Edited by Keith Redman

Topics covered in this edition include:

• New ANSN Snapshot on use of IWBs in a secondary school context
• ANSN Interactive Whiteboards Hub for 2010 under way in Victoria
• Additional IWB Hub ‘start-up’ sessions in Term 2
• 1:1 Laptop Learning Hub
• Cognitive CoachingSM: Training in Northern Territory, Victoria and Queensland
• John Hogan’s reflections on protocols
• New Dimensions of Learning Hubs in Queensland and Victoria
• Reports from DoL professional learning sessions in NSW and Queensland
• Website undergoing some redesign
• Some interesting reading

New ANSN Snapshot on use of IWBs in a secondary school context

A new ANSN Snapshot has just been published on the ANSN website. Drawn from an interview by E-News Editor Keith Redman with Stephen Seddon (below), it explores the use of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) at Noble Park Secondary College, building on staff members’ learning from their membership of the ANSN IWB Hub in 2009.

Stephen was Science Coordinator at the College in 2009 and this year is Head of Junior School (Years 7-9). In this Snapshot he focuses particularly on the development of team-based activities in the science curriculum. More generally, he reflects on the planning, training, processes and structures that have been implemented, provides examples of flipcharts that have been used in curriculum delivery and comments on planned directions for IWB use across the school. To read or download the Snapshot, click here 

ANSN Interactive Whiteboards Hub for 2010 under way in Victoria

Andrea Federico and Kate Cooper, ANSN’s IWB Hub Coordinators, (below, to the left) report that participants in the first ANSN Interactive Whiteboards Hub for 2010 have now completed their first two days of introductory activities.

      

The teachers and school leader participants have built their hands-on skills with the technology, discussed how they will develop use of IWBs in their own school context during the year, and started to plan their work with the Hub (above, to the right).

During their third day, Hub members will work on detailed design of a project to meet their particular needs – the outcomes they hope to achieve for their students and colleagues, the area(s) of curriculum they will target, the sequence of lessons that they will plan and deliver as individuals and/or teams, and the range of flipcharts that they anticipate they will need to create.

On Day 4, they will present evidence to their Hub colleagues about their project work, taking into account its relevance to their students’ learning, as well as factors related to refinement of their curriculum content, provision and delivery, and their progress towards integration of technology more generally.

For more details about this current Hub’s activities, or the remaining Hub sessions, email Andrea Federico at: andrea.federico@ansn.edu.au

Additional IWB Hub ‘start-up’ sessions in Term 2

Andrea and Kate also report that there will be some additional two-day IWB Hub start-up sessions commencing in Term 2. Dates will be advised in the next edition of E-News.

To express interest in participating in either the new Term 2 start-up sessions, or Hub activities later in the year, or to explore the possibilities of having a Hub established for schools in your own area of Victoria, contact Kate Cooper, by mobile on 0402 848 364 or email her at kate.cooper@ansn.edu.au

1:1 Laptop Learning Hub

On Tuesday 16 March ANSN’s inaugural 1:1 Laptop Learning Hub met for the first of four sessions exploring opportunities for innovative teaching and learning using laptop computers. The Hub is being led by Jill Reading (pictured), an Ultranet Coach for the Western Metropolitan Region in Melbourne and the 2008 ICTEV Leader of the Year in Victoria. Based at the ANSN work site at Williamstown Primary School in Melbourne, the Hub’s remaining three sessions will be on (Wednesdays): 5 May; 2 June and 28 July. Reports of the Hub’s activities and participant feedback are planned for future editions of E-News.

For details of the Hub’s aims and program content, or to enquire about participation in its activities, email Joe Wickert at joe.wickert@ansn.edu.au; call him at (02) 9590 5341; or check the ANSN website at www.ansn.edu.au/1_1_laptop_learning_hub_2010

Cognitive CoachingSM: Training in Northern Territory, Victoria and Queensland

FOUNDATION Training sessions for Cognitive CoachingSM have just started in Darwin, Northern Territory, as this edition of E-News is prepared for distribution. For readers who are still unfamiliar with the term, Cognitive CoachingSM focuses on the “maps” (planning; reflecting; and problem-resolving) and “tools” (rapport; mediative questioning; response behaviours; pacing; and leading) that are needed to mediate another’s thinking. Following on from its successful 2009 training program, ANSN is continuing in 2010 to offer both Foundation and Advanced training programs for Cognitive Coaching, in association with Hawker Brownlow Professional Learning Solutions. Apart from the Darwin sessions that are already under way, the following opportunities are still open for registration.

8-Day Cognitive Coaching FOUNDATION Training in Bendigo, Victoria
19th–22nd April, 2010 (Days one to four) and 5th–8th July, 2010 (Days five to eight)
or 13th–16th August, 2010 and 15th–18th October, 2010
For further details, and to register, click here

8-Day Cognitive Coaching FOUNDATION Training in Brisbane, Queensland
1st–4th June 2010 and 25th–28th October 2010
For further details, and to register, click here

8-Day Cognitive Coaching FOUNDATION Training in Brighton, Victoria
27th–30th July 2010 and 20th–23rd September 2010

For further details, and to register, click here

5-Day Cognitive Coaching ADVANCED training in Brighton, Victoria

Tuesday 29th June to Saturday 3rd July 2010

   

These advanced training sessions will be presented by Sue Presler (above, left), with Michael Dolcemascolo (above, centre), formerly Assistant Director of Staff Development for the 23 school districts surrounding the city of Syracuse in central New York. Now an independent consultant, Michael specialises in mentoring coaches. For further details, and to register, click here 

If you have questions about any of these programs, or wish to discuss the benefits for you and your school, please email Gavin Grift (above, right) at ggrift@hbe.com.au or contact him by mobile at 0458 094 050.

John Hogan’s reflections on protocols

In his weekly newsletters to members of his mailing lists, John Hogan (below) has been reflecting on the continued relevance of the Protocols that ANSN has supported and promoted for more than a decade – and his perception that numbers of educators have not yet been made aware of their value.

Most recently, he has commented on the need for school leaders to know how to model the giving and receiving of feedback – not just any sort of feedback, but well-delivered and constructive feedback. He reminds us of the following principles.

Giving harsh feedback is not helpful.

Giving no feedback is wrong.

Giving only positive feedback is dishonest.

Feedback that is more descriptive and less evaluative is the goal.

And, as a note of caution …

‘If you don’t want feedback don’t ask for it!’ As John comments, getting feedback on your work is often challenging and, after years of practice, he still has to work hard himself to ‘de-personalise’ some of the feedback that he receives.

These points are as pertinent now as when it they were first written about. The standard references in this field are still probably: Nancy Mohr’s article, ‘Creating Effective Study Groups for Principals’ in Educational Leadership, Vol 55, No 7, p 41–44, April 1998, and ‘The Art of Feedback’ by S C Bushardt and A R Fowler Jr, in Pfeiffer, J W (1989)The 1989 Annual: Developing Human Resources, University Associates, San Diego, CA.

Other Protocol-related topics covered by John in his recent reflections include: a reminder about ways of looking together at student work (referring to the fascinating school-based research by Judith Warren Little et al – see for example, ‘Looking at student work: for teacher learning, teacher community, and school reform’, by Judith Warren Little, Maryl Gearhart, Marnie Curry, and Judith Kafka, in Phi Delta Kappan, November 2003, Vol 85, No 3); and notes about how to use ‘Walk and Talk’, both to get discussion started and also to deepen reflection and evaluation in the context of a workshop.

For further details, email John.Hogan@bigpond.com

New Dimensions of Learning Hubs in Queensland and Victoria

The ANSN Dimensions of Learning (DoL) hubs continue to deliver a highly successful program of professional learning. Participants explore a comprehensive learning framework – a “thinking” approach to learning and pedagogy. DoL uses what researchers and theorists know about how students learn to improve learning outcomes, as well as providing an effective tool to align assessment, pedagogy and curriculum planning. Participants construct their own knowledge and understanding through hands-on use of practical examples, which are explored through five days of action learning activities, spread over a 3–5 month period, with opportunities for classroom trials and practice in between.

ANSN now invites interested teachers (P-12) to participate in DoL Introductory Hubs that are soon to start in Queensland and Victoria. Nationally, some Hubs are already under way, but Hubs at the following additional locations are now open for registrations: Pioneer SHS (Mackay), Trinity College (Gold Coast) and Williamstown PS (Melbourne). See below for details. 

Locations

Mackay	Melbourne	Gold Coast
Pioneer SHS Bedford Rd Andergrove, 4740    Mackay	Williamstown Primary School Cecil St Williamstown, Vic 3016	Trinity College Ashmore Road Campus Ashmore Gold Coast

Dates:

Location	Days 1 & 2	Days 3 & 4	Day 5
Mackay	11th and 12th May	20th and 21st July	31st August
Gold Coast	24th & 25th May	23rd & 24th Aug	11th Oct
Melbourne	21st and 22nd June	TBA	TBA

For general details about the Hubs and their value for schools, go to the ANSN web site, at www.ansn.edu.au. For more information about any of the scheduled events, contact:

Hanan Harrison (below, left): hanan.harrison@ansn.edu.au  0407 464 472, or
Tina Doe (below, right):  tina.doe@ansn.edu.au  0421 440 725.

 

If none of the suggested options for time and place suits you, but your school is interested in hosting a Dimensions of Learning Hub in your area, contact Hanan or Tina to explore the options for 2010. They are happy to deliver programs across Australia.

Reports from DoL professional learning sessions in NSW and Queensland

On 10 March Tina Doe facilitated a 1-day Dimensions of Learning professional learning day in Albury, NSW, with staff from the Wagga Wagga Catholic Education Diocese She worked with them to unpack their framework discussion document, using (DoL) as a pedagogical filter, along with group work and a variety of hands-on activities.

 

The day was tailored to the specific needs of the group, both introducing and exploring the DoL framework, and drawing out at the correlation between this as a compendium of research and the Wagga Wagga CSO’s documentation. Participants reflected on their learning and commented that the focus on pedagogy as the core business of teaching and learning was refreshing and empowering.  See above and below for photos from the session.

  

If your organisation could benefit from such critical reflection and shared practice, contact Tina Doe on 0421 440 725 or at tina.doe@ansn.edu.au.

Hanan Harrison worked with Emmaus College in Rockhampton on a whole school in-service to help expand and refine their staff’s journey with DoL. Hanan reports that this school initially had learnt about DoL through the McREL  (Mid-continent  Research for Education and Learning) training course (http://www.mcrel.org/), and has pursued its own journey for the last few years. Staff decided they needed to go back and address key issues of DoL and also expand their focus from Dimension 2 to the remaining dimensions.  A tailor-made workshop that addressed key components of DoL and also introduced the staff to the consultancy protocol (http://www.ansn.edu.au/protocols) allowed participants to construct and expand on their current understanding of DoL, as well as to have an opportunity to reflect on their units of work through a structured dialogue process.

One of the sessions focused on looking at developing strategies for extending and refining knowledge, where staff members were challenged in a number of activities that required them to develop and implement a number of complex reasoning skills including inductive and deductive reasoning (see below left, where staff use observation and  inferences to help construct a dinosaur, and right where they discuss ideas of DoL). 

 

The key message for the session was that students need to have positive classroom climate for learning but, just as importantly, need to have skills and dispositions that allow them to perceive that they can complete the tasks.  This involves students in being able to recognise and implement various thinking skills and behaviours for different situations.

Hanan also started a new five-day Hub in Mooloolaba. She reports that initial participant discussion of their perceptions of DoL showed that many believed DoL was a no more than a set of strategies for planning units. Some were sceptical about being responsible for a new program to implement back at the school, and about how their staff would perceive this – with many wary of the “change fatigue” that hits members of the school when a new program is introduced. She observed that by the second day all the participants had developed a deeper understanding of DoL, realising it was not just a prescriptive, narrow set of instructions to unpack back at school. Hanan suggests that DoL could be equated metaphorically with a school obtaining a compass to help them navigate in a chosen direction – towards students becoming independent and effective learners. The advantage of having a compass as opposed to a map, she comments, is if the terrain changes – as it does regularly in schools as a result of political decisions, for example: in that context, a map can often become ineffective, while a compass still points to the direction in which you want to move.

Some participant comments about what they had learnt in the sessions included:

• I need to get children thinking about thinking before they do – not always reflecting afterwards;
• I need to make learning more specific;
• it is important that students understand how they think
• there are many ways to enhance/extend/refine children’s thinking.  I have learnt so many new/old teaching strategies that I can’t wait to implement.

If your school is interested in exploring how to improve thinking and develop independent learners in similar ways, email to hanan.harrison@ansn.edu.au or call Hanan on 0407 464 472.

Website undergoing some redesign

John Hogan reports that Joe Wickert has been working on some improvements to the ANSN website, including a new look to the Home page and inclusion of fliers for rethinking schools. Other sections are still being worked on. Have a look, at www.ansn.edu.au/ and send warm or cool feedback to John.Hogan@bigpond.com.

Some interesting reading

Hanan Harrison suggests readers might like to look at http://www.eschoolnews.com/2010/02/16/11-programs-only-as-good-as-their-teachers/.

This reports on a group of studies, published in the Journal of Technology, Learning, and Assessment, which measured program implementation outcomes at five schools over three years and found the success of programs varied widely, depending on the level of the teacher's commitment and ability to adapt their practices to make the best use of the technology. Hanan comments that the message is simple: that the teachers make the difference and they need to be skilled at good pedagogy not just ICT.

Paul Harrison (below) is a senior lecturer in consumer behaviour and marketing at Deakin University in Melbourne.

For the last year or so, Paul has been researching door-to-door sales of educational software and the “slick and sophisticated” ways in which sales techniques are brought to bear with parents who are anxious about their child’s educational progress. For an outline go to the ABC link at www.abc.net.au/unleashed/stories/s2849293.htm

Paul has also been involved of a related short film (an official selection at the St Kilda Film Festival). The trailer for the film can be viewed at http://www.facebook.com/l/e9818;www.shuttingthegates.net. If you want to read the whole of Paul’s 150-page report, go to www.shuttingthegates.net

Australian Policy Online (APO) draws our attention to the following items. To read or download the full text of an item, use CTRL + click to follow the link.

Schools, Australia, 2009
According to these findings from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, over the last ten years the number of students in non-government schools rose eightfold, compared to the number of students in government schools, according to these findings from the  ABS.

1-1 in education
Over the last decade, more and more public and private stakeholders, in developed and developing countries, have been supporting 1:1 initiatives in education (that is, every child receives her/his own personal computing device). This OECD Directorate for Education paper assesses the evidence about their impact.

Building innovation: learning with technologies
In a review of research, Kathryn Moyle from ACER finds that ICTs, including social networking and games, provide new opportunities for education. However, she argues that the “off the shelf” mentality that currently underpins the provision of computers in Australian schools may be stifling rather than enhancing innovation.

Although listed by APO as relating to the “creative economy”, the following items also seem to have significant relevance in an educational context.

Parents don't act on cyber-safety fears
Karen Flanagan and Stuart Strathdee, writing for Stilgherrian/ZDNet, argue that although most Australian parents are concerned about the safety of their children online, new research shows that parents don't back up their concerns with meaningful actions, and that in any event they might well be concerned about the wrong risks.

The digital world of young children: emergent literacy
According to this US report, from the Pearson Foundation, digital media are already transforming the language and cultural practices that enable early literacy development, making possible a new kind of personal and global interconnectedness.