Via Derek Wenmouth, this link to the 2006 Horizon Report. This annual report focuses on emerging technologies that are expected to have an impact on higher learning within the next few years. It also provides some insight as to how these technologies may be applied to teaching and learning.

Some of the less technically confident teachers I know seem to feel that they need to follow the route taken by those who caught an earlier techie bus. I disagree. This view is inevitably going to be discouraging. Rather than going back over old ground, it is possible to short-circuit the process, and a publication like the Horizon Report can prove very helpful in this regard.

The six focus areas this year in order of their expected “time to impact” are:

• social computing (less than a year)
• personal broadcasting (less than a year)
• the phones in their pockets (2-3 years)
• educational gaming (2-3 years)
• augmented reality and enhanced visualisation (4-5 years)
• context-aware environments and devices (4-5 years)

I strongly recommend this report to anyone intending to do the ICT in Teaching and Learning module later this year.

Via Vicki Davis’s Cool Cat teacher blog, a brilliant series from (19 year old) Brian Benzinger of Solution Watch on the use of Web 2.0 in today’s classroom, with links to all sorts of useful tools for both teachers and students.

A story from the Seattle Times, via David Warlick about the increased motivation of schoolchildren using social media in the classroom.

Ewan McIntosh summarises an address by the University of Bristol’s Angela MacFarlane. I’ll quote his summary in full becaue it’s short and because it resonates with so much of my current thinking and where I want to go with the idea of technology-enabled learning.

My emphasis is always on the learner experience, so I was particularly struck by Ewan’s observation that “all this goes against the grain of the curriculum and the people who created it”.

During the two years I spent in an FE college, my two deepest frustrations were:

• the curriculum
• the requirement to teach to the test

As a trainer with some 10 years’ experience by then, I felt up to the task of identifying learner needs and providing learning that would meet them. I also objected to the notion of teaching a person to pass a test rather than equipping them to exercise a new skill independently of me. It didn’t take me long to move back into the business sector, where these strictures were removed (and replaced, I guess, by ROI).

For a welcome change, a Primary school teacher in England who is embracing social software in his classroom. Wahey!

This link via Stephen Downes to a new school being built in Sydney, Australia. A school that has completely adopted Web 2.0 technology, done away with things like classroom walls and totally revamped timetables.

I think many will be astonished to learn that this brave step is being undertaken by the Catholic Church – most would have expected such innovation from far more New Age organisations.

Of course there is no way of knowing in advance whether this kind of school will work – time will tell. I’m not sure to what extent the very young students get to be in the driver’s seat, and that is an area in which I harbour some doubts. Among older learners who have acquired the necessary skills and self-discipline, many will probably thrive on it, but I suspect it will better suit the more able learner. I worry a bit about the less able who require more intensive attention.

It will be interesting to see how they handle activities that need groups of people in one place at one time: team sports, PE, music ensembles, etc. I’d also be interested to hear how they will approach accreditation and curriculum (if at all, of course!).
I would love to be given the opportunity to try this course (MA Education) in this manner though! In a way, I think I already do that, while also accommodating the more traditional approach offered by the university. However, I don’t know that my course leaders are in a position to credit the work I do online if it doesn’t make an overt appearance in my submitted papers.

I’ve been having trouble posting to this blog lately – let’s see if I have better luck today!

Some recent posts worth noting on this subject:

Dave Warlick on wikipedia and its impact on learning

Vicki Davis explores the opportunities for using Skype in the classroom

Doug Belshaw looks at the use of podcasts in lessons and revision.

This is the next module for my award. I am keen to collect up a body of testimonies from those who are exploring alternative means of delivering or acquiring learning – people at all stages of the process, and with all attitudes towards it.

Whether it be podcasts, discussion forums, blogs, wikis, interactive whiteboards (on which topic I confess complete ignorance) – I am interested in these stories. Please would you consider sharing yours?

Having fought for two years for acceptance onto a postgraduate course, my journey towards and MA in Education is finally underway. I have attended three sessions and handed in my first assignment.

By and large, the course appears to focus on an education system in stasis, which makes it an imperfect fit for someone who works in the field of blended learning, which is in a permanent state of flux.

Nevertheless, there seems to be a willingness to accommodate me, which is encouraging.