Our third OEE webinar focused on teacher-led innovation in Europe. It coincided with the launch of the OEE Good Practices Contest. The deadline for submission of good practices has now been extended to November 25th due to our technical difficulties. Please submit your practices! You can watch Webinar III this link. Below are some highlights.
Our Special Guests
Agata Luczynska
Head of programs with class at Centre for Citizenship Education
Steve Wheeler
Associate Professor of Learning Technologies at Plymouth University
We started by sharing the Storify of the Twitter chat we held around shaping the future classroom in Europe. Steve and Agata then shared their insight on some key questions.
Is it true that computers do not improve students’ results?
Agata argued that no tool will ever improve the results of the students unless you think about the goal and how you use it. Just using computers is a mistake. You must not forget the goal. She also said that context is important. You can’t have an education that doesn’t reflect the life that students will live. They will use computers in life, so they must use computes in school. Finally, teachers need to give tasks that ensure students think critically. Often teachers give tasks that only require students to copy and paste.
Steve felt that the reporting of the OECD report was sensationalist clap-trap. It was bad. Instead they should have said that technology does transform classrooms and the educational experience. He visits classrooms across the world where he sees teachers using technology to transform student learning. Yet the OECD report is right that we must still give teachers more support.
How have you supported teachers to adopt new practices? Can you share tips?
Steve said that technology can make teachers lives easier. For example using Twitter as a back channel to capture questions or resources they haven’t noticed in the class. The main problem is that teachers do not have enough time. They’re either presenting, preparing or marking lessons. The best thing is to find one person in each school or college who can model best practice. Innovation is much harder. That means doing things in a new way and it is harder to achieve.
Agata agreed with Steve. It’s important to achieve a quick win, help them to make a small, successful step. For example, googledocs, where students can work together, or googleforms to check students’ understanding. Technology has to mean less work, not more. In Poland teachers don’t like examples of innovative schools, they think ‘that’s not us’. You need to find teachers and schools in similar contexts to build trust and empathy. Allow teachers to share examples of failures. To foster innovation you have to turn change into a habit.
What are the challenges and barriers that prevent teachers from adopting new practices?
Teachers have a fear of using technology, argued Steve. You need to help them get over that fear by starting them off with small wins. Agata agreed, saying that she had seen teachers dramatically change their mindsets when they had been helped overcome their fear. In one school where Agata worked, students prepared a training for a teacher in how to use her interactive whiteboard.
Lots of schools invest in new technologies because they don’t want to be left behind. But then they get it and don’t know what to do with it. People don’t think through why they want it. Schools and teachers need to start with an objective, how do I need to improve student learning, or my practice? And then you ask, is there a technology that can will enable me to make that improvement? It must always start with the why, and an objective.
Another challenge is that with a blackboard, you learn how to use it once, and you are set for life. But new technologies change really fast. You have to learn to learn something new all the time. And sometimes that means that technology gets in the way. To help teachers, we need to teach them to learn how to use new technologies. We should not just teach them to use a particular technology.
And sometimes there are purely technical issues. In Poland, broadband is too unsteady for conferences for example.
_-_filtered.jpg)
How do we overcome these challenges?
Both of our speakers agree that you have to start with quick easy wins. Agata mentioned the use of Googledocs, while Steven mentioned uses for Twitter. They also agreed that we should start working in a school with a small group of enthusiasts or influencers. When you have those leaders trained, you can use them to teach and inspire others in the school.
You also have to recognize when you do and don’t need technology. Sometimes Steve will take his students outside and they will only discuss. You don’t only need technology. Pens and pencils are technology. However, sometimes technology can add a lot to learning. In New Zealand Steve saw students creating a model for their ideal school. They were using Minecraft.
New technologies open a new possibility for students who are not always considered good students to be successful. Two Polish students who did not like physics decided they wanted to see their school from out of space. They managed to create a balloon that flew 20km into space, carrying smartphones with cameras and radio transmitters. It travelled 150km and sent back pictures. After that, the boys were hooked.
We closed with the announcement of the European Teachers Contest. The deadline has now been extended until November 25. You can submit your practices here. If you want to read more on teacher innovation, check out this blog featuring 8 Teacher Truths in the Digital Era, and find out about our 2015 OEE Tour too.
Finally, look out for Webinar IV in December!