Trends in Education
Global or mega trends are identified as contemporary trends or issues that have the potential and power to shape the direction of the world's politics and economies. The undeniable role of technology has important implications for understanding the future direction of learning and behaviour.
Trends in New Zealand Education
Each year, CORE Education identifies the top ten trends expected to make an impact on education within a New Zealand context.
(Retrieved from http://www.core-ed.org/thought-leadership/ten-trends).
Within the context of my own communities of practice and my developing identity as a teacher and leader, I feel two areas in particular are worthy of closer examination.
Digital Literacy
Schools identified as doing well in this area were:- focused on adapting school systems, programmes and resources to meet the needs of the students
- were innovative in how they responded to students‟ learning needs
- resourced programmes through creative problem solving
- worked effectively as teams
- used information about students‟ strengths, interests and needs to develop and review programmes for students
These areas are of continual focus for improvement and discussion both within faculty and school -wide PD at my school. The scope for developing this area further lies in moving beyond mere technological mastery but into creative approaches to lessons and assessments, greater and more effective use of the collaborative aspects of digital technology and recognising the importance of students' own interests and strengths.
Changing Education Paradigms Animation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U
Harnessing the strengths of our 'digital natives' means we won't lose them to all the learning available to them outside the education system but hopefully keep them engaged with it via a more agentic role.
These factors will all contribute towards a greater focus on student-centered and more authentic learning. This is an area I'm focusing on in my TAI and I'm enjoying surveying my students for feedback on how we collaborate, their own areas of interest and their input for possibilities for collaboration and research. In this way I can help my students engage meaningfully with the technology at their fingertips and apply it in ways that are relevant and connected to the future they are preparing for. I continue to seek feedback from and engage with other teachers on new and experimental ways to collaborate with the students and this is providing some really useful ideas for use in my own practice. I'm looking forward to continuing to track the progress and feedback from my classes as we try different programmes and techniques.
Changing Education Paradigms Animation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U
Change Leadership
Core identifies the trend of Change Leadership as another component in successfully navigating the rapidly evolving digital environment and that "newer and more agile arrangements are required".This has been an area of growing awareness and development for myself this year. The Leadership component of Mindlab forced me to consider more deeply the structures in place at my school and how I fit into them. Change has certainly occurred over the past year as my school adapts to the need for sharing in the overall vision of the school with less of a top-down structure. There's been some good steps towards creating a more open attitude towards change.
Each Faculty has a Lead Person who undertakes weekly training in technology with the responsibility of filtering out the knowledge most relevant to their group. This will depend on particular subject areas, levels of mastery etc. This encourages and promotes change leadership to flourish - my role as an FLP has enabled me to see myself as a leader and to help others develop their own confidence to become leaders themselves.
Our staff PD sessions on a Friday allow choice for areas of interest and levels of mastery. Staff who are 'early adopters' take small sessions. This more fluid and flexible approach to leadership allows for individuals (myself included) to recognise and develop their own leadership skills and distributes the responsibility outwards not just down.
These sessions have been a really positive element within my community of practice and one that shows a good awareness of the need to adapt and change. I'm looking forward to holding more sessions - especially aimed at some of the collaborative and creative uses of technology in the classroom.
References
Core Education Top Ten Trends (2016) Retrieved from http://www.core-ed.org/thought-leadership/ten-trends
Changing Education Paradigms Animation (2010) retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U
Education Review Office. (2012). Evaluation at a Glance: Priority Learners in New Zealand Schools. Retrieved 18 May 2016, from http://www.ero.govt.nz/About-Us/News-Media-Releases2/The-three-most-pressing-issues-for-N
National intelligence council.(2012). Global trends: Alternative Worlds. National Intelligence Council: US. Retrieved from https://globaltrends2030.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/global-trends-2030-november2012.pdf
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWill try this again(unknown) hopefully with my name this time. Your school have developed a collaborative and supportive environment to develop the use of digital technologies
ReplyDeleteHi Sarah
ReplyDeleteOne thing I enjoy in your most blogs is your self created visuals, which makes shows authentic touch you add to your reflections. Also reminds me of sessions times in first 16 weeks, few times i worked with your group and planning for group activities, how use to plan the activity with your sketches. Great I admire this skill of yours as i am sure it must a useful tool in classroom.
Thanks Manmeet, I find it's just something I do automatically and I often sketch as I go when reading articles or watching clips. I guess it's years of brainstorming for design ideas in my previous career! I do often draw little images onto the whiteboard when explaining concepts to students - I did one this week trying to explain how the different rebel groups within Syria were fighting against Assad but also against each other and the rise of Isis and one to seniors trying to explain the concept of purgatory... I've had comments that these graphics do help sometimes and I think it shows students I'm flexible and prepared to meet questions as they arise. I hope you're going well? I've been enjoying your blog posts also. Sarah.
ReplyDeleteHi Sarah, I enjoyed your post. I really envy your schools approach to Digital Technology. I am a business lecturer in the PTE sector catering to the International market. Unfortunately this sector has been much slower to engage with digital collaborative technologies. Therefore this was one of the harder posts for me as I am really the only teacher in my orgnaisation who is pushing for ICT integration.
ReplyDeleteLike yourself, the leadership aspect of the Mindlab course forced me to take a deeper look at my own role within my organisation and I realised just how many hats I actually have to wear. I think that it is great how your school has moved away from the top down approach and encourages mastery, and lets teachers lead initiatives that they feel passionate about. At the moment at least, the management in my school, although they do like the fact that I am moving with the ICT trends, due to budgets, and other constraints they are unable to provide the support to put my initiatives into action. In the future, I would like to see within my own sector an initiative similar to the Manaiakalni clusters in order to share resources and ideas between the different colleges. Unfortunately, the industry is heavily profit driven and IP is thought of something we must keep in house if we want to gain a competitive advantage, therefore such a collaboration between PTE's is difficult.