Brian Smith :: Blog

I trained as a teacher in Worcester in the UK in the 1960s. It seems like yesterday but what a different place the world was then. Let me give you one small example.

A phone call in 1964
I was 18 years old and in order to telephone my girlfriend, who lived 100 miles from Worcester, I had to go the phone booth in the hall of residence and dial the operator who would connect me for three minutes. It was expensive and at the end of three minutes the operator's voice would interrupt, saying "your time is up, caller, do you wish to pay for extra time?"

On one occasion I decided to get enough money together to have a proper chat for a whole half hour - an unheard of thing to do on a long distance call in those days! It cost me "one pound ten" (that's one pound and ten shillings - or £1.50 in today's coinage). I amassed a bagful of pennies, threepenny bits and shillings ready to feed into the slot.

But don't sit there thinking the cost of the phone call was £1.50. Oh no. You have to remember that  people didn't earn as much then - it was only a few years earlier that we as a family were thrilled when Dad's Civil Service Salary passed £1,000 a year. Compare that to the average £25,000 now.

No, the cost of my phone call was somewhere between £20 and £60 (depending on how you calculate it - see table). That was reckless spending on a student budget!

Incidentally, the table was created by this fascinating website: http://eh.net/hmit/ (I used the UK page: http://www.measuringworth.com/ukcompare/).
(You can click on the picture to compare the methods - opens in new window).

£40 for 30 minutes!
The point I'm making is that 1964 seemed pretty modern at the time. You could phone anyone, anywhere in the world, whenever you wanted to. Admittedly, it was at a price, and they had to have a telephone (most people did). Oh, and they had to be at home when you rang! The operator would simply connect you.

Unlimited call time for no cost at all
An 18 year old today can chat with a friend anywhere in the world for an unlimited time. The person doesn't even have to be at home, at work, or even in a building or kiosk. They can be up a mountain or standing beside the Parthenon in Athens (I mention this because I've made a phone call from that very spot). There's still a cost and currently there's an issue about roaming charges but you can see the point. And if you choose to call Skype-to-Skype using computers the call can in fact be absolutely free!

The reason I have digressed for so long is to draw attention to how life has been changing during my lifetime. This is just one tiny part of it - making a phone call. During those forty years the world has changed in every single aspect. We have changed from an industrial to an information society; the notion of a job for life with a pension is a thing of the past; and we are no longer passive consumers of information; we are creators and broadcasters.

These changes are profound and far-reaching but it's not as if the human race has never met change before. We changed from an agricultural society into an industrial one between 1700 and 1900 and by the time that revolution had run its course every single aspect of our lives had changed - from where we are born to what happens to our bodies after death.

A Literate Population
In 1700 only the ruling classes could read and write. By 1900 things had changed such that every single person received an education in Maths, Sciences, Humanities and Languages. Why did this happen? Why did we start to teach children to read and write? Many Members of Parliament at that time stood up and said, most vehemently, "We must not teach the lower orders to read because they will get ideas above their station" (this was only a few years before my grandmother was born!)

Clearly, for some reason that I haven't fully worked out, industrialisation needed education. An agricultural society didn't need an educated workforce; an industrial one did. Can anyone tell me exactly why it was so important? All I know is that it was absolutely crucial and the culmination was the 1870 Education Act which introduced compulsory education for every child.

What does an Information Society Demand?
This brings me back to today's world. Just as we once moved from agriculture to industry and education was transformed forever, so education is at the heart of the new change. Look at what a hot political potato it has become since the 1980s when computers first became mainstream. Look at how many changes and initiatives there have been as Governments tinker with the system.

All governments currently seem to believe that using computers to automate the teaching, testing and reporting of the 1870s curriculum (which, at its heart, is what we're still teaching) is what an information society needs. I believe most passionately that they are wrong. I believe that a new curriculum, a new school system, a new education model even - is needed. And all around me I see people across the world who agree. They include teachers, leaders, educationalists and industrialists. I follow many of them on Twitter.

During the 1800s there must have been a pressure building. Like some great social pressure cooker the need for "Education for All" was building. I have a powerful sense of that same pressure building up all around us right now. I'm convinced that within the next few years that pressure will come to a head and we shall see another great change in education. Last time it was the introduction of "Reading, 'Riting and 'Rithmetic" - and children attending institutions and sitting in rows. What exactly will it be this time?

What do you think the change will be when it comes?

My granddaughter, Lauren, is nine. Born in 1999, her life began as the 20th Century closed. It’s conceivable that she might live through every single year of the 21st.

The 20th Century was the first in history to have a fully literate population. Previously, only the ruling elite could read. That century was characterised by mass media organisations selecting content and publishing it to a passive audience. Initially in print, the coming of electricity spawned radio, television and film broadcasting – but the audience was always passive.

The 21st Century is already clearly different. The arrival of information technology has made creating, copying, repurposing and publishing an activity that every human being can do. People are no longer passive receivers of information. Everyone is a publisher – blogs, social networking and YouTube are just the first signs of this new world. The prosecution of teenagers for copying music was an example of the death throws of the old system. Copyright law and the giant media corporations must adapt or die.

In this amazing new world, the school curriculum has been trying to find ways to use ICT to improve test results – a classic case of doing an old thing with a new technology (see my film at http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=n1-q9M2cYnU)

A couple of years ago it was “proved” that embedding ICT in secondary schools was worth half a grade at GCSE! Wow. Billions of pounds of investment for half a grade!

The reality is that this approach is just trying to automate the learning process using technology and its effect will be minimal. Information technology is actually making fundamental changes in the way we learn and the way we access learning. Just as pressure built up during the 19th Century for a curriculum to make the population literate and numerate, so the pressure is building again.

In 1870 the pressure exploded in the form of the 1870 Education Act and free education for all. In 2008 the pressure is still building. Early signs are the frequent changes to the Primary and Secondary curricula but the explosion hasn’t happened yet.

The trigger may well be the arrival of handheld technology. Smart phones can now access the web and bring Alan November’s 2003 prophetic question right to the fore – “At the moment we block unsuitable websites; what are we going to do when every child has 24/7 broadband access in their pocket on a toy?” (See the talk, after which he asked this question, at http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=QVLS_rlwnwI).

What of the children who will be the citizens of the future. The current generation going through school is being taught a curriculum that was designed for the industrial world. After the explosion, schools may well be very different; learning certainly will be. Professor Stephen Heppell calls today’s children the “lost Generation” (see http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ahbBfj_DjTM)

One possible solution would be to give children such as my granddaughter access to the technology now and help them to become fluent and safe users. In this way, their school learning will progress unhindered (and possibly helped) but they will also begin to access learning in the 21st Century way – by communicating, collaborating and self-motivating.

Taking all of the above into consideration, I have in mind buying a laptop for my granddaughter – and that opens up a whole new can of worms as you’ll see in this open letter written to her parents (my son and his partner):

Open Letter to M & N: 

"I want to talk to you about the thinking behind the idea of getting Lauren a laptop and to ask you to discuss whether you think it's a good idea or not. Don't decide until you've read all of this a couple of times! I'm happy to keep it if you decide not.

The laptop I have selected, rightly or wrongly, is called the eeePC. It's cheap and cheerful and designed to be just that. It runs Linux not Windows. It's A5 in size and has solid state memory not a hard drive. It costs £200 - not exactly cheap but certainly not expensive for a computer.

The Reasoning

Lauren isn't very good at using a mouse or the keyboard and this is not uncommon for kids of her age. But any practice would be useful to her. It doesn't matter what she does with it, it all amounts to familiarity with the technology and is essential for today's kids.

Giving kids access to the family computer can cause all sorts of problems, even with user accounts, so having one of their own has obvious advantages.

The world is changing and even the former head of Ofsted, Chris Woodhead, has said that the National Curriculum and Testing has failed. There are significant changes in the world and also in education and they are all caused by the effects of the new technologies. Being familiar with technology is now a life skill, more so than reaching Level 4 in the 3R's by the age of 11.

Risks

Of course it's more than just pressing buttons, we're talking about communications technology - what are the opportunities AND what are the dangers? To use an analogy, roads are very dangerous, so are cars, but we don't ban them, we teach children how to be safe. Technology is the same. Some people want to ban the Internet, ban mobile phones in schools, ban kids from using computers but what we really need is to teach them safety whilst harnessing the opportunities they bring.

The notion of every child having technology in their pocket is becoming a reality. These devices are falling in price and the new solid state memory that is beginning to replace hard drives is going to make mobile computers move into the mainstream. The notion of kids having 24-hr communications access in their pockets on a toy is becoming a reality. Giving Lauren a head start can do no harm – providing we address safety issues.

The eeePC can connect to the Internet - but it isn't connected all the time. It's something that you can choose to do or not, as and when appropriate. In the future kids are very likely to have 24-hour broadband access in their pocket just as many now have a mobile phone. In fact it may be their phone that connects. The dangers are obvious. But we're not going to turn the clock back and un?invent the technology any more than we're going to go back to using horses for transport. So we might as well grasp it and see where it goes - but in a safe environment.

What Does it Do?

The eeePC comes with some basic software. You can write using the word processor, for example. If you connect a printer you can print your work. But I also have a memory card for it with some sums and phonics designed for school use which she can play with.

It may be that she finds herself bored with it and doesn't use it. Or perhaps she will. All this is fine.

“One Laptop per Child”

There is also a something much bigger going on. The eeePC and other A5 laptops of this sort that you'll have noticed in the shops (or will certainly see more of as time goes by) are running parallel with a movement called "One laptop per child" (OLPC).

There's a company by that name that set out to produce a $100 laptop for the third world. The OLPC laptop now exists and you can even buy it - actually you have to buy two - one for you and one to be given to a child in a developing country! How's that for an initiative?

It isn't taking off at great speed but it's creeping forward. And they couldn't get it to under $100; I believe they cost about $200 each.

Personally I wondered what on earth a third world child in Africa would do with a laptop when they haven't got electricity or even fresh water !!!! But it seems that people in the know reckon that the technology brings benefits that will lead to emancipation and freedom – I suppose by giving them access to knowledge (e.g. how to make water safe, how to build a well? – Your guess is as good as mine).

Oh, and they run on solar or wind-up power - plenty of both in Africa.

And of course with no Internet either, how do they get information? It seems that whenever two of these OLPC laptops are within a few metres of each other they automatically connect and open up a channel of communication (I suppose it's something like MSN but just between the laptops present). Imagine that in an African mud hut village – or a UK classroom!

Children Off Task?

People will say "oh we'd better ban those because the kids will be messing about instead of being drilled for tests. But we didn't ban pencils and paper because kids mess about and send notes to each other. We just taught them that sending notes was off task and they'd get a metaphorical clip round the ear if they did it. (Actually I got a real clip round the ear but that was then)

Conclusion

So that brings me back to Lauren and the eeePC. I dare say that her mother would say no, or sell it, or control its use, or ban it, or any of those things that adults do when it comes to new technology. And if you two aren't happy about it then we'll just not tell her she was going to get one and she’ll be none the wiser.

But I'm hoping you'll talk about it and say, "let's have a look at it, let's play with it ourselves, and then if we feel comfortable with it let's give it to her". I'll investigate it first and see if I can work out what on earth you can do with it. Then I'll meet with you and show it to you and you can have it to play with. And then we'll discuss whether to give it to Lauren or not.

If you've got any questions just let me know. And when you've read this through a couple of times, let me know what you think."

Learning Platforms and Virtual Learning Environments – LPs and VLEs

I'm finding the whole subject of Learning Platforms fascinating. In this world of Web 2.0 it seems only sensible that education is joined up. But I'm also finding it consistently difficult to discover whether they are fulfilling any of their promise or not. There are several reasons for this and I'd very much appreciate any thoughts on the subject.

Here are the salient points (I’ll try to be brief):-

Primary Specialist
As a primary practitioner my interest is really in Key Stages 1 & 2 (Scottish P1-7). Perhaps Learning Platforms haven’t taken of in this age group yet? Perhaps they never will?

Lack of Contact
Now that I'm semi-retired I spend little time in schools and I’m also no longer involved in the rolling out of new initiatives in Cambridgeshire as I used to be. So I don't get to see Learning Platforms in use. Are they being used?

My Granddaughter
I have an eight-year old granddaughter and she is my definitive user of a Learning Platform. I love the idea of her accessing school work, collaboratively working with friends and continuing at home work begun in school. I don’t see it happening yet. Is it just a pipe dream or will it come about? The English requirement was for every child to have an on-line storage space by Easter 2008. My granddaughter doesn’t have such a space (or if she has, she isn’t aware of it). The guidance actually stated that every school must be able to offer an on-line space so when Peterborough signed up with RM the target was met even if my granddaughter never gets to use a Learning Platform.

Older Pupils and Social Networking
At the Naace Conference in Torquay we heard about a secondary school visit to the Somme battlefields. The teacher had created an on line space for the pupils, but when they returned no-one used it. It turned out that they’d already used Bebo and the quality of their writing was stunning. So is a corporate Learning Platform ever going to compete with the networked world they live in? Indeed should it, or should education dovetail with the social networking already taking place? (Or would that kill it?)

Two Initiatives
There seem to be two initiatives behind Learning Platforms (please correct me if I’m wrong). One is Every Child Matters in which Police, Social Services, Health Professionals, etc can all access information on-line and hopefully prevent another tragedy like Victoria Climbié (although there’s already been another case in which Khyra Ishaq starved to death in her own home - perhaps Birmingham’s Learning Platform isn’t functioning in primary schools yet?) But will Learning Platforms simply end up as on line extensions of School Management Information Systems or will children use them too?

The other initiative is Personalised Learning and this could be the driving force for on-line learning to take off – but will it?

BETT 2008
I spent a long time at BETT this year talking to providers of Learning Platforms. Everything I had seen up until then had looked rather like an on-line filing system, uninspiring for children and hard work for teachers. At BETT I was told that “Version 2” (or 3) was on its way and would be much better. I did see attractive graphical front ends on Net Media and RM’s stands but are these happening at the chalk face yet and are they being used?

Learning Platform or Virtual Learning Environment?
Some of the BETT exhibitors insisted that there are two separate components – Learning Platform (the filing system part) and Virtual Learning Environment (the children’s part). RM's website describes Kaleidos, which is “a powerful whole-school content management and delivery module for both teachers and students with tools for planning and delivering lessons and recording the attainment of individual learners”. Kaleidos, it turns out, is the Learning Platform and they have a “VLE Module” that integrates with it. Will it be purchased or will the needs of Every Child Matters outweigh all else and children’s’ use never quite happen?

SoftEase, Sherston and Espresso
I did see two very exciting offerings from well known software houses, SoftEase and Sherston. Both had big colourful graphics, many resources and a clear pupil on-line portfolio. But both are standalone products that must be purchased separately and I wonder if individual schools with buy these to bolt on to (or should I say “integrate with”) their Learning Platform. Or will LAs buy these products for all their primary schools? Then there’s Espresso – is this a Virtual Learning Environment or something unique? (I remember espresso when you had to have a satellite dish to download the content overnight. It was innovative and ground breaking. How things change!) Norfolk has purchased Espresso for all its primary schools and it appears on their Net Media desktops.

Final Two Penn’orth
It’s not that I don’t know what Learning Platforms and Virtual Learning Environments are (although their definition changes as the technology develops so perhaps no-one knows exactly).

I can see them being an admin system for Education, Health, the Police and Social Services. And I can also see the possibility of a giant “library in the sky” (I need a resource to teach about volcanoes – what’s available?)

But what really excites me is the opportunity for children to become self motivating and take their learning from the classroom, out into the big wide collaborative world of friends and family (and perhaps beyond?) and back into school again, where their teacher is guide, mentor, facilitator and friend and we’ve moved away from this dreadful, target-driven mania for anything that can be tested in order to raise “standards” - standards that are based on a Victorian curriculum that was designed for an industrial world we no longer live in.

The Times Educational Supplement had a general overview in January 2005 and things don’t seem to have moved very far forward in the intervening three years: http://www.tes.co.uk/2201922

“Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is knowing not to put a tomato in a fruit salad” – Ask Elvis on Steve Wright in the Afternoon on BBC Radio 2.

There's been talk of Twitter on Naacetalk recently. Some people love it, some don't get it.

I joined Twitter during the Naace Conference in Torquay this March (2008). Ewan McIntosh mentioned it; then David Warlick mentioned it; even Stephen Heppell mentioned it.

Since I'd bought an iPhone only a couple of weeks before, I was able to find Twitter as I sat there in the audience during Ewan's keynote address. Within moments I'd registered and was following Ewan. As the conference went on I added others. I later realised that you can see who they're following and choose some of those to follow two.

Before you know it you have this stream of news flowing past you like a river. You can pause by the river any time I want - on PC or iPhone - and see what everyone is doing. It's a quite extraordinary thing; strangely surreal and yet strangely fascinating.

But it really is also amazingly valuable. Whilst it's fun to read that David Warlick is sitting in Starbucks, somewhere in America, and they're currently playing Jazz, his tweet about people at a conference streaming the speaker to Ustream was a revelation. Within minutes I was attending that conference, watching a session live from Stamford in the UK. Just like that! There I was, sitting at my PC, watching live video from the angle of an audience member somewhere in the US.

So give Twitter a try. I think you'll love it.

Have you come across TED yet? It stands for 'Eductation, Entertainment and Design' and is an annual conference in America. The only way to hear its world class speakers used to be to pay several thousand dollars AND go to to America. What's more you couldn't do it till about 2015 because it's already fully booked.

Anyway, now the talks are available to all of us on the net.

Try this one for starters, it's short and fascinating.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/206

OK, let's make a start. Many people I know keep a blog. Ewan McIntosh, David Warlick, Terry Freedman, et al are all active Bloggers, Twitters, Del.icio.us-users, etc. In fact they harness the Web 2.0 technologies to the full.

David Warlick's is called 2cents (he used to end posts with "that's my 2 cents worth") so I've copied him with a bit of pre-decimal coinage. Ah, Smith; never an original thought.

Me? I've been thinking about starting a blog for ages and currently I'm trying to work out where. Do I use Edublogs like Ewan or Blogspot like half the world, or carry my own on my website like David does? I don't know.

So let's start here and see if it goes anywhere.

By the way, I do have several YouTube videos. Type 'digital literacy' or 'information rivets' in YouTube's search box to see two of mine.

Do reply if you ever see this post.