What does innovation look like in your school?

This is a response to a post on the vln.school.nz network.  http://www.vln.school.nz/discussion/view/951392

Innovation in schools of any type needs to start with the idea that the goal is not to force kids to abandontheir passions and interests for our curriculum.

- Will Richardson, Stop innovating in schools. Please.

 Dictionary.com defines innovation as:

1. Something new or different introduced
2. The act of innovating; introduction of new things or methods.

There is so much innovation going on in our schools. Leaders and teachers are coming up with new ideas, and new ways of doing things all the time. But what innovation looks like to one school could be completely different for another as each school has different goals and philosophies.

George Couros states in Innovation and best practice, that his “belief is that innovation in teaching and learning starts with empathy; truly trying to understand those that you serve.” He expands on this to say that it’s “not only a starting point, but a continuous part of the process”.

As with all things in schools, we need to ensure that student learning is foremost on our mind. This includes in how we innovate. Will Richardson made this very clear when he says,

To put it simply, innovation in schools today is far too focused on improving teaching, not amplifying learning.

I have been asked to develop a response,


What does innovation look like to you?
This has been something of a journey for me in my years of teaching. I suppose being in the technology learning area with what is now digital technologies innovation has been at the centre of my thinking.

Adaption and Innovation are at the heart of the technological practice. The course planning and ideas I have looked at what new technologies I could include in my development. However, there has been other things that I have looked at about what innovation is, that has been around course structure and assessment.

The other has been I have been lucky to be in departments that looked at changes within education. Moving away from unit standards to offer achievement standards. This has allowed a better understanding and access to the professional learning that was available at the time. Something which is now lacking for teachers that did not move at the time.

Project based learning has been a big part of my courses and changing assessment from tki.org.nz to new contexts such as developing historical websites for heritage places, pokemon trading cards and nzta crash analysis mapping. These have allowed students to have a meaningful context to showcase their learning. Students have also been able to develop their own projects which have allowed for a spelling game to be created for younger students, an information website about parkour teams as examples. Also looking at competitions to allow meaning contexts for learning and assessment, brightsparks, codeworx and kiwibots vex as examples. Rather than just being an extra thing.

Then there is innovation within teaching, the use of Learning Management Systems to help students rewind learning as well as develop tangents for learning. The use of the LMS has been a big part of the change of my teaching, it allowed for better feedback around a students work. Then came the online apps changes, this has allowed commenting within students work, and better feedback -feedforward. 

Working with other departments to help make learning and assessment easier to manage. Developing systems to assist to help the learner show evidence, as well as for the teacher so assessment is not so onerous. 

To me its being agile within my teaching, working with other teachers, not just in your school, but also in other schools. Developing partnerships. It is through these partnerships where you challenge the current thinking that you get to work with industry and dare I say the Ministry of Education. 

What does innovation in your school look like?
Innovation at HPSS, this is part of our schools motto, Innovate. Engage. Inspire.

These are also the goals that our appraisal is around.

This year you will be constructing three personal professional learning goals based around our principles:

Innovate through personalising learning

Personalising learning by meeting the needs of diverse learners e.g. Differentiation Universal Design for Learning Self directed learning Blended learning Culturally Responsive Pedagogy

Engage through powerful partnerships

Evidence of powerful partnerships being developed e.g. Strong teacher and student and whanau learning relationships Appropriate and responsive co or team teaching strategies Opportunities to connect with their wider community Critical friendship - observation and feedback Open to learning conversations Restorative Practice (being a warm and demanding hub coach)

Inspire through deep challenge and inquiry

Evidence of students being inspired through deep challenge and inquiry e.g. Students being supported, challenged and extended in their learning Use of SOLO Use of Learning Design Model / Inquiry Learning Learning area expertise / literacy and numeracy across curriculum

Personalising learning

Personalising learning is a strategy focusing all of the schools resources to ensure that the potential of each learner is realised by ensuring that the learning experience is appropriate to them personally and that they are able, with support, to decide what they learn, how they learn, when they learn and who they learn it with. 

Personalising Learning is about strengthening the link between teaching and learning engagement. 

Personalising learning recognises that the quality of learning is shaped by learners’ experiences, characteristics, interests and aspirations. High quality teaching explicitly builds on learner needs – as well as on high expectations and good subject knowledge. 

Personalised Learning puts children and their needs first. The distinctive feature of the pedagogy of Personalising learning is the way that it expects all pupils to reach or exceed expectations, feel fulfilled and achieve success. 

Personalised Learning maximises personal potential. We personalise learning so that...

• Everyone get the chance to be the best they can
• Everyone gets the chance to have high quality teaching that is responsive to their needs 
• Everyone gets the chance to have an educational path that takes into account their needs, interests and aspirations 
• Everyone’s integrity, dignity and validity is respected 
• Everyone thinks about and presents their knowledge in different ways 

Personalised learners… 

• Are engaged with learning and the life of the school 
• Take responsibility for his or her own learning and behaviour 
• Show independence in, and having control over, learning
• Enjoy confidence in oneself as a learner 
• Display maturity in all relationships, marked by mutual respect.

Are the innovations in your school amplifying learning? If so - how?
This is from our Principal, Maurie, A case in point is when we were settling on our innovative approach to NCEA which is largely to skip NCEA L1 and set our students on a 2 year journey to a quality NCEA L2. Having our 14-15 year olds ploughing through 120+ credits towards NCEA L1 did not allow us to ensure our students were inspired by deep challenge and inquiry as it promoted surface coverage to get through so many credits. Because it could not pass through this filter our moral purpose required us to think differently.

I have a Qualification SPIN, which is two 80 minute blocks a week, through this I am covering design through digital media. The students have been working on web development and image manipulation. Normally I would run this for 6 weeks and then assessment. As I am only focussing on one achievement standard, I can delve into it deeply, I am not rushing through, I am allowing students time to develop and create portfolio's of evidence, rather than a single shot assessment. This is allowing students to learn from failure, be creative in their designs and application of the tools and techniques. Which in terms of the learning allows for quality work to be produced. One of the students is a priority learner, it also means that I am working on personalising his learning, which is allowing him to develop a digital media and print media outcome. It is working towards his needs, still along the school theme for term one around identity, rather than the school identity, it is his own identity.

How is digital technology supporting innovation in your school?
I am going with the ideas of the Core Education 2013 trend of ubiquitous, http://www.core-ed.org/thought-leadership/ten-trends/ten-trends-2013/ubiquitous-learning.

Social:
Social media
always on, always connected

Technology:
mobile technologies
cloud computing
online services
UFB access
wireless

Educational
Learning works best in the right context and the right time. Ubiquity helps learning be right there.

We have bring your own device, this allows for the learner and the teacher to use different activities to allow for different learning needs. Rather than one activity for all learners. It allows for the personalisation and differentiation in learning.

We also have the platform, no, not the same computer for event student, but hobsonline, this allows for a one place for students to goto to access their learning needs. 

Where do the tensions/challenges lie if any?

For me, its the challenge from the traditional, I know its hard to explain, but one of my titles at a previous school was ICT Innovator, I was always looking at what is happening next, having that future focus look. The challenge was from the people that are not. 

Developing ideas for space and place

It has been a busy week, through my travels last week I brought a sphero, inside it was this notebook. One of the things that I liked was the Design process that is listed

ASK // What are the problems? What are the constraints?

IMAGINE // Brainstorm Ideas. Choose the best one. 

PLAN // Draw a diagram. Gather needed materials.

CREATE // Follow the plan. Test it out.

IMPROVE // Brainstorm improvement. Make changes.

When I saw this, I though of our own Learning Design Process.

It has become more important for me as I enter the second year at HPSS that I use the words to help develop students understanding of a common language.

As I start to develop my foundation SPINS for term 2, an ideas was put forward from a staff member to help develop the theme of Space and Place.

The museum Following this conversation, you begin your tour of the school with the mentor at your side, providing a running commentary and introduction to its key features. First, you walk back through the museum. The mentor explains that the museum is one of the most important parts of the school as it is a place for capturing and building a shared history. Each museum in each school is different: some reflect the industrial histories of the area, others a particular event and its causes, others specialize in a particular fi eld from botany to nuclear engineering. The purpose of the museum is central to the work of a future-building school, the mentor argues, because the museum makes visible that the world hasn’t always and won’t always be like it is today. 

The museum, says the mentor with a hint of melodrama, releases us from ‘the tyranny of the present’. It is a space where the other possible futures that might have emerged are made visible, where the uncertainty and contingency of each discovery is made apparent, where the struggles people had to go through for each scientific breakthrough, each piece of legislation, each new work of art, are presented. History, these museums show, is not a simple progression of inevitable change, but a site of debate, contestation and choice. These museums show how things have been different in the past, they provide a record and a collective memory of other ways of doing things, they provide a resource for confronting new situations. They are a commitment to remembering and nurturing different ways of living in the world. 

The museum ‘exhibits’ are often objects that are annotated with different historical accounts. Produced by the students either with new research that challenges them, or with greater discussion of the period, the exhibits often have alternative history simulations attached to them, crafted beautifully by the students, showing how a different decision at a key moment might have led to a different trajectory for social change. Some of the most annotated artefacts are those associated with the great war of 2020 that many children have a fascination for – surely it would have been easy to avoid this, they argue. Each annotation, each alternative simulation becomes part of the museum’s own resources, accessible not only by the school community but by the wider world. One corner of each museum in every school is also dedicated to the ‘museum of uninteresting objects’, which is wholly curated by the primary children, who are challenged to bring in an object that is of absolutely no interest at all; objects don’t usually last long, the mentor says, as the school’s members are usually pretty quick to point out something of interest in everything. This part of the museum, again, says the mentor, is important in encouraging students to look at things differently, to make the familiar strange, which is a core component of the future-building school.

An except from Learning Futures, Education, Technology and Social Change by Keri Fisher.

So I plan to have students investigate virtual or augmented reality ideas and develop skills to incorporate them into their projects. 

The second SPIN around the theme of Space and Place is to look at develop skills in Digital Media, to use our community as the context. We have a number of new initiatives on the point, so having the students developing a webpage to display content that they have created, edited and developed will be an important part.  The idea is for students to develop skills. 

Floortime is one that allow skills to be developed, outside the classroom of assessment? 

For the floortime I am co-teaching with another learning area, so technology and art together. The idea is to learn about the Battle for our birds. http://www.doc.govt.nz/our-work/battle-for-our-birds/

Now the issue is food supply and the abundance of it during a "mast". This is when the beech seeds drop onto the forest floor, http://www.doc.govt.nz/our-work/battle-for-our-birds/beech-mast/

The idea is for students to develop various native birds and introduced species and add a form of movement to them using electronics. I have an entire page in my book of notes that I have written up while planning this tonight, so I can go back to the teacher and present my idea and listen to the changes that they would like introduced to be able to cover the skills in their area. I think this is what I am liking about HPSS, is the co-teaching, not being SILO'd out. Being able to learn from others and develop the principles of HPSS. 

One of the parts that I like is how it fits into the theme of space and place.

The question now remains, how have I fitted in with the guiding principles of Floortime?

The guiding principles of Floortime are:
FloorTime replaces MyTime. It remains a time where students have greater freedom of time and teachers are encouraged to be as creative and responsive as possible.

Guiding Principles for all FloorTime modules

• All sessions are as flexible and responsive as possible
• All FloorTimes would be vertical (Year 9-11 together)
• Teachers will offer engaging pop-ups based on interests and needs
• Students are encouraged to be self-directed as appropriate
• Students are encouraged to run pop-ups based on interests of students in the group

Standards creep towards year 10

I had this come through my email the other day,

I notice that students in Year 10 may now be able to gain some NCEA credits in Dance and Drama ( Maths and English credits have been offered for several years at Year 10). 

Is this a trend. Are we disadvantaged as a subject if we don't follow suit? Is this even a good idea? I see Hobsonville Point is doing the opposite - removing NCEA Level 1... 

Views?

After the initial shock of the email, and the want to type out something rather quick, I thought I would wait to see how the discussion went... also there is a 5 hour flight between Adelaide and Auckland

We have added a very simple 2 credit Unit standard as its being required by SLT. US25659.

Above was the content from the next email, hang on, what does he mean required by SLT? So the question went back?

It was for all departments 

I think the underlying reason is to increase pass rates for NCEA Level 1. Also to give students early exposure to NCEA. Its been going for 3 or 4 years now .

I would have to say I was stunned, "I think the underlying reason...?"
The thread went one for a bit more, more teachers talked about what they are doing at year 10 around assessment, more Unit Standards were talked about.
My reply is below

While I find the conversation that is happening incredible at present, it has raised both joy and sadness. The ideas around creative programs that build on curriculum and dispositions. The sadness is around some of the offering of standards that are being used to support these programs. I have had to think about what is the expectation that is being pushed on teachers by senior leaders. That has been why my replies have been around understanding of the impact of these ideas, some of which I am still working out to understand as there maybe a lack of my understanding. 

I am seeing standards that are around second change learners. Is this really the best offering for students? 

Is it good assessment practice by offering students a unit standard at year 10? 

Is offering students a unit standard at year 10 preparing them best for the learning required at ncea level one? Do students see the amount of work involved in a 2 credits unit standard that the only grade of achieved as an academic equivalent of another subjects achievement standard where the grades can work towards merit and excellence? 

Is this developing the best outcomes for the students? 

Is this starting towards a mentality of is this worth credits?

Is this helping with student wellbeing? 

What is the key driver for this change? 

Many would be asking what standard would could be offered to students at year 10, what does the student voice say? Part of me would like to see a conceptual or prototype standard that works towards students being able to critically reflect about their work, being able to communicate with others and developed through an understanding of learning. If it was to be a digital technologies standard, digital information skills, or digital media skills, however I would want to look at the knowledge based standards and limit the amount of words for each answer, similar to the idea that Julie put out last year around developing one of the knowledge based standards, give students the practical based skills, as well as evidencing the academic requirement of the subject.

Yes, at Hobsonville Point Secondary school we are looking at a 2 year qualifications pathway for our year 11 and year 12 students. 20 credits at level one and 60 credits at level 2. It does have its challenges and new learning that is taking place. I look forward to the end of this year and the exploration of what courses might look like during the next stage of learning.

While the conversation goes on,  One of the interesting emails included;

Last year our school ditched all standards at Year 10. Reasons for this:
- Student wellness.
- If one subject has credits available at year 10 that puts pressure on all subjects to offer them.
- We have no issue with NCEA Achievement so no need to fit early credits in.

I thought it needed something else using one of the resources that has been developed at school. I especially like the idea of the Kete - portfolio of assessment. The graphic below was created by Heemi.

We have been developing a lot of thinking at school around the ideas of what NCEA is and how we are going to deliver it. Though we have the teachers that have been through the process within other schools working at HPSS. We are also challenging the thinking and ideas of what programmes of learning might be.

This is one of the pieces that we have been working through the narrative with the staff on the ideas of NCEA.

The top section is us looking at what is it that we are trying to work towards, we are looking at it in the way of the bird. The Nga Pirere is the fledgling, Nga Manu is Branching, Kua Rere is the Flight.

The second half is the look of the Kete Aromatawai - the portfolio of assessment, what does this look like for a student.

Through the google group(subject association) it has been explained a number of times that the siloing nature of a students learning has not afforded itself to a classroom teacher being able to have a picture of where a students needs are. I know myself when I was a form tutor as well as a classroom teacher that I accessed the Student Management System to see where a students learning was at. Many times the students did not know themselves where they were at. Even with portals and NZQA a number of credits are not normally entered until the end of the year due to the nature of the subject or have been held due to the schools trying to get students to not look at credit counting or due to having moderation of grades before hand. This is tricky as a number of students, those that are going down the non academic pathways don't see the achievement of their work until too late. Even students that used the apps or keep notes usually had some credits wrong as what they were told in class is different to what has been published.

One person provided an example of not knowing where he was at within his own learning when he was at school on the group. He then found out he was at 144 credits in level one. Are students now are looking at the quality of credits, rather then the quantity of credits. With the ideas that came out in this thread, this was also the case. How can we be delivering quality credits? How is the structure of schools that are aiming for academic success developing pathways for students? How are the other 70% of students being catered for.

These are things that are constantly in our minds. What does a Kete aromatawai look like for the students in your class? How full is the kete and what would it look like for someone outside of school?

Though I am not a parent, I do not have a record of learning that I can look at and see, what does one look like for a student that has gone through a course that has a mixture of achievement standards and unit standards?

Maybe this could be a good teaching as inquiry topic?

hak

This came across my twitter feed tonight. To me it signalled a major issues that I have been dealing with years through my teaching. That is why did people not like it when I haked. I always looked for new ideas to improve engagement with learners.
How many processes in school are illogical or outdated, why is it a mission to change these?

Learning

While the learning of the student is important, there is also the learning of the teacher.

This was summed up this week by a post from Maurie, the principal of Hobsonville Point Secondary School. I believe it shows the learning that our teachers at school are going through and explains what their journey is at present. http://principalpossum.blogspot.co.nz/2016/02/others-voices.html

I myself am I going through that Journey. Taking up a leadership role this year. The Learning Design Leader of Technology.

Over the weekend I attended the subject association committee meeting and contributed towards the discussions. Many of these are the same that happen at each new committee. How to develop a regional based structure, as well as Professional Development of the members.
It was interesting when I listened to the conversation, around how to develop regional based participation, the word clusters kept coming up. This causes many confusion of what a cluster is, we now have cluster of schools, clusters of teachers. The idea that has merit is one of Hubs. Considering how we have Learning Hubs at school, we need to develop what these regional Hubs will be focussed around, and who will lead the Hub. This will be developed as we go on through the year, but first thing, who is in each Hub? Have we got the areas sorted?

That night saw conversations with a cousin, who is into supporting youth through scouting. The ideas of dispositions and developing these as part of the scouting curriculum is of interest to me. It is great to see various students at school interested in scouting and talking about it with us teachers. The ideas around the slackline development as I talked about in my previous post came from his ideas. We are now developing a shared understanding of the lingo used. I also handed over the 12 GPS units that I used to support the Get Lost initiative that we ran at school last year for his scouts to learn how to use. Developing mini geocaches where scouts get GPS coordinates to be able to find, that then moves to geocaches around the city. Many talk about how the phones that they use could be used. But there is something in having just a basic tool to do a complex job that makes it unique. Also having conversations about his son's learning and how he is going at school, makes for some interesting conversations in the different way students learn.

Working through on Sunday writing an educational paper with another teacher about a project that we have been developing over the past four years has been one of reflection and challenge.
While writing this paper, it has been amazing the number of ideas and learning that I have taken from Hobsonville Point, and how before I was at the school was developing ideas and context around.
One of the ideas was around how teachers could mentor each other, which I see as the basis of the critical friendship that we have at school. See Ros' post about what this means. http://rosmaceachern.blogspot.co.nz/2015/10/critical-friendships.html

The other is around growth mindset, being open to try new ideas, through searching growth mindset and Hobsonville Point Secondary School I came across Steve Mouldey's blog post which has been the basis of this weeks Hub lessons for me. https://stevemouldey.wordpress.com/2015/03/28/growth-mindset-activities-for-students/

I will have to search the #hpssblog (only just being introduced) more for other ideas I can use in my learning.

Adventurous

At the beginning of extended hub today I asked my students what adventurous meant to them.

Developing the habits and for students to be able to see them not just in school, but in life, is important to us. We spend a great amount of time in Learning Hubs, and developing the relationships with these hubs is important. Without these relationships today would have been a complete fail. Students need to be supportive, give things a go, have trust in each other. 

I have been looking at doing this activity for the last couple of weeks, but weather and other activities have got in the way. Today, though it was hot outside was the perfect day.

Once students entered what adventurous means to them, I showed them this video

Getting students to realise the opportunities and the risks, rules for this were important, only one person on the slackline at a time. We want everyone to try, as well as safe.

Everyone gave it a go, tried different ways to balance, walk the slackline. It was one thing that struck me though, was the support from all the students to walk the slackline with support from a helper. Even though there were many failures, the support was there to try again. Something that I want to see from other areas of their learning.

Yes, even I had to give it a go, I had to demonstrate what would happen, they thought that I was playing shaking the slackline at the start when trying to balance, however with their own experiences they found the same issue. Conversations about breathing that came out of the videos were then had.

Students want to give it a go again, develop their adventerous, I wish to show them this video on where it could lead, but that can wait for another day.

Here are some photos from the activity today

I will end this post with another piece of information, this is from our hub curriculum

Next time, I need another set of post it notes to ask the question, what does adventurous look like?

Things to do next
Developing support, only fingertips to be used.

• Walk the line and hug the pole.
• Swat - two feet on the line get down as low as you can, go past the wobble point
• One foot Balance, 10 seconds
• Walk Backwards
• Bounce (gentle bounce) offload

Hand hold support

• Onload, 30 cm jump, 90 degrees to the line, up and forwards to get on the line, control forward motion
• Side jump

Vocab
Relax and Breath. Try to feel whats happening. And only exercise will stop you from shacking. And
believe it or not: Everyone is shacking with it foot and leg like a lot.
Shacking is when the line wobbles a lot when you try to stand on it.

Thank you to Steve for supporting me in the developing of the ideas.

Evidence for Digital Media Logo assessment

One thing that I keep thinking of is, what does evidence look like of logo development. Through one of the websites that was linked to earlier this week, I found a great tutorial that could help with showing advanced tools, plus I like the way that it was put together at the end.

First thing is first, sketching ideas, this is a great way to use a different space for the students to thinks creativity, something I would world allow them to wok where they wanted, to develop the idea, use the hallway, a breakout space, outside. Whee ever their creativity and imagination is best found. Use a visual diary, of piece of paper on card something that they can scribble over and take photos of or scan. 

I plan on getting my students to use vector based tools, opening then up to a produce outside of photoshop gives them opportunities to develop new learning using concrete information that they may already have.

Through the tutorial I like the way that the author has taken screen shots with brief pieces of information on how they created this. This type of method is shown in the level 3 digital media exemplars where students showed how they created their complex digital media. A tutorial that is published could allow next years students to learn how to develop and create their own ideas. It also helps the students to learn to use knowledge and skills from their other subject like english, to be able to communicate with and audience.

At the end of the tutorial I like the idea of a branding guideline sheet, it helps show the understanding of how the logo, colours, font can work to enhance the print outcome or website and it also informs where some of the unique ideas of the student come from through the exploration of the brand mark.

​ 

The tutorial that I have taken these images and idea from is available at ​http://design.tutsplus.com/articles/creating-a-coffee-house-logo-from-theory-to-vector-in-adobe-illustrator--vector-10709

Wellbeing and a learner

Last year one of the staff challenges at Hobsonville Point Secondary School was wellbeing. 

HPSS Wellbeing Challenge - Term 4 2015

Aim: To develop a wellbeing challenge to encourage staff to look after themselves in Term 4. My initial thinking is to set a focus/challenge each week e.g. drinking more water, try a meditation strategy, get more sunshine, do some exercise, sleep well, reflect etc. Then provide some resources to support each week’s focus and encourage people to complete a weekly gratitude journal entry or reflection.

I have decided that this needs to continue for my own sanity. One of the things that I have seen happening for a number of years has been people putting tie downs between trees and then walking on the tie down. This had some interest, considering I wasn't in the right head space at the time. Now being at HPSS I am looking at new ways to look at our Hobsonville Habits. But the Habits are not just for the students, I believe that they are for us all at HPSS. It is amazing at the conversations that happen between staff, students, support staff that all mention the Habits.

From Sally Hart Blogpost

So why have I included learner in this post as well, I believe to be able to work towards the habits we have to learn. I am working on developing my learning in taking up a new skill, with that will come new knowledge. Doing a number of youtube searches ends up with hours of watching people do the cool things. But what about the beginning, what gear do I need, what resources? Having gathered student voice from the Individual Education Meetings at the beginning of the year with families and students many of them talked about wanting to develop new skills, not just within subjects, but also outside.

Two great sites for getting your slackfline gear,

torpedo7.co.nz

http://www.slacklineshop.co.nz

Beginners slackfline video, 3 steps,  

Having to break down the skills required

1. Foot position

2. Elbows above shoulders

3. What to do and where to look, what to do with your head

Setup at school this afternoon

Had to work out if this is possible at school and make sure it is safe.

Yes, the Health and Safety is important. 

I will be sending out some video ideas to my Learning Hub students, as we work out what a Learning Journal will look like and develop. Can students show ideas for developing their learning and their Habits. Do they understand how the Learning Design Model could be used to help develop the new knowledge and skills.

I look forward to developing my wellbeing, my learning as I myself develop confidence in this with my learning hub students.

Getting to know the learner

This week at HPSS, we have been having Individual Meetings with our parents and students in our Learning Hubs.
This has been a fantastic way to meet the new year 9 students as well as continue to develop relationships with the parents of last years hub students and to get to meet the new hub students and their parents.

Throughout the meeting we have been asking questions, which I have to say have blended themselves ratther well.

What are your interests and passions?
What sports do you play or would like to play?
What are your main strengths?
What do you find difficult?
What are you most worried about?
What are you most looking forward to?
Wht is your favourite learning area(s)?
What was your favourite thing about your previous school?
Parent - Looking forward to / expectations...
Parent - Worried about...
Student aspirations for the future...
Parent - how could/would you like to be involved with what we do?
Ideas for a personal and a learning goal to start the year.
Any other information.

As well as these questions has been information around an EOTC trip next week, checking parents details and the all important module selection booklet.
Getting to know the learner is an important part of what we do, having these meetings at the beginning of the year has helped as I did not get to meet some parents until the end of semester one last year, or through the information night during term one.

Students have yet to know what their timetable looks like, this is happening next week as students return their module selections forms and learning coaches enter it into the system. The main thing to look for around this is choice, learning area coverage.

challenges - competitions developing innovation

Over the past three years there has been an industry run competition that has been run by Orion Health, codeworx.



This was initially started by an idea http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1303/S00798/orion-health-launches-codeworx-to-nurture-future-creators.htm

Computing in schools hasn't always been the most popular subject, and as a result, the talent pool in New Zealand has been limited. Traditionally computing has confined students to being users of software as opposed to being the creators and innovators. However, the advent of the Digital Technologies curriculum is changing this.. New Zealand is a country of innovation – so how can this now be further encouraged in schools? At Orion Health, we believe we have the answer: codeworx. 

codeworx will provide kids with cool prizes for thinking outside of the box and solving real world problems through innovative solutions. As well as this, codeworx will provide an online collaborative forum for you and your students to connect with peers, network with industry experts, and to learn how other students and schools are achieving NCEA standards. 

To kick start the codeworx program and to motivate kids to participate in the new digital technologies achievement standards, Orion Health has launched the 2013 codeworx challenge! Running from February 2013 through to September 2013 and open to every secondary school student in New Zealand, the 2013 codeworx challenge requires participants (individuals and teams) to come up with an innovative programming solution using a Raspberry Pi computer. 

There has been a tsunami of interest in the Raspberry Pi computers worldwide. This credit card sized computer has been a hit in schools in the UK and is beginning to take off in New Zealand. It’s time to jump on the bandwagon! The Raspberry Pi appeals to the tinkerers, the coders, the experimenters…it fits with the New Zealand psyche of innovation. The aim of the codeworx challenge is to ensure students have fun especially whilst achieving NCEA standards for those within the Digital Technologies curriculum. Orion Health would like to provide ten schools with a number of Raspberry Pi computers to get you started with the codeworx challenge. 

A panel of industry experts has been pulled together to judge the competition submissions and the winners will be identified by the end of November.
A number of cool prizes will be up for grabs for individuals and teams, including a summer internship at Orion Health, as well as spot prizes throughout the competition period.

Through this idea, schools registered interest and were sent raspberry pi kits, there is just one problem...



“New Zealand needs more companies like Orion Health”
John Key Oct 2012

On a visit to our Auckland office in 2012 during an address to our staff John Key stated that he believed NZ needs more companies like Orion.

Is he saying we need more ehealth companies? What he is alluding to that if we are as a nation to move into a true knowledge based economy we need a wave of successful tech start ups coming from our university graduates. Where are those graduates going to come from? They’re going to come from you’re high school classes of those sitting right here.

The problem: How do we get teachers to use what is provided?
Teachers are struggling, currently the new NCEA Digital Technologies Level 3 Achievement Standards are being introduced, these are not a refinement of previous Achievement Standards that other subjects are going through. These are new, never been done before. Professional Development is needed. But where is the professional development to support these new Achievement Standards?

In the 2013/2014 holidays 65 teachers respond to a campaign to get a Raspberry Pi so they can learn over the holidays what it can do and offer their students. This is impressive, it allowed teachers to experience the power of the Raspberry Pi.


2014, many teachers encouraged students to sign up for the competition, introduction evenings ran in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland to get teachers to talk to developers about ideas. Videos of industry talking about projects that they have been working on rolled out.

With introductions to ideas from orion health staff

How to setup your pi

Included were some videos highlighting what the company looked like

2015 saw a large number of raspberry pi's given to schools and a large number of entries going by the number of awards that were given out at the end. It has provided a launchpad of a changing nature of the Digital Technologies learning area away from the previous computing subject.

It is unfortunate that there is not a formal announcement of the end of this competition. It has been  been a great initiative that has fulfilled its aim to change the perception of Computer Science in schools and build a pool of talent so desperately needed in the industry.

A big thanks to all the staff involved from Orion Health in the development, marketing, ongoing support of this competition. You have created something that will be dearly missed.

Digital Technologies Education Things to Watch in 2016 - NZ Perspective

I was looking at this and wondered what they would look like within a New Zealand context, http://blog.acthompson.net/2016/01/computer-science-education-things-to.html

Digital Technologies Education Things to Watch in 2016
“It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future.” I was thinking about writing a post with predictions but realised that I’m not smart enough for that. What I do have are some things I think are worth keeping an eye on over the coming year.

Very Inexpensive Computers – There are a growing number of under $20 computers coming on the market. They are being touted as amazing teaching tools but I’m not so sure. We have already had the development of the Raspberry Pi and what difference has that made to teaching and learning in the classroom. If I were to make a prediction I would predict they will not live up to the hype.

BBC:MicroBit – one could argue that this is included in the very inexpensive computer category but I think it deserves to be called out on its own because it is different in some important ways. One is that it is really being rolled out in a huge way. Another is that there are a good number of cool looking tools created for using it. And a third reason is that there is actually being a lot of professional development being provided overseas. Will that be enough to make it really succeed? I don’t know but I’ll be watching from across the pond and so will many other people. Will this work in a New Zealand context, I am hoping so, is it a changer for the way we look at computer programming within schools. Do we need to look at electronics more than developing simple quiz programs?

MOOCs and other Online CS Teaching tools – I expect the evidence to continue to show that these do not increase or broaden participation of girls and minorities. On the other hand, I expect a lot of people to promote them as “the answer.” They are low cost “solutions” to a problem a lot of people in government and education administration want to check of their lists. Saying “it’s available online” helps them avoid spending real money on real teachers and real programs that really work. We’ll see. This I fear will become a replacement for a teacher in the classroom, we already have a number of staffing issues in New Zealand and I have already been asked a number of times to create online course material. Do we need to look at this as filler for a shortage of teachers in the mean time?

Curious Minds, Review of the Positioning of Digital Technologies – Hopefully something will come out this year about how Digital Technologies will look, will it still be within the Technology Learning area but with some separate achievement objectives, or will it be a separate learning area. Will it have a computational thinking process or will it be developed around creativity and innovation? How will adoption go? Will it draw students towards a STEM focus? What will be the popular strands or achievement objectives? How will programming languages go or will it be catered for concepts through Scratch, Blockly and Snap!. Will it include digital media, digital information, electronics and infrastructure? So many questions. I go back and forth in my mind as to how I think they will be answered a year (or year and a half) from now. Keep watching. It’s going to be important.

Python vs Java vs drag vs drop programming – Python has been growing in popularity in New Zealand secondary education for the last several years. Will TouchDevelop make a difference in the coming years. How are schools coping with students that have been using scratch at primary and intermediate, will there need to be a change? How will programming languages like java and python work through the next year? If students are doing python at years 9 and 10, how will they like doing it for another 3 years at 11, 12 and 13?  Could there be a movement to Snap! and similar at years 9 and 10.

Computer Science for Everyone – A lot is going to depend on professional development. Can they recruit and train enough teachers? What will curriculum look like? It’s going to be interesting watching.

Well that is the big six for me. What are you looking to see succeed or fail in 2016? Have I listed your concerns? Do you have predictions or anything else to add? That’s what comments are for.

One outside the box is the Auckland University inclusion of Digital technologies into Table B as of the 2017 enrolment. What will it look like and include. I hope that there is some consideration into all the strands of Digital Technologies.

Nice overview. BBCmicrobit, interestng to see hw it plays out & used. In NZ, I predict mre Y1-8 Ts experimentng w CS https://t.co/aub2FesOfd

— kimberly baars (@MissesArtech) January 2, 2016

Idea around developing identity

One thing that travelling does to me is gets ideas following, the other day I saw this tweet

#PicOfTheDay #201215 'Works End' #NoFilter pic.twitter.com/iNbQI6J2YM

— Malcolm Clarke (@mfcuk2) December 20, 2015

Getting to see regions driving down the country, a number of them have icons to represent trails. This has me thinking about simplicity of design.

Hour of code

Picture of my desk - what does your desk look like during this weeks hour of code.

The New Zealand Curriculum

Makey Makey

Scratch Cards

Rubber Duck

Parity Card trick

Binary Piano

Collabration

Collaboration is key to creating national change. Change not only in curriculum, but in societies understanding of the future needs of the workforce, economic shifts and the opportunity and potential in front of us - especially if we get important leavers in education right. The work that we are doing individually is amazing, but when we come together and find intersections across our programs and partnerships we are able to turn it into something truly magical., with far reaching and lasting impact.

Workhop15

During the term three holidays 48 teachers throughout the country came to Hobsonville Point Secondary School for a two day NZACDITT workshop. 

The workshop started with a look at Hobsonville Point Schools, it provide an opportunity to see what a ILE looks like. Then a quick introduction to Hobsonville Point School, The Learning Design model and Hobsonville Habits(dispositions) provided a backdrop to how the next two days were going to play.

The first workshop went through external achievement standards, with the teachers working in groups to pull apart the external achievement standard,work out what was being asked for, what were the requirements for an achieved, merit and excellence. Then using the markers report and teachers guide worked through the development of a collaborative non examination external report. 

The workshop invited one of the digital technologies NZQA moderators to provide an insight into what is evidence. Working out what is evidence for assessment purposes helped look at different ideas for teachers to do digital internal moderation, as well as what is evidence for digital technologies internal assessments. How can we get the writing down. The ideas and feedback provided some good discussion and a challenge for change.

The Ministry of Education then filled us in on the RAMP review and asked for ideas on what Teaching and Learning Guides could look like for Digital Technologies in the future.

Day two saw the challenge of writing internal assessments. Through the NZQA moderator and NZACDITT president saw examples of assessments, and going through the process of an internal moderation on the assessment task. Using the internal moderation checklist provided teachers an opportunity to collaborate and discuss ideas on why the task passed or failed. Developing internal assessments that meet the requirements of the standard and the Know your students helped teachers collaboratively develop internal assessment tasks that provide opportunities for students using authentic contexts. This was a well received workshop and one that could be run within regions by the conference delegates.

The post it note wall was then actioned, providing some interesting discussion about student numbers, developing assessments, authentic contexts, and making noise to name a few. Through this we also talked about how much feedback can you give for externals to students as a teacher. 

I must say being the workshop convenor and bringing this to the embers was a challenge for me, however having a growth mindset and using the tools that I have seen through other NZACDITT events and hearing the feedback from the delegates that came, I am heartened to have such wonderful teachers teaching the subject. The passion and experience that you brought to the workshop helped make it a success. The beginning teachers in the room were full of praise about the tables that they sat at and hearing first hand about some of the positives and negatives of the strands. They have walked away with a amazing amount of knowledge, and so have you.

Some of the information that went out around the conference, I have heard through emails and conversations on the day that these were some of the best dispositions and that other conferences could do well looking at how to implement similar dispositions.

This workshop is not a sit down and listen workshop. This is about what you put in, it is about resilience, purposeful, reflective and compassion. This mirrors the Hobsonville Point Secondary School Habits (Dispositions) and it is about practicing what one preaches.

Resilience, working with others to co-construct external and internal work and assessments.

Purposeful, staying on task working through with others in the development of a co-constructed external assessment that will be sent away to the NZQA official markers who will provide feedback in a new pilot developed in conjunction with NZQA and NZACDITT around external feedback in the externals.

Reflective, being reflective in the changing nature of students knowledge and skills. Developing ideas for new programmes of learning based on thework that you do in the sessions.

Compassion, working with others to develop new assessments and listening to what they have to say. Challenging when needed, to clarify, but not to judge.

This workshop is geared to be about working out the answers to your questions together rather than hoping for that silver bullet solution. Because there is no silver bullet solution.

Again, thank you for the fantastic two days. Keep the lanyard in sight and think about what you can do for your region.

Is Auckland University growing up?

Yesterday at the CS4HS Conference in Canterbury, there was a major announcement.

Ever since Digital technologies was developed and being delivered in schools there has always been an issue for Auckland teachers. It will not be considered an academic subject because it does not appear on the University of Auckland's Table A and Table B.

What is this Table A and Table B?

For entrance to some University of Auckland qualifications, you need to have completed subjects listed in Tables A and B below. Check the subjects required for your proposed programme against the 'Discretionary Entrance: Subject, credit and other requirements' table below.

Remember, a minimum of four subjects in total is required. Some programmes have no Table A or Table B requirements (eg, Bachelor of Arts)—in that case, you are free to choose any subjects from the NZQA list approved for University Entrance.

Table A	Table B
Classical Studies English Geography History History of Art Te Reo Māori OR Te Reo Rangatira	Accounting Biology Chemistry Economics Mathematics Physics

Copied from https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/about/admission-and-enrolment/ae-undergraduate-students/ae-entry-requirements/ae-domestic-students/ae-discretionary-entrance.html

I do realise that not everyone goes to Auckland University. That there are other Universities, http://oneteachersview.blogspot.co.nz/2015/09/an-open-letter-to-nz-universities.html and how they treat Digital technologies.

However, this post is more about the announcement

Digital Technologies being recognised at Auckland Uni

Hot off the press, we've just heard that:

Digital Technologies will likely soon be accepted as a "Table B" subject for admission into the University of Auckland, pending Council approval and the provision of satisfactory curriculum data.  It has made it through Senate and we're confident it'll eventually be enacted.

This means that, subject to final ratification, the University of Auckland will be finally recognising Digital Technology at NCEA school level as suitable for meeting the academic requirements of entry into many restricted-entry courses.

As you may or may not know, Table B contains the "academic" subjects that are accepted by Auckland University for restricted-entry courses. It currently consists of the main maths subjects, the traditional sciences (Biology, Chemistry and Physics), accounting and economics. Parents often see this as a defacto "worthy academic subjects" list, rightly or wrongly. 

Big ups to Tim Bell and others who have pushed for this along with IITP for a number of years, and for strong support from the Auckland University Computer Science department and Science faculty.

Now I wonder when we will see this...

Table A	Table B
Classical Studies English Geography History History of Art Te Reo Māori OR Te Reo Rangatira	Accounting Biology Chemistry Economics Mathematics Physics Digital technologies

Computer skills recognised as key for tertiary study

08 December 2015

Success at NCEA level in a new computing related achievement standard now counts towards admission to the University of Auckland and is endorsed for study across the University, it was announced today.

Up to now, NCEA Level 3 credits in Digital Technologies have not been included on the list of subjects considered best preparation for study at university level, particularly in science and engineering. 

Dean of Science Professor John Hosking says today’s decision acknowledging digital skills and knowledge as increasingly important across a wide range of study areas marks an important change for students, parents and schools.

It sent a clear signal to schools on what the University considers the most suitable preparatory subjects for admission to many Bachelor programmes, he says.

“Literacy in computer technologies and a fluent understanding of the digital world not only provides a strong foundation for tertiary study but the University recognises that it has become a core employable skill.

“I welcome the addition of Digital Technologies to the list of subjects we believe are of prime academic importance for success at tertiary level.”

The addition of NCEA Digital Technologies has been welcomed by the IT industry.

“This is a very significant step towards transforming Digital Technologies into a strong academic area with the potential to attract top students into related areas,” says Institute of Information Technology Professionals CEO Paul Matthews.

“It’s also a critical step in addressing high-level shortages within the industry and signally the importance of tertiary study in this field.”

Recent changes in the computing curriculum for NCEA, in consultation with universities, has resulted in a revised curriculum for Digital Technologies. The new curriculum progresses from Level 1 studies to Level 3. Level 3 NCEA Digital Technologies includes database creation and management and an introduction to networking and programming skills

The University’s Department of Computer Science has a new Stage 1 course which builds on the Digital Technologies curriculum and allows students entry to an accelerate pathway if they have completed NCEA level 3 in the subject.

“The Faculty of Science will be strongly recommending Digital Technologies for all science students,” Professor Hosking says.

pushing

I have been thinking about the work that I have bene doing over the past number of years, and it has dawned on me that I want to get back to some of the developments I was working on a number of years ago. I have put a lot of time and effort into developing programming and computer science in the schools I have been in. To this extent I feel that I need to relook at what I am delivering to students.

I am not dropping programming and computer science, I believe it has its place in the curriculum and well deserved.  Instead I need to relook at Digital Information and Digital Media. Sitting down on the lawn on Tuesday night I was talking with some people that have been looking at firebase and parse. I started to wonder what have I missed.

It is not that I have missed anything, it is that technologies are now moving forward away from the mysql databases of old through to realtime database development and being able to show new items without the need for a page refresh.

So what does this mean for me. Excitement, as well as opportunties to grow my knowledge and skills. Having already done the tutorial I now have a real time chat client that runs. Could this be the backchannel in classrooms.
I have some more ideas as well. Though one thing I have been looking at are web frameworks that could be used to support this. Polymer looks to be a good web framework that would allow for the development of web applications. Just need to find a way to learn a bit more.

Though one thing is for certain, digital media will look differently for me next year.

Getting back to Juniors

This year has seen a large change in what I have focussed on. Getting used to a Innovate Learning Environment and using Innovate Learning Practices. But what it has also allowed me to do is focus on Juniors. We have no senior students really this year. It has allowed me to rethink my ideas about what Junior Technology programs allow and what can be done with them. I have not been bogged down with the issues of NCEA for my students, it has been something that has been on my radar to do for a while is to rethink what junior technology programs might look like with the changes now implemented to NCEA Technology and Digital technologies. What might these look like in the future?.

At the junior levels we are developing an understanding of the three strands of Technology, we are not getting them to write a university paper.
I have students developing skills and understanding through their work, but not all of it is written, getting students to develop their ideas and present them to me through one on one conversations. Group Conversation, Now I know what others are saying, Oh, where is the time... We have changed the timetable to allow that, developing new ideas in how to present. Why is it always an individual piece of work that is being assessed, why can't it be a group piece. I have students working on a greenwall as part of sustainability at the moment, they have looked at inquiry, planning and collaboration through technological modelling. The report and the feedback are around how they have worked as a group. Not an individual. How have the communicated their ideas, not how well have they done individual planning, because half the time that has been done by the teacher in the first place. How do we get students developing the concepts of the strands when everyone talks about being time poor. Lets get creative, I love the ideas that come through this group about change. When I asked about what the does the future of the subject look like, great ideas, but why are we talking about these as a future, why are they not a now.

Students have the technology at hand, they are sitting in front of them every digital technologies class. BYOD, mobile phones, photos, videos are all valid forms of evidence.

I know a number of people will be frustrated at what I have written here. But I am frustrated. We need to be thinking smarter, and getting our students prepared for a world that is under change. Not for something that existed in 2007.

All the strands can be covered through digital technologies, but it doesn't mean that you have to spend an entire term covering that one strand.
Tech modeling could be being done through a digital media outcome. I currently have students creating paper prototypes for an app to support their PE class in which they are working towards action, developing through a couple of lessons.
Technological systems through programming and computer science.
Get a student to develop a program will require some form of planning and brief development. For example.

They are not in depth NCEA assessments, it is around using teacher judgement around the indicators of progression. It is around developing and knowledge to support the students learning and understanding. And they have fun doing it. Getting a student doing paper prototypes had them talking, collaborating, seeking feedback for an hour and a half, they want to continue developing prototypes next week developing the functional reasoning behind there design, as well at the practical reasoning. Using http://popapp.in 

We do not have specific year 9 classes, we call them the foundation years where year 9 and 10 are together in all classes and work towards different curriculum levels on where they are at.

Topics we cover
The whole school works under a theme for the term. Here is what we are covering each term for the next two years;
2016 Term One - Identity - Identity of Design, Principles & Elements of Design
2016 Term Two - Space/Place - Innovation & Ideation
2016 Term Three - Citizenship - Characteristics of Technology
2016 Term Four - How Things Work - Technological Systems
2017 Term One - Culture/Diversity - Outcome Development & Evaluation
2017 Term Two - Relationships - Technological Products
2017 Term Three - Innovation - Brief Development
2017 Term Four - Transformation - Technological Modelling

Many teachers outside the school talk about the issues of teaching technology, its not fun...
As for fun stuff,

• my fun stuff has been brief development where students developed a brief for new training equipment to develop a skillset in PE. (no specific requirement on any tech area)
• my fun stuff has been technological modelling where students have been developing ideas around an app for developing skills with the primary school students years 4-6
• my fun stuff has been technological outcomes were students made a stop motion video around relationships for visual text through an english context.
• my fun stuff has been elements of design creating graphic novels through an english context. 
• my fun stuff has been digital information using documents and sheets
• my fun stuff have been digital media photoshop looking at students photo editing skills, collage development and incorporating mixed media to support the ideas required for level one.
• my fun stuff has been sketchup recreating building around the hobsonville point for historical purposes.
• my fun stuff has been developing a technological outcome for 5 years through scratch
• my fun stuff has been programming through ardunio using the mindkits brainboard develop prototypes
• my fun stuff has been programming through python to develop games through technological systems
• my fun stuff has been digital information, creating guess who through mysql console for technological modelling.
• my fun stuff has been digital media through developing simple websites using notepad++ through outcome development.
• my fun stuff has been teaching students about algorithms, human computer interfaces, data representation which has covered a lot of technological systems.

A lot of this has taken place from the student voice we get from the students, as well as conversations that I have with students in the modules. What is it that they want to get out of school, from the area. Where will this take them. I look forward to what the students will be doing in the next couple of years with the knowledge and skills that they have obtained through technology and digital technologies.