Google classroom and all that

Wanted! - The perfect tool

OK, so I accept that it probably doesn't exist, but I have renewed hope that google classroom has entered the mix. I have been trying with facebook, google +, edmodo, moodle and schoology over the last few years and hoping that one of them would evolve in to everything I want it to be. I sent out a tweet about google classroom yesterday asking if google had a forum for us to feed in to on desired features and this will be the crux for me I think! There has to be regular input from teachers to learn about the desired features so here are mine......

1. I need a class 'stream' - in which both me and my students can post.
2. I want to be able to set this stream to be public viewable so that parents can see it without the need to log in. I would also like the ability to control access to this stream.
3. There has to be an effective notification process for users. So far the only thing that works for me on this score is facebook. No guarantee students will see anything else.
4. I need to be keep records on students including comments and grades.
5. I need these to be viewable by students and parents.
6. I need students and parents to be able to add comments to this assessment section.
7. I need to be able to filter out information by student or assignment like I can in a database. the information is only in once and then I can view it in different ways.

Yes please!

So far no tool does this. If I had the means and the know how I would make, I think it is exactly what we need. I hope google classroom are listening!

How might I use this......

eg 

• Students complete a unit of work after which I would award them an attainment and effort grade in line with our policy. 
• I would add a commentary on how that student has been doing during this unit.
• Students would add their own commentary on how they did, how hard they worked and what they felt that did well on and struggled with.
• Parents then add a comment too.

At any point in the school year, me, the student and the parents can see a nice record of what we all thought at the various key points. A true manifestation of this 3-way partnership that is so often spoken of.

In addition, I can pick any unit of work and see a list of my class, their results and commentary.

No need for formal reporting until students leave the school!

Very simple, very doable,

Yes please!

10 Priorities for running today's schools

The following is a list of essential ingredients for successful schools according to me!

Shared Vision and Ambition

I have to start with this. Education is such a richly charged area of our society that it is must be impossible to make meaningful progress without both 'Ambition' and 'Vision'. A school and all members of its community must know and agree (broadly) on what they are trying to achieve and how they are trying to achieve it. That vision needs to be more than something written, it needs to be manifest in actions and everyday activity. Schools, and all in them, should be ambitious about what they can achieve. Realism implies patience more than limits.

Inspiration

This is a most powerful emotion and that which I strive to offer my students as much as I can. It can be a catalyst for so many other things and can be so uplifting. Everytime - and I mean every time - a group gathers in a school - assemblies - presentations - staff meetings - information evenings - classes - and so on - Inspiration should be high on the agenda of anyone presenting or participating. OK so we may not always manage it but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. If it is worth getting a group of people together, it is worth trying to make sure they leave inspired!

Helping education to evolve

Education, like all fields, must evolve and schools should have a role to play in that. That doesn't mean chuck out everything old and embrace everything new. It simply means that all stakeholders should keep the benchmarks under question. A school must put 'the educational experience' of its students at the very top of its agenda. This doesn't mean at all costs, but just that you do what you can to work towards that. In doing so, you have to be aware of the ever changing landscape and be open to the corresponding possibilities for change.

IT coherence

Maybe this is a personal thing, but those geeks amongst us often loose site of how much in the minority we are and how off putting the bucket loads of technology being thrown around can be. One of my colleagues talks about how they hate the phrase 'it should work'. Multiple accounts, usernames, passwords and things that nearly work,  really work against technology and make it harder to demonstrate and harvest the benefits. Schools really need to get this right to make that teachers students and parents are all on the same page. This covers everything from communication tools to classroom tools to organisational tools and more.

Communication school community

In our age the possibilities for connection and collaboration through communication are unrivalled. E-mail was a revolution and has been largely accepted, but is now outdated. Social networks offer evrything that e-mail does and sooooooo much more. The ability to engage groups of people is amazing and I think schools should be using and getting the most out of these tools. The age old message about the triangle between staff, student and parent has more potential than ever now.

Communication amongst staff - Coherent structures - Ownership and investment

Of course, what is said above is just as true for staff. We need to use the tools that help us to get the most out of each other and to build on each others ideas and work. A simple example - You ask staff for suggestions on 'Improving homework' and staff all send these to you by e-mail - you get the benefit of hearing about peoples great ideas and you get an overview of what staff think priorities are. Of course, 10 different teachers may each have spent their time writing the same thing and they will never know what they all wrote. If suggestions are posted somewhere central then ideas build and get refined and the groups opinions can instantly be collected. This is so much more efficient.

Of course, to do this well, you need to have coherent structures set up so that everyone knows where and when to post on different ideas and more importantly, why. With all this set up, everyone in the institution gets a degree of ownership over the way the school develops. The more of this feeling you get, the more investment people will make.

Challenging habits eg. ARR and Homework

This is a crucial point for me. So much of what we do in schools, we do because we always have done and NOT because we have sound evidence that it is a fruitful thing to do. I confess to being heavily influenced by the writings of Alfie Kohn on this and in particular his book 'The Homework Myth'. We have to be prepared to explore other approaches and avenues and accept that much of what we do is based on habit.

Professional development

Schools should always be aspiring. Take care that this does not mean critical of what they are but always having eyes on the other things that they could be. You cant have aspiring school without aspiring staff. Without those, presumably you would be unlikely to nurture aspiring students. Professional development is key.

Team and school spirit and pride in what we do

There are some very subtle things that can be done to build team spirit and there are some much more overt ones. What drives people to have pride in what they do? What can be done to encourage that? Schools must create opportunities to celebrate the things that happen in them. High quality display is one way of doing this and and also contributes towards pride in surroundings and all of these things feed in to each other. Regular gatherings are another way. Give staff and students regular opportunities to speak and share in front each other. There is nothing quite like the feeling that you are part of a group working towards a common goal and the knowledge that your efforts in this are appreciated as much you appreciate others.

Facebook for schools

10 reasons why Facebook should be allowed in schools

I am a vociferous opponent of one sided arguments, but recognise their value in helping people to see the issues. I am not unaware of the risks of embracing facebook in schools and certain that one bad experience could change my views. I am even naturally cautious about these things, but do find myself increasingly incredulous that there is such opposition to it. The following is just what the title says it is and not intended as a fullproof argument. The aim is to get people thinking.

More sophisticated communication tool - This is often overlooked. Facebook is - hands down - a considerable evolution of a communication tool. It offers everything that e-mail does on the side, whilst facilitating and encouraging a whole new level of collaboration and community. No doubt that communication in many industries could benefit hugely from such a tool. Why then will it take so many so long to work it out?

Groups not friends - The whole ability to interact with different groups of people without being 'friends' in a facebook sense has really opened up the options for schools to make use of this tool. Whilst it will always be true that all users must think very carefully about what they post, and that privacy and social networking are rarely synonymous, this is an important barrier.

Sharing links - The other day, I wanted to spontaneously share a link with my class. They all have computers with them so I copied the link and pasted it in to a word document which I then saved on a shared network drive with a memorable name. I shouted out the memorable document name to the class who, one by one, navigated to it to click on the link. This was the most efficient method for this spontaneous sharing. I rest my case.

It is real - We can pretend it is not, but it is. It is a phenomenon and it is happening. Making school a place where it does not happen is just helping detach school from reality.

Preferred choice - In my experience, and it wont last forever, facebook is the communication tool of choice amongst students (and an increasing number of adults). When such a high premium is placed on effective communication why would not use the tool of choice, especially when it is more sophisticated than the alternatives?  Stood perfectly still in a traffic jam on the way to school I realised I would be late. I posted instructions to the facebook group for the class concerned and when I got to work 20 minutes late students all knew what they were supposed to be doing and were. The e-mail might have been picked later that evening.

Distractions - It is often argued that students having access to facebook in schools would just add another distraction for them and stop them focussing on the task. Well if that is the case then I think we should ban day dreaming as well. We should all ask ourselves what distracts us and why? When are we truly engaged in an activity organised by someone else? What is it about those moments that stops us following the numerous distractions on offer? If a student is not in to the activities in my lesson then there are already a million other things they could be doing as a distraction. There are hundreds of other apps on their computers, not even mentioning the internet, they could be doing homework for another subject, chatting to their neighbours, playing with their webcams or just plain day dreaming. Yes it is another possible distraction but what it adds to the existing choice is minimal. It is not a problem.

When did banning work? OK, so there must be some answers to this question, but in the case of facebook, well, we can ban it from networks and computers and so they all get out their phones! Not all of course, but I am just trying to point out how difficult it is to stop a phenomenon like this.

Make it work for you not against you! - no explanation necessary

Get staff collaborating - Rightly or wrongly and even though they work ion the same building, staff do not get much time to talk to each other in school. A facebook group for teachers is a fabulous way for staff to share what they are doing, swap opinions and share interesting and relevant links with each other. It is really great.

Get students collaborating - Again, no explanation necessary

Reinventing the textbook!

So the whole apple education announcement on school textbooks has really got me thinking! There are so many related thoughts and I have challenged myself to organise and present them in as few words as possible (didn't do very well on that). As usual this is probably of more benefit to me than anyone else but it helps to publish it.

When we think about re-inventing the text book we need to think about 2 key questions...

1. What is wrong with a paper text book?
2. How could/should they be reinvented?

I don't intend to list all of the obvious answers to the first question but want to focus on the most important answer. Textbooks, as we know them, are inextricably linked to our educational structure. They ally themselves to particular syllabi, exam boards and courses so that they can focus on particular objectives and appeal to schools and teachers who are judged on results for that course. They are based on the notion that if you are teaching 'Algebra 1' then you need an 'Algebra 1' textbook. They are linked to an educational philosophy. Teachers demonstrate ideas and students practice and review them with a textbook. The textbook becomes a reference for the course, not the subject. As such the textbook has long engendered resignation in students in a 'here we go again' kind of way. I have phased out textbook use where I can in favour of more general references. The best use of a textbook is as a crutch for passing an exam, which is not without value in today's education.

And so now in response to the second, I suggest that there is room for evolution and revolution. The ibooks we saw at the apple launch event are an example evolution. The intent is clearly to bring dynamic, interactive content, to add convenience, ease of use and practicality to the supply and use of textbooks. Dynamic also means that the purchased book will evolve, post purchase as well. Errors will be corrected, new content added etc. I am curious about how frequently these books will be updated though and at what point a 'New Edition' might be for sale. I welcome this evolution that has been arriving slowly over the past few years. (It is still along way from actually arriving in a significant number of schools - The announcement of the number of iPads in schools yesterday was a classic case of throwing big numbers at us - the percentage figure is still very small)

The revolution of which I speak comes in the possibility for anyone to publish an iBook. Now, educators anywhere can create and publish. Now that is exciting! It will bring with it the inevitable glut of free or dirt cheap, average efforts, but also it means someone, somewhere now has the possibility, and the stage, to reinvent learning resources. (Surely the term textbook will have to go or become ironic!). Education is the most interesting, stimulating, challenging and rewarding field I could ever have hoped to end up working in. I believe firmly that a resource will only ever be as good as the hands it is in. Learning takes place when we are motivated, engaged and interested and that is the ultimate challenge for teachers. Very few textbooks have offered much help with this over the years. Apple's presentation may have owed little to the deep consideration of issues in education, but the tool they have produced, put in the hands of educators has really exciting potential! On balance, these are really exciting developments all round!

As I think on I am pondering the following,

• What can an iBook do that a website cant and vice-versa?
• What makes a good reference?
• When do we imagine students will use these books? 
• Does the new portability change the answer to that question?
• If yes, should that change the nature and purpose of the book?
• Are references best when something else we are doing prompts us to look at them?
• Interactivity is perceived as pinching and dragging. Real interactivity comes when we are prompted to think and progress, examine and conjecture.
• Who is a textbook for? Students? Teachers? Both? Can it be both?
• Buying, not subscribing, surely implies that eventually users will have to buy a 'New Edition' - Does this not work against some of the advantages?
• Can any of this actually bring about changes in an educational philosophy?

Congratulations to anyone that read this far!