New data released this month suggests that online social networks will kill the school newsletter. All the information that is currently available suggests that Facebook, MySpace and Twitter will be the communication tools of choice during the new-millennium for well-connected schools. Denis Maseni, the Director of Sponsor-ed certainly supported this view during his presentation at VITTA09 Conference. Denis highlighted the need for schools to engage modern technologies as part of their communication strategy if they wish to maintain a connection with their parents.
Facebook usage data gives us the strongest indicator yet that the printed school newsletter will go the way of the Tasmanian Tiger. Australia now boasts 7,176,640 Facebook users (source: CheckFacebook.com) which is approximately one in every three Aussies. This reflects the latest figures which indicate that Facebook grew by 32% during 08/09 and is the most used social network in Australia. According to a recent Fairfax Digital report:
Facebook accounts for 29% of all time spent online by Australians (WOW! ONE-THIRD OF ALL INTERNET USAGE IN AUSTRALIA!!!)
In October, Australian users spent 27.2 hours online – 7.55 of which were spent on Facebook,
In the same month, Australian users uploaded 80 million pictures, wrote 32 million ‘wall posts’ and 45 million ‘status updates’ to Facebook.
Australia also leads the world in time spent on social media sites.
Most importantly, the perception that Facebook is only for young people is wildly inaccurate. In fact the ‘over 25′ demographic is now larger than the ‘under 25′ demographic.
All this opens a raft of new options for educators. If we consider the primary parent demographic to be between the years of 25 and 55 years old, then we can see that they represent approximately 50% of the current Facebook users. Most significantly, 70% of ALL mothers are using modern technology to connect with their family and friends. The Telstra State of the Nation report also shows that 60% of mothers use Facebook. That is a large and powerful network of parents and educators/schools have a responsibility to ensure that they are using social networking sites to keep in contact with their parents.
If you want to venture into this realm it is best to do so with open eyes. Schools should have a look at some of the strategies listed here.
You may like to check out some of the schools that have already used social networks to see how they are using them as powerful communication tools:
As communication changes, so does the definition of literacy. Prof. Stephen Heppel asked students what a literate teacher should be able to do, this is what they said:
upload to YouTube
edit a Wikipedia article
choose a safe online payments site
subscribe to a podcast and un subscribe
turn on and off predictive text
manage a groups Flickr photos (and spell Flickr!)
look after a community in Facebook
This raises the question – ARE YOU LITERATE?
I’ll compilled a collection of tools and tips that you can use to improve your own digital literacy. I encourage you to use them to increase your students’ knowledge and capability of Web2.0.
http://skoool.globalstudent.org.au/ – a collaborative site for an Innovation and Next Practice trial that combines Web2.0, Maths, Interactive whiteboards and digital learning objects.
Twitter: a mircro-blogging (you only get 140 characters) site that allows you to follow or be followed.
RSS Feeds:So you’ve found a great blog or website but you don’t have time to visit it regularly to check for content. what can you do? Subscribe to the RSS feed and let the information come to you.
http://au.my.yahoo.com/ – and RSS reader through yahoo. When I check my email I also check my websites of interest.
Google: 97% of google’s (significant) revenue comes from the ads on their search engine, but they provide a raft of other stuff that is simply mindboggling…and ad free for schools
http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/edu/index.html – Google Apps: this gives you Gmail, communicator, calander, video, websites, blog, google docs and google sync! Nice! Did I mention it’s free to schools?
Facebook: half of Australia’s 5 million facebook users check their pages daily. Imagine if you could convert that enthusiasm into a tool for connecting parents with your school!
http://www.facebook.com – a predominantly social site (subsequently it is blocked in most schools). It has massive potential for somebody with a little creativity.
Youtube: Broadcast yourself. Also banned in heaps of schools (because it uses bandwidth) but it contains a phenomenal amount of useful stuff
Ning: provides social networking but on a topic of your choice. Once you’re signed up to ning you can join as many as you like without having to create a new account.
http://www.ning.com/ – this is where you go to log in/sign up and or create new ning pages.
https://kbngpilots.wikispaces.com/ – a wiki for the Intel Skools with web2.0 Trial group, operated by Innovation and Next Practice branch (password protected)
News in today from the BBC’s website reveals that the Danish Government:
has taken the bold step of allowing pupils full access to the internet during their final school year exams.
Naturally, the Danes believe that because computers and the internet are such a normal and important part of the broader society, this should be reflected in the way that students are examined.
Whilst emailing or messaging is banned, the Government acknowledges that there is little they can do to stop it. However, with high expectations and stern consequences, there seems to be little risk of cheating.
“The main precaution is that we trust them. I think the cheat rate is very low because the consequences of cheating are very big.”
This type of exam is possible because of the nature of questions asked.
Students are no longer required to regurgitate facts and figures. Instead the emphasis is on their ability to sift through and analyse information.
It will be interesting to see how long it takes Australian schools to catch up to our Danish colleagues.
I’ve come across two online articles today that explain in simple terms the changes that have occurred around the globe that are mandating change within the education system.
Over on the NZ-based Interface Magazine site, we hear from David Warlick who explains that the big changes have not been about technology but about information.
Technology has done a lot but what’s really impacting on teachers is how information is changing. The nature of information has changed and, as a result, so has what it means to be literate.
So with the nature, location and speed of information delivery all changing, so too must teachers and their teaching practices. And for those who aren’t willing to change? Warlick says:
My honest belief is ‘get over it or get out of the profession’. If someone’s not willing to teach in a contemporary information landscape, one that’s meaningful to the students then they need to find something else to do.
Marc Prensky coined the expressions digital natives and digital immigrants – it’s a useful distinction but I worry that some teachers are actually using this as an excuse.
which allow them to benefit from the emerging new forms of socialisation and to contribute actively to economic development under a system where the main asset is knowledge. These skills and competencies are often referred to as the 21st Century skills and competencies, as to indicate that they are more related to the needs of the emerging models of economic and social development than with those of the past Century, far more suited to an industrial mode of production.
I have added the bold text as a way of highlighting the fact that teachers prepare students for the future – not the present or the past. Subsequently, if we educate students using assumptions based on the dominant models of the past or the present we will hinder their ability to engage with the dominant social and economic models of tomorrow.
The DEECD is running an Innovative Learning Environments Design Conference for educators and architects at Docklands on Monday 19 October. Six of the face-to-face presentations will be streamed online simultaneously via Elluminate.
The conference features educators who have successfully incorporated innovative practice into new learning environments. Architectural experts team up with educators to present a program featuring innovative learning environments, successful change stories and new approaches to teaching and learning.
The online sessions are outlined below. There is no cost to attend the online sessions, however you need to sign up first. Registered participants will be sent the link to the Elluminate room for their session(s). To register, visit: http://www.education.vic.gov.au/researchinnovation/lpd/forum.htm
Keynotes
9.05am – 10.05am Futurevation: Looking to the future
2.25pm – 3.25pm Designing for purpose – but which purpose? OECD 21C innovative learning environments
Session 1: Panel - Successful change stories: what worked and why?
11.05am – 11.50am Dandenong High School
11.05am – 11.50am Bentleigh West Primary School
Session 2 Innovative Learning - adopting a student centred approach
12.00pm – 12.45pm Matthew Flinders Girls Secondary College
12.00pm – 12.45pm Point Lonsdale Primary School
Three Australian education networks are now publishing on iTunesU. Catholic schools in Australia, WA Dept. of Education and Scotch College/PLC (Perth) are all now publishing content accessible to all the world’s iTunes users.
As with everything on iTunes U, the new audio, video and text files from Catholic schools are free to anyone visiting the iTunes Store.Students, teachers and lifelong learners can download items of interest including tutorials, demonstrations, lectures and learning objects on range of subjects and educational issues.
As well as providing a platform for teachers to publish learning materials for their students, iTunes U will automatically publish the content worldwide.
Obviously I’m delighted with this development. Apple has up to 80% market share in the portable media device market and their hold on the smart phone market is growing, so this will be incredibly useful for a raft of students and teachers already connected to the iTunes market.
I understand that Victoria’s DEECD was also offered this opportunity but has this stage declined. However with Ultranet to be rolled in 2010 I am confident that it will succeed iTunes as the portal of choice for students accessing podcasts, online content and e-learning resources.
If you’ve ever spent any significant time in a classroom – either as a teacher or as a student – you may recognise the many similarities that exist between schools and aircraft.
On Monday I will spend about 9 hours flying with my two children. Once on board the plane there are several things that occur:
I will be forced to face the front quietly for many hours
I will be discouraged from standing up and moving about
there will be no internet connectivity
many electronic devices are either banned or non-functional
there will be intermitent announcements over the PA system
All this makes me think, are our classrooms more like aircraft than places that foster life long learning?
Thanks to those from #edausem who helped contribute to this discussion.
The newest version of Shift Happens is here. It has a distinct focus on media convergance, which reflects the conference for which this version was created. As always, it provides some food for thought.
