LEarning & Teaching 2014 |
elearning & ICT 2014 |
Media Unit 1 SAC 1A student reflection
Chris & I reworked our Media 1A SAC to make more use of technology and to encourage the students to engage with the content rather than repeat it by rote. We designed a task where they explored a 10 year era using timetoast.com then created a radio ad selling a concept from that period using the codes and conventions of the era in Garageband. The students then completed reflection questions which were submitted via Google Form. The link to see all the feedback is http://padlet.com/wall/mediasac1a . All students could read the feedback from their peers and they could remain anonymous if they liked. Overall the feedback was highly positive and the results suggest the students understood the task well. There as a grey piece of feedback about providing an example as a model and also many students identified what they could change about their learning behaviour (read and practice the questions prior to the task, as they had been posted for 3 weeks beforehand!) Catchup classes vs Catchon classes After looking at the data for the students first two SAC's in Unit 3 VCD, I discovered a few trends which if addressed can increase student engagement and performance. They included;
2012/2013 VCD Unit 3/4 Data track Reflecting on Unit 1 Media Results Writing the Year 11 Media reports I noticed a definite trend in the data – the students were performing well with practical tasks however not as strongly across the board with written tasks. The results suggest with the analysis tasks the top performers are still top performers but the middle band of students has dropped their average significantly. Practical task Abstract analysis and presentation task Using the feedback provided by the students and the data above my colleague and I started to look at what teaching styles/ delivery methods we used when teaching the practical things. We starting thinking we could incorporate these into abstract thinking and responding tasks. The list below is an extract of some of the ideas we explored;
Curriculum Team – Developing Creativity and flexibility in thinking in the Arts Working in a diverse team such as Arts can be really exciting. We often have really separate topics and skill sets and at times it can be hard to target learning sections of meetings to encompass and include all subject areas and members. So in comes thinking skills – classroom strategies that help students develop their creative thinking. I stumbled across this idea when a colleague was presenting information about how to structure folio and thought thinking skills and creativity would help make this even stronger. I presented a session on SCAMPER – a strategy where students take an existing idea or concept of their own such as a piece of art or design, a composition or even an existing piece and work through the acronym following the prompts to reshape their thinking. See below for examples of it’s use. I think part of the reason it works is it does not tell the students how to design or create, but does give them structure around how to think creatively. Models such as SCAMPER echo Jenny Luca’s sentiment “Curriculum should be empowering and not lock in learning “. It’s been great also to step beyond the eLearning role as well and to work with established and beginning teachers in developing pedagogical practice and their capacity to celebrate and promote creative thinking. SCAMPER Arts CAT 2014 Low risk, high gain idea – the idea Sitting at the Edutech conference Jenny Luca, eLearning coordinator at Toorak College, Victoria, spoke about finding low risk, high gain ideas and running with them. So with that in mind I looked at the Media Unit 2 topic we were about to embark upon with a particular focus on peer feedback. This was a key aspect I had identified the year previously as something I wanted to manage more effectively in my classroom as my previous attempts had been teacher directed and only somewhat successful in providing superficial feedback. Upon reflection I realised I was still providing all the structure and support for peer feedback, I was asking students to reflect on what I though was important without gauging what they wanted feedback with. So in come peer feedback walls for the next topic. Using the assessment rubric to help them, students will identify an area they wish to have feedback on per week. These will be posted onto a wall along with other class members questions and I will build in time for students to work collaboratively on this during the lessons. Depending on how this goes I may need to add a second teacher selected question, but I want to try handing the feedback creation and generation to the students first. It’s low risk as the unit runs for numerous weeks and if it needs refining we have the time to do that. Furthermore the group is a highly cohesive one used to providing informal summative feedback for other tasks. It’s high gain as it will be empowering for the learners to both give and receive true peer feedback. Stay tuned for the reflection. |
Setting Goals with the ICT team
This year I wanted all members of the ICT team to have input into the goal setting and future planning since we all are involved in implementing it. Thus beginning a process where 10 minutes was devoted to reflecting and future planning every meeting. We started with a reflection on what had we achieved, how did we know, what were challenges & how did we respond. Using this data collated we then identified what we wish to keep doing, what we want to work on and big picture ideas. This then was developed into a set of 3 goals developed using the GPA (goal, plan, action) AVID strategy. The process was very rewarding as team members got to have a say and were involved with the development of these goals so we are feeling a sense of ownership and shared understanding as our starting point. It also mean the ideas were rich and included numerous perspectives. ICT team goals 2014 Goal Planning 2014 - compiled ideas Thinking about 2013 Feedback Summary Collaborating with Curriculum Leaders It's a really exciting time for us at the Bayview Campus - my proposal for developing eLearning with the Currculum Leadaers has been accepted and we are about to commence the rollout with the Curriculum Leaders. Not only is this a wonderful chance to work collegiately to integrate eLearning into curriculum, it is an exciting prospect to work with other developing leaders to help them lead change - and in some cases manage second order change within their teams! Furthermore developing a model which links many of the schools initiatives to curriculum,learning and assessment and also allows eLearning to be valued as not an additional service but an interdependent part is fantastic. Check out the DRAFT plan below and coming soon the survey it all kicks off with! 2014 Bayview CAT Leaders PD plan DRAFT April 2014 - So we have just had our first session with the CAT leaders and we are all feeling pretty excited and engaged to be working on a project of this type. The initial steps involved gathering date about role skills, curriculum skills and options to explore the leaders may want to know about. I collect this as a survey which fed into a Google Doc and in short this is what the Leaders want to focus on;
Summary of Responses https://docs.google.com/a/willihigh.vic.edu.au/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AkHr0w1RVYYrdDd6SjBMZHZwVy1Eam1ENGN5YTdVcFE&usp=sharing Community eLearning Night Reflection T2 2014 [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqIMh_mu_Mc&w=420&h=315] Tell Me a Story - PL Week Feedback term 2 2014 A great little workshop based around the apps Stellar https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/steller/id785128002?mt=8 and Storehouse https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/storehouse-visual-storytelling/id791297521?mt=8 - with 26 people signing up it's making for exciting times - people are getting eLearning creative and starting to look at new transformative ways of using the technology! VITTA 2013 Highlighted Presenter blurb http://www.vitta.org.au/conference-information/highlighted-speakers BEYOND the rolesSee a need & lead!
This year started with a technology bang! All staff have iPads and our home group rolls no longer relied on paper based roll marking. This meant a system of collecting folders, bulletins, notices etc was rapidly becoming redundant as staff just took their iPads to home group. I saw a need to look at this and address it, and whilst it was not in my eLearning role, I thought it timely and useful to take this on. Enlisting the help of the Student Wellbeing leader and a young, developing Year Level Coordinator we brainstormed what the folders were used for, published the document below and called for feedback. We then used this feedback to tweak the document and it is now awaiting final feedback from the wellbeing team (the main users of the folders). We have an implementation plan developed as well. It was a great exercise in stepping outside my "role" and acting as a leader not just of eLearning but in the school. It was also fantastic to support a developing leader in understanding how processes in schools work. Homegroup Paperless Guide School Review 2014 It’s the end of a 13 month journey! Leading a mixed campus team exploring data, drawing conclusions, finding out more and making recommendations in the field of VCAL and Pathways and Transitions was a new, exciting experience. Learning how to incorporate differing viewpoints, ensure all voices were heard and importantly examine data in an objective non-confronting way was great. Presenting to a team of Principals, Leading Teachers, Peers and Reviewers was an interesting experiences as well. I am starting to understand more the interaction of school ideas, community pressures, DEECD requirements and data driven development as driving factors in school management. The multiple voices who all wish to contribute to the success of the school, with many different objectives at heart should make for an exciting time in writing the next Annual Implementation Plan! Links |