{"id":87,"date":"2012-03-23T12:48:30","date_gmt":"2012-03-23T05:48:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.coetail.asia\/neilcommons\/?p=87"},"modified":"2012-03-23T12:48:30","modified_gmt":"2012-03-23T05:48:30","slug":"one-to-one-integration-the-continued-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/neilcommons.com\/?p=87","title":{"rendered":"One-to-one integration the continued journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Following my attendance at the ASB Unplugged 2012 conference in Mumbai I have started to reflect on how my own school’s one-to-one program needs to continue to work towards true integration of technology.<\/p>\n

\nSo the secondary school section of my school began rolling out tablet computers to upper secondary year groups 5 years ago.\u00a0 This gradual phasing in process continued until 18 months prior to now, when my school\u2019s secondary became a fully one-to-one school.\u00a0 With this statement it would apparently be strange to report on this school\u2019s readiness for a one-to-one program.\u00a0 Yet I would argue that the provision of hardware does not necessarily align with a full integration into all aspects of teaching and learning.\u00a0 It is this, with this in mind that I want to consider how we, as a school, can continue to move forward developed from ideas and techniques developed at ASB Unplugged 2012. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0ology beyond all of the students having a computer.<\/p>\n

Dr. Damien Bebel<\/a>l in his hands-on learning institute session, which I attended on the morning of Friday 24th<\/sup> February considered the importance of educational measurement and evaluation in the development and sustainability of any educational technology initiative or school reform.\u00a0 At my school it is still unclear to me as to what are underlying motivations for our one-to-one program.\u00a0 I myself can eulogise over the impact of greater connectivity and the provision for a wide range of teaching and learning opportunities.\u00a0 Yet I also know that this one-to-one program is so tantalising because it reflects an expected future for the students we have.\u00a0 Yet that still does not clearly identify the core objectives, and in turn allow us to measure our success in the development of our students against these objectives.\u00a0 So moving forward the identification of such objectives and the development of an annual school survey system which allows the school to measure progression is vital.\u00a0 The techniques\/ styles<\/a> presented by Dr. Bebell reflected the need to really consider what your needs are from such surveys and to carefully consider the needs of the audience to guarantee a high percentage of involved responses.<\/p>\n

Within the above mentioned measurement session a back channel conversation developed with two staff members from UWC in Singapore about effective ways to share best practice.\u00a0 My school has two full-time staff members whose job is to support the teaching and learning in a one-to-one environment.\u00a0\u00a0 They provide additional support to teachers in the classroom and also run sessions sharing useful tools.\u00a0 However, beyond these two members of staff there is not a true forum for sharing best (or unsuccessful) practice.\u00a0 For that reason teachers are not learning from their peers and students are not exposed to being set up to transfer skills from subject to subject.\u00a0 Now UWC have a digital literacy blog<\/a> which empowers teachers to share their experiences.\u00a0 The structure allows teachers to easily follow blog posts from all or just from a specific teaching section, for instance middle school.\u00a0 In reviewing examples it is apparent that this has become not only a forum for best practice or an honest reflection on less than successful attempts.\u00a0 The site also provides teachers with a starting point for considered dialogue on related issues \u2013 for example the post on the association between violence and video games<\/a>.\u00a0 So I believe that the construction of such a blog for teachers at my school would better integrate effective digital teaching and learning.<\/p>\n

Although the above mentioned blog would produce an interesting conversation starting point it would not provide the opportunity for teachers to consider issues in a more in depth but collaborative manner.\u00a0 For this reason process modeled by the ASB research and development teams in the \u201cPower of the journey\u201d sessions held throughout the morning of Thursday 23rd<\/sup> February would appear to be another element which I would like to introduce at my school.\u00a0 Teams formed around a number of topics had the opportunity to complete in depth research with the goal of presenting an informed opinion on future use.\u00a0 Without a required implementation outcome it appeared to provide an opportunity for honest discussion. Whilst the need to present findings provided a motivational timeline as did an influential audience that the teams felt would respond to the suggestions made.\u00a0 Having seen a number of research and development team members presenting in more detail about how they are already using elements of their research in their classes it would also seem that the process also accelerates implementation if taken on.<\/p>\n

So in conclusion, to improve the integration of the one-to-one program in my school I would like to see:<\/p>\n