OECD report: school technology struggles to make an impact
"Another interpretation is that schools have not yet become good enough at the kind of pedagogies that make the most of technology; that adding 21st-Century technologies to 20th-Century teaching practices will just dilute the effectiveness of teaching.
If students use smartphones to copy and paste prefabricated answers to questions, it is unlikely to help them to become smarter. Educators who want to ensure that students become smarter than a smartphone need to think harder about the pedagogies they are using to teach them.
Technology can amplify great teaching but it seems technology cannot replace poor teaching.
The impact of technology on education delivery remains sub-optimal, because we may over-estimate the digital skills of both teachers and students, because of naive policy design and implementation strategies, because of a poor understanding of pedagogy, or because of the generally poor quality of educational software and courseware.
The results suggest that the connections among students, computers and learning are neither simple nor hard-wired; and the real contributions ICT can make to teaching and learning have yet to be fully realised and exploited.
But the findings must not lead to despair. School systems need to get the digital agenda right in order to provide educators with learning environments that support 21st Century pedagogies and provide children with the 21st Century skills they need to succeed in tomorrow's world."
(Andreas Schleicher, 15 September 2015, BBC News)
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Simon PerkinsSHARE
NZ Virtual Professional Learning and Development programme
"The Virtual Professional Learning Development programme (VPLD) provides professional learning through an online Community of Practice (CoP). The VPLD offers flexibility of choice, time and approach, and is designed to fit in with what you are already doing as teachers and/or leaders.
Participants develop their own learning goals around projects that interest them, within a learning inquiry process. The aims are to raise participants' professional knowledge and skills, while also accelerating students' achievement of learning outcomes.
A fundamental aspect of participating in the VPLD is engagement in the VPLD online Community of Practice (CoP). The CoP offers a safe environment in which educators can discuss and challenge alternative points of view about pedagogy and practice, across disciplines and sectors."
(New Zealand Ministry of Education)
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Simon PerkinsSHARE
The International Society of Typographic Designers
"The International Society of Typographic Designers, ISTD, is a professional body run by and for typographers, graphic designers and educators. As the name suggests, the Society has an international membership, all of whom share its mission to establish and maintain standards of typography and to provide a forum for debate."
(The International Society of Typographic Designers)
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Simon PerkinsSHARE
Educators who have repeated the same kerning and hand-drawn letterform exercises will find themselves teaching at a school that simply isn't focused on typography anymore
"We are a culture that increasingly questions consumption and advertising, which are at the heart of industrial and graphic design disciplines. We rely on a dynamic and constantly evolving technological platform that touches all aspects of life. There is an increased demand for service–based jobs as our country re–evaluates economic sustainability. People are demanding quality, reflective and meaningful experiences in their world.
Yet design education, as a whole, hasn't embraced these challenges and opportunities.
To be direct and explicit, educators who have taught the same foundation studies courses for years will need to dramatically revamp their courses or face irrelevance. Educators who have repeated the same kerning and hand–drawn letterform exercises will find themselves teaching at a school that simply isn't focused on typography anymore – and tenure notwithstanding, these individuals will find themselves without a role. Educators who are unwilling to retrain themselves will be replaced.
If you are one of these educators, or you work at one of these programs, you may acknowledge these necessary shifts, but find personal action to be difficult. It is difficult. And it's difficult because the shift is large, fundamental and of critical importance. You'll need to read, and take courses, and attend new conferences; you'll need to re–build yourself and your expertise in a new light. You'll go from knowing all of the answers to not even knowing the problems.
But it's no longer a matter of choice. Because if you aren't able to find a new opportunity, a new specialty, and embrace the topics described above, you may soon find yourself alone or replaced. Our subject matter is too important, and our role too fundamental, to leave to the traditions of even great educational movements like the Bauhaus. The subject of design is the humanization of technology, and as long as technological advancements continue, so the pragmatic and day–to–day jobs of designers will continue to morph. And so must design education continue to evolve."
(Jon Kolko, 2010)
Jon Kolko (2010). 'Remapping The Curriculum', AIGA | the professional association for design
AIGA Design Educators Conference "New Contexts/New Practices", October 8–10, 2010, at North Carolina State University in Raleigh
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Simon PerkinsSHARE
SchoolTube: moderated video content
"Welcome to SchoolTube.com, a safe video sharing website exclusively approved by over a dozen [North American] National Education Associations for use in K–12 schools. Our mission is to provide educators and students a safe and fun video sharing environment to enhance their classrooms and their learning experiences. Through an innovative Chain of Accountability process, videos are student produced and moderator approved, thus producing a refreshing site that is appropriate for school use.
Launched in 2006, SchoolTube has grown to become the nation's largest teacher moderated video sharing website, dedicated to supporting educational institutions and all of their students to broadcast, and share original videos through a web experience."
(SchoolTube, LLC)
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Simon PerkinsSHARE
