delivering content which therefore means that there is not enough development time for staff to apply the new ideas that they have been introduced to.

So why not flip the INSET? Screencasting and blogging tools allow staff to capture their teaching and learning ideas in a format that allows colleagues to consume the content at their leisure and to fit in with their busy schedules – anytime, anywhere life-long learning. This would then free up time, as with the flipped classroom, for INSETs to be used for the application of new ideas, rather than going away from an INSET thinking, ‘that was a great idea that I’d love to use, but now I’ve got to mark these books, plan this lesson, fetch the kids, etc etc’. Instead the practice can be used in a practical sense and is therefore much more likely to become embedded. Time can be freed up for staff to discuss new ideas and work collaboratively rather than always being the passive recipients of other peoples’ great ideas. We always need teaching and learning champions in schools, but not everyone has the time or inclination to constantly tweak their practise, and it is the school’s responsibility to provide those opportunities.

Some ideas to flipping the INSET:

·        Learnist or Pearltrees – create a series of links relating to a topic or area of interest (such as the flipped classroom or blended learning);

·        Screencast-o-matic or Jing – use screen capture tools to record video explanations and guides for teaching and learning ideas that can be shared with staff at any time;

·        Blogging – write about teaching and learning ideas perhaps embedding pictures of students’ work of video of the idea being put into practice.

It’s about flipping learning and it’s about flipping time (after Stoll and Fink).

Microsoft and Social Media

Following some recent successful trials using SkyDrive to promote collaborative learning I thought I’d look further into the social media activities of Microsoft. Our school predominantly uses Microsoft Office and rather than confusing matters by encouraging the use of much-lauded Google products, I’d rather keep things as simple as possible for ease of access for staff, teachers and parents.

Microsoft is not a name that I would instantly link to social media having largely remained on the sidelines while Facebook, Twitter and Google tested the water. Some have seen this as Microsoft missing the opportunity, but sometimes arriving late the party can be hugely beneficial. Windows 8 and Windows 365 already look like they are going to be very successful, along with very positive reviews of the Surface tablet. SkyDrive is very user-friendly and I have started to see some excellent collaborative work by my students and if Microsoft products can match the diversity and use of Google apps and other popular social media sites then I believe there’s a better chance of it being used rather than having multiple log-ins and social media experiences that aren’t connected in any way.

Socl (pronounced ‘social’) allows users to share ideas through rich collages of images, links, captions and videos. It is similar to Pinterest and uses the Bing search engine. Microsoft have said that they do not want to compete with Facebook and in-fact you can log on to Socl using your Facebook account, so the two are clearly complementary. Socl started as a project with Microsoft’s Fuselabs research team aimed at helping students learn. This has now been expanded to general use but the possibilities of collaborative learning are clear. Socl can also link easily to pictures files in stored in SkyDrive.

Microsoft Docs is another tool which links directly with Facebook and allows users to share Microsoft documents such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint as well as pdfs. This has always been one of the drawbacks of using Facebook for educational purposes and could be an interesting development.

Kodu Game Lab encourages kids to create games on the PC or Xbox via a simple visual programming language.

Montage is a flexible web-based service to create and share visual albums from the web.

Microsoft are also linked to Skype and Wordpress for those other functions that are so appealing on Google (Hangouts and Blogger).

I intend to explore these over the next few weeks with my classes to see which have stickability and generate opportunities for worthwhile interaction and collaboration.

Embracing Social Media - Handout

Here is the text from the handout that I used for my LearnLive session at BETT 2013 on 'Embracing Social Media in the 21st Century School'

Broadcast

Communicate interesting and relevant information to parents, students and the wider community. Promote the school’s ethos and celebrate the amazing things that happen on a daily basis.

Use Facebook and Twitter pages to reach your target audience – “fish where the fish are”.

Interact with your audience – respond to comments – see all forms of communication as an opportunity to promote the school. www.twitter.com, www.facebook.com/pages

Teach

Use social media to engage students in their learning. This is familiar territory for them which should be exploited.

Find out about the Flipped Classroom and Front-loading teaching concepts which lend themselves to social media.

Use teacher-generated videos to expose students to content outside of the classroom. www.khanacademy.org, www.ted.com, www.thevirtualschool.com.

Use Twitter (e.g. @DHSBusiness) or other blogging sites to keep students and parents informed of what is happening in lessons. www.blogger.com, http://wordpress.com.

Learn

Exploit social media to develop independent and collaborative learning.

Use social networks like Facebook and Google+ to create online communities for classes.

Encourage students to blog about their learning experiences (e.g. http://durringtonlearningblog.wordpress.com, @stjohnsclass8, @Hotspur3Y)

Use tools such as SkyDrive or Google Docs to encourage students to collaborate on learning.

Encourage students to make their own videos.

Protect

Teach students about digital literacy and online safety as part of your curriculum. Advise parents about the risks and opportunities of social media.

Ride the crest of the wave rather than bury your head in the sand.

Beware of The Creepy Treehouse

I had a very interesting conversation with a member of the audience after my Learn Live session at BETT yesterday who brought my attention to the concept of The Creepy Treehouse. This is a term that has been around, it would seem, for a few years and it refers to attempts by institutions and figures of authority to either replicate online social communities for an educational audience (such as Edmodo) or where young people are required to use online spaces such as Facebook or Twitter for educational purposes.

The issue was discussed by Professor Jason B. Jones of Central Connecticut State University back in March 2010 and he and undergraduate Alex Jarvis came up with the following advice for avoiding the Creepy Treehouse.

“Be transparent.  Explain why it’s required, what students will be graded on, etc.  Explain the tool’s ownership and logistics.  If you’ve set up a class Twitter account, consider sharing it with at least some students.Encourage self-organization.  There’s no need for you to create that Facebook group!  Let them do it.  (In my experience, Facebook groups I’ve created haven’t gotten much participation, but ones students have created about my classes have often gone well.Deputize worthwhile ad-hoc groups.  This encourages the perception–which hopefully is accurate!–that the class’s social media usage is bottom-up, and not top-down. Be nimble.  Notice how students are interacting with your course material, and put resources where they feel most comfortable.”

These all appear to be good pieces of advice for those engaging with students on social media but I challenge how much of a constraint this should be for schools.

First of all the concept itself has rather sinister connotations. It sounds like the name of one of those terrible American horror movies or the sequel to Hansel and Gretal. It suggests that students are suspicious in some ways of the intentions that teachers may have in interacting with them online. Social media already ignite some polarised opinions and this kind of sentiment would add great weight to the argument that schools shouldn’t go anywhere near this kind of thing. For those of us who already use social media in an educational setting it is also rather offensive.

Secondly the concept has now been around for about 5 years and I would argue that social media have moved on quite significantly in that time. 5 years ago I would probably have flinched at the idea of using Facebook for any kind of educational reason and would understand people’s reservations of encouraging adults and students connecting in this way. But social media are now quite a central part of many people’s lives and are used in a variety of ways.

Social media are no longer solely used by people to socialise. Many people use social media to connect to friends but increasing numbers also use social media to network, share ideas and collaborate in the workplace. As Ken Robinson says in Out of our Minds “new technologies are revolutionizing the nature of work everywhere”. If young people will be expected to engage with social media in the world of work when they leave school or university then surely schools need to be engaging with them at the point that they are learning how to use these tools, otherwise they will be unprepared, which could have some fairly disastrous consequences. Young people need to learn that they can interact with their friends on Facebook but one day they might also be expected to interact with their boss on Facebook or liaise with clients on Twitter or LinkedIn.

The social aspects of social media do not constrain themselves to socialising but should relate instead to the opportunites they create for interaction and collaboration which have more far-reaching potential in the fields of education and work than the rather insipid and shallow communications which dominate most Facebook walls of Twitter timelines. Social media sites are also not restricted to Facebook and Twitter. All video sharing sites (YouTube, TED, Khan Academy, The Virtual School), collaborative file creation software (Google Docs, SkyDrive) and blogging sites (Blogger, Wordpress) would also come under the social media umbrella and I’d like to meet the person that could convince me that these are not specifically aimed at education.

If we leave social media alone and concede that they are purely spaces for young people to socialise with one another then we also have to concede that we accept cyber bullying and that there is no educational benefit of allowing students to access information and share ideas anytime, anywhere. If educators have any intentions of using social media interactions with young people for anything other than school-related matters then they deserve to face the same disciplinary measures that I would hope any safeguarding concerns would raise, but let’s not demonise social media with these rather emotive tags.

Learning through Angry Birds

Spending time with friends and family over Christmas really got me thinking about the power of computer games. The most successful app of our time, Angry Birds, seemed to be everywhere, even though it has been released for a couple of years. My mother in law was given a Kindle Fire tablet, it was the first thing she downloaded (one of over a billion downloads of the franchise in its various formats), my 3 year old son was given Angry Bird cuddly toys that could be thrown through cardboard targets and we all spent some good honest family time playing the game on our phones and tablets. I started to worry that I was allowing my children to fall into the computer game trap which would result in them becoming desensitised and aggressive, so I started to consider ways of justifying Angry Birds as a constructive and creative past-time, just in case Social Services paid us a visit.

Here's my list - I'm sure there are many other possible uses, but these 14 certainly gave me enough reason to download Angry Birds: Star Wars, safe in the knowledge that my children will be all the better for it and if Rovio need a new marketing consultant then I'm open to offers.

Learning Through Angry Birds
1. Fine-motor skills - it is very important for children to develop their dexterity in terms of using their hands, wrists and fingers. My son, who is left-handed, used to fire the birds to the left when he started playing the game. He has since learnt to head the birds in the right hand direction, a useful precursor to him learning to write. The accuracy of flight requires a steady hand and delicate adjustments, especially when played on a phone.
2. Puzzle-solving - developing logical reasoning is considered a vital aspect in developmental theory and as one progresses through the Angry Birds levels success cannot be achieved through a simple 'fling and hope' approach. Anyone who downloaded Angry Birds Seasons will know what I mean.
3. The Laws of Physics - there's nothing like introducing your child at a young age to the concepts of gravity and ballistics. The science of the sling-shot can get quite involved, especially when replicated in real-life experiments - Beano readers take note.
4. Artistic design - the Angry Birds worlds are a triumph of art and design. The Angry Birds characters have recognisable personalities and attributes and the scenery is, at times, exquisite.
5. Programming - Maybe a little bit beyond my 3 and 6 year old children, but young people are certainly keen to learn about how games and apps are created and there are huge possibilities for them to create their own using simple programmes or devices such as the Raspberry Pi.
6. Concentration - possibly a bit controversial but parents with young children will be able to appreciate those golden moments when a previously frenzied child becomes calmness personified when presented with Angry Birds. The game requires concentration and patience - undeniably useful traits to encourage.
7. Concept of Conflict - 'why are the birds angry?' 'because the piggies have stolen their eggs'. Simple basis of conflict - wars have been fought for less.
8. Demand and supply - 'why do the piggies want the birds' eggs?' 'because they've sold out at the shops'. Simple basis of economics - recessions have been caused by less.
9. Marketing - Toy shops are awash with Angry Birds spin off merchandise - this is clever marketing. Rovio know that the game is played by children on their parents' phones and tablets - the cuddly birds and pigs are not aimed at me
10. Mathematics - see point number 3, but also more basic mathematics - 'how many piggies/birds are left/dead etc?'
11. Cultural awareness - Angry Birds Seasons travels the world and celebrates various cultural events in the calendar, such as Chinese New Year.
12. Business acumen - Rovio Entertainment Limited, the Finnish video game developers behind the Angry Birds games had a net income of $48 million in 2011.
13. Sound and music - Similar to point number 4, the music is almost as recognisable as the Intel jingle and the sound of angry birds and arrogant pigs is another lesson in simple ideas beautifully executed.
14. Sharing - Another tick in the social and emotional development box. If you have more children than Angry Birds enabled devices then they have to learn to share and to take it in turns. More advanced children may also appreciate that Mummy and Daddy might also need to use their phone at some point.

Learning through computer games? I think so...

HMV - lessons for education

Woolworths, Comet, Jessops and now HMV. The list of retailers disappearing from out High Streets is rising as a result of the recent economic difficulties and the failure of these companies to adjust to modern, online spending habits. Are there any lessons for education?

It has been widely reported that the failure of HMV to develop an online operation in the late 1990s and early 2000s has significantly contributed to its demise. A strong brand name is no longer enough in an industry that is dominated by giants such as Amazon and iTunes. We may all feel quite nostalgic towards brands like HMV but we tend to choose price and convenience over nostalgia when it comes to shopping. Reports last week show that the food chain Morrisons is under similar pressure without an online option and that it is perhaps too late to enter this market now.

Schools, like retailers cannot afford to persist with 20th century models in the 21st century. Schools, unlike retailers will not live and die by market forces as our customers cannot so easily swap brands. The cost might not be financial but the opportunity costs could be very high if we don't embrace modern technologies. Universities now have lots of online content, children, as digital natives, have access to mobile devices and broadband-enabled computers and social media offers largely untapped opportunities for meaningful and collaborative learning.

We might not get closed down but can we afford to think that we can hold back the tide?

Game Changer: Learning through computer games

In the 1980s I was the proud owner of a Commodore 64 and spent many hours shut away in my room playing games and even more hours in my room waiting for games to load. We are told that children today spend longer playing on games than they do watching television and the games they play are in many ways unrecognisable from those which grabbed so much of my attention as a child. Many see gaming as a pursuit largely followed by teenage boys and socially-challenged men and educators are often very dismissive of gaming focusing more on the damage it causes through exposure to inappropriate material and the loss of time that could be vastly more productive. But can computer games actually be embraced by education? Should we not be tapping into this medium which motivates and engages young people so effectively? Was it Benjamin Franklin who said, ‘we do not stop playing because we get old, we get old because we stop playing.’?

In an interesting article in The Guardian ‘News as Games: Immoral or the Future of Interactive Journalism’, Keith Stuart explores how more interactive approaches could be used to engage the public in current affairs instead of the more passive forms of traditional reporting. The stumbling point with journalism seems to hinge on the moral issues of encouraging people to play games that relate, for example, to the complicated situation in Syria. But complicated and moral issues have been the subject of computer games for generations, and the potential to learn from these is quite exciting.

I remember playing lots of games in the 80s which either directly (Missile Command) or indirectly referenced the Cold War. I learnt more about this topic in front of my computer than through any activities at school.  I learnt about the American Civil War by playing a game called North and South which I didn’t spend my hard earned paper-round money on because of its historical connections, but through playing the games I picked up on the industrial prowess of the northern states and importance of the railway for communication. Ollie Bray (@olliebray) has talked about the importance of designing ‘contextual hubs’ for learning by building educational opportunities around computer games rather than on simply expecting games to educate without any structure and support from the teacher. James Gee, author of Learning Theory, Video Games and Popular Culture believes that gaming can introduce students to more complex and rich information than they could ever learn in a traditional school setting.

The explosion of online games and mobile apps means that gaming is not reliant on expensive consoles which schools are unlikely to purchase in large numbers. Educational games have always been eyed with suspicion by both students and teachers, perhaps because of the misplaced concept of what constitutes a learning tool – surely games have no place in servicing learning? But if the game is part of a carefully constructed series of teaching episodes it could be a valuable asset. I am currently teaching a Year 7 History unit on Medieval Conflict and intend to try out some of these ideas. I have come across a game created for Channel 4, www.1066online.co.uk, which puts the player in charge of the Normans, Saxons or Vikings during the key battles of that year. This could reinforce learning about the techniques and tactics used and even lead to a richer understanding about what motivated people to fight and the wider implications of such conflict.

Teachers should tap into this potentially valuable learning resource and remember how important game playing is to the development of young people. Children spend hours playing video games, most adults don’t and sometimes we can be too quick to dismiss the link between gaming and learning. Social media opens up so many varied gaming opportunities; we would be foolish to continue to play the wrong game.