OllieBray.com

eSafety Live 2012 - St Paul's Primary School Radiowaves Interview (#esl12)

Last week I was speaking at the UK Internet Safety Centre eSafety Live Events in London and in Edinburgh. You can find the slides from my presentations on Games in Schools and Using Social Media in the classroom here.

As part of the Edinburgh Event I was also interviewed along with representatives from Xbox, Beatbullying, Facebook and Russell Prue by a group of children from St Paul's Primary School in Edinburgh. This was part of their ongoing work with Radio Waves.

The young people were incredibly professional with the filming, sound recording and interviewing. You can see the final interview below where they ask us about Top Tips for Internet Safety and also how safe we think we are on-line.

Well done St Pauls Primary!

eSafety Live 2012 - Presentation Slides Now Available (#esl12)

 

I’m doing lots of interesting Internet Safety and Responsible Use work at the moment. Last week this involved attending and presenting at The UK Internet Safety Centre’s eSafety Live Events in both London and Edinburgh. The Scottish Government supported the Edinburgh Event. 

At the London and Edinburgh Event I was asked to share some thoughts on the Challenges and Opportunities for Computer Games in Education. Lots of people have been asking for the slides so I have embedded them below - I’ll write up the notes at some point soon.

Computer Games in Education: Challenges and Opportunities

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At the Edinburgh Event as well as the Computer Games workshop I ran two additional workshops on the use of Social Media in Schools. Again, I have embedded the slides that I used below and will write a more detailed narrative explaining some of the key points over the Easter break.

eSafety Live - Social Media in Schools

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As always, any feedback is welcome - particularly if you attended one of the workshops.

 

ChronoZoom - An amazing free resource [Big History #bighistory]

A few weeks ago I wrote about the Big History Project and that it was coming to Scotland (more on this very soon). An exciting resource to support the teaching of Big History was launched in Beta yesterday and it is called ChronoZoom (www.chronozoomproject.org).

ChronoZoom is an open-source cloud based community project dedicated to visualizing the history of everything. Big History is the attempt to understand, in a unified, interdisciplinary way, the history of cosmos, Earth, life and humanity. Importantly it aims to bridge the gap between humanities and sciences.

ChronoZoom uses the theme of Big History as a storyline and provides access to learning materials in an easily understandable and navigable way.  On the site you will also find links within the tool, tutorials, user guides and lesson plans.  

It is very, very cool.

 

Links: 

ChronoZoom Website: www.chronozoomproject.org

Tutorial Video: http://research.microsoft.com/apps/video/default.aspx?id=161243

Guide: ChronoZoom Quick Reference Guide

Lesson Plan: ChronoZoom User Guide and Lesson Plan

 

Exploring People and the Past (Level 4) - Now Available

If you have ever been involved in writing books you will know that it is always nice to get your hands on the final product.

There was a definite history theme in the air yesterday as not only did we announce Scotland participation in the Big History Project but I also got my hands on the new Hodder Gibson Exploring People and the Past CfE Level 4 Social Subjects Textbook  written by Ed Offer.

I had the job of writing the thematic chapter at the end of the book and editing the series. The People and Place textbook was published earlier in the year and the People and Society textbook will be available soon.

Big History comes to Scotland - great CPD opportunity for Scottish teachers

 

Ian Stuart (@islayian) and I first met David Christian at the Microsoft Partners in Learning Global Education Forum in Washington DC in November 2011. David was talking about Big History and we were instantly impressed with the quality of David’s presentation, his passion for education and how the concept of Big History fitted with the principles of CfE. You can see my short write up of his talk here.

Since Washington Ian has remained in contact with David and facilitated a conversation between him and Joe Wilson, Head of New Ventures at the SQA. Ian and Joe were keen to explore how we might get Scottish Schools involved in the piolet programme for 2012/2013 before the large scale worldwide rollout in 2013/2014.

 

The rest as they say is history and we are excited to announce that…

 

Winging its way out to Directors of Education and Headteachers today was a superb opportunity for three Scottish Schools and their science & social subjects departments. 

We have been invited as a Nation to participate in the pilot roll out of the Big History Project. Funded by Bill Gates directly through Bill Gates Catlyst Three. This is a superb opportunity for Scottish Schools to be part of a cutting edge,  project based learning,  global project - that fits very well with a Curriculum for Excellence


The SQA and The Big History Project  invite applications to be part of The Big History Project and join pilot schools in Australia and USA.

In particular:

• We are looking for three secondary schools in close proximity to each other - this is stipulation from the Big History Project.

• Funding is available for two teachers from each school to attend the programme induction in Seatlle, USA between 22-25th March 2012

• These teachers will be a Science Teacher and a Social Subjects Teacher (the curriculum leaders).

• Participating schools need to deliver the Big History programme as a pilot from September 2012 to a 2nd or 3rd Year cohort  and provide feedback where appropriate.  

• Participating schools will also be expected to carry out a curriculum mapping exercise for the Big History Project materials to the experiences and outcomes of CfE.

• Pilot schools will gain experience of working with global partners on a new and innovative multidisciplinary curriculum.

You can find out more about the Big History Project here www.bighistoryproject.com but this short video sums it up nicely!

You can hear a message from David Christian (Founder of the Big History Project) that we recorded when he was in Glasgow a couple of weeks ago to Scottish Schools here http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/video/b/video_tcm4687443.asp

What do you need to do?

To apply for this opportunity - we need  an Education Authority’s nomination of three suitable schools.

The project will meet the travel and subsistence costs associated with the programme but will not provide cover costs for the  induction programme.

Applications will be screened by panel drawn from SQA, Education Scotland and The Big History Project.

 

Application Process

Applications should consist of one side A4 with  a simple statement  from each of three nominated schools on Why the Big History project appeals to them.  

Attached to the application we need a name and short resume of the Science and Social Science Teacher nominated to take part in induction programme from each of the three schools. Given the tight timescale on this nominees need to hold a full British Passport.

Applications close on Monday 5th of March - successful applicants will be contacted to make travel arrangements on 7th of March .

Applications should be emailed to Liam.Priest@sqa.org.uk

 

Exciting stuff!

Excavation an giant Ant Hill with 10 tonnes of concrete [Video]

I'm not sure that the ants would be particularly happy about this research project but the final result is really quite amazing.

Basically, researchers pump concrete into a giant ant hill. It takes a little bit longer than they expect (3 days to be precise) and they get through 10 tonnes of concrete.

Then they leave the concrete to set and three weeks later start excavating the site to revile what the inside of the colony looks like. The result is an intricate structure, equivalent in labour to humans building the Great Wall of China.

Worth a watch and a great resource to support the teaching of science. 

Via: Boing Boing

 

Camp Scotland @ Calderglen High School - Free CPD for Scottish Teachers [msftpil]

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Odette Frazer (DHT at Calderglen High School) has asked me to help promote this event and as I am in favour of Free CPD for Scottish Teachers I am absolutely delighted to share the details below with you. I was also lucky enough to attend the first Partners in Learning Summer Camp in Reading back in 2009 and as a result know the power of these collaborative learning experiences. Finally, I love the idea that the application form is only 140 characters long!

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Camp Scotland 

After the great success of the last three Microsoft Partners in Learning Teacher Camps, we are taking the concept on the road (to Scotland) – this is an open invitation to all Teachers in Scotland. So if you want to spend time with other innovative educators, then this is an ideal event for you.

Camp Scotland takes place at Calderglen High School, starting 10:00am on Thursday 26th and finishing 4:00pm Friday 27th January 2012.

What will I be doing at  Camp Scotland?

We will give you training in using free Microsoft software to create teaching and learning resources for the classroom. You will have time to design, create and evaluate those resources and collaborate with others. You will also get the chance to speak to experts at Microsoft about our technology. In addition you will also be learning how to deliver the same training to colleagues in your own schools. These resources will take the form of screen capture videos, which we call Innovids. You can see examples of these on the Partners in Learning YouTube Channel – www.youtube.com/innovativeteach

 

How do I apply?

We don’t want videos or lengthy biographies from you, to apply for this free event, just email three tweet-esque type statements (140 characters or less) to ofrazer [at] calderglen.s-lanark.sch.uk  before the closing date  Friday 16^th December. These statements should be ideas of how you would, or are using Microsoft technologies to support learning across the curriculum. For example:-

• using conditional formatting in Excel to help visual learners in numeracy
• using PowerPoint to create animated flicker books
• using the Songsmith to create mobile ringtones

Also include details of your school, subject expertise and pupil age range in your application. We will select 25 applicants with the most intriguing and innovative ideas, who will be notified on Friday 13^th January.

I am not an ICT teacher is it worth me applying?

Yes, most definitely, we are looking for classroom innovators in learning, rather than techie whizz kids. This event is targeted at those Teachers in Scotland interested in teaching and learning, and how technology can support that, rather than the technology itself. This event is for teachers in Primary, Secondary and Special school settings.

What will I need to bring?

We expect you to bring some of the tools you are using already:

• a headset with a microphone or Headphones and a Microphone
• a laptop running Windows Vista or Windows 7,
• Office 2007 or 2010 (not essential)
• You need to have installed and have working , Community Clips  -Freely available at http://www.officelabs.com/projects/communityclips/Pages/Default.aspx
• We will send you a list of tools to download and install when we confirm your attendance.

What will I be expected to do?

We hope that you will create two innovid resources. We will collect those resources and post them to our YouTube Channel and GLOW.

In return, we will offer you support if you wish to recreate this course in your school and you will receive a certificate welcoming you as a Partners in Learning Teacher, along with more ideas about how to enhance pupil’s learning through the use of technology.

We are looking forward to receiving your applications.

 

Using Technology to Support Higher Order Skills: Introduction

Last week I was asked to speak at an ELT Conference on how technology can support Higher Order Skills - this is linked to a piece of work I have been doing over the past few months.

I promised that I would post the slides that accompanied the presentation along with some of the links that I mentioned and some expanded notes.

Below are the slides that I used:

Digital Technology and Higher Order Skills

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I’ll pick up the main themes of the presentation over the next week…

To set the Scottish context for this piece of work a must read is the Higher Order Skills Excellence Group Report. The report was published in September 2011 and the group was chaired by Keir Bloomer. 

Taking Risks with Leadership, Learning and Teaching (5 of 5): Further Considerations

This is the last in a series of articles about taking risks with Education Leadership, Learning and Teaching. The articles are based around a workshop that I have been doing with the same name for Scottish Local Authorities and the EIS.

For a long time I have maintained that you can’t innovate alone. All of our most revolutionary ideas from the last decade have been developed though collaboration rather than in isolation.

Collaboration also gives us the support for risk taking activities. It allows us to share ideas and digital tools allow us to collaborate more widely than ever before. It seems to me that these days virtual staff rooms increasingly provide more support than physical ones. Some of the most innovative risk taking schools that I have seen - don’t have staff rooms. They have spaces where children and staff sit together.

Of course some independent schools still have bars in their staff room! Bars and pubs are also often the home of developing innovation and ideas. Why? Well, innovation is incubated over conversation.

As well as innovating risk taking educators learn a huge amount from copying each other and adapting or ‘hacking’ other people’s ideas for their own local need.

In fact we learn most things in life by copying - just think about how you learnt to talk, walk and drive. This is one of the reasons why it is funny that only in education do we call copying (our most powerful aid to learning) ‘cheating!’

Lets stick with the theme of copying for the moment and consider it in relation to another common characteristic of risk taking leaders and teachers. The characteristic is the ability to think about the future and also the future needs of the children in their care.

Have you ever heard of a 3D printer? It is a printer that prints things out in 3D. There are places that you can go to and have feet scanned in (using a 3D Scanner) and the 3D printer will print out a pair of shoes (or football boots) for you. It is interesting technology and has started to make its way into a number of schools it has also found its way into the confectionary industry. At the risk of sounding completely bonkers I suspect that most homes will have a 3D printer by 2020.

Why is this important? Well, technology like 3D printing is starting to challenge our laws and interpretation of intellectual property. If the UK is serious about the ‘knowledge economy’ or a ‘digital future’ (two terms that I don’t actually agree with) we need to understand in education the importance of intellectual property and how modern technologies can be used to develop future economic prosperity.

We also need to make sure that young people are equipped with appropriate skills. Our skills agenda must be more than just vocational skills (I am not saying that these are not important) but our skills agenda must have digital literacy at its core. Again this is fundamentally important if we are serious about a future digital economy. If we are not serious about this then we need to stop talking about it and find something else to invest in.

 
At the heart of the skills agenda in education has to be good cluster working (nursery, primary and secondary schools all working together). Often we loose the education importance of such a relationship as we become focused on the difference between establishments (eg: Primary VS Secondary) rather than the importance of collaboration and working together. This is one of the reasons I am a huge fan of all-through schools - we need more of these even if they are spread over a split campus. There is nothing wrong with this - shared vison can narrow distance.

One of the reasons that all-though schools are important is that they allow a headteacher to invest in the education process where it matters. It matters the most in the early years and I am saying that as a secondary practitioner. In Scotland, research tells us that for every £1 invested in the early years we will save the taxpayer £9 in the future. All though schools allow staff to have a greater shared understanding of what it is we are actually trying to do in education. Ultimately we are trying to improve the life chances of children.

Moving forward we need more education risk takers. We need to recruit school leaders in an imaginative way. We need to use technology to share ideas and to support each other. We need to make sure that people can voice opinion in a constructive and kind way. We need to make sure these people are listened to. We need to flatten education and system hierarchy.

Most importantly we need to think simply and use a lot more common sense. 

Taking Risks with Leadership, Learning and Teaching (4 of 5): "The solution is in the problem"

This is the fourth in a series of articles about taking risks with Education Leadership, Learning and Teaching. The articles are based around a workshop that I have been doing with the same name for Scottish Local Authorities and the EIS.

I have never forgotten the story that Cliff Dennett told me a few years ago at the Scottish International Summer School for School Leadership.

“The solution is in the problem"

He illustrated it with this story that I have re-told hundreds of times over the last few years. The story goes like this...

• Two countries are at war but they have not engaged in conflict for many years.

• The two countries are separated by a range of mountains.

• The reason that there has been no conflict for years is because a radar dish is placed on top of one of the mountains. It allows both sides to monitor each other.

• But there is a problem. The mountains are high and in the winter time the snow falls on the radar disk making it heavier. When the snow becomes really heavy the pole snaps.

• When the pole snaps communication goes down, neither country feel safe which leads to anxiety and war has the potential to break out.

 

So, how do you solve the problem?

There are obviously lots of answers and over time people have suggested a variety of solutions, such as:

1) Heat the satellite dish - the problem is this isn’t very sustainable.

2) Adjust the angle of the dish - the problem is this isn’t very adaptable.

3) Clear the snow - the problem is this is a quick fit not a solution to the problem.

4) Declare peace - a solution but one that will take time (a bit like a curriculum reform!).

The interesting thing of course that many of the most common solutions offered are actually quite complicated. They involve things like a new power supply, logistics, lots of people, diplomacy and international politics.

The key is to remember “the solution is in the problem”:

"The satellite pole snaps because of the weight of the snow. The snow is caused by the change of temperature. The problem is the drop in temperature".

If "the solution is in the problem," how can the decrease in temperature be part of the solution?

 

The solution - fill the satellite pole with water.

As the temperature drops the water freezes and the pole gets stronger. As the temperature increases the snow melts (removing the problem) and the water un-freezes. 

I have no idea is this is a true story but I like the simplicity of the idea and have always belived that we can learn a lot from stories.

Now, although I agree with “The solution is in the problem” statement. I think the biggest challenge that we face in education is that we often don’t actually realize what the real problem is and therefore it is very difficult to find the solution.

Curriculum reform is quite a good example of this. People assume the problem is the actual ‘curriculum reform’ or ‘resourcing’ or ‘professional development’ or ‘the children they teach’.

But actually it is not. Most curriculum reforms fail not because of the policy, the funding, the CPD or the children. They fail because of the inability of adults to get on with one another, work together and because many education leaders try to control rather than empower their school community.

So, if the problem is people then the solution also has to be people - perhaps people need to change or at least realize that things are only going to get more challenging in UK education and society.

I think we really need to start working better together and fast!

In the next post in this serise I'll pick up on some further consideration for risk taking in education.