Never mind the technology, where’s the learning?

For those used to such things it might seem strange to organise a face-to-face event about Virtual Worlds, but Naace’s seminar held yesterday in London did just that. The point was to introduce those that has not necessarily plunged themselves into Second Life, or any of the other virtual worlds, with a traditional introduction in which the environment was within their comfort zone. It was led by Chris Smith (shamblesguru) who resides in Thailand, but was in the UK on holiday (there’s dedication for you). In many respects this also was an incentive to run the event face-to-face since it’s not often there’s an opportunity for Naace members to both meet or the Association to involve Chris in ‘real-life’. Chris’s started by introducing the delegates to Second Life, but rather than use a PowerPoint presentation he had put together video clips of places ‘in-world’, and spoke over this. This was an interesting technique. Not only could he not overdwell on a particular aspect, but the real-time commentary provided an excellent ‘trailer’ before he logged on and took us on a tour.

Thoughtfully Chris had also arranged an in-world panel session with particular educators who were involved with Teen Grid, the teenage version of Second Life, which is heavily locked down to prevent non-vetted adults from entering. The panel consisted of Peggy Sheehy and Marianne Malmstrom who logged in from the US, and Graham Stanley in Barcelona. Chris led the informal question and answer session from the ’sofas’ in his mountain retreat on the International Schools Island. Peggy explained about the sort of activities she was organising in Teen Grid. For example, a role-playing activity set on Ellis Island in the mid-20th century where the students played immigrants coming to America, or the immigration officials who controlled the process; Maggie, an expert in machinima (filming in virtual worlds) talked about a project where students produced political commercials for Greek gods, in which they created scenes in Teen Grid and ‘filmed’ them to form the basis of their commercials. Finally, Graham, who works for the British Council in Spain, explained how he has been working with ESL students in different countries using Second Life as an environment in which they can practice English.

Carol Rainbow works for Oxfordshire Local Authority and like many educators using Second Life began to think about how teaching techniques might differ in a virtual environment. Despite the initial concern from her authority, with Second Life being blocked in schools, she argued a case to prove that successful InSET for teachers could be run in that environment and started an e-safety course once a week in the evening. The success of this course has led her to try area meetings with teachers and she is planning other continuing professional development opportunities.

Leon Cych is a well known advocate of virtual worlds and educational pioneer in the UK. Leon introduced the delegates to alternatives to Second Life, in particular, those developed by the open source community. While Second Life is not open source, its client is, and there are adapted versions that allow you to enter different individual environments running of servers throughout the world. Indeed, a school could establish its own closed environment on an intranet if it wished. Leon showed examples of these alternatives, both for professional training, and teaching in the classroom.

In all it was a thoroughly immersive day. Information on the programme can be found in this document, and videos of the sessions can be found on Naace.tv.

Tags: naace, naace2009, virtual worlds, second life

According to the BBC, South London’s Durand Primary is to buy a building in the home counties and create a weekly boarding experience for its inner city students. The idea is to create an all-through 3-19 Academy, with those over 13 attending as weekly boarders. Jim Davies the Headteacher is reported to have said he wants the, “kind of facilities pupils at Eton and Harrow have access to … we want to teach our children in a better environment where they can take part in physical activity - some of the sites we are looking at have 30 acres. I believe that this does help drive up results.”

I think we can all agree that the environment in which children learn does have an effect on their ability to do so, but I wonder if removing them from their homes for the week, and the surroundings they have grown-up in, is really the answer. There have been plenty of educational experiments in the past where groups of children have been removed and isolated, some with unforeseen and regrettable consequences for the children involved. It’s also interesting to compare this view with that of Steve Barr, of Green Dot Public Schools, a charter school network in Los Angeles. He also looked at the characteristics of $25,000 fee paying schools in the area and started to apply them to state education. Key to the turnaround was that they were small (around 300 to 400 students) and had high expectations. He’s worth listening to:

Tags: education, 21st century, learning, schools

Monday was a pretty sleepless night, being woken throughout the early hours by a no response phone call can destroy your sense of humour, if not your confidence in technology. It started at 1am, and actually continued for 16 hours, and maybe longer, as only after that time I decided to take drastic action and disable the system.

The culprit was my home VOIP service (not actually the service, but the VOIP number being part of a hack attack). Many ISPs offer a VOIP service nowadays, and there are lots of alternatives as well, and this perhaps should be a word of warning if you use one. My service (Global Village), which I’ve had for a few years now came with my ADSL modem/router, a Zoom x5v. This model has a VOIP adapter built in to it. This means you connect it to your home telephone wiring through a port on the back and it provides both VOIP and PSTN throughout the house, pretty neat and flexible. Outward bound calls are routed through the VOIP, which is cheaper, even if making an ordinary PSTN call, but this can be overridden by pressing the # key first. Calls to other VOIP users using the standard SIP protocol, are all free, wherever they might be in the world. You just need their provider’s prefix and their number. I was so impressed with this opportunity, that I also bought a Zoom x5V for my parents when they adopted broadband. We get free calls to each other and it’s familiar technology as it uses ordinary house phones.

So, at 1am, a silent call comes through with the caller id MEUCISS. This is routed through the VOIP system as we don’t pay for caller id on our BT line. Then at 2am, the phone rings again, then at 20 past, 40min past and so on. At about 4am, I unplug the home phone system from the modem and we get a couple of hours rest.

Monday morning I spend some time Googling MEUCCIS. It appears that Meucci was an Italian who developed a telephone system in 1857, and some believe he is the true inventor of the telephone not Alexander Graham Bell. I could have believed it was him getting his revenge! On further investigation it showed to be a hack or trojan, which has afflicted other VOIP users worldwide, and is trying to damage the reputation of Meucci Solutions, a company that specialises in independently testing systems for fraud and other cases. A big box on their front page takes you to this link and how to report it. Unlike the user above, my modem logs did not show the IP address of the rogue calls so I could not block them. So I turned to Zoom’s technical support (Global Village is owned by Zoom) and found that they only operated 9 to 5 Pacific Standard Time, that’s 8 hours behind me, and logging a question on their system gave a response time of 2 business days! That evening I tried their online technical chat to discuss the problem, but it consistently timed out. Believe it or not they did not have a telephone number, not even a VOIP one, to ring. By this time, I’d disabled VOIP on the modem and had no choice but to wait for a response from the question I had logged.

After 48 hours, no response. So I decided to seek an alernative provider and reconfigure my modem to a new service. This I managed to do quite easily. After 73 hours a response finally turned up in my inbox, “We have been running a data capture on your account for a day or two and have not seen this issue. Are you still getting the incoming calls?” too little, too late … after all I had told them I had disabled my VOIP, so would not be getting these calls. I had also told them that the calls were not registering on my incoming calls log on their server, so must be dialing from another VOIP provider or from a PSTN line, I presume. It was no wonder that they did not show up on their system. But the real issue is the quality of their customer response time, something I’ve left feedback about on their site.

Image - Antonio Meucci - credit: Wikipedia

Tags: VOIP, Meucci, Meucci Solutions hack, customer service

I was not much good at music in school. Mind you it was not the sort of education that students and pupils get today, and although there are greater opportunities for young people to learn an instrument, many are still self-taught, or are motivated to teach themselves. In the last few years the internet has supported this, and in particular the growth of YouTube where thousands upon thousands have found an audience for their growing talent. At a recent session with International school teachers I used the YouTube Symphony Orchestra competition as an example of talent can be empowered in individuals by collaborative ventures without the individuals even meeting. The mash-up of the entries is inspiring:

Part of the process of teaching yourself is to listen to the expert and mimic how they do something, then practicing and practicing until you get better. For those learning an instrument video and music on the web enables access to these performances in ways not possible before. Here’s one example:

There are even some games and software that promote this mimicking, such as Guitar Hero, but few have developed software which helps develop the ability to play ‘by ear’. Capo is therefore different, it slows down the music without distorting the pitch so that each note can be heard distinctly. As learning moves more and more to the individual, no doubt digital technology tools will emerge that support these self-learning modes.

Tags: self-taught, personal learning, capo

As Jim Knight, Minister for Employment  was tweeting from the House of Commons as candidates for the Speaker’s position were making their speeches, other public servants and employees were increasingly being banned from using social networking.

In Plymouth, Barry Keel, the Chief Executive of Plymouth City Council, banned democratically elected councillors from using Twitter. The email stated that he had received complaints from Council staff and members of the public about the use of inappropriate language and comments on social networking sites, and as a result had asked for “an immediate and urgent review of policies and procedures on the use of information technology and social networking sites”. He goes on to say that he has decided to “limit access” to Twitter to just their “Corporate Communications Team”.

According to the Daily Mail, Kent have gone further than Argyle and Bute, in “telling’ their teachers and other staff in their schools to close any Facebook, MySpace, Bebo or Twitter accounts they might have, although the actual wording in the letter states, “I would urge and recommend and individual member of staff to either close any personal accounts or secure them (not a reliable option) to safeguard themselves against future hacking or abuse.”

In previous posts I stated my views on both the transparency of information and personal liberty issues. Simply put, just because individuals whether children or adults, have not yet gained a sense of ‘appropriateness’ when using social media, does not mean you ban or impose restrictions. Instead, you support individual’s understanding of the issues through education and training. It is only then, when people have had the chance to think about potential consequences, can you impose sanctions for breaking procedures or rules.

In the wider sense, the way in which institutions can ‘control’ its outward face through “corporate communication teams” is fast fading and other strategies need to be adopted. Viewing Twitter as just another traditional media channel, that can be used by your communication department to broadcast to the world shows a serious lack of understanding about the social networking phenomenon. Perhaps more seriously, painting social networking sites as ‘no-go areas’ for teachers and others in school creates a serious divide between adults and children, apart from hampering the ability of teachers to teach their students social responsibility and safety in these environments.

Image credit: Ewan McIntosh

Tags: Twitter, social networking, ban, teachers, public service

The latest money saving idea from the Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger is to replace state text books with digital technology. The Times Online goes further in explaining that, “Mr Schwarzenegger announced the ban on textbooks in a classroom in Sacramento” saying:

“Textbooks are outdated, in my opinion. For so many years, we’ve been trying to teach the kids exactly the same way.

“Our kids get their information from the internet, downloaded onto their iPods, and in Twitter feeds to their cell phones… Basically. kids are feeling as comfortable with their electronic devices as I was with my pencils and crayons.

“So why are California’s school students still forced to lug around antiquated, heavy, expensive textbooks?”

California’s large budget deficit is a major motivation and it will be the first American state to abandon official paper text books. The cost savings are likely to hit commercial educational publishers hard, even those that have embraced new technology and been producing digital content for some years, since there is a momentum in the state for open source textbooks to be adopted. This will not only completely eliminate current spending of $400m+ a year, but provide a surplus from content licensing for the state.

In the UK, the recession has not quite hit state sector schools, but come 2010/2011 we won’t be surprised at effective cuts in educational spending. The UK might have been in the forefront of the bold and radical switch to online content if this had been the motivation for Curriculum Online, but the initiative left schools awash with software and little real impact on delivery of the curriculum. Whether the next Government, of whatever persuasion, will be so dogmatic in demanding that schools switch to digital content only time will tell, but it would be a bold move, and one that would do much to change the methodology of learning in schools. The BBC Today programme’s interview with John Dunford, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, only show how far we still need to go with some educational professionals.

Image credit: Thomas Hawk

Tags: Digitalcontent, California, text book, curriculum online

According to the Telegraph, Argyll and Bute have banned teachers for using social networking sites after a teacher was “caught” using Twitter, “to grumble about pupils, colleagues and parents”. The BBC reporting of the story is less sensationalist (and I suspect more accurate) but it still raises some important questions.

Argyll and Bute block social networking sites and a council spokeswoman is reported as saying: “Social networking sites are blocked in all schools as policy. This has always been the case and applies to all council staff and not just teaching staff”, implying that use of social networking sites from council owned equipment is not allowed. The teacher is thought to have tweeted using her mobile phone and therefore not used school equipment, but the so called ‘policy’ seems unclear and whether it applies to use in general (which would raise even more serious issues about the ability of an employer to control actions of employees). Andrew Brown, former Education Support Officer for ICT in the LA, tweeted, “I take it that means all teachers in A&B now shouldn’t be using twitter? Do they all know that? I’ve seen others tweet already today.” Andrew, now Development Manager for Glow, is an advocate of both Twitter and blogging, only saying in February on his blog:

“Were I in school just now, I would definitely be encouraging people to use twitter. Could this make the school perform better? Would this make me able to support my students more effectively? Would I worry about ‘following’ my students?

“Is it all just about vanity? I hope not. I would like to think that growing a personal learning network helps me better myself, and better the work I do for others.”

clearly not the view held by those that the Telegraph chose to quote. The angry parent who said, “She is paid a lot of money to do her job and it is unbelievable that she sitting talking about them on a computer rather than teaching.” and Gordon Chalmers, the local councillor who stated: “I do not pay my council tax so that staff can waste time on these sites.”

Then, there is an issue about what might be said in relation to one’s work openly and perhaps honestly, and what might not. Statements said in the pub (or even in work time in the staff-room) and overheard are just as open to interpretation as those posted on the web, but would they be reported by a national newspaper? Even if you agreed that what she had posted was ‘revealing sensitive information’ (which is doubtful in this case) use of a technology in itself does not make the statement or action better or worse, it just makes it more widely available. So unless what is stated is legally unacceptable, and challenged as such, then we should be defending an individual’s right to blog or tweet about about anything they wish.

It all seems a long way from the proactive use of twitter at Hogeschool Rotterdam, where feeds from teachers’ tweets are displayed live on the information displays in corridors and open areas, whatever they might say.

Image credits: yum9me and Peter Robbemond

Tags: blogging, twitter, teacher, Argyll Bute, hogeschool,

Yahoo a few days ago started sticking pavement signs around London. The idea is to create a viral photography event getting the population to take photos with their mobile phones using MMS, email or tags in Flickr (MMS 07786 201 809,  email brilliantspot@yahoo.co.uk,  add it to the ‘Brilliant Spots’ group on Flickr). A pretty cool idea in marketing terms to get individuals photoblogging or networking using Flickr. Here’s the promotional video:

Tags: Flickr, Brilliant spot, geotagging

Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play
They’ve been going in and out of style
But they’re guaranteed to raise a smile…

so I felt when I found, in an old box in my workshop at home, a copy of The Advisory Teacher’s Diary, published by MESU (Microelectronics Education Support Unit) in 1988. MESU replaced MEP in the late 1980s and by 1989 had been absorbed into the National Council for Educational Technology, the forerunner of Becta. This small book was published to provide reflections of some of the first Advisory Teachers funded in Local Authorities to support the development of cross-curricula ICT (computers across the curriculum as it was then).

Flicking through the pages it’s easy to be struck by both the similarities and differences with today. Here are five quotations that perhaps illustrate this:

1. Lloyd organises an I.T. InSET day:

2. Email without the internet:

3. Double disc-drive InSET:

4. The kids’ enthusiasm persuades the teacher:

5. The Parents’ Maths evening:

But I thought you might like to know
That the singer’s going to sing a song,
And he wants you all to sing along.

I think we probably know the words by now …

(Clearly my copy is worth a good deal.)

Tags: InSET, teacher support, 1989, advisory teacher’s diary

As I’m preparing a session for a workshop which I’m doing next week on “Social networking beyond school: understanding social networking sites used by your students“, I’m struck by the number of news stories that illustrate the controversy of using sites like Facebook and Twitter in everyday life. For example, this weekend, we have the Swiss worker who was sacked for posting her status to Facebook having reported herself too ill to work due to a migraine. Her employer, Nationale Suisse, claimed if she was able to able to use a computer and post to Facebook, she was well enough to work. She countered that she had posted from her iPhone, and that they had set up a fictitious Facebook persona and befriended her in order to monitor her activities. Clearly, the breakdown in trust between them was already there before she was sacked if this was the case. In another story, Steve Molyneux, a well known educational ICT consultant and magistrate for over 16 years, resigned following a complaint that he had tweeted the result of a bail application (he did not tweet from the court but in the break and afterwards). I’m unsure what the complaint was, but he told a radio reporter, “that he accepted he had to be ‘careful of the language’ he used, but did not accept he should not use the technology”. He had only tweeted what would be in the local paper that evening and what was said in open court and resigned due to breach of trust, not knowing whether the complainant was not someone sitting on the bench with him or not. One wonders if someone had been tweeting from the open gallery, whether that would have been initiated a complaint or not, and what the difference between a journalist’s notes and news report written up immediately after the resolution of the case, and live or otherwise, tweets of what was said in open court. Steve can be followed on Twitter @ProfOnTheProwl, and you can catch up with the facts by listening to Charon QC’s podcast interview with Steve.

Both cases make us aware of confidentiality and immediacy that technology enables, and the connection between them. Would the Swiss worker been sacked if there was evidence she had written a note that morning, or would your employer claim that you must be well enough to work if you’d used a phone to ring in sick? When communication technologies were slow and cumbersome, an asynchronous information stream provided a ’space’ in which control could be imposed. This was first challenged by the use of live broadcasting, for example of governmental debates, or committees, and in some states, with live broadcasting from court rooms in order to provide transparency. (Indeed there is a precedent for real-time reporting in the UK.) With broadcasting technologies being put in the hands of ordinary people, as opposed to trusted (and regulated) bodies, their appropriate use is much more controversial. While, Prof Molyneux claims that he has every right use the technology within the context of transparency, schools often deny the right of students to use such technology in schools and imposing sanctions if rules are broken. Of course we need to accept that some students have not reached a stage of maturity where they are able to distinguish between appropriate and in-appropriate use, but we need to consider how such maturity is gained and the role formal education plays in this. This is made more difficult when society has not yet worked out what the norms of appropriateness might be in an ‘everyone can broadcast’ world.

Image credit: Erin Nealey

Tags: twitter, facebook, education