Schools: Destroying our environment!

Gone are the days where schools are attended by all children, where there is government funding for schools and where children get multiple interactions with the teacher and their peers.

Today we have none of that, with the government constantly losing money, the decision to stop funding in the education sector was made. Majority of schools could not survive without the funding and the now empty buildings that used to be filled with children's chatter and laughter are only being  used by poorer families that are trying to give their children some type of education by using old textbooks and anything else they can find that was left behind in the classrooms.

However some schools did survive, they turned into privitised schools with enormous tuition fees, large sized classrooms and huge amounts of technology. The children that are wealthy enough to go to these schools have the newest technology and learning tools as soon as they are released. There are no concerns about the amount of children within each class as all the children work at their own speed as determined by the new computer technology. This technology keeps track of how well the student is learning and plans their learning for the following day based on the days achievements.Technology is now used for everything within the school day and the children are beginning to rely on the technology for all aspects within their lives. Due to the increase in technology the way the children are taught has changed significantly. You will not find a pen and paper within the class, children don't have textbooks and the library is now online with all books available to be read online by multiple people at one time.

In order to maintain the cost of the new privitised schooling the schools have had to constantly upgrade their technology used within the classrooms. Parents want to see their children learning to their full potential and with the price they are paying for their children to be able to learn old technology just won't do. The schools employed techno-teachers to find the best technology from around the world and obtain it for use within the school. When the new technology arrives the old gets disposed of as soon as the new is installed.

With the rate of technological advance the stream of new technologies entering the different privitised schools is extremely high, due to this the rate of technological equipment being disposed of is skyrocketing, the demand for old technology is low as everyone wants the next best thing, so it just starts to pile up. Recyclers of the technological waste centers work hard to keep the levels of waste at a minimum but it quickly becomes hard to do and the waste starts to pile up and affect the environment that we live in.

Schools are being warned that if they continue their technological ways then not only are they making our children reliant on technology but that they will also continue to destroy the environment around them.

By Jennifer Bourne

Scenario Matrix

I really struggled with this task, been pondering if for 2 days before I could get to the point of typing it up. I wanted to look at technology in education and the increase having effects on socialism within schools but also the difference between privitised and public schools using the technology.. hopefully I have done this right

Couch Potato
School has moved to online tutorials, these are monitored by teachers for attendance and achievement levels for each student. Learning is not individualised but teachers are available for online support during the day if necessary. The technology used is very basic and not always upgraded when required due to funding and the cost of new technology.
The students in the scenario see school as a bore, they can't learn as they want to as the technology is not available and will often not completed the required tasks due to problems with the old technology.

Closed clam:
Schools are attended online, the learning is expensive due to the technology required to access the learning content. Once logged on the programme for the day is available and the students work through at their own pace. Tests are included within the daily programme if necessary to help the technology assess the students progress and assign the learning for the next day based on their achievements.
Students do not talk to each other or a teacher as all learning is independent, technology is used to ensure this.

Wallflower:
Schools are all public funded, Student grouping is used on a regular basis to maintain the social aspect of school. The technology is not relied upon and has a small presence within the classroom with other equipment and resources used before technoogy. Schools receive funding from the government to keep up with the change in technology but this is a minimal amount and is spent with careful consideration on technology that will last the longest and have the most uses. Teachers guide the learning by selecting appropriate programs for the students to match their learning needs.

Social Butterflies:
School is maintained for the social factor within education. In this scenario funding is not an issue as the schools are all privitised and tuition fees are high to allow new technology to be accessible at all times. Technology is relied on for all aspects of the day and as soon as something new is released the classroom equipment is upgraded. Teachers are only there for supervision and support as students learn through online tutorials.
The draw back of this scenario is the amount of e-waste that is accumulating due to constant upgrades within the schools, the amount is not able to be disposed if fast enough to stop it causing damage to the environment.

Relevant trends

Trends I have identified are:

• Gaming and Gamification - Learning games use within the classroom and games with levels, stages and achievements

 I selected this trend as it is becoming more common for groups to use learning games when they are not working with a teacher or completing a follow up activity. I am also looking at the change in education involving the use of learning games with ASD children.
I think it is important as it is being used within the classroom a lot more and is replacing th ehands on games and activities that would normally be used.

•  Smart web - multitudes of information kept on the internet (internet of things) for example testing, student tracking, teacher resources etc.

I selected this as majority of schools have some degree of this within the school, I think it is important as more and more information is going up into the 'cloud' which can reduce the amount of paperwork in some areas.

Perspective of a decision maker

My decision-making context:

• I am reviewing the scenario as a primary teacher, my school is characterised by using a lot of ICT resources by students and staff (this is not my actual school, I am a new teacher graduate but this is a school I relieve at)

Overview of the scenario:
Cachia R, Cao Y, Cuong Pham M, Fetter S, Garoia V, Klamma R,  Punie V, Rajagopal K, Redecker C, Sloep P, Vuorikari R, (2012). Teacher Networks Today's and Tomorrow's Challenges and Opportunities for the Teaching Profession. Brussels, Belgium: European Schoolnet.
http://www.slideshare.net/europeanschoolnet/teacher-networks-todays-and-tomorrows-challenges-and-opportunities-for-the-teaching-profession

This looks at the evolving role within the teaching profession, that if strong support is provided then teachers can be the main change agents for reforms within education. 
It focuses on teacher networks and how these can support teachers in initial training as well as in professional development.
The main purpose is to help with the quality of teaching and the learning experiences that the students get. 

There are 5 scenarios that are detailed:

1. eNet - Centralised network of networks which brings different education stakeholders together. An expansion of the current eTwinning network
2. MyNetwork - Personalised social networking approach, opposite of eNet
3. Intelligent Agents - Intelligent agent created to assist with workload, find information and stay connected with other teachers.
4. Diversified Teaching Career - Personalised learning, students are able to learn in 3 different ways: in class with the teacher, virtual real time learning or virtual learning in playback mode
5. Informal Learning Camps - face to face teacher boot camps where they learn from each other

I think scenario 4 - Diversified Teaching Career would be the most viable option, I think the drivers of change would be the role of the teacher, technological advances and time

Brainstorm list of recommended decisions: Generate a bullet list of the decisions you would recommend based on your reading of the scenario, taking into account your decision-making context above.

• How will the learning providers ensure all students are participating?
• Will the students have resources available?
• How will the teaching method keep up with the technological changes?
• Devices compatible with virtual learning
• Time management
• Will there be more or less students?
• Learning environment

Two most important strategic decisions:
Learning devices - The devices used for learning need to be compatible with virtual learning as well, there are a lot of different devices around which all work differently. There would need to be a decision made and research done so that the chosen device is easy for the teacher as well as the students and it would need to be able to perform as required. If the wrong device is chosen then it would cause huge problems for the teacher which could have a big effect on how they use the devices in future.
Participation -  There will need to be a way to determine and monitor participation and work that has been completed for students that are studying via the virtual platform. Whether it be reflections, blog posts or microblogs the teacher is only going to be able to have accurate assessment data if the participation is monitored and there is confirmation that the student is completing the work (and the one completing it).

Transferability of recommended decisions for the scenarios alternatives:
Learning devices - This decision would be transferable across a couple of the scenarios but not all of them as informal learning camps looks at getting away from online communication and embracing face to face which would not have a huge need for learning devices.
Participation - This is transferable across all the scenarios, the need to monitor participation will be there regardless as to whether it is done through a network or face to face.
Ease of use would be a great strategy to fit all scenarios, A lot of the time if something is easy to use and seen as useful then people feel a lot more comfortable in using it and will embrace the change. If something is complicated and confusing there are more chances that it will be rejected and unused.

Phew, been puzzling this one for a few days (love the save function on blogger) I have just graduated teachers college so been put into the spot of a decision maker is not something in which I have experienced within education as yet other then when planning for within the classroom.

Scenario planning - An interesting concept

Initially I saw Scenario planning as something that could be useful but I had no strong opinions as to whether it would be useful or not.

I have watched and read various information about Scenario planning, I now understand it a lot more and can see the benefits that there are if scenario planning is used.

Based on the readings I have done it sounds like a very positive thing that to do, it shows how scenario planning has been used in the past and gives information about the successes through using it, I have also read how it is getting used currently and although there is no information as to what the actual outcome is the scenarios that have been created cover any possible aspects.

Being a very visual learner I was amazed at how different the scenarios in the above video were, it definitely highlights that there could be a range of scenarios from good outcomes to bad outcomes.

I am still working on the pros and cons of scenario planning in my context but from what I have read about the use of it in other contexts I can’t see a downside. Planning is something that is done in teaching on an extremely regular basis (as any teacher will know) so at present the only downside I can see is the time factor however having looked at the scenarios for the future could be extremely beneficial to a teacher when implementing a change in digital technologies.

During the online workshop I would like to learn more about Scenario Planning and how it can effectively be done because I think it would be a very useful tool to be able to use.

Scenarios can’t predict the future, so what’s the point?

The future is unknown as there are always changing variables which affects what will happen in the future.

Scenarios can't predict the future but they can give an idea of what the future could be like dependent on decisions made and this can then lead to a direction to be followed or show an impending impact, if that is how the future goes then there is already planning there to support it rather than being thrown in the deep end with no planning.

Scenario planning is helpful in more than just business, it is now being used in many other areas including academia, when we take this into consideration as well as the following information about scenario planning and Shell it shows that there is definitely a very valid point to scenario planning.

http://www.shell.com/global/future-energy/scenarios.html

Planning for the future is something that everyone does in their personal lives so adding the concept into another context makes sense, creating different scenarios within that context to help predict what could happen in the future can help to predict any possibility that may arise

SP4Ed introducing myself

Hi,
I Live in Christchurch, New Zealand with my Partner and three children, I have recently graduated from Canterbury University with my BtchLn (primary) and I am now working towards my Post Graduate diploma in Education. I decided to do this with an endorsement in e-learning as it is an area in which I need to improve.

I was once told that within the classroom we are asking children to step out onto the 'silly bridge' or 'take a risk'. Well I think the same goes for teachers, we need to step out of out comfort zones and be prepared to take risks as well.

I am new to the online learning community, I have never used mOOC before, twitter is still a mystery and my blog was created a few weeks ago for my course requirements so I am still on a huge learning curve!

So to familiarise myself a little I read the 'learning environment' part and the links etc, (as you do) but I found this video helped me a lot, I am a visual learner and sometimes zone off the page when reading something that is straight text with no colours or pictures

http://vimeo.com/61837466

While I was watching it, I felt the need to write the following down:

Succeeding in a mOOC

• Orient - Materials, times, Links
• Declare - Link blog, join twitter
• Network - Follow others, read/comment on posts, make connections
• Cluster - Group of people to work with, similar interests
• Focus - Keep focused, keep in mind why you are doing it.

By maintaining a blog I would like to become more comfortable with other people looking at my work, establish a routine of regular posts, and get comfortable with different online tools - blogger, twitter, mOOC etc...