Can we still manage in a crowd sourced world?

The post christmas wander through the bookshops is always enjoyable and you always pick up some great bargains. Fiction is always high on my agenda but I still browse the education, management and leadership sections looking at the latest trends. It is depressing to say that nothing really has changed except that the management paradigm no longer has a place in 21st century organisations.   How many large and small organisations are still employing managers to ’control and command’ staff and how many school leaders are still managing the business of schooling?

Ibarra and Hansen writing in the August 2011 Harvard Business Review said:

Research has consistently shown that diverse teams produce better results, provided they are well led. The ability to bring together people from different backgrounds, disciplines, cultures, and generations and leverage all they have to offer, therefore, is a must have for leaders.  Yet many companies spend inordinate amounts of time, money, and energy attracting talented employees only to subject them to homogenizing processes that kill creativity.

What is interesting in a crowd-sourced and connected world is that we still believe in some form of social determinism that says only a few are capable of leading or that the more senior you are the better your ideas.  The issue we all face is how organisations and school systems make the shift from controlling to influencing.   It requires an understanding that every employee or teacher is a leader in their own right.

Just by being part of the team, learning community or organisation, they have an investment in how it performs.  They accept responsibility and are accountability for their own performance as well as the teams.   This supports a new way of working where all ideas are to be valued and where diversity is the norm.  What does this say about how we view the work of teachers in today’s world?  How powerful would learning be if we applied the paradigm to the learning space?

Leadership is an expression of the power of the team on the learning space as it continually reshapes itself to address areas of need.

The future is already here

In 2003, William Gibson was quoted in The Economist stating ‘the future is already here’.  That was eight years ago and look how far technology has brought us.

Towards the end of last year, I read an article about Apple’s plan to allow television to be delivered over the internet in such a way that we may all have one in our living rooms very soon. Although still in its infancy, this type of technology called internet television (ITV) already exists. Two of the best current examples are ABC’s free iView and the BBC’s iPlayer subscription service, which are available in Australia and many other countries.

There’s no doubt that Apple will develop something that will revolutionise the way we traditionally understand the ‘television set’ – just as they transformed the way we use our mobile phones (through iPhones), tablet computers (through iPads) and music (through iTunes).  This signals the end of the ‘television set’ as we have come to know and love it.

For those digital refugees out there, I’ve been reflecting on the things that we have grown up but are becoming passe and why:

1. Letterboxes (people relying on email/text/twitter)
2. Fixed phone lines (everybody has a mobile phone)
3. Retirement (people are continuing to work with computers/laptops blurring the line between work and leisure time, and not needing to be in the ‘office’ to be working)
4. Login (turning phone on and all the information is there)
5. Car keys (sensor locks)
6. Wallets (credit card details can be on the iphone, as well as virtual cash)
7. Television sets (replaced by ipad/iphone/computers/ Internet television ITV)
8. Job certainty (globalisation)
9. Diaries (iphones)
10. Cash (ATM’s, credit cards)
11. DVD, CD’s (replaced by ipads/laptops/computers/ITV)
12. Bricks and mortar schools (replaced by e-learning, distance education)
13. Retail shops (replaced by online shopping)
14. Post Office (virtual communications)

I hope we don’t see schools heading the same way.

The world students are growing up in is very different to the world we experienced.  I think it’s important to reflect on this and how ubiquitous technology is in their lives.  The things they use each day don’t disappear, they just become smaller, faster and more powerful.

Society seems to have been able to adapt to these changes, perhaps with a little nostalgic yearning for the good old days. We shouldn’t see these as threats but as opportunities to enhance our lives. It has to be the same for schools. ICT is only an extension of the teacher’s toolkit; it’s how we use the tools to support learning will determine students’ futures.

The next big thing

I think many people over forty have a problem with technology and the older you are the more technology seems difficult to understand. We always seem to be playing catch up as the NBT ( next big thing) hits the market. New and converging technologies appear and we often feel powerless in the face of the tsunami of technological innovation. We look at the shiny new device and note immediately that  it is smaller and much faster than its predecessors; does more things or claims; looks sexier and is relatively cheap. How can any of us keep up with this relentless innovation and development cycle?

Spare a thought then for schools.  They face an enormous challenge in providing the most appropriate technologies for students and teachers. The struggle to stay current is taxing and exhausting and the probability of poor decision making is high. For the past twenty years school leaders have struggled with the challenges of providing a range of ICT tools for their learning communities.

But is this where we should be focussing all of our energies?

Over the Christmas break, I read Steve Jobs’ biography by Walter Isaacson. This is a warts and all account of his life and achievements and well worth the read. One thing really struck me though as I read the book and it was something that Jobs himself came to understand in the early part of this century. He had spent his entire life pushing the boundaries of technologies – the relentless quest to build a better computer and a successful company – Apple.

In early 2000 Jobs decided to delete the word “computers” from the company name because he realized that Apple was not in fact, a technology company, it was a “lifestyle” company. Apple technologies had begun to revolutionise the way people live work and play. iTunes, iPhoto. iMovie and most importantly iTunes were reshaping the music, movie and the publishing industries. The old ways were gone and vanished quickly. All the technology did was to enable this change to take place.

If you want further evidence of this seismic shift pay attention to car advertisements. You can now personalise your car, it can match your moods or the “other you” as one car company claims. The car is incidental, it is the lifestyle that is more important. Notice how other tech companies like Apple and ACER are dropping the direct reference to computers in their names. The technology has become invisible – it’s how you use it that is significant.

And the ones who really understand the shift that has taken place are young people. Technology has allowed them to live their lives very differently to previous generations.  Technology allows them to express who they are, how they learn and how they communicate.

Before the arrival of Facebook, Twitter and IM, school was the place to socialise while learning.  What is school to young people today, does it offer the same level of opportunities and engagement for self-expression and independent learning?  Do young people see school as an integral part of their lives or is there an alternative? And is school just another aspect of their lifestyle?

As we prepare for another school year, perhaps we need to be thinking about making schooling the next big thing for today’s learners.

Looking back on 2011

Earlier this week I had the privilege of attending a graduation ceremony at The University of Notre Dame and witnessed 100 young student teachers graduate. Other than feeling very old, I was amazed by their enthusiasm and energy which was clearly evident in their demeanour. To see this gave me great hope in the future of the profession and it caused me to reflect on how professionally rewarding the past year has been.

I hear a lot of talk about the pace of change and how we are living in a fast paced world.  To this I say welcome to the 21st century and all the marvelous opportunities that change brings not only to how we live and work but how we learn.  In the past twelve months I have seen great innovation in the schools I have visited, and I am increasingly astounded by, much of the contemporary practices happening in schools that is based on sound education theory and practice.

I believe we are at the tipping point of wide scale change. I see teachers talking, working and sharing their practice in physical and virtual spaces. This is about leaders and teachers taking control of their learning and harnessing a range of tools. Our principals’ masterclass this year was one example of how communities are building the collective wisdom and expertise to not only improve one class or one school but entire systems. What started as a sharing opportunity for leaders has now morphed into a professional learning community.

All of this influences what happens in the learning spaces between teachers and students.  I think of the remarkable story of one of our students who was labelled as ‘special needs’ throughout most of her school life.  But through the dedication of her teachers and her school, produced the most remarkable HSC artwork, which will be featuring in the ArtExpress exhibition.

I think of my visit to a group of kindergarten students, and how I sat with them so they could teach me how to use an Ipad.  I was talking to a colleague who shared a story about how she caught a photo of her four year old daughter with two other four year friends all sitting down in a row playing quite comfortably with their dad’s smartphone. This is probably not an uncommon scene these days, and is a snapshot of how early on our children are exposed to technology.

What stands out for me is how comfortable our children are with whatever new gadget comes their way, how much they embrace it and how they are making the most of it. We simply cannot ignore the capacity of technology and if we do so, it is to our peril.

I think of all the Building the Education Revolution (BER) projects which have taken place across many schools and how the investment has provided so much value, pride, joy and gratitude for our school communities. It reminds us of how important the learning environment is and how it must always respond to the needs and interests of today’s learners and teachers not last century’s.

As this is my last blog post for the year, I would like to thank all my contributors who have written posts and made insightful and valuable comments.  Thank you for being part of the learning conversations and I look forward to many more in 2012. Crowdsourcing is the learning tool of the future.

In the meantime, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Lessons from Ramona

Ramona Pierson is a remarkable woman. I have blogged about her after seeing her speak at TED. She has an incredible story and it’s a lesson about the power of learning. I recently shared the stage with her at the !dea11 conference in Melbourne.  It was a privilege to be able to speak with somebody who is committed to better understanding how people learn.  By a strange twist of fate, Ramona’s accident enabled her to ask a simple question yet it has such deep implications for our work as educators.  That question is ‘how do people learn best?’ Once we understand this, we can maximise opportunities for learners and teachers.

I don’t know about you but I admire people who can simplify the complex and that’s not to say that what Ramona does is simple. What she is doing is finding practical solutions to empower students and enable students.

Art of teaching

Over the course of the year I have written about a range of issues but the central theme has been about learning and teaching in a contemporary and connected world. The more I write about this, the more I recognise that improving student learning is about improving teacher quality.  It’s not pie in the sky stuff, it’s achievable when we get teachers working and learning together, opening their practice up to critical reflection and setting high benchmarks for themselves and their students.

I know this has been the road less travelled in our profession for the past hundred years and I suppose it can be difficult to imagine how teacher practice could change.  Opening your teaching up to comment is a huge risk but when done in the spirit of continuous improvement, the rewards are great.

I am fortunate to be able to see this in practice when I visit schools.  When I hear teachers talking about Helen Timperley’s inquiry cycle as a framework for reflection, it not only changes practice but culture.

Recently, I was asked to view the art work of students at Caroline Chisholm, Glenmore Park.  These students are being taught by teachers who are part of a professional learning community committed to improving their own and their students’ learning.  I know I often say I was wowed by student work but I don’t think I can capture the standard here in words.

What is impressive is that the art teachers expect their Year 1o students to produce Year 12 quality work – and they do.  By the time this cohort gets to Year 12, the standard is extraordinary.   Out of a class of 30 this year, 10 were nominated for the NSW Art Express  and 7 have been chosen to exhibit. The teachers are charting the progress of their students from Year 7 through to Year 12.

I spoke to several of the students who acknowledged their teachers and were supportive of the stretch their teachers provided.  The teachers didn’t think their practice was out of the ordinary and this is when you know you there’s been a cultural change.

Learning Conversations Caroline Chisholm

It’s a great base from which to build and I look forward to continuing the learning conversations with teachers and leaders next year.

Hitting home runs

I’ve just finished reading Michael Lewis’ Moneyball, which has been made into a movie starring Brad Pitt and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Finding insight in different places often provides a new perspective on the work we do.  For me, the commonality was the desire to build a high performing baseball team and the desire to build a high performing school, district or system.

The book is based on the exploits of former major league baseball player and general manager of the Oakland As, Billy Beane.  Beane faces the uneviable task of trying to build a succcessful baseball team within ever increasing financial constraints and greater expecations by fans.  The tried and true method of drafing players rested with talent scouts who would scour the country identifying players based on personal perception and experience.  Beane decides they need to do something differently to turnaround the team and enlists the help of a statistician who has no baseball experience.

Surprised by the amount of data that was either unused or previously unanalsyed, Beane and his statistician begin analsying player by player.  And like all good Hollywood scripts,  the team begins to improve because Beane had the courage to challenge the prevailing culture, to use evidence to support the decision making process, to put the best players where they would make a difference and to question the existing paradigm.  If the Oakland As was a case study in education, Michael Fullan would refer to this as a turnaround school.  While Beane didn’t dismiss the wisdom of the crowd (the talent scouts), he sought to get the best results using evidence and experience.

 

What are the lessons we can learn from the Oakland As?  Are we hitting home runs for our school communities?

Precision

When Michael Fullan was here two weeks ago, he spent his second day in discussion with our leadership team on how we can get greater precision in our work.  He suggested three key areas as a next step: the coordination of the message across the system, the coordination of work across the networks and a strong instructional focus on literacy and maths.

According to Fullan, the last area is about getting specificity and depth and precision in the instruction.  You see this when principals work inside and outside of their school, teachers work collaboratively and schools see themselves as something bigger.  Building success across the system builds momentum.

Fullan also mentioned the importance of social capital in school improvement and whole system reform.  He explained that social capital is essentially the quality of relationships in a group focussed on the work.   The example Fullan uses is the sports team that is committed to each other and works cohesively actually beating the team with greater individual talent but which lacks cohesion and social capital.

The work of school principals is to help build the social capital in their own learning communities while systems support the creation of professional learning communities across networks. It is the development of a  ”peer culture”, linking into bigger networks where everyone is  focused on improving student learning outcomes.

As Jim Collins says it’s not the destination but the journey that gets you from good to great.  In many respects, Fullan has become our coach – helping to change our own instructional practice in order to become a high performing system.

Make learning the work

Our system has been very fortunate to have been working with Michael Fullan over a period of five years. Given Fullan’s vast experience and the demands on his time, it never ceases to amaze me how generous he is with his time when he is present. To sit around the table and explore issues in depth is a privilege we don’t take lightly. It is perhaps at these times that we get some real depth in our own professional learning. I don’t think we can ever take these opportunities for granted and I hope in some small way this post is a way of sharing Fullan’s thinking.

Fullan spent time explaining how the moral imperative (raising the bar and closing the gap for all students) can be realised. For us, the moral imperative is giving every child the best possible schooling we can provide as a developed nation and this schooling is embedded in our Catholic faith and traditions.

As Fullan says:

‘This work is driven by the moral imperative by raising the bar and closing the gap for all students, and doing so for the whole system – not just for some schools, but for all students; not just for some districts but all districts; and not just a one level but all levels. We call this ‘whole system reform’.

In sum, the big difference between effective and ineffective school systems – and all organisations for that matter – is the ‘collaborative or shared depth of understanding among members about the nature of their work’.  You can’t get collective depth from a workshop, or from episodic team meetings.  You can only get shared depth one-way – making learning the day-to-day work.’    

Realising the moral imperative is about recognising the right and wrong drivers for change. Fullan explained that professional development is a commonly confused wrong driver. This happens when educators attend workshops, conferences and take courses, which bears little relationship to classroom and school improvement. Instead, the right driver should be ‘professional learning’ – the learning that happens ‘in between workshops’ on a day to day basis with school communities. Learning becomes the work of teachers and students.

Other ‘wrong drivers’ include teacher appraisal, merit pay and leadership competency frameworks.  Wrong in so much as they do not tackle the day to day culture within schools and systems. Fullan says the right drivers: capacity building, group work, pedagogy and ‘systemness’ are effective because they work on changing the culture of school systems whereas the wrong drivers focus on changing the structure. One works on the internal, the other on the external.

As we know, real change comes from the core – from teachers and leaders working collaboratively; critically reflecting on practice to improve student learning outcomes. Every teacher and leader has a responsibility not only to their own school community but to the system. One for all; all for one – the moral imperative in action.

The change gap

Last week I attended a “learning and leading conversations” workshop at Ravenswood School for Girls with Canadian educator George Couros. George and his brother Alec have developed a significant professional learning network on Twitter and it was good to see the physical and virtual connections converging.  The more this happens, the greater the drive for principals and teachers to become a part of it and learn from it.  George shared this open letter to educators – very Bueller-esque.

We spent the day working in groups on some of the big questions such as what would we change about schools/classrooms? There wouldn’t have been anyone in the room who wasn’t convinced that schooling needs to change.  But in my experience, it often falls over in the next stage when people go back as lone change agents.

This is the change gap. Too often the “change gap” terrifies people and they respond with inertia or take the first up solution.  I see the change gap as a great opportunity to focus discussion and collaboration. I think this is why Twitter and other social networking tools are becoming a critical part of teachers’ learning. The change gap could become our wikipedia experience.  A place where we invite the wisdom of the community to help us work through the complex processes of schooling. It will also help build a culture that says we’ll find ways forward when we listen to the voices around the education table be it here or around the world.