Collaboration in learning Mal Lee August 2013

1. Collaboration in learning • Mal Lee • August 2013

2. Overview • Solitary insular teaching - that of paper based world • Collaborative, networked 24/7 – that of digital and networked • Concomitant change of mindset • Structural impact of digital operational base • Awareness of macro trends and natural growth • Ever lessening importance of the physical place and ‘its’ boundaries • Increasing centrality of Web and demise of school walls, • Shift – logical extension of wider societal developments • About readying your school, staff and community

3. School teaching today • Insular, conducted behind closed doors of physical place • Within set hours – for less than 20% of learning time per year • Mass, class group based • Paper based – paper technology shaping nature of the teaching and school organisation • Constancy and continuity – 50/60 years largely unchanged • Solitary teachers – closed classroom doors – teacher as gatekeeper - controlling teaching and assessment • Distrust – cyber walls to ‘protect’ young • Pronounced focus on cognitive/the formal curriculum

4. Out of school teaching • By default left to parents/children • In context, anywhere, anytime, 24/7/365 • Pronounced impact of learning culture of home/parents • Networked, collaborative, connected • Normalised use of suite of digital technologies • Universal nature evidenced since mid 90’s

5. Out of school teaching • Personalised, largely self-directed • Increasing self-teaching – with peer and network support • Constantly evolving, ‘buzz of the new’ • Unfettered exploration of ever-evolving opportunities • Intrapersonal, interpersonal and to a lesser extent cognitive development focus (Pellegrino and Hilton, 2012) • Trust and respect

6. Collaboration between home - school • Rhetoric and reality – miniscule • ‘One – way collaboration’ (Grant, 2010) • Tokenism • Unilateral control with schools/teachers/bureaucrats • Parent/student disempowerment

7. Collaboration between home - school • Pronounced turnaround with digital normalisation and move to networked mode • Teacher willingness to collaborate – when school has astute principal • Why – yet to be researched • Uncertainty re need for digital normalisation by school • Natural growth in school’s desire to collaborate

8. Teaching in pathfinder schools • Experience of pathfinders in UK, US, NZ and Australia • Early days - relative rarity • Across socio-economic, size, location, sector spectrum • Visionary leadership • Digital operational base

9. Teaching in pathfinder schools • Willing staff • Conducive learning culture • Willing and capable community • Apposite digital infrastructure • Concern to provide apposite C21 education for every child • Recognition of out of school learning • Ever more integrated ecology

10. Nature of the collaboration • Multi-faceted, networked and unbounded • Networked mindset • Using resources beyond school gates • Using community as a teaching space • Authentic and inquiry/project based learning • Collaboration across professional teaching community • Collaboration with other professionals • Collaboration with families – parents, carers and grandparents

11. Evidence for collaboration • Parents as prime teachers – from birth onwards • Grandparents/community elders as teachers • Students as their own teachers • BYOT – 24/7/365 learning • Student attainment and home-school collaboration • Potential for more personalised learning • Bridging home-school divide/practises • Streamlining and improving teaching • The untapped potential

12. Connected learning • Enhancing the sophistication of the young’s ‘out of school’ connected learning • Building on near 20 years evolution • Bringing the networked mode into the school • Recognising individual children’s preferred mode of learning and building upon • Impact of current laissez faire approach • Propensity for the educationally advantaged to be continually advantaged • Vital need for astute teacher intervention

13. Connected learning • Enhancing the sophistication of the young’s ‘out of school’ connected learning • Building on near 20 years evolution • Bringing the networked mode into the school • Recognising individual children’s preferred mode of learning and building upon • Impact of current laissez faire approach • Propensity for the educationally advantaged to be continually advantaged • Vital need for astute teacher intervention

14. 24/7/365 teaching • Merging of the ‘in’ and ‘out’ of school teaching trends • Shaping apposite 27/7/365 holistic education for life and work • Involving all the teachers of the young – from birth onwards • Who best teaches what, when and where? • A curriculum for a networked world • The teaching mode of the networked world – that is already transpiring

15. Connected learning • Enhancing the sophistication of the young’s ‘out of school’ connected learning • Building on near 20 years evolution • Bringing the networked mode into the school • Recognising individual children’s preferred mode of learning and building upon • Impact of current laissez faire approach • Propensity for the educationally advantaged to be continually advantaged • Vital need for astute teacher intervention

16. Questions? • Presentation posted – http//www.malleehome.com

17. Contact • Mal Lee – 02 44 717 947 • mallee@mac.com • http://www.malleehome.com • http://www.byot.me • PO Box 5010 Broulee NSW Australia 2537