Education StreamAuckland, 29 June – 1 July, 2011

Facilitators:Derek Wenmoth & Douglas Harré

CORE Education Ltd

Theme topics:

• The changing nature of Education provision• Building a national Network for Learning• Teaching the teachers• The ‘data explosion’ • Ubiquity in learning

Changing nature of education provision

Changing nature of education provision

In the networked age, our education institutions must shift from the existing paradigm of operating in relative isolation (even competition) to being more collaborative and working as a node on the education network. Virtual learning services are expanding internationally, with the development of virtual schools in many countries.

Participant concerns

”…keen to look at how we engage practising teachers in this discussion rather than tech people. At the mo' it feels like this is being discussed at length in technical and IT infrastructure circles, but not so much in the actual teaching circles. How do we ensure developments are led by the student and teacher needs rather than the "technicians" who are often not in the classroom.”

Blended learning

How might virtual and blended learning opportunities be an effective way of providing access for those who may not otherwise be able to participate?

Open-ness

Is education becoming more ‘open’ in terms of the way we think about the tools, expertise and content used for learning?

Networked learning

What will be the characteristics of a networked institution, enabled by ultrafast broadband connectivity on things such as governance, leadership, programme offerings?

Building a national Network for

Learning

Building a national Network for Learning (NfL)

The development of a dedicated education network, that harnesses the power of broadband technology to deliver educational content and services is a priority for New Zealand and in most developed countries.

Infrastructure

What are the infrastructural needs of such a network and who is responsible for their provision from end-to-end?

Collaboration

How can we harness our unique expertise to enable a safe, secure, collaborative and creative learning experience for learners, teachers and parents at all levels of our education system?

Policy

What are the policy issues that may need to be addressed, particularly around emerging areas such as cloud computing, shared services, quality assurance and equity of access?

How will UFB improve education outcomes?

Equity– Reduced barriers of distance and travel costs eg virtual field trips– Enabling sharing of scarce resources eg Māori medium teachers

Engagement– Students using familar (‘leisure’) technology to create and learn eg Skype,

gaming, virtual worlds– Particularly effective for previously disengaged students or students with special

needsTeaching

– 24/7 remote access to students’ work– Opportunities for virtual professional development (already happening)

Systems– Better data collection, enabling evidence-based policies– Ability to identify needs and target support

Teaching the teachers

Teaching the Teachers

Working in an environment that is increasingly enabled by the use of digital technologies, together with the opportunities afforded by the high speed connectivity of Ultra Fast Broadband presents some significant challenges for teachers, and raises significant concerns about the provision of professional development for teachers. Both the scale of change required and the pace at which is needs to happen mean that traditional approaches may no longer be appropriate. Any approach adopted must cater to the needs of the entire teaching profession, and it has to be a continuing process – and the impact must be effective immediately.

Participant concerns

“I am keen to see discussion on the implications of being a citizen in a digitally enabled society. Much of this topic focuses on being a citizen of a digital environment, but as nations like Iceland and Brazil are showing, the key role of ICT is in the real world.”

“I work in tertiary education so am interested in how the internet can assist tertiary study; implications for students and teachers, privacy issues, human rights, new and emerging technologies”

Participant concerns

“In my role as Learning Services Team Leader I am also particularly interested in the Teaching the Teachers stream and any idea's information I can pick up and transfer onwards to my team so we can look at how ICT can improve how we deliver information.”

"Teaching the Teachers - Ensuring that this is as much of a focus as the development of physical infrastructure and the purchasing of devices. Often, budgets are focused around acquisition of IT and physical development of IT, how do ensure the professional development of teachers is given equal attention. Lack of time is a constant reason/excuse for slow uptake of technology by teachers. What are we doing to address this (beyond ICTPD contracts).”

Role of ICT

What contributions can ICT make to the changing roles of pupils and teachers in schools?Which school conditions are important if the effective use of ICTs is to succeed?

Skills

What new kinds of skills do teachers need for working effectively with these new tools and environments?

Professional development

Which conditions must be in place if staff development is to be successful for making and impact on practice?In what ways can the change required be accelerated?

The data explosion

The ‘data explosion’

We are witnessing an unprecedented ‘explosion’ of data in the world – including education – with information accumulating in electronic databases everywhere. This poses challenges about its usefulness and about how we may store, manage and derive meaning from it.

Participant concerns

“especially visualisation tools and the need for visual literacy when dealing with visualisations”

Data storage

Educational institutions, like businesses, are facing huge challenges in terms of data storage and management, including issues such as data backup and disaster recovery etc. What solutions should we be considering?

Visual Data

Visual data analysis blends highly advanced computational methods with sophisticated graphics engines to tap the extraordinary ability of humans to see patterns and structure in even the most complex visual presentations. What are the implications for education institutions?

Open Data

Open data is a philosophy and practice requiring that certain data be freely available to everyone, without restrictions from copyright, patents or other mechanisms of control. Many countries around the world are now making all of their government data openly available for people to download and manipulate to derive meaning, discover new patterns etc. What can education institutions learn form this?

Ubiquity in learning

Ubiquity in Learning

Among users of all ages there is a clear shift towards computing ‘anywhere, anytime with any device’ – where access is not confined to a particular time and place, and not dependent on using a particular device. There are three key enablers of this:

Participant concerns

“Cloud computing - in education context”

"Ubiquity in Learning - how do we manage equity issues, making decisions around ‘any device’ vs. one device, how do we insure we make the most of BYOD policies?? “

Wireless networks

Learners are increasingly expecting access via wireless networks in schools and learning settings. What are the implications for our education settings regarding the provision of wireless networks?

Mobile devices

What provision should we be making for the range of devices now available, most of which are student owned — smart phones, netbooks, laptops, and a wide range of other devices access the Internet?

The Cloud

Cloud computing in all its forms offers wide-ranging benefits for education in the form of software and hardware management, data-driven research, and flexibility of resources. How should we be planning to accommodate this?