A recent report has called for the focus in education to be put “back on teaching, away from paperwork”. As someone who has spent four decades in education, I share the pain of pointless paperwork and meaningless marking. However, it’s important to set the record straight for what is often dismissed as “data”. The decisions we … More Teachers: don’t diss the data
When we talk about classrooms being connected, we really are at the tip of the iceberg. Within the next 3-5 years, the Internet of Things (IoT) will have already transformed sectors like health, transport and retail. These sectors have begun using sensor networks to collect and transmit real-time data to improve quality of care and efficiency. Last … More The internet of ‘educational’ things
In 2001, Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam published their seminal article titled Inside the Black Box: raising standards through classroom assessment. It focuses on formative assessment which according to the authors is at the heart of effective teaching. The article suggests that the practice of formative assessment has not been front and centre in most classrooms. In fact the link between formative assessment and … More The Black Box
According to Yong Zhao one of the biggest flaws of PISA is that it “directs the world’s attention to the past instead of pointing to the future.” Yet education systems and policy makers rely on international assessments such as PISA to gauge student performance in maths, science and reading. In World Class Learners, Zhao admits … More The speed of things
The words ‘evidence-based’ are at the centre of the ongoing push to improve student learning and school improvement. This is a welcome focus and helps put the evaluation of both the learning and teaching in the centre of the work schools and systems do. We need to consider what this evidence base is and the … More The ‘Fitbit’ for education
The slow and steady demise of manufacturing in Australia has sparked interesting debate in recent times over competitiveness in a global economy. I was interested in the discussion following on from Toyota’s recent announcement and whether workplace arrangements had jeopardised the big car manufacturers presence in Australia. The need for contemporary practices impacts also … More Innovating workplaces
Following on from last week’s blog post on big data, I had the great pleasure of meeting researcher and educator George Siemens recently. George is the Associate Director, Technology Enhanced Knowledge Research Institute at Athabasca University in Canada. He was also one of the first people ever to facilitate the use of MOOCs. George has been immersed in learning and … More A different level of insight
In the past few weeks I’ve read at least three articles on ‘big data’. We are moving rapidly from knowledge capture to data generated insight and innovation. I think that the questions being posed for business in the age of data can be equally applied to education. How can we ‘create value for our students/teachers … More Framing the right questions
Here’s a question – do you believe all students can learn? If you said yes and you’re a teacher or leader, are there examples at your school of students who aren’t achieving gains in their learning? How do you reconcile the two? Here’s another question – if you were asked to list ten things that … More Know your learners
Late last year, the University of Western Sydney’s Whitlam Institute commissioned a national survey of over 8,000 educators on the impact of the annual National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). There were very few surprises in the results which found that many teachers believed NAPLAN had negatively affected their practice and narrowed the … More NAPLAN: friend, foe or on the fence?
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