Tag: Key Competencies

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Be Bold & Brave In Your Classroom!

I have had the absolute privilege working alongside some incredible educators during my decade inside the Education Sector and in my role with Microsoft I get into a truly wide and diverse range of schools now.

I shared a lot of the stories of my time at St Andrew’s College in the StAC eLearning Blog – Innovative & Engaging eLearning from St Andrew’s College highlighting the incredible work of the teachers across the primary and secondary schools there.

One of the very first blog posts I wrote back in October 2013 featured Tam, at the time the assistant Head of English, that explored using technology with a Level 3 English Standard. It’s a great post (with some amazing student work being displayed) showing how fearless she was in introducing technology that she freely admitted was not something she was an expert in:

What came through from both teachers during our discussion was there was no need for the teacher to be the expert in the technology, rather by guiding students towards various options and encouraging them to ask discerning questions and collaborate with their peers, then they would be able to learn the necessary skills themselves to complete the assessment. By using tutorials available online through sites such as YouTube, it was the equivalent of bringing experts into the classroom to teach particular skill-sets.

An example of student work from the Level 3 Standard Tam taught

I concluded the blog post at the time with this summary observation:

Summary:

  • Student choice around technologies and content for the assessment increased engagement in the teaching and learning.
  • Students collaborated to find the best tools and tutorials for their presentations
  • Cross-curricular links were made, with students using content from classes as diverse as Agriculture, Geography and Media Studies
  • Teachers recognised they did not need to be the experts in every piece of technology used by students
  • Using online tutorials was the equivalent of bringing experts into the classroom to facilitate the teaching and learning

That was then, this is now:

TamSince 2016, both Tam and I have moved on to different roles, managing to keep in touch with our shared online communities and occasionally crossing paths at various eLearning and EdTech events.

Yesterday, I saw her post online her first attempt at integrating Minecraft:Education Edition into her classroom and with typical boldness she went straight in and let the students lead the way. You can read her great blog post reflecting on it here.  Tam commented:

After avoiding it due to to a lack of understanding and confidence, I thought, ‘lets give it a go!’.

Well,  I was blown away with the students and Minecraft Edu.

A key strategy to ensuring successful take up was allowing the students an initial class to simply “play” in Minecraft – the results were positive:

  • Students were all engaged and talking about what they were doing
  • They were soon creating and several were exploring the Science elements
  • Tam was asked by the students if they could work on it at home, or stay in at lunch.
  • Students that had previously preferred to work on their own were now collaborating with others in the class

minecraft-8That last point is particularly important as it affirms what I’ve seen from other schools and teachers. Some students, who previously have little contribution to class discussions, suddenly become more engaged and willing to work alongside their fellow students when co-operating inside Minecraft:EE. This is a central part of the New Zealand Curriculum, called the Key Competencies and are:

  • Thinking
  • Relating to others
  • Using language, symbols, and texts
  • Managing self
  • Participating and contributing

It’s easy to see how all of those competencies will be utilized through Minecraft:Education Edition.

I did chuckle over Tam’s final comment about the effectiveness of the classroom controls in Minecraft:EE, that include a global “Pause” button on game play – this must be the most effective “full attention cue” a teacher could ever ask for!

A Personal Perspective:

Last month I introduced my 7yr old son to some Minecraft:EE at home. He’s not played any other games before so I was interested to see how he would approach the game. I’ve taught and trained many adult teachers on how the game works and in basic to medium game play and watched as some of them have become frustrated and given up.

It was therefore fascinating to watch my son just “give it a go”, watch him fail, stop and think, and then give it another go in a slightly different way. He was determined to master the gameplay and now we play for 30-60mins each Saturday working away at building various things like an animal petting zoo, circus or tree houses in Minecraft:Education Edition.

I wonder if adults, like Tam has demonstrated over the years, need to let go of some of their concerns about being unskilled or failing with technology, and simply “give it a go”, and also be prepared to be led by students in this area. When it comes to technology, the younger people are less inhibited and worried about failure – they’re used to failing and just keeping on going.

When I observed to my 7yr old son that he had certainly learnt a lot about Minecraft over the last month or so, he looked at me seriously and said:

Dad, I don’t want to hurt your feelings but I think I probably definitely know more about Minecraft than you do now!

I love it!

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Minecraft: Education Edition Builds A New Parliament

electionIn New Zealand it’s been pretty hard to avoid what has become a spectacularly unconventional general election, all culminating with voting happening on this coming Saturday, 23rd September 2017. No fewer than three major parties have had leadership changes in the last couple of months before the voting begins and that excludes the stepping down of the incumbent Prime Minister of the last 8.5yrs John Key.

Exciting times so far!

To further engage the younger population of New Zealand in the democratic process, the NZ Parliamentary Services partnered with Microsoft NZ to deliver a Minecraft: Education Edition solution whereby they could recreate virtual parliaments with their own unique twists on how these 11-13yrs think it should look. This was covered by our local media here, and NZ Parliamentary Services own news coverage here, which includes a good video walk through of one of the M:EE worlds:

MEE
Wellington’s distinctive Bee Hive parliamentary building recreated in Minecraft: Education Edition by students from St Benedict’s School in Wellington.

It was interesting seeing some of the reflections from the students involved in this project, with working together collaboratively one of the biggest challenges for them according to 12yr old Ben Vickers from Waikanae Primary:

Everyone had different ideas and ways of working and it took about a week for the team to gel, he says.

“It was difficult but we learned to work together.

“I think it was the collaboration with everyone else that made it different from just going home and playing it.”

From my perspective, this is one of the best things about game based learning – there is no manual or instruction book on how to build a project. Instead, students need to communicate, negotiate, assign responsibilities and hold each other mutually accountable to achieve the outcome. To this end, it aligns very well with the Key Competencies of the New Zealand Curriculum:

  • Thinking
  • Relating to others
  • Using languages, symbols and texts
  • Manging self
  • Participating and contributing
MEE 2
Students presenting their Minecraft:EE worlds. Credit: Stuff

As a teacher friend of mine pointed out to me when I was re-training to become a history teacher after a decade in the ICT sector, there are really only two “academic” Key Competencies (Thinking / Using Languages, Symbols and Texts) whereas the other three are really the soft skills, interpersonal and vital to modern workplaces which are expected to be far more collaborative than ever before. If you’re interested in how eLearning can be delivered through the lens of the Key Competencies, have a look at this presentation I delivered to Pukekohe High School teachers earlier this year.

Whilst not an educator, Microsoft NZ’s Director of Public Sector Jeff Healey acknowledged the above when he said Minecraft: Education Edition teaches not only maths and spatial awareness, but the skills of team work:

“Having a plan, people sticking to the plan, working a plan, people not being destructive.

“I know that when we hire people at Microsoft they’re some of the skills: do they have those critical thinking skills? Can you work in a team? Are they open to making mistakes and learning from those mistakes? They’re some of the valuable things that we’re looking for as an employer.”

I’ve blogged previously about the research showing game based learning with Minecraft can grow students’ Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) outcomes and hearing the students from this project share how they had to negotiate to achieve the goal reinforces this.

I was fortunate to be able to contribute in a small way in the background to this Minecraft: Education Edition project with Parliamentary Services through:

It’s really gratifying to see that the methods we know and use internally at Microsoft can be used to support a project like the above and work with students across a number of schools. This really was a team effort with multiple Microsoft NZ staff across a number of business teams working together for this outcome – One Microsoft!

 

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Research: Minecraft Supports Social & Emotional Learning For Students

MEE Quote.jpg
A selection of quotes from teachers that have been using Minecraft Education Edition with their students.

The team at Getting Smart have released a new post showing research into game based learning and how this can promote social and emotional development among students, in this instance, through Minecraft Education Edition.

Download The Full Report Here

The researchers pulled information from a number of listed sources:

  • A global online teacher survey
  • Several onsite observation and evaluation sessions of educators using Minecraft: Education Edition in classrooms
  • Existing SEL literature reviews
  • Phone interviews with experts in K–12 education
  • Informal data gathering via several popular social media channels such as
    Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn

The concept of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) was new to me, but the report does give a definition up front about what it is:

In the context of K–12 education, SEL is the process through which students acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.

From my perspective, this is really interesting as I would previously have associated some of the attributes around gaming as isolationist and less focused on the “soft skills” in life such as those involved in collaboration, participating and contributing and emotional resilience and empathy. It’s fascinating to me that research is showing that some game based learning can actually support the development of these critical skills in students.

The report indicates that the benefits of actively teaching SEL to students can include:

  • Increasingly positive attitudes toward self, others and tasks including enhanced self-efficacy, confidence, persistence, empathy, connection and commitment to school, and a sense of purpose
  • More positive social behaviors and relationships with both peers and adults
  • A reduction in conduct problems and risk taking behavior
  • Decreased emotional distress
  • Better test scores, grades and attendance

Unsurprisingly, the report clearly states that unless SEL is implemented with clear, robust learning goals then it is likely to be ineffectual. This, of course, is true of most initiatives and serves as a reminder that the integration of technology into curriculum must always be well planned and thought through. Technology is a great servant of pedagogy, but when implemented poorly, can be a hindrance and distraction.

Comprehensive SEL goals include developmental benchmarks across five key social and emotional competency domains, encompassing: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making skills.

How Does Gaming Boost SEL In Education?

The report has some extensive quotes from various educators and again, I encourage you to read the original report here, as I will only be pulling a few of the quotes that really stuck out to me to include below.

In New Zealand’s Curriculum there are five “Key Competencies” and it’s interesting to see how these align with the SEL concept. One of those KC’s is “Relating To Others” and the quote below shows how Minecraft can support this:

Cultivating empathy through gaming isn’t a given; rather, it occurs as part of a guided experience.
“As educators, we have the opportunity to help students develop empathy through gaming and imagine how they’d like to be treated, talk through scenarios in gaming and in their personal lives, and discuss how they would do something differently (or have wanted to be treated differently), then practice those skills.”

Another of the Key Competencies is “Participating & Contributing” and this quote shows just how much inter-dependency and co-operating is required to succeed in Minecraft:

“It isn’t a secret that games are popular and engage students. They’re able to fail forward in a risk-free environment. When playing Minecraft, students must have a level of coordination and cooperation in order to accomplish shared objectives. They’re  negotiating with one another, strategizing about resources and next moves, and delegating responsibilities. It’s really quite remarkable to see.”

Research Findings:

Research Findings.PNG

School Case Studies:

The report finishes with three case studies from schools of different ages:

  • International School Bellevue School District
    • Years 6-12
  • Bryant Montessori
    • Years Pre-school to Yr8
  • Renton Prep Christian School
    • Years 1-10

I am thrilled there continues to be significant research into the ongoing benefits of eLearning and effective and purposeful integration of technology into education. If you’ve not seen it, I suggest you check the NZCER Research into eLearning use in New Zealand primary schools that I posted about recently.

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Pukekohe High eLearning Presentation

This afternoon I had the privilege of visiting Pukekohe High School where I had been invited to share some thoughts on effective eLearning and provide some inspiring examples.

It was a great audience who asked interesting questions at the end and seemed to appreciate some of these examples from my experience and those of other teachers I have worked with.

You can download a full copy of the presentation here and I’ve embedded a copy below:

[office src=”https://onedrive.live.com/embed?cid=59EAB9A99BD773E2&resid=59EAB9A99BD773E2%21539&authkey=ACkGFpC7u1EqE98&em=2″ width=”640″ height=”480″]

The key for me is basing effective eLearning on the Key Competencies from the NZ Curriculum – these provide a rock solid foundation for teachers to ensure their use of technology is aligning with strong pedagogy. I particularly like the elements of student reflection on their own learning and the influence of technology and these reflections are included in the videos in the above PowerPoint.

samr-divingAs usual, the SAMR model is present too – again, a great taxonomy for teachers to review their teaching units and ensure a range of technologies are being used across their classes.

If you have any comments on the presentation or other great ideas for eLearning leave a comment in the section below.

Driving Transformation In Education

anthony-salcito
Anthony Salcito, VP Worldwide Education, presenting at BETT Asia

On the back of the BETT Asia 2016 conference, Microsoft released the results from over 1000 respondents across APAC surveyed on the topic of what challenges/opportunities they have identified in optimizing technology for the classroom, along with what are the key skills students need to develop.

I’m always interested in the results of these types of surveys as they tend to be quite candid coming from teachers with strong opinions about what works and what does not work in their classrooms, especially when it comes to technology. NZ’s own www.educators.co.nz website picked up the results of this survey and published an article on it here.

The key findings identified included:

  • The biggest factor needed to successfully transform teaching and learning experiences was educator skill sets – particularly being trained to optimise tech in the classroom
  • 1 in 3 respondents believed that they are currently unable to equip students with the skills needed to succeed in the future workplace within their current school curriculum and ways of teaching
  • The most important skills that educators rank as required for students included problem solving (71%), skilled communication (68%), collaboration with others (61%), digital media literacy (57%) and data analytics & visualisation (56%)
  • 91% of respondents believe students will not be able to adopt to the changing workforce requirements and skills with low digital literacy

The last one is particularly challenging for schools and led to the release of a whitepaper in NZ by Microsoft’s Managing Director Barry Sheers entitled Youth, Technology & Disruption. This is a great read and lays out the key things for schools and teacher training institutes to be considering when it comes to equipping educators to be effective in the teaching of digital literacy/fluency skills.

In the original Microsoft press release, Don Carlson (Director of Educataion APAC) said:

“Technology cannot replace great teaching but it can make great teachers even better. We are inspired to work with educators, with students, with school leaders, on their journey to redefine learning in and out of the classroom.”

From my perspective, when you look at the key skills identified above from the respondents, they tie in very nicely with the Key Competencies from the NZ Curriculum. In my former role as Director of ICT at St Andrew’s College I wrote a lengthy blog post on examining successful eLearning examples through the lens of the Key Competencies. For NZ educators at least, I believe there is wide scope to integrate technology into the teaching and learning and through this, to allow students to develop the identified skills they will need in future employment.

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Youth, Technology & Disruption

cover-imageThis week, Microsoft New Zealand released a whitepaper entitled Youth, Technology & Disruption that examines the situation young  people face in New Zealand when it comes to education and future work opportunities.

There are a number of points in the whitepaper and you can read the original copy by clicking here, with Managing Director of Microsoft NZ Barrie Sheers drawing attention to the following three:

  1. Microsoft believes all students must be taught tech skills and have an opportunity to learn computational thinking.
  2. Microsoft have called on the government to urgently make the necessary investments to achieve this – and to ensure that no students are left behind.
  3. Microsoft also want to see greater industry involvement with government officials to ensure what students are taught reflects what the industry needs.

Whilst I work for Microsoft now, my previous role was as the Director of ICT at an Independent School in New Zealand so I was very interested to read this paper in detail. I went over it and made a number of highlighter marks and you can see my own take on what stood out by  clicking here.

The paper rightly touched on the teacher shortage in the area of Digital Technologies curriculum in New Zealand, but also the need to up-skill existing teachers in other curriculum areas to be able to teach computational thinking skills. In my visits to schools over the last two weeks I’ve already come across two secondary schools that were either already teaching this, or had firm plans to have a course on computational thinking for 2017. The whitepaper defines computational thinking as:

Computational thinking is about looking at a problem and knowing how to utilise a computer help solve it. It is a two step process:

  1. First, we think about the steps needed to solve the a problem
  2. Second, we use technical skills to get the computer working on the problem
computational-thinking
Image taken from the whitepaper – see the original link above

The whitepaper highlights the role that technology is playing as a disruptive influence in all areas of life, accelerating the pace of change like never before. I know a number of schools invested significantly in the cost of sending staff to the Singularity University NZ Summit held in Christchurch in November 2016 .

Continue reading “Youth, Technology & Disruption”