Social Media Week
in Glasgow earlier in the month was all about reflecting on the global impact of social media and its role as a catalyst in driving cultural,
political, economic and social change.
Of course I also
believe that Social Media has a real place and evolving purpose in education.
In particular how social media can be
used to develop whole school communication, improve learning and teaching and
enhance professional development.
Sponsored by Facebook
I did some work recently for the EUN recently where we looked at the role of Social
Media in Learning and Education (SMILE). One of the outputs of my work was
a professional development eLearning course for European Teachers and Head Teachers
on the use of Social Media in Schools.
The presentation was also filmed and live streamed, you can watch it here if your interested:
I’ve also add the
presentation link to ‘OB TV’
which is an evolving archive of my various talks and presentations from around
the web. Its part of the general tidy up to olliebray.com that is going on at
the moment.
I find writing education textbooks hard - but I do enjoy the challenge.
Today, I finally got my hands on a hard copy of my latest book Exploring People and Place (Level 4). It is the follow up to the Level 3 book that we published this time last year. Both books have been designed and written to support the learners understand the experiences and outcomes of Scotland new curriculum.
The main sections are:
Coasts
Tsunamis
Water (including a good section on the bottled water industry)
Food and Agriculture (A nice picture of some cooked guinea pigs on page 32)
More about Scotland (follow up from Level 3 book)
Weather
Globalization (including mobile phone in Ghana, Film Crews in Dominica and laptops in Portugal)
A few weeks ago (during purdah) I went on a flying visit to Bristol for the day to attend the WikiMedia UK AGM and give the KeyNote address at the associated Conference.
Wikimedia UK (incorporated under the name "Wiki UK Limited") is the local Wikimedia chapter covering the United Kingdom. It exists to help collect, develop and distribute freely licensed knowledge (and other educational, cultural and historic content), which is done by supporting the charitable activities of the Wikimedia Foundation.
Anyway, my brief was to speak about WIkipedia is Schools. I have a fairly long history with this agenda, which is why I was delighted to accept the invitation!
The slides that I used during my presentation are here:
The Education Blog Awards were launched nearly two weeks ago at the Education Show, new blogs are being nominated every day, and an incredible amount of votes cast! So to the stats:
Last week I was on the introductory panel at a Learning and Teaching Scotland and Creative Scotland Conference where the purpose was to discuss Moving Image Education and Digital Media in CfE.
Now as I said in my opening statement to the conference I don’t pretend to know very much about moving image education. I do know a little more about digital media and its use in education.
The task I was in 5-10 minutes give an answer to the question:
“What do moving image education, multimodal learning and digital media literacy mean in the 21st Century?”
Here are the sides I used to illustrate my ten-minute introductory ramble:
I started off by challenging stereotypes of moving image education (MIE). Explaining that in my experience many teachers do not really know what MIE is. Common confusions include the history of film, the history of animation and just showing children films.
I mentioned that although these common steriotypes are an important aspect of moving image education we can’t afford to get stuck in the past. MIE should also not just be about film – I used the development of Nintendo’s Mario Character to help illustrate this.
I mentioned that perhaps we get far to tied down arguing the definition of MIE and not enough time promoting it in the classroom. I don’t see the point of arguing a definition – we will probably never agree and I would prefer just to call many aspects of MIE good learning and teaching. If that’s is what it really is.
I explained that we need to make sure that the MIE agenda is tied into wider policy developments both in Scotland and the rest of the UK. For example, if we are serious about MIE contribution to a future Scottish knowledge (or other) economy then we need to challenge why schools were not mentions in the Digital Economy chapter of the recent Scotland’s Digital Future Report.
Elsewhere in the UK the Hope and Livingstone Review (titled: Next Gen.) talks about transforming the UK into the worlds leading talent hub for the video games and visual effects industry.
MIE needs to linked to all of this wider policy rather than trying to carve its own path and re-invent itself.
We also need to make sure that practitioners have a better understanding of how digital literacy fits into a Curriculum for Excellence (Scotland’s new curriculum).
I am learning to assess and manage risk, to protect myself and others, and to reduce the potential for harm when possible.
...is the most important outcome in the CfE Experiences and Outcomes. Why? because it is the only outcome that reminds practitioners that keeping children safe on-line is everyone’s responsibility.
However, one big issue presented by an experience based curriculum is that it is open to interpretation. What do we do about the practisoners that look at the above outcome and don’t see that this means ‘digital word’?
To help me develop an informed view, I am exploring the techniques used to influence my opinion. I can recognise persuasion and assess the reliability of information and credibility and value of my resources.
... again, we need to make sure that practitioners understand that this DOES NOT just mean traditional text. It means all forms of media including traditional text, digital text, images and moving images.
Being able to assess the reliability of all forms of media is an important skill for young people because they need to apply the same skills and techniques to assess the credibility of people them meet online.
Everything needs to be more joined up. Aspects of MIE and digital literacy need to be an invisible in a classroom and a key part of a teachers pedagogical pencil case.
I also stated that although young people being able to use, understand and interpret digital content was important. We also needed to ask some bigger questions regarding access. Currently and in the future most young people will access moving image digitally. BUT all over the UK there are still schools where the playing of digital videos (downloaded and streaming) is blocked due to firewalls and/or bandwidth.
Finally, I stated that MIE needs to be forward looking and forward thinking. I finished my presentation by showing four videos that I had spiced together of different types of moving image education.
1) The first was from Kahn Academy – over 1 million views a week of people wanting to learn maths. Some people would say that this is not moving image education – of course it is! It moves and you can learn from it! Just because it does not fit into your personal definition of what MIE is does not mean you should dismiss it. Kahn Academy is accessed via YouTube.
More information about Kahn Academy below:
2) The second video demonstrated how YouTube Videos are now also interactive. You can add hot spots to the video that allows learners to change the direction of the story and interact with the characters and plot.
I showed part of the example below:
3) The third video takes things a stage further where you are no longer interacting with the click of a mouse. The Microsoft xbox Kinect allows you to interact with the images and characters without the need of a peripheral controller. It is heavily immersive and the technology opens up all sorts of new possibilities.
I showed a short clip from Kinectimals:
4) Lastly, a showed a video of how game play is likely to evolve. Again using the Microsoft xbox Kinect where the camera on the games console recognises your facial expressions and then is able to able to respond to your mood.
I illustrated this with a clip from Microsoft Research Project Milo:
Finally, I concluded, that perhaps the biggest danger and threat to MIE in schools is getting stuck in the past and the term MIE itself?
Cross posted on LTS Technologies for Learning Blog
I was at a Conference (very briefly) this week that was considering the importance of Moving Image Education, Multimodal Learning and Digital Literacy in schools.
It starts off by challenging the classic assumption "We remember 10% of what we read, 20% of what we hear etc.". It then draws from neuroscience to put in place a more robust theoretical framework for examining the impact of different media combinations on learning, in particular a mix of the verbal and visual.
It makes an interesting read for anyone interested in this sort of stuff!
Story Cubes are a similar sort of idea, taking the randomness created by the throwing of several dice and turning them into a powerful tool for learning.
Here is an example of how they might be used:
Begin with ‘Once upon a time’, and tell a story that links together all 9 face-up images. Start with the first symbol that grabs your attention.
Rory’s Story Cubes® can be enjoyed solitaire or by taking turns with multiple players.
Remember there is no wrong answer, the goal is to let the cubes spark your imagination.
Don't you think the simple ideas are always the best!
I've been writing a blog since August 2005, normally managing at least one post a week (often lots more). I have always written my blog for myself, I'm still surprised how many people read it and I have enjoyed the many conversations that I have formed through it. I believe strongly in sharing, free speech and the power of tools such as blogs to give children authentic audience.
That is why it is an absolute privilege to have been asked to judge the very first UK Education Blog Awards along side professional colleagues John Davitt, Tim Rylands, Margaret Vass and Paula Hubbard. The UK Education Blog Awards were launched at the UK Education Show in Birmingham yesterday.
From the offical website:
The UK Education Blog Awards have been set up to celebrate blogging in UK schools. Class Blogging is incredibly inspirational to pupils, and teachers alike. If you want to know what class blogging can do for your school, we have three case studies. One from Heathfield Primary, one from Ferry Lane, and a great case study from Margaret Vass.
Convinced you? Then we have a step-by-step guide to get started here!
My own presentation was titled Culture, Careers, Credibility and CfE: Why Internet Safety and Responsible Use is Everyone’s Responsibility. I've embedded it below for interest and as always would welcome any feedback.
Regular readers of this website will be aware that I am a huge fan of comics and graphic novels to develop literacy and to encourage people to read. Regular readers will also be aware that I really like Classical Comics – I’ve mentioned Macbeth, Henry V and the Tempest before.
Classical Comics specialise in creating graphic novel adaptations of classical literature. They always produce three versions of the text to go with the artwork.
The three versions are:
Original text version:Ideal for purists, students and readers who will appreciate the unaltered text.
Plain text:The full text made more accessible by the translation into modern English.
Quick text:The full play in comic book form, translated into modern English and with less dialogue for a faster paced read.
Last week Classical Comics Launched their latest set of books A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare. As always the Artwork (by Kat Nicholson & Jason Cardy) is outstanding and will capture the imagination of any learners.
More information about Classical Comics is available on their website including some great resources to support education.
I’ve pasted a couple of the sample spreads from A Midsummers Nights Dream below – It looks great an I’m looking forward to reading my copy on the train next week.
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