#IMMOOC Starting from empathy.

My response to chapter 4 and 5 of ‘The Innovator’s Mindset’ has been one of reflection. Reflection on what I need to do more of, what I need to do next, and how I need to offering the folk I work with what they want, and what they need.

This is a fine balance in the role of a coach. What people want, and what they need are not always the same. Often, they want a quick fix, they want it to work instantly, without knowing why it went wrong or how to fix it next time it goes wrong. And I resist this. Caught up in my priorities I want them to do it themselves, I want them to muddle through and to find their own work-arounds as much as possible. I want them to learn through experience. I feel like I am facilitating their independence, their development and their ability to innovate and improve further.

But on reflection, have I really been thinking about this the best way? Have I really thought, if I was them, what would I want from my Learning Technology Coach?

So, in response, I am going to do something. I am going to put myself in the environments of the people I serve more regularly. Experience the unfamiliar classrooms and recognise the challenges that they face on a daily basis. Noticing where their struggles are and being more able to support them in improving their efforts in the classroom. I’ll be speaking to the students, finding out what works, what is done well already, and build on from that, in small steps.

#IMMOOC If you were to start a school from scratch, what would it look like?

Each learning community has specific needs and a specific context. What better way to create a school that meets the needs of the community than to get the community to create it’s own school.

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What is a school? In my mind, school is a community of learners. Each working to improve their own learning, but also that of the other members of the community.

Experienced and enlightened leaders would facilitate the organisation and development of the school in whatever form the students and teachers decide. The financing, construction and planning and all the other necessary organising will be done by students who are completing courses offered by the teaching community on a sign up basis. Students and teachers can request courses, which are then designed by members of the community with expertise in these areas.

I’m a believer in authentic audiences and having a real purpose to learning, I can think of nothing better than creating a school to be a worthwhile learning experience. I have no idea how it will look. Whether it will have a physical presence or not, or how it will achieve its aims, but that’s what I think is the beauty in this kind of project.

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Each year, the community would decide what needs changing for the following year, what mistakes would need improving on and how new ways of doing things better could be explored. This could be completely remodeling the whole thing, to just tweaking processes. If it should grow, once the organisation get to over 150 members, it can choose to split,and a new school planted.

Sure, there are some practicalities that would need ironing out, but the relationships built, the mistakes made and the consequences of their decisions will have a lasting impact on the students, and the community way beyond a ‘normal’ schooling experience.

Go smart, go change, go innovate (Go-Jek) #IMMOOC

Why is innovation in education so crucial today? #IMMOOC

I am lucky enough to live in Indonesia, in Jakarta, which is a huge sprawling megatropolis. The streets are crowded and chaotic to the untrained eye. Streets built for feet and wheeled carts, now entertain all kinds of vehicles, signposts and street names sometimes exist and it’s a scary place to navigate and get around.

To meet the need of the wary traveller, leather skinned men hung around the street corners, chain-smoking cigarettes. Next to them is their bike which has a piece of cardboard hanging off, with ‘O-Jek’ handwritten on it.

Sometimes one of these motorbike taxis was there when you needed it. Often there were many and most only seemed to do one or two ‘jobs’ a day, for a negotiated price.

Why am I telling you this? Well because O-Jeks in their previous form have almost entirely disappeared in the space of two years, and I think this could be an analogy of what could happen to our current school system.

In Jakarta, a disruptor called ‘Go-Jek” entered the market, matched up customers with drivers through an APP and charged a fraction of negotiated prices. Go-Jek was quickly followed by Grab Bike and Uber and the old way was lost.

There are plenty of disruptors on the horizon for education, a few are already making headway. Plenty have been written about such things as open courses, MOOCs and the like. Video is playing a huge role too. On top of that the upper echelons of our academic systems are in danger of pricing themselves out of the market for the masses.

The needs of our learners are changing. The traditional school > college > job pathway is becoming less relevant and less affordable. If our education approaches remain static, outside elements will begin to meet the needs of our learners more effectively. And education as we know it will be in trouble.

I care less about the current institutions of education, but as our learners’ needs change, we have a duty to innovate to meet those needs.

Knowing what you don't know...

Often the first step to learning, is to know what it is you don’t know. This oft recited phrase is an interesting starting point for someone in my role. As a Learning Technology Coach, I am keenly aware of the amount of learning that is beyond my current sphere of experience. And that amount is constantly growing.

And learning is a resource heavy undertaking. Learning new things takes a lot, particularly for time pressured teachers. Many teachers can be forgiven for deciding either purposefully, or by default, that the mass of technology led learning available is just too big to start delving into. Where to start?

This kind of choice paralysis is a direct result of the overwhelming myriad of options that using technology offers.

Here is where I come in. I can open a window into what you haven’t had time to know, so you can see what the possibilities are. You don’t have to know what you want to do with technology before you ask me. You just have to be willing to look at new opportunities.

I probably don’t know the subject you teach very well and I might not have years of experience teaching the age group you are teaching. But I can ask you what you want to achieve, how you want the students to demonstrate their learning and then narrow those choices facing you. I can suggest or work out workflows that can support your students’ learning and offer suggestions to use technology that may not have occurred you.

Then, when you are keen to give something new a go, I can be there with you so I can learn how this works for your students. While they are learning what you need them to.

That’s how you help me to learn.

So you think you know what is happening in your classroom....

The Hidden Lives of Learners

Graham Nuthall

This is an incredible insight into the workings of the classroom. Recommended to me by @MrDMJWalsh, Nuthall set up microphones and cameras to track each and every interaction and utterance of random students in classes. His team then painstakingly transcribed and analysed each one. Following this Nuthall and his team were able to predict with incredible accuracy exactly what each student would have learnt, and did learn during the observed periods. He explains the huge influence peers have on learning, and the necessary repetition required before real learning happens. Again this pushes back against the current scourge of curricula which are over-crammed with content.

Pros: Incredibly insightful for those who believe they have a handle on what happens in their classroom.

Cons: Unfortunately, Nuthall is no longer with us to explore his findings further.

A book to change your teaching life.....

Learn Like A Pirate

I’d picked up a bit of fuss around this book from folk I follow on Twitter. Initially put off by the title I eventually decided I had to find out what the commotion was about. Paul Solarz (still a class teacher, Grade 5 in the U.S.A.) takes us through his philosophy of handing over the reins of the class to the students. Strewn with practical methods for managing student led classrooms Paul details how you can give the students in your class voice, and leadership, while ensuring that it doesn’t turn into anarchy. The ideas in this book transformed my classroom. Previously my classroom was a teacher led environment where I controlled the organisation of the classroom and had responsibility for all the day to day running. This was transformed as I handed over the organisation of timings, atmosphere, support and target setting to my class. After initial guidance all these things were done with skill and aplomb by my class, allowing me to focus on the timely feedback and support needed to move individuals’ learning forward.

It was exhilarating, rewarding and effective. Students were highly engaged in lessons where they decided how to organise themselves and how to support each other.

Pros: Well organised and written by somebody who walks his talk in the classroom daily. Full of practical real life strategies that reward your bravery with empowered, independent and motivated students.

Cons: I wish I had this book ten years ago. I’m not a big fan of the letters of recommendation from parents, although I realise the job they do, a bit brash for my British sensibilities! Not sure it translates to high school classes and would need to be adapted to younger children, but much would still work.

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