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Mirror Mirror on the wall, show us what trends will impact the educational landscape, which ones will be the greatest of them all. Cognitive modification, metaverses, open-source assessment, personal learning ecologies are perhaps a bit too far out. Maybe a decade or two away. Let’s pinch to zoom a bit closer to 2020. What can schools and educators look forward to over this year? It is not a very easy question to answer as schools are complex beasts. You will have top tier schools which already have access to some of these technologies. The middle tier schools who will probably pick one or two of these trends and the majority of the schools which will still be struggling with trends that were supposed to be implemented over the last decade like effective student information management systems and learning management systems. For the purposes of this article, we will look at five tech trends which are still in their infancy and though the potential is great, they should be graduating this year into the mainstream. Learning Analytics Learning analytics is the process of identifying trends and patterns to reveal areas of improvement based on data about a student’s academic performance. The goal is timely action and relevant intervention strategies to improve attainment. Designing effective lessons and learning experiences using data generated allows the teacher to focus on helping students informatively. Learning analytics software can be part of other software or collation of data from different systems. It allows teachers to track students who are academically weak or measure engagement with the content. Student learning patterns can be identified to create stimulating lesson plans and additional resources utilised as a result. Finding out how students learn is quite powerful and this helps in personalising the learning experience. The software can though go further than individual lessons and it allows a holistic overview of student performance over time. Adaptive Learning Adaptive learning systems build on learning analytics and use data to adjust learning for students on an individual scale. The scope for personalisation of learning is immense. These systems often utilise machine learning/artificial intelligence or statistical analysis to inform content selection. The goal, as always, is to provide customised education to deliver the right content at the right time. The software can create engaging, personalised learning experiences which the teacher can build upon leading to a more inclusive approach to education. More and more ed-tech software will be utilising both learning analytics and adaptive learning over the year. Here the software does a lot of the grunt work that teachers often do saving them time and that is a quick win and sell in schools. Augmented Reality Augmented Reality (AR) seems to be around for a while, overshadowed by its big brother Virtual Reality. AR has the potential to tap into education much more due to its ability to create shared experiences. All one needs is a phone and teachers and students can participate in an AR experience. Allow each student a device and you have a truly personalised experience. Invest in an AR headset and now you are talking cutting edge. At its simplest, using a mobile device, AR superimposes photos, videos and animation onto the real world. How powerful is it to see a piece of literature come alive or hear music from a music sheet? It allows embedding experiential learning in the most rote of lessons and surely that is not a bad thing. Like any other technological tool, it is the creation and curation of these learning experiences which is key. Teaching a whole lesson using AR probably is not the right way, yet. Short snappy experiences which make a well-planned lesson come alive to connect the student to the learning will be the way forward. Data Protection and Cyber Security As schools move down the road of ed-tech software solutions, student data is becoming more and more lucrative. There will be a dearth of companies looking to monetise this data and as such schools will start looking at policies and solutions related to data protection and cybersecurity. With the new IT act inbound and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) regulations prevalent abroad, dealing with organisations like Cambridge International Examinations and International Baccurelate based in Europe will require compliance and schools will need to start formulating plans on how they deal with the security of student, staff and parent personal data. Even accreditation organisations like the Council of International Schools and others will require this as part of their accreditation processes. It can be tricky to walk the tightrope between an individual's rights to privacy and the lawful processing of personal data and schools will need to upskill their leadership to understand how this impacts all aspects of school life from vendors to in house data sharing. To highlight some of the key requirements under GDPR:
Virtual learning Now, this one is not new however if you are paying attention to the 2019-nCoV situation in China, you can see how schools still aren’t prepared to deal with virtual learning. With school closures going into March there and even with virtual learning environments being a staple of most schools for over a decade, it is still becoming cumbersome for schools to teach students online. Distant learning is easily achievable by structured courses on platforms like Udemy and edx, but not in a school. Videoconferencing is extensively used in business however not in schools. Expect a renewed focus on this in the international school market with some ed-tech companies thriving as they build solutions to cater for this need. Teacher training is another area that virtual learning will focus upon as the costs of sending staff to face to face training sessions soars. In addition to the above, gamification of learning will continue its march along with other technologies which perhaps are on the periphery. Blockchain, Internet Of Things, e-sports are going to slowly inch their way into schools especially as they migrate towards becoming Smart Campuses. Use of app-based learning and bespoke software solutions are a bit of a hit and miss however solutions focussed on creativity will definitely be leading the pack. Whatever K12 tech trend a school follows in 2020, the common mantra will be the personalisation of the learning experience and that surely is a good thing. 
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 So you binged watched the first week and had your fill of gaming and still have a few months left before university or the new academic year. Below are some ideas on what you could do. Level 1 1) Learn an essential skill: Cooking or Baking 2) Learn to play an instrument or a game like Chess 3) Start a quarantine diary or write a book/article 4) Tidy up your phone/Organise you pictures/rooms 5) Plan a virtual event with your friends Level 2 1) Make an app (Targetted for my CS group - Learn to code would apply to others) 2) Investigate your chosen university/college course and pre-prep 3) Innovate solutions to the humanitarian crisis unfolding around you 4) Keep yourself fit - establish a daily routine Free online course / sources of inspiration MOOC short courses from top global universities Future learn short courses from top universities and training organisations Open University courses Learn to play the guitar Meditation Yoga Fitness – serious workouts with Chris Hemsworth Computer Science and Coding Intro to Computer Science with Harvard University Learn about Artificial Intelligence Cooking classes with Michelin star chef Learn a Language with hellotalk Learn a Language with Duolingo MENSA – take the challenge! How high is your IQ? Listen to books and poetry Wildlife – watch webcams and videos Art and Art History – Virtual Museum and Gallery tours Art and Art History – more Museum virtual tours Art - Getty Museum Architecture English Year 12 English Year 13 Fashion Film, TV, VFX, Games Industries Film, Theatre, Technical Industries History Ideas, Information, Podcasts Law Maths Year 12 Maths Year 13 Music Theory – free online learning Philosophy Critical Reasoning for Beginners – Oxford University Psychology – inspiring podcasts Space – NASA summer school Science Statistics and Data Do something different Enter competitions or get articles published. Environment/Wildlife/Planet, earthshotprize.org, Deadline 24th April Poetry, foyleyoungpoets.org Deadline 31st July Politics Writing competition- The Financial Times www.ft.com/content Deadline 31st May Science, Young Scientist Journal – get your articles published here ysjournal.com Science, She Talks Science blog – Cambridge University. Contribute your articles here www.murrayedwards.cam.ac.uk/news/ Science, Unsung Heroes of Science – Oxford University. Submit your video here www.hertford.ox.ac.uk/unsungscience The Oxford Scientist – Writing Competition oxsci.org/schools/, Deadline 1st May  Teaching in a lockdown isn't just about just maintaing relationships and engagement/well-being but also about tracking student development and progression within a curriculum framework. Simplifying it into two strands allows us to review the tools we have at our disposal to support students much more effectively. Of course, we could break down this type of activity into multiple strands and create comprehensive lists, however, that is not the purpose of this post. Keep it simple so to speak. If you want a decent one - Start here. Engagement, relationships and well-being Video conferencing tools like the ones below are quite common and utilised to maintain a face to face connection with your students
Communication tools allow more immediate messaging to students and have a low footprint on that all essential bandwidth. Ancilliary tools allow teachers to plan teaching and learning experiences akin to what they would have in the normal classroom.
These allow teachers to connect with students and support them with synchronous learnimg as well. Pace is set by the teacher and you can also emulate the normal classroom experience to a certain extent. It does take a lot of work to set these up and ancillary tools are often required. Teachers end up managing a lot of the planning, assessment and feedback. Progression with the school curriculum These are packages that schools buy and cover the curriculum offered in greater depth. More importantly they track student progression and in some cases offer bespoke pathways for students. These often support the asynchronous model of learning and allow progression at the students pace. A lot of the heavy lifting is taken care of by them, freeing the teacher to make use of the data they generate and in my view allows them to focus more on supporting students in this time of crisis. Looking at your context (student and your access to devices/Internet/training) you might want to employ a combination of both approaches. The key is to not reinvent the wheel but look at what the immediate needs of your students are and address those. As always, start small, keep it simple and then build upon your tech offering, layer by layer.  Online learning is a new experience for parents. Schools need to issue guidance that speaks to them. Below are some tips to help them support children at home. Feel free to adapt and use as you see fit.  If you are looking for some simple rules to support virtual learning, hopefully these will help.
A corona extends from the Sun, millions of kilometres from the source, to spread light. Kind of similar to a teacher teaching virtually, to students all over the world, as the case might be. Three months down the road from when the novel coronavirus first emerged in China, one of the biggest impact on society, apart from public health, has been on education. The kickstarting of digital pedagogy on such a scale has never been possible before. All the tech gurus and specialists put together could not possibly had such an impact in a mere 8 weeks after schools started closing across the world. Let's start by giving credit where credit is due.
The Chinese Government’s decision to offer virtual classes on a national scale was the single most important decision that set the ball rolling. Previously, schools were often shut and terms extended or holidays reduced to make up the difference. By almost dictating that the school day run as normal, virtually, they single-handedly pushed a lot of schools into the digital age. By enforcing self isolation, they removed the option of choice and travel which meant most ended participating in virtual learning. The second is school leadership. This crisis truly highlights the massive power which resides within our school leaders. When they are truly behind an initiative the results are always spectacular. Which also makes me wonder why some school leaders were hesitant in using virtual learning before the crisis. I can never understand why certain schools spend such huge amounts on tech infrastructure, training and still not have much to show for it. I chalk this one, in those schools, to personal disinterest in tech-based pedagogy. If you lead by example, others follow. The third is the ed-tech world at large, coming together to offer free solutions and training has helped a lot of colleagues take their first step into true virtual learning. From Microsoft Teams to Google Hangouts to Century to Mangahigh to Byju, everyone is on board to support the learning. Of course, there is always an underlying business strategy but this makes me wonder, what if post this crisis, they continue to offer their services for free? How will that help the continuation of the progress made? Fourth, the teachers, they have been on the frontline and a lot of them struggled, often silently. Of course, we forgot to add the virtual staff room or the proverbial water cooler. They upped their game and learnt some solid skills. On Twitter, the bizz has been super positive. They identified where tech worked for them and where it didn’t. They curated learning experiences which worked for their students and these will shape the conversation on the development of education technology for years to come. Finally, the parents, the unsung heroes, who had to look after kids at home or make arrangements. They became students themselves at times. Ensuring a child is occupied full time is a job in its own right, ensuring their education and managing your day to day, is a challenge indeed. Getting to set up a positive learning environment at home can be a challenge especially if you have dogs, cats, siblings, the odd inappropriate picture/statue in the background which can easily disrupt a virtual lesson. Not easy being a virtual teacher's assistant. Kudos to you all. So thanks to the above teaching and learning has progressed into the virtual world but what have we learnt so far over the last three months? Well, where it worked really well, clear structures were formed using some of the following:
Where it didn’t work:
Key problems encountered
With any digital learning experience there are always aspects of e-safety to consider so make sure that you are:
Tips for parents
Research studies have shown that positive parent engagement contributes to a successful online learning experience for children so identify how you can support the online learning process. Hopefully, some of the above will give you an insight into some of the initial learning from the global online learning experience so far and you might be able to plan effective digital experiences both as a teacher and as a parent. Are you intelligently disobedient?
I have been thinking about the term more and more as I visit Nepali schools and also after reading a lot of tweets and blogs from my global PLN. In schools, admins or leaders define the vision and policies of the school. This leads to conflict in the ranks. Obviously human nature is subversive to a degree and not everyone can be kept happy. There is a lot of backbiting and gossip however the majority of us end up towing the line. We keep our doubts to ourselves and don't try to challenge the status quo. Some do but they argue with passion, anger, heart and often due to ego. A rare few challenge with facts. They observe, they collate evidence, they research, measure impact and then they challenge. They intelligently disobey and they often end up being the catalyst of greatness in their schools. The term originated from the animal world - where animals like guide dogs can disobey the command of their owner in order to keep them safe. When translated into the human world it means challenging the status quo at times and often voicing opinions which might prove unpopular. Intelligently disobedient people can take risks, and can come up with creative solutions, all while keeping the needs of the learners in mind. So if you have a no mobile policy at school or feel strongly about the negative impact of that new assessment policy on your students, be intelligently disobedient. Better yet teach your students how to do that. Oh and there is a thin line between intelligently disobedient and intelligently obedient. If you do find that what you were against actually can work really well for learners, don't let ego get in the way. Support the change by sharing your evidence & convince others. A staple of every school that I have taught in is the staff farewell session on the last day. This year was no different. As the speeches started rolling in, one thing emerged and that was a theme of kindness and acknowledgement. It was great to acknowledge our peers who helped us and learnt with us but the 'feel good' factor was how kind and generous everyone was.
It made me think about the role of kindness in the schools. Am I kind? What does that mean? How does that look in practice? Is kindness only talking to everyone gently? Is it just being concerned for someone when they are in your class or in front of you? Can we tap into kindness to help our wards become better learners? Establish a relationship through kindness By showing them kindness during their times of distress especially when they have not got that concept for the umpteenth time whilst the class has moved on or when they have forgotten their homework or equipment or so on. Yes, there is a need to teach them discipline, but remember forgetting a few times in the bigger scheme of things is not important. Even when you have a persistent behavioural issue, often kindness in the face of adversity can help that child become more empathetic, even though they might not show that at the time. As Dr Stanley Greenspan suggests empathy comes often when children are empathised with. Below are some direct benefits of being kind, children have (Sourced from the RAK Foundation)
What about staff? Lest we forget, the other main body in schools, staff. It is equally important to be kind to them and often this is quite difficult. I'm sure there have been times when we all haven't been as kind as we could to a colleague. Some of you might think tough love can't be avoided at times. Maybe, but there are always better ways to deal with situations than criticism or just ignorance. Often forgiving someone's mistake is good leadership. They probably have punished themselves in their head countless times. We often don't compliment people enough as it is much easier to pick on things they do wrong. As I tell my team, you might do ninety nine things right but that one thing you do wrong often gets stuck in people's head - Don't let it get stuck in yours. Care about your own well-being too. Don't criticise yourself if you do things wrong. Remember, we all are not perfect. Is there need for kindness or empathy training in schools? Perhaps but there is great deal more to gain through role modelling kindness both to students and staff from the top down. Not only will this create a better work environment but it will make you personally feel better and that surely is not a bad thing. Some practical suggestions (student level - staff I leave to you)
I am sure you all can think of countless others. Feel free to tweet them at me (@KSThakral) or mention them in the comment section below. *Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The impact of enhancing students’ social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions. Child Development, 82(1), 405-32.  “This can’t be right” I once observed a student say this during a discussion about a guessing game we were creating based on numbers. She believed zero was both even and odd. When another student presented counter evidence, she considered the point. “I really didn’t think of it this way,” she said. She was displaying intellectual humility. As we educate young learners are we creating intellectuals who are always sure of themselves or are we integrating the concept of intellectual humility. What do I mean by intellectual humility? To me it means an ability to say no when you don’t know an answer however that is not the end of it. It is then finding out the answer and continuing the discourse. It also means to consider alternative viewpoints from the point of view that I might be wrong. One has to understand the limits of one’s knowledge unlike general humility which is often linked to traits like unselfishness, sincerity and honesty. If you are looking for a more intellectual definition see the end of this post. If we can teach our learners to be constantly in a state of open mindedness, receptive to new ideas and new sources of evidence, we create better learners who can engage in a civil discourse much more effectively. "A person with a fixed mind-set and a high IQ, for example, might take on an arrogant stance, presuming they “already know everything” and therefore inadvertently holding themselves back from learning something new." Once this type of mindset is embedded, it is difficult to change over the course of a person’s life time. "Without humility, you are unable to learn," says Laszlo Bock, Google's VP of hiring. "Successful bright people rarely experience failure, and so they don't learn how to learn from that failure." This is one of the top qualities they look for in employees. There is an excellent example of Google CEO Sundar Pichai demonstrating intellectual humility in his original interview at Google. Read here. If you would like to learn more about intellectual humility, please follow this online course from the university of Edinburgh https://www.coursera.org/learn/intellectual-humility-theory So how can we start training our students in intellectual humility? As the rule of three goes, below are three simple methods you could experiment with in your classroom: 1. Encourage discussions on a topic where everyone’s view point is acknowledged. 2. Ask students to elaborate with evidence and not opinion. Teach them that distinction. 3. Role model examples from the past where once you thought you were right and now have changed your mind. Get them to share theirs. "(Leary et al., 2016) define intellectual humility as recognising that a particular personal belief may be fallible, accompanied by an appropriate attentiveness to limitations in the evidentiary basis of that belief and to one’s own limitation in obtaining and evaluating relevant information (p1)" "Now watch this video by Kathryn Schulz where she reflects on the notion of “being wrong,” arguing that we often have “error blindness” and that we have created a culture with an aversion to being wrong. Schulz invites us to reverse this narrative and recognise the power that comes from learning from our prior mistakes and uncertainties."(OpenMindPlatform.com) For further reading, see Schulz’s book, Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error. |
AuthorI am Sunny Thakral. If you are here on the site then you know a bit about me. If not then I am a teacher and these are my musings. Archives
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