Twenty14 has provided me with the challenge I have been looking for over the past few years and an opportunity to really be part of major change. In my new role as E Learning Team Leader, my primary focus is to further progress our schools E Learning journey, and in particular the movement to 1:1 devices. Super exciting.
Twenty14's Big Decisions
In 2013 we began our Pilot program in which we provided five BYOD classes at year 9. Teachers opted to teach these and students applied for entry into them. There were no entry criteria, simply random selection. In 2014 we decided to continue with this pilot program to further develop what the program would need, and of course to give us time to work out some of the problems with the technical side of providing 1:1 computing (e.g. the WIFI) before we take the 1:1 computer any further.
We are currently a mixed device school. This obviously has its pros and cons, with the most obvious con being the stress on teachers to know and understand how different devices work. So the first Big Decision that I feel we need to make this year is whether we stay multi-device or whether it is worth choosing one?
The second area where a decision needs to be made is platform. We have allowed our students to use a device with any platform and have encouraged teachers to use etools that are open source and free for students to use and easy to access. This term we are looking more closely at Microsoft 365 and Google Apps For Education. Our aim is to investigate both more thoroughly and make a decision on whether to continue as we are or to choose one of the above.
Both are difficult decisions, and of course no one decision fits every department perfectly. However I think we need to narrow things down in order to help the students and teachers both cope with the change from traditional teaching styles to one that incorporates technology effectively to enhance learning. So 2014 is about doing our research and due diligence into these two big areas and making these decisions early enough to lead into 2015.
E Learning Facilitators
Initial set up of our E Learning Facilitators (one per major department), has enabled me to create a team with a broad skill set but more importantly a team of teachers that is interested in using technology to enhance our students learning. These teachers receive one day per month of relief. This time is spent up-skilling themselves, one to one time with other teachers in their department and time to create resources for use by everyone.
Term one was all about providing support to teachers and using a softly softly approach to introduce new technologies that they might find useful, while also helping teachers in areas of their own interest.
ICT Structures
Our current focus is around setting up structures to effectively manage the problems we are and will come up against as we progress further. We are in the process of setting up a team to manage the technical aspects of providing wifi to 2300 students. This is to deal with issues as they arise and to minimise their effect on teachers and students.
So, a lot has been accomplished so far this year. Each week our view ahead seems to become more clear, while also at times becoming more complicated!
Twenty14's Big Decisions
In 2013 we began our Pilot program in which we provided five BYOD classes at year 9. Teachers opted to teach these and students applied for entry into them. There were no entry criteria, simply random selection. In 2014 we decided to continue with this pilot program to further develop what the program would need, and of course to give us time to work out some of the problems with the technical side of providing 1:1 computing (e.g. the WIFI) before we take the 1:1 computer any further.
We are currently a mixed device school. This obviously has its pros and cons, with the most obvious con being the stress on teachers to know and understand how different devices work. So the first Big Decision that I feel we need to make this year is whether we stay multi-device or whether it is worth choosing one?
The second area where a decision needs to be made is platform. We have allowed our students to use a device with any platform and have encouraged teachers to use etools that are open source and free for students to use and easy to access. This term we are looking more closely at Microsoft 365 and Google Apps For Education. Our aim is to investigate both more thoroughly and make a decision on whether to continue as we are or to choose one of the above.
Both are difficult decisions, and of course no one decision fits every department perfectly. However I think we need to narrow things down in order to help the students and teachers both cope with the change from traditional teaching styles to one that incorporates technology effectively to enhance learning. So 2014 is about doing our research and due diligence into these two big areas and making these decisions early enough to lead into 2015.
E Learning Facilitators
Initial set up of our E Learning Facilitators (one per major department), has enabled me to create a team with a broad skill set but more importantly a team of teachers that is interested in using technology to enhance our students learning. These teachers receive one day per month of relief. This time is spent up-skilling themselves, one to one time with other teachers in their department and time to create resources for use by everyone.
Term one was all about providing support to teachers and using a softly softly approach to introduce new technologies that they might find useful, while also helping teachers in areas of their own interest.
ICT Structures
Our current focus is around setting up structures to effectively manage the problems we are and will come up against as we progress further. We are in the process of setting up a team to manage the technical aspects of providing wifi to 2300 students. This is to deal with issues as they arise and to minimise their effect on teachers and students.
So, a lot has been accomplished so far this year. Each week our view ahead seems to become more clear, while also at times becoming more complicated!