Reflection on “The Stone Age did not end because we ran out of Stones”

Sunday, July 28, 2013 21:00- originally posted on MOC website

This was one of the pithy and insightful remarks from the first Keynote of Building Learning Communities 13 (BLC13) in Boston, Mass, USA. The comment was made by Dr Yong Zhao, Associate Dean for Global Education, University of Oregon.

Dr. Zhao is an internationally known scholar, author and speaker.  He has visited Australia numerous times and in our state has worked with the Australian Science and Maths School. His works focus on the implications of globalization and technology on education.

There were a number of other key themes to BLC13 and I will write on these and their possible implications for MOC over the coming term.  The reason for beginning with Dr Zhao is not simply because he was first (Duh!) but that his talk was so relevant in our current context in Playford.

Dr Zhao contends that the stone age did not end because we ran out of stones, it ended because of seismic technological change and thus human development (the wheel). He believes we are in a similar time in history and there are two major changes we cannot stop –

1. An increasingly globalized community through communication and migration
2. The technology explosion – self evident

The result is that traditional employment that schools have focussed on preparing kids for is fast disappearing as it is either outsourced (to “cheaper” workforces) and/or automated.

Rather than prepare our children and young people for an industrial world that is no longer there we need to prepare our students to be creative for the new entrepeneurship world they are entering.  He argues we can no longer prepare children and young people for a world of industrialised employment as it is not there!

How can we possibly know what the jobs are going to be?  A child in Year 3 now is looking at working until 2070 – could any of us predict the actual employment trends in twenty years let alone fifty. Our children will need to be educated to become the creative generation - to enable them to adapt, solve problems and create this new world.

To describe his talk better than I ever could I have included the sketch-notes done by the amazing Braden Ovenell- Carter (@Braddo)

Finally BLC13 is  big conference and at the end of  one keynote we had to have our picture taken- I have highlighted myself- LOL!

Reflection on "Why I both love and hate TED talks"

I have posted and tweeted for the past year about my current favourite TED talks.  Sugata Mitra at his acceptance of the 2013 prize still tops the list, followed by Rita Pierson from the TED Talks EDucation TV Show ( Dr Pierson died suddenly on June 18,2013)  and whilst it could be any of Sir Ken Robinson's talks the RSA Animate is still favourite.

I love TED talks because they are:

• Short - from about 8 -25 minutes so they cater to my lifestyle and attention span.
• Polished- whatever the length they are well thought out, incredibly well rehearsed and presented.
• Great professional learning- like twitter they connect you with folk you might only ever read about, or even folk and ideas you have never head of.
• Not just about education- although this is where I usually head. There are a plethora of outstanding talks- check out Australia's Adam Spencer on "Hunting Monster Primes at TED 2013".
• Incredible archive so that you can search easily and quickly. I discovered my favourite blogger via this method. Enjoy Seth Godin on "This is Broken" TED 2006
• Music and performances I would never normally watch or listen too- the latest one is Tom Thum on "The orchestra in my mouth" at TEDx, Sydney 2013"

TED is obviously an incredibly successful global enterprise and as such has spawned a number of offshoots:

• Different forms of TED events, to cater locally or for specialised groups. Examples are TEDx, TEDxYouth, TEDxChange. I found out about Virtual High School via watching Stephen Baker's TEDx talk. I also tweeted that if you only got one opportunity to view a TED talk this year then watch Kevin Breel "Confessions of a Depressed Comic" from TEDxKids@Ambleside 2013. TEDx events are great and congratulations to Birdwood High School for hosting a coming TEDx event in SA this year.
• TED-Ed lessons for sharing. There is now a dedicated website with lesson ideas, outstanding lessons, tools for flipping the classroom.

So now to why I hate TED talks. Because they make me angry. Angry that we have this amazing array of talented people generally giving the same version of the message that education systems need to change yet I don't see the change - nor do I think it will occur in my professional lifetime. It is also not new to TED- TED just reminds me and reinforces the message.

Twenty years ago at Bowden Brompton Community School we knew. We knew that to engage our most disenfranchised young people their education program needed to be personalised for them. That our relationships with them and their families were critical and communication needed to occur at least daily. That if there were gaps there needed to be scaffolding and support as the gaps might not just be in education so how could we connect and support with other professionals and agencies. That kids never left they were yours forever- so they could come back and try, try again. As teachers we needed to up our skills and as such we had what I realise now were a combination of therapy and teach-meet sessions every day - before and after school.

We also believed that if it worked for our kids at BBCS that this approach would work so much better and easier for 'mainstream kids'. I have heard these messages retold through so many TED talks.

All the schools I have visited this trip have been led by teams that realised they had to work outside their systems and "create their own" to be successful for their children and young people. The last TED talk on the systemic need for change comes from the incomparable Geoffrey Canada. Dr Canada is CEO of the Harlem Children's Zone which supports kids from birth through college to break the cycle of poverty and they achieve amazing results - just like HTH and VHS . Dr Canada does indeed talk the talk and walk the walk - and yet he is still angry! Because although the success rate for the Harlem Children's Zone is fantastic there are still so many children and young people never engaging and dropping out of schooling throughout the USA.

 The mission statement for TED is "Ideas worth Spreading". What I passionately want to happen is that TED is recognised as more than entertaining short talks and the ideas that are generated through these talks get major traction. A recent example of that traction, in part via TED is the growth of the Khan Acadaemy and its  concept of the flipped classroom. 

Could this traction possibly lead to a larger changes such  that there is a systemic shift in how we construct education, particularly for poor kids, or  will those changes need to be via individual schools or groups of schools. Either way TED talks and my own experience reaffirm that something needs to happen and soon!

Happy Days!

My mum used to have a favourite saying- "Happy Days!"  She was one of the most positive people I know and since her death to cancer six years ago I have had to draw on lots of the positivity that she innately taught me through her everyday existence. 

At times this seems like an enormous task as I battle with full time work and the full time job of parenthood.   Last month I was privileged to take three of my colleagues from Naracoorte South Primary School to 'Happiness and it's causes' in Melbourne.  And what an exciting and motivating  conference it was!

Most memorable was the presence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and his words of wisdom.  His main message was one that aseducatores we should all take note of- 'you cannot show compassion to others if you do not first be compassionate to oneself.'  I think as educators we give generously of ourselves to the students and the families in our care. But do we stop and take care of ourselves?  Do we show compassion to ourselves when things don't go as planned? Do we give enough of our time to our own family?  Interesting questions to ponder and I know that I can certainly improve in all of these areas.  You can follow the Dalai Lama at www.dalailama.com

The conference was filled with other great presenters too.  Carl Honore's presentation "In praise of slow" definitely hit a nerve with me.  I often rush through things that I should take time to enjoy.  Life is not a race, it's a marathon and we have plenty of time to do things- if we allow ourselves the time!           Carl's books 'In praise of slow' and 'Under Pressure' on slow parenting are worth reading.  You can also check out his blog at www.carlhonore.com.au/blog.

One of my favourite presenters was Father Bob McGuire. His message being:

"Nobody should be left behind! We are one society & one world. There is no more us & them, there is only we. As long as even one of us is left behind & suffers, we are all behind & our humanity suffers." 

What an inspirational person he is.  You can visit his website at www.fatherbobsfoundation.com.au

He talked about 'having a fox hole in his head' where he could find peace and escape from the world for a while. Thought provoking and very useful for those busy days where it all seems too much!

Carol Dweck was also a facinating speaker.  Her work on fixed and growth mindset is ground breaking in education at present.  The notion that if you believe you can learn-you will-is so empowering for students who may have already developed the belief that they are not capable.  Her research is well worth following up.  You will find her book "Mindset" and many YouTube clips of her presentations if you google 'Carol Dweck.'

If you are looking for some daily inspiration, I strongly suggest you 'like' the page 'happiness & its causes' on Facebook. It provides great quotes to keep thoughts positive. My favourire from this week was "Choose to see the good stuff." 

And of course I must leave you with a picture of the city at night! 

As you can tell, for a country girl like me, the city is an exciting place!

Hope you are having a good start to the term and remember, when all is getting too much, stop, take a deep breath and remember to be kind to yourself.  

Until next time, may you have many 'happy days.'

Reflection on “When it is not Bricks and Mortar”

Sunday, July 14, 2013 10:26am- originally posted on MOC website

Most people have now heard of Salman Kahn and the story of the Khan Academy. Some statistics about the Khan Academy I love are -

• There are now over 1,000,000 subscribers.  
• The YouTube channel has had more than 268 million total views.
• There is a video library with over 4100 videos in various topic areas
• Over 244 million lessons have been delivered.
• As of July 2013, there are 448 practice exercises, mainly in mathematics.
• As of February 2013, over one billion problems have been answered on the site.

(Source – Wikipedia) 

The Kahn Academy has achieved all this since 2006 (only 7 years ago)  and has had enormous flow on effect to some of our fundamental concepts about access to education including  flipped classroom and opening advanced mathematics to students who had hitherto thought it impossible.

They have achieved all this with less than 50 employees- and many of these are not teachers

My experience at Virtual High School (VHS) reminded me of these statistics! Virtual High School was begun by Stephen Baker and literally operated out of his home basement until three years ago. VHS now has

• Over 5,500 students studying from one subject to a full load.
• Students are currently enrolled from all over North America, Singapore, New Caledonia, Europe, a boat in the Irish Sea – in fact the whole world.
• Has over 60 accredited subjects including a complete suite for Year 12 –our SACE equivalent (pre-tertiary entry)

They do all this with just over 100 people. (MOC has 150 for 1500 students). The curriculum writers and administration staff are less than 25 and they work in the “school building” in Bayfield, Ontario Canada.

Virtual High School-the schoolhouse- Bayfield, Ontario, Canada.

The teachers are not there! They are all over Ontario, Canada and even other parts of the world – they work from their “homes”. As all the courses are totally on-line the teachers can be anywhere as are the students. Time zones do not matter nor does it matter at what time of the day or night you want to work!

Virtual High is a fantastic real world example of Asynchronous Learning, This is the student-centered teaching method that uses online learning resources to facilitate information sharing outside the constraints of time and place. Some features are

• From the moment a student enrols they can begin their course- usually within 15 minutes.
• The course content is all on-line- it is as engaging and multi–media as they can make it. Stephen and the team talk about all courses being organic and  constantly being improved.
• There are no textbooks
• There are no timelines for the students except the course must be finished within 18 months from enrolment.
• The teachers communicate with each individual in their “class” of students via email, drop box, Skype, video or sound bytes.
• All communication from students must be responded to within 24 hours and all student work marked and returned usually before 3 days and definitely before 5 days.
• There is a focus by the teachers on assessment for learning (formative feedback) with thier students.Students are encouraged to keep undertaking formative assessment pieces (generated by the computer) until they and their teachers believe they are ready to take assessment of learning – the summative final assessments. Teachers provide detailed written feedback on the formative work.
• Students from mainstream schools may also enrol to take “make up courses - summer school" to successfully complete courses they may not have passed through their face to face experience.
• At the end of each course students must also complete a self assessment and provide feedback on the course and the teacher support. As such VHS  gets amazing quantitative feedback.

VHS is a leading edge example of how the world of education is changing at a rapid rate- the enrolment growth and satisfaction of students and their families demonstrates that many young people want to do it in their own time and own space! Students comment that rather than a decrease in relationships they feel an increase as their contact with teachers and the administrators is personalized for them.

Will VHS type environments replace all schools – I think not. However they have much to teach us, just as the success of the Khan Academy does. The possibility of asynchronous learning to complement the bricks and mortar experience is one we should explore at MOC as our mission is to continually improve the learning outcomes of our students.

Principal Stephen Baker with Lynne Symons

Reflection on "A Side Trip to the Sea Side"

Monday, July 08, 2013 12:50am-Originally posted on MOC website

The main purpose for my trip to the USA has been to gain information and ideas to continue to “make learning better @MOC” such that our children and young people achieve. This was the reason for my visit to the Del Mar Union School District (DMUSD) to look at what could be another “game-changer” in the area of digital technology.

MOC committed to a 1:1 digital program at establishment in 2010. Our 'philosophy' is that technology at MOC is to be used to “level the playing field”. Devices are seen as a tool for creating, not consuming – it's not the device - it is what our students do with them that is critical.

This has led to us having a “fleet” of over 1600 devices. As we continue to grow and some of our machines get older we currently need to find over $100,000 annually to buy new machines- or do we?

The pace of change in the area of innovative technologies is phenomenal. The classic example for us was the iPad. The iPad was not even on the agenda (or the market) for our new school when we began, it was introduced mid 2010 and yet by mid 2013 MOC has over 400 in our digital fleet.

One of the speakers at EduTECH in May 2013 was Suan Yeo, Head of Education for Google Asia Pacific Region. Suan gave an insightful (and a little terrifying) look at the changes. Here are some selected highlights

• Facebook (2004) and Twitter (2006) did not exist even 10 years ago. They are now major local and global communication tools.
• It took from 1996-2011 (15yrs) to grow to 700 million smart phones in use. In 2012 – there was a growth of 300 million such that there are now 1 billion smart phones in use on the planet!
• You Tube is now the second most used search engine after Google.
• Over 40% of web searches are now coming through a mobile device (usually smart phone)

In effect whilst for most of us,adults, our first device (note we don’t talk computer anymore) was a desktop or laptop – for our kids it  is/will be a mobile device, probably a smart phone but maybe a smart watch or smart glasses or …….? The concept of BYOD (bring your own device) will increasingly grow traction as young people (children) have their own browsers in their pockets. Those browsers can connect to more information and people than have ever been thought possible.

So to the reason for the visit to Del Mar. Del Mar is an affluent beach town in San Diego County, California. Del Mar is Spanish for "of the sea" or "by the sea", because it is located on the Pacific Ocean. The Del Mar Union School District  (DMUSD) is a small public school district based in Del Mar. The district was founded in 1906. DMUSD comprises eight schools with approximately 4,500 students. Those students go to schools from K-12.

Like High Tech High the DMUSD achieves outstanding results. This year the district’s Academic Performance Index was the highest in San Diego County and the 3rd highest in California. Over 6 million students attend Californian public schools.

DMUSD committed to a state-of-the-art approach to teaching 21st century learning skills which has included a resolute focus on teaching children prolific writing skills, and expert interaction within the digital world.

As one result of that commitment they have introduced Chromebooks. In short a Chromebook is simply an internet appliance (a web browser) in which there is no operating system or applications like Microsoft Office or iMovie etc. There are no applications to support. They do however have a camera, USB ports, Media card slots.  All work is done on-line and stored in the cloud.

Each machine turns on when you open the screen. If there is a “reasonable” internet connection they are immediately linked through the web. Students can personalize the machine through their log-on but nothing can be stored on the machine it is all in the cloud (automatic back up) plus if desired to their own USB. They also cost under $300 A.

DMUSD chose this option because of the ability to utilize Google Docs (which MOC also use) such that they could have an ongoing relentless focus on writing. Via Google Docs the drafts can be edited and the developmental changes seen continually by the teacher and the student or other students, if peer critiquing.  Google have also recently made the interface with Microsoft Word much simpler through their acquisition of Quickoffice, often used as the interface ion iPads etc.

Through the use of a teacher dashboard the teacher can see the work of any student at any time and mark, make corrections, provide direct feedback - anytime anywhere. At this early stage DMUSD are delighted with the increase in volume of writing and the standards they are achieving in all literacy based subjects.

Could Chromebooks complement our fleet with the specific focus for MOC of targeted improvement of Literacy. Could Chromebooks be a cost effective solution $30,000 compared to $100,000. Is this the way forward for MOC as we consider our next stage?

Chromebooks may or may not be the game-changer or our answer but they certainly provide much more food for thought and also show how quickly this area continues to develop. 

Many thanks to Jennifer Oliveira of the DMUSD  for the generosity of her time and expertise.

Reflection on "Is it Better the Second Time Around?"

Thursday, June 27, 2013 3:00am - Originally posted on MOC website

For those of you old enough to remember "Better the Second Time Around"  is paraphrased from the title of a famous Frank Sinatra song "Love is lovelier the second time around"  (Van Heusen and Cahn- 1965) . So was High Tech High (HTH) going to be better for me on the second visit?

That was my musing before I arrived to spend four days at HTH being part of the Summer Institute.

Since our initial visit in January 2012  MOC  then became part of the HTH Leading Schools Certificate program with six teachers involved. This has been a blend of on-line conferencing, coursework and then face-to- face workshops. The Summer Institutute was for them and all their fellow participants the culmination and graduation. 

For me it was the opportunity to reflect on both the distance they individually had travelled and our distance travelled as a school community. Combining all this information should then enable us to have a clearer direction for the way forward for MOC.

Emily G, Katrina A, Ashlee B, Tom G, Emil Z with their certificates after graduation at Point Loma. Not present was our other graduate Candice H  who remained in Adelaide - the tired but very happy mother of Lincoln, who decided he needed to be here very early!

Since my initial visit MOC has implemented many significant structral changes based on our learnings. These include

• longer block sessions of time- only three periods a day, and sometimes whole day programmes.
• teachers working in teams including interdisciplinary in the Senior Years
• developing a more product/outcome focus
• exhibitions and presentations of learning to enable students and teachers to describe to the audience (parents, guests) the processes of learning that occurred.

I have previously written blogs about these developments - Reflection on “Audiences, Encouragement, Critique and Conversation” and Reflection on "Same and Different"- see Principal's Blog

This visit reinforced for me we are getting these elements in place for MOC. Students and staff have embraced the structural changes and parent feedback on the exhibitions/processes of learning have been that these are a great positive addition to our repetoire.

So what are the new learnings- well not surprisingly, they reinforced my original thinking that we are on the right track. As well they confirmed the continual need to grow teacher and student capactity such that our students achieve and succeed.

These are skills/capablities that in general we would want all our children and young people to have, what is different is that at HTH they explicitly teach or include them in their programmes through a series of protocols.

Examples are

• pursuit of excellence, need to draft and redraft to get better product
• critique - student led analysis of their work, and staff critiquing each others work
• project development and tuning by and with groups of teachers.
• student led conferences with adults- parents and teachers
• real world learning through community projects (Wallz Rullz is an example) and a different spin on "work experience".

I never want MOC to be another HTH just as never want to become another Heppell designed school - however we do want to learn from the best,

I believe we want to continually ADAPT to continually get BETTER to continually CREATE the best learning environment and outcomes possible for our children and young people. Thus over the next twelve months we will work at how we develop the "MOCster" versions of those other key elements of HTH. I wouldn't say it was better the second time around - just affiriming!

Next week , internet and weather permitting (114degrees here yesterday) I will post on my visit to the DelMar Education district.

Reflection on "When a Blog is a Travelogue"

 Saturday, June 22, 2013 6:40pm -Originally posted on MOC web site

A blog by definition is “a personal website or web page on which an individual records opinions, links to other sites, etc. on a regular basis.” Oxford Dictionary.

Sometimes I think I do write an opinion piece however most times it is just an electronic newsletter article. My piece tonight is unashamedly a short travelogue, written in a fair bit of haste as I have still not packed (ugh) and we are leaving first thing tomorrow. 

However the delay was worth it as I spent the day cheering on my beloved football team to victory!

The trip is funded through the $20,000 grant prize I won last year. The prize must be used for professional development. I have already used about a third to fund the attendance of four staff at EduTech in  Queensland earlier this month and a membership for the school of TED. I have blogged a number of times about talks I have heard through TED - Ideas Worth Spreading

The first stop is San Diego, California, USA where I will engage once again with High Tech High (HTH).  This trip is very special. Since our initial visit in January 2012, six teachers from MOC have engaged in the HTH Leading Schools Certificate program.  I am going to see their presentations, watch them graduate and also discuss with HTH leadership what more might we be able to do together?

Whilst in San Diego I am also going to talk to officers of the Del Mar County District Education office on their use of Chrome Books.  Del Mar County have deployed significant numbers of Google ChromeBooks.

Whilst we are proud of being an Apple Distinguished school, the world of technology in education is moving at a phenomenal pace and the new very cheap “browser movement” cannot be ignored. As a school that needs to purchase over 100 laptops a year ($120,000) and where parents are not asked for any contributions- any  option that may enable significant savings must be explored.

From there the next stop is Bayfield, Canada – the home of Virtual High School (VHS).  Virtual High School (VHS) began in 1996 and has grown enormously offering extremely high quality accredited online courses. In 2012, it served about 4600 students and they opened their elementary school.

I am delighted that I will be able to meet with Principal Stephen Baker to hear about how VHS is adapting to provide an innovative educational experience to students around the world. Please click here for Stephen Baker's TEDx Talk

Whilst in Bayfield it appears I will Skype in to a meeting of the Group of Eight (Go8) to talk about the Children’s University and why I am so keen to have it develop at MOC. The Go8 is a coalition of leading Australian universities.

Then on to Boston, Mass., USA to attend the 2013  Building Learning Communities (BLC) conference. BLC is an annual conference bringing together a diverse ensemble of keynote speakers and attendees to forge new relationships and strengthen existing ties for more meaningful teaching and learning enhanced by technology. BLC is a showcase for leading edge  innovative and practical learning resources.

After that I go back to school! I am attending a course at Harvard University. The course is the Future of Learning offered through the Graduate School of Education. The course will look at how societal changes and technological advancements in the early 21st century affect educational practice and the way students learn. Globalization, the digital revolution and advancements in our understanding of human biology all present new opportunities and challenges. How can schools prepare students for increasingly diverse and global futures? What is worth teaching, with unprecedented amounts of online information? How can educators best integrate emerging research on learning and biology?

I have already had to do home work!

Anyway I will blog, tweet (@SymoLyn) about the trip until I return in August!