Recently I chaired my first meeting of the newly formed Primary and Secondary ICT Committee. I am excited that we are already engaging ourselves on meeting our first challenge; developing an ICT strategic plan that will hopefully sharpen the level of eLearning in our school.

This challenge has caused me again to explore current research into ICT and it’s impact on learning. I have  been interested in the developments of mLearning so have been looking for research in this area. I put a call out on Twitter the other night and Paula Jamieson responded with some helpful pieces of research:

1. Victoria’s (Australia) Department of Education and Early Childhood Development released this helpful piece of research entitled “iPod Touch Research Report” (November 2008). I found the recommendations simple but helpful.
2. Carly Shuler published “Pockets of Potential; Using Mobile Technologies to Promote Childrens’Learning” (January 2009). This research presented some clear opportunities and challenges with mobile learning.

It has also been helpful for me to follow New Zealand’s own Toni Twiss. At the end of 2008 Toni published her research into mLearning entitled: “Ubiquitous Information”. Since then she continues to pursue this topic and in one of her recent posts Toni made this pivotal statement:

In-light of some of the ways that educators are choosing to use mobile phones as covered in this review, it becomes very clear that the technology enables a wide-range of variation for the use of these devices within an educational setting.  However, in order to make the most of many of these learning opportunities, it is going to require a fundamental rethink of the way teaching and learning happens.  Simply using mobile phones to teach using traditional methodologies will not be effective.  However, nor will planning teaching and learning episodes solely focused on what the technology is capable of.  From the findings of this review, rethinking when and where learning opportunities can take place and how mobile technologies can facilitate this is fundamental to developing sound teaching and learning practice.

In my mind Toni has ‘hit the nail on the head’. If there is going to be change in our classrooms and effective integration of ICTs to enhance teaching and learning then it is pedagogy that needs to be addressed. If our pedagogy is not rethought we will just keep on teaching the way we have always done it but with modern tools for example; using an interactive whiteboard in the same way you use a whiteboard. This equates to a very expensive whiteboard! So as my school and I go about developing an ICT strategic plan I have in the forefront of my mind the awareness that our biggest challenge is not finance or the teaching of tool tools, but helping to develop sound pedagogy in our teaching staff.

I would appreciate your help. What ways have you found effective in developing Teachers’ pedagogy about the integration of ICT? Do you have any websites that could help us develop an ICT strategic plan?

I am also interested in the use of notebooks in the classroom. Do you have any links to research on this topic? Do you use notebooks in your class? What have you found are positive and negatives about integrating such a tool?

Picture Authors (Creative Commons License = Attribution):

- "Winding Pathway" http://www.flickr.com/photos/g-hat/2050774790/

- "Brain" http://spacesuityoga.wordpress.com/

It was exciting to see the report entitled “ePortfolios Celebrating Learning” published yesterday. Commissioned by the MOE this report investigates and encourages discussion on the use of electronic portfolios within the context of NZ schools.

I write this post to encourage you to read it if you are interested in the development of ePortfolios in New Zealand and share your thoughts. You can download it here or view the discussion and leave your thoughts here.

The following was my initial response to the report and the two cents I contributed to the forum:

Hi Paul

Firstly I want to say thank you for commissioning the research paper into ePortfolios. It is a timely paper and has encouraged and informed me (and other teachers I am sure) in our schools pilot use of ePortfolios for the purpose of enhancing teaching and learning.

I also wish to thank Ian, Sandy and Viv in the fact that they carried this research out with the following principle in mind: “ePortfolios are not about technology; they are about pedagogy and learning. They are about life-long learning.” (Pg 17 of the paper) This I believe has kept the report rooted where it should be; on learning.

I do wish to support the report findings and the development of one national ePortfolio tool because there is more to it than just reasons of efficiency, user familiarity, access through schooling and learner ownership. I had a conversation with Lenva Shearing a few weeks ago and she referred to the desire of having an ePortfolio tool that was “an empty box” (I hope I have quoted her correctly). I liked this analogy. So from here I would like to share a few more thoughts and add these to the discussion.

If we all used one tool then schools/teachers will have:

1) Flexibility (They can use this one tool to add what they like into it to meet the individual needs and while maintaining student choice, voice and ownership.)

2) Better communication (Students/Teachers would use “one language” and so work together easier across levels and ages developing their ePortfolios.)

3) Efficencey (Professional development is made easier because we are all using the same language and focusing on the one tool.)

4) Better consistency (One school or teacher will not be considered lower than another because they did not have the expertise or financial support to develop superior ePortfolios. Everyone will have the same building blocks.)

Please don’t get me wrong; I am not advocating for a “straight jacket” type of tool. This one tool would have to be cleverly developed so that it did support different learning styles, user choice, offer flexiblitiy, etc.

Picture Author: http://covingtongaliving.com/

I have been off the “radar” for sometime since becoming a Dad and so am adjusting to this wonderful change. As well as this I have been busy trialling the different Learning Management Systems (LMS) that I mentioned in my previous post.

Below is my final platform analysis. Before you view it please keep in mind the following points:

1. eFolio is not an LMS but a smaller product compared to the others I trialled. It was built primarily as an ePortfolio platform. However because my trials have focused on ePortfolios I included it in the analysis.
2. Spike@School has since removed itself from the party of Vendors the MOE had previously identified.
3. I was unable to trial the MyClasses platform. At first they replied to my initial request but then did not get back to me again until yesterday (9th April). At that stage they informed me that I had contacted their overseas office and that they do not sell directly to NZ schools. They then directed me to contact the NZ SchoolZone Helpdesk. Unfortunately I needed to make a decision before school finished for the Term so time has run out. I would still be interested in reviewing their platform in the near future and will contact them later.
4. I realise that within months my analysis will quickly go out of date. Vendors are working hard on developing their product to meet the guidelines the MOE has set for them as Development Partners. I therefore strongly encourage you to talk to individual vendors before making your own personal decisions.

Here is how I rated the following products:

Update (7.5.09): There has been some confusion on my behalf in relation to SMS-LMS interoperability versions 1.3 and 2.0. To clear things up, no LMS-SMS at this stage has been approved by the MOE for Version 2.0.

There was more to eFolio’s V2.0 than what I saw when trialling their beta version. I have therefore updated the “Multiple Spaces and Views” to meet this. My apologies to eFolio for missing this.

So what does this mean for my school?

We have chosen Ultranet as our preferred LMS in our ePortfolio Pilot for 2009.

Why?

• Ultranet is not the perfect ePortfolio option but it came the closest to meeting each of my criteria. I hope to work with them and help them develop their ePortfolio module.
• I believe Ultranet has the cleanest and simplest interface, which I can see 5-18 year olds being able to navigate.
• It was in my school’s best interest to go with a product that is one of the 3 development partners the MOE is supporting. This way I knew for sure it was going to be a sustainable option and one that would meet the MOE’s guidelines.
• I was impressed with Ultranet’s social networking functionality. Entitled “uSpace”, I believe this feature will be a location my students will use regularly to interact and share their learning with others. It will be a gateway that will lead to greater collaborations and peer assessment.

Each of the platforms were measured against the criteria I set earlier. I have repeatedly gone back and fine tuned my purpose and criteria. The final product is included below for your interest (or click here if it does not display correctly):

Where to from here?

• Run the ePortfolio pilot until the end of December 2009 with 4 classes; in Year 1, 5, 6 (my class) and 7.
• Organise and plan for Parent meetings to inform and teach them how they can partner more in their child’s learning eg: commenting on their child’s work and interacting with them though Ultranet. Within these meetings we can address Net safety and other concerns they may have.
• Watch the Ministry of Education’s moves as they are undertaking some research in June into forming one ePortfolio tool for NZ schools. The MOE have indicated a possible date for this launch in January 2010. Stay tuned!

Is there anyone else that uses Ultranet and would like to become a buddy class?