Everlasting Class!

Education for Life Long Learning!

Do you still talk to your teachers?
Do they still talk to you? 

The three shots I have included above and to the right are in no particular order, Harper Adams University College ( formerly Harper Adams Agricultural College), Aberdeen University and Dundee University.  There have been other institutions that I have attended to receive an education in response to changing times other years but these are probably the most traditional.  They are in their own rights National and International leaders certainly in some of the disciplines I which I studied.   All of them were pre-JANET  (a precursor of the Internet in the UK) for undergraduates.   

In discussions within a group based at Bank Street College, New York, the term everlasting class has emerged.  This is a concept which at first looks to be an impossible goal.  How can you have an everlasting class and what makes it everlasting? Is there a topic that can be everlasting? When do you stop being a student? When do you know enough?  Will we still have the same structure and instructor in years to come?

I mentioned the three institutions in the first paragraphs because although I have become well qualified through them, once I received the certificate of competence that was the end of the relationship.   There was no real organisation from their part in promoting continued association or disseminating further knowledge.  The responsibility was over and another commodity created, the graduate.  

Times have moved on.  Now Universities in the UK charge fees an impetus to find out what their students have gone on to achieve has started.  As the system is now "monetised" marketing data is essential.  However, now fees are charged regulation requires a new set of data and tables to explain to students and government the cost-benefit of their efforts in establishing skills for life and Life Long Learning.  As time goes on the term "career" may become superseded by Life Long Learning or an equivalent, since career and job are interchangeable and do not necessarily imply development of skills any more    This development of tables and data is also something that  is referred to when considering with the main choice that faces young UK students.  Do we study at the local institution or do we live away from home and study?

So returning to the everlasting class.  In the grand scheme of education and career development in the traditional professions (Law, Accountancy and Medicine) membership of bodies such as the Law Society,  Royal College of Surgeons and other Chartered Institutes maintained some sort of everlasting class.  However, even these are not connected to the original providers of that training in all cases.

The Bank Street Group is at present moving towards an Open Learning Community (OLC) Model.  This is where a group of similarly interested parties and individuals are exploring how social media tools can be used to promote understanding of the new area of collaborative and peer learning.  Each course that is passed by a student is essentially a record of understanding of historical information at that point in time.  It is not necessarily going to be relevant information in ten years time.   Knowledge and understanding frameworks move too quickly compared to 30 years ago or even 16 years years ago (pre-internet).

With the connected world of the Silicon Age the everlasting class or learning forum could take place.  If I wanted to attend one of my former institutions for a meeting I would have to travel between 170 and 480 miles from Suffolk.  A Google Hangout may be the solution.  Could this be the new dawn for cross disciplinary , industry and local interested groups to take off again?  The Royal Society   and the Spalding Gentleman's Society  started by the same group of people (Sir Isaac Newton was a member of both) initially as an OLC.  As they became more established and formalised they started to become more closed and bureaucratic.  Question is did they promote new inquiry or did they establish conservative habits that stifled new areas owing to personalities and self-interest? 

OLCs have the potential to be the new Dawn of open enquiry in a group.  All educational institutes should have an  OLC to promote discussion as part of everlasting class (IMO).  If not only to prevent knowledge from becoming historical but also to tap into that vast "crowd source" of experience, knowledge and potential research sitting just the other end of the internet!                 

Friday Reflection

Online and overland communication!

In a week when Sandy premièred in New York followed by snow,  the power of the internet for meetings and connections was for me reinforced.  The Wednesday hook up or Hangout happened  attended by other members of the Bank Street OLC.  Microphone problems aside it was possible to carry out a meeting, even though I was resorting to chat messaging, that was a thoughtful and provided new perspectives for my own practice.  The fact we could speak in real time across three continental shelves leads to greater understanding of for example terminology and other descriptions of online learning activites.

This week I have been chipping away at my own black box understanding where coding and computer science is concerned.  I am part the way through an Alison Diploma course on Programming in C.  The basis to the reasoning for attempting this I have blogged about in my last post.  I have had a look at the Wiki pages for Google Course Builder and will start looking at putting the materials together for Project Scratch.  This is a  CPD project for teachers to start to learn how to code using Scratch.

Thursday, yesterday, I embarked on an overland journey to talk to a small, expanding company run by very pleasant people. They have selected a particular niche in the online education sector.     Delivering learning to groups of pupils via virtual learning environments.  The model they are following is try to get the pupil to be immersed in the activity and have ownership. 

They are based in South Gloucestershire   After becoming lost trying to follow Google maps and drive at the same time I can understand why. The nature of 21st Century working is Teleworking (a representative organisation in the UK is the  Telework Association).  Their's is a prime example of this activity. 

Fish Hill a 1 in 10 hill with great views

A Cotswold town

So after driving down Fish Hill (and back up again) I arrived in the Cotswold town.  As you can see a chocolate box High Street.  It is close to Sudeley Castle.  Having spent nearly five hours getting there I have to say the purchase of a discounted Road Map most valuable item bought this month (silly me thought I could just rely on Google Maps' directions forgetting the vagaries of UK highways Authorities signage and desire to redesign road layouts).  Prior to this purchase I had been following my nose and luckily it was working properly and I was only 15 miles from where I needed to be.  The map will be accompanying me Google Maps just there to calculate journey mileage and potential time!!  A lot of miles (500 or so) to eventually get back to Suffolk at about 4.30 pm, (left at 5.30 am that morning) but worth the trip to see how others are approaching the task of online learning.

Returning back to the reflection.  Last week I set myself the task of looking further at the Virginia Tech Model of learning activities .  I have developed my thinking a little further to include representation of the model as scattergram.  Included has been the step to incorporated a the model of Revised Bloom's Taxonomy and Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development.  This has been shared with members of the Bank  Street College OLC.  I will update the blog later to show the new model additions.

So for next week.  To pursue further leads for collaboration within the OLC group to move forward Project Scratch.  Blogcast the ideas of extending the Virginia Tech Model.  Continue to look at coding since we have an OLC deadline/waymark coming up and want to be able to have at least an outline project working.  Like the idea behind the NYC Learning Hive.  Have viewed the new initiatives launched in the UK by Mozilla.  A Hive or OLC is really appealing to set up with local volunteer centre (for whom I work with from time to time) and the local council.

Weekend starts here, POETS day being enforced (Push Off Early Tomorrow's Saturday!).

 

OFLC - Online Faculty Learning Communities

Whaaaaaat? Friday Already???

Friday Reflection

A busy week not just with OFLC but other online learning experiences via edX and ALISON.  The last Friday reflection  seems a long time ago now.  So in 500 words or less how have my  personal targets been met for OFLC set by me last week.  

Two main goals for this week were to set up a Medium Term Plan and Long Term Plan.  The Medium Term Plan was posted into the OFLC Google Group Drive (like this feature will have to investigate GoogleGroups further for some of my own projects).  We are at the stage of proposing projects and coalescing into working collaborations.  The initiation phase has been a feature of this week with facilitation of group make up being the next step.  Sharing has been  happening with OFLC which is great and promotes confidence in exchanging ideas.

The Long Term Plan is at the stage of being for personal consumption. As it becomes more fleshed out in the next week or so with aspirational targets for the next year I will then share. For me Long Term Plan is anything from 3 months to a Year in the future.  I use the term aspirational since all plans are subject to change and review as experiences dictate.  The trick with Long Term and Medium Term Plans is to realise that they are just that, plans.  Investment  in  collaboration/ownership  and setting realistic review schedules is the basis for successful projects that have lasting longevity.  The "there are no problems only solutions" mantra is often used as a summation of this approach.  It does rely on leadership within a group being a shifting fulcrum as opposed to management of the group.

So goals for Online Learning for the next week.   Have made a few detours this week into considering the wider role of Online Courses and OFLC in society and especially the Third Age of Man.   Having both parents involved in the University of the Third Age  (U3A).  I am aware through talking to parents of the vast repository of knowledge that still resides with active older people.  My father has an interest in Pewter, history and digital photography and regularly gives talks to the local group.  One of the tools that I have come across with involvement in the OFLC (OLC) is SlideSpeach.  This tool transforms a presentation (PowerPoint, Open Office, GoogleDocs) and slide notes into an audio and visual experience without having to use complex video authoring packages.  A worthy tool for preserving talks made within the context of  the U3A.  So a project for this week is to teach/lead father into recording his thoughts on diverse subjects with SlideSpeach.  Could be a trying experience for Tech Support (me) since although he is a retired electrical engineer he is more analogue and 3000v than digital.  Operator error is not a term he readily admits to where computers are concerned!  

Development of the Virginia Tech Model is ongoing.  I am in the process of investigating working with an Online Tutoring company as a contractor/supply teacher on specific delivery of teaching to individual students.  I believe the development of this model provides me with understanding of what is a relatively new field that could be constricted if traditional models of instruction are adopted.   

So a few things to be going on with for the next week! 

Online Faculty Learning communities

Snow could arrive this weekend!
Shot taken  last year of Hamlet Green
100 m around the corner. 

 The Friday Reflection!

Reflective practice in action in  less than 500 words.  A worthy aim see if I can achieve this self imposed limit.  This week has been a very good week for the Bank Street College of Education OFLC (Online Faculty Learning Community)  activity.  One of the problems, often, with a "normal" teaching job is the inability to find time to reflect.  The demands certainly of UK education has reflective practice talked about but often not considered a vital of good practice.  I admit I have been guilty of this in the past!

 I set myself a number of tasks when planning my Google Calendar for the week last Saturday morning. The calendar I have been using now for more than a  couple of years for time management. This will be one of the tasks I will doing on Saturday morning.

The major task for the week was formalising a specific project for attention.  That has been initiated and completed up to the point of planning the logistics.  This has also been shared with the OFLC ready for comment and collaboration.  On reflection although the proposal looks to be a self-contained project of delivering CPD to a specific aim of familiarising teacher with Scratch, that may not be all that is needed!

 The article highlighted by one of our collaborators (not mentioning names since this blog is in the public domain) , College is dead ... in Time magazine was instructive.  I have previously used articles in my own Life Long Learning in another blog    from the Harvard Business Review.  A journal I have a little familiarity with from all the Daniel Golman reprints that fly around British Schools.  Time is a publication not usually looked at by an English Audience certainly not in the context of Professional Practice.  Point to note then is that not all publications have to have a direct subject specific target audience to be useful.  Articles of mass appeal and importance are sometimes better where they can viewed by the greatest number in this case Time.  After all we do own our own learning, don't we?

So up to this point how are we doing.  Word count 348 to the question mark.  Enough reflection and food for thought for next week.  A medium term plan would be for me to look at how the OFLC schedule fits in with the project and also the other working commitments. A long term plan up to the end of the OFLC schedule and beyond encompassing maintaining collaboration and extending collaboration and skills would be  an aspirational task.  Probably now on or near the 500 word limit and have some achievable aims for the next week?    OK, copy and pasted into OpenOffice and word counted (440 words).

So enough written now.  We have a snow day predicted in Suffolk.  Visitation from sister, niece , nephew and bouncy Spaniel.  Cat is really going to enjoy that.  But all part of maintaining the Work-Life balance!

Away from the Chalk Face!

The Friday Ladder:  Grimes Graves, Brecklands
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimes_Graves  

Friday at the finishing post!

A Friday morning, still dark at 5.45 am (UK time),  time to see where we have been since Monday morning.

The picture of 5000 year old industry to the right is a very apt hook for this blog.  On Monday I started the odyssey away from the Chalkface.  

The semester for edX's CS50x (see link above in bar) commenced on Monday .  Semester strange term to the English eye, where terms are more usual linked around the major holiday periods.  Eleven weeks for the lecture cycle.  This is an example of MOOCs ( see previous Blog), an interesting experience of viewing lectures remotely.  A little bit of Scratch was introduced (something that I have used in a Summer School that I ran), an assignment to be completed.

Wednesday saw the start of an interaction with Bank Street College of Education, New York.  In this interaction/course, with online resources and courses interaction seems a better description of the experience,  we are as a group seeking to push forward our collective and individual understanding of VLEs (Virtual Learning Environments) for want of a generic term.  There at the moment does not appear to be a classification yet of the different types of learning experience available on line.  To this end I have created a GoogleDocs Spreadsheet for viewing trying to classify the types of learning experience and some of the terms used.  As with all new areas different people have used what to them is the most appropriate term.  As an educator I am more interested in the learning outcome based upon these tools rather than the elegance of the tool.  If it takes 10 hours to produce a whizzy presentation that lasts five minutes that is 9 hours and 55 minutes too long in an ideal world!

So having had the traditional platform of undergrad teaching transferred to the digital world with edX this week, what is happening next week?  Further exploration of the topics on the edX course will happen, I have to say that I am impressed by the level of support materials provided.  How this translates into something that can be used in the Virtual Classroom ( there another term ) would be an area to explore within the  OFTL interaction with Bank Street College.

A clear link for classroom teachers between learning  objective and learning outcome needs to be made with appropriate selection of the best IT resource.  Interactive Whiteboards are fine but not if the wall on which it is mounted moves due to poor workmanship (have experienced), or the room is the wrong shape for projection with pillars at inappropriate places.  (Architects please note this when designing new buildings).  

The cost implication is also a consideration in the especially in the UK at the moment.  The investment in computers we made many years ago has produced the model where we are often tied to particular delivery equipment and mechanisms. This is often due to the fact we have bought a system rather than analyse first what we want to with it!  (Headteachers are often guilty of being impressed with the look at the package what it can do in the hands of the salesman and say wow must have this, then it sits under a cloth in the corner of the room to be wheeled out when Inspectors arrive!)  And more importantly we may have neglected to audit the training requirement of staff who are going to use the equipment.  This is actually more difficult to do than it would at first seem owing to the human factor.  A period of sending round survey forms asking which IT resources staff used and what they would like often drew a blank, but many good intentions to fill out the survey to shape the experience.  This is because  most teachers in my experience are still not  100% confident the technology will work when they want it to work!  It is an after thought!    

To see the spreadsheet, initially, if you email me through the Google+ network or leave a comment I will email the link.  The spreadsheet is work in progress.  

So weekend maybe have a look at some Sicilian food http://2pointfiveageofman.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/sunday-foodie-bit-sicilian-cookery.html!  There is life beyond the Chalkface!

MOOCing: To boldly go where no one has been before!

MOOCING for all!

The age of the STAR TREK ACADEMY is here.  Distance learning was something that became included for younger members of the Star Trek Enterprise in the popular saga by Gene Roddenberry.  The concept was already there in the Australian idea School of the Air.  Now we have the MOOC!

Massive Open Online Courses have arrived with the sites such as edX, Coursera and ALISON (see links at top of the page).  In order to understand this experience myself (and to formalise my own self-taught learning) I have joined an edX course CS50X .

As part of a group examining online course delivery "based" (world wide collaboration via Google tools)  at a separate institution I became aware of the idea of MOOCs.  An article (http://sleve.wordpress.com/2010/09/27/why-mooc-engagement-is-so-hard/) was one that the Bank Street College  OFLC Course/Group recommended for reading.  Having read the article I was struck by the my own experiences using social media and the ways I have been instructed post 16 years old.  

In classes for A-Levels we had 30 per class for Maths, Physics and Chemistry but only 10 for Biology!  The engagement socially with the learning experience was better in the smaller groups as the interaction between tutor and pupil were easier and more immediate!   This  pattern of pupil to real-life tutor  experience continued through my Scottish University where we had classes of between 100 and 200 in size with tutorial time spent with a group of 7 to 8 pupils in the early years.  This last model was a better experience than Sixth Form A levels but owing to previous training of how to learn in a formal context was like being at school.  At later stages in the first degree experience we had increasingly less formal instruction in  "class" but there was still "traditional" engagement techniques.  After all these were research Professors with a teaching load of Undergraduates as opposed to teaching Professors! Plus they did not have the whizzy presentation to engage pupils as we have today and break up the delivery of material.

Having seen the first lectures of the CS50x course I was struck by the content compared to my experiences as an undergraduate 20 years ago.   Key concepts although delivered at quite an active pace were not that many in the 2 hour lecture/MP4.  What was apparent was the audience participation and the "pausing" to explain the learning outcome.  The online experience was also made more interactive and a non-popcorn/coke/beer movie experience by the occasional question appearing to check understanding of key concepts.  This is a simple but key trick to keep the solo listener engaged.  The peer pressure of note taking neighbours being absent in this environment.  That was also apparent in the auditorium the lack of note taking materials when we did see audience shots.  The material was online in the form of video recordings of the lecture, transcripts, Tutorial  materials and most importantly web-links (the most difficult thing to note down quickly).

The forums signed up for the and program critique requests  starting to appear, addresses some of the MOOC's social limitations.  It does require a collective interaction of learning.  It does require confident self-learners.  It does play to the strengths of undergraduate enthusiasm in asking the question, why? Or more important that very difficult statement , I don't understand.  This is the  a potential pitfall of MOOCs that social media can overcome by doing what most pupils from the age of 3 do without thinking they are doing it, which is peer to peer learning!  It is also a challenge to the "closed filing cabinet" state of traditional academic work.  If you are not on the privileged list of one to one personal contact that knowledge acquires a proprietorial existence. 

The universal aspiration of knowledge being free can be a reality but only if a MOOC  engages social interaction in a learning community.  Competition to be the first to think of an idea will always be there, social interaction dose spur uncovering of  new concepts.  Would we ever have known about Darwin's theories in his lifetime if he had not been in correspondence with Wallace?  Historians of life sciences argue who was the greater Wallace or Darwin? And who should be on the pedestal carved in stone?  MOOCs potentially have the ability to speed up dissemination of  understanding of knowledge but have to overcome the inertia of lack of communication between learners.  A problem experienced in UK, if not all UK classrooms, for the majority of pupils driven by need to fulfil a curriculum!

So the major conclusion of the article http://sleve.wordpress.com/2010/09/27/why-mooc-engagement-is-so-hard/, is to start to engage socially.  Be confident to record your experiences in a learning journal or blog.  And more importantly to be persistent and leave your "footprints" in the sand to see where you have been when you look up to see where you want to be!