The year that has been

The year that has been… I woke up this morning realising today is December 7th. 2013 is nearly over.
There has been some good, some great and some less good and some messy! 

I have:
 - deepened my understanding of the scope and role of ePortfolios, researched and analysed methods of implementation outside of schools, inquired into their potential for employability, professional certifications and acreditations, as well as personal branding.
- dived in to identify and articulate the attributes of the Life Long Learner
- related the building of an ePortfolio to digital identity, digital footprints and key digital literacies.
- made sense of the inherent links between personal learning and social learning and how to scaffold them
- assessed ways of restructuring the way we work to make best use of both personal and social learning
- evaluated a range of online tools and services to support the ePortfolio approach
- started using design thinking
- worked on OpenBadges, instructional design
- realized I am only a technology consumer ...
- had a first go at synthesing this into a minimum value proposition to get started with ThinkAgency
- contributed by invitation to many projects and conversations but failed (so far) to get all the stakeholders I have engaged with to contract me…

This has led me to:
 - identify salient common points between the "world of education" and the "world of work"
-  slowly break away from my "edu" echo chamber and go and listen/participate in other communities
-  discover an engaging and switched on to learning professional community
 - see the need for a common vocabulary when labeling and describing skills, strengths, competence
-  invest in attending conferences where I have listened, participated, presented, met with
-  see and work through others' problem with them
-  value openness as the modus operandi
-  talk a lot around dreams and ideas (sigh…)
-  throw myself in a lot of new related stuff wanting to start to understand OpenBadges potential, IT stuff around metadata, experiencing basic coding...
-  feel frustrated by not staying focus



Which in turns has opened my eyes to: (the confronting....)
- how limited I actually am to see the big picture: I find it hard placing boundaries around my ideas to have them evolve beyond just that
- the tyranny of too much autonomy! (especially let lose with a connected device)
- how limited my mastery around IT is beyond using/consuming
- how easily I forget I can't assume and must verify all hypothesis...
- how unable I seem to be at actually establishing my own actionable purpose!

Yet fabulous stuff happened such as:
- experiencing the world of entrepreneurship and start ups
- getting a feel for this whole ecosystem and going in with eyes wide open
- drawing some connections to the world as I have known it so far
- acquiring vast amount of new learning (some of it yet to be connected)
- witnessing what truly persuasive and convincing look like in practice
- starting to understand value in a commercial and business sense
- developing solid partnerships


I have maintained and grown lasting existing friendships.
I have worked on balancing my PLN, opened new channels and participated in a range of conversations.
I might have done it with too much gusto….
My teenage-like heart has fallen in love at first sight with many enlightening, supportive, challenging, critical new friends.
I count on time and actions to tell how these influences evolve!
I live with and love the most honest and caring dragon. I must never lose sight of this.

2013 as the "Year of Trying"! 
In the unstoppable momentum I have been saying yes yes and yes to so many things: I have done, got feedback, got knocked, undone, redone.
Today it feels that in terms of accomplishments for the year, well,  it is close to a "not a lot to show for". 
To move forward into 2014 I will need to do less Yes to learning and more Yes to executing.
I have a few weeks before making New Year's Resolution. Phew.

Why am I doing this?
The ability to learn is the only lasting competitive advantage for any organization. H. Jarche
Can I build a business model around this?
I have the ideas, the people, the want and the drive.
2014 will be the Year of the Concrete Steps.

ePortfolio Forum Takeaways

Thoughts in no particular order arising from having attended the 2013 ePortfolio forum organised by ePortfolioAustralia.

- Met lots of like minded people whom you don't need to explain what an ePortfolio is!
But:
- What is an ePortfolio? remains an open question. A tool? A space? An approach? A story?
For me the ePortfolio starts with the "who". Who is  making use of it? "Who" moulds the shape the ePortfolio takes as it is his/her specific purpose (evidencing of learning for assessment, reflective practice, professional learning, workforce entry, employability, career management, online presence, showcase of achievements, process of learning etc) that is the driver. "Who" 's life journey leaves positive digital traces, the ePortfolio, dynamic by nature, documenting and keeping a memory of experiences and accomplishments.
So:
- When introducing ePortfolio it is crucial to know "who" and empathize with the needs and wants, the goals and aspirations of "who".
The actions involved in building a structured ePortfolio (collecting digital assets, selecting them for a purpose and a determined audience, of connecting ideas through thinking, and connecting with others for comments/ collaboration) constitute a personal, educational, professional story.
And:
- by showing selected parts of a structured, purposeful ePortfolio, users demonstrate digital competence. And a digital presence. Enough said.
Also:
- Implementing an ePortfolio has to combine a top down and bottom up approach, framed by learning design. Top down to ensure infrastructure, access, support are available. Top down to support relevant curriculum development and pedagogy that lend themselves to ePortfolio development. Bottom up by giving tangible, relevant, authentic reasons to develop an ePortfolio and opportunities to users. Bottom up by making explicit the potential for developing digital literacy as well as making visible a wide range of skills beyond the qualification recognized by the institution.
Talking of skills:
- More and more conversations around employability revolve around not only the hard earned qualifications, but also around soft skills (communication, critical thinking, willingness to learn, knowledge sharing, being a team player, listening skills and ability to teach, mentor…) The ePortfolio is a perfect venue to evidence and develop these skills.
Thus:
- To engage learners into an ePorfolio development, they must be involved in shaping it and taking control of it from the outset, through punctual explicit training if necessary, but mainly by empathizing with each individual's goals and scaffolding their steering.
Moreover:
- an ePortfolio is not just the work of an individual: the sharing with an audience, commenting from peers, feedback and feedforward from teachers or lecturers, collaborating on projects and gathering feedback, communicating on forums, crowd sourcing an idea that shape a personal ePortfolio. Learning is social.
Which leads me to the tool:
- Mahara allows for granular permissions, ensuring privacy if/when/where needed, has a resume building, aggregates productions made in range of files off or online, has a built in social network. It allows for pages to be submitted for assessment. It can be hosted on a dedicated server or online. Which means also that it has got to be institutionalized in the first place… This is important for context. At least to start with!
What is (even more) exciting?
-   ePortfolio, the learning centre, evidence gatherer, thought processor + open badges, the visible indicator of accomplishments, skills, interest, across communities and platforms = lifelong and life wide learning!

Why are ePortfolio supporters still pushing the rock uphill?

- Learning in 21st c has changed. Not everyone has noticed.
- ePortfolio have mainly gained traction in education so far. Period.
- Technology is changing everyday. It is not at the heart of ePortfolio building though.
- ePortfolio as a vehicle for common vocabulary across stages of life (school> training/university> work/life) is yet to be realized (although OpenBadges may offer a step towards this!)
- their potential for employability and careers is huge, or so it promises. Employers need to be shown ePortfolio more readily. Employers want qualifications AND skills so employers need to be involved and asked if/ how they can make use of eportfolio for recruitment but also for productivity and skill evidencing for themselves and their employees. While supporting digital literacy development. Or else it will remain an academic pursuit.
- Professional associations need to be made aware of ePortfolio potential for ongoing professional learning, accreditations and evidencing of on the job skills. That could have some impact on the employers' perception of ePortfolio.
- Careers services outside of learning institutions (job re entry, immigration, skills gap analysis etc) need to be made aware also.
- There is no longitudinal research (that I am aware of so please do correct me and comment if I am wrong) to see if ePortolios continue to be populated by their owner pass education.

It's time to get out the building and into the "world" post education to go and find out if ePortfolios live up to their status of life long learning companion!
That is the road I am choosing to take with ThinkAgency. While remaining faithful and committed to my interest in ePortfolios in schools.



References: 
Prof Phillip Long from the University of Queensland’s Centre for Educational Innovation and Technology will share what the role of the eportfolio will have in a distributed digital learning future.
Dr Alan McAlpine (Queensland University of Technology’s Career and Employment Unit) will share what’s happening with the use of eportfolios in the recruitment and employment marketplace.
(Will link to both keynotes recording when made available)
Shane Nuessler Learning Design Reflections in Higher Education
Portfolio the work of an individual? Kristina Hoeppner
Pictures from the ePortfolio Forum
Angela Shetler' Storify of ePortfolio Forum

ePortfolio blah blah

It appears we have had very different weeks and not only weatherwise... This is what I have been up to. Hesitations, blanks and repetitions included, but a podcast no longer (?!) than 10 minutes. Lucky you! Put the SoundCloud app on your phone or your browser and give it a go, suggest to your students to create an account, start recording anywhere anytime and share wherever (including MyPortfolio!) It even works for words list :-). Could be useful for revision prior to mock exams!

Enjoy your long week end and keep warm and happy!

No brainer

This is why we* do what we do, why we believe what we do is the way to go, why we trust, amongst others, the Key Competencies, Learning to Learn, Assessment for Learning,  to empower learners to think critically, to be curious and articulate, flexible and adaptable, to act independently and make their own free choices, in their context, in their culture.
Because we** don't want that. Anymore.

* You, me, and so many other teachers
 ** You, me, teachers, lecturers, employers, parents, friends...

Stages of Self Directed Learning

@zecool brought my attention to this blog post via Twitter:

Four Stages of Self Directed Learning (SSDL) published on http://www.educatorstechnology.com

The post refers to these slides by Barbara Stokes, who presents the Gerald Grow's SSDL Model.

Theories of Teaching and Learning: The Staged Self-Directed Learning Model, G.Grow. from Barbara Stokes

So what I am taking away from this reading and those slides?

- Self directed learning is not a new concept < is it revisited more readily since technology has brought about means to achieve personalisation and independence more readily? To be investigated...

- The potential for self direction can be enhanced and moving through the stages can be accelerated with the use of ICTs < this would need to be substantiated

- I respond well to theories which you can visualise in stages: it makes approaching it manageable and it offers a progression which can be investigated and documented.

-  Slide 14 : the learner goes through stages of self direction: opportunity for teacher to use a wide range of methods < how to move from teaching centric to learner centric?

- Slide 15 lists some limitations. In the context of the NZC, could it be envisaged that the use of a tool such as Teaching as Inquiry cycle support overcoming some of these limitations? (eg: inquire into where students are at prior to embarking on any teaching, determined by "How do I get the best out of all of my students?' leading question)

- The model in practice hinges on differentiation, individualisation.

- Both the learner and teacher could benefit from using an eportfolio to document the journey. For the student how they evolve from one stage to another, when they respond better, what teacher's style they need to progress, if they are self directed all the time even in front of new learning. For the teacher to investigate their teaching style and adapt it to the students in front of them through gathering evidence over time and reflecting on practice.

- Could the SSDL could be used as a big picture planning tool that would complement the Teaching as Inquiry targeted approach? The Model fits in with the Vision of the NZC

Conversation matters

What follows is a mix of thoughts arising from reading from different altruistic online sharers and talking with a range of people dedicated to French language and culture.
The latter I met at the Alliance Française AGM held in Christchurch where I was invited to attend as representative of the NZAFT. It was a timely reminder, considering where my thoughts were at earlier in the week (as vented in my comments) that Languages must be, ought to be, have to be celebrated as a main dish on the Smörgåsbord on offer to learners in New Zealand schools. And tonight, thanks to the company I kept recently, I am even almost ready to say French rather than the generic Languages ;-)!

You are here flickrcc

My presentation at this meeting allowed me to focus on what most teachers of French do very well: they love French! Not just French the Language but also all things French. Conveying the love to dwindling numbers, through complex pedagogies which need to be given more time than seems available to internalise them, with the perceived end goal limited to striving for a credit count is at times a tall order.
Compare that to the situation of our Alliance Française colleagues whose role (apparently!) consists of teaching students who come through their doors with a self motivation, a need, a reason to learn French, free of any formal assessments, one would have reasons to be thoroughly jealous of these conditions!
Last November I had the opportunity to work alongside some of the young "volontaires internationaux" at the AF in Wellington as we were training to be DELF examiners.  I realised I had much to learn from their take on the Approche Actionnelle as well as their approach to evaluation. To my pleasure they too expressed a vivid interest in understanding more about French in NZ schools. It thus indicated that there are grounds on which to build a rapprochement in order to learn from each other. Yesterday's meeting reminded me of this and it was an opportunity to formalise a wish in public for it to actually happen. What shape it takes is yet to be devised and as NZAFT decide things at committee level, it certainly is not entirely up to me.
But just now I think I know how it could possibly be put to good use for the greater good!
And this is born of several other things happening this week:

- talking about New Zealand school teachers of French lead to talk about NZ schools, in particular the recently opened primary and secondary schools with their modern learning environment, open plan spaces and collaborative teaching aiming to have students direct their learning.  It is indeed here to stay with many existing schools embracing this approach and embarking on the journey of innovation. This was news to the French Embassy Education attaché who was very interested in knowing more. All I know is names of schools, a few teachers who I follow on Twitter and have occasionally met, but enough to understand that this is working on transforming education right here and now. What I also seem to pick from these new schools is that Learning Languages doesn't seem to feature much. It was a shame he thought and why he asked. I suggested, unsure: Teachers not ready for the leap of pedagogical faith,  new principals not ready to give it full attention while either the Correspondence school or the VLN can somehow attempt to fill that gap, not enough parents pushing to have a language taught, teaching teams fully focused on literacy and key competencies and forgetting that the cultural competence of our NZC is intrinsically linked the intercultural competence developed through language learning? Who knows?

- exchanging with you here along our last posts and comments, you describe your attempt at weaving in your new classes a pedagogy which invite students to direct their own learning is meeting with resistance at this stage. As we discussed I am surprised to read that students are so change adverse. This could indicate that it is such a departure from the usual expectations they have grown used to in the environment they are learning in,  that it will take time and continuous effort on your and their part to start to see the long term benefits of the approach.

So from this one could jump to a very quick (and certainly wrong) conclusion:
          - new learning environment, self directed learning=not conducive to language learning
          - traditional learning environment, Sage on the Stage teaching= conducive to language learning

- upon talking new NZ schools with the young AF teacher her eyes just lit up and it all seemed to make sense to her: open space where furniture is arranged to support interaction, nooks and crannies for practice in solo or pairs, breakout spaces for recordings or rehearsing, devices for listening and research, students looking for what they need to make meaning in their own term, decent time allocation to allow for continuity, having her course and resources online for students to access whenever wherever, doing on the spot tutorials when the need arise, offering specific breakouts at specific times, planning with teachers from other learning areas to incorporate language and culture where and when necessary, ... she pictured it all there and then! She got it. Which told me: French Languages can be integrated in this way if you have the teaching and the attitude right. And thus be a fully fledged item on the buffet for the curious and imaginative and risk taking learner, not just a Learning Area in the NZC!

Where am I going with all that I hear you say?
There is a need to investigate, demonstrate and reflect on how French can be incorporated in a student self directed curriculum in order for language learning to fully contribute to make learners connected to the world they live in, confident to meet others and being able to walk in their shoes in full knowledge of who they are, as well as gaining an awareness that learning is a life long journey and that languages can pop in anytime in their lives.

- of the bloggers who have contributed to this thinking is Claire Amos, a New Zealand educator whose excellent online presence I have followed for some years now and whose work has gone a long way in explaining and convincing me of the role of Teaching as Inquiry. The lady is a sharer of good stuff.  I can't say I know her but I can say she sure has the most awesome eportfolio I know of. Anyway Claire in her current position is undertaking with a team of NZ teachers an edutour of self directed schools in the US and Canada.  I have been reading with interest her accounts, which prompted me to google the schools that they are visiting . Through visiting these schools' websites I could see that Languages featured fully. Sure Canada has a different relation to learning languages that NZ has but that sure indicates that it can be done.

- which got me to contact, Jacques Cool a French Speaking Canadian whose tweets both in French and English I value highly for state of the art information. Hence I DMed Jacques this am to ask him if he knew of any English speaking Canadian self directed learning school where languages were fully a part of the curriculum. He was interested by my question and has sent it on to an expert in this field! WOW there are experts in this field! I now am truly excitingly waiting to hear back.

And then what? A little dream situation: advice from an expert + model schools to learn from + language teaching clued up AF teacher + keen to learn and inquire NZ French teacher(s) + new schools environment in NZ + Learning Language integration+ networking = being proactive in ensuring French (Languages!) is an integral part of a varied rich modern curriculum.

Now where do I start to make this happen?

Making Sense Of - ICOT2013 Goodness

The first I heard of SOLO Taxonomy was at Learning@School 2010. It was back in the glorious days when Flo and I were on a bit of mission to "try heaps". The mission was not clear, that's why maybe it sort of petered out after a few years, yet it was full of joy and questioning. Lots of goodness (one is visible here) came out of it and our friendship is all the richer for it!
So at L@S2010, Flo attended a breakout  where Pam Hook was introducing SOLO. Flo explained to me what she understood, and I sort of left it at that: I was like a possum caught in the headlights and had a kete full of stuff to look at again, investigate and went to look into ePortfolio and mahara-myportfolio as it seemed that providing info on this was answering a genuine need within my Community of Practice. Hence the need to revisit good ideas often, in different contexts, at different times for them to start taking shape...
I have since many a time come across teachers, mainly in primaries, who are hooked on SOLO. I have at times look into it: this introductory clip prompted me to pay more attention:

Lincoln High School Craig Perry and Fiona Bamford's ICOT2013 "Facilitating a whole school thinking framework for lifelong learning" brought it to life for me. (Their presentation here)
I chose to attend their breakout for several reasons: secondary school, lifelong learning, but also the fact that Fiona, Languages amongst other responsibilities, was presenting.

It was just great! And I am not even talking about SOLO! Craig and Fiona's was the story of a secondary school which over time, a long time, have trialled and errored their way into finding a language, common to all, across Departments and Learning Areas, teachers and students,  about learning to help the Lincoln students "say where their learning is at" and "know what they need to do to improve".

Craig Perry and Fiona Bamford ICOT 2013

A story of commitment to make a change, of champions dedicated to the cause, of persistance and of supportive, benevolent leadership. It also highlighted that change happens when specialist support from the outside combines with a genuine identified need from a community. That time is dedicated to make it happen and that it is understood that it does not happen overnight and that there are many hurdles in the way. I appreciated to see how the different Departments at Lincoln have applied SOLO to the NCEA Standards, so that students can see common across subject areas, to help crystalise their learning.  Fiona stressed she was still in the process of doing that for Languages. Nothing happens fast.  I also liked how from their adopting SOLO there is a common approach for literacy. That indicated a great deal of cross curricular collaboration.  I had the opportunity to go to Lincoln in March 2012 when Fiona and a team of Language teachers took a look at MyPortfolio:  I wished I went back to work with them now, equipped of what I know about their work and what I understand about facilitation: we could have made more relevant connections more quickly.

I think that we could benefit, as Language teachers, to hear more from Fiona's journey, how she has moved to thinking in "Thinking" terms rather than just in "Language Learning" terms, how it is effecting her students and her teaching.  We chatted briefly at the end of her presentation and she indicated she had once addressed Language teachers in a PD setting about SOLO but it was not much attended. Hum, maybe the word NCEA was not prominent enough in her prez brief to attract the crowds... (This is intended to be a sharp, cutting remark, you noticed?)

It also confirms that in order to change it is about sharing a vision, believing in it, trusting the process and enabling effective support.

Craig Perry published a really good blogpost today. An eloquent post where he writes that despite being opened to be challenged on his views and beliefs about SOLO by the "Thinking Gurus" at ICOT2013, he walked away all the more convinced that SOLO is providing what Lincoln is about for their students.

I want to come across more similar stories.

Steps towards what? More thoughts fuelled by ICOT2013

I have just finished reading this post entitled "Change or Die".  Two points stick with me:

- change is not supported as the overall agenda is focused on improvement rather than transformation
- there is a lack of "big picture", where steps are managed rather than lead towards a clear common vision.

Individuals, like you and I, have enjoyed and continue to get benefit from discussing, reading, participating 2cts worth to debates, trying to make sense of what Learning is about. I  personally often feel that to give it serious thought and consideration (and to be taken more seriously!), I need to be more systematic (oh here you are Ruth: that is a trigger word that has you switched off!) in order to reflect and take action. This is certainly what Going Back to the Drawing Board means for me.

But hear me out!  I would be motivated to systematise my approach if there was a need (self motivated or else) to have an outcome for a particular purpose. I am in the rather comfortable position at the moment where no one demands of me to perform at any level. This affords me to spend time considering a range of issues arising from different sectors and interests. I choose to spend time with the NZAFT and associated projects, I choose to continue to support people use of myPortfolio, MoE funded or not,  I choose to keep informed to do these to the best I can and if I have the opportunity, to move things along. I assume that if I was employed as a teacher in a school, time, energy and freedom spent on these choices would be considerably limited.

I have been freed to investigate in my own terms, to learn stuff when the need arose, to seek and find help, to do and undo, to have the confidence and curiosity to do so,  to bring to the light that my absence of formal linguistic training (I am often "found out" in conversation with Language teachers! ) can be made up for with other aptitudes and understanding of Learning I have developed, to create, maintain and continue to widen a network of thought provoking, informed, convincing professionals beyond school colleagues and my immediate community of practice.  It is my own paradigm shift: I have changed. What I have learnt in the last couple of years, exposing myself to arguments and thoughts about teaching, learning, assessments, ICT, theories, practices, social media, internet,  beyond the ones imposed by a manager or a system, is that "things do not have to be the way they are" and that "we don't know what we don't know".  Hence I can say here that all I have learnt from this freedom I would wish to continue to grow in any circumstances.

Kerry Spackman The Moral Scale

But what I can say also is that I am unsure of the reasons why I am doing it...
- What level of the Moral Scale  am I really operating at? Am I doing this for me only (since I have no obligation) ?
- Am I doing this because I am looking to "make a dent in the universe?" (Kerry Spackman at ICOT2013) ?
I would like to think it is about taking a tiny step on the Bottom Up approach ladder.

Kerry Spackman The Moral Scale

So to go back to Change or Die: What /who makes a vision clear enough, encompassing enough, trusted enough and supported enough for every teacher to feel empowered that they too can change, and as a result  for every learner to learn to be in control of their learning? That the move from thinking at Level 1 "How does it affect me?" to Level 5 "What's in this for society as an institution?" is enabled?

Derek Wenmoth: Change or Die? Vision, Trust and Support

While aspects of Kerry Spackman's keynote varied from boring me to worrying me  (I am not convinced that I need Knights to save me) one key message that was taken away, as aptly highlighted by Derek Wenmoth, is that "influencing peoples beliefs is very important in the process of bringing about change in society".

And this is something that every teacher can do. Children must be prepared for the world they live in not the one I grew up in: in my today's world, the population is aging and all expect to live a long time, ethnic groups learn to mix and mingle, notions of distance and time are just about a thing of the past, values are open for discussion etc. So who better than a teacher should be in the position to present a clear vision of the future to their students, and should help each one of them make sense of it in their own term, lead them to want to be involved, so that they grow to concern themselves with society and their role within it? All teachers need to question what they do if they are to model and instill this effectively.  And that means questioning and contribute to transform the system they work in.

via Rachel Saxton  ZenPencil

So why am I writing this messy post? If I really want to go Back to the Drawing Board, I need to know where I have been.  I ought to see more clearly where I am at now. And then it will inform me of where I should take my next step.  In the immediate future, it involves taking a step with you Ruth as you go back to school. Then I will see.