i am teacher. i am learner.

New term, New Technologies plan, new staff, new enthusiasm to drive the effective use of ICT for learning forward. All hampered by the same old ICT issues, provided courtesy of our 'managed service'. As we start our fifth week in, the vast majority of confidence in our system has dried up, staff goodwill for taking a tentative step towards an ICT-rich year of learning has disappeared, and my own personal exasperation with the poorly managed service has reached a critical level.

Another term, another assembly, another prezi.

I wanted to deliver a clear message about 'Respect' to my students and challenge them to walk out of the assembly ready to do something new. I've enjoyed delivering assemblies using prezi. An interesting [and positive!] difference it has made to my delivery style is the simple fact that I am not bound to a set of printed-out powerpoint prompt pages, which prevents me from hiding behind notes. I have to deliver more freely, and enjoy the mobility: it allows me to be more like me, and this allows me more opportunities to engage with the assembled students. Simply put, the potential for impact is greatly increased.

I managed to squeeze in my [now obligatory] reference to Twitter, this time sharing some of the tweets I received in response to a request about how my network defined respect in schools. This helped me open students' minds to the fact that there is a big wide world outside of the school gates, and some of the people in it are odd teacher-types like me.

There are a couple of bits in the presentation to iron out, but such is the scheduling of our assembly rota, that I have the opportunity to do it all again next week [complete with added improvements].

It is always pleasing to receive positive feedback from staff and students after assemblies, and today was no exception. Which was nice.

Here's the prezi [rough and ready]. What do you think?

So, I've been reading with interest the blogs, ideas, questions and discussions that many people have been engaged in about embracing new technologies, bringing them into the classroom and making web 2.0 work for learning. From hashtag discussions via Twitter, to browsing blogs, to social-bookmarking, to some quite stupendous prezis, to projects conducted through Flickr, I've come to realise that the way I am learning about learning has changed. Could I bring this shift into my classroom? Of course! The challenge is to focus on the learning potential of social-networks, and to secure the buy-in of school leadership, LAs and parents.

Unfortunately, too much emphasis is placed on two key aspects of social media, both of which prevent important next steps being taken:

1. The incorrect assumption by teachers that teachers cannot make effective use of social media "because the children are so much better at it". Granted, the young people I teach demonstrate an ease with technology, confidently making it work for them. My issue remains that they still need to be taught how to make it work for their learning. Many learners in my school still search for everything via google [and I mean everything - they'll even type a web address into the google search bar instead of the browser address bar!]. If they knew how to make best use of the alternatives, the quality of their learning experience would be greatly enhanced! Our lessons are beginning to open up the idea of collaboration, group independence, but the desire for important content and skills to come from the teacher at the front of the class still prevails.
   
2. The risk-averse approach maintained in schools and LAs that is selling social-networking as something to avoid for fear of losing control over all aspects of your life. The point of learning is so that we are able to adapt to new situations, using a set of skills which allow us to move forward. So why aren't we learning enough about web 2.0 in schools? Why aren't teachers being encouraged to learn about its potential?

What to do about it?

Getting other key staff interested and involved is the challenge. I am determined to share with my colleagues the advantages of social media by getting them using it. Prezis at assemblies and shared in meetings is an easy first step, already getting people talking about alternative ways to record and share their learning.

Explaining use of Twitter for educational purposes is my next approach with leadership. Recent networking via ukedchat and the vast array of ideas, support, links and resources is an excellent starting point - it should be an easy sell to anyone interested in developing their learning skills. The outcomes and summaries from the discussions make for engaging reading.

Within my MFL teaching, I'm currently looking at developing social bookmarking [using delicious] as we approach the start of the new academic year, for staff as well as students. It's so easy to use, it ought to be a no-brainer! Fingers crossed.

What education-related blog would be complete without a reference to Sir Ken Robinson's recent TED Talk about revolutionising our school systems?

A three-year-old is not half a six-year-old

This particular quote resonates with my thinking about our need to move away from linear learning.

As a colleague recently asked, how do we make this happen?

In brief, embracing the ways in which new technologies bring people more easily in touch with one another, allowing these technologies to enter our classrooms, teaching our learners the power of effectively using them - that's how we can make a start.

I recently delivered a whole-school assembly, and wanted to challenge my audience to think about how technology is evolving and where it could lead. Thought I'd share my prezi with you. Science-fiction or science-fact is an immense topic, so I focused on a couple of ideas, intending to reflect current news themes. I'm thinking about delivering my next assembly on how we need to learn how to (re)search effectively, pulling students away from lazy 'googling' to more targetted searches. Now just the small fact of making it enthralling!

[N.B. the first video clip is there, because it was a Monday morning assembly, and I wanted something to engage students' minds quickly!]

I've been using Twitter for about a year. Took me a while to get into it, but now I'm fully sold on the idea of its immediacy and potential for finding similarly-minded professionals, and sharing thoughts on a range of topics.

I was recently involved in a Twitter-discussion led by Sir Ken Robinson. He'd publicised the fact that he would be online at a certain time, and then, once he 'appeared', all hell broke loose! He posted a few links to some interesting thinkpieces, asked some incisive questions and responded to those of us there who were totally engaged in the thread of the discussion. The hour that he was online zipped by so quickly, and so much was shared by so many - it was a truly powerful experience.

For me there were two beneficial outcomes:

Firstly, when I eventually turned off my computer and sloped off to bed, I had a head full of some key ideas and questions that I have begun to share with colleagues in school.

Secondly, there were a few 'stand-out' contributors to the discussion, whose ideas really resonated with mine. I chose to follow them on Twitter, and have since discovered a goldmine of ideas, resources, presentations, deep questions. And the supply seems endless!

There is real power in the meeting of minds, and the aftermath ensures that the energy doesn't wane. Even now, almost a week after the discussion, people are still posting their thoughts on the issues raised. And by using a simple search, I can read them, follow their links, be challenged by their points of view.

Interested in what Sir Ken Robinson has to say? Visit www.twitter.com/sirkenrobinson

If you want to follow the thread of the discussion that he was part of last week, use the search term 'artsed'. This will bring up all tweets with that tag.

The potential for all of us as learners is huge!

Just wanted to add a footnote to my post. I've just enjoyed 45 mins of sharing ideas about technology in education via a Twitter discussion (#edchat). Found a brief but interesting article challenging perceptions of Twitter. Read it here