Teacher | doug woods

Posts Tagged ‘Teacher’

Reflective Practice and Teacher Development

Monday, August 1st, 2011

: Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Sometimes it’s best to see yourself through the eyes of others.

I have to admit that, as a teacher, I used to hate being observed. Which was strange because I could always be very critical of my own teaching and my own performance as viewed with hindsight by myself. Having someone else view my teaching was, however, more intimidating.

I think the point was that when someone else was observing me, I no longer felt in control of the situation. The lesson and its setting was often artificially contrived either to show off the best or to avoid the worst of my teaching. Even just having someone else in the room would have an effect upon the pupil behaviour. I think, though, the bottom line was that I rarely felt that the observer was there in a supportive role; they were usually there to catch me out or there to support their subject agenda.

I daresay that no everyone feels the same about being observed. There are certainly positive benefits to be gained from having someone observe your teaching. An independent eye may often pick up things you may not notice yourself, they may notice things you did not even feel were an issue. Even if the independent observer does notice the same things you have noticed yourself, having someone else notice them tends to give them more weight or significance. Having someone else notice things makes them more difficult to ignore or push to one side, as you might be tempted to do yourself.

Of course, any observer is there, hopefully, not just to notice the negative things but also to report to you on the positive aspects of your teaching. Positive things which, again, you yourself may not have noticed or thought worthy of note. Yet positive aspects are ones that you can contribute to the school and maybe help influence the teaching of colleagues.

Despite all the possible benefits of observation, it is still usually the case that the teacher does not feel in charge of the event. Could this be changed by the teacher inviting a colleague to observe a lesson? How many of us have done that? In such an arrangement, wouldn’t the teacher be in a better position and the observer, having accepted the invitation, be in a supportive role rather than merely carrying out a duty? If the teacher not only invited a colleague to observe a lesson but also invited the observer to comment upon particular aspects of their teaching, wouldn’t this be a more professional and beneficial use of lesson observation?

In a traditional observation arrangement, the observer observes a teacher and at a later time feeds back to that teacher. Couldn’t we utilise technology in some way to enable the observer to feedback to the teacher in real time and perhaps suggest changes to try while a lesson is in progress? Sure, we would not want to disrupt the lesson more than necessary but what I have in mind is some form of audio feedback perhaps via an earpiece or maybe text feedback to a teacher’s laptop. Similar, I guess to being a TV presenter?

While on the subject of a TV presenter, many of us do not like being in front of a video camera and we would certainly not regard ourselves as presenters. Nevertheless, videoing a session, instead of or in addition to physical observation, can also have great benefit in affecting teaching performance. A simple video camera stood in the corner of a room or maybe even in the hands of pupils, can provide a fascinating insight into one’s teaching even without any added commentary or feedback. It can also be used to provide ongoing records of improvement or changes for the teacher and maybe even provide some evidence of the effectiveness, or otherwise, of such changes.

For me, the key in all of this is that the teacher should be in charge of all of it. It is used as part of their reflective practice and ongoing development more than as an intrusion imposed upon them.

Iris Connect – lesson observation with video (whiteboardblog.co.uk)
Struggling teachers can improve by watching great teachers in action (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
How to Teach with Reflective Teaching (brighthub.com)
Schools that go it alone do best – report (guardian.co.uk)
IRIS Connect
How does IRIS Connect work

Reflective Practice and Teacher Development

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Tags: Lesson, lesson Observation, Observation, Teacher
Posted in Training INSET and CPD, Transforming Learning | 6 Comments »

Displaying Pupils’ Digital Work

Monday, July 25th, 2011

: Image via Wikipedia

This post has been prompted by Terry Freedman’s article on his website about wall displays and it starts with a comment I posted there.

Traditionally a teacher would festoon the classroom and other areas with displays of the pupils’ work, particularly artwork, written work and photographs of events. These might be used to reward pupils for producing exceptional work, to demonstrate work produced by the pupils, or they might be used to encourage and provide exemplars, above all, they would be used to support pupil learning.

Nowadays, pupils produce more and more work in digital formats and the question is raised as to what is the best way to display such work. Or are we to lose the benefit of wall displays simply because digital work cannot be easily displayed? Some of the work can be printed out and displayed in a traditional way but somehow, unless it’s a product designed to be printed, that would seem to almost defeat the object.

I have seen some schools use large monitor screens for display purposes, generally though they seem to be used to display promotional clips of the school and seem aimed at visitors. Rarely do they seem to be used to display pupils’ work and far more rarely do they seem to be used in pupil areas. The cost of such systems probably act against their widespread use in schools. Also, unlike simple display boards, such electronic display systems are rarely simple to use and are often outside the ‘domain’ of the class teacher.

Nevertheless, I do feel that flat panels could be a way (perhaps an expensive way) of displaying pupils’ digital creations.The technology should be becoming cheaper and many flat televisions can display images from a memory card. Even simple electronic photo frames could be used, some of these can display video too, though as the size still tends to be on the small size, they could hardly be considered classroom displays.

Not all digital creations are visual, though, and I’ve yet to think of a way of effectively displaying pupils’ audio creations; though I’d guess that IP radio systems might be a way of distributing pupils’ podcasts around a school.

I’d be interested to hear/see how schools have tried to tackle this issue.

But then, perhaps I’m falling into the trap of thinking about classrooms in the traditional sense? Maybe we can display pupils digital work in a digital environment such as a virtual classroom or a VLE. It may not have the same impact as a physical display in a classroom but it should be simple to add links to other pupils’ digital content for a learner to access, or maybe ‘advert’ like banners to encourage the learner to explore other pupils’ work or even simply to embed digital content within a pupil’s space.

Links to various Electronic Display suppliers

http://www.jayex.com

http://www.somethingabstract.co.uk

http://www.navaho.tv/

http://www.vued.co.uk/

I’d be very interested to hear or see how schools have addressed this area.

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Tags: class teacher, Computer hardware, Computer monitor, Digital television, Display technology, Education, electronic display, electronic display systems, Electronic engineering, electronic noticeboard, Engineering, lcd display, radio systems, Teacher, Technology, Technology/Internet, Terry Freedman
Posted in Classroom Technology | 4 Comments »

The Best and Most Rewarding Job?

Monday, July 18th, 2011

: Image via Wikipedia

You’d think that working with children and young people, helping them learn, grow and develop would be one of the best and most rewarding of jobs. Yet often it isn’t. Just ask any teacher about the stress, the long hours, the pressures of working in a school and you’ll begin to wonder if there isn’t someting wrong with our education system.

Dig a little deeper, though, and you’ll uncover more of the story. Teachers will tell you that it isn’t working with the pupils that’s the problem; it’s all the extra bits! By which they usually mean the paper work, the long hours spent in school and at home on preparation or marking. This has long been the case in education but has it got any worse over the years and what role does technology play in this?

I believe that technology is both an aid and a culprit when we look into teacher stress. Let me give you an example, take lesson planning; lesson planning takes time, it takes time to identify the aims, objectives and outcomes of a lesson, to identify and plan the use of resources, to set evaluation and success criteria, to identify differentiation etc.. Using a computer may make it easier to draw up lesson plans in a common format or template, printing a lesson plan may well be easier than writing it out by hand but does this mean it takes less time to create a lesson plan? Not really, it is the thinking and the planning that goes into a good lesson plan that takes time rather than the writing, so typing and printing saves only a small amount of time compared to writing by hand.

So why, then, do we expect teachers to write more detailed lesson plans? By using computers, we are often asking teachers to spend longer doing lesson plans than they used to. Ironic isn’t it?

Some people, and I am not one of them, believe that the purpose of ICT in schools is to make admin tasks quicker and easier for teachers so that they can devote more time to teaching and learning. This may sound good but what is happening is that teachers are being asked to do more and more admin tasks that take them away from teaching and learning.

Few teachers come into the profession, if it can still be called a profession, to do paper work. Teachers are not office workers and should not be regarded as such. The professional teacher is concerned with pupil learning, getting the best out of their pupils. Professional teachers welcome technology into the classroom where it has a clear benefit for learning and that, I feel, should be the focus of using technology in schools.

I’m sure that if we focused our efforts in using technology in support of learning rather than emphasising its role in school administration, we could once again see a happy workforce of teachers and also see learners benefiting from working with happy school staff.

In Praise of Entropy (ictineducation.org)
An Education Website Review of LessonSnips.com (brighthub.com)
Welcome to my dream school (guardian.co.uk)
Would More Time in the Classroom Help Our Education System? (triplepundit.com)
About My Job: The Teacher (andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com)
What Teachers Learn (socyberty.com)
Pupils do better at school if teachers are not fixated on test results (guardian.co.uk)
Does skills-based learning face a lean future? (guardian.co.uk)
Young, gifted and likely to suffer for it (guardian.co.uk)

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Tags: Education, Educators, Information and communication technologies in education, K through 12, Learning, Lesson plan, Teacher, Technology
Posted in Classroom Technology | 1 Comment »

You Know You’re a 21st Century Educator When … (7 signs)

Tuesday, June 21st, 2011

7 Signs of a 21st century educator. Having criticised the overuse of the phrase ’21st Century …’ , here I am using it, doh!

You know you’re a 21st Century educator when …

1) You use live streaming video to convey your lessons to pupils unable to attend a class. Illness, hospital treatment, home circumstances, travel etc. each of which could entail a period of time off school. In the last century this would result in lost opportunities to learn. In the 21st Century such lost opportunities are unacceptable and teachers/schools need to ensure learners still have access to learning opportunities when away from the school.

2) You use video to record your lessons for online delivery. We all know that many of us are ‘shy’ or ‘embarrassed’ to be seen on video. However, the 21st century teacher needs to overcome this barrier. ‘Lecture Capture’ is currently the BIG thing in HE, so don’t be caught out when ‘Lesson Capture’ comes to your school. The real value of Lesson Capture is that your sessions can be recorded and then replayed by students afterwards to reinforce their learning or for revision (if they need that!). Also your recorded sessions can be used to reach learners outside the school, even reach students around the globe. This will also help you attain a global presence, which could be the distinction of the best 21st Century educators.

3) You maintain a subject blog. Some of you may already maintain (or not maintain!) a personal blog. The difference here is that the subject blog is a professional tool that can serve many purposes for the 21st century educator. The blog records your teaching of your subject(s), you can use it reflectively as part of your professional development, you also use it with learners as part of a multi-approach to your teaching, you also share it with other subject professionals within your Professional Learning Network.

4) You receive questions from pupils studying your lessons from around the world. Either you, yourself, or your school will have a global presence which attracts learners from around the world. Naturally, these learners will have questions which they submit to you via email, social networking, submission forms and discussion forums. You, of course, use a tool to aggregate these various sources into a single stream, just to make life a little easier for you!

5) You are invited by other teachers to teach a session to their pupils. Cooperation, collaboration and sharing are all good things so you work with other teachers in other schools to deliver lessons and they, equally, share with you. This practice improves your professional skills and also helps deliver the best content to learners.

6) You find yourself working in the early hours or late at night … no change there then! While much of your online teaching is delivered by recorded sessions and activities, you also blend this with live (synchronous) sessions with learners across countries and timezones.

7) You are paid more … well, let’s hope!

21st Century This, 21st Century That (dougwoods.co.uk)
Harness the Power of Technology (acyberpilgrim.org)
The myth underpinning ’21st Century Skills’ [Future of Education] (dougbelshaw.com)
Seven Principles for Good Teaching (elearningcentralia.wordpress.com)
Education in the 21st Century (c24.co.uk)
The 30 Best Books for EdTech Geeks (onlinecollege.org)

You Know Youre a 21st Century Educator When ... (7 signs)

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Tags: 21st century, 21st century learning, 21st century teaching, Education, K through 12, lecture capture, lesson capture, online teaching, Professional development, Teacher
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

10 Tips for Effective eLearning

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011

Image by alice_c via Flickr

Some of you will now that my current work has been involved in running synchronous elearning courses using Elluminate. This blog post is largely a reflection on that work so far and also my own experience of using Elluminate as an elearning tool.

I am attempting to draw up pointers or tips for users in how to deliver effective synchronous (live) elearning sessions for teaching and also for student revision. The tips presented here have been drawn from my observations of various people leading sessions and, as such, have been drawn upon different approaches or styles they’ve used. This post is very much a ‘first draft’ and I’d be grateful for any comments.

1) Teachers need a reliable internet connection with good bandwidth

Elluminate is intended to be used with even the poorest of dialup connections but this does not mean the experience will be equal to that delivered via a solid fast internet line. A poor connection can only acceptable, and sometimes unavoidable, at the client’s end. For the teacher a fast and reliable connection is essential to maintain delivery.

The lack of a reliable connection can lead to participants being dropped from the session and needing to reconnect. This may be unavoidable for students on a poor connection but it is not acceptable from a client viewpoint if the teacher drops out of a session through a poor internet connection.

2) Teachers need the support of well-designed resources

Many sessions have been supported by teacher designed PowerPoint slides. These are generally well based in the subject matter and pedagogy but usually show poor design and do not ‘engage’ students.

Teachers will rarely have the time or resources to design, from scratch, effective materials to engage the students, while also respecting commercial copyrights. In order to do this, it could be advantageous for a professional designer to be engaged to work with teachers to create engaging materials.

However, pretty resources on their own do not engage the students; they need to be appropriate and used in effective ways. Presenting a large number of colourful resources can be just as disengaging as presenting a few poorly designed ones.

3) The secret to a successful online course is interaction

The most effective sessions appear to be ones where there is a degree of interaction or participation from the students. This interaction can be with the teacher, with the resources or with each other. Sessions where the student appears to be just a passive participant tend to be less successful.

However, it can be difficult to generate interaction if the session has only one or two participants. In such cases, the level of participation and interaction can be adversely affected by the personality of each student and also their confidence/experience of using the system.

Equally, a session with a large number of students can be made more difficult to manage if there is a lot of interaction.

In my experience, if there are more than a dozen participants, it is difficult for each one to feel engaged. Consequently there is usually a lot of people dropping out during a session where there are more than a dozen participants. An ideal number would seem to be between 3 and 6 to allow for participation and interaction between students.

4) A successful course is usually a well-planned one

Isn’t this always the case? In a classroom, a successful lesson is usually one that has been well planned; the same appears to be true for online sessions. It is the session that is poorly planned and poorly supported by resources that appears to be the least successful.

However, of course, we all know that being flexible and being responsive to our students are also important to success. Following our plan rigidly during a lesson even when the students are not engaged, does not make for a successful lesson. In face-to-face sessions we can observe the students, their activity and responses. This is much more difficult online.

5) Intended outcomes need to be clear

Successful sessions almost always have intended outcomes; the most successful lessons are those where these outcomes are shared with students and have the agreement, or ‘buy in’, of the students.

In online sessions, it is useful for the teacher to tell the students what the intended outcomes for the session are, what activities are planned in order to achieve those outcomes and what ‘behaviour’ is required/expected from the student

6) Online learning is more than repeating previously learned material

Seems obvious really, but online sessions should not be just a repetition of subject matter previously covered in class. There may need to be some elements of revision but most successful online sessions allow students opportunities to investigate or explore materials in further depth or in new ways..

7) ‘Something for nothing’ is always good

We all like to think that we are getting ‘something for nothing’ no matter how big or how small. Sending students materials which they can use offline, is nearly always beneficial. Such materials might be sample questions, links to online activities, pdf texts etc.. There needs to be something extra that students gain from attending online sessions which could not be gained from face-to-face sessions.

8) Don’t allow time for questions!

I know this sounds almost counter intuitive but it is perhaps good practice not to allow time for questions. We all know the scenario where the teacher tells the pupils that at the end of the lesson there’ll be time for them to ask questions, that’s if there’s enough time of course! This usually gives the message to students that their questions are not really important and we can use them at the end to fill any remaining time, if the students can remember their question until the end and assuming they can withstand the peer pressure to stay quiet as everyone wants to finish early.

Rather than setting time aside for questions, taking and inviting questions should be an integral part of the session. Students should feel free to ask questions or raise points as the session progresses. This leads to better interaction and engagement in the session.

9) Use the tools

I am sometimes heard to be critical of Elluminate, as also with other services, in that they provide more tools for the teacher than for the learner. It is more frustrating, though, when teachers don’t make use of those tools available to them and resort to just basic text presentations on the whiteboard, which they then proceed to talk through. If you have ever suffered ‘death by PowerPoint’, I can assure you ‘death by Elluminate Whiteboard’ is worse. There are several tools available to the teacher, such as ‘application sharing’, ‘breakout rooms’, ‘web tour’ or multimedia sharing, get to know them and explore how each could be used in an online session.

10) Online teaching requires new skills

Online teaching requires new skills, not just in terms of handling technologies but also in terms of delivery. It is clear that a good classroom teacher does not necessarily make a good online teacher, so not every teacher will feel suited to it.

Delivering effective learning online requires practice, training and the development of a range of practical and interpersonal skills. An opportunity to teach online provides a professional teacher with an outlet to develop new skills and acquire new experiences which could hold them in good stead for the future.

This is not to say that a one-size fits all approach is required. Far from it, online learning can benefit from a range of teaching styles/approaches/resources just as face-to-face teaching does. It simply indicates that such styles/approaches/resources need to be different in many cases to fit an online scenario.

This final point is probably one which needs to be developed further. Having said that online teaching needs new skills, it is not yet easy to define those skills. Having said that online teaching may not suit all classroom teachers, there is an implication for ‘blended’ learning approaches. As I say, this post represents very much a ‘first draft’ and your comments are most welcome.

25 ways to make yourself unpopular: #18 Don’t ask questions (ictineducation.org)
Using technology in the curriculum (ictineducation.org)
eLearning Startup Opportunities (elearningtech.blogspot.com)
Online Learning Opportunities Today (elearningcentralia.wordpress.com)

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Tags: E-Learning, Elluminate Live, Teacher
Posted in Classroom Technology, elearning, Online Resources | 4 Comments »

Three Thoughts on ICT CPD for Teachers

Sunday, November 7th, 2010

Currently there appears to be a great deal of work behind the scenes preparing for an initiative to promote the use of ICT by teachers. This has prompted me to quickly put together a few thoughts about training teachers in the use of ICT.

Some of these thoughts are clearly born from my own experiences training staff in using ICT, whereas other thoughts are perhaps a bit more forward looking and maybe a little bit more “off the wall.” I have had years of experience in training staff to use computers and other technologies to support their teaching.

Having been a teacher myself for many years, I hold teachers in high regard and am always willing to encourage them to make use of technology in their work. Up to recently, though, most of this training has focussed upon enabling staff to use the tech within their own teaching and curriculum delivery. Increasingly, however, I feel the technology requires and promotes new approaches to learning and that possibly it is these new approaches which could be the focus of new ICT CPD initiatives.

1) Thought 1 – It is my belief that if you give teachers the equipment and the time, then the ideas will follow. Indeed, it has been my experience that the ideas are often already there, it is the time and the equipment that is often missing. However, too much equipment at once is rarely a good idea especially if that equipment is provided without the time and training necessary. Sadly, that has very often been the case as training is seen as expensive and undervalued. Even if done correctly, however, this approach might only generate new ways of using the technology to support current practices; it may increase teacher confidence and skill but it is unlikely to be transformational.

2) Thought 2 – I feel it is the role of the teacher to allow and enable learners to make use of the technologies. Therefore, ICT CPD should focus upon getting teachers to allow or enable learners to use technologies in new and innovative ways. The emphasis is upon learner use rather than teacher use. Increasingly, I feel, that it is the way in which learners are able to use ICT which is more important in learning rather than the way in which teachers use it. The teacher, however, still has a need to be made aware of new possibilities and opportunities afforded by technology and be allowed the time and training to explore ways in which the learners can use it.

3) Thought 3 – It is important to improve a teacher’s confidence and skills in using ICT but also it is important to give them the confidence and skills to support the learners’ use of ICT. I make the latter point because it is likely that not all learners will take to technology as easily and readily as others. Many learners may need support and encouragement to learn using technology and many of these learners may turn to the teacher for support and guidance. I therefore feel it is important that ICT CPD for teachers is designed in part to give teachers the skills and confidence to provide the support and guidance for their learners.

What can you do with IT? (deangroom.wordpress.com)
ICT CPD 4 Free from NAACE (warringtonict.wordpress.com)
A Tick List of 21st Century Digital Skills for Teachers (nikpeachey.blogspot.com)

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Tags: Education, Educational technology, ICT CPD, ICT in Schools, ICT Teacher, Information and communication technologies in education, Information technology, Teacher, Technology/Internet
Posted in Classroom Technology, Handheld Learning, ICT Support and Management, Training INSET and CPD | No Comments »

The Real Purpose of ICT in Schools

Monday, October 11th, 2010

I don’t think anyone could deny that ICT or Educational Technology is a very versatile tool for schools.

If I were to ask you to list all the ways in which technology is used in your school, you’d come up with a list as long as your arm. Perhaps, I should rephrase that to read ‘the ways in which technology could be used in your school’ because I think it’s almost certain that few of us use the technology to its full capability.

Among the uses that you might mention, could be;

Writing reports,
preparing lesson plans,
monitoring attendance,
collecting data on pupils,
measuring progress
assessing pupils’ ability
writing letters to parents
creating policy documents, schemes of work etc.

all of which are very valid roles and tasks for the computer but they are not what the technology was originally put into schools for

When we first started putting computers into schools, we did not put them in to help teachers create reports and plans, we did not put them in to monitor and assess pupil progress, they were not even put in for teachers to use!

Computers were first put into schools to help pupils learn and, I would argue, this remains the prime reason for having computers in schools.

Yet, we seem to be in danger of forgetting this.

Too often, we see eduction technology discussed on an institutional level with its network infrastructures or as an administrative tool with its bloat of office software and services or as a ‘teachers’ tool with its aids for preparation, planning and lesson delivery. All of these have their place in schools but they do not always serve the prime role of schools, which is to educate pupils. Why is it that we feel it is right for every teacher in a school to have a laptop but not every pupil?

Even at times when we discuss how technology can help learning, it turns into a debate into how teachers can use the technology rather than the learners.

I hear people criticise schools because they have not used ICT to help save money. Yet saving money has never been the purpose behind putting ICT into schools. By all means criticise schools if they fail to utilise the technology for learning; that, learning, is the main purpose of a school. Criticise schools where money may not have been spent wsisely or correctly but please don’t criticise schools for not using ICT to save money when that was never the purpose of it.

At this time, schools, like everyone else (perhaps more than anyone else), are feeling the brunt of government cutbacks in spending and there is obviously concern as to how money, what money there may be, can be spent wisely. At such times as this, I feel schools need to refocus their attention on their core business; which is the education of learners. No matter what economic climate we live in, people expect schools to provide learning and that will be the criterion by which schools will be judged rather than their ability to maintain overblown network and administrative infrastructures.

ICT … have we spent wisely ? (dougdickinson.co.uk)
Teaching technology on a budget (guardian.co.uk)

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Tags: Education, Educational technology, Information and communication technologies in education, Learning, Lesson plan, school, Teacher, Technology
Posted in Classroom Technology | No Comments »

Posts Tagged ‘Teacher’

Reflective Practice and Teacher Development

Displaying Pupils’ Digital Work

The Best and Most Rewarding Job?

You Know You’re a 21st Century Educator When … (7 signs)

10 Tips for Effective eLearning

Three Thoughts on ICT CPD for Teachers

The Real Purpose of ICT in Schools

Contact me

Follow us on Twitter

Doug Woods

Posts Tagged ‘Teacher’

Reflective Practice and Teacher Development

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Displaying Pupils’ Digital Work

The Best and Most Rewarding Job?

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You Know You’re a 21st Century Educator When … (7 signs)

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10 Tips for Effective eLearning

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Three Thoughts on ICT CPD for Teachers

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The Real Purpose of ICT in Schools

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Contact me

Follow us on Twitter

Doug Woods