Yes, you heard it right. The Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham and NSW Premier, Gladys Berejikilian have suggested that schools lock up phones until the end of the school day to prevent students’ from being distracted. Naturally the comments generated a lot of debate on radio particularly among frustrated parents and teachers. I understand their frustration. … More Technology isn’t the problem
When Yong Zhao was last in Australia, I asked if he would consider contributing a guest post to bluyonder. I’m pleased to say his post, which is adapted from his newly published book ‘Never Send a Human to Do a Machine’s Job: Correcting the Top 5 Ed Tech Mistakes‘ is below. Yong suggests that we need to consider … More How technology will make teachers more human
For the past year, we have been fortunate to have two Spanish sisters working in the agile learning space at St Monica’s Primary, North Parramatta. It’s been a great cross-cultural experience for all involved. They say the children are helping to correct their English! In Spain, Sr Maria and Sr Teresa were the principals of two progressive K-12 … More The great art of companionship
I am often asked about what technologies and devices will be like in the near future. Given the innovation, the rate of change, and the exponential power of new technologies, not to mention the cost, this question is understandable. Up unto the last two to three years it was all about “picking the winner” in … More Are raspberry pi(es) good for you?
I have often asked my colleagues to write guest blogs as a way of sharing expertise from those at the coalface. In reality, those at the heart of schooling are our students. In May, we hosted the Council of Catholic School Parents’ Conference. The theme was iConnect and the weekend was in part an opportunity … More A learner’s voice
I spent Monday in masterclass so to speak at the ACARA national roundtable on curriculum for the 21st century. The roundtable was an opportunity to hear from international experts and educators in the context of how we are responding at a national and local level to the rapidly changing world and how jurisdictions are responding … More Metacognition and the digital age
I’m often asked what 21st century learning and teaching looks like for teachers and students. When I was speaking at the 2012 Technology in K-12 Education National Congress in Sydney recently, I had the chance to sit in on the student panel and was impressed to hear our own year 12 student, Mark Elias, from … More A student’s take on learning and teaching
Often we can make the assumption that technologists are trying to tell us how to go about the business of schooling with little understanding of learning and teaching. Today I caught up with Tom Mills, Google’s Global Director Enterprise Education in San Francisco who made the following points: 1. Google is in the business of … More Google’s not a substitute teacher
Last week we had one of the world’s ed tech experts, Alan November make a whirlwind visit to Parramatta. I had an opportunity to take Alan to one of our primary schools to see how students and teachers were working in an agile space. He then spent a few hours sharing his insights and expertise … More Alan November
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 … More The future is already here
