I was reminded tonight that I have $10,000 worth of licenses that I haven't used this year as well as a free githib license as well. The best laid plans that I had late last year I forgot about.
I have been to a couple of sessions now where wing ware was mentioned as a good development environment for python for students rather than the Pyton IDLE environment. They even have a free license for schools.
Wednesday, 5 June 2013
Thursday, 16 May 2013
Searching Competition
One thing that we take for vantage is assuming that students can use the tools that are provided for them at school, we assume that they can use email and search. I have put that to the test this week and had some surprising results. around 70% of the class were capable of what was required, yet there were 7 students that struggled with searching or the ability to use google mail, two had issues with both. These students have now been at the school for a term now are are in a capable class.
Jump into INNZ
Dive into our catalogues to win weekly prizes of iTunes vouchers! Index New Zealand is celebrating its 25 years with a treasure hunt for New Zealand secondary students.
Every week for four weeks – starting 13 May – we'll give you three clues that point you to three different records in the INNZ database. Find all three records and send in your entry to be in the weekly draw. On Friday of each week, we'll randomly select the winner of a $30 iTunes voucher!
Come back here each week from 13 May, or follow us on twitter, to get the clues. Then head over to innz.natlib.govt.nz and try and track down the records. The "Detailed view" of the record will reveal you've found the right article.
It's on! Week one
Find the records that tell you:
- What types of birds nestle underneath a pie cart in Westland?
- What Samoan literature a group of cowboys featured in?
- What kind of people do "ground deformation monitoring"?
When you've got all three records, email indexnz@dia.govt.nz with the subject heading "Competition entry" by May 17. Make sure you include all the important stuff:
- Your name
- Contact email and phone
- Your school or college
- What publication each article is in
- The issue numbers or dates of publication
- The page number of the articles
This competition is open to all New Zealand secondary students, except for National Library employees or the immediate family of National Library employees. Entry is free, but only one entry per week per student will be accepted. Website: http://natlib.govt.nz/collections/a-z/index-new-zealand-innz
Monday, 13 May 2013
Renaming Labs/Computer Suites
With things changing at school as well as with the digital technologies area, I am wondering if I could try and change the classroom I am in. Things have changed over the years from typing rooms to computer suites, but now am I really in a computer suite or computer lab? I would like to call it a studio, or workshop, or some other name. What are they called out in business?
Sunday, 12 May 2013
response back from nikki kaye
I was surprised to receive a response,
Thank you for your email of 21 April 2013 regarding the inquiry into 21st Century Learning environments and digital literacy.
You raise important points about the place of computer and information science in education.
A number of submissions to the Education and Science Select Committee inquiry made similar points, and these are reflected in the recommendations made by the Select Committee in its report to Government.
I am establishing a 21st Century Learning reference group to provide input into a 21st Century Learning strategy, which will address the recommendations of the Select Committee report.
I anticipate that the reference group, in the course of its deliberations, will consult with a range of interested parties, including, potentially, the New Zealand Association for Computing, Digital and Information Technology Teachers.
You asked specifically about computer programming. Programming is identified as an essential component of the Programming and Computer Science specialist area of Digital Technologies. NCEA Levels 1, 2 and 3 Achievement Standards are registered on the New Zealand Qualifications Framework which assess student understandings of, and skills in programming. Senior students have the opportunity to take the Technology Scholarship Examination, demonstrating their skills and understandings in programming.
You also asked about support for teachers of computer science. The Ministry, in conjunction with NZQA, is conducting a series of Digital Information teacher professional development workshops designed to equip teachers to prepare students for external assessment against Achievement Standard 91070 (Demonstrate understanding of basic concepts of information management). The Ministry is providing assistance to schools to release teachers to attend these workshops.
Four workshops are being conducted in Auckland, one in Wellington and one in Christchurch. Planning is also underway for a workshop in lnvercargill. The key points presented at the workshops will be captured on video and published on the Ministry's
Technology Online website: http://technology.tki.org.nz.
Both of the Ministry funded Professional Learning Development providers offer teachers support in Digital Technologies - Team Solutions (University of Auckland), which has a specialist facilitator in Digital Technologies, and Te Tapuae o Rehua Consortium, which contracts an experienced Digital Technology teacher to facilitate digital technology workshops for teachers.
Thank you for taking the time to email me, and for your commitment to teaching the digital technology skills that are a critical part of the 21st Century skills young people need for their future success. I share your commitment and look forward to leading the development of a 21st Century Learning strategy that I believe will address the points you raised in your email.
Friday, 3 May 2013
Online NZQA Exams at anytime
Future State Presentation to SPANZ - 26 March 2013
18 months ago NZQA embarked on the process of developing a vision for the organisation that would take us through the next 10 years. Our reasoning for this was based on the changing environment that is New Zealand in the 21st century. We wanted to think about what NZ Inc would want from us in 10 years time.
We have had to consider global trends and their impact on NZQA and the sector, changing sector expectations, and the way in which technology is both driving and supporting change. The net result of the work undertaken within the organisation has been the development of a project called Future State – a project with a 10 year horizon.
You will be very aware that NZQA works in both the senior secondary school space and the tertiary space and our Future State project has identified a number workstreams that cross over both sectors.
Assessment Workstream: The focus of this workstream is on extensive work with the long-term aim of providing on-line and on-demand assessment mechanisms for NCEA and New Zealand Scholarship. This workstream will involve both internal and external assessment and, given the direction of Youth Guarantee, may eventually cross over into the tertiary sector.
Quality Assurance Workstream: NZQA’s quality assurance (QA) has undergone extensive change, implementing an evaluative approach across the major areas of responsibility i.e. quality assurance of providers and qualifications. The Future State programme will concentrate on embedding and consolidating this change in quality assurance practice with a specific focus on continuous improvement.
Client Experience Workstream: This will include work to ensure on-going changes to support process improvement throughout the entire life of the programme through to realisation of the Future State vision. Tools and strategies will be developed to increase effectiveness when interacting with clients. It’s all about client responsiveness.
Information Management Workstream: This workstream will provide key deliverables across all of the programmes workstreams and contribute to both NZQA and sector-wide initiatives.
Information Technology Workstream: This workstream will provide the ICT delivery to support the other workstreams. It will be responsible for delivering the ICT components of Youth Guarantee, the overhaul of secondary assessment and on-going qualifications review while commencing the delivery of key foundational ICT components for the Future State. It will also help ensure efficient and robust ICT delivery in an increasingly complex and fluid environment.
But I think the workstream you are the most interested in is the assessment one and especially the use of technology within assessment in the senior secondary sector.
You will all be aware of the way the world is changing and the ways in which technology is changing education. Trends such as BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and blended classrooms are beginning to become the norm in New Zealand schools. The behaviours and learning styles of the “digital natives” that inhabit our schools are placing schools in a position of having to reconsider their policies around the use of such things as social media and smartphones.
This leads me to mention a term I tripped across recently when we were looking at the drivers that will affect us in the next 10 years. Not surprisingly increasing individualisation was one of those – ref the quality assurance challenge I have just described.
Well – “heutagogy” popped out of the recent literature. You may well know it once I spell it out – heutagogy is a self-determined way of approaching learning and development – or “self-determined learning” (based on the Greek for “self”). Now I know that such a holistic approach to developing learner capabilities with learning as an active and proactive process is not news to you.
Neither is it news to recognise that self-determined learning will inevitably involve ICT and require critical thinking skills in cyberspace. You will know that the education and Science Select Committee, led by Nikki Kaye, then Chair, published their report of their Inquiry into 21st century learning environments and digital literacy late last year. That picks up on the role of digital learning and indeed, this is something that NZQA must respond to from an assessment perspective.
Because the question often asked by schools when we discuss technology and education is “what about assessment?” schools regularly tell us that as long as we persist with the current paper based assessment paradigm, there is little incentive to invest heavily in changes involving technology. I am hopeful that today I will be able to provide you with some assurance that NZQA intends to change the current paradigm and to discuss with you some of the thinking we have done around digital assessment. I am also aware that within this room and within your schools there is knowledge and expertise that we hope to be able to draw on as we work through this journey.
Let me describe a possible scenario.
A teacher has been working through a unit of work with their class, or it may be a unit of personalised learning with 2-3 students. The point is reached where a student, lets call her Sara, and her teacher agree that she is ready to be assessed against a relevant externally assessed standard. They agree on a date and time for the assessment and, at that time, Sara goes to a dedicated room in the school that is being managed by a staff member and set aside for this purpose. The room could be kitted out with a set of computers or the students bring their own.
Within the room there are several students sitting external assessments in a range of subjects and standards – some may be sitting the same standard as Sara and it is entirely plausible they are answering a different set of questions. Once she has logged on, Sara’s assessment against the standard appears and she works through her assessment activities. When she feels she has completed all that she is going to do, Sara submits her responses. The responses are then assessed and the results sent back to Sara within a short space of time, which may be between 48 hours and a week.
This scenario of on-demand, online assessment has several advantages for the student.
Their assessment is undertaken shortly after the learning and therefore provides them with the best opportunity to maximise what they have learned in class. They are assessed when they are ready not the other way round. They only need to focus on one particular standard not up to three.
The result is provided shortly after the assessment thereby enabling the assessment to be used for learning. Students are able to learn in class at their own pace rather than at the pace of the whole class, which means better knowledge and skill mastery. And finally, it does away with the massive logistical exercise at the end of the year that is the end of year examinations.
I accept that this would be a significant cultural shift for New Zealand.
No doubt many of you can see some issues with the scenario and I will admit that it is not perfect but it is based on some sound educational and assessment principles – notably the opportunity to personalise learning and for students to take responsibility for their own learning, to have assessment closer to the learning and to have the assessment inform further learning. It also demonstrates the notions of online and on demand assessment and this is the direction that NZQA is heading.
A lot more investigative work needs to be undertaken before our actual plans and timelines are finalised but we are reasonably confident that we can reach a position within 8 years where most students will be sitting examinations using a digital device. Moving to on demand assessment is then only one step away and making that next step will depend upon the sector and how all the steps up to that point have been received.
Our Future State programme has three phases.
Phase 1 will be the first three years of the programme. This Foundation phase will involve concept development/widespread discussion and refinement, detailed planning, and design and implementation of ICT changes.
Phase 2 will be years 4 and 5, which will focus on ensuring that we optimise our processes to realise the potential benefits. In this phase, we will be aiming to decommission some of our legacy systems and to simplify existing systems.
Phase 3, the Transformation phase, will go from years 6 through to 10. This is when we expect it all to come together, and NZQA will deliver assessment to anyone, anywhere, anytime, online and on demand.
This timeline may not be quick enough for some of you but NZQA is very conscious that it needs to take a very cautious approach to the use of technology within external assessment. I can well understand the nervousness the education sector has with technology at present and given the status of external assessment in particular, you will appreciate that caution must be exercised if we are to make changes to the examination system. Having said that, one aspect we are looking at seriously is the notion of dual assessment for an interim period. This is where we could have the same examination available as computer based or paper based options and students would be able to opt for one or the other.
The Mathematics CAT (Common Assessment Task) will be in its third iteration in 2013 and is now established within the senior secondary school landscape. Our thinking is the Maths CAT provides a very good platform to trial and pilot some of the digital assessment elements.
Moves within NZQA towards digital moderation are already underway through the use of a file sharing process between the school and moderator. Currently, most of this material is still in the traditional hard copy and then digitalised. Some schools (and subjects) are already preparing the assessment for use in a digital environment and I would hope that within 2-3 years we will see a significant increase in the uptake of schools doing their assessments this way.
NZQA has not yet set a deadline regarding a full uptake of digital assessment for internals and, at present, we are allowing individual schools to set their own pace of change. However, as part of the Future State work, NZQA will steadily make available more opportunities for schools to have their digital work moderated within a digital system.
When I commenced this discussion about assessment, I mentioned the driving forces in the 21st century and so I return to the fact that the critical element in the move to internal digital assessment is that teachers and schools accommodate the pedagogical changes that the use of computer technology in the classroom requires. No doubt within your schools discussion is already taking place about the sorts of changes that are needed, and are indeed happening in many schools for the future direction of teaching and learning.
Through the roll out of the Ultrafast Broadband network, schools and students now increasingly have the ability to efficiently connect with the global network and access knowledge in ways they have never been able to before. Through the Network for Learning initiative schools have access to resources to assist in teaching and learning within this medium. In addition to in-class activities and resources students are accessing a range of online tutorials such as the Khan Academy as part of their learning. At NZQA we are aiming to support these initiatives with quality online assessment.
We are also aware the journey NZQA is embarking on is one that cannot (nor should not) be travelled alone. NZQA will need your advice and support at various stages throughout the process and will need to draw on the knowledge, experience and expertise within your schools for piloting and trialling of various elements of digital assessment.
As we at NZQA clarify our thinking and finalise our ideas and plans, we will communicate them to schools and will appreciate comment or feedback. We are also aware that there will inevitably be some very difficult issues to resolve and we hope you will work with us to resolve them.
I do like the Wenger quote: “Insights often arise at the boundary between communities” and we at NZQA do value your insights – which a shared sense of what we are here for – if I can revert to the bird in the forest for a moment – then we can collectively achieve a lot.
To conclude, NZQA has done some significant thinking around what assessment will look like in the future, and digital assessment in particular, and is committed to capturing the value of digital assessment within the secondary school sector.
The shape will become clearer over time, and while I am excited about the journey ahead, I am very aware of the challenges it will pose.
Thank you
18 months ago NZQA embarked on the process of developing a vision for the organisation that would take us through the next 10 years. Our reasoning for this was based on the changing environment that is New Zealand in the 21st century. We wanted to think about what NZ Inc would want from us in 10 years time.
We have had to consider global trends and their impact on NZQA and the sector, changing sector expectations, and the way in which technology is both driving and supporting change. The net result of the work undertaken within the organisation has been the development of a project called Future State – a project with a 10 year horizon.
You will be very aware that NZQA works in both the senior secondary school space and the tertiary space and our Future State project has identified a number workstreams that cross over both sectors.
Assessment Workstream: The focus of this workstream is on extensive work with the long-term aim of providing on-line and on-demand assessment mechanisms for NCEA and New Zealand Scholarship. This workstream will involve both internal and external assessment and, given the direction of Youth Guarantee, may eventually cross over into the tertiary sector.
Quality Assurance Workstream: NZQA’s quality assurance (QA) has undergone extensive change, implementing an evaluative approach across the major areas of responsibility i.e. quality assurance of providers and qualifications. The Future State programme will concentrate on embedding and consolidating this change in quality assurance practice with a specific focus on continuous improvement.
Client Experience Workstream: This will include work to ensure on-going changes to support process improvement throughout the entire life of the programme through to realisation of the Future State vision. Tools and strategies will be developed to increase effectiveness when interacting with clients. It’s all about client responsiveness.
Information Management Workstream: This workstream will provide key deliverables across all of the programmes workstreams and contribute to both NZQA and sector-wide initiatives.
Information Technology Workstream: This workstream will provide the ICT delivery to support the other workstreams. It will be responsible for delivering the ICT components of Youth Guarantee, the overhaul of secondary assessment and on-going qualifications review while commencing the delivery of key foundational ICT components for the Future State. It will also help ensure efficient and robust ICT delivery in an increasingly complex and fluid environment.
But I think the workstream you are the most interested in is the assessment one and especially the use of technology within assessment in the senior secondary sector.
You will all be aware of the way the world is changing and the ways in which technology is changing education. Trends such as BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and blended classrooms are beginning to become the norm in New Zealand schools. The behaviours and learning styles of the “digital natives” that inhabit our schools are placing schools in a position of having to reconsider their policies around the use of such things as social media and smartphones.
This leads me to mention a term I tripped across recently when we were looking at the drivers that will affect us in the next 10 years. Not surprisingly increasing individualisation was one of those – ref the quality assurance challenge I have just described.
Well – “heutagogy” popped out of the recent literature. You may well know it once I spell it out – heutagogy is a self-determined way of approaching learning and development – or “self-determined learning” (based on the Greek for “self”). Now I know that such a holistic approach to developing learner capabilities with learning as an active and proactive process is not news to you.
Neither is it news to recognise that self-determined learning will inevitably involve ICT and require critical thinking skills in cyberspace. You will know that the education and Science Select Committee, led by Nikki Kaye, then Chair, published their report of their Inquiry into 21st century learning environments and digital literacy late last year. That picks up on the role of digital learning and indeed, this is something that NZQA must respond to from an assessment perspective.
Because the question often asked by schools when we discuss technology and education is “what about assessment?” schools regularly tell us that as long as we persist with the current paper based assessment paradigm, there is little incentive to invest heavily in changes involving technology. I am hopeful that today I will be able to provide you with some assurance that NZQA intends to change the current paradigm and to discuss with you some of the thinking we have done around digital assessment. I am also aware that within this room and within your schools there is knowledge and expertise that we hope to be able to draw on as we work through this journey.
Let me describe a possible scenario.
A teacher has been working through a unit of work with their class, or it may be a unit of personalised learning with 2-3 students. The point is reached where a student, lets call her Sara, and her teacher agree that she is ready to be assessed against a relevant externally assessed standard. They agree on a date and time for the assessment and, at that time, Sara goes to a dedicated room in the school that is being managed by a staff member and set aside for this purpose. The room could be kitted out with a set of computers or the students bring their own.
Within the room there are several students sitting external assessments in a range of subjects and standards – some may be sitting the same standard as Sara and it is entirely plausible they are answering a different set of questions. Once she has logged on, Sara’s assessment against the standard appears and she works through her assessment activities. When she feels she has completed all that she is going to do, Sara submits her responses. The responses are then assessed and the results sent back to Sara within a short space of time, which may be between 48 hours and a week.
This scenario of on-demand, online assessment has several advantages for the student.
Their assessment is undertaken shortly after the learning and therefore provides them with the best opportunity to maximise what they have learned in class. They are assessed when they are ready not the other way round. They only need to focus on one particular standard not up to three.
The result is provided shortly after the assessment thereby enabling the assessment to be used for learning. Students are able to learn in class at their own pace rather than at the pace of the whole class, which means better knowledge and skill mastery. And finally, it does away with the massive logistical exercise at the end of the year that is the end of year examinations.
I accept that this would be a significant cultural shift for New Zealand.
No doubt many of you can see some issues with the scenario and I will admit that it is not perfect but it is based on some sound educational and assessment principles – notably the opportunity to personalise learning and for students to take responsibility for their own learning, to have assessment closer to the learning and to have the assessment inform further learning. It also demonstrates the notions of online and on demand assessment and this is the direction that NZQA is heading.
A lot more investigative work needs to be undertaken before our actual plans and timelines are finalised but we are reasonably confident that we can reach a position within 8 years where most students will be sitting examinations using a digital device. Moving to on demand assessment is then only one step away and making that next step will depend upon the sector and how all the steps up to that point have been received.
Our Future State programme has three phases.
Phase 1 will be the first three years of the programme. This Foundation phase will involve concept development/widespread discussion and refinement, detailed planning, and design and implementation of ICT changes.
Phase 2 will be years 4 and 5, which will focus on ensuring that we optimise our processes to realise the potential benefits. In this phase, we will be aiming to decommission some of our legacy systems and to simplify existing systems.
Phase 3, the Transformation phase, will go from years 6 through to 10. This is when we expect it all to come together, and NZQA will deliver assessment to anyone, anywhere, anytime, online and on demand.
This timeline may not be quick enough for some of you but NZQA is very conscious that it needs to take a very cautious approach to the use of technology within external assessment. I can well understand the nervousness the education sector has with technology at present and given the status of external assessment in particular, you will appreciate that caution must be exercised if we are to make changes to the examination system. Having said that, one aspect we are looking at seriously is the notion of dual assessment for an interim period. This is where we could have the same examination available as computer based or paper based options and students would be able to opt for one or the other.
The Mathematics CAT (Common Assessment Task) will be in its third iteration in 2013 and is now established within the senior secondary school landscape. Our thinking is the Maths CAT provides a very good platform to trial and pilot some of the digital assessment elements.
Moves within NZQA towards digital moderation are already underway through the use of a file sharing process between the school and moderator. Currently, most of this material is still in the traditional hard copy and then digitalised. Some schools (and subjects) are already preparing the assessment for use in a digital environment and I would hope that within 2-3 years we will see a significant increase in the uptake of schools doing their assessments this way.
NZQA has not yet set a deadline regarding a full uptake of digital assessment for internals and, at present, we are allowing individual schools to set their own pace of change. However, as part of the Future State work, NZQA will steadily make available more opportunities for schools to have their digital work moderated within a digital system.
When I commenced this discussion about assessment, I mentioned the driving forces in the 21st century and so I return to the fact that the critical element in the move to internal digital assessment is that teachers and schools accommodate the pedagogical changes that the use of computer technology in the classroom requires. No doubt within your schools discussion is already taking place about the sorts of changes that are needed, and are indeed happening in many schools for the future direction of teaching and learning.
Through the roll out of the Ultrafast Broadband network, schools and students now increasingly have the ability to efficiently connect with the global network and access knowledge in ways they have never been able to before. Through the Network for Learning initiative schools have access to resources to assist in teaching and learning within this medium. In addition to in-class activities and resources students are accessing a range of online tutorials such as the Khan Academy as part of their learning. At NZQA we are aiming to support these initiatives with quality online assessment.
We are also aware the journey NZQA is embarking on is one that cannot (nor should not) be travelled alone. NZQA will need your advice and support at various stages throughout the process and will need to draw on the knowledge, experience and expertise within your schools for piloting and trialling of various elements of digital assessment.
As we at NZQA clarify our thinking and finalise our ideas and plans, we will communicate them to schools and will appreciate comment or feedback. We are also aware that there will inevitably be some very difficult issues to resolve and we hope you will work with us to resolve them.
I do like the Wenger quote: “Insights often arise at the boundary between communities” and we at NZQA do value your insights – which a shared sense of what we are here for – if I can revert to the bird in the forest for a moment – then we can collectively achieve a lot.
To conclude, NZQA has done some significant thinking around what assessment will look like in the future, and digital assessment in particular, and is committed to capturing the value of digital assessment within the secondary school sector.
The shape will become clearer over time, and while I am excited about the journey ahead, I am very aware of the challenges it will pose.
Thank you
Monday, 29 April 2013
Open data and level 3 Digital technologies
I am busy trying to work out how I can use open data within my courses. I see this being used in the digital information strand of my course.
Though I have to work out how to relational queries, or can you using open data?
There is currently an initative to open up data in New Zealand and I would like to be able to use it with my students.
http://natlib.govt.nz/blog/posts/opening-our-data
is anyone running a course on how to do this?
UPDATE: http://mesa.ac.nz/?page_id=1688 videos from the open data course that was held in wellington have been made available online.
Though I have to work out how to relational queries, or can you using open data?
There is currently an initative to open up data in New Zealand and I would like to be able to use it with my students.
http://natlib.govt.nz/blog/posts/opening-our-data
is anyone running a course on how to do this?
UPDATE: http://mesa.ac.nz/?page_id=1688 videos from the open data course that was held in wellington have been made available online.
Saturday, 27 April 2013
makertorium through twitter
One thing that I keep wishing is that I was in Wellington somedays, if there is a school with a job vacancy...
There always seems to be some great stuff happening in Wellington, from the Te Papa gaming exhibit through to makertorium today. I have been following it through twitter #makertorium and I must say there are so many good toys I would be interested in buying. The flying fox http://www.flyingfoxcam.com/ camera has me wanting to film rugby games from the sidelines with better view for sports analysis, though it looks like it would survive a ball attack.
What a great way to introduce technology/digital technologies achievement standards to students. http://makertorium.co.nz/
One that has my attention at present is how to introduce robotics in the classroom, I know a number of schools have Lego NXT kits or VEX robotics, but they are expensive. Then there are the pixaxe robotics that were shown at the Auckland Symposium.
One that I am looking at due to todays tweets are the http://www.bristlebotics.com/ that are made by a company in Dunedin. They have developed a interesting unit plan that will work with technology levels 3-5 http://www.bristlebotics.com/files/1363122426_BUZZY%20Lesson%20plan%20concept.pdf
How are schools using robotics with junior secondary programmes?
Both the flyingfoxcamera and bristlebotics are nz made.
I am hoping that they have another makertorium soon.
Friday, 26 April 2013
inspiration
http://webdesign-inspiration.com/
some great inspiration of website development that I would like my students to see
some great inspiration of website development that I would like my students to see
Wednesday, 24 April 2013
Is IT education in NZ screwed up
I have been intrigued with the articles that have been in the sunday papers for the past ten weeks. The editor seems to have students and writers writing about Digital Technologies in New Zealand. While I have enjoyed them, I am also becoming annoyed at the constant hit of NZ IT education must change.
It has changed, it changed big time in 2011 when Digital Technologies started at NCEA Level, it introduced Digital Information, Digital Media, Programming and Computer Science, Digital Electronics, and Digital Infrastructure. In 2012 NCEA Level 2, and now this year introduced NCEA Level 3, however looking at last weeks article I start wondering when schools will in fact use the new standards and material as well as start offering the new strands. Looking back teachers have been mostly teaching Information Management, the use of Microsoft Software and productivity tools. Now with the new Digital Technologies we can offer a range of new media and technologies. Here is the link for the indicators of progression for digital technologies in New Zealand http://technology.tki.org.nz/Curriculum-support/Indicators-of-Progression/Learning-Objectives/Digital-Technologies
http://www.stuff.co.nz/
Last weeks writeup is from Westlake Boys High School, where their head boys talks about the fact that IT is dull and is not preparing students. When looking at the schools curriculum guide I start to wonder. They are still doing Unit Standards at Level 2 and 3 though they have included some information standards at level 2 and 3. though no programming. This is what the student is after. The other fact that I have found out is that the school is a Cambridge school. The course on offer is A Level Cambridge 9713. Which through investigation is mainly an Information Strand course.
The school is running an applied course, not an academic one which the head boy alludes to.
So why are we being told through the article that New Zealand Education is wrong. Cambridge is run by the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES). Although this organisation is based in the United Kingdom, its courses are designed for the international community. Thus syllabi are designed for the needs of the countries entering the awards.
So the school runs both NCEA and the Cambridge assessments.
I hope that the editor will soon find a school that is using the new standards and created a course that is meeting the students needs.
Right onto the next part
It has changed, it changed big time in 2011 when Digital Technologies started at NCEA Level, it introduced Digital Information, Digital Media, Programming and Computer Science, Digital Electronics, and Digital Infrastructure. In 2012 NCEA Level 2, and now this year introduced NCEA Level 3, however looking at last weeks article I start wondering when schools will in fact use the new standards and material as well as start offering the new strands. Looking back teachers have been mostly teaching Information Management, the use of Microsoft Software and productivity tools. Now with the new Digital Technologies we can offer a range of new media and technologies. Here is the link for the indicators of progression for digital technologies in New Zealand http://technology.tki.org.nz/Curriculum-support/Indicators-of-Progression/Learning-Objectives/Digital-Technologies
http://www.stuff.co.nz/
Last weeks writeup is from Westlake Boys High School, where their head boys talks about the fact that IT is dull and is not preparing students. When looking at the schools curriculum guide I start to wonder. They are still doing Unit Standards at Level 2 and 3 though they have included some information standards at level 2 and 3. though no programming. This is what the student is after. The other fact that I have found out is that the school is a Cambridge school. The course on offer is A Level Cambridge 9713. Which through investigation is mainly an Information Strand course.
The school is running an applied course, not an academic one which the head boy alludes to.
So why are we being told through the article that New Zealand Education is wrong. Cambridge is run by the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES). Although this organisation is based in the United Kingdom, its courses are designed for the international community. Thus syllabi are designed for the needs of the countries entering the awards.
So the school runs both NCEA and the Cambridge assessments.
I hope that the editor will soon find a school that is using the new standards and created a course that is meeting the students needs.
Right onto the next part
Students grasp on to the more traditional, more highly regarded "academic subjects", as they perceive these to be better recognised by tertiary institutions.
Information and communications technology (ICT) has been trampled by English, maths and the sciences as a subject that yields no value in progressing to the next stage of education.Yes they do, that is because up unto two year ago there was no merit and excellence levels within the standards. The courses were Unit Standard based, or they were coupled together with Technology Achievement Standards that had no value in IT. This will change over time as students move through from juniors to seniors and the school change there programmes to assist this to happen
Sunday, 21 April 2013
Nikki Kaye you have it wrong
I read with great interest the report on Inquiry into 21st Century learning environments and digital literacy when it came out, now I see that there has been a report on its progress.
http://beehive.govt.nz/release/government-responds-digital-literacy
The report and recommendations can be found here:
http://www.parliament.nz/NR/rdonlyres/FD34151C-744B-4B49-86F2-6FE5850123AE/256992/DBSCH_SCR_5695_Inquiryinto21stcenturylearningenvir.pdf
Which recommendations has the Government progressed so far?
There are a number of recommendations underway. Below is an update on some of these.
One of these is specificity around our area, Digital Technologies
Recommendations 22 and 23
That it consider enhancing the role of information science in the education sector.
That it better position ICT skills, knowledge and understanding as educational options that lead to high-value careers.
Great where is programming listed. Also it is great that the MoE and NZQA are working on these, but I see no discussion around New Zealand Teachers Colleges and how they changing there coures to better prepare trained teachers in this area. Also where is the support for the teachers that are currently teaching this area. Yesterday it was announed by the University of Canterbury that they are creating a course around "Curriculum Implementation in Computer Science" that will help teachers like me to teach the computer science modules to my students. We need the same around Digital Information if we are to get students to achieve the higher grades. Don't just create something and then not support it.
As for the response:
7. Urgent measures are taken to boost teacher Professional Development in areas of “ICT as a Discipline”:
7.1. With a new Body of Knowledge and new Achievement Standards being developed, priority should be given to teacher development to ensure ICT can be taught appropriately and competently and teachers have sufficient support to do so;
7.2. Steps should be taken to engage the Tertiary community to assist with the provision of professional development to teachers;
7.3. Other independent parties involved in ICT skills and education, such as NZACDITT (the new Subject Association), NZCS, NACCQ, and other tertiary providers should be consulted as to the most effective means of professional development for teachers in the future;
7.4. Providing professional development options in this area should be prioritised, and dedicated funding provided through appropriate channels;
7.5. Incentives should be provided to attract ICT experts into the teaching profession, either by attracting those already trained in the area, or providing incentives for suitable trainee teachers to specialise in this area.
8. DTEP notes that, based on the information available, the proposed generic Technology Achievement Standards are a significant improvement on the existing standards, however they still do not adequately provide for senior specialist subjects such as ICT.
Also that:
A group similar to the DTEP (including nominees from independent bodies representing tertiary providers, ICT teachers, ICT professionals, ICT Industry, secondary principals and other relevant groups) meets on an annual basis there after to review the Body of Knowledge and wider issues and make recommendations.
So I would like you to take back the report on Recommendations 22 and 23 and actually work through them with the likes of NZACDITT, New Zealand Association for Computing, Digital and Information Technology Teachers on these recommendations and hear the frustrations from teachers about the support they are getting from the Ministry of Education.
http://beehive.govt.nz/release/government-responds-digital-literacy
The report and recommendations can be found here:
http://www.parliament.nz/NR/rdonlyres/FD34151C-744B-4B49-86F2-6FE5850123AE/256992/DBSCH_SCR_5695_Inquiryinto21stcenturylearningenvir.pdf
Which recommendations has the Government progressed so far?
There are a number of recommendations underway. Below is an update on some of these.
One of these is specificity around our area, Digital Technologies
Recommendations 22 and 23
That it consider enhancing the role of information science in the education sector.
That it better position ICT skills, knowledge and understanding as educational options that lead to high-value careers.
These are both underway. The Ministry of Education has worked with NZQA and the wider business, technology and education sectors to create Achievement Standards on the NZ Qualifications framework around information science and ICT skills.
Computer science at NCEA Level 3 was added to the NZ Qualifications Framework this year (2013).
Students studying digital technologies, including computer science, can gain top academic awards if they meet the standard expected. Specialist areas including digital information, digital infrastructure, digital media, and electronics and control technologies are also available on the NZ Qualifications framework.
Great where is programming listed. Also it is great that the MoE and NZQA are working on these, but I see no discussion around New Zealand Teachers Colleges and how they changing there coures to better prepare trained teachers in this area. Also where is the support for the teachers that are currently teaching this area. Yesterday it was announed by the University of Canterbury that they are creating a course around "Curriculum Implementation in Computer Science" that will help teachers like me to teach the computer science modules to my students. We need the same around Digital Information if we are to get students to achieve the higher grades. Don't just create something and then not support it.
As for the response:
These are both underway. The Ministry of Education has worked with NZQA and the wider business, technology and education sectors to create Achievement Standards on the NZ Qualifications framework around information science and ICT skills.The original DTEP had a number of recommendations that were not followed through. There are still a number of changes that need to happen to make this workable in schools as well as creating the type of students that Jesse Metcalf (stuff.co.nz article 21 April 2013) wants to see. The information that the DTEP worked through is available here. Some of the recommendations include:
7. Urgent measures are taken to boost teacher Professional Development in areas of “ICT as a Discipline”:
7.1. With a new Body of Knowledge and new Achievement Standards being developed, priority should be given to teacher development to ensure ICT can be taught appropriately and competently and teachers have sufficient support to do so;
7.2. Steps should be taken to engage the Tertiary community to assist with the provision of professional development to teachers;
7.3. Other independent parties involved in ICT skills and education, such as NZACDITT (the new Subject Association), NZCS, NACCQ, and other tertiary providers should be consulted as to the most effective means of professional development for teachers in the future;
7.4. Providing professional development options in this area should be prioritised, and dedicated funding provided through appropriate channels;
7.5. Incentives should be provided to attract ICT experts into the teaching profession, either by attracting those already trained in the area, or providing incentives for suitable trainee teachers to specialise in this area.
8. DTEP notes that, based on the information available, the proposed generic Technology Achievement Standards are a significant improvement on the existing standards, however they still do not adequately provide for senior specialist subjects such as ICT.
Also that:
A group similar to the DTEP (including nominees from independent bodies representing tertiary providers, ICT teachers, ICT professionals, ICT Industry, secondary principals and other relevant groups) meets on an annual basis there after to review the Body of Knowledge and wider issues and make recommendations.
So I would like you to take back the report on Recommendations 22 and 23 and actually work through them with the likes of NZACDITT, New Zealand Association for Computing, Digital and Information Technology Teachers on these recommendations and hear the frustrations from teachers about the support they are getting from the Ministry of Education.
Saturday, 20 April 2013
Laughing
It has been a rocking last week for me, from getting annoyed at am in a PD group or not in one. Through to moderation, what is required to hand in and then realising that USB drives are not allowed and wondering what is going on as it impedes the learning for Digital Technologies. Through to an announcement of a new University of Canterbury course on Curriculum Implementation in Computer Science, which I need to find $1762 to do starting from July this year.
It was nice last night to have the principal say that I am doing a good job.
Things I need to work on,
- getting all of my course documentation up to scratch.
- Moderation of material
- Reports - junior I think at this stage.
- writing my presentations for ignite
It was nice last night to have the principal say that I am doing a good job.
Things I need to work on,
- getting all of my course documentation up to scratch.
- Moderation of material
- Reports - junior I think at this stage.
- writing my presentations for ignite
Thursday, 18 April 2013
nzqa and moderation
I have been thinking about some postings on the nzacditt google group. It relates to moderation.
Digital submission of work for moderation
Teachers are reminded that any student work that has an outcome that is not a printed Document (word or DTP) should be submitted electronically for the moderator to be able to verify the work. This includes work such as presentations, websites, videos, audio, programming, databases, and spread sheets that involve macros.
We have to be able to submit websites, this is rather strange as most of the websites that we are developing are dynamic. They are no longer static websites, they have a database running them. How can we submit the website so that the moderator can view them.
Easy, we can use XMAPP, or webserver on a USB Stick.
No...
See Preparing Digital Visual submissions for Moderation for more information. It should be noted that NZQA updated security policy means that work cannot be accepted on USB Drives.
So we can't submit our work via a USB stick. So how am I supposed to deliver my programme of new Digital Technologies standards where I am looking at php/mysql/apache or developing wordpress sites.
It seems that there is a catch 22 here.
I hope that someone sees reason.
Wednesday, 17 April 2013
computers grading essays
I really want to try to get this working
http://www.fastcoexist.com/1681777/a-computer-to-grade-essays-to-save-professors-time
https://www.edx.org/
https://github.com/edX/XBlock
virtual environment https://pypi.python.org/pypi/virtualenv
http://www.fastcoexist.com/1681777/a-computer-to-grade-essays-to-save-professors-time
https://www.edx.org/
https://github.com/edX/XBlock
virtual environment https://pypi.python.org/pypi/virtualenv
XBlock is a component architecture by edX.org for building courseware.
This is a pre-alpha release of the XBlock API, to gather input from potential users of the API. We like what is here, but are open to suggestions for changes. We will be implementing this shortly in the edX LMS.
This repo contains the core code for implementing XBlocks as well as a simple workbench application for running XBlocks in a small simple environment.
I wonder if this could be included in moodle and whether it could be used as a way to see if students are copying.
Monday, 8 April 2013
Wifi - creating a share box
One of the things I am finding this year is what projects will interest students. I am trying to find some projects that will get students using the raspberry pi. These are essential in developing students understanding of hardware/software. A simple computer that has the power to do so much. I came across an idea a couple of months ago where a student was creating small radio stations so he could get share information through his community.
I think I stumbled across this one through the raspberry pi website, connecting people in remote areas, and this has me thinking. Living where I am we have a possibly of a natural disaster. We need a small powered device that can connect people. Using the ideas found in www.raspberrypi.org.nz/archives/tag/piratebox has lead us to develop a shared file storage and messaging system. It uses a USB drive to provide the storage. Although it is a bit primative. We are looking at how to get the raspberry pi to interface with this to provide a better web environment through mysql/php/apache2 to allow faster web browsing.
At the moment there is a box sitting in my room, doing very little, it is more around the idea of being a repository for students to access material on there devices, as any wifi enabled device can connect to it.
I think I stumbled across this one through the raspberry pi website, connecting people in remote areas, and this has me thinking. Living where I am we have a possibly of a natural disaster. We need a small powered device that can connect people. Using the ideas found in www.raspberrypi.org.nz/archives/tag/piratebox has lead us to develop a shared file storage and messaging system. It uses a USB drive to provide the storage. Although it is a bit primative. We are looking at how to get the raspberry pi to interface with this to provide a better web environment through mysql/php/apache2 to allow faster web browsing.
At the moment there is a box sitting in my room, doing very little, it is more around the idea of being a repository for students to access material on there devices, as any wifi enabled device can connect to it.
.JPG) |
| Sitting plugged in my classroom. |
The information I gleened form http://wiki.daviddarts.com/PirateBox_DIY, a pretty good tutorial, also using information form http://daviddarts.com/piratebox-diy-openwrt/?title=PirateBox_DIY_OpenWrt the wifi box I obtained from pricespy.co.nz http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=1034742 it is a
TP-Link TL-MR3020 which provides IEEE 802.11n, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11b, so it allows for almost any device to connect. the USB stick is a 2Gig ADATA, though I may replace it with a faster and bigger USB drive at some point.
Its rather interesting, I watched with some interest as the students found the box on their wifi, questions of who's is it, do you know its there came around. The part I found distributing is that the made themselves be other members of the class and posted rather poor taste messages. This is concerning.
Sunday, 7 April 2013
Reflection Term 1
Wow, its been a busy term so far. New standards that I am trying to get familiar with, a new sport and Professional Development.
This year NCEA level 3 standards have been released and these mostly look at complex techniques in media, programming and information. I have two level 3 classes, one doing programming and the other focusing on media. These are two very diverse classes.
The programming class is busy working on Raspberry Pi development, How can Raspberry Pi's be used in education. There were a number of ideas that the students could choose. The interesting fact was that the students went for the supposedly easy projects.
Minecraft
Digital Signage
MAME box
One thing that I am thinking about this class is that they are struggling with the lack of formal structure. As they are working on their projects, there is no formal lesson. It is more a facilitation role assisting students when they get stuck on their development. This is something the students have probably never hit before, or since primary school. I think the part I struggle with is that there is no exemplar or what they have to create, or develop. While this has been developed from the original technology Achievement Standard that had a lot of the technology process in it, it is now just brief development. So what does a new brief look like?
I am moving them through to python programming next term with an introduction to the computer science research required for 3.44 and 3.14. These are going to be bit research projects, I am looking for a scaffold to assist them with this and help me to assist them. I do feel sorry for them as this is the third year that they have had to be the first to do these new aligned standards.
One thing that I am thinking about this class is that they are struggling with the lack of formal structure. As they are working on their projects, there is no formal lesson. It is more a facilitation role assisting students when they get stuck on their development. This is something the students have probably never hit before, or since primary school. I think the part I struggle with is that there is no exemplar or what they have to create, or develop. While this has been developed from the original technology Achievement Standard that had a lot of the technology process in it, it is now just brief development. So what does a new brief look like?
I am moving them through to python programming next term with an introduction to the computer science research required for 3.44 and 3.14. These are going to be bit research projects, I am looking for a scaffold to assist them with this and help me to assist them. I do feel sorry for them as this is the third year that they have had to be the first to do these new aligned standards.
The other level 3 class have been working on photoshop techniques and content management systems. This has required them to install and setup three content management systems and evaluate their ease of use and features. Silverstripe, wordpress and joomla. As these are new technologies to students they have struggled to understand why they are developing and using these. I think I needed to give better context to this. Though it has been interesting that one student is using his installation to help with his Young Enterprise work. They needed a website and he has started developing a prototype through his account.
Level 2 has been busy with the information strand, we started off the year working on Microsoft Access, this was to give students an understanding of what a field, row, table and query were. Using this understanding they understood what was required when we started mysql. However getting use to the commands to INSERT, SELECT, UPDATE, DROP, ALTER has been difficult. next year I think I will get them to create a simple FAQ on how to use particular commands to do different things. mySQL has been a wonderful unit to teach. The students get an understanding of how databases work, especially when we link it to a webpage. Though I struggle to understand why it is worth 6 credits. I see this as being one of the simpler NCEA strand. The assessment context this year came from a student, I felt that the 700+ enteries of a survey last year was far too much. This year we are looking at a trading card database of pokemon generation one cards and a record by a flatmate on what cards he has and what he is missing. These will be displayed through a webpage interface to allow for the flatmate to be anywhere and have access to their collection.
We will move onto programming next, the students will learn python programming. Will be interesting to see if python is available on the chromebook. I will encourage students to develop on their own devices, all work will be available on moodle. I plan to make more use of moodle this year for this particular course.
Level One Digital Technologies has just started its first assessment. Digital Information, already a number of students have asked if they can leave the course. Its too boring. Though as I say to them, we need to do this first and then it is done, and we can move onto other parts. The next part being webdesign, I am thinking of wether to use the codeavengers work, or carry on with the yoobee course. However I can see a mixture of the two going on.
I need to start thinking of the year 10 course and what is going to be needed in the future. Is it setting students up for a positive ncea course, or are students being turned off to the course.
I need to be able to develop a survey or feedback to get students to have their say on how the courses have gone so far. This would help the reflective nature of this.
I need to be able to develop a survey or feedback to get students to have their say on how the courses have gone so far. This would help the reflective nature of this.
Code PHP Codeacademy
I have used a great resource from natcoll/yoobee for a number of years now for students to learn PHP. This year I plan something different. Codeacademy has just released there PHP course.
I plan for the students to work on this for 10 periods. I hope this will given them enough of an idea around PHP to be able to confidently use it when we start working with wordpress a bit more.
I have started the course myself to be able to gain an understanding of what challenges that they will face, the first lot of exercises is more around understanding what the syntax of php is and how it is to be used within HTML tags. For me, it was remembering that at the end of a php statement it finishes with a ";"
UPDATE: Although the interface works, it is slow and sometimes you have to wait a couple of minutes before it will show up with a success or failure. There are a number of forum posts around this, and they seem to be working on the issue, but I can see this being a barrier to the students.
There does seem to be a number of issues facing us with this environment at present, feedback is slow or non existent on a number of the submissions. There is a constant Disconnect showing in the Console. The students started off so well, are now feeling disconnected and frustrated.
This is a common comment in the forum, its not just us. It could be to do with the new interface that they have launched.
I plan for the students to work on this for 10 periods. I hope this will given them enough of an idea around PHP to be able to confidently use it when we start working with wordpress a bit more.
I have started the course myself to be able to gain an understanding of what challenges that they will face, the first lot of exercises is more around understanding what the syntax of php is and how it is to be used within HTML tags. For me, it was remembering that at the end of a php statement it finishes with a ";"
UPDATE: Although the interface works, it is slow and sometimes you have to wait a couple of minutes before it will show up with a success or failure. There are a number of forum posts around this, and they seem to be working on the issue, but I can see this being a barrier to the students.
There does seem to be a number of issues facing us with this environment at present, feedback is slow or non existent on a number of the submissions. There is a constant Disconnect showing in the Console. The students started off so well, are now feeling disconnected and frustrated.
This is a common comment in the forum, its not just us. It could be to do with the new interface that they have launched.
Sunday, 31 March 2013
raspberry Pi projects
I have three groups of students working on raspberry pi projects currently, and all the projects have failed... one in one way, but they have a number of specifications that will help the projects of the future.
Minecraft - the students thought this would be teh easiest project, install mine craft and then play on it for 4 weeks... however, they have minecraft running on raspberry pi, with pi-minecraft, however it fails on a lan, slicing the map. I have tried to get the students to look at mods for it, however with limited success.
Digital Signage, we have looked at xibo, and with contacting them on facebook it is a no go at present, this would have been the easiest setup and the students would have been installing it around the school at present. However we have looked at a couple of other systems, one which worked well, however it is just a one screen solution. We need multiple screens controlled by one server. The lastest idea using concerto seems like a likely one. However the students are busy setting up the server, working on these projects for 40 minutes a day isn't long enough, considering when it took 1 hour to install and setup the LAMP.
MAME project, we are currently waiting for the controllers to arrive from china. The students are now testing a variety of games and seeing if they can get the sound working. They are working on their specifications and project documentation at present.
Minecraft - the students thought this would be teh easiest project, install mine craft and then play on it for 4 weeks... however, they have minecraft running on raspberry pi, with pi-minecraft, however it fails on a lan, slicing the map. I have tried to get the students to look at mods for it, however with limited success.
Digital Signage, we have looked at xibo, and with contacting them on facebook it is a no go at present, this would have been the easiest setup and the students would have been installing it around the school at present. However we have looked at a couple of other systems, one which worked well, however it is just a one screen solution. We need multiple screens controlled by one server. The lastest idea using concerto seems like a likely one. However the students are busy setting up the server, working on these projects for 40 minutes a day isn't long enough, considering when it took 1 hour to install and setup the LAMP.
MAME project, we are currently waiting for the controllers to arrive from china. The students are now testing a variety of games and seeing if they can get the sound working. They are working on their specifications and project documentation at present.
Thursday, 28 March 2013
I’m a horribly inefficient teacher
This blog caught my attention today http://chrisbetcher.com/2013/03/im-a-horribly-inefficient-teacher/
I saw it pop up in my twitter and next thing I know I am clicking on the link. This is me, although I have not been teaching 25 years, try 10, it is me, I don't do the same thing year after year, I am changing things, updating my skills, trying new ideas.
One idea is the worm. This came up in a conversation with a group of teachers while on a break during a conference. Getting students to understand databases, what would happen if students could guage there enjoyment in a lesson.
Next thing I am learn jquery mobile, how to create a sliding input bar, submitting the form to itself, updating a database, running jpgraph to create a line graph that updates over time...
Trying it out with students today and getting over 42,000 responses, yes there is a bug in it which allows students to just keep clicking. However, I am interested in what my average factor would be?
also need to include a date filter in it, as well as found out the the server I grabbed the ntp request from was out of time to the other server.
now I wonder what some other teacher learnt today?
I saw it pop up in my twitter and next thing I know I am clicking on the link. This is me, although I have not been teaching 25 years, try 10, it is me, I don't do the same thing year after year, I am changing things, updating my skills, trying new ideas.
One idea is the worm. This came up in a conversation with a group of teachers while on a break during a conference. Getting students to understand databases, what would happen if students could guage there enjoyment in a lesson.
Next thing I am learn jquery mobile, how to create a sliding input bar, submitting the form to itself, updating a database, running jpgraph to create a line graph that updates over time...
Trying it out with students today and getting over 42,000 responses, yes there is a bug in it which allows students to just keep clicking. However, I am interested in what my average factor would be?
The worm, has a slider that students can use to respond about there current engagement level in the class, please note the This is for development purposes only...
Using JPgraph to show a minute by minute rating on students engagement levels
also need to include a date filter in it, as well as found out the the server I grabbed the ntp request from was out of time to the other server.
now I wonder what some other teacher learnt today?
Wednesday, 20 March 2013
Content Management Systems updated
I have been busy trying to get my content management systems unit working and I now have success, though it has involved my web hosting account, sub domains. Which is not the ideal solution as I now have issues with the theme development in silverstripe. However, I am getting the students to create a multipage website in an environment that is foreign to them. They will have to develop the work in silverstripe cms first and then use the same work in another environment, but learn how to remove sidebars.
It will be interesting to see how the students work together to solve this issue as I see that they do struggle with new environments. the learning curve around cms's is huge, with questions of access, databases, server hosting and foreign user accounts, but I hope as the weeks of work develop they will have an appreciation of what it takes to work with a variety of content management systems.
It will be interesting to see how the students work together to solve this issue as I see that they do struggle with new environments. the learning curve around cms's is huge, with questions of access, databases, server hosting and foreign user accounts, but I hope as the weeks of work develop they will have an appreciation of what it takes to work with a variety of content management systems.
Should schools be using document management systems
As I sit here at the airport I have been thinking.
Should schools be using a document management system. If your school is like mine, all documents sit on a shared network share, here there are files of all types and descriptions. From Policy documents, to student assessment data, photos of teams away at tournaments, faculty documents, it is a mismash of data, trying to find anything is using the windows desktop search box at the top and sometimes that isn't very helpful.
I was introduced to document management systems years ago by my brother who has to manage his business one. With document review, check in and check out of documents it sounded like a pain of a job. But he was able to find documents easy.
So why are schools not using document management systems, it is easy to drag and drop a document into a network share that upload the file. However with modern browsers it is a simple a dragging a document in and providing some metadata about what the document is, why it has been created, and who it is for.
Alfesco document management is open source, this is a win, as previous systems have been costly to implement and setup, yet another reason why schools haven't been willing to set this up.
http://www.alfresco.com/tour shows a good workflow and the ability for multiple document types to be used, no matter what you create you can easily share it with others even if they don't have that software on their computer.
When we start talking about services under the N4L, the National Network for Learning, should we not be looking at document management. I look at this and start thinking about the sharing nature of resources that can go on. However there is another issue that relates to who owns the work that you create. The Board of Trustees do. This needs to change. Schools need to look at a creative commons policy, that the work that teachers create as part of their work, can be shared.
With the Christchurch earthquake, some schools had issues getting access to servers, files, data. Would this be a way to help disaster recovery. I know that I am now syncing with dropbox some of my files as it gives me access anytime, anywhere, something that our LMS could possibly do with private files, but I like to work within the Explorer/Finder area as it gives me a better sense of file management and information.
Should schools be using a document management system. If your school is like mine, all documents sit on a shared network share, here there are files of all types and descriptions. From Policy documents, to student assessment data, photos of teams away at tournaments, faculty documents, it is a mismash of data, trying to find anything is using the windows desktop search box at the top and sometimes that isn't very helpful.
I was introduced to document management systems years ago by my brother who has to manage his business one. With document review, check in and check out of documents it sounded like a pain of a job. But he was able to find documents easy.
So why are schools not using document management systems, it is easy to drag and drop a document into a network share that upload the file. However with modern browsers it is a simple a dragging a document in and providing some metadata about what the document is, why it has been created, and who it is for.
Alfesco document management is open source, this is a win, as previous systems have been costly to implement and setup, yet another reason why schools haven't been willing to set this up.
http://www.alfresco.com/tour shows a good workflow and the ability for multiple document types to be used, no matter what you create you can easily share it with others even if they don't have that software on their computer.
When we start talking about services under the N4L, the National Network for Learning, should we not be looking at document management. I look at this and start thinking about the sharing nature of resources that can go on. However there is another issue that relates to who owns the work that you create. The Board of Trustees do. This needs to change. Schools need to look at a creative commons policy, that the work that teachers create as part of their work, can be shared.
With the Christchurch earthquake, some schools had issues getting access to servers, files, data. Would this be a way to help disaster recovery. I know that I am now syncing with dropbox some of my files as it gives me access anytime, anywhere, something that our LMS could possibly do with private files, but I like to work within the Explorer/Finder area as it gives me a better sense of file management and information.
Sunday, 17 March 2013
Brain overload
3d glasses development - get student to create 3d glasses
Creating a minecraft building as a 15th wonder
10fastfinger.com
Student engagement within a classroom using jquery and mysql and a worm
jquery starter http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2011/05/10-handy-jquery-mobile-tips-and-snippets-to-get-you-started/
Creating a minecraft building as a 15th wonder
10fastfinger.com
Student engagement within a classroom using jquery and mysql and a worm
jquery starter http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2011/05/10-handy-jquery-mobile-tips-and-snippets-to-get-you-started/
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