Education - where are we going and why?

 Over the last few weeks there have been a number of articles and books that have come my way about education in general and where we are heading. It's something I have been in the midst of for a long time, looking at change and how the system is working, or not. I feel very strongly about this and every time a new article comes my way I read it and am sitting here going yes, yes, but how can we get others to do the same thing?

I think we would all agree that the current system of education does not fit everyone, there will never be a one size fits all, but the question is, when are we going to change what we are doing so we cater for more of our young people. I wrote a blog about this in 2018 - nothing seems to have changed in that time and I wonder when, or if, anything will. There seem to be a bunch of people keen to move forward, but then a group definitely keen to stay put, or even go backwards! One of the podcasts I listened to this week even comments on the way the NCEA changes that are currently in progress are actually taking us back a step. This podcast is a conversation with Bevan Holloway, the founder of SMATA, ex HOD of English at Wellington Girls College. This podcast talks about the concept of 'play' in a secondary school and the experiences that schools can offer that challenge what many would consider traditional secondary school. Well worth a listen. It reminded me of my blog around the Lifelong Kindergarten - play being an important part of learning at any age.

I think that the education system that has been around in the same format for a very long time has not kept up with what students or the current employment system needs. There is a great blog by Robin Sutton published this week about this very thing - I love the title:

Our educational purpose: compliant economic units, or creative human beings?

He says "There was a general view that education didn’t meet the needs of the group of young people who are most at risk." I believe we have known this for a while but not all schools are trying to do anything radical about it and when they do, they are often slammed for being too radical, or not focusing on the qualifications at the end.

Derek Wenmoth's Futuremakers blog Pedagogy of Compliance talks about our actual system of schooling and Frederick Taylor's pedagogy vs John Dewey. It gives a good background of how we got to where we are but also challenges us to move forward and make change, to take risks and to move forward. Derek is always writing about the future and what we could be doing and his Futuremakers site has more to read on this very topic. I look forward to his blogs -  I read them and say yes, yes, yes....

As the world is slowly moving on from Covid19 there have been many articles around changing the education system to better cater for needs of students. Many young people excelled by working from home - others wanted to be in a school environment. It brings up many questions about what we are wanting to achieve and how students learn. Time to revolutionize our education system is an article around schooling in Massachusetts but is relevant to us in New Zealand as well. It challenges educators to:

 "create the conditions necessary to meet students where they are, and move toward student-centered, whole-learner approaches that are trauma-informed and more responsive to individual students’ needs."

So, where to from here?

The system needs to change. This will not happen overnight, but we can make it happen, one small step at a time. Keep pushing those boundaries, keep challenging each other, keep sharing information and ideas so we can move forward.

Books - Autism Spectrum Disorder in Aotearoa New Zealand: Promising practices and interesting issues

The holidays give me time to read some books, some for pleasure and some for work. Over the last week or so I have been reading Autism Spectrum Disorder in Aotearoa New Zealand: Promising practices and interesting issues edited by Jill Bevan-Brown and Vijaya Dharan. This book caught my attention before Christmas while looking through the University Bookshop in Dunedin with my friend Tara. She and I found a wide range of educational books there and we may or may not have purchased a large number of them - woops.... So I thought as I read them I would give a bit of a summary which may inspire a few others to read them as well. 

I really liked that this book is based on New Zealand practice. It shows practices of NZ kaiako and educational professionals who use Evidence-based practice (EVP) and implement interventions for those with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in the classroom. Overall the book has some great interventions and tips for dealing with the 1 in a 100 students who are diagnosed with ASD. It also has a lot of tips specifically for Māori students and talks about components of culturally responsive evidence based practice, referencing Sonja Macfarlane's work. There are also some great links throughout the book to websites that can be used for more in depth research. I have done a quick note about each chapter to give an idea of what information is available in this really practical book and added a few links for more information about each topic.

Part 1 - Interventions

Chapter 1 - Using an adapted SCERTS framework with a 4-year-old - Anna Christie

SCERTS stands for Social Communication, Emotional Regulation, Transactional Supports. This chapter has descriptions and case studies about how it can be used in the classroom, building competency in each of the three areas by using strengths and interests.

Chapter 2 - Picturing the future: A video modelling package - Tracy Watkin

This is based around Albert Bandura's Social Cognitive Learning Theory which is about behaviour acquisition through imitation. The idea is that an individual learns a behaviour by watching a video of a demonstration of that behaviour. It also talks about Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development which talks about a "more knowledgeable other".

Chapter 3 - The development of a Makaton resource for Samoan children - Heather Polson

Makaton is a signing system for hearing but can also be used for communication and learning differences. It uses sign and speech together as a bridge to verbal communication. This supports the idea that the preferred learning option for many individuals with ASD is visual rather than verbal.

Chapter 4 - Social Scripts: SpongeBob helps Sam - Tangi Jackson-Ross

There are lots of different social narratives - statements, comments and questions individuals can use in social situations they find difficult. This one is focussed around SpongeBob Squarepants where the author wrote scripts with illustrations for a child to help them with having a conversation or to deal with different situations.

Chapter 5 - Colourful semantics: An approach for teaching literacy and communication to children with ASD - Dervla Hayes

This chapter was about using colour coding to show the structure of a sentence. It is a possible intervention to show how language works, but not necessarily for Māori due to the sentence structure being different. This is based on the Colourful Semantics approach by Alison Bryan.

Chapter 6 - TEACCH in a New Zealand regular classroom setting - Sharon Ketter

TEACCH stands for Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication-handicapped Children. It is a strengths based approach based on structured teaching. This chapter gives examples in writing and mathematics, using the individual's strengths to teach them to work independently in the classroom. It is highly individualised and is based on the premise that:

If an individual with an autism spectrum disorder is not learning a skill or behaviour that we seek to develop, then we are not learning from them and we are not modifying our instructional tactics to their needs effectively. (Powers et al., 2011, p. 86)

Chapter 7 - Creating a social skills toolkit - Fran Dawson

This includes a Functional Behaviour Assessment, musically and electronically adapted Social Stories, video modelling. An example is of a group making a song and video about keeping their hands to themselves.

Chapter 8 - Pivotal response training for individuals with ASD - June Chiaroni

This was about enabling ASD students to respond to naturally occurring learning opportunities and build on their own interests. Parental involvement was very important. Lots of choices were available to students. For examples in literacy they had a choice of seat, a choice of pencil, marker or ballpoint, a choice of writing in a book, on coloured paper or on a computer. A lot of this is drawn from an Autism Internet Module on pivitol response training (which I suggest anyone with an interest in ASD signs up to and does some courses - free).

Chapter 9 - The Ziggurat Model in planning interventions for students with ASD - Jenny Tippett

This model has 5 heirachical levels that all need to be  addressed for intervention. Sensory and biological, reinforcement, structure and visual/tactile supports, task demands and skills to learn. These are all unpacked in this chapter and a case study example is given.

Part 2 - Issues

Chapter 10 - The role of culture - Jill Bevan-Brown and Alexandrina Moldovanu

This chapter is about how culture has influence on how ASD is viewed. In some cultures the symptoms of ASD may be ignored or not noticed as they are considered 'normal' behaviours or may be seen just as a  'naughty child'. There is also discussion about how interventions developed in the Western world are not always appropriate in other cultures. A very strong message that it is important to listen to and be guided by parents.  Bevan-Brown's three-step stairway to cross cultural competence is also mentioned. This is about understanding one’s own culture first, about the influence of the Pākehā culture on the New Zealand education system second, and third, about recognising the necessity to increase our own knowledge of the cultural background of the students.

Chapter 11 - Narrative assessments: Inclusive educational 'selfies' - Natalie Paltridge

Narrative assessments or learning stories can be used to show progressions, depth or ideas for next learning steps. They are used widely in Early Childhood, but not always at other levels. A good discussion in the chapter about how we perceive, apply and use assessment. I do like this quote:

Assessing everyone in the same way will not meet the needs of all students.

A reminder that is assessments are to be meaningful, they need to be student-centered and responsive to each student's learning needs. 

Chapter 12 - Dual diagnosis of deafness and ASD - Sharyn Gousmett

This chapter discusses the challenges and implications of this diagnosis. 12% of children with a hearing loss have some form of disability and a further 12% are thought to have an unconfirmed disability. One thing that jumped out at me was not having a diagnosis until later in life meant that students  "missed out on vital opportunities for intervention support". Early intervention needs to happen at age 2 or 3 and it can make a big difference.

Chapter 13 - Sensory therapies and interventions for individuals with ASD - Julianne Swanepol

A few approaches are described in this chapter. A sensory diet, where there are scheduled activities that can be integrated into a day. The ALERT programme which helps to recognise what those with ASD need to do the help themselves adjust to different situations. Handle Therapy, by Judith Bluestone, which is current not available in NZ. The chapter also has information about a Sensory room and how this works. There are a lot of resources at the end of this chapter as well.

Chapter 14 - PATH: Planning alternative tomorrows with hope - Alison Browning

This chapter was about planning transitions from school to the world. Some key issues were discussed. Transition should be over 5 years from age 14 where students would be introduced gradually to community based learning until their final year of school which should be mainly in a community context. 

I really enjoyed reading this book. I learnt a bit more about some different interventions and it reinforced what I already knew. Some things that went through all of these chapters are:

Getting to know your students is most important

Consultation with the person with ASD and their whānau is so important

The need for programmes to be individualised

Interventions are all built on interests

Interventions should be used with ALL children

You need a sound knowledge of ASD characteristics and strategies

More learning - there is always more to learn

Bring on the next book.

Boma Workshop - September

 Our last full day workshop was held at the beginning of the school holidays. The year seems to have gone so quickly and I still have so much to do on my project. My goal for the day was to get another page complete on my website and to get more feedback on what I have been doing.

My project has come out of my passions for all learners being able to be catered for in a classroom, and to help support kaiako to do this. As kaiako we are time poor and often just wish that there was a simple way to get access to information rather than troll through a million websites and read a ton of information, most of which is not relevant. My goal is eventually to turn this project into a VR/AR app that people can use to experience what it is like to be neurodiverse, but also to have overlays to show how things can be changed easily to make a difference. As that was a fairly full on project, I cut back to a website to start with, to get some ideas down and to start on this path. Interestingly enough, my new job (Learning Support Coordinator at Papanui High School) slots right into this project so I will be keen to flesh it out more once I am there. Meanwhile I am giving those of you that read my blog the opportunity to have a look at the work in progress and if you can find  a bit of time, I'd love some feedback. 

We had a short workshop on the inner critic today. I loved this poem that was read to us at the beginning:

Our Greatest Fear —Marianne Williamson

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.

There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other

people won't feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of
God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.

The inner critic in us often stops us from being the best that we can. It also feeds into the imposter syndrome. This is where you feel like you are not qualified enough or not worthy of what you are doing. Many famous people have spoken out about it, including Meryl Streep who said "Why would anyone want to see me again in a movie?" You can read a bit more in this article about how to overcome imposter syndrome. 

Fear doesn't go away but it can hold us back from what we could do. This safety mechanism is great when we are in danger, but not so good when we are not. We still need to take risks and make change without being guided by this inner critic. 

So what can we do to help conquer this? We can notice and label it first. Know that the little voice is just that, just a voice. Say that "my inner critic says I can't do it" rather than saying you personally say you can't do it. Be compassionate - your inner critic is trying to keep you safe, just say thanks to it but do what you want anyway. Remove the inner critic from the scene. I believe I have boxes, like compartments in my brain, so I would put it in one of those - and shut the lid. We want to be able to tap into our inner mentor - the older, wiser version of the critic and grow into this version. 

We had some good discussion around what our inner critic said to us and what we could achieve if we didn't listen to it. We mustn't let our inner critic hold us back from doing the amazing things we are capable of.

The rest of the day was dedicated to doing work on our projects and getting feedback. We had a group of last years Boma Fellows in during the afternoon as well as some of the Christchurch Airport staff.  I changed quite a lot of things as the day went on and have been working hard this week to get it to a state that I feel I can send out. There are so many other things I want to add eventually but have to keep it simple for now. I did appreciate all of the feedback though and it certainly made me think about how things look and what is really needed. Hopefully with more feedback and time it will just keep getting better and better.

My goals before our next meetup:

Complete the website for feedback (tick)

Re do and refocus my pitch - we have a presentation in November, that's not far away now.

Get feedback (write a feedback form - tick) and adjust my site

Looking forward to the next meeting in a couple of weeks!

Boma Accelerator Day 2

Up early for a walk around Lake Tekapo - beautiful day and nice to go to the Church of the Good Shepherd and the Sheepdog Memorial without anyone else there. The joy of getting up early.
Our first job this morning was to do our timetable for the next 2 days. We started by working out what we wanted completed by the end of the two days, then worked backwards form there to put specific things on the list.

Mine:
Tues am
Update the Canvas and planning docs on our Boma drive
Show Kit what I have so far - test and iterate and test....
Work on my website so I can get a bit more of the MVP done especially the front page
Tuesday lunch
Finish the first website page
Do another test and iterate
Work on my pitch for this afternoon
Tues pm
Practice pitch
Write blog and process talks from today

Wed am
Complete 2 blogs
refine my pitch
Continue with site after more iteration

Wed lunch
Have a pitch done and rehearsed
Have a website 2 pages OK ish - iterate 2 or 3 times
Have 2 blogs up
Show to some of the others here to get feedback

We had to put a smiley face on for any 5 min job - I didn't really have any but others were then instructed to do the 5 min job now.

I got feedback from a range of people today which helped immensely. It was good to keep going back and getting more ideas.
 - need to add a good description, there is an assumption that people already know why they are here
 - add testimonials from people to add weight
 - make it clear, easy and fast to access
Put on someone's hat - Customer personas - 10 step framework - really great way of thinking about what we need to look at when making our products. We were given a couple of options and I am certainly going to use this to check what I am doing. Need to go through each of these to check what I need to think about.

Melissa Clark-Reynolds

@HoneyBeeGeek
We had a Zoom call with Melissa today. She had some amazing insights into the business world and talked us through her time with developing Minimonos which was a virtual reality world for kids.
Virtual worlds were really popular in the 2000s. Other generations had a real world, they could bus places, people knew each other, they had a lot of freedom. The new world is a lot smaller, they are not allowed to do so much. Parents track their children using phones and the world is seen as a dangerous place. They wanted to let kids know they could make a difference and wanted to give them somewhere they could build a habitat.
During the time when Minimonos were very popular they learnt about brand extension. They learnt to release on a Friday, they looked at where to next and there were a few choices - TV, Browser, Publications, Touch (tablet), Ethical merchandise, Toys and collectibles. They did cards on recyclable paper but found it hard to get into the ethical toys. Most kids liked to party - online they could find friends and community. Most wanted that social connection, a lot were really lonely but in the online world they had best friends. There were a wide range of ethnicities so they had 24hr activity. If kids turned up and no one was there they would leave and come back later. They had virtual costumes - dress up without the waste. Halloween is one of the larges causes of waste to landfill.
At Xmas 2012 the toy industry went into decline due to the introduction of iPad mini and kindle. Children stopped watching TV internationally and the TV ads were the best for Minimonos. Flash didn't work on a browser and they were on the tech list not the toy list. in Jan 2013 Nickolodeon was down 30% and they had lost their path to market and to the platform. Moshi Monsters, Club Penguin, Minimonos all were dropped at this time and Minecraft grew so much. They tried to pivot but were not fast enough.
Question is - when to pivot or when to quit?
Angry Birds made 51 losing games before they made Angry Birds, if they hadn't made that they would be over.
Lessons learnt:
Is the business model right? - they were right but not fast enough, the pricing was right but not sustainable. Now many do through sponsorship
Has the market shifted?
Has the tech moved? If it's not fit for a new shift, how do you do it?
Can the product get out?
Is there better use of capital and time?
Have you got the dream team?
Unfair advantage - they didn't have anything special, now they would probably have hired psychologists and use celebrities. Need an advantage
They closed in 2013 - there was a change.org campaign to reopen.

"Winners quit fast, quit often, and quit without guilt." Seth Godin 

At least you built something people will give a shit about.
"You can't learn less" If you commit to learning the lessons, that knowledge will never leave you. Need to understand business models from the get go.
Many online game companies closed over 2013-2017 - some were funded through sake of merchandise, but all plastic stuff. Filling the world with plastic is not going to help with anxiety
Club Penguin closed in 2017 - in 2016 they had a penguins of colour matter protest - children could have a voice, even if it was only with each other.
Minecraft - you get to create their own thing. Passiveness doesn't work
Greta Thunberg "Our house is on fire"

"Many of us often wonder what kind of planet we are leaving behind for our children but few asked the opposite: what kind of children are we leaving behind for our planet?"  Simeon Ogonda 

As adults, what are we doing to enable these children to make the difference they want to make?
One question asked - what are the homeless people doing when it snows? Good answer - what would you like to do? Taught that they can do something, not just saying "don't worry about it". Students now are anxious for a reason - pressure to stay safe, their world is very small. Daily bombarded with Covid19, Trump. If they weren't grieving they weren't paying attention. We need to take a step back and if we feel powerless, imagine what it feels like for them. Anxiety is an appropriate response for the world they live in. How can we give them agency?

Why is Minecraft successful? It looks like Lego, they have the power to make the environment what they want. Boys like jeopardy and potential risk - creepers give them that element. They like fear and risk in a controlled environment. Showing off is important, our society rewards extroverts - online introverts can be successful online extroverts by showing their work. Like a bit of moral superiority - their big brother can show them how to do things. Others are able to coach and be experts, they have agency over their own domain, can be experts in it. They love being an expert over their parents.
Different countries have different ideas about play. Some have play for play's sake. This generation is more tested than any other generation, they are always found wanting, even when they get 99%. We need joy and beauty and play. They don't have much free time and there is pressure form school, they are aware of the financial pressure on parents, need to create joy and play for play's sake. This reminded me of the Lifelong Kindergarten book (see my previous blog on this). Singapore only has play type activities if they are enriching - has to teach them something, maths, science etc.
Assumptions, adults designing for kids, we mean well. Gen Z is more community minded and philanthropic. School strikes, climate marches, almost back to the hippie days but without the drugs and free love, more serious but also in more pain. Dystopian fiction is so big. Need "hopeful sci fi". Can we show them solutions to things? Where are the platforms that showcase these solutions? What drives kids - lost community. Nature Deficit Disorder is a real thing - get them outside.

Pitching 101 - We went through a quick pitching session - asking lots of questions:
Who are you?
Why do you care?
Why are you the best person? -  history, knowledge, experience
What problem are you solving?
What is your solution? eg I am designing and app to.....
Prove it - back it up. Use story telling to build rapport and relatability
Know your audience - what do they care about?
What else is out there? Partnerships and or inspiration
What's the ask - do you want a beta tester, likes on a FB page, feedback
Presentation tips - speak slowly, if you use a quote on the screen don't read and speak at same time.

Esther Wosjcicki 

How to raise successful people - book
5 Principles of the at home classroom: TRICK
Trust - between colleagues, admin and students. When you trust them they feel empowered and they trust themselves. Even more important now in the face of the pandemic. Kids rise to expectations. Need self learning and self learners.
Sam Reader - Self learning essential in 21st century
Kids are smarter than you think. 17yr old NASA intern found a new planet, 13yr old developed a tool that could change pancreatic cancer
Respect - feelings, worries, ideas. Successful people have self respect when they feel respected. Care of self first is important.
Independence
Allow them to search online to find the resources to meet the goals of the class. You have to teach them how to search! Allow them to take and explore courses they find interesting. Learn@Home, Youtube (no.1 in the world), Coursera, Teach form Home, Learn at home, Udacity
Collaboration - encourage them to go online with a friend to learn
Kindness - teach by modelling it yourself. It's a high stress moment for the world, we need to be kind to each other. She will never stop a class to tell someone off - talks to them quietly later.
We need people with socio emotional skills - Empathy, Compassions, Respect, Kindness, Creativity. Computers will never have these skills. SE skills are more important than IQ
Her children are successful - she taught them is it OK to take a risk and fail. Try everything, make mistakes and do it again. Provided a safe space to be creative and she used TRICK. Need to find a purpose.
No one can control life, but you can control your reaction to life.
Palo Alto High School
Largest media programme in the USA. They produce 10 publications. The Campanile goes out every 3 weeks. Also have C Magazine, Verde, The Viking. They get taught Journalism, Photoshop. They teach each other and themselves. While under lockdown and they are working from home they have still produced the same amount of work.
Other students say they miss their friends, miss important life events and teachers are doing things that don't work - like teaching for hours.
Standardisation and Obedience no longer works. You need to meet the need for social interaction but give them more control. Provide structure and stop lecturing.
Real estate - location, location, location
Education - relationships, relationships, relationships
Encourage online collaboration.
Do not over assign work. Set goals, get them to design their own path. Encourage students to partner with a friend. Give them some resources but then get them to share more.
Helicopter parenting hurts creativity
Allow them to revise before testing. Use the mastery learning system
Develop creativity and innovation - take a risk without fear of shame. Always being graded means they won't take a risk.

Steve Jobs  'Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.'

Art is a powerful tool for learning - encourage them to draw
Kids don't need to stay on track to succeed.
Successful people believe in themselves and are willing to take a risk. They have a sense of control of their lives.
Teach to think about community not just themselves. No one does it right the first time, if they did, they wouldn't need to be in school.

Bill Gates 'As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.'

Sign up to the weekly newsletter - wojway.com 
As they learn how to search and get more confident then they can do more themselves. Parents can do lots to help students learn but they need to not do it for them. Many control their children's schedules, control the classes they do, push them to achieve. Parents are not as patient as teachers, if their child doesn't do it right the first time they tend to do it for them or become impatient. Teachers don't have that emotional connection so can be more patient.
It's Ok to do some lecturing - 15-20 mins fine, then do more interaction that you talking.
In Meet they have just changed the setting sos that the teacher can mute all at the same time and students can't talk to each other - teachers asked for that.
Students that don't do well - why do you think they don't? What they were interested in wasn't sanctioned by school or parents and so they were not motivated. The testing runs the education system. If we continue to teach to the test it's hard for kids to be creative as they are doing things they don't care about.
Her students are not losing motivation as they are doing what they want to do. They are doing the work anyway. This reminded me of the Court Theatre show I saw last week "The Quarantine Diaries" - written in isolation and driven by youth and their creativity. It was stunning.
When they go back to classes in the fall (September) the culture will have changed. They need to respect that all have the ability to do online learning. A lot didn't know how to use online tools but now they know they will probably use them more. They will have to have spaces between students and they are not supposed to interact, not a good way to run a school where students are scared of each other. A lot of parents are afraid to send their kids to school, they have to create an atmosphere where they would be comfortable/
When kids work in groups it is effective, they can support each other and it creates an atmosphere that we all care about each other. All very stressed at the moment. Not surprising that kids are suffering. The vaccine will not solve the problem, many anti vacc - people won't do it and in a poll taken recently 30% said they would refuse it even if it was available.
One of our group mentioned skin hunger  - had to look this up!

A short walk before dinner then the evening saw us all pitch our ideas to the group. A great opportunity to get some feedback. It was good to hear all the ideas in one go and then have a bit of down time to just get to know each other and share stories and our pet photos!

The last day we did a quick starter of Toaster/Blender/Palm tree which was fun. I then made a timeline for the next few months,  completed this blog, and then did some more work on my project. A fantastic few days and I have achieved so much. The support from the Boma team is amazing and this experience is certainly something I will never forget. Thanks Boma NZ and Christchurch Airport for making this happen!

Boma - a few meetings over the last 6 weeks

This is a continuation of my Boma journey - more notes from our time together as a group.
Our meeting on the 25th of  May was still online. The first section was with our group and then we had a guest speaker - Shai Reshef, founder of the University of the People. These are my notes from that session.
The first part was about making assumptions. We looked at our projects and the problems we are trying to solve and the users of what we design. Our next step was to have a discussion about whether our users actually need this - we assume they do, but really, do they?
How can we validate our assumptions? Surveys, shadowing a student, focus on specific aspects rather than the whole thing. If it's a product, have a landing page and example of that product. Kickstarter is an example of digital validation - people will put money in if they think it is useful to them. Also Indiegogo. We need to be careful that people who give positive feedback with actually use it. Need to be specific.
We discussed what we each needed to validate - we assume so much, but it's not always true. The people we talk to need to have an understanding of our project. I think my main assumption is that teachers have the desire and capacity to grow their own practice.
Having a minimum viable product is important - having something tangible that they can see and then decide if they would use it. Having this means that you can have user testing, having people using it and then send out updates, it won't be perfect. Need to look at our own bias into the project, we think its awesome, but it might not be.
We looked at one question we would love to get an answer for, and who would be a good person to answer it, then ask that question of ourselves and answer it with what we think that person would say. One example I had was "how can we get rid of assessment as a driver of learning?" and that person would say "get rid of assessment - the definition of success is different for every person - standardised assessment is not needed". This inner mentor is great to ask questions and answer them with a different lens.

Shai Reshaf

Non-profit University of the People -Democratising Knowledge
How online learning will solve the future of higher education
Students have to work to pay for university and they know they won't be successful without education. The University of the People opens the gate to higher ed for many who can't afford to go otherwise. UNESCO predicts that in 2025 98 million students will not have seats in the existing universities, and that was before COVID 19 - see this article on drivers and innovations shaping higher education.
University of the People is the first non profit, tuition free, American accredited online university.
It started in Europe where the students could keep their jobs, stay with family but still get a degree. It is opensource where people help each other, teach and learn from each other for free. When he first started this and announced it was going to happen, the NY times wrote an article and the next day people wanted to help. There are over 17,000 volunteers and they have a wide range of highly regarded educators. The volunteers are supported by paid workers who back them up and sometimes be in their place if there is a gap to fill. AT this stage there are 200 paid supporters. The programme advisors are paid but the instructors all come as volunteers. but have an honorarium if they complete the course they teach - US$3 an hour - they majority stay for this, It started in 2014 with 500 students and each year that has doubled and they now have over 31,000 from over 200 countries. The classes are small, between 20-30 and they mix with students form all around the world. A course is 9 weeks long, 8 weeks of the course and 1 for an exam. Every week they have lecture notes, homework assignment and discussion. It has a very strong academic pedagogy which opens minds to different cultures. It runs form Thursday to Wednesday as a week and they have virtual classrooms where they can choose to share info with their peers. The discussion question is at the core of pedagogy. All students comment on it and it develops over the week. All student must write at least 1 original comment and then 3 comments on other peoples discussion. The main discussion is between students, not lecturer. The homework is assessed randomly, they get a grade for homework, log and discussion each week, then have a final exam. Students go to this university to have a better future, many are refugees from all over the world.
Shai says they are the opportunity for those that have none, It was said in 2009 that it won't run on volunteers and if it did it wouldn't be accredited and f it was it wouldn't be sustainable. It is. People said "online is not the real thing" - now, with Covid19 it has been shown it is the real thing. The future of higher education is ruined if they are not moving online correctly. You can't just move online and expect it to work the same. They need training and tech support. Need to be kept motivated and engaged It can be isolating, they must have social engagement. 'Peer to peer' learning is a way to make it more interactive and less isolated. A discussion form. Having a virtual librarian or student advisor to be a 'big brother' helps to be in touch to see how they are if they are not turning up.
The UoPeople have gained a lot of knowledge over the last 11 years and have offered to teach other universities - they want to help others with using the power of online learning. It can harm students, the university and higher education if not done well.
Many people struggle to pay for college - the USA, UK and others have millions of people who cannot afford  and now with Covid19 it is much worse. The USA will have over 30 million unemployed in the next few weeks and hundreds of millions will lose jobs and need to improve their education or change career to find a new one, many will not be able to pay for that. This becomes and online learning solution where they can keep a job while completing an education.
The UoPeople are a solution for this, but many students are too scared to go to uni because of Covid19, or their parents may have lost jobs and cannot afford to send them anymore so the universities have to adapt. Perhaps they could move the first year online and give it out free while this situation calms down a bit. What would happen if all universities did that? Perhaps 1/3 or 1/4 would complete the year - they could work while studying. Both uni and students save money but still have a campus life. Many universities will not survive after Covid19 - many have funding cut but this way they could have more students for the following years. A dramatic restructuring is needed. Many people have discovered how powerful online learning is.
UoPeople will continue to offer its course, it is affordable for anyone who wants a better chance for a better future. It will continue to grow while there is a need.
Did you see high schools online before the pandemic?
In the USA there are quite a few online. In some the athletes train all day and only make it to school at night. For Upper Elementary and High School they need motivation, self discipline, support is needed. It doesn't work if it's just a lecture.
At UoPeople they do 15-20 hours a week for every course and only do 2 courses a week, so 2/3 hours a day each course. Almost all students work so they do this on top of work. Most are in their late 20s, they have been working or dropped out of college. The most popular course is Computer Science but Business administration is larger. It costs $100 for each end of course exam so could be $1000 for the full time year. They do have some scholarships as well. $1000 is small compared to $30,000 at traditional uni.In Africa they have many needing scholarships so they have a long waiting list there.
Where will education be in 10 years?
It is utopian, not dystopian. The top universities will always be there. Harvard for example, costs US$60,000-$70,000 a year, then living on top of that, just the books cost over US$1200. If Harvard was to say 'it's now going to cost you $1,000,000, people would still pay to go. This is true for all the top universities. But most universities won't be there in 10 years. The cost is increasing. In the UK 20 years ago education was free. No it's 10,000 pounds a year. Worldwide, governments are unable to support as they used to so parents pay. Are they only teaching university, or researching? A professor may teach only 6 hours a week and the rest of the time they are researching, and students are paying for that. Eventually students will not be able to pay. UoPeople will be there offering low cost education. They will be there, Harvard will be there and everything in between. If you go to another uni you must be willing to pay more. How much are you willing to pay to learn about the ancient history of Greece? It's a market. What do I get for how much I'm willing to pay. If people have a local job and are in a local community they may be prepared to pay more to stay there. There will be some fully online, some blended and some face to face. It will be different - how different? We'll see.

Online meeting - 8 June

This session was meant to have a guest speaker, who unfortunately couldn't make it so we had another session with our group. We spent some time looking at timelines for our projects - interesting to think about what it might look like in 1 year, 5 years or more!. We talked about the coaching and mentoring times and spent some time on our own projects.
What are questions we still have? What are we pretending not to know? We went through our project evolution documents and completed some more of this.
I think one of the biggest things for me is self doubt/ I sometimes wonder if I can do this and whether I have the skills and the knowledge to follow through. Some good advice for this was to give yourself the advice you would give to someone else if they had that problem. What would I say, I'd say of course you have, go for it, you can do it - so that's what I need to believe in for myself. Mindset is such a big part of doing this project and I think it has been difficult with Covid19 and everything that has been going on.

Face to face meeting - 22 June

The last session we had was in person! It was so nice to actually be with people and connect again. We had a short talk by Kaila Colbin, co-founder of Boma Global and CEO of Boma NZ. She is so inspirational and it is great to have her around. She talked about shame - having that intensely shameful feeling that you are not worthy of love. Being a bad kid, not doing homework, no-one loves me, a spiral. A real fear of not being good enough. We want to be someone who does what they say they will do. There was a bit of discussion about Dave Meslin: The antidote to apathy and Dr. Brené Brown: The power of vulnerability - both well worth a watch. We talked about balancing life, work and Boma and how hard it has been. Hopefully our 3 day trip will help to narrow things down a bit and give us a path of action.
We each did a quick talk about where we were at right now. We all asked some questions of each fellow, using some expanding questions from the Leadership Lab to both reflect on past situations and look at ways forward. The questions I was asked are:
What has been a big win for you this year?
If it works perfectly what will the outcome be?
What advice would you give someone else in this situation?
How might you test this idea?
What can we support you with?
Who has overcome this and might be able t support you with this? Who could be collaborative partners in NZ business and Education?
I'm looking forward to spending some more time on my project over the holidays - I have started a minimal viable product and hopefully can get this to a stage where I can share it will kaiako at my kura next term to see if they would use it - no assumptions!!

We are off to Lake Tekapo in the holidays to do some work together and hopefully that will give us a kick start into the next step. I am looking forward to it!

Boma Education Week: Rethinking Education

This call was on Wednesday night and Boma New Zealand had organised 4 speakers. These are my notes from this session.

You can watch the videos individually here:

Dylan Wijaya 

Melanie Riwai-Couch 

Claire Amos 

Rachel & Michael Perrett 

Claire Amos:  the Principal of Albany Senior High School, co-founder of DisruptED and and a board member for NetSafeNZ and 21C Skills Lab

Claire has been doing DisruptEd interviews to try and capture what educators have been noticing. The thing that matters most is wellbeing, not about teaching, learning or assessment but making sure they all feel safe and well. We know they can't learn when stressed and it's hard for teachers when they are unwell.

Where online learning is working is where there is a connection. A connection between school, whānau and the community.

Less is better - you can't do as much as you do in class. Forced to think about what really matters.

Create space in the curriculum

Create space in the day to go deep and wide

Need to have a combination of structure and flexibility

Home isn't school - you can't transfer straight across

Would do better if student centered at school - they would have more agency

They did Mon, Tue structured, then Wed-Fri student led - students loved that

Created agency, self direction and managing time and space

A challenge: The digital divide

OK if already using online platforms, they transitioned easily.

Real cost of digital divide is not about tools but about social justice. They need to be able to connect and still learn.

We need to embrace digital tools but realise we don't change overnight.

The reality is that education is ultimately quite inflexible. We need to design and prepare the new normal that we want.

Notice, take stock and redesign.

Whatever we design has to be agile - we may move in and out of levels. Needs to be a robust powerful experience

How do we measure success? NCEA has it's place but need to move beyond the traditional

Concept of personal constructs of success. Not our place to tell a young person what success looks like. Could be a portfolio of evidence. No one measure of success. Work with them to define what they want for themselves. 20th Century skills. The moment we turn it into a criteria it becomes redundant. Success is when they believe in themselves and can contribute.

Opportunity to consciously and critically integrate Te Ao Māori

Stop being seen as a school in isolation - be a learning hub/community hub - like a marae

A lot we can take from Māori constructs and community to reimagine school. At the moment we are still in the Western industrial age. Use the Māori view lens then we'd have a good educational model.

Working with nature - Green School - see below

Meeting needs of diverse learners and ESOL - think more collaboratively about resourcing

NCEA Hackathon Resource Group - to share ideas and resources

Virtual Learning Network - online courses and resources

Power of school and a platform such as Te Kura - we already have an online school - what would that have looked like if we had access to all of that during this time?

Communities of Online Learning (COOLs) - these had concerns about business - what if we had those?

Could have schools networked across geographical areas, not just Kāhui Ako 

Network/Collaboration/Sec schools online - where teachers are available and can cater for diverse learners and ESOL

Designing powerful online learning takes skill

We are not taught instructional design

Value in Portfolios of Personal Excellence (POPE) - they do impact projects at her school. This has earned them scholarships and opportunities in business. Sometimes we determine that NCEA has too much weight and value. Do impact projects need to be assessed to be valuable? Huge believer in soft skills - Design thinking, agile, collaborative, communicate, self directed

Ideal Learning structure:

Co-Learning hubs - Yr 0-13 learning space and a location for health and wellbeing. Co-working innovation with community as well

In and out of spaces as needed. Teachers there to open eyes and guide through the journey. Learning doesn't just happen in Yrs 1-13, it happens throughout life.

We get caught up on subjects and year groups - trying to keep the adults happy

Self directed learning schools in Canada - students come together for home room then work how and where they want to. This is the beauty of what we see in Primary Schools. Student have time to be self directed, but want some structure. Work with community groups, iwi, whānau

Teacher shave thrived where they already use UDL in normal practice. This online learning has shone a light on some people's gaps in practice.

Are teachers digitally literate? How can we use tech to be more inclusive and meet the needs of diverse learners?

Passion is the key to a great teacher

 Dr Melanie Riwai-Couch: Kaihautū Māori and education consultant for Evaluation Associates Ltd, and experienced researcher, evaluator and change manager for kāhui ako.

School Led Learning at Home: Voice of parents of Māori and Pasifika students

Team worked through surveys that were gathered through social media. Thought they would get 20 or 30 but got 100 overnight. Wanted to make sure the perspectives of parents were not lost

The name wanted to capture a new way of being - the partnership between home and school. Other names undermined the learning at home each day.

Doesn't matter what school wants - what happens in my home is what I want to happen.

Identified some benefits that would be good to carry over into school

How happy were parents with the work sent home? 50% gave a 4 or 5 but  25% only gave it a 1 or 2

If school didn't have a culturally sustainable practice then that was magnified online.

What's the best way to gather voice? Didn't use case studies but used pools of stories. Have conversations with communities.

Do we engage with parents and communicate or do we tell them things?

Parents - are they informed consumers or do we say "this is how we define success" and "this is what's important to us". Need to include the voice of parents. Best way to start is to start.

In the report they have included questions that you can use to help reflect on practice. Take back to your own setting.

Māori and Pasifika realities may not be the same as ours.There are questions to ask now and some to ask later. All the questions are designed form themes identified in the data. Constantly reflective.

How can we not be tokenistic in Māori and Pasifika?

The role that complexity plays - equity shouldn't be the end goal - devices are just a milestone on the path to reach potential. It's not enough to just have a conversation. Parents have their own perspective on their children. Need to engage beyond the surface. Her own children use identity, language and culture to grow.

Provocations - things to think about:

Focus on getting devices into homes - need them there to be able to engage

Homes are sacred spaces - no-one asked me about hundreds of people online coming into my home every day

Pasifika - loving home being calm and peaceful, it's a spiritual calm during the day

This is a chance to understand learning and how they can apply it to their own setting and reality

What are we going to go back to? Don't lose the learning. Māori and Pasifika parents have perspectives we can learn from. Need to take our parents with us into the future.

Thesis - a chapter on iwi educators defining success. Want them to achieve NCEA and be literate but also be proud and strong in their culture and to return home to serve their communities.

Really important to many Pasifika families - a right of transition - not just the child but the family as well. Want them to achieve all they can but be a whole person. Need to create conditions in schools to enable them to feel like that.

Curriculum violence - Anne Milne

Rachel and Michael Perrett: Founders of Green School New Zealand which uses a community-integrated, entrepreneurial way of learning with a focus on exciting and empowering students to lead the way sustainably.

Redesigning Education for a long time. Did Green School in Bali for 11 years.

Want to engage young learners as individuals who learn in unique ways

Sustainable caring for our planet

Creating a curriculum that addresses real world problems and engage students with joy, resilience and optimism

High respect values - entrepreneurial spirit to allow them to be changemakers

Whole community involved

Bring people along on a journey

Much of what they do is old knowledge, old wisdom and new future. Pioneering spirit. Authentic self directed learning in a natural context. 600 teachers applied before they even advertised.

Green School Compass - REAL (Relationships, Experiences, Action, Local)

Relationships - self/community/nature - this trumps procedures every time

Culture trumps strategy

Iwi first - needed to earn their place there

Engagement is extensive and rich. 

Māori blessing and powhiri - looked to reach consensus rather than just consult

Parent are essential - need to go on a journey with them to create a sustainable future. Have The Bridge where they can have coffee, the internet - co-working space. Parent have rich skills to share - can park and play

Socio economic background  - schools in Bali, Mexico and South Africa. 70 different cultures in Taranaki

Budget of 25NZ, 25Aus, 50 International

Using Bali formed Vision and values

Tweaked their content and curriculum with others

Focus on starting local and moving global

Community trusts and groups and sustainability. Support them and integrate with them and business. Public Sector support been cherished and supported. Had 7 weeks of this year before lockdown. Turned a dairy farm into an International Destination Private School

Academic rigour - sounded themselves with people to guide them

Hope to open up after school hours for sustainability studies and have camps in the holidays

Pride and partnership - an evolving process

Previous nature based school failures - many were too fringe, easily marginalised. Construction costs too high. Ego. Lack of academic rigour.

Made a list of mistakes form Bali they didn't want to make. It can be traumatic, it's stressful. Tough to conjure up a project like this but have a genuine desire to help. Montessori and Steiner have helped pave the way.

Need to be seen as serious, not fringe. Academic rigour is really important - you can learn calculus and stats in nature.

Unless Universities change it's hard for schools to get pathways so they are doing a blend of NCEA with the Green School Diploma to allow access to Uni

100% in Bali is Green School Diploma and Uni will take their students, but here it's not enough. In Bali 52 Universities came to recruit graduates - self starter, independent learner, self confident and determined. Some universities are listening but we lose so much talent to an antiquated machine.

They are moving from being the builder to the BoT. Roll early Feb was 47 and maybe have 65 by Term 3 and 100 for Term 1 2021. Want to continue to grow to perhaps 450-500 Yr1-13. Bali had a waiting list to get in. International school, but more and more people going to them.

Dylan Wijaya: a year 12 student attending St John's College in Hastings, New Zealand. For the past 3 weeks, he and 6 other students have been striving to create a cost-effective ventilator in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Called it Pear because it was like Apple, plus the Hawkes Bay is known for Pears.

Still at the brainstorming stage.

Lockdown has given him time to learn material at his own pace. Says he does 4hrs for the 6 hour day. More hands on approach plus time for hobbies

He is pursuing his purpose - to save lives

I really enjoyed this session - it reinforced my thinking around education and what education could look like. We need to make sure we take this opportunity to move forward, not take a step back into what we had. I'd love to work towards the idea of a marae as our school hub - more community involvement. More things to ponder!

Boma Education Week—NZ Campfire: Young Voices

Boma New Zealand invited young people to share their perspectives on and aspirations for education in our current COVID-19 context and beyond at a campfire on Tuesday this week. There were a range of students on the call and all had a say as the session went on. 

The Campfire conversation was facilitated by Hannah Hudson from Boma NZ and covered these questions as well as going off on a few tangents!

1. How might our experience of learning through Covid-19 inform how we could rethink education?
2. What is working, what isn't?
3. How might we redesign education to ensure everyone is engaged and has access to learning that works for them?

These are my notes from that campfire. If you want to watch it, it was recorded and is on the Boma New Zealand Youtube Channel.

What is something that has changed that you will take forward?

Time management skills

Managing own learning

Freedom - need self control to devote time to each subject not just getting into one for hours

Working outside is nice

No distractions

Not having to be confined to a class period - can spend 2 hours on something and study what you want a lot more

Develop project management skills

What are some ideas that have seemed radical before and now are looked at again?

More unstructured time in timetables

Can collaborate regardless of geographical location

Doing webinars and classes from anywhere

Getting different perspectives

The variety is cool

Recording classes - you can go back and listen to them again

Learning from experts in the field

Missing people - students and teacher as you discuss ideas more freely onsite, can help each other onsite and learn by explaining it to others

Need more effort into being deliberate in contact. You don't bump into people

You are not building relationships

Being on a computer screen all day is mentally draining. Socially it makes you tired and you get nowhere

Teachers give you motivation at school. At home you can spend hours doing nothing and then work at night instead.

Can't just ask a teacher something - have to email or arrange a call.

Teachers are always asking how do we best engage students - Ask students what they find engaging. Ask the individual.

Could be a collaborative area - need to go with what is best for students

There are a range of different ways to learn content now so they should be able to choose. Give them an option of everything.

Everyone has a different way of learning. At home you have time to process things - less stressful than at school.

Different teachers are doing things in different ways. Some set work for the whole week, some each day - need a similar way to do things to make it easier

Need time to finish things

Being away from the traditional 9-3 means it doesn't matter when they fit work in - nice to be flexible

What's the purpose of school?

Lots of curriculum shuffling going on now - more internals, more projects

Social important - realised how much you learn from your friends

What's more important -Excellence in NCEA or the social interactions?

What teachers think young people want is misunderstood - what would you like teachers to know?

Tie things into our lives

Now it's not as much routine but more flow

Noticing simple things like family and hobbies

Having spark not just routine

Want to continue studying with fun

Being resilient - how do we operate - best in a school setting where they have time to process as well.

Prioritising ourselves now, not at school

This generation is thought to be good at tech but they actually are not necessarily. Don't want to be on screens all day

Easier to take on tech but this has opened eyes that tech is not everything

This has changed everyone's perspective

Using energy socialising on devices - it's OK to take time to prioritise somewhere else, family or outside

From your experience why are peers not engaging?

Equity has always been an issue, needs to be a priority

Trying to communicate and feeling disconnected when you can't

Big separation between those that have and those that don't

Better wifi means better connected so it's even worse when there is no connection

Struggling with self motivation - some could feel it's time to leave school because they can't do this

Can't keep up with the work, falling through the cracks

In the country, using phone for zoom calls, 3am for work so they have the internet

What should happen when we get back to school?

When we do get back to school - slow down, catch up, don't force the work all at once. Slow down and ease into the routine

Mental health side of things - self motivation

What's happening in the world is overwhelming for some and causes anxiety. School work on top of that

Look at who is disadvantaged and take what's happening. They need help post Covid19, need to learn how everyone is mental health wise

Things need to be gentle when we get back some are close to breaking point

Learning while going through stuff is really hard

Self directed nature, having to learn autonomously

Bad partnership - school can be an escape from home - additional pressure

Realised how little control we have over our own lives

2 days to go into lockdown, so fast and hard to deal with

Reminded of Earthquakes as well

As a generation Chch people dealt with the earthquakes but this goes past that - it's the whole world. Fear of the unknown

Need additional support when we go back

Struggling to read and pay attention - caught between a rock and a hard place

MLE - need a space to be alone - take an easy approach to going back

Is it more difficult at school or at home - rock and hard place

Sometimes can't get into calls so feeling left behind even more

Need to look after ourselves. If you are not 100% you won't learn

Different types of learners - if this is extended how are they catering for different learning styles

Need to have different options for different students

Keep up with the curriculum but in a way that works for you

Some by themselves, some are distracted

At home can complete normal 50 min class in 20min then can do other things but 1:1 feedback is missing

Resources are out there for help, if struggling you need to ask for help but many too reserved to ask

Being away from others can be helpful, don't feel it's a dumb question as you can email it, bit more confidence not having to do so in front of others

Liked it to start with - organised own schedule

Everyone's learning experience is individual and they all have different ways that they learn best

Great solution is to ask students for feedback - establish a partnership

No discipline if you don't go to class anymore so no motivation

Teacher is on the prowl in a classroom environment so you get help without having to ask. Asking for help is now harder because you have to email. It's just an additional thing you have to do - communication.

Reduced level of accountability when learning from home

Need a routine - regular calls for questions and feedback. Teachers need to reinforce that they are there to help

Having a Google Meet time slot where you can just jump on is great. Teachers also need to give 1:1 times

Youth week next week - theme:

“E korero ana mātou. E whakarongo ana koutou? 

We’re speaking. Are you listening?”

Need to take time to discuss things 1:1 where they can really be heard - need to find ways to integrate this into schools

Teachers take student voice and don't use it - it has no effect so then students don't bother

Meaningful feedback and meaningful partnerships otherwise feedback is pointless

You don't have to have a formal leadership title to reach out to teachers

Student leadership helping to shift responsibility from "teachers should...' to people are doing things together

Committees - if you don't get on, don't feel you can't have a say. You should still voice things. You don't need to have a teacher to do so

Student voice should not be linked to student leadership

Needs to be authentic and non tokenistic

Need to talk to those who are affected  - if you are wanting to know about student engagement, talk to the disengaged.

Has to be balanced and working alongside each other

Be good to have platforms like this - missing discussing things with other people

It's also partly on students to find ways to have those discussions

We can be the change we want to see in this world. 

People are doing the best they can

We all have a voice

We have the agency to connect

Be kind, keep learning

This was done on the platform GetVokl - hadn't seen that before but I thought it was quite good for having people jumping in and  out of conversation - couldn't see everyone at once, but was good only having a few slots for people to talk. You do have to make an account before going in which also requires a cellphone for the code, plus then email confirmation. One issue we had was with a student trying to use it on a school iPad - couldn't download the app, so that's something to consider if it is for students.

I really enjoyed watching this - great to hear the voice of young people. It would be good to do more of this from a wide range of students and schools more often. They really have great ideas!!