Gareth Davies :: Blog

http://advisorymatters.naaceblogs.org/2009/10/07/the-decade-where-nothing-wor

In an episode of “Henry’s Cat” mending his cuckoo clock takes him back in time. On his way back to the end of the 20th century he catalogues strange inventions that took place in the early decades of that century. Watching the second episode of BBC Four’s Electric Dreams last night somewhat reminded me of that list. Over 30 days, one family travel from 1970 to the year 2000 discovering the technology that was available to households in those three decades. Last night covered the 1980s, when computer technology truly became available in the home. During the 1970s the family had discovered family board games, the chopper and missed person-to-person communication. Hamish the 13 year old got so bored he even resorted to helping with the housework. This week’s episode meant an increase in the pace of change. The children were given the first hand-held elecronic games and soon retreated into individual rather than group play. As one of them put it, “It’s mine, it belongs to me and no-one else has the right to play it” as if technology is part of one’s own personal space. However, perhaps the most interesting introduction into the household was the micro-computer.

The family were taken to a microcomputer fair, 1982 style. Here they could pick the computer they would like to have from the wide choice of incompatible systems available. The final choice came down to either the ZX Spectrum or the BBC Micro. Despite the BBC Micro having the, “stench of school about it … most of the games are about ‘Fun with Counting’, or ‘Isn’t Geography Nice’ “, as one of the experts told the family, the kids are intrigued by its programming abilities and all chose it. In the real 80s, the preferred machine was the ZX Spectrum and the BBC was seen as rather ’swatty’ by comparison. Hamish even invites a friend from school to come around and programme together on their new acquisition. One might speculate why this might be. Programming is certainly not as prominent in the curriculum today as it was when micros first entered schools. Indeed, one of the key components of the BBC’s success, was its easy to use version of BASIC. However, I wonder if the attraction for the children in this family was a little more fundamental especially for the young lad. Unlike today’s machines, although easy to use, their inner workings are not bare. It’s the electronic equivalent of fashioning your own tool from raw materials. The screen flickers into life, and you are in control, indeed, without interacting in a elementary way, nothing happens. Despite the initial enthusiasm of all, it soon becomes apparent that it’s Hamish and his Dad are the ones that persevere with the computer coaxing life out of it. The girls soon don’t see the point and a gender gap opens while they wait for the technology “do something”.

More arrives, a VCR, and camcorder, but it becomes obvious that technology is not that reliable and that incompatibilities such as stuffing a Betamax tape into a Ferguson VideoStar will break the equipment, and why the rather dangerous C5 was a flop. As Steph says, “nothing ever works“, but even she admits, “The 80s childhood was quite good actually, to be honest it wasn’t bad, and it wasn’t as boring as the 70s.”

The final programme covers the 1990s, the internet here we come!

Image credit: Richard Sandford

Tags: 1980s, technology, zxspectrum, bbcmicro, electricdreams

http://advisorymatters.naaceblogs.org/2009/10/01/you-cant-adopt-someone-elses

It rather worries me that in Graveyard Guru’s latest post he says, “I’ve copied the following from the Becta site (Leadership and Management > Vision), which I’ll then change to suit our school and the attitudes and beliefs of the staff”, as a seeming solution to the problem that the school doesn’t have a real vision for ICT. Real visions have ownership, are shared as a collective whole, not only by staff, but pupils, parents and carers and all stakeholders in the school. To understand your vision, you have to be part of it, to believe it can bring about change and that is it achievable. You might use others’ work, or even your own philosophy,  as a checklist or as a starting point for discussion, but simply to adapt something will never work. What if “the attitudes and beliefs of the staff” are not what you expect? What if certain members of staff don’t understand, or are not bothered, but clearly ’signing-up’ provides the path of least resistance? How far will your implementation plan go then?

Don’t be blinkered, visions are difficult to obtain, they take hard-work and persistence if they are to be meaningful and produce real change.

Image credit: Kendra Sundvall

Tags: ictmark, vision

http://advisorymatters.naaceblogs.org/2009/09/29/am-i-destined-to-carry-on-up

This was one question Simon Armitage asked himself at one point in last night’s, Upgrade Me, the first in a series programmes in BBC Four’s “Electronic Revolution” season. If you missed it you can catch it on BBC’s iPlayer for the next seven days in the UK, or it is repeated on a number of occasions until 5th October on BBC Four. I’m grateful to Bill Gibbon who noticed that the music was the theme from The Computer Programme broadcast on BBC2 in 1982, actually, from the album, Computer World by Kraftwerk. But I digress …

Armitage, a modern day poet, writer, musician, and “upgrader” by nature, showed us his cast off hardware and gadgets, which he admitted he has much affection for. It reminded me of the now rather worn out cliché about digital natives and immigrants as he delved into the “story of his upgrading”, his own “archaeological” collection. He made the observation that technology implies success, knowledge and power and that it is no longer about function, but form and even muses that it may now be about ‘art’.

He goes to a typical Secondary school and asks the 12 year olds to put their devices on the table and discovers that 49 out of 50 have a mobile phone, while all have a digital camera of some sort. He observes that, in this context, these devices can be a ’social tool’ to bring people together, while later on the metro in Seoul, he notes that in the most ‘connected’ country in the world, one can be isolated in a crowd. My favourite bit is when he shows the 12 year olds “a portable device” (a record player) from his era and wonders if they will be able to work out what it is and how it works, which of course they do easily.

Another fascinating interview he conducts is with Emma Allback, one of the few that has actively rejected technology. Living in a wood in Pembrokeshire she has no washing machine, microwave or even electricity and sees herself as a “conscientious objector” with regard to technology. Her only small concession is the use of a telephone two fields away. Clearly she does not need technology to be happy, but does require some social interaction.

Perhaps this is the lesson that the programme taught me. It’s not the gadgets that make people happy (Dr Catherine Jansson-Boyd, a Consumer Psychologist, points out that consumerism per se, is not the answer) but social interaction. Technology does what it does best and makes normal everyday tasks and needs easier to do or obtain. This is equally true with regard to the gadgets we might buy. In my mind, function still remains the overarching reason we enjoy technology.

Image credit: Rain Rabbit

Tags: simonarmitage, BBCFour, upgrademe, gadgets

http://advisorymatters.naaceblogs.org/2009/09/25/the-resurgence-of-the-innova

I’ve been picking my way through Richard Millwood’s excellent paper on the history of educational computing in the UK entitled, “A short history offline” which, rather ironically went online a couple of days ago. Richard now looks after the National Archive of Educational Computing, a project started in the days of Ultralab. The archive is not about hardware, but as he describes:

“The aim of the National Archive of Educational Computing is to look at these materials and to represent them as an accessible and substantially complete collection of one nation’s pioneering and world-renowned innovation. No existing archive, library or museum has an adequate representation of this material and more importantly, very little in the way of narrative, interpretation or analysis is available to the interested public, the education professional or the policymaker. The fear is that in the headlong rush of technological development, the UK has forgotten earlier lessons that may inform its future decisions.”

and therefore:

“The story that needs to be told is of human creative endeavour, educational practice and government policy. It is these which have formed a social and cultural context for the use of computers in education and which shape the design and developments to come.”

So what are perhaps the first things that come to my attention in this excellent paper?

The resurgence of the innovator

Richard points out that over the last thirty years it has been interesting to observe the focus for leadership, “at times from isolated innovative practitioners, later from curriculum development and research projects alongside local authority advisors and private consultants in small firms, and latterly, from the large firms which have arisen as government investment has increased. As the Web 2.0 phenomenon has arisen in the last five years, innovative practitioners are again able to share, but now at low cost and ever greater reach, and critically reflect with others on the approaches taken.” In the period before the National Curriculum, there was considerable individual autonomy, but in the last twenty years the curriculum has restricted teachers’ creativity and led to the computer being used to support traditional teaching. This is best illustrated by the way in which interactive whiteboards have become the focus for investment in the last decade. “Now that one-to-one (computers to pupils) has become a real possibility, it is surprising to see such emphasis on the teacher as ‘sage on the stage’, but shows how we regress in the face of the unknown to our simplest ideas of teaching and learning.”

I wonder if, given the likely funding restrictions that are bound to be applied in the next few years to education, coupled with the growth of global teacher networking whether leadership will cede to the innovators once again? What other factors need to be present for this to happen?

The three failures

Richard postulates three failures that need to be overcome if we are to learn from the past.

1. The Industry / Education divide, or more precisely the anti-industry prejudice in our society and its knock-on effect in education, and its parallel, the anti-education prejudice that limits the opportunities to exercise their professional creativity as a response to technology innovation. No better is this illustrated in the past by the establishment of a top-down curriculum, national league tables and internet filtering.


2. Misunderstanding the human–tool symbiosis, in which technology is regarded as “just another tool”. Something I’ve blogged on before. This restricts us to the notion that technology can best be applied to problems we have already encountered. eg. to write, and make it more efficient. This does not help us recognise that new skills are being adopted by learners in using such technology to solve problems we have not met. As Richard puts it, “New developments may well change human performance and then our learning environments, curriculum and assessments are all called into question.”


3. Productivity without transformation, in which we build teaching factories and not learning communities. “Throughout the history of computers in education we see outbreaks of productivity solutions for mass-teaching. They will fail us unless we appreciate the need for transformation.”

The article is well worth a read, and gives us significant insight into both the past and how it might inform the future.

Image credit: Paul Downey

Tags: Millwood, UKeducationalcomputing, history

http://advisorymatters.naaceblogs.org/2009/09/24/we-havent-invented-the-biro-

What do you think was most important 20th century invention applicable to education? I think the common ballpoint pen would be up there. You know the device that teachers banned me from using in school. They said it would ruin my hand-writing and was messy and blotchy. For that reason I never used a ballpoint pen for academic work until I reached university.

They were of course right, the ballpoint pen had a rocky road to becoming ubiquitous and a means of empowering self-expression and giving access to learning. The first patent for a ballpoint pen was issued in 1888 to John J Loud. The pen had a rotating small steel ball bearing. As with modern ballpoint pens, the ball was held in place by a socket. It was fitted with a means for supplying heavy, sticky ink to the ball. The pen was too coarse for letter writing and was only good for marking leather. It wasn’t until 1938 when Lazio and his brother George Biro, realised that the success of the ballpoint pen lay with the accuracy in which the ball is ground. To enable the ball to rotate smoothly in its metal seat, the seat itself was formed by pressing the ball into a previously machined metal socket to form its own impression. Such a precision manufacturing process meant that the biro was still relatively expensive, and Biro failed to take out a North American patent despite its success in Europe during the 1930s. The production of cheap ballpoints in the US led to a reputation for leaking or not working at all. It wasn’t until Marcel Bich, a Frenchman, developed gravity-flow inks held in rubber sacks, and then brass tubes and a layer of grease to force the flow of ink that the modern “BiC” was born. Today, ballpont pens are almost ubiquitous, from the cheap disposable to the luxury writing instrument. Advances in the technology which control bonding of metal particles by heat transfer allowed Parker to produce a sintered sphere that holds more ink inside than on the surface. Together with paste inks which offer greater resistance to weather and extremes of pressure, the Parker “Jotter” can perform in the heat of the Sahara, in high altitudes of the Andes and freezing temperatures in Alaska, and produce more than five miles of linear writing before running out of ink.

Many are claiming that ICT devices are becoming ubiquitous in our classrooms and among learners, but when you compare such devices with the humble ballpoint pen, which through advanced technology makes writing so easy and transparent at a cost of practically nothing, one realises we have an awful long way to go. We haven’t even invented the biro yet.

Image credit: Shane Gavin

Tags: devices, biro, pen, learning

http://advisorymatters.naaceblogs.org/2009/09/23/is-a-free-personal-learning-

This week I came across another teacher who questioned the value of buying any professional service (such as CPD) when their social networking apparently offered them so much for free. In that particular context, it’s worth reading mine and other readers comments on their blog post. But it did set me thinking, or expanding my thoughts on whether an online Personal Learning Network, made from RSS feeds, following people on Twitter etc. would ever be satisfactory enough to form the core of a professional educator’s continuing professional development.

A “Personal Learning Network” is just that, it’s personal. You set it up, you foster and add to it, and it very likely reflects your interests and priorities. But the other organisation in the equation is your employer and their priorities. Sure, they might send you on courses, make sure you attend necessary briefing meetings or conferences, but shouldn’t their duty of care include a contribution to your career development, and likewise, your professionalism ensure your priorities overlap? With most individuals, this might be the case. Keeping up with a particular feed will often be of benefit to your present job, and you give your own time perhaps to read that information. How can a fair balance be maintained, and perhaps more critically, how can the responsibility for developing an individual’s professional’s career solely rest with either?

Believe it or not, not everything can be found online. There are still many who prefer to communicate their ideas in other ways. Face-to-face interaction with other professionals and attending keynotes at conferences is still an important way to learn. Access to this form of professional development is still widely available, and sometimes for free, but quality will increasingly become more expensive.

On balance simply relying on a free PLN to meet your professional development needs, will I believe, never be a fulfilling experience. The danger is fooling yourself into thinking it might be.

Image credit: Caroline O’Bannon

Tags: PLN, CPD, professionaldevelopment

http://advisorymatters.naaceblogs.org/2009/09/14/1967-and-the-home-computer-t

The BBC have just released Tomorrow’s World into their online archive, and glancing through it this morning I came across this report on the Home Computer terminal broadcast on 20th September 1967. For £30 a week, Rex Malik has the first “Home Computer” terminal installed in his home. Like all things from the past, it’s  fascinating not only see how the the technology is being used and the assumptions that are made, but also how people thought the technology might develop.

“It’s one of two Mr Malik has installed, because he wants to know whether they can run his home and his life for him. They are simple to operate and experts predict that in twenty years time all new houses will be build with special computer ports and that terminals will be cheaper to rent than today’s telephones.”

“Every day the computer sends Rex Malik a daily reminder of where he should be, for he’s stored his day to day diary with the brain. The computer can handle a year’s shopping list for the family, final demands and the exact state of Malik’s bank balance. It could become a sort of ‘robot housekeeper’ crossed with a private secretary.”

Perhaps most interesting for educators looking back is how his four year old son uses the terminal, and the rather spooky prediction that his father makes:

“Rex Malik sees a future world where children could be virtually educated by computer, where every home will have its own terminal plugged into a central brain, and from the brain will come not only school lessons; he sees his son growing up in a world where eventually his very thoughts could be stored and perhaps assessed for his future use.”

View the whole clip.

Tags: 1967, earlyhomecomputing, education, schooling, learning

http://advisorymatters.naaceblogs.org/2009/08/30/why-doug-wont-be-redundant-i

Back in 1990 when I took my first seconded Advisory post with a Local Authority, I was told that the idea was to make the job redundant in the two years available. By the end of that time, I had become convinced that not only was that aim naive in the extreme, but did not necessarily support the professionals I was serving. Nearly twenty years later, and there’s still plenty to do. Doug Belshaw, Director of E-Learning at the Northumberland Church of England Academy, in his latest blog post has similar aspirations. It it he states, “If I do my job properly, I should be akin to a Sherpa, guiding and leading the way for Academy staff and students.” I understand his reasoning, but guiding and leading someone up Everest, does not mean they will necessarily be able to reach every Himalayan summit time and time again without help. Doug’s strategy is to focus on certain communication technology (Google Apps and the Academy’s Learning Platform) in the first instance, promote best practice, and finally “ensure technologies are being used to engage students“. He wants, “a culture of experimentation, collaboration and blending to take such hold that they don’t need a ‘Director of E-Learning’ any more“. Indeed this is a tried and tested methodology, and is proven to have worked. In fact it’s nothing to do with the technology or e-learning, but with how we view education and the role of educators in the endeavour. The difference today is not the objectives, but the speed at which technology is driving the necessity for change. Already the change is so rapid that technology introduced to teachers is often redundant before it can be grasped and embedded in their classrooms. Concentrating on the specific technologies, whatever they may be, might even be counter productive as teachers are not able to refine their methodology in the light of experience. It is not Doug that will be made redundant, but the very examples he uses to illustrate that learning and teaching. Recognising this is fundamental step for all educators, and I’m sure Doug realises it. This is about teachers as learners, their own cultural paradigms and how they can learn to accept ephermeral change, where a tool they used today with learners might have gone tomorrow. This is why Doug’s skills will never be surplus to requirements.

Image credit: le Haricot

Tags: teachers, e-learning

http://advisorymatters.naaceblogs.org/2009/08/26/will-the-summer-have-made-a-

The return to school after the summer holiday is always an opportunity for innovation. Students feel refreshed and more receptive towards learning, while teachers meeting new faces are reinvigorated in their role to inspire and bring that learning to a new audience. Shelly feels this in his classroom and school at this time, in one of his latest blog posts he writes:

… this past week saw our school open its own Twitter feed for the purpose of communicating info with parents and students. Our athletics, alumni, and campus ministry departments all started Tweeting as well.

This could be it. This could be a watershed moment in getting past the fear of social media. Folks are hungry for it; in all of my conversations today it was all people were talking about.

… That’s the difference a summer makes.

UK teachers will soon be returning to their schools for the compulsory InSET day that kicks off the academic year. Will your staff be talking about, what Shelly calls, “those ‘right relationships’ that teachers have been taught how to develop into the digital world.” and ” …. modeling digital citizenship and healthy social media choices to our students.”?

Image credit: James Jordan

Tags: InSET, twitter, digitalcitizenship, learning

http://advisorymatters.naaceblogs.org/2009/08/17/cpd-at-the-crossroads/

Last month’s announcement that the recent DCSF £5.6million tender to provide regional ICT Centres to deliver Continuing Professional Development has been won by a consortium of the Open University and e-Skills UK came perhaps as no surprise with the OU contributing its virtual learning infrastructure and e-Skills offering skills based training experience. However some wonder if the establishment of regional centres is really the needed for 21st century professional development of teachers. I’m sure the winning consortia are wondering this, and although no doubt offering online and blended alternatives, their remit to continue to develop traditional face-to-face experiences is baffling. The truth is that an opportunity to loosen the grip that centre, or even school-based, teacher CPD has not been taken. The competition is global, online and about to hit us. With the recession biting education in 2010, a huge overhaul of CPD provision is not only necessary but overdue, and inefficient and expensive traditional methods will either fall by the wayside or the UK’s teaching force will seriously fall behind.

There are of course other issue holding back teacher continuing professional development. In an abundant and global economy for professional development, a country’s workforce must be self-motivated to continue to learn. We’ve yet to see a system, in England anyway, that provides that motivation in any real way. Many teachers and dedicated professionals who want to do the best for the children they teach, that often means following prescribed methodology with training handed down from on high. While this might be fine for a while, it will become very expensive in the ‘flat CPD world’ that is developing. The easy access CPD marketplace is already offering abundance for free. For too long traditional CPD activity has charged for simply learning and developing practice, this was done through the ‘permission’ of being allowed on a ‘course’, for which there was usually a fee. Today, the context, resources and information necessary to develop practice can all be found online and for free and this offers motivated individuals a chance to learn. To have a presence in the education marketplace meant a presence in the form of a campus, training centre or even a hotel room, now the low cost of entry means there will be an explosion of providers. That doesn’t mean that all CPD will be free of course, it just means that when many people are taking a course, the cost will come down and ‘premier services’ based on accreditation, admission policy or small tutorial groups will cost more.

Image credit: Richard Elzey

Tags: TeacherCPD