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Information Technology Curriculum 2.0

Replied Sep. 16, 2007

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School:: Shanghai

Position:: ICT and maths (and problem-solving/thinking skills I hope!) teacher, husband of Bev and father of two adult children, blues bass guitar player and vocalist, supporter of Free Burma, beer and food lover, traveller, reader, walker, reflective practitioner, ...

Website:: http://web.mac.com/rosspolson/iWeb/Site/About.html

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Getting started with web 2.0 tools ...

Started several Web 2.0 activities for my students - hope something comes of it ... I know, a lot depends on how much energy I can get into the sites and then the kids will take off with them ... a del.icio.us site for my Year 8 ICT class so that as they study websites (for accuracy, reliability and bias) they can share their findings with the whole class even though we meet only once a week; a Wetpaint wiki for my Year 7 maths class; and a another wiki for my Year 9 ICT class who are studying f… Continue

Posted on September 25th, 2007 at 5:44pm — No Comments (Add)

Great to be going to ...

a conference with the luminaries giving keynotes! I have lost contact with what is happening with educational ICT and the rest of the world. A chance to catch up with ideas and get closer to being a digital native!

Posted on September 6th, 2007 at 8:02am — No Comments (Add)

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At 5:36pm on September 25th, 2007, Ross Polson said…: Started several Web 2.0 activities for my students - hope something come of it ... a del.icio.us stie for my Year 8's so that as the study websites they can share their findings with the whole class even though we meet only once a week; a Wetpaint wiki for my Year 7 maths class, and a another wiki for my Year 9 ICT class who are studying for their ICDL.

At 9:51am on September 15th, 2007, Ross Polson said…: Gary's first session (cont):
Debugging is a key idea of Logo - hypothesis - success leads to more discovery - failure leads to investigation - leads to learning. Learning should NOT be easy and fun - it should be hard and fun - Scratch is Logo (with low threshhold low ceiling) - Squeak - Logo was and still is a community of progressive educators.
"Screen shots and wrong answers" - house picture was copied all over the world as the way to do it!!! - the whole presentation is online at www.stager.org

Constructionism's big ideas: in a prison environment: learning by doing; we learn best when we are making something we want; we learn best when we are doing something really interesting. Fun = working HARD and enjoying it;
Learning to Learn: how do you learn/think ...
Taking time: manage time
You can't get it right without getting it wrong.
and so on - in presentation online - let the students see us struggle to learn.
Anything we do with children we need ask "what can they do with that?"
Banking model - you might need it some day.
authentic learning - "genetic epistemology" -
two grades: A and incomplete
"verbal inflation" - being terrible excited about very little - if it comes from a computer it must be good !!! Highly tuned crap detectors are needed. Great session!!!

At 9:34am on September 15th, 2007, Ross Polson said…: Gary Stager's First Session - so good to be hearing sensible and learningcentric ideas about computing! A lot on Papert - STILL RELEVANT - constructionism - staff development is not working - computers in the classrooms but not being used by teachers. Great allegories - school shave been hesitant ti rethink their practices. "Mathland" - Papert - Logo is a mathland - like "Musicland", children can share, offer ideas, participate in "authentic learning", children should have mastery of (over) the machine, who's problem is it, is it appropriate?. Three views of ed. computing: Papert, Bork, Snyder, - we should have a world view, - Al Bork: Teachers are Stupid, and we have a shortage, so we will replace them with machines, huge number of driall and practice, interactive whiteboards which reinforce the front of the room as being important, (parents in Asia (our customers) have different expectations of the role of teachers and learners. Information does not equal learning. Info is a very small part of learning. Knowledge is the consequence of experience. "To understand is to invent". (Piaget). Instructionism vs Contructionism Constructivism vs Constructionism - latter makes 'active participation in creation' is best way to construct meaning. Larry Cuban ("that won't work") Technocentrism vs relevance "Why School Reform is Impossible." Papert: tech doesn't help children learn unless ... "art class - making something - all different - can we teach maths in the same spirit as we teach art - passion in learning - authentic learning removes the need for control (from the teacher). "Making possible what teachers have always dreamed of..." free school, progressive has foundered - nobody found a way to do maths - technology makes it possible to extend to other areas the spirit of "free schooling" ...

At 8:48am on September 15th, 2007, Ross Polson said…: Too much info!!!

At 11:53am on September 14th, 2007, Wayne Richardson said…: I am also looking forward finding out what is happening in the ICT world. 6 months is long time in the IT industry!
Iam particularly interested in laptop integration, IWB possibilities, and how is ICT actually changing our whole approach to Teaching, and student Learning. Just where are we going with all this?
Later,