Next Generation Learning in Kent

Hello Tosh

Today a number of us are being shown some of the latest Toshiba technology. Two parties of Kent colleagues were invited; one lot have apparently broken down at Clackett Lane Services on the M25, and the others are a no-show, so we're light on numbers. A shame since Toshiba have gone to a lot of trouble to ensure we meet the right people.

So, what did we learn? here's the Reduced Shakespeare Company Version:

RFID, what is it? Radio Frequency IDentification. Its a small and cheap 'tag', can be sticky or built into something. It doesn't need power, and when activated by a reader sends out an identity.

Uses? tracking the location of assets, school meals, (attendance) etc. etc. There is an RFID blog.

Tags are cheap (around 10p). Setup infrastructure costs, high. You need to have a basket of applications to make the technology viable in an educational setting.

Our challenge to Toshiba! Technology must demonstrate how investment in technology either saves money, reduces workload or adds educational value.

We saw Toshiba printing solutions, and were intrigued by the use of eCopy as a standard for printer document management.

The future's bright ... Orange projectors seem to be the thing for schools. This is to reduce their desirability to thieves. Most feature removeable keys to prevent their use. The Toshiba has to be reset if the power is removed and a pin number entered.

Our feeling is that insurance companies should recognise security features and use this to reduce premiums.

We also want to see fully networked projectors. Education has high volumes of projectors, and their management is an issue. We also think that a fully networked projector will allow streaming and signage! No signs of these yet.

A plea from the planet! - Sustainability

I note with interest the launch of Sustainable Schools, a national framework and associated  web site. The framework offers 8 gateways:

• Food and Drink
• Energy and Water
• Travel & Traffic
• Purchasing and Waste
• Building & Grounds
• Inclusion and Participation
• Local well-being
• Global Citizenship

You may be asking, well what has this to do with technology? Well, technology is often mooted as the potential salvation of the planet, through applied science, and crucially through changes to the way we receive feedback, and the way we communicate and share information and knowledge. Information and data are crucial in ensuring intelligent decisions are made. All of the above 'gateways' require empirical analysis and effective communications.

Blogging in Kent

Blogs are going mainstream, and getting a higher profile following a feature by BBC Kent. ClusterBlog gets a mention, as do Downs CE, which uses the November Learning Blogs.

Procurement of ICT in Schools

The Digital Curriculum team has produced guidance for schools considering buying ICT goods and services. It was written to offer schools straight-forward guidance for developing their ICT infrastructure, and focusses on the use of the Becta ICT self-review framework to support school improvement.

The proposal, agreed by the ICT Officers Group of Children, Families and Education, now goes to the ICT Headteachers Strategy Group for their comments and approval. The paper was originally a white paper called ICT Managing Change. This was amended in light of comments, and is now titled 'Procurement of ICT in Schools'.

The blog, the wiki and the website.

I have had numerous conversations about blogging, and Wiki's and why they should be of interest when you have a perfectly good web site if people bothered to visit it.

I am going to introduce common online publishing tools, and suggest where they night fit in relation to each other (it must be stated at the outset that I am not refering to their use in teaching and learning, rather their use in information management in this instance).

The web portal or site

Contrary to popular belief the web site is not a thing of the past. The web portal or site should be the branded, style managed showcase for the organisation or individual. It should contain agreed reference material, official documents, and MUST apply standards of information and content management. Ideally it should provide secure areas where Blogs and Wiki's can prosper.

The challenge with a web site, even a good one, is that it requires the reader to constantly return to update themselves, or use it as a reference. If a site does not continuosly provide reasons to return, or provide a constantly useful reference site (such as an online catalogue service etc.), it falls easily into disuse. Additionally, even of you make great improvements, the web surfer has to find out.

Blogs, newsfeeds and RSS - Fast moving short shelf life

Blogs (usually free) are a rolling log of news, information, comments and posts, in date order. As new items get added, older items are archived.

• Blogs offer news, information and debate in time and date order, and should allow dialogue and a debate. (How many actually readers actually comment when they agree or disagree?).
• Blogs work best when combined with RSS. RSS is THE great syndication tool of the  web.
• Blogs are like newspapers and periodicals; whilst they contain gems of opinion and thought, they rarely have permanence.
• Therefore, Blogs are not the right place to put reference information.

(Having said that I am probably the worst case example of not following this!! I too often use it as the latter ... I am however reviewing and reflecting this, and doing something about it. the problem is its seductively easy to publish using blogging tools than some other media).

Wiki's - Collaboration - work in progress

Wiki's (are usually free!), and allow an agreed set of people (or anyone who cares if the owner wishes) to add, delete, amend or remove information until the sum is greater than the parts. It is a work in progress at all times. This is great where change is rapid or developing. If the content of a wiki gets to be static and agreed, its time to move it into category three:
 

• The wiki is never a finished web site; by its definition the content should be constantly changing ; a work in progress.
• The power of the Wiki is in pulling together multiple contributors around a common theme, and giving all an equal say.
• They can be for private view only; a sort of sandpit for putting thoughts in order (access by password), publicly visible, but amended by named contributors and collaborators only, or open to the public for anyone to change, alter or amend.
• Most Wiki's use RSS and/or email alerts to let contributors and watchers know when a change has been made, or a new contribution added, so it is dynamic.

Its also worth reminding online publishers of the best-preactice guidelines for publishing s part of any organisation. This is the ClusterBlog Acceptable Use Policy, and is a good statement of what the ethos should be.

Harvard Masterclass at Pluckley

Every  once in a while an opportunity arises to take part in something that both inspires the intellect and at the same time provides a demonstration of how far technology has come.

I was invited to take part in a videoconference twilight training session. A masterclass from Chris Dede of Harvard University in Boston MA, USA.

It dawned on me ... I am sat in a rural primary classroom in a small village in the heart of Kent, surrounded by fields on a glorious warm afternoon. Our host is thousands of miles away in the USA; one of the worlds most eminent academics speaking live from one of the greatest universities in the world. The distance didn't matter! Is this the flat world?

The reason this can happen? Pluckley CofE Primary, along with other forward thinking schools, has connected to the Kent Community Network. Pluckley has chosen to connect because this is what they can do with it.

The technology was impressive, and worked exceptionally well; it has come on leaps and bounds, with clear vision and sound, and a reliable connection; but get this ... the technology wasn't the point! It was just a tool used to connect educators across the globe. We shared live video, and an excellent and stimulating presentation. we were also able to ask questions, and raise issues.

The subject was Tapping Global Communication: increasing student motivation and supporting learning styles.

What I learned would fill a blog. It was lively interesting and stimulating. Here's just a taste from the River City project; a riverside town has been 'virtualised' and turned into an absorbing computer game. The object is to carry out scientific investigations to discover why a town's water supply is contaminated. We also covered new work combining Global Positioning with pupils physically moving around the campus. Pupils have to problem solve, investigate, and manage scarce resources to solve a problem.

This is just a small taster ... check out more of what they are doing on their web site.