Stage 1: Problem identification
In the first week of the programme, I wrote down my goals in the Personal Learning Outcome form. My goals were:
1. To better motivate my technology crazy boys
2. To learn how to better prepare my students for a 21st-century workplace
3. To learn new teaching techniques and skills
The boys in my class this year are not nearly as technology crazy, but the other two points are definitely still relevant. We have had a lot of professional development at our school stressing how the educational needs of children graduating high school in the 2020's (our students) will be completely different from our own schooling. An example of this is provided by Mark Osbourne in his 2014 essay titled "Inviting Innovation". He wrote that "it is clear is that while “industrial-model” thinking may have served schools well during the industrial age, the 21st century requires a much more innovative, entrepreneurial approach". In order to prepare my students for this changing workplace, I will necessarily have to learn new techniques and skills.
Stage 2: Observation and analysis
Ealy in the Mindlab course I assessed a number of my collaborative tasks against the ITL Research (2012) 21st-century Learning design Rubrics. In doing this I realised that a number of the tasks I had been giving children that I thought were collaborative, only involved collaboration on a very low level. The same was true for tasks that I thought gave children agency over their learning: i.e. the agency I gave them was only at a very superficial level. This is the problematic experience that Osterman and Kottkamp (1993) mention in their model on reflective practice, "an unsettling experience that cannot be resolved using standard operating procedures" (p.68).
An insight that I have gained from this realisation is that I need to think long and hard about what skills are needed to complete a particular task, both cognitive and social skills. It has made me realise that for many tasks, 1 person does a lot of the work, and the rest of the group just 'rubber stamp' their decisions.
Stage 3: Abstract reconceptualization
The ITL Learning design rubrics (2012) mentioned above provide very useful information for designing learning activities that truly teach 21st-century skills. Activities can be scored on a rubric to see if they truly require collaboration or agency, or any of the other skills listed. In terms of how a programme of 21st-century skills could be implemented across a team or a school, a paper by Voogt and Roblin (2010) lays out the practical issues underlying implementation and assessment. This reflection relates to a number of themes from "Our code, Our Standard" (2017), specifically Standard 6 (Teaching - "Teach in ways that enable learners to learn from one another, to collaborate, to self-regulate and to develop agency over their learning") and Standard 5 (Design for Learning - "Design learning that is informed by national policies and priorities.").
Stage 4: Active experimentation
For me, the biggest innovation in my practice has been meaningful reflection, an attempt to become critically aware of why I am doing the things I do. From the start, I have found this quite hard. I am, by nature, quite an optimistic person. Osterman and Kottkamp (1993) have stated that, especially in education, "discussion turns quickly to solutions, while problem identification and analysis is cut short" (p. 71). I found this to be the case with my own reflections. I often found that I wanted to jump straight to solutions, without taking the time to think through the reasons for the problems I observed. This will be the biggest long term change to my practice, an awareness of how important it is to critically reflect on my practice, warts and all!
References
Council, E. (2017). Our code, our standards. Education Council.
ITL Research. (2012). 21CLD Learning Activity Rubrics. Retrieved from https://education.microsoft.com/GetTrained/ITL-Research
Osborne, M. (2014). Inviting innovation: Leading meaningful change in schools. Journal issue, (2).
Osterman, K. & Kottkamp, R.(1993). Reflective practice for educators.California:Corwin Press, Inc. Retrieved from hhttp://www.itslifejimbutnotasweknowit.org.uk/files/RefPract/Osterman_Kottkamp_extract.pdf
Voogt, J. & Roblin, N. (2010). 21st Century Skills Discussion paper. University of Twente. Retrieved from http://opite.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/61995295/White%20Paper%2021stCS_Final_ENG_def2.pdf
In the first week of the programme, I wrote down my goals in the Personal Learning Outcome form. My goals were:
1. To better motivate my technology crazy boys
2. To learn how to better prepare my students for a 21st-century workplace
3. To learn new teaching techniques and skills
The boys in my class this year are not nearly as technology crazy, but the other two points are definitely still relevant. We have had a lot of professional development at our school stressing how the educational needs of children graduating high school in the 2020's (our students) will be completely different from our own schooling. An example of this is provided by Mark Osbourne in his 2014 essay titled "Inviting Innovation". He wrote that "it is clear is that while “industrial-model” thinking may have served schools well during the industrial age, the 21st century requires a much more innovative, entrepreneurial approach". In order to prepare my students for this changing workplace, I will necessarily have to learn new techniques and skills.
Stage 2: Observation and analysis
Ealy in the Mindlab course I assessed a number of my collaborative tasks against the ITL Research (2012) 21st-century Learning design Rubrics. In doing this I realised that a number of the tasks I had been giving children that I thought were collaborative, only involved collaboration on a very low level. The same was true for tasks that I thought gave children agency over their learning: i.e. the agency I gave them was only at a very superficial level. This is the problematic experience that Osterman and Kottkamp (1993) mention in their model on reflective practice, "an unsettling experience that cannot be resolved using standard operating procedures" (p.68).
An insight that I have gained from this realisation is that I need to think long and hard about what skills are needed to complete a particular task, both cognitive and social skills. It has made me realise that for many tasks, 1 person does a lot of the work, and the rest of the group just 'rubber stamp' their decisions.
Stage 3: Abstract reconceptualization
The ITL Learning design rubrics (2012) mentioned above provide very useful information for designing learning activities that truly teach 21st-century skills. Activities can be scored on a rubric to see if they truly require collaboration or agency, or any of the other skills listed. In terms of how a programme of 21st-century skills could be implemented across a team or a school, a paper by Voogt and Roblin (2010) lays out the practical issues underlying implementation and assessment. This reflection relates to a number of themes from "Our code, Our Standard" (2017), specifically Standard 6 (Teaching - "Teach in ways that enable learners to learn from one another, to collaborate, to self-regulate and to develop agency over their learning") and Standard 5 (Design for Learning - "Design learning that is informed by national policies and priorities.").
Stage 4: Active experimentation
For me, the biggest innovation in my practice has been meaningful reflection, an attempt to become critically aware of why I am doing the things I do. From the start, I have found this quite hard. I am, by nature, quite an optimistic person. Osterman and Kottkamp (1993) have stated that, especially in education, "discussion turns quickly to solutions, while problem identification and analysis is cut short" (p. 71). I found this to be the case with my own reflections. I often found that I wanted to jump straight to solutions, without taking the time to think through the reasons for the problems I observed. This will be the biggest long term change to my practice, an awareness of how important it is to critically reflect on my practice, warts and all!
References
Council, E. (2017). Our code, our standards. Education Council.
Osborne, M. (2014). Inviting innovation: Leading meaningful change in schools. Journal issue, (2).
Osterman, K. & Kottkamp, R.(1993). Reflective practice for educators.California:Corwin Press, Inc. Retrieved from hhttp://www.itslifejimbutnotasweknowit.org.uk/files/RefPract/Osterman_Kottkamp_extract.pdf
Voogt, J. & Roblin, N. (2010). 21st Century Skills Discussion paper. University of Twente. Retrieved from http://opite.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/61995295/White%20Paper%2021stCS_Final_ENG_def2.pdf
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