New Teachers at Dragonfruit
School
Preparing New Secondary Trainee
Teachers for 21st Century Learning
Our Learners: 250 Secondary Trainee
Teachers in 11 Specialist areas (on GTP/PGCE)
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Most of our trainees:
Have an online social life
Manage online networks
Share photos
Are collaborative and creative online
Play, shop, entertain and are entertained
Multi-task on line and expect speed and
sophistication
However....
Despite the use of Web 2.0 for social interactions,
 Use Web 1.0 for learning purposes
 Never had online learning modelled for them
 Want ‘learning’ in one place, one click away!
Will Richardson (2010): ‘In order for us to
prepare our students for what is without
question, a future filled with networked
learning spaces, we must first experience
those environments for ourselves.’
Our Starting Point – PreCourse Workspace
Our Use of New Media so far
Our Pre–Course Workspace (wiki)
so far...
Where did we do this?
Adding Comments
Arrivals Lounge, Forum and many
other pages
Writing on a page
My Best Teacher, Debate, Sand Box
pages
Inserting images, plug ins etc
Sand Box pages
Creating new Pages
Sand Box pages
Linking pages to ‘home’ page.
Thinking of design and effective
communication using social media
Sand Box pages
Other Tools
Other Tools:
Wordle
My Best Teacher Word Picture (and
presentation posted on learner use of
Wordle)
Surveymonkey
Voting on Debate
Wallwisher
‘Game Changer activity’ Microblogging
– 160 character limit. (Also created by
trainees themselves)
Voki
On Wallwisher page - Mini podcast
using own voice or avatar voice
Podcast
Our Start with new technologies in
learning with PowerPoint to go with
podcast
Diigo – RE group using for social bookmarking. Take a look as this could be
useful to other subject groups for sharing interesting articles/web pages etc.
Can you explain why you may or may not use
collaborative technology in your professional
practice?
 I think using this sort of technology is brilliant. I've never done
it before but have really enjoyed it and can see the benefits of
it both in classroom and in work in general.
 (a) Makes you look clever (b) Adds flavour to teaching (c) I
think that podcasts are a great way of imparting small pieces
of information. You can get your point over without boring
people to tears. Little and often - that's the way.
 Very efficient tool for group work - very much more so than
face to face meetings which eat up as much time as you
throw at them and are often less productive. Also meetings
post-wiki discussion are more focussed and informed, and
decisions can be made relatively painlessly.
 it's kinda cool
‘I can see how this could be used as an effective tool for collaboration on
different projects that I may want to set students over a term or holiday
period. It could also be an effective way of communicating in a very busy
school environment and I like the idea of allowing pupils to have some sort
of control over when they chose to study. This means that instead of the
traditional face to face meetings which can cause problems with timetabling,
I feel that this approach allows everyone to contribute to a particular project
in a timescale that is convenient to them. This would work well especially in
year 9 to 11 when there is more pressure on students to get home work,
course work and revision done.’
The counter arguments.....
‘I believe the notion of a VLE inside schools in seen as an exciting new
development, but I'm not sure why. I'm also not sure that it will produce the
kind of improved flow of constructive interaction that is assumed to be its
benefit. So I expect to fit in with whatever other staff members are keen to
do, but probably not taking too many initiatives myself. Possibly I will use it
more with some staff members than others, when I see which ones like it
and which do not. It could just become a way of doubling our workloads to
no good purpose.’
‘(In schools), we do not have the facilities in place.’
‘Resistance from other more conservative, less progressive teachers.’
What makes for an ‘educated’
st
21 learner?
‘Learners need skills that go far beyond
reading, memorisation and
communication. Educational institutions
have an obligation to help students
cultivate those skills that learners have the
most difficulty attaining on their own, such
as:
1. judgement, or the ability to distinguish the
reliable from unreliable information
2. synthesis, or the capacity to follow the
longer argument or narrative across
multiple modalities
3. research, or the activity of searching,
discovering, and disseminating relevant
information in a credible manner
4. practice, or the opportunity to learn-bydoing within authentic disciplinary
communities
5. negotiation, or the flexibility to work
across disciplinary and cultural boundaries
to generate innovative, alternative
solutions.’
Becta, Emerging technologies for learning Volume 3 (2008) p21
UEL Secondary ITT
On Course.....
...the Virtual Schools Project
(since 2007)
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Focus Group Trainee (Nov 2007):
‘It's helped me, practically, because I'm in a school where there's 75% um EAL
erm and like, literally every class has got at least one person, with um, who,
who's either, can understand spoken English but can't read or write um very well
and er it's just like gave me a lot of ideas to use in my lessons ...... ‘
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EP Deputy Head and PCM at partner school who hosted VS visits:
‘By introducing and developing virtual schools and getting trainees to think outside
their subject area about how schools are run and what kind of issues they face, UEL
has been innovative in this field. She has equipped the trainee's with skills and
knowledge that go far beyond the usual run of the mill PGCE course.’
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Marsha from 2007-8 ML cohort e-mailed last year:
‘I am writing to share with you the news that I have been promoted as an ICT
leader for MFL and Foundation subjects.
I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to develop my ICT skills
and knowledge during my PGCE at UEL. Both UEL+ (our VLE) and virtual
schools (on the WIKI) were fantastic e-learning media which gave me a head
start.’
2008-9
 Validated a M level module on New & Emerging
Technologies as part of our new Post Graduate offer
to be implemented in 2009-10 for the first time.
 End of year survey a resounding ‘no’ to assessing
the Virtual School work
2009-2010
 We started ‘assessing’ Virtual Schools
 Immediate impact on quality of work, both creative and research, an
impact on enhanced IT capability of all trainees.
 CEOP ‘thinkuknow’ training for all trainees.
 Start running N&ET module – project around which assignment
based had to be a plan as couldn’t guarantee trainees would have
the opportunity to ‘deliver’ collaborative blended learning. Confirmed
in module discussions. Very little modelling in schools.
Assessed Virtual Schools
Work
Quotes from posting on last year’s N&ET module:
‘My school cannot even install and run Adobe CS4 correctly (purchased
before Christmas and urgently required!)’
‘We have no LMS/VLE and Web 2.0 technology is mostly blocked.’
‘My head has asked me to report to SMT on VLEs when I return from my
second placement next week as I have researched and implemented an LMS
in my previous life. He wants a VLE in place for September. Whether this is
possible with both systems and staff constraints, I'm not sure...’
‘The main reason why technology isn’t more used in schools generally, and in
this particular case Web 2.0, is that teachers do not have the time to properly
investigate and practice these new technologies. They then do not feel
comfortable coming to class unprepared particularly on a topic which they
know their pupils almost certainly are more comfortable. I’ve turned that
dynamic around a little bit. I welcome opportunities for pupils to help me solve
any technological issues that arise – of course, one must be prepared as a
teacher but allowing the pupils a chance to shine and acknowledging that you
don’t know EVERYTHING is positive I think. Modelling what to do when you
don’t know something (ask for help and accept it graciously) is also a good
thing.
Another overall point is that generally the further up the school’s hierarchy you
go, the less comfort with technology you find. Therefore senior leadership
teams are often the barriers rather than the leaders on this issue.’
.....I know a lot of people who were scared of the UEL induction Wiki but again,
once you’re forced to participate, you realise how easy it is and you go back for
more. Therefore, some initiatives or programmes that forced all teachers at a
school, particularly senior management to engage with Web 2.0 might be all that
is needed to overcome this fear and reluctance.
2. All teachers in my school use the web for resources and are comfortable with
Web 1.0 and find these resources (and the time-saving they confer) great.
However, most of them have never heard of Wikis, don’t believe they could set
up a blog and don’t engage with interactive websites generally. This alone is the
main reason they don’t use Web 2.0 – there is a lack of familiarity with how
easy it is to use. ‘
Next Steps 2010-11:
•‘3 dimensional’ Virtual Schools
•Collaborative evaluation of technologies
•Personal Project Plan for all trainees
•CEOP E-Safety Training for all
•DfE Vital E-Copyright course offered to all
trainees
2010 - 2011
 Pre-Course Workspace with much more interactivity but
also going beyond wikis – Wordle, Voki, Diigo, widgets,
podcasts...
 Enhanced VS Project with strengthened focus on
technology – loan of flip cameras, MP3 recorders,
collaborative evaluations of different technologies, use of
Yammer...
 Compulsory assessed plan for pupil activity using a
technology
 Increased numbers doing M level module (14 last year
up to around 100 this year). Next year all PGCEs will do
it!!
Is it having a bigger impact?
•On Trainees?
•On Mentors?
• and therefore the Pupils?
Impact on Virtual Schools
2010
250 Personal Project Plans
Some even tried them out ..... or
will try them out
Tom Malins, Secondary PGCE PE Programme
Impact on Pupils
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Motivation for engaged learning.
Increased use of ICT including wiki pages, cameras and video recorders.
Optional extra-curricular work (e.g. session plans online).
Team work.
Collaborative working.
Greater involvement with the learning.
Impact on the Teachers
• Introduction to wiki pages.
• Learning how to use wiki pages within Physical Education.
• Implementing their own unit of work using wiki pages.
Dark Clouds on the Horizon?
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Policy hiatus?
Government focus on ‘traditional curriculum’?
Ofsted inspection focii?
Budget cuts?
Future of HE led teacher training
Potential impacts on the future?
Elsewhere in the World
 In North America
- USA – powered up learning
- New Brunswick, Canada
In Conclusion:
 Keep the Faith...
 Gather and start disseminating the evidence on the
impact on all learners
‘Being net savvy – or not – is no longer an option. It
is an imperative in the age of information.’
Diana Oblinger (2007). ‘Becoming Net Savvy.’ EDUCAUSE
Quarterly 30(3): 11–13.
http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eqm0731.pdf