Danger illustrated

Students often struggle with critical thinking. They are great at description, but ask them to move beyond this into critical analysis and they look at you and shrug. And yet critical thinking is a vital graduate skill that once acquired, can be applied to all aspects of life.

Recently I have been teaching a research skills module to a whole year group of third year education undergraduates. The time came to address critical thinking, and I thought long and hard about the best way to help them to learn.

There are some great exemplars of effective education from across the ages. Think of Socrates with his constant questioning, or the great educator Comenius with his naturalistic approach to learning by 'obtaining knowledge through objects rather than words'. Then there was Maria von Trapp (played by Julie Andrews in the movie musical The Sound of Music. Look, I'm being serious here - kind of). She used a combination of sounds, imagery and mnemonics to teach the children to sing. She could have taught them to sing anything using this method - even Firestarter.

I brought all these ideas together to teach critical thinking this week. I illustrated my teaching with a simple plastic bottle of water. I asked my students to describe it. 'It's transparent', 'It's made of plastic', and 'It holds water' were perfect answers. These are superficial qualities to the bottle of water, but they don't really tell us much more about it. It's dangerous to accept something at face value without examining it in depth.

So, I made the illustration a little more difficult. I asked them to analyse the bottle of water. Now, there are many ways you can do this. You could chemically analyse the contents for example. Or you could simply trust the manufacturer and read the contents label on the side to see what levels of calcium, sodium or magnesium were present. You could also analyse the shape of the bottle - its design - and the affordance of the bottle top and whether it allowed you to twist or flip the bottle open.

The next stage is one that most students struggle with. How do we critically analyse the bottle of water? After a lot of thinking, several ideas were ventured including 'the water is almost gone, therefore the owner might have been thirsty', and 'the design of this bottle isn't as good as another brand I usually buy.' In essence the students were speculating based on their analysis of the bottle, and were also beginning to evaluate the worth of the bottle. They could have gone further and evaluated its worth in terms of value for money, or its health benefits in comparison to other popular drinks. They may have discussed the history of bottle water, its cultural impact, or even debated the plastic bottle in terms of how easy it would be to recycle its component parts. In fact, when you get to the critical analysis and the evaluation stages of thinking, there are endless possibilities. Let's hope the students make the connection to their education studies.

Photo from various sources to numerous to list here


Danger illustrated by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Readings for creative teachers - time to fight back against the Global Education Reform Movement (GERM)

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By Allan Alach

I welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it to me at allanalach@inspire.net.nz

Great tech can’t replace poor teaching

Yes - someone tell Pearson Group, Murdoch, McGraw Hill, etc.

“Investing heavily in ICT for education doesn't lead to appreciable improvements in student

achievement in reading, maths or science, according to a new OECD study.

'Technology can amplify great teaching but great technology cannot replace poor teaching,' Andreas Schleicher, Director of the organisation's Directorate for Education and Skills said, and added the reality in schools 'lags considerably behind the promise of technology’.”

http://bit.ly/1G5Qq1g

What Students Wish Their Teachers Knew

I was sent this by Eveline Bailey who said, “This is a bit of self-promotion, but my students are so happy I took their words and wrote a blog for them.”

“I told them it was an anonymous activity and that if they would provide real feedback, I would blog about it. Goodness! I’ve never seen a group of kids move so fast! Amidst all the “Are you really going to tell other teachers this?” and “Do you care if we cuss to make a point?” and “How many can I write?”—I have to say, it was probably the most effective writing assignment I’ve ever given. Certainly enlightening. Often scathing.”

http://bit.ly/1FjHYRj

Do We Forget What We Are Asking Students to Do All Day?

As adults we forget how tiring that must be.  How not only are they asked to pay attention, but they are also asked to sit still, take notes, and be ready to answer any question we throw their way.  We expect them to care about what we are doing and give us their very best, every minute, every day.

http://bit.ly/1FxjBPS

Factory Model Education “Reforms” Were Designed for Product Testing, Not Children

“The factory model was developed to ensure quality control and produce identical “consumer” products cheaply. It is NOT an approach that should be used with children. Modern researchers and professional educators have come to understand that the human brain is wired for learning, and that the most effective methods of education are aligned with how children naturally learn.”

http://bit.ly/1FjKA1J

This week’s contributions from Bruce Hammonds:

Here are two articles about project based learning.

What the Heck Is Project-Based Learning?

“You know the hardest thing about teaching with project-based learning? Explaining it to someone.  So to help you in your own musings, I've devised an elevator speech to help you clearly see what's it is all about.”

http://bit.ly/1R4gpNe

George Lucas - Edutopia

My PBL Failure: 4 Tips for Planning Successful PBL

‘Our first project, filmmaking, had kept them interested. The subject of their films, recycling, hadn't been the driving force for them. I hoped that our second PBL experience would combine an interesting topic and work to keep them engaged. However, despite this goal, that second unit turned into what my students might call an "epic fail.”’

http://bit.ly/1R4gAb8

Jane Gilbert NZCER

Supporting future-oriented learning and teaching - a New Zealand perspective

“It is widely argued that current educational systems, structures and practices are not sufficient to address and support learning needs for all students in the 21st century. Changes are needed, but what kinds of change, and for what reasons? This research project draws together findings from new data and more than 10 years of research on current practice and futures-thinking in education.”

http://bit.ly/1NPVRbc

10 Tips For Launching An Inquiry-Based Classroom

“It takes time to build up a strong inquiry-based teaching practice, to learn how to direct student questions with other questions, and to get comfortable in a guiding role. But when Laufenberg talks about what it takes, she makes it sound easy. We’ve broken her advice down into digestible tips for anyone ready to jump in and try for themselves.”

http://bit.ly/1L9FBTn

Feedback Should Be More Work for the Recipient

Bill Ferriter:

“Stew in all of this for a minute:  If William is right that effective feedback should be more work for the recipient than the donor, how much effective feedback are you giving in your classroom? What's keeping you from giving more?”

http://bit.ly/1VdXyQ9

Report: 7 Future Roles for Educators

The evolving role of the teacher - what do you think?

“The role of the teacher continues to evolve, according to a report that envisions seven roles that teachers could take on. They are, according to KnowledgeWorks, learning pathway designers, competency trackers, pop-up reality producers, social innovation portfolio directors, learning naturalists, microcredentialing analysts and data stewards.”

http://bit.ly/1iP9XhM

Principal Connection / Choose Your Yardstick

Thomas Hoer – schools ought to choose what to measure

“Decisions about what to assess shouldn't be made without us or done to us. We should take the initiative and develop metrics to help frame our school and focus our efforts. Sure, many measures are thrust upon us, determined by state governments, school boards, and central office administrators, but we should be an integral part of the dialogue.”

http://bit.ly/1KToe7B

From Bruce’s ‘goldie oldies’ file:

Five Minds for the Future

“Howard Gardner, renowned worldwide for for his theory of multiple intelligences, shares his latest ideas in his new new book 'Five Minds for the Future'.Based on the premise that students are entering an accelerating world of change in every area of life Gardner believes that such changes call for new ways of learning and thinking in schools if students are to thrive in the world during the eras to come.”

http://bit.ly/1Oxmmnt

Developing a democratic curriculum.

“I visit a wonderful school that makes use of an integrated learning approach based on the ideas of James Beane. James Beane's ideas fits into current talk of personalizing learning but within an environment based on democratic ideals.Relating back to the ideas of John Dewey he believes that if people are to live democratic lives they must have the opportunity to learn what that way of life means. His ideas are based on the ability of students to participate in their own education.”

http://bit.ly/1JglCA9

Ideas of Ernesto Sirolli

“As a result of his experience Ernesto has a passionate disbelief in bureaucracy and believes strongly in a 'person centred approach' to development and education. Ernesto believes that when ‘passion is the starting point skills can be learnt, doors can be unlocked, and dream can become reality.’ The governments, he says, can only influence through providing infrastructure and that the facilitator is a person who helps ‘transform the dream to reality’ only by using a ‘person centred approach.”

http://bit.ly/1WlZys1

Does your classroom have the 'wow' factor?

“The first sign of ‘wow’ is the overall first impression the room gives you. The feeling you get is that you are indeed in special place. There is a feeling of positive relationships between teacher and learners and often parents are to be seen quietly helping students. Other students seem to be working without supervision. A quick look around the walls, covered with students creativity gives an impression that this is a room dedicated to the students themselves.”

http://bit.ly/1FxlCvx

Revving Our Engines

This week we are putting some final touches on our planning for the 20% Time Kick-off Day. This Friday, we will introduce the kids to the concept of 20% Time and what the expectations for the year-long project are. We have been mentioning 20% Time here and there since school started and the kids' ears perk up every time that we do. Some of the kids have had siblings who participated in 20% Time and some have just heard about all of the cool projects that their predecessors have created. Even though they do not have a full understanding of what 20% Time is, they are eager to get started.

Friday promises to be a huge day for us. We love taking kids through the story of 20% Time, showing them the philosophy behind this kind of learning, relating it to what their work in real life will be and narrating a story of personalized learning that they will live this year. During our two-hour "meeting" about 20% Time, the kids' enthusiasm grows bigger and bigger. Their energy is boundless and, by the end of the meeting, they are ready to begin!

Open warfare #eden15

It was good to sit Martin Weller in the hot seat recently, for a forthright discussion about various aspects of openness in education. Martin is well known for his work around digital scholarship and his various research into the use of MOOCs and other open education approaches at the British Open University. I caught up with him in Barcelona at the 2015 summer EDEN Conference, where he had just given a keynote speech entitled 'The Battle for Open.' I originally interviewed him via text for this blog post ahead of conference, so many were already aware of what he would be saying. Subsequently, I also posted a live blog of his speech as he stepped off the stage at the event. The video of his keynote will be made available soon on this site, but below is some additional content in the form of the video interview.

The key premise of Martin's presentation was that although openness is now more mainstream and accepted in education than it was previously, there are still small battles to decide the direction and development of openness in the coming years. I asked him about the future of MOOCs and other open courses, and we also discussed the concept of open scholarship. These, and several other related topics made this encounter into what I hope you will agree, is an engaging and thought provoking interview about the importance of open education, and the critical role open content, open courses and open scholarship will play in shaping the future.


Video produced by the European Distance and Elearning Network


Open warfare by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Uneducation of a technologist #eden15

Once in a while you meet someone who inspires you to think more deeply. Jim Groom is one such person. He is anarchic, subversive, the original EDUPUNK (it was Jim who coined the phrase and insists on it being written in upper case) and he constantly challenges the status quo of education. He has redefined what it means to learn online with groundbreaking initiatives such as the open course ds106. As a part of the run-up to EDEN's annual summer conference in Barcelona, I was invited to interview him. Jim and I had previously interacted only on Twitter and other social media so to put some questions to him directly was hugely enjoyable, and he gave me his fairly unique take on the world. And so it was with even greater pleasure and a lot of anticipation that I finally met him in the same physical space in June 2015, where he gave a keynote speech at the EDEN conference in Barcelona entitled 'The Uneducation of the Technologist'. I live blogged during his keynote speech and met him afterwards for a chat in the EDEN studio. Below is the video interview we recorded:



Video produced by the European Distance and Elearning Network


Uneducation of a technologist by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Punk learning

By 1977, punk music had emerged as a creative force to be reckoned with. It was a form of music that was furiously loud, aggressively energetic and full of discordant anger.

Some were outraged by the audacious behaviour of the punk rockers. Their clothes and hairstyles were bizarre and their demeanour was antagonistic and aggressive.

Others were energised and inspired by punk rock - some enough to take up a guitar or microphone and give it a go themselves. You see, at the heart of the punk movement was the belief that you could do-it-yourself. To release a record you didn't have to bow and scrape to the multi-national music publishers and labels.

Anyone could take part. Audiences and bands often merged. Many punk bands created their own labels and fanzines, promoting their music to new audiences by subverting the rules, challenging the established way of doing things and creating a new and vibrant culture of creativity.

Punks cared nothing for authority or tradition. The only thing they respected was authenticity. Essentially, punks spat in the face of 'the establishment' and went off to do things their own way.  



Punk learning (some would call it Edupunk) reflects that seventies music ethos. For some time, educators have been subverting established methods and turning their backs on institutional tools and technologies such as the managed learning environment (also known as LMS or VLE). I would argue that these are 'punk' educators, whether they realise it or not. Some educators have at some time openly identified themselves as edupunk, including Amy Burvall (who created a series of history teacher videos for YouTube), Jim Groom (pictured top, considered the originator of Edupunk) and Pam Nelmes (who has transformed communication across her large cohorts of nursing students and with the general public through creative use of social media).

Many punk educators are finding viable and for them, more acceptable alternatives to proprietary software, structured courses and closed journals, and instead are devoting their energy to creating new approaches including open software, open courses (including the original C-MOOCs) and open publishing with free tools. The C-MOOC or Connectivist Massive Open Online Course was a free at the point of delivery online learning experience with no limits to the numbers who participated, and where 'students' could choose how, where and when they learnt. Some of the early MOOCs also allowed students to choose their own preferred method of assessment, and spawned many creative outcomes such as global radio with #ds106.

There is also a lot of energy being directed into transforming the education experience. Some go as far as to argue that autodidacticism - or self-teaching - is an important part of contemporary learning. Learning by watching YouTube or participation in social media discussions are certainly methods that are gaining traction. For example, 2015 world champion Kenyan javelin thrower Julius Yego claims he owes his prowess to watching YouTube videos. Even professional teacher development through social media is gaining great impetus, evidenced by the large numbers of participants on education Twitter chats such as #edchat, #AussieEd and #ukedchat as well as global online events such as the Reform Symposium.



In this digital age some are changing their opinions about what we think education is and should be. Punk educators have a lot to do with this - it's not just the disruptive nature of social media and personal technologies. It's also the energy and commitment they have to making a difference in a new way. But punk educators need to be wary of a precedent. What happened to the original punk rock movement? It was compromised and commercialised - becoming the very thing it was trying to avoid in the first place. The contrast between the raw late-70s punk rock of The Clash and The Sex Pistols and the more polished post-punk (or 'new wave') commercial sounds of the early-80s from U2 and Blondie is stark.

Fast forward to today, and we see signs that the early dynamic MOOCs and other punk learning approaches are being adulterated. The recent offerings of the so called xMOOCs which use Coursera and other bespoke developed platforms is returning the MOOC to the traditional online delivery and it is now hard to tell the difference. But a hard core of punk educators remains who are determined to do things differently. Whatever pressures the commercial world throws at education, and whatever the criticism thrown at them by traditional educationalists, edupunks will still continue regardless, practising their own particular brands of pedagogical anarchy and will answer with a: 'WE DON'T CARE.'

Graphic image courtesy of Jim Groom


Punk learning by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

A future

I was reminded this week exactly why I work in teacher education. It is incredibly rewarding. Our graduation ceremony on Plymouth Hoe yesterday saw not one, but two of my student teacher groups receive their degrees. The picture above is one of those two extraordinary groups of young people. They are a part of a larger group of digital literacy specialists - primary school teachers who specialise in technology supported learning. They have been with me for four years, developing their skills as educators and acquiring all the knowledge they need to go out and transform the learning of our children. They are all just as passionate as I am about learning, and each of them has a unique and creative perspective on how to use technologies to enrich and extend children's education.

With me in the picture from left to right, they are Charlotte Langslow, Matt Povey, Hannah Shelton, Megan Douglas, Chris Nesbitt, Charlotte Rice, Polly Short, Rebecca Legatt, Peter Tolley, Lloyd Chilcott and Adam Easterbrook. Missing from the picture are Kelly Holborrow and April Farrell-Langler. Each of these former students, now newly qualified teachers, have contributed significantly to knowledge already, with their regular blogging, video making and other activities related to education.

Take the example of the blog Learning to Teach by Megan Douglas which is a frank and honest running account of her time as a student teacher. Or read Hannah Shelton's account of her own journey to become a primary educator in her Life as a Trainee Teacher. Chris Nesbitt always wrote deeply thoughtful pieces, reflecting on his own learning and produced an exceptional piece of blogging for his assignment on psychological perspectives in education. Lloyd Chilcott has quite a presence on social media as can be seen here, and won the prize yesterday for the highest grade on his research project in digital literacy. I will miss the verbal sparring I enjoyed with others such as Peter Tolley, who always challenged and never stopped questioning. Along with other students in the group Polly Short was always very active in organising Teach Meets and other Education Society activities and fully deserves her first class honours degree. In fact, over half this group achieved first class degrees - something that is rare in any field of academic study. And I can't forget the brutally honest and wonderfully touching video Kelly Holborow created on her own digital identity - one that I have shown several times in my own presentations as an exemplar of student video autobiography (below).



I could go on, but I like to keep my blog posts short. I will miss this extraordinary group of young educators. I believe I have learnt as much from them as they have from me. I'm certain that each will go on to significantly impact their own particular corners of the education world. I hope to hear from one or two of them now and again to hear how they are progressing in their teaching careers, but I have no worries for any of them. They will all become great teachers. I will never forget how rewarding it has been to teach them during their time at Plymouth University, and I will treasure the immense sense of pride I felt yesterday as I watched each of them receive their awards.

Someone asked me yesterday what would be the collective noun for a group of newly qualified teachers. My response: 'A future'.

Photo: Steve Wheeler


A future by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.