#IMMOOC Finale - but just the beginning...

My shoutouts:

Why I don’t laminate anymore

@BeTheChnge

A cracking hook line which reinforced the necessity to capture people’s attention early! But the main reason this resonated with me was the notion of  ‘on purpose’. Only doing things that you have a made a positive decision about doing.

I also enjoyed the description of forcing oneself to reflect on whether they are actually doing things the best way they can, or just the way they are used to doing it.

Seeds in the sounds of silence

@KerriZitar

Time alone. I love making connections, and this one did it for me. Kerri Zitar’s post resonated with a podcast I had listen to recently, which was all about the importance of rest and recuperation in being the most efficient and effective that you can and another which promoted being bored to truly unleash your creative talents. One of the struggles I have is not being constantly busy (This course actually doesn’t help in that regard!) That quiet time of reflection is gold dust, and essential, don’t miss it!

Teachers leave school less curious

Kristin Freed Houston

To be honest, it was the title that resonated with me most here. I love working with the youngest students, they really do just learn because they want to. However, the title made me think. And it’s sad, that on reflection, I came to the conclusion that so many teachers seem to have lost their love for learning. It was probably beaten out of them by their own schooling experience to some extent. But in the main, it’s because they are too busy.

What can we do to ensure that teachers have time to follow their own curiosities?

What I am going to do differently….

Firstly, I will spend more time with people, being present. Naturally, I am not a social extrovert. I like being in people’s company, but it is not how I rejuvenate myself. But, I ‘The Innovator’s Mindset’ clearly points out, empathy and relationships is where the journey to improvement and change begins. relationships are key. So I will go to where the people are. These places around school where groups gather, and people talk. And I will listen, be present, and build my understanding of what their situations are.

Next, I will spend more time learning. Choice paralysis is a real thing. And as a learning technology coach I face a lot of choice. So many new technologies, with new possibilities rear their heads on a daily basis. So, how can I be more effective? I’m going to make some purposeful choices to learn. To choose something and learn about that.

Finally, I am going to share. I will share my learning using our school hashtag #BSJBbytes. But I will also be the voice for others in our school. I will be sharing their successes and their experiences in the aim of promoting that acceleration of progress in our community.

With these three (manageable) changes, I think I can begin to make a difference, this is my challenge!

#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.

Pixnio

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.