InTime Training

Intoducting Kim Cofino

Kim is a remarkable education based in Bangkok.  This is a link to one of her blog entries to give you a taste of what she thinks about.

Developing the Global Student

18 10 2007

Here in east Asia, the big regional conference for teachers is the EARCOS Teacher’s Conference. It’s usually sometime mid-March and all of the schools from this part of the world are invited to attend. ISB is a longtime supporter of the conference and the school actually pays for the flight to the conference, along with the conference fees (but not the hotel room), for all ISB teachers interested in attending. Considering this year’s conference is in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (where I lived for the past two years - ironically last year it was here in Bangkok), I figured it was the perfect year to apply to present. A great experience plus trip back to one of my favorite cities in the world!

Although it’s still a work in progress, I thought I’d share my presentation here as well:

Workshop Title: Developing the Global Student: Practical Ways for Infusing 21st Century Literacy Skills in Your Classroom

Workshop Description: This session will focus on utilizing web 2.0 applications, such as blogs, podcasts, and wikis, to develop 21st century literacy skills within the core curriculum. Metacognition, research skills, and online awareness help students find what they need, learn at their own pace and safely share with a wider audience. How can we incorporate these exciting, motivating skills and technologies into our classrooms? Examples of completed student projects, along with teacher materials and resources, will be shared.

I just started a wiki for all of the resources I want to share, but there’s not much up there yet… I’m actually presenting the same topic in Singapore in November (thanks to Susan Sedro for getting me involved) so I will have all my resources posted by the 16th.

What do you think? Feedback? Suggestions?

Update: I forgot to mention that I’ll be presenting using Google Presentations and I would absolutely love for my PLN to be there so I can “pull back the curtain” at the end and give the audience a glimpse into the authentic learning that’s we’re engaging in every day! Time, date and URL to be announced here (and on Twitter just before the  actual presentation).

Outside the four walls

Last night I had a few beers with my good mate Marco Torres and as usual the conversation was enlightening.  It is funny how it takes another perspective to shine a light on the obvious.  Part of our discussion was around what we are doing at our school (MLC Sydney Australia). 

I was explaining how incredible it was and how proud I was that we were the most integrated example of blended learning that I have ever seen - and I do travel a bit.  His comment was simple 'How do I see it?'

You can't I replied, it is our intranet.  But the light had been lit.  Why can't anyone else see it?  Is it paranoia around intellectual property, is it child protection, is it concern over copyright issues.  'That is the point', added Marco.  'If it is all open you make the teachers responsible'.  Responsible for protecting students image, responsible for originality of work and responsible in spreading better education for all.

He explained about how established universities like Standford, Harvard and MIT have opened up all their work (all lessons) without loosing any competitive edge to their competition.  'It's not about owning content, people go to Harvard for the skills of the staff and your not giving that away', yes that is the same for MLC.  Content is not the king, it is the delivery. 

So why not open up our four walls?  What would be the result?  Our teachers would need to think a little more over what images they use and how they use them, they would have to check that their work was copyright free, that music had appropriate share permissions or was original, that the image of the students and their work maintained integrity with what the school was about.  Yes a cultural change for some teachers but a change for the better.  After all isn't it what we are teaching the kids?  We are sharing everything that we are doing with our Skoolaborate initiative and the reaction has been terrific.  It seems the more we share the stronger we become.  Those walls will be coming down asap.  Thanks Marco.

Want to Collaborate?

Our partner meetings in Skoolaborate are growing.  We now have a need for communicating with up to 10 people from all around the globe at any one time.  So far we have used a variety of solutions. 

Sometimes we use Skype for audio but find it limiting with the amount of people  you can have in at one time. 

Sometimes we use Apple's iChat which is fantastic (up to 9 people) especially when we hold up video conferencing (4 people), but not all schools are mac. 

In our last meeting we found the holy grail!

If you haven't heard yet, let me introduce you to Flash Meeting.  This tool is simply brilliant and brilliant because it is simple. We use it with the students at MLC with ease.

The interface can be learnt in seconds and is incredibly intuitive.  Basically  you get to see all your friends faces as they connect, you can text each other in a common window and one person at a time can speak.  Should they say something that requires  your comment you can 'put your hand up' (indicated by an hand sign) and when that person stops speaking you will pop up on screen and have your say.  Really it does this and so much more but I will let you explore - Just take it from me, there is nothing better.

Learning from each other - A first Meeting

Yes my posts will be the same as Skoolaborate for a while until I can get out of the initial set up trials.  At our first meeting, a bit nervous, some tech issues around audio and learning to co ordinate meetings in this world, but was there any trees in that forest?...

There we were Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the USA meeting in a virtual world integrating a variety of technologies and collaborating about teaching possiblities for students.

But aside from the technical wonders there was some seriously great collaboration happening.

Skoolaborate is all about the Global understanding that collaboration brings.  Here is a taste from meeting one.

A conversation started around our idea about 'design briefs'.  Mike D had designed a bunch of display units of different colours, initially to indicate a different type of brief.  For example blue for building and green for scripting.  I had a meeting with our head of Middle School (Di Cottrel). 

Di pointed our that one the major thrusts of learning our Middle School was around learning styles and that the colours could be linked to Thinking hats.  The idea being that each colour represents a different way of thinking, for example red is emotional and therefor could be tied to more social briefs, white with facts linking to research briefs etc

This, to me was a fantastic  idea but I thought I  should check for  understanding. The New Zealanders responded similarly to me, and do use the thinking hats concept throughout many of there schools, same in Tasmania but Chris from Japan answered 'Thinking what?' This not only led into opportunities to discuss teching and learning methods but also made us realise that what is standard and well established practice in some countries or educational institutions may be completely foreign to others - we will need to throughly communicate and collaborate around these briefs.

Next we discussed about how great it was that the Tasmanian schools were involved.  This was because some State schools in Australia (particularly New South Wales) have  been 'locked down' in terms of access to a variety of social technologies.  But is it the same everywhere?  Apparently not, our (Australia's) private schools like MLC have much more autonomy in what they can access. 

The Tasmanian State system through it's participation in the  Learning Together program  is concerned that students must participate as global citizens for the sustained economic future of the state, also that they need to engage learners - impressive. 

Paul explained how New Zealand Schools, whilst having alot of variety, are incredibly flexible in their views, infact entrepreneurinal, having the freedom and independence to deal with corporate organisations in order to supply excellent technology access to their State schools.

It would be great if you (our readers) could add a quick comment re this about your school systems and their attitudes.

We swapped ideas on  tactics on how to 'sell' these virtual spaces to concerned boards or parent groups.  What were the issues and why? Are those concerns common?

Chris from Kyoto added some thoughts and experiences from his Pacific Rim project around how to create collaboration.  He suggested dividing islands and getting the students to build bridges from each end that would need to meet in the middle - obviously this would force collaboration on numerous levels.

I shared a learning that I had the other day when I found what I called 'a key' - ownership. it was about providing an empty space, to encourage ownership and pride and see what would happen.  This led to further discussion around how competition can be use as a motiviational tool. 

Students could be motivated to ensure that their section of the island is at least as impressive as each of the contributing schools sections.  Then eventually getting together to share feedback and suggest improvements etc   

During the conversation we lost some audio connections.  Meg our 15 year of student, without prompting, summed up the situation, connected the missing two via Skype and moved her computer close to the microphone so that we could continue. This proved that she was both smarter and taller than me! Gone were traditional roles of teacher and student transformed to learners together.

What about Student Voice? a particular interest to MLC school.  It came as we discuss how we could reward students who contributed.  We discussed a variety of options.  We could attach Linden dollars to successful completion of tasks or perhaps we could develop a list of increasing priveledges for managing the site.  This could end with us allowing students to become an estate managers.  Chris seemed a little bemused, 'are you saying you would let the students be estate managers?'.  Ofcourse, I said and explained the vision that MLC has for it's girls.  We are not educating girls to support wealthy husbands, we are creating future leaders of our country, 'If they can lead a country then they can manage an estate'.  This has to be our aim. 

Finally Mike turned up and added to discsusion around textures and design concepts. Chris was amazed and wrote his own summary of Mike's brilliance.

It all left me realising that we have such a long way to go in discovering how to make this an ongoing and sustainable learning environment for students but opened my eyes at how obvious the opportunities are for teacher professional development.  I look forward to winning both battles and  hope our thoughts and reflections are helping you.

Design Briefs

Certainly one of the secrets to success in this environment is the creation and distribution of Design Briefs.  Student will be bored unless they have something to do - surprise, they actually love structure! Provide design briefs that allow them to be creative and innovative. 

The partners in our project will use a Wiki to collaborate around a variety of possible tasks.  Once we agree on the components of the task we will develop design or project briefs which can then be posted to the students.  We can level those tasks into easy, medium or difficult etc Students can then elect to do one or several tasks, by themselves or with others, with students from their schools or work with mixed groups from our community.

Chris Fesuras from Kyoto and I have been thinking of around the idea of shopping centres.  This is a pic of what Meg from MLC has done with a brief on creating the actual mall.  But what other briefs can we ask for around this?  Can kids design there own gear?  Should they sell it or share it?  How can they display it?  Should shops have themes?  What would be the curriculum links?

Whilst we are at beginning stages I am posting this in the hope that it sparks thoughts and ideas in your head.  We would appreciate you thoughts and ideas.  Our next step would be to create those design briefs for each part or the entire project. 

Here are Chris's great ideas so far....

The Shopping Mall

1. Domestic Brands - While the world is globalized, and all of us have the same fashion brands available to us, I think many students don't know the nationality of the brands they wear. I created a couple of window arrangements using some famous Japanese brands, and will leave the rest of the space for the students to design. I really want the kids to think about what makes their style unique, and where some of these designers come from. For example, I used a Japanese jeans company called Evisu, and the athletic wear companies Asics and Mizuno. The Modesto kids could make Ralph Lauren or Nike stuff. MLC kids could make Billabong, Rip Curl, etc.

2. Original Brands - The most obvious option is for the students to make brands of their own, or some generic style of clothing that mimics the latest fads in each respective country (though some of the styles here are a bit disturbing).

3. Traditional Wear - This is mainly for the Japan area, but I think America and Australia could do something similar despite being New World countries. The KG students will be making kimonos and yukatas, and I will probably house those items in a different shop with other traditional accessories available. You could combine some sort of historical project with this and kill two birds with one stone.

4. Music - Though we can't sell songs, we may be able to find a way to stream music to the island and set up small music shops that display the top artists in each country with samples of their music. Maybe our MLC concert series.  Plus, they could design posters of the pop artists. This would be fun for the kids to do, though I will have the SL music player turned off.

5. Electronics - On the PRX Island, we've build apartments (flats) for the kids to use. Maybe we could set up electronics shops to sell computers, video game consoles, etc. that kids use just for decoration.

6. Texture Sharing - I designated a large area on one of our islands for a texture "forest" with free texture dispensers that Stan picked-up from the main grid way back when. We have plenty of space for them now, but I need some ideas as far as how to organize them so that it's easy to locate a texture you are looking for.

Anyhow, as much as pop culture irks me these days, the kids are really interested in this stuff, and I thought it would be cool to keep our fashion areas domestic in terms of style and brand. The Kyoto kids will want Nike or Billabong apparel, but I don't want our shopping area to be filled with foreign brands as the idea of the project is to learn more about each other's cultures and where things come from. Some of the students here think everything comes from England or the US including some of the more popular Japanese brands.

I think the music idea is really good, but so far I haven't heard of a music player that will play a user's mp3 files, only internet radio stations. Maybe we can figure something out for this because there are many artists in Japan and Australia who are never heard in the States and it would be fun to share that with everyone. Overall, this type of thinking will make the students decide exactly what pop culture icons represent their generation the most, and I like the idea of them arguing or voting over who should be included on the island. SL is currently undergoing some maintenance, but I will send pics of the shopping mall I am building once it's back online again.

Yes we do have so copyright issues to sort but wow are there some great ideas and potential for learning.  Building, scripting researching, collaborating, international understanding, design... Our task is to give it some structure and evaluate how we can achieve rigorous learning outcomes for our students.

Living 'second life' in peace

Virtual Worlds and 3D games can be very different from each other.  Some based fantasy and some on realism.  Some have as their aim conquest and death but others less terrible bases. Yet the papers and the paranoid will tell you that they are all the same.  Fear of the unknown perhaps?

For example, many adults believe that World of WarCraft (WoW), through war and attack, encourages socially destructive patterns of interaction. Ask the kids and they will say that WoW is a fantasy world where you battle against the odds.  They do this alongside dozens of other players, co-operating and developing collective team-management strategies to achieve goals.

Education Consultant Lindy McKeown is a great networker and that skill serves her well in business.  During a dinner conversation she said  that one of the most enjoyable aspects of her experiences with WoW is being able to work with and call upon her fellow team mates, higher in rank and power but willing to assist.

When some students initially visit Teen Second Life they transfer the behaviours of the games that they have played. Some will attempt to make sense of the 'new world' by trying to recreate the familiar.  Some will try to recreate war and some fantasy.  Soon they find that it is not a war-zone rather a different type of space - a creative and social space.  I am not saying that they all sit around having cups of tea, but equally it is not about death and destruction.

I remember challenging my son about the same concerns.  'Why won't you get outside and go for a walk in the park?'  His answer had me thinking.  'Dad,' he said, ' if I go out to the park I walk around and get bullied by a bunch of ......  They hit me call me a ...... and push me to the ground.  Out there I am a looser.  In here (WoW) I am a hero leading my team through mysterious battles where we fight ogers and dragons and they see me for who I am on the inside.  He went on to describe a series of amazing adventures, flights over vast lands and travel through incredible forests. He then turned and said 'which would you rather do?'

Sometimes we, as parents, can be very hypocritical.  We tell our children not to play in the streets because it is to dangerous and we tell them not to watch television because it is not social.  Virtual worlds offer a safe place that is social, so then we say your wasting your time.  Wasting time? 

Did I say Safe? But surely the newspapers are right when they say Teen Second Life is terrible full of violence and predators. 

NO! This is not my experience at all, nor that of the teens I work with.  Alice is a year 8 student at MLC School who has worked with me as a research assistant for 3 months now.  I asked her to move around the teen grid and keep an eye out for any such dangers so that she can report back to me and so that I can recommend appropriate direction for our school (Adults are not allowed in the teen world). 

After 3 months, Alice had nothing wicked to report.

Mike (featured in this blog) is a very connected teen grid player.  Arguably the best builder on the teen grid.  He lives there for around 12 hrs a day, everyday!!  His answer- There is the odd teen age idiot' but no evidence of the evil that the papers would have us believe.
'If there was,' he went on to say, 'we can boot them report them or ban them etc '

Wouldn't it be great if we  could do that to undesirables on our streets?

Mike, like my kids, also agrees that it is easy to spot adult conversation of student conversation.  Ofcourse I am not saying these dangers are non-existant, nor am I trying to in any way diminish the the horror when they do happen.  I am just pointing to how rare it is and how responsible  social spaces (in particular Teen Second Life) are becoming.  My Space, Facebook, Bebo all provide opportunities for kids to boot or ban undesirables.  Second Life takes it a little further requiring background checks, credit cards and making private islands that minimise any risk. 

We, as educators and parents, do need to continue to provide our students with strategies that will keep them safe

    - use only a first name or fictitious name

    - never give out a phone number or address

    - keep your password safe

    - balance your use etc.

What we don't need to do is produce unbalanced reports that concentrate on and evoke a sense of unwholesomeness that ultimately leads to withholding the vlauable learning  opportunities that are created when students work in these virtual learning spaces. Steve Prentice from Gartner gives a more rounded view where he concludes that “Despite the concerns within companies, don’t ignore this trend. They will have a significant impact on your enterprise during the next five years.”  If this is true, then we need to build, in students, the skills to succeed in those environments now.

As Manger of the Skoolaborate site I can tell you how difficult it is to get Adults onto the island.  Claudia Linden is absolutley insistant that she personally check each and every participants police safety check before they are allowed entry, they have all been previously checked by their school and again are identitify to and monitored by all students on the site. Once again, if there is a sign of trouble we can hit the 'ban' button.

We are creating our own culture.  In Skoolaborate the partner schools are grabbing this chance to promote the values we believe in.  We are using a tool that allows us to meet our students in a place that they live - not in a place where we lived.  Just tonight I chatted with Natalie as she used Mathamatical skills to build a high rise apartment complex.  We then found a design fault, problem solved to find possible solutions, negotiated on the final solution.  The problem was that she did not have the skills 'no problem', she said I know a couple of people who are scripters and they will help me - yes networking.

Don't expect these Virtual worlds to heal all your problems.  Bad teaching is bad teaching, bad design is bad design, and poor business planning is just that.  Those who say that this environment is not good for teaching or doesn't work for business are most likely those who either haven't tried or haven't the imagination and creativity to make it work.  Perhaps they are just scared. All Second life is, is a tool that helps you to communicate a message or perform an action, it can't turn a frog into a prince.

For those who employ innovative business practice or for imaginative, insightful,  creative, passionate, teacher let me say that your perserverance and belief will be return 10 fold.

"..Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one"

Parent Perceptions / missed opportunity

Yesterday I met Mike.  A a junior developer/designer / programmer in teen second life.  He has a huge reputation amongst his peers who believe he is simply the best.  Luckily I stumbled across his Flickr site and made contact.  He is 17 and 9 months and therefor has a few months to go before he can earn serious money doing what he is doing.

He had been working with teens and doing small projects with them, but as he put it, they only have mums and Dad's money - there's really no money there.

He chatted to me via Skype where he described what he could possibly contribute and why. He said he would love to do something for an organisation such as our school and a project like Skoolaborate as it would give him something to put on his resume.  This kid had his head screwed on.  He knew where he was going and how to get there.  Just to seal the deal he came to our site and built his business card' -  a replica (or on the way to it) of our new school.

I went home that night absolutely over the moon.  We had found the 'holy grail'.  This kid was going to help us achieve our dream, get us on the road so much quicker than we could have imagined. 

I quickly typed up a proposal for him and ran it by my boss. 

In the morning I met him again.  This time we connected via voice with Skype.  I was even more convinced that this kid was so together. I showed him my schools site and my personal site so that he could understand our culture and learn as much about us as possible. 

How good was this?  Then...... Ahhh...... a message in Skype

In short Mike's Mum had threatened to cut off his Internet access. Her perception was that Mike was waisting his time playing 'silly computer games'.  She wanted him (according to Mike) to go an get a job at Kentucky Fried Chicken.  Imaging that - the best second life developer I have seen giving it all away to go work in a fast food joint!   Ahhh.

I assured him that his Mum was just trying to do the best for him and that it was a perception problem.  Second life and it's incredible potential really didn't exist in her world.  She was simply trying to do the best for him, and just as I had done with my kids, used that threat.  I might add that also, just like me, she didn't cut it off and never has - guess she loves him.

So what could I do to help?  Maybe I could blog about it and she could read this an realise the incredible work that her son was doing. This boy is helping schools around the globe connect to a new way of learning.  He is volunteering his time to mentor students from other countries, students that he has never met and all in his own time.  He is connecting countries with like minded visions of education, linking them together so that they can collaborate and improve learning outcomes for students.

Not only that, but in talking with Mike, he has already earned a little from his work. So what has he decided to do with that money, go spend it on drugs? - no, blow it on soda? - again No. How about the latest CD - you guessed it, NO.  Mike has decided to roll it so that he can invest in his own skills.  This will allow him to have enough 'in world' purchasing power to improve his designs and continue to improve his portfolio.  Then, in a short time, when he turns 18, he will be able to start to work on some Main grid projects where he will be in hot demand.  I firmly believe, from what I have seen him do, that this kid will be a roaring success.  I wonder if when he makes it, will he be eating  Kentucky?

Hang in their mate, I for one will promote and employ you as much as possible.  Mum, be proud of your boy and know that he is making a difference in the lives of many.  Mike, you do need to find a way of letting you mum understand what it is you are doing so that she can help you - that's really what Mums are about.

There is much to learn here. The huge gap between parents and their children is reflected between many teachers and their students.  If we don't at least stay aware of new technologies we can deny so many opportunities for them.  This article by Gartner suggests, whilst we are not there yet, Virtual Worlds will impact most businesses within the next 6 years. Those businesses will be looking for Mike.

Mike's skills will earn his fortune, if he can mange himself and his relationships. I am confident that this talented young man will succeed.  And now is the time to strike.  I have no answer here, just my own thoughts which I have laid bare for you all.   My last piece of advice, above all - always love your Mum!

Skoolaborate is Born

Stay tuned our Teen Second Life project has begun.  A huge thanks to Linden Labs for making this possible and for their vision.  Amazing that, in such a huge virtual world,  a corporate organisation makes the time to support education. A special thanks to Claudia Linden who has made the time to chat via email, the phone and actually meet face to face to get us started! Also big hugs for Lindy Mckeown for giving us the understanding and confidence to move forward.

So with such a great start what is the vision and purpose of Skoolaborate.

At MLC in Sydney Australia we believe that Global Citizenship is an essential part of a rounded education and that schools need to explore educational opportunities that will engage students and motivate them to learn. Skoolaborate (a virtual collaborative space) and blog aims to bring together like minded schools from around the globe so that their students may share and learn from each other, in a virtual environment, through a variety of educational experiences.  We hope that Skoolaborate will act as a vehicle that promotes  Global Awareness and Understanding.

The island itself will house a variety of areas.  Our home base will establish the culture of the site.  It will house information about Global collaborative projects, the participating schools, the site itself, and news and information for visitors.

Other sections will be built completely by the students to practice their building and creative skills and to do what they see as interesting, useful and engaging - (integrated into their current learning).

Further sections will see Galleries of student projects and resources that can be used for in world Educational adventures.  These will link to collaborative learning places where teachers and students will be able to express opinions in a safe environment.

Areas for teachers to experiment with a range of 'in world' educational activities

Basically a collaborative work  with the best ideas  from around the globe,  It will be set up in regions each one targeting a vertical breadth of time zones, for example the Asia Pacific time zones (China, Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand and other interested Asia Pacific countries) or the Americas Time Zones targeting Canada, the USA, Mexico, South America etc.

Why?  Collaboration amongst schools has enough challenges without throwing in time difference.  Getting up early or staying late and, for many of us, no one home  when the students connect.

So how will it work?  Eventually each targeted region will have it's own co odinator who will concentrate on getting that time zone established (at least three dedicated schools).  That way students will have a critical amount of connection during their own 'in school time' and meet other student outside that time.  We will all have to contribute in many ways but the shared contributions should make life easier for us all - lets Collaborate!

Concerns about Second Life for Kids

After introducing Teen Second Life to our staff, several expressed their concerns about the safety and appropriateness of this type of environment for students.  Unfamiliar things often lead to suspicion and doubt.  Lets look at some of the issues.

A good place to start would be to read the Teen Second Life Community Standards where they outline way in which Linden Labs aim to  make residents of Teen Second Life  'enjoy a safe, fun Second Life experience and always treat each other with respect'.

The second issue would be to look at the health implications of students living in virtual worlds as opposed to real worlds.  As I find information re these aspects I will log them here.

So What is it?
Teen Second Life is a virtual world that allows teenagers from 13-17 to make friends, play, learn and create what ever appeals to them. To start the students create and customize a digital self called an "avatar".  They can then fly or walk through an ever-changing 3D landscape, chat and socialize with other teens from all over the world, and build anything from skyscrapers to virtual vehicles.

It is not a video game but rather a boundless world of opportunity, created by the users, that encourages teens to work together and use their imaginations.  To really get a clue check out the following video.

Remember, for an overview of Second Life see the four corners special and read the reserch that I have provided in the earlier posts.

If you are an educator and really want to know more see the Second Life Wiki or check out the Second Life Education Page

My view is that Second Life is not an option.  Like Elvis records and the internet, this is inevitable and is something that we need, as educators, to be aware of and understand.  This is an opportunity to engage our students - a leap that we have all been looking for.  This quote was sent to me from  Kevin Jarret - "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." - Anonymous

Second life has taken my breath away.