My Postgraduate Learning Journey and Exciting Future

There are 12 Practising Teacher Criteria (PTC) in e-learning.

These are the ones that I have done well whilst on my study journey

My goals for this year

Goal: 1 I will set up a collaborative teaching and learning environment possibly using Adobe Connect with my Senior students as requested from online survey Associated Competencies Criteria 7

Any notes/comments e.g. resources  needed ·         learn the program ·         explore features and functions ·         trial it with someone in the team ·         send invite to my senior students ·         Eventually become an observer while students lead their practice and projects ·         Record and share sessions with students ·         Possibly hold material based sessions to make it relevant ·         Encourage family and whanau to have a say about projects child has undertaken –connected learning concept and Maori framework goals

Goal: 2 I will start a gamification (personal inquiry) or flip classroom inquiry (Department inquiry) as outlined in Teacher Inquiry RCE paper to engage learners  with the Technology area in consultation with Peter Renwick Associated Competencies Criteria 12

Any notes/comments e.g. resources  needed ·         Explore how to do it in our online platform OTLE ·         Carry out the plan in my RCE Assessment as I did a teacher inquiry there- has 3 stages so at least get started ·         Continue to be involved in the Google + community and NZCER that is researching and supporting this gaming concept of learning for schools ·         Attended workshop at St Mary’s on games competition for students by Transport Ministry ·         Team leader to have a copy of the inquiry outline to support and appreciate the process that will be undertaken.

My reflection of Postgraduate 32 week Journey

Photo Credit : Aperture Photo Arts by B.N. Perera

This photo sums up my journey..there were moments where I

• reflected on the good/bad/ugly of my practice
• recreated my mind-set this viewing things from different angles
• sinking moments of not meeting assignment deadlines..extensions are a bonus 
• inquiring the organisation as a big picture (yes reading the schools’ 28 page strategic plan), critically analysing educators journal articles (which in the beginning felt like language from another planet after not doing it for 20 years) 
• dark moments of realisation that the world is moving on and I need to catch up and do justice to my learners

Highlights: making new friendships and sharing my perspectives and challenges in our teaching and learning on the Google+ forum and face to face Saturday morning sessions with colleagues and effervescent tutor Philippa.  

Thank you to my supportive husband and child for spending days alone while I slogged on assignments, readings and lectures. Not forgetting my beautiful friends and family who have cheered and supported me on this journey..yes Christmas turkey and cocktails didn't taste as good as they did this year on the 2 week study break! My colleagues have also benefited from this course with regular updates of 21^st century learner triggers and we (Bruce and Dinesh) will be presenting to the school later this year to encourage other members of the school to take up the best PD going in the country at the moment! 

Evaluations of the cultural responsiveness in practice

Indigenous Knowledge (IK) is knowledge that is unique to a given culture or society and is the basis for local-level decision making in agriculture, health care, food preparation, education, natural-resource management, and a host of other activities in rural communities.

My View of IK- this knowledge is rich and diverse enough to bring about a sustained, successful and valuable lifestyle for its people, however some communities around the world live in suppressed environments and the nation has failed to harness the resources embedded within its indigenous people. Being of Fiji Indian heritage our ancestral knowledge grooms who we are as we try our utter best to make a survival where ever we are in the world as the nation we were brought to as indentured labourers by The British Raj to work on sugar cane farms, has had endless coups due to insecurity of being taken over by us thus causing emotional damage to our well-being yet the historical practices, language, cuisine, herbal medicines, religious epics and knowledge still underpins our existence.

Culturally Responsive Pedagogy

Teachers creating a context in the classroom that is responsive to the culture of the child … based upon the notion of relationships being paramount to educational performance … It’s a serious business, education. It’s about caring for people, caring that they learn, and it’s about creating learning relationships so that you ensure they are able to learn, and we term it a culturally responsive pedagogy of relations.(Russell Bishop, 2011, EDTalks) 

My View of Culturally responsive Pedagogy – One size model fits no one as there has been a history in NZ of educational disparities for generations. With education systems becoming more culturally, ethnically and linguistically diverse it is time that these disparities and opportunities need to be addressed and Maori given the autonomy to lead their educational outcomes (Berryman et al, 2015).

Information extracted from Journal articles of Russell Bishop and Theresa Ford.

Maori learning as Maori image above maps on quite closely with Connected Learning where a balance of personal, peer, academia, interests, social connection of communities and people, shared values and student constructed learning is the basis of this model.

What Tekura does well?

Watch these videos of Maori students and what they have to say about Te Kura as their education provider and meeting their learning needs.

http://www.learnyourway.org.nz/

Not so well….Culturally responsive resources

In Technology education we create or give an open context which we then encourage our learners to develop an outcome based on their interest, locally available resources, cultural identity and practices.

Examples:  Student projects

• Dyes- explore traditional and natural dyes and dyeing methods
• Off the wall- some unique using cultural identity
• Forms of communication- musical instruments and practices   past and present in cultural settings
• Storage items- pottery, weaving, carving and moulding methods in their setting
• Research the practice of a local technologist- can look into local and traditional practitioners

But still these are contexts I choose for my students and they don’t have an input and this is the case for most other subjects at Te Kura. In some way I am lucky I even offer this choice as some subject areas are so closed in terms of teaching that freedom of choice or application of personal context is not available. We are slowly working towards catering a culturally responsive practice.

View this to help yourself and your school to aim for resources on creating a culturally responsive environment for your learners

http://seniorsecondary.tki.org.nz/The-arts/Pedagogy/Culturally-responsive-learning-environments

References

Berry, M., Ford, S., Nevin, A., & SooHoo, S. (2015)A Curturally responsive framework for Social Justice. Extracted from 
http://www.academia.edu/20227303/A_Culturally_Responsive_Framework_for_Social_Justice

EDtalks: A Culturally Responsive Pedagogy of Relations
Russell Bishop talks about the need to provide a classroom context where caring and learning relationships can be developed extracted from http://seniorsecondary.tki.org.nz/Science/Pedagogy/Culturally-responsive#what

Ford, T.,(2013). Applying culturally responsive practices: Implications for mainstream Education. Waikato Journal of Education. Vol.18, Issue 2.

Russell, B., (2012). Pretty difficult: Implementing kaupapa Maori theory in English-medium secondary schools. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies. Vol.47, No.2.

Legal Contexts and Digital Identities

Te Kura being a distant education provider which is heading towards total digital delivery by 2018 has its own set of ethical issues and policies. With the current blended approach we ensure that all copyright is legal when we create and reproduce copious amounts of printed materials so when teachers are “writers” of course content we have to try our best to source material that are free and cost effective however with some courses like Art and Photography this may not be the case. Our online cyber safety polices for students and families are listed below and if we wish to use student work on our site or publications, a separate form is sent out for permission from student and their whanau to safe guard all parties concerned.

• Netsafe
• Terms and conditions with Enrolling with us
• Online learning and responsibilities

In NZ education is a basic right and as Nelson Mandela quotes “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”! We are also an organisation that is responsible for providing education to most prisons in NZ..yes they do have a right to education so it is important that we provide a pathway for their life long learning too.

Under the CODE OF ETHICS for Certified teachers the one stated below outlines our obligations for delivering education to NZ Prisons.

To date a handful of our staff have been to training in one of the NZ prisons and actually found it quite overwhelming in terms of ongoing safety and responsibility of taking face to face sessions as you can imagine forgetting to collect a pencil at the end of session can pose creative opportunities for the learner in this environment!

Based on the following evidence that NZ prisons are now heading to provide online access, I propose that Te Kura also look into providing an online collaborative teaching service that is safe and secure.

Secure online learning updates

Secure online learning for prisoners

Internet penetrates prison bars to boost inmates’ education

Adobe Connect is an on-line teaching and collaborative tool where students or their supervisor can access a URL and using that enter the discussion or teaching session. This software license is available to all staff teaching here and is safe as student are able to enter as a guest so no email addresses or cell phone numbers are shared unlike Skype or Viber etc. Certain functions like voice or screen sharing or camera can be turned on and off so all people participating don’t feel like they are being intruded upon and at this stage feel this will be highly suitable to use in this setting.

Why we need to do this?

Extracted from

References

Photo Image of journey Aperture Photo Arts permission granted from B.N. Perera

Social Media in Teaching and Professional Development

Social Media- Does it have a purpose in teaching and professional development?

Looking at this image tree and definition made me realise that I am a fairly active user of Social Media, as in my head I associated it with Twitter and Facebook but the reality is enlightening and encouraging in my practice.

What are some of the key features of social media that you have identified as beneficial for teaching and learning?

As a coin has two sides so does the use of social media in education…the good, the bad and sometime the ugly if not carefully used and administered for our learners. However in a study by (Silius et al,2010) showed that student motivation for social media can enhance study.

What are the potential challenges that teachers need to be aware of when integrating social networking platforms into teaching activities?

• Safety and privacy of themselves and the learner
• Cyber safety policies of the school and the web as they maybe on forums where the world is present and may not have the same etiquette as your learners
• Is the platform socially and culturally acceptable for the age of the learner and community the learner belongs to?
• Remembering passwords for various platforms can get overwhelming hence social media should be used in moderation to mitigate this
• Is the use purposeful, beneficial, making an impact on their learning, is the learning transparent to the learner or is it merely ticking boxes for the educator?
• Is the context of the learning acceptable to the parent community and the fact that it is on a social media platform?
• On-going monitoring maybe needed and can sometimes get a bit tiring for the educator so choose carefully the content, context and platfor

What social media platform do you feel best supports engagement with your professional development, how and why?

Twitter increases my personal knowledge of global practices and trends as well as alerts me to local Professional development opportunities especially ones hosted by Core education and WellyEd which I apply when I am developing resources for my learners. Through this I have networked with passionate educators who are finding ways to enhance learning for the 21^st century learner.

The Google+ community which I joined as part of Mindlab has enabled me to exercise my Key Competencies. Robust and supportive discussions have taken place here for me with like and unlike minded people yet have been respectful of all. Just by being on Google+, I have joined Education 3.0 and Games for Education communities that have developed my skills in being innovative and creative in my practice with the tools and game ideas I have been exposed to.

Melhuish(2013)’s study has suggested that VLN Groups can enable an informal type of professional learning for teachers. This has been proving true for me as for various needs I may look in POND, VLN, LEARNZ, Biotech Hub and my gem Techlink for parents and students as well.

Various blogs where I participate and contribute from my professional practice and get up-skilled in current research and thinking!

https://eodysseyblog.wordpress.com/

http://edblognz.blogspot.co.nz/p/about.html

The best thing I have recently started doing is participating or lurking on Edchats and boy is it lots of fun with the devil probing.

References

Melhuish, K. (2013) Online social networking and its impact on New Zealand educators’professional learning. Master Thesis. The University of Waikato. Retrived on 05 May, 2015 from http://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/bitstream/han...

Silius, K., Miilumäki, T.,Huhtamäki, J.,Tebest, T., Meriläinen, J., & Pohjolainen, S.(2010) ‘Students’ motivations for social media enhanced studying and learning. ‘Knowledge Management & E-Learning: An International Journal, 2, (1). Retrieved on 7th May, 2015 from http://www.kmel-journal.org/ojs/index.php/online-publication/article/view/55/39

Contemporary Issues or Trends in NZ or Internationally

A report by Education Review Office (2012) has indicated that New Zealand education system needs to pay more attention to three key aspects including

•   students-centred learning
•   responsive and rich curriculum
•   assessment used for students’ learning.

What does a connected learner in student centred learning look like?

Connected Learning is a work in progress model built on existing learning systems to remodel the education system to be in tune with the technology and digital era.

It is inspired by an initial set of three educational values, three learning principles, and three design principles. Since I saw this model in class it has fascinated me therefore am taking a deeper look as to how it encompasses learning for the 21^st century and its impact on my practice as in this model the student is at the centre of the learning.

Connected learning in relation to Key competencies

Thought provoking questions for me based on this model?

• What am I doing already?
• What do I need to enhance for my learners?
• What do I need to undertake to enrich our relationship?
• How can I foster a global and community rich practice?

How can we all make those connections necessary for the future of the learners?

After analysing this issue of making learning connected for our learners, it is evident to me that our curriculum key competencies are covering the aspects of this model but are we educators using it effectively in our practice is the key question that needs to be answered. As Rose Hipkins  said in one of the workshops I recently attended that there is a global interest in the NZ curriculum especially in the front end where the skills for 21^st century learning is explicit so does that mean if NZ educators designed their teaching and learning using this we could be leading and preparing learners for the future? The questions remains then so why are our learners disengaged and the statistics for academic success looking poor for some demographics? Have we got equity for all?

Image credit: Aperture Photo Arts- B.N.Perera

In my practice in technology education that is underpinned by the design thinking process is now gaining momentum out there. It has historically been an area where students who performed poorly or didn't fit anywhere were dumped but little did leaders know that this is one of the subject areas that could give new life to student centred learning. One might ask why? If taught properly students have all the freedom to choose to develop an outcome within a context in the earlier years then choosing their own context, issue and project management in the later years of study. This gives students all the tools in the connected learning model plus the key competencies. How?

• They work with their interest or passion or cultural aspect with a relevant context
• Talking with clients to find out their needs and opportunity
• Trial concepts and improve for which knowledge has to be sorted by them
• Ongoing evaluations and communication with a range of people possibly teams too
• Presenting and negotiating outcomes and developing final outcomes

They lead, develop, create, innovate, communicate, remake, think critically and creatively, interact with communities, cooperate and evaluate which are all skills that will be needed for the 21^st century. (21st Century Rubrics, 2012).

What is missing is my practice is the lack of opportunity for my students to collaborate on a safe platform globally as Global trends video shows it is important for educators to consider how the world will change and what will learners to consider. I do encourage students to look at global trends or objects abroad of similar form or function or sustainable practices for their projects such as IKEA websites but haven’t made it compulsory as realising now this could really enrich and broaden their development of their design ideas. We have started to integrate projects in Graphics and Technology for students which will open collaboration and ideation opportunities for the learner to make their own connections and drive their learning.

References

Education Review Office (2012).The three most pressing issues for New Zealand’s education system, revealed in latest ERO report - Education Review Office. Retrieved 5 May 2015, from 
http://www.ero.govt.nz/About-Us/News-Media-Release...

Microsoft Partners in Learning 21CLD Learning Activity Rubrics
http://www.itlresearch.com/images/stories/reports/21cld%20learning%20activity%20rubrics%202012.pdf

Education: IDEO (2016) https://www.ideo.com/expertise/education/