Martin Pluss

Hi all,

The first ICT Integrators meeting for the year was at Giant Steps : I quote from the website…

Vision
Giant Steps Sydney will continue to be recognised as the centre of excellence for the creation, implementation and dissemination of innovative and effective programs and services for individuals with autism and their families.

As well as discussing issues of ICT we were able to see how Giant Steps operates.

There was a powerful session by one of the teachers who showed us how things were done. It clearly indicates how simple is good once you establish the needs of the students. In particular I was impressed with the distinction between static and dynamic visual symbols in the teaching and learning of children with autism.

.

Here is an example of shadows so students know where to place things- which is the real cap?

It is a great bunch of people and I always learn a lot.

cheers Martin

HI all,

I have followed with interest a debate started by the CEO Jason of Malaho when he posted about life in a start up and his view of what is necessary for success. Michael Specht,whom I follow on Twitter, gave us a neat post to follow the replies and thoughts of others.

I cannot comment on start ups but all I know having worked in two schools which were new schools (one was 1 year old and the other 7 years old) you have to work harder than normal to enable things to work. Maybe I could have worked harder- definitely smarter (I was a new teacher) but my commitment to the school(s) was unquestionable. I worked really long hours, taught a whole range of subjects, did things on the smell of an oily rag and was one of the pioneers.

It was a great experience and when I read about those schools and how they are going now I look at them with pride because I was there at the beginning or very close to the beginning.

cheers Martin

Edit:  A bit more

Hi all,

Just recently I took Year 10 to Long Reef and Collaroy Beach to study coastal management.

Pre Fieldwork Activities.

Students are introduced to the area through Google Maps and other relevant information on the web.

The school intranet is use to give access to documents ready for students to use. One of them is a template on the Research Action Plan. We use the fieldwork to show how research can be carried out in the field.

Fieldwork Day

The students have a standard sheet to fill out while they undertake primary research. Also without encouragement photos are taken of the key coastal processes and management. The aim is to highlight the natural ecosystem at Long Reef and the mainly human modified ecosystem at Collaroy Beach.

Post Fieldwork Activities

Two main activities are the focus. Students are to write a report of one section of the fieldwork using the template. The goal of this activity is to:

1. Consolidate learning about coastal management

2. Introduce the concept of original research which is the basis of the Research Action Plan which is the basis of the next unit of work.

Well how can we make use of Web 2.0 Tools? My sole goal was to introduce the students to online picture galleries to store more academic photos for their learning. This involved introducing them to a variety on places to store pictures online. Of particular importance was to encourage them to take photos of scenes rather than their peers in the photos for privacy reasons.

Down the track I would like to develop a database of the student work over the years and see the changes in the area as successive students undertake the research.

Now to the Geography

Long Reef is essentially a natural ecosystem compared to Collaroy which is more built up.

It has a natural dune system compared to one overtaken by the built environment.

In addition the contrast in storm water outlets was evident.

Anyway just some thoughts.

Cheers Martin

Hi all,

In a closed circuit email list server I am in the debate has emerged again on giving students access to Web 2.0 tools such as You Tube la la la…I feel like I am going in circles and yet again the same old debate emerges and sometimes by the same people who have not moved on. 

Some have  not moved on in terms of what is good about some of the things we can use.  Some don’t even know what is out there – well things that have been around for a while and are out there. So there is no personal or professional growth in what they are doing and they are ICT educational professionals. No fault of their own – just too busy surviving their work day without  google time.

Some have not moved on because they don’t want to or  they are constrained in their work environment.

Some have not moved on because they have not given it a go and tried to address issues laterally. 

Bottom line is that the tools are there to be used and should be used.  Sure in a structured way if there are concerns. 

 We need to provide sound educational reasons  to justify what we need to do and lobby.

I know in one  educational sector they have spent millions of dollars on hardware and software to do things with  scalability which in mind boggling.  It essentially  sits idle. Use of it by teachers is limited because some either believe or have been lead to believe it is more work.  Other teachers who want to use it, use student tricks to get by and even even  pay for their ADSL  lines into the institution to by pass the official system. 

 Others set up there own online spaces and  try and engage the students by getting them to work from home or public libraries. No wonder the latter are frustrated and leave education.  

Upper level decision makers are scared to use it for unseen potential legal reasons.   Didn’t we just say sorry. 

Meanwhile, students just learn this way and we do need to be able to show them how to do it properly, safely,  without plagiarism etc 

Are we stopping students from engaging in what will be and is their world beyond the school gate?

cheers  Martin

Hi all,

I have been thinking a bit about Twitter and evaluating its usefulness to me as a teacher.

Firstly,  it is invaluable as a means to come across different ideas.  This is especially the case when people link their twitters to a url or blog post.

Secondly, with certain apps it has this neat function which updates your Facebook status which is another step in meshing (yeh I know mashing I mean) together different Web 2.0 tools I use

Thirdly,  as a social networking tool it works well for people I know.  However, for those I don’t know that well it takes a while to see the whole context of their online existence.

Fourthly,  I like the way you can import your address book – though I am not sure those in my address book like it

Fifthly,  all of the above is fun and great for my professional development.

Sixthly,  I need to get twitter behind the firewall for it to be more useful for me in the classroom.   I have now got blogs behind the firewalls.  I am working on a student centred Personal Learning Environment (PLE) which I can see would be really enhanced with some sort of Twitter type application.

cheers  Martin