Only a short while back, I wrote a blog post entitled ‘Working with what You’ve Got’, little did I realise at the time that, with the possible curtailing of BSF and other capital projects, working with what they’ve got might become the only option for schools.
I still stand by what I wrote in that post. The starting point for any transformation in learning must start with what facilities or provision a school has already. To a small extent, this may be an indictment of the BSF programme where huge amounts of money and effort has been put into supplying and equipping schools with new ICT equipment and yet no or little transformation in learning has been evidenced as yet. I’ve heard it said that this was because the transformation was laid at the doorstep of the change agenda, which had a different budget. Hence this may have allowed more money to be spent on ICT infrastructure but it also led to a divorce between the ICT and transformation. Perhaps it is now time to remarry the two!
I also feel part of the problem is that ‘Learning Transformation’ is a vague concept. It is a concept that is positively received and you will find few people who argue against it. Sadly, though, our previous government seems to have been masters of spinning positive phrases that nobody fully understood. ‘Personalised Learning’ was a classic of the genre; again nobody was prepared to argue against it and it seems everyone was in favour of it but there was no clear consensus as to what it meant. This culminated in the infamous government committee meeting where senior officials in the department had to admit that they did not know what it meant. After that, things became very quiet on the personalised learning front as the concept seemed to gradually fade from our radar; will ‘Learning Transformation’ go the same way?
Ironically, I feel there is a link between personalised learning and learning transformation. For me, the heart of learning transformation is putting the learner in charge of their learning and I see this too as being the ultimate in personalised learning. But more on that another time, for now let’s just try to keep Learning Transformation on our radar despite current difficulties.
Related articles by Zemanta
- ICT and the changing role of the teacher (slideshare.net)
- Where We Sit As A School (slideshare.net)
- Pupil and Parent Guarantees, and ICT (ictineducation.org)
- Brave New World pt3 (mrkp.edublogs.org)
- Computers in Classrooms Post-BETT Special (ictineducation.org)
Possibly Related Posts:
- Flipping Textbooks
- Lesson Plans or Learning Plans?
- Using a Visualiser with the Visually Impaired
- World Book Web and Virtual Libraries
- What Matters Most in Educational Technology
Post Revisions:
This post has not been revised since publication.
Tags: Education, Educational technology, Information and communication technologies in education, Personalized learning
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Doug Woods, Julian Barrell. Julian Barrell said: @deerwood Disappearing from Radar.. http://dlvr.it/13ZPF #BSF < Only because lack of imagination stops many forms of learning being valued. [...]
Absolutely spot on. There are have been many mantras spun over the previous 13 years that I have lost track of them. Being out of the country never helped either. But over the last few days I too have been contemplating my own approaches to teaching and learning and have been coming to the same conclusion time and time again – putting the learner in charge of their learning is the key. Keeping this in mind is essential now as our new government has taken up residency and teachers all over the land await the ‘new’ mantras to be poured forth.
Thanks for the comment, Kevin. It’s my mantra that whichever political party is in power, the pupils still need learning and that teachers will strive to do the best to achieve that.
I agree with you that putting pupils in charge of their learning is key but I feel there may be a caveat; – when, at what stage, can pupils start to take charge of their learning? I see little problem at secondary level and after but what about infant and junior pupils? Can junior or even infant pupils be expected to take charge of their own learning? At some point they must and I hope that some primary practitioners will tell me that it’s not as tricky as I feel it might be.
It is tricky and will always be so due to the demanding nature of primary/infant children but it’s also up to the teachers to decide and have the courage to let those children in their class flourish. And I don’t mean piling them with photocopies. It’s through the creation of a learning environment that promotes learning. If the children in class feel that they have control in their learning and can take steps to pursue it then it’s possible. However, some teachers create an environment that is restrictive because it’s easier to manage.
A learning transformation also has to take place in the setup of the classroom. Teacher and pupils need to create an environment that is conducive to learning and allows the pupils to learn. Restrictive timetables also need to be changed. Children don’t learn in fixed times. Some need only a few minutes to grasp the objective set out in the lesson whilst others take much, much longer. Every pupil requires a different strategy and that can only be borne about in part by a flexible approach to the learning environment.
Thanks again, Kevin for this comment and your insights. I absolutely agree with what you’re saying. I especially like the way you talk about the creation of a learning environment that promotes learning. It is my belief that children come to school wanting to learn but sometimes the environment and approaches used stifle that desire.
[...] – John McLear (johnmclear) http://twitter.com/johnmclear/statuses/14236721380, Disappearing from the Radar … (nothing to do with volcanic ash) | doug woods Published a new post: Disappearing from the Radar … (nothing to do with volcanic ash) [...]