My Learning Space

In January 2008, Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd announced the Federal Government’s Digital Education Revolution – a $900m 4 year program which aims to achieve 1:2 (computer to student) ratio in all Australian secondary schools. Grants up to $1m are available to schools for computer hardware whereby the Federal Government enters into a funding agreement with respective Block Grant Authorities. The $900m figure was calculated on 900,000 students nationally in y9-12 at $1000 per unit for ‘effective ICT deployment’ to improve the above mentioned ratio.

First Round funding

The program is based on a Deficit Model, that is to say, schools with less technology resources will receive more funding, upon application. In the recent technology audit of 2967 Australian schools (y9-12); only 147 schools had a ratio of 1:2 or better. Schools with 1:8 computer to student ratio or worse were targeted during the First Round of funding, in fact, 947 schools were encouraged to apply for funding – there was a 90% response rate.

Second Round funding

We recently attended the Round Table Forum for the Future Rounds of the National Secondary School Computer Fund . The discussion was chaired by Shelagh Whittleson, Branch Manager for the NSSCF. The 2nd round of applications commence early July 2008. Applications are open to all schools and opportunities for bulk purchasing to improve cost per unit eg. at a systemic level are encouraged. Special needs funding for adaptive technologies is also available.

As per the first round, funding is calculated based on the 2007 audit data indicating y9-12 access to computers less than 4 years old. Priority will be given to schools with ratio 1:8 or worse who didn’t apply first round and schools 1:3 to 1:7.

Considerations

The $1000 per unit funding to schools must constitute effective deployment of ICT hardware eg. PCs, laptops, thin clients, etc. There is scope for creative use of funds by schools via bulk deals, for example, if a school receives funding that will be calculated at $1000 per unit, then purchases sub-notebooks at $500 per unit, this creates a residual of $500 per unit for staff training, infrastructure and support.

Other projects include a $100 million to the Fibre Connections to Schools (FCS) initiative.  The FCS will contribute to the provision of fibre-to-the-premise (FTTP) broadband connections to Australian schools to deliver speeds of up to 100 megabits per second.  There has also been speculation about a National Help Desk.

Access to reliable, affordable, high speed broadband connections will strengthen the capacity of students, parents, teachers and the wider community to communicate, collaborate and access resources across system, State/Territory and national boundaries.

Latest News

The Federal Government has just announced its Budget for 2008-09 . This includes:

- Additional $200 million in 2011-12 for the Digital Education Revolution, taking the total investment to $1.2 billion over 5 years.
- Funding of $32.6 million over 2 years for online curriculum tools and resources.
- Funding of $10 million over 3 years to establish support mechanisms to provide vital assistance for schools in the deployment of ICT.

The Federal Government’s education initiative is ambitious and generous. However, funding to improve ICT hardware provisions in Australian schools does raise concerns about subsequent demands placed on infrastructure, technical support and staff training. There is the question mark over funding longevity – because hardware technology, software and skills date so rapidly. Moreover, Education has traditionally been a State Government responsibility. Time will tell if the current Government is genuinely committed to a Digital Education Revolution.

More information is available at  http://www.digitaleducationrevolution.gov.au

‘Google Generation’ refers to a generation of people born since 1993, who have grown up in an Internet dominated world. According to Wikipedia, the phrase has entered common usage as a “…way of referring to a generation whose first port of call for knowledge is the internet and a search engine, Google being the most popular”.

The Online Computer Library Center recently conducted a global survey that indicates the Google Generation stereotype may be true.

-89% college students use search engine to begin an information search (compared to 2% who start from a library web site)
-93% are satisfied or very satisfied with their overall search engine experience (compared to 84% of library web site searchers)
-College students use the library less and read less since discovering internet research tools
-Books are still the primary library brand association with this group, despite large investment in digital resourcing.

When one considers that our students today are no older than the Internet, it is understandable why most are comfortable using a computer and keyboard in preference to pen and paper for their research and studies. I don’t qualify for the ‘Google Generation’ but can relate to this phenomenon through my own changing information search behaviour.

During the 1980s, when I was at school, the Internet had not been popularised and I did not have access to computers. Books, pen and paper were my research tools of choice. Upon entering university as an undergraduate, in the early 1990s, the Internet was born and  I learned how to use a computer, but I still preferred to visit libraries, searching online catalogues to find relevant books, browsing journals in open reserve, then photocopying what I thought was essential reading for any given assignment.

My whole approach to information researching changed upon my return to university as a postgraduate in the late 1990s. The World Wide Web had evolved and I was comfortable using Internet search engines and online databases to locate information to be organised, analysed and word processed for assignments. For me, this new-found research approach did not necessarily require pen, paper, books, photocopying, let alone a time-consuming visit to the library. I believe today’s search engines provide us instant access to a wealth of information. However, despite new tools, the researcher’s ability to collect, organise and analyse information remains paramount.

What follows is a summary of a report titled: ‘Information behaviour of the researcher of the future’ conducted by CIBER group at the University College London. CIBER developed a ‘virtual’ longitudinal study using current evidence to create a longitudinal study from relevant literature with primary data from a study of how people use the British Library and JISC web sites. The study was commissioned by the British Library and JISC to “identify how the specialist researchers of the future, currently in their school or pre-school years, are likely to access and interact with digital resources in five to ten years’ time”.  The report recognises that evidence relevant to issues raised is incomplete and contradictory in some instances. Holistically, the report claims that the Google Generation is a myth because “…research-behaviour traits that are commonly associated with younger users – impatience in search and navigation, and zero tolerance for any delay in satisfying their information needs – are now the norm for all age-groups”…

Emerging themes: young people using internet research tools
-Information literacy has not improved despite greater access to technology
-Speed of internet searching means little time is spent evaluating the accuracy, authority or relevance
-Poor understanding of their information needs and have difficulty developing effective search strategies
-Prefer to express themselves in natural language rather than analysing more effective use of key words
-Find it difficult to assess relevance of search results

Ubiquitous use of search engines raises other issues
-Young people don’t appreciate the networked structure of the internet
-As a result, they associate search engines such as Google as primary internet brands
-Don’t find library funded resources as intuitive for their needs as search engines

The report concludes that young people today are…
-More competent with technology especially word processing, but are less competent with other applications such as presentation, spreadsheet, graphics and web page software
-Higher expectations of ICTs
-The ‘cut-and-paste’ generation
-Not expert searchers

It is important that young learners acquire critical analysis skills to better evaluate the information they find via Internet search engines. Teachers can play an essential role in this process. Unfortunately, despite the fact that the teachers interviewed in the study were information literate, their attitudes and skills were not being transferred to their students.

Looking to the future. Expect to see…
-A unified web culture
-The rise of e-book
-Content explosion eg. Google Print
-New forms of scholarship and publication eg. blogs, wikis and Second Life

Conclusion
Students prefer Internet search engines to library tools such as online catalogues and databases, because they yield quicker results and instant access to full information on request. These implications must be considered in the design and function of future libraries for all ages. Libraries are no longer simply physical places to borrow books. They need to be physical and virtual spaces where people can effectively search, locate and evaluate relevant information in a timely manner.

For those not familiar with the project, the OLPC social welfare organisation developed XO-1, previously known as the $100 Laptop, as an inexpensive laptop computer intended for distribution to children in developing countries around the world, to provide them with access to knowledge. I had the rare privelege of test-driving an XO-1 prototype.

read more | digg story

I recently attended the Moodle Moot in New Zealand and an inspiring presentation by Martin Langhoff. Martin is a Moodle guru and works for New Zealand Moodle Partner, Catalyst IT. During his spare time, Martin is involved in the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project. I also had the rare privelege of test-driving an XO-1 prototype.

For those not familiar with the project, the OLPC social welfare organisation developed XO-1, previously known as the $100 Laptop, as an inexpensive laptop computer intended for distribution to children in developing countries around the world, to provide them with access to knowledge. The XO-1 can be sold to governments and issued to children by schools on a basis of one laptop per child. Pricing is currently set to start at US$188 and the goal is to reach the US$100 mark in 2008. The XO-1 device is promoted as a textbook replacement whereby 5 years of school books for a student is the approximate cost equivalent to a $100 laptop. The project targets under priveleged children in developing countries that are a consequence of infrastructure limitations, limited educational resources and a shortage of teachers.

The OLPC project was founded by Nicholas Negroponte from the MIT’s Media Lab and is reminiscent of Sugata Mitra’s: ‘Hole in the Wall’ project where groups of children, given access to shared, public accessible computers in playgrounds and other public areas, taught themselves to use the technology on their own. Working in self-organised groups, and helping each other, the children typically navigated within three minutes and began to browse in about an hour. Within three months, they achieved basic computer literacy, and by nine months achieved the proficiency level equivalent to most modern office workers. They also picked up a considerable amount of the English language from common multimedia software. These results were obtained when the computers were placed in a safe, public location, such as a playground. The same computers placed inside a classroom did not achieve the same results because students do not consider computers in schools as their property or ‘play things’ because they suspect some hidden agenda on the part of the school.

The XO-1 is much like an eBook, with a sturdy plastic case (predominantly lime and white in colour), carry handle and swivel screen. It has low power consumption, long battery life and is quick charging (10:1 use to charge ratio). The XO-1 has a 1200×900 7.5 inch diagonal LCD screen with two display modes: backlit colour or reflective monochrome for readability in the sun. The device is mesh networkable. It has long-range WiFi (800 metres). It does not connect directly to the internet, but uses ad hoc networking to seek out other wireless devices and use them to ‘piggyback’ to the web.

With regard to software, the XO-1 runs on a pared version of Fedora Linux operating system and uses a graphical user interface called ‘Sugar’. This is detached from the typical desktop metaphor as it is task centric and zoomable. The emphasis is on ease of use, exploration and collaboration for children. Applications include a simple custom web browser, word processor, email through Gmail service, online chat and VoIP programs, several interpreted programming languages, a musical sequencer with digital instruments, audio and video player software.

Interestingly, Steve Jobs had offered Mac OS X free of charge for use in the OLPC program but the offer was declined. According to Seymour Papert, a professor emeritus at MIT who is one of the initiative’s founders, the designers wanted an operating system that could be tinkered with, therefore Linux was chosen.

In terms of the XO-1’s hardware; durability and low maintenance are obvious. There are no moving parts, it is shock and water resistant. It does have a built-in video camera and speakers, microphone, stylus, USB and SD card slots. Other specifications include 433 MHz AMD CPU, 256MB RAM and 1GB flash storage. The device is functional, but understandably at $100 per unit, it is not over-resourced with its hardware, software and features. Needless to say, it is a marvelous initiative that will help to reduce the educational resource disparity between developing and developed countries.

If you would like to read more about the OLPC project or make a donation, go to http://www.laptop.org/

Net Generation students were born into the age of information technology. Their attitudes, expectations, skills and learning styles reflect their environment – which contrasts to our own upbringing.

From my personal experience as an educator, I’ve outlined what I believe are the 7 key traits of the Net Generation:

1. Connected: Net Gen expect instant access to information. If they need to know something, they will Google it. They also need connectivity to their peers. Social networking sites such as MySpace exemplify this fact.
2. Communicative: Net Gen are early adopters of new devices and social tools. They love iPods, mobile phones, sms, social networks, chat, IM and to a lesser extent, email (because it is not instant).
3. Collaborative: Net Gen enjoy group work and exchanging ideas with others. This trait follows from the first two, because when one is connected and communicative, they will most likely be collaborating with others.
4. Digital: Net Gen are digital natives. Lets face it, our students are as young as the Internet. Modern technology is a normal part of their lives.
5. Experiential: Net Gen prefer to learn by doing rather than being told what to do. They explore, experiment and build. “Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Let me do and I understand”. Chinese Proverb
6. Participative: Net Gen are producers not consumers of information. They are actively involved in Web 2.0 technologies such as blogger, flickr, myspace, youtube and wikipedia.
7. Visual: Net Gen prefer image over text rich environments for learning.

In summary, Net Gen pose significant challenges for school educators. What are your experiences and thoughts with regard to educating the Net Gen?…

If you are interested in learning more about Net Gen, here’s my recommended reading

This article outlines 7 key traits of the Net Generation and raises significant implications for school educators.

read more | digg story

The community of Webware.com users recently voted for its favorite Web applications. The Top 100 Web apps, 10 in each of 10 categories, determined by Webware readers and the fans of the sites made the final cut.

There were more than 5,000 nominations for sites to be included in this awards program, which Webware’s editors pruned to a list of 250 finalists. Users then voted on those finalists. There were 489,467 votes cast.

Click here to view The Top 100 Webware sites for 2007

Do you agree with the Top 100 list? Are there any surprise inclusions or omissions from the respective categories? Ok, now here’s an interesting spin…if you could choose the Top 10 Best Apps for Education (from the Top 100 list), what would be your recommendations be & why?

Here’s a few simple tweaks that will improve the speed of your browsing experience:

1. Go to http://www.firefox.com
2. Download Firefox 2.0.0.6
3. Install and proceed to open Firefox
4. Type in the address bar > about:config
5. You will notice in the window an additional address bar with the word ‘filter ‘. Then type in the filter bar the word > network
6. Wait for a second or so.
7. Scroll down the list till you get to an entry that reads > network.http.pipelining
8. Highlight this entry and double-click – this should set it to ‘true’
9. Go down one line and find > network.http.pipelining.maxsrequests
10. Double click on network.http.pipelining.maxsrequests which will bring up a pop-up box.
11. Set your maxsrequests to > 8
12. Both entries should now be bold.
13. Go to ‘file ‘ > exit.
14. Restart Firefox and test the speed of your browser startup.

You Tube Video
Further Reading

According to a recent US study by the National Schools Board Association, 96% of students aged 9-17 years, who have internet access, use social networking tools. The study was comprised of 3 surveys, an online survey involving 1277 students, an online survey of 1039 parents, and phone interviews with 250 school district leaders who make internet policy decisions. The study identified that students spend on average 9 hours per week posting messages; sharing audio, video and pictures; site building; blogging; and creating content. Moreover, 59% of students who use social networking discuss education-related topics such as future study; learning outside school; careers or jobs; politics, ideas, religion or morals; and school work. It was also stated that “…students and parents report fewer current or recent problems, such as cyberstalking, cyberbullying and unwelcome personal encounters than schools fear and policies imply”.

This study has significant implications for learning in all schools, particularly within a social constructivist framework. Social constructivist theory asserts that we learn well from the act of creating or expressing something for others. Over time, a social group constructs knowledge for one another and establishes a culture of shared meaning. Similarly, social networking empowers students to produce information and construct knowledge for peers through activities such as message posting, blogging, file sharing and site building. The proliferation of social networking highlights the potential value of social networking in education. To put this growth in perspective, if all users of popular social networking sites, My Space and Facebook combined to form a country, this would represent the world’s 10th most populous nation at 134 million people.

I believe that we as educators, must harness social networking technologies to optimise the achievement of learning outcomes for our students. Evidently, a good blend of acceptable use policy and online safety education for students are required to successfully implement social networking in schools. What are your thoughts?…

Social constructivist theory asserts that we learn well from the act of creating or expressing something for others.  Over time, a social group constructs knowledge artefacts for one another and establishes a culture of shared meaning. Similarly, teaching and learning become more effective by understanding context. The proliferation of social networking sites such as My Space, Facebook and Ning demonstrate the potential of communication and collaboration tools in the context of education.

My Learning Space has launched its free Social Network courtesy of the team at Ning. Join our global community of educators. Exchange ideas about innovative teaching in blogs and forums, share audio, photo, video resources and work together by creating your own groups on the network.

Click here to access our Social Network. Please note that you are required to register on the network using a valid email account.