I have spent the summer creating the first tranche of resources for an integrated elearing planner for teachers.  The resource is web based and is designed to be stored on a school’s intranet or LMS.  It is designed to be adapted to the individual needs of a school and is not an off the shelf resource.  We will adapt it to mee the specific needs of any school.

As part of my facilitation work I see that the biggest stumbling block for those teachers who are not those at the leading edge of elearning is making the conceptual/pedagocial leap into elearning.  For this strata of the teaching profession they have adopted the strategy of regarding ICT/elearning as an extra, almost a treat for the students in their classrooms.  What is more, when the going gets tough, ICT activities can be withtdrawn, shelved, put on ice etc.  In addition the classroom strategies adopted by these teachers ensures that the type of ICT work that they have the students do is almost always enrichment type activities.

The resource I have created is designed to scaffold these teachers in thier journey towards elearning integration in their classroom.  The image above is a screen shot from just one of the pages.  I have taken an existing units of work and have created age appropriate, curriculum specific learning activities that include suggested elearning tools that teachers could use (Arrow A).  In the next column (Arrow B) is a list of suggested elearning tools that teachers might like to consider using, each has their merits and the idea is that a teacher will select a tool to achieve the learning goals, based on their own comfort levels.  In the third column  (Arrow C) there are links to interactive tutorials that I have created, that teachers can use to learn how to use the tools suggested in the second column.  I have always said to teachers that it is not important whether they can use the tools I suggest that they might like to use in class.  What is important is that they know what the learning potential these tools can facilitate and plan accordingly.  So equally this column and the interactive tutorials they point to, could be shared with students so that they learn how to use the tools.  The final column links to other documents to demonstrate the integration potential of the activities highlighted.  At the bottom of each learning activity I have also coded the  activities as being E, P, C or PS for Enrichment, Publishing, Collaboration or Problem Solving activities.  The purpose here is for teachers to be able to monitor what kind of activities predominate in their class and to set goals to make the elearning a richer experience in their classes as a result of their audits.

Over time I will add another column to this resource, one which links to videos of best practice; best practice with specific tools being used in classrooms by teachers.  I have long been a champion of schools retaining their Intellectual Property and think capturing teacher best practice is a good way to ensure that this happens.  The added benefit of doing this, when combined with the resource that I have created is that not only is IP actively farmed, schools create an induction pack for new staff that can be used by individual schools to project a philosphy of how they do elearning.

Perhaps the best beneift to schools is that over time they are creating their own training resource, specific to their school.  It will be a truly JIT (Just in Time) training resource for new and existing staff.

I am happy to talk with you to discuss your individual requirements for this resource to work in your school.

I discovered from one of my various feeds yesterday about the new ‘Helicopter View’ option in Google Maps.  So I tweeted it out yesterday:

Today I have had a play with the feature, it is great especially when combined with Jing, so that you can capture the video of the virtual journey.  I would have uploaded an exmple, but the screen shot will have to suffice, the journey I captured with Jing was 916mb in size… To activate the Helicopter view is very simple.  All you have to do is to put in a start location and a destination point in the get directions option of Google Maps, once the route has been calculated, a small “3-D” graphic appears to the right of the first direction, simply click on that and the animation plays.  Depending on your internet connection it may take some time for the information to load, but it is worth the wait.

This is a great feature from Google and I can see so many practical uses for it on websites, in the classroom etc.

Today was my last day at Wakaaranga for 2010.  This school has come so far in one year.  When I started working there at the start of the year there was an overt climate of cynicism about the potential for e-learning.  The staff had been fed a diet of unreliability with the network and had no real clear vision for the power of e-learning.  When I made my presentation to the staff back in early December 2009, the climax was a tangible Tui moment of “Yeah Right!” But a year later, the staff, the school and now the parents all want in to the e-learning programme.  So although this is my last day, I can not wait to get back in there next year to work with a new crop of now willing and not cynical teachers who also want to integrate e-learning into their class programme and witness the increased student engagement, attainment and enthusiasm to learn that other teachers have experienced this year.

Working with Shumba today, she wanted to share her progress this year, unbidden.   Her one condition was not to be videoed, so I recorded her using Audacity.  Listen to what she has to say here:

shumba-reflects-on-2010

In my latest article for Interface magazine I have further developed my case for ensuring that schools develop a robust and sustainable e-learning strategy.  I argue, in the case of e-learning, that the equation of equipment+training+teacher does not equal 1+1+1=3 Rather, I argue that training+teacher+equipment, in a classroom, is far more than the sum of its parts and as a result it is time that school administrators recognise that deliberately farming the IP of their staff has to be a crucial element of an institutions’ e-learning strategy.  I have developed a series of tools and procedures that will help a school or any organisation, actively farm this valuable IP.  I contend that without an active IP retention policy, sustainability of e-learning is not possible until all employees existing or potential are skilled e-learning practioners.

I have spent the last couple of days, three actually, creating training videos for a client.  In total I have created 11 tutorials, covering 8 skill sets necessary for their staff to master the basics of the software programme they have invested in.  The structure of each tutorial is the same.  In the first instance the skill is demonstrated with an audio track and on screen prompts.  Then the tutorial becomes interactive, it is a complete repeat of the first half  but the audio track, mouse animation and onscreen prompts disappear.  The user has to move stepwise through the video emulating what has just been shown to them.  All correct moves are confirmed and all incorrect moves are supported with prompts.