Sunday, August 29, 2010
podcast survey responses
results to survey here http://www.zoomerang.com/Shared/SharedResultsPasswordPage.aspx?ID=L24HZKVUBPMS
Sunday, August 22, 2010
CPD - continuing, collaborative or both?
I recently had quite a long chat on Twitter with @ToughLoveForX (Michael Josefowic from Brooklyn) about CPD. It started with a look at what the 'C' stood for. In the UK, CPD is in fairly common usage for school teachers. In other education sectors, it may be referred to as just PD (professional development). So what does the 'C' stand for? Officially it s 'continuing' as it is about how teachers continue to develop professionally and personally throughout their career. It can be through school based activities, work shadowing, peer observation, coaching/mentoring, externally provided courses, study. I firmly believe that leading PD enables the leader to learn as much as those on the 'receiving end'.
At my school, we run an in-house course accredited by the College of Teachers (www.collegeofteachers.ac.uk) and I am hoping to introduce an accredited coaching scheme this coming academic year. Teachers can also go on external courses but the budget for these is limited. We also have some teachers and other staff who offer their expertise on a CPD directory (for example, drop in my lesson to see how I use multimedia, talk to the bursar about arranging trips) and have a VLE with resource sharing pages and space for staff to post their professional reflections. CPD leaders can use their experiences towards accreditation as well. Newly Qualified Teachers carry out action research which aids school policy development.
Next year, I would like to add podcasting and open up to other schools, around the world if possible, through holiday schools.Michael suggested the 'C' might stand for collaborative - this because he hadn't come across the acronym used in this way before. The more I think about it, the more I like it. How can I get more collaborative activities off the ground?
Michael pointed out some very important factors - teachers need to select what they want to do for CPD, there should be little financial constraint for individual teachers, and sharing of good practice between more experienced and less experienced staff benefits both. I heartily agree.
What do others think?
At my school, we run an in-house course accredited by the College of Teachers (www.collegeofteachers.ac.uk) and I am hoping to introduce an accredited coaching scheme this coming academic year. Teachers can also go on external courses but the budget for these is limited. We also have some teachers and other staff who offer their expertise on a CPD directory (for example, drop in my lesson to see how I use multimedia, talk to the bursar about arranging trips) and have a VLE with resource sharing pages and space for staff to post their professional reflections. CPD leaders can use their experiences towards accreditation as well. Newly Qualified Teachers carry out action research which aids school policy development.
Next year, I would like to add podcasting and open up to other schools, around the world if possible, through holiday schools.Michael suggested the 'C' might stand for collaborative - this because he hadn't come across the acronym used in this way before. The more I think about it, the more I like it. How can I get more collaborative activities off the ground?
Michael pointed out some very important factors - teachers need to select what they want to do for CPD, there should be little financial constraint for individual teachers, and sharing of good practice between more experienced and less experienced staff benefits both. I heartily agree.
What do others think?
why blog?
For my current study course (OU H800 module) I am thinking about why blogging had become so important to me. Here are my first thoughts.
I regard posting to a blog as mainly a learning tool, although it is also a means of communication with other students and members of my professional learning network. I also want to develop further the idea of using blogs to stimulate and perpetuate scholarly debate, particularly on the topic of the deeper aspect of whether or not online pedagogy is in some way fundamentally different from our current views of pedagogy.
I started keeping a blog as part of my study for another Open University module (H809) and quickly found it a useful means of keeping track of my learning journal. It was useful in that I could access it from anywhere with internet access, add to it, edit and customise with RSS feeds of other useful sources. This meant that I could keep up to date with current thinking in my areas of interest. The habit of writing is one with which I still struggle, so posting to a blog helps me to crystallise ideas whilst possibly receiving critical evaluation from others, in comments. As a learner, using a blog has probably defined, more than any other web 2.0 technology, the means not just to consume but also to contribute to knowledge generation.
Through comments on the blog, or in discussions about blogging, I have also been able to find out about other means of contributing, such as the Open University’s Knowledge Network, Open Learn, editing Wikipedia or micro-blogging (for example, Twitter).
As a teacher, again, encouraging regular writing is a key issue for me. The MA module on which I currently tutor is intended as an introduction to post-graduate study. Most students find it quite difficult to get into the habit of drafting and re-drafting following feedback from tutor or peers; they can also be understandably nervous about writing in the course forum. By posting to a blog and then leaving a link, they can find the process a little easier to deal with and thus gain confidence. Most of my students are age thirty or over, some being up to sixty, and are therefore not really in the category of the ‘net generation’. Nonetheless, they do tend to be people who take ownership of their own learning and professional development – most doing it for the sake of learning and not for promotion – and this may well indicate that there is a learning ‘type’ rather than being age related, which can include use of education 2.0. A comment from @johngordon1 on Twitter sums this up for me (in less than 140 characters!) “this justifies my point on why "curiosity" is critical trait in teachers. The internal motivator far more effective than merit pay”
Another key issue for me is the ability to be able to read the thoughts of academics quickly rather than waiting for published work. This accessibility means that I can read short pieces of writing as soon as they are in the public domain. Micro-blogging (such as Twitter) also enables a discourse to develop. Of course, this idea of scholarly debate stepping outside of the peer reviewed journal system has all sorts of other issues alongside accessibility. Fisher (2010) posits the questions which sum this up:
Do we write to be read or do we write to be published?
Do we write to make a difference or do we write to secure a job?
Having had a foot in both secondary and higher education camps, I do feel that it is fairly common for school teachers to eschew research and academic writing because they do not feel it is relevant, because journal subscriptions are expensive, because they do not have time. At the same time, I firmly believe that engaging in discourse about pedagogy is essential for continuing professional development Perhaps blogging is a means to bring these debates into a wider arena.
I would be grateful for anyone else's experiences of blogging?
I regard posting to a blog as mainly a learning tool, although it is also a means of communication with other students and members of my professional learning network. I also want to develop further the idea of using blogs to stimulate and perpetuate scholarly debate, particularly on the topic of the deeper aspect of whether or not online pedagogy is in some way fundamentally different from our current views of pedagogy.
I started keeping a blog as part of my study for another Open University module (H809) and quickly found it a useful means of keeping track of my learning journal. It was useful in that I could access it from anywhere with internet access, add to it, edit and customise with RSS feeds of other useful sources. This meant that I could keep up to date with current thinking in my areas of interest. The habit of writing is one with which I still struggle, so posting to a blog helps me to crystallise ideas whilst possibly receiving critical evaluation from others, in comments. As a learner, using a blog has probably defined, more than any other web 2.0 technology, the means not just to consume but also to contribute to knowledge generation.
Through comments on the blog, or in discussions about blogging, I have also been able to find out about other means of contributing, such as the Open University’s Knowledge Network, Open Learn, editing Wikipedia or micro-blogging (for example, Twitter).
As a teacher, again, encouraging regular writing is a key issue for me. The MA module on which I currently tutor is intended as an introduction to post-graduate study. Most students find it quite difficult to get into the habit of drafting and re-drafting following feedback from tutor or peers; they can also be understandably nervous about writing in the course forum. By posting to a blog and then leaving a link, they can find the process a little easier to deal with and thus gain confidence. Most of my students are age thirty or over, some being up to sixty, and are therefore not really in the category of the ‘net generation’. Nonetheless, they do tend to be people who take ownership of their own learning and professional development – most doing it for the sake of learning and not for promotion – and this may well indicate that there is a learning ‘type’ rather than being age related, which can include use of education 2.0. A comment from @johngordon1 on Twitter sums this up for me (in less than 140 characters!) “this justifies my point on why "curiosity" is critical trait in teachers. The internal motivator far more effective than merit pay”
Another key issue for me is the ability to be able to read the thoughts of academics quickly rather than waiting for published work. This accessibility means that I can read short pieces of writing as soon as they are in the public domain. Micro-blogging (such as Twitter) also enables a discourse to develop. Of course, this idea of scholarly debate stepping outside of the peer reviewed journal system has all sorts of other issues alongside accessibility. Fisher (2010) posits the questions which sum this up:
Do we write to be read or do we write to be published?
Do we write to make a difference or do we write to secure a job?
Having had a foot in both secondary and higher education camps, I do feel that it is fairly common for school teachers to eschew research and academic writing because they do not feel it is relevant, because journal subscriptions are expensive, because they do not have time. At the same time, I firmly believe that engaging in discourse about pedagogy is essential for continuing professional development Perhaps blogging is a means to bring these debates into a wider arena.
I would be grateful for anyone else's experiences of blogging?
Monday, August 9, 2010
more musings on live and learn
Following directly on from the last post.
‘Learning’ is itself a term which is hard to define. It differs from person to person, and according to context – as well as from paradigm to paradigm! I wonder if the ‘act’ of learning changes a person, or does a person or group of people create some form of alchemy which ‘creates’ learning. Perhaps these are not opposite ends of a spectrum but are a complex web of activity. Maybe learning is something that changes what went before, usually enabling a person to do or to understand something which they had not previously been able to. If the learner is to have ownership of learning, they must have the critical awareness, a degree of discernment as to what is appropriate to which context. True learning might only occur when we stop just being consumers and start to contribute to the body of knowledge.
Alongside all of this is the need to develop learning about learning: to develop a discourse amongst educators.
‘Learning’ is itself a term which is hard to define. It differs from person to person, and according to context – as well as from paradigm to paradigm! I wonder if the ‘act’ of learning changes a person, or does a person or group of people create some form of alchemy which ‘creates’ learning. Perhaps these are not opposite ends of a spectrum but are a complex web of activity. Maybe learning is something that changes what went before, usually enabling a person to do or to understand something which they had not previously been able to. If the learner is to have ownership of learning, they must have the critical awareness, a degree of discernment as to what is appropriate to which context. True learning might only occur when we stop just being consumers and start to contribute to the body of knowledge.
Alongside all of this is the need to develop learning about learning: to develop a discourse amongst educators.
Friday, August 6, 2010
live and learn
Have been chatting to a friend about what makes/allows some people to learn and move forward. These are my further musings on this topic.
When you learn something new, perhaps you always have to let go of something else. Perhaps, like me, you sometimes get the feeling that your brain is 'full' - you cannot learn any more. Then you do.
Some days, I just learn one small thing - like recently someone told me the meaning of a Blue Moon (two full moons in a calendar month apparently). Other times, I learn about something bigger - such as how to use an editing tool. Then again, sometimes I try to understand some educational theory or other.
Did my brain always have to release something? Well, not consciously perhaps, But when I learned about a Blue Moon, I had to get rid of the idea that it was 'just a saying'. When I learn something practical, I have to lose the idea that 'I can't do this'! As for more abstract theories, I generally have to either reject an earlier theory or try to assimilate/merge the new one with existing ideas that I have.
How might this apply to CPD for teachers? (The theme of my summer holiday thinking, it appears!)Are some of us better able to 'let go' and try new ideas? Or can people acquire that attribute? Does the letting go take some emotional effort - in fact, I wonder if it might even lead to a certain kind of grief/bereavement.
OK then, if you are a CPD leader, and if it is true that learning requires letting go, and that some bereavement occurs, how do you attempt to guide people through that process? More musing to follow.....
When you learn something new, perhaps you always have to let go of something else. Perhaps, like me, you sometimes get the feeling that your brain is 'full' - you cannot learn any more. Then you do.
Some days, I just learn one small thing - like recently someone told me the meaning of a Blue Moon (two full moons in a calendar month apparently). Other times, I learn about something bigger - such as how to use an editing tool. Then again, sometimes I try to understand some educational theory or other.
Did my brain always have to release something? Well, not consciously perhaps, But when I learned about a Blue Moon, I had to get rid of the idea that it was 'just a saying'. When I learn something practical, I have to lose the idea that 'I can't do this'! As for more abstract theories, I generally have to either reject an earlier theory or try to assimilate/merge the new one with existing ideas that I have.
How might this apply to CPD for teachers? (The theme of my summer holiday thinking, it appears!)Are some of us better able to 'let go' and try new ideas? Or can people acquire that attribute? Does the letting go take some emotional effort - in fact, I wonder if it might even lead to a certain kind of grief/bereavement.
OK then, if you are a CPD leader, and if it is true that learning requires letting go, and that some bereavement occurs, how do you attempt to guide people through that process? More musing to follow.....
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